Broad Ambition - The Model

[grendel]

You are getting a bumper update today, I have just made another little video clip to show the progress.

 

[grendel]

Right, new power supply so back on my old laptop, I got a 90W supply (old one was 65W) its still warm, but only normal power supply temperature. on to the boat, second plank installed today, (first on the second side) each plank needs a slight angle on the edge to fit properly.

[grendel]

tonight I have done a video, its quite long, so you will see planking is not as quick as ribs are, but I will still try and do one per evening.

 

[grendel]

you will also see me struggling to clamp the planks at the front, and making a handling mistake and breaking one of the ribs, this will be fixed once I can turn the model over and get inside the hull.

[BroadAmbition]

Ok got up to date with this thread once more.  Great vids / pictures to keep the fans informed.

That was a surprise, I was under the impression that you were going to complete the ribs, then get the other hull up to the same stage before commencing planking.  Not that it makes any difference in the long run.

Griff

[grendel]

The planking needs to be done while its still on the building board, so the second cant be started until the first has moved off the slipway so to speak, or I would have to have a second building board to frame up the second model. #2 should be under way before christmas, especially as I have 3 day weekends from now until then to get my annual leave all used up before I lose it.

[Wildfuzz]

Loving this build, as a wood worker myself I can really appreciate the time, effort and building skills Grendel, as the advert says "Fantastic"!

[LondonRascal]

I know this is stating the obvious, but you can really appreciate how true to life this model is becoming.  One would be mistaken for thinking that at some point, you had Broad Ambition out the water and the whole hull laser modeled to reproduce what you have.  It also shows how graceful the hull is, and narrows and curves towards her stern reducing drag (and wash) wish this.

To think this was designed back in the days without any fancy computer modeling - and those who originally worked on the build and had those plans for what would become - the many many GRP hulls, would have never have thought it would be now being reproduced in scale form, by hand and followed by us all here on a Forum. 

 

 

 

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Grendel,

I am waiting to see how you are finishing off those planks at the bows, I assume it will need a lot of planning to make them fit. No doubt the first few are going to need more fitting than the rest.

Regards

Alan 

[FairTmiddlin]

3 hours ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Hi Grendel,

I am waiting to see how you are finishing off those planks at the bows, I assume it will need a lot of planning to make them fit. No doubt the first few are going to need more fitting than the rest.

Regards

Alan 

Alan

I think Peter said he had a piece if hardwood to make the prow with so I expect the planks will be rebated into that

[grendel]

Yes the prow will be the same as the real thing, a large piece of oak, shaped to fit. that doesn't mean I am not struggling with the planking at the bow. I think I need to work out a better way of clamping the planks up the front end.

[Viking23]

I have checked progress occasionally and I am really impressed.

I may have missed the answer to this question, but will this be a dry model, or will it ever be on the water, maybe with radio control, to allow it to go under Potter Heigham bridge lol, in reverse .... But not through the main arch, but through both side arches lol...

With an on board video camera of course. 

Will it have models of Griff, Robin and the crew? 

 

Richard

[grendel]

Richard - yes it will go on the water, with radio control, models of the crew - well it will have a crew, whether they will look like Griff and Robin will depend upon my skill at modelling the figures.

Anyway tonight another plank in place, and another shaping. I also tried a new method of clamping at the front, I made up some wedges to help the clamps stop slipping.

[BroadAmbition]

With an on board video camera of course. 

Now there's and Idea Robin eh?  As well as recording in the normal manner, could it transmit real time pictures of what the camera is seeing back to a display screen, a bit like those drones?

Grendel, I think you are going to have to reduce the plank width to get round those bends either side of the hull just below the waterline.

The transom on 'B.A' is double planked, vertical 1" thick by around 9" wide top to bottom, then horizontal dressing planks directly onto the vertical planks with an oil cloth in between. The horizontal dressing planks are 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick.  Surely on the models there is no need to go that degree of accuracy?  Just single skin horizontal planking will do I would suggest (Varnished to match the bow of course)

Griff

[VetChugger]

Notice your workforce is absent! Not to worry, I saw them safe and well on a "Bohemian" program this evening with Victoria Coren Mitchell! Your crew were, shall we say, repopulating the planet!

 

[grendel]

Griff, you must be reading my mind, I have some narrower planks set aside for that part, depending on how things go on this one will dictate the plank widths I use on the second one. I also have some darker hardwood set aside for the stern planking. I had already seen the two layers of planking on the transom, and had planned to copy that, as it allows the dressing planking to be thinner, and thus easier to bend to the transom.

[Viking23]

When complete, and not on the water, where will the model be kept? I guess many followers would like to see the finished model. I certainly would. 

I wouldn't like to put a value of the finished model, hand built to a high specification, great detail etc my first guess well over a grand I would say.

Richard

[BroadAmbition]

Griff, you must be reading my mind, I have some narrower planks set aside for that part, depending on how things go on this one will dictate the plank widths I use on the second one. I also have some darker hardwood set aside for the stern planking. I had already seen the two layers of planking on the transom, and had planned to copy that, as it allows the dressing planking to be thinner, and thus easier to bend to the transom.   Both fair points - Well made, you are on the ball as per the norm then

 

When complete, and not on the water, where will the model be kept? I guess many followers would like to see the finished model. I certainly would.            There will be two near identical models completed.  One will be kept with 'B.A' most times when she is out and about on the rivers.  Once I have figured out where to keep it stowed safely - probably in some sort of display box and sat on a bunk when not in use.  The other one will remain with Grendel to use / display as and when he sees fit.  I would have thought at least once we will get 'B.A' and both models together for an underway photo / video trip

As for the cost of each model - Grendel can answer that one.  keeping track of material / tool cost is relatively easy I would have thought.  Then there is recording the amount of man hours into each one - that will be a huge amount I dread to estimate that one but maybe Grendel is keeping a track of his hours

Griff

[grendel]

I have not been keeping track of the hours as such, anything from 15 to 30 minutes most days, with sometimes an extra hour or two thrown in at the weekends, the longest part as ever is glue drying time, as I dont take chances of unclamping before the glue has had at least 23 hours to set properly and achieve full strength.

So far my calculations work out at maybe 35-40 hours so far over the 3 months I have been working on the model. ( to be honest I cant really proceed much faster due to the glue setting times) The real work will come when I start doing the detail work, things like shaping stainless steel plates for detailing- such as the plate shown under the fairlead below, and fittings such as the cleat shown just above it, its these details that make a model come to life.

as for costs I have been keeping a book detailing the costs, timber costs have been kept low as I have been ripping my own planks and timbers from bigger decent timbers I already have, though I did purchase a big block of oak for the Prows, but even that was not hugely expensive, the expensive bits are prop shafts rudders, motors propellors etc, even the Radio control gear is relatively inexpensive nowadays. I have already converted a wardrobe door to timber as well as some oak drawer fronts I have to hand, the wardrobe timber will go towards the cabin sides as it is a deep reddish colour as can be seen by the piece test fitted round the transom at one point - quite a good match to the real thing.

I have been looking at some of the photos I have grabbed from Griffs previous restoration threads, and see that the planking rises sharply at the bow, this weekend I will be taking some time to plan the remaining planking as some planks will need tapering towards the ends. These photos show invaluable details for the model build as I can see the bare bones features of Broad Ambition, which allow me to copy them. I may have to introduce some spoilers to fill gaps (these are shorter planks that taper to a point to fill gaps) and I will probably go to a narrower plank as I round the sharp curve of the hull as we transition from the side to the bottom of the hull.

[grendel]

Time to pause and take stock - Huston we have a problem - the planks are not pulling in tight enough at the front, I have underestimated the amount the wood will bend without steam.

While I am pondering the solution, I have dry fitted the top plank, the one at deck level and made a measure, at the back we have 149mm, in the middle at the widest point, 187mm and at the bow 164mm  I make this 12 and a bit planks (the current ones are 15mm wide) so thats 12.4mm at the stern, 15mm in the middle and 13.7mm at the front. with a 7mm spoiler plank in the middle(this is approximately, I will be going through this in more detail to get an exact shape, I think I may have to steam the front ends of those planks to get them to shape properly, I think part of the problem is with the difficulty in clamping there.

looking where the deck plank curves naturally, this pretty much matches the photos above. anyway back to looking at the planks at the front to see what can be done.

[grendel]

right I have dampened the planks again, and clamped them with a strong spring clamp with more glue, and we will see where that gets us tomorrow

[Timbo]

I may be incorrect in this Grendel, and I doubt if it helps but...

I was watching and asking Malley questions while he was fitting long planks in a boat in the sheds at Wayford. What I was asking him was 'why he steamed a plank and clamped it to the side, took it off repeated and then when he went for final fixing he started at the bow?'. He told me that he'd had the plank soaking in the dyke for a long while it had to be saturated, steamed a rough shape and fixed from the front as the timber took on the shape better and it was easier to clamp at the back like you say. The angle that he had the plank fixed at the front I thought there was no way it would bend back to the boat..but it slipped in easily. 

[ZimbiIV]

Grendal,

A plank bender or failing that score the inside of the planks (90 degrees to the length) to a quarter of the plank thickness.

you need to start scoring about 2 inches before the bend, or look for plank benders on the web.

paul

ps, if you score at 45 degrees before a twist is needed this also helps.

[grendel]

Zimbil, since I will be sanding the planks after I dont really want to score them, I do have a steam bending rig, but the main thing is figuring how to clamp at the front, though I am thinking of screwing a sacrificial block to the front of the first bulkhead, then screwing the front end of the plank to that- forrard of where it will eventually be cut back to.

[grendel]

I will also try out Tims idea of staring from the front - so far I have started at the back.