Greg Davis

Started the rudder work today. Before freeing the rudder from the wood sheet that it was laser cut into, I tapered the rudder fore to aft by nearly 1/16" each side. Actually I milled the taper by securing the rudder blank to my mill with a 1/16" plate lifting the fore side of the blank - this way I tapered off ~ 1/16 by the aft edge of the rudder. The blank was flipper over and a 1/8" plate was used to lift the blank - this way I could mill a taper that reduced the aft edge on this side also by 1/16". Next the rudder was freed from the blank and additional shaping / fitting was done. The fore edge is now rounded off a bit (may round it a little more), and the rudder post is a cylinder as it meets the hull. Minor height adjustments needed to be made for the rudder to fit close to the stern post. Soon the top will be painted black and the rest coppered. Just a comment about the instructions associated with the rudder installation. I hope I haven't missed something (I search for rudder in the PDF of the instructions for rudder several times); but there only seems to be one picture / paragraph dedicated to this part of the build: From the picture, I can see that the fore edge of the rudder has been rounded, and it also looks like the rudder has been tapered. My concern is that, I can't find any text in the instructions (nor an illustration in the plans) that speaks to shaping of the rudder. There should be some instruction / notes in the instructions given that this is a 'beginners kit'. Going back to the picture, the rudder attachment method is clever and should make for a nice mount. I'm definitely going to try out the included photo-etched parts here. The gudgeons are combined and spaced on a single piece of brass; however the three pintles are separate pieces. There are three holes in the gudgeon piece that need to align with holes in the pintles in order for the described pinning to work. It would have been nice, if the instructions had included a few words on how to get the photo-etched parts lined up so the pinning went as expected.

Finished coppering the hull and now have extra respect for those modelers that copper huge warships! Still need to contour the rudder before doing a little more plating.

Do it! Here's my 1:96 Phantom (2007) - safe, but not cased, on a shelf for now: The copper was not treated in any way; it is a bit darker now but still surprisingly shiny. Waterline is a little more wavy then my current iteration! I see that I used the copper tape right off the spool so the plates are 1/4" high and I did not have a separate belt for the aft portion of the hull - apparently I did not follow the Chuck Passaro Phantom Practicum very well. I still remember struggling with adding hooks to the very small blocks amongst other challenges. That kit was really was on the small side for a first build and I am glad that the larger 1:48 scale model is now available.

Finished plating the port side of Phantom today. I had placed a strip of tape to mark the water line / position of the last line of plates:

I marked off the first belt with Tamiya tape and plated the first belt so that it overlapped the tape. After making sure the copper foil was burnished quite well to the hull in a way that I could easily see the tape edge, I used a new scalpel blade to cut through the foil and pealed off the tape. Ready now to start the second belt.

I've started to copper the hull. This is only the second hull I've tried to cover in copper foil - my 1/96 scale Phantom was the first, back in 2007. I hope it doesn't look too bad when done! So here's what I've done on day 1: Keeping the detail level - no treenails in the hull planks (nor deck), so no fasteners in the copper plates.

Greg - I have a light box as well, but never thought of using it for that purpose - duh! Thanks for the great idea and supportive comments, Greg

Cleaned up / milled out some wood above gamming knee and lengthening timber (4 & 5). I didn't want to accidently catch something on one of the rough edges and / or slots that were along the top. Once that was done, using a spindle sander, I did a preliminary sanding of the back edge that will match with the stem. This actually resulted in a better than expected start to the final shaping:

Thank you so much!

I will be doing the re-sharpening first and see how long I can make the blade last. But making my own may come into play depending on the longevity of the provided one. Currently a single replacement blade is going for $10 plus $4 shipping on Amazon. I will say the cutting station is very nice, but pricey; some would argue overpriced for what I'm using it for - and therefore I shouldn't complain about blade prices! Truthfully, I could have built a simple jig (like used for making deck planks the same length) from wood and cut the copper tape with a razor blade or hobby knife for essentially free.

It feels good to be back on the build, there had been a lot of days where I would come into my workroom and see the hull on the shelf and an urge to bring it down to table level would occur! But finishing the Santos-Dumont Hydroplane had preference through early / mid May because it was going to a contest. That worked out well with the model earning the Best of Show award. Of course then there was a bit of adrenaline that pushed me toward my most ambitious current project - L' Invention! The modeling there is going good but is a bit more stressful / higher stakes type of build for me. The Phantom build is more on the relaxing side! Currently it looks like I should be able to make constant progress on Phantom for the foreseeable future. How much / fast is the big question as I tend to get involved in other builds readily. Not so much that I lose interest in a ongoing build as I find other models compelling as well. I have (at least) two other models eking along - the Occre BR-18 Locomotive kit, and a scratch built half-hull model of the skip-jack Carrie Price based on the plans and instructions in the Grimwood book "American Models and How to Build Them'. Greg

It's been a while since I worked on this model, but today I got back at it! Cutting copper plates - several hundred so far. The Dspiae cutter does a great job, I'm just wondering how long the blade will hold up. unfortunately, The blade appears to be proprietary (and expensive). Soon I will start attaching to the hull.

Another day, another joint! This will sit between glass plates through the night to insure it dries flat. I can then remove some of the excess material along the curved contour of 4 and 5. The flat on the top of 4 will be cut a bit later so that it matches the top of the stem. It also looks like I can start working on the joint between what is done and the stem.

It looks wonderful - feel free to hijack at will! Thank you so much for the complement on my work; it means a lot to me. Greg

A few more parts connected (3, 4, and 5) together today. 4 and particularly 5 are delicate; this is why I left quite a lot of material on the top for now. Once the bottom is matched to the surface of parts 1 and 2, I will go about removing material / shaping the top contour.

Is this South Carolina?

As I was cleaning up the outer profiles I was really pleased to see the thin perpendicular line indicating the joint between pieces 1 and 2. While this will soon be covered by another piece, it is gratifying to see the joint is tight front to back!

First three parts of the assembly are in place. Joining parts 1 and 2 was challenging due to the curved shape together with the fact that 2 drops into 1. The joint between 1 and 6 is LONG! This is what the joints look like from behind:

I will definitively be string the structure in a safe place after building it and then attach the cutwater / head once the hull has been planked. Thanks for the input / direction! Greg

Thank you for the proper vocabulary! Greg

I decided to start work on the cutwater. Templates for all the parts were rubber cemented a sheet of Swiss pear and cut out with the scroll saw - some closer to the lines than others depending on the size / complexity of the parts. This is my first opportunity to fabricate a built-up cutwater and I am looking forward to the experience. Of course the situation leaves me with some questions as how to proceed. Here's the current plan: I've numbered the parts in a perhaps strange order - parts 4 and 5 are numbered in the plans, but the rest are not, so I chose a numbering system that seemed reasonable but would not mirror the intended order of assembly. 1. Fay parts 1 and 2 2. Smooth top and bottom contours of the assembly 3. Fit and add part 6 (remembering to have shaped the top S-curve of 6 beforehand) 4. Form and add parts 3, 4, and 5. 5. Begin matching this assembly (parts 1-6) to the stem. 6. Match the inner side of 7 to the stem 7. Cut the scarf joints on 6 and 7 8. Connect 7 to the 1-6 assembly. 9. Continue shaping the joint between this unit and the stem 10. Add the forefoot to the stem assembly and insure the cutwater matches well with the stem and the joint between part 7 and the forefoot. 11. Set the cutwater in a safe place and have a nice glass of scotch and/or whiskey! Tapering of the cutwater, etc. can then be done at a later date. Please let me know if I am missing something important here. So here are the cutout parts and a start of forming the joint between parts 1 and 2.

Here's the result of this week's work: I felt that if I worked these joints anymore, the result would start to degrade; hence the decision to attach and move on to another piece. Question: Is it wise to shape the cutwater at this point (and set it aside for a really long time)?

And I will be doing the same. Safe travels! Greg

All points well taken - expanding / contracting plans and wood, together with the fact lines on a drawing have width. I won't be adding any paper for caulking and yes, glue does take up space. I hope to keep a good eye on the accumulated length / minimize the chance for expansion by keeping track of not just the dimensions of each individual part, but also that of assemblies. So here, the combined width of the apron / stem is as important as the width of the apron and stem individually. Of course finishing individual parts to the exterior the associated plan lines will result in joined pieces to include the thickness of two copies of the lines from the plan plus space taken by glue - so one line width plus glue too much. Finishing individual pieces to where the plan line nearly disappears (on both sides of a joint) keeps the joined combined piece(s) dimensions closer to what the goal is. Either way, assume if one had modeled a keel to be 850mm and ended up 0.5mm in excess of the overall keel length, the length for this assembly l will still be within 0.06% of the desired length [ (0.5 / 850) x 100 = 0.06% ] - for me, I'd call that a win!

I milled the scarf joining the apron and rising wood segment, then glued the pieces together and set them under glass for more than a day. My plan is to shape the fore side of the subassembly so it matches with the previously made section. Then I will shape the inner side followed by milling the more delicate scarf on the end of the rising wood piece.