Broad Ambition - The Model

[grendel]

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

[grendel]

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.

[grendel]

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.

[grendel]

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.

[MauriceMynah]

I have to admit that it strikes me as a crying shame that the hull is to be painted even though I fully understand why.

[grendel]

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.

[grendel]

doh, forgot the pictures

[grendel]

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.

 

 

 

[grendel]

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?

[grendel]

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.

[grendel]

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.

[grendel]

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.

[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.

[grendel]

I must apologise for 3 things, the out of focus pictures (can you tell I was happy to get to this stage) and the mess in the background, (I was going to tidy today and got sidetracked.

[Timbo]

Eee lad cracking job! A work of beauty Grendel! And that's not mess in the background that's a Mamod traction engine...I'm trying to decide what to do with my engine and steam lorry!

[grendel]

Some more photos, done with my other camera, hopefully a bit better with less shake etc. all taken as I want to remember just how good this stage made me feel.

[grendel]

one last bit of work, preparing the bow for that all important lump at the front, I do see that my prow is not quite symmetrical, but that was the area I had problems with, so not unexpected, for the second hull I now know the method, this will need sanding flat in preparation to fitting the prow.

[BroadAmbition]

Amazing, truly in awe of your progress to date.  Photo's  / videos, the lot - we're not worthy

I'm off further up North early in t morning, six days planned for a large tiling job (Staying over in the property of course) Rosley to be precise, near Wigton, around 12m from Carlisle. The property is in the middle of nowhere so no idea if I will get 1g on t phone let along owt else, so if I'm not posting on this thread, I'm not being ignorant, just not able to see it.  I hope I can otherwise I'll be getting withdrawal symptoms

Griff

[grendel]

This morning I have been doing some tidying up, the front has been sanded nice and flat, and the stubs of the ribs that were sticking up have been trimmed back and sanded flush, this has improved the looks and lines no end.

[grendel]

I have done some sanding, filled the gaps at the front in readiness for attaching the prow, we dont need a leak here, other than that I have been resting on my laurels and getting some other jobs around the house done.

[BroadAmbition]

And so to bed. Left home st 0700, got here at1045, got stuck in at 1100 down tools at 2100 non stop. The good news is 4G on t iPhone so caught up with my favourite thread and that'll do

Griff 

[LondonRascal]

This is amazing to see the interior and bulkheads - the level of detail with the work one can see for the planking inside too - just needs a coat of Aluminum paint and you'd think it was the real thing!

Looking forward to the next installment

[grendel]

I have been looking to see if I can get a couple of days break in February while Broad Ambition is out of the water on annual maintenance, so I can get up and see some of the underside, If I do I will certainly bring this hull up (not sure if the second one will be complete enough by then) and may try to scrounge a lick of the aluminium paint for the model.& give a hand with the annual maintenance, remember this was the trial run, a deal more care will be going into the next hull, as I put into practice all I have learned with doing this one.

[grendel]

there are not a lot of visible updates tonight as mostly I have been filling the joints between planks and sanding, still its slowly coming together, I have decided to leave starting the next hull until the weekend when I can get a good crack at the setting up. meanwhile there is plenty of sanding to be done to get the planks smooth and level.

As a point of interest I weighed the hull at the weekend and it came in at 2.2kg so far. for this hull I am already planning ahead for deck bearers  forrard of the cabin, and down the sides, the forrard ones will need steaming to a slight curve to match the forrard bulkhead.

[grendel]

trying some different methods of smoothing the gaps between planks, worse case I put too much filler into the gap and have extra sanding to do, I can always sand right back to the wood.