Sanding the inside of boat hulls.

[Modeler12]

The USS Constitution kit has four boats that are made up by laminating pre-cut sheets as shown below.

To get rid of the extra wood inside is a bear. I have used chisels, diamond coated bits in a dremmel like tool and then still had to do a lot of hand sanding.

 

Some time ago I took an electric toothbrush, cut off the bristles and glued on a piece of sandpaper.

Now I went a step further; took a piece of dowel, adapted it to the electric gismo, flattened one side, added sandpaper and voila . . a nice sander for tight spaces.
Just don't let the kids get hold of it.

 

[Mike Y]

That drum sanders for dremel do the same thing, very handy:

Edited April 22, 2014 by Mike Y

[jud]

Rolling your own always gives a warm and fuzzy feeling. Good idea jay.

jud

[Modeler12]

Thanks guys, but Mike the drums for the Dremmel are way too course. Keep in mind that the wall thickness for these boats is only about .050 inch.

I do have some other grinding wheels and they may help to 'hog' out the main parts, but not for the finishing.

I have been trying to get some sanding drums for the dremmel with a fine grit, but no luck thus far.

In fact, I have made my own drums for a thickness sander that works on my drill press, but those are larger diameter and not for 'special' usage.
 

Jud, I remember 'rolling my own' right after WWII. The hardest thing to get was not the tobacco but the papers. My dad even had a little machine that worked like making sushi. Kind of ages me    

Edited April 23, 2014 by Modeler12

[Mike Y]

Thanks guys, but Mike the drums for the Dremmel are way too course. 

The sanding drums come in different grits, so you can use the fine one. Sorry, that's the only picture I managed to google, with a coarse grit

But yes, they are to remove most of the material, while the final polish is always manual.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Mike Y

[Modeler12]

The sanding drums come in different grits, so you can use the fine one. Sorry, that's the only picture I managed to google, with a coarse grit

But yes, they are to remove most of the material, while the final polish is always manual.

You apparently missed my whole point of posting this. I don't always polish manually. That is why this little converted toothbrush came in handy for what I was trying to do. Polishing is not necessary because the inside of these boats will be painted.

 

I would be interested in the little drums in grit sizes down to about 400, but I don't see those any where.