ZHL Chalupa 1834 (my 1st model) [Completed Build]

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Hello, so my first ship model is going to be built (i hope) from the kit was given to me, here is link: "Chalupa 1834 L 14 Inch 360 Mm Wooden Ship Model Kits".
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From the first look, some parts don't fit and plywood used for ribs splits a part.
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Not easy to bend plywood planks, they split too..
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For sure making this boat will take time, I can only spend a few hours a week. Will be some readings happening before every next step. I know how to work with wood but I know nothing about ships :)

Easy part is done, 30 ribs are in place!
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Thank you Maarten,

Thats what I thought. In the kit instruction they put plywood planks as a main layer and pear .5 veneer planks on top. I'm taking a challenge to use what I've got in the kit even if its going to go slow with the "pain and suffering". I don't know WHY would ZHL make kit that way. After I tried different technique, I discovered that steam will soften the glue used in plywood to the point of splitting or shifting the layers. Then left under pressure glue settles back keeping layers together "like nothing happened"

I successfully bend three planks to very close shape ( good thing they put way tooooo many in the kit :) ) Two of them will go on the first line, third one I put to the test to make sure glue keeps layers together. Left plank was banded using steam and the right one was boiled, where glue lost the properties.

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my 10 cents worth, i do not like the double layer of planking and i am definatly not a purist at all, but my major complaints are i do not know how you can work a thin very thin veeneer and make it look right the ones that can i am impressed with, if i do a kit double planked i will discard the planks both first and second layer, and get new material at the same thickness of the double plank, that is just my opion, let us see if we can get a discussion going. Don
 
Yes Don,
My first thought was to discard as well. This kit needs a lot of improvement, so where do i stop?! I decided to keep working with double layer mainly to get experience with banding and proper thinning planks. I guess I should of said: "planking experience". I'll be doing plywood planks with all detailing like its final and then veneer planks.

Please keep in mind, this is all new to me...
Yuri
 
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Finished keel by adding groove, don't know the right name for it. Also, I added additional structural support (not part of a kit) to have wood grains in the "right" direction.
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Getting ready to glue the FIRST plank
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Made this little jig to help with making holes:

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I might be a bit too late to the party but yes there is a way you can bend plywood (not on edge of course, but 'crossways'). Furniture makers use this trick when they build ie. cylinder shapes for shopfronts etc. To this you have to cut strips into the INSIDE layer of the plywood so that the cuts have a distinct width - so, just 'scoring' the surface with an Exacto blade is not good, the groove must have a certain width ie. cutting it with a table saw so that the blade cuts ONLY the bottom layer of the plywood, so the other 2 remain intact (if it is a 3 ply). Cutting a series of parallel groves into the plywood this way will then allow the ply being bent to a cylinder-like surface (or, even a cone can be created if the groves are not parallel to each other). The radius of this cylinder can be controlled, if necessary, with the thickness of the grooves and with the distance between them.
It is definitely easier to do than trying to explain it in Pidgeon English of course...
Janos
 
Finished keel by adding groove, don't know the right name for it
Hi Yuri, Hull planking runs down the hull of the ship. Where it hits the bottom keel, it needs to 'slot' into a groove so the planking lays flush with the keel. Bearding Line is higher up the center keel and represents the top edge of the cut. The second is the rabbet line, which is the bottom edge of the cut.

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Hi Yuri, Hull planking runs down the hull of the ship. Where it hits the bottom keel, it needs to 'slot' into a groove so the planking lays flush with the keel. Bearding Line is higher up the center keel and represents the top edge of the cut. The second is the rabbet line, which is the bottom edge of the cut.

View attachment 137244
Thank you...
Need to read more about ships....
 
Hello Yuri,
see my construction report here in the SoS forum.
Can be of help in building your model.
Karl
To make it easier for you to find here is the link:
 
Very nice work.

I too like those little black clamps. What are they and where did you get them please?

EJ
Hi, Try searching online for "toolmaker clamps". I bought them in 2010-ish from LeeValley.ca, Small Machinists' Clamps - $5 a pair (they don't sell them anymore). My clamps don't have manufacture stamp. Back then I was able to buy 30mm and 40mm, now the smallest 2 inch i'd get from BusyBeeTools.com
~Y
 
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