Pin Heads

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The instruction set for my OcCre Nuestra Senora del Pilar, says when planking, pin the strakes with the pins provided. Then later to sand the hull and eliminate the heads of the pins with the sanding. Has anyone tried this? The pins are steel (brass plated - the are magnetic) and would leave a steel shaft tip not a brass tip. I am currently planking with glue only and my thoughts are that I could add pure brass pins later, and pre-drilling for each. The brass would be soft and easy to level. What are your thoughts?

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Phil, I have never nailed a strake directly to a bulkhead in any of my planking. I use the push pins which I nail to the bulkhead just below or just above the plank, so that the head of the push pin presses the plank tight against the bulkhead. Obviously, the planks are also edge-glued.
 
The instruction set for my OcCre Nuestra Senora del Pilar, says when planking, pin the strakes with the pins provided. Then later to sand the hull and eliminate the heads of the pins with the sanding. Has anyone tried this? The pins are steel (brass plated - the are magnetic) and would leave a steel shaft tip not a brass tip. I am currently planking with glue only and my thoughts are that I could add pure brass pins later, and pre-drilling for each. The brass would be soft and easy to level. What are your thoughts?

i am about to try the same thing on the Tecumseth that is use nails and sand off the heads. Real planking spikes were iron so the ends should be steel and not brass. Steel touching wood will turn the wood black but brass plated might protect the wood from turning black.

My thought is because the steel and brass is much harder than the wood you will never get the pins flat to the wood by sanding.
 
Phil, I have never nailed a strake directly to a bulkhead in any of my planking. I use the push pins which I nail to the bulkhead just below or just above the plank, so that the head of the push pin presses the plank tight against the bulkhead. Obviously, the planks are also edge-glued.
I currently only glue with CA planks to bulkheads. When I need to clamp, I have very small spring clamps that do the job - I have yet to use pins anywhere. I do have a whole box of push pins (plastic grips/heads) but I don't like the idea of pushing pins into the thin plywood bulkheads. Its just that their suggestion of sanding the heads off of the pins (nails) they provide seems to be a bit futile as there are hundreds of them. I could grind them with a rotary tool but if it ever touches the wood, there would be a divot that could not easily be fixed. I edge glue the strakes all along the length too. I first fit the strake then bevel the edges as needed then I glue in steps - one or two bulkheads at a time, never the entire strake. CA grabs quickly and I have accelerator too if needed. PVA glue would be strong but the clamping time, over hundreds and hundreds of joints would take years to get done I would think. I guess if I needed to pin strakes, I could tap them down but not all the way and then clip the heads with cutters and then proceed. Thank you for your suggestions and input - greatly appreciated!
 
The instruction set for my OcCre Nuestra Senora del Pilar, says when planking, pin the strakes with the pins provided. Then later to sand the hull and eliminate the heads of the pins with the sanding. Has anyone tried this? The pins are steel (brass plated - the are magnetic) and would leave a steel shaft tip not a brass tip. I am currently planking with glue only and my thoughts are that I could add pure brass pins later, and pre-drilling for each. The brass would be soft and easy to level. What are your thoughts?

i am about to try the same thing on the Tecumseth that is use nails and sand off the heads. Real planking spikes were iron so the ends should be steel and not brass. Steel touching wood will turn the wood black but brass plated might protect the wood from turning black.

My thought is because the steel and brass is much harder than the wood you will never get the pins flat to the wood by sanding.
My thoughts too when it comes to steel/ferrous pins touching wood and discoloration. I might consider buying brass pins and omit the steel ones for the build.
 
I use fine brass pins. The heads are either slightly submerged into the wood or sanded off later. If you don't want to push the pins in all the way, two pins can be used at 45 degrees from the planking surface from opposing directions and pulled out later. This holds better than relying on the friction of a pin which is pushed straight in and is good for planks making a hard curve around the bow or ones that have some spring left in them.
 
I have planked HMS Terror by OcCre. On that one too, they said pin then sand off the heads. That does not work. I pulled all the pins after the glue (PVA) dried and filled the small holes with wood filler. Leave the pin heads proud then pull them. At 1/74 scale nails in hull planking are almost invisible. Just my point of view. Broden
 
I have planked HMS Terror by OcCre. On that one too, they said pin then sand off the heads. That does not work. I pulled all the pins after the glue (PVA) dried and filled the small holes with wood filler. Leave the pin heads proud then pull them. At 1/74 scale nails in hull planking are almost invisible. Just my point of view. Broden
I guess I am not going to use nails/pins at all. If the final hull needs the pins to show, I might just pre-drill and insert brass pins for show. I'm not there yet. I am just planking the upper hull right now sans pins.
 
Actually Olga’s technique works well on single planked models too…
 
I'm not familiar with the ship you're modeling, but if it's an 18th century ship you might consider wooden trennels (tree nails) because that would be more authentic. You would have to find a material for the treenails. I've used strands from brooms. You just drill holes in the correct pattern, glue pieces of the strand in and snip them flush. If you really want to be authentic, get bamboo spears and run them through a jeweler's draw plate until you get the spears to the correct diameter.
 
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