Maine Lobster Boat by Trawlergeek - FINISHED - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - Scale 1:12 - RADIO

[Trawlergeek]

This is a build log that was created before I learned about this site. It is posted in sequence (more or less) and represents a rather enjoyable build of a BlueJacket wood kit with fiberglass hull and cabin top. I will post increments periodically - daily until the COMPLETED state is accomplished.

 

Thanks

Jim

[MrBlueJacket]

Hi,

 

PM me with your name or invoice# so I can put a note in your file to give you 10% off your next BlueJacket kit when you have completed this build. It's my promise to everyone who does a build thread of our kits.

 

Nic

Edited April 29, 2019 by MrBlueJacket
spelling

[Trawlergeek]

Thanks Nic.

 

Jim McGinnis

144 Cocoa Ave

Indialantic, FL 32903

 

Order Number: 108505

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #1

 

Preface:

 

This is a build log for a model that was just completed to about 95% status. It will become final after another test run in the water and some high resolution images can be acquired.

BlueJacket Kit Impressions:

 

The kit build was very enjoyable and the final product is very appealing.

KIT CONTENTS:

1.      WOOD MATERIALS: The quality of the wood provided is probably some of the best materials I have seen in recent history of building. The wood is nearly 100% free of defects, has excellent grain, and shows none of the telltale signs of being cheaply produced. The laser cut items are well shaped and cleanly cut.

2.      METAL ITEMS (BRITANNIA FITTINGS): The castings were fairly clean of and free of defects. The metallurgy employed, they claim, is resistant to deterioration. That is a pleasant surprise since some kits contain casting that display corrosion even after being on the shelf for a short time.

3.      CLEAR WINDOW PLASTIC:  Outstanding quality and easy to form.

4.      DRIVE LINE: The Stuffing box is a high quality MACK industries assembly. The propeller shaft is 14” in length and was the correct length (if you want to mount the drive motor in the suggested location outlined in the plans). A nice universal joint was provided. A very nice nylon control arm was provided with brass ring and set screw where the control arm mounts to the rudder shaft. The propeller is a good 1.5” brass casting. Some deburring and polishing was required to clean it up.

5.      TUBING and ROD: More than enough tubing and rod material was provided. No issues.

6.      LOBSTER TRAP KIT: Enough materials to construct three (3) nice traps. No materials are provided for the netting that goes into the trap construction.

7.      FIBERGLASS ITEMS:  The hull and cabin fiberglass displayed few pin holes to be filled. The gal coat is thick enough to allow considerable sanding or finishing without the glass being revealed.

8.       INSTRUCTIONS: This is probably the most contentious item in the kit. I will discuss my personal experiences with the instructions later in the log.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Trawlergeek
format

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #2

INSTRUCTIONS

Overall, the instructions were adequate for constructing the boat as drawn and using the materials provided. There are some caveats that I cannot omit for any prospective builder of this kit. None of the caveats are critical.

IMAGES and PICTURES:

The images/pictures provided in the instructions are low resolution pictures that have been enlarged. They do not convey enough clarity to be reassuring in the build. In fact, their presence is probably not warranted in several instances. I am not sure why higher resolution images could not have been taken, but I am not privy the challenges that were encountered when producing the instructions.

The hand drawings are interesting but do not add detail for the construction process.

I did use online images of other boats to augment the instructions when I first started the build. There are some interesting builds online that give the builder some ideas of what is possible.

 

SEQUENCE of OPERATIONS:

The instructions do provide a very reasonable sequence of operations. While some of the steps are very terse, the order of the steps makes sense.

DIMENSIONS:

It is absolutely essential that the builder be prepared to pull dimensions off of the full size drawings for locating various assembly components. I found that the accuracy of the printed drawings in regards to scale produced no issues in translating those dimensions to the actual build. You have to decide which measurements to take when you are locating parts on the hull, etc.

INSTRUCTION DETAIL:

In most cases the instructions are compact and terse. That means that you will read some instructions that by their presence really only indicate sequence with very little hand holding or explanation of what is involved or potential pit-falls.  This is ok. But the builder must be careful and methodical about test fitting and trial assembly (no glue) and the need for potential modifications or refinements.

 

Edited May 30, 2019 by Trawlergeek
typos

[Trawlergeek]

Installment 3#

NITS

I really didn’t have but a few nits to share.

1.                WINDOW TRIM: The number of window mahogany trim sticks provided (2) is barely enough to complete the trim operation. I measured the openings and the total exceed the number of inches required without piecing cut offs together. I resolved this by trimming down some mahogany I had laying around. I only needed to fabricate one small length to complete the window trim installation. (2 – 1/16”x 1/8” x 24” mahogany W1372.1)

2.                HULL THICKNESS: The lack of uniformity of the fiberglass hull thickness (at the top, sheer) interferes with the installation of the stringers that are attached on the inside of the hull at the top of the hull sides. If the modeler does not make uniform the thickness of the hull at the top (sand or grind away the irregularities from the inside of the hull), the irregularities will translate to the exterior of the hull and drive the modeler to use filler on the exterior to fare the appearance. Wrinkles and waves are not attractive. It isn’t difficult to achieve the desired uniformity by grinding the excess thickness away to the depth of the stringer thickness vertically.

3.                CURVATURE of WINDSHIELD (C4): The bottom edge of the laser cut windshield (C4) assumes the form of a curve that is intended to mate with the top of the fiberglass cabin roof. The cabin roof is much flatter than the curve imposed on the windshield. The amount of relief required at the outside edges of the windshield was greater than I wanted to remove without also affecting the port and starboard cockpit sides and the overall height of the windshield as it mates with the roof. (C1 and C2)  I left the curvature of the windshield base (C4) as is and resolved the gap using 0.015 thickness polystyrene strip. See a later installment for how that addition was incorporated.

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by Trawlergeek
missing

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #4

NICE TOUCH

 

Your Lobster Boat Kit was birthed, not just thrown together.  The sticker below was applied to the original box containing the entire kit. Kudos.

PREPARATIONS

1.       Sand the edges of the laser cut wood to remove most if not all of the burnt material residue created by the laser. Glues don’t like to form a good bond with the powdery burnt residues.

2.       Using the provided laser parts identification drawing (full scale, no less) label the parts. I decided to label the parts with a pen so that I didn’t have to re-reference the drawing for each part being fitted and installed.

3.       Make drawing overlay templates (tracing paper or baker’s parchment paper) for the top decking. This makes is easier to final form the decking. Alternatively, you can make multiple measurements from the drawings for key dimensions of the deck material when doing the installation.

 

TOOLS EMPLOYED

Variable speed scroll saw. The example below is the model I use. There are other good saws out there that work well for plywood cuts and thick balsa cuts. Because the lack of blade choices for fiberglass, I did not use this saw for cutting the cabin roof as is required.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found lots of use for the disk sander portion of the following tool.

I used a Star Bright grinding wheel for brass and aluminum shaping.

Lots of hand tools were employed and one that was very useful is described as the Great Planes Easy Touch Bar Sander and the self-adhesive sanding paper strips that go with the tool.

 

CUTTING THE FIBERGLASS CABIN

 

I used a Dremel tool with the following Dremel cutting attachment:

And for scale, not cutting off thumbs, this picture shows that the blade is fairly small in diameter.

Using this blade produces a very narrow cut removing just a small amount of the fiberglass cabin top..

 

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by Trawlergeek
extra pic

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #5

 

PAINTS, SEALERS, and GLUES

The DEFT or similar Lacquer Sanding Sealer works very well at filling wood grain and also as a general sealer. It sand easily.

WARNING: This product produces a very nasty smell and I am sure that brain cells die after brief exposures!  Use this product in well ventilated spaces, preferably out of doors.  You have been warned.

This version of the standard polyurethanes work well. It is slightly more resistant to sagging than the non-water based polyurethane. On another project (barrel back boat) it was obvious which one sagged with ease under the same temperature and humidity combinations. I won’t use the non-water based oil-modified polyurethane on anything but a flat level surface.

The following is not recommended for complex surfaces.

 

PAINTS

All of the color paints I used were Testors/Rustoleum Enamel products and Tamila Lacquer products with only a few exceptions where acrylic water based paints were used for some details.

Specifically,

·                        Hull Upper: Model Master 2964 Grabber Blue Spray

·                        Hull Upper: Model Master 2764 Grabber Blue Brush

·                        Hull Lower: Tamiya TS-33 Dull Red Spray*

·                        Hull Lower: Model Master 1249 Gloss Dark Red*

·                        Decks, Cabin, Cabin Superstructure: Model Master 2920 Gloss Classic White Spray, Model Master 2720 Gloss Classic White Brush

·                        Britannia Metal Overcoat: Testor’s Extreme Lacquer 1834 Clear Gloss Spray

·                        Port/Stbd Navigation Lights*: Model Master 273409 Silver Chrome Trim Brush

*I normally paint hulls below the water line using a dull red. However, I was unable to get the dull red in a timely fashion so I used some gloss dark red. It is ok. I may repaint the bottom with the dull red at the next hauling out.  😉

 

 GLUES

I used the standard collection of glues including the following:

CyA  Glues: mostly  the Medium Gap Filling variety. Epoxe 2 Part: 6 minute glue was used extensively. I add micro-balloons when thickening is required. Note that if you are going to sand or grind the Epoxe glue after hardening, adding micro-balloons makes the shaping process much easier.

Wood Glue: I always add foam flotation to all my RC boats. I use the wood glue to secure the foam billets into the hull spaces. I use professional wood glues since they seem to have higher water resistance.  Always test the foam you are using in a bucket of water to be sure you don’t have Eco-friendly foam that dissolves in water!

 

Edited August 8, 2019 by Trawlergeek
typo

[MrBlueJacket]

Very nice write-up. I will look into the lack of sufficient mahogany for the window frames.

 

Nic

[Trawlergeek]

Thanks, Nic!

More to follow...

 

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #6

 

Hull Stringers

 

After you fair the inside edges of the hull (make uniform thickness) where the stringers are to be placed, you will need a number of clamps to fully attach the stringer. The stringer wood supplied in the kit was exceptionally clear and flexible. However, the stringers were soaked in warm water for about 3 hours before being clamped in place and allowed to dry.  You may want to perform some shaping of the stringers with a sanding block to better accommodate the slight twist that is required. I don't think it is critical to shape the profile of the stringers as long as when you secure the stringers that enough material exposed above the edge of the hull. If enough stringer material extends above the hull, the future step when sanding is required to accommodate attaching the deck is easily accomplished.

 

The stringers were attached using 6 minute EPOXY with some micro-balloons mixed in to avoid excess dripping.

 

 

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #7

 

Stern Beam

Fit the 1/4" x 3/4" balsa beam to the stern. As the instructions clearly indicate, the beam must span the entire width of the stern and must extend above the fiberglass hull so that it can be fared to the top surface of the deck in a later step. I left about 3/16' of the beam above the stern at the center. More than 3/16" will be revealed at the port and starboard edges.  6 Minute EPOXY + filler was employed to glue this soft wood to the interior of the hull stern. Again, the micro-balloons make it easier to shape the soft wood in a later step.

 

Cabin Bulkhead, C3

Once the stringers and stern beam have been attached and initially shaped, the bulkhead can be prepared and installed.

Locate the position of the C3 bulkhead on the interior of the hull by taking measurements from Sheet 3 of 3 and marking the stringers on the port and starboard sides. Since the stern is relatively square, measurements were pulled from the drawing using the distance from the exterior of the stern at the top of the hull and the rearward surface of the bulkhead C3 for both port and starboard measurements.

 

The instructions indicate that the stringers will require some relief (slots) before the C3 bulkhead can be installed. Sufficient relief of the stringers such that the hull is exposed in the base of the slots worked well. essentially, you remove the stringer material that defines the slot space completely. Since the bulkhead embodies a critical dimension for the width of the hull at the bulkhead position, the modeller will need to trim and fair the bulkhead so that the smooth curve of the hull (top edge) is not impacted by the bulkhead. If the bulkhead is too wide, teh hull will have a nasty break at the position of the bulkhead instead of retaining the smooth hull transition along the gunnel as molded.

 

CAUTION: The instructions indicate that C3 needs to be "correctly aligned vertically and horizontally." When you examine the drawings, this is not trivial. The objective is to ensure the bulkhead is square/level from side to side as well as aligned vertically so that it mates with rearward most portion of the fiberglass cockpit. The bulkhead must be parallel to the rearward face of the cockpit.  I positioned the fiberglass cockpit as a guide when aligning the C3 bulkhead. If you examine the drawings, it is difficult to find a good reference point for the vertical alignment of C3.

 

 

CAUTION: In the following picture, you can see my first mistake: Do not attach the door frame (C9) to the bulkhead such that the port side of the frame is abutted to the port edge of the bulkhead. Leave about 3/16" of clearance between the door frame (C9) and the port edge of bulkhead C3. The clearance is required when the port cockpit side (C1) is framed and installed. The instructions indicate that the top of door frame should be "flush withe the top of the bulkhead." Be sure to follow that guidance.

 

Edited May 30, 2019 by Trawlergeek
missing caution detail, typos

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #8

 

Door Frame and Door should be glued to the bulkhead at this point.

 

Well Deck (Lower) Transom Beam and Bulkhead Beam

The location of the Well Deck Transom Beam (3/16" square) must be derived from the drawings.

The location of the bulkhead lower beam is solely determined by the bottom surface of the C3 bulkhead.

It would have been easier/more convenient if the laser cut C3 bulkhead "extended 3/16" lower" so that the beam could be attached to the face of C3 rather than the edge of C3. Be sure the edge of C3 is free of burned material from the laser cutting process - or gluing with CyA glues will be frustrating.

 

Establishing the Well Deck Assembly Alignment

To be sure that the well deck was flat and consistent from stern to the C3 bulkhead, I employed some temporary plywood stringers (not glued in place) to establish the lines of the well floor. The plywood strips were checked for true (straight) edges and cut such that the plywood was lightly wedged between the C3 fore and aft (stern) beams.

 

 

Edited May 3, 2019 by Trawlergeek
remove redundant pic

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #9

 

Well Deck Construction

I modified the well deck construction to include a cross member not shown in the drawings. You may decide that this is not necessary. My interest was to keep the port and starboard portions of the well deck aligned from the port to starboard side. My guess was that the well deck hatch would sit flatter if I could control the center of the open space.  The cross member did not interfere with running gear installation or maintenance.

 

I took a lot of liberties in building up the well deck supports. It is not critical as long as the removable opening is tightly fitted and supported by the structure. the instructions and drawings are good references.

 

The removable deck was employed for developing the locations of the well deck supports. Establishing the center of the supports and the removable deck hatch is important to preserve the squareness of the hatch and permanent well deck. The removable portion must abut the C3 bulkhead.

 

The fitting of the two well deck (D3) port and starboard portions was an iterative process. Be sure to allow for "excess" material on all four sides of the D3 pieces when using the template to cut the D3 pieces. This is to ensure that final fitting does not result in insufficient material to be trimmed. Time is required for fitting these deck pieces relative to the curvature of the hull and the square deck supports - keep the D3 deck portion properly aligned so that the removable deck portion (hatch) fits correctly.

 

Removable Well Deck Cover Construction

The removable well deck hatch plywood was fairly flat when delivered. A lot of Air Conditioning dried the plywood and caused it to eventually loose its flatness.

To resolve the flatness issue, I installed some supports on the underside of the deck hatch and "tuned" a portion of the deck for flatness using a simple method described below.

 

In the following picture you can see that the hatch flatness solution was not the same for the fore and aft sections.

In the picture below, the fore section is on the left. The supports on the underside are offset slightly from the fore edge to allow for clearance of the permanent deck support at bulkhead C3. The opposite end (aft) supports are somewhat closer to the aft edge of the removable deck - but clearance is still an issue and must be accommodated when installing the underside supports. The gap in the middle is intended to accommodate the "extra well deck cross member" that was created for this build.

 

 

The picture above illustrates how the aft portion of the removable access hatch has a twist - the right side above is reinforced with more substantial

structure and contains a tuning wedge that helped resolve the flatness issue.

 

The following pictures show the wedge that was inserted and adjusted to get the aft well deck hatch portion flatter. You may have to cut a gap in the supports near the "crossing" to accommodate your wedge configuration. Note that the reinforcements are glued to the deck surface and then the whole assembly is tuned.

Edited May 3, 2019 by Trawlergeek
clean up, typo

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #10

 

Main Deck Fitting - Initial Steps

The full-size templates for deck sections C2 port and starboard are fairly generous with regard to excess allowances on the periphery of the deck pieces. I added more "excess" using as much of the provided plywood as could be accommodated by the supplied plywood sheet.

 

I elected to terminate the deck assembly in front of the laser cut C7 deck beam creating two deck pieces per side. One in front of C7 to the bow and one section from C7 aft to the stern. This allows for easier deck placement and trimming for what is not a simple fitting. I added the "rear portions" (aft of C7 deck beam) after the two front sections were final fitted in a later step. Gluing was simpler using this method, as well.

 

In the following picture you can see the "seams"  between the fore and aft sections of D2 top decking. After sealing the wood and sanding, the seams did not appear on the finished model. Note that I used some "spare" 1/16" ply for the aft sections so that the straight edges of new ply would easily mate in the center of the aft deck area where the removable deck hatch for accessing the steering gear is located - however, you could use the ply supplied in the kit to accomplish the same results.

 

Edited May 3, 2019 by Trawlergeek
Incomplete

[Trawlergeek]

Greetings:

Unfortunately, I have been unable to continue this build log due to an intervening medical issue. I am now ready to add more content. And now for the next installments...

 

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #11

 

Well Deck Fitting - Continued

The well deck was built up with some customized changes.

1. The well deck should have a removable floor access so that the internals can be accessed easily for maintenance and stowage of RC equipment.

2. The rear section must accommodate the rudder component installation as well as a servo for steerage.

 

The following pictures illustrate the deck constructions complete with a removable access floor and a hole that is designed for aligning the rudder to vertical.

 

In the image above the stuffing box and a significant portion of the bilge is exposed. The cross member that is exposed in the center of the well deck access hole is intended to assist in keeping the deck access hole cover sag free.

The well deck with the access portion installed.

 

Next, the rudder installation and alignment modification will be shown.

 

Edited August 8, 2019 by Trawlergeek
edits - cleaned up link to non-existent picture

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #12

 

Well Deck Fitting - Continued 2

The following illustrates a hole cut for the purpose of installing a rudder that can be adjusted in angle relative to the stern, the hull bottom, and plumbed to the craft centerline (approximately.)

You can observe the large hole for working in the bilge when locating and installing the rudder. Additionally, the outline of where the rudder servo is installed can be observed on the port side of center.

 

The following images tell the story of how the rudder tube was located in thr hull and aligned.

The image above illustrates a deliberate rudder offset that allows the propeller shaft to be removed without also removing the rudder. The shaft just clears the rudder assembly.

 

Once the rudder shaft tube has been glued into place, a cover plate can be designed that covers the large construction hole and closes well deck. I used some really small wood screws to secure the cover plate.

Edited August 6, 2019 by Trawlergeek
finish the build post

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #13

 

Well Deck Fitting - Rudder and Servo

The kit-supplied rudder horn and user supplied servo are installed.

 

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #14

 

Preparing for Deck Installation

 

The structure is built up using the instructions for the rear deck portion. This step is fairly straightforward.

The fore-deck framing is built up. The details are well described in the instructions. I took some liberties with scrap filler materials at the peak.

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #15

Decking/Coaming

 

When fitting the decking, a lot of adjustments are necessary to match up with the various lines and curves. As indicated in a prior post, the rear-most portion of the deck was not retained in the deck sheets. It was removed to facilitate the deck installation. Using a square, the rear-most section was separated from the deck sheets at the point where the sheets intersect with the rear decking structure.

 

Later, a separate sheet was used to cober the rear-most section of the deck. This worked rather well since the decking process and the precut shape of the deck sheets forces simultaneous resolution of a bunch of complex intersecting pieces.

 

Here is another view of the rear deck area with the coamings installed and small square filler materials applied. You can also see the removable portion of the rear decking for access to the rudder assembly and servo in this picture.

 

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #16

Cabin Roof and Sidewalls Work

  

When fitting the cabin to the deck, it is important to have the cabin roof and surround structure assembled such that it can be temporarily placed in position for alignment purposes. The critical issue is mating the cabin roof to the deck while also aligning the roof and sides to the REAR of the fiberglass cabin. To get a good mating of the fiberglass cabin to the cockpit roof and sides requires some adjustments to the fiberglass cabin bottom and mating the curvature of the cabin fiberglass part to the deck.

 

The other tricky part for this mating of fiberglass cabin to the windshield requires matching the windshield curve (at the bottom where it engages the fiberglass cabin roof) to the fiberglass cabin roof.

I did not like the amount of trimming that would be required and thus decided to take very little material off the windshield bottom and correct for the remaining gap later.

 

 

CAVEAT: 

The cabin roof cannot be easily warped and glued to the structure. The roof is thick material that resists warping.

The sheet must be warped in advance to enable its attachment to the roof structure.

The roof was soaked in warm water laced with some ammonia. Warm water alone may work just fine if you let it soak for several hours.

 

Here are some images of the cabin roof, windshield, and sidewalls construction.

 

Edited August 6, 2019 by Trawlergeek
typos

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #17

Fiberglass Cabin

  

The fiberglass cabin must be cut into two pieces - fore and aft.

The cut line must be established well forward of the line where the windshield intersects the fiberglass cabin.

Looking back at Installment 4, there is described a rotary tool that looks like a saw blade. The blade was used to cut the fiberglass cabin roof after carefully scribeing a line using small squares and "bendy" rulers.

 

This step required great patience and investment of time. The cabin is made of pretty well reinforced glass and thus takes time to cut through cleanly.

 

A before picture...

 

(Notice the gap between the windshield and the fiberglass cabin roof. This is handled later.)

Inscribing the cut lines...

C

Afterwards...

 

Add the reinforcing block to the permanently attached roof section...

 

A small square trimmer is attached that follows the deck outline of the cabin pieces...

 

Not show here are two small plywood tabs taht are attached to the sides of the cabin roof removable section that engage the interior sides of the fixed cabin roof section. The tabls are glued to the removable section only.

 

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #18

Finishing Details

  

This installment contains a smattering of pictures and comments regarding the finished details.

 

Exhaust stack details...

 

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #19

Finishing Details - Continued

 

 

 

I made custom port and starboard lights using balsa blocks. I added some beads for the actual lights.

In this picture, you can see the light veneer applied at the bottom of the front facing windshield where it intersects with the fiberglass cabin roof.

 

Edited August 7, 2019 by Trawlergeek
typos - added text

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #20

Finishing Details - Anchor Davit

 

A drill works fairly well as a lathe for small wooden items.

 

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #21

Finishing Details - Lobster Tank, Live Well

 

 

[Trawlergeek]

Installment #22

Finishing Details

 

To keep this boat dry, I added spray rails in the bow section. Very satisfying results.

 

[Javlin]

That's to cool you do some Nice work Sir! Kevin

[MrBlueJacket]

Very nice! I have added a note in your customer file for 10% off your next kit purchase. Thanks for doing the build thread.

 

Nic