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