John Murray

The port bulwark is proving problematic. When I glued in place I was certain it was clamped correctly. Obviously not as the bottom of the bulwark was proud of the bulkhead instead of rolling around the bulkhead glued in position. I used my Amati electric plank bender to apply heat to the bottom of each bulkhead, soften the glue and nail the wood into position. The bottoms are now fixed in place as seen in the 1st image. The nails have been removed now. In the second image it can be seen that the top of the bulwark has separated from four of the bulkheads. Heat again and better clamp one at a time or try each one straight after the other? Do I reapply another spread of fresh glue or reheat then just clamp? Any other ideas I have missed?

Chris, Thanks for that. I have just finished gluing the strakes on yesterday. I will be unclamping them later this evening. I got it as close as I could but did place a bar clamp on the two halves to pull the bow together. I found otherwise that they just would not sit tight. Looking later I will see how close I got. I am concerned with a slight wave along the bulwarks lower half as you look along the hull. I pinned the bottom in on both sides then glued and clamped the top of the bulwarks. Today I noticed a slight wave. I shall try and get a picture of it later. I appreciate your advice.

In the 1st image below, I show the strakes that I had bent using my electric plank bender. First time user of this bender. I over bent the strakes and had issues fixing the starboard strake. 2 attempts resulted in me removing the strake both times. The fit was just not good. Lining up the fore and rear resulted in a mid length buckle that I was just not happy with. I took a couple of days off to reconsider my approach. I watched Ohlas video of this part but it only showed the bending then fitting. I had a re-read of the supplied instructions which suggested submerging both in boiling water for an hour. Then, pin the strakes whilst damp and let them dry in position. I did this yesterday with the assistance of my son who would nail the strake whilst I held them both in place. Thay are now dry and will be removed tomorrow. I will let them settle in this shape for 2 days, Then remove the nails and glue in place.

I have been a bit slow this week. I have had hot weather, work, and most importantly, family have been visiting. Not much has been accomplished. I have glued the main deck in place as well as pinned the bow and stern deck in place. I have mostly finished fairing the hull and now just need to finish fairing the decking to the bulkheads.

Work has continued this last week or so on the shaping of the bow and stern. At this stage the build seems ok. Reading the instructions and watching Ohla Batchvarovs video build of this kit is helping me get things moving along. Shaping has had to be done outside when the sun is either very early morning or late afternoon so that I have cooler temperatures and shade to do the work in.

The last few days have been spent cutting some basswood filler blocks for the bow and stern. Being the first time I have used this method. I learnt a valuable lesson. In future, trim as much as possible before fitting them in place. Save hacking, cutting and grinding them to shape with my Dremel before I can use my Perma-Grit Tungsten Carbide coarse files top start shaping the bow and stern. So far, the starboard bow has been roughly shaped.

Thank you very much.

I agree, It is a lovely little ship.

HI all, I have had this kit for several years now. I needed a challenge right now to help me cope with mental health issues. I have been following Olha Batchvarovs build of her kit of this model. I finally broke it out yesterday and this is the result so far. The basic skeleton glued up. I am leaving it to cure overnight.

Cheers. What I meant though was I am not sure if that is the same as what you would know as English lime. I am not sure of the source of the timber.

Cheers for that. It is English lime. That is what it is called in Australia. What its botanical name is though? Thank you on the workmanship. Re that image, I tried to avoid the cross grain as much as I could. That example has the timber extending out of site, however, I shall keep a closer eye on that. I shall be restraining the top-timbers movement from now on to prevent this issue recurring.

Hi Greg, Yup, it was a shock to me. I bought the English lime in Adelaide South Australia from a specialist wood supplier for furniture and specialised woodworking needs. I believe it has been dried. I would be very surprised if not. The English lime block was ripped into sizes I can handle several months ago by a community woodworking outfit. From there I band-sawed into 10mm thick planks. The temperature on garage varies through the day from very warm to quite cool to cold in winter +40c to 0c. I have had the timber around 3 months. It was sawn around 8 weeks ago. I wasn't sure if the Titebond II glue I used has "crept" in the garage after curing. I think I shall print more paper of each frame, glue each to a piece of Masonite, then pin each frame over the relevant print so as to hold each frame securely until it is time to assemble. I think I will need to fit the cross section out. Are plans or parts available to plank, deck, etc this model? Just in case it starts creeping out over time. I will be remaking the dead flat #1 and shall be considering this issue. Thanks for your thoughts. I very much appreciate it. These are only sitting in place. Not fixed but just to illustrate the issue. The middle on was done around 6 weeks ago. The other two within the last two days.

Afternoon all. After a layoff of around 6 weeks due to xmas, these last few days had me remaking the dead flat on my HM Sloop Echo cross section. I made the dead flat #1 6 weeks ago. I have distortion of the 6 weeks old frame. I did not seal it it occurs to me. Should I do that when it is made and assembled? I describe the issue further here. Thank you.

After a break of around 5 - 6 weeks, I resumed making frames. I needed to remake the dead flat. The dead flat #1 fit well and so was going to keep it. After making the dead flat again, I spent the last several days gluing it up. This time, I use my proxxon mill to cut the slots for the chocks. I am able to get square joints now instead of rounded. After I removed it from the jig, I placed it on the keel and placed the dead flat #1 on as well to check alignment etc. I was surprised to see the two were different at the top. After investigating, it seems the dead flat #1 has the top timbers moved outwards. If I spring them in around 1/4" each side, they fit the dead flat # 1 template. My workshop is in a garage which is not air conditioned. In South Australia it can get warm in the shed as well as cold in the winter. Any ideas how I can avoid this issue occurring over the 12 frames I need to construct? Elastic bands or hold downs of some sort to be applied to the top timbers as each frame is made? Bring each frame inside the main house once completed? In the 1st image, is having this many cut out likely to cause issues if I do not get to them all straight away? I realised I could you my dremel and stand to help me sand the inside faces of the futtocks. I now use my proxxon mill to cut the slots out. The cuts are far better than my manual cuts with a fret saw. I glued the template of the frame onto 18mm masonite. I then assemble the pieces with wax paper underneath the glued joints. I drill 1.1 mm holes next to the frames and push in 1.15mm pins. These lock the frames whilst gluing up and holds the joints whilst they cure. Once the frames are joined, I then make the chocks to strengthen the frames. I sized them to fit first and then used some PE pliers to hold then so I could reduce the depth of them. A chock ready for gluing. Glued in with titebond. Chocks are now glued in. The wax paper stops the glue sticking to the template. The bottom one fits the dead flat template perfectly. That was made today. The one on top (the dead flat #1) was made around 6 weeks ago. It fits the pattern IF it is pushed in. I suspect I have to remake this but how do I avoid this recurring? A top view of the issue. The far left one was assembled today.

G'day Kevin, Thank you for that. I need to try and sus some places out for this. I know it is asking a bit much but have you considered a video on this process? I am sure I am not the only one thinking the same. Else, are you aware of any videos showing this process. I know of normal woodmills that I follow doing this for large slabs, but small logs such as we use seem to be thrown away. Ah well.