What, Television over model building?
A strange priority of pastimes...

oh yes, Umi..........everything has it's place!!, lol

Ever since building my first Billing kit in my late teens I have had a morbid fear of building boat hulls plank on frame, and if anyone has built an early Billing kit with that horrendous mahogany type timber that they used to supply for planking their hulls.....you'll know why, and that is why I NEVER build a POF model anymore.........always resorting to grp for my models.

However I have tried many methods of producing a plug including plaster, solid and bread and butter timber hulls, and even framed hulls covered with mesh and then filler, and have always found that basic rough plank on frame hulls, skimmed with polyester filler is the most cost effectiv and quickest method for making a plug.

they might not be the prettiest of things I produce,and are full of gaps that you could sail a lifeboat through, and would never win a gong, but I find that once skimmed they come out ok..........so!!!

Here is the start of the latest plug with equal planking on each side, tapered at bow and stern to fit in so that once over the round of the bilges, the planks can go on whole and in one length.
neil.

The hull has now been planked up to the sheer line of the 43' motor sailor lifeboat with the bulwarks to be raised for the pulling saler after I have taken it from the building board..............and what an unholy mess it is too..........I can only put it down to the fact that I had to photo enlarge the lines from a drawing 1.5" x 1" in the first place and then transpose it onto a grid to get the shapes right.

the lines are basically correct, but because of the masive enlargement to get them, some dips and bumps are left in the shape and these have manifested when I plank onto them in alsorts of dips and bumps, so much so that a complete skimming of the hull with polyester filler WILL be needed to get a good uniform shape.

To help this I have decided to sheathe whole boat first with a layer of surface tissue which I have just gone round to my good mate cptnrodders for a borrow and laid a sheet over the hull in readyness for taking the resin.This will give a perfect surface for the polyester filler to adhere to.

Saves paying for my own, lol

Once this has been laid onto the hull I'll block the bow and stern end caps with Obeche and shape to finish along with the filler.

You might note that I have cheated on the tunnel at the stern....instead of planking this, I have fashioned the shape with wire gauze mesh and will surface tissue this in place and then skim with filler.........got a little fed up with planking towards the end, and filler will cover a multitude of sins..........got my old MG's to testify to that, lol

Man, when you get going it realy goes fast !

Seems like only a few days since you started and your already well along.

Get rid of all your old blinds so your not tempted again ...

Over the last few days tim, I hit a brick wall, and the hull was so beet up that I lost a little enthusiasm, but as they say He who dares, wins, and so got back onto it yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday, amongst all the gloom of what I think is a c*** hull I got round to glassing the surface tissue with polyester resin onto the planking to (not fill) cover the holes in the planking, so that the filler that I was to coat the hull with, wouldn't disappear into the casms of the inner hull.

Then last night I added the obeche blocks to bow and stern and filled in between frames above the sheer line strake with a bulwark plank.

Although this isn't needed for the motor lifeboat as the bulwarks are set just above the belting a higher bulwark is needed for the pulling and sailing boat Maude Pickup so by fixing this extra plank I can get both hulls out of one mould.

This morning I filed down the blocks, bow and stern with a black and decker power file and then went out and bought a 2kilo tub of filler.........hope that will be enough, lol, and this afternoon set about filling the hull.

It's amazing how much better it looks and I feel just after a couple of dollops of the stuff have been spread onto the hull, even in it's rough state.

I now don't feel to bad tonight and will sleep a little better.

SO much work, you dedication is strong ...

Working that Obeche probably was hard work.

Power sander or by hand ?

power file, Tim, but it's such a lovely soft wood to work it took about ten minutes per quarter.
neil.

well, a kilo and a half of filler later, and the bumps and dips have hopefully been ironed out.

it now looks like a hull should do, and with a "little" bit of elbow grease, some 40 grade grit on an electric mouse, and I'll be looking towards a plug ready for adding detailing such as the belting, ruffle holes, bilge keel positions etc within a week or so.

Slow down !

Finish too fast and you'll be put to task pulling weeds in the back yard...

I don't mind that Tim.........just hate household DIY, lol

i am really enjoying this, seeing how it is done from beginning to end!.....excellent

Originally Posted by DerekCross

i am really enjoying this, seeing how it is done from beginning to end!.....excellent

glad you are derek.........makes the blog worth while...............sadly today near not so sunny Fleetwood it's cold wet and very windy, so have abandoned any thoughts of taking the plug out onto the garden to start sanding it down...........and that's not a job for indoors.............too much dust flying around.
neil.

It seems at the moment that this project is not progressing as I would like it too.........

weather has been against me getting the boat into the open air to sand it down, and on the few occassions that it has been mild, dare I say sunny and not windy, my good lady has put the washing out on the line to dry..........there's nothing worse than getting into a bed that's coated in a silver sheen of body filler dust............I CAN DEFINATELY RECOMMEND AGAINST IT!!!!

and then the last few days the bug that I got early in September has come back with a vengence, making me tired and weary..........was even sent for a chest x ray a couple of weeks ago because of the coughing bouts.......it's clear, thank god.................but today after starting a second course of anti b's I decided thaat the damn boat wouldn't sand itself

because I used so much filler to cover the irregular framework, I decided to attack the plug, firstly with my sonic power sander with a tungsten and diamond tipped "mouse".

Using only the weight of the tool itself, it was suprising how easily it reduced the filler to a uniform height on the boat with the hollow spots showing well..
next step will be to sand with a "mouse" sander and 40 grade grit...................

once this has been completed, I'll then fill the hollows and sand again with the 40 and then 120 grade grit.

It's made me feel better just doing that this morning.lol

it's suprising what a good bit of elbow grease and some filler and a few hours work will do to change a hideous looking mess into a beautiful swan!!

The first half of the plug is almost ready for a laquering to seal it all.