First Build

Patrick

Patrick

Joined
Mar 4, 2018
Messages
153
Points
113

Location
Charlotte North Carolina
Working on my first build of the Virginia 1819. Ordered the kit from Amazon and so far have been very impressed. Some of the pictures and instructions are wrong but not hard to figure out and fix. Did an inventory to start with and had some lumber missing. Emailed the company but no reply. :-(. Not a big deal. I have a full work shop to make what I need. Just have to source some Mahogany. I don’t watch TV so in the winter I like to find projects to do. This is my first try at ships and I am really liking it. Patience is the key and a bit of research. I don’t know how it will turn out as far as doing everything correctly especially when it comes to planking. I have read several books on ship building and there appears to be many ways of doing it. And then there is my way to add to it. I was checking out forums about my build and ran across this one and I like it so I hope to be a regular contributor and learner. I have much to learn. I would like to up the scale on my next build but I noticed the price goes up quite a bit as the ships get bigger. I thought about doing a scratch build next and making all the parts but resourcing the non wood parts and getting the right scale seems to be a issue at present. Any advice is more than welcome. I am over 60 and have been working with wood all my life. My only problem going forward is what to do with these after they are done? They take up a lot of room. Great forum!
 
Hallo Patrick,
Nice to have on board of. Our forum. You will see here are very friendly modelers and friends, which are happy to help, giving hints and Tipps in order to get your wood storage smaller.
Also very helpful is to start a building log of your built of the Virginia, so colleagues could comment and help were ever necessary and requested.
A warm welcome from my side.
 
Uwek said:
Hallo Patrick,
Nice to have on board of. Our forum. You will see here are very friendly modelers and friends, which are happy to help, giving hints and Tipps in order to get your wood storage smaller.
Also very helpful is to start a building log of your built of the Virginia, so colleagues could comment and help were ever necessary and requested.
A warm welcome from my side.
Click to expand...

Thanks Uwe!
As a novice to this new hobby I expect to need much help. As for the building log I haven’t a clue about how to do that but I will definitely be on here when I run into problems. I did some practice run on plastic models before starting the wood one mostly to work on rigging. I find it interesting that the info on the kits say 5 hours to build but in reality it is more like 5 months. I glue, clamp and wait. I am not familiar with instant glue so I only use wood glue that I am familiar with. I am in no hurry and enjoying the process. Thanks for the reply!
 
G'day Peter
Welcome​
and it's great that you have a lot to show off your woodworking skills. That's is s fantastic skill to have and I'm sure that with help from your fellow family here on SOS, you will be fine.
The main thing when starting a new kit is to make sure the the false keel is STRAIGHT. A false keel is the spine of the frame work where the shaped BULKHEADS are placed.
When you place the bulkheads on the false keel, do a dry fitting first and check and recheck the squareness of each bulkhead before glueing.
I got a special product called CHAIR DOCTOR PRO. Click HERE to see my log about this glue.
It's a PVA based glue that is very strong and porous. With this glue you can dry fit all the bulkheads and see if they are all square and then WITHOUT REMOVING the bulkheads you can run the chair doctor pro along the edges of the joins and it's glued. Wait for a day before moving to make sure it's all dry and solid.
Then each bulkhead has to be beveled so a long piece of thin timber can be bent along the hull and all the faces of bulkhead will touch the the timber.
Get on YouTube and look up how to do planking on a model ship and there you will get all the information that you required.
Havagooday and happymodeling
Greg
 
Peglegreg said:
G'day Peter
Welcome​
and it's great that you have a lot to show off your woodworking skills. That's is s fantastic skill to have and I'm sure that with help from your fellow family here on SOS, you will be fine.
The main thing when starting a new kit is to make sure the the false keel is STRAIGHT. A false keel is the spine of the frame work where the shaped BULKHEADS are placed.
When you place the bulkheads on the false keel, do a dry fitting first and check and recheck the squareness of each bulkhead before glueing.
I got a special product called CHAIR DOCTOR PRO. Click HERE to see my log about this glue.
It's a PVA based glue that is very strong and porous. With this glue you can dry fit all the bulkheads and see if they are all square and then WITHOUT REMOVING the bulkheads you can run the chair doctor pro along the edges of the joins and it's glued. Wait for a day before moving to make sure it's all dry and solid.
Then each bulkhead has to be beveled so a long piece of thin timber can be bent along the hull and all the faces of bulkhead will touch the the timber.
Get on YouTube and look up how to do planking on a model ship and there you will get all the information that you required.
Havagooday and happymodeling
Greg
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tips. I have read about 6 or 8 books on the hobby before throwing my hat in the ring. I wanted to make sure it was something I would like and that it was something I thought I could do. I will check out your log and the glue. I made some squaring blocks to put in the false keel to keep it straight while drying. But I like your idea of being able to glue after the dry fit. Isn't PVA a two part epoxy? Or am I mistaken? I have been on youtube a bit. Some are good and some not so good. All seem to teach you something. That is my goto plan while I wait for glue to set. Reseach research research......
 
As far as installing and gluing the Bulkheads to the False Keel, you can use simple Tite Bond I, II or whatever. Just put some on the "slots", fit together and make sure (of course) that that one assembly is square. With your woodworking background, I am sure you know more than I do.

If you have not already done so, you really need to have what is called a "Building Board". Here is one below as it is MDF with some hardwood blocks. I do have a slot milled out that the edge of the False Keel sets in. The Blocks further keep the Keel Straight which is VERY important.

Personally, I would glue one Bulkhead Station at at time or maybe two at at time. Let dry for a few hours and then add more. For some reason of yet determined, when I have tried to add more Bulkheads, somehow the keel winds up with a twist. It could be the wetness of the glue that causes this. Sometimes, folks have used smaller blocks between the Bulkheads to keep then at 90°. Another angle you need to be concerned with is the horizontal flatness of the tops of the Bulkheads. So alignment in all coordinates is so very important. You probably know that errors of alignment "accumulate", and when the planking starts and putting on the deck, small increments will show up later.

Oh, and one other thing. Some folks have actually dry fitted everything like the image below and took a syringe with glue to glue it all up with. This way, they knew for sure that everything was fitting. However, there is a downside to this too. Again too much glue at one time seems to warp things as you go.

frame15.jpg​
 
Thanks Donnie! I happen to have some old MDF board around. I like your setup in the pic. I did read how important it was to keep the keel straight in most all books I read so I figured it was pretty important. Just like shaping the bulkheads if you mess up on these i am sure it will create problems down the road.
 
Patrick,
One other thing that I have read so many times in books is how (usually) the author shows using a file to "Fair" the hull. "Fairing" as you probably have read is the shaping (beveling) of the edges of the Bulkheads so that the Planks will lay flat on each Bulkhead. Now, the point I am making is not about the Fairing, but rather the use of a file (if you can keep from using it).
The reason is that I have found is usually, the plyboard that comes with the box just cannot handle a file and the ply breaks off. Now, it could be just me filing in the wrong direction.
 
G'day Patrick.
There a another methods rather than a file or rasp on plywood. One other method that I had use, if the quality of plywood used on kits, is no so good, is to get s sharp knife like a staple and slowly cut away the facing edges of the bulkheads and then use a series of different grit sandpaper and a flat piece of wood. Go over the whole of the hull to smooth the edges with the sandpaper until it's as smooth as a baby's bottom.
This method, that I just explained would be the safest for a novice woodworkwe, but for someone with some years under their belt, the best way is find out what suits you the best.
Havagooday
Greg
 
The concept that Greg mentioned is ok to do and I do it like this as well depending on how much material is to be removed. The Bulkheads (perhaps about 6 of them) at midship rarely need any shaping. The major shaping or beveling of edges will be at the stern and bow of the ship.

I should have mentioned more I how I do this - sorry -
I have a Dremel Tool (powered) along with a Dremel rotary 36-in flex shaft (Model # 225-01) and a 1/2" Sanding Drum (Model # 407) on the end. I carefully sweep the edge with this at the lowest power.

The drawing is very simple, but show the plan view of three sections with the ends beveled. The planking will follow the curve.

bulkhead-beveling.jpg
 
I never thought about the Dremel. I have a dremel with a flex shaft and I have a carving bit for it and a host of sanding drums and disc. I like that idea. I will give that a go on my next build. Thanks! I have been using a very fine flat file that takes a bit of time and patience.
 
Peglegreg said:
G'day Patrick.
There a another methods rather than a file or rasp on plywood. One other method that I had use, if the quality of plywood used on kits, is no so good, is to get s sharp knife like a staple and slowly cut away the facing edges of the bulkheads and then use a series of different grit sandpaper and a flat piece of wood. Go over the whole of the hull to smooth the edges with the sandpaper until it's as smooth as a baby's bottom.
This method, that I just explained would be the safest for a novice woodworkwe, but for someone with some years under their belt, the best way is find out what suits you the best.
Havagooday
Greg
Click to expand...
I have been using a fine file and doing a bit at at time using a string to see if I have it rounded enough. I see from books and online some fill in the bow completely with filler or wood. After my first planking job I can why. Is this good practice? I don’t think I would do the filler but layered blocking I think I could do well.
 
Hi Patrick,instead of wood use high density foam for fillers,easy to cut,shape and sand too.

Zoltan
 
Patrick said:
I have been using a fine file and doing a bit at at time using a string to see if I have it rounded enough. I see from books and online some fill in the bow completely with filler or wood. After my first planking job I can why. Is this good practice? I don’t think I would do the filler but layered blocking I think I could do well.
Click to expand...
I would partly use very soft wood like balsa, easy to work on to adjust the form and you can use wood glue for the planking.....this is like I did it
 
Patrick said:
I have been using a fine file and doing a bit at at time using a string to see if I have it rounded enough. I see from books and online some fill in the bow completely with filler or wood. After my first planking job I can why. Is this good practice? I don’t think I would do the filler but layered blocking I think I could do well.
Click to expand...

G'day Patrick
I would not use a lenght of string to work out the champer or the curvature if each bukkhead. A string will make the angle of each bulkhead a ridged angle. A thin piece of timber that can be bent from bulkhead to bulkhead would be the best method.
You will notice that the timber will have a slight curvature to the bulkhead over a piece if string. Remember the planking will be done using a flexable timber anyway.
The result will be more accurate this way.
Havagooday and happymodeling mate
Greg
 
Welcome Patrick. Your with the right crowd here. They are very willing to help you along.
Sorry that I cannot help you, as I am a beginner too.
Just thought I'll let you know that there are other newbies here as well.
Looking forward to see what unfolds.
 
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