KeithAug

I continue to assemble the frames on the building board. By the stage in the photo below I was installing the 2nd level of cabin floor (also in the picture). By the time I got to the installation of the 3rd floor the freezer bag technique for wedging it in place had to be abandoned - the floors being quite small and not requiring the application of force over a wide area. What I needed was a "spring open" expanding clamp. I decided to use the handles of a spring closed clamp to give me the spring open function - as per next photo. I also abandoned the "V" block approach to keeping the frames square while gluing. I decided it was much easier to use the adjustable square with the frame held against it by the rare earth bar magnets - next photo. I have now finished assembly of the frames, spine and keel pieces and just have to attach the stern and bow formers before I start fairing.

it is looking very good Mark - i must try this approach.

Nice little fleet developing Patrick.

Michael - are you putting a light source in it?

Thank you for taking the trouble to explain, it is much appreciated. I am sure I will borrow some of your techniques. Kindest regards.

Wefalck, Michael, Dan, Paul. Thank you - glad you liked my improvisation - it's all part of the fun. Paul - I have watched with sympathy your garage thermal challenges. It was a pleasant 13 deg here today - a reminder that spring will soon be here.

Unfortunately "Old Father Time".

Could you give a little more detail of how you did this please. Well done.

Jealous - i want to have a go at that light.........and those rails.....

Druxey I knew about these. But I didn't have one. I thought however it was the sort of thing I needed. I then thought I could make it with a balloon. But we didn't have one. So then I thought of the freezer bag and a straw. very cheap and quick.

The build is being allowed to proceed on the dining room table but full access must be given at short notice. I started in the middle and worked towards the stern. The alignment rod system is working well and has the added benefit of forming a nice peg against which to locate the elastic band that is being used to clamp the frames while the glue on the "H" spacers and the keel pieces dries. I am sighting the alignment rods against the up-stand in the baseboard as further check on axial alignment. The keel webs are aligning well and I am not regretting the lack of a continuous keel piece. I also took the opportunity to open out the prop shaft pilot holes and test fit the prop. I needed to install the first of the cabin deck floors. I previously said there are 3 cabin deck levels, this is because I forgot how to count, there are actually 4. I cut out the floor from a sheet of 1/8" mahogany veneered ply using the dimensions in the previously posted data sheet. The floor had to be installed inverted and needed to be held firmly in place while glued. It was preferable to hold the floor in place over its entire surface rather than relying on discrete pressure points. I did consider cutting opposing wedges as an option for clamping the floor in place but in the end I made the job easier with the aid of a zip seal freezer bag and a drinking straw. The deck was inserted and then the freezer bag was partially inflated (using the straw) sealed and inserted above the floor (under in the inverted hull). I purposely overfilled it so that at first it would only partially insert. I then bled a bit of air out and tried again. After a couple of tries It went fully in creating a very snug fit. The position of the cabin floor was then adjusted until it was in the correct position. The clamping pressure was quite high and it took a bit of force to adjust the floor position. I then cut a series of braces and glued them to the frames and floor to hold it in place.

Very impressive

A lot of really neat building solutions beautifully executed.

A very interesting build Antony - and amazingly quick.

Today I did some more detail alignment checks before commencing glueing the frames to the building board. I placed a number of frames on board and pressed them down firmly before checking alignment with the 6mm diameter steel rods. While I was at it I checked the alignment of the prop shaft pilot holes (the brass rod below). The conventional way of joining the frames would have been to create a continuous keel (as I had previously done on my Altair build). This would have involved cutting a vertical slot at the bottom of the frames (top in picture). The problem with this approach on Germania is that the frames towards the rear of the fin are very narrow, so narrow in fact that the creation of the slot would have destroyed part of the frame profile. I don't want to lose the profile so I am taking an alternative approach. This involves creating a spine within the body of the hull. The vertebrae of the spine are H shaped with the lower notch fitting over the steel rod (spinal cord) and the upper edge holding a keel segment. Sorry about the description, I hope it will become clear as the build progresses. Having satisfied myself that the frames were aligning on the axial centre line and that the spine concept would work I glued the first frame in place - taking great care to ensure that it was perpendicular to the board. The "V" blocks in the picture below are holding the frame square and they in turn are fastened together with rare earth magnets. Squareness in the other direction is guaranteed by the adjustable square which is abutted against the 6mm steel rod and the 6mm wide up-stand on the base board. The vertebrae is accurately cut to a length equal to the frame spacing less the thickness of one frame and then glued and clamped in place. At this stage I should have been off and running. Unfortunately the temperature in the workshop was too low for the PVA glue to cure in anything like a reasonable time. In fact it hadn't gone off after 70 minutes. In consequence I entered negotiations about moving the gluing operation back to the dining room table. The initial discussion are not going well as the table has apparently entered into a prior guest commitment. My initial assessment is that my potential for negotiation success is about as good as Teresa May's.

Pretty darn amazing Patrick. But I still think the designer was on drugs.

Vossiewulf - Yes it can still be bought in both old and newer versions. The whole book is a fascinating read.

Today I have a fortunate distraction. I once owned a cherished book that over the years I read and reread on many occasions. About 15 years ago it disappeared and despite looking for it many times I never found it. I assumed that I had loaned it to someone and that it had not been returned. Today while looking for something else it turned up - hiding in plain view on the top shelf of one of our bookshelves. I was so pleased to find it that I started to read it once again. The book is old and somewhat tattered. Here it is:- It is difficult to see but it is Anson's Voyage Around the World - in the years 1740,1741,1742,1743,1744 In 2 days time the book will have its 112th birthday as attested by the script on the inside front cover:- The book is a first hand account of the voyage and purports to have been written By Richard Walter M.A. Chaplain of HMS Centurion. It is however believed that Walter was the editor and that Anson himself the writer. Within the book are many amazing accounts of the voyage but none for me is more poignant than the story of "The Gloucester in Distress" The narrative commences after the squadron had been scattered by a great storm while rounding Cape Horn. The prearranged assembly point in the event of such an event was Juan Fernandez island in the Pacific. HMS Centurion and the Tyral sloop arrived at the rendezvous in very poor shape and anchored to recover and await the remainder of the squadron. Here is the story of the Gloucesters arrival, I hope you enjoy the account:-

Mark - Yes - and the distance across the spars make it 30% longer. It will need quite a big display stand. John - good to hear from you again - as I get older my skill improves and my hands and eyes decline. It will be interesting to see how the balance of capability pans out.

Michael / Wefalck One of the benefits of creating the bulwarks as part of the hull planking is that the former for the shape of the bulwark is already created as part of the frame. Michael - your suggestion is how I did it when I built Altair and it is a good option if I can get the bulwark profile right. Wefalck - sounds interesting but I'd worry a little about differential expansion between the wood and brass over the 48" of hull length. My concern would be that the thin brass of the bulwark might ripple because of the constraint of the hull attachment and / or a crack would open up along the seam over time. However if other methods fail I may come back to it. I'm thinking of another option which is a bit unconventional and as yet I'm not too confident about it - i will worry about it a bit longer and maybe do a bit of experimenting before I decide between the 3 options.

Very good, I hope he gets some safety glasses as a late birthday gift?

Michael - probably didn't make that clear. First step will be to part off the frames at the building board level - either by laying a saw flat to the board and starting at one end progressively sawing through the frame stand offs - or alternatively plunging into the frame stand offs using the oscillating multi tool. I have already pre cut the frames at deck level - as per next photo. Once the frames are separated from the building board I will cut across the pre cut vertical slots using a small slitting saw mounted in the craft drill. I'll then cut the residual stub back level with the deck. I need to sort out a plan for planking the bulwark as it has no above deck frames to support it( just steel bracing rods). I think it will be a bit of a challenge! Wefalck, You agree with my wife. She came into the workshop with a cup of tea, took one look and made disapproving noises about eventual display options.

I made the building board. I purposely made it quite narrow at 5 inch to make handling during planking somewhat easier. The primary element is a 54" x 5" x 3/4" piece of MDF. Unfortunately the longest piece I had was 48" so it is actually 2 pieces. After cutting the MDF I cut a 6mm wide by 6mm deep slot down the centre on both sides using the router. I then took the MDF to the mill to cut transverse slots (5.5mm wide by 6mm deep) at the pitch of the frame spacing (as per previously posted data sheet). The mill table only has a 18" travel and so I needed to move the board progressively along it. To do this I set up location pins in the table "T" slot. These pins located in 6mm slot on the revers side of the board. The board was therefore able to move along the bed without losing its transverse location. Having slotted the board it was difficult to resist the urge place the frames in the slots ------- I failed to resist the urge. The central location up-stand wasn't in place at this stage and you can see that the frames are not well aligned. I took all the frames off and attached a very straight piece of 2" x 1.75" pine to the reverse side of the MDF to stabilise it. I then clamped the reinforced building board to a 72" spirit level to keep it straight while I glued the up-stand in place and then started to dry fit the frames again. This time the alignment was more pleasing. Tomorrow I will start gluing the frames in place and fitting the keel pieces.

Hmmm! very observant Michael. It spent many years holding a toilet roll in my daughters flat. It is going up in the world.

Thank you Paul - hopefully within a few days it will look much more like a hull. Another small diversion - Bollards! I didn't have a lot of time so I did a quick bit of turning. Germania has a nice pair of mooring bollards. Towards the stern - located both port and starboard. I dimensioned them up using the plank method described previously. I made myself a small profile tool to the dimensions shown in the sketch. Soon I had all 4 of the circular elements. I will make the square bases separately and solder them on.