As always, the first step was to cut out the backplane and the frames. This picture shows the backplane with the frames, cambered deck, and the sheer and waterline planks in place. The model is sitting on the 11.5"x29" mahogany mounting board, which has the only first coat of varnish. The next step is to plank the hull down to the waterline.
The model is now planked down to the waterline. Since we are fogged in today, I will finish planking the hull this afternoon.
I finished planking the hull last night. This morning I shaped and sanded the hull. Tonight I will start fiberglassing the hull. I do that in three steps. The first day I glass the deck. Next I glass the hull itself and finally I glass the transom and the bottom of the keel.
Here is the model after the hull has been fiberglassed. This took longer than I planned because I ran out of fiberglass cloth on sunday night just before Memorial Day. I had to wait until tuesday, June 1, to get the glass I needed to cover the hull. I have also built the rudder and cut out the aperture for the prop. The model is sitting on the mounting board, which now has two coats of varnish front and back. As I type this, the second coat of fairing putty is curing on the deck and topsides. Tomorrow I should be able to put the first coat of primer on the topsides and start filling and fairing the hull below the waterline.
The topsides have now been filled, faired and primed. After sanding and perhaps one more coat of primer, I will be ready to paint the topsides. At this point I will start filling and fairing below the waterline. I will also start building the cockpit and cabin house. It took me longer to get to this point than I expected because the weather has been good and I have been sailing instead of working.
While I am waiting for the primer to cure on the hull I have started work on some of the detail components. This boat has Lewmar 40ST bronze genoa winches. The picture above shows a few of the steps in machining a 3/4" scale model of one of the genoa winches. Frame (A) shows a piece of bronze round bar chucked up in the lathe and turned down to the diameter of the base of the winch (0.379"). Frame (B) shows the winch after I have machined the self tailing jaws and am turning down the winch drum. Frame (C) shows the finished winch ready to cut off. Frame (D) shows the winch with the stripper arm in place next to a dime for scale.
I have now built the cabin house and cockpit, although the cockpit isn't visible in this picture. The cabin house is built in two stages. First I build the house from balsa and sand it to shape. Once that is finished I face the balsa with 1/32" thick styrene. I use the styrene because it can be primed without sanding and because it is much easier to make precise cut-outs (i.e., ports) in it than in balsa. Tomorrow I will fill the gaps between the cabin house and the deck and build the winch platform. When that is finished I will sand and prime the topsides and deck to get the surfaces ready for final painting.
The bottom is now filled, faired and primed. I have also built the winch support and put the hatch bases on the cabin top. The mounting board now has five coats of varnish and is ready for the final coat of rubbed effect varnish. The next step is to paint the topsides, deck and cabin house their base color (white in this case). I will do the topsides painting today. After the topsides paint has had 2-3 days to cure I will paint the boot stripe (green) and the contrasting color areas of the deck (tan). Once the painting is finished I will start installing detail components that I have been building.
The topsides and deck have now been painted gloss white. In about 2 days I will paint the green boot stripe and the tan non-skid areas on the deck. Once that painting is finished I will start installing teak and hardware.
Here the model has the forest green boot stripe painted. I have also ordered the custom vinyl name and hail graphics. Since this picture was taken I have also masked and painted the non-skid contrast color onto the deck. The next picture will show the deck and the teak cockpit coaming. The delay between this picture and the last picture is because I went sailing for a couple of days.
The contrast color non-skid areas have now been painted a light tan color. I have also installed the gloss varnished teak cockpit coamings. The next steps are to build the companionway slide and storm hood and to install the toe rail. The toe rail will is varnished teak and I still have a couple of coats of varnish to go before I install it.
The name and hail graphics arrived today so I mounted them. You can also see that I have built the companionway slide and storm hood.
This picture shows a close-up of the cockpit. It shows the cockpit seats and the companionway detail a bit better. You can also see the hail port graphics on the stern. I still have one piece of trim on the companionway to go, but won't glue it on until I put the final coat of varnish on the companionway boards (currently temporarily held in place with double stick tape).
Well there have been a few changes. I have now finished building the companionway and the drop boards are in place (even though you can't see them here). What you can see here is that I have put the ports, the eyebrow and the cabin top hand rail on. I am still not happy with the varnish on the toe-rail, so it won't be going on for a couple of days yet. In the mean time I will be building the pedestal and wheel and other deck hardware. She looks a lot more like the real boat now though.
The toe rail with its integral bronze cleat and the dorade vent are now in place. I am now working on the pedestal and wheel and should have it finished tomorrow. However, since I will be sailing this weekend I won't be posting an update until at least Monday June 28, 04.
Well I had a great mini-cruise around Blue Hill Bay here in Maine. Since my return I have painted the bottom, built and installed the pedestal and wheel (I still have to build and install the pedestal guard), and installed the prop and genoa winch. I have also mounted the model on the satin varnished mahogany mounting board. Over the next few days I will build the anchor and roller, the stub mast, the hatches and other deck trim. I will also be building the Monitor wind vane. That should be both fun and interesting.
The model is now finished. Here you can see the anchor on its roller, the stub mast and the guard on the pedestal. Other details that aren't as obvious are the cleats, rub strakes, chain plates, anchor chain and hawse pipe.
