Chapter 15. Nails and Bolts. 

 

10.10.2025

 

So, I've sorted out the deck for now, now let's move on to the hull. First, scrape off any remaining CA glue with a straight blade.

It's a simple process, but very energy-intensive. You constantly need to find the right lighting angle to see the shine of the glue. And every time you think everything is clean, there's glue visible somewhere else.
Before that, I also filled all the gaps between the frames with glue...
...and I'm pretty sure it's unnecessary, but since I have a lot of glue, I filled the narrow gaps with liquid CA, and basically everything else with CA gel. And I think this will make the hull feel like stone, even though it's already quite rigid.
I've already done one side and immediately decided to mark the doweling locations and the joints so I can show you the whole process.
First, I transfer the frame positions from the first hull to the old, defective keel.

To accurately transfer the lines, I place the strip in the space between the frames (holding it vertically) and trace around it on both sides.

I mark the space between the frames with an X and put a mark in the center of the double frames to mark the joint line between the boards. Nailing will be done in the center of each frame.
For both the front and back, I immediately put a line in the center of the frame:

In these sections, everything will be a little different (I'll talk about this later), but for now I will be drawing the joint lines of the boards.

To do this, I created this simple device. I glued stopper strips around the perimeter of the pen to a flat piece of wood, and added a locking mechanism on top to keep the pen firmly in place but still allow it to slide out when needed.

 Then I installed a rectangular leg from the future display case (more on that later). Anything with a 90-degree angle can be used. The goal is to ensure that the plane of our pencil slides along the strictly vertical plane of the base, which is strictly perpendicular to our stand.

Then I place the tip of the pencil on the mark between the two frames (the center of the double frames) and check from below at the same point (on the plastic)...

... and I draw a line by sliding the plane of the jig-pencil along the plane of the base.

It's important that these surfaces are wide enough to ensure maximum sliding confidence and smoothness (up and down only).
To ensure stability throughout the process, I clamp the frame frame and the base itself with clamps.

 As a result, I get strictly vertical lines along the complex curves of the sheathing.

 Then I mark with circles the places where I will make the joints of the boards (imitation joints).


 Then all the same procedures will be carried out to apply the lines along which the gel coating will be carried out... but more on that later... you first need to finish with all the above procedures.

 

 

11.10.2025

 

 So, I've sorted out the joints...

 ...but I made a mistake that I didn't even notice...

 
In short... when I didn't have enough wood, I made joints on the hull with slats, and I did these joints in the centers of the paired frames... out of habit, of course, but!!!

Clinker planking implies that the planks are joined not end-to-end, but at an oblique cut. That is, as shown in the picture above, using one of three options (there are more), but not a simple end-to-end joint. Rivets secure the entire joint, which rests entirely on the paired frame. This means the ends of the planks extend beyond the frame, and since we don't see the bevel itself in the model, only the outer joint line, it should be located along the edge of the paired frame closer to the stern, so that the joint is pressed by water, like fish scales.

And accordingly, since I centered the joints on the paired frames, I had to (ostensibly) move the frames forward and plan the nailing accordingly. Fortunately, these joints were only in the back five frames; I didn't change anything in the front.

Visually, it's practically unnoticeable, but if I'd left everything as is, it would have looked wrong and it would have been obvious that the joints and nailing were in the wrong places...


 

13.10.2025

 

Today I spent several hours calculating and marking the plank joints and nailing (bolt) lines. I don't know about others, but calculations take up much more of my energy than physical labor... but they're important and I can't do without them.
I slightly increased the thrust area and a few words about the fore and aft sections. Previously, I marked the positions of the frames near the keel, and by connecting the dots from these marks to the plastic frames, I obtained the correct nailing lines.

Everything is simple here... you just need to catch the angle of rotation of the frame and the two points converge perfectly... and here is the result... for now on one side (it takes a very long time).

 I've drawn the markings... but I still haven't decided what I'll use for the bolts or dowels, or how.
1. Large copper bolt heads—definitely not what I want... the model then looks like a cucumber covered in pimples...
2. Copper wire flush with the trim... debatable. Then it defeats the point, and the copper will also contrast in color with the trim.
3. Dowels flush with the trim—not authentic, but simpler and less noticeable...
4. Dowels with a slight protruding edge (creating a slight texture, no more than 0.5 mm)—probably my first and most desired option... but I need to try. Because dowels that protrude 1 mm already look worse, in my opinion.
5. I'm considering buying a special cup drill bit that creates a bolt profile, but it's time-consuming (cutting each dowel or piece of wire to the correct profile, or even trying to contour it to the bolt profile on-site).
I don't know yet... I'll make some test pieces, but for now I need to at least determine the diameter, since I need to know how far from the edge of the board to make the puncture to drill the hole later... more questions and no answers


 

16.10.2025

 

 I've been busy marking out nailing and joints for the last few days, and also doing a lot of test runs to simulate bolts and nailing. More on that later, when I have something to show...

...but today I did something I've been wanting to do for a while:

... I attached legs to the "glass coffin" for Victoria...

... and now I have a secure place to store all three models. In the future, I think I'll make two similar coffins for the two Alerts... But they're not ready for that yet.

 

 

24.10.2025

 

Well, let's continue with our experiments and tests...
Today I'll show you some options for imitation bolts and nails on clinker.
The photo shows that the size suggested by the anatomy is clearly too large. The bolt head physically couldn't be 1.2-1.3 mm. That's simply enormous, considering the 0.5 mm head height. Therefore, studs with a 0.7 mm shank and a 1.2-1.3 mm head will definitely not work. This will look especially bad on the sheathing, where there's a taper of 4 mm.
Now a few words about mistakes. I specifically wanted to show them clearly, and how these errors will be visible, especially if you use bitumen.

 1. Any cracks and crevices will be very visible after applying oil, and especially bitumen. Always keep this in mind.
2. The hole should be no larger than the dowel or wire. Otherwise, there will be a dark halo around it.
3. The bolt heads should be to scale (otherwise, you'll get a cucumber effect with its bumps). And ideally, all the nails and bolts should be as similar and identical in shape as possible (this will at least look prettier and neater).
A quick option is to glue the nail or wire into the board and then cut it off and sand it flush with the boards... but I don't like this visually, although it's good and simple.
I like it when the dowel or wire protrudes slightly above the surface, creating some texture, but only very slightly. So, I initially did it like this:

 I drilled a 1 mm hole, inserted a 1 mm wire into it, and snipped it off with wire cutters, leaving 0.5 mm. Then I sanded it down. This way, the wire protruded slightly above the surface, but was rounded.

I liked the 0.8mm wire option better than the 1mm wire; it looked more natural, but...
... I bought special cup-shaped burs:

These burs come in various sizes, from 0.8 mm upwards. I noticed that the 0.8 mm burr worked very well on nails with a diameter of 0.5 mm, but when used on 0.8 mm wire, the results weren't very visible.

That is, even under magnification, any geometry of the head is barely visible. It just looks like the wire has been scratched, but on 1 mm wire, this burr works wonders, in my opinion!

 In the photo above, you can see that the polished 1mm wire looks ordinary and unnatural (although this result is very easy to achieve).
But after burring, a clear bolt head profile appears!
Yes, you need to control the center when positioning—otherwise, the bolt head may be off-center, but this is mainly due to haste and the uneven surface of the wire before burring. But I really liked the result. And most importantly, it's very quick and repeatable!

So, to summarize, the current plan is to make a test piece and perform the following manipulations on it: use a 1 mm diameter burr to process the 1 mm wire, and use a 0.8 mm burr to process the nails (0.5 mm birch toothpicks) (since that's the smallest).
And here's the planned result, very enlarged:

I love how fast, repeatable, and easy this method is. It only takes a few steps: mark the hole with a needle, drill, insert the wire, cut it, and lightly sand it with fine sandpaper to remove the sharp edges. Then, use the burr to create the cap, which takes about a second... hmm...

ATTENTION! I changed my mind and did it differently, so please watch the review first, it will be shown there.

 

First tests with the stand... I'll tell you more about that later. I bought the columns on IliExpress. I'll most likely patinated them, but I'll tell you more about that later.


 

 

13.12.2025

 

I already have a milling machine, but I haven't made ball bearings for the Z-axis yet. I'm waiting for them from AliExpress... and I understand why this absolutely needs to be done! The factory system is simply awful. I don't understand why they don't make it with bearings right away (the cost is negligible), but oh well.
First, I calculated the position of the columns (the first and last paired frames). 

Then I turned the base under the router stand 180 degrees and screwed it in with 2 screws (the mounting surface allows everything to hold in place anyway).
I had to place dumbbell weights under the machine and clamp everything down as tightly as possible.
We drilled gradually to prevent the wood shavings from clogging the drill bits. First, 1 mm, then 2 mm, and finally 2.5 mm. Then, I used a screwdriver to cut the threads with a thread cutter. After that, an M3 stud (like a meter-long headless bolt) screwed neatly into the hole.
I did this for two hull, but first I’ll tell you about the second one.
I drilled the hole as described earlier, tapped the threads, and then screwed the stud in.
Then I installed the case horizontally so that the stud could hang completely free from the bottom.
 And inside the hull, I screwed a brass cylinder with a thread (like a long nut) onto a stud.
 This way, I was sure everything was perfectly vertical. Then I filled the pre-drilled hole in the plastic with SA gel. This firmly secured the bottom of the insert.
I reinforced the upper part of the mortgage with wooden structures, which were fixed to the hull with СА gel.

The safety margin is more than sufficient. All these reinforcing structures will be covered with small boxes painted matte black. This way, nothing will be visible through the gratings and hatches.

But with the first hull, what I feared happened. The carver made a defect in the keelson. There was plenty of room for the wood, but cherry is fragile (unlike pear), and it didn't hold up.
My attempts to disguise this area were predictably unsuccessful. The oil coating naturally revealed the joints even more...
... I was a bit disappointed, of course, but I came to a completely logical conclusion... there were so many things about this area that I wasn't happy with from the start.
Firstly, there was a gap, unnecessary joints, and I had to cover up the area the manufacturer had done incorrectly... and secondly, I absolutely didn't like the entire keelson detail, or rather the grain of the wood.
So that's what I decided to do. I thought I wouldn't show the planking on this hull, but! Circumstances forced me to, and I realized it wasn't a bad idea.

I'll partially finish the lower four planking chords (it's good that the joints are close together near the stern). I'll also demonstrate the principle of joining the clinker planking. This will be interesting, since it's hard to see on the second model due to the full planking. Plus, this will not only conceal all the imperfections and the grain of the keelson wood, but also almost completely hide another detail (under the aft frames, in the shape of a crescent), which was implemented differently in the original drawings. In fact, it wasn't there at all. So I think this solution has only advantages.

And in the front, instead of one top chord, I'll make two more. And I'll show you where the boards connect, but from the other side of the connection.
Well, that's it...

 

 

17.12.2025

 

 Today I gave the ship physiotherapy treatments... or more accurately, acupuncture... 2,500 times. ))
But first, I did at least a quarter of it on a test piece. I made a template for it to create an intersection line for positioning the holes. The principle is simple: a pencil hole and a stop at the desired distance.

All holes were made according to the option described in the previous post.

After that, I sanded the surface with 350-grit sandpaper. As a reminder, before securing the boards, I coated them with tung oil to bring out the grain and ensure the correct color match. Now, all of this needs to be removed and, after securing the bolts, re-oiled.

After checking everything, I got to work on the ship. I made a jig for it and drew lines.

A similar jig was made for the top boards above the wave.

 But so far I've only made punctures on the clinker cladding. As I already mentioned, I've made over 2,500 punctures.
And with a straight blade I made the joints of the boards (or rather their imitation).
Since the boards were not butted but overlapped, we can only see the outer transition from board to board.

 Next I have to drill 100,500 holes.  Save me)))

 

 

20.12.2025

 

In two days I completely finished one side:

 Now I'll tell you step by step where the bolts will be and where the nails will be.

The top is Carvel planking with 0.5mm holes for nails. The holes where the boards meet are slightly closer together (not centered on the frame, as usual).
The wave planks have 0.6mm holes (I drilled them twice to slightly widen the holes from the 0.5mm drill bit). The bolt holes are 1mm, but I first drilled 0.8mm ones.

 Clinker planking according to the scheme that I have shown many times.

All bolt holes are 1 mm (but I initially drilled 0.8 mm holes).
The lower chord near the keel is secured with nails (0.5 mm holes). The next chord covers it, and they are both connected and bolted to the frames.
The planks are secured to the paired frames in a staggered pattern, alternating nails and bolts (turquoise circle).
But where the planks join, all four are bolts (1 mm) (red circle).

 At the stern, everything is simple - 0.5 mm nails are used everywhere.

At the bow, the edges of the boards are secured with 0.5 mm nails, but another row of 0.5 mm holes is also drilled for nails, as this is where the sheathing overlaps and butts.
The top chord under the wave is also secured with nails.
The same is true for the upper and lower chords at the rear.

All intermediate boards, reaching the sternpost, are also transitioned from overlapping to butt-jointed and also secured with nails.
The wave section is a bit more interesting. The anatomy diagram shows the bolts running along paired webs, but it doesn't indicate the areas where there aren't paired frames.
Let's just say (even though the anatomy is full of errors and omissions), even without this, there should be logic everywhere. And it's physically impossible for there to be no bolts in the fore and aft sections. Practically speaking, two of the four wave sections were held together solely by nails, which is highly unlikely!
Therefore, I added bolts at similar intervals both fore and aft, and in the middle frame, where the span is greater than anywhere else (not two, but five separate frames).
This is not only logical, but will definitely look better, as the brass will shine slightly and it will seem as if something is missing.

Naturally, unfortunately, there were some defects ((( Several extra holes, also several holes of a larger diameter than necessary and several damages near the hole... And it's hard to avoid when you drill more than 2000 holes (many had to be done in 2 approaches from a smaller to a larger diameter). I'll tell you the most interesting ones in words, and then I'll show the result after bitumen... So, to mask an extra hole or remove damage, I covered the holes with putty in the same color. While I had brown, I still need to buy a light one. And after sanding and coating with oil, of course, it is unrealistic to completely mask it, but the bitumen will not get there and will not paint the defect, which is much more noticeable than a small difference in color. But it's good that such defects are few and far between. But there are about a dozen more holes than necessary, and after covering with putty and after sanding, I made holes of a smaller diameter in the putty (I even installed nails on the test, and oiled (I covered it), then in this case it's practically impossible to see that anything is wrong... and that's good. Although it's still a shame that everything can't be done perfectly... eh.

 

 Hooray! I'm done drilling, and by my count, there are 3,222 holes in total. Considering that 3/4 of the holes were drilled in two passes, that means there were at least 5,500 such drillings.


 

21.01.2026

 

Nailing the side. 1/2
As I already mentioned, I use birch toothpicks for nailing, NOT bamboo! I don't recommend them, as the cut edges have very pronounced pores. I liked the birch toothpicks for their color, texture, and comfort (they're round, ready for sharpening, and spin easily in my fingers).
I sharpen the toothpicks on both sides to a 0.4-0.6 mm taper, so that where the 0.5 mm thickness is, it fits snugly into the 0.5 mm hole.

I don't use glue; I just push it firmly until the toothpick wedges into the board. It's important not to sharpen it too much or widen the hole when inserting it. Visually, the toothpicks appear thicker, but when you pull them out, the part that was inside the board will be thinner, as it has acquired the thickness of the board.

Then I cut off the excess through the pad with nippers. The pad gives me an even length.

Then I very carefully polish the top with 320 - 500 grit sandpaper and after that I remove all the remaining lint with 0000+ steel wool. But I'll talk about this in the next post. (But later I did it with cotton wool 000)

The result (almost finished result), which is as close as possible to my reference.

I understand perfectly well that the plug covering the nail was cut flush with the board (in real life), and that's logical, but! This is a model, and we're making it look good first and foremost (at least I am). And I really like Dmitry Shevelev's method. That's why I do it this way. Yes, it's more difficult, takes longer, and you can't polish the hull afterwards (that's why I've already polished it beforehand), but I like the result with the slightly textured plugs (nails). Here's my reference (Dmitry Shevelev's 75-gun ship):

In short, I'll show the final result later, but for now I'll continue. On paired frames, nailing alternates with bolting in a staggered pattern (except where the planks are joined, where only bolts are used).

For convenience, where the toothpicks are very dense, I insert them at intervals.

By the way, one toothpick makes 14 dowels (7 sharpenings).

Almost finished both sides, next comes the borax treatment and final polishing to the desired shape...
...faster than it initially seemed, but that's not just the bolts, that's the quantity...


 

21.01.2026

 

Nailing the side. 2/2
I changed my plan a bit. I'm always looking for faster methods, so I used a drill bit where it was hard to reach, and in smooth areas, I simply trimmed the toothpick a bit more (to fit another gasket), then sanded with 320 - 500-grit sandpaper and then removed the lint with 0000+ steel wool. (000 !!)

So, here are the results. Naturally, it's hard to see with the naked eye, especially when dry. After applying oil and bitumen, all those nails will stand out quite a bit.


Well, now it's closer to the reference...

 

25.01.2026

 

Trials and Experiments.
And again, this is my least favorite part of the build, but I've never given it up.
Making samples and experimenting with them seems like an interesting activity, but it often takes a lot of time, and sometimes it takes weeks or even months to see the results... for example, after applying oil and waiting before applying bitumen, or other moments of waiting for the results.
So, I've already shown that I created two large samples of the board and deck.

1. Before gluing, while preparing the material (the planks for the sheathing), I coated the boards with a thin layer of tung oil diluted 2:1 with thinner for oil-based paints. After selecting the right planks, I glued them in the correct order and position... and
2. ... after gluing the planks, I sanded the surface with 320-grit sandpaper.
As I already showed, I secured and finished the dowels like this:

 And I'll make the bolts like this:

(ATTENTION! I made the bolts differently! So, check out the review first and see how. But for clarity, I've included this option.)

And I had a dilemma... I will do the bolts before applying oil and bitumen, and I will blacken them after... And I had a question, how will the blackening agent work after oil and bitumen... and here is the answer:

... simple! The blackening agent worked perfectly with the oil (Danish). But there's a point to consider!!! (By the way, I applied it with a special brush used in dentistry for applying bonding agents and adhesives).
The bolt at the bottom center had a long exposure time, and during that time, not only did it darken significantly (losing its features, turning into a solid blob), but the wood also became slightly pigmented, which is unacceptable.
But! If you apply the blackening agent for 2-4 seconds and immediately blot it with a napkin, not only will the wood be undamaged, but the metal will also be partially blackened, and the bolt's features will still be legible. (You'll need to experiment with the timing to achieve the perfect color. I'll show all this in more detail later.)

(UPDATE: I won't do this, so it's better to preview the review first and see the second option.

 And the deck isn't difficult either:

To make precise markings without using a pencil (which can leave streaks), you can cut 2mm-wide strips of masking tape (in my case) and place drilling holes on both sides. The key is to center the strip along the joints of the boards so the nails are equally spaced on both sides.
Then comes the drilling, the toothpicks, and the sanding. And finally, the result after oiling – the top two boards. I'm more than satisfied with the result. This sample will be coated with Danish oil (one and two coats for comparison), and next month it will be coated with bitumen... and I'm already looking forward to it...
UPD: I think I'll give up on Danish oil. Its advantage is that it dries quickly and has a pleasant scent, but unfortunately, it doesn't provide the same color change as Tung oil. I previously used Belinka but ordered Rustins Tung oil. So, I'll experiment for now.
With the side panel sample, after installing the bolts and applying the oil, I'll also be trying different concentrations of bitumen and blackening the bolts in a month... ah... it's so exciting, but it's better to test everything on samples a hundred times before doing everything on the model, you know.

 

 

27.01.2026

 

Bolting.
I make the bolts from 1 mm brass wire.

(CORRECTION! In the final version, I made it from copper wire!)
And as I already mentioned, due to a mistake in the plank joints, I had to slightly shift the bolt alignment on several frames. This won't be noticeable (unless you have access to the interior), but it would be noticeable if the bolts weren't positioned correctly relative to the plank joints.
That's why some of the bolts protrude completely from the inside. So, I first cut the wire into small pieces and inserted them into the through holes...

... then from the inside I filled these ends of the СA gel with activator.

And then, using a calibration gasket, I bit off the excess so that 0.3 mm remained.
And thus all the through holes were filled.

But there were some that weren't through... that's the majority... I filled them out like this:

I insert the wire into the hole...
Then I clamp it with wire cutters and push it until it locks in place. I cover the wood with a protective plastic sizing pad.

Then I press the nippers against the calibration gasket and cut off the excess so that 0.3 mm remains.

Then you have to bite off the deformed edge so that the new fragment is cylindrical and passes freely through the hole

Then this process is repeated many, many times...

I only got a third of it done, but decided to take a break from the monotony and make some bolt heads.

As I already mentioned, I make the caps with a special 1mm diameter burr.
And... how can I say... the result, unfortunately, isn't the same as the samples...
 The repeatability is decent, but not as good as when everything is convenient and on a flat surface. The housing is more complicated, so some bolts had to be removed and redone. Naturally, the glued-in ones couldn't be removed, but there were fewer of them, and fortunately, they were more or less OK. The advantage of the simply inserted ones is that they can be removed and redone.
But I think that after the bitumen and blackening, all the bolts will look fine even in macro photography, not to mention that it's difficult to spot anything with the naked eye. So my perfectionism is calming down a bit...

 

 

05.02.2026

 

When I don't like something... I just can't leave it as is.
Three days of construction - in the trash... I removed every bolt I had installed from the hull...
I pulled some out with wire cutters, and hammered or knocked some out of the case with a sharpened file.
And here's why I removed the brass bolts:
1. The color bothered me... brass is yellow (I don't understand why I chose that). The bolts were bronze, and what looked like bronze... copper. I thought about blackening the brass, but it's better to patinated the copper, which will look more authentic.
2. Because the boards were glued to plastic, the fixation was weak, and the bolts started falling out of the holes. Not all of them, just a few, but that's a bad sign... it can happen at any moment. This method is only good for solid wood, not plastic.
3. The bolt head repeatability also left much to be desired... It looked good on the test pieces, but on the case, I didn't like the result.
4. Not a major factor, but a significant one: it was very inconvenient to cut the brass wire on the body, and drilling with a drill bit on the body is also very dangerous, as it can damage the boards. Overall, this method is good, but time-consuming.
And now I'm back where I started...

... I polished the case with steel wool and started again.

Tip: To make a smooth piece of wire, place it on a flat plate and slide it over it so that it rotates between the plate and the table.
This principle is used for cutting and shaping bolts. Place the plate and knife on a SOFT copper wire and slide it back and forth so the wire rotates. With several passes, the knife (not sharp) cuts off a piece of the wire, creating an expansion zone at the edges.
A zone similar to the bolt axis forms on the end face. If you cut this blank with nippers, you'll get two bolts.
In just a few minutes, you can make five blanks, or 10 bolts, which is very fast.

 Then I simply insert the bolt into the hole, and it wedges due to the flare at the end, which is a huge plus! After that, I use a burr (by hand) to adjust the shape of the bolt head. Since copper is soft, this is easy to do, very quickly, and without a machine, without the risk of damaging the hull.

Well, here is the result.

As I mentioned, I plan to patinated the bolts to give them an aged effect.

The shape still isn't quite what I'd like, but it's very close, and that's the main thing!
1. There's a fair amount of repeatability.
2. The bolts don't fall out and hold well.
3. I really like the color; it's just... brass just doesn't cut it.
So ahead lies the production and fixing of 100,500 bolts... again.
UPD: By the way! To increase friction and improve the bolt's grip in the hole, you can make notches on the bolt's surface with pliers.

 UPD 2: To speed up the process, I made similar movements while cutting the blanks, but without cutting the wire, just creating a groove around the circle. This deformation is what holds the wire tightly in the hole.


 


10.03.2026

 

Finaaaally... I finally finished securing the bolts...
I sped up the process a bit, but it still took another 6 days...
In total, I installed almost 1,850 bolts on the clinker cladding!
Yes, it doesn't seem like much, but considering that each bolt had to be fabricated, installed, hammered in, and...

 ...and round the top a little with a special cup burr (by hand)... that's not so little... especially time-consuming.
And here's the result:

Well, and more importantly, this is macro photography:

 In the end, I'm quite satisfied with the result.
Yes, not all bolts are 100% identical, but given that these aren't bolts in the traditional sense... they're more like rivets, the repeatability under the original conditions was the same.
I was away longer than usual, and not just because of the bolts.
At the same time, I was working on another very interesting topic... I don't want to spoil it... but it has to do with working with metal. I'm currently preparing a huge thread on this topic, and if it works out, it will be a real breakthrough in optimizing and speeding up work with complex metal parts, especially those that come in large quantities.

 

Next...

 


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