The life boats are small enough not to worry about their weight, so I decided not to use Balsa wood. I used a close grain lump of timber about 2" x 2" x 6" and just whittled away until they looked right. The only details I had were the length of the boats from the plans. I'm not sure what the wood was, but having seen the result, I thought I might use a classy piece next time to leave unpainted and show the grain when varnished.
Mind you, I had a ton of chippings on the floor when finished. The power tools used were unbelievable.
First there was the power saw, followed by the powered fretsaw, to cut the block down to a rough boat type of shape. The outside was then sanded with a circular sander and smoothed with a powered sanding belt and finished off with a small file and then hand sanded down smooth.
The insides of the lifeboat were then drilled out with a vertical power drill using a 1/4 inch drill all around the inside edge to a variable depth to suit the curvature of the hull. I actually ruined one boat by drilling right through to the outside edge, so it was back to the start for another one. (wish I'd made a spare when I had to tools set up !!)
This was followed by a modified wood drill (with a flat top) fitted in the power bench drill to gouge out the insides. The piece being held in the hand whilst doing this. The vibrations were quite something, and 'Health and safety' would have been horrified to watch. The wood was quite hard so it stood up to this kind of savage treatment.
The rough insides were then fettled smoother with a hand held Dremmel sanding drum, and finally smoothed out with sandpaper.
I then made the little bench seats from thin planking wood and glued them in place. The keel was a one piece of three ply, 3.6mm thick which was fret sawed to surround the boats and sanded to ensure a snug wrap around and glued in place. I then glued an edging strip around the bulwarks. When dry the edges were power sanded about 3mm all around the hull to simulate the keel and rudder posts. The tiny gaps were filled with wood filler and sandpapered to a smooth exterior.
The boats were then sealed with red oxide spray a few times, and the top coat of white was gradually sprayed on a little bit at a time during the day so as not to produce any runs. During the gap in production, I was making a plank on frame version. I had cut the frames out and glued them to the keel and was placing a plank on with super glue every hour. These were held in place with little clamps and was very labour intensive. I'm now up to the top level on both sides and looks quite 'boaty' Pictures to follow.
Part two involves fitting the hand held ropes all around the edges and not forgetting the rowlocks and oars. I'll let you know how I get on.
Ken
