mtdoramike

I started the front decking. Starting to look pretty good.

I bought these plastic strips from my local hobby lobby store in their train section. I will use these as caulking strips in between the planking strips. for the decks.

mike

Talk about a hobby being hazardous to your health, while using a rotary tool to get the profile of the nose right on the Commander, the power cord got hooked up under a cutting board that I use on top of my work table. I pulled on the power cord, which pulled the cutting board off of the table and onto my foot, breaking my big toe. So that took care of my hobby work for a few days.

mike 

i would guess about 1/2 pound at least, you can tell the added weight  i'm working on the front deck now, before covering the hull. 

oh yes, so much better.

This is with a second thin layer of mirror chrome aand then aa light buffing with a buffing wheel and my rotary tool. My opinionn is, for the cheap price, of a spray on finish, you can't beat. But to me, it looks more like a nickel finish rather than a chrome finish.

This can be fixed. One, soak the keel in water, get good and wet, then place the keel on a hot surface like a flat spot on a concrete driveway outdoors, then place weights on top covering the keel and let sit to let dry thoroughly. I have done this in the past and it has worked. Also, you the thickness of the keel isn't that important as it's relatively close. and will support the frames.  

https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Mirror-Chrome-Aerosol-Paint/dp/B0015H1FGA/ref=sr_1_1/132-7879930-8102943?ie=UTF8&qid=1493118985&sr=8-1&keywords=spaz+stix+mirror+chrome

Here u go, Amazon has it for like $5.99 a can plus shipping, I paid like $12.00 for the can of mirror chrome from a not so local hobby shop. You will also neeed the black backer paint as well. There is a how to video on You Tube using the Spaz stix spray, which is where I saw it and liked the finish they got with it.

mike  

OK, I covered the parts in two thin layers of the black backer paint. Then one thin layer of mirrror chrome spray paint. I will give a couple more thin layers of the chrome.   

This is the stuff that I used to thin the resin and it is some rough stuff. heavy fuming.  

If you start out with a warped keel, you will end up with a twisted keel when finished. I would try an take the warp out first, if that doesn't work, I would make a new keel with sime 1/8 or 1/4 inch plywood.

Once the interior was dry, I removed the masking tape to reveal a bunch of small holes, cracks that would have bbeen a bear to cleanup afterwards.

mike

Thanks CD.

yeah it will mke for a easier clean up later. next time i will used smaller pieces of cloth rather than trying to go from the keel all the way up the sides. all in all not a bad job, but nothing to write home about either.