HMS Diana 1794 by CTDavies - Caldercraft - 1:64th Scale - as built

[CTDavies]

Progress ist still slow...

I'm using Walnut for the wales and Boxwood for the rest. I ran out of Boxwood just after I had started so I ordered a bunch 4 and 5mm wide strips. Not only was this new material much darker than what I had it was also much wider. So I can only assume what I had been using below the wales was 3mm material. Bummer (although it measured out to be 3,5 of 4mm). I want to stay with that width as it is a lot easier using and shaping narrower planks although it might be more work in the end. Above the wales 5mm was used as the curvature was mainly in one direction and no shaping with water was necessary.

I didn't check if the formers produced a nice curved line and did end up with some deep ends and higher bits. As I was moving ahead quite swiftly and enjoying it this was only noticed after a few planks above the wale had been done. Below the wales wasn't an issue as the balsa fillers assisted in a nice and even curvature. To rectify this I used thin Balsa packing strips placed stratigically where needed between the frames and the planking.

A bit of wood filler was needed here and there. Remember this is the first planking, but I want to do this right to avoid extra work when I'm doing the second.

[CTDavies]

One thing I totally ignored was 'am I achieving a nice even curve with the planking when viewed from the top'? I noticed that I wasn't when I was way into the planking. The instructions does say 'The edges of the bulkheads must also be bevelled and shaped to follow the run of the planks', but who needs the instructions, eh? So instead I placed thin balsa shims where the run was uneven and caused dents and bruises. In some places I had to part the planking strip from the bulkhead with a sharp chisel.

Checking the run of the port side plank:

Shim pieces installed on the starboard side. These will be cut down after planking and the next layer will be started again from anew.

Also it turned out to be beneficial to connect the individual planks with strips from the inside. I use thin super glue for planking and hadn't glued the planks to each other. So the skin wasn't rigid which made sanding very difficult. In some places I also ran a line of thin super glue along the planking joints to add rigidity. Taking short cuts on the first planking can cause problems later on.

This is where I'm at right now.

Thanks for checking in, Chris

Edited 6 hours ago by CTDavies
spelling errors

[CTDavies]

 

Here you can see a very slight dent along to planking...

... this was pried carefully away from the former with a sharp chisel and a hammer (you can see the gap)...

... which was filled with a superglued balsa shim...

... run of the planks saved.