KeithAug

WoodButcher Im fairly sure that Cornwall Model Boats ships worldwide. I have used them in the past and always been pleased with the service. https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/cgi-bin/ss000001.pl?page=search&SS=steering+wheel+for+speedboat&PR=-1&TB=O&ACTION=Go!. lovely model .

Nicely done Michael.

Gary, Michael, Pat - thank you for your comments - and thank you to all other visitors. I got to a point where I needed some therapy so I abandoned the planks for a couple of days (I am probably still worrying about the bulwarks). I have been thinking about the engine control column - fashioned in the style of a ships telegraph. I had plenty of reference photographs from which to draw a plan. The height to the centre line of the throttle controls is 1 inch. I made the dial in 3 pieces because It avoided having to turn the part round in the lathe to machine the reverse face. The recesses in the faces were cut with a 6mm 2 flute end mill mounted in the tailstock chuck, followed by a 8mm 4 flute end mill. The central boss had 2x .060" holes drilled at right angles to take the pedestal and to mount the control box. The 3 parts are placed on a pin to show the assembly. The pedestal was turned from 11mm rod (0.433") which was pre drilled at 45 degrees for later addition of the boss which takes the cable tube. The cable tube boss was soldered in place before being cut to length. The pedestal then went back on the lathe to be parted off. The control box was milled out of a piece of .250" diameter rod and then mounted (glued using CA). The cable duct was just a piece of bent .060 brass rod. I drew the faces for the dial in powerpoint before reducing them to 8mm diameter. I can't read the dials at this size but surprisingly they do become legible when photographed. The faces were glued in pace with CA - which soaked through. (only a problem in the photographs and cant really be seen on the original) I folded a piece of .025" thick by .250" wide brass strip to get 2 thicknesses from which to make the handles. I then drilled this to take the shaft and to form the cut out. I cut the handles out using a jewellers saw and then filed both while still joined. I then assembled the whole thing - not very much for 2 days work.

Carl - I made it from aluminium - I have a lathe. However Jim sells spacers through the Byrnes web site for $5. You need to tell him the size you want.

A pretty little ship - most impressive.

Very interesting Gary. Must try your staining techniques some time.

Kortes Impressive but I don't think my eyes are up to it. With a little modification I might be able to make it work on the lathe.

Shocking!

Michael - What about the stuff in your hair and on your clothes and shoes. I suppose you are going to tell me that you have a decontamination station built into the door frame and that you strip and shower before accessing the house - please don't post photographs - imagination is sufficient.

A common problem it seems. In my case I usually can't find it afterwards so finding it ruined should be considered as a partial success. The replacement looks just the job.

Ah! a sanding day. What joy. Just love the way the dust spreads its way around the house coating everywhere with a lovely soft velvet. Best done while the wife is out shopping I find.

Lovely paint job. It makes her look like a very jolly ship.

Nicely done - very pleasing result.

Planker's Progress 9 - Days 20 & 21. So eventually I had to address the issue of the bulwarks - time to stop wondering how they were going to turn out. The frames at the stern provided very little area on which the frames could attach. I was thinking of using 3 planks but in the end decided that 2 would be better. I needed to taper the planks to accurately fit the space between the shear plank and the top of the frames at the level of the cap rail. I started by transferring the position of the frames on to a piece of paper using a thin strip of scrap wood. I only marked every 3rd frame as I felt this would be sufficient to get an accurate plank profile. Having done this I measured the lengths of the exposed frames at each position and transferred these measurements to the paper to reproduce the profile of the bulwark. I then divided the profile down the centre line to create the templates for the planks. I recorded the plank widths on the template for future reference. I had previously clad the frame edges in paper to ease removal of the frames above deck level at a later date. The yellow cladding was .014" card rather than .008 white paper. I used this where I felt the frames needed packing out to give better edge alignment between the shear plank and the lower bulwark plank. I then cut planks to the maximum required width, this turned out to be .340" As these planks needed to be tapered to the correct profile I made an accurate plank template out of pine and used this in my plank tapering jig. All was going well until someone arrived to announce that it was time for a walk. Walk completed, I made a plank jig to reproduce the curvature and twist in the tricky stern area. I soaked the plank in boiling water before clamping it in the jig and drying it with a hot air gun. I will leave it overnight to see how successful it has been.

John - Don't worry - some heavy duty sanding to come shortly. Bedford - my you do have a good memory - I had forgotten all about that. Broadcasting its position on the face of it seems sensible, however i think stuff moves around on its own because when I want it it's never in the place where i'm sure I left it.

All looking quite "ship shape" Michael.

Thank you John. Planker's Progress 8 - Day 19. Two days have gone by but only one day was in the shipyard. I started by cutting and shaping the the keel piece, its tapers in both planes. The piece I made to hold the bottom rudder bearing turned out to be too narrow so I remade it. The next photo shows a test assembly - not glued at this stage.. I drilled a hole to take the brass rod that will fit through the rudder tube. Better drilled at this stage on the mill rather than freehand later. I then glued the keel pieces in place while the brass rod was in position to maintain alignment. In the next photo I have already planed the attached keel pieces to roughly the correct size. Sometimes I just have to stop and a have a tidy up. The workshop had got into quite a sate and it took a couple of hours to recover it. I used double sided tape to stick a paper sanding guide to the bottom of the keel before completing the shaping. Sometimes the camera flash catches the mahogany at just the right angle to reveal its inner lustre. I now need to have a go at the bulwarks. You will remember from earlier posts that I have been worrying about this for some time. The shaping at the stern is still looking a bit challenging. Anyway that's a task for tomorrow and its now Pizza time.

I have t agree that the carving looks excellent.

Planker's Progress 7 - Day 18. Only a little progress today but significant in that the last of the hull planking went on. That is not to say that the planking is entirely finished as I still have the bulwarks to do. I got past the bulb at the front of the keel and that tricky task is now history. The final plank was a closing piece which required a deal of sanding and fitting and sanding and fitting and sanding and fitting - took quite a while to get it right. Then it was a case of sorting out the shape of the bottom of the rear of the keel. I By this stage the residual section was only about a planks width and I decided the best bet was to lop it off which I did with block plane. I will cut a piece of mahogany to replace this area - but that will be tomorrow.

Thank you Pat. Vossie, I think I have misled you. Its 17 days since I started planking. Its about 10 weeks since I started the build. Any way I always slow down over the summer.

Very smart looking deck, lovely detail.

Kortes - thank you - excellent - must try that.

Dan - I think they look fine - however in the past when I have needed mushroom shaped domes I have used plastic screw caps (dirt cheap on eBay and come in many sizes).

Dan - Wish I had such sophisticated tools. Enjoyed the update - as ever. Lovely work.