Bristol Pilot Cutter by michael mott - 1/8 scale - POF

[mtaylor]

Michael,

There's also scalehardware which was bought out.  The scale hardware is here:  https://www.modelmotorcars.com/

 

Here's the direct link to the hardware:  https://model-motorcars.myshopify.com/collections/small-parts-hardware/bolts

[Kurt Johnson]

Michael,

 

I really love you’re craftmenship. And I REALLY, REALLY love your new workshop! It must be so easy to lose track of time there. Especially on a rainy or snowy day, some good music playing......

 

Kurt

[Jim Lad]

Well, I suppose it looks fairly reasonable, Michael. 😁

 

John

[gjdale]

And you might also try this link Michael:

 

https://jimorrisco.com/

 

 

[michael mott]

Mark, Kurt, John, and Grant thanks for the links and kind remarks.

Today I put the canvas covering on the hatch, first I coated the mahogany with diluted Tightbond III then laid some cloth a polyester cotton blend. Then coated it again with the dilute glue I used a model airplane heating iron that is used for shrinking fabric on the wings etc. to set the glue. then trimmed the edges and re-glued the edges to seal them.

 

 

 

I trimmed the underside flush ready for the capture cleats that will run in the grooves

 

 

The edges of the canvas will get rounded wooden mahogany capture strips with small brass screw.

 

 

Michael

[Seahawk1313]

Wonderful work.  I like your thickness planner.  The canvis covering brings back memories,  The boats I ran had that on the fore decks, lasted a long time, The boats were built by Wilcox in Conneticut.  Your cutter is coming  out great!--Hal   

[BANYAN]

Very nice work Michael, but we have come to expect that from you   That skylight looks like the actual deal, not a model of it.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[michael mott]

Thank folks for the kind remarks. While waiting for the paint to dry on the second layer of Canvas on the hatch. I though that a set of belaying pins that were all the same size might be a good idea. the following sequence should be self explanatory.

 

 

 

The final shaping was done by using one cutter then using some sanding sticks.

 

 

 

 

Michael

Edited October 25, 2018 by michael mott
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[dvm27]

The canvas top and belaying pins are just marvellous, Michael.

[druxey]

Beautiful work as ever, Michael!

[Jeronimo]

Hello Michael,

very nice detail work. Impressive.

Karl

[michael mott]

Close up pictures really do expose the flaws....hmmm I laid a second covering of cloth over the first because the paint job turned out a bit rough. so thinking that a second layer would work better if I adhered it with paint it would look better. I did not wand to fold it over the edges again though so trimmed it off.

 

I cut and bent the first mahogany capture strip and fitted it today I like the strip but am not so happy about the cut line visible.

 

 

 

Also I was not really pleased with the shoulder on the belay pins and so reworked them a little.

 

 

Compared to the first shaping.

 

 

I replaced all the pins on the forward rail, and while setting the ropes I realized that the rail is a bit low and should probably be raised up a foot or so from a practical point for the crew setting the ropes.

 

 

Oh the joys of muddling along and learning on the job.

 

Michael

 

 

 

 

[albert]

Great beautiful work Michael.

[mtaylor]

13 hours ago, michael mott said:

Oh the joys of muddling along and learning on the job.

 

Michael

 

 

I thought that part of the fun of what we do?   Lovely work you're doing so worth the pain. 

[druxey]

So the crew are not five years old? I learn something new from you every day, Michael.

[cog]

If what you do is muddling, I wouldn't know what my poor efforts are called ... and for learning on the job ... don't we all ... try at least  ...

 

Druxey, they are toddlers, so it should be the proper height ...

[michael mott]

Well I let the toddlers go and suggested that they spend more time playing before taking on a boys work. The grown ups stepped in and dis-assembled the rail!😮

 

 

 

and while the grown ups were doing that the builder continued with the canvas catch rails.

 

 

The builder is taking the evening off to spend time with his wife.

 

michael

 

 

[BANYAN]

I think the builder has earned the break and; happy wife happy life   Looking good Michael.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[michael mott]

On 12/20/2013 at 9:43 AM, michael mott said:

Quote

 

Excellent clean and precise work, as usual.  I was wondering what the scale height of the fife rail is from the deck.  It looks to be no more than a foot (assuming the belaying pins are about 18" long)..  Would this be a useable height?  I am not familiar with real boats like this, so it certainly could be right.  It just looks strange to me compared with fife rails that I know from earlier ships.

Good morning Dan. excellent question, it has been something that I have been wondering about myself.

I had asked Russ about the rails on his sloop and about the sorts of clearances needed to make things like rails and pins workable. when I did a Google search for fife rails they appear to be all over the map(both literally and figuratively)regarding heights and sizes.

 

The top of the rail on mine is 9 inches above the deck and the pins are also 9 inches long, short perhaps for a ship but long enough I think for this size of boat she is basically 40 foot long, well 42 feet. My cap rail is only 8 inches above the deck as well.

 

The other option is to redo the whole rail and make it higher, I wouldn't rule out that option either.

The more things change the more they stay the same, the height of the pin rail was first raised in 2013 and here we are 5 years later and the last sentence back then has finally come to pass.

[michael mott]

The changes are still happening I'm going back to the roller reefing boom.

 

For the second time I have used the isopropol alcohol and am impressed by how well it works, after removing the shelf for the gaff jawed boom, I wrapped the mast with some industrial paper towel and soaked it to do a final clean up of the location where the glue was.

 

 

It took a little while to find the old goose-neck bracket and I decided to modify it in order to be able to put it on and off without taking the mast down. a bit of annealing and reshaping did the trick.

 

 

Now I need to make a couple of retaining bands to finish clamping it back on.

 

 

Now I get to rework the way the main sheet is attached.

 

 

I feel good about going back to this option.

 

Michael

 

 

[paulsutcliffe]

Hi Michael

Lovely work, what make are those  small hand drills?

Regards

Paul 

[druxey]

Sweet! And I swear by isopropanol. Often some Saran wrap around the part(s) keeps it from evaporating.

[BANYAN]

Beautiful ironwork (brass :)) on that mast Michael.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Kurt Johnson]

Paul, I believe Starrett makes those.

 

Kurt

[michael mott]

Hello Paul the ones I have are made by general and are sold as an engraver with a small ball burr. the collar is set to accept 3/32 shaft drills. it uses a couple of AA batteries doesn't have a lot of jam but is handy for a variety of small jobs.

 

Michael

[Kurt Johnson]

Oh, I thought Paul was referring to the pin vise you had used with your lathe when you were working on the rivets. Sorry.

 

Kurt

 

 

[paulsutcliffe]

Thanks Kurt but it was the small engraver I was asking about, just ordered one on amazon to check out thanks Michael

Regards

Paul

 

[Kurt Johnson]

Paul

 

Actually, I have one of the General tools set up as a mini drill. It’s pretty good, but there isn’t a lot of torque. For the money its worth it.

 

Michael, 

 I didn’t mean to interrupt your build. Again, sorry.

 

Kurt

[michael mott]

Kurt

No need to be sorry, it is all about helping each other and sharing.

 

Michael

[michael mott]

Again thanks for the interest in this saga.

 

Back in 2013 when i was working on the first mast boom and the attendant fittings, I was perhaps a bit lazy in the way I went about some of the work, looking for shortcuts as to the methods of fabrication.

I bent the clamping strips around the wood of the mast, it seemed like a good way at the time, it did however indent the wood and did not fit as well as it could have.

 

Forward to now and I made the choice to rework this goose-neck but not without a struggle. After modifying the clamps to look like this

 

 

 

I attempted three times to make a front part to mate to the rear, and was disappointed with the efforts, because none of them matched properly.

 

The original gooseneck was not a great fit ok but not great.

 

Step one was to take it apart again since this was silver soldered it meant high heat.

 

 

It was now possible to reshape the bands to fit better but I had already been having difficulty with the front pieces so I made the decision to see if i could make a former out of hardwood and use it to form the bands I would test the idea on the front retainer parts.

 

 

 

This worked well enough for one piece so I knew that making a proper form would work for multiples. so I machined one out of steel.

 

Once I had made the blank shape I mad a second form but not until I had done some work on cleaning up the mast.  which meant taking it down. I re worked the lower portion and cleaned up the octagonal portion quite a bit.

 

 

Now it was time to reshape the rear band parts. so i made a second die to work the back part.

 

 

I will break this into two posts the next part will follow right away.

 

Michael