Niagara - skiff - need some advice on caprail

[milosmail]

I have been working on the cutter for my MS model of the Niagara. It is progressing well, but I have met one obstacle - how to construct a caprail. Kit did not provide this piece, and I can't figure out how to construct except from perhaps a flat sheet of thin wood.  The caprail takes a very pronounced curve at the bow. It is not feasable to make this by bending a strip of wood (or, at least I don't know how), and making a quality caprail by cutout from sheet wood is beyond my skill level. I will have the same problem with the yawl/stern boat.

So, I am looking for advice from those who built these before.

[Jim Lad]

I make mine by laying a sheet of paper over the model and running a pencil around to draw the exact shape of the hull as a template, then cutting the right shape is straightforward.

 

John

[allanyed]

Steve

What John wrote is the best way to go in my opinion.  If your hull is a little out of shape compared to the plans this method will compensate for any variation.  I would cut two at the same time so one can be flipped over and be a mirror image rather than making two tracings.  If the variation of the hull itself starboard to port is slight, the cap will cover this up as they will be symmetrical.

Allan     

[Roger Pellett]

If you plan to paint the cap rail, cutting it from a sheet of thin craft plywood might make things easier.  Craft plywood in metric thicknesses that closely approximate 1/64”, 1/32”, 1/16” and 1/8” is usually available from craft stores such as Michaels.  You might also find at hardware and home improvement stores.  If you intend to build more ship models it’s handy stuff to have on hand.

 

if you feel that you don’t have the skill to saw this to shape, cut it out oversized and sand to its final shape.

 

Roger

[Dr PR]

There is another way to make curved top rails that I saw on one of the build logs on the forum.

 

Rather than try to cut complex curves from a sheet of wood, especially sharp curves at the transom, the fellow built the top/cap rails up from many thin wood strips that were wrapped around a solid mold. The rail was built up with many laminations glued together. The wide dimension of the strips was vertical to the plane of the rail so they were bent easily around the curves through the thin dimension of the strips.

 

The thin strips were a bit wider than the thickness of the rail so the finished piece could be sanded to proper thickness. Additional strips were glued on until the laminated piece was the desired width of the cap rail. After sanding to thickness and sealing with shellac the laminated rail looked quite elegant. After painting you couldn't tell the rail wasn't carved from solid wood.

 

I think he made the thin strips with a plane, cutting shavings from the edge of a thin board/plank a bit thicker than the desired top/cap rail thickness. The blade of the plane was set to create relatively thick shavings.

 

For thin curved wood parts this method produces a piece that is much stronger that a carved part, and has no grain the piece can break along.

 

I have used the same technique to make wooden mast hoops only 0.020 inch (0.5 mm) thick that are very strong..

Edited July 16, 2023 by Dr PR

[tlevine]

Making a template like John said is the easiest thing to do.  Cut the outboard line and, using a compass or divider, draw the inboard line.  Sheet basswood 1/16" is easily cut with a #11 blade.

[iMustBeCrazy]

On 7/15/2023 at 6:11 AM, milosmail said:

but I have met one obstacle - how to construct a caprail

Given the scale, the width of the cap rail for the yawl would be less than the thickness of a one cent coin with those of the cutters about twice that of the yawl. I suspect your 'planking' is thicker (mine would be).

(Yawl 2 1/2" - 4", Cutters 4 1/2" - 6")

 

Otherwise, simulate scarph joints with diagonal joins.

 

[milosmail]

Thanks for all the encouragement. I came up with another solution based on your suggestions. I used the billet E as a stencil, using the top component as the best shape. This would be the piece directly under the caprail. I was able to enlarge it slightly, and then - using my compass as suggested by Toni (tlevine), I created a 1/8 in. wide caprail. This accurately created an even/mirror image shape  and width as originally planned, and hid my minor irregularties. I also found it MUCH easier to deal with the 1/32 basswood, which arrived 3 weeks late from the seller. Once the caprail is on, I will add the fender to the hull.

Originally I tried cutting from birch ply, but that was a disaster, and I think it spooked me.

I will post my solution on my build log, along with photos of the finished skiff (cutter), one of these days.

PS: I plan to build the yawl with a cover, and do not plan to finish the interior. But, given how easy this went, I will include a fender and caprail.

[milosmail]

OK, all finished!

I built the skiff in a few days/weeks/months/years - depending how you want to count. Once I solved all construction problems, I built it in a couple of months; working an hour most days except for vacations and resulting severe cold (ha). Lots of time went to waiting for glue or paint to dry.

Attached is a photo of the finished product, sans oars which I felt would just clutter it up.

 

Edited September 30, 2023 by milosmail