rvchima

Hi Augie,
I look in ocasionally and am always inspired by your work. Happy Holidays!
Rod

Longboat completed
 

13 weeks, 255 man-hours
 
The longboat took about 1.5 times longer than it should have because of two major mistakes. I mentioned my first mistake in my last post - I sanded through the hull. It patched up OK with wood filler but the stain was blotchy. My second mistake was to try to line up the ribs by eye. I measured carefully but the result looked terrible, as shown below. I ended up starting a new longboat from scratch. This time I held it up to the light periodically as I sanded. When I could see light through the wood I knew it was time to stop.
 

Left: What happens when you sand through the hull, then try to line up the ribs by eye.
Right: New hull with ribs aligned with a jig.
 

How I aligned the ribs
First I eliminated the center keel strip. You can't see it under the floorboards anyway. Then I used a 1/8" nylon cable tie to align each rib parallel to the last. I used spring clamps to hold the cable tie. CA glue barely sticks to the nylon. The second hull looked SO much better than the first that I'm glad I started over.
 

The longboat took 27 man-hours to build but it's one of the best tiny models that I've ever built. Maybe I'm finally getting the hang of this precision work.
 

I did start on the bowsprit. Only a few hours of work so far, but it makes a big difference in the look of the ship.
 

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.
 
 

Lol! I can't get anything past you guys. I can't remember where I got that 13" penny, but you have to admit, it's still a challenge to make a knife when your hands are nearly 11 feet long! 
 

After not posting anything for several weeks here is a brief update about my head rail efforts:
First I ended up not really liking the middle rails shown in the last images, so I finally tore them down. The major reason for that was that the part which was mounted directly on the wall of the ship turned out to be too short and as a consequence the shape of the head timbers would go from concave to convex.  Then I tried to figure out which method of building the head timbers would lead to some decent looking results. I tried the method mentioned by Chuck in the head rail design of the Confederacy as there the head timbers do not consist out of 2 parts each but just one continuous piece. However, the Syren plans do not show any head timber profiles, so that method ended up with too many “degrees of freedom”.  I finally went with the method described in the Syren instructions. With this method one of the challenges consists in generating the perception that each head timber, although constructed out of 2 parts, looks like it is made out of one continuous piece of wood. As I was not quite sure whether I ultimately would get acceptable results I finished middle rail and head timbers just on one side. So the good news is I have finished half of the head timbers. The bad news is I still have to do the other half. 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Thank you very much for your nice compliments and positive feed back. They are greatly appreciated! And Bob, you are absolutely right, it was a "WOW" moment when I realized that I was finished with the head timbers! 
 
Dirk, I am adding a top view and a side view image. I hope this is what you wanted.
 
Thomas
 
 

Top view
 
 

Side view

The bulk of the heavy lifting on the stern and quarter galleries has been completed.  Here are a few different angles:
 

 
The photo etched garlands and metal castings were finished with Model Master 'Wood' color (never claimed to have much imagination) then given a coat of clear flat acrylic.  We've already discussed the glazing.
 

 

 

 
And now for the classic CONFEDERACY shot: 
 

 
Have a few things to add to complete the stern.  Neptune (he's at about 11 o'clock) needs his Trident, the gun ports need hinges, eyebolts and lanyards and there's a little touching up to carry out (one or 2 stern lights needs 'caulking').  That will all wait until I get the rudder and it's fittings mounted.
 
I have to fess up and admit I didn't think I'd get it to come out as well as it did.  But thanks to Chuck's design and a little care with all the alignment going back to the stern framing I feel pretty good about the way she looks at this point.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The rudder, gudgeons and pintels have been installed.  We'll be adding some additional photoetched details to the hull next, including the sweep port hinges.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Having just logged the 500th hour in the build log, it's time for a small update.
 
A portion of the photoetched parts for the outer hull have been added.  The first photo shows them blackened and ready to deploy:
 

 
For the blackening, I use the process described throughout MSW.  Specifically, the trimmed parts are degreased by bathing in acetone for about 10 minutes followed by an 'etching' in a household vinegar bath for about the same time.  They are then soaked in a bath of 50% 'Blacken-it' for 5-15 minutes, rinsed thoroughly then dried.  Before gluing (using either CA or epoxy), the surface to be glued is roughened with a 150 grit sanding block.  After the part is applied to the ship, a coat of Testors Flat Acrylic lacquer is applied.  This protects the coating and (I think) gives a nice appearance.
 
Stern gun port hinges and rings, keel fastener:
 

 
Bilge port and sweep port hinges:
 

 
Bridle port and forward keel fastener:
 

 
Finally, just an overview of where she stands: 
 

 
It is now time to bid a fond farewell to the outer hull for the time being.  There is still much to be done but we will now turn our attention to the innermost details of the ship.  But first, a short break in the shipyard to acknowledge the arrival of good weather, tend to the garden and (long delayed) Spring cleaning. 
 
Everyone stay the course and be well!
 
 

I just discovered that a lot of the images had disappeared from the first two pages of my log. I re-uploaded them and think they are all back to normal. Please let me know if I missed any.
 
Rod

Thank you to everyone for their generous compliments about my model of the Arno XI Ferrari hydroplane. And thanks to KeithW for the information about Bare Metal Foil. I will remember that for the next model.
 
I fell in love with the Ferrari when I first saw an ad for the model. I was worried about the high cost of the Amati kit and couldn't find much information about it, but I took a chance anyway. The kit turned out to be very high quality, although the instructions were minimal - just drawings of each step of the build and a few pages of English text.The kit was a lot of fun to build and the finished model is beautiful. I highly recommend the model if anyone is interested. Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.
 
Rod Chima

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.
 
 

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.
 
 

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.
 
 

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.
 
 

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.
 
 

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.