Bounty by Mike Dowling - FINISHED - OcCre - 1/45

[Bindy]

Hi Mike,

 

It sounds like you are getting some great advice, and although I am no help at all (I have not yet experienced planking) I have been following another log where a friend has just gone through the same troubles as you.  If you are interested here is a link to his page and solution that suited him (although everyone has to choose the one they like best for themselves).

 

Good luck with your planking and the method you settle on for bending!

[aliluke]

Hi Mike

Just came across your log from Hamilton's thread about the Occre vs AL Bounty. You are doing a great job.

 

As for planking. I use the technique that Bindy linked you to. I soak the planks for a good few hours in very hot water and then clamp them around a china cup. I make the bend much greater than is needed. I then let them dry in the sun. I used to use a plank nipper but find it crushes and distorts the wood. The clamping system over a suitable former - a cup works fine - is much more kind to the wood and, if well soaked, I never get any snapping. My nipper is gathering dust and I'd argue that it is a crude tool that you don't need.

 

Cheers

Alistair

[Captain Al]

Aliluke, can you put up a picture of a plank nipper? Or describe the tool a bit more. I don't understand how a nipper can be used to bend a plank. I've heard of manual plank benders. I thought a nipper was sort of like a wire clipper, a scissor that could cut angles, that sort of thing. I thought it was used to snip off the tail end of pins and eyebolts that protrude. Or even to clip to size small lengths of say 2 x 2 mm strips. I am about to post on my Bounty log a question about snipping off the ends of eyebolts, so I'll go and do that now.

[aliluke]

Sorry Mike I may have named it wrong. It is exactly the same tool that Dominic showed in post #146 in your log. Maybe a plank crimper or bender is the right word -  I didn't mean to confuse. The guy I got it from called it a "nipper" and the name has stuck with me even though I haven't touched it for years.

 

For snipping brass or other bits - very sharp scissors or micro clippers. I use high quality stainless steel nail scissors for fine brass bits and bolts. They will eat anything and their small size makes the operation more exact. Wood or brass at 2 x 2 mm would be a stretch though - that needs a saw or a guillotine cutter, for wood that is, in my opinion.

 

Cheers

Alistair

[Mike Dowling]

^{Thanks for the posts Alistair. I am not finding the big bends too challenging, the lime wood is quite obliging for those. It is the little more acute bends that are the problem. I have resorted to soaking them for hours and then found either thumb nails or gentle work the bender works ok. Interestingly with the lime wood really wet the plank bender won't cut through even if I try! The lengthy soaking does mean progress is very slow, about two planks per day but, I am in no rush. I hope to get to about 1/3rd of the way today.}

[Mike Dowling]

Al I'm really sorry as I did't reply to this very well if at all. Now I have got a bit further on I would go for the 80 to 90 percent open!! I envy you your 1mm strakes although I think I would be far too tempted to do a bit of lateral bending with those1 Still, did anyone actually say that the Bounty wasn't clinker built?

 

I am using at Dominics brilliant suggestions for holding the wood in place. I am bending where necessary as much as I can when wet by hand or with a plank bender. Then using the hull as a jig effectively while they dry and managing mostly to hold them in the right place with pins at the sides. The strakes do split very easily if I try to pin through them so that goodness I am not using the instructions using the supplied brass pins. Anyway, once the strakes are practically dry I glue them in place, use the pins again and if I am really lucky use the same holes. Lots of PVA glue and a prayer with every piece!! I will try and get a couple of pics on later.

[Mike Dowling]

Hello everybody, thought you might like to see how my feeble attempts at planking this monster are going!

 

 

 

 

And here's one I made earlier!!!

 

 

 

 

 

[Captain Al]

Great work so far Mike. I'm so proud of you and impressed by your perserverance and how you are adapting to difficult situations. It looks like you made a good decision to use filler. Do you believe that has made a tough job a bit easier?

[Mike Dowling]

^{Thanks very much Al. I haven't really got to cover much of the filler yet but yes, I do think it was a good idea. One of the hardest things I am finding is that with this very springy wood it is difficult to hold down whilst gluing so, the greater surface area with the filler has to help. So far I have only used CA once and have managed with white glue but I can see that changing when I get to filling in gaps.}

^{I'm not sure if you have too much visible on your hull but if you can I would certainly fill the stern area. You have loads more formers than I in the bow so you probably won't have to fill there.}

[Mike Dowling]

I have done another row of strakes today and am now just below the level of the second deck. I am thinking maybe now I should be working from the keel up.

Any thoughts?

[fifthace]

Hiya Mike.

 

Sorry I've not looked in for a few days. Combination of a heavy cold and a massive PC failure, thanks in no small part to Windows 8...actually it was totally Windows 8 to blame!

 

Anyway, just had a look at your planking so far...I am confused...................

 

What is it you were worried about??? I see absolutely nothing wrong with what you've done so far, cracking job!

[Captain Al]

Those were my thoughts exactly too, Dom.  Pretty nice work for a guy who was so scared to start.

[fifthace]

Those were my thoughts exactly too, Dom.  Pretty nice work for a guy who was so scared to start.

 

Mind you gotta stick up for Mike a bit here...from what I saw of the photo's he sent me of the plans/instructions, especially where the planking is concerned...think I would have had a lot of pause before starting as well :mellow:

[Mike Dowling]

^{Well thanks guys, I am blushing but I know you can't see!!}

^{Windows 8 is the worst thing since Windows 95 - that worked just fine!}

 

^{So, do you think it's time I started at the keel and work up?}

^{So far, apart from the stern a little bit I haven't got involved in much lateral stress to the strakes. Is this good or bad?}

^{I know I have to wait until I have finished the first go but, inevitably there is some unevenness evident. Should I just sand everything smooth, fill it first or a bit of both?}

 

^{PS. Sorry about your cold Dom, just keep knitting!}

[fifthace]

^{Well thanks guys, I am blushing but I know you can't see!!}

^{Windows 8 is the worst thing since Windows 95 - that worked just fine!}

 

^{So, do you think it's time I started at the keel and work up?}

^{So far, apart from the stern a little bit I haven't got involved in much lateral stress to the strakes. Is this good or bad?}

^{I know I have to wait until I have finished the first go but, inevitably there is some unevenness evident. Should I just sand everything smooth, fill it first or a bit of both?}

 

^{PS. Sorry about your cold Dom, just keep knitting!}

It was great for a while, I quite liked it. Then the other day came down to an almost frozen computer...took 40 minutes just to open the task manager! For some reason the hard disk was maxed at 100% usage. Then the PC refused to boot from my Windows 7 DVD because MS had some shadow UEFI BIOS rubbish so had to disable that...then still couldn't install because the partition table was the wrong type...had to make use of my other PC to try and rescue almost 1TB of "stuff" so I could wipe the drive completely and start again. Took me almost 2 days!

 

Windows 98SE...best OS ever made, was solid!

 

Anyway...back on topic lol

 

Yes I would say start at the keel. Still don't like the "straight planking method" but as far as the job you have done it's great.

 

Tried doing some rigging earlier...ended up having to undo an hours work because I did it wrong...focus not there today

[Captain Al]

Talk about hours of work.  More on this tomorrow.  I guess no-one said this was going to be easy.  I think challenging was the operative word.

I spent 9 hours today figuring out and solving the problem of why my beautiful little cabin would not fit under the beam and why it did not lay flush against the two outer beams it is supposed to glue to.  Problem stemmed from the use of 2 x 2 material when the whole thing was engineered for 1.5  x 1.5.  But like I said, more on this tomorrow.  At least I had not yet glued the cabin together, so my destruction work was kept to a minimum.

[Mike Dowling]

^{No new pictures to show yet but, the planking continues. Now, call me stupid but, owing to a fairly serious battle I had trying to do what you experts out there call a 'garboard strake' I decided in my beginners innocence to continue planking in a downward direction. So far (!!!!!!!!!) it seems to be going quite well.}

^{Do you think I am going to hate myself when I near the keel? I think it was CF who said don't leave the garboard until last.}

[Captain Al]

My my you are living dangerously on the edge.    I'm sure its going to work out well. 

[Mike Dowling]

I do hope so, otherwise I might just have to paint my nails!!!! If you know what I mean?

[Capt.Fisher]

Morning, Scotland!

 

Mike, in fact I am at almost the same stage as yours, with almost the same boat as yours and vith ABSOLUTELY the same dilema as yours - should I stop at the middle (whatever they call it) and start from keel upwards, or just procede downwards.

For what I know from reading a lot they all say start from the keel and meet in the middle.

For what my fingers feel like... go on as you have just god used to.... and maybe shoot yourself in the head in the end.....

Today is the day for me to decide.

So I would ask you - did you make your choice, how far have you gone and could you post some pics?

BTW, are you doing the first planking? is it followed by second or not? My AL is a SINGLE planking model, which makes things even more dreadful..

Besides, it is 2x5 mm walnut, which is quite more dogged than lime

[fifthace]

You know...just because a kit is single planked, doesn't mean it has to stay that way...

 

http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/mahogany_strip.html

 

Just saying...

[Mike Dowling]

^{Morning all, thanks Capt Fisher for your post - I must try and find your build log.}

^{I'm not sure if I have decided or not but for the time being I am continuing to work downwards. I guess the difference for us is that one side is mostly unplanked, yours more than mine in fact. I am rather afraid of ending up with a really narrow plank if the bottom meets the top is you know what I mean. If that happens I would rather it was near the keel as I don't think it would show too much.}

^{As Dom rightly says you can always plank it twice if you want to or conversely I guess and if the first layer is really good leave it alone!}

^{I don't envy you the walnut at all, it is so hard and brittle. Someone suggested to me that Beech is really good.}

^{Anyway I will try and get a couple more pictures on today.}

[Mike Dowling]

Some more progress ? pictures.

 

The lowest strake here isn't glued yet - just moulding!!

 

 

The extra bit of wood is moulding again.

 

 

 

[Cannon Fodder]

Pictures Yay! That garboard is a bastard ain't it. Once I get a strake or two in everything goes smoother for me. She's looking beautiful. Would you plank or place moulding on the edge of your decks to hide the burn marks from the laser cutting of the deck material?

[Mike Dowling]

^{CF! You can partially ignore the PM I sent you because I found your log!!}

^{The garboard is what you said which is why I stopped and carried on downwards. Thank you for saying she is beautiful because as you well know I am not planking to the rules.}

 

^{I guess your question re the deck edges refers to those that will be seen on the exposed hull? The instructions say paint them brown but I have seriously been thinking of putting an edge strip on them - I think it would look a lot better.}

[Captain Al]

Mike, it seems you have found the trick of planking the transom.  It looks fantastic.  I have wondered for awhile what to do with all the exposed edges of plywood that we'll have.  Especially the frames.  Just when I think about painting or veneering over them, I look at someone like Dan's Bounty and I don't think he worried much about that.  Maybe just a very dark stain put on those that remain exposed after all is done.  In my case, many of the frames will already be covered by added material to make them fair with the rest of the hull, and on the opposite side many will have been sanded down pretty smooth for the same reason.  Question of the day -- where are your breadfruit pots?

[Mike Dowling]

I have done the wretched pots but am not happy with my foliage yet and I wouldn't put them in until I have finished this wonderful and truly liberating experience of planking!! Do you notice a small sense of irony creeping in here?

Anyway, I though we had agreed that our models were going to be post mutiny without breadfruit!

 

Thanks for the nice comment about my transom!!! I am having serious problems with my bow and am beginning to understand why I should have perhaps stopped and worked up from the keel. I am beginning to have serious clinkering problems. I don't know whether to put in some wedge shaped 'stealers' now or see how it goes and be prepared to use quite a lot of filler afterwards. 

 

Can anyone help?

[Captain Al]

Yes we did decide on either a pre Tahiti or post mutiny ship.  I decided on the pre Tahiti since I thought the post mutiny ship wouldn't have any pots at all.  In the movie they chucked it all.  No use for pots.  You should see what I did with my pots.  I "sewed" in little rope handles on all 36.  My wife gave me lessons in making a French knot and doing this I now can start to dread the rigging in errnest.  I'll be posting pics soon. 

 

Given a lot of thought and reading, I can now understand why some calculations re the width of planks may be the best plan.  You have the option now to go with the second planking in a different manner.  If I'm understanding the whole deal, the full Monty so to speak, it comes down to that if you don't start tapering early on your planks will become narrower and narrower until you have just thin little strips to put into.  As they want no planks less than half the width of a full plank, it then behooves you to make some plans in advance.

[Mike Dowling]

Oh thanks! That really doesn't help me now. I don't understand early tapering, late tapering, intermediate or how to do it despite me begging for help from the beginning. I will have to do my second effort differently but hopefully one way or another I will have a smooth surface to play with!!

 

This is fun, I am enjoying it. This is fun and I am enjoying it. This is fun and really, I am enjoying it!.

[Cannon Fodder]

Post a pic of your bow, from what I can tell you haven't tapered at all yet each plank. You will need to start. I'm doing this on my current Swift. Starting at the third bulkhead shaving down each plank gradually towards the bow to where at the tip the width of the plank is exactly half the width in the middle of the ship. I do this with an xacto knife then and smooth with 220 grit.

 

On my Swift I have room for 6 more full width planks in the middle of the ship. I only have room for two at the bow. I will drop my next plank and cut it off at the third bulkhead cutting out a little notch for it to rest in the existing plank. I did this on my bounty launch as well. I will taper it down too to half width at the tip too just ending way before I get to the bow.

 

Hope that helps. Look into how to do drop planks. Even just search MSW for "drop plank" you probably get a lot of pictures of it.