Hey there Robin,

Thank you for your encouraging words. Being my first model, it Hs been very challenging so I am really relying on the sanding to help some of the "messy" joins.
I did what you said re the smaller planks up to 3rd rib and it seems to have made a small difference and I think that it will make the gaps a little smaller. Although I will still have gaps there, I think that filling them with a little wood dust from the sanding mixed with PVC should in my favor.

I really appreciate your comments.
Cheers
Cuan

Thanks Alan. I have extremely worried about the look of the hull due to the small gaps and the "steps" between planks (some sleepless nights :))
I got a mouse sander which I think will make the difference but I just don't want to sand too much.

I would appreciate your dropping in here every now and then to check the progress. I am building the SOTS at the same time so its a bit of each ship here and there.

Cheers

I look forward to the outcome.
Just a question:
What is the process now with regards the sanding. Is it best to start with the mouse sander for the general rougher sanding and then go to a more finer grain paper?
Also, when is the best time to fill the gaps with the wood dust, in between sanding? or before any sanding?

Thanks for your help guys.

Hi Cuan, I too am a first time builder, building the SOTS at present and have received a mountain of tips from lots of experienced builders in this forum so take time if you can to read some of their diaries.... .. This is a tip I picked up from Nigel who's SOTS build is superb... Take some offcuts and make up a section of planking making sure you include some gaps in the planks roughly to the size of the gaps you want to fill on the build.... When dry, mask off the gaps in your test piece and use wood filler of as close to the colour of the planks as you can get and fill the gap, the masking will prevent contamination of the surrounding area. When dry remove the masking tape and sand it down... this will give you an idea how it will look on your actual build.... Hope this helps a little....

Regards

Alan

PVA and sawdust works fine on small gaps. If your painting the hull then an easy method for larger gaps is to shim it with off-cut planks and sand smooth when you sand the rest of the hull. If you are leaving natural and have an obvous gap i think it is always better to try and remove and rework the plank.

I have not tried the wood filler idea it does sound interesting if you can make it not obvous?!

Jase

Thanks I will try the wood dust option and fill the small gaps with that and glue. WIll get this all sanded and reworked a little and then take some pics and put them up...Thanks Guys.

Hi Cuan.

See! Now that's a hull to be proud of! Well done!
(These double-planked hull boys don't know what planking is until they've done a Constructo big-thick-planked job!)
Well done again!

Robin

Hi Cuan.

As you can see from my own build diary, (DelPrado 1/100 Victory) my own personal taste is that you can't beat a Victory in her 'proper' colours! I must admit though that Bernd's 'natural wood' Vic is an absolute masterpiece to look at and my own Constructo "Grimsby" 12 Gun 'Frigate' was made up in her natural wood too.
In her case I used a clear sanding sealer on the deck veneer and the hull and masts were varnished with an acryllic semi-matt or eggshell finish clear varnish. Having gone to all that trouble with the light wood strips for the gun deck sides it would really be a shame to paint over it afterwards.
I would go with the clear varnish with possibly a woodstain to give the hull below the waterline a different shade to the main hull and also perhaps on the cannon carriages and other deck fittings to pick them out from the mass of the hull colour too.
Hope this helps, but I think she's going to look beautiful whichever way you go if the rest is built to the same standard as the hull!

Best of Luck

Robin

Your work looks exelent. Well done for a first one.

A tip I picked up is to shamfer the inner sides of the planks a bit to get them a closer fit on the round walls of the build.

Tip on planking: When the planks are laid completely flat, the sides naturaly seal, but on a round suface gaps apears... (think of when breaking a block from a Choc bar). A slight shamfer (Bevelling) will sort out this. Practice on a piece of left over wood, using a drinking glass to get that tight round corners filled.

Always fit one plank at atime and wait till the glue has dried, before moving on. The wet glue expans leaving tiny gaps when dried.

Happy building
Marcel

Still busy with the planking. There are a few fillings I still need to do, especially on the bow and stern areas, but its coming on.

I wanted to fit the Keel/false keel so I could fill the small gaps beneath them. This proved difficult because of the differences in planking compared to the standard fit of the parts. Had to do some pushing and shoving, squeezing and holding, but it seems to have come out alright

At the back of the ship, I still need to do a lot of filling and corner sanding just to generally make everything look better. You will notice that there a few pieces still sticking out of the sides. I have just glued these in and now need to round off a little to make it look proper.

I have decided to keep the natural colours of the wood on this ship. Being my first build, I wasn't keen on painting the victory colours. I will probably do this on the HMS Surprise build. Problem with this is that the planking needs to be as perfect and gap-free as possible as these cannot be covered up by paint.

Will keep posting.