Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Pleasure boats, Sports, Race, Power and Leisure Boats: => Topic started by: grendel on August 06, 2016, 07:10:33 pm
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Well the build is finally here, its taken 4 years to organise a trip on my friends boat, to get some measurements and detailed photos. so now armed with everything I need I am about to proceed with making 2 models of her at 1/12 scale.
She is 40 foot long and 11'6 or 12' on the beam, (11'6" officially, but measures out in total at 12' over the rubbing strakes.
after measuring 2 weeks ago and getting intimate with the keel / hog and other parts, a workbench has been cleared and building board prepared, and the first sheet of thin ply purchases to build the frames / bulkheads. I dont expect the build to be quick, as it will be constructed in the same manner as the original, with ribs and stringers and planks.
The original Hull was the only wooden hull built, and was used to cast the mould for the remaining 5 star supreme hulls, the mould was then sold on and went on to make every Bourne 40 broads cruiser hull produced.
I am still not sure whether I will take a mould from one of my finished hulls, or not yet, if I did then it would open up a market for construction of models of all the hulls and cruisers made from the original mould, but I wonder if there is a market out there for them?
Grendel
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a bit of progress, building board obtained (£7 with some other ply from the scrap bin of a local timber merchant) paper frame templates made and laid out on some 5mm ply, supports cut out (some have to span the doorways in the frames).
I have assistants who look after things when I am busy.
I have bought a new blade for my table saw, so that I can cut my own planking, and dug out my powered fretsaw to cut out frames.
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with the frames marked onto the ply and cut out, my attention turned to the keel / hog, after an unsuccessful attemt to route the curve into the hog, I made a wide fence for the router, and today managed to do a much better job, after that I used my table saw with a new blade to cut some 6mm square strip and ascertain I can cut a 2.5mm x12mm plank for the hull.
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well progress has been made, the frames have been mounted on the build board, and some bending has begun.
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todays tasks, more strips cut on the table saw, plus the hogs were cut out and cleaned up.
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Ok so with the keel / hog done its time to start checking everything fits properly, frames were notched, stringers temporarily fitted.
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2 frames were recut to get the fit just right, and stringers refit. after this it was on to bending the thick sections for the transom, at 1 a day, this has taken over a week on its own.
once 4 were done I started doing the wood joints to make up the transom. the first mistake, starting with the worst joint.
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so more joints and the first transom started taking shape, and what a shape to try and make.
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the inner bottom corners will receive fillets before the curves are cut at the bottom corners, there is no chine, the curve bends from the side to the bottom.
Todays work was on the second transom, having learned somewhat from the first attempt, the second went a lot smoother, though I wasnt happy with one of the bent sections, so will have to wait for the replacement to dry out before doing the joints on it. a test fit on the test set up was done with the first transom, yet to be glued and it looks good.
the final picture shows both the transoms side by side.
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Well the transoms are finished, time to start putting things together, bulkheads joined, keel fixed and the build proper starts
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Well work has progressed, stringers have been glued, ribs started to be steamed and bent up, and ribs being fixed in place. a work crew have been obtained, and 1" G clamps purchased (99p each at wilko's) and the bottoms thinned slightly to fit between ribs.
using the wifes steam cleaner to provide steam for bending wasnt working out, so a wallpaper steamer was bought from B&Q for £25
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I have just realised that nowhere have I shown a picture of the original boat, well here we are:-
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more ribbing has been done, some long drill bits obtained, and the prop shaft has been drilled, I did have a block inside the hull to support the prop shaft inside, but on the transition the drill bent upward, and ended up on line but 4mm off height, so the inner block has been abandoned for now, it or a similar functioning part may go back in later.
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note to self, when getting wood out of the steam pipe for bending, wait until the steam stops coming out before sticking your thumb in to get the wood, or it will scald you......ouch
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grendel....those double length extension twist drills are marketed as "Aircraft Drills" O0
However for the life of me I cannot understand
1. why you would drill a long hole in an aircraft [wing, fuselage?] as the fuel would leak out
2. why you be in an aircraft with a long drill in the first place?
3. if you were in an aircraft at considerable height [above ground] and drilled a hole through the floor ...would not all of the air fall out?
Derek :embarrassed:
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progress is still happening slowly, a little every day. once the ribs reached the middle the model turned around.
the solid oak for the prow arrived. Once I managed to find my big vice the skeg was bent up from 0.5mm brass sheet, using a bending jig to get to about 75 degrees each side, then using a 1/4" thick steel bar to form the corners to 90 degrees.
then I found a wooden slatted Venetian blind, this was immediately disassembled, and the plan was made to use this for the ribs, a second was found at a charity shop for £2, then they were ripped into rib sizes on the table saw, the wood is basswood (lime / linden), and this wood is a very good one for ribs, so I have changed over to using these.
some of the offcuts from these blinds have been temporarily clamped on the hull to get the shape for the front section, here it changes from convex at one bulkhead, to concave further forward, each rib is markedly different to each other, so they need to be formed in place., so faux planks were clamped in place to act as the formers, now I just need to form 2 ribs for each position.
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work has been progressing a little every day, so today the last of the ribs were fitted, planking next.
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sorry cant resist this one................grendel you NEED to cut your toe nails :-))
Dave
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what toe nails, when I was a teen I had ingrowing toenails so both big toes had the nails removed at the root, I dont have any big toe nails :-)
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planking has started, though I have to admit to a few problems getting the first couple of planks clamped in place at the front.
I ended up attaching extra pieces to clamp to at the front, this has helped with clamping the front of the planks..
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planking is progressing at the rate of 1 plank a day.
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planking has progressed a bit, I am around the sharp curve of the hull (with 2 narrow planks to get round).
I have been researching the font for the boats name, and have had a first practice attempt of reproducing it - this is to scale with 12mm high letters
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Nice sign writing. :-))
ken
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nearly there with the planking, top plank on one side steamed and shaped, and last but one fixed on the other side this morning.
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So today the last plank was glued, s now the model could come off the building board, one little area was a little low, you could just feel it when you ran your hand along the hull, so some stopping paste was used to build it up, and sanded back.
The stand was made, the profile was taken using a bag of bamboo skewers and some corrugated cardboard. there needs to be some interior cleaning up, but its looking good.
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Lovely work,i did this for real for a few years after leaving school to do my Apprenticeship 30 odd yrs ago as a boat builder and shipwright.These pics bring back a few memories lol .
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time I posted some more pictures, the first model is off the building blocks and number 2 is started, meanwhile the first layer of planks is on the transom, and the rest of the model is being cleaned up, the noggins for the deck are being inserted and some work has been done for the rudder.
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Hi Grendel,
May I ask where you got your planking from please. ? I used to cut my own but since the incident with the circular saw and my thumb, I'm rather against cutting my own any more.
Cheers
ken
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Ken, sad to say I cut my own from raw timber - 15mm skirting sections from B&Q - picking out the least knotted boards.
I saw a sacrificial board to the plank width, this then stops the pieces dropping down the side of the saw blade, then rip up a plentiful amount ready to use at about 2.5mm thickness. I am careful to use a pusher anywhere near the blade, you do waste a little with the 1/4 round edge, but this gives you something to push on as you near the edge, then you get left with a piece of quadrant bead.
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Thank you for the info. :-))
I have been looking on Ebay and found Obechi, which I have heard mention of on the forum. Each strip costs a pound a yard so I might have to make my own again. (using extreme safety measures !)
Cheers
ken
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one thing I will be trying on the second model is linden blind slats, you can get 2 x 10mm planks out of each by taking a strip off each side - avoiding the slots, I am already using this on the second model for the ribs.
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more work has been done, the ribs are progressing on model #2, on model #1 the deck supports are going in, the the bow these are of course curved slightly. work has been done on the floor in the rear cockpit, keeping the rudder as tall as possible, it has been cut down. supports for the floor have been added and a floor plate fabricated.
I have also rough shaped the oak block for the bow, this will be temporarily fitted and sanded to shape.
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Been following your thread with interest, great build.
I know it's probably quicker and easier to build a second boat but there is a hell of a lot of work in those hulls. I salute you.
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the thing that brings a model to life has been added - the bow, this is fixed exactly as the real one, its a separate lump of oak, just bolted on the front. shaping has been done and some sanding to get an idea of the finish, this is one part of the boat that will be finished in natural, showing the timber.
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I looked at the pictures of the real boat, and realised my bow was too pointed, so tonight its been sanded back to a flatter curve.
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my z poxy arrived and I mixed up just a tiny amount and put it on the bow block, man that looks nice now.
in other news I have been working on the well deck floor, the steps at the side were going to cause problems lifting the floor, but I got around that the steps are fixed to the floor and come out with it.
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so the epoxing has been done, bits have been tidied up, and the transom has had its pretty skin planking done and epoxied, though I did need to get some deep reach clamps to skin the transom. the well deck flooring has had its floor pattern epoxied to protect it, the access hatch edges were put in place with some metallic tape.
the rudder and prop shaft have been epoxied in place too.
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today it was down to work, I will be visiting the real boat and owner later this week, as the boat is out of the water for its bi-annual maintenance, and I want her watertight for this, so with this in mind the skeg was bolted on, the prop shaft support has gone in, half has been fitted to the skeg, bolted then soft soldered- the other half goes through the keel.
Where the skeg is bolted through the keel, there are 3mm i/d tubes passing through the keel to protect the wood.
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I have just returned from 3 days working on the real thing, while there I was handed a miniature set of the name graphics, the owner had them done at the same time as the ones for the boat as he was replacing those on this maintenance. some rot was removed and timber replaced at the stern, the whole of the bottom and hull was sanded and is being repainted.
It just goes to show that modelling boats isnt always limited to making the model, sometimes it involves getting hands on working on the real deal.
While we were there (the model came with me) we had the first water trial, across the slipway, under her own power, with an emergency tether, no leaks and she performed quite well across the slipway, albeit riding very high in the water, ballast will be needed.
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its been a while since I last posted, work has been progressing on both models, planking is being done on model #2 while model #1 now has decks and the cabin sides have been attached, these are made from 2 linden blind slats joined edge to edge.
Model #2 has had the ribs and now the planking done using these linden blind slats, ripped down to 1/4" for the ribs and 1/2" for the planks, all boot fair or charity shop purchases for minimal costs.
3d printing has come to the fore, fenders and an anchor winch have been made, along with a tiny thumbnail sized bilge pump, capable of pumping 1 1/2 litres a minute.
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as you will see from the pictures, the top rubbing strip was laminated up and then shaped and fixed in place after the deck was fitted, first the deck was used as a former to steam and bend up the rubbing strip.
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I have also purchased some 12v LED's to fit behind the 3d printed light fittings, these work from 3.7V upwards at various brightnesses, so I have a choice of what to run them off
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As I was headed up to the broads this last weekend, to meet up with one of the owners of the real boat, I took the model up with me, I had at the last minute jury rigged the radio gear and batteries.
due to the battery interconnecting wire being too short I had to have both batteries in the same location, ideally to trim the boat, they need to be one in front, one behind the centre cockpit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WciyebMT4HI
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due to some lovely weather today, running gear was removed parts masked up, and filler primer added, plus one topcoat of white gloss.
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Its a shame to cover it up with GRP knowing of the interesting carpentry underneath :-)) The stern planking is nice as was the deadwood with that cleverly routed radiusing (Proper term!?)
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no grp there. the woodwork was filled and smoothed, then z poxy'ed to seal it, then as with the original the hull is painted white, I will add the red oxide bottom and blue boot topping when I have determined the finished waterline.
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progress is being made, the model will be taking part in the Beccles classic wooden cruiser show in a months time, so detail is being added to bring the model into line with the real thing. the bottom colour is gone on, and details are being added to the cabin roofs, handrails have gone on, the windscreen is on, and fittings are being £D printed and put on, the latest is the solar panel. this was printed, chromed with a molotow chrome pen, and a real solar panel from a cheap solar power bank added, a life belt has been printed and mounted, I doubt I will have time to add paint, but the details will be there, there is at least another 6 months detailing work to be done, but this is going to give an idea of the finished boat.
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oops not updated this for a while - so much so that the hull is completed on the second model, the boats owner has just changed the mast, so the second model needed a new style mast.