gjdale

Looking good Mark. The liquid glazing is very effective.

Great to hear the good news on the work front Andy, but timing really sucks! We'll still be here when you get back, though I can't promise the same for those beer cartons..................

Yep, spouse approval factor is very important! My Chris Craft build is already designated as my wife's boat - it will even carry her name!

Beautiful looking deck Rusty. Good luck with the move and I look forward to your return to the work bench.

Great progress Aydin, she's going to be a real beauty! Have you given any thought to placement of electronics/RC gear? I've no idea what the Amati instructions say about this, but it's worth giving some thought to before closing up the hull. I'm building a few support shelves/racks for mine using scrap material.

Thanks Mobbsie and Mark, Mobbsie - the mounting plate does allow for some adjustment. As for the Die Holder - I wasn't confident of being able to cut the thread accurately/square, hence was looking for a way to achieve that. Mark - the lathe doesn't spin at all for this operation, it's all done without power - just using the capability of the lathe to align things properly. The head stock (with a collet holder) will hold the stock piece, and the Tailstock Die Holder will present the Die centred and square to the stock. The Die Stock is then rotated by hand, or with the assistance of some tommy bars (you can see the holes for the in the centre section of the holder). Because the Die Stock is mounted on a central shaft, it is able to advance itself as the thread begins to cut.

Time has been at a premium lately, but some progress has still been made. I started making shelves and racks to house the electronics but soon concluded that I would need to install the drive line before I’d be able to complete that task. I made a mount for the rudder servo, following the lead of some other builders and making a more secure arrangement than a simple Velcro attachment. I fashioned a hold-down strap from some brass sheet, and used some captive nuts to make it easier to insert/remove multiple times. I have decided to replace the drive shaft and stuffing box. The drive shaft supplied was slightly bent, and as I’m using an “after-market” propeller, it made sense to just replace it. Also, based on advice from Pat Matthews in his book “Mahogany in Scale”, I decided to replace the stuffing box with a larger diameter brass tube and some sintered bronze bearings. All this meant that I would need to cut a new thread on the new drive shaft. Thinking about how to go about this, I came across an excellent video on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmGzzZEFSJU) on machining a Tailstock Die Holder for the Sherline Lathe. It seemed to me to be the ideal solution to my problem, so work on the model came to a temporary halt while I spent a couple of weekends manufacturing my Die Holder. The video is excellent and there is a link to purchase the drawings (for not very much at all). I have to say though, I did not find it quite as easy as the video suggested – the presenter is obviously an experienced and skilled machinist (unlike me). Anyway, here is my completed Tailstock Die Holder. I’m very pleased with the end result. The body of the Holder is machined from Aluminium and will take a 1” Die in one end, and a 13/16” Die in the other. The short end of the steel central shaft has a No. 0 Morse Taper to fit the Tailstock of the Sherline Lathe. Okay, now I’m ready to start work on the model again!

Nice start Aydin, think I'll follow along too. I'm building a similar boat myself - the 1949 Chris Craft 19' Racing Runabout by Dumas models. Like you, this build holds many firsts for me. I'll be interested to watch your progress.

That's just stunning Nils!

Welcome back Andy. Nice to see you posting again. I'll look forward to following along with this one.

Congratulations Mike. That's a really significant milestone to reach and she looks fabulous. Well done!

Nice to see an update Danny. Lovely work as always.

Brilliant work Ken!

Your gonna be delighted Bill. The Sherline machines are a real joy to use. And buying accessories for them is an endless hobby in itself - one that's bound to keep you broke. Don't ask me how I know..................

Beautiful work, as always Nils. What a pleasure it is to read your updates!

Nice Kevin, very, very nice.

Jon, If its flexibility you want in wood, then try using Holly. After a short soak you can tie into a pretzel!

Derek, B.E. mentioned this in the original post: http://www.tbs-aachen.de/Proxxon/table_top_tools/scroll_saws/Proxxon_28092_2-speed_scroll_saw_DSH_i2477_42308.htm A lot of UK members have commented that buying from this site provides significant savings over UK distributors, and with excellent service and delivery times.

More great work Nils. So nice to see you back again. I hope the medical issues are fully behind you now.

Exquisite work Druxey. I like the rack/baseboard display idea, but tossed would also be impressive. Sign me up for a copy of the book!

I have a cunning plan.................

It’s been a year since any progress has been made on the Runabout! What can I say, work, life, and another modelling project all conspired to put this project on hold. But we’re back now and ready to continue. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks trying to get my head back into the project with all the additional modifications I wanted to make and trying to remember where I was headed. Some small progress has been made though. First up was the Rudder Block and Rudder Tube. Fairly straight forward and shown here epoxied in place. The Rudder itself was next. The kit provides a brass blank for the Rudder and a short brass rod for the Rudder Post that is pre-split to slide onto the rudder. All that is required is to radius the corners of the Rudder and silver solder the Rudder to the Rudder Post. I gave the Rudder and post both a good sanding first to remove any coating prior to soldering, and again after soldering to remove residue and excess solder. I polished it up with successive grades of sandpaper, although it has since tarnished somewhat. I will clean it up again in due course – haven’t decided yet whether to paint it the same colour as the bottom of the hull, or keep it shiny brass (in which case I’ll polish it up and clear coat it). Next up was to cut the slot in the hull for the drive shaft, and to shape and install the engine mount blocks. Cutting the slot was a little nerve-wracking, but turned out to be quite easy – drilled a hole at either end and then used an Exacto knife with a saw blade to cut through the Sintra and Butterfly Keel. The kit provides balsa for the engine mount blocks, but I decided to replace this with something more substantial to screw into. I used some offcuts of pine that I had in the workshop and cut/sanded these to shape. They were then epoxied (with a liberal amount of epoxy) to the base of the hull and the frame immediately forward of them. And here’s a close-up of the Engine Mount Blocks: The Engine Mounting Brackets were then bent to shape around the motor, screw locations marked and drilled, and then the motor re-inserted and clamped down to test the mounting arrangement. The screws were then loosened off and the motor removed. At this point, it was necessary to deviate from the kit instructions as I planned to install a “working” steering wheel – that is, to set it up such that it turns when the rudder turns. The idea for this, and some of the technique were “borrowed” shamelessly from couple of other builders on the RC Groups Forum. It involves installing a servo with a spline-mounted gear wheel, and some plastic link chain to connect it to the drive shaft of the steering column. After several days of thinking about exactly how I was going to do this, I decided that I would cut an “Access Panel” in the frame. I then made small platform for the bottom of the servo mount to sit on, and I epoxied some nuts to receive the Access Panel Cover. In this picture, you can see the Access hole, the platform and the epoxied nuts. The servo itself needed to be mounted at an angle to ensure that the Servo gear and the driveshaft gear remained in the same plane. Having measured the angle of incidence from the plans, I constructed a small block sanded to the correct angle on the Byrnes sander, and mounted the Servo on this. This assembly was then epoxied to the fore side of the Access Panel Cover (this step was completed with the panel in place to ensure the correct location of the servo mount) Here is a view with the Access Panel Cover now in place. Also in the above photo, you can see the steering column driveshaft (the brass rod) and the steering column sleeve (the shiny silver thingy). Finally, the driveshaft gear was fitted, the chain measured to length and fixed (the links are really easy to snap apart to add/remove links), and the two gears connected. In the photo below, you can also see where I cut a bit of a scallop in the top of the keel to ensure there would be no interference with the chain. And finally, a shot from above showing the whole assembly in place. I originally made the access panel with the thought that I might be able to access the setup should a part fail. However, I now think that it will be impossible to replace things through that hatch as there is no access from above once the decks go on (at least not without adding an access hatch, which the original boat didn’t have). So, once I’ve proved it running, it will get sealed up inside the boat forever! Next step will be to build a number of shelves/racks to house the electronics. Again, I’m departing from the standard kit here, so want to make sure I get all of this sorted before I close up the hull any further.

Give the gnomes a double rum issue Sjors - they've done a great job!

Great work Antony. She's coming together beautifully.

Great job on the ratlines Sjors.