18th Century Longboat by Alex L - Model Shipways – 1:48

[Alex L]

Hi all,

 

For 10+ years, I’ve been a forum member and admired the craftsmanship of others’ builds. I’ve dabbled in plastic models but have wanted to build a wooden model ship for some time. A while ago, I bought the Model Shipways 18th Century Longboat thinking it would be a good first model (not knowing that some have advised against this as a first build).

 

 

Nevertheless, my goal is to finish building the longboat as my first wooden model ship project. Mine is yet another longboat build log by a complete beginner so it may not be a good guide to others. For that, I’d recommend BobF’s build log for the longboat, which I’ve been primarily following.

 

I started building the kit, not knowing anything, and got confused by how to shape the rabbet. I put the kit away for some months until I came back to it and figured out how to complete that step.

 

Gluing the bulkheads seemed pretty straightforward. I tried to place and glue them as squarely as I could. Here is what the model looked like before planking (I apologize for the low lighting conditions of my photos):

 

At one point, I accidentally broke the stem and ended up gluing it back together. I didn’t realize that one of the spare parts included in the kit was an extra stem that I could have used instead.

 

Next, I got intimidated by the planking phase and put the kit away again for many months.

 

Recently, I got interested in building again and persevered to grasp the basics of planking. This video, though I did not follow it precisely for this build, was helpful for a general understanding of the geometries involved in planking.

 

After some research, I began to understand what the instructions were describing. I used the techniques of wetting the planks, shaping them with jigs and clips, and drying the wood with a hair dryer.

 

I finally placed the first plank!

 

It may be a commonplace step for most, but to me it’s a relief that I’ve finally wrapped my mind around the rudiments of planking. I at least know how to approach the rest of the process and will update my log as I build more of the longboat.

 

One difficulty I’m running into is trying to get the plank to stick to every bulkhead with the slow-drying wood glue. It keeps popping away from some of the bulkheads. I’m wondering whether I should try using pins (though the small wooden pieces seem too small and fragile) or adding a bit of CA glue to a few select bulkheads for faster adhesion.

 

Thanks for following along so far!

Alex

[palmerit]

45 minutes ago, Alex L said:

One difficulty I’m running into is trying to get the plank to stick to every bulkhead with the slow-drying wood glue. It keeps popping away from some of the bulkheads. I’m wondering whether I should try using pins (though the small wooden pieces seem too small and fragile) or adding a bit of CA glue to a few select bulkheads for faster adhesion.

 

I don't know if this is a single-plank or double-plank model. You don't want to use pins if this is single-plank (or the second planking of a double-plank). Lots of people use CA, but it causes a bit of a mess for me. I sometimes use it to secure the end into a rabbet at the bow or something like that and use wood glue elsewhere. You often need to just clamp the planks (with clamps of various shapes and sizes and rubber bands) and just let it dry. 

 

This is a video of turning binder clips into plank clips. I made some like this with different size binder clips (small and very small).

 

[Alex L]

Hi palmerit,

 

It's a single-plank model so point well taken about the pins. I tried using small amounts of CA glue in select places, and it seems to work well so far. I'll also try rubber bands, and if those don't work well, I can experiment with the plank clips.

 

Thanks for the advice!

Alex

[Gregory]

1 hour ago, Alex L said:

I tried using small amounts of CA glue in select places,

With practice, CA can be very effective.

If you have looked at Chucks planking videos , He uses CA almost exclusively.

 

I recommend a good medium formula such as 2P-10 Professional .  Don't use the thin stuff.  It spreads too thin and will soak into bass wood too fast.

You will also find, when you get the blanks bent correctly as shown in the planking videos, they lay almost flat and only require some finger pressure for 30 seconds or so for a good bond.

I rarely use regular PVA glue anymore except when I need lots of  adjust time .

 

One of my favorite build logs for this kit is 18th Century Longboat by BobF.    A lot of detail about how Bob built the kit.

 

Your first plank looks really good.