Frigate Chapter Two: Gun Deck Planking
Instruction was clearly made to
stain the middle of the lower deck walnut as a small section
would be visible from outside the model. Curious as to which
bit I leapt onto the plans and realised that the stairs from
the gun deck were
the
obvious conduits of an eye line. Plus since I want this to
be a decent effort I decided that staining would not be good
enough. I had some walnut planking left over from the
Sloop and decided to rough plank with walnut wood the
relevant area. Then should someone be pedantic to look that
far in they would see planking. This also gave me the option
to try a slightly different caulking approach out.
Previously I had used a marker on one side of each piece of
wood but wanted to see the visual impact of using it on both
which should thicken the caulking line. I did not worry
about correct plank lengths as no one would be able to tell
if it was one continuous plank or separate.
As it stands I was pleased with the
result. The instructions next provided two options for
laying the gun deck and planking it. They said you could
either set the deck then plank or cut the deck in half and
then plank before fitting. I decided on the second way
because it would make sanding and tidying the deck much
easier.
Learning from last time and taking
advantage of the flatness of the wood being worked on I drew
lines at the 40mm marks to prevent jagged planking
attachments. One strange sensation was that it felt more
like the ship exists and I was just showing the planks as
opposed to building something. Probably just my romantic
nature. As can be seen I also used my large steel rule to
level of the attachments and hopefully prevent gaps.
One thing I found after planking one side was
that though close the individual strips were not exactly the
same width. At this point I switched to using one plank for
one strip and throwing the remains away as it was not worth
attempting to size match or worse mixing sizes and getting
an uneven plank line.
Once done and quick dry fit check of the gun
deck onto
its support was done. Mainly to check the slots were free
and to see what areas may cause concern then came the gluing
down. I used any weight I could to keep the pressure on the
deck as can be seen here.
A quick varnish (and resultant picking up of
lost brush hairs due to the cheapness of the brush...) and
the next stage was ready. The last shot shows the completed
deck. Unfortunately the shot of the deck on its own came out
badly and as can be seen I have started on the first layer
of inner bulwark planks here...
Sanding
was done as per my new plans outside. The advantage of
cutting in half and not planking on situ felt itself here as
well as lots of pressure was placed on the flat deck and all
edges of it could be comprehensibly sanded. The shot here shows
the difference once one side has been sanded and the other
not. 
