Hull Planking Calculator

[MintGum]

Hello,

 

In the interest of aiding in the creation and printing of tick strips and planking templates for wooden model ship hulls, I have created a hull planking calculator.

 

 

This is free (as in beer) desktop software for the Windows OS, created simply out of curiosity and research into model wooden ship hull planking.

 

If you are interested in checking it out or testing it please download the latest release from GitHub using the link below.

 

There is no install just an .exe that can be placed where desired.  I usually keep it on my desktop.

 

Download and unzip to your desired location.  You may be asked by Windows to allow the .exe to run on your machine.

 

Repository: GitHub - mintgum/HullPlankingCalculator: A calculator to print tick strips and plank templates for wooden model ship hulls.

 

Download: https://github.com/mintgum/HullPlankingCalculator/releases/download/Release/HullPlankingCalculator.zip

 

Please read the included help text by clicking the large (?) icon on the right side of the form.

 

Any feedback is welcome and I will do my best to answer any questions.

 

Thanks,

Mint

Edited Friday at 07:30 PM by MintGum

[MintGum]

Here's an example hull and the generated tick strip and planking templates which can be printed on any standard home printer (Letter or A4 size paper):

 

 

Tick Strip Page:

 

 

First page of the plank template:

 

Second page of the plank template:

 

 

Third page of the plank template:

 

Edited Friday at 03:31 PM by MintGum

[Some Idea]

I think that this is a great idea especially for first time builders.  I cannot download the files as I run a Mac but as I understand it you simply put the length of the frame and how many planks are required and it gives you the dimensions at each station.  Then you can print out the ticker tape and apply it to your model.  Well done MintGum.

[MintGum]

1 hour ago, Some Idea said:

I think that this is a great idea especially for first time builders.  I cannot download the files as I run a Mac but as I understand it you simply put the length of the frame and how many planks are required and it gives you the dimensions at each station.  Then you can print out the ticker tape and apply it to your model.  Well done MintGum.

 

Thank you!  You are correct.  This takes the place of a planking fan and the tedious transfer of the plank heights at each rib to the plank itself by providing printable tick strips and plank templates, allowing the modeler to concentrate on lane fitting/fairing and curving, shaping and fitting the planks for each lane.  This is done by inputing the lane height at each rib (rib heights) and the space between each rib (rib spacing) in the lane being considered.  "Lane" being a faired  (i.e. smooth and evenly shaped) division of the entire hull height being planked.

Edited Saturday at 07:02 PM by MintGum

[Loracs]

This indeed look quite useful. The printable template is a good idea to transfer the shape/bevel to the strip. Will definitively try it out. Thanks!

[MintGum]

19 hours ago, Loracs said:

This indeed look quite useful. The printable template is a good idea to transfer the shape/bevel to the strip. Will definitively try it out. Thanks!

 

Great!  Thanks for giving it a try.  Hopefully those that try it out are able to give feedback (both pros and cons).

[iMustBeCrazy]

I gave it a try, I think it has potential.

 

On my prints it prints to scale vertically but not horizontally. So the tick strips and the plank widths are good but the strake lengths and rib positions are out, 18mm spacing prints as 21mm.

 

"Extra" seems to add a length to the stern but there is no allowance for the bow, I added an extra 'frame' the same height as frame 1 with the spacing being the distance from the stem and shuffled the frames along so 1 became 2 etc.

 

Some enhancements I'd like to see:

 

Make the print default to landscape. And perhaps a print dialogue that allows you to select pages (I had to print 4 pages for each test when I only needed to print page 3).

Add text to the strake printout labelling the bow and/or the frames.

Add an 'overlap' option for lapstrake/clinker planking.

 

Anyway, a good start and a thumbs up from me. I'm looking forward to v1.1.0.0.

 

Edit, I forgot to say I'm printing on A4 and proportions and scale are correct when printing from CAD without needing any adjustments.

 

Edited 11 hours ago by iMustBeCrazy