CPDDET

If I run out of this debonder I'll just refill the empty bottle with acetone. I know there is a quart can out in the garage. It's a good thing Model Expo replaces parts for free. Otherwise I'd go broke before I finish the model.😋

Well, I figured out what caused the “stair step” effect on the lower starboard side of the hull, and it isn’t good. In the picture below you can see where the larboard plank sits. It fits into the rabbet and extends from the stern post to just past bulkhead G. The problem is the distance from the rabbet to the bottom of the bulkheads. The plank is only 1/8th wide and doesn’t quite span the distance from the rabbet to the bottom of the bulkhead. (I’m following Bob Hunt’s practicum and that uses 1/8th for the garboard, tapering the front end a bit) So when I laid the garboard it ended up flat against the keel instead of slightly angled up away from it. From there up the angle became more and more exaggerated. And I probably tapered the area between the bearding line and the rabbet a bit too much. I think the angle should have blended right into the bottom edge of the bulkheads. If the garboard were wider, say 1/4 - 3/8, it would have laid against the bottom of 3 bulkheads, thus providing the correct angle for the next hull plank going up. Lucky I didn’t start the bottom port side and wont until I fix the starboard side. That brings us to the bad news. The only way I can fix this is to tear out the 13 or so bottom planks on the starboard side and start over. I know this sounds insane, but I’m determined to get this right. Model Expo is shipping me extra hull planks at no cost. I’m using a de-bonder to break down the Zap-A Gap glue. This product is available from Bob Smith Industries. It works pretty well, taking only a few minutes to soften the CA glue. I wonder if acetone would work better. It would sure be cheaper. Anyone out there have a clue? Anyway, I have lots to do.

While most of my planking has been going well and laying pretty flat, I'm having an issue with the lowest part near the keel. I just completed the starboard side and noticed a pronounced "stair stepping" of the these planks. While I'm sure this will be corrected through sanding and wood filling, It doesn't seem normal. Before I start the port side I have to figure out what I'm possibly doing wrong.

We head down to Florida for 3 months to get away from the snow. So my model will sit idle for some time. Just too fragile to take in the RV. If I can complete the hull before we leave I'll be happy. But I'm not going to rush just to meet that deadline. Dave

Robert, Not sure if I can supply any tips as this is my first build as well. LOL I can say that I'm following Robert Hunt's practicum for this build. He advises edge gluing the hull planking along with gluing to the bulkheads which, I believe, really helps with the finished product. The edge gluing can be a mess, at times I had more glue on my fingers than on the boat. This model requires no steaming / soaking of planks but you do need to wrangle some into position. And since the CA glue set so quickly, each plank had to be carefully dry fit before glueing. But no hurry, right? Also, his practicum CD includes high definition photos of his build which I have found invaluable. If you are going to use Zap glue I highly advise getting the Z-Ends as well. I didnt have these for about 2/3rds of the hull planking and wish I had gotten them sooner. Also, the shape of the stern block is critical to easier planking of the hull. I still think mine are a bit too "rounded" on the sides and bottom which causes the planking to rise a bit away from the back end of the blocks but I'll just have to deal with that. Thank goodness for wood filler! I don't want to sound like a commercial for Robert Hunt but for a first time builder I think the cost was well worth it. No only for the practicum and photos, but also for his comments / advice on my build when I post updates on his forum. His input after I post comes back within hours, if not minutes and have saved me in making some bad mistakes. Hoping to finish the hull planking, wood filling and sanding of the hull before Christmas. I'm retired so I'm lucky to be able to devote more time to my build. Have a great holiday season and I'll keep updating as I go along. Dave

Work time: 10 hours Total work time: 58.4 Tools used: Xacto knife, miter box, razor saw, MicroMark Sand-It, compass, 6 inch ruler Material used: CA glue, sandpaper, nail files Just a quick update: Planking is taking a bit of time, just as I figured it would. But it seems to be going along smoothly to this point. I have 18 planks in from the deck down on both the port and starboard sides, as stated in the practicum. Also have the garboard plank and 4 more planks up from the keel on the port side. The garboard and first 3 needed to be tapered 1/32 of an inch for 3 inches on the top front edge. That was a bit of a pain. I will do the garboard plank and 4 more on the starboard side bottom tomorrow and perhaps 2-3 more planks from the top down. I think things are going to get interesting after that. Dave

Work time: 4.6 hours Total work time: 48.4 Tools used: Dremel Moto-Saw, razor saw, miter box, Xacto #10 & #18, Micro-Mark Sand-It Material used: Sandpaper, Titebond wood glue, Zap super glue First I should explain that I post this build log here and on Robert Hunt’s forum at Lauck Street Shipyards. Anyone who purchases a practicum is able to post on the various forums and receive feedback from Robert. In my last post I described how I thought I had solved the issue with the port side stern block. But Robert chimed in and said: “I hate to rain on your parade Dave, but you've got a real problem with the port side of your stern block. It's much too curved inward compared to the starboard side. My recommendation would be to cut a chunk out of it about 1/2" from the narrow end and put a new piece of thick wood in to correct the problem. You can use the starboard side as a template for this new piece of wood. Otherwise you're model's going to end up noticeably different instead of symmetrical and the planking will be much different on the port side compared to the starboard side. I wouldn't leave it the way it is if I were you. Sorry, that's my recommendation.” Lucky it was the port side and not the starboard as I had already began planking the hull on that side. I decided to remove the entire port block and start again. I cut both waterways at the center of bulkhead “O” and removed them from the top of the stern blocks. This way I could use the starboard block as a template. It only took about 45 minutes to remove the port block using a razor saw, a Xacto chisel blade and some sandpaper. I was able to get to Michaels Crafts yesterday and pick up a small bag of basswood carving blocks. I cut the new block on my Dremel Moto Saw and glued it in place. While the glue was drying on the new block I continued planking the starboard hull and have about 9 planks done. After the glue dried I whittled and sanded the new block to the proper proportions. Now that the new block is on place I can replace the waterways and get some planks installed on the port side hull.

Work time: 1 hour Total work time: 43.8 Tools used: Xacto chisel blade, flat jewelers file Material used: None I decided that I had to deal with the waterway / stern block issue before moving on to planking. I felt I was rushing to get to the planking and didn’t feel right leaving it for later. After viewing the photo CD and reading further on in the practicum I decided to taper the outboard edge of the port side waterway between bulkhead “O” and the back edge of the stern block. This would leave the inboard edge untouched for planking and still provide more gluing surface for the waterway filler plank. I used and Xacto chisel blade to carefully shave down the waterway board and then filed it flat with a jewelers file. Feel better about this fix, so it’s on to planking the hull.

Work time: 2.5 hours Total work time: 42.8 Tools used: Razor saw, miter box, Xaxto with chisel blade Supplies used: 1/16 X 1/8 wood planks, 3/32 X 1/8 wood planks, wood glue Today I put in the waterway as described in the beginning of Chapter 2. Before I became dedicated to only using the practicum, I was following the kit instructions, as well as some other build logs, so I had already installed the great beam and deck beam. In the practicum the great beam is installed later, but I don’t think having mine already in is going to cause any problems. My bulkheads are plywood, not Basswood, and it’s a devil getting any kind of pins / nails into them. The also tend to crumble a bit when fairing the hull. So I went back to the modified clip to hold the waterway in place while drying. I found using them “upside down” from the modified side worked well to hold the waterway down against the bulkhead as well at tight to the bulkhead extensions (bulwarks?). Using 3/32 X 1/8 planks I cut and dry fit the starboard side foredeck waterway first, glued it into place and then did the port side foredeck waterway. This was a mistake as the angle cut of the waterways where they meet the stem wasn’t all that good. I should have dry fit BOTH pieces of waterway before gluing. I’ll use wood filler to repair the angle cuts and hope it doesn’t look too bad when the deck planking is done. Here is picture of the foredeck with both waterways glued and clamped. Maybe it’s just me, but it appears the port and starboard sides aren’t quite symmetrical. The starboard side is a bit more rounded? Well, not much to do about that at this stage. I doubt it will cause any problems. I know from experience that even fiberglass sailboats sail better on one tack than the other because of slight differences in the shape of the hull on each side. I know my 30 footer did. One other problem with the plywood bulkhead extensions is, after they are trimmed and sanded, they tend to snap off quite easily. I lost one on the port side and hope it doesn’t create problems down the road. I think it will be OK as, according to the practicum, they will be removed down the road anyway. I let the glue dry on the foredeck and then did the quarter deck with 1/16 x 1/8 planks, using the same clips. Now I noticed that the edges of the stern blocks aren’t the same distance to the waterways. I’m debating if I should sand down the starboard side block to match the port block.

Work time: 1.8 hours (not counting time for wood filler to dry) Total work time: 39.3 Tools used: Razor saw, miter box, Xacto chisel blade, sandpaper Supplies used: CA glue, wood filler, 1/8 X 1/8 stock Knowing that planking the hull would be a challenge for a newbie like me I wanted to be sure the horn timbers were installed correctly. As explained to me by Bob, the hull planks need to have contact with the horn timbers as well as the keel. So the horn timbers must lay flush with the keel. My problem was that when I glued in the timbers flush with the keel they extended past the bottom of bulkheads “N” and “O”. So it was back to the drawing board, so to speak. First, I cut out the timbers I had installed. Then I looked closely at the pictures on the practicum CD and compared them to my model. I discovered my “N” and “O” bulkheads didn’t reach as far down on the keel as the ones on the practicum photo CD. So when I installed the timbers flush with the keel this is what was causing the timbers to extend past the bottom of the bulkheads. The bulkheads were already flush with the keel on the deck, so I didn’t see the use of taking them back out. But think I’ve solved the issue. I cut a small notch in the horn timbers that fit under the “O” bulkhead, thus lengthening it and angle cut the end that goes against bulkhead “N”. I installed these and then used wood filler so I could taper and reshape the bulkheads and stern block. After the filler dried I carefully sanded and faired the wood filler. Here is the overall result. This photo shows the extension of bulkhead “N”, only about 1/16 of an inch was needed This photo shows the extension of bulkhead “O”, about 3/16 of an inch I now have a continuous smooth line flush with the keel from bulkhead “N” to the stern blocks for the hull planks. At least I hope so! LOL Oh, does anyone have a recommendation for wood filler. I’m using Elmer’s but find it a bit difficult to work with. Perhaps all wood fillers are a bit of a pain? Dave

And a Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Work time: 2.5 hours Total work time: 37.5 Tools used: Dremel Moto Saw, Dremel rotary tool, sanding blocks, modified clamps, .05 mm mechanical pencil. Material used: wood glue I had marked the bulkhead on the stern blocks, cut them with a Dremel Moto Saw, and glued them in last night. I attached a piece of planking and marked along the outside edge on the block so I wouldn’t take off too much with the Dremel rotary tool. I did this on both sides. This is what the stern blocks looked like after using the Dremel. I probably could have taken off more but I would rather do extra hand sanding than possibly ruining the block and starting all over. Here are a couple of pictures after I completed the hand sanding. I then installed the horn timbers, even with the keel as shown in the practicum. But I see a potential problem. The bottom of the horn timbers extends a bit past the bottom of the bulkheads. This occurs at both bulkhead N and bulkhead O. Not sure if this will cause a future problem when planking. I’ll have to check the photo CD and read ahead in the practicum to see what I can find out. I may have to taper the horn timbers to meet the bottom of bulkheads. I will touch up the stren block a bit with wood putty to fill some gaps. Dave

Work time: 9 hours Total work time: 35.5 hours Tools used: Modified clips, sanding blocks, nail files, Xacto knife Material used: Sand paper, wood filler, wood glue, isopropyl alcohol In preparation for fairing the hull I cut three 6 inch pieces of 1X2 and three 6 inch pieces of 2X2. Using spray adhesive, I attached 3 different grits of sandpaper to these. I found I needed to be careful when using these as the length can cause damage to the stem when fairing bulkheads A and B. I also used some nail files of different grit. I attached one hull plank to the bulkhead extension of the furthest forward bulkhead (A) and the bulkhead extension of the furthest aft bulkhead (O). The plank wasn’t touching 3 bulkheads on forward port side and 3 on the forward starboard side so I shimmed those on the port side with 1 or 2 layers of 1/32 inch basswood strips; big mistake. Something didn’t seem right so I reviewed all the information I had on planking the hull and noticed that the test hull plank should be attached to all the bulkheads before looking for bumps and valleys. I went back to the model and clamped the hull plank properly and found I had to remove the shims I had installed the day before. That added an extra 2 hours or so to the fairing process. Attaching the plank at just the 2 bulkhead extensions created a bow in the plank and gave the appearance that some bulkheads needed shims when they didn’t. Note to self: Don’t decide which bulkheads need shims or sanding until the hull plank is attached to ALL bulkheads. Because the bulkheads are plywood, it’s very difficult to insert pins into them to hold the hull plank. So I used the modified clamps instead. Worked pretty well except that some of my bulkhead supports interfered with putting the clamp where I wanted them. Note to self: When installing horizontal supports between bulkheads make sure they are far enough inboard as to not interfere with clamps. Since the center bulkhead (H) doesn’t require any sanding and the plank lies flat across it naturally, I decided to divide the fairing into 4 parts: From H to A on the forward port side From H to A on the forward starboard side From H to O on the aft port side From H to O on the aft starboard side This allowed me to use a shorter piece of plank and fewer clamps. Since fairing the bulkheads required me to install and remove the clamps several times, it made the process easier for me. I began by clamping the hull plank along the bulkhead extensions and sanding until the plank laid flat against these. I clamped and sanded all four areas as listed above before moving down to line “A” on the kit plan to repeat the process. The kit plans show the same amount of bevel from the top of the bulkhead to the bottom so I tried to keep the bevel the same as I moved down the bulkhead to line “B”. For some reason I found sanding 2 bulkheads at once worked well, at least for me. Using the sanding blocks I made up, I sanded A &B, then C&D, the E&F and so on. Not sure how things will look after planking but the test plank looked good doing it this way. Before moving lower on the hull I had to deal with some of the bulkheads that were too long. I trimmed these straight across with the razor blade saw and then sanded them to the proper shape I also had some bulkheads that were too short. For these I masked off the area: Added wood filler: Removed the masking tape: When dry, I sanded them to follow the curve of the bulkhead: I moved down to line “C” and finished up the fairing. In the photo below it appears to me that the left side is just slightly more rounded than the right. I thought about trying to match the sides exactly but decided against it. I figured I would just get myself in trouble and I really doubt is any sailing ship has the exact same curve on both sides of the hull. In my experience even molded fiberglass sailboats sail better on one tack than the other, I know my 30 footer did. I checked the lay of the hull plank in 3 places again and when I was satisfied I moved on to the Horn Timbers. After I had them glued in something didn’t look right. Turns out the furthest aft bulkhead (O) was sticking up about ¼ inch. I have no idea how I missed this until now. So I got out the isopropyl alcohol and removed the Horn Timbers as well as the bulkhead. All of this came out pretty easy; alternately soaking the joint and cutting / wedging with the Xacto knife. I left it to dry overnight and tomorrow will hopefully get the Horn Timbers and stern block done.

The way I understand it the rabbet along the stern where the stern post attaches goes up till it reaches the bearding line.

Glad to see you have started your build log. Rabbet looks good! Ill be following along as you progress. Dave

Work time: 1 hour Total Work time: 26.5 hours Tools used: Xacto #11, #17, #18, Xacto razor saw, jewelers files Material used: Isopropyl alcohol, Titebond glue Well, I pulled my first screw up. After installing the Great Beam and the Deck Beam yesterday I laid a piece of deck plank on each side of bulkhead H, where these are installed. Looking back, I should have done that yesterday before I glued these pieces in. The Great Beam (aft of bulkhead H) looked just fine. But there was a big problem where I had installed the Deck Beam, forward of bulkhead H. If I would have looked closer at the kit instructions, I would have seen that the Deck Beam needed to be even with the top of bulkhead H. I had installed it on top of the bulkhead. Using some 91% isopropyl alcohol, I painted the joint and slowly wedged it loose with a wide Xacto chisel blade. Took about 15 minutes or so to work the Deck Beam loose. So I figured I had 2 options. I could cut the Deck Beam into two pieces and install one on each side of the keel or I could notch the keel to fit the Deck Beam in one piece. I decided to notch the keel. After letting the Deck Beam dry out and cleaning things up, I glued the Deck Beam into the notch. Laying a piece of deck plank over the new configuration it looked good.

Work time: 4 hours Total work time: 25.5 hours Tools used: Xacto razor saw with miter box, small square, ultrafine saw blade, #11 Xacto knife, small clothespins, chip bag clips Material used: about 40 inches of ¼ X ¼ inch basswood, CA glue, Titebond wood glue, 150 grit sandpaper Got a bit more done on my Bluenose I put in some re-enforcing “timbers” between the bulkheads to help support them when I do the upcoming fairing of the hull. They were tacked in with CA glue, than fully glued with Titebond. I also managed to get the Great Beam and Deck Beam installed, although how to fit it had me scratching my head for a bit. Here is the Great Beam (looking forward) Here is the Deck Beam (looking aft)

Ouch!!!

As the holiday season approaches the family is asking me for a gift list. I figure you can never go wrong with tools. I'm a newbie at ship building and just starting to build my tool collection. So wanted to ask you more experience builders which tools you find to be your favorites or indispensible or for this hobby. Maybe something that's really not critical but would be nice to have. This could include tools for any purpose: cutting, shaping, clamping, gluing, painting et. Prices can range from a few dollars and up. Gift ideas? Dave

Y.T The product description of the MicroMark push hammer includes the term "spring loaded barrel". I really can't explain what that means since I've never owned the tool.

I'm following Bob Hunt's practicum on building the Bluenose. On the installation of the waterway he recommends using pins to hold the waterway in place after applying glue. However, the kit he used to write the practicum had basswood bulkheads, while mine are plywood. So the pins need to penetrate the endgrain of the plywood. So I'm not espically looking for an alternate method, I'm looking for the proper tool to do this job. Odds are I will have more pinning to do during this build. But I'm willing to keep an open mind, Dave

Is anyone using a spring loaded push hammer, such as the one sold by MicroMark? I have been using T-pins and pushing them in by hand but some parts of my kit are made from plywood and pushing the pins by hand is really tough. I have to push so hard while supporting the hull with my other hand I'm afraid im going to break something. I tried pushing the T-pins in with needle nose pliers but that didnt work very well either. Was wondering if the spring in the push hammer is strong enough to penetrate the plywood. Any feedback on the easiest way to insert pins for temporary holding of parts while glue dries? Would first drilling and then pinning work? Thanks in advance! Dave

Work time: 3.00 hours Total work time: 21.5 hours Tools used: Utility knife, T-pins, .05 mechanical pencil, small camel hair brush to apply glue Supplies used: Glue, two 24 inch 1/16 inch thick basswood x 3/8 wide Today things just took a little longer. I know I had to attach battens across the bulkheads but what method to use? I really don’t like using T-pins because the plywood bulkheads are so darn hard. So I thought maybe pushpins or carpet tacks or CA glue. After experimenting a bit I ended up going back to the T-pins. I sharpened them a bit on fine grit paper which helped some but I still have a sore thumb from forcing them into the edge of the plywood. Per Mastini’s instructions I cut a 24 inch of 1/8 basswood, 3/8th wide and laid it on the keel with the bulkheads inserted. Using a pushpin, I tacked the strip to bulkhead I had glued in yesterday and marked the center of each bulkhead slot on the strip. As I attempted to push pin the rest of the bulkheads the pins kept popping out. Then I realized that the aft deck and the fore deck are different heights and the batten kept pushing itself up, making the push pins pop out. The push pins were splitting the 1/8 inch thick basswood anyway and I needed another approach. To avoid this I decided to place 2 battens on the higher aft section and 2 battens on the lower foreword section. But first I would need to glue in a “starter” bulkhead for the aft section. So out came the square, glue and a scrap piece of wood to hold the batten in place. I attached the brace batten with CA glue and used TiteBond on the joint. While that bulkhead was drying I worked on the fore deck section. I decided to use 1/16th inch thick basswood instead of the 1/8th inch thick for the battens and cut those from my stock with a utility knife. I lined up the batten on top of the keel and marked center of each bulkhead; then transferred those marks to a second piece of basswood. I went back to the T-pins, sharpening them a bit on 400 grit paper. They worked, but my thumb and finger is still sore from forcing them into the plywood. Finally got both battens pinned in on the fore section. But somehow forgot to trim the length of one batten and didn’t notice it until I had it all pinned in; have no idea how that happened. I wasn’t about to remove the pins and start over so I tried to trim the piece with scissors; no soap. Ran out to the garage and grabbed my favorite cutters made by Wiss and snipped it right off. By now the aft “starter” bulkhead was firm enough to remove the brace, which snapped right off. I then marked the 2 battens for the aft section and pinned those in. Using a small brush, I glued all the bulkhead / keel joints. I suppose one could use CA to tact the battens to the bulkheads instead of T-pins. But I have little experience with CA and was afraid I might break something trying to remove the battens. I’ll let that dry overnight and glue in ¼ X ¼ “timbers” between the bulkheads tomorrow.

Work time: 2.0 hours Total work time: 18.5 hours Tools used: 12 inch steel ruler, steel square, .05 mechanical pencil, scissors, T-pins Material used: Tack cloth, glue, copy paper, 1/16 inch thick basswood strips Finished up work on the bulkheads today and did a few things that probably weren’t necessary. But I figure this is my first build and it wouldn’t hurt to gain some experience in things that may come up in future builds. Or the process may expose a mistake I missed. I couldn’t find mention of it in Bob Hunt’s practicum or in Frank Mastini’s book but the kit instructions say to transfer the reference line form the plans to the bulkheads. Once inserted into the false keel they should line up with the reference line on the false keel. Looks like things line up pretty well. The second thing I did was follow Mastini’s book on checking the symmetry of the bulkheads. This involved tracing each bulkhead onto paper. Then cutting out the traced drawing and folding the cutout outside edge to outside edge and seeing if the centerline is correct. Since this kit has laser cut bulkheads I wasn’t expecting and problem and didn’t find any. The sanding of the char left lots of black residue all over the bulkheads and false keel, so I cleaned things off with a tack cloth in preparation for gluing the bulkheads. My research has shown a few ways to glue in the bulkheads and get them square to the false keel. I decided to go with the method described in Mastini’s book. This required gluing in only the amidships bulkhead, letting it dry overnight and then proceeding with the other bulkheads. I will post more photos of this process next.

It can be confusing. I had to read the stern post taper instructions several times and think about it for awhile before it finally sunk in to my thick skull. LOL