Another NewGuy entry - Midwest's Boston Tender was supposed to be easy!

[MarkBseau]

Hello all, I hope I can explain my stumbling here (wow, this was supposed to be the easy stuff...).

 

I'm brand new to this, to state the obvious.  But I wanted to try my hand at some building and started with Midwest's Boston Whitehall Tender, plank-on-frames. (Another one of those things I've wanted to do since I was about 10 yrs old; now I'm getting to it in my second childhood.)  The instructions and illustrations don't describe any shaping of the hull planks, and only show full planks extending from the stem to the transom, until you get to all the way down to the keel and have to start shaping to fit.  (The only photos of the finished boat don't show much detail of problem areas.)

 

But with the curves and changes in the lines from bow to stern, I just don't see how that can be. And I've pretty much made a mess of it about half way down toward the keel, because the planks want to "step" down, and I know that's not right.

 

If I wanted to quint my eyes real hard and pretend, I could sand to the outside of the hull (to onion-skin thickness in some spots) to a nice finish, but the inside would still be a mess.

 

What am I missing here?  What I really want to do is start over, but I can't even really envision any different result.

 

 

[NMBROOK]

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum

If your planking is starting to take a 'clinker' fashion then it is most certainly because the previously laid planks required some tapering.If you should if you read the planking tutorials it gives you a good idea of the correct way to plank using stripwood.You want to look at the beginners one rather than the ones involving cutting shaped planks from sheet.

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[MarkBseau]

Thanks Nigel, Geoff, and Joe.  I just looked at photos of your work, and it is impressive indeed!

I'm not sure what awards the ranks under your names (Captain, Commodore, Sub Lieut.), but they appear to be well deserved.  (The 'Officer Cadet' under mine seems fairly fraudulent at this point...).  I will study those tutorials, but at this point they seem to go into way more skill levels than I thought I'd need for this build.

 

Joe -  This boat being your first build, I am very impressed!  Beautiful job.  Your detailed comments bring up a couple follow-up questions.  

So I take it that if you can twist these small planks (not bend, which is easy - but twist them along their length), they can be made to conform without shaping them?  Since they are so small, I'm thinking that their edges don't really need to be beveled, is that right?

 

But I didn't realize that they can be wet/soaked without affecting the CA glue - is that the case?  If the plank is somewhat wet, especially with a foreign substance, it will still glue?

 

Also - Since you certainly don't want to glue the plank to the (temporary) forms, how do you make it conform to that shape (the twist)?  Do you somehow clamp it in place and glue down only a small portion of the plank at a time?  Even if that's the case, I'm not sure how to physically do that.  Or does it make more sense to ignore the advice and just glue them to the forms and worry about cutting those out later?

 

Mark

[cdogg]

Mark, I know your pain. My first boat was the Midwest Dinghy. Lapstrake planking on a frame isn't much fun for a first time builder!

 

I'm on boat number 4 now and I can say I have learned a lot since then.

 

My advice is to stray from the CA and try to use Wood glue. It settles really well after clamping and isn't as brutal if you make a mistake gluing a part.

 

You will learn a ton from reading other build logs, specifically Midwest Kits.

[allanyed]

Mark,

 

It may be easiest if you spile those last few.  There is a lot information in the tutorials at MSW on spiling.  It is easy to do and saves a lot of wood as you will get the shape using some card stock first versus your planking materials.  Once you make the card stock plan you can trace it onto the wood. Or you can just get the card stock and trial and error until you get the exact shape, then trace this onto the wood.

Allan

[MarkBseau]

Thanks cDogg, Allan and Joe. I've been busy at work for a couple days and so didn't get around to responding right away.

I'm now getting a real appreciation for all the experience and knowledge is 'out there', it's mind-boggling. I hadn't even seen the term spiling yet, even though I was aware of the process...

Joe - when I get some time in the evening, I'm going to send you a few more questions about your description above. (Just warning...)

 

Thanks,

Mark

[dgbot]

Mark, if my memory serves me there were a series of articles on the construction of this kit in Seaways Ships and Scale a couple of years ago by Kurt Van Dahm.  I do not have access to the back issues at the moment but I am sure someone can help you out.  It was a pretty good article.

David B

[MarkBseau]

Thanks Dave - I hunted around and might have found that, we'll see.  Seeing if I can get a back copy of March 2001, that looks like it might be it.

One way or another, I'm going to try this model until I get it right.