HMS Bounty by nightop - Mamoli - Scale 1:64 - POB

[nightop]

So, I will try this build log thing.  By reading others I have already found out so much information that I know I will be referring back to as I progress through this build.

 

My background:

Lots of plastic as a kid growing up and always loved it.  I did do one wood kit back then that was a solid hull Constitution, and what I remember most about that kit was all the trouble I had with the rigging.  Now that I am much older I hope that I have the patience that I did not have a a teen.  I continued building different models through my 20's and 30's, then sometime in my late 30's early 40's I took up racing RC trucks, buggies, and cars and worked in a hobby shop part time to support my habit.  During this time I took up a new hobby that had first captured my attention as a pre-teen, astronomy.  While my equipment needs some TLC in this area, I still get out and look at the stars but I am no longer taking pictures of them.  

 

I eventually moved away from that hobby shop but am still good friends with the owner, but he does not carry models such as this.  I then started into rock tumbling and making jewelry, which my wife loved, and there are still tumblers going out in the garage.  I got my wife started on quilting which I tired to help her with but it is her therapy, so I needed something to do.  I started looking at models again, but wanted something more challenging than the plastic I was used to so....

 

I purchased the kit on Ebay on 11-28-2013 through model expo. 

 

Went and bought some tools that I know I will need at my local hobby shop, which I had only been in once before.

 

Read and re-read many of the build logs here along with a lot of the hints and tips section of the forum.  I started out wanting to build the Rattlesnake but after loosing out on a couple of auctions for it, it was time to either just buy it from the dealer or change the model.  I knew what I was looking for visually, but also wanted a ship that I knew at least some of the back story on, hence the choice of the Bounty model.  I was really hoping to stick with a Model Shipways model as from what I have read the instructions are fairly complete, whereas the model I ended up getting seems like it may be a little light on the instructions, so I am counting on members of the forum to walk me through some of the tough spots.

 

Well that is all for now.  I will post next when I receive the model.  I just hope that I can be as helpful to others as other build logs have been to me, in making me feel comfortable in my ability to undertake this kind of a new adventure.

 

Greg

 

 

[Don Jane]

Hi nighttop

You have chosen a great ship - lots of history. I started my Bounty by Billing in 2011 and just got it finished in November. It was a bit challenging at times but was a lot of fun  and I am very pleased with the final results, considering it was my first build. You will get all the help you will need rite here .

Good luck and have fun.

Don

[nightop]

I live in the other Vancouver.  Washington St.

[Don Jane]

We are almost neighbours.

[mathewp]

G'day Greg. I.ve finished this kit recently. The log is still in the kit logs in progress. It's a tricky little kit, and some of the parts are not very good quality. I just used them the best I could. Feel free  to check the log out, and let me know if you have any problems I might be able to help with.

  Have fun with your build,

            Matt.

[nightop]

Matt, I am sure I will be hitting you up for information as I progress through the kit.  Your build log was the first one I read after paying for the kit. 

 

On a side note, Fed Ex says the kit will arrive either Friday the 6th or Saturday the 7th, they have waffeled back and forth a couple of times since I recived the tracking number.  My money is on Saturday.

[nightop]

Ok, 2nd try at this post. In another thread I had to host the images, in this on seems like I have to upload. Anyway, the kit arrived today, and my initial impression was there are fewer parts and pieces than what I was imagining. So here are the pictures....hmm guess I need to sign on via a computer as I don't seem to be able to upload from my tablet.  Edit: Well after I got on my computer I was able to use my hosting to link the images...so here they are:

 

 

 

Edited December 8, 2013 by nightop

[JesseLee]

Always did like this ship

[nightop]

Well as with many other build logs I see on here we all start out thinking I am not going to get a lot of time to work on the build. This was my thinking and I thought my next post on here would be about probably not making any progress until after the holidays...however, I cut out all the wood from the sheets last night and put the pieces together so I have the basic outline of the ship done. It all fit together very nicely with only one of the (please forgive the non-nautical terms) ribs not sitting flush with the ?keel?.

 

My question here is, do I sand down the top of the rib to make it even with the top of the keel piece or do I sand down the area where the two pieces contact each other?

 

The next question is that in the build logs I have read on here most of them seem to include ?rabbiting?. My instructions do not show this step and I was wondering is this something you do when building to make it a cleaner transition or do some models require it while others do not?

 

Anyway here are a couple of pictures:

 

 

Edited December 10, 2013 by nightop

[mathewp]

I don't think you have to rabbit, rebate?. I just beveled the edge that went along the keel where needed. The kit looks exactly the same Greg, except the bulkheads I got were already cut out. Have fun with her.

Matt

[mathewp]

Sorry Greg, I was also going to answer you about the bulkhead (rib) question. It's best to check your plans and see how they fit. This should tell you  if you need to either sand or cut the slot for that bulkhead a little larger. If your bulkhead is too high, then make the slot a little bigger so it fits flush. I would also recommend a keel jig to hold your keel straight while you glue the bulkheads on square, and while you glue the first planks. Once the first planks are on then the keel should hold straight when you remove it from the jig. My guess is your bulkhead is high, so an easy fix. Only remove the same amount that you need to bring it down. Hope this helps. 

[nightop]

Thanks Matt.  I ended up sanding along the top edge to bring it down a bit as it looked like the bottom of the rib was even with the ones on either side of it.

 

I have not made much in the way of progress.  More just fitting parts together trying to make sure everything fits correctly before putting glue to anything.  As noted about I sanded down one high spot, and then had to sand another area where the false deck was too tight of a fit.  It is all looking pretty good at this point so I will probably put some glue to wood this weekend.

 

First Picture here is of the lower false deck, that can be seen looking through the openings in the upper false deck.

 

 

This picture is of the block of wood that goes at the back of the ship.  I had a hard time finding this in the box because the picture shown in the instructions has 4 smaller blocks of wood at the back of the ship.  After reading carefully the translated instructions, they never really state that you need to take the full block of wood and cut it into 4 pieces but they say that it is easier if you use 4 pieces of wood with a 2.5mm split for the rudder.  So here you see the tic marks I made at 16mm for each piece.  The actual size needed per piece is about 15mm.

 

 

 

Here is the block cut apart:

 

 

Sorry for the poor focus on this, I am just using my smartphones camera for these shots, but this is something I read on someone's build about using magnets to align the bulkheads.

 

 

 

More to come.

 

Greg

[nightop]

I was able to work on the ship a bit the past couple of nights,even after trying to chop off the end of my finger shredding some cheese.

So I purchased a stick of balsa wood and put some supports inbetween each of the bulkheads. The instructions said to put piece 23 on the back of the ship. However it did not give you any information about said piece. Using the full size plans I think I got the right sized stock and then tried to measure the correct length for the piece at 14mm, I then added 1mm for safety sake. Good think I did as 15mm was just barely long enough. Anyone else building this kit, I used 2x2x15, although if I had to do it again I would use 16mm and then sand to the correct size.

I then did a lot of sanding on the bulkheads angling the edges as shown to make the bends in the plank more uniform. The next step was to put on the first plank. I did this and found that I had not sanded enough, so I broke out the sand paper and sanded some more, I then noticed some low spots in other areas, so I used the plank that had cracked due to my lack of sanding to build up the low areas.

So onto some pictures of the progress:

 

This first shot is of the model as it sits right now.  The first plank is in place and I am going to let it stay that way until tomorrow at some point when I will take it off and then glue it in place.  There is a matching plank on the other side.
 

 

 

Close up of the plank, clips, and the balsa strips between the bulkheads.

 

 

 

Close up of the transom, here you can see where I have started to sand down the far side while the near side has not been sanded at all.

 

 

 

Greg

[nightop]

Ran into my first small bump in the road, or more accuratly the planking.  The first plank on each side went on just fine, then when I was shaping the 2nd plank the area between the last bulk head and the bow flattened out as compared to the plank above it.  So, I stopped at the hobby store on the way home and bought a chunk of balsa.  I then cut and shaped it to fit into the area between that last bulkhead and the bow to give the plank some more support behind it to matche the shape of the one above. 

 

 

 

 

I think that I will have to keep adjusting the balsa, either sanding down or adding to it to keep the bow looking good.

 

These last two shots are just showing the 1st and 2nd plank down each side.

 

 

 

 

 

Greg

[Jeff-E]

Hi Greg,

 

You have made a very nice start to your Bounty, a good idea to go with bow filler block it will help to hold the shape of the planks in this area. May I also suggest you add a few filler blocks in the stern area between the last couple fo bulkheads this will aid to keep the planking smooth in this area when the start to curve under the stern.

 

I will follow, with interest , your build

[nightop]

Thank you for the suggestion Jeff. I will look and see if I can tell the area you are speaking of when I get home tonight.  I now have plenty of balsa to make filler material with.

[nightop]

Not too much to report.  Steady progress on 1st planking.  As the attached pictures will show, I am at the 6th plank down from where the instructions said to start.  I will need to decipher the instructions after this point, as I know there are some new things that I need to start doing, part of it is planking above my current planks on the aft part of the ship, and also tapering the next planks below the point where I am.  As per Jeff's suggestion I have added some balsa blocks to the space between the last 3 bulkheads to aid in the curve that the planks will need to make there.  Will have to try and remember to take some pictures of that area.  I also need to trim all the planks I currently have laid down.  Not sure how I am going to do that yet...all I know is that it will be carefully.  So without further ado here are the two pictures for this post.

 

 

 

Greg

Edited December 26, 2013 by nightop

[Captain Al]

Greg, I will be following your progress closely.  I am interested in what looks like makeshift clamps you're using for the planking.  Am I correct in thinking that what you did was take the handles off some of these paper type clamps (for want of the name for them) and insert them into another clamp to make the extension to the clamp that will hold the plank to the ribs?  I'm still thinking about what to use when I get to planking.  I'm also wondering how different mine will be -- mine are open ribs, not solid bulkheads.

[Jeff-E]

Hi Greg,

 

Your first planking looks good so far nice and smooth and I do like your clamps  

[cristikc]

I am in stand-by with my Bounty, but the start of your is OK.

I like the clamps

All the best

Cristi

[WackoWolf]

Planking is coming along very nice, look like they are nice and snug, the clamps are the easy one to make and use, and to me they work just as good as any other clamp, but this is just my option. Your doing a good job. Keep the pictures coming.

[nightop]

Capt Al, yes the clamps are just the binder type clips you find and any office supply, or big box store.  You take the handles out of one and those supply the extension for two other clips.  You have to bend the ends of the ears out straight, then open the clip and use a pair of pliers to twist it in place.

 

Jeff, Cristi, and Wacko, thanks for the words of encouragement.  I am using this ship as a practice project, trying to learn the techniques I will need for the next build which I will probably try and follow some other members kit-bash'es.

[nightop]

It has been a bit since I updated this log, but then again there is not much to report.  I am continuing to plank the ship.  After the 6th plank from the top the instructions then said to start tapering the planks up by the bow starting at the 6th frame and working down to 3mm from 5.  Then at the back I have had to start doing a almost 90 degree bend, which at least on the first 3 planks has not been too bad to do.  I did have some problems gluing back in that area and trying to keep the plank in place.  Not shown in the pictures below is the 3rd plank that is being bent around, and I will try something a little different here in that I will leave the plank long and glue it first, rather than trying to glue it after cutting it to length.

 

I also did the planking on the upper back section the wood used here was a lot less flexable than the boxwood I had been working with.  Finally on the last plank I found that by soaking it longer I was able to get it to flex enough.

 

Last thing before the pictures, on my instruction set it only shows I think 4 rows of planks along the rear section below the transom.  When I did a test fitting in this area I think I was able to get 6 rows in.  I am going to go back and look at/read the instructions again to see if I am missing something here, but for other builders, how many rows of planks did you have to use in this area?

 

PS.  My helper is seen sneaking into the first picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Greg

Edited January 2, 2014 by nightop

[nightop]

It has been a couple of weeks since I updated this log, mostly because there is not much to report.  The planking continues, and while I don't have a picture of it, I am down to probably the last 5 or so planks per side of the first planking layer.  I have had some problems up on the bow getting the planks to conform to the shape of the ribs, but nothing a ton of wood putty won't fix. 

 

Due to the fact that I got bored with planking I went to the next page of instructions and started building some of the deck structures.  As I have built these structures I think my perspective has changed as to the scale of things.  I looked at the pictures with the instructions and made what I thought it was depicting.  As I made different structures I found that the scale of what they were depicting was not what I thought it was.  So all this says is that my later attempts were a better representation of what the drawings were trying to demonstrate.

 

 

Some of the grating, I used some ebony stain that had a finish built in to it that I had laying around from a picture frame I built a bit ago.

 

 

Just some of the structures, notice how large the ends are on the piece in the center of the picture, also the first of the grating that has the framing around it.

 

 

More of the deck objects, some of you can name off what they are, I don't know the names, and the Italian instruction translation is not the best in the world. 

 

 

 

Until next time...should have pictures of the completed first planking by then.

 

Greg