KeithAug

Marc

If you are still considering a small wood lathe you might want to look at the Axminster Tools site. They sell the proxxon but it gets mixed reviews. In particular at 150w its fairly low on power.

The machine below is 350w and generally gets consistently better reviews for little more cash.

 

Hello Tim

J class hulls have finer lines and less pronounced changes in curvature than many boats. When I built my Amati Endeavour I found that it planked very well with parallel planks. The finish also looked good.

Lots of planking detail in my build logs that may be of interest to you.

Keith

Hi Holty

As Richard explains (above) the easy way to turn long masts is to take the spindle out of the tail stock and use it as a steady (making sure to support the overhang to stop the mast whipping).

I turned the 5 foot long mast for my Endeavour on a lathe having a 18 inch between centres. See Photo

The bush in the tail stock isn't visible in the photo but the anti whipping support is (its on the right)

You can see more details in my Endeavour build log.

I got a stay of execution on the decorating so managed to do a bit more.

The frames on the model plan don't match the frame positions on the original yacht. The frame positions behind the bulwarks therefore have to simulated by gluing on false ribs.

The ribs do however need to be truly vertical which is a bit difficult when the deck bows from stem to stern with a pronounced rise at the stem. Obviously taking a reference from the deck wasn't an option. I decided the reference had to be taken from the workbench but it wasn't immediately obvious how I would transfer a vertical line from the bench to the inside of the bulwark.

A bit of thinking prompted the following solution.

The key component is a christmas stocking quality laser line level. I mounted it on a v block with a vertical post clamped in place to hold the laser. With a bit of shimming I adjusted the laser to cast a vertical line on the wall. This was then used to transfer vertical lines on to the inside of the bulwarks (using the laser line to as the guide for drawing vertical pencil lines) 

The horizontal positions of the ribs were transferred to the deck using a template.

The ribs were cut from .150" x .150" mahogany plank (cut using the slitting saw). Each one had to be shaped on the disc sander to fit the changing profiles of the bulwarks / deck.

So far so good!

Hello Nils

I agree, its very satifying when the planks nest well, recourse to filler is avoided and the sanding enhances the finish. In this build all this effort will be lost under the 2nd planks - but the pleasure is knowing what lies beneath.

Regards

Keith

Praying for Rain!

Its been some time since my last post. My dear daughter purchased a flat in London in a property built in 1880. It needs a degree of refurbishment and I have been appointed to the post of chief joiner/painter. With that and the garden bursting into spring life I have had little time for my favourite pastime. However today I was at home and thankfully it rained so the yacht took a minor step forward.

I needed to mahogany plank the inside of the bulwarks to represent the detail of the original. See photo

I cut the planks 12"x0.2"x.032" on the circular saw using a .032 thick zero kerf slitting saw blade. The finish was almost polished!

I needed 10 planks to complete the whole process.

I used paper to create the template for the stern.

Having had my modelling fix I now return to house refurbishment - yawn!!!!

Hello Kees

Nice work on the ladders. How did you prevent the preceding rung de soldering when you soldered the next adjacent rung? Did you use a heat sink?

Hi Michael

The machining sequence for the goose neck was really interesting. Working out how to manufacture small metallic items is an endless source of fun and your result was excellent. Well done.

Hello Keith

Cutting of frames is are much easier if you have a scroll saw. I think I will buy one before doing the job again.

Hi Pete / IMack - thanks for the positive comments. I think the build will go slowly for a while - house decorations are moving up the agenda and can only be put off for so long.

Hi Kes

A lot of interesting techniques - beautiful work.

Bulwarks continued.

It feels like I am taking a long time over this. Accurately shaping the 6 bulwark pieces took a lot of time but now it is done.

The the middle of the 3 layers went on first and fortunately it went on well.

The inner layer went on next - thus creating the first sculpture line on the hull.

The bow where the bow sprit passes through is very heavily built on Altair and I wanted to reproduce this on the model.

The transom also has a fairly subtle shape which I will try to reproduce.

But first I needed to get the stern bulwark in place.

And that is how far I have got at present.

Bulwarks!!

So I finally got round to making a start on the Bulwarks. From earlier posts it is apparent that I was approaching this with some trepidation. The sculpturing of the hull on the outside of the bulwarks (see photo) is something I have not done before and I tend to explore options in my head for weeks before attempting something like this. In the end I have to get on with it before I go mad.

I had done a bit of preplanning in that I had left the upper edge of the hull un-planked so that the recess could take the lower edge of the bulwark.

To create the sculpturing the bulwark is going to be laid up in 3 layers of .032 inch ply. The middle of the 3 layers is going on first and fits in the un-planked recess. This middle layer will form the upper sculptured line and the outer layer the lower sculptured line. A bit difficult to explain but I'm sure it will become clear as I work through the process over the coming days.

Anyway the starting operation was to make up a cardboard template to get an accurate representation of the hull recess.

The shape of the bulwark pieces is quite complex and it took a lot of assembling, removing, sanding etc etc before I was happy with the shape. After the best part of a days work I now have 2 parts almost complete and temporarily pinned in place. 

Only 4 more pieces to go.

I'm still watching varnish dry. The second and third coats have gone on and each dried in 10 hours. The 24 hours drying of the first coat must have had something to do with absorption of the varnish into the wood. Anyway it gave me time to finish off the prop shaft. I still have to make the "A" frame for supporting the rear bearing.

Thanks Mark,

I used to do naps but Maisie is only 10 months and like your dog has banned all restful activity.

Today I had to find something to amuse myself as watching varnish dry isn't a very stimuating pass time (it has dried finally after 24 hours). 

I thought I would have a go at making the propeller. I have not made one before and the fall back option was going to be to buy one. I don't however like buying fittings as it always feels like cheating.

This is what I did.

Firstly to make the blades I cut 3 identical strips of brass .040 inch thick. The 3 strips were fastened together using double sided tape as I intended cutting out all 3 blades at the same time. A paper template was fastened to the brass strips again using double sided tape . Confidence / experiences was low so I marked out 6 blades. The pin in one of the photo's gives an idea of scale.

I din't need the reserve set of 3 blades as the first lot turned out ok. The small peg at the bottom of each blade was to locate / fasten them in the hub.

The hub was turned on the lathe and 3 equi-spaced holes were drilled around the circumference to take the pegs on the blade. Each blade was given a slight curvature by bending it around a bar - using the vice to apply the pressure. The whole lot was then assembled and soldered together.

Thanks Mark - I'll try wipe on poly on the hull. 

Hello Bedford - As you say it may be the wood. If I left the deck untreated I be constantly annoyed with family and friends when they pawed it. Hopefully the miniature crews deck boots will cope!

Mark / Pete - thank you. The deck varnish is still tacky some 18 hours after application so I don't think I am going to be making much progress today. Modern oil based varnishes don't seem to dry as quickly as they seemed to when I was younger. I keep thinking I should try water based varnishes which claim to dry much quicker. I wonder what you all use?

Thank you Michael and Michael.  As I explained the deck planking isn't exactly to scale - I find it difficult to achieve this at 1:32 scale but I still need to get comfortable with the compromise. May be I will have to move to larger scales at some time. 

Slow progress but I did finish sanding the deck. I started with 120 grit emery cloth and removed all the plank thickness irregularities. I then used 400 grit wet and dry paper (used dry) to give a silky smooth finish. I used a damp cloth wiped over the deck to raise the nap and when dry I again used the 400 grit wet and dry. I repeated this twice.

I also sorted out the stern planking detail.

Time is drawing near when I will need to address the bulwarks so I decided to mount the plank required for inverted handling of the hull. To protect the deck rubber pads are attached to the bearers where they bolt to the hull. The plank is mounted parallel to the waterline so that the setting out of hull details (portholes etc) will be easier later on.

Having completed the deck sanding I wanted to protect the deck from workshop grime. I decided to give it a few coats of satin finish varnish. I need to glue ribs etc to the deck edge once the bulwarks are in place so I masked the deck edge mahogany planks so that gluing would not be a problem at a later stage. The photos were taken with the 1st coat of varnish still wet.

Hi Pete / Michael,

I'm not really very quick - I just stuck at it, all day and some of the night. Putting the caulking in makes it quite fiddly and slow. Their must be a better way of simulating caulking but I don't know what it is. I bet their is a thread somewhere. Thank you for the comments.

Deck planking complete - but as yet not sanded:-

A quick post this time consisting mainly of photographs.

Yesterday afternoon / evening and earlier today I completed the deck planking the initial photographs show where i started yesterday.

The accurate marking and positioning of the deck edge planks paid dividends and by the time I reach the deck centre line the symmetry was virtually spot on. No doubt an element of luck played its part.

Deck sanding tomorrow...........

Hi Mark

Yes the deck planking pattern is a bit unusual. I'm not sure why they would do it like that but it may just have been a consequence of the timber they had available in the ship yard.

Hello Pete

Altair is a beautiful yacht and I hope I do it justice.

More deck planking:-

I made a start on the planking which follows the contour of the deck edge. As explained previously these planks are much narrower. I made the planks .108 inch wide x 10 inch long which is 3.5 inch by 26 foot at full size.

It's probably worth posting a few images of the real thing at this point:-

I wanted the deck to be representative of the real thing but accepted that absolute accuracy wasn't quite achievable.

So here are a few images of progress to date:-

I was progressing well until my helper arrived and demanded some exercise!

Nicely done - you wouldn't notice unless told.

Hi Jond

I think using the balsa method to create a plug is a possibility. I like wood finishes so for me it wasn't an option. My plan is to second plank in mahogany and then finish above the waterline in white enamel with a polished mahogany finish below the waterline. As you say the hull is very light at the moment.

Thank you Bedford / John for your feedback.