Irish Royal Mail Steamer Connaught build

[Stuart Badger]

Hi PDs!
I haven't done that much today - as I have spent most of the morning attempting to tax the car. You would think this was a simple operation but this is Greece. Having failed to send me a reminder (without which you are not allowed to tax your car!) and after 4 trips to try to acomplish the task  I now 0nly have 2 days to tax it 0r be fined 600 Euro (the tax is over 300!). The woman in the tax office lost it completely this morning when faced with a queue of about 50 angry Naxiots none of whom had been sent the requisite reminder - her solution to the problem? Shout at every one and refuse to tax ANY cars!

So I did a little planking on the turtledeck to calm myself and managed to complete one side - having looked at the photos - I really MUST tidy the workshop! I think that Connaught is starting to look more like the real thing now. The hull is a bit rough in places and not as clean as I would like so I'm going to have to take a step back and carefully go over it again. All in all though I can start to see the ship emerge from the woodwork!

All the best

Stuart

[Eddy Matthews]

At long last a photo that shows a work area in the sort of mess than mine normally is!

The turtle deck really does change the appearance a lot,  and it's really starting to look like Connaught now!

Regards
Eddy

[steamboatmodel]

At long last a photo that shows a work area in the sort of mess than mine normally is!
Regards
Eddy

Eddy thats not messy you can still see parts of the table top.
Regards,
Gerald.

[Eddy Matthews]

Eddy thats not messy you can still see parts of the table top.
Regards,
Gerald.

In my case, that's too close to the truth for comfort Gerald!!

Eddy

[Thanasis]

 Hi my friend Stuart.
I am watching your project from the beginning preferring to stay in silence as amazed to your skill…
But your last post describing your intention to tax your car led me in loud laughs and I didn’t manage to stay out…
You have been warned my friend about Greek reality… 
Friendly…

[steamboatmodel]

Eddy thats not messy you can still see parts of the table top.
Regards,
Gerald.

In my case, that's too close to the truth for comfort Gerald!!

Eddy

Eddy repeat after me "I promise to find the table top at least once this coming year" Have a Happy New Year.
Regards,
Gerald.

[Stuart Badger]

Hi PDs!
I have finished the Turtle Deck planking and given the whole thing a coat of primer and surface fill - so it's ready for painting.
Some time ago I said I would do planking in the 'Odds and Ends' thread - so I thought now would be a good opportunity to show the planking of the foredeck, which is a small area but uses the same method as a bigger deck.
Ship's decks vary in construction enormously vessel to vessel. Connaught has a margin plank (that's the plank that goes around the edge of the deck) on the foredeck but not the main deck. The deck plank ends on Connaught just butt up to the margin plank and are not 'nibbled' (as on Mick's Princess Elizabeth).
The first job is to produce the caulking for between the planks. I do this by cutting roughly 2mm strips of black art card (the deck planking is 1.5mm thick, for thicker planking you would need thicker card strips). For a deck with putty or composition caulking you can use a different coloured card.  The position of the edge of the margin plank is marked on the sub-deck and the first plank is laid on the centre line. A thin bead of glue is then run along the edge of this plank and on to the deck base. A card strip is guided into place on the edge of the first plank and then the next plank is butted up to it and securely squeezed into place. As I plank I mark the position of the margin plank on the deck planks.(Connaught in this respect is easy as the margin plank is straight edged. For a curved margin plank I would make a template BEFORE I started planking),
Once the deck is planked the excess planks ends can be trimmed back to the marked line of the margin plank, another strip of 'caulking' can be inserted against the edge of the planks and the margin plank glued in place.
Once the glue is dry, using a sanding block I rub down the deck, removing the excess paper and leveling the planking. Once the deck is smooth and all of the paper nibbles have been removed the deck can be finished with varnish.
One point to bear in mind is that if you want pristine museum model decks you will need to use something like a cabinet scraper after the final sanding to remove any of the black paper dust that has settled into the grain of the wood. I prefer my decks to be slighty weathered - so I'm quite happy to have a bit of 'coal dust' on the deck planks!
I have covered the process in some detail in the photos (hope there are not too many Eddy?).
Now I want you all to wish me luck especially Thannasis as I am up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to be first in the queue at the tax office!

All the best

Stuart

[Talisman]

Excellent Stuart,
I  think that's the first time I have ever seen how it's done and i will definitely give it a go some day . Cheers for posting.
Best of luck with your car tax.
Kim

[Eddy Matthews]

You can never have enough photos Stuart!!

I use the same basic technique, with one exception..... Rather than cutting strips of black card, I simply stack 15 or 20 planks side by side (narrow edge down), smear a thin film of glue onto a wider piece of card and glue all the planks to it using a couple of weights to hold them firmly in contact while the glue dries....

Then simply use a razor blade to slice each plank , complete with its card edging, and voilla - 20 planks done in the space of 10 minutes or so.... Just be careful with the razor blade!!

Eddy

[Stuart Badger]

VERY clever Eddy! Now why didn't I think of that - I'm just counting the hours I could have saved over the years! That is going to save a lot of time on the main deck.

All the best

Stuart

[djcf]

Hi Stuart,
Nice to see pics of the process, and the fine end result.

I must admit I chickened out if trying to plank a deck recently, mainly because it was a superstructure module constructed of plastic sheet, and I wasn't happy with any glues for wood to plasticard, so I drew the planks & shaded them with watercolour pencils then varnish.

However hope to try real planking in the future sometime using your method, think I will practise on a scrap first 

Clark

[Stuart Badger]

Thanks Clark

For wood to plastic I usually use a NON petrolium based contact glue - UHU spray contact is very good and dunlop? make a nice thin rubber based contact glue.

All the best

Stuart

[Tug--Kenny]

Thank you for showing the planking, Stuart. You make it look and sound easy. The finished effect is superb.

Did you have to hold the planks down for long, while the glue dried ? My 'compound W' wood glue takes overnight to dry so I wondered about securing the planks while this happened.

Ken

[Stuart Badger]

I use a yellow Aliphatic resin woodglue called 'titebond' ken. It;s available from most model shops and wood/DIY stores. I find that it grabs and holds within 1 or 2 minutes. The whole deck, including drying and sanding time took under 1 1/2 hours (I did a few other jobs while the glue dried).

All the best

Stuart

[Stuart Badger]

Hi PDs

Well, I've been working daily on Connaught but it's been those jobs that take forever but don't show much, But I've now made enough progress for another post.
I gave the Turtle Deck its first coat of paint and fitted the bulwarks and stern above deck level. I've made a start on fitting the rail along the top of the coaming and also started the stern gratings over the steering gear.
The biggest job I've done is to put the plating detail on one side of the hull. Connaught was an IRON ship, and although the museum model shows a smooth glossy hull - she would have been built of relatively small iron plates lapped in and out vertically. I wanted to replicate this on the model as I love the look that this gives. To accomplish this I first masked off the hull into the width of the plate runs as in the photos. I then used contact adhesive in between the strips of masking tape and on some heavy duty watercolour painting paper which has a texture very like scale rolled iron plate! I laid the strips of paper into the glued gaps between the tape, cleaned up the inevitable 'bobbles' from the contact adhesive and then gave it one coat of grey primer to see if the effect was as I wanted. I'm quite pleased with the result - but I may have to seal all the edges of the 'plating' as it would appear that the paint solvent disolves the contact adhesive! Nothing disasterous but a little tedious to say the least.
Anyway, all in all I think the hull looks like that of an iron ship - so I'm quite chuffed.

All the best

Stuart