Hello, whilst I was mooching about and pondering as to what to take up next, The Telectra plan fell down onto the worktop, so I took this as an omen lol.. But the first thing was to try and cure a previous disaster with the worktop, originally from an ex GPO communications/Teleprinter Table.
Served we well as a build board with the bonus of being plastic coated one side, it was Block board about 1" thick. So next job was a new worktop, definatly not blockboard, too expensive, but ply 19mm was a good replacement. Next Item varnish or seal the working surface, this helps to stop the glues sticking to the top. Must admit after a couple of coats of varnish it looked to good for a worktop, but hey ho ... Next thought was the cutting of Balsa wood, hmmm, another expensive trip out for a new A1 size cutting mat.. Then finally let the dog see the rabbit, or the scapal see the wood.. Restudy the plan and decide what the build was going to be a standard 30" or another stretched version at 36". The later won, found the old tracings of keel and bulkheads on draft film and presented the balsa to the worktop via the new cutting mat and we were off.. First job Butt join two pieces of 4" by 36" together, plus another 2 pieces of 1/2" wide 1/4" balsa to the external edges this gave a total of about 9", the Beam of the boat. When this is cured, usually an overnight job, the hull deck outline is presented to the deck and traced onto the wood. My personal method is to use a dentist pricker to mark through the trace into the wood, then join up the dots on the wood all good fun. Followed by the cutting out of the outline of the balsa deck. The Keel is approached and cut in the same manner.
Regards Muddy

Keel, Again Butt Joint 1/4" Balsa to make up length and width for the keel. This is where the old wood top came to its end, the top surface was to uneven and lumpy, my fault i left a previous build overnight must have been Cyno/Superglue stuff so had to cut away the job/workpiece which left big scar's and missing plastic from the surface, urghhh. A New Ply 19mm 4' x 2' obtained, varnished followed by a bigger replacement Cutting matt, just a note most add's for a size A1 matt was about £32, but I found one on the well known website we all love and hate for £12, it has so far served its purpose. The next step joining up of the two major surfaces the Deck to the Keel, things need to be flat and square to the vertical, another overnight drying off period.... Next Job mark out all the Bulkheads/formers.. Another note - keep your old batterys, but not if they leak. Ideal as weight keeping things flat and square on an overnight glue up.. ATB Muddy

Keel Disaster and Bulkheads. Whilst maneuvering the Deck/Keel, suddenly the keel snapped, dont know why, never hit anything or caught it against an object, but it happened, inspection found the balsa keel had a very Hard spot/Grain, Brittle is the word.. Time for a rethink, but no more wood available at the time, so it had to be joined and sandwiched, continued on cutting bulkheads and Chine's. Assembly started with Bulkheads then another Crack, the chines broke in more or less identical places, Ohh deary me, Time for a good slurp of something , then all was put right, i do enjoy a good cuppa T. Time for the glue pot and retry the assembly after making good joint surfaces for chines. hopefully this will cure the problem, but i did chunter to myself it happens again, will do a recut with some new timber and a restart of assembly. Once the assembly was glued up and then left to dry we could start on the lower skins, lower skins only for now, when it comes to fitting the propulsion units and shafts its a lot easy if you have a side view of motors and shafts. Decided on a twin screw boat so i'm not tempted to re cut the keel as in a single screw unit. Decided on the shaft spacing and fitted appropriate reinforcement to the rear of the bottom hull, still retaining a single rudder, found on the other two variants that a single rudder is adequate or two screws and it helps stop all that jerkiness in rudder operation, ok so that is up to the coxswain.. I hate to see some "Pilots/coxswain" steering, and it looks like a 1950's bang bang rudder escapement is fitted, think they forget that the some/most R/C is a proportional radio setup.. Another gripe.. ! ! from me..
ATB Muddy ....

Hello.. The Chines snapped as did the keel all approx in the same place on different lengths of Balsa. Sandwich joint below waterline level, and above the joint would be covered and repaired by the motor mounting plate, in 6mm ply.
Regards Muddy.

Hello, Measuring up and fitting of Drive motors and propshafts.
Regards M.

Hello .. Start of bottom skins fitting, and alignment of propshafts and props.
Regards Muddy..

Hello .. Continuation of Bottom skins and shafts. Regards Muddy..

Hello .. Fitting bottom skins and propshafts adding first coat of Cellulose Dope, hopefully hardens up the wood, helps prevent dents and dings appearing. Regards Muddy

Hello .. Once the shafts are located, and the spacing correct for motors, then the side skins can be added, again vertical grained balsa ..
Regards Muddy

Hello .. Cleaned up the side skins and doped, Added the deck combing and infill the Hull bow with blocks or cut off bits of sheet balsa.
Regards Muddy