Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[patternmaker]

Hi Greg, its best to overlap the planks, and you would find it easier to use accelerator after you have lined the plank up,
6" is about right at a time.


Mick

[SailorGreg]

Thanks Mick - I am trying various ways to get the planks firmly attached just where I want them.  At the moment I am just using the CA and lots of finger pressure to keep things in place until the glue grabs of its own accord.  This gives me a short while to adjust the position of the plank and confidence that it isn't going to move just as the glue takes over.  It also gives me aching fingers. 

Well, I decided to work at the side/bottom planking joint from both directions at once.  At the bow, the two plank layers must obviously butt together to give a neat, straight join in line with the chine.  Further aft the two layers overlap at approximately 90 degrees, the side planking covering the edge of the bottom.  That long section is easy, and I sanded the bottom planking flush with the side up to the point where I felt a transition was going to begin.  I then marked the line of the chine along the planking to the bow and started to cut the bottom planking along this line starting at the bow.  Here is a picture of this process beginning.



You don’t have to know a lot about building this boat to see that there is a bit of an issue with that plank in the middle of the picture.  It doesn’t lie flat on the hull and I have accidentally cut too much off leaving a nasty gap.      I fixed this by chamfering a piece of scrap and gluing it in the gap under the plank.



I then trimmed it off and carried on cutting the line back towards the point where butt joint becomes overlap joint.  I crept up on this point from both directions and ended up with a transition that I think allows a reasonable run of the first side plank along the chine. It really doesn’t look very pretty at the moment, but I hope a little filler and a lot of sanding will leave a presentable finish.  Time will tell.



While trimming the lower bow, I discovered another point where the gluing wasn’t too good, and I broke out a piece of planking 



Rather than try and glue the broken piece back in, I decided to just cut out the damaged area and glue a solid block of mahogany in to replace it.





The bottom has had a preliminary scrape and sand and already looks slightly more presentable.



I seem to have spent a lot of time fixing little things I didn’t do right first time.      Having got past the tricky planking join at the bow I hope the sides will go on nice and smoothly – but I’m preparing to be surprised!

As a bit of a diversion from the trials of planking, I have been playing with my dummy section of deck to see what sort of finish I can achieve –



That’s encouraging.      If I can repeat that over the whole boat I’ll be happy.  (It’s two coats of epoxy, five coats of yacht varnish, wet sanded to 1200 then polished with this.)

I am happy with the progress so far – I always viewed this as a year’s project, although I hope to get to the final painting, varnishing and finishing while the weather is still good for outside work.  Of course that could be any time from August to October!

Greg

[SailorGreg]

Just a quick update.  I’ve just finished planking one side and here is the first plank in place –



Once that was fixed in the right place the rest went pretty smoothly.  Here is the finished side –



I did take care to make the joints between the planks as tight as I could.  Most of the planks weren’t entirely straight (remember this kit was some years old when I got it, and I guess the wood has moved a bit over time) so I took a shaving or two off both edges to give a reasonably flat surface.  Then I put a small amount of chamfer on the edge that was to butt up to the plank already in place.  This system worked pretty well and most of the joints are satisfactory (to me at least).  There were still a few spots where some remedial surgery was needed, such as this broken edge –



For these little holes I split small splinters off a scrap of the planking stock and kept trying them until I found one that, with a small amount of trimming, would fit the hole.  Here’s the broken edge fixed –



Whenever I find a place where the planking isn’t quite as good a fit as it might be (and there are quite a few of them!  ), I try and fill the gap with a piece of wood before resorting to filler.  I think even a piece of shaving glued into a thin gap is better than all filler.  I hope I’m right – it’ll be too late when all the finish is on and I discover all my little fixes stand out like the proverbial thumb. 

When the planking was finished I planed the top edge flush with the sheer and chamfered the bow planking to receive the other side –



and that’s about where I am at the moment.  I hope the other side goes as smoothly.   

Greg

[SailorGreg]

I’m back after a short break and picking scabs of glue off my fingers again.  Not a huge amount to report other than that I have now put the mahogany on the hull and transom.  When it came to planking the transom, I found the easiest way to approach it was like this –



I found this was the only way I could apply pressure to the planks without the hull shooting off somewhere  .

All the hull planking is now complete.



The rather obvious filler at the forward end of the chine will, I think, be hidden under the bottom paint so overall I am pretty happy with how this has come out.  Starting on the decks next.

Greg

[SailorGreg]

Wow, nearly 3 weeks since my last post.  Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?   

Moving on to planking the decks, the first parts to attach are the sheer planks which run along the deck edge from bow to transom.  I found I had chipped the internal corners of these pieces at the front, either when removing them from the sheet or by careless handling later.     Either way, the two weren’t going to form a neat join at the bow.



To get around this I ended up doing the sheer planks and the centre plank on the foredeck like this –



Then on to the planking and plastic caulking.  This turned out to be pretty straightforward, the only tricky bit for me being the piece of plastic along the sheer plank where it rises above the side deck to meet where the windscreen will be.  I had to have a couple of goes at that to get it right.



Then just cut and stick, cut and stick…..  Once finished, rather than go straight to sanding, I used a utility knife blade as a scraper to bring the deck and caulking down to a common level.



I like scraping – it is somehow more satisfying than sanding, as with a sharp blade you take off shavings, not make dust.  It also cuts the waste away more quickly.     You do need to be careful not to let the corners of the blade dig in.  And, of course, mind your fingers!      (I think I got the bloodstains out OK)

I’ve also been looking at fixing the hatches.  The rear hatch will be done as per the instructions with wood latches but I thought I would try magnets for the main hatch.  Here is a picture of the two magnets at the fore end of the hatch – there is a similar pair at the aft end.  When the hatch is in place the two magnets are opposite each other but separated by the hatch brace piece.  I can hold the boat upside down and shake it without the hatch coming off so I think it will be OK on the water. The magnet on the hatch is just glued in place.  The one in the boat is set into a 10mm hole drilled in the frame.



Planking the hatches next – if anyone can offer advice how to fit the plastic border around the hatch planking I would like to hear it.  The instructions tell you to plank the hatch then cut away just enough of the planking (but not the hatch base) to fit the plastic surround.  Sounds like you only get one go to do it right, so I’d hate to need two.  What have others used to cut that thin sliver away?  I have thought about simply reducing the size of the hatch all round then adding a full thickness plastic strip along the edges.  That seems easier to me than cutting a rebate along the edges of the hatch.  Any thoughts? 

Happy modelling all,

Greg

[SailorGreg]

I seem to have spent a lot of time recently just fiddling with bits and pieces, mainly to fix the growing number of places where things hadn’t gone entirely to plan.  I am happy now with where I am, which is pretty well finished with the mahogany cladding of the hull.  One issue has cropped up, namely the different colours of the mahogany provided in the kit.  For example, the dashboard is very pale compared to the rest.  I cut a new one out of some of the spare sheet from the sheers so that it ends up a nice rich colour. 



However, without thinking I glued in the piece that caps the end of the foredeck planking, which is also this pale wood.  You can just see a corner of it in the picture above, just below the new dashboard.  It looks a lot more obvious in real life. Not sure how to handle that.      I tried the kit’s mahogany stain on a spare piece but it doesn’t even come close to matching the colours. Hmmm….  Any ideas?   

Another area where I needed to improvise was the capping along the edge of the front cockpit.  The wood provided was also the very pale variety, but I thought that was easily fixed by using some spare planking stock.  However, the curve up to the windscreen caused this to snap before it reached the full curve. I replaced this with two pieces sanded down to half thickness.  Here’s the first piece glued in place –



And the second –



And after a preliminary sanding it all looks good. 



I have also been planking the hatches.  My query at the end of my last post about fitting the plastic strips turned out to be unnecessary – for the engine hatch at least.  When finished, all the edges are covered with metal strips, so the plastic caulking strips would be hidden.  I just left them out completely.  The rear hatch is a different matter, and I started by fitting it to the space without any plastic surround.  I added a couple of layers of masking tape to allow for the thickness of epoxy and varnish when the deck is finished.



I then marked the hatch with the thickness of the plastic, and planed that off each edge.  Glue the plastic in place and –



The plastic you see in the picture I actually cut from a styrene sheet to cover the edge of the hatch completely.  Incidentally, the instructions suggest you glue the planks and plastic together into a sheet before fixing to the plywood hatches.  I chose to plank the hatches as I had the deck, one plank at a time, as that way I felt I could make sure the joints were tight.

A couple of final details to finish off then it’s on to the cockpits and the seats.  It’s beginning to look like a boat rather than a construction project now!   



Happy sailing

Greg

[SailorGreg]

Things have slowed a bit in the boatyard with summer breaking out all over and the opportunity to go and do things in the great outdoors.  But I haven’t been entirely idle.

The mahogany sheet that forms the backs of the front seats had taken on quite a wavy shape – looked as though it had got wet at some point, but as the rest of the kit was fine I guess it was just a poor quality piece of wood.  I tried wetting it and clamping it flat with some limited success, so I added some pieces of ply to flatten it out –



Together with the bracing pieces down the back, this got rid of the waviness. I made a small modification to the brace pieces following my aim of putting some more detail into the cockpits.  I thought that some seat pockets would be handy for those sitting in the back, so shaped the braces differently to the plan –



then added some mahogany sheet (not from the kit) to produce the pockets. 



The plastic seats provided are OK but I plan to have a go at doing some proper upholstered seats at some point, so I have kept patterns of all the cockpit parts.  However, I’ll use the kit parts initially, so I cut them out and started fitting them.  The instructions say to sand the edges to fit, but the plastic is so flimsy I had problems with that.  In the end I did most of my trimming with a small block plane well sharpened and set fine.  You need to support the plastic as you cut it but I found this to be an effective and precise way of getting the seats nicely trimmed.



I have also painted the cockpit floors, so this is where I am at the moment – final fitting of the seats to be done, seats sprayed (I am going for a nice pale cream leather in my boat!) then on to the final cockpit details such as the dashboard.  Then it’s staining and glassing the hull.  Please don’t expect too much progress over the next few weeks – I seem to have quite a busy summer coming up – but I will certainly post progress as it happens.



Greg 

[Martin (Admin)]

Looking Good!   

[SailorGreg]

Thanks for that Martin (sorry, should have said thanks a little sooner!  )

It’s been a little while since I posted but I haven’t been entirely idle.  I finished off the seats, glued them in place on the cockpit floors and then sprayed them pale cream.  I also stained the hull with the mahogany stain supplied in the Dumas kit.  As the weather was good, I took the boat outside to have her picture taken.



I then stained the sheers and centre planks.  Although most others building this boat seem to go for a black paint or stain, I wanted something a little less stark, so I used a sepia watercolour paint to give a very dark brown rather than pure black.  This went on well, although by the time I had scraped the white caulking clean there were a few spots that had gone through to the mahogany, so I’ll probably need to touch this up before coating.



The next job was glass coating the hull.  My workbench is against a wall so I can really only work on one side of the hull at a time.  For the glass sheathing I wanted to do the hull in one go, so I made a frame that holds the hull upside down which I can then clamp in a workmate and work all round the hull. The frame is just two blocks of wood with saw kerfs in them that are a tight fit over the 1/8” ply frames inside the cockpit, and a bracket that joins them together. It’s not pretty but it works well.





I then clamped the hull upside down and draped a piece of the cloth over it to check it would lay flat over the whole hull without needing cutting or folding.  I used 100 gm/sq metre cloth (http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/products/woven-glass-fabric/light-weight-100g-woven-glass-fabric.aspx).  It draped easily over the hull so I was happy to go ahead and mix the epoxy.  I used West System epoxy, unthinned, and a roller to wet out the cloth and make sure it was fully in contact with the hull.  Here it is half way through –



And the completed job. 



After I had finished I ran the edge of an old credit card over the surface to remove the worst of the roller’s ripples and stipples.  The finish is still nothing to write home about, but the cloth is nicely on the hull and I’m happy with this first coat.  This all went much more smoothly than I feared, and I am now a lot more confident about tackling the nooks and crannies of the deck.  The cloth really does conform well to compound curves and I can’t see any reason to glass the hull in sections as some suggest.  My only problem was doing it in the garden and a breeze kept blowing the cloth off the boat until I pinned it down with a good dollop of epoxy. 

I hope to be posting a little more frequently now, so hopefully you won’t have to wait until September for the next instalment!

Happy building (for those still building) and happy sailing (for those who have finished!)

Greg

[SailorGreg]

A quick update –

The second coat of epoxy went on fine, again rolled on then smoothed with the gentle application of a brush.  I also glassed the transom at this point.



All looking good – except that when the epoxy had cured and I turned the hull over I found a number of runs like this –
 



Careless!      Getting rid of these rather spoiled the sepia painting I had done, although I wasn’t entirely happy with how that had turned out anyway.  So I rubbed down all the painted areas and remasked ready for painting again –



I put on two coats this time to make sure there were no thin patches.



Interestingly, the painted planks are a very similar shade to the epoxied hull, although a lot darker than the bare deck planks.  It will be interesting to see what contrast I have when I epoxy the deck.  Which is the next job.

It feels like I must be nearly finished, then I look at all the fittings and finishing I need to do and I guess I’m probably only half way through.  The start of this seems ages ago, and the end is somewhere over my horizon.  Still, I’m enjoying it all and I hope you are too! 

Greg

[Capt Podge]

Still with you Greg - and she's looking good
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 

[SailorGreg]

Thanks Ray - all encouragement welcome!   

Greg

[SailorGreg]

I have laid the glass cloth on the decks and hatches.  I tested how well the cloth would conform to the various angles and curves while it was still dry and was pretty satisfied that I could do the whole lot with one piece of cloth.   

Here is the deck after applying the epoxy. 



I used a roller on the foredeck as I had on the hull, and that went well.  I couldn’t get the roller into the corners along the sides so used various cards, mixing sticks and anything I could lay my hands on to push the wet cloth into the corners.  This went sort of OK – I couldn’t get the cloth to lay as close to the wood as I could with the roller but most of it was pretty close.  The hatches were dead easy.



If you look at the first picture you can see that there is a very uneven spread of epoxy along the side decks.  I put too much on and when I tried to squeegee it along with a card I was pulling the glass cloth out of the corners, so I decided to leave it alone and fix it when the epoxy had set.  I am now in the middle of a pretty tedious rubbing down to get the surface flat enough to take a second epoxy coat.  This one will be brushed on.

Lesson learnt – don’t try and do it all at once.  The deck would have been easier if I had done the foredeck with one piece of cloth, the sides with two strips and then filled in on the hatch surrounds with a few small pieces.  The cloth is thin enough that overlaps wouldn’t have been a problem.  Oh well, next time…   

I’ll be back when I have smooth decks!

Greg

[Vintage]

Greg - it's looking very nice!

You're a brave man covering all that beautiful work in glass and epoxy... 

Mark

[SailorGreg]

Thanks Mark.

I pondered long and hard about glassing the hull, but decided that as she will be a working boat that a good hard shell would take the inevitable knocks better than varnished wood.  I also had a bad experience with the foredeck on my steam launch which was planked and varnished - then lifted and split.  I really don't want that to happen with this boat!  Belt, braces and a good strong piece of string 

Greg

[inertia]

Greg
A bit late, I know, but I've recently started using ZAP Finishing resin and glass cloth and you might be interested in my experiences with it.
I found that a very light spray of 3M Spray Mount onto the bare hull will hold the cloth in place, as long as you take great care to smooth it out before you apply the resin. I thinned the resin down by a third ( i.e. two parts resin mix to one part thinners) with isopropyl alcohol and applied it with a cheap 1" brush, working outwards from a notional centre point on each face and waiting about two hours before trimming off the excess cloth around the edges with 240 grit silicon-carbide paper. Rub down with 120 grit and then apply one more thinned coat. After that, hit it with the 240 and 400 grit and then go to the primer stage.  BTW I've used 0.6oz cloth but the new model will be done with 2oz, just to see what difference it makes. This new model is also from a Dumas kit - and the less said about it the better!
I've tried the aeromodellers' method with no thinners and a used credit card but found it was an absolute pig on compound surfaces like boat hulls - and it wasted a lot of resin which, at sixteen quid a pack, went against the Yorkshire in me.
Yours is looking pretty darned good.
Dave M

[StudioJohn]

Greg


I started reading your posts about the Runabout 3 weeks ago and was reminded about my early days building the old keilkraft aeroplanes. When I saw a kit of the Runabout on evil bay I decided to give buy it and have a go. Thanks to your inspiration and invaluable step by step photos I now have the first layer of planking almost complete and will shortly be removing it from the building board. I have to agree that the plywood used for the frames is very questionable but the rest of the wood parts seem pretty good. Thankfully the epoxy covering holds no terrors for me as I used to make epoxy fuselages. The only part I don't understand yet is the power side of things. What size motor and batteries etc, but there are plenty of forum posts to browse through to find the best solution. I am looking forward to seeing your finished boat now

regards
John

[SailorGreg]

Dave, thanks for the advice.  As you say, a little late for me but others will welcome your experience.  Wish I'd thought of the spray mount trick, it might have saved me a few frantic moments.  I would have been grateful for it when things didn't go exactly to plan and I was pushing  folds of soggy, sticky glass back into the corners they were escaping from, and worrying that the epoxy was about to go off.     Still, things are getting back into shape now.

Welcome John.  I hope you're enjoying your build and I'm happy that I've been able to provide some encouragement.  Are you planning to post a build log?  If not, you are welcome to post a few pictures here especially if you are looking for advice.  Sorry, can't add much to your store of knowledge on motors and batteries as I am also a relative novice at this.  I took some advice from Cornwall Model Boats which I'm sure is good, although of course I am someway from putting it into practice!

Happy modelling all 

Greg

[StudioJohn]

Greg


Thanks for the welcome. I don't think I will have time to do a build log and in any case I doubt if I can add anything more over and above your log which pretty much says it all.  I may take up your offer to post a piccie occasionally and especially if I need a question answering. I will make sure I stay a step or two behind you    . I should be turning over the hull this weekend, I just traced out some plywood to make a temporary build stand which I will assemble tomorrow.


Cheers
John

[SailorGreg]

I will make sure I stay a step or two behind you    .

You'll have to go at a snail's pace then and take regular holidays - I'm not the fastest builder on the block!    And I certainly don't think I am offering the last word in building this or any other boat - if you come up with a technique, modification or anything that works for you, let us know.

On to the progress - one thing I forgot to mention when I did my hull was that it is worth spending some time smoothing the cloth over the hull.  An area that at first seems reluctant to conform will fall into place with some encouragement, as the weave of the cloth distorts to fit.  Lots of smoothing with the hands is the way to go – keep brushing those wrinkles out towards the edges and they will disappear!

After a few half-hearted attempts to fix the various pinholes, open weave and lumpy epoxy along the side decks I decided the most straightforward way was simply to sand it all back to the bare wood and start again.  I was perfectly happy with the foredeck and the areas around the hatches, so I limited the attack on the decks to the areas next to the cockpits and engine hatch.  I’m not going to try and replace the glass cloth, just put a couple of coats of epoxy over this.  Grab a piece of 120 grit, and here we go….



And here’s what it looks like after the sanding was done and the re-application of the mahogany stain and the black/brown sepia paint.



I then put a coat of epoxy over the whole top surface, which came out fine – except for one or two very small areas where I got some very small scale fish-eyes. 



Nearly everywhere else is good, so I’m not sure what contamination caused this.  No big deal, it is small enough for a quick rub down to remove it and that will do as a basis for the varnishing.  I’ve had enough of epoxy for a while!

The bottom of the hull has had a good wet sand to prepare it for varnish and paint



I won’t get on to finishing yet.  I want to fit the running gear and water pickup first, and that will be the next step.  I am also working on the dash panel, the steering wheel and a few other little bits as I go along.  I’ll post something on them next time.

Happy modelling one and all 

Greg

[StudioJohn]

Hi Greg


I'm sure the epoxy skinning will turn out fine. It's looking good so far. I have almost finished the final planking on mine now. Just working on the front mahogany and plastic bow section. Like you I tried to minimise any damage and defects so that I don't have to use any filler but if I have to I will make some with the shavings and dust that accumulates. I acquired some wing skinning resin and cloth ready for the big coverup when I get back from holiday in a week or two. I prefer to use a very thin resin to begin with as trying to thin West 205 can be be difficult. I use German aviation grade epoxy and .7 cloth. My method will be to paint the wood with a very light coat of resin well worked in to act as a sealer. Then before it dries completely lay on the cloth and pull the resin up through the cloth aided by an additional light coat to make sure the cloth is covered and melts into the epoxy. When I used to make the aircraft fuselages I removed more resin than I left in for lightness  so its a habit I find hard to break. Anyway I made the 2 hatches also and will be making the final fit when I return from fishing. I suppose then its on to the detail. Haven't got a clue where to start with motors and batteries yet but I suppose it can't be that difficult.


all the best
John

[SailorGreg]

Thanks for the update John.  Nice to know you are progressing well.  Pictures always welcome!  There are plenty of people more qualified than me to advise on motors etc.  You could try a question on the motors pages here, or call a reputable supplier (I phoned Cornwall Model boats and took their advice).

I have cracked on (rather slowly) with the running gear installation.  I first fitted the outlets for my cooling water.



These are fitted where the model’s exhaust ports will be on the transom so the water will appear to come out of the exhausts.  I fancied having this as a scale feature as well as a practical cooling system, so bought a cheap pump from Ebay to keep the flow going when the boat was slow or stopped.  Here is the pump fitted to a block of wood glued in place.  (It occurs to me that this is almost certainly unsuppressed, so might cause a bit of an issue with the radio side of things, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.    )



I then cut a hole for the water inlet, which is simply a piece of brass tube set at an angle to encourage the flow of water into it when the boat is moving.  I then epoxied it and the prop shaft into the hull after thoroughly taping up the outside to stop the epoxy dribbling through.



The underside of the hull looks like this (still needs a little fettling – the small dobs of epoxy are filling a couple of voids).



I moved on to the rudder.  I silver soldered the kit’s rudder to the shaft but I also plan to experiment a bit with rudders so I made up a rather more modern shape from wood as well. 



The soldering looks a bit messy  but should be OK with a good clean and polish.  And yes, I did solder the shaft to the wrong end of the blade before getting it right second time    .  The wooden blade includes a piece of stainless rod in a drilled hole in the shaft to stop any unwanted rotation and will be shaped to a more efficient section before being put to use.

The Dumas plans suggest you should set up the rudder servo like this –



But as you can see it looks as though the tiller arm will hit the rear of the hull at near full deflection.  I made up another servo support so that it now looks like this –



That should allow full throw in both directions without any problem.  (I suppose I could have used a shorter tiller arm, but I’m not sure how much throw I am going to need, so am playing safe!)

That’s all for the moment.  Happy modelling one and all.   

Greg

[essex2visuvesi]

The second servo position looks much neater IMO

[StudioJohn]

Greg


Like your rudder solution also. Good idea to turn it round.


Nearly got the last of the bow planking in place. I didn't clear the bench before taking the photo but here goes






I think another couple of evenings and I shall be ready for a massive scraping and sanding session.


Cheers
John

[SailorGreg]

Well really John - not clearing the bench before taking a photo.  What is the world coming to?  You only have to scan the pictures here to see how neatly I work     

Just a quick update as other things have kept me from boatbuilding for a while.     Over the last couple of weeks I have been mostly varnishing.  The decks and cockpits now have a few (four I think) coats and I have four or five on the hull now.  I will keep going with a few more then leave it to harden off before cutting back, adding a final coat or two if necessary (it probably will be), cutting back again and polishing.

I used my hull-holding device and a bracket I screwed together from scrap to hold the hull on its side for varnishing.  This means there is less likelihood of runs in the varnish.  Yes, I know I didn’t really need to varnish the bottom as it’s going to be painted but I couldn’t resist seeing how all that mahogany looked with the varnish on it! 





That’s it for the moment.  I still have some final fitting of the cockpit floors and seats and the hatches, as I originally made them a very snug fit.  With the epoxy and varnish added they no longer slip neatly into place so I will have to attack them with some 80 grit and show them who’s boss!  Then the electrical stuff to fit and I might even try for a maiden voyage before Christmas!

Greg