Hercules by vaddoc - 1:64 - Steam Tugboat

[Jim Lad]

Vaddoc, it's great to see that you're pushing ahead in spite of the multitude of difficulties you're currently experiencing!

 

John

[Mark Pearse]

On 2/2/2025 at 8:54 AM, vaddoc said:

Strangely, the main pattern it is also off by a millimetre or so.

Hi Vaddoc,

 

If it is a print that you are talking about, one possible reason for a small error is that some printers slightly shrink to fit the page, without telling you. If you drafted in CAD to a certain size virtual page (eg A3), then when you print, you print to A3 paper size, but the virtual A3 is slightly reduced by the edge margin of the paper that the printer can't print on. The solution is to find the option in the print dialogue window that allows you to set the printing to 100% scale. 

[KeithAug]

On 1/12/2025 at 10:26 PM, vaddoc said:

I could have actually done more but the temperatures have been consistently subzero so my garage is a rather unhospitable place to be in.

Snap - and it is still cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey in my workshop!🙂.

 

Thank you for the catch up - great work.

[KeithAug]

On 2/1/2025 at 9:54 PM, vaddoc said:

I ve had difficulties with lofting, difficulties printing the patterns, difficulties gluing them. My laminates that usually come dead straight are bent. My computer died and now, my disk sander started playing up and is in for repair under warranty.

Yeh! I feel for you - and the whole world seems to be going to hell in a hand cart. Maybe we should just hibernate until 2026.

[wefalck]

5 hours ago, Mark Pearse said:

Hi Vaddoc,

 

If it is a print that you are talking about, one possible reason for a small error is that some printers slightly shrink to fit the page, without telling you. If you drafted in CAD to a certain size virtual page (eg A3), then when you print, you print to A3 paper size, but the virtual A3 is slightly reduced by the edge margin of the paper that the printer can't print on. The solution is to find the option in the print dialogue window that allows you to set the printing to 100% scale. 

I have had a similar experience (albeit at a much smaller scale and physical size). I found that the prints came out 0.5% too small in x and y. So I am now creating a duplicate layer in my 2D-CAD in which I place the items to be printed and scale them at 100.5%. You can always check the measure of the printout with the theoretical value in the CAD-drawing.

[Dr PR]

I always put a ruler scale in my drawings that need to be printed at an accurate scale.

 

Some printers just do not print at the desired scale, so setting the size to 100% doesn't help. I had a HP printer that always printed undersize so I printed some test sheets to determine the error. After that I set the scale to 1.094 % and the prints came out correctly. On the other hand I have a Brother printer that prints exactly 100% when I disable the "fit to paper" option in the driver.

[KeithAug]

4 hours ago, Dr PR said:

I printed some test sheets to determine the error.

I agree - I draw X and Y scales on the item to be printed. I then scan and print the sheet, measure the result and correct the print scale accordingly. Seems to work.

 

 

[vaddoc]

Dear friends

 

Sadly, I have not been able to post for three months - life with its ups and downs got in the way. But I kept on working in the shipyard.

 

Now, this is my first POB model so I am figuring things out as I go. I made a simple jig to hold the keel straight and secure and some plywood right angle pieces. I did a lot of work trying to figure out a way to make sure the frames are square to the keel and installing pieces of wood to provide reinforcements and to connect all frames together.

 

The keel was decidedly bent, it is the first time my epoxy laminates fail to produce a dead straight sheet. Brute force and a heat gun improved the situation a lot.

 

Now at this time, I had to stop and deal with my benches, tools and garage. I was running out of space, too many tools squashed close together in a very full garage. Also, the Axminster disc sander I was so excited about proved garbage, not pleased with their customer support either. 

 

So, I made a new bench with the table saw built in. This took a lot of work (I do not have a mitre saw) and a lot of headscratcing too figure out how it would work but I am very pleased with the outcome. It is a very heavy solid bench.

Then I took everything out of the garage, threw away lots of things, moved some light fittings,  made a kind of loft and put everything back in. Huge amount of work but I am pleased with the outcome.

Drilling and cutting bench and main work bench

Sanding station. Yes, I had to buy the Proxon disc sander which is very nice I must say. The Axminster one is only good to rough sand the timber to make the bench.

This fridge-freezer is taking up space but is also a nice place to put the air filtration system. Can be used for beer as well.

Ok, so back to the boat.

 

All frames were carefully installed and secured with thickened epoxy and bits of wood - very solid. The photo shows the hull and a crude base I made to support the hull during planking.

This is when I discovered the keel was very bent. The way I designed the boat, the plywood deck had to go in first. This was the first true test of alignment that failed miserably. The deck, printed in an A3 sheet is true and straight and both ends of the hull were pretty off center line - a lot.

 

So, I cut many of the connecting wood pieces, put longer ones in, lots of thickened epoxy and now I have a straight keel - at last! The deck has been installed with screws - this will be replaced with wooden nails but I will also epoxy it in place.

 

In the next photos note the cut pieces and the longer ones glued on top.

It does not look pretty but it is solid

Ok, so now it is time for planking. I must admit, I do like spilling planks!

 

Now, I intended to use plywood for the planking but this is not going to work, plywood is very unpleasant to work with and does not cut cleanly (it can but needs specialised blades)

I do not really want to but new timber, so I looked at what 1.5 mm sheets I have. Left to right is maple. mahogany and pear.

Now they are all great but the mahogany is simply too beautiful to use for a hull that will be painted. I think I ll use the maple to start with and if I run out of wood, use the pear.

 

So now it is time to line up the hull for planking! There are some areas that need some consideration, the sheer plank, the top of the stern etc but more on this later.

 

For now, It looked easier to just divide the hull in two sections.

 

I first installed a very wide strip so it would sit dead straight at roughly the turn of the bilge and arranged it so that it would start at the middle of the bow and end aft at the point where the stern rabbet starts turning to horizontal

So at this level, a plank would be dead straight. All planks bellow will curve one way, all planks above will curve the other way.

I will plank the stern separately from the rest of the hull.

 

Of course I had to reposition this line, then divided all frames (except for the 3 aft and 3 fore ones)  bellow this level in 6 sections, put some battens (pear 2x3 mm) and drew the plank runs. Then of course  I had to erase all marks, restart and produce slightly better lines. And then do it again.

 

End result with all frames marked:

Ideally I think a stealer would be needed aft but I am not going to be too pedantic. So lets make one of the garboards.

 

1 mm card used to make the patterns in sections - fitted and glued together.

A very long garboard, and strangely very straight - I expected more curve

I hope this is an accurate pattern. Now, ordinarily I would make this a single long plank but to minimise wood wastage, I am tempted to make it into three sections scarfed together. I also need to think what I will use to cut the planks - scroll saw and sanders or a sharp knife. we will see.

 

On a final note, I was surprised to see that the printed patterns do not seem to fit as well together. I am not sure why but I cannot remember well the CAD designs as I last worked on them in January - I am sure it will work out though.

 

I am also not too happy with my frame alignment - lots of fairing is needed but I may do it as I go along.

 

Till next time

Vaddoc

[Jim Lad]

Good to see you back posting, Vaddoc! That saw inset into the bench is a great idea.

 

John

[Bedford]

This might be useless info in this case since you don't want to buy new stock but something to keep in mind. When I made the 1:8 scale Tammie Norrie I used 0.8mm birch ply for the strakes. You can cut it with a decent pair of scissors and get perfect edges.

That model suffered a warped backbone too but it's the fix that matters.