Having drooled over all of your wonderful paddle-pics since joining
this illustrious group, I'm obliged to post signs of progress on my
1:32 Reliant as promised!
A couple of shots have been loaded to:
Photo Albums > Kiwi Paddler > PT Reliant
I haven't posted any construction in progress shots as this wld
simply recap Stuart Badger's great series on 'Old Trafford' - Reliant
as she was before moving to Seaham Harbour.
The two shots I've loaded shld be self explanatory. However a
brief 'state of the nation' follows.
Hull is POF - frames are 4 & 6mm Lite Ply, 2 layers of planks both
0.8mm birch ply, finished with aero-weight fibreglass cloth and
Epiglass 90 expoy resin. Majority of fairing is completed but final
finishing will include a skim coat of 2 pot auto body filler.
I had considered plating the hull using 0.4mm birch ply but didn't
fancy spending the next six months adding a zillion dots of white
glue for rivet heads. Next time around perhaps.
Sponsons are spruce and balsa frames screwed and glued to hull,
decked with obechi and completed with half round styrene strips for
outer edge belting. The sponson decks have cleating on them which
I've emulated using 0.8 x 1.5mm styrene strips.
Paddle boxes are two layers of 0.8mm birch ply which were laminated
together over a former. 5mm obechi planking, steps and paddle bands
provide a bit of detail to the finish.
Fixed float paddles are easily fitted and removed by drawing the
paddle shafts inboard - the drive train set-up shown in an earlier
picture makes this a piece of cake. (No, I don't have working paddles
yet as you know but did manage to simulate external dimensions with a
couple of balsa cut-outs - 60mm thick x 140mm dia.). I anticipate
that with feathering paddles I may need to spring the feathering gear
inwards a little.
Outboard deckhouses are 0.8mm birch ply with 3mm obechi cladding.
All of this has been sealed using Epiglass 90, thinned out with epoxy
thinners. Rub-down in progress.
Next steps:
- finish off hull detailing - hawse, wash ports, scuppers, support
rods under sponsons, false keel, some minor tidy-up work at bow, etc,
etc
- deck and bulwark detailing
- then on to completion of superstructure
As you might gather I'm a bit of a wood butcher from way back - which
might explain why my metal-working efforts shouldn't be graced with
the word 'skills' :-)
cheers for now
Tony
Auckland, NZ
Main Menu
UserBox
Search
