Re: Pride of Baimore II
 

Chasseur...
While waiting for the paints, figured it was time to tackle this little beast. The parts were cut out and stacked by hand, the "roughness" was a bit disconcerting, but the shape and form was apparent. I had some issues with stacking the parts in "order" below the first 6 pairs, but some deck shuffling brought things pretty much in line top to bottom. I then marked them to ensure the proper order.
After glueing them together as pairs, then as a whole, it was a bunch of sanding and half round filing. The keel piece was added after sanding the keel to fit.
I'll be doing a bunch of cleanup work, putty and such, but it was a surprisingly enjoyable few hours of work this morning. It looks like a ship's boat.
The inside of the hull is still untouched. I think I'll be doing this with a Dremel head. Then the interior details.
Small steps...
Not as traumatic as I'd feared.
Edit: I realized later on that the B&B construction method has no sheer curve, I "faked" it on the upper rail by simply sanding a curve into the upper rail, bow to stern. I'll need to completely fill the original seams and scribe in fake plank joints on the outer hull, if they are needed...

Re: Pride of Baimore II
 

Time to get going...again...
Got paints, and it's time to start some above deck work...paint the inner planksheer red, stain the stern knees, do some ivory bulwark stanchion painting before removing them from the sheet. I'll be doing a fair bit of pre-painting with all these parts, as fine detail painting once installed is inviting a real mess, at least for me. Finally will craft hawse timbers and the mainrail. Then plank the bulwarks and transom.
Still wondering why the instructions have all this fragile stuff being installed before even planking the hull...??? With all the manhandling the hull took during planking, they wouldn't have stood a chance.
Rick, Sal...still lurking? Time to play! EDIT: upon further study, I'm belaying the above deck construction for now. In anticipation of the deck planking, w/ nibbling strakes and all that , I'll be planking the deck first. Keep the fragile stuff off until later.
Dave

Re: Pride of Baimore II
 

I found this site while looking for more photos of the Pride II. This site has quite a few building photos of the original ship along with many other great shots. It will become another of my main reference sites...
http://www.flickr.com/groups/355499@N23/
EDIT: Click on Bill's name for yet more in depth construction shots...fascinating!
Enjoy,
Dave

Re: Pride of Baimore II
 

Planksheer red portion painted, Floquil red and oxide red mix, a darkish red.
I've mixed a nice plank stain, FolkArt acrylic #936 (Barn Wood) with a bit of #425 (Medium Gray). Thinned with a bunch of water, makes a nice thin light grey stain.
Decisions, decisions. The ship has gone through some changes through the years since it's launching. The planking was new Douglas fir at launching, it has greyed out with weathering. The stern light mounting now appears to gave electronic antennas on it, probably GPS, maybe LORAN receivers. Some of the deck furniture appears to have been modified some. The bowsprit now has a 5 pointed star andorning it's end (since the demasting perhaps?)The sites I've found have some great detail shots. The stern knees appear to be a darker wood than the rest of the brightwork. And there are variations in the various parts of the brightwork.
I'm planning on a full deck planking, then sanding down the deck house combings to fit the camber. Any idea of indicating trunnels is pretty well gone, the planks are only 3/16" wide. I'll be doing the Sharpie caulking technique, the "stain" nicely seals the plank surface (the Pride Adventures site has great shots of the oakum/pitch sealing process). Will also be nibbling the planks.
I have the nibbling strake planks stained, will install them in the morning. I noticed that the model plans have a slightly simplified version of the planking, it appears the actual planks are actually slightly thinner. And there is at least one strake, adjacent to the outer edge of the aft cabin house, that is thinner still. I won't go so far as attempting to duplicate things to that level.
For now, it's deck planking...stain, install, repeat...the staining will have very slight variations, it will be interesting to see how it looks. This is pretty fun, experimenting and plotting out each step, devising techniques, determining what I can and can't do.
Spring break, no busdriving next week. Hoping for some progress...
Sal, Rick...still out there? Breaker, breaker good buddies...

Re: Pride of Baimore II
 

After a very frantic several months around here, it's finally settled down to where construction can resume.
I'm into deck planking now, pretty soothing as assembly goes. I stain the planks, then lay them on with wood glue on a small brush. Using the "Sharpie" method to indicate the caulking. A bit more varied than I was hoping, but the stain is working out pretty well in simulating the weathered gray appearance of the original.
I chose not to attempt the nibbling right yet, just to avoid overcomplicating things. I may nibble some of the planks approaching the beams with their extreme angles...we'll see.
Must finish the ship...
Dave

Re: Pride of Baimore II
 

Deck planking going smoothly. I started nibbling the deck planks when I reached the transom/bulwarks aft corner, and it isn't nearly the horrible chore I anticipated. Wishing now I'd done it from the start.
My tools are my deck "stain", a hobby knife, flat file, triangular file (to get nice, neat inside corners on the nibbling strake), fine sandpaper, and a small paintbrush for applying the glue to the bulkheads...and the Sharpie pen.
About 6 planks per side to go, glued a 2005 penny against the false keel before "closing it in".

Finish the ship...no more dawdling...

Re: Pride of Baimore II
 

One deck plank to go...a slightly wider plank, as it's about a fraction of a mm wider final gap than the opposing side.

It's been a learning experience. I've learned some new techniques, particularly in creating the plank nibs, using the fine razor saw, files, and knife. The plank thickness bit me a couple or so times, creating some unevenness in the planking appearance. The "stain" is a bit uneven but I can't distress over it. And being used to applying deck planks over a sheet of plywood, I discovered how "waves" can appear out of nowhere when planking only on bulkheads.

It's all good, I'll hopefully have a picture later today. Bulwarks will be next...

Re: Pride of Baimore II
 

Hi Dave,
It looks like your model is really coming along. I haven't had any time to work on mine. I hope to get back to mine soon. I'm getting ready to sell my collection of other kits.
I've been watching this forum regularly and have seen some great work by all members.

Rick