Jason Builder

Hello Model Ship Builders!

Here are the cabin sides going up.  I dry fit everything first; needed to trim back the seat-top support brackets a bit in order to set the cabin sides down far enough.  These are epoxied into place.  I also glued the cabin roof vent box together and added some trim to it.   I trimmed out the cabin exterior with mahagony strips and also squared the windows (which have rounded corners in the stock design).   At this point I made the largest variation to the stock design; I made a roof that extends forward of the cabin with a large forward radius, and the roof also extends aft to the stern.  The stock roof is the size of the cabin itself with minimal overhangs, which appears to be quite accurate when I look at actual launches from the period.  I also found some that had extended shade canvas or roofs extending fore or aft, and I wanted that type of look.  I will be adding supports at the aft end of the roof.

The model includes a cabin entry step, midships locker with built in ladder, aft locker hatch, and the cockpit seat.   I built up all these assemblies, adding additional trim and planking to suit.  Varnished prior to installation. I will not be gluing the cockpit seat in place, as the servo is accessed by lifting up this seat piece.  The head stock of the rudder shaft is accessed via the aft locker hatch.

Greetings!

I varnished the cabin interior, including the table top which I hadn't glued on yet, and then I glued the table top in place.   Then I glued the cabin sole/cabin assembly in place using epoxy on the plywood frames and Devcon plastic weld epoxy where it met the hull.  Note the wooden braces that I compressed in place to hold the sole down (red arrow), I used one of these on the port side and one on the starboard, and the rear cabin wall held the sole down tight at the aft end.

This is the forward bulkhead showing the hatch retention mechanism.   Also a photo of the hatch installed into the bulkhead.  I trimmed the hatch edges with hardwood and planked the face.  I carved the bulkhead to match the hull curvature and then glued it in place with superglue to the sole and with Devcon plastic weld epoxy to the hull sides.

Time to get to work on the cabin!  It is encouraging to see the model extend above the deck.  I carved the aft cabin wall to fit the hull and then epoxied it in place; then got to work building out the interior of the cabin.  The cabin interior was assembled to the point you see here.  I think it is easier to do this assembly outside the model.  I added additional trim throughout the cabin interior to break up large plain plywood areas and to cover exposed plywood edges.

Hello!   Time for some deck planking.  I used 10sec superglue to glue down the deck planking.  The plans do not call for planking in the cockpit, but I planked this area with mahogany.

At this point, I roughed up the OD of the propeller shaft tube, filled the end with wax to keep epoxy out, and epoxied it in place to all the frames and to the upper and lower keel pieces, and used devcon plastic weld epoxy where it exits the plastic hull.

Next I built up the laminated keel, and dry fit it into position making sure it fit properly with the propeller shaft tube.  At this point I had not glued the rudder shaft tube in place yet.   It was important to have the rudder installed to make sure the keel is perfectly aligned straight with the rudder.  With everything looking good, I glued the keel to the hull weith Devcon plastic weld epoxy, including a "fillet" of epoxy on either side of the keel where it meets the hull.

Drilling holes in boat hulls is always a big deal, especially below the waterline.   At this point, is was time to cut the opening for the propeller shaft tube throught the hull.  I laid the propeller shaft tube in place and then drew out where it would exit the hull.  The resulting shape is an oblong hole.  I drilled a hole at each end of the oblong hole and used a razor to remove the remaining hull material.

Good Morning!  I am still just cranking out these posts of the work I completed through the year, and my goal is to ge caught up this morning to the current  state of the project.  

Next I built the rudder.  It is laminated from plywood pieces and epoxied to the brass rudder shaft.  There is a small reinforcing pin that in inserted perpendicularly through the rudder shaft and into the rudder also.  When I was done with the rudder, I wanted a more hydrodynamic leading edge that what the design called for, so I added a half-round section of hardwood dowel to the leading edge.

So with that all done, I glued the sole plate in place using Devcon plastic welder two part epoxy.  I used a bunch or rock to weight the sole plate down.  Again, that adhesive cures fast so work fast with it!

Here is the little hatch in the forward section of the sole plate.  This hatch will allow access to the hull, in order to add ballast later.

I figured it would be easier to prep and plank the sole outside of the boat, so that's what I did.  The port and starboard edges of the sole need to be carved to match the curvature of the hull.  This was also the time that is was very helpful to have the steam-plant built, so that I would know how to build this section of the boat where the steam plant will be installed.  The flat tray assembly of my steam-plant is different than the steam engine design assumed by Krick in is design.  So I epoxied in a filler piece to create a complete flat sole plate, and then I planked over the whole thing, while it was still outside the boat.  I then located and drilled the mounting holes and epoxied the drive nuts to the underside of the sole; these will be used to bolt down the steam plant assembly.  There are screw heads protruding down from the bottom of the steam plant mounting tray, so I used a forstner bit to counter sink holes into the sole plate to accomodate those protruding screw heads.  At this time I also fashioned a tapered shim to both raise the engine so that the output shaft of the engine with be right at the centerline of the propeller shaft, and align it parallel with the angle of the propeller drive shaft.

Ahoy!  With the sub-sole framework all epoxied and assembled, I glued it into the hull using Devcon plastic weld two part epoxy.

At this point I built the keelson and little frames/bulkheads that support the sole and cabin of the boat.  These parts were all epoxied together.

Then I glued the deck onto the cleats that I had glued in place earlier.  I used Devcon plastic weld two part epoxy for this.  I had tpo go very fast to get it down before the epoxy cured.

Before installing the deck, I installed the rudder support block.  The plans call for smal gussets to be glued in place around the brass rudder shaft support tube.  I think those gussets would be a mess to try to install.  I made a solid mahogany block carefully fit into this location, and drilled a hole into it at the correct angle for the rudder shaft support tube.  I glued this block to the hull with Devcon plastic weld two part epoxy.  I drilled the hole slightly oversize to allow for final fine-tuning and truing-up of the rudder trunk tube in the hull.  I filled the tube with some putty to keep epoxy out, roughed up the OD of the tube, gave it a thick coat of epoxy and inserted in into block and through the hull.  I used a small square to ensure it was true in all directions (after making sure the hull was true in both directions also!)  The brass rod that you see me holding the square up to, is the rudder shaft itself, which is protruding through the rudder-shaft tube that I am expoxying in place in the photo.

I will use Futaba servos and transmitters.  I have never built a remote control model, so I am learning this as I go.  I will use S3004 servos for both the rudder control and the engine controls.  As I progress on this build, it has become evident that one must build support brackets and the surrounding model, to fit the remote control hardware.  For example, the rudder control servo brackets that came in the kit were not sufficient to support the Futaba S3004 in my opinion.  I built up thicker servo support brackets, such that the mounting screws are able to fully screw into a solid bracket.  I also think it is important to be able to install and remove the servo from the ship model.  In the Krick Alexandra, you will find that the rudder servo space is very limited.  I carved a groove into the rudder servo support brackets to allow space for the servo and its wires , to be removed vertically out of the model.

With the first cleats glued in place around the inside perimeter of the top edge of the hull, I began assembling the deck and keel assemblies.  The cockpit, along with a couple other parts, should be glued to the underside of the deck prior to glueing the deck down to the cleat that has been glued to the hull.

Now on to the ship!  The hull is plastic and all other components are hardwood and plywood.  The hull needed some trimming, after which I began installing and assembling the framework, deck, and sole.  Note that anywhere I needed to glue a component to the plastic, I roughed up the plastic to provide a key to the adhesive.

I would recommend building the complete steam-plant, including engine, boiler, fuel tank, and condenser, prior to building the ship.  I needed to know where to locate mounting holes in the ship and the only way to be sure is to have the completed steam-plant, in my opinion.  The balance of the steam-plant components showed up from MSM, including a nice mounting tray.  The boiler was not lagged, so I lagged the boiler by gluing the hardwood strips to the boiler with CA, made the brass straps and installed them.  Here is the completed steam plant.

First I applied etching primer to the bronze parts I wanted to enamel, then I enameled them, then assembled the engine.

Now on to the steam plant.  I bought the kit to build the "Clyde" dual cylinder oscilating marine steam engine from MSM in Victoria Australia.  I assembled the steam engine, which was fun and also helped me learn how they work.  The parts all fit together well, and I was very impressed with the fit, finish and overall quality.

The kit arrives!  Well packaged, and everything looks to be of good quality.  There is one large drawing, a german instruction manual, and an English instruction manual.  The English instruction manual is missing the illustrated figures that are in the German manual.  The English manual is also missing the description of many parts in the parts list.  I created an updated English manual, which includes the missing illustrations, and which includes English translations of the missing parts list section.  I uploaded the revised manual to this post, but it's a large pdf and I'm not sure it if will work.  Otherwise, you may find it at  https://www.argobuilder.com/uploads/4/0/0/8/40089901/krick_alexandra_revised_english_instructions.pdf

Krick Alexandra Revised English Instructions.pdf

Here is the stock photo of the Alexandra, along with photos of some English steam launches from 1900, which is what the Alexandra is a model of.

This is a photo of the "Amaryllis II" built in 1995 by the International Boatbuilding Training Co, according to plans and illustrations from 1895.  The photo is from at advertismenet to sell the boat, on the Hensley Sales & Charter Ltd. website.