Twisting planks to lay flat on ribs

[Pitts2112]

I've read every paper and watched every video I can find but haven't been able to get the hang of reliably shaping planks so they not only butt against the preceding one but also lie flat on the ribs.  The twist is the part I'm having a problem with.  I've tried boiling water, Chuck's drying ironing method, combination of both, all without much luck.  Can someone please explain or send me a link to a source that explains/demonstrates it very clearly? 

Here's an example of what I'm talking about.  I've sanded the edges smooth but you can see how the planks were standing off from the robs on the bottom edges resulting in the this profile after sanding.

 

 

[palmerit]

Planking is probably the hardest part of model ship building. Take a look at my Sherbourne build log - my first kit started, my first planking - and you'll see how terrible a planking can be. But with a lot of filler and sanding - and filler and sanding - and a second planking doing the same - and painting - you can end up with something that looks descent. Each model I build, the planking gets a little better. Maybe some day it'll be good enough to leave the wood bare. I'm sure it'll take me a dozen more models to get there.

 

From what I understand, it's the heat, not the water, that makes the planks bend. Having them wet allows more efficient heat transfer.

 

I haven't tried an iron - I know some some use that - I've used one of these plank benders:

https://www.amazon.com/Electric-Plank-Bender-Model-Shipways/dp/B01F0IEUTI/ref=sr_1_1

I just get the outside of the planks a bit wet before using the bender. Note that this plank bender is just a cheap soldering iron with a round head - and it's not really well engineered - but it works. Though nearly every time I use it, I get burned someplace out of carelessness.

 

As you probably say, there are two directions of bending. One is to bend to the natural curve of the hull, such as bending in from the side to the bow. The Amati plank bender comes with a form to help shape those bends.

 

The other - more challenging - are the edge bends. Those are counter intuitive - at least they were to me - but once you get a few shaped right you begin to get a sense of what the planks should look like. The NRG Half Hull planking project also helped get the 3D shape in my mind - even though that kit doesn't use planks.  I've pasted how I first tried edge bending with clamps (from my Sherbourne build). I've seen folks who have made jigs and forms to help make it happen. In this example, I'm just clamping. There really should be a piece of wood between the clamp and the plank, and there could be pieces of wood to help with the shaping.

 

Note that I don't just hold the plank like this in shape. I use the plank bender between the clamps, and move the planks around, as I heat the wood. These clamps aren't the best since they have plastic covers and if you touch them with the plank bender they'll melt. 

 

If you don't do the edge bending (and taper) you'll likely end up with having the planks lifted off the bulkheads.

 

After doing the edge bending, you can bend (with the plank bender) in the other direction (the bend say from the side of the hull to the bow.

 

A few times I've gotten a plank just right and it fits to the hull like you were adding a shaped piece to a plastic model. Folks that are really good at planking will say that you don't even need clamps if you're doing it right because the pieces just fit into place. And if you do some beveling on the side of the plank, you can get an even tighter fit. I've seen some streams of model kit builds and even experts spend a long time on each plank. I thought I was doing something wrong because I could just take a plank and add it. I could easily spend a half an hour on each plank and still not get it perfect. 

 

Hope this helps a little bit.

 

Edited Sunday at 09:24 PM by palmerit

[druxey]

Please read the pinned planking topics on this site! It will explain everything you need to know about planking a hull.

 

https://thenrg.org/resource/articles

 

Scroll down to Chuck Passaro's and David Antscherl's articles.

[palmerit]

I read those articles when I started, and they are very well written, and I read a number of others, and bought some books, and now they make complete sense to me. But when getting started, I was confused and lost. I learned by trying different things, seeing how they didn't work, and learning from the few times they did work, then going back and rereading some of those articles, and not being afraid to make a mistake. Rinse and repeat. If it looks like garbage - and my first try certainly did - you can use filler and sand and paint. Oh, and the NRG Half Hull helped me understand the geometry. I'm really impressed when I see new builders who are able to get a nice looking planking on the first try. For me, it was a challenge translating the written descriptions and static photos into what needed to be done manually and how the planks needed to be shaped in three dimensions, and figuring out how to do that. Then also trying to figure out how to hold everything in place, especially on the second planking where I couldn't just pin the planks in place.

 

Not being some who has done much with my hands - my day job is as a university professor - it took some more effort for me to figure out how to solve the visual-manual problem. That challenge is one thing I like about this hobby. There's always a new challenge. So @Pitts2112, you're not alone if you read the articles and build logs and still feel like planking is a mystery and it hasn't turned out.

 

Maybe try to cut out some strips from something like a manilla folder so that you just need to bend it around the hull into place. That's essentially what the NRG Half Hull has you do. If you cut out the piece right, it'll lay flat against the frame and not leave a gap. And if the piece is the thickness of a plank, including a taper as needed, you'll essentially have a template for what you're trying to shape with bending and beveling. Some people do that template approach for lots of their planks to get it just right. 

 

If the geometry is clear, then it's probably a matter of trying various ways of doing edge bending - water, heat, clamps, forms - maybe a bit of beveling, and lots of patience. Treat each individual plank as a separate project. Good luck.

[Gregory]

This article by Chuck is invaluable for tapering your planks.  Lining Off Your Hull Planking, Tutorial and Fan

It also talks about ' spiling ' to get the shape of the plank, but spilling requires you to have wider stock than uniform plank widths provided in most kits.

Spiling is not necessary if you use edge bending like @palmerit shows above.  It is detailed in Chuck's videos.

 

This is an example from Glenn Barlow's Winchelsea. It was all done with edge bending.   Glenn and Chuck use CA glue ; holding the planks in place with their fingers with no other clamping.

Like palmerit also said, each plank is it's own project.

Here is a picture Glenn posted of his scrap pile.

 

Here are Chuck's planking videos.

 

Another great resource is the  Half Hull Planking Project.

Edited Monday at 01:42 AM by Gregory

[palmerit]

I absolutely love the scrap pile. Now I don't feel bad about how much scrap I produce when I plank. One thing I really appreciated watching the Olha Batchvarov live videos is how long she takes to do the (seemingly) simplest thing to get it right, and she's been building these professionally for years. With my first model, I thought planking the hull was surely something I should be able to get done in a weekend. Now I know better.

[Olli Sukunimisson]

Yeah, IMHO the most important thing to understand here is that you need to bend the planks properly in plane. Follow Chuck’s guide - you’ll see how oddly S-shaped your planks have to be. That’s because we’re trying to cover a complex 3D form with 2D strips. Once they’re curved right in plane, they’ll fit the hull perfectly, with no gaps.

[Dr PR]

Pitts,

 

Tapering the planks properly and cutting the correct bevel to fit the adjacent planks is the most important part of getting the planking to fit properly. However, as you noted, getting the planks to curve and twist correctly to fit on the bulkheads is the tricky part. I have tried several of the off-boat plank curving ideas mentioned on the Forum, but although they may get the curvature close they all fail to get that twist.

 

I discovered what I think is a MUCH better way to fit planks to the hull. I bend them in place using a small quilting iron. Here are two links that show how this works.

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/37060-uss-cape-msi-2-by-dr-pr-148-inshore-minesweeper/?do=findComment&comment=1074225

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/37060-uss-cape-msi-2-by-dr-pr-148-inshore-minesweeper/?do=findComment&comment=1075263

 

Heat is the thing that softens the wood fibers and allows them to bend. But the water is the means of conveying the heat into the wood. The planking iron boils the water and the steam carries the heat into the wood. I find that two passes of wetting and heating usually make the plank conform to the hull. In some cases three passes are needed (and in really bluff bows you may have to bend the extreme curves in several steps).

 

After bending the planks in situ on the hull they will hold their shape and lay flat against the bulkheads or frames without any glue or fasteners. This makes it easy to check the fit, and make adjustments if necessary. Then you can glue them in place without needing a lot of clamps.

 

Here is a link describing the plank bending tool:

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/37597-plank-bending-revisited/?do=findComment&comment=1075866

[palmerit]

Check out this build log by @Glenn-UK, post #19, for some nice recent examples wrt planking: