C17 (Classic 17) in London

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WobblyLegs
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C17 (Classic 17) in London

Post by WobblyLegs »

Well guys, I'm finally starting the real boat!

Last year I built a 1:10 scale model of the boat to see how it all fits together -

Image

More images of this model can be found at :http://gallery.bateau2.com/thumbnails.php?album=287

Last Thursday I took delivery of a load of marine ply...

Image

...which at some point I am hoping will become a BOAT!!!

I will keep adding pictures to the gallery for "Jack-a-Doodle" (I think this it what the boat will be called) in the gallery at:
http://gallery.bateau2.com/index.php?cat=12964

I will keep in touch.

Wobbly.
Last edited by WobblyLegs on Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

Dane_Ger
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Post by Dane_Ger »

Looks like you are all set . . . . keep us posted with your progress!
Building the FL14

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Steve_MA
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Post by Steve_MA »

That looks like excellent work on the model. I wish I could make one of those. Can you describe how you did it (if you have the time and inclination). How long did that take?

WobblyLegs
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Post by WobblyLegs »

Steve_MA wrote:That looks like excellent work on the model. I wish I could make one of those. Can you describe how you did it (if you have the time and inclination). How long did that take?
Steve, thanks for your comments...

I basically followed the original plans and construction technique. I re-drew the plans on a computer (my plans are metric, so I just added a decimal point before the last digit e.g. 76mm becomes 7.6mm). I'm actually finding marking out the full-size plans onto the ply easier than the computer transfer.

The only deviation from full size was the order of doing the joining. I started with the transom, added the motorwell sides and bottom, then frame E to give a stiff box at the rear to start joining hull panels to. In other words I never made a mould for the hull: the panels formed the shape quite naturally when bent to join the edges. I will add a couple of images later that will illustrate this quite clearly.

The bottom panels went on first, using super-glue to "stitch" the keel before joining with glass and epoxy. All still very flexible at this point.

I then super-glue stitched the frames to the bottom panels, to mould the sides around. They got broken out later to enable me to seal the inside. There are more pix in the album now.

Then the lower sides, followed by upper sides. All seams were glassed with a strip about 10mm wide, inside and out, as per full size (although only one layer) after which internal frames were added back in to the structure. I was still a bit concerned with the flexibility of the structure at his stage.

Next, the whole of the bottom and small overlap onto the lower side was glassed (one layer). I have added an image of this to my album. After that I added the deck and the entire structure "suddenly" become extremely rigid and strong. A sigh of relief.

The decking effect is made of small 0.2x5mm wood strips, spot super-glued in place and then painted over with epoxy. I'm still undecided if I am going to repeat this on the full size boat, but I would like to. It depends on whether I can find suitable wood that won't add too much weight and if I have the inclination (and time as I'm on a summer deadline due to this all being built outdoors!) when that point arrives.

The entire boat is put together using 0.3mm and 0.8mm plywood from my local model shop.

The fairing was done with a hi-fill primer aerosol spray (model shop again), sanded, then sprayed with model enamel, sanded and polished (still haven't finished that to my satisfaction). Now, when I look at and feel the hull, it actually seems like it's moulded in plastic.

All done, I suppose I spent about a year putting it together, restricted mainly by having to wait for epoxy to set on every join before proceeding to the next one, and not being able to work on it indoors during the winter. It would be nice to have a workshop, but space is scarce for those kind of luxuries over here.

I hope this is all clear enough, but any other questions, feel free to ask. I know I'm going to be posting plenty of questions myself as the real boat goes together.

Regards,

Wobbly
Last edited by WobblyLegs on Fri Apr 22, 2005 6:40 pm, edited 3 times in total.

glcost
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Post by glcost »

WobblyLegs,

Your C17 model looks wonderful. I'm impressed with the level of detail you went to, like glass and epoxy of the joints.

One suggestion for your cockpit decking in case you can't find suitable planking. Jacques sells marine ply with the outside layer of teak. You could use this and route grooves to give it the look of planking.

George
George C

WobblyLegs
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Post by WobblyLegs »

glcost wrote:I'm impressed with the level of detail you went to, like glass and epoxy of the joints.
Thanks George,

I really just wanted to see how it all went together, using the same techniques as the full size boat, and hopefully it will be strong enough to run a REALLY fast RC motor on! As it progressed, it just seemed natural to try and make it look nice.

BTW, I can grab the bow and stern of this little thing in my hands and try to twist or bend it: not possible!! Credit to the designer!
glcost wrote:One suggestion for your cockpit decking in case you can't find suitable planking. Jacques sells marine ply with the outside layer of teak. You could use this and route grooves to give it the look of planking.

George
I saw that on the site, but he's in Florida and I'm in UK, so not really practical. I'm not actually too worried about the looks of the boat inside the cockpit (probably paint it white there), but thinking of doing the upper-deck in this style.

Regards,

Wobbly
Last edited by WobblyLegs on Tue May 03, 2005 6:42 am, edited 3 times in total.

glcost
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Post by glcost »

Yeah, I found building the model made me pay close attention to all the details of the plans and building process, although I skipped the glass and epoxy. Something I wanted to do before taking on the full scale project, plus I immensely enjoyed building the model.

I saw you are in London and assumed Jacques' European branch would carry the same marine ply, but looking at the site I don't see it.

http://europe.boatbuildercentral.com/index.php

Also, most of the exotic marine ply comes from Europe. The okuome I bought came from Greece and France.

Anyhow, it was just a thought I had for mimicking the look of wood boards without adding weight.
George C

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Post by WobblyLegs »

glcost wrote:Anyhow, it was just a thought I had for mimicking the look of wood boards without adding weight.
Thanks for the idea, George. I was thinking of laying thin strips side by side to create the effect, but after thinking a bit about your suggestion of routing out through a teak finished ply, perhaps it might be easier for me to laminate a thin veneer and the make grooves afterwards for the decking effect.

Like I said earlier, I'll decide when the time comes. There is still an awful lot to do before then.

Wobbly

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Steve_MA
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Post by Steve_MA »

You can also by ply that looks like planking. www.boulterplywood.com has teak and holly ply that isnt totally out of sight price wise. I dont know what you can get where you are.

Thanks for the explanation on how you built your model. I am thinking of building a C17 one day and thought i might try it myself, but i can see it would be a big job.

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Update: 24 April 2005

Post by WobblyLegs »

Well, I have now measured all the 9mm ply (10mm on the plans) except for the stringers. I was hoping to cut it all this weekend, but it rained all Saturday, and the weather was so good this morning that we had to go out for a nice 100mph bike ride!!! Oops. :oops:

I have changed the nesting supplied, as I wanted to create frames that were all going to be used later in one piece. See the pic, with explanation under:

Image

The supplied nesting was 10 sheets of ply, which meant that frame D was split into 3 pieces, and frame C was bisected vertically. I felt that by adding one more sheet of wood, I could split frame C at the deck line horizontally (which means I can build the hull closer to the ground), and keep frame D as one piece for the moulding (cabin side to be cut out of it later).

Personally, it's a small cost with a big ease-of-use advantage for one extra sheet of plywood.

Also, it leaves me with quite a lot of large off-cuts to use later for building a console and other little bits of woodwork that I'm sure to encounter.

Anyway, hopefully I will be able to start cutting all this wood during the week and next weekend, hoping to be able to set up the mould framework by the end of the weekend (it's a 3-day weekend for us here!).

More to follow, I'm sure,

Wobbly
Last edited by WobblyLegs on Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

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