Greg Davis

The rudder is attached and the mast blanks fit correctly. Planning to work on the deck furniture / details before shaping the masts and preparing for rigging the vessel.

Thank you for the supportive comments! I had not really thought about the fact that there could be some 'abusive nature' when it comes to requesting spare / replacement parts. This also got me thinking about the time commitment that Ages of Sail employees need to use while filling the request. So maybe the cost of an envelope and stamp is asking too much, but perhaps a middle ground could be worked toward - especially for people that don't seem to be offenders of the system. Quite frankly, I would never of placed the AoS order if Amati would have had a response system indicating that they could/would send the part! Greg

The capping rails went in without too much difficulty. The rails for the quarter deck were a bit short, so I created small extensions from scrap wood. Not an issue for me, just cut up a bit of wood to the correct size on my Byrnes saw ... I can see how this would be a bigger concern for a person that hadn't been making a few models and/or had limited tools. Next I went to work on the quarterdeck rail ornamentation. This was something I really wasn't looking forward to, but I think it came out nice. I went with a dark motif unlike the bright yellow shown in the instruction manual. I tried to use blackening solution on these ornaments, but surprisingly it did nothing in terms of color change. So I mixed some flat black and gun metal paint together and got a nice look, very much like wrought-iron. The stern decoration has also been painted this color and it blends into the blue background quite well. I also have attached the head rails. The rudder may come next.

A couple days ago, I got the gunport wreaths that I had paid for. Blackened and attached the missing one to the hull and glued on the two additional lines of the half-round wales to the port side. Oar ports came next - 9 to a side. It took a lot longer than I expected to open all of these ports with a file. Once that was completed, a few rigging related holes were drilled thru the hull. Finally I painted the inside edges of the gunports and oar ports to match the inner bulwalk color. I believe that installation of the capping rail will come next.

I'm waiting for the more expensive wreaths from Ages of Sail to fill in the missing wreath. For some unknown reason, I am resistant to opening the package of 14 wreaths that Amati sent me! In the meantime, I've attached 6 wreaths to the port side and started to work on the deck furniture. I've removed a good deal of laser residue and fabricated the cross-beams to this substantial structure that surrounds the main mast: It looks like I need to do a little more shaping before gluing these pieces together. There are also 4 cleats that attached to the sides before it is done. I wish I knew if the structure actually has a name or if it is simply a significant structure for belaying lines to. Either way, it will be an impressive addition to the deck.

All of the cross braces are in place. A nose cone has been shaped as well - I may try to make this a little more pointed later. It's now a little later. After looking more at the above picture, I really started to feel the nose was too blunt. So with a sanding stick back in my hand, I've tried to make the transition more smooth. I'm good with this (for now)!

Today I finished adding the metal fasteners. I decided to use 22 gauge copper for them. I also started adding the cross braces; they are being made from 0.015" piano wire.

Today I received a package from Amati containing not 1 but a full set of 14 gunport wreaths - a big thanks to them! I just wish that I they had sent a note that the parts were going to be sent. Sunday night I had broke down and ordered a several wreaths from Ages of Sail; the bill came to over $15 and the product has already been shipped so no going back on that order. Now I will have enough to build another copy of the boat!

Thanks for checking this out and I hope you have a good result with your 14bis! I did intentionally fly it into the corner. Because of its triangular shape it 'fits' better this way. Everyone that sees it then gets 'educated' about what is front and what is back on this bird.

My e-mail to Amati has gone unanswered; however, I have found that Ages of Sail has the part in stock. One of these pieces costs $0.58 - but they want a minimum of $13.45 to send it to me from California. Sort of crazy for a part that go in an envelope with a single stamp!

Today I cut out the alignment dowel and the hoop forms. Removing the solid disks required making three or four radial cuts from the dowel hole to the hoop. Once the cuts were made, I cut remove each sector of the disc in turn. I think that there were only two disks that easily came out whole. So here is where the project is now: Next will be to add some metal fasteners thru the stringers and into the hoops. The wire cross braces will then follow. Holes have been drilled for these details already.

I've attached all four stringers to the pontoon hoops and released the whole structure from the jig. Before I remove the solid discs inside the hoops I plan to drill holes for 'bolts' that connect the stringers and hoop, as well as for the support cross-wires. I suspect the cross-wires are actually bicycle spokes so that they could be tensioned.

This is so helpful! Yes, there is suspension for both hydrofoils. I sometimes have an orientation problem on how they work and need to remind myself that it is the top brackets that are connected to the hydrofoil support post, and this is what moves to stretch the bungie cord suspension.

Wow - this is such a great picture! Thank you so much for sharing! Greg

I'm not sure how the extreme ends of the pontoons and nacelles were finished. I think that in the picture that Craig shows above, the four stringers are being held in position by an external band. I can't tell if the band / hoop is wood or metal. I also have wondered if this fastener is temporary or if it is permanent. Eventually I concluded that it is temporary. When looking at a pictures of the finished pontoon it doesn't appear as a bump under the covering. Clearly, the finished pontoon comes to a fine pointed end; one that is strong enough to support a metal collar used for rigging the boat. It is doubtful to me that the stringers would be shaped to such a point, but perhaps there is additional wood attached / interfaced with the stringers, such as a solid wooden cone. Currently, I have been planning on introducing something along these lines for the ends of the pontoon / nacelles. I know that it would be purely conjectural in nature and if more historical information was located it could be modified to match without too much difficulty. Related, here's a picture of the pontoon construction before the band was connected to the structure. Henrique Lins de Barros shared this picture with me, it is part of his personal collection and is one that I have not seen using internet searches. If I interpret Alan's last comment correctly, I agree that this is a machine with a bit if a fragile structure! But Santos-Dumont had a lot of experience building skeletal frames for his machines that were minimal yet strong enough for the task at hand. I also imagine that the covering together with the inflation of such made a pretty strong machine and helped define the pontoons envelope. On the other hand, the wooden structure needed to be strong enough to hold the engine, propeller, etc. in place!

I've milled the 4 longitudinal stringers. The top and bottom stringers are 2mm x 3mm in cross-section and will be positioned so that a 2mm side meets the hoops. The side stringers, which are being attached first, are 1.5mm x 3mm with a 3mm side joining with the hoops.

The starboard side is coming along nicely. The new file arrived and let me open the gunports to nearly their final diameter. At this point I attached the gunport wreaths, which are pressed from brass, after they had been chemically blackened. Once that was done, the second half-round molding / wale was added using the wreaths to space the work. Finally, the lower molding was glued leaving a 5mm gap to the one in the middle. Just a note - the kit came with 6 pieces of half-round material for the moldings; two pieces were shorter than the others. The short ones are just long enough to be used for the lower molding / wale. I didn't see anything in the instructions pointing this out. I am glad I pulled all 6 pieces from the wood bundle and made the observation before accidentally using a long piece for the lower molding on this side. Now to the port side where I have a bit of a problem - it seems that I was provided with 13 gunport wreaths; i.e. 1 short of the needed 14. I've sent an inquiry to Amati asking if they can send me a replacement. I'm not sure how long to wait for a response before having to solve the problem on my own. I'd certainly like all 14 to match exactly but I can see that there is a good possibility that I will need to fashion the missing one myself.

Jig is done and the main pontoon is ready for the addition of longitudinal stringers. I added a bunch of hooks that let me place rubber bands over the axial dowel. This keeps the hoops snugly in place / aligned on the jig. I've also waxed the top of each support where the stringers will be attached so that there is less of a chance of getting the structure stuck to the supports. I plan on installing the side stringers first. Because of how the supports were fashioned the stringers will lie on top of each support when being attached to the hoops. Once they are in place, the rubber bands will be removed and the pontoon will be turned 90 degrees so that the top and bottom stringers can be added. Slots have been milled into the bottom of the supports to allow for the stringers to slot into when the pontoon is turned. Time to mill some wood!

I've remade hoop No. 16 to my satisfaction. I tried making shavings, but I didn't like the outcome too much. Then I took some of the 0.3mm material I had made previously and thinned it out even more with a spindle sander. I probably got it well below 0.2mm. At this thinness I was successful wrapping it in layers around the form. I also enlarged the holes in the forms that had been 1/8" to 1/4" - now all 16 hoops (with forms) fit nicely on the 1/4" diameter dowel. Here is a picture of hoops 15 and 16 sitting on the pontoon jig. Just a little more work on the jig and I can start attaching the longitudinal stringers that hold all of the hoops together.

Now all 14 gun ports (and two more ports aft) have been opened to 1/4". They need to be opened a bit more - I've a larger round file on order to do the job.

I've attached the top half-round molding to each side of the hull. Gun port wreaths fit between this molding and a second molding. The instruction booklet shows the second molding being attached next. I've decided to open the gun ports and attach the wreaths before attaching the second molding. I feel that I will have a better chance of having these pieces line up if I work in this order. I could see how I could easily not leave enough space between moldings and not be able to get a wreath in place and/or leaving too much space and then having gaps between the wreaths and moldings. So here's a look with the 7 starboard gun ports being opened up. I drilled a 1/8th hole and then have been increasing the hole's diameter with round files. There is just a small amount of filing left to do on this side.

John - Thanks for your interest! It will certainly get done, sometimes I just have a problem with jumping around on multiple projects at the same time. Some people call it multitasking, but it more likely lack of focus at times. I had built the Santos-Dumont 14bis (because it looked really interesting) as a winter break from milling wood and sanding frames for my L' Invention model. That was not to take a long time, but then I came upon pictures of the No. 18 Hydroplane and making a model of this machine has moved up high on the to do list. I believe that now I am going to be making fairly regular progress on the hydroplane model. It seems that I've figured out how to construct the pontoon and nacelles. I'm now thinking about how to do the metal work that connects these three parts. The metal work for the engine mount looks to be straightforward. Making a nice steering wheel will take some doing and I have a pretty good conjecture on how the steering would have been rigged. That then leaves the last big piece of work - the V16 Antoinette engine. I have two of the Model Airways Antoinette V8 engine kits that I plan to bash into a V16. From what I have been able to uncover, this is pretty much how the Antoinette V16 actually came about. So this is the basic plan of attack on the hydroplane and then back to L' Invention big time. Greg P.S. I may also be trying to finish a few other models that were started in the distant past concurrent with this project ... I hope I don't start anything else ... Is there a part of the MSW forum that helps people keep the number of projects manageable?

One more pic for today - a test fit of hoops in the jig. Here 13 of the 16 hoops have been slipped onto a 1/4" dowel. I'll be holding the dowel down using rubber bands at each hoop location when work is being done. As expected, tabs and/or another stabilization method will be necessary to keep the hoops squared to the jig.

Here is a picture showing some progress on the building board / jig.

Today I've made a good start on the building jig. I made up supports for hoops 1 - 15; I'll deal with one for hoop 16 after it is remade. The supports are made from 1/8" hardboard and are approximately 2" square. First I had made a number of 2" x 4" pieces with a center line along the 4" dimension. I used the midpoint of this line to mark the center of the pontoons axis. I drew semi-circles to match the outside diameters of the hoops using this mark - Two per blank. They were cut in half and then the semicircles were cut on a scroll saw. A little filing and the hoops fit in nicely. Finally the height of the supports were cut to 1 15/16" (measured from the bottom) so that the side stringers can rest on the supports when they are being attached. I need to mill a notch in the bottom of each semi-circle so that the top / bottom stringer will be accommodated for as the pontoon sits in the jig. I will also add a few tabs to insure the hoops stand perpendicular to the building board.