CAF HMS Granado 1:48 POF

[Adiefenbach]

Thanks for all the comments. Having gone over all the drawings provided and photos on the CAF website, I do think that the elevation is critical and I adjusted the template arms (cut in small notches) to ride a little lower on the gunport sills. Fingers crossed as I move forward.

You are inspiring me to get back into my Granado build.

I hope so, your logs are so incredibly detailed and you have a lot more skill at this than I do. I learn something everytime I take a look.

 

[Dematosdg]

Thank you so much for your time to write all the details !!!!

Being your first POF built you are doing it fantastically well.

Happy new year !!
Daniel

 

[Maarten]

Wow, you are making great progress.
Your stove looks fantastic with the blackened inside, already in use for years.

 

[Adiefenbach]

Thanks for the kind comments. Still tinkering with the stove but it is a nice stand-alone kit

 

[tedboat]

For some reason I've only just found this thread (Came across it after Donny racked it up as a group build!)
I've been building Grenado for about five or six months now, and I'm just finishing the installation of all the ribs.

Really like what you have been doing, and most interesting to see the ideas and discussions that have followed.

My new year resolution is to start my own build log, as I have been promising for some time!

Ted

 

[Stargazer]

Looking forward to that Ted, hope you saved lots of pictures!

 

[Adiefenbach]

Have been plugging along with the 3 interior planks that run down both sides. Installation of these interior planks follows the installation of the one exterior "temporary" plank discussed earlier in these posts. Once these four planks are installed, the hull has a great deal of strength, such that I have been able to remove virtually all the screws that I have used to keep the upper and lower halves of the hull together. That was a question I had at the start of the build when trying to decide on screws vice the recommended wire to temporarily hold the upper and lower halves together.
That said, installing these interior planks has been very challenging for me. They are 2mm thick and really didn't want to make the bends required to fit in the bow and stern. Lots of soaking and electric heated round plank bender were just barely enough (maybe not quite enough). The bow came together fairly well but the multiple bends and twists required at the stern were very tough. I did use my screws again, driven in from the inside, to help hold the planks in place as the glue dried. I am happy with the bow, less happy with the stern, but did the best I could. The templates that are provided (described earlier) are largely to get the heights of these three interior planks right. With my hands being what they are (large and not so nimble), I used the templates one at a time to make a pencil mark on the appropriate frame to get the heights right. Won't know how well I did on that until later.

Here is how the bow turned out


Midships was pretty straight forward

You can see I have some gaps at the stern


I have tried using some home made filler for the small gaps (cherry wood sanding dust and white glue). Will advise how that goes.

Have moved on to installing the interior planking starting at the keel and working up. The fit on these pieces (1mm thick) seems to be excellent so far and a nice change from wrestling with those thicker planks.

Start of interior planking


Glad to have those thick planks behind me.
Cheers!

 

[Stargazer]

Looking great Adi, do you think that at the stern portion of the 2x5 shelf clamps (interior plank) you could have laminated two 1x5 mm planks to make the bending easier (or even laminate the entire clamp (plank)? In either case, I think once the beams, knees, and other framing is done you won’t see that portion of the framing anyway?

 

[Adiefenbach]

Your idea might have been a smarter way to go. Didn't occur to me at the time. Would get a smoother bend for the cost of a new joint. The stern has made me scratch my head several times. Pretty complex and 3D curves. Not my strong suit. I'll have to see how much remains visible down the road. Pressing on

 

[Stargazer]

Yeah, my understanding is the stern is the most complex area of any POF build…you’re moving along and looking good at the same time, keep it up, somebody’s gotta be first….

 

[Adiefenbach]

Thanks!

 

[tedboat]

Coming along nicely It's nice to have someone ahead of you to advise on problem areas!
Ted

 

[Dematosdg]

As I am one of the guys following this log to learn for my future built, I hope you don't be bored with my questions or comments.

- The rail model screws, so far, have done an excellent job.
- the ones screwed from outside, you were able to take them all at this step of the construction.
- The bow screws, screwed from inside, are still there.

Are all those points correct ?

At this point of the build, you already have wood strip(s) running along both halves of the ship, correct ? Due to that, removing the screws, didn't affect the rib alignment/structure, correct ?

About the gap, it will be unnoticeable with all the wood structure that goes over it. For me, you are doing a great job. And thank you for posting detailed pictures. A pictures is worth a thousand words.

Best !!!
Daniel

 

[Adiefenbach]

Daniel, appreciate your interest and the questions. Makes me think more about what I am doing. In answer to your questions, the screws have worked very well for me. Better than smooth wire in my opinion because they actually hold things together. Lots of frames to manage. The wider frames are easier to deal with because they have a natural engagement top to bottom while the narrow frames are very touchy.

In the photo above, the left circle shows the easy to work wide frame while the right hand circle shows the thin one. You could probably get away with using wire on the wide ones, I could not have managed with just wire on the thin ones.

The "temporary" reinforcing strip is installed on the outside of the upper half of the hull. Have the three permanent planks installed on the interior of the hull, one above the "cut line" and two below. The hull is very sturdy at this point. I have removed 90% of the screws, the ones at the bow are still in place, screwed in from the outside, because they are tough to get at at this point. Will likely wait till the hull is out of the jig to get at those. The photo below shows the bow in the jig.


I also learned a lesson which might be useful. Being somewhat obsessive/compulsive, I screwed in virtually all the screws all the way in, seating the head in the wood slightly. In hindsight, in most cases this was a mistake. It enlarges the size of the hole where the head is, risks splitting the frame, and only occasionally provides usefully more grip. Was necessary in a few frames but overall not so much. Just having the threaded shaft of the screw holding both pieces of frame together was sufficient in most places to make the frames manageable. Sometimes had to screw them tight to get sufficient hold. Hope that makes sense.


The above photo on the left shows a split thin frame upper end (right side of the photo). The photo on the right shows how the head of the screw enlarges the surface area of the hole. Not seating the head of the screw into the wood should eliminate this.

Cheers,
Andy

 

[Dematosdg]

Daniel, appreciate your interest and the questions. Makes me think more about what I am doing. In answer to your questions, the screws have worked very well for me. Better than smooth wire in my opinion because they actually hold things together. Lots of frames to manage. The wider frames are easier to deal with because they have a natural engagement top to bottom while the narrow frames are very touchy.
View attachment 280761
In the photo above, the left circle shows the easy to work wide frame while the right hand circle shows the thin one. You could probably get away with using wire on the wide ones, I could not have managed with just wire on the thin ones.

The "temporary" reinforcing strip is installed on the outside of the upper half of the hull. Have the three permanent planks installed on the interior of the hull, one above the "cut line" and two below. The hull is very sturdy at this point. I have removed 90% of the screws, the ones at the bow are still in place, screwed in from the outside, because they are tough to get at at this point. Will likely wait till the hull is out of the jig to get at those. The photo below shows the bow in the jig.
View attachment 280759

I also learned a lesson which might be useful. Being somewhat obsessive/compulsive, I screwed in virtually all the screws all the way in, seating the head in the wood slightly. In hindsight, in most cases this was a mistake. It enlarges the size of the hole where the head is, risks splitting the frame, and only occasionally provides usefully more grip. Was necessary in a few frames but overall not so much. Just having the threaded shaft of the screw holding both pieces of frame together was sufficient in most places to make the frames manageable. Sometimes had to screw them tight to get sufficient hold. Hope that makes sense.
View attachment 280766View attachment 280758

The above photo on the left shows a split thin frame upper end (right side of the photo). The photo on the right shows how the head of the screw enlarges the surface area of the hole. Not seating the head of the screw into the wood should eliminate this.

Cheers,
Andy

Andy, Thank you very much for sharing those details and working learned lessons.

I will follow your steps with the screws. They did a great job.

Once you take out the hull from the jig, it is very clear from your pictures that the holes can be filled with home made putting (sanding left over of the frames plates). Are you planning to do such thing?

Cheers
Daniel

 

[Adiefenbach]

Filler is certainly an option, and probably what I will end up doing. Might be able to cover with an exterior hull plank as well, just a thought at this point.

 

[Adiefenbach]

Have encountered my first significant problem with my build. Per the instructions, have been installing the interior planking, working from the keel up to the thick double planks installed earlier using the templates. The first several sets of planks, working out from the keel, installed very smoothly. As I got further from the keel, the pre-cut curves for the bow and stern got more and more off, but I resisted the urge to do a lot of sanding because I figured that that would only make follow on planks even harder. Overall, they went in satisfactorily. The issue I am facing is that the uncovered sections at the bow and stern are more than twice as wide as the gap amidships, and I only have two more rows of planks to install. The gaps bow and stern are around 19mm, about 10mm amidships, and each remaining plank averages 5-6mm wide.
This is the bow view:

This is the stern view:

And this is amidships:

This photo shows one of the two remaining bow pieces, will only cover a third of the gap and you can see that the curve of the plank doesn't match the installed curves very well.

Given the excellent quality of the kit this far, I have to assume that I have screwed something up in the installation of the planks. As the gap is about what it should be amidships, I am hopeful that I got the elevation of those two thick ribs right, per the template. Working from the keel up as directed, I can't figure why I have such gaps at the bow and stern. Maybe one of you who have more POF experience can shed some light here. Would appreciate it. All is not lost though as I had earlier decided to leave some of the port side interior planks out, to show the interior frames. This is how it is shown in the instructions and in CAF's photos and I liked that look. Will likely take some of the port side planks and adjust them to fill in on the starboard side. Adapt and overcome!!

Cheers!

 

[Stargazer]

I am not familiar with any other POF build/kit that fully planks the inner hull like this kit is doing, I think most builds lay a few limber strakes and maybe a few thick stuff planks and then just start building the lower decks up from the deck clamps up. (See pic of a cross section build) But just thinking about it it seems that you would have to taper the planks just like you do the outer planking, only in reverse at the bow and stern? So the planks needed to be wider at the bow and stern… I don’t think the kit provides planking wide enough to do that so you would have to spile some of your own supplied wood to fit. I think you can probably fill in with more planking and again, it mostly won’t be seen with all the other framework going in. If you want to build it more accurately/historically correct the Anatomy of the Ship Granado book would be an excellent resource.

The Bomb Vessel Granado 1742 (Anatomy of the Ship): Goodwin, Peter: 9780870211782: Amazon.com: Books

The Bomb Vessel Granado 1742 (Anatomy of the Ship) [Goodwin, Peter] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Bomb Vessel Granado 1742 (Anatomy of the Ship)

www.amazon.com

 

[Dematosdg]

Hi

Until the strip that you are keeping with your finger in place, all looks really fine to my eyes. If the gap difference between midship and bow/stern does not affect the next steps of the built, I will leave as it is. Only you and the readers of this postings will know about it.

Nevertheless, I understand you. I will be scratching my head thinking "Why this is happening? " .

I have the kit, but I only opened it to check all the content. That's all. From your text, I understand that those planks are preshaped, correct ?

So then the "why" is more difficult to find. You are thinking in a hull issue. But the templates fitted well, and all is in the correct place inside the frame jig.

Have you contacted TOM (CAF) ? Could be if he takes a look to your pictures he can see where the issue is and provide some help.

Sorry, but really my comments don't add to find an answer to the "Why".

Just thinking on what I will be doing.... I will move on if later steps are not affected at all.

Daniel

 

[Dematosdg]

Hi

You have installed 7+ planks , correct ?

The CAF internet pictures shows that with 10 planks installed the stern gap is starting to be closed at the tip.





Moreover, also looks like CAF model builder have done some corrections as it looks like on the arrows next picture.



Are the 2 planks that you glued previously in the correct place (high) or have them the correct curvature ? Could be there is the cause of such gap at the stern , when you compare with CAF's picture.