Someone asked me by pm on another forum exactly how I pinned the 1.8mm ply with a brass pin so thought I'd put it on here for those with a steady hand.
I first used a tool (really it's a bit like the old bradawl for making holes to start a screw off).that I confiscated from a child one day who was throwing it at a bunch of other kids.............lethal thing but it has come in very handy. the steel tip is ground to a point, and I use this on the end grain to make a dimple into the ply.
once the dimple has been made, the very fine 0.5mm drill bit will not slide around on top, and can be drilled into the end grain of the ply to a depth of around 5mm....
make sure that you drill slowly and keep both the timber and the drill bit ( mounted into a dremmell drill) vertically.
finally cut some lengths of 0.5mm brass rod for the pins, put a little cyano onto a block of scrap timber and dab the ends of the pins into the cyano before inserting into the predrilled holes.
finally using a guideline for the centre of the kickboard position, mark off the positions of the pins in the kick boards, 3 at a time from one end, and just set the kickboards into those holes, before proceeding onto the next three hols in turn......a slow but sure process, that needs to have a firm hold for the kick boards, as these boards will, although bracketted with white metal brackets of those fitted to the Anne Letitia Russell, will need to be sturdy as they will also carry the brackets for the white metal stanchions and cleets/anchors etc.
they will eventually be painted and set in position with cyano once the hulls have been painted.
1. The first pic shows the tip of the "bradawl" with the indentation just to the right of the tip
2. Next is the drill bit going into the end grain of the 1.8mm timber....a steady hand needed
3. The pins have been set into the timber
4. The pin positions have been marked on the deck and drilled.
5. The kick boards set into position and the kick board brackets added.