gjdale

Thanks Augie, Remco, Mobbsie, Mark, Sjors, John, Leanne and Rich for your kind words of encouragement, and also to all of the “likes”. I’ve been quiet on this log for a couple of weeks, partly because I’ve been both back at work and back into hospital for some minor surgery (nothing serious), and partly because some more “learning” has taken place. It has taken me a while to figure things out and have some real progress to report, but here I am at last with some learnings to share and some progress to show. I will post this across three separate posts due to the number of photos (should keep “See Yours” happy ) 25' Cutters Ver 2.0 (continued) To start, picking up where we left off with Cutters Ver 2.0. Things got off to a promising start, however the further I went, the less satisified I was with the result – mainly with the way the run of the planks was working out. I think I just plain got the garboard wrong, and it just sort of gradually snowballed from there. A couple of things I learned along the way…… Lesson No.1 - because of the issues I was having with clamping, I decided to try using thick CA glue instead – never my preference as I tend to suffer an allergic reaction to it if I’m exposed to it for too long. Anyway, it seemed to work pretty well, and of course enabled work to progress a little more quickly than waiting for PVA to dry. Lesson No.2 - using at least two planks per strake makes it MUCH easier. Here is the result of one of the Ver 2.0 Cutters. In this photo, it doesn’t look too bad, but viewed from the side, the planks at the bow look pretty ordinary. I would probably have used this, had it not been for Lesson No.3….. Lesson No.3 – No matter how good your preparation, never trust that glue will not stick to your plug. Here is how the second Ver 2.0 Cutter came off the plug……… Lots of rude words out loud later……….. Thought about this for a couple of days and decided that a third attempt was called for. Much of my method for Ver 2.0 was okay, but needed refinement, so I decided to call the next version, Ver 2.5. 25’ Cutters Ver 2.5 The first thing I did was to modify the keel assembly. I decided to cut the keel in two pieces so that the stem was cut with the grain running diagonally for greater strength. I even managed to cut a scarph joint! I also decided to go back to my original idea of an extended apron that would become a hogging piece, with notches cut out for the frames. I also notched the stern deadwood for the frames. Here’s one of the new keel skeletons: I then decided to modify the plug by carving a groove for the keel/apron assembly: This made the keel assembly almost a “press” fit and certainly provided much greater lateral stability. Here is a picture of the new keel in the modified plug. In this picture the plug has been marked out for the run of the planks. This worked out to be reasonable guide. Continued next post…….

Well done Ben - a tricky piece mastered on the first attempt. I'm impressed!

Fabulous picture Jack - you certainly are a very talented photographer. I showed my wife and she had only two words: "Oh wow!"

Holy crap.......you did that! :P Looks great Mark.

All progress is good John, no matter how small! Looking very nice too.

That's a great idea about wedging the keel in place from the opposite side Maury. I've been doing my own scratch version of this at a 1:90 scale with my own plug and have been having issues with keeping the keel in place. Your solution is so simply elegant and obvious, that I completely overlooked it. Thanks!

Yep, great decision Sjors! It shows how far we've come as modellers when we can make these re-do decisions that easily. If you know in your heart that you won't be happy with it, then re-do now rather than regret later. Good for you. Now, my advice is SDH (Start Drinking Heavily)!!!! :P

That second set of bow blocks looks much better Mike.

Ray, I don't know how I missed this log, but have just spent a very enjoyable few hours reading it through from the beginning. What a marvellous job you are doing of her - you should be very proud! I noticed that there are still a few pictures missing from pages 7 and 10 (no doubt from the server glitch a while back). I look forward to following your progress from here.

Nice start Maury. Think I'll pull up a chair for this one.

That's a mighty impressive piece of edge bending Bob! Did you use a former of some sort for this as well, or just water and the electric bender?

Lovely run of planking Remco. I'm with the others though - what's to improve?

Nice to see a Fubbs build Mike. I have the practicums tucked away in my "one-day" stash, so I'll follow along with interest.

Congrats on finishing the hawse timbers Ben - they look great.

Welcome home Bill - we've missed you. Delighted to hear the C.W. Hime shipyard is back in operation.

And he's off!............... Great start Sjors, only a few thousand more to go.

Looks like a wonderful "research" trip Toni. Thanks for sharing the photos.

Nice paint job there Sjors. No more putting off the coppering now - on with it!

Wonderful work Danny. A real joy to watch.

Ian, Jeff Hayes (of Hobbymill) has posted on his website, a guide to operating the Byrnes saw, including a page on blade selection that also has clear pictures of the Thurston brand blades he uses. Here is a link to that page: http://www.hobbymillusa.com/byrnes-saw-operation-2.php And here is a link to the Thurston website where you can download a catalogue: http://www.thurstonmfg.com/index.html Hope this helps.

Sometimes it's wise to walk away for a while Ben. Glad to see you're back to it though.

Wow, that really does show how much wider she'll be with stuns Kevin! I think. You'll have quite a unique presentation in the end - looking forward to seeing that. Nice companion stair btw.

Thanks B.E., JesseLee and Sjors (and all of the "likes") - your continued support and encouragement has really kept me going of late - I've come within a hairs breadth of giving up on these little cutters, but the support from all of you helps me to keep things in perspective and resolve to continue. So Sjors, they very nearly did become UFOs (UnFinished Objects) 25' Cutters (continued) The last few days have been somewhat "challenging" (the air in the shipyard is still an interesting shade of blue, and my long suffering wife has learnt to keep well away from the shipyard of late, occasionally slipping food and drink through the door). The first issue I had to resolve was how to hold the keel/backbone assembly rigid in the plug while I applied the planking. I would like to acknowledge here the very kind assistance of Greg Herbert (dvm27), who was good enough to answer a number of PMs while I quizzed him about the method used by he and David Antscherl, while I searched for a way to apply that thinking to my own version of their technique. Greg suggested adding an extension to the fore section of the plug to grip the stem, so that is what I did. I was also trying to figure out the lining out of the hull, and had been a little stumped by the placement of the Garboard strake. Again, Greg offered a little advice and I managed to work it out from there. After lining out the plug hull, I gave it several coats of sanding sealer to both preserve the lining out markings, and prevent the planks from inadvertently sticking to the plug. In these two pics, you can see both the lining out and the "Herbert Horns" (as I've dubbed them): Then it was time to fit the Garboard strake. This gave me more grief than I am capable of describing, but we got there in the end. Here's a couple of pics of the Garboard in place. (Remember also that while I'm showing pics of one boat, I'm building two of them simultaneously). In these photos, you can also see a couple of frames in place. These were an experiment and were designed to be "sacrificial" frames. The idea was to spot glue the keel to them to assist in keeping the keel rigid. I attached four such frames to each boat. It didn't work - I suspect due to insufficient gluing surface (the keel would come away from the frame at the slightest provocation). The upper end of the stem is glued into the gap between the Herbert Horns. One of the issues I have been facing is finding a way to clamp the pieces in place while the glue dries. This has been my single greatest source of frustration , but I eventually managed to find a way using a variety of different sorts of clamps. Nevertheless, I did find that there was a slight gap in places between the Garboard and the keel. This is partially because I could not see a way to cut a proper rabbet into the keel at these dimensions. Time then to try a new product...... and the winner is, Superphatic Glue, by Deluxe Materials (the RC Aircraft modellers will probably be familiar with this stuff). It is an ultra thin aliphatic glue that also has a strong wicking action. I was able to use this to run along the slight gap and wick into it. I was very pleased with the result as it made the bond between Garboard and Keel quite strong (as I found out later.......) I then went to the next plank for each, spiling using the tape and pencil method described previously to create a card template before cutting the plank. Oh, by the way, I'm using 1/64" thick Boxwood for the planking this time around. It is very nice to work with, and while not quite as pliable as Holly, it's not far off at this thickness. Before fitting, the upper edge (i.e. closest to the sheer line) of the Garboard plank was sanded to slight chamfer, and the "under edge" of the next plank was likewise chamfered. This creates a better overlapping join and something of a flat mating surface for the glue to grip onto. Once again, clamping was a real issue and the delicacy of the parts was proved several times as I managed to break both stems and both sternpost/transom assemblies. This was when I discovered how good the bond between the Garboard and keel was, as the "shell" came away from the plug completely, with planks and keel in tact. At least that was reassuring and I now know that I shouldn't have a problem with the planks sticking to the plug! Here's a couple of pics of the the second plank in place. The Apron on the bow is proving quite useful as an alternative to a Rabbet, as it gives the planks a landing place along the stem. In these pictures you can also just make out the "gain", which is where the overlapping of the planks disappears at the bow so that they are flush to each other along the stem. Well, I've now been on leave for two weeks. At the start of this period, I had hoped to have completed these two boats by the time I went back to work. Instead, I seem to be further behind than when I started. Oh well, at least some learning has taken place! Hopefully, the planking will get a little easier from here on (famous last words!). Stay tuned........

Congrats on reaching this milestone Sjors - looks good. Bet you can't wait for the coppering!

Nice set up Danny, even if a little cosy. Very well organised too - puts my workshop to shame! Looking forward to seeing the resumption of play with Vulture.