gjdale

They look pretty good from this distance Bob!

Great work Slog. Love the details.

Great work Daria. I see you have given the yucky tasks (filing) to Dad - good move!

Thanks for dropping in Mobbsie and Popeye, and thanks to all who hit the "like" button. On with the show.... Wheel Building Once again, I’m following Kip’s process for this. The next stage was thinning and shaping the wheel and adding the crenallations (finger grips). It took me a while to get my head around the cross-section shape of the wheel, but essentially it is egg-shaped, with the thinner part of the egg towards the back of the wheel (actually the forward side), where the finger crenallations will be. A couple of emails back and forth with Kip, and finally I understood what I was doing. To begin with, the soldered wheel was placed back on the wooden forming buck. Because of the removal of the saw kerf from the diameter of the wheel, it was now a very tight fit on the buck, and so it could be spun on the lathe while files were applied to create the shape. First of all, the thickness of the outer rim was reduced by 1/32” by using a flat file. Then the outer part of the back face was given a slight angle, again with a file. The wheel was then removed from the buck and held in the lathe chuck so that the inner part of the back face could also be angled, giving a very slight “v” shape to the back part of the wheel. Now we needed to create a jig to hold the wheel while the crenallations were milled. Once again, I followed Kip’s lead and turned a piece of 75mm diameter HDPE (a plastic of sorts) with a 2.37mm deep rabbet around the outside, such that the wheel would just go over it. I also centre-drilled the jig while it was there. I had never used this material before, but after reading Kip’s method, I stumbled across a piece of exactly the right size in my local machinery supplies shop and they let me have it for free – just goes to show how much money I’ve spent there……. Anyway, this material (which I believe also goes by the name of Delrin), is a joy to work with. It machines beautifully and can be tapped and threaded with ease. So, the next job was to drill and tap some 6-32 mounting holes for some hold-downs. Hold-downs were made from 1/16” brass strip, 1 inch long by 3/16” wide, drilled for clearance for the 6-32 socket head screws. A strip of honeycombed rubber (off-cut from a non-slip drawer liner) was inserted under each strip. The wheel was then mounted on the jig, the jig on the lathe chuck, the lathe chuck on the rotary table for the mill, and the rotary table on the 90-degree angle table. As Kip says, that’s a lot of mounting! Okay, time for some milling……almost……. Kip noted that the original wheel had either 12 or 13 crenallations in each of three 120 sections. The sections are separated by the spoke holders, where there are no crenallations. He estimated that the spoke holders cover about 10 degrees each, leaving 110 degrees of arc to fit the crenallations into. Kip did the math on this and worked out that for 12 crenallations, the centres needed to be 9.17 degrees apart. Way too hard for me Kip – too much chance of going wrong. I decided I would use 11 crenallations, making them 10 degrees between centres, which just happens to be two complete turns of the hand wheel on the rotary table. Much less chance of stuffing it up, and who’s going to notice anyway? Kip also advised using a 3/16” end mill and cutting to a depth of 0.0255”. Seriously Kip? And you think we’re crazy with our metric system! So, that converts to 0.65mm (rounded to two decimal places). I was still a little nervous about how this was going turn out – I didn’t want to be making several “practice” wheels, so before going near the mill, I sat at the computer for a couple of hours and played with my CAD program to work out how these would take shape on the wheel. It was an interesting exercise – that merely proved that I should have just trusted Kip in the first place and saved myself two hours! So, off to the mill. In the above picture, I’m about one third of the way through milling the crenallations. It all went smoothly, except that the hold downs were a very tight fit between mill passes. In fact, the mill shaved a little off them as we went. The only issue I had was that the silver solder joint failed during the process. Fortunately, that didn’t affect the rest of the milling. Here is the completed part fresh off the mill and before clean-up. I used a scrap piece of MDF and quickly drilled and tapped some 6-32 holes so that I could use my hold-downs again while I re-soldered the join. Once the soldering was completed, it was simply a case of cleaning it all up with some files and sandpaper. And here is the finished wheel rim: I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. Thanks to Kip’s trail blazing, I managed to get this on the first go. The next task will be making the spoke attachments for the rim. Stay tuned…..

Liver of Sulphur is great for blackening Copper, but it will not work on Brass. Another option for blackening Brass is Jax Pewter Black, which despite the name, works very well on Brass.

Tim, For what it's worth, I'd encourage you to go with the Sherline. As my Dad always says, quality is remembered long after price is forgotten! You will never regret the extra expense of the initial outlay for the Sherline. And then of course, you'll never be saying "I wish I'd held off a little longer and bought the Sherline instead"......

Nice progress Daria - I see you've worked out how to use clamps properly and you are even starting to get the hang of using an airbrush! Keep up the great work.

Nice to see some progress Steve. Looking good!

Many thanks as always for all the kind comments and the "likes". On with the show.... Of Moulds and Wheels Before completing the finish on the hull, I decided to take a little diversion in two directions. Firstly, I decided that it would be a good time to make a mould of the bow so that I could work on the cutwater off the model (and hence protect that lovely surface). And secondly, I decided it was about time to start tackling the building of a new steering wheel. To make a mould of the bow, I bought some plaster from the local art store. I could have gone all fancy and bought some very expensive mould making material, but as this is a one-off job, I decided to keep it simple and inexpensive. To create the mould, I mixed up some plaster and water and then suspended the boat above it by looping some brass wire through the rudder post, then attaching some rope hooked over the garage door tracks, and then lower the boat into the plaster. Of course, I had taken the precaution of wrapping the bow in cling wrap first! Once the plaster had set, I removed the boat and coated the mould with some silicon grease to act as a release agent. Then I mixed up some more plaster and water and poured it into the mould. I also inserted two pieces of dowel to use as “handles” later on. In this picture, the cast has set and I have cut around the top edge prior to lifting out. And here is the final product: After this photo was taken, I cleaned up the cast with a light sanding and then painted it with a coat of finishing resin to (hopefully) prevent it from crumbling as I work with it. More on the cutwater to come at a later date. I had decided to replace the kit-supplied steering wheel after reading an excellent “how-to” by Kip Catanese over on the RC Groups forum. Kip made a replacement wheel for a fellow forum member and documented his process so well, that I decided to try and replicate it – at least as far as I am able. What follows then, is an implementation of Kip’s methodology. I hope I can do it justice. The starting point is a piece of 1/8” diameter brass rod. This needs to be bent around a form and then silver soldered to form our basic wheel. To create a form, Kip turned a “buck” on his lathe to the correct diameter to match the finished wheel’s Inside Diameter of 2” (50mm). This is slightly smaller than the kit supplied wheel as Kip reckoned it was a little too large for the scale. That’s good enough for me Kip! So, following Kip’s lead, I laminated two pieces or 2 ¼” square x ¾” scrap timber together with epoxy, marked the desired diameter, mounted it in a four jaw self-centering chuck, and then turned the outer portion down to the correct diameter. Although Kip used hand tools on his lathe for this operation, I stuck with regular metal cutting tools and they worked just fine. Once the outer portion was turned down, I drilled a 1/8” diameter hole in the cylindrical section to anchor one end of the brass rod, and then drilled and tapped an M6 thread into the square section of the buck. The purpose of this will become clear shortly. In order to bend the brass rod around the buck, it first needs to be annealed to make it soft enough to bend easily. I had not done much in the way of annealing before, so had a go with my little butane torch that I use for silver soldering. Well, all I can say is that this was an abject failure. I stopped and thought about it for a while and concluded that I simply wasn’t getting enough heat to the rod overall. A quick (and not inexpensive) trip to the hardware store solved my problems…… This little torch uses something called Ultra Gas, which apparently is the “next generation MAPP replacement”. I wouldn’t know about that, but what I do know is that it heated my brass rod to cherry red in no time at all, and after a quick dunk in a bucket of water, it bent like a piece of soft rubber around my buck. In the picture above, you can see the purpose of the threaded hole (again a direct copy of Kip’s method). I have used an M6 socket head screw with a “mudguard” washer to hold down the very end of the brass rod and keep it nice and tight on the buck while it is being cut. After this picture was taken, I moved the threaded hold-down to the next face around (ie 90 degrees) as I found this to be more secure. The whole assembly was then mounted in the milling vice and the ring cut using a slitting saw. This ensured that the two mating faces were perpendicular to each other. Once the piece was cut free, it was placed back on the buck with a hose clamp to ensure that it remained as true to shape as possible. Then it was just a simple case of silver soldering the ring closed and doing a little clean up with a file. Here is a picture of the finished ring, alongside the original kit-supplied wheel. You can see that it is slightly smaller – the outer diameter of the new wheel is about the same size as the inner diameter of the kit wheel. Next up, thinning and shaping the exterior of the wheel, and then milling the finger crenallations. So far Kip’s treatise has been a dream to work with. I’m hoping that the remainder goes as well!

Here is another video on Bandsaw setup/adjustment that I think is really good.

You can't go wrong with a Sherline. I love mine, and I'm still only a novice when it comes to using it. Just remember that you will likely spend more on attachments/accessories than on the basic machine. But then, that's half the fun really isn't it? And the same will be true regardless of brand.

Very nice John. With the end almost in sight, have you decided what's next?

Congrats on the milestone Mark. Can't wait to see her free of the jig! As for the camera, sounds like you have an excuse to deploy HMS Visa into action again!

Nice to see you underway again Rusty. Lookin' good!

Thanks again for all the kind comments and all of the "likes". Another mini-update....... After a further three coats of clear finish, with wet-sanding between coats using 1200 grit paper, I think we are done with the spray-gun at last. I’m quite pleased with the way that it has come up, although the camera can be a little unkind. It looks better to the naked eye! It still needs several hours’ worth of polishing before it’s really done, but here are a few glam shots by way of update.

I've recently started using Vallejo acrylic paints and they are excellent. Their main range is called Model Colour, which can be brushed as is or thinned to use in an airbrush. They also do a range called Model Air, which is designed to be used in an airbrush without thinning, though I understand that some folks do thin them anyway. The colour range is extensive; if you know the standard international designator for the colour you want (I can't remember what the dsignator system is called) you will be able to find it, or a very close match in the Vallejo range. That should help with your colour blindness. Most local hobby/toy stores seem to carry the Vallejo range.

Lovely work, as always, Toni.

Nicely done Jesse.

Excellent work Daria! Thank you for sharing your build with us. I think pretty soon you'll be helping Dad with his model too!

A Stand and some Graphics Now that the finish on the hull is approaching a state that I’d like to preserve, I decided that it was time to make a stand. So today that’s what I did. Not sure yet if this will feature as part of the final display but in the meantime, it is quite functional. It is simply made, copying the design in Pat Matthews’ excellent book. The uprights are 16mm dowel, while the cross-braces are 8mm dowel. I finished it off with Vallejo Metal Colour “Chrome” and the Vallejo Metal Varnish (Gloss), all applied via the airbrush. One advantage to using these paints is that they dry almost instantly. A coat of primer, a coat of colour, and a coat of gloss, all applied in quick succession through the afternoon. The contact points have a self-adhesive felt applied for protection. Then it was time to apply the graphics. I first gave the entire hull a light wet sand wit 600 grit paper, so the overall look is a bit ho-hum (the gloss will return with the next coat of clear). The graphics are vinyl and come from Callie Graphics in the US. I went there following a recommend of several others over on the RC Groups forum and must say that I’m delighted with both the service and the product. I had a quick email conversation with Callie, sent her a pdf of the general design and told her what they were for. She quickly came back with some proofs for me; we made one minor change; another set of proofs and we were in business. A few days later the finished product showed up in the mail. I ordered two complete sets and with postage the whole lot cost me less than AUD $20. So now for the big reveal! I may have mentioned that this is going to be my wife’s boat, so it is named for her, Georgina. Georgie Gerl (yes, the spelling is correct) is her email “handle”. And of course, one must have the Chris Craft logo and a registration number: If you look closely, you will see that the registration number is GE 041282 GD, which is a combination of our initials and the date of our wedding (in non-American date format). I know, I’m just an old romantic…….. The admiral inspected the graphics on completion and has given her seal of approval. Next up, sealing the graphics under several more coats of clear varnish……………

Brilliant "cheat" Bob - I love it!

Thanks guys. Keith - yes, I was aware of the little bit of "orange peel" but am confident I will deal with that with the remaining coats and sanding. Thanks for the links for the micromesh - I've got some really small pieces (about 50mm square) but was starting to think about finding some on a larger scale. I've just ordered a bunch from the linked site, so when the Admiral asks, I'm blaming you okay?

Thanks Hoff - no problem answering questions here - that doesn't count as a "highjack". It started with fibreglass cloth and 3 coats of West Systems Epoxy Resin (using their 207 Hardener). The "shiny" stuff that goes over that is a Feast Watson Spar Marine Varnish that has been diluted with 10% Mineral Turpentine and sprayed on. At the moment there is only one coat of that in place and it looks almost satin in appearance. By the time I have applied the remaining 4 or 5 coats, it will look a lot shinier. Then the hard work of polishing will begin. I have a cunning plan for that but you'll have to stay tuned to find out what that is........ Incidentally, the main reason for using the Spar Marine varnish is that it contains UV protection. As this boat is going to be exposed to the elements, it makes sense to use products designed for such.

Thanks Bob, Keith, Carl and David for the comments (and the pictures David - very cool), and also for all the "likes". I applied one coat of clear coat this week in preparation for the boot topping and artwork. I used my new mini-spray gun for this and learned a little in the process – primarily that my little airbrush compressor is only just up to the job for this. The spray gun sucks a lot of air (it needs about 30 - 40psi to shoot the clear coat), so short bursts and some patience while the compressor re-charges are required. There is a little bit of an ‘orange peel’ effect evident on this coat, but that will disappear with further coats and light sanding (and improved operator technique). To apply the boot topping, I used two new products. First up, some pinstriping stencil tape from Finesse. Quite expensive, but does a super job. Essentially it is two pieces of masking tape with a clear carrier tape over the top. It is applied as “one” tape, and then the carrier tape is removed, leaving two perfectly parallel masking lines. The second product I stumbled across in the LHS while picking up some extra paint. It is a masking tape combined with plastic sheeting. It comes in a roll like this” As you can see, one edge has standard Tamiya yellow masking tape, which is pre-attached on one edge to some thin plastic sheeting that unfolds to be 550mm (nearly 2 ft) wide. By running the tape along the outer edge of one side of the Finesse stencil, the sheet was wide enough to go completely over the model where it was taped down with some more Tamiya tape to the stencil on the other side. The process was repeated for the opposite side of the stencil and in no time at all the hull was completely masked except for the boot topping space. If anyone is interested, the Tamiya product ID is 87164**640 The boot topping was airbrushed on using Vallejo Model Air White (71.001) at about 15psi. The first coat was left for about two hours (I had to go out) and then a second coat applied. About 30 minutes later I removed the masking and voila! I’ll leave this to fully cure overnight and then apply another clear coat before starting on the artwork.

What a great thing to do with your daughter Mike! Kit looks great - especially for the price. I'm pulling up a chair for this one. Don't forget to get your daughter to make some posts herself so we can all say hello and give her some encouragement.