Altair 1931 by KeithAug - FINISHED - Scale 1:32 - schooner

[GuntherMT]

Hello Keith,

 

Found this log yesterday, and finished catching up to the end just now.  What a beautiful boat, and you are doing a fantastic job on her so far.  Lovely.

 

Question - where did you source the plans?  Your first post mentions who made them, but where would someone go to find plans like this?

Edited June 30, 2016 by GuntherMT

[KeithAug]

Hello Brian

 

The plans were bought from Cornwall Model Boats. www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk. They sell a wide range of model boat plans and ship worldwide.

 

Thank you for the positive comments.

Edited June 30, 2016 by KeithAug

[KeithAug]

I am nearing completion of the hull second planking so a few photos to show progress. By this stage all the remaining planks are parallel so the job is becoming much easier. You can see that I have had to add a couple of wedge pieces to fill out the back of the keel.

 

 

I have started looking for fill in jobs while the glue dries on the last plank. Here I have planked the stern.

 

 

I have also started doing a bit of rough sanding to get the hull planks smooth.

 

 

I also sanded the stem ready to lay up the longitudinal planks from which stem profile is shaped.

 

 

Only about 8 planks to go before the hull planking is complete.

[KeithAug]

For a while I have been thinking about giving Altair a nose and today was the big day. But first of all a photo of the real thing.

 

 

Also worth noting how the stem planks run along the keel.

 

 

I had already bored a 10mm hole through the "stub" nose and I needed the holes in the stub nose and the nose to align perfectly. So I took an off-cut of mahogany, cut the correct angle to mach the stub nose and bored a 10mm hole. the photo shows the block in place with a steel bar to give the hole alignment.

 

 

I then cut away the excess with a saw and disc sander and glued it in place.

 

 

The nose was then sanded to blend with the hull.

 

 

I also made a start on the keel planks and finished shaping the nose.

 

 

The hull is starting to look satisfyingly sleek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mtaylor]

Nice work, Keith. She is looking sleeker with every update.

Edited July 2, 2016 by mtaylor

[KeithAug]

Thank you Mark.

 

A couple of bits of minor progress before returning to house repairs for a while.

 

Planking around the hole where the prop shaft exits the hull was always going to be a bit tricky and I wanted to get it right. Some very gentle filing with a circular metal file was necessary but it turned out well.

 

 

I also thought I needed a profile gauge for getting the bulb of the keel correctly shaped. I drilled a series of different sized holes in a scrap of ply and slit through the centre. 

 

 

Here are the jobs for the next few weeks:-

 

Daughters flat:-

 

Rebuild the steps down to the kitchen.

Replace skirting boards in 2nd bedroom, prepare for painting and paint.

Prepare hall for painting and paint.

Replace ceiling lights and light switches.

Lift floor coverings in preparation for replacement.

 

Home.

 

Dig and install a new land drain to protect annex from water ingress.

Treat all woodwork with preservative.

Replace joists and floorboards in ground floor.

Lay new bamboo floor.

 

Sons house.

 

Replaster damp damaged areas in second bedroom.

Redecorate.

 

I sometimes wonder why I retired. I have gone from a reasonably well paid job in industry to become a jobbing builder!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

[wyz]

Altair is coming along REAL NICE Keith!  The planking and the nose turned out great.  I look forward to seeing more.  How do you intend on finishing the planking?  It would be a shame to cover up such gorgeous work with paint.  Do you plan to leave one side showing that beautiful planking job?

 

As for doing jobs around the house(s), well, I can certainly relate.  For the last six months I've been up to my eyeballs in domestic projects, and like you many of them not even in my own home.  Count your blessings Keith, at least you get into your shop to work on your model some.  I'm so damn busy my HMS Camilla project seems like a distant memory.

 

Tom

Edited July 5, 2016 by wyzwyk

[KeithAug]

Hello Tom

 

Thanks for the feed-back.

 

I plan to paint the plywood bulwarks, and a waterline strip in white. The hull between the bulwarks and the waterline and below the waterline will be left as mahogany - probably finished in satin poly.

 

I have to force myself to find time for Altair - usually after 10pm when my wife goes to bed.

 

Toby looks like a character!

[Julie Mo]

Thanks for suggesting I take a look at this build to help me with mine, Keith. I ended up going through every page and every photograph.  You have the patience of a saint and skills to match!  I was quickly reminded I am still in kindergarten.

 

Thank you so much for sharing and for bailing me out time and again.

 

Julie

[rwiederrich]

Wonderful work and clean progress.

 

Rob

[KeithAug]

Julie / Rob

 

Thank you for the nice comments. I really must get back to the build and do a bit of an update.

[KeithAug]

After an enforced break I have made a bit of progress.

 

The keel was laminated from .050 inch thick planks. Quite a tedious process because the keel has quite a full form. I don't think I will repeat this process on future builds where the keel is so full. The following series of photographs illustrate the process.

 

 

Holding the shape of the keel proved quite difficult and I found the best approach was to sand the planks to shape each time a layer was laid. This layer by layer approach allowed me to cut the next layer of planks to match the sanded form achieved on the previous layer.

 

The hull was then sanded firstly with 60 grit emery followed by 120 grit and finished with wire wool. I used white spirit to raise the nap before buffing with wire wool. I did this 3 times. The photographs show the hull still wet with white spirit.

 

 

Now ready for the first coat of poly (silk finish). I'm planning to thin to one part poly to one part white spirit and try wiping it on. I have not tried this before so its a bit of an experiment.

[John Allen]

Keith,

 

Cannot believe I missed the start of this build, started at page #1. No words can describe the beauty and effort that has gone into this build.

 

Planking flawless. On a scale of 1 to 10 a 15 very very nice. My hats off to the master :im Not Worthy:  :im Not Worthy:  :im Not Worthy:

[Bedford]

That hull and planking are just beautiful!

[wyz]

Kieth, that's going to be one eye-popping hull when you complete the finish on it.

 

Tom

[KeithAug]

Hello John / Bedford / Tom

 

Thanks for the feedback. Using mahogany rather than sapele has given the hull a much richer colour. The grain also looks much less course and seems to produce a much smoother sanded finish. The wood being very old (and a little brittle / hard) may may also be helping the finish. Thankfully I managed to complete the sanding without rubbing through to the 1st planking, so that is one worry out of the way.

 

I find the variation in colour of the mahogany quite interesting given that all the planks were cut from a single large plank! The variation does emphasise the individual planks which I quite like.

[Jim Lad]

She's looking really first class, Keith - well done!

 

John

[Julie Mo]

As always, beautiful job, Keith! 

 

I appreciate what you say about mahogany vs. sapele.  But sapele more often gives a chatoyance mahogany does not.  At least that's been my experience with making cabinet doors and similar projects.  But when it's cut to the thickness required for model building, it may react differently.

 

After seeing the pictures of the hull with white spirits on it, I began to wonder how wood hulls one wanted the grain to pop, would look with boiled linseed oil.  I've done a lot of projects where I use the BLO to make the grain pop, seal it with de-waxed shellac and then apply the final top coat to it.  BLO adds a bit of amber to the tone, kind of like oil-based varnish. 

 

Looking forward to your next post!  I love your work.

[michael mott]

The mahogany does look rather spiffy on the hull keith, and interesting solution for the tapering of the planks.

 

Michael

[KeithAug]

Michael / Julie

 

Thanks for the supportive comments and observations.

[KeithAug]

Finishing the hull is proving to be quite slow going as the poly is taking ages to dry. I needed a distraction so I thought I'd make a bit of progress on the deck fittings starting with the jib boom foot. The plans for this item were inadequate.

 

 

I had a look round the internet and found another jib boom foot from a different Fairlie Yacht. This wasn't the same as on Altair but it gave some guidance.

 

 

The final bit of information was gathered from a 2 second clip of a You Tube video.

 

With this scant information I started to plan out the part.

 

.

 

I started the body of the foot by boring out a 1.75 long x 0.500 inch square bar which I then bolted to a round steel bar.

The steel bar was mounted in the mill vice and the half round section was formed by end milling along the length of the workpiece and then rotating it  few degrees before repeating the cut. Multiple passes generated the half round (effectively the curve is generated from a series of flats).

 

 

The shaping of the foot was also done on the mill. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KeithAug]

Having made the foot body I needed to mill / drill the base plate. This was made from .040 inch thick brass plate, thinned to .020inch where the body was to be attached.

 

 

The 2 parts were then soldered together.

 

 

Cleats have to be added to the sides of the foot and these were milled from 0.100 inch plate.

 

 

The whole foot unit with cleats, etc attached was polished.

 

 

[KirbysLunchBox]

Wow!

[Jim Lad]

A very nice piece of metal working, Keith.

 

John

[KeithAug]

Kirby / John

 

Thank you for your positive comments. I have started work on the winch so I should have more to post in a couple of days.

[KeithAug]

I am intrigued.

 

I am now on coat 3 of the hull wipe on poly and feel I need to share an interesting observation. 

 

After sanding and wiping down the hull with white spirit I was ready to wipe on the 1st coat of satin finish poly.

 

The first coat went on and I left it to dry.

 

After 1 day the first coat was still slightly tacky so I left it. 

After 2 days it was still very slightly tacky but I decided to apply a second coat - this went on well.

After another day the 2nd coat was still tacky so I left it.

After a further day it was still slightly tacky but decided to apply a third coat - this went on well.

After a further 8 hours the 3rd coat was perfectly dry.

 

Throughout the workshop was at 20 deg c (68 deg f) and at 70% humidity. 

 

So in summary the first and second coats took over 48 hours "not" to dry and the third coat took 8 hour to fully dry. I have noticed similar situations in the past but never this extreme. It would be good to understand why this drying behaviour happens???????

[Bedford]

If you find out let me know because I hear you!

How much polishing and what did you use, to get the foot to that finish?

[KeithAug]

Hi Bedford

 

I removed the machine marks with 400 grit wet and dry and then buffed the foot on the polishing wheel for about 4 minutes. The polishing wheel was primed with fine finish polishing compound.

 

Keith

[michael mott]

Keith a beautiful job on the foot. I also liked the clear step by step sequence of photographs of your construction method.  I was surprised that such a large piece of bronze or brass was used on the original.

 

Michael

[KeithAug]

Hello Michael

 

Fife yachts were quite traditional even in 1931. I think the use of brass for the foot reflects the traditional / quality approach that Fife took to its Yachts built for "Gentlemen". 

 

The following quote from Wikipedia is enlightening:

 

Like the schooner Altair (1931), many of the cruisers echo his turn of the century designs such as Cicely (1902) or Susanne (1906); similarly there were few fundamental differences in his ketch designs spanning this era. Perceived by some as anachronistic, these yachts were considered by many to represent some of the greatest refinements of the auxiliary cruising yacht ever achieved.