FINE COVERING OF THE HULL.

Sheathing the frame of the ship's hull, recruited from the keel and frames, with a sheathing board, entered the practice of shipbuilding in the 14th - 16th centuries.
Prior to this, the construction of the ship began with the formation of a sheathing "shell", into which transverse reinforcing ribs were then squeezed.

The plating of ancient ships had its own characteristics. First, there were the first two, thicker rows of sheathing boards embedded in the keel, which were called sheet piles. This was followed by a thinner plating of the lower part of the vessel from the sheet pile belt to the waterline - the bottom plating. Above the waterline, the plating belts alternated with reinforced belts - velvets.

The longitudinal seams between the side edges of the sheathing boards adjacent to each other are called grooves, and the transverse seams are called joints. Under the influence of temperature and changing forces, the seams can expand or contract, which affects the water resistance of the case. Usually the seams are caulked - they are filled with hemp or other soft material soaked in resin, shooting range or other similar substance, and on top they are poured with resin or a special composition from a mixture of harpius, lard and sulfur. Thanks to this, the seams “play”, but the water resistance of the case is not violated.

On wooden ships, boards of sheet piling belts, belts in the waterline area and frames were made only from oak, the rest of the belts were made from oak, elm, pine, teak, etc.
The size of the original boards used for sheathing varied between 6 - 8 meters and were laid with a certain layout.
Until the end of the 17th century, the width of the boards was chosen between 33 and 45 cm (older - wider), in the 18th century - 28 - 35 cm, and in the 19th century - an average of 30 cm.
The thickness of the boards ranged from 7.5-10 cm at the bottom to 13-15 cm in the velvet layers.
The extreme ends of the chords entered the tongues of the fores and sterns and were fastened with dowels made of galvanized iron or copper. Iron dowels were hammered into the skin, as well as into frames, without pre-drilling holes in the tree, while copper pins were driven into pre-drilled holes, they were flattened on the lining washers from the inside.
The usual diameter of the dowels was 4-5 cm. The metal nails had a head 1.6 cm in size. The bolts used for fastening the sheathing usually had a head 6 cm in diameter and 0.6 of its diameter high. The washers used with the bolts had a diameter equal to 1.25 head diameters.
To fasten the skin of a small thickness, conical spikes made of oak or acacia were usually used.

At the moment, a very practical and simple plating method has taken root in modeling - double plating. On the one hand, this method requires plating twice, but on the other hand, it is he who helps to complete the plating elegantly and accurately.
The first stage of this process consists in applying a layer of relatively thick (about 2 mm thick) planks, 4-8 mm wide, to the entire prepared frame of the hull model.
After applying the planks to the entire body and pre-sanding them, a wood filler or putty is applied, followed by re-sanding. This process is repeated until all irregularities disappear: scratches and gaps in the joints between the planks, recesses and protrusions on them.
At the second stage, finishing planks are glued onto the hull, which are prepared in advance in accordance with scale dimensions, material is selected that matches the texture of the scaled real one, etc.
Thanks to the carefully calibrated and prepared primary "rough" skin. "Finish" skin after the sticker needs only fine finishing polishing.
After the installation of the skin is completed, the grooves and joints are marked on it, as well as nailing, which gives it a finished and realistic look.

On a 1:115 scale model of a two-masted schooner, the role of the primary "rough plating" is performed by a hull blank, originally cut from a wooden block.
We glue the "clean" sheathing from a rail, which we cut from veneer from a "fruit" basket. We cut the rail with a width calculated in accordance with the scale of the model. you can cut a rail of relatively thin veneer with a model knife, under the ruler.
To speed up the process of cutting the rail, you can use a homemade multi-blade knife.

How to make such a knife is shown in detail in the video "Knife for Strips (Modeling Tools)"

By itself, the process of sticking cladding battens of the same width is not much different from sticking deck battens. However, there are a few nuances that you should pay attention to.

First of all, it is necessary to adjust the thickness (protrusion above the surface) of the velvet, which we have already pasted on the body and which will give us the direction of sticking the cladding rails.
It has already been said that velvet is also a sheathing board, but thicker (by 1.5 - 2 inches). Therefore, applying a sheathing rail next to the velvet, we mark the height of the rail on the latter, we mark the height along the entire length of the velvet exceeding the marks to the thickness of the sheathing rail and remove the excess with sandpaper. We finally grind the velvet.

We glue the sheathing rail from the velvet down (to the keel) and up (to the bulwark). We press the first rail close to the velvet, each subsequent one - to the previously glued one. The slats should be glued either first on one side completely, and then on the second, or by sequentially gluing one slat on each side. This allows you to maintain the symmetry of the arrangement of the cladding rails on the sides.

We glue the rail on cyano-acrylate glue-gel. This is a deviation from the traditional technology - "welding with an iron on PVA glue", but it avoids the need for preliminary bending of the rails for curved sections of the surface of the case and significantly speeds up the process.

When working with cyanoacrylate gel, do not forget about the rules of work:
- apply glue not to the entire workpiece at once, but in parts, as it is glued;
- after applying the glue, hold the workpiece for 20 seconds, and then press it firmly against the surface to be glued;
- apply not much glue, so that after gluing it does not squeeze out from under the parts to be glued;
- remove excess glue without waiting for it to set.

The specificity of the surface of the ship's hull is that its underwater part (especially closer to the bow) is spherical. The sheathing rail in this place has to be bent in two perpendicular directions - along and across the fibers.
If on a large scale model, using relatively narrow rails, it is quite easy to pass a bend, then on a small scale model, difficulties can arise. In particular, "pockets" may form - part of the lath does not adhere to the surface and does not stick due to the internal stresses of the wood. The use of CC glue makes it quite easy to solve the "pockets" problem.

We cut the rail in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe "pocket", we introduce glue under it and glue the resulting valves. To avoid unnecessary overlapping of the valves on each other, we cut their edges as they are glued.

When the glue sets and the former "pocket" is polished, the valve joints will be invisible. If the gap between the valves turned out to be wide, a piece of the same sheathing rail can be glued into it.

Without bringing the skin of the underwater part of the hull 3-4 rows to the keel, we begin to glue the slats from the keel upwards - this will ensure that the sheet pile belt of the slats is parallel to the keel. We fill the resulting spindle-shaped surface area with a rail so that the ends of the rails of the same width fit the stems. At the same time, if necessary, we narrow the rails (forming the so-called "losses") or glue the wedge-shaped elements in the places of expansion of the seams between the sheathing rails.

The ends of the rails should come close to the stem. on the sternpost, let's say the glued rails "go out" over the edge of the post (the excess will be carefully cut off when installing the starpost).

I put together a brief photo report on the ship's hull plating. This article presents photographs of the model ship Resolution built in 1772, one of the ships of Captain Cook, who participated in his second and third expeditions. Model scale 1:48. You will notice that the carcass of this model is not solid as it is completely sheathed except for a small area on the side of the backboard. The principles of hull plating are the same regardless of the frame design. However, a solid surface formed by frames tightly adjacent to each other is easier to sheathe.

Rice. 1. Frame design.

The first step in the cladding process is the definition of geolines. The practice of building full-scale ships at this stage involves dividing the hull into equal sections using wooden slats. When building models, the use of marking rails is often also recommended. However, in my opinion, geolines can be determined using a black thread fixed with droplets of diluted PVA.
In the photo, the main-wells velvet is installed first, which defines the upper limit of the skin of the lower part of the hull. Here the lower part of the body is divided into four zones. Each zone consists (in this case) of five skin belts.
I break the perimeter of the cross section (the length of the side of the frame from the keel to the installed velvet) into four equal segments using marked paper strips. In this way, I determine the approximate geolines of the skin. The next step is to adjust the threads so that the geoline curves look straight when viewed from several different angles.
In the case of this particular hull, which has a blunt nose, I carry two loss belts far forward, set directly under the main-wels velvet. Aft, with careful planning, a shedding installation will not be required. Most hulls have one loss belt in the bow and one in the stern. There are two types of loss belt: in one case, two belts merge into one, or three into two; in the other - on the contrary: one belt expands into two, two into three.

Rice. 2. Examples of lost belts:
a) bow: two to one;
b) bow: three to two;
c) aft: one to two;
d) aft: two to three

Installing a stern straddle can often be avoided with careful planning.
Pay attention to the uppermost belt under the aft end of the Maine Welsh velvet (see Fig. 1.). You will need to install a short piece of lath, or two pieces, to sew up the triangular hole at the outer corner of the screw transom. These segments will be installed parallel to the skin of the lower part of the hull.
The next photo shows another view of the model at the stage of defining geolines. Some minor adjustments to the threads in the bow are still required here. None of the chords should taper towards the stem tongue by more than half of its greatest width. In the uppermost zone, it is planned to install loss belts that will help to avoid this problem.

Rice. 3. View of the model at the stage of determining geolines.

The photo below shows the first two zones installed and secured with dowels. The point of this photo is to show the forward end of the first sheet piling (closest to the keel). It should not be carried out into the stem sheet, but only into the keel sheet - a common mistake for beginners.

Rice. 4. The first two of the four zones, installed and secured with dowels.

If the sheet piling is set too high, the ends of the remaining rails that go into the tongue will bunch up and be too narrow, or too many lost belts in the bow will be needed.
You have already understood that in fact each rail must be given the appropriate shape, since it cannot be bent on edge. Bending on the edge means lateral transverse bending of the rail. If you try to do this, one edge of the rail will rise above the frames, and you will not be able to nail it, its edge in this place will protrude above the rest. To avoid this, it is necessary to provide a template for each rail. Here is the sequence of the process of determining the shape of the rails using templates.

First of all, you need to stick a strip of thick cardboard along the previous belt with adhesive tape. Next, I use a compass ballerina with a retainer (fig. above). The needle is inserted with the reverse end, and the stylus is very sharply sharpened. Set the required compass solution and draw the reverse end of the needle along the edge of the belt. The resulting line corresponds to the shape of the adjacent edge of the new rail.

Rice. 5. Determining the shape of the rails using a compass.

Why is it so difficult? The fact is that you will not be able to push a strip of cardboard under an already glued rail to remove its profile. Therefore, it is necessary to lay the strip not under, but near the skin rail and, using a compass, copy its profile onto cardboard.

Then lay the cardboard strip on the cutting surface and run a very sharp blade along the pencil line. This can be done by hand, or (very carefully!) Using the appropriate patterns as guides.

Rice. 6. Cut out the edge of the rail on the template.

Now you can use the template cut out of cardboard to transfer the outline to the rail blank. In this way we get the exact profile of one of the edges of the new rail.

Rice. 7. determination of the width of this rail at its various points.

The next step is to determine the width of this rail at its various points.
Take a new cardboard strip and fasten it as shown in the photo above. Mark the distance from the previous belt to the thread of the sheathing area you are working on. Now place this strip on a sheet of paper marked with lines radiating from the center (photo below). In the photo, the first belt of five in this area is already installed, so four more belts must be placed in the remaining space. Move the strip until there are four spaces between the tip and the mark. Mark these intervals on a cardboard strip. In essence, we have divided the marked segment into four equal parts. No more.

Rice. 8. Place this strip on a sheet of paper marked with lines radiating from the center.

Reattach the strip to the surface of the frame. Now you can see how the four remaining belts of this zone will be located.

Using the marked strip, you can transfer the width of the new rail at this point on the blank that you mark up, as shown in the figure below. Repeat this procedure along the entire length of the bar as many times as needed.

Rice. 9. Transfer the width of the new rail at this point onto the blank.

Now the dots can be connected using a pattern to complete the outline of the lath, along which it can be cut:

Rice. 10. Dots can be connected using a pattern.

You see two identical slats: the bottom one is neatly shaped with steam. You can bend the rail in two planes, but not in three. Please note that the fitted edge is cut almost along the applied line, and the “far” is cut off with a margin of 0.5 - 0.8 mm, leaving the possibility to correct the rail.

Rice. 11. Two identical slats: the bottom is carefully shaped with steam.

Rice. 12. The rail is glued in place.

In this photo, the butted edge of the rail is sanded, the tip that goes into the tongue is cut at an angle, and the rail is glued into place. With careful preparation of the rail, pressure is not required on it, and the use of clamps is not necessary. Pay attention to a small piece of rail glued under the rear end. Thus, support is provided for the subsequent rail of this belt, since the end is between the frames. If the frames form a continuous surface, such measures are not required.

Rice. 13. The belt is already completed.

In this photo, the belt is already completed. After all the slats of the belt are in place, width marks are again applied at certain intervals and the belt is processed with sandpaper to the desired width. Inspection of the belt from the stern and from the bow will reveal any "ripples" that can be removed before the next belt is installed.

Rice. 14. Expanding belts.

This aft photograph shows the flared belts. Lost installation is not required. The lower five belts are fixed with dowels and exactly repeat the belts of the plating of the real ship.

Early plating. The sheet piling chord and four chords that form the first cladding area are completed.

Another photo at a later stage of sheathing. The holes in the keel are for stand screws.

Currently, do-it-yourself wooden ship models are possible in several ways.

1. The first option - we find drawings or detailed drawings of ships on the net or in books, we extract, find, buy material - plywood, rail, metal, glues and paints and much, much more, acquire a large number of various tools and devices, allocate space for all this - you have to saw - plan - drill, there will be a lot of noise and debris. Now, if the initial fuse has not yet dried up, you can start cutting out the keel and frames.
2. The second option is to go to the website of an online store (for example,), in the "Ship Models" section, find the model of the ship you like - a sailboat or a steamer, commercial or military, modern or historical - the choice is very large. In the tool section, select the necessary fixtures, place an order - and in a few days you can start gluing the frame.

You can immediately say - with the second option, there will be less noise and dirt. The main tools will be a model knife, wire cutters, tweezers, needle files, skinner, drill and nailer. And as a result - the pleasure of building with your own hands a reduced copy of a real, to the smallest detail, ship.

What do we get in a box with a wooden kit of a ship model?

Detailed drawings and diagrams - usually on several sheets of large format at a scale of 1: 1, step-by-step photo instructions or a description of the assembly of individual units with many illustrations. Specifications with the names of all parts, quantity, size, material and location. Also, knitting schemes, wiring, rigging fastenings, how to tie dozens of blocks, eyelets, body kit schemes - everything is very detailed.

Model body frame

The largest in the box are the parts of the ship's hull - keel, frames, decks, etc. These parts of the model are already cut out of plywood. Depending on the cutting used by the manufacturer (laser or mechanical), the plywood parts are either in sheets and need to be separated by cutting the bridges, or the parts are already separated and packaged. For some manufacturers, the hull of the vessel can be solid wood (small models from the Mamoli manufacturer) or plastic for painting (for example, Billing Boats)

With a traditional hull design, assembly of the model, as a rule, begins with preparing the keel frame and frames for installation, sanding, removing bevels (see), preparing seats, mutual alignment and gluing the hull frame. At this stage, success largely depends on the correct relative position of the frame parts. The ship-model slipway will greatly facilitate the task. It will allow you to securely fix the keel frame on the working surface, set perpendiculars with the help of a frame plate, install the deck, etc.

Primary (rough) hull skin

But now the hull frame is assembled, and the next big and very important stage in the construction of the model will be the rough hull skin. Manufacturers complete sets with laths of various widths of easily processed wood species (most often linden, less often other non-valuable species - balsa, pine, etc.). Sometimes the manufacturer completes the sets with a double set of slats for rough sheathing (for example, linden and balsa) and thus gives the "right to make a mistake", the opportunity to correct flaws.

The task of the first layer is to get the correct contours of the model body, to give it the necessary rigidity. Sufficient thickness of the rails included in the set will allow, when processing the body with sandpaper (troweling), to avoid thinning of the material and create a perfectly flat, smooth surface for subsequent finishing sheathing with thin rails.

Models for beginners (1-2 stars on the product page in the online store) often have somewhat simplified rigging and spars, sails and flags are included - a novice modeler gets a fully equipped vessel as a result.

When wiring the rigging, it is necessary to use the attached drawings - it will be difficult for a beginner to understand the intricacies, which also have complex names of "ropes" (the set may include several types of threads) at first.

Building a ship model is a complex and exciting activity. For many modelers it is important to see the result of their work. Models "out of the box" allow, with minimal time and effort spent on preparatory activities and the search for the necessary components, to realize the desire to build with their own hands samples of beautiful ships that delight people and decorate our lives.

I did not buy all the magazines, because. castings imitating barrels, bottles, rope and other dregs are not worth the money they are asked for, and it will not be difficult to order similar elements, but of better quality and cheaper. To show the interior of the ship, as the authors of this model expect, the ship clearly does not have enough frames. So if the inside is not correct, then it is better to hide it ...

I'm posting the results of today's work. I have to say, this is a really cool design. The convergence of parts is 6 points on a 5 point scale! The entire skeleton was assembled dry, and then the seams were shed with a cosmophen without disassembling. Even without him, though, everything worked out just fine.

I finish the columns, beams and decks. I'm starting upholstery. At the moment, this is almost everything that came out of the magazines regarding the case. After turning the bow and stern frames, I glue the remaining skin elements.

All elements are even, there is nothing to process, the inside will not be visible, accordingly, nothing needs to be painted, the inner decks do not need to be covered with decking - and therefore quickly.
Now I see that the hull is much wider than it should be, plus the profile of all the frames is not as pot-bellied as it should be. Anyway. Now about construction. Sheathed the sides with a rough trim. I could not get one number with the aft part of the skin, so I had to make the part from the remnants of the frames for the parts. In the last issue, I received, as it seemed to me, the skin of the entire starboard side - I got screwed. It was the lining of the inner part of the left side. After checking them, I realized that these parts can be used as a starboard skin with minor adjustments. He laid the upper gun deck and the forecastle deck and installed a ruster grill on it. I did not cut a hole for it - there will be no backlight. Began to do the rough trim of the stern.

I finished the rough skin of the hull and found a huge jamb of the manufacturer:
1) for some reason, the cannon ports closer to the stern and to the tank are not rectangular in shape, but diamond-shaped (how, interestingly, can such ports be closed with a lid in reality? Since the hinges will be located obliquely, the port covers themselves will not be perpendicular to the side, but at an angle to it!). Okay, I won't fix it.
2) If you look at the drawings (even those posted on this page), it is not difficult to see that the bulkhead with the door to the cabin is located almost immediately after the end of the 2nd cannon port of the lower gun deck, and according to the magazine - before the start of the 3rd cannon port .

Change on point 2 - riveted in vain. After installing the aft top parts, it turned out that the first high frames, which I thought were needed for a bulkhead with a door, turned out to be racks to hold high sides. I haven't sanded the black skin yet.

Completely finished the rough trim. Now I'm cutting veneer for finishing sheathing.

I'm starting a clean up. I cut "boards" from ash veneer 5x60 mm. First I fill in the gaps between the cannon ports, then I close the rest of the space.

A small LIKBEZ regarding photographing the model (maybe someone will need it). I took 3 shots from the same angle, but with different focal lengths (different zoom usage). Pay attention to how the perception of the model changes. Without zoom - 15mm model is strongly stretched, distorting proportions, with moderate zoom - 35mm model shrinks in length and looks the most similar to what we see. With a large zoom - 85 mm, the model continues to "flatten" and looks shorter than it actually is. Conclusion - if you want to "elegantly" stretch the model (or female legs) - shoot in widescreen mode (10-25 mm), if you want reality - 30-40 mm is your choice. If you want to shoot a model against the backdrop of the Moon, 500 mm is enough for you. These focal lengths are given taking into account a non-full-frame matrix (Canon 50d) and others like it, with a full-frame matrix (Canon 5d and analogues), these figures must be multiplied by 1.6.

After a long absence, I can finally post the fruits of my sluggish work. General form.

A few more details to follow. Barrels steering wheel - ordered at the Shipyard.

It's the boat's turn. I decided to order it from the shipyard (and rightly so). The model is just gorgeous. Very detailed and well put together. But one problem crept into the waters - the boat turned out to be much smaller than what was needed. I'll have to order a new one - a little more, and I'll send this one to Queen Anne's Revenge (it's smaller and the size of the boat gets up there perfectly).

Ships in comparison!!!

Today I am working as Papa Carlo and carving the balcony roof.
First of all, I glued the cake from the rulers, gaining the desired height, then with a proxon electric jigsaw I cut off all the excess clearly along the contour of the balcony. The jigsaw takes this thickness (16 mm) without problems.

Now I start to remove everything superfluous with a dremel, I form a roof. It has not been attached to the photos yet. Now it remains to cut the veneer into strips and glue it on top, imitating tiles. It took only 1.5 hours for the whole trimming-turning!!

I continue to work on the body.

Details:

Balcony elements.

Lanterns were ordered from the Shipyard.

To start painting, it remains only to finalize the stand-ups, the bow mast and make the bottom trim
Before painting, I wanted to finish the body, but I ran out of nails and all small things. While I was waiting for a parcel from St. Petersburg, I thought I would go crazy from idleness. The last boat was small, so I ordered a new one. This one was just the right size. I decided to fill nails in velvet and make chains on the steering wheel. I know that there were no chains on the original, but since this is a rather smart and necessary attribute, I decided to make it (and it looks prettier). Vantputtensy, as promised - chain. They are easier to make even and on the same level than any other. Although not correct, but evenly and accurately. The mast is just stuck into the deck.

After the tackboard, I decided to finish the bulwark sheathing. To do this, it was necessary to make racks under the railing. At "Aurora" these racks are not always top-timbers (tops of frames). There are 78 of these vertical sticks in total. Looking ahead, I’ll say that I made them longer than the entire skin before.

First of all, we mark the position of the racks on the board and cut the bars by 3-5 mm. Racks should be 3 mm wide. I cut the bars 5x5 mm. First, I turned the outer side (the racks are not straight!), And then the back side along it.

Then he drove it in width, checking the vertical with a simple thing.

It turns out such beauty. Along the way, I glued the boards between the racks. Easy, but tedious.

Trying on the correct position of the beams. The body is made according to a theoretical drawing that differs from all the others. I interrupted, where necessary, new holes for them.

Racks on the tank have their own pitfalls. They diverge like a fan, the most extreme ones "fall over" by almost 45 degrees.

The outer side was estimated according to the templates.

And... the quest began. In order to orient the bowsprit and punch a hole in the hull for it, it is necessary to build a bulkhead between the mast bits, in which it is fixed. The bits pass through the deck (vertical bars in the photo), crash into the tank beam, while they are strictly vertical. Later, the knots of the anchor biteng crash into them (they are lying further on the deck in the photo).

Biteng hit. It turned out that the bulwark in the nose is 4 mm lower than necessary. He built up the boards with linden and the newly aligned racks. Fortunately, on a black hornbeam, the joint is then practically not noticeable.

Now, in order to align all the racks, I had to fence a cunning design. The thing is cool. Two bars lie on the board, are connected by a cone-shaped piece of wood with the desired angle, and bars of the same width are already glued to it from above, which are the guides we need.

Well, everything is fine. Trying on beams on the tank.

In the nose you need to put 6 rails of the inner lining. The lower ones, at a distance of three centimeters, bend in all three planes! He hovered, bent, broke, until he made a template out of paper, sawed out a curve and easily bent it in just two planes (gee-gee.). Here's the creepy worm.

Sanded and punched a hole for the bowsprit.

Moved to cannon ports on the quarterdeck. They are round. Making rings on a router

and crash into the sides.

We sew from the inside.

Since all the racks are embedded, we are finishing the outer skin, leaving a groove for the figured rails, which will be a separate story.

Put a thickened lining in the nose. I decided to make it black and opened the ports.

For the latter, I had to use the entire tool that is in the foreground.

Why are we bored? Of course, nailing. Again mark, drill, insert.

The view of the ship slowly appears.

We make an imitation of the tie-in of the "sills" of the cannon ports. Where possible, he simply drew with a knife, where it was impossible, he cut pieces.

I nailed the black part of the skin. Ahead of me were curly slats, which were rails.