Gary Thomas by J Snyder - 1:16 - William Atkin 25 foot Sloop

[J Snyder]

I am starting on my first scratch build of the boat I helped build as a student at a boat building school near Fort Bragg, California in the 70s.

I have some mulberry wood that I am using for the stem, keel and deadwood. It has pronounced grain but is free and available.  I haven't decided on the level of detail for this first scratch build.  I built a thickness sander attachment for my drill press to get the lumber down to size and got started.

Gary Thomas Sail plan.pdf

[Jim Lad]

That's a very nice looking yacht!

 

John

[J Snyder]

I was one of two that worked on the full size one from lofting to sending it off. It was a wonderful experience to build the real boat and I look forward to building the model.

[KeithAug]

Good luck with the build. I looks like an interesting  project. You might find that building small is just as time consuming as building the real thing.

[ccoyle]

I'm trying to decode your title. Are there two names in there? One for the sloop and one for the designer?

[J Snyder]

Yes Chris, You figured it out. Sorry for the confusion. Keith, I hope not! I hope to build a series of them getting more detailed as I go finishing with one with full interior in a larger scale maybe 1:12 or 1:10

[J Snyder]

Well a lot of things to figure out. And I already regret using hardboard for the molds. That's what inexperience and a supply of hardboard gets you.

I fastened the molds from the bottom of the building board so I can remove them individually. I'm thinking of adding frames to the edge of the molds to add to the gluing area.

[J Snyder]

I tried to get the molds to stand vertical but carefully making them but I had to resort to shimming with a piece of paper under the back half of the mountings. I cut some basswood strips and and soaked them in a glass of water that I boiled in a microwave.  I am forming the boxwood on the edge of the molds for added support for the planking.