Lucia A Simpson 1875 by cdrusn89 - AJ Fisher - 1/64

[cdrusn89]

Port side bulwark in place and glue drying.

 

I dry fit the bulwark using clamps on every timberhead and a piece of decking to get the 1/16" spacing between the bulwark and the hull at each timberhead.

 

Then I measured and cut the bulwark to the correct length and refit everything, added PVA to the ends where the bulwark meets the hull and returned the clamps there then painted 60/40 PVA/H2O onto each of the timberhead bulwark joints. Hopefully this will be strong enough to hold things against the stresses caused by slightly deforming the bulwark piece to conform to the sheer of the hull. It does not naturally want to maintain the 1/16" spacing.

 

Once I am satisfied that this is going to "work" it is back top the starboard side.

Edited Sunday at 09:03 PM by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

This is the vanguard 1/64 scale 18' Cutter 3D printed hull and associated "inerds" (after two coats of WoP).

 

I painted the entire hull with a gray primer then several coats of Vallejo Flat White on the inside. The outside is still gray but will be sprayed white when I do the final white coat(s) on the hull.

 

It was not cheap but beat the devil out of trying to fashion one from a solid wood block (not supplied) as the kit instructions suggest.

[cdrusn89]

In preparation for adding (actually re-adding but that story has been told already) the timberheads to the Starboard side I decided it prudent to trim the port side timberheads to a first approximation of their final length. Although they are glued to the bulwark I thought it wise not to tempt faith by having a convenient place for something to catch.

 

I also adding masking tape to protect the "waterway" plank from overspray when I spray the final coat(s) of white on the hull. It will also provide some protection while the inside of the bulwark (and any timberheads needing touch-up) are painted before the deck is laid and after the hull is finished with the spray booth. I still need to find a flat green spray paint for the underwater hull - Walmart should have something since my local hobby shop (mostly model train "stuff") does not carry much in the way of canned spray paint.

With the port side more or less protected from mishap I drilled the starboard side holes and glued in the timberheads. At the end I decided to drill all the holes to 5/64" since after the first two timberhead dowels were to large to fit smoothly in the 1/16" hole I thought they would mostly all be too big and a snug fit makes it easier to break off while trying to remove to add glue . (Don't ask me how I know this).

 

Here is the starboard side ready to dry fit the bulwark when the timberheads are dry.

 

[Rick310]

Very nice!

Rick

[Pete Jaquith]

Gary,

I tried a different approach on my Topsail Schooner Eagle.  I slotted every third timberhead into the hull, other timberheads were notched into the covering board, and i planked the bulwarks and upper hull.

[cdrusn89]

Thanks Rick!

Very nice looking Eagle there Peter. Probably harder to break them off since they are not thinned down by being "doweled".

If I might ask; how tall are the hatch coamings on your model and what scale? The ones provided on Simpson are 12" tall at full size.

 

As it turns out there is a covering board 1/32" thick outboard of the bulwarks covering the entire side a bit above the scuppers and, as it turns out the junction between the bulwark plank and the solid hull quarterdeck and forecastle so no real sanding and filling required. I did consider planking the bulwarks but since I chickened out planking the solid hull I did not want to draw attention to the lack of hull planking by planking the bulwarks.

[Pete Jaquith]

Gary,

The scale is 3/16" to the foot (1/64).  The hatch coamings are 3/16" above the deck planking.  Timberheads are 3/32" sq., bulwark planking is 1/32" and upper hull planking above the copper sheathing is 3/64".  The attached picture shows the ledge in hull planking at the top of the covering board.

[cdrusn89]

Thanks Pete - that is one fine looking Eagle.

 

I added the "thick overlay strip" to the port side which completes the work on this side before a return to the paint booth to get the white sides "done" (again).

The yellow strip you can barely see below the scuppers is 1mm masking tape to provide a landing point for the "molding strip" which runs under the scuppers. My plan is to add this after the hull is completely painted as it will be in ocre instead of white. Hopefully this will add a bit of color to the sides which would otherwise be all white.

 

I will add the additional timberheads and paint the interior of the bulwarks after the hull is completely painted.

 

I looked at the windows that I have mounted on the aft deckhouse and decided two things. First that the sunflower yellow I used on the window frames is too bright - They will be ocre when the new windows (and a larger selection of them) come in from Northeastern Scale Lumber in a few (hopefully) days. Second that the deckhouse is not actually rectangular, that is just the way it comes in the kit. So after removing the existing windows I cut out the roof pattern then reduced that to what I believe are the deckhouse outline and then marked the rectangular block and used the disc sander to round the after third or so to match the plan.

 

It is not all that obvious but the deckhouse tapers toward to bottom.

 

 

I also decided that the plain flat roof (one solid piece 1/16" thick) provided in the kit was not really how the roof would look. I got some 3/16" pre-scored decking from Northeastern Scale Lumber (I love that place). It is 1/32" thick so I replaced the kit roof with a sandwich of 1/32" basswood and the pre-scored decking. I have to keep in under weight as it wants to curl up some. It will. not be a problem (I hope) once it is glued down to the deckhouse but...

 

It will be painted with a gray wash to preserve the plank delineations.

 

Now on to the starboard side "thick overlay strip" and then the paint booth will not be far behind.

Edited 21 hours ago by cdrusn89