Here's a link to a video of the maiden voyage.

The sails are made from 50 micron polyester drafting film, often referred to as 'Mylar'.

The jib is made in one piece, the main is assembled from four pieces stuck together with 12mm double sided tape.

Using a full sized drawing of each sail, the film was taped on top and the outline of the sail traced onto the film. Coloured vinyl tape was added to reinforce the positions of each attachment point. Once one side was complete, the sail was turned over and reinforcement tape added to the other side. Only once all the reinforcements were in place were the sails trimmed to their final size with a sharp knife, thus also trimming the reinforcement tape.

Metal eyelets were added to each attachment point using the tools which came with the eyelets.

Finally, the completed sails were tied to the rigging points - ready for its first outing.👍👍

The radio installation is quite simple comprising the battery, receiver, a sail winch and the rudder servo. Unlike my other models there are no custom electronic mixers, lighting, sound effects, pumps etc so it should be reliable 😉

The rudder was built from three layers of 1.5mm balsa. The middle layer was made from offcuts. It had a hole to accommodate the rudder shaft with a piece of brass sheet soldered to it to prevent rotation of the rudder on the shaft. The completed rudder was sanded to shape, coated with epoxy and glass cloth and then painted.

I've included a photo from earlier in the build to show the arrangement of the rudder servo and the link to the brass horn which is held on the rudder shaft with a grubscrew. Fitting the horn onto the rudder shaft in the completed model was a bit of a challenge as it is located under the rear deck. I hope I don't have to remove it ever again 🤞

I've also included a photo from earlier in the build showing the sail winch arrangement as it is difficult to photograph in the completed model. This proved relatively easy to install through the small central hatch. Threading the sheets through the two fairleads and below deck to the winch was achieved using a long pair of tweezers to grab the cords below deck.

The battery sits on the other side of the keel box, and the receiver is velcroed to the bulkhead.

With everything in place, the next step was to attach the sheets to the winch drum and adjust them to the correct length. This is when it all went wrong! The winch servo would not respond to commands from the TX. I know I should have tested it before installing it, but modern electronics are so reliable I missed out this basic step. Eventually, I removed the winch from the model and bench tested it, but it still wouldn't work.

A phone call to the supplier on Tuesday afternoon to explain the problem resulted in an immediate promise to send a replacement which duly arrived on Wednesday morning. The replacement worked just fine. So, a big THANK YOU from me to Components Shop for their excellent customer service.

All it needs now is the sails......

To fit the chainplate 'screws' to the deck, holes were drilled to match the core diameter of the screw. The chainplates were then simply screwed into position.

The mast is an 8mm diameter aluminium tube. These are readily available in the UK from the DIY warehouses in 1 metre lengths. Unfortunately the model mast is 1.045m long. Tubes longer than 1m are available from on-line retailers, but at a much higher cost. Accordingly the mast was made up from a 1m length plus a short offcut from the scrap box. The two pieces were joined using a 6mm tube, also from the scrap box, which was a good fit in the 8mm tubes.

A few small holes were drilled in the mast to attach the stays, which are plastic coated wire fishing trace.

The mast fits over the 6mm threaded stud mounted in the deck and sits on a brass knurled nut which can be used to jack the mast up to tension the stays. (The screws on the gooseneck still need to be trimmed to length - there is always more to do!)

The main and jib booms are 6mm diameter aluminium tube. Split pins, fixed through holes in the booms provide fixing points for the sails and sheets. The jib boom is attached to the forward chainplate with a fishing swivel. I have a small concern that this swivel may not be strong enough.

(The black rubber boot over the on/off switch will be replaced with a white version when it arrives in the post!)

While waiting for the paint to dry, I found time to make some of the fittings needed for the rigging.

First up, the chainplates to attach the rigging to the hull. The plans suggest simply glueing split pins into holes in the deck but I have reservations about how secure that would be. I made mine from brass rod, turned on the mini lathe. The photo shows the stages from left to right. The last stage was to solder some 0.5mm copper wire round the shaft to form a screw thread. To test how secure these will be when fixed into the balsa deck, a test rig was assembled. One of the chainplates was screwed into a scrap block of balsa and then clamped in the vice. A spring scale was then used to measure the force applied while trying to pull the chainplate out of the balsa block. I wasn't able to pull it out with a force of 25kgs, so I think it will be secure enough.

Next I bent up some pelican clips from 1mm dia stainless steel welding rod. These are to attach the stays to the chainplates.

Finally I made the gooseneck to attach the mainsail boom to the mast. This was cut from several bits of brass sheet and tube and then silver soldered together. An adjustable vang was also put together from bits of brass and threaded rod.

The hull has been painted with several coats of 'Appliance white' from a rattle can, rubbing down carefully between coats with 1200 grit wet and dry, used wet.

There is a 'Racing Sparrow' logo available to download from the website:

https://racingsparrow.co.nz/free-model-boat-plans/

With the keel in place, time to start painting.

The underside of the hull and the keel have been given several coats of grey etch primer from a rattle can. Each coat was sanded and any irregularities filled with knifing putty. After three coats, its looking nice and smooth.

With the keel fitted, the hull no linger fits in the temporary stand so attention turned to making a proper stand. An internet search came up with drawings for a stand for the IOM yacht

http://nmsclub.org/files/documents/IOM-Boat-Stand.pdf

The keel comprises an aluminium strip clad with balsa and a lead bulb weighing 1.3kgs.

The 3/4" x 1/8" aluminium strip was prepared by cutting to length and then adding holes/notches at each end to help with gluing in place. The balsa cladding was made up as a tube from 4 pieces of balsa glued together. Once the glue was dry, the cladding was sanded to an aerodynamic shape.

The plans suggest making a plaster mould from a wooden master to cast the lead bulb. The master was constructed from three pieces of wood glued together and shaped to the required profile. The central piece had a slot cut in it for the aluminium keel. I was not convinced about being able to produce a plaster mould which would include a negative of this slot. I didn't have any plaster of paris available, but I do have a large bag of builder's finishing plaster left over from some house renovation so decided to use that instead. The wooden master plug was suspended in a cardboard box and plaster was poured in to halfway up the plug. After a week, the plaster had still not set! It had simply dried to a mud like consistency.🤔 On to plan B I decided to use the technique previously used on the Gaff Rigged Cutter.

A series of graduated holes were cut into pieces of plywood which were then glued/screwed together to form a mould. The aluminium keel was clamped in place and 1.6kgs of molten lead poured in. After a couple of hours, the rough casting was released from the mould and carved to shape using a craft knife and surform tool.

Finally a jig was constructed to hold the keel over the inverted hull with the end inserted into the keel box. It was then glued in place with a mix of epoxy resin and chopped fibreglass and left for several days to set hard.

Before fitting the deck, the inside of the hull was given a coat of epoxy resin. This was warmed in a waterbath before application to make it easier to apply in the restricted spaces within the hull.

The deck is made up from two sheets of 1.6mm balsa. These were simply cut to size and glued in place with plenty of pins. The balsa was thin and flexible enough to follow the shape of the deck supports without the need for any contouring.

Once the glue had set, the deck was given a layer of fibreglass and two coats of epoxy resin.

The stern has an angled transom which was cut/sanded to shape and then glued in place.

When fitting out the test of the hull, great care was taken to ensure that all the parts to be added were the correct length so that no stress was put on the hull which might cause it to twist out of shape.

A length of M6 threaded rod has been used for the maststep. This is glued and screwed into the supporting balsa block. A thin sheet of aluminium was threaded M6 and added to the maststep (photo 3) to spread the load. Just forward of the maststep a fairlead is fitted to carry the sheet which will control the jib sail. The fairlead is made from copper tube with both ends faired out.

The receiver was tried in position and two lengths of sleeving fitted for the aerial leads to thread into.

The rudder servo is fitted as shown in the plan. This connects to a brass horn on the rudder post using a length of bicycle spoke.

The plan suggests using a long arm servo for sail control but I have had bad experience with long arms and prefer to use a sail winch. A suitable winch was sourced and mounted into position. A mounting box for the battery was also put together so that it isn't left to rattle about in the bottom of the hull.

The plan also suggests that both the main sheet and the jib sheet should run through a single fairlead in the deck, the jib sheet then being routed forward across the deck before attaching to the jib boom. This routing has to be either round, or over the hatch neither of which options seem like a good idea. I opted to run the jib sheet below the deck, bringing it up through a second fairlead to just below the jib boom. To help with this below deck routing, a ceramic ring was fitted to one of the bulkheads. These rings are readily available from fishing tackle suppliers as replacement parts for fishing rods. With everything in place, a check was made that the sheets can be routed without any snags.

Finally, the support members for the two hatches were fitted. I've opted to make the hatches as small as possible, consistent with being able to fit and remove all the radio gear. This to help keep the inside of the hull dry. The picture shows the hatch size on the plans in blue and the size I have opted for in red. Hope I haven't made them too small 🤞