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Completing the Hull.

The last thing to do before completing the hull was to cut all of the vent slots on the underside. I used various sized drills and chain drilled the larger slots and filed them to shape. There is still a lot of shaping by file to do but I am going to leave this for later when I am sure they will be easier to get at. I finally took the plunge and fixed the bow and stern assemblies to the main hull section. I used ordinary solvent cement which does create a strong bond, but will reinforce the joints with Stabilit once they become visible again. The next stage was to glue on the three main deck parts. It was a bit of a struggle to line them up exactly but In did the best I could. When gluing, care had to be taken to avoid contact at the front and rear segments so that a clean separation can be achieved when splitting the hull. Next job was to do the vertical cuts at the separation lines. I used my with a saw blade as usual. These cuts will form the end points for the main cuts. The next job for me is, as mentioned above, to split the hull. This is quite a tricky operation and requires a couple of special devices to be made. I am lucky enough to have all the machines required to make these at my disposal. I have started by cutting up the necessary pieces of wood. I will explain all on the next update when I have completed the separation. Thanks for reading. Peter.

4 years ago by MouldBuilder

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Rivets

"I did try some as an experiment and broke a pair of small cutters so ended up using pliers. They're tough little things to cut." Hi Martin, If you have a or similar mini drill, try using a diamond cutting disc. Stick a row of pins into a block of balsa or similar put the block in a vice and whizz along with the cutting disc. DO PLEASE WEAR SAFETY GLASSES!! 🤓 Even using the pliers. We don't want you wandering about with porcupine eyes!! Happy pinning, Doug 😎

5 years ago by RNinMunich