Fisher 34 motorsailer

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Next section of building will probably be the aft cockpit area. I feel there's a lot that needs to be 'going on' simultaneously here. Have not thought out the sequence yet. Bought some 18mm wood dowel which will be shaped I hope and then integrated into the cockpit sides as sheet winch supports. As the photo of the 1:1 yacht shows, the supports are long 'towers' which go all the way down to the cockpit seating. These will then be 'absorbed' into the shaped cockpit combings and will almost disappear! A lot of work just to hide something. I could have pehaps just made a couple of 'rounded bumps' in the combings so we'll see how it goes when I rattled the greysa bit more.

Interested -as always- in any pertinent comments from 'the learned'.

Lovely Wx here in Stavanger today so I'll have to get out for a walk and get exposed to some sunshine. The rain -and building Wx- will come soon enough.

gecon

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Two 'turrets' produced this evening for the genoa sheet winches. These will be mostly embedded into the cockpit combing……when I work out how to produce the combing!

gecon

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Had som problems deciding how to make the combings on the capping rail around the aft quarters. Latest attempt suggests that they will be shaped from 10mm balsa. Thought I was going to construct built-up combings from 1mm/1.5mm aircraft ply but this provd to be too much for my brain and too fiddly for my fingures. Balsa is a little on the 'absorbant side' for my liking so I'll have to seal it well. 1 mm ply will be used for inside cockpit sidwalls.

Managed to produce some 'varnished teak' slattet cockpit seating -which is also a prominent feature of this type of motorsailer.

Anyway, will post photos of the latest 'offering' – and final choice of construction method. It'll be a while before it's all sealed, painted and glued in place though.

I've not yet given up on acheiving a gloss -ish hull finish so I'll post a few thoughts about that in that particular thread…..if I can find it again.

gecon

Edited By gecon on 11/09/2020 07:01:49

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Photo here looks like we're going backwards in the build, but the combings are shown here epoxied to the capping rails -so there's no going back now. Need some filler or putty in the joints. The curvy side panels have now been shaped and are in the paint shop for sanding sealer and undercoat application. The aft frames have been attacked by Needhams much feared Ray gun -or was it Colin's pivot gun from the Gannet? (Learned some new words today!) Not to worry, it'll reduce the displacement.

George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Slow progress recently. The cockpit will soon be ready for a final sanding, undercoat and topcoat. Placed a few acessories into the lockers and loose fitted the slatted seating to give myself inspiration.

Hope to proceed to wheelhouse construction on monday. This will also take ages to complete.

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Applied one coat of gloss to the cockpit saturday. Starting on the wheelhouse aft bulkhead. Have to cut out the sliding door and openings for windows. Don¨t know how to make 'aluminium' frames/surrounds for the windows yet. May have to be obeche -or plasticard. Pobably a couple of weeks++ before there's a operational sliding door here!

George

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi George,

I have had moderate success with thin card window frames wrapped with foil, White Marlin are chrome and shine, but if you used the reverse side of baking foil the dull side may look like brushed aluminium ?

Cockpit of your Fisher looks great 👍 and I found that PBO article 😀

Regards Ray

Edited By Ray Wood 2 on 04/10/2020 17:30:34

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

You can buy silver styrene plastcard sheet.. Alternatively make the frames and then use a liquid chrome marker pen, Molotow are the best. However to preserve the lustre it does take about a week to cure properly. But having said that, a slightly dulled down finish might look better.

There are also some good acrylic aluminium model paints available. Tamiya comes in gloss and matt versions.

Colin

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Thanks Ray and Colin, looked at alu' foil in the kitchen yesteray but didn't think I could make a good job with that. Also tried to find silver plasticard on the web without success. May have to resort to my 'long cure' bright silver paint from Testors and make frames in painted obechi strip.

Thanks for info….working on the case. Also for tidying my postings!

Ray, PBO article wiil be received with thanks.

Regards, George

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Prices vary a bit.

Cornwall Model Boats:

**LINK**

Hobbycraft::

**LINK**

Ebay:

**LINK**

Colin

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Many thanks Colin,

I have ordered stacks of stuff from CMB since I started the Fisher so I'll order from them. I did in fact browse their webshop on saturday but did not find the mirror silver. Was not looking forward to sealing+sanding painting 9 narrow window frames! I will be using ready made CAP Maquettes frames on the cabin sides but the wheelhouse needs the more 'flush' variety.

Thanks again, George

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I had a look at a sheet in Hobbycraft at Worthing this morning. The finish is good but you might want to experiment with clear coatings. Also I'm not sure if the silver goes all the way through or whether cut edges will be white, in which case you will need an aluminium colour paint marker to touch them up.

Hobbycraft were asking £12 for a small sheet which is a bit over the top I think.

Colin

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Very kind of you Colin to get so involved with helping with this -almost trivial- detail. Ordered 'mirror silver' 1mm sheet from CMB today. Experience shows that it will get here in about 7-10 days. The edge finish does not matter too much as the full size Fisher has a conspicuous black (Sikaflex maybe?) sealant around the outside of the alu' frame. I thought I would paint the cut edge matt black to simulate this. Made my first ever 'sliding door kit' today. Needs some sanding and teak stain/varnish etc.

Regards, George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

I think I made a kit for a wheelhouse sliding door today. We'll see when I've applied some teak stain, oil and varnish. The wheelhouse aft bulkhead will be sealed, sanded and undercoated -eventually. 

George

Edited By gecon on 05/10/2020 17:55:58

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Making slow progress with the Aft bulkhead details. Components are now prepared. Plasticard strip arrived from CMB yesterday and will be shaped…after I get my daughters car through the MOT!

Mirror finish sheeting suggested by Colin was not in stock. The strip is white styrene but will eventually be alu-silver-ish. Photos show parts just placed approx in situ.

[geconParticipant @gecon]

After a long pause I've now managed to do a few more rather superficial jobs on the Fisher 34. Hope I can get back into the swing of things during the next few days.

The 'glazing' / window-framing work is not going to be as poltically correct as I had first hoped. The window frames should be rounded on the inside curve as well as the outside but I don't think I can muster up the necessary eyesight nor steadyness-of-hand to do the job properly. So I think it's best to hop over that bit and not push my luck.

Ray mentioned the "Formula 560" canopy glue a while ago. My 1/3 full bottle was first used on the Balsacraft Spitfire and Hurricane models about 20 years ago -so it ages well! The 'glazing' has been cut to the shape of the opening so that it fits into it, leaving a small ledge on each side. The inside edges will not be framed in strip -simply painted in Tamiya Titan Silver. Frame it all later if I can't live with the short-cut.

Some of the wheelhouse sections have now been undercoated…yet again. The gloss enamel I had applied was not well done at all so out came the wet&dry again. Changing paint too. Hope the new stuff will self-level a bit better.

George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

The components of the wheelhouse aft bulkhead have now been glued in place. Bulkhead will be loose fitted in position while the rest of the wheelhouse sides are constructed -sills, frames, glazing etc.

May add a clear acetate sheet to prevent water entering the wheelhouse. There is no plan for a cockpit drain -yet! Apart from the fact that a flooded cockpit will eventually drain into the bilge, hopefully without knackering the well-taped rudder servo below the cockpit floor.

We are also being told to stay at home as much as possible to try to hamper the new virus increase. Norway is quite lucky compared to the UK and Europe, but nobody who gets the bug here feels particularily 'lucky' -so 'stay at home and cut, glue & paint everthing' is modus operandum again. Stay safe.

George

Edited By gecon on 08/11/2020 07:41:45

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Wheelhouse aft bulkhead now positioned -but not glued. Watchman looking out for some furnishings to put forward of the bulkhead. At least 8 weeks delivery time!

George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

It seemed a good idea at the time but…. this morning I started having doubts about using the ready made Cap Maquettes plastic window frames on the cabin sides. Having strategically placed all the parts on deck I took some photos to help assess the 'look' of the finished article. Looks a bit cheesey with the Admiralty and I looking -simultaneously- out the windows on both sides of the yacht. I don't think the frames look TOO bad, but not too good either!

I liked however the idea of not making more hoIes than necessary in the cabin sides. Might just scrap this plan though and start again by cutting out the rectangles and 'framing' them in silver strip as with the wheelhouse. Maybe just recess the plastic frames (complete with cheesey photos) just inside the window cut-outs.

Deliberations will be completed before the Bristol Cream appetiser appears in early evening.

Wish all a peaceful and safe weekend,

George

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi George,

I find it fascinating how you build with almost finished and painted components, I've never seen that approach before, I usually build a box and stick bits on it

Enjoy Sherry'O clock same in this house.

Regards Ray

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Hi Ray,

The short answer is a quote from the waiter 'Manuel' in Faulty Towers…."I know nauauthing".

The explanation is probably that the excessive pre-preparation of parts is due to NO experience at scratch building a boat. I have to make one part at a time in a sort-of logical sequence because I have little idea how the subsequent part/s are to be made in the first place!

The pre-painting is probably because I don't know which paint is going to give the required result. I had a lot of trouble earlier with the hull finish quality. The inexpensive full size boat paint I used did not flow out well at all so I ended up sanding it all down and airbrushing -which I also knew naught about!.

The components of the wheelhouse and cabin sides have now been painted using a well known quality Norwegian paint called 'Bengalack'. This idea came up when I saw that a chap in east Norway use it on his Colin Archer hull. It was smooth and (a bit too) glossy. It gives however the look of a fibreglass finish -even when brushed on- and that's what's needed on the Fisher.

I cannot see how this particular type of boat could be easily treated with sanding sealer, undercoat, sanding down all the surfaces -and corners- with all the 'boxes' ready assembled on deck. The required masking off would be a headache I suspect.

The next Fisher –which I will not be building– could have been a lot easier

I'm sorry, but I'm terrible with giving a short answer. I used to be able to say "Roger" and "Copied" but I'm over that now!

"OUT"

G-ECON

Edited By gecon on 14/11/2020 07:08:22

[geconParticipant @gecon]

The current collection of painted parts (sorry) have now been epoxied in place on deck. I feel that a period of relative calm will prevail over the build for some while -probably until after Xmas.

The production of the 3-section wheelhouse front windows and 2-section roof will slow down the build as will the 3-section cabin roof. Have not decided how to produce any of this yet. Rooftops need to be removeable and watertight.

Cheers,

George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Found out that the wheelhouse roof needs to be fitted (removeable) before shaping the wheelhouse forward window surrounds.

Note the clingfilm Ray!

George

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi George,

Superstructure looking good the old Clingfilm trick works every time !

Regards

Ray

[geconParticipant @gecon]

I've been 'logged out' -in more ways than one- recently. After a lay-off while getting my daughter's car through the MOT I've had trouble getting into a 'building rhythm'. Instead of building, I've been reading most of the threads and info' on the forum! Plus there's been a bit of Xmas planning and shopping with the bank-robber's mask in place.

My part of Norway has no 'lock-down' so we can get out and about a bit -but we steer out of everybody elses 'wake turbulance', 'bow wave' and 'frontal spray'. Usually a good idea even in non-viral times!

Anyway, I've managed to cut the strange wonkey parallelogram -or is it trapezium?- type frames and openings for the wheelhouse forward windows. In the process I've noticed that the forward roof overhang 'brim' of the wheelhouse roof was not long enough. An extra 1cm has now been added to that and needs to be faired in and glued to the rest.

I hope to get the all three removeable roof panels sanded, sealed and painted before Xmas. Some kind of hatch-latch arrangement will be installed to hold them on board during 'fast cornering'!

While waiting for paint to dry, I hope to start on the wheelhouse interior 'furninshings'.

I won't get much done hanging around here though……stay safe!

George

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