The building of a plank on frame hull requires a base board to construct the hull on. I purchased a 12mm thick, 1200 x 600mm piece of chip board. The board was marked with the hull centreline, outside edge of the main deck and each of the frame positions along the keel. At the bow and stern the frames are positioned at 45mm between centres and  in the mid section they are at 90mm centres. 

Baseboard for constructing hull

Frame templates glued to plywood

The frames dictate the shape of the hull and therefore need to be reproduced as accurately as possible. When I studied the plans of the ship I discovered that the frames for the bow were wider than the frames for the stern, even though the deck drawing showed a constant width from frame seven to frame zero. This had to be resolved before I could proceed. Using my computers' scanner, I transferred the frame details into a digital format that I could trace over and produce a completely symmetrical set of frame lines.  Then I simply printed out sixteen copies, one for each frame, cut them out and glued them to the 12mm thick piece of plywood I had purchased.

The frames are cut out roughly to shape so that they are more manageable. Using my bench scroll saw I trimmed each frame to within 2mm of the outside edge. I have allowed 2mm for the planking, so each frame is in fact reduced from those shown on the original drawings. Once all the frames have been trimmed down I proceeded to sand each one to the correct size I required using a bench disc sander. The keel was also produced in the same manner, making sure all the lines where square and true.

Each frame roughly cut to shape

Completed keel and frames.

Before starting construction I decided that I would cut the deck from 4mm plywood and screw it to my base board. The decks on this modern ship have no sheer or chamber so it is ideal to build from deck level. Again I marked the centreline and frame positions. The keel was glued in place along the centreline, securing it with a panel pin at the bow ant stern. I clamped a set square to the keel to ensure it remained at 90^o to the deck. This was left over night to set before proceeding.

Each frame was next cut in half, because they could be glued directly to the deck and keel, creating a strong joint. The frames were placed in position and checked for alignment before being glued in place. The keel at the stern is quite thick to because the ship has a rear thruster unit fitted. Using two pieces of 8mm plywood were cut to shape and attached to the keel on either side. The centre section of the keel will be added in due course.

Stern view showing built up keel

Bow showing balsa blocks in place

The bow of the ship contains two thruster units. This area of the bow I have made solid by using balsawood blocks. When the hull is completely planked I can drill out two 24mm diameter holes that contain the units. These blocks can be shaped at a later stage in construction. Between some of the frames I have glued 6mm thick balsawood. These areas of the hull are completely flat and therefore individual planks are not required to get the correct shape of the hull.