Bounty Launch by Canute - Model Shipways - 1/16 - Small

[mattsayers148]

Hey Ken,

 

How's your build going? I've been waiting to see how your stain looks.

 

Matt

[Canute]

Been busy working on non-ship stuff. I'm the membership guy for an organization I'm in and January is very hectic doing renewals and compiling a couple of reports. It's my first time doing this, so I'm proceeding with all due diligence.   I'm itching to get back to more fun (?) stuff.

I'm sanding down the transom to remove the laser label and make it look like it's built up with separate boards.

[mattsayers148]

Hey Ken,

 

So me and Jordan looked closely at the "transom" issue. The bench and backrest appear to completely cover the writing. I know you're past the point of flipping it around but this may help those just beginning. I was able to sand mine out as well and it turned out pretty good. Just had to fade the sanding as far as possible to make it less noticeable. Good luck.

 

Matt

[Cathead]

Canute, have you considered boarding over TRANSOM? Based on my recent planking job, there is enough length in the strakes to extend the few 1/16ths of an inch needed to cover an additional layer. I rebuilt mine entirely because I was unsure about this, but I would have been fine either way. 
"

[Canute]

Matt, thanks. I dithered over doing just that, worrying over the plank lengths. My muddled noggin over the holidays didn't help.

 

Cathead, thank you; that's my plan right now. I'm in the midst of staining the planks right now. I have some 1/32" stock to do the job.

 

And I'm waxing down my mold boards for the cherry frames. Yeehah!

[Canute]

The boatyard is alive and well.

I got in a stock of .020" or 1/64" strips the other day. Conditioned and stained the strips and transom. They're drying over night now. I will be covering the laser branded Transom on Sunday. And attaching said transom to the mold. Man, it has been way too long.

 

The planking I stained last week dried OK. I've been reading the kit instructions and on line tutorials for planking. And the 5 or 6 build logs, too. So much information, so few remaining functioning brain cells.    

[mattsayers148]

See you take all that knowledge and run like your bungs on fire! If you smash too much info into said brain without releasing it through your fingertips, you might short circuit!

 

Matt

[Canute]

The transom is attached to the mold, finally. And the keel is pinned to the mold, too. Later this week, I'm going to try a few full frames at midship after a 5 min boil. I'm busy with other fun stuff the next few days.

[mattsayers148]

So did you end up flipping the transom or plank it over?

[Canute]

I put some 1/64 wood I stained over the laser etch. Wasn't too wild about the graining of the wood, so I ended up flipping the transom anyway. I propped it up so that it was level and touching the horses and stern keel. Glued it up. So the quarterdeck side will be planked. Sheesh!

[Canute]

Bent the frames on the mold. Tried the one piece frames;first one bent OK, broke two. Went back to doing one side at a time. Looks like I'll have to redo a couple. They cracked when they dried. And a question, can I re-soak the frames to make them lay on the molds better?

[mattsayers148]

I don't see any issue with re-soaking the frames Ken. They might want to straighten out a little but not much. Are you doing them right away? If so I'd boil them for a quicker result. The key is like Phil says on Modern Family, "Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast; Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast."

[CaptainSteve]

Ken. I re-soaked and re-used many of the frame pieces with no problems whatsoever.

 

Also, if they are breaking, then check the grain of the wood. After many, many "whoopsies", the method that worked for me was:

(i) take length of cherry wood which has been soaking (at least an hour, though some were 30 hours in the water-bath). 

(ii) holding between fingers, pull the wood lengthwise (as though you are trying to stretch it).

(iii) whilst stretching, begin to gently (yeah, I had to look that word up in the dictionary, too) bend while still stretching.

(iv) if the grain is resisting, then turn the piece latitudinally (ie: roll it 90 degrees).

(v) if the grain is running the right way, you will meet little resistance. If so, then continue to form the bend (I used a curling iron for this part).

Edited February 15, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[Canute]

Thanks, lads. I was attempting to further answer last night, but we lost power due to the gale force winds. Sounded like I had a freight train outside my window. The interweb connection crashed.

 

Anyway, the initial frames soaked in hot water, just under a full boil, for 15-20 min. Guess I'll add a wee bit more soak time. Looks like I need to do 4 frames over. I did flex the frames to see which was the best flex direction, but admit I was rushing things. Must remember "Patience, grasshopper".

[Canute]

here's a few pics of the frame mold:

Frames on the molds. Got a couple that cracked.

 

Matt, here's the transom stained and reversed.

 

With some wintry weather rolling in this afternoon, looks like a fine time to finish off the frames. I should twist a few of the frames towards the stern to get them to lay on the molds where they have been faired. There's something almost Zen like, bending these frames.

 

 

[Cathead]

My experience was that after 5 minutes on boiling water, the frames bent easily in combination with my bending iron. I tried a few without the iron, and it still worked. Steve is right about the grain, the few I cracked were mostly because of that. I still have a full length of cherry leftover.

 

As for the twisting needed toward the bow, I did some of that free-hand with the pieces before I even put them on the mold. Just put a good, solid twist in them between your hands (in the right direction!), because it will slowly try to straighten later on. Overdoing it slightly meant that it twisted back INTO the right bend once clamped and drying. 

 

And to confirm, I re-soaked a few with no problem.

 

Agreed that the bending process is rather mesmerizing.

[Canute]

Well, the frames are shaped, dried, sanded and spot glued to the mold. I expect to fair the transom tomorrow. Starting to look like a boat.

 

I looked at fitting the larboard garboard plank, (say that 3 times fast!) since I had previously marked up the stem for fitting the hood ends. More boiled wood.

[CaptainSteve]

Take care wi' placing them garboard strakes, Ken. As I recall, there was something about them throwing the whole planking out of alignment if the garboard strakes were fitted too far forward.

[Canute]

Cap'n, I marked up some pencil lines on the stem using the plans. I've double checked the placement against the instruction pictures. And I'll do it all over again,since you so kindly reminded me. I have to keep telling myself this is not a race. Feels good when stuff fits and looks good.

[Canute]

Well, as I was looking over the frames last night, I saw that I had to redo one, due to a crack right in the bend. No way I could sand it up and make it work. Redid that frame and began transferring the plank lines from the mold bulkheads onto the outer faces of the frames.Skinny marking square works well for that.

 

This morning, I boiled up my port garboard and sheet planks. I think I have a good bend on the garboard; lines up with my pencil lines on the stem. I had a little problem holding the sheer plank to the stem. Seems the clamp I was trying to use had a taper on the tip, so I grabbed a metal binder clip to hold the plank.

 

Bending the garboard and sheer.

 

Faulty clamp. It has a taper reversed to what I needed. Not really a bad clamp.

 

The fix. You can see the pencil ticks for the hood ends in the rabbet on the stem.

 

I think I'm going to get and make up more of those little binder clips before I launch off into actually gluing my planks up.

 

My driveway may defrost by Sunday night and I won't have to do a slalom course to get down.

[mattsayers148]

Just strap on your xcountry skiis and do some telemarking! Your boat is coming along great! Are you going to use CA? After hearing issues with the white glue and spreading, I'm glad I used the CA. Now you got me on the edge of my seat in anticipation, like the birth of a little baby squirrel?

 

To go with CaptainSteve's advice, I think as long as your garboard barely clears the transom, you should be ok. I'm curious to see if you'll need a stealer plank, has anyone not had to yet? I have a sneeking suspicion that the soaking of the planks are the cause of this.

Edited February 21, 2015 by matt.s.s.

[Canute]

If I had a ramp, maybe. The snow is rotten, very thin. But the crust is glare ice.   I've a few friends go down with broken wrists and shoulders, thanks to this ice.

 

I'm not a fan of CA, though I have built a wooden freight car or 2 with some medium thick stuff. I use various CA thicknesses on resin, metal/wood, no problem. Wood to wood, I like to use yellow glue. It sets up in less than half an hour and if I screw up (or is that when?), I can undo it with isopropanol. I was pretty careful marking the hood end locations in the stem rabbet, if you look closely at that in my last picture. The garboard does hang past the transom, but not by much. I want to finesse that plank in it's place.

[mattsayers148]

I know what you mean with the CA and wood(and fingers

[Cathead]

I don't like CA either. I used it in a few places, but I prefer wood glue for all of Canute's reasons.

[Canute]

Well, a minor doubling back on myself. I've been busy digging out of the snow we had here in WNC, so I hadn't looked at the launch since Sunday. I was contemplating the port sheer plank and noticed it looked like a hockey stick on the hood end. How'd that happen, I opined.   I looked at my first 3 molds and realized I hadn't faired them after adding the cherry frames to molds 4 thru 15. If you look at the first and third photos in #50, you can see, in HD, that they aren't faired in yet. Frame 1 left a crimp in the sheer plank worthy of one of those hand planking benders. So, this afternoon, I "handled" that little issue. All nicely faired in.

The port garboard turned out much better; fits into the rabbet better than what the photos show. So, I'm hoping to get the planking started this weekend.

[Canute]

Well, a bit of progress today. Glued up the larboard sheer plank and garboard strake.

Garboard hood end fitting into the stem. Fit looks good.

 

Sheer plank. Had to use that binder clip to hold the hood end in the rabbet.

 

Transom end

 

I hope the rest of the planks lay in like these.

[mattsayers148]

Lookin awesome Ken! It all fits just perfect!

[Canute]

Wow, it's been a month since I updated this.   Life keeps intruding with gotta do's and must do's. All I can do is keep on truckin'.

I mirrored the plank bends on the starboard side with the sheer and garboard, except I had an oops. I was bending the garboard dry, just a preliminary curve to the hood end, when "snap". I busted about an inch or so off. This is basswood, so I reached for the yellow glue. Set it up and left it over night. Next time I could work it, I popped it into a pan of boiling water to "loosen" it up. Slid it up onto the frame and pop goes the glued joint. To my chagrin I grabbed the water resistant glue, not the Tight bond III water-proof stuff. Darn Hench squirrels of  the"Squirrel Whisperer"!

So, after a suitable drying period, I applied the correct glue. About this time , the Admiral walks in and asks me when I was gonna build a steam box or some such thing for doing planks. Wha?? I'm thinking I don't want to go thru too many more delays, cobbling up a box and steam maker. Oh, yeah, I just remembered. The Master (Chuck P) has a video on planking using heat from a blow dryer. I dutifully reviewed the video and said " I can do that". So, I clamped the garboard into place, turned the hair dryer to full hot and played it over the end for 3-5 minutes. Had to anchor everything down on the bench; the little huffer puts out quite a volume of hot air. Could have launched a flying squirrel. Plank end looked OK, so I went and did some other things. {Cut sticks to build up a telegraph office for my club's garden railroad}. Came back after a cooling off period and Viola! a bent garboard. Hope to get this all glued up so I can proceed with planking the hull, but we have company coming for Easter. I doubt the Admiral will let me play in the shop. Maybe Monday, after my trip to the doc for my annual exam. Happy Easter and Passover to all who observe.

[thomaslambo]

Hi Ken,

 

I'm following anything "HMS Bounty" related so I'll be watching your progress....and I might add it's looking like you're right on track for a great build.  

 

Good luck,

 

Boyd

[CaptainSteve]

'Tis good to see you back in the ship-yard, Ken.