Twister

The dinghy really does look stunning - slung above its hangar really does bring the whole model to life, congratulations! Row

Beautiful work as always Piet - I think you deserve a break over the holiday, if nothing else than to give your eyes a rest!! Best wishes for the holiday season & happy building in 2015! Row

Many thanks for the information, I'll have a look in my local art suppliers for the paper etc. Don't know if you've come across this model of Pen Duick, as you'll see this has been done for r/c. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3M-P3OE8mbcMTRueGZsMkJvdnM/preview?pli=1 Enjoy! Regards, Row

Michael, As has been said before, simply hitting the 'like' button just doesn't do justice to your phenomenal skills. But then neither do the words I can think of to pass on my admiration for your work so I'll keep it simple: WOW!! Once again, many congratulations for achieving what many of us would consider to be impossible. Regards, Row

Apologies for the delay in replying - to answer your questions in order, 1) Yes it is a scratch build & 2) Plans are available from http://www.nonsolovele.com/PLANS%20&%20MODELS%20CD/DIOLAITI%20Claudio/Vintage%20e%20JClass/Enterprise%206167g.zip about halfway down the page listed under 'J Class'. It's a zip file with various PDF documents including full size frames to print out. The drawings were done specifically for R/C so have been modified with approximately 2" of additional draft to improve the ballast position and hence Righting Moment. To further assist R/M the sail plan has also been adjusted to 90% of scale size. Hope that helps, Regards, Row

My goodness, that deck is absolutely stunning - having worked on charter yachts in the past I've seen decks on multi-million £/$ yachts that didn't look that good! My one regret is that I never sailed one of WM Fife's yachts, but for me, without a doubt, the most beautiful yacht I did crew was the 1903 'Kelpie' designed by fellow Scot Alfred Milne - see http://www.pbase.com/kathymansfield/image/142802037 I digress, back to your superb deck - what weight of paper do you use for the caulking effect & what sort of glue do you use for bonding it to the deck planks? My own J class build has reached the stage where I'm thinking about the deck at the moment and awaiting a point in time where I can get back into the workshop... Regards, Row

You must have the hands of a neurosurgeon! Fabulous work, very impressed! With all good wishes for the holiday & new year, Row

Wow!! Just got back from 68 degrees north where everything seems to become sub-minature to find it can all be done in the comfort of a workshop!! Michael, your ingenuity continues to utterly confound me, I really am beyond impressed - congratulations! Regards, Row

I use a Record BS300E bandsaw and there really isn't much I can't do on it. Instructions for use: Before even switching it on throw away the blades that Record supply. Buy a selection of decent blades in varying widths, tooth counts and tooth pattern. Mine can effectively use anything between 3/4" (great for re-saw work & cutting veneers) down to 1/8" which will cut incredibly tight radii. I've found the blad that gets the most use is the 3/8" 4 tpi (can't remember tooth pattern off hand. If memory serves, the little bench top bandsaws tend to be of the three wheel type and thus struggle to get decent blade tension on the wider blade widths. I guess there's no 'one size fits all' when it comes to tools of any description which is why we probably end up with cluttered workshops. We've all had 'those' conversations with our better halves - of course I really need it for this job, AND it'll be so useful for all those other little jobs... Row The 'throw away the blades' line applies to any hobby / light workshop grade bandsaw - I guarantee you'll be amazed at the difference 'quality' blades will make - assuming the blade guides are effective.

Until I saw some of the workmanship on this site I would never have believed that having a saw that can be set to 1/1000" was necessary, for goodness sake, that's 3 - 4 sheets of printer paper!!! I guess the fact that it's capable of that is indicative of its overall quality though. Personally, if the cash were burning a suitably sized hole in my pocket I'd jump at the opportunity (& get the sanding thicknesser also!). Mind you, I'd also want to know what the shipping was likely to be - it's a long way from the USA to the UK... Row

A wonderful build Cristiano... I think the 'cooked' linseed oil you're using is 'boiled linseed oil'. The advantages that the boiled variety has over the unboiled is that it dries far more quickly (more like a varnish) whereas the unboiled can take many days or weeks before it leaves a dry surface (depending on temperature). Regards, Row

Ah, but what he hasn't told you is that he's 8'6" tall with hands the size of serving platters!! In all seriousness Michael, I would never have believed such machining was possible - having recently acquired a lathe I'm having problems turning things down to 0.5mm accuracy!! As usual, I'm in awe.... Row

I agree whole heartedly with Bob - it's easy to forget precisely how small this incredible feat of engineering is, it's only when scrolling through the thread and catching a glimpse of your drawings that reality strikes. Inspiring work Michael, Regards, Row

'...classic mistake of beginning to cut out the wrong piece' - If that had been me the realisation would have struck home after the wrong cut was completed!! Great work, as usual, Michael. Regards, Row

Cheers for that John, been wondering about that myself - the signs are there, squinting & holding at arms' length! Row

Piet, Sorry to be so long in replying, being somewhat 'computer-logically' challenged, I'd somehow managed to delete the contents of my email inbox so didn't read the notification. Enough of the excuses, I've been building a 1:28 scale R/c model of the J class yacht 'Enterprise', the 1930 defender of the America's Cup. The build was started long before I discovered this incredible site and so the build log is posted on the RCSailing forum. (http://www.rcsailing.net/forum1/showthread.php?6264-1-28-J-Class-Enterprise-build-log). It's very definitely a 'work in progress' and has been a very steep learning curve coupled with too many other demands on my time - but it WILL be completed!! As I seem to spend so much time at MSW I've often toyed with the idea of précising the build to date and then continuing with the build log here... - anyway, this is getting way off topic, so back to the business in hand! I seem to be using adjectives like phenomenal, stunning etc etc rather a lot on the various build logs I'm following here and yet again they're the only pertinent ones applicable to your dinghy! Regards, Row

By all that is humanly possible, that just shouldn't be!! I'm utterly gobsmacked at your ingenuity & abilities - congratulations!! Row

My goodness, if you carry on like this then I'm going to have to find some new adjectives! Carl bringing up the 'balance' question got my somewhat limited grey cells working, to that end I wondered if it would be worth making the crank webs with counter balance weights. The dim and distant past prompted me to remember that the mathematics involved to calculate the precise weight were not too involved, but then like you, I've also seen plenty of minature engine builds where it wasn't done. Maybe it's because they were relatively low reving (I really can't remember) or simply that the additional forces imposed on the crank journals etc were of a magnitude that was relatively insignificant. At the end of the day while crank webs 'sans' counter weights may not adhere to good engineering practice there's no denying what actually works in practice... Row

What they said!! John, maybe it's my screen resolution or just an optical illusion but some of the battens look as if they are of a different thickness - do my eyes deceive me? Regards, Row

If I may be so bold, Altair is probably one of the most beautiful yachts in the world and I'm sure you'd do justice to this stunning WM Fife design. Actually, scrap that, it really isn't necessary for you to go to the trouble of a scale replica. The original is for sale for a mere snip at Euro6,000,000 - that's about US$7.5 million or Aus$8.75 million. I'm sure we can arrange a whip round if you come up a bit short... !!!! For details, see http://www.sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk/details/403/William-Fife-III-Gaff-Rigged-108-ft-Topsail-Schooner-1931/yacht-for-sale/and I can assure you that Sandeman are an incredibly reputable company to do business with, not forgetting delivery to Australia - I'm a qualified professional skipper and very cheap ( according to my admiral!!). Enough of that, whichever you decide, I'm sure she'll be beautiful. Regards, Row

Superlative machining Michael, but then we wouldn't expect anything less!! To machine or fabricate the crank shaft? I've never attempted either (and am a very long way from trying!) but I would have thought that at the scale your working at fabricating would probably be quicker - from what I've seen of the processes the machining option looks to be long and tedious without cnc lathe control. Decisions, decisions... I'm sure whichever option you go for the results will be phenomenal. It's at times like this that I wish a university engineering degree actually furnished me with practical, proper engineering skills instead of lots of theory, the majority of which has been long forgotten... Looking forward to seeing which way you decide to go with this, Regards, Row

Hi John, Somewhat late to this fabulous build (story of my life!!) but couldn't possibly sign out of MSW having read your log without passing comment, so here goes! Such a beautiful looking boat with a build so masterfully executed, I'm full of admiration for your building skills. You and so many other contributors to this forum are true artisans possessing such fine 'shipwrighting' abilities that I seem only able to dream of aspiring to. I can cope with full size, the odd 1/8" here or there makes little or no difference but at this scale, goodness, slightly over sanding a pencil line could potentially result in firewood!! If you don't mind I'd like to follow along, perhaps even asking the odd semi intelligent question!! Regards, Row

Michael, As always, incredible workmanship. For me the idea of machining something at such a small scale would be a non-starter! At least if one were to make a mistake the material costs would be negligible - thank goodness we never think of our own time! Regards, Row

I've no idea how I'd managed to miss so much progress on this truly phenomal model. Her sheer size really comes to the fore in the picture where you're holding her - Utterly gobsmacked doesn't even come close!! Absolutely love the shipping cradle - I very nearly had to build something similar for my last 'full size' yacht when weather restrictions made it increasingly more likely that we wouldn't be able to return to her homeport where our yard kindly stored (to their vast financial benefit!) our galvanised steel cradle. The only difference between your design & mine was that I also included some fore & aft diagonal bracing running from near the top of each hull support to the base of its fwd/aft corresponding support. In terms of finishing the cabin sides and cockpit I think it would be a great pity to hide the hardwood grain - I can't remember whether or not you used mahogany or something similar but I can recommend something called 'Danish Oil'. Over in the UK it's typically used for treating hardwood kitchen worktops and depending on how it's applied the finish can range from matt to deep gloss. It certainly gives a hard wearing finish - I even 'experimented' with it on a conservatory floor which was planked in 21mm solid oak. I assumed it would be a short term trial but after 3 years it was just beginning to require a further light coat. Food for thought if nothing else... Free sailing model? I'd be absolutely terrified!! I seem to recall that you installed the where-with-all to fit a servo and linkage for the rudder and as your local lake seems to be a reasonable size I'd urge you to at least consider the steering!! Michael. she really does look beautiful. Nobody could fault a single aspect of your workmanship. Me? I'm just insanely jealous of your skillset!! I look forward to seeing how she progresses. Regards, Row

TAKE... ME... TO.... YOUR... LEADER... That gave me a chuckle - your wife is quite correct although for me my instant reaction was that you were creating the 'Cybermen' from Doctor Who! Fabulous work, Regards, Row