M/S Gun Boat Philadelphia [COMPLETED BUILD]

Easy chair and Popcorn Waiting. I do Spiling Method planking, but I'm not great at it. Always interested in how other folks do it in hopes of finding an easier way. There just aren't many good step by step instructions showing every step of the Process. Many are short versions or the writer bounces around making it hard to follow. So a good Tutorial would be invaluable.
 
Hi Joe, The best book on planking and spiling is a little book by the late Jim Roberts, M/S seels it or on ebay very cheap between $5.00 and $10.00. will be posting some perliminary progress pictures will start my first spiling plank probally tomorrow, THANKS FOR YOUR INTERESTS, AND REMEMBER I am only an Intermediate modeler, so bear with me on this please. Don
 
Awesome I think I saw that book was it called the Built up ship Model? I am leery about buying books anymore on the subject because you just get a few bits of info and then your left to figure out the rest. I have several books on Planking and none are very clear on the process or they bounce around so much throughout the book its difficult to follow. My process in the past has been to measure all the bulkheads from the Wales to the keel find the longest bulkhead which is usually the middle one divide the plank width into that measurement to determine how many planks are needed to fill the space. I then draw a side view of the ship and record the measurements at every bulkhead. I line the model into 4 equal band sections and measure between those sections at each bulkhead to get the taper for all the planks in that Band. it can get confusing and I have to check it a million times to make sure I'm right before I start shaving planks down especially with kits where the number of planks given for the kit are nearly exact with just 3-4 extra for mess ups. Planking for me is the worse part of building so any help I can get on the subject I'll take lol there is a method of planking called Dutch style planking I use that quite often so I don't have to rack my brain trying to figure things out but its not as nice looking as spilling IMO
 
Yes I too feel like the to do books are of little help to me, but this one is the most usefull of the to do books, reallky good on all planking including the use of drop planks and stellars as well as spiling, another thing I am no fan of the double plank kits, do nt know how you handel the thin veeners to get the planks shaped to much guess woirk for me, and what is the DUTCH METHOD OF PLANKING FIRST I HEARD OF THIS, as you will see on the PHiladelhia the plank widts on each bulkhead are laser etched onto the bulkheads as well as the bevels the kit is one of the betterones from M/S got it espoecially for the spileing most manufactures do not supply the extra width for spieing you have to get your own wood most instances you need a minium of 3/8 inch material, on the Philadelphia it is much wider as you will see, give me some time today and I will post the perliminary and show the kit. Don
 
here is an example of that style of planking basically as apposed to spiling the ends were cut to fit in place needing no taper to the ends I forget where I read of this technique from but I did this accidentally then found out what it was called years later this is an example basically instead of spiling the planks you miter them to the wale I cant find the article I read about this in but I'll keep looking the pictures in the article were of real ships with planking mitered right into the wales. this is so ugly IMHO
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This Picture Below looks Much nicer
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If I find that article I read Ill post it PM it to you I don't want to crowd you Build log
 
Here are some pictures of the the first two planks( the sheer strake and the one below it) then the rub strake painted black, these strakes do not need spiling constant widths the next four strakes have to be spiled, the plan you see shows on which bulkhead the strakes end(THIS IS THE WAY THE REAL SHIP WAS DONE, IT IS IN THE SMITHSONIAN THE PLANS FOR THE KIT WERE DONE FROM THOSE), the kit has patterens on both the stem and the stern, also the strake widths are laser etched on the bulkheads as are the bevels, this makes it easy so far but also plenty of chalanges ahead, will show more of the kit and contents latter now need to do the spileing

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more progress on the spilling this is the first plank to be spiled it goes from the STEM TO BULKHEAD No 9, the instructions say to do thge stem and stern spileing and the middle last, do not know about that but will try it,,,as you see my prblem with spiling is the first step and that is to get the bond paper 90lb Bristol, it always seems to flop around and it is very difficult for me to run the spile between bulkheads(any sugestions or COMENTS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED, also see how the individual bulkheads have the strake widths laser etched, I will show in the next post the transfer of the bond board to the wood, I am using first a pice of Basswood to make sure everthing fits( NOTICE the bulkhead markings on the bond board), i will the transfer the Basswood piece onto the permanent piece of Beecwood, with a Min-Wax natural stain,,, also so far I have been able to pull the strakes tight against each other no GAPS SO FAR, I MOSTLY HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT AND THE NEED TO FILL IT IN

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Oh by the way Joe I think your Planking with what is called the Dutch Method looks superb, WILL USE THA WEN I PLANK MY NEXT ONE IF NOT SPILED, LIKE THE FACT ON NEED FOR TAPERING, WHICH I MESS UP CONTINUALLY
 
Oh by the way Joe I think your Planking with what is called the Dutch Method looks superb, WILL USE THA WEN I PLANK MY NEXT ONE IF NOT SPILED, LIKE THE FACT ON NEED FOR TAPERING, WHICH I MESS UP CONTINUALLY
Hi Don,

Also with the Dutch methode you still need to taper the planks to the bow and stern but the difference is in the planks for which there is no space to run all the way along the hull. With the english methode these are incorporated in both the top and bottom planks, in the dutch way these are only incorporated in the bottom plank. See below my rc for which I used the dutch methode, this as I am dutch;). The english methode takes more time as you have to shape two sides of the plank.
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Hi Don,

Also with the Dutch methode you still need to taper the planks to the bow and stern but the difference is in the planks for which there is no space to run all the way along the hull. With the english methode these are incorporated in both the top and bottom planks, in the dutch way these are only incorporated in the bottom plank. See below my rc for which I used the dutch methode, this as I am dutch;). The english methode takes more time as you have to shape two sides of the plank.
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This is true for the most part,20180820_043600.jpg20180818_164400.jpg but not always I think hull design has a lot to do with it as on some of the ships I built using this method I didnt have to taper any planks except the last one or two going in. This required both ends be tapered. This ship build of the Santa Maria was exactly that way for me everything fell perfectly in place just letting the planks bend naturally to the shape. I have a little Dutch blood running through my veins. When I saw the article explaining it being the Dutch method of planking I couldn't help thinking "well I am a little Dutch" lol basically I was just doing what the instructions said and that was let the planking lay naturally along the bulkheads. BTW Maarten that's a beautiful plank job you have there
 
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Don sorry for messing up your blog.

Many thx for the compliment and good to meet another partly Dutchman;). It is ofcourse depending on hull shape and how you start with the first plank. I allways start with the whale as this is the most important plank on the hull, determining the complete shape of the vessel. Then you can measure the space over the ribs from the center towards bow and stern. From this you can calculate the tapering needed and decide where you will splice the planks to get acceptable width if the planks. They allways tried to splice as less planks as possible as these connections are more prone to leakage and rot.
 
progrees pictures of the exterior planking using spileing method, this to me gives the best results for planking,, but it takes a long time, 2 problems that I encountered were; one how to hold the object to the bulkheads to run your compass around, any sugestion for future would be greatly appreciated, the other problem is since the plans and instructions show the planking sequence and they are in shorter lengths it would be better to spile the full length of the planlk then cut to plan size i choose to do it in the shorter leths whic eventuall created a problem of fitting the planks at the bulkheads

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