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HMS Alert [1777] 1:48 POF by serikoff. (Two hulls: skeleton and fully rigged)

Everything is ready for gluing. I glued it with TiteBond II...

Alert 1644.jpg

Then I glued on the temporary waterway, or rather, the second part of it. I applied it to the CA gel in dots so that I could remove it later.

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After that, I sanded the surface first with 120-grit sandpaper, then with 150-grit. The mark was the absence of areas that had been coated with oil.

Alert 1647.jpg

Then I widened the seams with a blade and after that I sanded with 240 and 320 grit sandpaper.

Alert 1648.jpg

Recommendation! Do not use a needle to widen (calibrate) joints! Due to the varying density of wood, the needle may deform it differently, and the gap may be uneven (of varying thickness) and not perfectly straight. I also do not recommend using the sharp edge of a blade! If the sharp edge hits the glue or tightly fitted slats, the blade may slip from the gap and scratch the board. I recommend using the thinnest blade (as in the photo) but with the back of the blade. The principle is to use light, gradual movements along the joint, so that the blade follows the seam. As you go deeper, the sharp edges of the back of the blade will scrape out a smooth gap instead of squeezing the wood. The key is to do this carefully and very gradually, trying to scratch everything in one or two passes. The first passes should be made at a 45-degree angle, and the last ones at almost 90 degrees. This will ensure uniform blade penetration and calibrate the gaps to the desired thickness.

This is still an intermediate result. The long gaps between the boards are almost 100% ready, but I will still calibrate the gap along the waterway border in a slightly different way, I will tell you about this a little later.

Alert 1649.jpg

Alert 1650.jpg

Alert 1651.jpg

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A few words about why I do it this way:

1 - Seam calibration is a much simpler and faster method than precisely matching all the boards without gaps.
2 - When humidity changes, the wood has room to expand and the deck will not bulge. (This is precisely why this procedure was performed – sealing the seams with resin and horsehair.)
3 - There are no unnecessary steps when using various spacers to simulate caulking (resin seams), which complicates and slows down the process.
4 - Using bitumen in this method best simulates resin seams.

But again, this is just my opinion.
 
Hey Sergey,

As always, spot on. And thank you very much for showing us. I hope I understood you correctly: you pull the back of the knife along the planks, which creates these precise lines. But you don't fill in the gaps between the planks that this creates? Or do you fill them in?

P.S. Sorry for my poor English, I hope you understand what I mean? :rolleyes:
 
Hey Sergey,

As always, spot on. And thank you very much for showing us. I hope I understood you correctly: you pull the back of the knife along the planks, which creates these precise lines. But you don't fill in the gaps between the planks that this creates? Or do you fill them in?

P.S. Sorry for my poor English, I hope you understand what I mean? :rolleyes:
Yes, absolutely right. I run the back of the blade over the surface, and the resulting gap remains. Then oil and bitumen get into it, and the area will be stained with bitumen, imitating resin. Because of the gaps, each board appears as a separate piece, not blending into a single plane.
 
Based on your workshop, descriptions, and drawings, even someone without much experience could attempt to build such a model. If something is unclear, you always explain the problem. I really like your journal, keep up the good work!
 
Yes, absolutely right. I run the back of the blade over the surface, and the resulting gap remains. Then oil and bitumen get into it, and the area will be stained with bitumen, imitating resin. Because of the gaps, each board appears as a separate piece, not blending into a single plane.
Hey Sergey,

Thank you for confirming me. That's great! Thank you! Thumbsup
 
Sergey,

Thanks so much for your wonderful explanations. Your work is incredible and your write ups help me to learn wonderful tips.

Cheers,
Rebus
 
Based on your workshop, descriptions, and drawings, even someone without much experience could attempt to build such a model. If something is unclear, you always explain the problem. I really like your journal, keep up the good work!
Thank you. I also found very informative reviews at one time and was very happy about it. Now, I'm glad that I'm providing the same benefit. I hope :D

Lovely technique.
Thank you Thumbsup

Hey Sergey,

Thank you for confirming me. That's great! Thank you! Thumbsup
I'll be back on deck in a bit, but for now I'm still calculating the gratings, I'll be talking about that soon.

Sergey,

Thanks so much for your wonderful explanations. Your work is incredible and your write ups help me to learn wonderful tips.

Cheers,
Rebus
Thank you for your praise. We will keep up the good work.
 
This post is for those who are interested and interested in learning...

Today I worked mostly in Blender. For those unfamiliar, it's a 3D modeling program.

I'd like to share a little advice.

Before marking out the deck, let alone nailing and cutting holes, be sure to calculate everything! This will avoid problems later when something doesn't line up or overlaps.

How I do it:

1. First, you need to build the deck and sand it.

2. Then you need to calculate the positions and sizes of the deck elements, nail lines, board joints (I try not to make these, but rather glue solid boards along the entire length of the deck), and especially the hatches.

3. Most importantly, you need to calculate the number of longitudinal and transverse lattice pieces and avoid making mistakes. This is because the outer dimensions of the lattice frame depend on this. It's very important to take this into account.

4. First, make the lattice and then build the frame around it. Don't just build the frame and then try to fit the lattice into it. A ±1 mm deviation in size won't be noticeable if you see the frame is slightly larger after gluing the lattice, but reducing the lattice to fit the frame will definitely be noticeable due to asymmetry or thin edges.

5. Then, using the completed frame (with lattice), mark the deck. Even if you notice you've gone slightly beyond the desired boundary (say, a beam), it's not a problem; you can shift the nailing line so the nails are at the correct distance from the frame. It's worse when the nails are already in place and the frame is either far away from them, close to them, or even overlapping the nails. The same applies to other elements on the deck, especially the joints between the boards. If you need to shift the nail line, you can also shift the board joints. However, if they already exist (joints), shifting the nail line will result in artifacts and overlapping or misalignments. Again, shifting the entire nail line and joints won't be noticed unless you visualize the beams underneath the board, but nailing that doesn't follow a single, straight line or joints that don't hit the nails will be noticeable.

6. Then, using this marking, nail and sand everything evenly, and only then cut the holes for the gratings.

7. After that, I'll install the deck and glue the waterwall. Even after that, I won't glue the deck pieces (grilles, pins, winch, anchor mechanism) in place, as I'll be working on the ship and, to avoid damaging anything, I'll do the fixing last. It's better to make everything disassemblable and always be able to try on any given part, but still be able to remove it.

I'll be showing my lattice calculations soon; there's a lot to show! It'll be interesting!

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