HMS Speedy, 1/64 scale Brig/Sloop by Vanguard Models

[Clunkmeister]

Once in awhile, someone catches me unawares. BiggTim has, on occasion, chastised me for not, every now and then, building in wood. Then, during one of my infrequent sojourns into the drunken bliss of homemade corn whiskey, a member here dared me to actually build a meaningful model of an historic ship.....  in wood.  Any other time, I would have blurted out “get stuffed” or something similar, at that moment of reduced faculty, I agreed.

Three weeks later, this is sitting on my doorstep.   Game on.

 

[Clunkmeister]

So the first thing that becomes immediately apparent is that this is not even close to being in my wheelhouse.

The entire thing is wood. Pine, aircraft ply, pine, pear, and boxwood. Plus the main bullheads are MDF, so they’re heavy.

The frame is then planked, twice. After that, the hull bottom gets coppered. Then, after that excruciating effort, we get go rig the thing.  What could possibly go wrong?

Started the main fuselage, I mean hull, and it all fits together nicely. 

[Clunkmeister]

Then some filler blocks to flesh out the shape around the keel.

[Clunkmeister]

And we form he stern counter. A thorough wetting in hot water for a few minutes, followed by an overnight of sitting, taped to a Mr. Leveling Thinner bottle gave me a nice concave curve. 

[DocRob]

Double planking is good news, it's so much easier to get a fine unpainted look with the thin an noble wood planks on top. Keep on.
Are these two threads about the same thing I'm posting in .

Cheers Rob

[smitty44]

 

[Clunkmeister]

5 hours ago, DocRob said:

Double planking is good news, it's so much easier to get a fine unpainted look with the thin an noble wood planks on top. Keep on.
Are these two threads about the same thing I'm posting in .

Cheers Rob

The first planking looks to be a no brainer. Just make sure the hull form is fair with no lumps or bumps and after steaming, the planks should lay right down. 

The trick is making sure the individual planks are cut down to match the narrowing and curve of the hull at the ends.  I don't have that skill yet, although many can almost eyeball it.  Trial and error will work for me, but this is a cool side project for me.

[Clunkmeister]

Smitty, it's a cool little distraction for a bit. I'm incredibly stressed out these days and so is Joy. The less paint fumes in the house right now, the better

 

[Lothar]

I love this build. I'd love to tackle a wooden ship myself, but have my doubts that I would ever finish it due to age related reasons . But it's enjoyable to watch your progress!!! BTW, the 1/96 Revell "USS Constitution" was the first model I built aged 17.

Lothar

[Clunkmeister]

2 hours ago, Lothar said:

I love this build. I'd love to tackle a wooden ship myself, but have my doubts that I would ever finish it due to age related reasons . But it's enjoyable to watch your progress!!! BTW, the 1/96 Revell "USS Constitution" was the first model I built aged 17.

Lothar

Thanks Lothar!  It's a definite fun build for me that's a huge departure from our IT MUST BE EXACT aircraft and armor builds.  So I'll work on this as the notion hits me, and right now, it's hit me.   I'll definitely try to plank the hull and maybe copper the bottom before taking much of a break, but we'll see.  It depends on how badly I mess it up.

[Bomber_County]

Ernie..............................looking good there big fella............

 

[Fran]

Looking very good!!! 

[harv]

Getter done buddy. Looks super !.....harv 

[HubertB]

Looking like a good start.

The second planking layer is good if you want to represent a natural wood model. But remember it will only be as good as the first layer underneath. Given the spacing between the bulkheads, and the risk of having "flats" on you hull because of this , I wonder if you wouldn't better off filling and fairing the void between them with balsa (or another softwood - I really hate balsa which is only good for lightweight RC a free-flight aircrafts) blocks.

Hubert

[Clunkmeister]

I actually thought about that, Hubert, but it's a very small hull and the first layer is thick and lays down nicely with no ripples.  There is plenty of meat to fair it nicely. I've run a few test planks up and down the hull, and as of now, I see no bumps or lumps.  But I may fair in a bit around the bow and stern with balsa blocks as you mention. It's certainly good practice when you're looking for good form.

The coppering process should be interesting, but not too horrible, as we're all well used to working with PE.

And yes, I'm looking to use a clear urethane on the second pearwood planking, which will, I think, look amazing, but the main wale need to be black.  The kit comes with a gorgeous lazer cut deck which I expect will light up beautifully with a clear urethane finish.

[DocRob]

The first planking on my Kutter, which is about the same size was perfectly rounded, due to the rigidness of the planking material, no dents, no dimples. I used blocks of wood only in the foreship area, where the rounding would be a problem.

9 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

The kit comes with a gorgeous lazer cut deck which I expect will light up beautifully with a clear urethane finish.

My Kutter had that too and it looked ok. I attached the deck some years ago and when I pulled the kit out last year, I found the deck not satisfactory anymore. It would have been a problem to really plank it now, so I went for a 'cheap' solution and added plank cuts and nails with a pencil. Given the scale and visibility of the deck I would consider real planking and nailing the next time.

Cheers Rob 

[Clunkmeister]

The laser cur deck on this kit has the nail holes, edge lines, etc, but I’ve seen others not like the look and  just plank it instead. Nits certainly more of a chore, but nothing looks nicer than a hand laid deck. 

Models always seem to be more artistic than realistic when it comes to planking, deckwork, etc.  the wood decks are always highly polished, brand new and glowing, where most decades old real decks are almost a white from millions of pairs of feet, equipment, and being cleaned, scraped, scrubbed, and maintained.

[DocRob]

You can even put some black yarn between the planks, to let it look caulked, but for 1/64 scale, I don't know.

Cheers Rob

[Clunkmeister]

2 hours ago, DocRob said:

You can even put some black yarn between the planks, to let it look caulked, but for 1/64 scale, I don't know.

Cheers Rob

There's a tiny bit of laser marks to give a sense of that, but in 1/64, I'm concerned with it being too much.

I like 1/64 for ships. It's like 1/72 for aircraft. Too small for small vessels, but almost too big for the larger ones.  A 74 in 1/64 would be amazing. A 44 gun frigate equally so.

[Clunkmeister]

Planking this bad boy. First planking consists of 5mm strips of lime wood. 
 

[DocRob]

Looking good, seeing your kit, these gunports look to be laser cut. The last I did with my Kutter was to drill them and to give them an equally square contour with sanding. Not very funny and not so simple.

Cheers Rob

[HubertB]

Remember heat allows for easier bending, especially if it goes two-ways like at the stern.

Soak the srips in water, then swipe them with a soldering iron at minimum temperature, or under a hot air gun. Pre-twist them to shape, and finish the shaping in-situ. PVA glue adheres well to moist wood, btw.

Hubert

[HubertB]

The alternative is to steam the strips.

Take a plumber's PVC pipe long enough to hold the strips. Plug it on one end to the kettle, and on the other end, plug it with a small hole in the plug to vent-off the steam. It will work like a tubular pressure cooker. Pressure-resistant tube, like the one for swimming pools works better just for this safety reason

Hubert

[Lee Drennen]

Looking really nice 

[Clunkmeister]

Hubert, that’s brilliant. I’m certainly struggling with the planking, but I’m learning as I go. My little travel iron is working wonders, and I’ve rigged up a little jig like Chuck uses on MSW, and so far it’s working out. 

There’s a few decent Speedy/Flirt builds over there, and although or two got borked in a grand fashion, most are looking decent.   

I CAN and WILL do this.