18th Century Merchantman by Rossr - NRG - 1:48

[RossR]

When I started building my NRG Half Hull, I didn’t know if I would do a build log on this one.  After the NRG had a sale on this kit a couple of years ago there were a number of really well done build logs and I wasn’t sure If I would have much more to offer.  I did take a bunch of pictures along the way, and now that I am a few weeks into it, I have decided to post a build log and share my experience.  

 

I don’t remember which build log mentioned this, but someone commented that they found building on the foam board suggested in the instructions difficult.  I had the same concern, so I decided to build my model directly on a piece of poplar that will be the permanent board for display after the model is compete. 

 

The instructions have you glue the print to the foam board.  Since my board will be the permanent display board I didn't want to glue the plan to it, but I needed to find a way to transfer critical points to the board I was using.  I taped the plan to the board and used a small awl to transfer critical points to the building board. 

 

 

I then connected the dots to have some reference points for gluing the various parts to the building board.  I then removed material from the keel, keelson, stem, deadwood and other related parts to create the rabbet.  After creating the rabbet, I glued the parts to the building board using the small marks made with the awl to get everything placed properly.  The board I used is big enough to accommodate a frame that I intended to add after the half hull was compete, so there was a significant distance to the edge and some parts of the model and clamping created some challenges.  I was able to get creative with a bottle of scotch to get a strong bond to the building board.  I used Titebond Wood Glue for almost everything on this model.

 

 

I will cover attaching the bulkheads next.

 

 

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Looking forward to following along with this build!

[RossR]

After gluing the keelson to the building board, I used some micro chisels purchased from Lee Valley Tools to deepen the notches that the bulkhead will fit into. 

 

 

I used a machinists square, legos and a few other items to keep the bulkheads square.  I was a little skeptical of how good of a bond I would get to the building board since there was no downward clamping pressure where the two items met.  I was pleasantly surprise at how secure the bond is.   

 

 

 

 

 

The kit came with laser cut pieces to glue between the bulkheads for added strength and stability.  I found these were just a bit on the small side to use.  At first I worried that it was because my bulkheads were not square, but I never ran into a situation when they were too big, so I decided they must just be a little too small.   I used scrap wood to create the parts needed.  

 

It became obvious that some of my bulkheads would require shims.   In at least one case it was because I didn’t make a deep enough cut in the keelson.  

 

 

 

 

I had some .6 mm sapeli left over from my Occre builds, and dimensionally it worked great.  It is so flexible it fit around curve of the bulkhead easily.   The only issue I ran into is the dark color made pencil marks difficult to see.  

 

 

Next up is fairing the hull.

 

 

 

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Nice work!