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Width of deck planking


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I'd like to plank the deck on my next project, either with separate planking strips or scored decking. What width should the planks be. I have a sheet of scored planking with simulated planks about 1/32" wide. Would this be too narrow? I'm planning of doing the yacht America.

Thanks...Charlie

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That depends on the scale of the model and the width of the planking on the real America.

 

I found plans that show the deck planks on 7.21" centers, divide that by 1/32" equals 230, so the scale of 1/230 would be the ideal scale for the scribed wood to be to scale.

 

America was 101 ft 3 in OAL, divide that by 230 gives a model length of 5.283". That's the OAL of the model of America that would have 1/32" deck planking.

The height is 3.900" keel to masthead, 3.537" waterline to masthead. If the model is smaller than these dimensions then the 1/32" planking gets more oversize as you get smaller.

 

The plans I found were free for a 1/66 scale model and have all the detail you can handle. I added a hull line drawing to carve a solid hull, or you can build a smaller version of the plank on bulkhead hull in the plans, but that may be more of a challenge than you want. Hollow hulls can be difficult in a SiB.

 

AmericaSail Yacht.pdf

post-30-0-71927000-1430457081_thumb.png

 

Dave

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Yea it all depends on the size of the model.  With the typical smaller size of ships in bottles I'd be more worried about being to wide than to narrow.  As Dave described above though it appears if the model is 5 inches you should be ok.  If it's less than that it might be quiet the chore getting them down to size.  I'm not adverse planks being a little too wide.  At ship in bottle scale most people are impressed that you planked the deck at all.  If you want to be particular maybe go twice as wide and let the eye fill in the gap.  In which case 1/32 would work on a 2.5 inch model.  

 

By fill in the gap I mean that they eye will often fill in what not there.  The best example is putting a piece of tubing on a flat block of wood and calling it a cannon with a gun carriage.  At perfect scale it's not correct and you wouldn't be able to get away with it on a large model.  At a small scale though it looks the same and eye tells the mind that's a cannon.  Probably because the small model looks the same as standing ten feet away from the large model.  Same with planking.  If I stand far away from a model I can see the planks create lines on decks but I wouldn't be able to count them.       

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Although I've seen plenty of good effects with scoring or marking out deck planks, I have always liked actually laying them with good strips of wood and sanding them down.  It is time consuming but not as time consuming as you might think.  Igor just posted pictures of his lifeboat planking this way.

The size is always a problem.  I once read deck planks are usually 4" to 5" wide and 19th Century photos confirm that.  Rarely can we manage stripwood that fine to good effect, so I accept planking I know is too wide.  Here is my latest Constitution, a large model at 29' = 1', so ideally the plank should have been about 1/64, or .00156", but it was actually .0020", closer to 8" on the model.  Dave will be able to express the arithmetic better than I.  Each strip was given a swipe with a brown magic marker along the side to represent the plank seam.  Hope this will be clear enough

 

post-23-0-52148200-1430488651_thumb.jpg

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The width of deck planks in general also depends on historic period, size of the vessel, its intended use, the fabrication materials and even national origin.

 

While researching the Royal Navy's Cruizer-class brig-sloops I came across a very interesting drawing. Bellette was built in 1814 and when she was brought in for a refit in the mid 1820's someone detailed the deck planking as it was on that date onto the original construction deck plan. I've seen several similar deck framing drawings of other Cruizers but none with the decking detailed. This is an exceedingly rare occurrence that I have not seen anywhere else for any vessel. This may be the only contemporary drawing in existence of a Napoleonic era warship that shows as-built deck planking.

 

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Original construction drawing of Bellette (and sister Ganette) with decking disposition as recorded in 1824.

 

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Same drawing enhanced and with redrawn decking lines.

 

I enhanced the drawing by reversing the colors and tinkering with brightness and contrast and other settings to bring out the lines of the planks. I then traced the planking lines in green and added a centerline and an approximate beam line in red. You may notice that all the butt joints of the planks are shown over a full span deck beam and you will find that the longest planks scale to about 26 feet long.

 

Here we have 14 planks plus a border plank between the deck openings and the bulwark with 8 planks in the band of deck openings. The thickness of bulwark framing appears to be about the same as a deck plank width. Bellette had a beam of 30 ft. 6 in. divided by 40 [2x(14+1+1)+8=40] gives a plank width of 9.15 in. including a tarred seam, perhaps 8.5 in. for the plank itself. This is consistent with my visual impression of deck plank widths from photos of Constitution, Victory and other warships of the period still in existence which appear to have slightly wider planks, perhaps 10 in. which isn't surprising since they are much larger than this 100 ft brig. Deck planks here were 3" to 3.5" thick while on Constitution they were 4" to 4.5" (if memory serves) on the spar deck and even thicker on the gun deck.

 

Deck planking changed considerably on iron and steel hulled vessels since the planking was no longer a structural part of the ship but was retained as a working surface for the sailors laid down over the iron or steel structural deck. Star of India, the first iron framed and hulled commercial vessel, and the much later Balclutha have narrower (and much thinner) deck planking consistent with Alex's observation of 4 or 5 inches. The 20th century Esmeralda also has this narrower planking. The tarred seams got narrower and eventually all but disappeared on steel hulled vessels.

 

This drawing is very interesting in that the upper half shows all the deck beams and also the scarph joints in the waterway. You may also notice that the deck planks taper in width (to about 5 in.) as they run aft and to a lesser extent forward. This strongly suggests that such tapering was standard practice on Royal Navy vessels in this general period and may have been the practice on US Navy ships since American shipbuilding was strongly influenced by British merchant and Royal Navy methods. Spanish, French and Dutch shipbuilders handled some of the finer points of deck and hull planking in different ways from the British. Many early American merchant vessels reflect the norm in the immigrant shipbuilder's home country.

 

Sorry, I know I'm a detail freak and I get off on all these nit-picking little nautical details even if I can never make use of them in my work. If I ever build a large SiB of a Cruizer-class vessel I may try to duplicate the tapered deck planking shown in this drawing but I can't even guess how much longer it would take than straight planking. If I try tapering deck planks I might feel compelled to secure them with treenails. Doing that will take me much further down the road to insanity than I already am - and I'm not sure (yet?) that I want to go there.

 

Dave

Edited by Dave Fellingham
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Excellent topic for the beginner as well as the season SIB'er.  I too think that the actual planking is preferred if the  builder has the skills to attempt this.  How better to acquire the skills than to make that attempt.

 

Thanks Alex, Daniel, and Dave for the wealth of knowledge you share with the community.  

 

Gwyl

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I cannot remember if it is Lloyd McCaffery's book, or Donald McNarry's book, but one of them talks about using hand planner shavings as decking material.  Of course this would take care of the thickness, but from there, you could adjust your own width.  Has anyone tried this method?

 

Gwyl

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It was Donald McNarry in Shipbuilding in Miniature. After cutting several shavings with a block plane he moistens and uncurls them then glues archival tissue to the side that was the outside of the curl and lets it dry flat. He slices the shavings to width, paper side up. The paper helps to prevent the blade from following the grain rather than the straight edge. He glues the planks, paper side down onto a backer of archival tissue. He rarely does anything to simulate the tarred seams. When he has prepared enough deck for its intended location he scraps and sands the deck, then finishes it with the palest french polish which slightly darkens the plank edges. He sands the deck surface lightly with very fine sandpaper and installs it.

 

One problem that occurs with trying to follow McNarry's methods is his book was written in 1955 and he uses glues and finishes that are either no longer available or are extremely rare. The french polish mentioned above is a perfect example. French polish is made from the carapaces of a specific species of beetle dissolved in wood alcohol, filtered and allowed to evaporate leaving flakes. The flakes are sold by the gram (at a price comparable to that of gold), re-dissolved in wood alcohol and applied. It's use today is limited primarily to restoration of very high end antique furniture by the few craftsmen who know the very labor intensive process required. In 1955 it was available in several grades based on color which varied from almost clear to a deep transparent reddish brown.Today it's only available in one grade and the craftsmen will hand select individual flakes for color. Between the cost and working with a material that requires the use of a respirator (not just a filter mask) I don't find it practical in my work.

 

Lloyd McCaffery in Ships in Miniature cuts his planks using a model makers table saw and proceeds in a similar way to McNarry. He lays out the butt joints and treenails the planks in alignment with the deck beams of the model. He tapers the planks on models of vessels that used them on the deck(s) and nibs them into the border planks when called for. [i'll leaving nibbing for another day.]

 

I adapted the techniques of both to suit my tools (no miniature block plane or table saw) which I posted under another topic. Link:  deck planking  In that post the model was rather large scale (1/96) at a large size (4 inch / 100 mm length on deck) so the planks were wider than might be considered normal in a SiB. The black backing paper described doubles as seam tarring but can be adapted for smaller sizes at smaller scales by using glassine or archival tissue as backing then removing this backing after the planks are cut. 91% rubbing alcohol will soften pva and allow removal of the backing. As mentioned here and in the linked post, the backing paper aids in cutting uniform planks and is worth the extra step. Some black or dark brown acrylic paint can be used to dye the glue to simulate the tarred seams on smaller scale and/or size models. It just occurred to me that dyed pva could be used to glue a glassine backer, which may be just right without removing the backing, to simulate the tarred seam at appropriate scales.

 

Dave

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I was always impressed by McNarry's pains in creating planking and I believe Philip Reed still follows some of these techniques.  His books are a wonder resource for any miniature ship modeling, and are all well written.  I also agree with Dave over the frustration about French polish. Happily, the loss of a material or resource in our work is rare.  Although I have no suggestion for a modern alternative to French polish, I suspect something may become available and will renew inquiries.

I maintain miniature deck planking for us need not be this involved.  Here is a deck of a small fishing schooner completed last winter, for a 1 liter bottle.  Yes, these miniature sawn planks are clearly too large, but I believe the impression of a built up hull, instead of a carved one, works here.

 

post-23-0-91479200-1431092369_thumb.jpg

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McNarry also used French polish for gluing the intersections of his wire shrouds and ratlines. I substituted an artist grade acrylic matte varnish for the same purpose on my thread shrouds and ratlines with excellent results and now use it for most of my clear finish needs and for gluing of rigging. Point being that substitutes for obsolete products used by McNarry and others 50 years ago are available. We also have to adapt many of the static ship model miniaturist techniques to our needs.

 

I like the end result of using the correct planking technique for the period, purpose and standard practice. Many ship bottlers shoot themselves in the foot with inadequate research. I remember doing research in the pre-internet, pre-photocopier days when it could be a project in itself just finding a library within driving distance that has a particular book which isn't loaned out, arranging inter-library loans, taking copious notes, etc. Now, research that took over a year back then can be done in an afternoon with Google, and many modelers won't even use it to answer their questions. I hated the tedium of research in those days but today it's one of my favorite parts of this craft.

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  • 5 months later...

Well, I'm rather late joining this discussion, but....

My deck planking method:

For most SIBs, we're really thinking of around 1:600 scale or smaller, which equates to somewhat less than 0.5mm plank width.

Using wood shavings, it's quite possible to get down to less than 0.25 mm width - as others have said, better too thin than over size.

So, diverting from McNarry -  make some fine wood shavings, about 25mm wide - a light coloured close grained hardwood.such as sycamore,holly or English boxwood, for preference. A sharp finely set smoothing plane is best for this. Not too long: 100mm is plenty. I use a (imperial 0-1") micrometre to check thickness - about 0.007" /0.2mm is about right. Plane off 20 or so shavings - they will curl up of course, but no matter.

Now lay them flat on a piece of board, with a bit of masking tape each end to hold down. Paint one side with matt black enamel, then, a few at a time, glue together, alternating black with white,with ordinary PVA - just a smear on one side, then clamp in vice or weight down - I use a 10kg lump of iron.

When dry, repeat until you have about 5mm thick piece. Then, again with a sharp finely set plane, take shavings off to give thin strips of look-alike planking.I use a short shooting board for this - once the edge is squared, it's simple to produce strips of planking. Now the strips can be glued onto tissue paper to the required width for the model.

I hope this makes sense - unfortunately my camera does not have macro feature, so I can't add pics. :(

Cheers,

Howard

Edited by Sojourner
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Funny this should come up.  I was talking to a miniature builder that recently joined my local club and he shared with me his method.  I just finished experimenting with it and was about to post to my build log.  I think I still will but I'll go more in depth on the deck planking here.  The gentleman that builds miniatures though not in bottles told me about a company called cards of wood.  Here's the website.  http://www.cardsofwood.com/  They sell post cards, greeting cards, business cards and other things all printed on wood.  They also sail sheets of blank wood at thickness's of .015 and .025 inch.  That about .4 millimeters to .6 millimeters.  Not quite as thin as McNarry's method as Howard explained but they are pretty thin.  I was given three sheets as a sample and have tested them out on an old project.  I may start a build log on that as well.  Any way here's my results.  

 

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I used a scribing method for the deck plank lines.  I painted the deck in nail polish then cut lines for the planking and stained the wood.  The result is thin lines are stained but the rest of the wood isn't.  Using the wood I received I was able to do all of this before placing the deck on the model.  My lines are much straighter than my previous attempts in scribing.  Also I noticed my miniature modeling friend made the deck lines very light compared to what I was used to.  I did the same and they are probably a bit to light but in really I think the farther you get away from a ship the more the deck lines blend together so they should appear lighter.  Also a one more quick note.  The ship was planked with the same cards of wood sheet and the bowsprit and channels were done with the wood as well.     

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  • 10 months later...

I have read and been inspired!  I am about to get a selection of veneer from cardsofwood, who appear to be very helpful.  Reading their website there are two thicknesses as DSiemens (how formal!) says, but the 0.016 thickness is paper or felt-backed (I think).  Is this the material you tried?

 My plan, fwiw, is to get assorted timbers in postcard size (0.025) and a pale timber in paper size  (0.016) and they have offered some samples of other constructions not seen on the website.  I will happily relate what I get and find - and do with it.

Harking back a little, and at the risk of being nationalist, French polish and French polishing are alive and well both in Britain and Australia, and many varieties of the mixed polish are available, as well as the flakes.  My wife is a furniture restorer and we have several pounds of the flakes, and I have always used Button Polish (the thinnest french polish) as a fixer and ready-release holding glue for assembly or adjustability.  

Off to order veneers.  It has just occurred to me that these are intended for printing (different types for inkjet and laser) so printing or engraving deck planks with a laser might be convincing?

regards

andrew

 

 

 

 

 

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The prices of the woods are fine by me - it was the steep fixed postage cost which flabbergasted me.  (And Smockraffled me!) 

so being Scottish I increased the wood order to make it more worth while

The wood parts I am getting are suitable, I believe for laser printer - and I don't have one - I might try a coat of a sealant (french polish?) and try inkjet printing

I was aiming to try building ships complete from the veneer - when it comes I will see what it tells me

andrew

 

 

 

 

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I printed a planked deck on some thick paper a few years ago. It was only on a cheap ink jet. The SIB didn't actually get into a bottle for any length of time as I was careless and shipwrecked it. I took it out again, and it sat on the top shelf of a bookcase for about 10 years awaiting repair, now started. The decking had only slightly faded in this time. I've attached the Powerpoint Drawing (updated to pptx) for anyone to use if they want. Shrink, grow, adjust as you want. 

Another option is to cut very thin strips, cut to length stain as required, and actually plank the deck - a lot of work but worth it.

Regards

Alan

Planking.pptx

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