Quality building jig

[PAnderson]

Hello everyone. I'm glad to be back after a few years absence. The 3 builds that I had done met a very bad ending. I had them on my mantle and a heavy picture hanging above decided that people were giving more attention to the boats than to it and decided to jump off the wall and crush my builds. Seriously though, true story. My 3 beautiful builds met a complete, unrepairable end. The best was the Bounty longboat and she was crushed beyond hope.

So now, I am on to the USF Confederacy and I was hoping to find a quality building jig. I saw the Model Zone Building Slip but cannot find one anywhere. Can someone point me to a decent building jig? Something I can use for the bulkheads and the planking, like a rotisserie kind of deal. Anything of quality will help. I don't mind spending a few dollars.

 

Regards,

Paul

[bolin]

I have seen that Billing Boats sells a building jig similar to Hobby Zones smaller one. I don’t know anything about it’s quality, but It seems to be more expensive than the HZ one. 
 

Have you considered building your own jig?

[Matt D]

That's a terrible story, Paul.  You must have been heartbroken.  I hope it becomes an opportunity for you to pick a new set of models that you like even more than the ones lost to physics' foul musing.

[PAnderson]

21 hours ago, bolin said:

I have seen that Billing Boats sells a building jig similar to Hobby Zones smaller one. I don’t know anything about it’s quality, but It seems to be more expensive than the HZ one. 
 

Have you considered building your own jig?

Thanks for this Bolin, I will look in to this from Billings. As for building my own? Yes, that's possible. I have access to a full machine shop. I was going to design something based off of 2 38" long pieces of 45MM aluminum extrusion.

[PAnderson]

21 hours ago, Matt D said:

That's a terrible story, Paul.  You must have been heartbroken.  I hope it becomes an opportunity for you to pick a new set of models that you like even more than the ones lost to physics' foul musing.

Hello Matt. It was 5 o'clock in the morning, sitting at the table drinking my first cup of coffee. This picture weighed at least 15 pounds and had glass in it. The noise that early in the morning made up for 5 cups of joe. I sat there looking at the outcome for a good 15 minutes. I mean, all 3 ships simply exploded. The bounty launch took a direct hit, the rest when they hit the floor with the rest of the carnage, LOL. These were my first ones ever.

[Justin P.]

On 2/3/2021 at 11:27 AM, PAnderson said:

Something I can use for the bulkheads and the planking, like a rotisserie kind of deal

I have the Model Zone slip and while its great for bulkheads, it is otherwise unwieldy and gets in the way.   It really isnt suitable for steps beyond early construction of the hull.   Planking and so forth, no way.    I think you are better off in the end finding or designing something else.    I used mine once, and would be happy to sell it but I honestly do not think it is worth what it would cost to ship - I have the big one. 

 

As for your models...   dear me, now off to inspect my own wall-hangings and model shelves!  

[mtaylor]

I had the Billings Jig many moons ago.   I only used it for one build and there were some drawbacks.  The biggest one is the long slotted piece for the keel and both end pieces.  They weren't adjustable.  One had to slip in pieces of wood in the slots to secure the parts.  As I recall, it was basswood and was a bit on the fragile side.

 

I currently use jigs of my own making when I need them.  Then, if something isn't right, I can only blame myself and also save a pile of money.