jbassett

Good evening MSW- Had a work situation come up and .. After a month of so of getting things in order I figured it was time to do a bit of modelling. The weather warming up lately combined with a nearby pond I walk around a few times a week have me itching to get a boat into the water, so I decided to start a Midwest Maine Lobster Boat. The plans that came with the kit are geared towards the boat being a display model. Thankfully there is a wealth of information (sometimes too much) on this form and on the rcforums that are quite helpful. I have not done much done so far- I opened and inventoried the kit, sorted things a bit, and read through the plans. I started to work on the keel this evening and am working out the best way to center and attach the stuffing box to the keel. The prop shaft, combined with the coupling I ordered, is a bit too long for the motor to be placed in accordance with the plans. Once I have the placement lined up and double, triple, quadruple checked I will measure and cut the prop shaft to size. I think I can center the stuffing box with clothes pins and several small plastic shims that I am currently 3d printing. Once its trimmed, I will get it centered up before tacking it down with CA. For a static model the kit includes a 1/4 x 1/8 x 7 inch strip of bass wood. I will cut it into 2 strips and use thick CA to attach them to the sides of the stuffing box then sand or plane them even with the keel. The picture I took while mocking up the stuffing box to the keel is not attaching for some reason. Edit: no spaces in image names. That's all for the evening. Thanks for reading -John

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome! I think I will do a build log for my next build. Its fantastic to see an internet community like this one- a welcoming and friendly place online is very rare.

Good evening from the East Coast US- New ship modeler here. I got into the hobby a little by accident. I was browsing the Dumas site a few months ago looking for a rubber-band powered airplane kit to buy and build. In the checkout, since shipping was extra, I thought to myself "what else should I buy if shipping is a flat rate?" And so it began. I started with their sailboat model 1007 as it was for a junior modeler. I figured I would have no problems putting together something meant for a kid! I thought I followed the instructions closely- but definitely should have sought further advice before starting the kit. It looks like crap! But that's ok! It was cheap and my first time building a model boat. I don't have a picture on hand, but trust me when I tell you: It's bad. Fast forward a few weeks, I think to myself, "Self! You should try another boat!" But before doing so, I found a sheet of galvanized and some magnets to help me line things up a bit better and hopefully make fewer mistakes in the next one. I also 3d- printed a few parts and pieces to help hold frames and the keel in place while gluing. As a second model, I chose the Ace Sloop from Dumas. Another fairly easy (slightly more expensive) model, and this one, once finished, I can take to a small pond nearby and watch it go where the wind takes it. It's not perfect, the frames are not perfectly aligned (not square to the keel). The die cuts are not perfect (I suspect that no die cuts are) so I fashioned some shims from scrap so the keel cut-outs were the right size for the keel. I unfortunately did not notice until putting the bottom on the model. The sides are already on and trimmed flush to the frames and the best way to describe it is that it is a bit .. wonky. I am going to keep building on and see what more I can learn from but at least model #2 is a huge improvement over model #1. Learning has occurred! My biggest takeaway from all of this... take more time to get things right before gluing. I have also added a square to my tool kit. Next in the queue: A Midwest Sea Bright Dory. I aspire to one day build an RC Chris Craft boat (not sure which one yet) or a Riva Auquarama. The examples on this forum are stunning and I hope to build the skills required to make something nice. Apologies for the long-winded introduction! John