Skipjack by michael mott - 1/8th scale - SMALL - 19 foot open launch

[Mark Pearse]

sorry -  I said planks when I meant ribs

Edited April 3, 2019 by Mark Pearse

[Bedford]

I think I'd be looking at laminating them fore and aft or shaping the inboard face to match the angle on the form, laying the rib flat to the exterior then re-sanding the fair them if that makes sense

[michael mott]

9 hours ago, Bedford said:

shaping the inboard face to match the angle on the form, laying the rib flat to the exterior then re-sanding the fair them if that makes sense

Steve I really don't want to go that route. The ribs were steam bent in this launch and I loose only 100% of the time when I fight with nature.

 

I am doing some tests to see how things look at the bow and some deadwood is definitely in the cards. the cross floors are 1" thick and are made of Castello and there is a space for the limber hole which is formed by the rib not reaching the top plate. this is how it is on the restored launch.

I have places a piece that is 3/4 inch thick down on the form then the keel is placed on top the Keel needs to be tapered at the bow and stern.

 

I will set the width of the top plate by a combination of the width of the ribs at the bow and the keel adding a slight bevel to the end of the ribs lets them sit well next to the floors.

 

 

 

The ribs are not lined up with the station bulkheads, there were no drawings of this and the ribs are generally spaced at 12 inch intervals  which at this scale is 1 1/2 inches apart, so as I am typing this it occurs to me that there would be fewer ribs in any case. 

I am also guessing that there won't be much of a limber hole on the first couple of ribs in the bow.

Michael

 

[Sea Hoss]

Amazing!

[michael mott]

It has been a while but after chatting with Druxey yesterday I am thinking that I might have to do some work on this model. One of my problems is with such a long interval between the last work on both the engine and the hull and my ham fisted approaches to model boat building at time mostly because I am not primarily a model boat builder but more a generalist. Each discipline has all sorts of methods and procedures that are time honored, and not knowing or understanding many of these is one of my reasons for shifting to a different type of model when some challenges rear up. I feel a bit like a coward sometimes and put off the needed work to solve the challenge. Eventually I come to the realization that the best way forward it to jump in with both feet.

 

I have just reread this build to bring myself back up to speed with what I was doing and what I was thinking. It does not change the challenges though.

 

So where to go today.... a coffee and breakfast first, then bring the hull back down off the top shelf and decide on the next move.

 

Michael

[dvm27]

Well it's about damn time, Michael. Your updates have been sorely missed!

[druxey]

Welcome back, Mr. Mott!

[Dowmer]

Excellent, long over due. Waiting with anticipation. And Mike, you are much better than a ham fisted modeler....lol

[Roger Pellett]

Michael,

 

Welcome back!  There is certainly nothing ham fisted about your results and nothing wrong with shelving a project while ponder a new approach and or regain interest.  That’s what keeps things interesting.  It’s not like a home remodeling project with the In-laws expected momentarily.

 

Roger

[michael mott]

Thank you Greg, Druxey and Roger for you comments and patience.

 

Cleaned up some space, model is off the shelf, a bit of dusting is in order than an hour or so catching up in my head.

 

 

Michael

[Bedford]

I'll pull my chair up again. nice to see some progress on this little beauty

 

[vaddoc]

We ve been waiting a long time for this Michael. But the wood is indeed patient and so are we. I am sure you ll overcome the difficulties and we will all enjoy the rest of this journey.

[michael mott]

I have spent a few hours today reorganizing all the photographs and drawings and notes that I have compiled and put in different places over the last 8 years and now have them all in one location with a back up set. So now I can set to work, again.

 

Michael 

[TBlack]

On 5/28/2021 at 11:40 AM, michael mott said:

 and my ham fisted approaches to model boat building at time mostly because I am not primarily a model boat builder but more a generalist. 

 

Michael

Michael,

I hate to give you an opposing view, but I doubt that there would be many here who would agree that you are ham fisted in your model boat building. While I thing generalists are a good thing in this world (I count myself as one), I'm starting to believe that you can do anything you set your mind to do.

Furthermore (I'm not done yet!), you are generous with your time and knowledge beyond normal expectations. OK, I'm done, but I think you need a hug.

Tom

Edited May 29, 2021 by TBlack

[FriedClams]

Looking forward to seeing you move ahead with this model Michael.  But I enjoy all your projects, from steam liner restorations to locos.  I learn something new from every one. 

 

Gary

[michael mott]

So the last couple of days have been part of my usual dance one step forward three back, I call it "the shipbuilder's waltz" 

Basically what I realized was that with some of the changes to the lines and the body lines and plan needed to be redrawn accurately for the subtraction of the thickness of the ribs and planks. Unlike Druxey I did not have the confidence to set in the frames or ribs into the form and I also needed to refine it a little here and there.

 

Lots of work redoing sets of templates because now it is all of a block. here are the results, of the drawing.

 

 

Tomorrow feels like a big sanding day.

 

Michael

 

[michael mott]

Thank you all for the visit and appreciation.

The vast amount of Sanding was an overstatement to be clear. It turned out to be far less work than anticipated.

After checking that the shape was in the ball park. I worked on tapering the fore and aft portions of the keel ready for the stem and stern timbers.

 

 

Some thicker blocks were roughed out to profiles and glued to the keel tomorrow when the glue has properly set I will add some 1/16th dowels to reinforce the joints before shaping them.

 

 

 

 

That's about it for today.

 

Michael

[Bedford]

I gather from the pics that you are going to install the floors prior to planking. Much better than after, they were really fiddly on my 1:8 Miss Caroline

[michael mott]

Steve, yes I plan on setting up the floors prior to planking, The floors are also quite extensive regarding the open cockpit area see this shot from a reconstruction photo.

 

Michael

[michael mott]

Worked on a bit of carving the stern today. first I set up to add the (bronze drift bolts) brass .046" dowels these were angled differently from each other, similar to a dovetail

 

 

 

Then using riflers to rough shape, along with some careful #11 exacto work the stern is done far enough for the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow the stem.

And as an aside I was able to book my second Covid Vaccine for Friday the 5th June, this afternoon, when I logged onto the AHS site there were only 21,000 ahead of me with a wait time of 26 minutes till it was my turn to book.

 

Michael

[Bedford]

Nice progress Michael, aren't those mill clamp "risers" useful things.

 

I've had my first A-Z shot at my GP and the second was booked at the time so no ques for me. Sadly there's been a bit of a slow down by over 50's ( if you're over 50 here you get A-Z ) because the news loves making a big deal out of a few people getting blood clots. Doctors know who's susceptible now so it's pretty safe to get the jab, far safer than getting covid.

Edited June 2, 2021 by Bedford

[wefalck]

Didn't have time (yet) to read through the whole log: did you already build the engine or is that treat this still to come ?

Edited June 2, 2021 by wefalck

[druxey]

Aaand...he's under way! Nice start, Michael.

[michael mott]

Eberhard, Yes the engine is mostly built there is quite a lot about it earlier.  here is a teaser image.

 

Michael

[michael mott]

I am so glad that my little model shop is air conditioned, it was 31C here today and anything above 20-22C I find uncomfortable.

 

Finished rough shaping the stem today so now I can concentrate on the frames and floors.

 

I am quite happy with it

 

 

Her is a comparison between the first keel and stern and the new one, Although I do like the overall shape of the first Perhaps I can build a freelance model on it at some later date or lifetime.😉

 

 

Michael

[BANYAN]

I don't know how I missed this build until now Michael (talk about right under your eyes)   What a beautiful job you are doing, that machinery is a work of art.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[michael mott]

Today was another one of those aha moments when I realized that the top plate of the keel was not drawn correctly, You Know this model shipbuilding from scratch is not for the feint of heart is it! I picked up some printable card stock to cut yet more test templates to see how the frames and keel and planking all intersect at the keel.

This was the Aha moment.

 

The red line is the outside of the planking , the two black lines represent the frames and the blue represent the top layer of the keel. These test templates match up with station lines 2 ,5,14, and 22. Also the two positions of the floor of the open cockpit are shown as the horizontal lines and how the interface with the frames at #5 and #14 which is where the floor steps up around the engine. I am really hoping that this all comes together as a model that looks like the real boat!

 

#5

 

#14

 

# 22

 

From the side the space is clear that I now need to add the top part of the keel which is much narrower that I had originally envisioned.

 

That enough for today.

 

Michael

[michael mott]

Did not do too much today just a bit of refining of the keel drawing and gluing the top part of the keel to the lower I used a darkened PVA glue in order to see the glue joint as I shape it.

 

 

Also rough cut 22 sheets of Yellow Cedar for the planking. There are 11 planks each side. The planks were 3/4 inch thick which makes them 3/32 thick for the model. I used the jointer to plane the edge each time next to the fence.

 

 

Michael

[michael mott]

There is nothing like doing a bit O' wood butcherin' to begin to understand the way things work as opposed to how one thinks they are supposed to work.

 

Trying to really understand the interface between the keel and the Garboard strake. I twisted up a bit of 3/32nd yellow cedar  and the plank certainly needed to be thinned a bit at the bow. This is just a basic test to see how the two parts mate and how to cut the rabbet which turned out to be completely different  than what I had drawn. The garboard is just sitting there gravity holding in place.

 

 

 

 

 

Now I understand it a little better.

 

Michael

 

 

[druxey]

Visualize the rabbet as the outside shape of the boat, but less the planking.