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vaddoc

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  1. vaddoc
    Thanks Patrick, yes, the size is satisfying, 24" long! In contrast, I know someone who can fit 112' feet of boat in his palm!
  2. vaddoc
    There have been no updates recently but really I was too busy changing nappies and singing lullabies. I did however clean the garage and my work bench! The silicon filler worked reasonably well, the stem-plank junction is somewhat smooth on one side. I think I need to redo the other. The hull has had 3 coats of primer with sanding in between and is smooth. Still, new imperfections appeared so some filling and another sanding and coat of primer will be needed. Hopefully, the last! Then I plan on using Halfords gloss white appliances can paint and matt varnish to finish. But first the waterline needs to be determined. I put together a simple tool. I marked roughly the waterline, it looks somewhat funny near the stern but it is nearly perfectly symmetrical in both sides This is how the hull looks at present, still lots need to be done.
  3. vaddoc
    Looks really nice Patrick, especially considering the unforgiving gloss paint. Beautiful colour as well!
  4. vaddoc
    Thanks, I know what you mean. Never thought of using it for modelling!
  5. vaddoc
    Yambo and Bob, the primer certainly did its job, but I was surprised how bad my carefully sanded hull actually was. Druxey, the caulking suggestion is an excellent one but I read your post after I had gone into a putty frenzy. Still, it might be needed as I can't get a clean edge at the joint. I tried steel wool but the improvement was marginal. What would you use for caulking? Would it need to be used also all along the keel and planks as well as the stem? This is how it looks after the final sanding to 320 grit. it looks smooth but still not perfect. This is a critical stage and time spent fairing will be paid back many times after painting. I am sure more sanding and fairing is needed. Also, I am concerned the edges of the planks might get rounded off with all the sanding.
  6. vaddoc
    Your suggestions are always most welcome Mark, looking at the pics I feel you are probably right. It did not cross my mind to weather the boat but it does looks like it has had years of use already. I am afraid though I do not have the skills yet for a proper weathering job and would not want to try on this particular boat, it has taken me 10 months to reach this point! Besides, all the frames and interior woodwork have already been sanded to a shiny 400 grit. I ll give it a try to get a smooth surface and if not possible I will probably need to build another small boat out of the same wood to experiment with weathering. But I do agree, a model of a beat up worn boat is so much more interesting than a shiny new one!
  7. vaddoc
    Many thanks to all for your support and comments! The built continues but problems start pilling up again! I am afraid the photos that follow are not that great. On the plus side, I seem to have avoided having a flat sheer towards the bow which I understand can happen if the plans do not compensate for this visual effect by increasing the curve. However the hull surface is far from ready to be painted. I did some fairing which I thought was adequate and I proceeded to shape the end of the stem and then mask the whole boat prior to spraying white primer. And then the primer went on which revealed how inadequate my fairing was. The bow looks rough and the rivets are standing out too much. Deep scratches were revealed in two of the planks The plywood has a rough surface despite previous sanding and finally the plank-stem junction needs some attention I think that with some putty and careful sanding will improve things. Certainly I will not (or should not) move on to painting the hull until I get a nice smooth primed surface.
  8. vaddoc
    I just registered what the second picture shows following Row's comment and I caught my self smiling, this is style in modelling!
  9. vaddoc
    Top of the world Patrick!
  10. vaddoc
    I already made myself comfortable, looking forward for the show to start Patrick!
  11. vaddoc
    Thank you all, I really appreciate your support. I must admit though I am not at all confident that the boat will end up looking as good as it deserves. With a baby now in the house work progresses slowly. The sheer plank rivets are now left and of course all rivets forward of station 0 at the bow. This plank was left unpainted by the american team and I am tempted to do the same. There will also be a rub rail added which will hide the uppermost rivet line. In the next picture also note the shaping of the stem which at the level of the sheer plank is left square. I needed a brake so I concentrated on the false stem. It was first shaped with the needle files and then glued to the hull. Hopefully there is some similarity with the previous picture. With this done its back to riveting. I am concerned that the CA glue will stain the wood and although this is not a problem for the lower planks, if the sheer plank is left unpainted it will need a lot of sanding which with all the rivets will be ddifficult. I am also concerned that there will be a lot of stains on the inside of the hull but there is no better alternative to superglue. So here it goes. First I covered the plank and then marked the width of the rub rail to make sure all upper rivets will be hidden And drill and glue and drill and glue and drill and glue... Drilling 200 holes in a row is very satisfying And another brake was necessary, so I finished cutting the centerboard slot And finally all rivets done! There are a few left at the bow but the cant frames need to go in first. The sheer planks are sanded with 180 grit but the glue stains are still somewhat visible. And finally, the long awaited moment has come. The boat needs to be taken off the jig, turned around for the cant frames to be installed and then positioned back to the jig for the rest of the rivets to go in and then fairing, priming and painting. Picking up the boat I was surprised, the hull is very light but extremely rigid. Next the cant frames went in which took a bit of head scratching but I am happy with the result. Lots left to be done but making progress at last!
  12. vaddoc
    Beautiful boat Patrick, it oozes affection and dedication! Well done Vaddoc
  13. vaddoc
    Nothing really exciting to show, life is a monotonous mask-drill-glue-file. But I think that the the first 500 rivets deserve a post! I only took a photo of one side, no strength left to photograph the two rivet lines on the other side. 700+ more left...
  14. vaddoc
    Patrick Such elegant work and such a nice model! The sails add so much! Looking forward to your next posts Regards Vaddoc
  15. vaddoc
    The work continues and new problems and challenges pop up all the time! The fairing putty I got from the model shop is really good, much nicer to work with than the one from the DIY shop. I faired the bow and also trimmed the planks at the the stern and faired the transom. I have already decided to rivet the boat and I think I should tackle this now. Besides, it would be a nice change from all the laminating and woodwork. I realised however that I did not mark the position of the frames during planking. I tried a simple solution This did not work due to the curvature of the hull so a more complex tool had to be improvised which worked fine. The positions of all frames is now marked. I next need to make a pattern so that all rivets all equally spaced. A short maple strip and a folded piece of paper was an easy solution. It was easy now to mark the position of the rivets. The thickness of the plywood is only 0.8 mm so the overlap is too small for the rivets to go through both panels so this line of rivets is not going to be too functional but it needs to be done to stay as close to the original design as possible. Interestingly, the american team added stringers at the lower chines, the next photo shows these as they reach the transom. Either way I think the floor boards will hide this lower river line. I drilled the holes with the Dremel and a 0.7 mm good quality drill. I used brass wire for the rivets and CA glue and used masking tape to prevent the glue staining the wood. There was a learning curve to go through but it worked ok. A few of the rivets have a lot of material to be trimmed on the inside of the hull. I used the grinding wheel on the Dremel to trim the rivets flush with the planks but it did not work out, the wire gets very hot, the glue melts and the rivet just slides in. Trimming with the needle file was much more efficient. There will be 6 rivet lines per side with approximately 100 rivets each, so around 1200 rivets! That's a lot! I will not rivet past Station 0 as I will complete this job after the cant frames are installed. I also redid the false stem and added the final plank to the keel. I took the precaution of blocking the centerboard slot to make sure the epoxy does not drip. Next job to glue in and trim the false stem, do some more fairing and of course more rivets!
  16. vaddoc
    Thank you for the encouragement Patrick, it really motivates me to push forward! You are right about the keel, it is really hard work, it took 2 days of hard work to reach this stage and even sanding these small pieces was physically tiring as the laminates are really hard. Yes, both me and the Butterfly Explorer are looking forward to break free of the support and sail into the horizon! Not too long now I think.
  17. vaddoc
    I somehow managed to find a bit of time to work on the boat. I am waiting for some timber to re-do the false stem and also some filling putty to fair the hull. It is time to concentrate on the keel. The strip shows the shape of the keel and of the deadwood I decided to cut the centerboard slot, there will be more wood added but best to do it in two steps as pear wood is hard. The job was done with the Dremel using a drill bit to remove the wood like a milling machine and finishing off with the hand files. I was surprised as it was a relatively easy job Checking again the shape of the keel. This is tricky due to the curve of the keel but also due to the fact that its width changes along its length. The best way of approaching this is to put it together in segments, which is how the full size boat would be built. A lot of laminating and sanding had to be done but it seems to come along fine. I made a pattern of the keel near the Transom Then I laminated some pear strips to make the deadwood The deadwood was not wide enough so I added some more wood and also laminated another piece. This is a nice solid piece of wood! The Dremel moto saw only just managed to cut it. Fits reasonably well The space is starting to fill up I added the second piece, nothing is glued yet I made a paper pattern of the shape of the keel to prepare the third piece All three seem to fit OKish Lots of sanding later it definitely looks better but long way to go More wood needs to be added. There will also be another long plank added on top which need to be shaped All segments so far, getting closer to the end It only needs some more sanding so that the long plank fits flush but I think it is almost done. I will need to laminate and install the false stem before gluing everything together, and some serious fairing will need to be done first
  18. vaddoc
    Hi Patrick You are building an amazing model, the amount of detail is astonishing! The reel has a marking that looks like 28 g so maybe 0.32 mm?
  19. vaddoc
    Thank you all, yes both are doing great!
  20. vaddoc
    Congratulations to my Admiral for bringing to the world a beautiful little girl! One Butterfly will need to wait for the other I guess!
  21. vaddoc
    Planking is finished! Still couple of things left, to trim the end of the planks at the bow, add the false stem, the keel and the rivets, do a massive amount of fairing and possibly paint. The transom looks ok, I think the important thing is the pair of planks at each chine to line up. Again a lot of fairing is needed.
  22. vaddoc
    Thanks Patrick and Bob, I now have huge respect for the traditional ship builders of old that were lofting on floors and putting these boats together with hand tools! Tad was right, planking goes faster now or maybe I go further in my learning curve. Two more planks to go! Just a few more pics There are I think significant similarities to the photos of the american team at the same stages, if we overlook the abysmal difference in the quality of the work. I hope the bow will come out like this!
  23. vaddoc
    Thanks Michael, I am following your Skipjack amazing project, thankfully no engine in this boat! I decided to take a break from the stressful planking and laminate the false stem. I used again walnut which bents, glues and sands beautifully. It came out fine but maybe just not wide enough. It probably is just half a millimetre too narrow on each side but I d rather do it again than sand the planks, this is a decision for later. Even with all the planks fitted it will still be possible to laminate the stem. The next job to be completed was to fit the next plank up, which was a mountain to climb and took 3 days! The plank would not sit properly and finally I realised it was 2 cm shorter than its pair! I had to do it again but still in order to sit properly the previous plank had to be bevelled and some of the notches slightly adjusted. Generous bevelling was needed at the stern and bow. Finally I managed to get it into place and I am happy with the fit. I have no idea how the next planks will fit, hopefully they wont be far off. The original plans call for riveting but it is very difficult to fit the planks just with rivets so I used a minute amount of epoxy to glue the plank to the frames. I experimented with 0.7 mm brass wire I had and it looks ideal to be used for rivets, using CA glue and the dremel with the grinding stones to grind the wire flush. I couldn't resist a glimpse of the hull! I need to get many spare drills and a collet for the dremel as there will be hundreds of holes to drill. I think I should finish planking and then do the rivets. Also I still have not decided what to use for fairing the hull, the options could be PVA glue with woodflour or some filling compound from the model shops. The putty from the DIY shops is really difficult to work with.
  24. vaddoc
    I don't really know what to say, I never expected such honours! Great to have you along in this journey Tad! The pressure is really on now!
  25. vaddoc
    Thanks for the good words Patrick, actually I have not contacted him but you are right, he probably would like to know!

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