IT LOOKS MESSY!!!, and it is messy with all the glue around, but once I get my sonoc rasp and block plane on it it will start to take shape.

But I have been working on the last 4 frames of the stern of the boat at the moment, and once that area has been blocked up, I will then finish all the frames from 1 to 8, before finally filling in the bow with solid blocks of obeche.

Hopefully I should have that done by tuesday at the latest.

And once that has been achieved I will then start shaping it all before turning my attention to the two tunnels for the props and shafts.

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 06/08/2022 18:57:45

and down to work!

It always makes life easy if you have the right tools to do the job properly, and my Electra Bekum German made band saw is probably my most tool in my workshop, giving countless hours of dutifull and faithful work without failure over the past 30 years…i cannot stress just how good this machine is…..sod your proxxon overpriced stuff only fit for light use……if you want excellent wear and tare by chunkr stuff……….pays in the end.

So i sanded the surfaces of my obeche' planks lightly to get the rough sawn surface reasonably level and then marked out both the base and engine casing as one, and then marked out 3 cabin profiles and cut them using the band saw.

Once cut, I lightly sanded the two surfaces of each piece for a decent clamped gluing surface.

Then using some "scrap" lengths [although no timber is ever scrap until it is too small for any conceivable use] I made a 40mm boarder around one layer of the cabin cut outs which will then be glued to the base piece.

Although it will save a small piece of timber, when glueing to the base, it won't slide as much, when glueing the top three tiers and the bottom to the base, as by that time I wont have cramps or clamps with a wide enough "gate" to hold it all, so will have to use batteries as weights to glue it together.

put it this way, Richard, if i drop it it will bounce and not fall apart, or put my finger through a plank when i sand too vigourously, haha.

As the old song says…….."the first cut is the Deapest."

And so I made those first cuts this morning on both the cabin and the base engine casing.

I shall now glue the cabin to the engine casing and once set, tomorrow I shall start shaping with my small palm plane and sander.

And whilst the 2 heavy G cramps are stopping the cabin from slipping sideways or back and forwards whilst glewing the 60lbs [27 kilos] of old batteries are maintaining a downward force to glue the cabin and engine casing together, using aliphatic resin wood glue.

Was looking at the photos that I was sent by Martin Kinghoward at certain parts of the plans that I didn't understand, and found one of the parts was the steering box at the stern.

It was the steering gear box through which the steering shaft to the steering wheel was attached.

And so I fabricated it from 2mm and 1.5mm plasticard, with a lift off lid, and if all goes to plan i will use it to house the steering gear servo for the rudder.

But this has to be sorted at a later date, as at the moment i'm thinking on my feet, lol.

I have the last four frames, [two each side] at the bow to fill, and then I can concentrate on capping the tops of each frame with some 8mm thick planks from the keel to the blocks as shown on one mid section set of frames.

I also put a runner strip for resting the chequered motor factor gauze into the propeller shaft tunnels, ready for skimming with body filler.

But for now, I'll retire to my TV seat and let the glue set.

slowly, Slowly, SLOWLY,…….. and quite monotonously, the frames have all been filled with blocks and strips of obeche'………

That is, ALL but the holes that would form the propeller shaft tunnels, and these will be formed and shaped once the rest of the hull has been planed, shaped and sanded to a nice smooth finish…but that's for later……….once the glue has set overnight in a very hot workshop, tomorrow i shall go to our local car boot sale and see if i can pick up a decnt smoothing plane to do some damage to the blocks………….but for now, i shall have a sit down, and contemplate there to start on it.

Its nice though to look at it, and see what sort of hull it is going to turn out like.

ohhhh happy days!!!

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 12/08/2022 15:57:02

Whilst working in the garden on my Princess Mary of Padstow with the sunshine on my shoulder, [reminds me of my favourite song] I was visited by the dead.

I openly admit that I believe in ghosts and the spirit world, and I lived in a written about haunted house in Fleetwood, and a pub near Maidenhead……….both with history to them!

I was taught woodwork by a GREAT man. He was called "taffy" Evans, a Welsh man from the Rhondda Valley and I think I had more respect for him than any teacher I had ever had or ever came across in my teaching career.

And I always took notice of what he said, until today.

A little bit about the man. He was in the RAF from college graduate and flew Spitfires and hurricanes during WW2, earning 12 kills and 3 possibles, but seldom talked about his background. I learned this when studying at A level,

He was strict, but fair, and unlike almost every other teacher in that school who took great delight in wheelding a cane like a cowboy his colt 45, I never in my 7 years at that school saw him need to cane a lad, even the roughest of kids respected him. But I would have got 6 of the best had he seen me doing what I had done today.

His pet hate was anyone using a hammer on a chisel, rather than a wooden mallet.

Today I found that sanding the boat level with all the blocks was going to take a lifetime, it is so big, and after an hour of getting little where fast, decided that I would dig out one of my 1" mortice chisels and a mallet………only problem was that I couldn't find a mallet, and so, much against my training I started using a claw hammer with my mortice chisel.

All was fine for about 20 minutes without his prophesy of broken thumbs coming true, when a hammer is used…..when sudenly overhead flew a Spitfire from the Memorial flight that was taking part in the Blackpool airshow this weekend!. I looked up to see it and yes………..I clouted my bloody thumb and hurt it. the head flew off the hammer and I dropped the chissel on my bloody foot, luckily without further injury.

I looked up, and as sure as is gospel, I am sure the wings tipped once in recognition!
And I'm bloody sure that "Taffy" Evens spirit was in that aeroplane telling me I was an ass h***
Anyway, I went into the workshop and pulled out a piece of hard wood to use as a temporary mallet with no further injuries.

The Spitfire came around a second time and I pictured its "dot" in the sky as a mark of respect, lol….the old sod finally told me off. hahaa

But I did get a whole side of the boat done to rough shaping with the sanders next, before filling and skimming once the other side is done hopefully tomorrow.

I gave up teaching when craft design and technology became de rigueur…….wasn't for me!

kids began to loose the know how and knowledge of how to use tools safely and efficiently, much to the mamby pamby methods as laid down in the "Baker" years, and followed on when Gove became education minister….and the curriculum went to pot for old fashioned teacher like myself who were brought up and gone through the years of sound knowledge and training.

You cannot [ i believe] to teach a kid how to design something if their thought waves are not geared up to thinking outside the box……..designers are born, not taught…………. to design.

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 15/08/2022 00:44:30

Halfway through the month, and halfway there!!!.

I sharpenned my chisels on an oil stone ready for my makeshift mallet…….a lump of australian red sycamore, and got down to work!

The blocks have now been chipped, chiselled and sawn to get the basic shape, and from tomorrow it will be the chance of the sanders to do the next part………

smoothing all down, filling the bigger holes with p38, before skimming the whole hull with Dolphin glaze, and then sanding to a uniform finish and taking it westward for a certain wizzard to do his bit before I start waxing pollishing and getting ready for moulding. 15 days should be long enough to do that job.

I must say though, that even in its rough state, the hull looks pretty damn magnificent, and i just thought I'd have a play and put a few bits on the deck for the fun of it.

Now getting more excited than I was.