Nothing much to say but Sanding Sanding Sanding…
One thing I found out about this Dap Weldwood Contact Cement is that it leaves these rubbery growths in between the Planks that sometimes come up on you and they’re really a pain in the ass to remove because they’re so tenacious.
I suppose that’s a testament to how strong this Contact Cement is. I do like using Contact Cement way more than using Titebond II and SuperGlue for this work.
I added some Dark Walnut Stain to some Elmer’s Putty.
Then I applied it to all the bits with holes in it…
I especially wanted to cover up the holes in the Prow where the Planks came up to it…
The Starboard side became a bit of a free for all. I knew it was misaligned from before but I ended up going from the King Fish Look… Now it’s ending up being like a… I don’t know what.
I tapered the planks down to approximately 2.5mm.
This is where I am now…
And look at what I have going on in the Stern!…
This is what happens sometimes… These things happen. And it’s up to the skill of the model maker to find a solution so that it doesn’t look like it was ever a problem… Hmmm what to do???…
Yeah… I’m going to have a few crazy planks, I can tell that right now!!!
Ok, I got some wonky ones… Totally improper but I’m just going to stick them in.
So here is the Starboard side so far with the Filler planks in… I mean… It doesn’t look too bad.
As I work to making all these oddball Filler Plank sizes… I must say that this is probably one of my favorite parts about this hobby… Making these pieces. It’s especially rewarding when I use the Dremel to carve out a piece and when I go to try it out in the vacant spot and it fits perfectly. I’m getting better and better at that. Getting it right on the first try.
Here we are with the Long Fish Look on the Starboard side.
This is the look I get after I glued in the 3 Planks starting at the Keel with no tapering.
The next Planks I taper down to around 3 mm… Then 2.5mm… around there.
Then, I use Fillers in the Turn of the Bilge section.
Started putting in these Stealers on the Stern Post area.
I will have a couple of really oddball sized Stealers for the Starboard side.
I’m in the process of closing up the lower band.
I started with the 3 Lower Strakes which had no tapering.
Then the next 4 Strakes I tapered down to about 3mm, however, towards the end, I ended up taking 2.5mm off.
I still would up having a huge gap in the middle which I now have to close up using Filler Strakes.
To be honest, I like to try and avoid using these unsightly Fillers by calculating the exact amount of Planks to go to the Bow and Stern.
I ended up with the Long Fish Look again… So using Fillers was a foregone conclusion.
It looks like I’ll be Painting the bottom anyway so I’m not too worried about it.
Another thing to mention too…
The instructions on the Dap Weldwood Contact Cement says to attach the pieces between 15 minutes to 2 hours.
I find that leaving it for too long… Even an hour, makes the glue lose its bonding quality.
So now I’m using Titebond II to finish up the Planking
I’m pretty happy with the Port side. It closed up pretty good. I’m only going to need a few spots where I have to use Putty. Mainly along the Prow and there’s a couple of spots on the Fillers that need Putty.
It’s better than having Putty all over the place! LOLOLOL!!!… 🤣🤭😲
I was looking at the remaining Planks necessary in order to complete the 2nd Planking.
As I was installing the 1st layer of Planks, I noticed this same phenomenon happening. I call it the Long Fish Look. It’s hard to get around. I haven’t quite got my head around it yet…
No matter what I do, I have to compensate for that narrow portion on the after side of the ship… Hmmm…
Started gluing in the Lower band 2nd layer Planks with the Garboard Plank…
I was just thinking to myself that with the second layer planking that there is probably a lot of different methods of doing it. I’ve seen guys say that they start from the Keel and work their way up and other guys say they have started from the Sheer Strake and work their way down… but the way I do it is that I follow the same planking pattern as the first layer… Although it does necessitate making filler planks when I reach the middle.
Anyway on the box cover it does show that the bottom is painted white below the Waterline with black midsection and the woods showing along the gun ports. I’m going to definitely keep the Wales and the Gun Port deck unpainted that’s for sure. I haven’t decided on the rest of them yet though.
I’ve always figured for “painting” to be the last resort because the ultimate goal would be to show off the work that was put into the Plank work… If it turns out good enough that is
I have the top Bands completed for both sides. I’m disappointed that the Starboard and Port Sides didn’t come out quite even but it’s not that big of a deal.
I did make one phenomenal fuck up though… I applied the glue to the wrong side for one of the Planks. It’s not a big deal… I’ll just sand it off later.
I was just thinking to myself that I only have about five more planks for the supper band of second layer planking.
After their sell go onto during the lower band similar to the first layer planking… and to meet up in the middle.
I’m just hoping that I’m going to be able to steer it towards a clean finish with these marble planks. I’m used to working with .5 mm thickness instead of this 1 mm thickness planks.
Anyway I’m on my dog walk right now where I think that I come up with a lot of solutions.
As a thought unless I forget…
When applying the planks make sure that you’re facing into the last board that you’re pushing up against. Another Bird’s don’t be pulling down on a board because then you won’t be able to see what you’re doing.