Big Dipper

Wizbang, I'm in the same boat as you (no pun intended). I also received a Flying Fish model for Christmas and find the plans to be rather vague in places - which is compounded by the fact that I've never put anything like this together. I got the bulkheads, keel and stern pieces together but found the waterway and planksheer to be a real problem - probably the first of many. I ended up ripping out the first waterway/planksheer pieces that I installed in that they did not properly encompass the bow timberheads and failed to overlap the hull by the requisite 3/32". My second attempt at the waterway has gone somewhat better. What I did was tape a piece of vellum to the plan view on sheet 2-2. Taking special care to make sure I was copying the correct lines this time (the outboard dashed lines) I traced them with a French curve, cut out the velum pattern, contact cemented the pattern to a sheet of 3/8" basswood and cut out the waterway on a jig saw. It came out perfect this time around. Before I made the pattern I carefully traced the exact lines I wanted right on the plan itself and laid the velum over them. Please note that I didn't find anything in the kit that was wide enough to lay out the waterway on and had to go to a hobby shop for the basswood I needed. I attempted Frankie's method, but the irregularities of the flying fish hull and deck precluded getting an accurate copy of the hull outline. This method would probably work great for a boat with a flatter deck. I still have a lot of damage repair to do after my first disastrous attempt at the waterway, as I had already cemented the planksheer to the waterway and ended up destroying the planksheer when I tried to salvage it. I also broke off the stanchions on the forward bulkheads but this may turn out to my advantage as I can lay the new waterway right over the forward stanchions and can now easily mark their locations and depth. The stanchions are easy enough to glue back after I get the waterway done. Now I have to figure out how to accurately make a new planksheer. Good luck with your project and if anyone has a way to replicate the kit provided planksheer please let me know. Thanks, John Regan

Wayne, Bruce, Allen, Thanks for the info. I'm also in the process of building Model Shipways' Flying Fish and had the same question. Its the first wooden ship model I've ever built and I'm in way over my head but I'll continue. John