Need advice to finish planking my Bounty

[Captain Al]

I am in the last stage of planking my model of HMS Bounty and because no-one is perfect, let alone a newbie like me, I can see some trouble looming ahead.  I will attach some photos to show where I'm at right now and where I think I can go with it.  The main point and reason for seeking help is that I can see that I will run out of space for planks at the bow even if I taper them from their 5mm width to 2.5mm.  I have learned (should have paid more attention in high school geometry) that since these planks will be cut on a diagonal where they end at the bow, they will in fact take up 3.5mm each and not the 2.5 mm they will be tapered to.  After reading all the tutorials and more build logs than I can count, I reach these conclusions as to what I have done wrong so far to cause this situation:  (1) ran the garboard strake too far up the bow (even though I was trying to be careful not to), (2) did not start tapering my planks soon enough; coming down from the deck they should probably all have been tapered.  Perhaps with such a bluff bow it was inevitable that space would run out.  Its been suggested that I remove some strakes and do it over, but I cannot get my head behind this for many reasons (all of them left unsaid).  So I intend to continue and believe that using a combination of correct techniques and ingenuity I can finish it up looking pretty good, even if not perfect from a theoretical standpoint.  I've read all about drop planks and plan to start incorporating them soon, but I believe it would take too many to actually end up with few enough planks forward that they'd fit.  I still need to fill the space at midships and that space does not really drop off much until the second frame from the stem.

 

My planning is this:  The next seven strakes down will need to be full width at the stern in order to be cut on a diagonal and fill the space of the apron (hope I'm using the term correctly).  Running forward, these seven will be tapered to 2.5mm and cut diagonally and will fill 7x3.7mm or 24.5 mm, lets call it 25 mm -- out of the total of 52 mm of space there is left to fill.  After that I will have about 14 planks left to fill up the midsection of the ship.  If I can use drop planks to reduce the number of planks reaching the stem to 9 (ie 5 drop planks), I could fit them in if I taper them to 2.1 mm which breaks the rule of no more than half the width of the plank.  And I realize that these math numbers will not work perfectly, so lets just say its all an approximation, albeit close theoretically.  From midships aft, I think I can work it to fit all 14 planks, so I'll not go into that.

 

Can someone please advise me if 5 drop planks in that space will look OK and if there is a particular place where they should go.  I know I have to put them over a frame, but would it be better to bunch them low or spread them over the 14 planks.  More importantly though, I would like advice on where to go with this if drop planks are not the answer or if it turns out even 5 does not do the job.  I would then end up with a mid section that comes to a point and my thinking is that the only solution would be to taper the planks to points to make them fill the space.  Can someone tell me if there are other solutions that I just don't see?

 

I thank in advance anyone who spends the time to view my pics and offer some critique of my work so far, and suggestions for how to proceed.  This site has been invaluable in my 9 month career as a modelist, and I truly appreciate all the work that goes into and the free time and advice that members offer.

[Captain Al]

I guess I forgot to mention that this is a single planking job and it uses basswood ( 2x5mm) down from the deck 6 planks, and then African walnut the rest of the way to the keel, also 2x5mm. I will post another picture in a few minutes with a second batten which will show the last problematic triangle that needs to be filled in the mid section toward the bow.  Thanks for your attention Brian.

[Keith_W]

Very hard to count how many drop planks you will need from a picture, Capt. Al. But it does look as if you will need a few.

 

One thing I should have done with my Bounty was to paint the hull below the waterline white. Will you be doing this? If you plan to paint, it can hide all sorts of planking sins and you will be able to use filler.

[Captain Al]

Here are a few more pictures.  I am using two battens now to line out the 3 bands that remain to be planked.  At mid ship and most of the way forward, the width of these bands are 35mm.  So they should accommodate 7 strakes.  Toward the bow in the top and bottom band I will use a drop strake and taper the ends to 2.4 or thereabouts (almost half width) and I can make those bands work with no pointy planks.  Its the middle band that won't fit.  And its really only the area from frame 5 forward that I don't know what to do with.  The bow is so fat that 7 strakes will fit fine up to frame 5, but then it drops off radically to that point where I have been forced to end the lowest strake of the top band and the highest strake of the bottom band at a point.  I think if I hadn't run the garboard up so high and if I'd tapered earlier up top I would have been able to round out that bow with no wedges or triangular shaped planks.  Now I can't see how I can avoid that. 

[Captain Al]

Keith, in reply to your Q re painting....I am holding that option in reserve for a worst case outcome to the full planking job.  I have also considered a second layer of planking.  But my preference now is to complete it and then stain (maybe not stain, maybe the natural color of the sanded wood will be nice enough) and varnish.  I'm actually happier with the results so far than I ever thought I would be.  A month ago I was having nightmares.  Now I'm just dreaming about how to make the planks work.  At first I was using a full length plank to go from stem to stern.  Now that I've discovered how to spill and taper I find its easier to do both of those tasks with partial length planks.

[NMBROOK]

Hi Captain Al

My first concern was that there wasn't enough fairing to bulkhead one at the bow as so much 'square' edge remains,however looking at the new set of pics I am not to sure,your battens do follow a nice line.I think hooded drop planks are the answer.If you click on my Sovereign build(link on my signature)on page one you will see several of these employed side by side.What I do recommend is that you try and get some infill into the bow in the remaining space you do have.To do these on a single planked model with minimal support is a nightmare.Bearing in mind that one drop plank takes two planks width down to half a plank width,I think this is doable,just will take a little patience.

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[Captain Al]

Yes Nigel you are right on all points.  I noticed the fairing of the last frame this afternoon and thought I would fair it down more or fill in the blanks so to speak.  But I decided to wait til I was sure how the planks will run cause they may just cross that frame and have plenty of gluing surface just beyond it.  If that's the case I just need to make sure the frame isn't standing proud.  I've never heard of hooded drop planks so I will quickly add that to my "to do" list and look over your build log.  Thanks so much for the suggestions.

[Captain Al]

I wanted to drop by this topic one last time to say thanks again to those who've offered advice and encouragement.  I think I have lined out the remainder of the hull in such a way that I can now take some accurate measurements and begin to shape and taper my planks to make it work.  I think it looks pretty good.  There may be some flaws (if anyone would point them out I'd be appreciative) but if it ended up looking as good in wood as it does in cotton shoestring batten, I will be most pleased.  I have learned a lot from this.  The lining out and spilling should have been done from the start.  But its never too late.  Anyway, thanks for your help. 

[Captain Al]

Well I thought the last post would be it and I'd jump into the actual work, but looking at the pictures once more I had a thought.  It might look better to end the upper band (closest to the deck) at a point higher up the bow, and leave some open space at the stem for the middle band planks to end.  Any thoughts?

[druxey]

If you haven't already done so, look at dealing with a bluff bow planking job as seen in David Antscherl's planking tutorial on this site.

[Captain Al]

Appreciate the advice, but I've read it probably 3 times a day (my wife says).  In truth, I've read it several times but putting it all into practice is the tricky part.  Especially after you (I) didn't follow the instructions from the outset.

[dgbot]

Since this is a single planked hull I think you should fill in between the bulkheads. This will help keep the planks from flexing and buckling insuring smooth hull. It will also give you more surface area for glue.

David B

[Captain Al]

Would you suggest this dgbot knowing that the model is open hull on starboard?   This is maybe why the kit provided 2mm thick planking strips.  I do plan to put a bit more filler up in the bow where the strakes will come to a point, but that seems to me the only place I could add much without it becoming unsightly from the open side (and obviously unnecessary on the open side).

[dgbot]

That is a different matter. Go with the advice from the others. Treat each strake as a project in itself.

David B

[allanyed]

Al,

 

If this was already mentioned above, my apologies, but I did not see it and was surprised it was not mentioned.  Not for now,  as it is too late unless you want to start over, but for your next challenge, the lower strakes of hull planking  should not run so far forward.  The planking tutorials  as mentioned above are worth their weight in gold so definitely study them.

 

Welcome to the world of ship model building, also known as the angst society.

 

Allan

[Captain Al]

Good point Allan ....(I spell my name Alan cause my parents couldn't afford the extra L).  What I think you are saying in a different way is that the garboard strake should not have been run so far up the bow.  I did recognize that early on and mentioned it in my first post starting this topic.  That as well as not tapering the upper strakes soon enough is what I believe was at the heart of the space problem.  You are so right about the angst society.  A friend and I keep asking ourselves, isn't a hobby supposed to be fun?  It sure has taught me a lot of geometry though.