With the stern finished (for now), it's time to move on to one of the more difficult processes of a wooden ship model, at least for me: planking the hull.
For the Mayflower, there will be a double layer - 1 layer added to the bottom of the hull now (which will cover the gun ports I did), and then a second layer added to that layer and to the top of the ship later on. It is done in these 2 stages so that it's easier to get at the decks without the top part of the ship planked yet; the 2nd layer is done all at once to ensure consistency.
Because this is the first layer, it will be more forgiving then the final layer. I will try my best, obviously, but if I end up with some gaps I can always use wood filler since it won't be visible in the finished model.
The first step was to draw the reference line on both sides of the ship - everything below that line will get the 1st layer of planking at this point.
The bulkheads did have lines etched on them to act as the reference line, but as these can (and did) get slightly out of alignment when the bulkheads were installed, it needs to be verified and redrawn where necessary. Luckily the kit comes with 2 templates to form the upper part of the hull - these were held in position while I redrew the lines on both sides. This line will be the top of the initial plank, which will be above the gun ports.
According to the instructions, I'll need 12 planks to do this first piece, each of which needs to have the last 3 inches on one end tapered from its full length to 80% of its width, so from 3.2mm wide to 2.6 mm. Not just one strip, but all 12 (and it looks like all the rest as well)... what fun...
Surprisingly, I got those first 12 done and only broke 2 strips (which can be salvaged for use elsewhere, like between the gun ports). I doubt they are exactly 2.6mm wide, and that the taper is perfect, but they look to be fairly close!
With those all cut, I threw them in hot water in the bathtub so they will be easier to bend to fit around the bow of the ship and curve as they run towards the stern.
After probably 30 minutes, I retrieved the 1st strip and went to work with my electric plank bender (looks like a soldering iron with a piece at the end which heats up - this is run along the wet wood to achieve the desired bend - it heats the water which becomes steam which allows the wood to bend... or something like that...) to get the shape I needed for the bow. Satisfied with the 1st strip, I did the same for a 2nd one so I could install this initial plank on both sides - you should alternate sides so the planks don't twist the hull out of shape.
Electric Plank Bender (it's hanging so the heated end isn't sitting on the table... I don't have to use it in that position):
Next it was time to install the planks...
I did the port side first, using 2 different types of CA: one that bonds in 5-15 seconds and one which bonds in 10-25 seconds. This is so I would have enough time to apply the glue to the bulkheads, attach the strip and still have a few seconds to maneuver it into place. I did this in stages rather than try to glue the full strip on at one time (i.e., glued it to the first few bulkheads, then the next and then the stern, making sure that the curve was good for the next set of bulkheads so it would have the correct curve all along the hull).
It went smoothly except for attaching it to the bow, where the glue just wouldn't stick for some reason, no matter how I held it. Finally I pulled out a bottle of Insta-Cure (it came with the glue - I didn't think I'd actually have to use it, tho) and, with the plank glued to the bow, sprayed it. Worked like a charm! This strip didn't quite go far enough, tho, so there is about a 2mm gap at the bow which I'll need to fill in later.
With the port side in place, I did the same for the starboard side plank. Unfortunately, I didn't quite have the plank lined up at the bow, so it doesn't have the same smooth curve at the bow as I got on the port side. I tried to use the Un-Cure which also came with the glue, but it didn't break the glue bond, so I'll have to figure out a way to fix it. Luckily this is only the 1st layer, so whatever I do won't be visible on the final model.
Except for the mishap at the bow, I'm happy with the way the 2 strips turned out. There are a couple of spots where I didn't quite have the bulkheads beveled correctly (they were close, tho), but I can hopefully correct these before installing the rest of the planking and then sand the problem parts of these initial strips to they lay flush.
I also don't think the rabbet strip I installed waay back is thick enough, at least not at the bow. It is supposed to be deep enough to take the thickness of the planks, but it only seems to be half that thick. This is only at the bow, so I will probably just add a small filler plank to bring it up to the correct height.
After a bit of a break, I came back and finished up the next 5 planks on both sides (as per the instructions).
It doesn't look too bad (compared to my other models, that is... it's no where near as good as some of the other ships I've seen...). It'll take a fair bit of sanding to smooth things out, plus some wood filler in a couple spots - and I need to file the port holes to get them back to their square shape - but I'm fairly pleased with the end result (as long as I remind myself it won't be visible on the finished model... as long as I get it smooth before applying that layer, it should be okay).
Next up is to add another band of planks below this one, then move to the bottom and work my way up (so probably 3 more bands of planks per side - I'll measure it tomorrow and figure out how many planks per band... probably 5 or 6).
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