David Lester

I don't know for a fact that they were painted, Allan, but it's my best guess based on the old black and white photos of the Bluenose. In the first picture of my post above, comparing the blocks to the parts that we know were white, such as the rails and then to the boom, which appears to be natural, I think they look white. In any case, rightly or wrongly, painting them white was an easy approach when using cast metal blocks. It's easier to paint a white finish than a natural looking wood finish.😀
 
On the Bluenose II however, they are definitely natural. Those Syren blocks would look great finished like this.
David
 

Hi Gregg,
The Model Shipways plans for the Bluenose indicate that all the blocks were internally stropped and any pictures I've seen would appear to confirm that. If you are thinking of replacing the blocks anyway, why not use BlueJacket's internally stopped blocks. I used them on my Bluenose and I think they're great. They're made of cast metal and need to be painted. From the old photos, it appears to me that they were white, so that's how I finished mine.
 
If I remember right, I ignored the sizes of the provided blocks and took the sizes from the plans and then approximated as closely as possible from what was available with the exception of the 3/32" size, which are very small and difficult to use. I sometimes found it necessary to drill out the hole of the strop and it was almost impossible to do on this size without "tearing out" the strop. For these ones I ended up substituting 1/8" blocks and look fine and they were wasy to work with and of course, anything over 1/8" presented no problem at all.
 
You can also get internally stopped blocks from Syren, but I don't believe they are available in small enough sizes. Also, they appear to be so beautiful that I didn't have the heart to paint them, so I opted for the cast BlueJacket ones, which need to be painted, so they seemed like the perfect choice. They come with a becket, which you don't always need, so when that was the case, I just snipped it off and filed that end of the block smooth.
 
With respect to deadeyes, I also used BlueJacket's. The lower deadeyes are attached with a "shackle" type fitting and I knew I could never get a satisfactory result trying to duplicate that with wire and/or brass rod, so I opted for the BlueJacket cast ones and I was quite happy with them.
 
So that's one suggestion.
David
 

I don't know for a fact that they were painted, Allan, but it's my best guess based on the old black and white photos of the Bluenose. In the first picture of my post above, comparing the blocks to the parts that we know were white, such as the rails and then to the boom, which appears to be natural, I think they look white. In any case, rightly or wrongly, painting them white was an easy approach when using cast metal blocks. It's easier to paint a white finish than a natural looking wood finish.😀
 
On the Bluenose II however, they are definitely natural. Those Syren blocks would look great finished like this.
David
 

Hi Gregg,
The Model Shipways plans for the Bluenose indicate that all the blocks were internally stropped and any pictures I've seen would appear to confirm that. If you are thinking of replacing the blocks anyway, why not use BlueJacket's internally stopped blocks. I used them on my Bluenose and I think they're great. They're made of cast metal and need to be painted. From the old photos, it appears to me that they were white, so that's how I finished mine.
 
If I remember right, I ignored the sizes of the provided blocks and took the sizes from the plans and then approximated as closely as possible from what was available with the exception of the 3/32" size, which are very small and difficult to use. I sometimes found it necessary to drill out the hole of the strop and it was almost impossible to do on this size without "tearing out" the strop. For these ones I ended up substituting 1/8" blocks and look fine and they were wasy to work with and of course, anything over 1/8" presented no problem at all.
 
You can also get internally stopped blocks from Syren, but I don't believe they are available in small enough sizes. Also, they appear to be so beautiful that I didn't have the heart to paint them, so I opted for the cast BlueJacket ones, which need to be painted, so they seemed like the perfect choice. They come with a becket, which you don't always need, so when that was the case, I just snipped it off and filed that end of the block smooth.
 
With respect to deadeyes, I also used BlueJacket's. The lower deadeyes are attached with a "shackle" type fitting and I knew I could never get a satisfactory result trying to duplicate that with wire and/or brass rod, so I opted for the BlueJacket cast ones and I was quite happy with them.
 
So that's one suggestion.
David
 

Hi Gregg,
The Model Shipways plans for the Bluenose indicate that all the blocks were internally stropped and any pictures I've seen would appear to confirm that. If you are thinking of replacing the blocks anyway, why not use BlueJacket's internally stopped blocks. I used them on my Bluenose and I think they're great. They're made of cast metal and need to be painted. From the old photos, it appears to me that they were white, so that's how I finished mine.
 
If I remember right, I ignored the sizes of the provided blocks and took the sizes from the plans and then approximated as closely as possible from what was available with the exception of the 3/32" size, which are very small and difficult to use. I sometimes found it necessary to drill out the hole of the strop and it was almost impossible to do on this size without "tearing out" the strop. For these ones I ended up substituting 1/8" blocks and look fine and they were wasy to work with and of course, anything over 1/8" presented no problem at all.
 
You can also get internally stopped blocks from Syren, but I don't believe they are available in small enough sizes. Also, they appear to be so beautiful that I didn't have the heart to paint them, so I opted for the cast BlueJacket ones, which need to be painted, so they seemed like the perfect choice. They come with a becket, which you don't always need, so when that was the case, I just snipped it off and filed that end of the block smooth.
 
With respect to deadeyes, I also used BlueJacket's. The lower deadeyes are attached with a "shackle" type fitting and I knew I could never get a satisfactory result trying to duplicate that with wire and/or brass rod, so I opted for the BlueJacket cast ones and I was quite happy with them.
 
So that's one suggestion.
David
 

Hi Gregg,
The Model Shipways plans for the Bluenose indicate that all the blocks were internally stropped and any pictures I've seen would appear to confirm that. If you are thinking of replacing the blocks anyway, why not use BlueJacket's internally stopped blocks. I used them on my Bluenose and I think they're great. They're made of cast metal and need to be painted. From the old photos, it appears to me that they were white, so that's how I finished mine.
 
If I remember right, I ignored the sizes of the provided blocks and took the sizes from the plans and then approximated as closely as possible from what was available with the exception of the 3/32" size, which are very small and difficult to use. I sometimes found it necessary to drill out the hole of the strop and it was almost impossible to do on this size without "tearing out" the strop. For these ones I ended up substituting 1/8" blocks and look fine and they were wasy to work with and of course, anything over 1/8" presented no problem at all.
 
You can also get internally stopped blocks from Syren, but I don't believe they are available in small enough sizes. Also, they appear to be so beautiful that I didn't have the heart to paint them, so I opted for the cast BlueJacket ones, which need to be painted, so they seemed like the perfect choice. They come with a becket, which you don't always need, so when that was the case, I just snipped it off and filed that end of the block smooth.
 
With respect to deadeyes, I also used BlueJacket's. The lower deadeyes are attached with a "shackle" type fitting and I knew I could never get a satisfactory result trying to duplicate that with wire and/or brass rod, so I opted for the BlueJacket cast ones and I was quite happy with them.
 
So that's one suggestion.
David
 

Nice progress.  I think your stand is a huge improvement over the kit supplied cradle...it is detailed enough to add some interest to the display yet it does not hide the beautiful lines of the hull.

Good Morning,
I've been focusing on two things over the past few days -
 
First, I've been working on the upper edge of the hull. As I mentioned before, the sub deck is glued directly onto the hull and then the deck planking on top of that. It's necessary to get a smooth upper edge to the hull which is supposed to meet crisply with the deck.
 
I had filled the edge with some filler, but before working any further on that, I added the black painted border that goes around the deck -

Then I sanded, refilled and painted the top of the hull -
 

It's not hard to do, but it takes quite a few coats to get it smooth. It will appear to be prefect in one light, then as soon as I adjust the light, I can suddenly see all kinds of imperfections. I applied one quick coat of green to the top and this seems to make it easier to find the tiny imperfections. It's all but finished now, just some very minor touch-ups needed.

The other thing I've been working on is a stand. I thought I would use the one provided in the kit, but it's really pretty flimsy, doesn't really fit the hull very well (despite my efforts to modify it) and it isn't very attractive.
 
I was at a loss as to what a suitable stand for this yacht might look like, but then I found something that I thought was suitable in forum member Ekis's build log for his Endeavour J Class. I though it was quite handsome, so I set out to try to do something similar.
 
In the end I came up with something that is a little less sophisticated than his and perhaps not quite as beautiful, but it's simpler and I think it does the job quite acceptably.
 
It was a bit challenging without a plan to work from, so I just took a trial and error approach. There seemed to be too many variables and no fixed starting point. So I just started in and quickly learned that all I should expect from my prototype was that it would have suitable overall measurements and not to worry about how it looked. I basically just slapped the bracing etc on.  Once I had an established model to work from, ie its height, width and length, I then built a new one, this time paying attention to how it looked. I used some 3/16" square stock from my stash.
 
It's not perfect, but I kinda like it and it's a definite improvement over the little kit supplied one.
 


Thanks again,
David
 

Thanks guys.
Bob - they are beautiful. I've never built a model like this before, but I'm finding it quite interesting as I've been reading a little bit about the America's Cup yachts from this period. It's hard to find photos of them though. The Shamrock is still in existence (or at least another one called Shamrock) but it's so dissimilar that pictures of it are not of any use.
 
While the Amati kit seems to be of decent quality, I'm pretty sure it's a very simplified, stripped down version of the real thing. While it appears to be accurate as far as it goes, I suspect that there is much detail omitted. It's fun nevertheless.
David

Thanks guys.
Bob - they are beautiful. I've never built a model like this before, but I'm finding it quite interesting as I've been reading a little bit about the America's Cup yachts from this period. It's hard to find photos of them though. The Shamrock is still in existence (or at least another one called Shamrock) but it's so dissimilar that pictures of it are not of any use.
 
While the Amati kit seems to be of decent quality, I'm pretty sure it's a very simplified, stripped down version of the real thing. While it appears to be accurate as far as it goes, I suspect that there is much detail omitted. It's fun nevertheless.
David

Thanks guys.
Bob - they are beautiful. I've never built a model like this before, but I'm finding it quite interesting as I've been reading a little bit about the America's Cup yachts from this period. It's hard to find photos of them though. The Shamrock is still in existence (or at least another one called Shamrock) but it's so dissimilar that pictures of it are not of any use.
 
While the Amati kit seems to be of decent quality, I'm pretty sure it's a very simplified, stripped down version of the real thing. While it appears to be accurate as far as it goes, I suspect that there is much detail omitted. It's fun nevertheless.
David

Good Morning,
I've been focusing on two things over the past few days -
 
First, I've been working on the upper edge of the hull. As I mentioned before, the sub deck is glued directly onto the hull and then the deck planking on top of that. It's necessary to get a smooth upper edge to the hull which is supposed to meet crisply with the deck.
 
I had filled the edge with some filler, but before working any further on that, I added the black painted border that goes around the deck -

Then I sanded, refilled and painted the top of the hull -
 

It's not hard to do, but it takes quite a few coats to get it smooth. It will appear to be prefect in one light, then as soon as I adjust the light, I can suddenly see all kinds of imperfections. I applied one quick coat of green to the top and this seems to make it easier to find the tiny imperfections. It's all but finished now, just some very minor touch-ups needed.

The other thing I've been working on is a stand. I thought I would use the one provided in the kit, but it's really pretty flimsy, doesn't really fit the hull very well (despite my efforts to modify it) and it isn't very attractive.
 
I was at a loss as to what a suitable stand for this yacht might look like, but then I found something that I thought was suitable in forum member Ekis's build log for his Endeavour J Class. I though it was quite handsome, so I set out to try to do something similar.
 
In the end I came up with something that is a little less sophisticated than his and perhaps not quite as beautiful, but it's simpler and I think it does the job quite acceptably.
 
It was a bit challenging without a plan to work from, so I just took a trial and error approach. There seemed to be too many variables and no fixed starting point. So I just started in and quickly learned that all I should expect from my prototype was that it would have suitable overall measurements and not to worry about how it looked. I basically just slapped the bracing etc on.  Once I had an established model to work from, ie its height, width and length, I then built a new one, this time paying attention to how it looked. I used some 3/16" square stock from my stash.
 
It's not perfect, but I kinda like it and it's a definite improvement over the little kit supplied one.
 


Thanks again,
David
 

Thanks guys.
Bob - they are beautiful. I've never built a model like this before, but I'm finding it quite interesting as I've been reading a little bit about the America's Cup yachts from this period. It's hard to find photos of them though. The Shamrock is still in existence (or at least another one called Shamrock) but it's so dissimilar that pictures of it are not of any use.
 
While the Amati kit seems to be of decent quality, I'm pretty sure it's a very simplified, stripped down version of the real thing. While it appears to be accurate as far as it goes, I suspect that there is much detail omitted. It's fun nevertheless.
David

I've added the deck planking, and it's a bit different than that of other models I've done.
 
The planking is square - it's 2x2 mm. The first step is two strips laid down each side of a centre line. Then the outermost plank and it's simply laid flush with the hull. From here it's a matter of laying the planks working toward the centre.
 
The planks were easy to install and they take the curve of the hull without any soaking or pre-bending. On one side of the centre line, the planks went out even and the last one fit in width perfectly. On the other side of the centre line, the last gap was just a bit too big and I finished it off by adding a last 3/64" plank from my stash. It went very quickly as the hull is only just over 17" long, so there really wasn't much area to cover.

 
Quite a bit of sanding was required. There was a lot of variation in the thickness of the planks, but with 2mm to work with, there wasn't much fear of sanding right through. This was a very easy deck to sand - it's flat and there are no sides of the hull to interfere. In fact I used an electric palm sander.
 
I applied one coat of shellac to seal the wood before adding the filler at the point where the hull meets the deck.
 

I have applied the first coat of wood filler ( or stucco, as the Italian instructions call it.) I think it will likely take at least one more coat before it's ready to paint.
 

So that's my progress so far. With a pre-made hull, it really doesn't take very long to get to this point.
 
Once the filling is done, then I think it's time to paint the hull
 
Thanks for looking in, comments and likes.

David

Good Morning,
I've been focusing on two things over the past few days -
 
First, I've been working on the upper edge of the hull. As I mentioned before, the sub deck is glued directly onto the hull and then the deck planking on top of that. It's necessary to get a smooth upper edge to the hull which is supposed to meet crisply with the deck.
 
I had filled the edge with some filler, but before working any further on that, I added the black painted border that goes around the deck -

Then I sanded, refilled and painted the top of the hull -
 

It's not hard to do, but it takes quite a few coats to get it smooth. It will appear to be prefect in one light, then as soon as I adjust the light, I can suddenly see all kinds of imperfections. I applied one quick coat of green to the top and this seems to make it easier to find the tiny imperfections. It's all but finished now, just some very minor touch-ups needed.

The other thing I've been working on is a stand. I thought I would use the one provided in the kit, but it's really pretty flimsy, doesn't really fit the hull very well (despite my efforts to modify it) and it isn't very attractive.
 
I was at a loss as to what a suitable stand for this yacht might look like, but then I found something that I thought was suitable in forum member Ekis's build log for his Endeavour J Class. I though it was quite handsome, so I set out to try to do something similar.
 
In the end I came up with something that is a little less sophisticated than his and perhaps not quite as beautiful, but it's simpler and I think it does the job quite acceptably.
 
It was a bit challenging without a plan to work from, so I just took a trial and error approach. There seemed to be too many variables and no fixed starting point. So I just started in and quickly learned that all I should expect from my prototype was that it would have suitable overall measurements and not to worry about how it looked. I basically just slapped the bracing etc on.  Once I had an established model to work from, ie its height, width and length, I then built a new one, this time paying attention to how it looked. I used some 3/16" square stock from my stash.
 
It's not perfect, but I kinda like it and it's a definite improvement over the little kit supplied one.
 


Thanks again,
David
 

I've added the deck planking, and it's a bit different than that of other models I've done.
 
The planking is square - it's 2x2 mm. The first step is two strips laid down each side of a centre line. Then the outermost plank and it's simply laid flush with the hull. From here it's a matter of laying the planks working toward the centre.
 
The planks were easy to install and they take the curve of the hull without any soaking or pre-bending. On one side of the centre line, the planks went out even and the last one fit in width perfectly. On the other side of the centre line, the last gap was just a bit too big and I finished it off by adding a last 3/64" plank from my stash. It went very quickly as the hull is only just over 17" long, so there really wasn't much area to cover.

 
Quite a bit of sanding was required. There was a lot of variation in the thickness of the planks, but with 2mm to work with, there wasn't much fear of sanding right through. This was a very easy deck to sand - it's flat and there are no sides of the hull to interfere. In fact I used an electric palm sander.
 
I applied one coat of shellac to seal the wood before adding the filler at the point where the hull meets the deck.
 

I have applied the first coat of wood filler ( or stucco, as the Italian instructions call it.) I think it will likely take at least one more coat before it's ready to paint.
 

So that's my progress so far. With a pre-made hull, it really doesn't take very long to get to this point.
 
Once the filling is done, then I think it's time to paint the hull
 
Thanks for looking in, comments and likes.

David

I started in last night and am beginning to get a feel for this kit.
 
I noticed that the included stand needed quite a bit of tweaking to fit the hull correctly. I decided to tend to this first, rather than later after things are attached to the deck and the hull is painted.
 
Both the model and the stand are very light in eight and it proved to be helpful to drill a small hole in the bottom of the keel and place a pin between the stand and the keel.
 


The first item in the instructions is the rudder, which is made from some kind of plywood with a fairly coarse grain on the outer layer. The rudder needed to be tapered. A little more fine sanding and maybe even filling will probably be required. I'm going to leave that until I get one coat of paint on first, to better see what is needed.
 


 
I could not imagine this rudder adhering well to the resin hull with some pinning -
 


Next was the sub deck which just gets glued directly to the hull. There's a hole in the hull for the mast to sit in, so it was just a matter of putting the mast in place through the sub deck to line them up.
 
The sub deck fits the hull beautifully. It was just ever so slightly oversized so that it could be sanded to perfectly match the profile of the hull.
 

Centre line drawn and ready to begin the planking.

The planking on this one is different than I've seen before. It's 2mm x 2mm basswood (or lime) and the planks are supposed to curve following the curve of the hull, not run straight. Because of this it's going to be necessary to work from the outside in, rather than from the centre line out.
 
 
We'll see how that goes.
 
David

Hello Again,
Well, I certainly didn't expect to be building a J Class yacht until yesterday when a friend called and asked if I'd build his Shamrock V for him. He has had the kit collecting dust on a shelf for many years and doesn't anticipate ever getting to it, so asked me if I'd build it for him.
 
I have learned that Amati makes a range of America's Cup yacht kits, but the Shamrock V is one that has been discontinued.
 
Since yesterday I have been poring over the kit. It will prove to be a relatively simple build, but appears to be a high quality kit. The fittings are excellent and the instructions and plans are very clear and easy to understand. (I do have a question about the rigging, but I'll ask that in a separate post under the right topic.)
 
This kit has a pre-cast hull ( a type of resin, I guess) which will cut down on the amount of work needed considerably.
 
I have never added sails to a model before, but I think this is one model that definitely needs them, so I'll be reading through everything I can find on making sails. The fabric provided in the kit is very fine and I don't think it will need to be replaced.
 
Here are a couple of shots of the kit:


So, an unexpected change of pace.
 
David

Good Morning,
I've been focusing on two things over the past few days -
 
First, I've been working on the upper edge of the hull. As I mentioned before, the sub deck is glued directly onto the hull and then the deck planking on top of that. It's necessary to get a smooth upper edge to the hull which is supposed to meet crisply with the deck.
 
I had filled the edge with some filler, but before working any further on that, I added the black painted border that goes around the deck -

Then I sanded, refilled and painted the top of the hull -
 

It's not hard to do, but it takes quite a few coats to get it smooth. It will appear to be prefect in one light, then as soon as I adjust the light, I can suddenly see all kinds of imperfections. I applied one quick coat of green to the top and this seems to make it easier to find the tiny imperfections. It's all but finished now, just some very minor touch-ups needed.

The other thing I've been working on is a stand. I thought I would use the one provided in the kit, but it's really pretty flimsy, doesn't really fit the hull very well (despite my efforts to modify it) and it isn't very attractive.
 
I was at a loss as to what a suitable stand for this yacht might look like, but then I found something that I thought was suitable in forum member Ekis's build log for his Endeavour J Class. I though it was quite handsome, so I set out to try to do something similar.
 
In the end I came up with something that is a little less sophisticated than his and perhaps not quite as beautiful, but it's simpler and I think it does the job quite acceptably.
 
It was a bit challenging without a plan to work from, so I just took a trial and error approach. There seemed to be too many variables and no fixed starting point. So I just started in and quickly learned that all I should expect from my prototype was that it would have suitable overall measurements and not to worry about how it looked. I basically just slapped the bracing etc on.  Once I had an established model to work from, ie its height, width and length, I then built a new one, this time paying attention to how it looked. I used some 3/16" square stock from my stash.
 
It's not perfect, but I kinda like it and it's a definite improvement over the little kit supplied one.
 


Thanks again,
David
 

I started in last night and am beginning to get a feel for this kit.
 
I noticed that the included stand needed quite a bit of tweaking to fit the hull correctly. I decided to tend to this first, rather than later after things are attached to the deck and the hull is painted.
 
Both the model and the stand are very light in eight and it proved to be helpful to drill a small hole in the bottom of the keel and place a pin between the stand and the keel.
 


The first item in the instructions is the rudder, which is made from some kind of plywood with a fairly coarse grain on the outer layer. The rudder needed to be tapered. A little more fine sanding and maybe even filling will probably be required. I'm going to leave that until I get one coat of paint on first, to better see what is needed.
 


 
I could not imagine this rudder adhering well to the resin hull with some pinning -
 


Next was the sub deck which just gets glued directly to the hull. There's a hole in the hull for the mast to sit in, so it was just a matter of putting the mast in place through the sub deck to line them up.
 
The sub deck fits the hull beautifully. It was just ever so slightly oversized so that it could be sanded to perfectly match the profile of the hull.
 

Centre line drawn and ready to begin the planking.

The planking on this one is different than I've seen before. It's 2mm x 2mm basswood (or lime) and the planks are supposed to curve following the curve of the hull, not run straight. Because of this it's going to be necessary to work from the outside in, rather than from the centre line out.
 
 
We'll see how that goes.
 
David

Hello Again,
Well, I certainly didn't expect to be building a J Class yacht until yesterday when a friend called and asked if I'd build his Shamrock V for him. He has had the kit collecting dust on a shelf for many years and doesn't anticipate ever getting to it, so asked me if I'd build it for him.
 
I have learned that Amati makes a range of America's Cup yacht kits, but the Shamrock V is one that has been discontinued.
 
Since yesterday I have been poring over the kit. It will prove to be a relatively simple build, but appears to be a high quality kit. The fittings are excellent and the instructions and plans are very clear and easy to understand. (I do have a question about the rigging, but I'll ask that in a separate post under the right topic.)
 
This kit has a pre-cast hull ( a type of resin, I guess) which will cut down on the amount of work needed considerably.
 
I have never added sails to a model before, but I think this is one model that definitely needs them, so I'll be reading through everything I can find on making sails. The fabric provided in the kit is very fine and I don't think it will need to be replaced.
 
Here are a couple of shots of the kit:


So, an unexpected change of pace.
 
David

Hello Again,
Well, I certainly didn't expect to be building a J Class yacht until yesterday when a friend called and asked if I'd build his Shamrock V for him. He has had the kit collecting dust on a shelf for many years and doesn't anticipate ever getting to it, so asked me if I'd build it for him.
 
I have learned that Amati makes a range of America's Cup yacht kits, but the Shamrock V is one that has been discontinued.
 
Since yesterday I have been poring over the kit. It will prove to be a relatively simple build, but appears to be a high quality kit. The fittings are excellent and the instructions and plans are very clear and easy to understand. (I do have a question about the rigging, but I'll ask that in a separate post under the right topic.)
 
This kit has a pre-cast hull ( a type of resin, I guess) which will cut down on the amount of work needed considerably.
 
I have never added sails to a model before, but I think this is one model that definitely needs them, so I'll be reading through everything I can find on making sails. The fabric provided in the kit is very fine and I don't think it will need to be replaced.
 
Here are a couple of shots of the kit:


So, an unexpected change of pace.
 
David

Good Morning,
I've been focusing on two things over the past few days -
 
First, I've been working on the upper edge of the hull. As I mentioned before, the sub deck is glued directly onto the hull and then the deck planking on top of that. It's necessary to get a smooth upper edge to the hull which is supposed to meet crisply with the deck.
 
I had filled the edge with some filler, but before working any further on that, I added the black painted border that goes around the deck -

Then I sanded, refilled and painted the top of the hull -
 

It's not hard to do, but it takes quite a few coats to get it smooth. It will appear to be prefect in one light, then as soon as I adjust the light, I can suddenly see all kinds of imperfections. I applied one quick coat of green to the top and this seems to make it easier to find the tiny imperfections. It's all but finished now, just some very minor touch-ups needed.

The other thing I've been working on is a stand. I thought I would use the one provided in the kit, but it's really pretty flimsy, doesn't really fit the hull very well (despite my efforts to modify it) and it isn't very attractive.
 
I was at a loss as to what a suitable stand for this yacht might look like, but then I found something that I thought was suitable in forum member Ekis's build log for his Endeavour J Class. I though it was quite handsome, so I set out to try to do something similar.
 
In the end I came up with something that is a little less sophisticated than his and perhaps not quite as beautiful, but it's simpler and I think it does the job quite acceptably.
 
It was a bit challenging without a plan to work from, so I just took a trial and error approach. There seemed to be too many variables and no fixed starting point. So I just started in and quickly learned that all I should expect from my prototype was that it would have suitable overall measurements and not to worry about how it looked. I basically just slapped the bracing etc on.  Once I had an established model to work from, ie its height, width and length, I then built a new one, this time paying attention to how it looked. I used some 3/16" square stock from my stash.
 
It's not perfect, but I kinda like it and it's a definite improvement over the little kit supplied one.
 


Thanks again,
David
 

Good Morning,
I've been focusing on two things over the past few days -
 
First, I've been working on the upper edge of the hull. As I mentioned before, the sub deck is glued directly onto the hull and then the deck planking on top of that. It's necessary to get a smooth upper edge to the hull which is supposed to meet crisply with the deck.
 
I had filled the edge with some filler, but before working any further on that, I added the black painted border that goes around the deck -

Then I sanded, refilled and painted the top of the hull -
 

It's not hard to do, but it takes quite a few coats to get it smooth. It will appear to be prefect in one light, then as soon as I adjust the light, I can suddenly see all kinds of imperfections. I applied one quick coat of green to the top and this seems to make it easier to find the tiny imperfections. It's all but finished now, just some very minor touch-ups needed.

The other thing I've been working on is a stand. I thought I would use the one provided in the kit, but it's really pretty flimsy, doesn't really fit the hull very well (despite my efforts to modify it) and it isn't very attractive.
 
I was at a loss as to what a suitable stand for this yacht might look like, but then I found something that I thought was suitable in forum member Ekis's build log for his Endeavour J Class. I though it was quite handsome, so I set out to try to do something similar.
 
In the end I came up with something that is a little less sophisticated than his and perhaps not quite as beautiful, but it's simpler and I think it does the job quite acceptably.
 
It was a bit challenging without a plan to work from, so I just took a trial and error approach. There seemed to be too many variables and no fixed starting point. So I just started in and quickly learned that all I should expect from my prototype was that it would have suitable overall measurements and not to worry about how it looked. I basically just slapped the bracing etc on.  Once I had an established model to work from, ie its height, width and length, I then built a new one, this time paying attention to how it looked. I used some 3/16" square stock from my stash.
 
It's not perfect, but I kinda like it and it's a definite improvement over the little kit supplied one.
 


Thanks again,
David
 

Good Morning,
I've been focusing on two things over the past few days -
 
First, I've been working on the upper edge of the hull. As I mentioned before, the sub deck is glued directly onto the hull and then the deck planking on top of that. It's necessary to get a smooth upper edge to the hull which is supposed to meet crisply with the deck.
 
I had filled the edge with some filler, but before working any further on that, I added the black painted border that goes around the deck -

Then I sanded, refilled and painted the top of the hull -
 

It's not hard to do, but it takes quite a few coats to get it smooth. It will appear to be prefect in one light, then as soon as I adjust the light, I can suddenly see all kinds of imperfections. I applied one quick coat of green to the top and this seems to make it easier to find the tiny imperfections. It's all but finished now, just some very minor touch-ups needed.

The other thing I've been working on is a stand. I thought I would use the one provided in the kit, but it's really pretty flimsy, doesn't really fit the hull very well (despite my efforts to modify it) and it isn't very attractive.
 
I was at a loss as to what a suitable stand for this yacht might look like, but then I found something that I thought was suitable in forum member Ekis's build log for his Endeavour J Class. I though it was quite handsome, so I set out to try to do something similar.
 
In the end I came up with something that is a little less sophisticated than his and perhaps not quite as beautiful, but it's simpler and I think it does the job quite acceptably.
 
It was a bit challenging without a plan to work from, so I just took a trial and error approach. There seemed to be too many variables and no fixed starting point. So I just started in and quickly learned that all I should expect from my prototype was that it would have suitable overall measurements and not to worry about how it looked. I basically just slapped the bracing etc on.  Once I had an established model to work from, ie its height, width and length, I then built a new one, this time paying attention to how it looked. I used some 3/16" square stock from my stash.
 
It's not perfect, but I kinda like it and it's a definite improvement over the little kit supplied one.
 


Thanks again,
David