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

[cdrusn89]

Here is the main deck planking with one coat of WoP.

 

I clearly could have done a better job at color matching the pieces but with a few more coats of WoP the differences will be reduced (I hope).

 

The hatch covers are just sitting there to provide some idea of what the main deck will look like when finished.

Edited Monday at 02:33 PM by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

While trying to figure out how to plank the forecastle I decided to work mon the qdeck.

 

Having learned while doing the main deck that graphite from darkening the sides of the planks to simulate caulking is messy, I applied masking tape over the cap rail. The main deck cap rail had to be repainted it was so messed up with graphite (not to mention a few dings and scrapes).

 

So here are the king planks and "end plank" in place ready to start the "real" planking.

[cdrusn89]

I got the qdeck planked and two coats of WoP. If I had it to do over again I would start at the edges and curve the planks to follow the cap rail. Then they meet in the middle starting at the stern and extending probably about a third of the way forward. As it is I had to make three very sharply pointed pieces on each side. If I had started on the sides the pointed pieces would have been covered, at least partially by the wheel house and associated grating, which, by the way is not mentioned in the instructions either..

 

I also planked the forecastle using my "best judgement" on how to deal with the unusual shape. it has one coat of WoP now, more to follow. i had to resort to filling in the outboard pieces with sawdust as the space that was left was too small (for me) to be able to cut a very tiny piece and somehow get it into the opening.

Edited 15 hours ago by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

I saw from the drawing that there is supposed to be a curved piece of the stern rail that meets the cap rail to make the transition from the stern rail height to the cap rail. No mention of this in the instructions that I can find.

 

Clearly (to me) there is no way to make 1/16" basswood bend 90 degrees in 3/16" (the height of the stern mid-rail). At least none of the basswood i have will do that; I tried.

 

So I thinned down some 5/16" wide basswood so that it took three pieces to get to 1/16" thickness. Then I built a little jig to hold them in place after soaking in hot water. The jig is below but I used clamps not masking tape to hold them while drying.

After they were dry I used 60/40 PVA/H2O to bind the pieces together and then taped them back on the jig to help keep the shape as I noticed they tended to want to unbend a bit if left "unrestrained". I need to paint them orce to match the main deck cap rail then cut them but not until I get the stern rail completed.

 

I also completed the forward fife rail, or at least the forward portion. The drawing shows "legs" under the parts that extend aft of the pin rail but I think I will wait until the fife rail is installed to add them as they will be very vulnerable if they are added now.

 

Here are all the remaining deck items after one coat of Vallejo matt varnish (except the fife rail which is just out of the picture to the right).

 

Edited 15 hours ago by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

The wheel house now with the Caldercraft 24mm brass wheel which is about 2mm bigger than the Britannia cast wheel provided with the kit.

 

The instructions with the Caldercraft wheel say to paint it walnut but after getting all the nice detailing I did not want to hide it under paint so I just painted the "handles dark brown and will leave the rest brass.

 

I probably also need another coat of black on the upper "housing" and clean the CA off the wheel face - don't want to do too much with the CA solvent as that is what holds the whole thing together..

Edited 8 hours ago by cdrusn89