HM Schooner Pickle by rshousha - Caldercraft - My First Caldercraft Kit!

[Seventynet]

I think your first planking looks great. I notice on your hull that you apparently have the line curving upwards at the bow more than illustrated in the drawing. Maybe I am wrong but it seems to me that you will have quite an upward sweep at the bow - which is fine if that's what you want. Good luck Rick.

Best, Ian

[rshousha]

Hi Ian,

 

I noticed that, as well, after I posted the note. it's amazing what pictures do for modelling. I am now going to spile that first plank a little in order to have it follow the curve in the drawing a little more. The line on the hull allows the plank to sit flat but I think I'll add a bit of curve.

 

Thanks for noticing!

 

Regards,

 

Rick  

[Seventynet]

It's individual preference anyway. Will you be going with 20 foot planks or single planks? Individual planks are more time consuming but gives you more control, I think. Also, have you considered banding your hull? It takes additional time but let's you know if you are staying within your original predictions better. I am sure you've already thought of these things so forgive me if you've already rejected these ideas.

[rshousha]

Hi Ian,

 

I'm not sure what you mean by banding. Can you explain? I divided the hull lengthwise into seven sections. It was an interesting exercise because it showed me that there is really very little difference in the surface area of the hull from about 25% from the bow all the way to the stern. The shape of the hull sure gives one the impression that there's quite a bit of difference from bow to stern but it isn't like that.

 

So I don't think I need to keep to any plan. Considering the boat is so small, the eight planks above and below that middle plank should follow nicely. We'll see.

 

As for the lengths of the planks, I am using full-length planks. Since this is the first period ship model I have committed to complete, I am using as many shortcuts as I dare. I don't want to worry about techniques I have already figured out in previous models. I just want to be able to get this model in a display case, looking acceptable. 

 

Cheers, 

 

Rick 

[Seventynet]

I am not sure I am using the right terms, but by banding I meant dividing the hull into several bands paralell to the first line of about 3 or 4 planks width per band. But it sounds like you have already rejected the need for that based on the limited number of planks above and below the line you have drawn. It's going to look great. I am following with anticipation.

Ian

[rshousha]

Greetings, 

 

Ian, you are right about the banding you mentioned above but I think it even goes beyond that. There is a Force that needs to be Awakened. All the tips and tricks that are published are not enough. There is some unique method that each of the Masters uses to create the planking we admire. There is a Yoda out there for each of us to learn from and we will get the bits and pieces only as we improve our own skills. It is only by taking the steps that we will walk the path. 

 

The dark lines in the picture are from a wash I put over the planks to show the lines more easily. It is acceptably smooth now. There are two little spaces that still need to be filled towards the top near the bow, under the wale. 

 

So far, I have learned:

 

Spiling is an interesting but unnecessary technique. Real ships could not have been built that way. There's something to be improved here.

Spiling can be reduced by laying the planks in bands

The ultimate number of bands is the number of planks itself

There is a magical relationship between the number of planks and the shape of the hull. I doubt that the shape of the hull was designed without the plank dimension considered

 

Obviously, this is a tiny, tiny, list but I can now converse with Yoda. It is the start of my Training. 

 

Cheers, 

 

Rick 

Edited December 18, 2015 by rshousha

[JRB9019]

Rick

 

Do not awaken the Force - it is evil in this World. Force has it's Partner called!! Impatience is also from the Dark Side. Never look it in the eyes!!!

 

The Spirit of Gentle Persuasion however, is to be welcomed in to our World!!

 

Let the Spirit guide you in your endevours and you will indeed also become a true Master..

[rshousha]

Who's talking about a movie? The Force is real. Jedis are among us. I can think of a few right off the top of my head: Churchill, Darwin, Newton, QE1,  Mandela, Nelson, Jagger, Boudicea. The list is long, the Apprenticeship is hard. 

 

Regards, 

 

Rick 

Edited December 18, 2015 by rshousha

[JRB9019]

Yes Rick, the apprenticeship is hard.

 

But the Princess to whom we all hold allegiance is a fickle lady indeed.

 

Indeed, she changes her name as many times as you change the ship on which you work - as the Ship is indeed the Princess herself. The Princess and her many whims must be obeyed and the challanges she offers must be taken...

 

Never fear the spilling Rick............... “Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering.” and leads to a broken ship!!!!!!!

 

So, enough already - back to Earth for dinner it is..

[rshousha]

Greetings, I have no pictures today but I did learn something new as I am finishing up the second planking. Each plank should, indeed, be planned out for the entire hull. It's something to look forward to in the next build. 

 

Pictures coming soon. 

 

Cheers, 

 

Rick 

[rshousha]

Happy New Year, 

 

Well, I did get a fancy camera for Christmas and I'm pretty excited about one feature. It has a Bluetooth connection so I can upload directly to my computer with no wires. I can also upload directly to a phone, as well which means I should be able to connect directly to my BB.

 

The problem, though, which such a good camera is that is shows the flaws in my modelling much better than my eyes can see as I build. The resolution is so much higher than my BB that I can see stuff I've never seen before. I guess this will up the ante for my building. 

 

So, having said all that, here are a couple of pictures of the second planking. I like the way the planks sweep up in the bow. However, you can see that the tapering starts about one-third of the way along the planks. This is what created the gaps that needed to be filled in, both in the bow and the stern. Next time, I'll be more careful measuring every plank at various distances along the hull and I should be able to reduce these to almost nothing. 

 

Now, on to the stern. 

 

Cheers,

 

Rick

Edited January 1, 2016 by rshousha

[JRB9019]

Hi Rick

 

First of all a very happy new year to you.

 

I've been looking at your latest posting. You wrote that the photo's were of the second planking.

 

I must say that I am somewhat surprised. When I was building Pickle, the second planking was supplied as Walnut, whereas your photo's seem to suggest otherwise - unless I am still recovering from too much Christmas Port and Brandy!!

 

Here's a photo from the start of my second planking to show you what I mean - the first showing partial complete so you can see the different woods......

 

 

... the second showing the completed planking....

 

 

 

Regards

John

 

[rshousha]

Hi John,

 

Indeed, you are right. Jotika has that walnut for the planking. I decided to use limewood instead as I found the walnut difficult to bend. I think the walnut might hold an edge better but for this planking, it seems the limewood was a better way to go. It bends very easily and accepts paint quite nicely. Since the model is to be completely painted, it seemed easier to use the limewood instead of the walnut. I'm sure I'll find a use for it in another model.

 

I do see from your pictures that my transom planking is completely wrong. I planked right to the end of the keel and so now have to sand back the planking down to the keel. I'm having a lot of trouble fixing that up. 

 

Cheers, 

 

Rick 

[JRB9019]

Rick

 

Don't forget that those pretty copper tiles will cover a multitude of sins - though not all!!

 

Re the Transom - you've a while before you fit the Transom but I've attached a (sorry it's a little blurred) photo of my finished one.

 

If you check my log, I mentioned that I hadn;t been too happy with the way the transom was taking shape.

 

Having cleaned the ends of both the decking and the 1^st,  2^nd planking and inner Bulwark planking, I tried to fit the transom piece. I found that it didn’t fit, in fact there was a least a 1 cm gap. So using a waste piece, I spent ages shaping a filler piece. Once fitted then quite a lot of sanding and filing to make things look ship-shape (excuse the pun!!).

 

In the picture you will see the darker piece of wood at the bottom of the transom which is my filler..

 

 

Hope that helps for future reference.

 

John

[rshousha]

Greetings, 

 

Well, I managed to squeeze out of a little jam with the transom and the keel and things are starting to straighten themselves out. The paint needs a little touch-up here and there and it's going to be slow going with the copper as I am using two-part epoxy to glue the plates in place as I am allergic to CA glue (too many Pocher builds over the years). 

 

I find the epoxy is a bit slippery so this is not helping get those lines straight either. 

 

I'm getting really excited about getting to the rigging!

 

Cheers, 

Rick 

Edited January 4, 2016 by rshousha

[JRB9019]

See - all will be well that ends well!!!

 

Great looking waterline by the way.

 

You're going to love cutting the tiny slivers of copper to finish off once you get to the top!!!

[rshousha]

Fun with copper plates simulation.

 

Greetings, 

 

I carefully measured the copper plates that came with the Pickle kit and I worked out the scale weight of the copper plates to a total of 13,500 pounds or something less than seven tons of metal. Considering the ship weighed some 127 tons altogether, it seems unlikely these plates are quite made to a scale of 1/64. 

 

My measurements show that each plate would be approximately 47" x 14" and would weigh something like 9.5 pounds. The nails, according to the measurements I took, should have weighed around a half a pound each, which seems rather unlikely. The 11.75 pounds you see in the picture is for the plate and the first five nails. 

 

I used a fine Starrett micrometer to make my measurements and used the Solidworks features to give the mass of the copper.

 

So, my question, then is: are the new plates in the Amati kits more to scale? 

 

Regards, 

 

Rick 

Edited January 6, 2016 by rshousha

[rshousha]

So I went ahead and squished one to make the dimples appear a little more in scale. What do you think? Should i squish them all? It sure would be a fun way to beat up on something. 

 

Cheers, 

Rick 

Edited January 6, 2016 by rshousha

[JRB9019]

Hi Rick

 

Hmmm, I'm not too sure about this one - viewed from a distance - or even reasonably close up, as soon as the plates start to take on a patina (which isn't too long and at my rate of building is way before the ship is completed!) I think they look fine.

 

There again, of course, it's a matter of opinion!!

 

John

 

[rshousha]

Hi John, 

 

I'm certainly with you on this one. The only reason I brought up the subject is because one of Murphy's Laws took over. You know the one; anything you drop will be run over by your chair as you look for it. 

 

Once I saw that, it gave me the idea to make "lemonade from lemons" and see if this could lead to a learning opportunity. So I learned what copper-metal alloys are available in the Solidworks material tables and I learned all about the various copper alloys that were used in the copper-plating of ships through the ages. 

 

I've also learned that the poisoning of our environment is, sadly, nothing new. 

 

Regards, 

Rick 

[JRB9019]

Rick,

 

There again, you could combine your two theories. I understand that wiping lemons (yes, you have to cut them first) across the copper should result in an interesting patina............

[rshousha]

A little forward motion on one side. 

Edited January 9, 2016 by rshousha

[JRB9019]

Looking good Rick, looking good.

 

You are almost ready for the real fund and games to begin - shaping the copper around the water line is a real test of patience!!!!

 

In the end. I even resorted to fine-tuning by using a file to attempt to get the correct line - but in the end, I think there was a little copper paint and a touching up of the black paint involved!!!!

 

Enjoy the comming hours!

 

John

[rshousha]

Really?? And here I thought I was missing the package with the edge pieces. 

 

Cheers, 

 

Rick 

[rshousha]

Greetings, 

 

Cutting the edges isn't so bad. The problem is I am using two-part epoxy as I have become quite allergic to CA glue. So, it takes a while to get the parts attached. I can't go fast enough to put more than one part during the five-minute curing window and I can't prepare many cut parts in advance of mixing some glue. 

 

I have to think of something...

 

Cheers, 

 

Rick 

[JRB9019]

Rick,

 

Just a thought - are you, or have you tried using a mask when using glue?

 

I remember I had the same problem when I was glueing the copper plates, so I bought a cheap face-mask (one of those to be really used against dust when maschine sanding etc.) and it seemed to work OK..... but it didn't (see below)

 

I looked back to my log and found the following extract - hope it helps:

 

 

Warnings about using Super-Glues

 

In finishing this section, I would mention one warning to any new modellers out there.

 

You will come across warnings to use masks when using the super-glues. The warnings will tell you that the super-glues can affect your breathing/lungs etc. You may think – yes, right health and safety gone mad again - and ignore the warnings.

 

Please don’t ignore the warnings and do get a mask!!

 

After laying the first 20 or so tiles, I finished for the evening but I ended up with a really tight chest and a bad cough the following morning. So, I found my mask, and used it all the next day and even so, my chest wasn’t too good and I was really quite breathless and coughing again the next morning. The mask that I was using was actually a dust protector one, such as to be worn when doing a lot of sanding etc. etc. and I thought that this would have been good enough. WRONG AGAIN.

 

So now I have to find a shop that sells the correct masks. Funny thing is, I did use standard super-glue when fixing the 2^nd planking and didn’t have any reaction what so ever. It must be this thick super-glue that’s the problem, and of course you can’t smell anything so don’t realise what you are actually breathing in….        BE WARNED!!

 

 

 

[rshousha]

JR,

 

Indeed you are absolutely right about the super-glue. I've tried various masks and they just fog up my glasses. The most important thing for me is that this needs to be fun. I have no intention of wrapping myself up in masks and bubble-wrap to have fun.

 

if the product is that dangerous, I simply won't use it. 

 

So, I'm happy with the Titebond for the wood and the two-part epoxy for the tiles. They may not lay as flat as they would with instant glue but I'm happy just the same. 

 

No more CA glue for me. it's just not fun. 

 

Cheers,

 

Rick 

Edited January 15, 2016 by rshousha

[rshousha]

Greetings, 

 

For those of you who are waiting for my next posting with bated breath, I have six tiles left to go on the starboard side and about twenty on the port side. I tip my hat to those builders who put 3,000 of those lovely things on ships like Victory, Diana, or Agamemnon.

 

Best Regards, 

Rick

[donrobinson]

I stopped holding my breath but am still waiting    . Looking forward to seeing the results

[rshousha]

Greetings, 

 

Here are a couple of pictures of the starboard side, completed. I'm pretty happy with the result. The waterline is pretty sharp but I do have a couple of issues. First, since I'm using 5-minute epoxy, I had a very hard time getting the slight curvature needed in the tiles to conform nicely to the hull. If I had used CA glue it would have been easier to keep the plates right against the hull as the glue set. However, I am allergic to the stuff and have no intention of wearing a mask for modelling. So, I'm settling for the slight imperfections. 

 

I can use help with a solution, if someone has anything. 

 

Second, I find the size the plates quite large for the scale. They scale out to something like 48" x 18", which seems pretty large. Next time, I will tap down the round heads a little to make them more like the tops of nails. I didn't think of that until I was well into the installation.

 

Overall, if the material was a thinner (doubtful that thinner sheets are available) and if the plates were a bit smaller (yikes, if you are building Victory), they would look a little more accurate. 

 

However, overall, I would say this was quite a challenge. 

 

OK, now for the port side!

 

Cheers, 

 

Rick

Edited January 27, 2016 by rshousha