Revenue Cutter by austristan - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - Scale 1:48 - First build

[austristan]

This is my very first build and excited to get started. Did a full check of the pieces today and was missing a couple of items (update: great service from Nic at Blue Jacket with the one missing piece and one damaged piece having replacements on their way already). Heading off on vacation tomorrow but looking forward to getting stuck in once I get back.

 

Is it normal for thicker pieces of laser cut pieces to require more significant cutting with the Xacto knife to get it out of the template? I was starting to get the stand out and it was taking a lot of time. Decided to hold off to make sure I was attacking it the right way before ruining step one of the build.

[donrobinson]

Hello Austristan, looks like this should be a nice project. That is quite normal for thicker panels, take your time and use a sharp blade.

[Robin Lous]

Enjoy your vacation and I look forward to see this come together when you return.

 

Robin 

[austristan]

Thanks, Don. Glad I'm starting off in the right direction and not messing it up from step 1!

[austristan]

 I was able to get a little time this afternoon to get started on the model. Since it's my first build, I figured I'd err on the side of oversharing and if it gets to be too much, everyone can let me know to scale it back a little.

 

I was able to put together the stand without too many issues. Will like need to stain it to help cover up some of the super glue stains but will wait until the build is complete to decide what will look the best on that front.

 

I sanded down the deck and started to map out the guide lines for the hull sanding but found out that the rear hole wasn't aligned with the front two. Looks like I'll get an opportunity right off the bat to get creative on moving that rear hole over and filling in the remaining gap. I still need to get the template for the deck mounted on card to trace out the rest of it but at a first glance it looks like it'll be a little tight in one or two places with not much room to work with. I'm a little worried that the alignment of the centerline on the deck and the keel is off a little bit but it may work out once I start sanding everything back so we'll see how it goes. If anyone has any things to watch out for as I start that process, I'm all ears. I'll be able to put the feedback into practice early next week, most likely, after travel is complete.

[Derek C]

I will grab a seat and follow along,  as for staining make sure you sand off any excess glue or your glue will show worse because the stain can't penetrate

[austristan]

Since I got back, I was able to get the markings ready on the hull to start shaping it. As I mentioned before, the mast holes weren't well lined up and the front left of the hull is already exactly where it needs to be so there won't be a lot of margin of error there. After inspecting the alignment of the mast holes and the keel, I decided to line up the markings using the forward and rear holes rather than the forward and middle ones in an effort to align with the keel.

I'm hoping to get started on sanding in the next day or two, but wanted to get the group's feedback on the bow template. It looks like the waterline is off compared to the plans (the keel template was spot on). The height also goes far above the deck level. Is this extra height normal to coincide with the piece marked LRC9? I'm assuming when I get to marking the waterline I should just draw it on the template from the plans. Should I also mark the top of the deck from the plans to then use as my reference point for shaping?

Edited October 30, 2017 by austristan
Reordering photos within text.

[gsdpic]

I'll follow along as well.  I have done a couple Bluejacket kits, and working on the third, but do not have experience with this one. 

 

That template and waterline does look strange, but I am not sure what the answer is.  The picture you are holding it against does not really look like the bow....the picture above it is more what I would expect but that picture does not appear to match the template either.

 

[donrobinson]

If you were to cut out that template and attach it to the side of the actual hull you would find things would line up. The drawing is in 2D allowing for the 3D shape of the hull and the natural curve of the bow, it probably looks very similar at the stern also. The waterline is not parallel to the top rail on any ship, try to think of your boat sitting water and visualise the line of the water against the hull. Hope this helps and does not confuse any further.

[austristan]

Thanks for the feedback. The concept of the waterline not being a uniform distance from the deck makes sense to me. I'm adding a photo to this post that's more zoomed out to show that the plan I was comparing to was the entire hull. Since the shape looks right, I think it's as simple as changing the waterline on the template but wanted to confirm before I started any sanding.

[MrBlueJacket]

I suggest you make the waterline match the plans. The bottom tail is a little off, but the bow shape is what we are looking for. Perhaps we should change that template tail.

 

Nic

[MrBlueJacket]

I have looked into your hole mis-alignment issue. We use a template to mark the holes for drilling, and the template holes line up. BUT, being a manual process, it is possible the template could slip a little bit between drawing one hole then another. To correct that, I have added a manufacturing step after marking the holes - Take a ruler and make sure the hole marks line up.

 

Enjoy the build,

Nic

[austristan]

Nic, thanks for the feedback and glad to hear that you're adding the extra step to avoid issues with the hole alignment in the future.

 

Things with the bow worked out nice and smoothly and I'm feeling good about where that stands.

The stern, on the other hand, is a different story. After going back and forth with the plans a number of times, I'm pretty sure that the hull was shaved back too far out of the box as shown below. I spoke with George (I believe that was the name) at the Blue Jacket help line and he said I should just look to fill that gap with some other wood without a lot of other guidance. Does anyone have any suggestions for where to buy the right kind of wood match up with the existing hull?

With the top of the template being pretty close to the rear of the deck in the photo above, I'm not sure that the drilled hole in the deck would be in the right position either since my understanding is that it would be clear of the vertical piece of the stern to all for a slight separation between the rudder and the piece that the rudder connects to. The hole in the hull and in the deck that's provided do match up perfectly, but both appear to be slightly forward of the position indicated by the plans.

 

I think I'll just look for fill in the gap up to the drilled hole (accounting for the rudder post - if I got my terminology right there) and then adjust the other components accordingly so that it all fits together still. Certainly providing a good challenge for build #1 and any guidance from this group is greatly appreciated!

[MrBlueJacket]

Hi,

 

At the stern there is a lot of excess wood due to the duplicating process. You will need to remove wood from under the counter until it is as thin as the plan shows. It is also a bit long, use the deck to get the final stern length. DOn't forget the stern post will fill the gap you think you might have. Here is a diagram for you.

 

Nic

 

RevCutter.pdf

Edited November 3, 2017 by MrBlueJacket
trying to get photo to show

[austristan]

Nic,

 

That’s really helpful - thanks for taking the extra step to explain there. At first that’s what I was thinking but as I was cross-referencing with the plans I must not have been interpreting everything correctly.

 

Will keep everyone posted as I give this a shot and hopefully don’t have to put in an order for a new hull due to user error! 😊

[austristan]

Made some good progress yesterday on the stern thanks to the feedback from Nic. While the template didn't fit perfectly at the keel, when I checked against the sternpost, it was a tighter fit. As you can see, got a little bit of putty in there too to fix a gap that I think I created myself with poor follow through on the initial stern sanding.

 

 

I got all the keel markings done and am ready to start shaping the rest of the during the week.

[Derek C]

Looks like your on a good track now 

[MrBlueJacket]

GOOD JOB!

[austristan]

Have started making some (slow) progress on shaping the hull. Still working on a very small section (need to get it back a little further still to get the template completely aligned with the middle guide line) and moving forward slowly. Has required sanding back a lot more of the hull than I initially expected but I can see how it'll all come together. At this pace, I'll be working on this step for quite a while, but I think it'll start getting easier after this first section is in good shape.

[austristan]

I was able to spend a good amount of time over the weekend continuing to shape the hull. After getting the first quarter/third of the left side in pretty good shape, I decided to start at the back to change it up a little. After a while of sanding back significantly, I found that having the false keel so long was really making git challenging so decided to take some measurements and then get the false keel to the level it needed to be. This will now make it much easier to know that that is the right starting point for the shaping and I just need to get the sides of the hull to where they need to be. There's a minimal amount of work needed to reshape the bow area that I'd already done some work on and then I expect to be able to make good progress on the rest of the left side throughout this week.

Thinking ahead to future steps, I wanted to get the group's feedback on the best approach to adjusting the mast holes. I knew I was going to have to redo the rear one anyway since it was a little off center but when putting the masts in both yesterday, it was apparent that they are both not perfectly aligned. What's the best way to fix this? Fill them in and re drill or just make minor tweaks to the holes and then fill as the mast goes in?

 

[Derek C]

Lol I think the press operator drilled your hull on a Monday after a rough weekend . As far as fixing I would just go with what you feel most comfortable with. And what ever you decide will look way better than it does now

[austristan]

Thanks, Derek. As this is my first build, I was wondering if there was a "best practice" out there. With limit tools at my disposal currently, my concern is ensuring the right angle and depth for a new hole if I fill them in completely. I was thinking of carving out the obvious adjustments, filling in the "dead space" as best as I can with filler and cleaning up with a drill as the last step.

 

I still have some time before I have to decide as I need to finish the hull before worrying about gluing the deck on.

[Derek C]

Yea  I think I would work with whats there, and you can fill it in where needed with a sawdust and glue mix  and it will be golden 

[Tim Curtis]

I wonder if you should ask Bluejacket for a replacement hull. I dont think this is up to their standard. The ensign kits are meant to be for first timer. These are problems you should not have to deal with. 

[austristan]

Thanks for the thought, Tim. At this stage, I feel like I've put a good amount of work in to get the hull to where it is and I'm going to try and press forward with making the adjustments to make what I have first.

 

I'm often the first to push back on the customer service side of things but I feel like half the allure of this new hobby is to try and figure out how to work with what you have to get to the end result you're working towards so hopefully I can make this work...

[austristan]

Had some success last night fixing the mast holes. I had to make a little guide to make sure I got the angle right for the drill. For the front hole, I was able to use a clamp to hold everything in place. For the rear one, I had some trouble using the clamp due to the clearance available with the size of the hull and after figuring out to pre-drill holes for the nails (the guide was a lot bigger to start with) I nailed it to the hull and was able to get a successful drill completed in the right place.

I haven't filled the excess parts of the holes in at this point as with dry fitting it with the deck, it seems like they'll probably hold their position well enough. I may get some wood glue to add to the bottom of the hole (making sure it's not so much that it squeezes out onto the deck) to give some extra support.

 

While this wasn't something I was expecting to have to deal with at the outset of this build, it was pretty satisfying to see a good result when all was said and done!

[Derek C]

Much better 

[Tim Curtis]

Good fix. Neat idea with the little guide block to help with drilling.

[MrBlueJacket]

I didn't check MSW yesterday so I didn't see this problem until just now. You should NOT have gotten a hull with crooked holes.

 

I'm glad you found a solution, but a replacement hull is still available if you want it.

 

In addition, I will make a note in your customer file to give you a $10 credit on your next order. Please PM me with some identifier (name, invoice number, something like that so I can find you)

 

Don't be afraid to call me.

 

Nic

[Derek C]

You Rock MrBlueJacket,

i will definitely purchase from you guys as I can see customer service is top notch.