Here is the starboard side view showing the entire yacht. As noted below, I made all the rails and bimini frames from stainless steel silver soldering.
This model is a detailed full model of a Bayliner 3988 flybridge motoryacht. The model is built to a length on deck of 25" and is mounted on a varnished mahogany display stand. Bayliner dropped their motoryacht line several years ago and created a new division called Meridian Yachts to produce more upscale motoryachts similar to the older Bayliner Motoryachts. When I contacted Meridian Yachts, they were unable to find the lines for the Bayliner series motoryachts, but they did provide me with a number of outline drawings. I used those drawings and many pictures of Bayliner 3988's that I found on-line to draw a set of lines for this model. Drawing power boat lines is quite different from creating a set of sail boat lines because of the hard chines on many power boat hulls. The trickiest part was fairing the hull, which I did largely by fairing the chines.
Here is the starboard side view showing the entire yacht. As noted below, I made all the rails and bimini frames from stainless steel silver soldering.
July 19, 06 - The first step in building a full model is to cut out the station frames and glue them up on a building board. I did that yesterday and put the first few chine planks on the port side of the hull. Over the next few days I will finish planking the hull. When the hull is planked, I will fiberglass it and remove it from the building board.
July 23, 06 - Since my last update I have finished plankinh the bottom and starboard side of the hull. I still have a lot of work to do to get the chines straight and fair, but should begine fiberglassing the hull in a few days. Over the next couple of days I will finish planking the hull and building the transom. After that I will fiberglass the hull and then start fairing it.
August 21, 06 - It has been
nearly a month since I updated this page. The picture above shows
that I have finished planking and fiberglassing the hull. I have
also put and sanded off three coats of fairing and primed the hull.
This first coat of primer serves to mark flaws in the surface, which I
will now spot fill. I will also now spend some time smoothing the
chine lines where they are a bit irregular. When the spot fairing
and line corrections are completed I will paint the hull and then get started
building the
deck and cabin house.
August 24, 06 - Since my last update I have spot faired and reprimed the model. As you can see I decided to prime the bottom in gray and the topsides in white to show the location of the waterline. I spent some time cleaning up the chines and the model now has nearly its final lines. I still have a bit of spot fairing to do, but that will be done in a couple of days, after which I will put the first coat of topsides paint on the hull.
Sept. 6, 06 - Today I finished the hull. By that I mean that I have finished filling, fairing and priming the hull. I have also added the top chine with cutouts for the ports and the engine ventilator intakes. In addition I have removed the hull from the building stand. The picture above shows the finished hull sitting on a working stand. You can see inside the hull where I removed the station frames. Tomorrow I will start building the deck and cabin house.
Sept. 12, 06 - Since my last update I have been working on the cockpit, deck and cabin house. I have now finished building the cockpit with its transom door and the deck and have started work on the cabin house. Actually I built most of the cabin house and decided that it didn't look right so I removed my first attempt and started over. At present I have pretty much finished the forward part of the house and am ready to build the rest of the house up to the bottom of the flybridge. I am building the house in balsa and will face it with styrene sheet when it is finished.
Sept. 15, 06 - Since my last update I have been working on the cabin house. As you can see in the picture above the house is now roughed in and I am starting to face it with sheet styrene. Once the house is fully faced and the joints between pieces of styrene have been filled and faired, I will paint the model. While the paint is curing, I will start building the flybridge. I will install the "windows" after the model is painted.
Sept. 20, 06 - Over the last few days I have been working on facing the cabin house with styrene. This afternoon I finished putting the styrene on and only have a bit of filling of joints between pieces of styrene before I will start painting the model. I will build and paint the flybridge separately.
Sept. 27, 06 - Yesterday and today I put the first coat of topsides paint on the hull and cabin house. As you can see I have a couple of runs to sand out before I recoat the model. I will sand the model down tomorrow and recoat it on Friday. I normally put on 2-3 coats of topsides paint before I buff the surface to a high gloss. Tomorrow I will also start building the flybridge.
Oct. 5, 06 - Since my last update I have been sailing offshore for a few days. I got back tuesday and got to work on the flybridge for this model. The picture above shows the model with the "in-progress" flybridge sitting on it. I still have to fill and fair the outside of the flybridge and build the seating, the radar arch and part of the steering station.
Oct. 14, 06 - This morning I finished the major construction phase on this model. I also repainted the topsides. As you can see, the flybridge with its arch is now completed. Next week I will finish painting the model and then start adding details.
Oct. 20, 06 - Since my last update I have finished painting the hull, deck, cabin house and flybridge. The only thing left to paint is the bottom and the striping. I have also started installing the windows and have built and started varnishing the mahogany display stand. I will wait to paint the bottom until I have finished varnishing the stand and have put the velvet on it to protect the hull.
Oct. 27, 06 - Since my last update my attention has been diverted by the end of the sailing season here in Maine. Last week we went out for our last overnight of the season and then hauled the boat out and brought it home. Nevertheless, I have now built and installed the windows, attached the flybridge to the model, painted the bottom and gotten to varnish coat 5 on the display stand. Tomorrow I will start building and installing details on the model.
Nov. 4, 06 - Well this is something different, a port side view. The reason is that I have finished the rails on the port side, but not on starboard. The starboard rails are made, but they still need lots of polishing before I put them on. Since my last update I have put the boot and cabin side stripes on the model. I have also added the cockpit and cabin side hand rails and the port safety/bow rail. All the rails are built from stainless steel. I don't have a TIG welder, so the parts of the rails are silver soldered together. The port and starboard side rails will be joined at the bow by silver soldering after they are both mounted. After I took this picture I sanded the display stand down and sprayed the final coat of satin varnish onto it. I will install the felt pads the boat will sit on tomorrow afternoon. Over the next few days I will build the ladder to the flybridge and the frames fore the cockpit and fly bridge canvas. After thet is dine I will start work on the detailing of the flybridge and deck.
Nov. 9, 06 - I have now finished all the primary metal work above the waterline and I have installed the ports on the upper chine of the hull. I will wait to build the frames for the canvas until I am ready to do the canvas work. Right now I am working on the wind deflector for the leading edge of the flybridge coaming and the foredeck details (anchor, cleats, windlass).
Nov. 9, 06 (cont.) - This picture shows the ladder to the flybridge as well as the layout of the flybridge itself.
Nov. 10, 06 - Today I apent most of the day building this Danforth anchor for the model. The anchor is fully functional in that the shaft moves just like a full size one.
Nov. 10, 06 (cont.) - Here is the anchor mounted on the bow sprit with its chain led over the chain gypsy on the windlass. Tomorrow I will build the bow cleats and the hatch for the cabin top.
Nov. 18, 06 - I am getting close to being finished with this model. Since my last update I have finished the helm station, installed the spray deflector at the forward edge of the flybridge coaming, installed the forward cabin top hatch, installed the cleats and built the framing for the canvas (the framing for the cockpit canvas is built, but I forgot to put it on for this picture. I have also built but non installed the swim platform and the shafts, skegs and props. Over the next few dats I will build the flybridge seating cushions and the helm seat. When that is done I will do the canvas work and install the props and swim platform.
Nov. 22, 06 - Over the last few days I have finished building the flybridge seating including the helm seat. Today I got out my sewing kit and started work on the canvas. I finished the biminis for both the cockpit and the flybridge. I took this port side picture so you can see the helm and other flybridge seating. In addition, although you can't see it in this picture, the name and hail are on the transom. Tomorrow I plan to eat a lot of turkey, but on Friday I will install the swim platform, the shafts and props and start work on the windows for the flybridge enclosure. After that I will only have a few details like the VHF and radar antennas and running lights to build to finish the model.
Nov. 24, 06 - Today, after I recovered from my turkey overdose, I installed the shafts, struts, props and rudders. In addition, I put the swin platform on and made up the last piece of canvas. Over the weekend I will pit the windows in on the flybridge canvas and add the last few details. The model should be finished early next week.
Nov. 24, 06 (cont.) - In this view you can see the props, rudders and swim platform a bit better. You can also see some of the flybridge seating.
Nov. 25, 06 - Today I finished the last major part of the model - the flybridge bimini windows. All that remains is the radar, GPS and VHF antennas, the the running lights. Once those last few details are installed I will build a shipping crate and box the model for shipping.
Dec. 3, 06 - Today I put the finishing touches on the model. You can see the VHF, radar and GPS antennas as well as the running lights. Tomorrow I will take some better pictures when I have better light and I will build the shipping crate, so this model will be ready to move on to her owner by this Tuesday.