Final Planking

With the stanchions and pre-planking all done, it was time to move on to the final layer of planking.  Unfortunately, this didn't quite turn out as good as I would have liked, especially the port side... on the plus side, I've hopefully learned a few lessons for my next build! 

Note: After my blotchy stain problem on the stern, I had a suggestion on one of the modelling forums to maybe stain the planks first and then attach them.  I seriously thought about doing that, but decided to do the planking (being careful with the glue!) and then stain.  I wasn't sure about bending the wood (before or after the stain?), ensuring all the treenails were lined up, etc. 

The first step was to run one plank along the bottom of the bulwark template; the curve of this plank will ensure the rest of the planks have a smooth curve.

With the first plank in place, I began to work my way up.  I could have done each row as a single strip, but instead I decided to cut them into shorter lengths as that will look better on the final model.  Most of the individual strips were long enough to stretch across 4 bulkheads (about 10 cm), but some were slightly shorter or longer, depending on the particular area being planked.

 

 

 

 

 Almost done the upper section:

 

The forecastle:

 The stern done:

The entire upper part complete:

The section below the first plank (you can see where I messed up around the 1st gun port): 

 

Laying the first plank on the port side.  As you can see, the curve towards the stern isn't as smooth as the starboard side.  Unfortunately, I didn't quite notice how bad it was until I was a few rows in...

 The finished upper area of the port side:

 At least the bow doesn't look too bad:

 Finishing up the port side:

 

 

Looking like crap... I'm guessing that side will be against the wall... Luckily, there will be a fair bit of trim and the top part will be painted instead of stained, so hopefully the worst of it won't be as noticeable...

One of the important things was to ensure the bottom run on both sides was even, as there will be a piece across the back which will join them up (the lower wales).  Also, you'll see I did not do the entire hull - adding planking below that last one is optional, and I am still happy with how that first layer turned out...

 With both sides done (and sanded), time to move on to the treenails... 

After all of the treenails were filled, time for more sanding and then used some paint thinner to clean things up a bit and see if there are any glue blotches (hopefully the thinner doesn't cause any problems when I go to stain it - most folks were saying they use mineral spirits, but after some research, thinner is about the same and was referenced on some general woodworking sites as an alternative).  There were a couple of minor glue blotches, but with some sanding I think I got them all.

Ready for staining (almost):

While I procrastinate with the staining, I'm going to move on to preparing the gun port covers (not sure if I'll have them all open or closed - maybe one side of each?), the wales and the trim work, which will probably take a week or so.  The wales need to be bent to the shape of the bow, and then painted black, while some of the trim work needs to be stained (I haven't decided on the colour yet - the instructions say use the same colour as the rest of the hull, but since I'm going with a darker stain for the main planking, I want to use something a bit different) and some needs to be painted (some white, some red, some a red-white pattern and some a green-white pattern).  Oh, and the bottom needs to be painted white, but I haven't decided if I'll do that at this point or a little later after I add the rudder and the beakhead (the front part of the ship) so the white is consistent.