MAGIC 1993 by MAGIC's Craig - FINISHED - scale 1:8 - RADIO - cruising schooner

[ccoyle]

I missed the post that revealed her home port as Sausalito. I grew up in the Bay Area until I was nine, first in Campbell and later in Santa Rosa.

[Tony Hunt]

I love those winches. And the rest of the model too!

[Bob Cleek]

Lovely work! I'm curious about what design arrangements you've made for her sailing qualities. Am I correct that your "dagger board" slot will carry the customary long, removable fin with a ballast bulb on the bottom end?

[MAGIC's Craig]

1 hour ago, Bob Cleek said:

Lovely work! I'm curious about what design arrangements you've made for her sailing qualities. Am I correct that your "dagger board" slot will carry the customary long, removable fin with a ballast bulb on the bottom end?

Hang on, Bob.  The answer shall become clear. Patience, my friend. 😉 (Yes to your question).

[MAGIC's Craig]

2 hours ago, ccoyle said:

I missed the post that revealed her home port as Sausalito. I grew up in the Bay Area until I was nine, first in Campbell and later in Santa Rosa.

CCoyle: I grew up in Los Altos but the homeport was a quirk. Vicky and I had sold our home to pay for MAGIC but at the time the USCG required an actual seaport to be listed on the transom. Fortunately, my sister lived at that time in Sausalito and we used her address for documentation purposes. It seems that each of MAGIC's 3 subsequent owners don't want to change it.

[Hsae]

Can you describe how you did the inked seam lines?

 

Hermann

[MAGIC's Craig]

Hermann:  I used an older plastic drafting spline (which happened to be the correct width) for inking the deck planking strakes. MAGIC's deck planking was laid to follow the curve of the sheer, intersecting the king plank at the end of the runs. 

The first line was drawn one spline width inboard of the covering board, with the spline held in position by lead "ducks". I did one side and then moved the spline to the opposite side of the deck to do the matching line. The longest lines were these outer lines. When the "permanent water proof" ink dried, I moved back to the first side and used the spline width to space for the next inboard "seam". Back and forth between the two sides.  Before too long, the spline was too long to fit onto the deck without interference from the bulwark on one end or the other. So, I trimmed it shorter. Once the side decks had been marked, it was necessary to use shorter pieces for the bow and stern areas.  Not too surprisingly, any small errors in width spacing were magnified from port to starboard as the longer angled ends met the king plank, so some subtle adjustments to the widths were made to minimize the visual discrepancies.

While the finished lining out was lovely when new, I did not wholly trust the "permanent, waterproof" claims and decided to lay a thin coat of varnish over the painted, lined-out deck.  Over time, the lines have faded noticeably.  So, perhaps not the best choice for a deck planking lining-off method.

[Bob Cleek]

1 hour ago, MAGIC's Craig said:

While the finished lining out was lovely when new, I did not wholly trust the "permanent, waterproof" claims and decided to lay a thin coat of varnish over the painted, lined-out deck.  Over time, the lines have faded noticeably.  So, perhaps not the best choice for a deck planking lining-off method.

I believe the archival material for inking such details is old fashioned India ink applied with a drafting pen over a smooth wood surface previously sealed with shellac or thinned varnish. India ink is basically water, shellac, and lampblack. Modern "markers" with synthetic inks are not necessarily color-fast. "Permanent" means it won't wash out of your clothes and "waterproof" means it won't run or smear if it gets wet. Beyond that, it's anybody's guess.

 

[Jim Lad]

That's a very contented looking cat you had on board with you, Craig!

 

John

[Mirabell61]

looking great Craig

 

Nils

[MAGIC's Craig]

16 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

That's a very contented looking cat you had on board with you, Craig!

 

John

That character was Archie, a male Bengal who loved being on the boat, but also loved serving as a figurehead on the Shellback dinghy when Vicky would go for a row. A bit of a sensation in an anchorage.

 

[Hsae]

On 7/21/2023 at 1:14 PM, MAGIC's Craig said:

Hermann:  I used an older plastic drafting spline (which happened to be the correct width) for inking the deck planking strakes. MAGIC's deck planking was laid to follow the curve of the sheer, intersecting the king plank at the end of the runs. 

The first line was drawn one spline width inboard of the covering board, with the spline held in position by lead "ducks". I did one side and then moved the spline to the opposite side of the deck to do the matching line. The longest lines were these outer lines. When the "permanent water proof" ink dried, I moved back to the first side and used the spline width to space for the next inboard "seam". Back and forth between the two sides.  Before too long, the spline was too long to fit onto the deck without interference from the bulwark on one end or the other. So, I trimmed it shorter. Once the side decks had been marked, it was necessary to use shorter pieces for the bow and stern areas.  Not too surprisingly, any small errors in width spacing were magnified from port to starboard as the longer angled ends met the king plank, so some subtle adjustments to the widths were made to minimize the visual discrepancies.

While the finished lining out was lovely when new, I did not wholly trust the "permanent, waterproof" claims and decided to lay a thin coat of varnish over the painted, lined-out deck.  Over time, the lines have faded noticeably.  So, perhaps not the best choice for a deck planking lining-off method.

Thank you for explaining it.
Yup, it is probably a very good idea so seal everything with varnish!

Yes, there are many ways to lay a deck. I did it with black paper, but it is very messy when you are sanding it. The better way is to scrape it. The lover part in the picture is done scraping the upper part has to be done.

[MAGIC's Craig]

While Vicky continued with her detail varnishing, I made arrangements to visit a neighbor's pool to conduct a displacement and trim check. The boat was weighed on a scale beforehand without ballast or rig and then at the pool, calibrated weights were added into the bilge to bring her down to her waterline. Weights were also adjusted fore-and-aft to tweak the trim. Allowing weight for her rig and sails, most of the remainder would be configured into her ballast bulb. (Yes, I did factor in the difference between freshwater and salt water buoyancies.) The aft-mounted propane locker - carved from a block of AYC with teak trim - had been finished and mounted by this time. I was pleased that the location of the ballast keel trunk proved to be in the correct fore and aft position.

After the float testing, MAGIC returned to the building cradle for more work. I built the hollow spruce masts and once shaped, we trial fitted them to check rake angles and standing rigging lengths.

   Here, the glued mainmast is curing and the early stages of the boom gallows fabrication from brass tubing, bronze plate and teak is shown.

More bits of hardware

                                      The boom, gaff and a variety of blocks were made and varnished                                      

The turnbuckles arrived from Florida 

 

    and the mainsheet arrangement was trial fitted.

 

The first "raising of the masts" showed that the rake angles needed a bit of tuning.     

Edited July 23, 2023 by MAGIC's Craig
sentence structure

[MAGIC's Craig]

To finish up today's posting, I will add some photos of hardware installation. The boom gooseneck (and later, the gaff car) came from a retired USCG man living in Florida who was manufacturing brass sailing hardware.  The rest of the hardware, such as the pinrails, stanchions, sway hooks, tracks and sail cars were efforts on my part. (I certainly hope to acquire a small lathe prior to the next model...)

I used a drop of CA glue on a brass strip to hold the #2 nuts in alignment while tightening the turnbuckle mounting bolts.  I confess to a fair amount of frustrated swearing during this exercise in patience.

 

Until again.

 

 

[Jim Lad]

An absolute delight, Craig.

 

John

[MAGIC's Craig]

1 hour ago, Jim Lad said:

An absolute delight, Craig.

 

John

Thank you, John for the kind words.  I am delighted that you and others are enjoying the build blog. The expertise in these forums is an inspiration (and humbling). I am delighted that Bob Cleek posted a link to Michael Mott's project some years ago because Michael (and several others) set fine standards for quality and precision.

[MAGIC's Craig]

I took the information from the float test and ascertained that the lead bulb for the keel should be close to or at 15 lbs.  The next step was to determine how big the pattern would need to be to serve this purpose.  I cut a piece of Western Red Cedar to a precise 2" x 3" x 12" size and weighed it on a digital scale. Calculations showed what the same size chunk of lead would weigh and the ratio between the two would permit me to whittle down my wooden design shape for the casting pattern until its weight times the ratio would equal the needed weight in lead.  Once the shape would yield the correct weight, I was also able to create the necessary sized cope and drag "boxes" to hold the sand for the lead pour.  After ramming the sand around the pattern and then removing the pattern, cutting vent and pouring sprues, we were ready to heat the lead and pour.

The result was decent enough to use and the center foil-shaped knock out was eventually convinced to exit.

 

I purchased a piece of aluminum plate (5/16" x 4" x 32") to use as the core for the keel bulb supporting fin and after some measurements were noted, I cut away portions of it to minimize the weight of the fin itself. The cutouts in the lower portion were filled with basswood, the fore and after edges of the plate were ground down to get rid of the rectangular shape, and then a couple of layers of the 3/32" thick plywood were laminated to the sides. The fin was shaped to a close approximation to a NACA foil, faired and then covered with fiberglass cloth set in epoxy. The tight-fitting bulb was bonded to the bulb with epoxy.

The combined weight of the boat and the keel would ultimately be 41 lbs. and I realized that some form of a launch cart was going to be necessary to avoid serious back issues picking her up or putting her in. With the keel now able to be put in place, a launching cart design came together (somewhat inelegantly) from odds and ends in the shop. An extendable baggage cart handle was added later to avoid reaching under the bowsprit. The hull, with its keel, was intended to slide aft off of the submerged cradle, with the keel fin slipping through the upper slot of the cart. (Note to self: wooden carts may float which is not always useful.)Rigging and sails were next.

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by MAGIC's Craig
grammar

[Roger Pellett]

Craig,  

 

Just amazing work and as I posted earlier a beautiful subject.

 

I am interested in your sand casting.  As a kid I often tried to cast toy soldiers to replace broken ones.  My father took a dim view of this.  He was concerned about steam- hot lead explosions.  I later did cast a set of ducks like yours in a crude sand mold.  What kind of sand did you use?  I believe foundries use special sand that allows the pattern to be removed without collapsing the mold.

 

Roger

[Jim Lad]

Can't wait to see her on the water with sails set, Craig.

 

John

[Bob Cleek]

3 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

I believe foundries use special sand that allows the pattern to be removed without collapsing the mold.

Indeed they do. Actually, there are three basic types of molding sand and lots of specialty sands for various applications, but the basic, tried and true "el cheapo" material is called "green sand." It's a mixture of very fine sand with about ten percent finely ground up kitty litter and water. There are lots of YouTube videos on how to mix up your own casting sand. You can also buy it premixed from foundry supply houses. 

[MAGIC's Craig]

10 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

Indeed they do. Actually, there are three basic types of molding sand and lots of specialty sands for various applications, but the basic, tried and true "el cheapo" material is called "green sand." It's a mixture of very fine sand with about ten percent finely ground up kitty litter and water. There are lots of YouTube videos on how to mix up your own casting sand. You can also buy it premixed from foundry supply houses. 

Roger: What Bob said.  I ended up reading mixed reviews about the kitty litter mixture so I used a pre-mix from a foundry supply house. This mix tamped down quite firmly and permitted the pattern to be extracted without the void which the pattern created crumbling excessively. Now, I do have a very heavy 3 gal paint bucket of the stuff sitting around, but I may need to cast a lead 6L3 Gardner diesel as ballast for the next model... 😉 

[MAGIC's Craig]

The masts were fitted with their respective mast bands, spreaders were made for both masts and MAGIC was again moved outside to permit stepping the masts. I used some black fishing twine as temporarily standing rigging and this permitted double checking the sweep and lengths of the spreaders. The spreaders were then strapped and glued to the masts.

The mainsail and the gaff foresail would use slides along their luffs, so tracks were fashioned from brass flat bar positioned on meranti "battens or feathers". 

The sail slides were made up from hollow rectangular brass extrusions (which were a slip-fit around the brass flat bars). The extrusion lengths were placed in a tight-fitting groove cut in the bottom of a length of wood. The wood and extrusions were (carefully) passed over a partially-raised table-saw blade.  This left a narrow open slot in the bottom of the rectangular brass which could accommodate sliding along the track-supporting feathers. The extrusion was cut into short lengths and bails of 1/16" dia. brass rod were bent up to be soldered to the aft faces of the slides for lacing on the sails.

Meanwhile, a neighbor (who quilts a lot) asked if she could help out: "Did I need any sewing done?"  Why, as a matter of fact, I did! So we agreed that if I traced off some paper patterns of the sail shapes, she would whip up a trial set of sails from spare bedsheet cotton.  It of course seemed like a good idea to double check the sails derived from the original drawings against the actual model's rig, so I crawled around on the shop floor for a couple of days making patterns and then turned them over to her.  In very short order, this trial set of sails was sewn up and delivered.

 

This turned out to be a very necessary exercise before tackling the construction of the "final" suit of sails because there were several adjustments required to fit the spars and sheeting angles. Thankfully, we both enjoyed the process and Sally, the quilter, was eager to get on with the slightly heavier, revised sails.  I made new revised patterns and off I went to a fabric store to find a more suitable cloth.

 

<More to follow another day.>

 

 

 

 

[Bob Cleek]

1 hour ago, MAGIC's Craig said:

I made new revised patterns and off I went to a fabric store to find a more suitable cloth.

Not sure if you are telling this story after the fact or in real time. I'm betting your local Joann's fabric store is going to give you a blank stare when you ask if they have any three-quarter ounce nylon spinnaker cloth!  

 

Very creative fabrication solution for the sail track slides. They look great, too. 

Edited July 24, 2023 by Bob Cleek

[Jim Lad]

Nice to have the right neighbours during a construction like this, Craig! 

 

John

[MAGIC's Craig]

20 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

Not sure if you are telling this story after the fact or in real time. I'm betting your local Joann's fabric store is going to give you a blank stare when you ask if they have any three-quarter ounce nylon spinnaker cloth!  

 

Very creative fabrication solution for the sail track slides. They look great, too. 

Bob: We are still catching up from the past, but getting closer. You are correct, of course, the young woman at Joann's would not have had any spinny cloth. However, she kindly helped me sort through the myriad choices available in weight and color to find the light tan (natural) duck that seemed suitable.

 

Thanks for the favorable mention on the sail slides. My soldering skills still need lots of improvement though.  Next model will require a fair bit.

Edited July 25, 2023 by MAGIC's Craig
spelling

[MAGIC's Craig]

Sally soon stopped by with the newly-sewn up sails and I set to doing the necessary handwork at the corners, the sail slides and the fitting of the mainsail's battens.  Once this work was done, I raised the new sails for the first time and began setting up the running rigging as well as tweaking the positioning and luff tensions on the masts.

The bowsprit net was knotted up and hung in place. 

 

And I started getting impatient to start MAGIC on her sea trails even though there remained a list of projects yet to finish.  In our locale, there are very few useful launch ramps, either into a bay or nearby fresh water lakes.  At that time, (November, 2021), we were also further limited due to the extreme drought's effect on the levels of the lakes.  Since the useful access to the bay's two ramps was strongly effected by tidal height/current, there were also only a couple of days a month when, winds permitting, an initial launch for a sea trial made sense. 

 

First launch and sea trials next

 

 

 

[MAGIC's Craig]

It doesn't seem fair to leave this tale at the above picture.

We first launched MAGIC in late November, 2021 and managed some preliminary sea trials. These generated a bit of a "squawk" list, as might be expected and I managed to work on a couple of items before her next sail 2 months later.

Photos by Vicky Johnsen

Above image taken by Vicky Johnsen in early January, 2022

 

We were fortunate to be able to build a mounting/display cradle in the house to hold her before life intervened for 15 months. The only space with suitable height was above the fireplace (we have a cat - 'nuff said) but the supporting shelf needed to be able to be raised and lowered. Hollow-cored panels were glued up and bonded together and the hull rested along her centerline with a maple stub projecting up into the keel slot.  A bolt projects from the backboard through the midship hawse of the bulwarks into a retention plate on the inboard side. This arrangement keeps the model from tipping over away from the wall.  The mainmast clears the roof T&G by 3/8".

And here she sat, not quite finished nor properly sailing for the next 15 months or so.

 

Nearly current...

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by MAGIC's Craig
corrected picture placement

[Jim Lad]

She looks superb on the water, mate!

 

John

[GrandpaPhil]

Looks amazing!

[Bob Cleek]

Beautiful photos! Quite a clever display solution, too!

 

If you don't mind a few curious questions:

 

How does she sail? Have you noticed any similarities in sailing characteristics between the prototype and the model?

 

How ded the R?C sheet servos work out? Is it possible to let the sheets run free in the event of a gust of wind and a potential knock-down?

 

I also am curious about retrieval options. She doesn't appear to be powered, so what do you do if she is becalmed or otherwise "incapacitated" in the middle of the pond? In the old days, when "free sailed" pond yachts were in vogue, they'd only sail them on purpose-built model sailing ponds and the boats that "went their own way" would eventually drift to the edge of the pond and be fetched with long poles or they'd have a row boat that they could use to go out and retrieve the model boats. As far as I know, there are only two such model yacht ponds in the U.S. anymore, one in New York's Central Park and the other, Spreckles Lake in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. (See: https://www.sfmyc.org/ )