Typhoon by mtdoramike - FINISHED - Dumas - here we go again

[Kenneth Powell]

Nice color. Love it.

Several boats at the annual wooden boat show here in Biloxi use this shade or one really close for the classics.

 

Kenneth

[Tim Moore]

Hi Mike. That colour is going to look sweet with the mahogany when you get the Typhoon finished - used a similar colour below the waterline when I did my Miss Severn, thought it risky at the time but really liked the contrast in finished product.

 

[mtdoramike]

WOW Tim, she is beautiful and that shade of green below the boot topping at the water line really sets it off. I was on the fence about using the same shade of green that I used on the seats for the bottom of the Typhoon and maybe going with a different color altogether, but after seeing your Miss Severn, I'm going to use the same shade of green. 

[mtdoramike]

I ordered some mahogany veneer and finally got it in today. I'm going to use it to cover the front and middle cockpit floors. The instructions call for staining it, but I think it would look better with the mahogany veneer. 

[mtdoramike]

OK, after studying the issue of the rudder access door being under the stern section of the boat and attached with screws and with the possibility of water being able to get in through it, I have found a probable solution. If I remove three supports in the stern section behind the rear cockpit, I can mount the rudder servo and be able to access the rudder from the top and eliminate the access door from the bottom of the boat. The modification will be where the blue tape is located. I will have to make the access door for the top of the stern, but shouldn't be a big deal (famous last words) hahahahaha.   

Edited November 27, 2019 by mtdoramike

[CDW]

Hatch on top totally makes sense to me. A hatch on the bottom of the hull? Wow, never heard of a deal like that before now, and I would do just like you, search for a more viable alternative.

She's looking great!

Can't remember where, but I once followed a complete build of this boat and that's what convinced me to buy one for myself. It is a stunning, beautiful boat when it's finished. The build I followed was a static model and not for R/C. 

I would like to build one with an engine bay and a mock-up of the engine. Static scale.

[mtdoramike]

CD, It may have been this build thread from a Radio Control forum. The OP and builder Legendary Pat Trittle did a splendid job on one of the first production Typhoons. https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?291645-Dumas-Typhoon-Kit-Review. If you can't tell, Pat is kind of a hero of mine and I only wish I were as good a modeler as Pat Trittle, maybe one day. 

Edited November 28, 2019 by mtdoramike

[mtdoramike]

OK, I bit the bullet and started the modifications to the stern by removing two of the rear frames. The critical part of this is, how many bulk heads need to be removed because you have to be able to mount the rudder and still have room for the drive shaft and prop. Ideally, it would be nice to have at least a 1/2" between the rudder and the prop. 

[mtdoramike]

I'm replacing the two pieces (K7 & K6), which goes on the bottom of the stern and K6 is supposed to be removeable to allow access to the rudder arm, but since I'm making a new access panel on the top, this is no longer needed. So I'm replaces these two pieces with a solid piece of plywood. My main issue was to make sure I was going to have enough clearance between the prop and the rudder since I was moving the rudder forward about 1/2".

[mtdoramike]

There should be enough room for the motor and the prop. I ordered a Graupner 600 motor for her. It looks like it is going pretty well right now, but one thing I have learned in my old age is, ( for every positive action, there is always a negative reaction and I'm sure there will be one here, but it hasn't shown itself yet.   

[CDW]

Balderdash...What could possibly go wrong? 😎

[mtdoramike]

hahahahahaha, everything. Don't you mean malarkey?  

[CDW]

Just now, mtdoramike said:

hahahahahaha, everything. Don't you mean malarkey?  

😄😅

 

One day I'll have to tell you about the time I accidentally turned the sprinkler system on while the marching band was on the field for the half-time show at a big football game. Who woulda' thunk it?

 

[mtdoramike]

I'll bet that got the to steppin.

[mtdoramike]

I started the first layer of planking with the balsa strips. I did what I usually do to most kits and that is to take scrap pieces of wood and beef up the frames, which are 1/8" plywood in order to make them 1/4" which gives me a wider surface to lay the planking as well as more of a gluing surface.  

[mtdoramike]

I have the first layer of planking done on the hull with just a bit of cleaning up to do on her. Dumas provides a couple of templates to use to cut the bow and stern blocks from some hard wood or at the very least hard balsa for the nose and rear of the boat. Once glue dries, you have to sand down the blocks to form the contour of the hull.

[CDW]

Happy New Year Mike.

Glad to see you're getting time in with the Typhoon.

[mtdoramike]

Happy New Year to you and family as well, yep I have been cat scratch busy the last week or so, but I try to spend at least an hour a day on which ever build I'm doing at the time. Now sometimes I will spend the whole hour just looking at the build and trying to decide if I want to build a certain area like suggested by the instructions or do I want to modify or change it LOL.  

Edited January 2, 2020 by mtdoramike

[mtdoramike]

I have the drive train all set up and ready for installation, when I get around to putting it in, but I aint at that stage quite yet.

[mtdoramike]

I finished making the cover for the motor hatch as well as making a cover for the stern area to allow access to the rudder rather than the bottom of the hull, which is what Dumas suggests.

[mtdoramike]

I have the top cockpit skins glued in place. There was a fair bit of trimming needed to be done in order to get the cockpit skins to lay between or inside of the spruce side rails. Also, when it came to making the rear hatch for the rudder access top, the hatch sides have to be angled slightly to match the side spruce rails. In order to match angle, I attached to spruce side strips to the thin plywood before forming it to match the contour of the top.   

[mtdoramike]

Although I'm building this kit (Typhoon) I do not like this boat. I don't like the shape of it at all. I can't stand a boat where you can't tell whether it's going or coming. If I were building this boat for me to keep or strictly for myself, I would have made some major structural changes like bobbing off the back and squaring it off. Now don't get me wrong, the quality is right up there with the Dumas Chris Crafts, but for personal taste, this boat just doesn't do it for me.

 

Out of all the models I have built over the years, this is one of the few that I can say I dislike, but even though I'm not fond of it, I will build it as close to the original as possible with the exception of the rudder access modification. 

[CDW]

The boat is unique. It reminds me of a big, fancy, motorized canoe. It's so unusual, I like it.

[mtdoramike]

That makes one of us hahahahaha

[BobG]

That's a really interesting build and she's coming along nicely.

 

Bob

[mtdoramike]

4 hours ago, CDW said:

The boat is unique. It reminds me of a big, fancy, motorized canoe. It's so unusual, I like it.

Speaking of unique and canoes, a friend of mine had a Gheenoe, which was nothing more than a canoe with the stern chopped off. I always wanted one because they were so unique. Well, after my friend got his Gheenoe, he took me out fishing and as soon as we left the dock, I started getting wet from the water splashing as the nose of the Gheenoe hit the waves. I was sitting in the front. By the end of the fishing trip, I was soaked and quickly realized that even though something is unique and looks interesting, doesn't mean that its a good thing. I never owned a Gheenoe and lost all interest in them after that outing.  

[mtdoramike]

The top deck is all planked and covered with the sub-planking. Modifications of the top hatch for the rudder access are finished. Now is will be easier to install the rudder arm and have the ability to adjust it when necessary.

Edited February 7, 2020 by mtdoramike

[mtdoramike]

Got the bottom of the hull planked and now starting on the sides.

[mtdoramike]

I got a few more planks done on the side. This is an odd way to plank, I usually start at the top and work my way to the keel, but the instructions suggest starting at the bottom and work my way up.

[mtdoramike]

I know my work area is a bit messy, and I try not to clean it until after I finish a build because usually when I do clean up my work table BEFORE I finish what ever it is I'm building, I end up throwing away something that I find that I need it. For instance: I cleaned up my table a bit a few weeks ago after my wife complained that it was quite messy, well wouldn't you know that I threw away one of the formers that Dumas supplied to make the built up stem and stern post. 😪 But no big deal, I will either make a new former or better yet, I was thinking of cutting out the stern and stem posts from some scrap black walnut that I have laying around, which will eliminate the need for the build up of strips of wood.