Phantom 1868 by lcopley98 - Model Shipways - First Build

[lcopley98]

Hello shipbuilders, 

 

After only a few days of biting my nails, my Phantom kit finally came in via USPS. It arrive much faster than I thought it would. My confirmation email told me that it would be shipped via FedEx Ground and that it would take 5-7 business days. It only took USPS a couple days, so I was pleased. Upon opening the shipping box, I was greeted by a very nice looking Blue Box!

 

 

Opening the box overwhelmed me. The plans seem so detailed, but this is only a beginner design. I thought, "What have I gotten myself into?" Haha! I double checked to see if all the parts were there. I must be honest and say that this took awhile. I have no idea what some of the parts listed are. So, I'll say that I think everything is there! But, if I end up missing something, I am sure it will be no problem to replace later on down the road. 

 

I examined my hull and found that it seems a little crooked in some spots. Especially the rear of the hull. 

 

 

 

Do I just sand this down to make it look as even to the naked eye?

 

Well, I began trying to fit the two hull templates together. Reading Chuck's practicum, I found that I need to shave a little bit off the back end. (I think that is the stern?) However, I found it very difficult to remove the wood with my Hobby knife and #11 blades. You can see how I tried to take a little bit off and sand it down. I think that I will buy a carving tool tomorrow to make this a little easier. That is, unless someone else has a better method. So the back of the hull I left a lone for the evening with hopes that I would find an easier method to trim some of that excess wood off. 

 

Onto the front of the hull, I also ran into some problems. I've read the other build logs and everyone seems to bypass this step pretty easily. I was't kidding around when I said I was a beginning. I have two photos and was hoping someone could give me a little advice on how the front template should fit. 

 

 

In the picture above, the 'R' matches with the edge of the boat (These are called rabbet lines, I think). Am I correct in living that line up with the edge? If this is the case, you can see the gap that remains toward the middle of the hull. I have tried a couple different things with sand paper, but I can't quite seem to get that to lower any. Where should I sand to make this fit better? Or....

 

 

I matched the template up toward the center of the hull. You can see that this way there is a small gap in the curve of the hull and the R line does not quite match up to the edge. My gut tells me that the first image is right, I am just not sanding in the correct spot to make the template match up. 

 

Problems problems! And this is only the beginning. Any help is welcome!

[Guest Tim I.]

Welcome to MSW! 

Model Shipways always provides excellent kits, with a lot of detail. Since you are building with Chuck's practicum you should be in pretty good shape. 

 

I look forward to seeing how your Phantom shapes up!

 

- Tim

[Ulises Victoria]

Hello. I remember one if my first trials at wooden ship building was a solid hull one.A friend told me to lay the template on the hull and draw a mark with a pencil on the hull on the spots that I saw the template touching the hull. Sand until the line disappears and repeat. Long process but I think this is the most accurate. In all honesty, I have to say I have never built a solid hull kit, but this was what my "teacher" instructed me to do.

Hope this helps.

[Dan Vadas]

G'day mate (you got a name?),

 

If you're having trouble getting enough wood off with sandpaper I have two suggestions :

 

1. Use a fairly heavy grit paper to take off the bulk - 60 or 80 grit. Then use gradually finer grades (150 and 240) to finish the hull, ending with about 400 grit.

 

2. Use a cork block to which you can Contact Cement the 60 or 80 grit paper. This will give you a lot more pressure than you can apply with your fingers alone, and will make a flatter hull without dips. Use a 2nd cork block filed into a half-round for the concave areas around the stern. To replace the paper, heat it with a hair dryer set on MAX or better yet a heat gun - the paper will peel off the block easily.

 

  Danny

[Blue Pilot]

I have not built the Phantom but my first ship model was a solid hull also and you have made a good choice. I would wager Dan is right and you may be using too fine a grit of sand paper at this stage. Also remember to just relax, its not like we are building the Space Shuttle here. The wonderful thing about wood and a painted hull all mistake can be fixed or covered up You will make mistakes we all do a lot of this hobby is identifying problems and coming up with solutions so dont worry you will do fine. When a mistake happens you fix it and move on but so far you are doing fine.