HM Cutter Sherbourne 1763 by Bomber_County - Vanguard Models - 1/64 - First Build

[Bomber_County]

As an update, please remember this my first ship. So four planks in on both sides, learnt now how taper, splay the plank, nail with driving the nail to deep. A couple of items have reminded me that as in woodworking always clean your joints after fixing, solidified glue is not a good look. Also I hadn’t faired the bulkheads at the keel and this was obvious when looking at doing the keel planks next. Very happy (probably very wrong) with the stern but concerned about the bow. Any and all comments appreciated. Here goes…….

 

[palmerit]

Looks good - especially for a first attempt - definitely better than my first on the Sherbourne. Yeah, the bow and parts of the stern can be tricky to fare correctly - I've seen other ships like the Adder that look even more challenging at the bow. What's particularly challenging is that it is really hard to get the pins to "bite" without pre-drilling some holes because you push the pin and it hits the main frame of the ship, which is not lime wood, but something much harder. And you don't really have a bulkhead there to use clips. I've sometimes use a piece of wood along the keel that I clamp into position to help hold the piece there. And the bow and stern are good places to use CA glue, even if you decide you want to use PVA along the rest, just to get that piece to stay in position since the pins do not help as much as they do elsewhere. On my most recent (Zulu) I would get the bow end of the plank to get perfectly into place with some CA and let it sit for a while, then glue the rest of the plank into position (waiting to add glue to the rest until the bow end was secured).

[Bomber_County]

11 minutes ago, palmerit said:

Looks good - especially for a first attempt - definitely better than my first on the Sherbourne. Yeah, the bow and parts of the stern can be tricky to fare correctly - I've seen other ships like the Adder that look even more challenging at the bow. What's particularly challenging is that it is really hard to get the pins to "bite" without pre-drilling some holes because you push the pin and it hits the main frame of the ship, which is not lime wood, but something much harder. And you don't really have a bulkhead there to use clips. I've sometimes use a piece of wood along the keel that I clamp into position to help hold the piece there. And the bow and stern are good places to use CA glue, even if you decide you want to use PVA along the rest, just to get that piece to stay in position since the pins do not help as much as they do elsewhere. On my most recent (Zulu) I would get the bow end of the plank to get perfectly into place with some CA and let it sit for a while, then glue the rest of the plank into position (waiting to add glue to the rest until the bow end was secured).

Thank you and very much appreciated. The first couple of planks on the bow panicked me a little but putting it down and then thinking about it helped. I’ve also grabbed the CA a couple of items to tack elements and then to added PVA after. Using photo etch, a lot a tack fixes the position. I’m sure you are being very kind on the build so far.  Jason in the video recommends to  give yourself time and craft each plank and not drop into production mode. PVA by its nature makes you slow down. 

[palmerit]

Planking the first model, it can be a bit panic-inducing. Planking the second model, you feel like you learned something from the first one, even if you still screw up. Planking the third, you kind of know what you're screwing up and how to fix it and how to get better on the next model. My first one, I thought maybe this hobby was not for me - and in fact I did the Model Shipways Shipwright models and the NRG Half Hull in the middle of building the Sherbourne because I felt like I was completely clueless about planking and working with small wood pieces. I've seen only a handful of build logs where someone did a great job planking the first time (I bet some of them were artists or wood workers or had other transferrable skills - or they have a superpower).

[lawrence101]

For a first build you are doing very well, looks good. A lot of imperfections in the hull planking can be filled in with wood filler and sanded smooth after the planking is completed .When planking around the bow i usually dampen the planks , bend and twist them by hand until they closely fit and glue and clamp them in place, its a slow process but it works for me.

All the best on your build.

[Bomber_County]

14 hours ago, lawrence101 said:

For a first build you are doing very well, looks good. A lot of imperfections in the hull planking can be filled in with wood filler and sanded smooth after the planking is completed .When planking around the bow i usually dampen the planks , bend and twist them by hand until they closely fit and glue and clamp them in place, its a slow process but it works for me.

All the best on your build.

Thank you for your kind words. After the first few planks I realised, as you said the bow planks needed a splay / warp to fit. Having now fitted the first planking keel planks, it became obvious that I hadn’t faired the bow enough. Hopefully now going forward the bow may become easier.