Planking the hull, stage by stage
Planking is where most builders first feel like shipwrights. The secret is that the hull is not planked from top to bottom in one go. It is divided into bands, each one planned before any glue is opened.
- Fair the bulkheads. Run a long sanding stick across the bulkhead edges until a thin strip laid over them touches every one without rocking. Most planking trouble starts with skipping this.
- Fit the filler blocks. Soft balsa or basswood blocks between the first bulkheads at bow and stern give the planks a solid surface where the curves are sharpest.
- Lay the sheer plank. The first plank sits just below the deck line and sets the ship's sweeping sheer. Check it from the side and from above; if it looks right to the eye, it is right.
- Mark the bands. Measure each bulkhead from sheer plank to keel, divide by the number of planks, and tick the marks with a pencil. Thin paper strips help on the curves.
- Taper and spile. At the bow, planks must narrow to fit the shorter girth. Where a plank wants to bend edgewise, cut its curve from a wider strip rather than forcing it. This is spiling.
- Bend with heat. Soak the strip briefly, bend it over a plank bender or old soldering iron, and let it cool clamped to the hull before gluing.
- Glue and pin alternately. Plank port and starboard in turn so the hull does not twist. Wood glue on the bulkhead edges, a whisper of it on the plank edge.
- Close with the garboard. The plank next to the keel goes last on each side, often fitted as stealers or drop planks where the bands do not meet evenly.
- Sand and seal. Sand with the grain up to fine grit, then seal with thinned varnish or oil. On double-planked kits, repeat the process with the thin veneer layer.
Masts and spars
Kit dowels are straight; real masts are not. A lower mast tapers towards its head and often has a squared section where the top sits. Chuck the dowel in a drill and run sandpaper along it as it turns to produce a gentle taper. Yards taper from the middle to both ends. Make the tops, crosstrees and caps before staining, check every mast against the plan for rake, and dry fit everything before a drop of glue goes on the step.
Rigging types
Every line on a sailing ship belongs to one of two families. Knowing which family a line is in tells you its colour, its thickness and the order in which it goes on.
Standing rigging holds the masts in place and never moves when the ship sails. Shrouds brace the masts sideways; stays and backstays brace them fore and aft. On sailing ships of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries these lines were tarred, so model them in black or very dark brown thread. Rig the forestays first, then the shrouds, starting with the lower mast and working upward. A coat of diluted PVA sets the line without shine.
Running rigging moves sails and yards: halyards raise them, braces swing the yards, sheets and clews trim the sails. Running lines were untarred hemp, so a tan or natural thread is the honest colour. They pass through blocks and end on belaying pins or cleats. Rig them after all standing rigging, working from the centre of the ship outward, and coil the loose ends neatly on the pins with a little diluted glue.
Deadeyes are three-holed blocks that tension the shrouds through a lanyard. To keep them level, make a spacing jig from a bent wire with two prongs set at the correct distance, hook it between upper and lower deadeye, and reeve the lanyard. Ratlines, the ladder rungs across the shrouds, are tied with clove hitches. Tape a card behind the shrouds with lines drawn at the right spacing and tie to the lines. Do every fourth ratline first, then fill in.
Tricks of the trade
- Wax cotton thread or switch to a synthetic rigging line to stop fuzz showing at scale.
- Stiffen thread ends with a dab of thin cyanoacrylate so they push through blocks like a needle.
- Keep a rigging log: a simple list of each line, its thickness, colour and pin. Tick it off as you go.
- Never pull a line drum-tight. Real rigging sags slightly; tight model lines can bend a mast over months.
When the hull is done and the rig stands, you are ready for display: a simple baseboard, two brass pedestals and a case to keep the dust off. Or take everything you have learned and fit it inside a bottle on the next page.