She's looking good Tim, nice clean and tidy planking so you're methods are definitely working for you..... .. She'll look completely different when she has her first skin on.... Keep the pics flowing....

Regards

Alan

Well, the first layer of planks is finally done! I think my planking skills improved a bit between the beginning and the end, and a few good lessons were learned along the way. Overall, I think it turned out well, if not quite beautiful.

Cutting the holes for the gun ports was a bigger challenge than I anticipated. Drilling a hole and then cutting the bamboo with a craft knife was difficult at best. I tried using a Dremel with a small cutting bit to make the rough opening. It probably would have worked better if my skill with the thing was a little higher. In the end, I think they turned out symmetrical enough that it will be hard to tell that a few of them are slightly larger than the others.

I also made a mistake drawing one of the lines to mark where the ribs were. As a result, the lowest rearmost portal on one side ended up intersecting a rib. I debated repairing it and cutting a new hole. But, now I think I will just have that portal closed. It's a little too far aft, but I'm hoping it will be hard for anyone to tell. Plus, I started on the side that I didn't intend to display (for just this sort of reason), so it won't normally be visible at all once I'm finished... :P

Live and learn.

Oh, and one other big lesson from this phase of the build. Do your sanding outside. Lord, what a mess....

Anyway, that's it for now. Glad to be past the bamboo planking.

And thanks for looking

Looking good Tim

Rgd Martyn

Hello Tim, excellent progress on your sovereign. I remember how tricky it was marking out the gunports, if you've only made one mistake then that's pretty good going in my book.look forward to your next layer of planking going on.

Your doing a great job and I think you have learned a lot from the 1st planking that will hold you in good stead for the next layer. The main thing you should be patting yourself on the back for is that she looks as she should at this stage of the build so you got it right. ROFL I know what you mean about sanding dust gets everywhere much to the shagrin of SWMBO, happy building

Looking good Tim very nicely done

Reg Martyn

Nice work Tim, she looks fantastic. Cannot believe how fast you did the second layer,you must have been working on it night and day.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it, and happy Thursday to the rest.

Just another quick update. Progress on the beak, and the third deck is in. I used soy sauce to stain the deck planks, and I think it turned out nice. Plus, the ship smells pretty good. lol. It gave it a nice light golden hue.

At this point, I'm dry-fitting the quarter deck and fore castle. It appears that the gunwales are a little wider than the pre-cut deck platforms, so I'm going to give some thought to that today. I can use bar clamps to pull the gunwales in (I tested it a minute ago, and they have enough flex), but I'm concerned that once I release the clamps they will just spring back to where they were. I'm not sure that glue can hold them in that flexed position. I may just have to give it a try and see what happens.

Anyway, here's a pic of where it stands now.



Thanks for looking.

Hi Tim looking good and smelling better lol

The decks are a bit small but the best bet is to use a bit of the ply to make up the difference as pulling the sides in will put to much strain on the hull . Hope this helps Rgd Martyn

Very nice work Tim, looking good.... .. I also did the same as the others, trying to clamp to close any gaps is likely to run into problems later even to the point of glue giving way after the build is finished. Too risky for my liking.....

Regards

Alan