Hi gents, thx for the comments. Brian the keel and hull are still two tone, but I removed the triangular piece above the keel in the stern, to my opinion this is incorrect. normally the lowest plank is fitted for 50% on the keel and the other 50% on the frames, I simulated this also in my veneer of the keel which you see in the pictures below. John the anchor I was lucky to buy from a local fisherman. Here at the North Sea the Dutch fish with 35 mtr beam trawlers and they catch from time to time historical items. I have seen Mammoth bones, anchors and seldom even iron and bronze cannons. Unfortunately bronze cannons are very rare and very expensive so no bronze cannon in my garden. The anchor I have now for 18 years and it is stil very original, around the anchor ring there is stil 300 year old sail cloth and rope, very well preserved.
ok back to the build of the RC, I am not following the Chinese instructions or their building order. Just building what I think is a logical order and as said I am using the drawings included in the kit which are the anatomy of the ship drawings. I have been working on the veneer on then keel. The sides of the keel are very clear and part of the kit, you realy have to cut, grind and file these to a proper fit. But to cover the outer edges of the keel there is nothing mentioned in the manual or parts list (most probably because of my excellent understanding of the Manderin language ).
But in the kit there is a set of 5 planks with number 79 which is a perfect fit to the diameter of the keel and I couldn't image where these otherwise should be fitted so I used these.
After fitting the side pieces of the veneer as seen in the previous post I have to sand these down to the level of the multiplex to fit the veneer to the outer edges of the
When the whole outer edge of the keel is sanded back to the multiplex keel the veneering can start. I started at the rear end of the keel and I am veneering in sections of the same size as the veneer on the sides. The outer edges where the veneer is touching the next part I blacken to get the idea of individual pieces of solid wood in the keel.
For the glueing of the veneer I use a slightly viscous super glue which is easy to work with.
You can still see the outer edge sticking over the sides but these will be sanded.
Now the keel is sanded, the lasered lines in the keel side veneer I have blackened with a regular pencil, as you can see when sanding the edged is is nearly looking as one piece of wood.
On the bow the same process, first you see here the partly veneered bow.
After veneering I file the lasered lines on the sides also on the outer edges to give the idea again of solid pieces of wood, followed by the pencil simulating the caulking.
The end result can be seen below, after this the waxing with bee wax is the next step.
On the hull I already have waxed the planks, this gives a realy nice satin gloss with a deep detail of the wood grain. See here the partly waxed planks, for the waxing I use a turpentine softened clear bee wax which I apply with a tooth brush. After applying I leave it to dry and finally polish it to a satin gloss with a cotton rag.
Hope you enjoyed it and hopefully I will make some more progress in the coming weeks.
in your garden,
