Posted By Russ Emerson on January 7, 2007 at 1:50 am
I’d put on the top two strakes of the second planking, and was getting ready to stick the wales onto the hull, when something struck me as odd. The bulwarks didn’t seem to be high enough, even though the instructions and drawings were clear that the bulwarks should be two plank-widths high.
A look at the box cover art seemed to show the bulwarks as three planks high. Uh oh.
By way of confirmation, I used a cannon to check the height. . . .
There’s just not enough height there for the gun ports — and there will be even less when the deck planking is added. Uh oh.
Now, as is usual (I’m told) with kits, the planking supplied is just barely enough to do the job. And sure enough, I’d used every stick of the basswood for the first planking, and right now I’m thinking the walnut supplied for the second planking is going to be barely enough for that task.
So, what do do? I need to add another level of planking on top of what’s already there, but I haven’t the material.
Well, there’s always Model Expo….
The additional timbers should be here by the end of the week.
Category: Black Prince |
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Posted By Russ Emerson on January 5, 2007 at 11:53 pm
With the second planking ready to commence, It occurred to me I would need to prepare the wales in advance.
When doing the first planking in 1mm basswood, bending planks was not a terribly difficult obstacle to overcome. A couple hours’ soak in water, and they were flexible enough for me to bend by hand or with a crimper… not that there was much bending needed on this particular hull form.
The second layer, of .5mm walnut, seems not to need much coaxing at all for the planks to bend properly.
The wales, which helped to stiffen ships longitudinally, are necessarily thicker and heavier than regular planks. Being 2mm walnut, they are also more prone to breaking. Because of this, I needed to take additional steps to get them bent — without breaking, of course. So, I gave them a 24-hour soak prior to bending.
But then I realized that for the bend to set, I would need a form of some sort to which to clamp the wales as they dried. My eyes lit on a shape that looked to be the right size. . . the corrugated cardboard insert for a kitty scratcher.
Perfect.
Category: Black Prince |
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