HMS Sovereign of the Seas

[Guest]

It is years since I did a 'Billings' ship,well a trawler anyway. If I had space I would love to do another. Great work, keep it coming.

[Guest]

Just treated myself to this plank bending thingy for when the time comes, any one tryed one & are they any good !!!!.

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Till next time

John

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[Ian M]

Well you have been busy! You made a good job of the longboat, very tidy.

Remember when ýou plank the big one, to do a little on each side at a time. If you do all one one side in one go, you risk the hull twisting or bending.

That bending tool is good, I have not used one myself but have a mate that does. He says that as long as the planks are wet they will bend very well and the heat, as it drives the moisture out of the wood, sets the bend.

Also if you can find some off cuts of some hard wood, teak or oak make some extra forms to bend around. It can often pay to make some just for the Hull you are building, so you can get the right radius for your curves.

They make a nice little tool for throwing your own ropes as well, should you have problems finding just the right thing to use.

Ian M

[Guest]

Thanks Ian for ur info, i have made one ship before using wet planks but i did'nt have the bender, i tacked & taped in place till dry.

John

[Ian M]

This might sound a bit odd but actually works very well. If you have a really compound set of curves to get planks onto, soak the planks in amonia. I used a 40mm waste pipe with a plug and a cap. Put the planks in the pipe, half fill with amonia and put the top on. Lay it flat and roll it back and forth a few time. Leave it for a day, rolling it a bit once in a while. Remove the cap and pour out the (rather nasty) amoina. Remember to do this out side and you might want to wear a mask if you have one. protect you eyes to! It only takes one drop and you wont be building models for a loooooong time.

Rise to planks under running water to get the smell off them.

You will now have a pile of planks that resemble cooked pasta!! Seriously you can tie knots in them! Pin them down on the bits that need planking and let them dry.

Ian M

[Guest]

Thank Ian i might give it a try.

John

[Guest]

I have to ask Ian..... How the hell did you find that out lol.

I think the heated tool will work fine. Either heat, wet or, now we know, chemical are ways of bending. I used to just soak them in hot water but then it takes a while for the glue to dry as the planks dry out. I will be interested to see how you get on with the heated tool as it has simplicity and no soaking, the idea has a lot going for it.

[Guest]

Did a little preforming work on the hull to make planking easier, went a little overboard with this as i did'nt need to fill in centre rib's.

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Will fin sanding a bit nearer the time.

saw this on a webaits with somone building the victory.

John.

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[Guest]

Coming along nicely John, must admit that when I planked my Billings Cutty Sark and Norden I only wetted the part of the plank I wanted to bend for about 5 minutes in warm water, and teased it into a bend using my thumb and fore finger of both hands with the piece at my ear and listened to the fibres becoming distressed. By the time I did that the heat of my fingers had the plank virtually dry. I then used extremely small brass nails supplied with the kit and some fast drying PVA, worked fine for me. The Planks have to be twisted and shaped near the stern and possibly the bow depending on the geometry. Will use this technique on my future S.Y. Scotia. Secret is to have the individual planks visible under the finished hull paint just as they are in a real vessel. In old wooden hulled ships the underwater part of the hull was copper plated to inhibit marine boring organisms attacking the wood and reduce marine fouling. Even today until relatively recently modern steel hulled painted vessels had a copper based paint to reduce marine fouling, but the copper in the paint is now phased out and other more environmentally friendly chemical additives are used. Hope this helps, cheers Derek

[Guest]

Thanks Derek i will remember this, i think it will be some time fefore planking starts so i will have a go at bending planks i had left over from my Bismark.

John

[geegad]

looking good its coming along real nice

[Guest]

hi John here are a couple of links to a couple of pdf docs for planking that i have just uploaded that may help you and anyone else who needs them.

bluff_bow_planking_primer.pdf

plankingproject.pdf

cheers steve

[Guest]

Thanks Steve, seem to have a prob i cant open the pages.

John

[Guest]

try it this time

plankingproject.pdf

bluff_bow_planking_primer.pdf

these are pdf docs by the way john you need adobe acrobat reader installed first

[Guest]

Thanks Steve i will find this usfull, just finished the launch did'nt come out to bad.

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John

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