Artesania Latina 1/50 - Dallas Revenue Cutter New York 1815

[bluriusz]

Hi everyone!

After a wee break I'm back! My first try with a wooden ship. Rather old kit, but is looking quite nice. I've read that it's not too bad for a beginners so here I am. I just hope I won't like it as these kits are quite expensive

First look inside the box. Loads of parts, smaller and bigger, metal brass plastic, lot of wood obviously, two massive plan sheets and a smaller instruction book:

First thing I didn't like was that most of the parts have no number or anything like this on it. In the book attached there is a list of all parts but most of them have no description. I should have put a spacer between two frames but I'm not sure if the parts I found are the parts I'm looking for.. Especially the smaller wooden parts you can see on picture above in plastic bag. Most of them are fillers between frames that need to be sanded/carved to desired shape.

Anyways, started with a keelson, frames and false deck. Wasn't easy as the keelson was a bit bent and I couldn't place it properly in the middle of false deck. I've managed somehow to make it nearly centered (there is a 1mm difference between sides in some frames - I hope there will be not many problems with planking).

That took surprisingly long time to do, so today I've managed to add two fillers in front of the skeleton. A loooooot of sanding. This block on the right is starting point

That's all for today. I'll hopefully finish skeleton tomorrow and will be ready for planking, the big challenge and thing that worries me the most..

Thanks for watching!

 

[papa 695]

It looks like a very nice start

 

[PaulTRose]

oooo, i like the look of this

 

[Polux]

Very nice and interesting build! Is different!

I have many respect at those kits...:oops:

 

[bluriusz]

Hi everyone!

I had a nice plan to work on the model this week, but I was ill and I couldn't manage to concentrate to make any progress.

Today finally I felt better and manage to do the fillers in the stern part of the ship. But first, I'd like to show you completed part of the bow:

Then I started to work on the stern side.

It wasn't easy to figure out which of the filler blocks go where as there was no description on the blocks. Managed to do that on one side:

I was quite happy with the result, but then I started the other side and it appeared that one part (on picture above first to the right) is smaller than the firts one.. I had to make some adjustments and after starting point:

I have managed to achieve this:

Next step is the first layer of planking. I hope I'll manage

cheers!

Bart.

 

[flyjoe180]

Looks good Bart. I've often wondered what these kits are like, so watching with interest. Nice to see something out of balsa and wood.

 

[bluriusz]

Thanks flyjoe180. It is in fact interesting, but not easy at all for someone who has no experience whatsoever in building ships, don't even mention wooden ships.. The instruction says that this is easy wooden model kit, good for a beginners Well.. Planking is a pain in the back. Never did it before so every step is carefully considered. There are three different ways described in the instructions. Decided to mix them all a bit It's a very very slow process. Today, over three hours spent on the model and that's the effect:

FIVE planks over three hours.. I need to place another 7 or 8 on this side, then will attack the opposite.

Close up for the bow:

For bending I've choosen the method which includes steam. It's good enough, but you need to be quick I didn't want to use ammonia, as it stinks as hell.

Stern:

Bear in mind that this is underplanking, so it can have some defects and gaps etc, as the final layer will be on top of it.

This is how I worked it out. I've placed the first plank just under the false deck, then started somwhere in the middle, not far away, just to meet the first plank on top of the bow. Then I worked up to the first plank. Just two more left to finish upper part, hopefully there will be no gaps to fill As I've mentioned earlier. It's not easy at all.. I have to combine the glue and pins to fasten the planks in place. Then I need to take out pins as I guess that I'll need pins later on (instruction says I should use glue only).

Next update will be when I'll finish this side. So sometime next week possibly :D

Thanks.

 

[monica]

looks real nice, have always like the wooden kits and would lov to try one one day,

great start and coming along nicely o_O

 

[Graham D]

The planking can be very time consuming. What I did was buy a length of plastic waste pipe to accomodate the length of the planks and capped off one end and made the other cap removeable. Filled the pipe with hot water, put the planks in and put the cap on and left of about 10 -15 minutes. The wood was thoroughly soaked and plyable. When you have finished the model you can use the pipe to store the left over wood. View attachment 89458


Model Ship World forum has a section dedicated to planking with a couple of very comprehenisve guides.

 

[bluriusz]

Thanks @Graham D. I've read that soaking the planks in water make them less durable and there is more risk to split and break. In fact when I - by accident - dipped the end of the plank in hot water even for a couple seconds made the plank too soft and split, so I don't know.. Does it make any difference what kind of wood is it? I have walnut planks in this kit.

 

[Graham D]

Thanks @Graham D. I've read that soaking the planks in water make them less durable and there is more risk to split and break. In fact when I - by accident - dipped the end of the plank in hot water even for a couple seconds made the plank too soft and split, so I don't know.. Does it make any difference what kind of wood is it? I have walnut planks in this kit.

I don't know, but I had no splits on my HM Granado, which was double planked with base wood and another harder wood.

 

[bluriusz]

@Graham D: I've tried soaking the wood in water for a while and ended up with wasted plank. It must be different type of wood or just old planks (the kit was made in 1979).

Anyways, I've completed underplanking. Without sanding it nor cutting the excess planks. It doesn't look too good to be honest, but I have in mind that more important then good looking is that the surface is smooth for the finish layer.

The bow: Some gaps, but as I said above, I'll care more about top layer

I've sanded one side of the hull to see if the shape is ok. I'm rather happy with the result.

The stern is a bit worse as bigger curves make it really hard to plank:

But overall, I'm quite happy about the shape of the hull from the stern, and it will be much better when I'll finish sanding. At the moment I couldn't do too much as you can see, there are still some pins to hold the planks

Now the most important part of the hull job. Sanding.. I need to go to b&q for some sanding paper

See you soon!

 

[flyjoe180]

Some very good craftsmanship here, coming along nicely. Look forward to seeing the sanded result.

 

[bluriusz]

Thanks @flyjoe180.

I've done sanding of the hull to a nice satin finish (no pictures, as you can't really see it, but the feel is great) and started decking.

Managed to do half of the deck with a nice result I guess. For caulking effect I've used a dark brown thread stolen from my wife sewing materials This was dead easy comparing to planking.. I hope the rest of the build will be like that, but I have still in mind that second layer of planks still waits for me..

Cheers!

 

[flyjoe180]

Looks good!

 

[Graham D]

Looking good, The deck planking is nice and neat

 

[steve scan]

Enjoying this you are doing a great job of the planking.

 

[bluriusz]

Hello guys!

Ufff, planking is finished! Finally! That was a veeeery very very very demanding task I must say. Only couple more thing to place on and around hull and I'll be able to work on the rest. Can't wait to be honest. I had a crisis at some point, as I haven't seen anything else than planks I'm quite happy with the result, but I know that some experienced ship builders will have a laugh looking on my work:D

Anyways:

I was a bit surprised to see top planks a bit dark, but completed looks great

I've tried hard but didn't manage to acheive perfect symmetry

Next things to do:

Waterway on the deck. I did one and it was a nightmare, as the wood is quite fragile and I need to make a very very big bow. Hard to do, but managable.

Then one more waterway in the stern, drill the holes at correct angle in the splashboards and then make and attach knighthead bitts on it. Locate it at the bow and then move to the stern to finish back of the ship. That might be tricky, as there is three bits of wood need to be shaped plus one needs to be cut inside.. After this is just attach keelson.

Found few more mistakes in the instruction book. Couldn't find needed piece of wood, turned up that I've been looking for wrong type of wood.. :/

One question to some shipbuilders. There is nothing about it in the book.. Do I use the pin to finish planking or should I leave it as it is, just glued?

Thanks.

 

[Graham D]

Hello guys!Ufff, planking is finished! Finally! That was a veeeery very very very demanding task I must say. Only couple more thing to place on and around hull and I'll be able to work on the rest. Can't wait to be honest. I had a crisis at some point, as I haven't seen anything else than planks I'm quite happy with the result, but I know that some experienced ship builders will have a laugh looking on my work:D

Anyways:

I was a bit surprised to see top planks a bit dark, but completed looks great

I've tried hard but didn't manage to acheive perfect symmetry

Next things to do:

Waterway on the deck. I did one and it was a nightmare, as the wood is quite fragile and I need to make a very very big bow. Hard to do, but managable.

Then one more waterway in the stern, drill the holes at correct angle in the splashboards and then make and attach knighthead bitts on it. Locate it at the bow and then move to the stern to finish back of the ship. That might be tricky, as there is three bits of wood need to be shaped plus one needs to be cut inside.. After this is just attach keelson.

Found few more mistakes in the instruction book. Couldn't find needed piece of wood, turned up that I've been looking for wrong type of wood.. :/

One question to some shipbuilders. There is nothing about it in the book.. Do I use the pin to finish planking or should I leave it as it is, just glued?

Thanks.

Once the glue has dried I remove all the pins, from the hull planking.

 

[John Huggins]

Looking good bluriusz, nice start, keep up the good work.

John