Gap on flat bottom

[WGibson]

Just starting my first wooden boat, AL King of the Mississippi. The good news is that everything came out straight and centered. The bad news is that there is a small gap between the edge of the planks and the edge of the frame on both sides. It's really small to try and adhere another plank to, but would that be your suggestion? I thought about getting the sides down and then adding another plank to the bottom so that there would be some more width. Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[mtaylor]

I'd sand it down to get everything smooth.  Same the sanding dust.   Then brush a 50-50 mix of white glue and water and brush into the gap.doing one "line" at a time.  Then take and spread the sanding dust into the cracks.   Let dry.  While it's drying, go to the next gap and do the same.  When all are done, sand the entire deck.  

[gsdpic]

Are you asking about the gaps between planks (as I believe Mark thought you were) or asking about the small gap at the edge of the subdeck?  For the latter, is there any wider strip wood in the kit that could be used to make the edge planks just a little wider than the others in order to fully cover the subdeck?

 

Or if you look ahead in the instructions, is the exact width of that subdeck critical?   Maybe you could just shave off that little bit of extra subdeck to meet the planking.  But, I am not familiar with the kit and do not know which deck on the boat this is, so that might cause big problems down the line if that deck must be the exact width of the provided subdeck.

 

[WGibson]

Thanks Mark and Gary. My concern is with the small gap at the edge of the subdeck. I zoomed in on the instructions and they actually put a thin sliver of planking at the edges. I'll give it a try, hopefully without breaking many pieces of wood in the process. When all done, I'll sand and use Mark's method to fill gaps between planks.

[Dr PR]

You might not want to fill the gaps between the planks if you want the individual wooden planks to be visible on the model - they would be on the full sized vessel.

 

However, Mark's suggestion is a very useful way to fill gaps that you don't want to see, especially where the parts will be painted.

[popeye2sea]

What about hiding the small gap with a waterway?

 

Regards,

Henry

[WGibson]

Interesting thought - I'll look into it!