Harvey (Artesania Latina Kit circa 1990's)

[Stu Jessop]

When you double planked the hull, did you use one long strip of walnut or did you use shorter lengths of wood?

Hi there

I'm actually single planking the hull which is why Heinrich is helping me with the holes. I'm not going to have any extra planking on top.

My planks supplied with the kit were too short and so I ended up buying some longer 1000mm planks of Walnut and I'm using those instead of the supplied ones. Saves have to joint every single plank which seemed like a bit of a mission for a newbie!

Hope that helps?

 

[shota70]

hi Stu
How the construction of the model is progressing

 

[Stu Jessop]

A bit of a rewind!
8/8 3 Hours during the week

hi Stu
How the construction of the model is progressing

Hey there!

Yeah well not quite as good as I was hoping it would be

So I've realised that in the planking manuals and texts that when they say you need to reduce the width of the planks down by an appropriate amount to suit the measurement on each bulkhead - in this particular case they don't mean the first or second bulkhead where the restriction is simply too much. The plans say reduce by 1mm only from the 6th bulkhead to the bow and so I'm going to do exactly that. I originally posted that it would have required cutting the planks down from 5mm to 1.3mm at the first bulkhead and as this broke the "not more than half a plank" rule I decided to just reduce to 2.5mm and then work it out later with stealers etc. What ended up happening was that the planks needed to be bent up towards the false deck and away from the keel to get them to fit snugly. This worked for a bit but ended up twisting the planks and creating a horrible effect. So I took them all off again and started again!!

You can see below what was starting to happen. Annoying as I got reasonably far along with around a quarter of the planks installed. Still these things are as much about learning as anything else and it's my first model.



You can see the planks simply twisted as they were pushed up towards each other and left completely the wrong effect. If you look between the pin on the left bulkhead and the pin on the right you can see the bottom face of the plank is being forced out.



As below, once I'd pulled the planks off you can really see how offset they were.



And here it is with the first plank fitted and glued and the second one just settling in and taking shape!



Feels like two weeks work lost but at least it will look the way I want it to as opposed to always bugging me!

I am going to paint it in the end and copper below the waterline anyway so I'm probably being a little bit too pedantic but I'd really like to get the principles right as they will undoubtedly help me with the next one!

Need to do some work on the deck furniture and the deck planking too! As I have such thin deck planks I'm considering using cotton thread for caulking - anybody else done that before? Deck planks are only 0.5mm thick and paper is going to be a real pain and I wanted something more permanent than pencil.

 

[Heinrich]

Hi Stu

I discarded countless planks in my planking process until I was happy. It is great that you have the conviction and determination to start all over - the sign of a true "pedantic perfectionist". And don't be fooled by painting. Right now I am painting mine and have so far painted and sanded painted and sanded etc. - probably about 6 times and am still not yet satisfied. You are not alone!

 

[Clair G]

two weeks work lost

Id say you had 2 weeks worth of learning experience myself. I've heard that thread is a pain as well, if you use artist graphite as caulk and stain or just finish your deck it will hold up very permanantly. Its the easiest method and works quite well.

 

[Stu Jessop]

Id say you had 2 weeks worth of learning experience myself. I've heard that thread is a pain as well, if you use artist graphite as caulk and stain or just finish your deck it will hold up very permanantly. Its the easiest method and works quite well.

Busy looking up Artist Graphite now...

 

[Stu Jessop]

Had a good 2 days of holiday... Managed to get 4 hours yesterday and another 4 today!
Total Time: 33 hours so far and been going just over a month now

I've taken my time with my second attempt at planking. Slowly gluing the first planks in place to make sure I get them properly positioned. It became so clear to me from the first run just how easily you can go wrong. This time I'm making certain I'm getting the measurements and angles right!

As it's taking me some time to do the planking I thought I'd start on the deck furniture and other bits of equipment. The Captain's cabin took shape yesterday



The instructions I have are incredibly basic - just an old drawing which doesn't tell one much. The newer instructions are much better and I downloaded them from one of the forums (thank you by the way) but they are for the newer version and my kit is quite different.



Quite pleased with the way the captains cabin came out in the end. I've done some more edging and filing since I took the photo to smooth off the edges and angular corners etc.



Once that was done it was time to make up the Binnacle - this is halfway there... Particularly proud I managed to cut out the legs - was a real pain slicing a 1.5mm x 1.5mm section out of a 3 x 3 to leave the leg!



Then started in on the gratings - just thought I'd pop some pics in to show how I put them together. I started by laying all from one orientation onto a single length as below



I then laid a further length across the other side and simply filled in the gap working them gently in from the one side to the other.



I used a steel rule to give me a way of putting even force onto the gratings once fully assembled



In the end I've constructed as per below but struggling to see where the 7 hours went!!!



That's me so far for today. I finished the second grating this evening so will probably move on the windlass etc tomorrow. While adding the odd plank as I go

 

[Clair G]

Lookin awesome Stu

 

[Heinrich]

Great progress in only 7 hours - I think you did very well!

 

[mrshanks]

Nice job on the hatch grating... they can be a real bear. ONLY 7 hours? Not bad at all!!!

 

[shota70]

A bit of a rewind!
8/8 3 Hours during the week



Hey there!

Yeah well not quite as good as I was hoping it would be

So I've realised that in the planking manuals and texts that when they say you need to reduce the width of the planks down by an appropriate amount to suit the measurement on each bulkhead - in this particular case they don't mean the first or second bulkhead where the restriction is simply too much. The plans say reduce by 1mm only from the 6th bulkhead to the bow and so I'm going to do exactly that. I originally posted that it would have required cutting the planks down from 5mm to 1.3mm at the first bulkhead and as this broke the "not more than half a plank" rule I decided to just reduce to 2.5mm and then work it out later with stealers etc. What ended up happening was that the planks needed to be bent up towards the false deck and away from the keel to get them to fit snugly. This worked for a bit but ended up twisting the planks and creating a horrible effect. So I took them all off again and started again!!

You can see below what was starting to happen. Annoying as I got reasonably far along with around a quarter of the planks installed. Still these things are as much about learning as anything else and it's my first model.

View attachment 171438

You can see the planks simply twisted as they were pushed up towards each other and left completely the wrong effect. If you look between the pin on the left bulkhead and the pin on the right you can see the bottom face of the plank is being forced out.

View attachment 171439

As below, once I'd pulled the planks off you can really see how offset they were.

View attachment 171440

And here it is with the first plank fitted and glued and the second one just settling in and taking shape!

View attachment 171444

Feels like two weeks work lost but at least it will look the way I want it to as opposed to always bugging me!

I am going to paint it in the end and copper below the waterline anyway so I'm probably being a little bit too pedantic but I'd really like to get the principles right as they will undoubtedly help me with the next one!

Need to do some work on the deck furniture and the deck planking too! As I have such thin deck planks I'm considering using cotton thread for caulking - anybody else done that before? Deck planks are only 0.5mm thick and paper is going to be a real pain and I wanted something more permanent than pencil.

Dear stu
Indeed, you face a challenge to find a balance between the construction process as written in the leaflet that came with the kit and the reality on the ground and our accumulated experience.
I also deal with it in every kit I have built. In the present case with Priceland, I had a similar challenge in planking. I also disassembled some of the boards and then designed and re-glued them. then I sanded the height differences between the boards and even applied filler to make sure the surface came out smooth.
I also still have to paint on the planking, so the sanding and smoothing of the surface is significant for the quality of the painting and the result.
I see and get the impression that since Saturday you have achieved beautiful progress
Good luck, I will continue to follow

 

[Uwek]

Well first time for everything they say and that is certainly the case here. My uncle has built models for many years which have been the subject of some discussion and I finally decided to build my own. I recently picked up the AL Harvey 1847 kit on Ebay and it has essentially been left unopened for over 30 years. It is the single plank on bulkhead version of the kit. Plan is to keep adding entries as I go as others have done and my thanks already to all of the "Harvey" types out there whose logs I have been reading over the last few weeks (not to mention the rest of them as I absorb the huge amount of information needed to build one of these properly!) Looking forward to it...

Hallo @Stu Jessop ,
we wish you all the Best and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY

 

[shota70]

Dear stu
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
wish you all the Best, Happiness and enjoyment from building ship models

 

[Clair G]

Yes indeed, a very Happy Birthday to you Stu

 

[Heinrich]

Happy birthday Stu!

 

[Jimsky]

Happy birthday Stu, many more years to come!

 

[Heinrich]

Hi Stu. You are awfully quiet. Is everything OK?

 

[Stu Jessop]

Hi Stu. You are awfully quiet. Is everything OK?

Hey there

Sorry just been an insanely busy couple of weeks. Back to work and then visiting with family over the last few weekends. Not having seen many people over lockdown has meant that we have made a bit of an effort recently

Will upload some updates and progress this week!

 

[Clair G]

Glad to see you are doing well Stu

 

[Stu Jessop]

31/8 Lots of little bits done...
40 hours in total

I had a bit of time off in the middle of August and again a week or so back and managed to do a lot of the deck furniture and some of the other fittings etc.

Quite happy with how some of them came out Others.... well...

The first is of the station lights (as they are called) - took me an age to find them as they are in the rigging! Anyway they look better now - took the pic before I sanded them - that will teach me!



A couple of barrels that I've realised afterwards I will probably need to unglue so that I can paint them properly! Oh well that's why they call it your first model...



Quite happy with how these turned out. Took a while to get the angles right and obviously I haven't drilled them out yet - still waiting for the drill kit that is apparently coming as part of my birthday present... Honestly don't they realise that we modellers simply can't wait that long...



These took forever and yet again the camera points out all of the weird little issues - amazing how much worse they look when you take a picture In reality they look quite nice in my humble opinion.



Each bucket ended up with its own handle which was quite involved. Guessing I "fill" them with sand? Flour? Something incredibly fine? Anybody?



All the guns before they were properly finished. Hadn't sanded or filed any of the brass at this point



This one has now had the various bits of brass filed down and is almost done. Just need to remove the excess glue (which I've only just noticed)



The other bit that I found the time to get started on was my deck planking! I experimented with cartridge paper and with cotton. The cotton worked but didn't look as clean as the paper so I'm going down that road. You can see my first line of caulking below along with my second prepped for the blade. Just drying out at the moment.



Quite happy with how it's turned out although I've been advised not to do the sanding until the end and only after a layer of varnish has gone down. Thoughts anyone? I must admit when I sanded the paper down it looked fantastic but did mean I got the board a bit grey initially. So probably makes sense to just take the excess off with a blade and then varnish before sanding.



And then for those wanting an update on the hull I've attached a pick as she is at present. I've realised that I'm going to need a drop plank in the bow so I've started to do one now which is actually proving interesting. You can see it developing around the third bulkhead. No idea what I'm doing but I'm following one of the planking guides. Realised I should have made the joint over a bulkhead - seems obvious when you look at it afterwards but didn't think about it at the time. Anyway that will drop 3 planks to 2 and give me a bit more space. I'm then going to start with the garboard strake and build up for a bit.



Looking forward to hearing from you and all the best for the week everyone!