Response

Re: Trimming the Deck!

Hi Michael, Thanks for the advice! Problem is neither I or the missus eat cereal! But, The poster boards just cost $5.00. And it had been raining here for a few days! So, even any that was outside. in the trash would have been soggy! But, Thanks for the advice really appreciate it! Cheers, Ed

5 years ago by figtree7nts

Response

Re: Over sized Deck!

Hi Ed, I would lay the plywood deck on some thin then draw around and cut it out. It is easer to trim that it is to keep cutting plywood, Keep trying and trimming the card until you are happy with the fit. If you cut to much card of you can then stick it back on with tape. When you have the fit that you want then place the card onto the plywood deck draw around it then cut the plywood to match. Hopeful you end up with the perfect fit. Just a suggestion. Martin555.

5 years ago by Martin555

Forum

Drawing the Miss Katherine

Hi Ron - recycled cereal packets we use for mock ups - cant get much cheaper than that - the card is strong enough - thinner card material does not always give the "true" picture as we have found out at our cost a bit too late on commercial jobs. The 1kg corn flake type boxes yield a good quantity locally - found another use for yard of biscuit boxes too - ideal for holding balsa planks - as are neon/led tube light boxes........... You really are getting along with Miss Katherine - a very good job you are making of it as well - most impressed. Are you going to plate the hull ? If you have a local print shop who do Litho printing - (they usually throw the plates away after one use) - ideal for plating - and a dressmakers wheel used on the wrong side makes rivets if you need those at all. Weld seams should be easy enough scribed with a ball point pen or knitting needle from the wrong side. also works but not nearly as well.

5 years ago by redpmg

Forum

sea rover build and I hate wood!

If you have the full set of instructions they should give you the order in which to do things. From memory of building the original Aerokits, I would have put the side wood on first, so that the final joint between the two skins would be covered by the rubbing strakes. But with modern glue this is probably less important. Do put the deck on last, however - you don't want to have the edge of the ply sides visible around the outside of the deck. Does the Sea Rover have a balsa block at the lower bow? If so, you only need to bend the wood round onto the first former, and there will be very little trimming needed, just around the keel. You glue onto the keel and the chine, overlapping the chine, and only trim the outer part of the wood back to the chine when it is dry and hard. Similarly for the hull sides - sand the formers and chine to a flat surface, then glue the wood overlapping the chine and deck, then trim once dry. If the kit has no balsa block and you have to fit the skin precisely to the hull, it can help to make up a or paper template first, to get the shape close to accurate. One technique for final shaping involves positioning the skin along the straight part of the keel, securing it at the transom with a small wood screw, and then swinging it round to match against the bow, swinging it back out to sand down the high spots, and then swinging it back to check the match again... Soaking the sides for an hour in warm water, or steaming them will also help them to bend easily. If you soak them, pin them in place without glue and allow them to dry overnight - they should then be easy to unpin, add glue and reassemble. For the side you will need to cut the ply sheet so that it locates nicely along the stem. The original kits had a set of small brass 'gimp pins' to hammer in and hold the wood in place - modern glues will probably hold well enough without these. But you will need clamps, rubber bands and blocks of wood to keep an even pressure on. Watch out to avoid twisting the hull. Check that it is built straight at the moment, and then put the wood sides on as a pair to lower stresses. If the hull is already twisted, you may need to losen some of the chines and reglue! Looking at the pictures, it seems to me that the piece of wood which acts as the rebate on the stem may not be accurately fitted - it looks as if the top is a bit far back. And it also looks as if the motor shaft is not precisely in line with the prop-shaft. These may just be artefacts of the picture, of course. But if they are really as I have suggested, now is the time to correct them, before the sides are on. I would also glue the prop-tube onto the former it is going through for extra support.... So: 1 - check build quality and amend if necessary 2 - confirm internal hardware (motor, rudder and R/C) is properly in place. 3 - add the wooden hull bottom and sides You might like to draw planking lines of the deck before adding that? Although I hear that in some modern kits these are pre-drawn...

5 years ago by DodgyGeezer

Blog

First REAL Sail in Open Water

I wanted to use separate controls for the fore and main+mizzen yards, but my "new" winch drums where crap, and I only had one drum available, the wood disc and one I've been using. So, I linked all three masts together. it was very near the end of October, but the forecast was for light breezes and mid to high 50's (about 13°c). I rigged her royals for the first time, ran all the bracing to the tops'l yards instead of the courses. I redid the bracing plan to only use tops'l yard braces instead of both tops'l yards and courses. This simplifies everything, and hopefully it would be enough. I had a list of specific items to test, so based on that list, here's a report on the first time Constellation really sailed, under full control, in open water: First off, she was sailed in Rock Creek, Maryland, USA. My friend Mark has access to the neighborhood boat-ramp three blocks down the street. He brought his "Son of Erin" along, rigged as a sloop (it's convertible) and his grand-kids who live nearby. So... 1. Test fit in car; she hasn't been in my Toyota Matrix yet. -It was tricky at first, but it worked. No one or nothing else is getting in the car, so this isn't the preferred transport by any means - but it's nice to know it's there. Note in the photo, in the car on the left is the launch cart with the wheels removed, packed in nice and neat. 2. Test the new launch cart. -As noted, it broke down and packed away really nicely. The approach to the ramp was very steep, and I took her down head first so she wouldn't slide off the back of the cart. The bumpy ground made the model slide back a lot. I'm going to put a stop in the channel that will catch the edge of the PVC cap and should fix that problem. There's was also a lot of slop in the flag pole bracket, the hole for the bolt that holds the two parts is bigger than the bolt, making for too much play in the handle. I replaced it with another pole bracket that fit more snugly. The wheels are hard and a bit jarring, especially on the ramp where there was broken concrete underwater so cars wouldn't sink into the silt. The handle was the bigger problem though, slopping up and down and flexing. Otherwise the cart performed as expected and I was really pleased with it. When I used it to one side of the ramp where there was hard sand, I had no problems at all. 3. With the royals set, she'll be sailing with the most sail she's set so far. -The forecast was for Northerly winds up to 5 mph. Up in the creek that was variable in direction and speed, gusting at least to 15 now and then, sometimes from two directions! The model took it all very well, though my heart beat faster every time she heeled, I don't think she once got her gun-stripe wet. 4. Test fore tops'l yard brace routing. -No problems at all, everything worked as designed, for a change. 5. See how self-tending bowlines rigged on the main tops'l work out. -They seemed to function just fine. When the model was close enough to see them, they didn't snag or interfere with the sail or bracing. 6. Actually sail the model in open water instead of bumping the bottom in a shallow pool. -A combination of joy and terror. Every gust my heart raced, but she sailed great and went where I meant her to go from the beginning. She responded to controls perfectly and predictably. 7. Get some pictures and video of the model sailing. -One thing that went wrong was my camera's batteries dying, so I didn't get all the pics and video I wanted. Fortunately, Mark was on hand and took some shots and video with his phone. In all, the day was a resounding success. Everything went well, nothing broke or failed. And she sailed! Not like her first sail where she barely made head way for more than a few seconds, but controllably, reliably, and fast too! I handled her by myself. Mark was there and offered his help, but part of my test was seeing if I could deal with it all 100% by myself. No problems. The awkward bit was sitting her on her ballast and lining the rods with their holes without her falling off. That's something I need to work out, otherwise no part of loading, unloading, launching, retrieving, etc, was more than one person could handle. in the end, what I thought would work out back in 1999 did. Here's 16 minutes of that day's sailing... https://youtu.be/80b2au24rFQ

7 years ago by Jerry Todd