Lightning Sailboat by Andrew J. - Small - Scale 1:12 - Sparkman & Stevens Plans

[Thistle17]

 I picked up the picture from Pintrest and was trying my hand at humor. I wondered the same thing but it surely looks like a man overboard. This may have been a lucky camera shot as things were unfolding. To that point a good friend and I were on Long Lake in Harwich Mass. we had just put in (in his Coranodo) and as we cleared a land outcrop a gust of wind sent us flying and into the water. Sneakers, cooler and bodies all floating.every which way. It happened so fast there was no time to react. We got ourselves ashore and noticed an older gentleman and kids heading out just like us. I thought for sure he was going to buy it as well. Yet he went merrily sailing by Goes to show you.

 

Joe 

Edited May 3, 2021 by Thistle17

[FriedClams]

Just found your log Andrew and I really like the way your model is progressing.  Beautiful work - so clean and precise.  I'll be watching for future installments.

 

Gary

[VTHokiEE]

How is the lightning coming along? Would love to see any updates.

[Andrew J.]

It's been a few months since she was on the workbench, but she hasn't been forgotten. A little bit of progress on the seat supports, but nothing really worth posting about just yet. Have you been able to make a start on yours yet?

[VTHokiEE]

Not yet, I did get so far as to put the plans and instruction book in my cart but didn’t pull the trigger. I’m currently working on a scratch cross section first. I may do a kit I have on hand after before jumping into the scratch lightning but I would like to do one in the near future.

[rlb]

Andrew, 

I have a friend who once owned a Lightning (I don't recall the number), and he built a very fine model based off the Dumas kit.  Everything more accurate to the actual boat--I was impressed with his details on the mast.  He's the guy who actually got me into modeling.  Good luck with yours.

Ron

[cyberbillp]

Just came from the Hobby Store. Went there looking for a sailboat and the Lightning was the only sailboat they had. So I bought it.

 

Looked online and found these build logs. They are full of good info. Since this is my first boat, I was wondering how you water proof it, got some clues out of the previous build log.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Andrew J.]

So happy to hear of a new Lightning builder! I'm so glad this content can be useful to you. I wish there had been more online content around when I started that kit, and I still wish there were more people out there who would share their Lightning models. Best of luck to you, and I hope you'll feel comfortable starting a build log for us to enjoy with you.

[Andrew J.]

It’s still been a number of months since I actually made any progress, but I just realized I had done some work on the centerboard trunk since I last updated here, as well as the beginnings of the seat supports, so I figured I’d share. 
I’m going to the Finger Lakes Boating Museum tomorrow to see #167, which was meticulously restored a few years ago. It’s a Skaneateles built boat exactly like I’m trying to recreate, so I’m looking forward to taking lots of hi-res close ups for reference! It’ll be interesting to see what kind of differences there are between it and #1 since that was the prototype and 167 is a full on production run boat.

[Andrew J.]

Upon inspection of #167, it appears several aspects of my build already differ from methods used by Skaneateles. I’m still happy to call my model a proudly home built boat with a nod to Skaneateles styling, particularly in the design of the seats and the custom headstay fitting. It’s going to be a challenge fabricating the mast hardware, it’ll be interesting to see what I can come up with!

[Andrew J.]

My first boat related project in many months! I finally felt an urge to put something together and I felt compelled to build this rudimentary stand. I’m still working out in my head how I’ll do the final display, but I wanted to put this together to get some idea of how the cradle will work and where on the hull the supports will line up. It’s hard to say now where the center of gravity will be when it’s finished, so this may change, but for now I have them at frames 4 and 7. This temporary stand will come in particularly handy when it comes time to mark the waterline. The waterline is parallel to the baseline in the plans and this stand makes the boat level, so I should be able to set up a pencil in a jig at the right height and scribe the waterline all the way around. It’ll be a long time yet ‘til she gets any paint, but I’m really looking forward to that. But I also need to try not to get too caught up in steps that far ahead and focus on what needs to be done first, so please wish me luck.

[Andrew J.]

It only just now occurs to me that it will be easier to scribe the waterline with the boat upside down, so tomorrow’s project will be building another cradle that holds it upside down with the waterline parallel to the workbench.

[Roger Pellett]

Post #39 above:   Beautiful work!!  It looks like the real thing.

 

I was a one design sailor as a teenager/ young adult.  Wooden Thistle #1327 built with my father from a kit just before the fiberglass☹️ era.  I raced in a mixed fleet and a well sailed Lightning was always tough competition.

Roger

Edited October 20, 2022 by Roger Pellett

[Andrew J.]

The most significant progress on the boat itself in almost a year and a half! I made the floorboards Friday night, installed most of them on Saturday, and just finished up a few minutes ago! The outermost ones aren’t as straight as I might have liked, but I think those ends will be obscured well enough by the seats so I won’t worry about it too much. I’ll throw some polyurethane on them throughout this week, hopefully, and then the seats will be next!

[KeithAug]

On 5/3/2021 at 5:34 PM, Roger Pellett said:

tell us what’s going on here?

Yes its all a bit weird isn't it. The main looks set for a close reach but the jib seems all over the place. I can't work it out.