MrBlueJacket

I have been following this build and am amazed at the level of detailing you have done - GOOD JOB! Makes me proud to give you the platform to follow your goal.

Nic

Hull sanded down. I always use a sanding block to get a smooth surface. Just using 80 grit for now, but after the next round of primer and putty, will switch to about 150 grit.

Used the Dremel sanding drum to thin out the bulwarks. After I put in the plywood pieces, I will thin some more. Luckily, the Forecastle decking will hide most of that space.

Nice job. As I promised, there is a note in your customer file for 10% off your next kit purchase.

While at a Maine Made show in Bangor, I came across a guy who cuts trees into 1/2 inch slabs for cutting boards. I thought that one of them would make a great baseboard for the trawler. Here it is:

A coat of primer, then an application of red oxide auto putty, then sand. After that, repeat at least once more.

No comment.........

My  first car was a white '62 Falcon sedan, 3 on the tree.

*sigh* another application of Bondo.

But finally, it is starting to look like it should.

Here we are starting to sand down the Bondo

And after it is sanded down, you can see where the knuckle rises up on the sides. It's not supposed to do that.

The stern has a pronounced "knuckle" which I lost during the sanding. So, I have to build it up with some Bondo.

On 12/15/2018 at 1:10 AM, vossiewulf said:

I used the polycrylic on my LN, and just found it doesn't adhere well to anything- I had to mask off the ship to spray the bulwarks and it came off in many places with the tape, even over bare wood. Hopefully you have better luck.

I have used it before when fiber-glassing an R/C plane, and didn't have any problems. It seems to be sticking quite well here, too.

Although I tried to get out as many wrinkles as I can, it is not critical. When primed and sanded, the wrinkles will disappear. Any small irregularities will be puttied over.

So the bulwarks are on, and it is time to strengthen the soft balsa wood. I decided to use MinWax Polycrylic and silkspan. Here a section being applied.

Looking good....like I said, the power tool helps a lot in the stern where the material of the carving tool mounting lug needs to be removed.

16 hours ago, lmagna said:

It looks like this is a fairly simple large scale model. The only real novelty seems to be that it is plank-on-bulkhead like their lobster boat rather than the normal Bluejacket solid hull kit. 

 

You may be breaking new ground for MSW.

I have to chuckle a bit - older perceptions are sometimes different from reality.  BlueJacket makes 78 model kits, and only 30 of them are solid hull, 12 are cast resin, 3 are plank on frame, and the rest are plank on bulkhead.

That tool will be real handy when you attack the stern......

Al's grinder is a Craftsman as shown in the photo below. Also here's a link to a Makita one on Amazon. They run from about $60-$120

https://www.amazon.com/Makita-GA4030K-4-Inch-Angle-Grinder/dp/B002OTDIH2

Over the weekend I got the rest of the hull planked. Next will be adding the planked bulwarks, then covering the balsa with either polycrylic or polyester resin.

Al's advice is to " go gently and let the machine work." It takes the wood down in a hurry. Now I just need to finish sand to the templates and then do the bulkheads.

So Al let me borrow his 4" portable grinder - Boy, does that make short work out of shaping the hull!  Unfortunately, I got a little to heavy-handed and it started to burn the wood.

Finished the upper belt of planking all a round.

And here's the dory, completed except for the seats, which will be mahogany. They will have to wait until I have painted the shell.

Just for variety, I started the dory that sits on top of the cabin.

Starting to plank the hull - It's easy with the balsa supplied. I will coat the balsa with polyester resin and silkspan.