grendel

OK big announcement time, she is off the building blocks...... some tidying up needs to be done inside to clean up the glue runs etc, and sanding on the outside, but we are ready to start working on hull #2. here are some pictures of the model the right way up.

surely if you go by the exact wording, an engine is the thing that drives the boat, a generator is an auxiliary power source - not a drive engine - except if it is powering an electric drive I suppose?

So some filler has been applied, while waiting for it to dry a stand has been glued up, the workbench has been swept clean of shavings and sanding dust.

for the boat - or do they add the area of the sail too?

Cardboard templates made, and a space cleared for the finished hull to sit on its stand (once I have finished the stand that is). other jobs are also happening today (those mundane weekend jobs that keep one busy, such as changing the cat litter trays). This stand will just be a working stand I think, the final one that lives with the model will be made from better timbers and finished properly.

Ok time to put you out of your misery, its to make a profile gauge wide enough and deep enough to go round the bottom of the hull (the skewers are pushed through the holes in corrugated cardboard), this will next be transferred to a cardboard template, then I need to add 1/4" for some foam weatherseal to protect the hull before cutting out from plywood.

The hunt was on this morning, I needed some bamboo skewers as I have the stand to build, could I find them anywhere, Asda had none, B&M had none, the range had none, apparently they are seasonal, so much for skewered veg for Christmas Dinner, still that wasn't why I needed them.Eventually I found them in Sainsbury's- they had quite a few packs. I will leave it to your speculation for a short while - why do I need a whole pack of bamboo skewers to build a model boat stand?

Today we hit that milestone, the last plank going on, the shape at the bow is beautiful, I have tried to take a series of photos to show that shape. also to celebrate the milestone we have a video of that last plank getting fixed in place.

doh, forgot the pictures

and nearly the end of planking, the last plank has been steamed and fixed in place, and the previous one - top plank on the other side is now glued and drying, glueing the last plank will happen tomorrow, as tonight I am out at my astronomy clubs christmas meet - competitions and party time.

the shape is looking beautiful, I have a slight dip om one side toward the bow, an area maybe 3" round is a fraction low, and this bothers the perfectionist in me, this will be addressed as I lay up the ribs on the second model, on this one it will be cured with some fine grain body filler, the hull is going to be sealed with a coat of epoxy and painted white anyway so this will not be noticeable on the finished model. the epoxy resin will enable me to bring the whole up to a smooth gloss finish ready for the paint, but we have a few jobs before paint stage yet.

early start this morning as I was woken at 5.30 by the daughter wanting a lift to the station, anyhow, first top plank steamed and dry fitted, and on the other side the last shaped plank glued in place. For the top plank I chose a plank that was slightly thicker, this enables me to shave it down, while retaining some meat in the top plank. later today the other top plank will be shaped and this one glued, I do need to get a new tube of the gorilla pva as this one is nearly dead, so we now know that planking takes a whole pot per model, I have been generous with the glue planking up.

tonight the last but one plank on each side, one fixed, one shaped for tomorrows fixing, then we have 2 unshaped (but still steamed) planks for the top plank.

I always visit B&Q when they have their lights on sale, never pa more than 25% of the original price and now own more lights than you can shake a stick at.a lot of them are outdoor lights in name only as they say the controller and socket need to be indoors but if either needs to be outdoors to reach they are made safe by the simple provision of placing those parts within the confines of a plastic bag, securely taped and set so the opening is at the bottom (double bagged if you are really fussy)

they probably got there and remembered they should have moved the boats when they had finished the first job.

tonight another plank shaped and steamed, another glued in place, just 3 left to shape, and 4 left to fix in place.

you might need to go into the setup as the machine starts up and change the boot order to put cd before hard drive (it tells you the buttons to press at the startup screen before it starts loading the operating system. for office documents you use the free 'open office' or 'libreoffice' program, and it will do everything ms office would, and even looks and works pretty much the same, these programs normally come with the lubuntu operating system. firefox or chrome can be used as your browser, and I use sylpheed for emails, as easy (or easier) to set up as outlook with similar options for message rules and folders.

tonight's progress leaves us within a few planks of finishing the planking. and happy with the progress, after that out comes the sandpaper, and the second hull gets onto the building board, though at that stage a second area of workspace will need to be created, so one hull can rest out of the way while work progresses on the second, this will allow both hulls to have work done. once I have the first hull the right way up, the supports for the decking will go in, then the deck, and edging, I can already visualise the stages that will go into that, and I am looking forward to that challenge.

max headroom?

we moved into the house where my parents still live in the winter of 1962/3 I was 2 at the time so dont really remember it much, my parents being newcomers could not get a coal delivery (as there was a shortage that winter due to the weather) so at the end of that cold winter, the row of conifers down the side of the garden between the house and alley was all gone. anything wood that wasnt nailed down was burned that winter, just to keep us all warm in one room. I remember in subsequent years, the ice on the windows (inside) and the only hot water in the house was the old gas geyser in the bathroom. we too had the pantry with a large opening in the wall that had perforated zinc to allow air circulation but stop vermin getting in. the old alladin parrafin heaters and topping up the glass jars of parrafin at the 5 gallon drum out in the shed. I remember when we took down the old wooden garage and replaced it with a concrete sheet one with a corrugated roof - that was fun as my dad stood on a nail- right through his foot, I rushed to help and impaled my foot on the nail in the other end of the plank- right through and out the top of my plimsole, we were a right pair, my mother couldnt help for laughing, but did we go to hospital - no just a quick splash of tcp and a plaster was all either of us got (not that we could have walked out to the hospital in the state we were).

And this afternoon, that wide plank has now been glued, and another plank shaped and steamed for tomorrow. A couple of shots down the length of the model so you can appreciate those lovely curves, I must say that the feeling as you run your hands along the hull makes you appreciate the curves those original boatbuilders put into her. though I have to confess that in this hull there is a noticable dip in the lines on one side, I will have to ensure this does not occur on the second hull, on this one this will be cured with a skim of filler - the dip is less than 0.5mm, but you can feel it as you run your hand down that side.

well thats the plank steamed and fitted to the bend, strangely upon measuring the other side, I am fine without a wide plank, I must have shaved less off the planks that side so the fit is good.

Ok this mornings problem, I know I have 4 planks left on this side, so knowing I wanted the top plank to be a full width one all the way along I just re-measured and recalculated the plank widths and came on a sticky problem, for a short section I was up to 5mm wider than my planks, now there are two was around this, 1- I could make a narrow spoiler only 5mm wide at its widest, and about 300mm long, or 2- I could start with a wider plank, as we are on the side this is a bit flatter so a wider plank isnt an issue, and is easier to shape, so for this next plank I have started with a 20mm plank, shaped down to 10mm at the back, and 13mm at the front. if you look at the pictures you may see my measurements and calculations. the plank is now steaming.

I did have a look at those at my branch sunday and they had quite a few, but since I already have grinders and 5 dremel type drills I could not justify getting one, maybe next weekend if they still have them

This afternoon, another shaped plank, another fixed in place. Seven planks left to be shaped and eight to be fixed, then I will need to shape a cradle for the model to sit in for the next phase of work on it. then we repeat the whole of the last few months, taking even more care in its construction. A lot has been learned getting this hull to this point, things that will make the next easier to construct, pus now I have a few tools I did not have first time around - eg the laser line, that will also make setting up the frames easier.