HMS Ballahoo by jim_smits - FINISHED - Caldercraft

[jim_smits]

Cheers guys!

[jim_smits]

Margin planking continuing.....

 

Another length should fit on each side before I reach the curve of the bow section.

 

Also done some testing of marking the maple planks with a sharpie and getting a slight bit of bleed into the planks, so I will varnish the edge of each plank before marking the edges for caulking.

 

 

[egkb]

Looks the absolute biz Jim.

I have 5 margin pieces per side to get from Bow to stern, could probably have gotten away with 4 but I was leaving plenty for room for error..

Great colour contrasts at the transom, should look really well back there !

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn

[jim_smits]

Cheers Eamonn.

 

Once the margins are all dry fitted I'll be planking the bulwarks and then painting the ship inside and out.

 

I can then replace the margins and start joggling and nibbling.....

Edited April 15, 2014 by jim_smits

[egkb]

Joggling & Nibbling.. rather you than me... Oh Wait !!

 

Eamonn

[jim_smits]

Finished starboard side of margin planking. Just one more piece on starboard and the scarfing to go.

 

Eamonn - this picture should show the bow piece I have used.

 

 

Completed port side margin planking.

 

Edited April 15, 2014 by jim_smits

[egkb]

Just Spotted that it is Jims Birthday today...

 

Happy Birthday Jim.. Woo Hoo

 

Take Care Bud

 

Eamonn

[jim_smits]

Good so far!

 

Visited SS Great Britain this morning.

[egkb]

Sounds like a nice way to spend the morning Jim, are there anymore historic vessels over in your neck of the woods ?

 

Eamonn

[jim_smits]

Victory and Warrior are over in Portsmouth but that's about an hour or so away....

[jim_smits]

Had a couple of days off work leading upto Easter, including my Birthday on Wednesday (Thanks btw Eamonn!), and managed to make some more progress on the build.

 

Planked the inside of the bulwarks and re-cut the gun ports. Applied filler to the planks and sanded back. Also added in the main wales.

 

 

Finally got to a position to start painting the hull inside and out. Also gave me a chance to really stretch the legs of my airbrush I bought a couple of months back.

 

Bit of playing round with paint and thinner combinations, and came to the conclusion that only a hint of thinner is really needed. Gave the outside of the hull a coat of dull black from Admiralty Paints. And....... there really is nothing like a coat of paint to show up all the flaws in a hull....!

 

Loads of micro cracks in the planking and filler sections. I think I will need to apply some additional filler with a metal scraper and really drive the filler into the cracks.

Edited April 18, 2014 by jim_smits

[egkb]

The airbrush finish should be snazzy Jim !

 

I've taken the weekend off from The Ballier

 

Take Care Mate

 

Eamonn

[jim_smits]

Got the main painting of the ship out of the way finally!

 

Took several layers of black sprayed on with the airbrush. After each layer any cracks located were filled and gently sanded back and a further layer of black added. eventually got to a point where I as happy with the finish.

 

 

Next step was to add a coat of yellow ochre to the top section above the wale. Needed two or three coats to get decent coverage over the black undercoat but the airbrush made this fairly quick and painless. Finally, some Tamiya tape was used to cover over the band of yellow to be kept over the gunports and a further couple of coats of black used. Stripped back the tape to leave the finished look.

 

Got a couple of small bleeds under the tape but nothing major, and a slight touch up on the top edge of the wale is required. Also need to paint the transom area by hand.

 

 

Painted the inside bulwarks with red ochre by hand with a couple of coats.

 

 

After final touch ups, I'll almost be ready to start the decking process.

 

 

[jim_smits]

Minor memory lapse but also need to mark the waterline and add white stuff....

[egkb]

Beautiful work Jim.. she looks very snazzy !

 

Eamonn

 

With the first photo I thought you were going for the Ninja Ballahoo look !!

[jim_smits]

Another update.

 

I've now marked the waterline and painted the lower hull in white stuff.

 

I used my helping hands to hold a B pencil at the desired height and carefully marked the waterline onto the ship.

 

 

 

Mixed up a paint for coating 'white stuff' onto the hull using 80/20 white to yellow ochre to give a off white cream colour. Gave the hull a three coats to give an even finish. Need to smooth the finish with some ultra fine grit sandpaper but essentially ready to start the decking process.

 

 

 

[egkb]

Wonderful stuff Jim.. you'd want to have seen the Heath Robinson affair I used to draw the waterline, I'd swear there was a spring in there somewhere..  

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn

 

My Ballier kicks back in tomorrow !

[jim_smits]

Minor update.

 

I've now marked in the butt shift pattern on the deck. As a result of this I also remade the margin planks at the stern posts to make it a little wider. This now gives an exact fit from the bow piece to the stern of 11 'shifts'. This should make life a little easier. I've gone with a deck plank length of 120mm, so a shift of 24mm in each case.

 

Tonight I will fix the bow and stern pieces in place and start the centre line planks and work outwards.

[egkb]

Nice.. spent some time today finalising the margins.. little more work required there before I'm happy with them.

My deck planks are a little shorter at just shy of 90mm ( just over 18ft in full scale) the same as my hull planking.

 

Best of Luck Jim

 

Eamonn

[jim_smits]

Some good progress on deck planking last night.

 

I'm using 120mm deck planks, sanded to size and to give a smooth finish, then a coat of satin varnish is applied to the edges and allowed to dry before using a sharpie to colour the edges black to simulate caulking.

 

I've started with the centre line of the deck and gradually working my way out towards the margin planks. The margins are not yet glued in place as I want to be able to cut the nibbles and 'caulk' the margins outside of the ship before fixing in place.

 

 

Made a start on nibbling the foremost margin plank on the starboard side. Using test deck planks for the moment, but got the first three nibbles cut in place. Used a heavy duty x-acto blade and VERY carefully cut the nibble. I used the test planks to mark the two points at which the deck plank 'intercepts' the margin to mark out the size of cuts to make. The test planks were then shaped to fit for a final check on the shape. Minor adjustments made using a needle file.

 

Happy so far with the process but it is quite stressful the more nibbles are cut as there is more work to lose if an error is made. If in doubt, cut less and then file to shape.....!

 

Once all the nibbles are finalised for each margin plank, it will be varnished, 'caulked' and glued in place. The proper deck pieces can then be cut to fit and glued in.

 

Edited April 25, 2014 by jim_smits

[egkb]

Very Nice Jim... Thanks for the tutorial too, I'll be following in your footsteps very soon !

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn

[Beef Wellington]

Very nice Jim, definitely want to try this next time - clarifying question, are you glueing the deck planks as you go to help keep the margin planks in the same place?

[jim_smits]

The main deck planks are glued but as per image above the three short planks that fit to the margins are loose as they will be replaced with correct lengths to fit the shift pattern.

[jim_smits]

Crazy decking fun today!

 

Completed the starboard side of the deck. Nibbing and joggling initially went well and got the first few sets of planks fitted properly. However ran into a potential problem with the planks amidships, with the last plank laid leaving a gap of only 2mm. Gave it some thought, and decided to redo the margin planks from amidships back to the stern. Used a wider plank, shaped to fit the bulwark but left the other side flat to fit against the existing planking. This gave a good result but took a while to redo.

 

Dry fitted all the pieces and ensured everything was correct, and then removed them all, varnished the edges and coloured with a sharpie. Then glued all the pieces back into place starting with the margins.

 

Just need to repeat with the port side of the decking.

 

[egkb]

Brilliant stuff Jim, that looks absolutely deadly !

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn

[Beef Wellington]

Fantastic Jim, you have set a very high standard.  One possible suggestion if the planks aren't glued - I believe that there would not have been any butt joints between the hatch/companionways where a regular plank length would have been sufficient to cover distance between them.  I found that out after I had done mine on Snake but luckily I was able to hide the main offender with a slightly re-positioned companionway coaming.

[jim_smits]

Cheers for the suggestion Jason. I thought about that after I had fixed the planks in place. However there are only a couple that would need sorting and I may be able to use a chisel to remove the pieces and replace. I'll check tomorrow.

[jim_smits]

Planks between the deck fittings have been replaced as per advice - thanks Jason.

 

Also, added the nibbling and planking at the port bow section. as before replaced the margin plank amidships. Still need to finish the stern section and then sand down the deck for a fully smooth finish.

Edited April 28, 2014 by jim_smits

[egkb]

Will say it again Jim.. Beautiful Stuff !

 

Eamonn

[jim_smits]

Decking is now complete!

 

Had a minor issue on the port side. After dry fitting multiple times and being happy with all the plank shaping, I proceeded to glue all the pieces in place. Got to the final plank that was to fit against the amidships margin plank and suddenly there is a gap....! Only about 0.5mm but seemed to appear from nowhere after all the dry fitting had been very snug. It's not very noticeable so I have gone with it and fitted the plank so that the gap is on either side and so makes it less noticeable.

 

Filed the gaps for the anchor rope and the masts and given a coat of satin varnish. Will give it another couple of coats tonight and then move onto the bulwark capping rails.