Hail me hearties!

Before casting off and setting sail, the story so far is: I started HMS Beagle some years ago without any knowledge of wooden models and subsequently abandoned her due to moving house and problems with the planking. However having committed to HMS Victory part build, I found the "Planking for Beginners" tutorial and decided to resurrect HMS Beagle as a practice or "in between" project to increase my chances of making a better job of Victory. So the plan is to be 1 step ahead of Victory with Beagle.

I also hope that the following photographs will not give any one nightmares but some encouragement to other newbies by letting them know they are not on their own and there should be all the answers from the other helpfull shipmates on here.

She's a double planker, so twice the chances to screw up. Actually I think you are suposed to make all your mistakes on the 1st ply, correct it with filler, and then make a better job of the 2nd ply and not need filler.

So the first planking.......

{I'm sorry there is only an attachment so far, I will post actual pictures when I find out how. I can then add comments as we go. Watch this post, I WILL be back soon.)

The filling has been done and sanded back so we are now ready to start adding planking again.
The lines of the ribs have been pencilled in, and the position of the planking marked on each using a calibrated strip of cartridge paper. This is my method of determining the number of planks at each rib and subsequent tapering or drop planks required.
I cut some cartridge paper planks on a photo trimmer. These are the same width as the planks to be used (4mm) so they can be laid on and overlapped easily as the bows curve.
The resultant depth at the prow can now be measured and compared with that at rib 3.
5x4mm = 20mm at rib 3. At the prow the width is 10mm therefore each plank will have to be tapered to half width at the prow i.e.2mm. This is the maximum any plank should be tapered. (ref: Rules of Planking, Planking for Beginners)


I have not gone beyond 5 planks at this stage as the last one is starting to bulge on the lower edge as it bends giving the impression of clinker build. This means that some adjustment will need to be made on the following plank to correct this and will be covered in the next section after consulting "Planking for Beginners".
For the moment the actual planks will be tapered, bent and fixed.

I tried clamping the 5 planks between aluminium strips as a guide for tapering. This proved to tricky, so resorted to clamping them individually in a modelling vice with the forward end raised by 2mm so that it could be tapered to 4mm at the 3rd rib position. This being a straight taper. Only the top edge was tapered using a sanding block.
The planks were bent by wetting with water containing some washing-up liquid to speed up the process. Only the length to be severely bent was wetted, as the planks were flexible enough to accommodate the straighter side of the ship. The plank was then bent over the shaft of a hot soldering iron. (This was supplied via an earth monitoring device used for lawnmowers etc. If I did not have this I would have unplugged the iron before applying the damp plank, just to be safe!)

The 5 planks were all temporarily pinned on without glue to confirm the tapering and setting the bend. They were subsequently numbered, removed then glued back in their former order again being held with the lancets.

Watch this space to see the result and the next step

Looking good Tarbrush,what kind of clamps or pins are you using there and where can you get them,they look the business.

Thanks for that,i'll check out the local chemists.

Ahoy Budgie,
That superstructure will never look right on that hull. Looks like she is something sleek like a clipper:Cutty Sark? What made you mothball her? If that was your first you were doing very much better than me, particularly since she is single planked or is that just the primary. It doesn't look like much Polyfiller will be required. Are you going to take her up again or are you into the faster ladies now, you obviously like 'em sleek?
By the way stick to their tea, it helps with steadier hands and vision!!
Must get the next batch of pics of Beagle up but can't put her down to pick up the camera.