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.

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!)

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......

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.👍👍

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

The video was produced by Buxton Model Boat club member Phil.

If you watch the video carefully you may be able to see that the jib sheet is not letting the sail out as it should. The sheet was not unspooling from the winch drum as it should. To overcome this, I've now added an elastic cord to help pull it off the drum.

Graham93