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michael mott

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Everything posted by michael mott

  1. Congratulations on your new family member Hakan. A great Idea regarding straightening up the Apple lumber as well. Michael
  2. Stunning workmanship on the flywheels, I am curious about the difference with the fabrication of the boiler wall and the doors, I see that you build the doors as solid integral pieces, is this because of a definitive lack of actual evidence for their design or to just act as representative elements? Michael
  3. Druxey, you are now pushing the bar very high indeed. I can see that I am going to need to sort out a small saw of some kind. Michael
  4. Thank you all for your votes of confidence. Mark this is what I mean I had hoped that by spreading the thickened glue I would avoid having to go back and fill the low spots and pinholes. In order for the deck to take a good final finish it needs to be "flat" and not looking like an open grain. Photographs can be brutal or deceptive in this case they were deceptive. More rounds of scraping seem to be in the cards. Michael
  5. Thank you all for the likes. Build part 35 I modified some small clamps that I made a while back, I took out the spring and added a short length of styrene tube, this enabled the clamp to close with a degree of pressure not easily available with the springs. the small diameter of the bent brass part allowed me to get into a pretty tight spot. After the planks were glued I gave a leveling sand ready for the filling. next I thickened up the coloured glue and spread it over the surface as if I was grouting tiles...... I won't do that again It was really hard scraping this all off my thumb is sore from the pressure. It looks OK not quite as good as I wanted... I am thinking about the next move.... Michael
  6. Good health to both you and Pam John, it is only when we are not functioning at 100% that we realize just how complex life is. Michael
  7. Druxey I am curious about your method of gluing such delicate planks. The inside looks as clean as the outside, are you thining the glue down and then cleaning up with q tips etc? The hull does look exquisite. Michael
  8. Thanks for all the fine comments and encouragements. Build part 34 The cockpit area planks have been trimmed to withing a 1/64 of the cockpit stringer and the longest planks cleaned up a bit. Now the planks are getting shorter and will go a bit faster. All of the billets have been curved ready for splitting. gluing progresses Something I have been thinking about is to finish gluing all the forward planks including the king plank then do a preparatory sanding. Next using a razor blade like a putty knife and forcing a thickened glue into the remaining space for the caulking. I was wondering if anyone has thickened up the glue with the Costello dust and how it responded. Michael
  9. My personal choice would be for the flat roof. not only is it more nautical bit also gives you many more options regarding other activities like fishing or whale watching, or even watching Americas cup racing. Michael
  10. Build part 33 The deck planking continues, I am closing in on the much shorter planks so they ought to go a little more quickly. I am also getting more familiar with the bending of the square planks now, there is no substitute for practice. I set up a better method than the original almost free form method. I am now using a basic french curve type former that allows for a far more controlled bend. a scrap of redwood and some nylon buttons held on a short piece of pine. Ready to split. The three longest planks are now glued so the pace should pick up a bit now. The minor adjustments to the split planks are very easy to make now with the new bending jig. This is done after I have scraped in the rebate. I am setting the notches individually in pairs as I move toward the mast the king plank is not fixed and can be lifted off the make the notches which make life a little easier that doing it on the hull. Michael
  11. Mark, thank you for the photograph, your picture confirms what I was thinking intuitively. I used my 20 foot yawl masts as a rough guide, this one being a taller one is a bit heavier proportionally. Thanks to all for the comments and likes Michael
  12. Dion, Yes a speedy recovery to your wife from me as well. the various skill sets that the members of this forum possess is amazing. Michael
  13. Jon, My own view would be to see how it sails as it is before making any changes, just don't go out in a force 10 Michael
  14. Jon, sounds like a plan. I just told Judy that our next big holiday will be to the east coast. As soon as we sell our place and move to a smaller place we will also do the trip. Michael
  15. Thistle, thanks for the comment and for visiting my build. I have not had a chance to visit the boat yards in the area, however back in 1986 I did visit the east coast. I purchased a small dingy kit from Laughing whale in Bath, we went us as far as Booth Bay Harbour, to visit a friend Christopher Williams who wrote "Craftsmen of Necessity" his family owned a small island and there was a single house on it that was built by a shipwright in the 20's The house was wonderful and was tight as a drum. His father or grandfather was one of the first recipients of the Pulitzer prize and the house had a writing station at one side of the great room looking out over the sea. I have visited the online Herreshoff Museum and spent a great deal of time looking at drawings and images of the Herreshoff heritage. Gill Smith who designed and built Cat boats is one of my other favourite builders and was a contemporary of Nathaniel. Michael
  16. Druxey ,Pete, Thanks, also to those who added likes. Not really wanting to make another cutter because the way I made the first one would be a little tricky replicate another exactly the same. I managed a salvage operation and made a small handle for the broken piece I glued it into a small piece of Costello and have now decided that this will be a good way to make these little tools in the future. Back to the scraping. Michael
  17. It just occurred to me that my own little steam box was not new at all I had seen yours Hakan and forgot about it then built mine patting myself on my own back when it was your Idea all along. Credit where credit is due. Michael
  18. Thanks for the compliments and the likes and visits, they are really appreciated. Build part 32 I made a new scraping tool to create a rebate for the caulking it is scale 5/16 wide and 3/8th deep, after sanding the plank smooth the rebate is scraped on the inboard side. I mixed up some coloured Titebond III I used some Windsor and Newton Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Violet to make a deep brown, I think black is a bit harsh on small boats. The channel already has a fair bit of the glue filling it as a result of the initial liberal application of the glue with a brush. It will need further applications of glue done the same way as the caulking on the pilot cutter using a syringe, that will come when the planking is completed. I decided to nib the planks into the king plank. The next plank heat bent and ready for splitting, fortunately there are only 3 long planks on each side then they are much shorter so the scraping will not be a tiring on my fingers. I was a little heavy handed with my scraping tool and snapped off the corner of the blade so tomorrow I shall have to make another. Michael
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