Bedford

What finish did you use on the hull, the timber looks perfect. Steve

My two bob's worth, stain should not preclude wood glue adhesion because it works by getting into the grain so as long as the stain is not one that seals and finishes then it should be alright. Having said that, I have never stained a hull as I work on bringing out the natural beauty of the timbers involved. Robbyn, I am not a woman but I like what I like too If not, what I have done in the past where I have applied the finishing coat out of necessity before all parts are attached is the sparing use of araldite epoxy and if it is a structural joint then cross hatch the surface with a craft knife first. I know the moment has passed but when I do second layer planking I simply apply PVA aquadhere sparingly to the plank then run my finger gently over the plank to spread it thinly and offer the plank to the hull and rub the plank along it's length from centre to end several times which creates what is known as a "rub joint". the rubbing pushes all air out of the joint so the fluid glue holds the plank almost by vacuum. It only takes a few minutes of checking and pushing and re-rubbing to get the bond to a sufficient strength to hold the plank. Then run a knife edge along the exposed edge of the plank to remove excess glue that would interfere with the next plank and continue. I find second layer planking quite enjoyable and fast except for the obvious need to cut the planks to taper and have never had to use anything to secure the planks in place. Steve

What a coincidence, I have that same model in a stalled state. I "Laid the keel" in March 2000 but found the lack of clear instructions on how to shape the stern a stumbling block and it has sat since although I now have seen pics on the net of the real thing and have the knowledge I need to make progress it is not a high priority. The Royal Caroline comes first. Not sure how old my kit is as I bought it at a clearance price from my supplier but I have everything, including the box. So if I can help just ask! I found this thread by searching for the Charles W Morgan and this is the only one on here at the moment, I would hope there are other completed models that will be re-posted in due course. Steve

I looked at this because the name suggested it would be something different. The lines of the hull are beautiful and got my continued attention. The build itself is inspiring! Pity there is no dialogue but the pictures do speak for themselves and the tell a very interesting story. I am familiar with the "strong back" concept for building real boats but have never seen it used for a model and I love the idea, espacially useful for any open boat build. I have a few long boats and whale boats in my future and was wondering how I was going to build them to a standard I would be happy with which kits rarely live up to with these acilliary boats. So many lessons learned, the heat sink on the soldering iron is another good one. Thanks so much. Steve

I think I shall watch this with interest. I like the idea of a long boat. Steve

Wow, I wish I had seen this before I started my scratch built Mahogany runabout.

I don't know so much about talent, a bit of education and a lot of perseverance and patience are more what gets that finish. I am still not entirely happy with it though and I think I need a dust free room to do final coats because I always end up with small fine hair like dust in the finish but I will find somewhere suitable to do a final coat soon or maybe just use 1200 grit wet&dry to get rid of the dust. Steve

Ah, you don't miss a trick do you? The foredeck is mahogany except for the two centre planks which are walnut, just for a highlight. I found the mahogany planks weren't too bad and since there was a lot of sanding and spraying there and still more to do and the fact that the deck is fairly consistant in its shape and easy to sand evenly it is coming up pretty well without the grain filling sanding sealer but the sheets I was going to use for the sides had massive grain irregularities, combine that with the complex curves of the hull and it would have been impossible to get a decent finish without the sanding sealer.

Thanks so much for all the pics. I have one of these to build and it has to be as good as I can make it. I have a lathe and mill and would never have thought to use them the way you have, I especially like the spiral staircase and rudder. I will be keeping a link to this build. Steve

Good questions. The deck planks are only 0.6mm thick and the limewood was similar. I was sparing with the glue as I didn't want it getting onto the deck timbers and staining them so I suppose I used less glue that I should have and when it came to trimming the limewood strip back I found that it just kept pulling out below the deck surface. The finish is Cabots Urethane high gloss spray. I went with walnut for the sides for reasons stated earlier and the very fine grain really helps get a very smooth finish, if I had stuck with mahogany I would have needed to sand heaps and use a grain filler before spraying which would not have looked so good. I sand with open coat 400 grit between each coat paying attention to the surface defects it shows up, ie shiny bits need more sanding around till they get dull as well. I sand more and more lightly with each coat while still using the 400 grit. There are about 8 or 10 moderate coats on it. If you have an open grained timber then you need the grain filling sanding sealer which is like a thicker varnish and sands easily, so I am told. Steve

Thanks Michael, it really is a brain teaser at times but that is half the reason for building it. Steve

Mate, it's been an interesting experience. Learning new ways of doing everything but it seems to be good. I have been sitting here most of the day putting my builds back on the forum, a real shame all was lost but as they say "worse things happen at sea" It is an interesting if troublesome build. I am still not sure how I will line the interior but that will come as will a trailer. Lots of other stuff going on at the moment though so it will take shape slowly. Steve

Next came the deck. I am making this up as I go to a degree so it all takes a lot of thinking and a certain amount of trial and error. I want the classic plank with white caulking between so I laid two mahogany planks with a limewood plank on edge between them then tried to trim the limewood back flush with the other planks. This was a dismal failure so I opted for the tried and true cord between deck planks as used on tall ships but with a white cord. It took a while to find a suitable cord but it worked pretty well.

Then began the long drawn out task of spraying and sanding and spraying.....you get the idea. It has come up rather well though.

All seemed to go well until well into the sanding and finishing of the lower hull when I noticed that the third layer was delaminating! I peeled it off and resanded the second layer and tried again being very mindful of the instructions on the spray contact adhesive, the same happened again so I removed the new third layer and then sanded the second in preparation for a more conventional wood glue but when I attached the third layer piece by piece it buckled up because of the moisture in the glue. At this point I decided that double planking is a tried and true method of cunstruction so I removed all the offending layers from the bottom of the hull and bought planks to lay, so much for using up excess timbers. I did the sides in the double plank format from the word go because of the dramas I had with the bottom but I decided to opt for walnut outer planks because they have a finer grain thereby having finer edges which fit together much more neatly and the finer grain looks more scale.

I started this little project a few years ago with the intent of using up leftover planking and other materials from tall ship builds. I like building R/C and made a 1:8.5 scale Land Rover Defender 90 a while back and this will go on a trailer behind it. I don't "play" with these things much as it is the build that I like. The Defender was scratch built based on a commercially available body and drive train components. I always loved the look of the Riva Aquarama and this is losely based on that boat. I drew the plans myself then bought a set of plans for the Aquarama to make sure the shape of the bow was right. The basic concept was to build plank on frame, with a difference. I was going to build up a three ply hull in situ by laying one layer of 0.6mm limewood (from memory) sheet along the bottom of the hull. Then cut the sheet into short lengths and glue to the first layer at right angles using spray contact adhesive. Then repeat the process in the original direction for the third layer. The sides were to follow the same technique using mahogany sheets.

This was my third build, and the first I took some progress pics of. This kit was bought by a friend of mine after she saw my Schooner for Port Jackson, she loved it and had always wanted to build one. Once she looked at the plans she was too affraid to start it inspite of my offers of guidance. One day she decided to give it to me so I built it and gave it back to her. She had done the eulogy for my 13 year old daughter, Caroline, which was a huge thing to do, this was my thankyou gift to her. The main problems I had with this kit were that two of the hull frames seemed to be misnumbered as I had to add timber to the outside of one frame to make the curves flow properly so if you are building this kit keep that in mind and dry fit all the frames first and use your judgment. Some of the deck house frames were also not the best so I made them myself. I have never put sails on a model before because I don't think they ever look right but I knew this schooner would carry them well. I will let her speak for herself...