Re: Armed Virginia Sloop by Model Shipways
 

Welcome to the group, Dan. Model Shipways is real good with replacing missing or damaged parts. Their policy is to replace any with no questions asked. I broke a bulkhead and my walnut keel was warped. Filled out the form online at their website and received replacements in a few days.

Status on my model is I'm finishing the second planking on the transom (Chapter 2 of Bob Hunt's Freshman Practicum). I'm finding that the walnut planking is very easy to split. Especially, when making the tiny pieces between the stern window.

Happy modeling,
Len

Re: Armed Virginia Sloop by Model Shipways
 

I have received some questions regarding how I worked up the hull with balsa filler blocks, and I thought I'd share my answers here.

1. Did you shape the frames before you installed balsa?

My decision to do the balsa filler blocks came late ... I'd glued the bulkheads into place, carved and shaped the basswood filler blocks at the bow and faired the frames. I hate to admit it, but I decided to go that route because, while working on shaping the wing transom and the filler block below it, I wasn't paying attention to how I was holding the ship, and snapped a mid-ship bulkhead off at the keel. #-o That wasn't the first bulkhead I'd broken, and I figured out that gluing it back wouldn't be strong enough. So I went to my local Michael's and bought one of those random grab-bags of balsa from Midwest. The resulting construction is not only stronger, but I've found that the balsa surface between the bulkheads is great for planking. I can easily push T-pins into it along the open side of a plank to keep it flush against the previous plank during glue-up.

(I've since seen comments on other forums about the weakness of the 3/16" basswood bulkheads that Model Shipways uses. It made me feel a bit less of a klutz for having broken them.)


>2. Did you use balsa for the bow filler block or the kit supplied wood?

I used the supplied basswood. :idea: I also used another trick I came across while scanning ship modeling forums, for shaping the bow filler blocks. Using some of the spare wood from one of the bulkhead sheets, I duplicated the center profile former from the bow to just fore of the bulkhead B slot. I then slipped the A bulkhead into this "fake" bow, glued the blocks to the bulkhead (but NOT the fake bow) and then rough-shaped the blocks. This allowed me to go at it from all kinds of angles that wouldn't have been possible if the full ship (and walnut stem!) had been along for the ride. When I'd got it most of the way, I slipped the A bulkhead, with attached blocks, back onto the profile former for final glue-up and fairing.


>3. When the frames didn't quite reach the bearding line, did you make repairs before adding balsa?

I dunno ... I guess I took my bearding line from the bulkheads. I didn't see enough discrepancy between the parts and the plans to worry about it. (Maybe I wasn't paying attention. :yikes: )

>4. What sanding method did you use? Hand or block

I bought my kit directly from Model Shipways, and they had (have?) a package deal where you get the kit, a book by Ben Langford and a set of tools. In the tool kit was a nice 1" X 5" sanding block with rounded ends. That's what I used. Particularly when you're sanding a surface of mixed woods, you want to avoid hand sanding because you'll dip into the softer woods and end up with very nicely rounded lumps.


- Tom

Planking Plans don't make sense to me.
 

I've finished the first layer of planking from the shear line to the bottom of what's labeled Belt A on the plans. I figured I'd next tackle Belt C which starts with the garboard strake along the keel, and move up to finish with Belt B.

My first order of business is to tack battens in place to define the line between Belt B and Belt C.

I started ticking off the marks for the upper edge of Belt C, beginning at the bow and working back. When I got to the mid-ship bulkhead, I was surprised to see a big discrepancy between the fore and aft planking views (Plan Sheet 2).

At bulkhead G, the outermost bulkhead shown in the fore planking view, Belt C consists of the garboard strake plus two planks. This matches the instruction book's description of Belt C on page 17: "This belt consists of the garboard strake a little wider than 3/16" and two broad strakes about 3/16" wide amidships."

However, at bulkhead H, the outermost bulkhead shown in the aft planking view, Belt C includes three strakes above the garboard strake instead of two. :no:

So I figured the plank line in the aft planking view flagged as the divider between Belt C and Belt B must be mis-marked: it must be the next lower line.

Ticking off the distances near the stern from the planking profile view at first seemed to confirm this, although nothing on the plans seemed to exactly match up. But then that didn't make sense after all, because Belt B wouldn't match its description on the same page of the instruction booklet: "Belts A and B each include six equal width planks amidships ..." and both the fore and aft mid-ship planking views show six planks for Belts A and B. If I choose the lower line for the B-C divider from the afte view, Belt B has six planks in the fore panking view and seven in the aft planking view. :yikes:

So nothing's adding up. The aft planking view has one more strake at midships than the fore planking view. I'm a bit at a loss as to how to position the battens that will guide my dividing line between belts B and C, particularly at the bow. :=((

Has anybody got any insight into this? If not, I'm just going to come up with my own solution and not expect the plans to provide accurate planking measurements.

I think perhaps I should go to bed and not try to force a solution tonight.

- Tom

Solving my planing problem
 

Once again I am reminded that there's a fair amount of "scratch" even with an "entry level" kit.

I took stock of my situation with the planking, and determined that the best approach would be to figure things out myself. I took a lot of measurements, comparing the width of the A and B bands on the plans (they're roughly equal), the width of my finished A band, where a similar-width B band would end, and how much space was left for the C band.

Based on what I've completed so far, I figured that my C band would, at midships, have to consist of three 1/4" wide planks, with some narrowing toward the bow and with two stealers toward the stern.

I then reviewed what basswood I had left, and realized that I'd used the 3/16" almost exclusively for the A planking band. Where I probably should have used some 3/4" stock and done more spiling, I edge-bent instead. If I am to have enough of the 3/16" planking left for the decking, I'm going to have to finish up the rest of the hull planking using the 1/4" and 1/8" basswood strips. I'm sure I'll have enough stock ... I'll just be honing my spiling skills a bit more than I'd expected. :=)

The only siginificant departure of my approach from the written instructions is the wider two planks above the garboard strake, but looking at the profile view of the planking plan (sheet 2) it looks like that's what they've got going there too. This is especially visible at the stern where, thanks to a couple of stealers, Band C flares out into five planks that are each just a shave away from a full 1/4".

I find I'm still using Titebond almost exclusively ... the only place I've used CA is to "tack down" the stern ends of planks after their sharp bend below the wing transom. I'm more comfortable with a glue that gives me time to "fine tune" a plank's position, and that forces me to take my time and think about what I'm doing.

Maybe after I've done a few more models I'll feel more at ease with the process and be happy with the speedier pace of CA, but for now I feel like I'm not ready to take the training wheels off my bike.

Back to work. :build:

Re: Armed Virginia Sloop by Model Shipways
 

I think I'm the slowest guy on God's green earth. I finally finished putting in balsa filler and fairing the frame - except for the filler pieces at the stem, which I'm working on.

When I trimmed my main deck to accommodate the actual location of extensions, it split with the grain between extension openings. I'm considering just installing it with those tiny pieces missing. I'll have to make up for their thickness later. It's not too bad as a whole.

The Cabin deck and quarter deck seemed to work out fine. I'll attach all the decks once I'm finished with the stem filler pieces.

I've been nipping and tucking here and there to make things fit, but have the nagging suspicion that I'll be paying for it later. I think planking this hull is going to be a really interesting process.

I'm also taking the freshman course, and will be following the things as described there, but I'm learning a lot of things from everyone, especially tomse3, regarding techniques and methods that help in the construction.

I hope to post some pictures at things move along. I have to admit, I haven't had so much fun in a long time - adult play, what a great thing! Dan

Re: Armed Virginia Sloop by Model Shipways
 

Hi Dan,

The sub deck is very fragile. I snapped several pieces of the subdeck at the bulkhead extensions, while fairing the hull. I would hold the hull in my hands upside down while fairing and then forgetting where my hands were I'd hear the snap of another piece of subdeck. I re-glued those back on, but found later in the process of planking the hull and adding the interior waterways that the area between doesn't serve any purpose.

I've just completed Chapter 2 and will be posting pictures soon. Building up the transom and the first layer of planking took quite a long time. I snapped a couple of bulkhead extensions also, but now thats shored up by the addition of the exterior planking. This is my first attempt on planking and I'm fairly satisfied with the results. I have some areas I'm not completely satisfied with, but I'll get better as I learn. I do believe that if it wasn't for Bob Hunts practicum I would have been much more frustrated with attempting to build this model with just the contained plans. It was a long process getting through Chapter 2, but its nice to see the model taking shape. I have a concern about an area at the counter where the second level of planking meets, but hopefully that will be rectified as the building process continues.

This is a very enjoyable, although frustrating at times pastime. We'll just keep prodding along and hopefully when we're finished it will resemble the picture on the box.

Happy modeling,
Len

Re: Armed Virginia Sloop by Model Shipways
 

Hello, Len,

Although I am taking the course and following that sequence (in theory) I am also practicing some things along the way that I learn from others, especially tomse3. I put in the balsa filler blocks too, but my sanding job didn't turn out nearly as neat as Tom's. I'm getting ready to put in the knighthead and timberhead pieces then move on, but am looking ahead.

I've read the first 2/3 of Frank Mastini's book "Ship Modeling Simplified" and find his techniques interesting, particularly his method of planking the deck. I have a couple of questions and welcome thoughts from anyone:

1. Why not just plank the deck solidly (with the exception of the mast joint opening) without framing around deck objects - then just sand those fixtures including the waterway to the correct height when assembled and glue them to the deck in the correct position? If you did what I'm thinking the margin around the deck would not exist at all. Maybe it's a matter of following the building sequence from a purist perspective following the methods of the era in which the original was constructed. Obviously, it would also alter the modeling experience too, but I was wondering if anyone has other thoughts on it.

2. Also looking at Frank Mastini's approach, I think he would use the bulkhead extensions for planking, but be sure his planks didn't stick to the extensions. Once his planking above the deckline was in place, he would saw off the extensions at the deckline and remove ther.

Then he would install vertical planking the full width of the deck planks, then run internal longitudinal strakes making a total of 3 layers - ending up with an internal finish on the deck side similar to what we'll end up with this kit. My guess is that he'd simply cut his scupers and canon ports through his final finish. Has anyone read Frank Mastini's book? If so is that your take on what technique he might use?

Just interested. I'll probably follow the exact approach of the course from here on in regardless of what I might be wondering.

Dan

First outer planking layer complete.
 

I finished up the basswood layer of planking last night. I've sanded it a fair amount ... sufficient for under the walnut layer.

I followed the kit's recommendation to do the first layer as if it would show, following the shipwright's planking rules. I figured I'd need the practice, and it wasn't until I got near the end that I began to feel confident that I probably wouldn't mess up the final walnut layer too badly. :yikes:

I also got around to putting together an album in the member galleries. The file names have the photo date embedded in them in the form YYYYMMDD, so you can see how long it took me to get from one stage to the next.

Here's a sampling of pictures from my album: ...





One thing I've become rather obsessive about is trying to get a decent shot of the stern, because when I was building it I never felt I had a good set of images to go by. So here are some images, but keep in mind they'll only show you how I built the stern, not necessarily how it's really supposed to be done. :=)





- Tom

Re: Armed Virginia Sloop by Model Shipways
 

Hi Tom!

Congratulations!! Looks really good, I'm on my way to view your album!

Keep up the great work!

Bill

Re: Armed Virginia Sloop by Model Shipways
 

Tom,

Great job. I like how your stern area turned out. I have a problem with mine. On the lowest plank of the counter my hull is tapered too much because of this I rounded off this plank too much. When I installed the whale it's not meeting correctly. I may have to remove the counter's lowest plank and add some filler to the hull to achieve the right placement. RIght now the whale plank has to bend too severely to meet with the fashion piece on the counter. While I'm still pondering what to do I went forward and added the inner bulwarks. I had problems with splitting the ends of the walnut planks when squaring out the gun ports. These planks don't like to be sanded in a back and forth motion. On advisement from the Practicum forum I found you must use a new #11 X-acto blade. Sharpness is imperative. I see you reamed out the hull for the suppers. They look great. I only cut them in on the spirketing plank and likewise on the black strake.

It's very rewarding to see the model taking shape, but a slow and tedious process. I'm really enjoying it. What a great hobby.

Happy modeling,
Len