Starting to get into the swing of this build now as it's all I can think about when I'm work. I have fallen asleep on numerous occasions with visions of planks and clamps running through my head. All very exciting (if slightly disturbing).
Without further ado, here's a picture, because it shows the first planking run!
Planks, planks and more planks
As I said in the previous post I've got to cut around 150 planks from the basewood provided by AL. The method I've used to do this is fairly straightforward. I carefully measured one plank so that it was exactly 150mm. I then use this plank to measure the length of a second plank. I use a mitre block and small hacksaw to make the first cut into the plank, so that I know it will be straight. I then finish cutting the plank using a "bone saw." I then hold this plank against the test plank and carefully sand the edge until their edges are flush. And that's it! Rinse and repeat, and repeat, and repeat, and.......One thing I am trying to be careful not to do is to sand the guide plank (I've actually written on my guide plank "Guide plank - do not sand!") If I slightly sand the plank each time my planks would become progressively shorter. To try and stop this I've just been checking the measurement of the guide plank every so often. As soon as I see it get shorter and start using a new one. At some point I might try and post some pictures of this process in case anyone is interested.
Caulking
Caulking is another example of a word that I saw thrown around a lot when I first started looking into model ship building, which I had no clue about! However, it seems to be a widely discussed topic so it didn't take too long to get an idea of what it was about. Basically, when a real ship was built the gaps between planks on the deck would have been filled (caulked) to make them water tight. This gives the gaps between planks a dark colour. There are a few ways of simulating this effect on a model ship, but the most common (and easiest) I have seen is simply the run a HB (or #2 for our American friends) pencil around all the edges. This is the technique I have used, so for every plank I have made I have used the side of a HB pencil to "colour in" the edge.
Laying those planks
Now comes the fun part! Time to lay the planks. I originally thought that I would lay the first plank with it's edge along the middle line of the deck, which would help me keep it straight. However, looking at the instructions, and other build logs, I decided to lay the first plank right in the middle of the deck. So it runs over the middle line of the deck.
I applied some glue to the back of the first plank and carefully lined it up, starting from the bow. To hold it in place while the glue dried I lay some other planks across it and clamped these to the deck like so:
I then simply repeated the process making sure the planks were in line and butted tightly against each other. I had to cut and measure a smaller piece to finish off the first run.
And voila! My first plank run.
To speed things up from here I will start planking smaller sections of the deck so that I can clamp down a few planks at once, rather than doing one run at a time. Hopefully the first plank run will make sure everything lines up!
So, from here I will be doing lots of the same thing, getting all the planks cut and layed, so updates may come slowly, but I will try and post the occasional photo to show how I am progressing!
Happy building!
Jonny.
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