KennyH78

Love your work, Ed. I learn something new each time you post an update. Keep at it and I can't wait for more!

Ed, I just finished reading through the build log and must say that you do some very beautiful work. As a novice, I hope to reach your level of craftsmanship by the time I am ready to build the USS Constitution. I will follow your log with extreme interest.

Kenny

No, don't think that a real one will be in the works.  I wouldn't have anywhere to float it in West Texas. 

Well, I decided to take my chances and go with basswood for the frames.  I think it'll be alright, but time will tell.  The main reason is funds and availability.  I already got 2 of the 9 frames put together and getting ready to cut out the third.  I'll sand all the frames fair once they are all put together and installed on the keel.  It's a slow process since all I have is a jewelers saw to cut the pieces out with.

Got some work done on the dinghy today.  All three seats are trimmed and fitted.  And the breasthook and quarter knees are sanded smooth and installed.  Once those are dry, I will install the inwales and cut the frames flush with the top planks.

That is some pretty awesome work on the bow! I hope that I can make mine look that good when I get to that point.

Joss, thanks for the advice. I have to go to Dallas this weekend to pick up my mother-in-law at the airport, so I may make a stop at the Woodcraft store for some cherry or something similar. Havering to wait is not a big deal for me since I have three other projects I can work on.

Thanks, the keel, keelson, and false keel are made out of basswood. Going to use basswood for the frames also. Haven't decided on the planking and decking and what not. I'll have to do some research on that.

Finally got some time to pull away work on the dinghy some more.  I got all the lapstake planking on and plan to get the stern post and some other parts on it tomorrow.

I saw the topic for the H.M.S. Triton cross section build and thought to myself that I should be able to handle this build.  So I downloaded the first part of the plans and went to work.

First thing I did was glue to pieces of scrap together to get the correct diminsions for the keel and keelson.  Then I cut them out (by hand, I really need to invest in a scroll saw) and did a rough sanding on the three pieces and cut the rabbet in the keel.  I'll finish sanding them tomorrow since the Admiral is wanting me to spend some quality time with the family.

Anywho, here are the pics:

Looking really good, do you use a certain program to make the decals or just print onto the decal paper?

Soaked in water to soften the wood up before putting it on the jig that was supplied with the kit. The instructions call for windex, but I don't have any of that in the house.

I received the Dinghy kit made by Midwest in the mail today.  I bought it off of eBay used for about $10.  The previous owner started to build it, but stopped after the first couple of steps.  All the pieces were there except for the 2 forward frame pieces, but I had plenty of scrap to make new ones.

I used the pre-cut sheet that the frame pieces were in to make a template of forward frames.

Here are the templates

And the templates traced on to the scrap

and here is the completed forward frames

The Dinghy with all the frames, stern and transom attached and after a good soak in water.  I ended up using some small screws to hold it on the jig because the push pins didn't want to hold at all.  Now she will dry over night and I'll try to get back to it tomorrow.