Riva Aquarama by aydingocer - FINISHED - Amati - RADIO - A new challenge for a so-far static ship builder

[WackoWolf]

You are off to a great start. The kit and the plans looks to be top notch, like Antony I have pull up a chair. I like what Anthony said about the walk and not seeing any people, I could really enjoy not being bother by anyone, don't like being bother. Keep the post and picture coming,I am still in love with the building board, been have images going through my mind all the time about it. It really has me thinking LOL

[EJ_L]

I just got caught up on your build and I must say that you are off to a great start. I will agree with you and others that your kit does appear to have top notch parts in it as well as the laser cut pieces. I was just having a conversation on my own build about how often times kits are missing pieces or the quality is not the best and so we often have to replace items. You do not appear to have that issue which is great!

 

I do hope you can make her "sea worthy" as it would be really nice to see her in action on the water when completed.

 

I have pulled up my chair to join the others and follow along.

[AntonyUK]

Hi Aydin.

A excellent start to your build.

I have to agree with Keith statement regarding the none flush reinforcing bits.

Looks to be a super kit.

And nice use of your new building jig/board.

Keep the photos and comments coming.

 

Regards Antony.

[aydingocer]

Thank you everyone once again for the motivating words. It adds a lot to the pleasure of building.

 

Today I spent about 6-7 hours on the kit. Below I will add some logs.

[aydingocer]

Frames 10 and 11. This pair is a bit different than the others so far because they are connected with a horizontal reinforcement frame. 

 

In the manual the suggested order goes as follows:

1. install frame 10
2. install frame 11
3. install horizontal reinforcement frame 49
4. close top of frame 11 (with 11A)
5. install reinforcements for frame 11

I changed the order a bit, instead first I built the frame 11 totally with its reinforcements and top piece because I thought it would be hard to do them properly once the frames are in place. Maybe the reason the instructions go that way is that it would be difficult to install the horizontal piece once the frame 11 is closed from the top with 11A.

 

Anyway, I did it my way and faced no problems. 

 

At this stage, everything is dry-fit (except the frame 11 components).

 

Note from the photos that the gap where the horizontal piece (49) is insterted to frame 11 is thicker than thickess of piece 49. How to actually install this piece takes a careful checking of the instructions. Installing the reinforcements 11B and 11C determines the final position of this insert.

 

Note that the horizontal piece is NOT parallel to the surface, instead it follows and angle. 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

This is just a way of locating the cut-outs which still contain unused pieces using the parts list: I tape them on their sheet so that I can find them easier when it's their turn 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Frame 14 has two sub pieces which makes it important to install in correct orientation. I used (x) marks to help prevent make a mistake when the moment o truth (i.e. gluing) comes.

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Stern board: The challenge here is that you must keep everything dry-fit until you install it on the keel, mainly because the horizontal support (No 16) can be placed only after the board has been inserted on the keel. The parts kept falling all the time which was very irritating. Then I applied a "small" amount of glue on them until I have inserted it on the keel. Finally glued everything once they are in place.

 

The bottom pieces 17 and 18 are to be glued the last. I will have a separate post below about it. Now some photos of the Stern board:

 

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Bottom pieces of the Stern board and a few details about the orientation of the pieces. The gaps and mis-alignements (which I have indicated in red brackets) are actually how they are supposed to be. I also circled them below on the instruction manual:

 

 

 

 

Finally the horizontal support piece has been glued and the Stern board is installed.

 

Here my build slip did not help much because of the angled orientation of the board.

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Current status of the hull (most of the stuff is still dry-fitted):

 

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Reinforcements of the prow (this hull is full of reinforcements):

 

Pieces:

 

In place:

 

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

By the way, I am using this aliphatic glue for assembling the large surfaces to save my UHU. It is otherwise great glue and cheaper than UHU hart. I don't remember where I bought them from, but most probably from a UK online shop.

 

Yes, from the package it looks quite homemade

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Noticed a small typo in the manual. Anyway the part numbers which have been mistaken are quite different therefore there is no risk of making a mistake (other than rubbing your eyes with glued hands to make sure you've seen correct).

 

 

And the parts in question:

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

The building slip helps a lot with alignments. It would be impossible to align the hull with this much precision without it (at least for me).

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

A detail about installation of part 48 (and its symmetrical pair) which is not very clear from the instructions at first glance and the parts' shapes allow both ways: 

 

X = wrong.

 

This is the correct alignment:

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Bow strip from 6x2mm lime.  It follows a curve.  Actually there are almost no straight lines but lots of curves in this Italian beauty

 

 

I don't want to force the strip even a little in order to not warp the hull, therefore I will bend it a little.

 

 

Now perfectly in place:

 

 

... and glued with ZIF ( Zero Insertion Force)

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

As I mentioned the curvy body of this boat, the frames often form a bulge at the corners at first. Like in this photo:

 

 

 

It also shows in the instructions if you look closely:

 

 

These will of course be smoothened later.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Prow section is getting into shape:

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Cockpit parts dry-fitted and glued in place. Some of this section will be covered with mahogany sheet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

END OF BUILD DAY 2.

 

9 hours into build.

 

This is the status at the end of DAY2 .Thanks for watching.

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by aydingocer

[WackoWolf]

You doing great.

[aydingocer]

Nice start Aydin, think I'll follow along too. I'm building a similar boat myself - the 1949 Chris Craft 19' Racing Runabout by Dumas models. Like you, this build holds many firsts for me. I'll be interested to watch your progress.

 

Chris Craft was also one of my candidates but eventually I ended up buying this one. Good luck with that and I will be following your log!

[aydingocer]

You doing great.

 

Thanks Wolf!

[Nirvana]

Aydin,

Wow, you took off quickly and nicely.

It's nice to see something more modern being built too.

The build slip looks really to be a good investment.

Sorry for not making the final at Eurovision Song Contest. I watch it over here in the USA.

[cog]

Fast in building Aydin ... very fast. Still looking very good!

[EJ_L]

Lots of great looking work taking place. Thank you for the many pictures and details. Always nice to see the steps in between stages.

[gjdale]

Great progress Aydin, she's going to be a real beauty! Have you given any thought to placement of electronics/RC gear? I've no idea what the Amati instructions say about this, but it's worth giving some thought to before closing up the hull. I'm building a few support shelves/racks for mine using scrap material.

[aydingocer]

Great progress Aydin, she's going to be a real beauty! Have you given any thought to placement of electronics/RC gear? I've no idea what the Amati instructions say about this, but it's worth giving some thought to before closing up the hull. I'm building a few support shelves/racks for mine using scrap material.

 

Hi Grant. Sure I am scouting ahead in the instructions for that. The steps seem to clearly define which parts and sections should not be glued but made removable for those who go for the R/C option. I have hit some of such steps at today's build which I will be posting this evening.

[aydingocer]

BUILD DAY 3. CONTINUING HULL CONSTRUCTION

 

One thing I started to like about this kit among other things is that it has a substantial amount of hull work, as opposed to most ship models where it is mostly all about assembling the keel + bulkheads and planking.

[aydingocer]

Going through the parts and sheets according to the plan of the day, this was a unpleasant surprise. Many parts on the 1mm thick mahogany sheets had spread away (most probably during shipment) resulting in one of the parts to break. Anyway not too big of a disaster. I quickly taped the part on the sheet and carried on.

 

Edited May 16, 2016 by aydingocer