Hello all. figured i would start in here with my very first build. doing a ton of research and being the amatuer modeler that i am. figured i would start with Sir TUGBOAT's beautifully posted work up on the MN Edgar Quimet. figured this will give me good practice before i step up to the USS Colorado i have the plans for laying beside me. so far, not to bad. Ribs are done and ready to lay the keel. only issue i have was when cutting ribs, the flex in the blade laterally kinda didnt allow for the best cut lines. lot of ribs are a bit rough. anyone else have these issues? if anything, i guess it means extra time with the sander. but thinking throwing the next boat through AUTOCAD and hitting up a lazer cutter.... well, lets see if i can post pics for critique:
My best advice on such things is to cut close to but outside the lines, and then sand it to a good fit.
update. ribs all tacked to keel. caprail is cut, just have to remove axcess area. test fit, found some areas in need of sanding/tweeking. then the debate is how i want to do the inpenatrable area. peices of wood in between ribs and sand till smooth, or block sand ribs then lay balsa sheet.
I like balsa between the ribs, sanded smooth, then 'glassed. If I could redo my Edie Q, I would do the hard area that way.
well, keep in mind this is the first build, i could save that technique for the Colorado. i keep thinking how big of an undertaking that ship is going to be, so many ribs. but such a big beautiful boat.
since i good at line drawing and drafting, and i didnt trust ribs the way the cut on the skroll saw for my first time, i used the sectional view for the proper widths and the spacing was a given, look and see how it turned out:
Pretty! Looks like a great ship coming together! After some hemming and hawing (and turning the air blue) working on fancy new pump, I wound up just making a duplicate of the old Scharnie pump. This is good because it's easy and cheap and you guys will like it. Or else.
update: no update. got almost all inpentrable area blocked in, but ran out of epoxy. debating buying of bulk epoxy for saviings factor.
You can't go wrong with epoxy in reasonable bulk. 55 gallon drums are probably too much, even for GrossAdmiral von Tugboat.
I buy the gallon size of West System with the quick hardener. Some people use the slow hardener. Either way, it's going to be tacky for hours after application. But price-wise, the gallon of West is waaaay cheaper than buying little tubes of epoxy in Lowe's or Home Despot. Also, it's actually waterproof, unlike those tubes.
I agree with Clark. Though I buy in the Quart size rather than the gallon (if you are sealing wood hulls, I would buy the gallon size). I use the fast hardener almost exclusively. With the fast hardener, if you lay a coat before you go to bed, it will be dry and ready to go by morning and, if you start early in the day, you can actualy get two coats down. With the slow hardener you do buy a few more minutes of workable time before it begins to cure, but that extra time it takes to fully dry makes it less useful to me, especialy when you are trying to get work done on a weekend and have less time to watch Epoxy dry. John
