Lightning Sailboat by Andrew J. - Dumas - Scale 1:12

[Andrew J.]

Hello, all. I have been a member here for almost a year now, but this will be my first build log. I normally build model cars, but it's been a good 2 1/2 years since I finished one, although I have started many since then. I thought maybe it was time to just try something completely different. I have always loved working with wood, so I thought I'd take a whack at this. This is my second wooden boat, the first being the Midwest Sakonnet Daysailer.

The Lightning has some significance to me, not really personally, as I have never been in one, but I work at the Skaneateles Country Club, where the first Lightning was launched in 1938. My end goal is to have it displayed in the club dining room and replace the tired old Revell 1:96 Cutty Sark that has resided there for many years and has a great many broken pieces and tangled, dusty rigging.

My plan is to paint the sides red, the bottom blue, with a white stripe at the water line to mimic the flag in the club's logo. I will leave the deck natural with a satin finish.

So far I think this kit is fantastic and I'm surprised it doesn't have more of an online presence. This will be the first build log of it on this site as far as I know. It has pretty standard basswood and balsa framing with mahogany veneer for the hull and deck. The new instructions, revised in 2009, I think, are superb and come with excellent diagrams for every step, much like a Midwest kit. It's made to be sailed, so the rigging is designed to be functional, the drawback being that it is very simple. I hope to find somebody at the club who will provide me with detailed instructions on how to rig a real Lightning, and then I can buy aftermarket blocks and cleats and rope and such. I will also need to make more accurate sails, as the kit comes with pre-made nylon sails that look awful. Any suggestions on material that would suitable in this scale would be much appreciated!

If any of you out there have ever built one of these, please feel free to post a picture, and everybody please leave comments and suggestions, as I know I have much to learn from all of you

Edited October 28, 2015 by Andrew J.

[wlell]

Back in the fifties, I watched these beautiful boats sail in regattas at Ocean City, NJ. I will enjoy following your log and may try building one myself for a change of pace since I am bogged down trying to finish a Pocher Mercedes. Looks like you are off to a good start. I found a lot of rigging plans on the internet but having a Lightning skipper for a resource would be awesome.

All the best

Bill

Birmingham, Al

[dgbot]

Before you paint the hull I would advise sealing the hull.  The Mahogany planks may absorb the paint requiring several coats of paint.  This you do not want.

David B

[skipper1947]

Now I have a yen for Cherry Cobbler.

 

I built one of these years ago and had completely forgotten it, but your pictures bring back memories. It was a sweet little model, I think I gave it to my daughter as a gift. It has started me thinking I might like to build it again as it fits my new criteria of small but interesting kits.

 

Skip

[Andrew J.]

Thank you for the replies! I'm happy to see that there is some interest in this subject. If anybody is looking to get this kit, I highly recommend ordering it from Tower Hobbies; they have them in stock for only $48.99 right now, as opposed to the usual $60-70 that I have seen from many other stores.

What would be best for sealing the hull for painting? When I did the Sakonnet, I ended up plastering the whole thing with wood filler and then sanding it down until it was completely smooth. Should I get some actual sanding sealer, or would a couple coats of filler primer be sufficient?

[Dee_Dee]

Many years ago we owned a lightning sailboat.  While I don't remember the hull number, it was in the mid 5,000 and was built in the mid 1950's.  We moved it up to Madison, WI in the mid 70's, then my sister took it out to the San Francisco Bay in 1979.  She sold it in the mid 80's.  A four digit hull number was extremely rare in the bay area and she sold it for 3-4 times more than what we originally paid for it.     

    

The entire deck was covered with a painted canvas like material and tacked down with a 1" half round even with the deck height and nailed on the sides of the hull.  This canvas had to be replaced every few years.  I don't remember ever seeing a Lightning with a natural deck.  I'm thinking a natural finished deck would bee a bit to slick to stand on to set the spinnaker.  

 

Actually, the rigging on the Dumas model is very close to the real boat!   

-A wood mast was ~3" x 5" rectangle and tapered slightly and had a jumper strut and spreader

-Almost all main sails have 'windows' in the mainsail.

-There were turnbuckles located at the deck on the upper and lower shrouds

-The back stay was fixed, there was a way to take up any slack with the jib stay

-The mast rake was set using a series of 'T' shaped blocks- in the mast shoe / step in the bottom of the hull and on the deck

-There were floorboards in the cockpit, these varied in designed by builder.

-Seat designs varied, from one solid bench on each side, to u-shaped, full circular slats or grating benches, made from mahogany, cedar or teak.

-The cockpit was completely open under the fore and aft decks

-The main sail was attached with clips that slid on a track attached to the mast and boom. 

 

The part of the rigging that has changed significantly over the years is the main sheet and travelers.  Our Lightning had a very simple main sheet that was fixed with a cam cleat off the centerboard trunk.  The main sheet went through two small (1.5") fixed pulley blocks on the aft deck that acted as the traveler.  These pulleys changed to thread through the deck with the pulleys on the underside and the newer fiberglass Lightning's have high tech rigging.  Cam cleats were also used on the jib sheets.       

 

What I remember most about our Lightning was the rudder.  It was solid mahogany with a high gloss varnish finish and needed to be refinished every winter.  It was stored in a custom made quilted canvas bag.  

 

When you decide what year your Lightning was built, you can find hundreds of photos on the web showing how the main sheet / traveler were rigged.  

[dgbot]

A nice bit of useful info and history about an interesting vessel.

David 

[wlell]

I use Zinsser Bulls Eye Sealcoat with good results.

Bill

[Andrew J.]

Thank you Dee_Dee for your valuable first-hand information. I am now rethinking the deck and will probably paint it a flat tan or something. Now I can leave the rub rail, coaming, cockpit trim, and seats natural mahogany and they will stand out more.I will also leave the transom natural, as that seems to be fairly common, and I will try to scratch my own rudder out of the mahogany scraps.

I would like to try to replicate one of the earliest boats, so I will research as much as I can about how they were originally rigged.

 

Thank you for the recommendation, wlell. I just looked it up and read many great reviews, so I'll pick some up as soon as I can.

 

Anyway, she has a deck now. It comes in two halves and I think I did a pretty good of matching them up so there is barely a seam. Not that it matters, since I'll be smoothing it out and painting it anyway, but I'm still proud of my craftsmanship.

 

 

I must have done something right because she balances nicely while sitting on a flat surface.

[dgbot]

Looking good Andrew and you are working with the old adage "You never have enough clamps."

David B

[Andrew J.]

I couldn't agree more. There are never enough clamps! Last week when I was putting one of the sides on, I had to hold a part of it against one of the frames with my own hand for 40 minutes. When it comes to funny angles and having to use only the perfect amount of force, I think there is no better clamp than the human hand. Unfortunately, it gets tired very quickly. Fortunately, it gets numb shortly thereafter! I do plan to get a couple more different kinds of clamps before my next build, though.

[pete48]

Hello Andrew, Very cool Boat, in the early 90's I built a full-size version, it's nice to see more modern small sailing craft being built. She's looking good. Nice work

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[Andrew J.]

I don't suppose there's any chance you still have the plans for that, would you? I would love to attempt to scratch-build another one of these in the same scale using the real plans.

[pete48]

Hello Andrew, unfortunately I do not have the plans anymore. ( along with a few other sets of plans that I wish I still had ) However they can be easily obtained thru the Lightning association

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[Andrew J.]

Well, I suppose you could say they're easy to obtain, but they cost $150, $100 of which are just for the registration of the hull number. It seems you can't buy just the plans without paying for the registration. I'm going to ask around at the country club to see if anybody there still has any laying around.

Edited October 15, 2015 by Andrew J.

[Dee_Dee]

Builders like Sparkman & Stephens charge a premium for their plans.  You can buy the plans only (no hull number) directly from the ILCA for $50.   FWIW, there's a lot of info and photos on the web to draw your own plans.      

[Andrew J.]

Do you mean the plans for rebuilding an existing numbered lightning? When I first saw that option I figured it would be less detailed because they are for, as stated, rebuilding a boat that already exists, rather than building one up from scratch. Is my thinking incorrect? Are they, in fact, the exact same plans?

[Dee_Dee]

No, I'm referring to plans to build a new lightning.  

 

[Andrew J.]

I don't mean to sound argumentative and I hope you don't think me somewhat dense, but I see no option to buy the plans without paying for the number. When I click 'add to cart', it comes up as one total of $150. There seems to be no way to buy one without the other.

Anyway, I have gotten this thread off-topic.

I have installed the keel strip and cut the center board slot. The thickness of the kit-provided center board is comically out of scale, so I'll be heading to my local hobby shop to pick up a piece of aluminum sheet to make a new one.

To fill small gaps, such as that which remained between the hull and the keel strip, I am using Elmer's 'color change' wood filler. It's extremely fine, dries very quickly, and is very easy to sand. It starts out purple and turns white when it's dry, so once it's all white, you know it's dry enough to sand. Fantastic stuff; I highly recommend it.

Edited October 16, 2015 by Andrew J.

[wlell]

Andrew J

Have you decided how you will mount the Lightning for display? I would think the deep centerboard might raise some issues which are best sorted out sooner than later.

She sure looks great so far.

Bill

Birmingham, Alabama

[Andrew J.]

The display issue has come up in my mind several times. I'm not sure exactly what it will look like, but it will probably be some sort of fitted cradle. The keel strip sticks down far enough to fit into a notch and keep it stable. I'm not sure if I want to permanently mount it to the stand, but I definitely know that I don't want to mount it on straight posts or drill holes in the hull.

[Andrew J.]

I made my aluminum center board today. I'm actually not quite sure why I decided to use aluminum. Maybe I read about somebody else doing it. I probably should have just used a sheet of styrene. I even considered scrapping the aluminum and switching at many points along the way, but I kept going. After lots of grinding and filing and sanding I eventually came up with this. I've never really done anything with metal before, so I'm quite pleased with how it came out. Hopefully a couple coats of etching and filling primer will cover up the few small dings that still remain.

Edited October 19, 2015 by Andrew J.

[Andrew J.]

Here's a quick mock-up with the CB in place. It's starting to look like a proper Lightning now!

[wlell]

I like your centerboard. I am sure most prototypes had dings and scratches. You might want to consider using two thin brass rod on either side of the CB to mount the Lightning similar to what I did on my Longboat.

 

[dgbot]

A real beauty nice and sleek.

David B

[Andrew J.]

I like your centerboard. I am sure most prototypes had dings and scratches. You might want to consider using two thin brass rod on either side of the CB to mount the Lightning similar to what I did on my Longboat.

Even though I said I don't want to use straight posts, your longboat display just might change my mind. Most of the ones I've seen are too thick and visually distracting, but yours is very tastefully done. Is it quite stable? How far into the hull do the rods go? Mine is [hopefully] going to be displayed in a high-traffic area near the dining room entrance, and will be dusted and cleaned around frequently.

[Andrew J.]

I made and installed the skeg today. It was supposed to be 1/8" balsa, from the same sheet as the frames, but that was both way too flimsy and wildly out of scale. In scale works out to 1/16", so I just used a scrap of mahogany, which is considerably more rigid.

The rudder also works out to 1/16", but will need to be made of plywood since it is much bigger. Any suggestions for favorite places to buy 1/16" plywood? From what I've gathered, birch is the most common, but I haven't yet found a good place to get a small piece for a reasonable amount.

Anyway, to install the skeg, I carved a small groove in the keel to make sure it's securely attached.

Edited October 21, 2015 by Andrew J.

[dgbot]

Are you near a Hobby Lobby.  The one near me carries Midwest Products and the last time I was in I saw some.

David B

[wlell]

You wrote: Is it quite stable? How far into the hull do the rods go? Mine is [hopefully] going to be displayed in a high-traffic area near the dining room entrance, and will be dusted and cleaned around frequently.

 

It is quite stable. Because the longboat is not very heavy, the rods need only extend about 5 mm into the keel. Since your Lightning will be displayed in a high traffic area I would strongly recommend a display case to protect your beautiful model.

She really is sleek. I cannot wait to see more pictures. Thank you for sharing.

Bill

Birmingham, AL

[S.Coleman]

A fine display of woodworking on this model. Looks super cool. Everything seems to be neat, clean and well constructed.