Half the hull covered

Half the Hull is covered.

This is a lot of work each plank is held to the bulkheads with two nails, that need to be pre-drilled, and glued. I am writing another post to explain the planking process, but will give a general overview now. The idea of planking is to have the planks run horizontal across the entire distance of the ship. This of course becomes a problem because the bulkheads very in size. You have to measure the bulkheads, a seamstress tape works well, as you are measuring a curved surface.

Measure all the bulkheads, from the bulwark to the bottom of the keel, and write the number down on a sheet of paper. In my case the measurements were from front to back, I guess I should say, from the bow to the stern, 55mm, 75mm, 100mm, the next 4 were 105mm, then 100 and 100mm. Then measure the width of the plank, these are 5mm, approx., the very from 5.2 to 4.8, so five is the average. So, if you do the math you can see that 21 planks will fit the 4 largest frames, but getting them to fit into the 55mm frame is impossible. So you will have to tapper the planks or use drop planks, stealers, and wedges. Again, I am working on a complete post describing these processes.

Lets get back to the ship, as the post says I am about half done.

You can see in the picture above the front isn't closed, you have to cut that out anyway, so I wasn't worried about having them touch. You do have to be concerned about them lining them up.

You have to really pick the wood you are using for the first 4-5 planks, make sure there are no knots in the wood, that is a major bend, and they snap easy.

You can see I write the length of the frame on it, and the tick marks for the width of the planks. I haven't started tapering the planks in the picture, but the next planks will be, a rule of thumb when tapering them is to not exceed 1/2 the width. So in my case no planks will be less the 2.5mm.

Here are a few more photo's of the ship so far.

You can see some of the nail heads cut off in this pic. still have to shape and sand will wait until the hull is complete.

Three of the cannon ports cut away. I think at this point, I will again put it off to the side and grab the instruction book. I need another break from this. I think I will do the railing for the stern, not really sure, anything but planking the hull.