Little bit of work in this evening. Sanded down the joint compound. Overall it came out pretty good. The sanding block thing got most of it, then used sandpaper to smooth out tiny imperfections Nice and smooth Side Other perspective Check for dips, SAT Painted with primer, dries quickly Flipped and casements painted Side Casements looking good Stern. Will have to watch for rams Tomorrow I will touch up a few spots with spackle, then paint. Once paint dries, will sand and then move towards mold making. Will spray with clear acrylic, also will need to make the keel divider and prep it Will be shifting focus to agincourt I think, attempting to get it operational by Statesboro. It’s pretty cool to think that this project was just a few sheets of paper 3 weeks ago
Thanks bob, and yes 3 casement guns are crazy. A little bit of progress over past few days. Minor touch ups, spackle, another coat of paint. Pre paint Post paint I’m intentionally calling the ball early here, can still make out the ribs, but I build for BATTLE not show haha. Won’t be able to tell with skin anyways. Plan is to make the flange for the mold tomorrow, then hopefully get through mold prep and first half Saturday, second half Sunday. I think I will stick with two pieces, outside angle on forward casements will be tough but I’ll use a lot of micro fibers to hold the edge
Dude, "You are the Dude, so thats what we call you. That or, His Dudeness or Duder or El Duderino, if your not into that whole brevity thing!" (The Dude)..... You are a Boat Building Behemoth! Very nice work on this... Everybody should get one! allied and axis as well
Did some work. Celebrated Marty's birthday Friday at the shop. Pretty cool cake blowing out candles. No the fire was not Steve's boat for once Made the divider plate. this serves as template to make a flange that goes down the centerline of the hull. Used spare balsa, it won't survive the process. Can use the plans template used to make keel as guide Here is an anchor I added to attach the divider to. Typically I make the hull on a board so I don't need it, but this hull is alone so I needed anchors at the end Test fit anchor at other end drew a line down the center to get the divider in right place painter's tape for the mid point anchors, and RTV to seal the gap between plate and hull Here is the bow, I had to add more RTV since the divider broke during transport and was glued back not quite in line balsa blocks are CAed to the divider and to the tape, works well backside of plate stern next step was tape the $hit out of everything. Having a complete catch for any resin during the layup process is key, keeps everything contained. also had to build up the sides beyond height of hull to aid layup of hulls more shots of tape Also waxed the hull, two to three coats I think. Then used mold release film, 3 coats. Typically use two, but want more here for casements and general size of hull more shots as more film was added. Fan helps it dry much faster ready to start. pieces of mat cut in advanced Started layup this morning. Decided to use west systems for the casements since the working time is more constant/known. used a lot of micro fibers, filled casements with paste, then added small strips of mat, eventually built up midships aft casements. Forward casements with inset. Used a lot of thick paste here so it wouldn't flow, then contained it with pieces of cloth, worked out pretty well next i tackled the stringer, same process, used filler, then two layers of mat on the recessed portion to build the thickness up. Then went over the stringer with a wider piece aft portion this was the extent of west systems. probably about 10 pumps now for the rest of the hull, lots of pieces cut in advance. matt and cloth first full layer i think stern. I focused on flange buildup, and getting really good contact on the first layer so ther would be minimal bubbles. I think I achieved that, but will have to wait until its pulled to really tell Bow coming along. I dont remember exactly how many layers I used. Maybe about 2-3 mat, two cloth. It should be pretty hefty nice shot looking at the two halves pulled the divider. It came off OK, lost some paint in a few spots came out straight whole hull Looks like the layup came out good, the seam there looks pretty solid. Some areas arent quite as good, but overall pleased. Still need to remove some silicone, might touch up paint, then repeat the process to make the second half of the mold. Will wax the plug, then film, right up against the flange from the first half. Once that dries, I will drill a bunch of alignment holes in the flange, then pry them apart and see what happens. Once the mold is off, it will probably need some bondo to fill in bubbles. Then I will prep the mold (wax and film), then make a hull. Hopefully will get the second half of the mold done this week, need to focus on Agincourt since the battle is coming up and I'd like to finish it. Took about 5 hours today to layup this half, I can probably cut that down to 4ish for the second half, probably dont need quite as many layers
cool stuff! Maybe I'm not understanding the concept here, but is that half-shell going to be joined to the other half (when it is made) as the hull, or is that a "negative" that will be used as a mold for the hull?
Its the negative, the final product will be the hull in the exact (ish) shape of the plug (the gray thing ive been making for the past few weeks)
You've got that right Steve! I'll soon be single and able to resume making molds and hulls for the hobby on a regular basis. No more waiting for months until the 'admiral' is away for a week or two.
Yes, something that I have learned from my elders is that ship budgets, time allotments, etc will come under significant arms limitation treaties when marriage occurs. Therefore I have decided to build up my fleet numbers so I can start negotiations from a high point, and maybe to convince whoever that person may be that it’s normal to have 15-20 ships. Right now I’m hitting some geometric constraints with my current living situation, but I may or may not have another ship showing up this week (need more axis representation)
That is true. My duck hunting buddies were in shock at how little time my ex would allow me to go outside/hunt/etc. "Why don't you spend time with me!?" was the constant cry. "I don't want to sit in front of a TV while you screw around with your phone. let's take your kid out and show her how to hunt grouse" is apparently not the right answer. Neither is "You need to stop spending our entire grocery budget on sushi because the dog and I are literally starving"
Happy birthday Marty. Next, that does not look to bad Kevin. I made the plug for the Duke, but had our mold fellow at the time make the mold. Since it looks like I have pretty much Figured out the Settsu, I'm going to just copy what you did. Of course it will be a much longer and drawn out process for me, I don't make as fast as you do.
Dusting off the mold, getting ready for the next half Taped it up, wax and mold release in the AM Cleaner tape job here
Second half of mold is done Went faster than first half, think it will come out good I will drill holes and pop the mold tomorrow night. It will be the moment of truth, then heading south on Thursday en route towards Statesboro
Popped the mold, it felt like Christmas! Photo dump, no time to type, driving to Georgia in the AM. It came apart pretty easy, plug mostly survived. Mold looks great, no issues on any part of casements or stinger, only a few tiny bubbles to fill in, much better than my tromp mold. The stern came out a little wacky above the stringer because I used tape to bridge the gap, so the hulls might need a quick hit from a Dremel when that time comes Does anyone want the plug? Could be refurbed in a week or two, plan is to deep 6 it given minimal excess storage space and not real future need
