Cutwater, Stem and Keel

Got a couple of thing done on the ship, haven't had much time to work on her,  real work is starting to pick up, a good thing for the wallet, not so good for ship building.

 

I wanted to show you the metal hatch covers for the cannons, these are included with the kit. There are five cannons a side, for a total of ten on the ship. There are another 20 holes to cut from the hull where you put these 10x10mm hatch covers, they will get painted and installed later, but the instruction want you to cut the holes now.

 

 

Picture above, not really a great one, but you can see the hatches, between the rubbing rails

 

 

The frame and the hinge

 

Here it is together, I have marked the location of these on the hull, all I have to do is cut the holes, sound like a small task, its a ton of work.

 

 

Now the 10 cannons you see just get a metal frame around them, no hatch.

 

 

 

I will paint and install the frame later.

 

I did get something done on the ship, if you remember a few post back, one of the planking post, I said I wasn't to concerned with the planks on the bow touching. The reason is that the wood has to be removed, down the center of the hull, a 5mm grove. This grove is where the Stem, Cutwater, and Keel get placed.

 

 

This grove was a little tricky to do, but I got lucky and had a file that was just the right thickness to carve it out.

 

 

With the grove carved you just sit the stem and cutwater into place.

 

Might have to use some putty, but the file was almost a perfect match.

After I got that done I started to line the bulwarks, inside.

 

 

 

Just using the deck planks, 10 mm long.



 

Getting tired of cutting cannon holes, have to sand it yet, but getting there.

 

 

Here it is with a couple cannon holes done. I looked at the plans, and didn't  see any frames that go around these holes. I may put some type of wooden window like frame around them, will see.

 

That it for now, I will get back to it, as summer is getting closer every second, and that time of the year really put a hold on ship building.

 

Thanks for all the comments and emails

Dave

 

 

 

 

 



Hull is Planked !!!!

Finally, I can say that the planking is complete. I will need a few hours to sand and fill a few spots, and it really didn't turn out that bad, I did use every piece of Mahogany I had. I asked the manufacture to send me 8 more, for the damaged planks I had. Will keep you updated on that. So I will have to pick and choose the rest of the assembly, if it requires the use of these 2x5x500mm Mahogany pieces I will have to wait till I get them, if I get them. I have a few  kits laying around, I might have to take some of wood from those and use it. I have already broke into one to get the nails I needed.

 

You can see I covered the deck with the blue painters tape, when I started sanding the red mahogany, I noticed that the pale deck wood was turning red. I like this  tape because it releases easy, I have seen people use duct tape. Then when they removed it, the bond is so strong it actually removes the wood too.

 

5 of the cannon ports removed, I think there are 15 on each side, but the other 10 are covered with hatches, so you only see 5 cannons a side.

 

Still have to cut the cannon holes.

 

Still have to trim the stern, and remove the holes for the stern gallery.

 

 

 

You can see one of the holes for the stern gallery cut ( top Left ), the hole in the center is for rudder. If you look in the right margin of this blog you can see the completed stern of the ship, with the railings and door, one of the highlights of the ship.

 

I have a few hours of sanding and filling, not really much filling, the planks are nice and tight. Once that is done, the fun starts.......

 

The next steps in the instruction are to line the inside of the bulwarks, stringers, and rubbing rails.

 

 

You can see the two rubbing rails, good thing they are apple wood, when I first looked at it, thought they were mahogany, and I don't have any left. If you look close at the instruction sheet, the lower run of cannon holes, the second from the front. Look up from there, and notice the small section of planking, the small 2.5mm sticking up. Now scroll up and look at my pictures, both side of my ship these are missing. Really not missing, but broke off. So if you plan on building this ship take care when planking, these break easy. No big deal to glue them back on, you will never know, but just something else to do.

 

This shows the liners for the inside, remember the 10mm deck liners, same thing.

 

Thanks for all the emails, and comments. Will get back to it and hopefully have it sanded, and lined in the next couple days.

 

 

Planking the Hull

I said I wasn't going to work on the hull last post, but I decided to get her done. We're almost there, should be today, at least having the wood on it. The sanding will still have to be done. OK, I have to say I have had some problems, the kits contents, including the mahogany planks I am using now where under stocked, in other word I didn't get enough. The ones I did get there were only about 2/3 of those that were usable. I knew this when I did my inventory when I opened it. I have been in contact with the manufacture, and that's we're it stands. I do believe they will resolve this issue, but they are in Spain, with the shipping time, the translation when emailing, etc. Making it all most impossible. I am on a tight schedule with this and had to cover the hull the best I could. It still looks good, just not as realistic as it could be. After all that's really what you are trying to do, make a model look as close to the real ship as possible. Thank goodness the guy I am building it for understands, and really doesn't care. Like I said before, not many people will even know that there are mistakes.

 I was missing most of the nails, 2 spools of thread for the sails, and the 2 x 5 x 500mm planks. Let me say this, out of the 6 or 7 kits I have bought from them, this is the first time I have ever had a problem. I will still continue to buy their kits, everyone makes a mistake. I will keep everyone informed of the progress, I hope they make things right.

So..... Here's the ship so far, hopefully I get it covered today, if I don't run out of wood it really going to be close.

So this is where we are now.

Started to trim the sides and cut a few cannon ports, on this side.

 

I got about 15 more planks to put on, then will start the sanding......

 

 

I know its getting a little old looking at the hull over and over again, will be done soon, if I got enough planks. Then the fun begins, we get to start putting on all the fine details.....