rvchima

Completed Model
3 months, 180 hours
 
I put in a lot of hours the last couple of weeks and finished my hydroplane model and stand. It took a total of 180 hours to build the model over three months, but one of those months I was on vacation and didn't work on the model. Here are the photos of the completed model.
 

Framing and planking the hull was a lot of fun. The mahogany finished up beautifully and the headless brass nails shine like jewels.
 

The vacuum formed plastic cowls were a pain to build. They are finished with Krylon products: several coats of white primer, many coats of gloss cherry red, and several coats of gloss clear.
 

The silver trim strips around the cowls and on top of the rear cowl are soft white plastic painted with Testor's silver paint. The silver paint looks OK, but not as nice as the chrome plated parts. The trim strips would not stick to the painted cowls with CA so they are held with more brass nails.
 

The rudder, prop, and exhaust manifolds are diecast and chromed.
 

The aluminum piece on the nose is nailed through the plastic. I pre-drilled the all the nail holes with an undersized bit and an electric drill. When I was done I realized that each time I drilled a hole some plastic would melt and stick to the bit, so that each hole got progressively larger. I had to fill the holes with epoxy and start over.  Then I attached the aluminum piece with heavy duty double sided tape before nailing it down. There are probably 100 other nail holes drilled into the plastic cowl, and I had to scrape the drill bit clean with a razor blade after every one.
 

There is a lot of nice detail in the cockpit. The steering wheel is another diecast piece with a painted rim. The floor and foot pedals are photo-etched aluminum.
 

The dashboard has photo-etched holes surrounded by tiny rings. Behind the dash is a cardboard piece with printed gauges. The nine cowl hold-down clamps are made from three separate photo-etched pieces epoxied into tiny springs and nailed into place.
 

I drew up the stand from some photos of the actual stand that I found on-line. It is built from 1/4 inch basswood and painted with the same Krylon primer and paint as the cowl, but I left off the gloss clear coat. The top is black craft foam attached with double sided tape. The lettering was done with a Brother label maker using white-on-clear tape. I added a couple of leftover decals for fun. The base is African ribbon mahogany that matches the look of the hull.
 
 

Back from Vacation and Back to Work
 
My wife and I spent a wonderful month in Sanibel, Florida. The weather was perfect. We walked on the beach and I swam in the pool almost every day. We went on a lot of bird walks and saw hundreds of egrets, herons, anhingas, and ospreys, plus kingfishers, roseate spoonbills, and a pileated woodpecker. My sons and I built sand sculptures of a sea serpent and Han Solo encased in carbonite. I took supplies to build a stained glass glass lamp and finished 2 of 5 segments of a Tiffany peacock lamp.
 
We returned to the Ohio winter on March 2, so I have been working on my hydroplane since then. I sanded the mahogany planking, hammered several hundred headless brass nails, and finished it with two coats of Watco natural oil and a whole can of clear lacquer.
 

Here's a look at the finished hull,
 

and here's a closeup of the brass nails. I put a nail in every plank along every bulkhead, then filled in every other space in each direction. Every nail hole was pre-drilled, the nails were hammered in almost flush, then filed and sanded.
 

The bottom and sides of the sponsons have aluminum reinforcement plates attached with a lot more headed brass nails.
 

Here's a closeup of the aluminum plates.
 

The back of the sponsons have some drain plugs, access ports, and exhaust manifolds made from photo etched aluminum and cast metal. Here are the port and starboard sides respectively.
 
 
 

Completed Model
3 months, 180 hours
 
I put in a lot of hours the last couple of weeks and finished my hydroplane model and stand. It took a total of 180 hours to build the model over three months, but one of those months I was on vacation and didn't work on the model. Here are the photos of the completed model.
 

Framing and planking the hull was a lot of fun. The mahogany finished up beautifully and the headless brass nails shine like jewels.
 

The vacuum formed plastic cowls were a pain to build. They are finished with Krylon products: several coats of white primer, many coats of gloss cherry red, and several coats of gloss clear.
 

The silver trim strips around the cowls and on top of the rear cowl are soft white plastic painted with Testor's silver paint. The silver paint looks OK, but not as nice as the chrome plated parts. The trim strips would not stick to the painted cowls with CA so they are held with more brass nails.
 

The rudder, prop, and exhaust manifolds are diecast and chromed.
 

The aluminum piece on the nose is nailed through the plastic. I pre-drilled the all the nail holes with an undersized bit and an electric drill. When I was done I realized that each time I drilled a hole some plastic would melt and stick to the bit, so that each hole got progressively larger. I had to fill the holes with epoxy and start over.  Then I attached the aluminum piece with heavy duty double sided tape before nailing it down. There are probably 100 other nail holes drilled into the plastic cowl, and I had to scrape the drill bit clean with a razor blade after every one.
 

There is a lot of nice detail in the cockpit. The steering wheel is another diecast piece with a painted rim. The floor and foot pedals are photo-etched aluminum.
 

The dashboard has photo-etched holes surrounded by tiny rings. Behind the dash is a cardboard piece with printed gauges. The nine cowl hold-down clamps are made from three separate photo-etched pieces epoxied into tiny springs and nailed into place.
 

I drew up the stand from some photos of the actual stand that I found on-line. It is built from 1/4 inch basswood and painted with the same Krylon primer and paint as the cowl, but I left off the gloss clear coat. The top is black craft foam attached with double sided tape. The lettering was done with a Brother label maker using white-on-clear tape. I added a couple of leftover decals for fun. The base is African ribbon mahogany that matches the look of the hull.
 
 

Ferrari V12 Engine Kit Information
 
Keith, I regret that I don't have any scale information about the Arno besides the drawings included with the kit. That is probably enough for my purposes but please let me know if you come across anything else.
 
On the first page of this blog Shamrock posted a photo of the 1/8 scale engine kit of the Ferrari V12 Engine and a link to company that sells it:
http://shop.autographmodel.com/L-P-1-8-motor-kit-Arno-Hydroplane-Ferrari-Engine
 
The engine kit is priced out of my league at 900 €, and is currently unavailable. It seems to be incredibly detailed. Check out the photos on the site and download the 28 page instruction manual (in Italian.) The engine kit is not made by Amati nor designed to work with the Amati hull, it just happens to be the right scale.
 
Here is a thread on the Hydroplane & Raceboat museum web site with four photos of a completed Amati kit with the engine installed:
http://thunderboats.ning.com/forum/topics/construction-methods-and
 
The model is magnificent, but the builder, Pete Groves, commented that he would not do it again and that it might have been easier to built a real boat.
 
One photo shows some interior framing of the model where Groves has added maybe three times as many formers as the Amati kit. This corresponds to the nail spacing show on the Amati box.  I assume that this is the scale spacing.
 
Another photo shows the nearly completed model sitting on a scale stand, like the one shown on page 2 of this blog and in the photo below.
 

 
I love the look of the boat on the red stand and plan to build one by scaling it off of the photo above.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Does Anyone Else Hate Vacuum Formed Parts as Much as I Do?
day 57, 101 hours
 

I jumped a little ahead and started to build the fore and aft cowlings, The parts are made from vacuum formed polystyrene plastic. I always cringe when I open a kit and see vacuumed formed parts, for the following reasons:
1. They tend to be flimsy.
2. The mold lines are indistinct and hard to cut to.
3. The edges are thin so there's not much glue surface.
4. Static causes plastic dust and shavings to stick to everything.
5. If you screw up, you're screwed.
 
That said, the cowling parts were fairly heavy and well formed. You can see some photos of the molded parts on the first page of this blog. I cut the parts very carefully with an X-acto blade, sanded them, and glued them with CA for plastic. The long joints have thin reinforcement strips on the inside. I cut additional holes for the air intake and exhaust headers. There are several more holes to cut, panel lines to incise, and a few cast resin parts to add before I can paint the cowlings.
 
But it's sure starting to look cool!

Back from Vacation and Back to Work
 
My wife and I spent a wonderful month in Sanibel, Florida. The weather was perfect. We walked on the beach and I swam in the pool almost every day. We went on a lot of bird walks and saw hundreds of egrets, herons, anhingas, and ospreys, plus kingfishers, roseate spoonbills, and a pileated woodpecker. My sons and I built sand sculptures of a sea serpent and Han Solo encased in carbonite. I took supplies to build a stained glass glass lamp and finished 2 of 5 segments of a Tiffany peacock lamp.
 
We returned to the Ohio winter on March 2, so I have been working on my hydroplane since then. I sanded the mahogany planking, hammered several hundred headless brass nails, and finished it with two coats of Watco natural oil and a whole can of clear lacquer.
 

Here's a look at the finished hull,
 

and here's a closeup of the brass nails. I put a nail in every plank along every bulkhead, then filled in every other space in each direction. Every nail hole was pre-drilled, the nails were hammered in almost flush, then filed and sanded.
 

The bottom and sides of the sponsons have aluminum reinforcement plates attached with a lot more headed brass nails.
 

Here's a closeup of the aluminum plates.
 

The back of the sponsons have some drain plugs, access ports, and exhaust manifolds made from photo etched aluminum and cast metal. Here are the port and starboard sides respectively.
 
 
 

Ferrari V12 Engine Kit Information
 
Keith, I regret that I don't have any scale information about the Arno besides the drawings included with the kit. That is probably enough for my purposes but please let me know if you come across anything else.
 
On the first page of this blog Shamrock posted a photo of the 1/8 scale engine kit of the Ferrari V12 Engine and a link to company that sells it:
http://shop.autographmodel.com/L-P-1-8-motor-kit-Arno-Hydroplane-Ferrari-Engine
 
The engine kit is priced out of my league at 900 €, and is currently unavailable. It seems to be incredibly detailed. Check out the photos on the site and download the 28 page instruction manual (in Italian.) The engine kit is not made by Amati nor designed to work with the Amati hull, it just happens to be the right scale.
 
Here is a thread on the Hydroplane & Raceboat museum web site with four photos of a completed Amati kit with the engine installed:
http://thunderboats.ning.com/forum/topics/construction-methods-and
 
The model is magnificent, but the builder, Pete Groves, commented that he would not do it again and that it might have been easier to built a real boat.
 
One photo shows some interior framing of the model where Groves has added maybe three times as many formers as the Amati kit. This corresponds to the nail spacing show on the Amati box.  I assume that this is the scale spacing.
 
Another photo shows the nearly completed model sitting on a scale stand, like the one shown on page 2 of this blog and in the photo below.
 

 
I love the look of the boat on the red stand and plan to build one by scaling it off of the photo above.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ferrari V12 Engine Kit Information
 
Keith, I regret that I don't have any scale information about the Arno besides the drawings included with the kit. That is probably enough for my purposes but please let me know if you come across anything else.
 
On the first page of this blog Shamrock posted a photo of the 1/8 scale engine kit of the Ferrari V12 Engine and a link to company that sells it:
http://shop.autographmodel.com/L-P-1-8-motor-kit-Arno-Hydroplane-Ferrari-Engine
 
The engine kit is priced out of my league at 900 €, and is currently unavailable. It seems to be incredibly detailed. Check out the photos on the site and download the 28 page instruction manual (in Italian.) The engine kit is not made by Amati nor designed to work with the Amati hull, it just happens to be the right scale.
 
Here is a thread on the Hydroplane & Raceboat museum web site with four photos of a completed Amati kit with the engine installed:
http://thunderboats.ning.com/forum/topics/construction-methods-and
 
The model is magnificent, but the builder, Pete Groves, commented that he would not do it again and that it might have been easier to built a real boat.
 
One photo shows some interior framing of the model where Groves has added maybe three times as many formers as the Amati kit. This corresponds to the nail spacing show on the Amati box.  I assume that this is the scale spacing.
 
Another photo shows the nearly completed model sitting on a scale stand, like the one shown on page 2 of this blog and in the photo below.
 

 
I love the look of the boat on the red stand and plan to build one by scaling it off of the photo above.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Back from Vacation and Back to Work
 
My wife and I spent a wonderful month in Sanibel, Florida. The weather was perfect. We walked on the beach and I swam in the pool almost every day. We went on a lot of bird walks and saw hundreds of egrets, herons, anhingas, and ospreys, plus kingfishers, roseate spoonbills, and a pileated woodpecker. My sons and I built sand sculptures of a sea serpent and Han Solo encased in carbonite. I took supplies to build a stained glass glass lamp and finished 2 of 5 segments of a Tiffany peacock lamp.
 
We returned to the Ohio winter on March 2, so I have been working on my hydroplane since then. I sanded the mahogany planking, hammered several hundred headless brass nails, and finished it with two coats of Watco natural oil and a whole can of clear lacquer.
 

Here's a look at the finished hull,
 

and here's a closeup of the brass nails. I put a nail in every plank along every bulkhead, then filled in every other space in each direction. Every nail hole was pre-drilled, the nails were hammered in almost flush, then filed and sanded.
 

The bottom and sides of the sponsons have aluminum reinforcement plates attached with a lot more headed brass nails.
 

Here's a closeup of the aluminum plates.
 

The back of the sponsons have some drain plugs, access ports, and exhaust manifolds made from photo etched aluminum and cast metal. Here are the port and starboard sides respectively.
 
 
 

Does Anyone Else Hate Vacuum Formed Parts as Much as I Do?
day 57, 101 hours
 

I jumped a little ahead and started to build the fore and aft cowlings, The parts are made from vacuum formed polystyrene plastic. I always cringe when I open a kit and see vacuumed formed parts, for the following reasons:
1. They tend to be flimsy.
2. The mold lines are indistinct and hard to cut to.
3. The edges are thin so there's not much glue surface.
4. Static causes plastic dust and shavings to stick to everything.
5. If you screw up, you're screwed.
 
That said, the cowling parts were fairly heavy and well formed. You can see some photos of the molded parts on the first page of this blog. I cut the parts very carefully with an X-acto blade, sanded them, and glued them with CA for plastic. The long joints have thin reinforcement strips on the inside. I cut additional holes for the air intake and exhaust headers. There are several more holes to cut, panel lines to incise, and a few cast resin parts to add before I can paint the cowlings.
 
But it's sure starting to look cool!

Ferrari V12 Engine Kit Information
 
Keith, I regret that I don't have any scale information about the Arno besides the drawings included with the kit. That is probably enough for my purposes but please let me know if you come across anything else.
 
On the first page of this blog Shamrock posted a photo of the 1/8 scale engine kit of the Ferrari V12 Engine and a link to company that sells it:
http://shop.autographmodel.com/L-P-1-8-motor-kit-Arno-Hydroplane-Ferrari-Engine
 
The engine kit is priced out of my league at 900 €, and is currently unavailable. It seems to be incredibly detailed. Check out the photos on the site and download the 28 page instruction manual (in Italian.) The engine kit is not made by Amati nor designed to work with the Amati hull, it just happens to be the right scale.
 
Here is a thread on the Hydroplane & Raceboat museum web site with four photos of a completed Amati kit with the engine installed:
http://thunderboats.ning.com/forum/topics/construction-methods-and
 
The model is magnificent, but the builder, Pete Groves, commented that he would not do it again and that it might have been easier to built a real boat.
 
One photo shows some interior framing of the model where Groves has added maybe three times as many formers as the Amati kit. This corresponds to the nail spacing show on the Amati box.  I assume that this is the scale spacing.
 
Another photo shows the nearly completed model sitting on a scale stand, like the one shown on page 2 of this blog and in the photo below.
 

 
I love the look of the boat on the red stand and plan to build one by scaling it off of the photo above.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ferrari V12 Engine Kit Information
 
Keith, I regret that I don't have any scale information about the Arno besides the drawings included with the kit. That is probably enough for my purposes but please let me know if you come across anything else.
 
On the first page of this blog Shamrock posted a photo of the 1/8 scale engine kit of the Ferrari V12 Engine and a link to company that sells it:
http://shop.autographmodel.com/L-P-1-8-motor-kit-Arno-Hydroplane-Ferrari-Engine
 
The engine kit is priced out of my league at 900 €, and is currently unavailable. It seems to be incredibly detailed. Check out the photos on the site and download the 28 page instruction manual (in Italian.) The engine kit is not made by Amati nor designed to work with the Amati hull, it just happens to be the right scale.
 
Here is a thread on the Hydroplane & Raceboat museum web site with four photos of a completed Amati kit with the engine installed:
http://thunderboats.ning.com/forum/topics/construction-methods-and
 
The model is magnificent, but the builder, Pete Groves, commented that he would not do it again and that it might have been easier to built a real boat.
 
One photo shows some interior framing of the model where Groves has added maybe three times as many formers as the Amati kit. This corresponds to the nail spacing show on the Amati box.  I assume that this is the scale spacing.
 
Another photo shows the nearly completed model sitting on a scale stand, like the one shown on page 2 of this blog and in the photo below.
 

 
I love the look of the boat on the red stand and plan to build one by scaling it off of the photo above.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Back from Vacation and Back to Work
 
My wife and I spent a wonderful month in Sanibel, Florida. The weather was perfect. We walked on the beach and I swam in the pool almost every day. We went on a lot of bird walks and saw hundreds of egrets, herons, anhingas, and ospreys, plus kingfishers, roseate spoonbills, and a pileated woodpecker. My sons and I built sand sculptures of a sea serpent and Han Solo encased in carbonite. I took supplies to build a stained glass glass lamp and finished 2 of 5 segments of a Tiffany peacock lamp.
 
We returned to the Ohio winter on March 2, so I have been working on my hydroplane since then. I sanded the mahogany planking, hammered several hundred headless brass nails, and finished it with two coats of Watco natural oil and a whole can of clear lacquer.
 

Here's a look at the finished hull,
 

and here's a closeup of the brass nails. I put a nail in every plank along every bulkhead, then filled in every other space in each direction. Every nail hole was pre-drilled, the nails were hammered in almost flush, then filed and sanded.
 

The bottom and sides of the sponsons have aluminum reinforcement plates attached with a lot more headed brass nails.
 

Here's a closeup of the aluminum plates.
 

The back of the sponsons have some drain plugs, access ports, and exhaust manifolds made from photo etched aluminum and cast metal. Here are the port and starboard sides respectively.
 
 
 

Does Anyone Else Hate Vacuum Formed Parts as Much as I Do?
day 57, 101 hours
 

I jumped a little ahead and started to build the fore and aft cowlings, The parts are made from vacuum formed polystyrene plastic. I always cringe when I open a kit and see vacuumed formed parts, for the following reasons:
1. They tend to be flimsy.
2. The mold lines are indistinct and hard to cut to.
3. The edges are thin so there's not much glue surface.
4. Static causes plastic dust and shavings to stick to everything.
5. If you screw up, you're screwed.
 
That said, the cowling parts were fairly heavy and well formed. You can see some photos of the molded parts on the first page of this blog. I cut the parts very carefully with an X-acto blade, sanded them, and glued them with CA for plastic. The long joints have thin reinforcement strips on the inside. I cut additional holes for the air intake and exhaust headers. There are several more holes to cut, panel lines to incise, and a few cast resin parts to add before I can paint the cowlings.
 
But it's sure starting to look cool!

Back from Vacation and Back to Work
 
My wife and I spent a wonderful month in Sanibel, Florida. The weather was perfect. We walked on the beach and I swam in the pool almost every day. We went on a lot of bird walks and saw hundreds of egrets, herons, anhingas, and ospreys, plus kingfishers, roseate spoonbills, and a pileated woodpecker. My sons and I built sand sculptures of a sea serpent and Han Solo encased in carbonite. I took supplies to build a stained glass glass lamp and finished 2 of 5 segments of a Tiffany peacock lamp.
 
We returned to the Ohio winter on March 2, so I have been working on my hydroplane since then. I sanded the mahogany planking, hammered several hundred headless brass nails, and finished it with two coats of Watco natural oil and a whole can of clear lacquer.
 

Here's a look at the finished hull,
 

and here's a closeup of the brass nails. I put a nail in every plank along every bulkhead, then filled in every other space in each direction. Every nail hole was pre-drilled, the nails were hammered in almost flush, then filed and sanded.
 

The bottom and sides of the sponsons have aluminum reinforcement plates attached with a lot more headed brass nails.
 

Here's a closeup of the aluminum plates.
 

The back of the sponsons have some drain plugs, access ports, and exhaust manifolds made from photo etched aluminum and cast metal. Here are the port and starboard sides respectively.
 
 
 

Back from Vacation and Back to Work
 
My wife and I spent a wonderful month in Sanibel, Florida. The weather was perfect. We walked on the beach and I swam in the pool almost every day. We went on a lot of bird walks and saw hundreds of egrets, herons, anhingas, and ospreys, plus kingfishers, roseate spoonbills, and a pileated woodpecker. My sons and I built sand sculptures of a sea serpent and Han Solo encased in carbonite. I took supplies to build a stained glass glass lamp and finished 2 of 5 segments of a Tiffany peacock lamp.
 
We returned to the Ohio winter on March 2, so I have been working on my hydroplane since then. I sanded the mahogany planking, hammered several hundred headless brass nails, and finished it with two coats of Watco natural oil and a whole can of clear lacquer.
 

Here's a look at the finished hull,
 

and here's a closeup of the brass nails. I put a nail in every plank along every bulkhead, then filled in every other space in each direction. Every nail hole was pre-drilled, the nails were hammered in almost flush, then filed and sanded.
 

The bottom and sides of the sponsons have aluminum reinforcement plates attached with a lot more headed brass nails.
 

Here's a closeup of the aluminum plates.
 

The back of the sponsons have some drain plugs, access ports, and exhaust manifolds made from photo etched aluminum and cast metal. Here are the port and starboard sides respectively.
 
 
 

Does Anyone Else Hate Vacuum Formed Parts as Much as I Do?
day 57, 101 hours
 

I jumped a little ahead and started to build the fore and aft cowlings, The parts are made from vacuum formed polystyrene plastic. I always cringe when I open a kit and see vacuumed formed parts, for the following reasons:
1. They tend to be flimsy.
2. The mold lines are indistinct and hard to cut to.
3. The edges are thin so there's not much glue surface.
4. Static causes plastic dust and shavings to stick to everything.
5. If you screw up, you're screwed.
 
That said, the cowling parts were fairly heavy and well formed. You can see some photos of the molded parts on the first page of this blog. I cut the parts very carefully with an X-acto blade, sanded them, and glued them with CA for plastic. The long joints have thin reinforcement strips on the inside. I cut additional holes for the air intake and exhaust headers. There are several more holes to cut, panel lines to incise, and a few cast resin parts to add before I can paint the cowlings.
 
But it's sure starting to look cool!

Time for a short update.
 
The stern post and previously scribed hull moldings were added:
 

 
Work on the transom has begun:
 

 
Here you can see that a double layer of 1/8 x 1/16 " planks had been laid on the transom wings.  The entire transom was then thinned (on the inside) to an overall thickness of 3/16".  This was a bit tricky but (once again) the pencil sander did most of the work:
 

 
We'll now begin to add the quarter galleries.
 
 
 
 

Does Anyone Else Hate Vacuum Formed Parts as Much as I Do?
day 57, 101 hours
 

I jumped a little ahead and started to build the fore and aft cowlings, The parts are made from vacuum formed polystyrene plastic. I always cringe when I open a kit and see vacuumed formed parts, for the following reasons:
1. They tend to be flimsy.
2. The mold lines are indistinct and hard to cut to.
3. The edges are thin so there's not much glue surface.
4. Static causes plastic dust and shavings to stick to everything.
5. If you screw up, you're screwed.
 
That said, the cowling parts were fairly heavy and well formed. You can see some photos of the molded parts on the first page of this blog. I cut the parts very carefully with an X-acto blade, sanded them, and glued them with CA for plastic. The long joints have thin reinforcement strips on the inside. I cut additional holes for the air intake and exhaust headers. There are several more holes to cut, panel lines to incise, and a few cast resin parts to add before I can paint the cowlings.
 
But it's sure starting to look cool!

USS Syren vs. the Diamond Princess
 

Approximtely to scale.  They just don't make ships like they used to.
 
Posted from Ketchikan, Alaska. My cabin is on deck 10 of 15.

Details from Above
 

Fore top. Weren't they from Motown?
 

Main top.
 

Gull's eye view of the Syren.
 

 
 

And that's where I left off before the site went down. Since then I have built a rudder, sweep port lids, gun port doors, and a temporary base. I am now working on the head rails, which are impossibly small to carve.
 

6 weeks, 125 man-hours

Hull Planking Complete, day 16, 67 hours
 


I decided to plank the top and sides of the hull with mahogany strips. I cut the strips roughly to length, soaked them briefly in water, and glued them with medium CA. The water makes the CA set up quickly. I only glued my fingers to just about every plank.
 
 

Unfortunately the kit did not have quite enough planks, so I visited my favorite local Woodcraft store. They had a sheet of 1/16" mahogany that I ripped into planks on my bandsaw. You can see a slight color difference on the outer few planks of the sponsons.
 
The nails are purely decorative. They were added after the the hull was planked, filled, and sanded. I marked nail locations along each bulkhead at the center of each plank. I had to drill holes for each nail to avoid splitting the mahogany. The drill was a couple thousands of an inch smaller than the nails, so the tails went in easily. I tapped the nails flush, and cleaned up with sandpaper. I still have a lot of nails to add on the back of the hull.
 

The instructions don't mention the bottom of the hull. I think you're supposed to just use the thin plywood bottom, but I knew it would look bad where I sanded through the top ply layers. So I visited my favorite local Woodcraft store again and bought a roll of flat mahogany veneer with a pressure-sensitive adhesive backing. I had to buy a roll 1' wide x 8' long for $45, but it turned out to be a good choice. It cut easily with a knife, stuck on perfectly, and looks beautiful.
 
Any suggestions for finishes?
I haven't decided what finish to use yet. I'll probably start with Watco oil to bring out the color, but I'm don't know what to use after that. Does anyone know about spar varnish? That's probably what was used on the real boat so it seems like a good choice, although I would prefer to use something available in a spray.
 
 

Vacation Time
We are leaving for a month on Sanibel Island off the Gulf coast of Florida. We are driving and I was tempted to take my model along, but I knew that the first thing I tried to do would require some tool that I didn't bring. So the hydroplane will have to wait for a few weeks, but l will keep an eye on MSW.
 

We've never left for the winter before, but this morning it was -8 F (-22 C) here, and Eskimos have taken up residence in our driveway. It is currently 81 F (27 C) in Sanibel.

Hull Planking Complete, day 16, 67 hours
 


I decided to plank the top and sides of the hull with mahogany strips. I cut the strips roughly to length, soaked them briefly in water, and glued them with medium CA. The water makes the CA set up quickly. I only glued my fingers to just about every plank.
 
 

Unfortunately the kit did not have quite enough planks, so I visited my favorite local Woodcraft store. They had a sheet of 1/16" mahogany that I ripped into planks on my bandsaw. You can see a slight color difference on the outer few planks of the sponsons.
 
The nails are purely decorative. They were added after the the hull was planked, filled, and sanded. I marked nail locations along each bulkhead at the center of each plank. I had to drill holes for each nail to avoid splitting the mahogany. The drill was a couple thousands of an inch smaller than the nails, so the tails went in easily. I tapped the nails flush, and cleaned up with sandpaper. I still have a lot of nails to add on the back of the hull.
 

The instructions don't mention the bottom of the hull. I think you're supposed to just use the thin plywood bottom, but I knew it would look bad where I sanded through the top ply layers. So I visited my favorite local Woodcraft store again and bought a roll of flat mahogany veneer with a pressure-sensitive adhesive backing. I had to buy a roll 1' wide x 8' long for $45, but it turned out to be a good choice. It cut easily with a knife, stuck on perfectly, and looks beautiful.
 
Any suggestions for finishes?
I haven't decided what finish to use yet. I'll probably start with Watco oil to bring out the color, but I'm don't know what to use after that. Does anyone know about spar varnish? That's probably what was used on the real boat so it seems like a good choice, although I would prefer to use something available in a spray.