Moonbeam
Moonbeam
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Banjoman
@banjomanToday, after making sure that everything else was well taped down and securely in position, I took out the after deck plank bundle as a whole …
… and removed all the masking tape on the underside, while leaving that on top in place. I then carefully opened each joint between two planks, one at a time, and added some glue …
… before laying the whole thing doown flat again, and wiping off the excess glue.
When all joints had had glue added, but before it had really set, the whole after deck packet had glue applied to the underside and was slid into place as a unit.
The four middle bow planks were already glued together, so these could simply be slid out, have some glue applied and be fixed permanently.
I also glued down the immediately adjacent end planks, bow and stern, and finally the waterway planks around the stern and bow curvatures.
Once these had set, all the remaining masking tape could at last be removed, and all planks as yet just dryfitted taken off …
… and brought over to my main worktop for drilling and plugging. So far all the starboard planks have been done; nest it'll be the port ones, and then all these, too, can be glued down.
To be continued …
Mattias
Edited By Banjoman on 07/09/2016 21:50:11
Edited By Banjoman on 07/09/2016 21:51:16
@banjomanWith all the remaining planks also drilled and plugged, it was time to grab the first bunch, which happened to be those for the starboard quarter, sort the planks in that bunch by number …
… and commence glueing down …
… until, this evening, the whole starboard side was done.
The port side still remains to be glued in place, after which I shall plane, scrape and sand everything as level and smooth as possible …
… but in the meantime, I will admit to being reasonably pleased with the result so far.
To be continued …
Mattias
Edited By Banjoman on 09/09/2016 19:21:31
Edited By Banjoman on 09/09/2016 19:21:44
Edited By Banjoman on 09/09/2016 19:22:11
@banjomanAnd … there it is! All the deck planks have now been glued in place!
It has taken me some six weeks and maybe 120 hours …
… to make up and place the (if my count is correct) 312 planks or equivalent bits of wood …
… that make up the deck …
… from 45 meters or so of 1×5 mm pear tree strip and also some 1 mm pear tree sheet.
There is of course still a fair amount of work to be done in the way of scraping, planing, sanding and varnishing, but this is at least one chapter of the build that can now be closed.
To be continued …
Mattias
Edited By Banjoman on 10/09/2016 21:57:47
Bob Abell 2
@bobabell2@banjomanThank you, Bob!
Yes, a certain amount of care shall indeed have to be taken in preparing the surface, but as the pieces that lay at right angles are compartively few, and easy to spot, it should be perfectly doable.
That said, I will admit to a slight trepidation, as sanding is the one jobI 've never liked at all, and thus the one where I have the greatest difficulties to keep myself on the straight and narrow. Still, as Calvin's dad would undoubtedly have said, I'm sure that it builds character. Or summat.
Time will tell …
Mattias
Edited By Banjoman on 11/09/2016 08:04:46
@banjomanThis week is, alas, quite build-time poor, as a plethora of other activities (an AGM, a jazz festival and so on and so forthj) makes demands on the available spare time, but this afternoon at least I managed to get in a few hours, and so got started on sanding the deck.
Well, before sanding I first went over every plank with a scalpel to cut off any plug ends standing proud, and then used the violin plane and a scraper in the form of the short end of a steel ruler to bring down most of the planking unevenness …
… after which it was time for the sanding block with some 320 grit paper.
Things are already getting much smoother, but I still have a good few hours ahead of me with alternately sanding (eventually going on to 400 and 600 grit paper) and scraping, until the whole deck is if not baby bottom then at least reasonably smooth, and no caulking paper stands proud anywhere.
And speking of caulking paper, i am happy to report that there is no discernible paper dust problem!
To be continued …
Mattias
@bobabell2@banjomanHello Bob ,
For the pages, I suppose I just stretch things to their limits …
No, more seriously, as I am sure you have already noticed, the system seems to be set up to automatically start a new page after each nine individual postings. Now, those posts can be longer or shorter, and as I put quite a few photos (532 so far in this thread!) in mine, they all tend to be longer than average. There is a limit to the amount of content you can fit into an individual post, though, so sometimes I have had to split my longer ones into several. But anyway, I think the main reason why my pages seem long is because I put so (too?) many photos in …
Thank you very much for your kind words, too! It is not quite varnish time yet. Once I've finished sanding, I'll probably give the wood a couple of coats of sanding sealer (I will of course as usual do a test piece first), but then I shall mask off the deck, turn 'er over, and fill in any remaining small gaps or inequalities between the GRP and the underside of the waterway planks before going on to finishing and painting the hull surface. Only after that will it be time to varnish the deck.
The reason why I want to do it in that order is that I shall use the same gloss varnish on the deck as on top of the hull paintwork, so when airbrushing the varnish onto the deck, I won't have to bother with masking off the rest of the hull if it has already been painted and varnished.
As for controlling myself, well, I just give myself a very stern talking-to whenever I seem on the verge of giving in to my old nemesis, the Demon Speed …
Mattias
Edited By Banjoman on 15/09/2016 07:15:44
@banjomanAfter a rather busy (with other stuff) last week, I finally had some time to build again yesterday afternoon, which I used to make up a test deck piece from some cut-offs and rejects …
… and then, with the help of some masking tape, proceeded to add varying degrees of sanding sealer …
… until I had a piece with, from left to right, rspectively no coat, one coat and two coats.
Onto this I then airbrushed gloss varnish. After the first coat, the difference was quite clear to see, in that the untreated wood of course absorbed most of it's varnish immediately, while the pre-coated bits got more of a gloss coat straight away.
After a total of four coats of varnish, each sanded lightly before the next one was put on, had been applied with the airbrush, a final fifth coat went on too. Once it was touch dry, it looked like this …
… i.e. with a clearly visible difference in coverage and level of gloss where sanding sealer had first been applied.
I also note that — as expected! — the sanding sealer has had no averse efffect on the colour or general apperance of the varnished wood, so the conclusion is fairly obvious: I will, as planned, treat the wood with two or three coats of sanding sealer before it is varnished.
In between the test work just mentioned, I continued planing and sanding the deck, using my fingertops to detect any still uneven joints between planks, until the whole thing was smooth to my satisfaction.
I then once more went over the whole deck with in turn 320, 400 and 600 grit paper …
… after which I very thoroughly vacuum cleaned it and finally went over it with a slightly damp dustrag …
.. to get all the sanding dust out.
Tomorrow, I'll put on the sanding sealer after which it'll be time to turn the hull over and deal with putting the final, pre-painting finish to the hull.
To be continued …
Mattias
Edited By Banjoman on 19/09/2016 07:27:10
@bobabell2@banjomanThank you, Bob!
Yes, I did indeed plane the deck, or at least parts of it!
After the initial scraping and sanding, I went over everything with my fingertops, and wherever I discovered one side of a joint standing proud of the other side, I carefully planed them smooth. Although all the planks are in principle the same thickness, in reality I dare say there will have been differences of maybe a tenth or a twentieth of a millimeter. However, I'm inclined to think that the main culprit causing such unevenness was slight variations in the thickness of the layer of glue underneath each plank. Although I have tried to remove excess glue before laying down a plank, some variation here is pretty much inevitable.
The end result after final sanding is certainly not perfect — if one takes a really close look, there are small blemishes and imperfections here and there, but it is now good enough for me to be happy with it.
Aboyt the plane, yes it is indeed very sharp, although that is not yet thanks to anything done by me. So far I have been lucky enough not to have to attempt to sharpen it, as it has kept the edge with which it came very nicely indeed! When the time comes, though, that this is no longer the case, I shall have to look into the matter. One option will then be to hand it in to a very good edged instruments shop I frequent that has its own, in-house sharpening service — they did a very nice job recently on my woodturning tools …
Mattias
Ian Gardner
@iangardner62867@banjomanHello Ian,
Warmest thanks for your kind words — and no worries; I know exactly what you mean!
Mattias
@banjomanAaand … we're underway!
This afternoon, I mixed myself a nice, strong grog of Eskader sanding sealer, thinned to 50% (by weight) with acetone …
… which was subsequently applied to Moonbeam's deck. Tomorrow, I will lightly rub this coat down with some fine-grade wire wool, and then apply a second coat of the same strength.
To be continued …
Mattias
@banjomanThis evening, after edging the deck with some masking tape, I turned the hull over, and gave the overhanging waterway planks a couple of generous coats of undiluted sanding sealer on the underside and on the edge.
This overhang shall of course be trimmed away at a later stage, but before that happens I will have gone over the hull with wet paper several times, so I thought it might be prudent to give the wood that will be most exposed to run-off some protection.
Once this was touch dry, I turned her back the right way up again, went over the deck with some 0 and 000 wire wool, cleaned away all dust from that and then put on a second coat of sanding sealer, this time diluted by a third.
When this is fully dry tomorrow, it will be time to mask of the deck for the time being, and to get on with preparing the hull for painting.
To be continued …
Mattias
Edited By Banjoman on 20/09/2016 21:34:14
@banjomanOver the last few days, I've tried to put some finishing touches to the hull. This has included goi8ng around the underside of the deck planking overhang, and filling in any remaining small gaps wirth Milliput.
At the bows in particular I added a wee bit more Milliput, to provide a slight surplus of material for when I trim back the deck planking, in order to be able to sand back to a nice sweep of line.
This done, the deck was masked off …
… and the underside gone over with some standard Polyfille filler under an oblique light, to fill in the deeper of the pits left over from the moulding process.
This was then sanded back with some 1500 grit wet paper, after which the whole hull was carefully cleaned with water, dried off and finally degreased wih methylated spirits.
Today was a perfect occasion for the next step: a day off and spent at home, with nice, sunny and dry weather (temperature around 20° C and realtive humidity around 40%).
I thus parked the car out in the street, and set up shop in the garage, which is well ventilated with the door left open but at the same time out of the sun and the wind, and proceeded to apply the U-Pol High#5 spray filler.
Having learnt from my previous testing, I was very careful not to go to fast, and put on a total of five thin coats over as many hours, thus giving each coat a full hour to dry before the next one …
… until I had a hull with the makings of a very nice surface indeed for painting.
Given that rattle cans and I are not, have never been nor will most likely ever be friends, the result includes a few imperfections and misses, but I am reasonably convinced that there's nothing there that wet sanding won't deal with.
Anyway, inbetween spraying sessions, I got out a rotating cheese plater that I recently picked up at IKEA for a fiver …
… covered it in newsprint and added a cushion of styrofoam and soft foam …
… to provide a rotating platform …
… on which the upside down hull can be rested for the upcoming paint work.
Before I start to paint, though, the spray filler will be left to set fully, after which I shall trim back the deck plank edges and go over the complete hull surface with 1500 and 2500 grit wet paper.
To be continued …
Mattias
Edited By Banjoman on 24/09/2016 19:20:50
@bobabell2@banjomanThat's allright, Bob – I dare say you've been through a few more eggs in your day than have I …
In any case, as showed one of the photos in my previous post, I had indeed very carefully masked off the whole deck, including double-masking the edges from both above and below, to protect against any paint creeping in by capillary action while at the same time allowing the paint to reach the underside of the deck overhang where it actually joins the hull. I haven't yet inspected the deck in any detail, but from what I saw when I removed the masking material, the result should be just fine, i.e. completely paint free.
I shall of course have to re-mask the deck again before painting, but will then use thin (probably 2 mm wide) washi tape all along the sanded-back edge of the planking, and then sealing the masking tape line with a thin film of clear varnish before I start airbrushing on the primer and top coat paints.
Mattias
@banjomanToday I found some time again for building, and thus got out my luthier's plane …
… and a scalpel (for those bits around the shroud plates that I couldn't get at with the plane) and planed down all the deck planking excess …
… finishing by going around the top of the hull and the planking edges with some 600 grit dry paper; next up I shall turn her over again, and go over the whole hull with wet paper.
To be continued …
Mattias
Edited By Banjoman on 27/09/2016 17:56:10
@banjomanOver the past seven days, I hadn't had a single minute to spare for the build until yesterday evening finally found me back down in the workshop again, where I got out some 1500 and 2500 grit wet paper and proceeded to smooth down the spray filler …
…until a decent surface had been achieved. It does of course remain to see what it looks like when painted, and worst case I may have to go over some bits again, although I hope not.
Anyway, once the hull had been thoroughly wiped down, I began masking off the deck. For starters, I went around the entire outer edge with some 2 mm washi tape …
… to cover the 1 mm thick edges and fold over onto the deck by a further mm. On the deck surface, this could then be overlapped with 3 mm washi tape followed by 6m and 18 mm Tamiya …
…after which the center of the deck was covered with paper, cut out from some photo copies I'd had made of the plywood overlay at an earlier stage of the build.
All the tape edges where then well pressed down, and sealed with a thin coat of clear varnish.
Tonight and over the weekend, I hope to get on with the primer paint followed by the gloss white around the hull at waterline level, so that I can then leave it to dry thoroughly until next weekend — with the acrylic paints I use, I don't like putting any weight or other force on to a painted surface before it has had at least three days to dry.
To be continued …
Mattias
@bobabell2@banjoman@banjomanI realised today that when masking off yesterday, I'd forgotten that when painting the hull, I shall want to be able to wiggle the rudder from time to other to make sure that I don't get any paint sticking in the joints. I'm not overly worried about this, as one of the characteristics of an airbrush is its sensistivity to spray shadows – or in other words that it cannot paint around corners.
Still, just to be on the safe side, I patched in some additional wiring and an external on/off switch …
… so that, even with the hull upside down, and the deck masked off, I can turn on the r/c and, well, wiggle the woggle.
Then it was time to get on with the paintwork! First up will be ten or so coats of white primer. As the below photo of the first coat shows, the build-up is fairly slow …
… which of course is a drawback of the airbrush compared to rattle-cans. However, and as previously mentioned, those cans and I never see eye to eye, and I much prefer to go slowly and have good control.
Also, once one gets going, the paint starts to build up fairly well; here the hull has just had it's third coat applied. And an advantage of waterbased acrylics is that they are surface dry and ready for a new coat quite quickly – a pass every 20 to 30 minutes is no problem whatsoever, although the airbrush needs to be disassembled and thoroughly cleaned after three coats, tops, or ideally even after two, to stop build-up of paint in the nozzle area.
Once the colour starts to become uniform, one also begins to spot remaining surface issues, and I've already noted a couple of places that will need some additional filler applied …
To be continued
Mattias
Edited By Banjoman on 07/10/2016 22:16:47
@banjomanOnce enough primer had gone on, I noticed that the bows still needed some minor work – a small area of pin holing had to be dealt with, and there was a need for a small amount of filler along the port edge.
I thus set about sanding down the paint again, and then added some very small amounts of Milliput, well smoothed down with with a wet finger …
… and then, once that had set and been sanded again, continued to apply primer paint in thin coats …
… until, after seven or eight (I lost count somewhere along the line), I deemed the result sufficient. The hull is not quite evenly white, but near enough not to cause any problems for the top coats, and this should thus do quite nicely as a base coat.
This I will now leve until tomorrow evening to dry, at which point I will lightly smooth it down before applying two or three coats of gloss white paint around the waterline area.
To be continued …
Mattias
Edited By Banjoman on 09/10/2016 10:59:02
@bobabell2
Banjoman
Bob Abell 2
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