MISSING KEEL SLOT

PICTURES 33 & 34

Looking at the cut sheet supplied with the kit it shows (pic 33 arrowed) that there should be a slot that will accept one of the deck support beams.

This should look similar to one on the bow section that we can see in Pic 34.

PICTURES 35 & 36

Looking at the keel (pic 35 arrowed) we can see that the slot that should be in place is missing. All we have is a slot for the frame to slip into (Pic 36).

Now this took some time to work out because while there are pictures to follow in the pictorial guide this area is not well shown and is way to small to work out just how that deck beam support fits.

So again, it’s a case of looking at the plans, looking at the cut sheet and trying to piece together the “jigsaw” of info.

PICTURES 37, 38 & 39

Fairly easy to resolve using the measurements of the slot already in place at the bow we transfer those markings to this missing slot area (pic 37).

Using a very fine saw blade, we very carefully cut out the marked slot (pic 38).

With the frame back in place (pic 39) we can see the slot we have just mead that will hold one of the deck support beams.

PICTURE 40

And “dear oh dear” these are the 5 deck support beams that come pre-cut with the kit.

Lining them up side by side I think you can make up your own mind as to just how useful these will be.

The idea is that they should be curved so that when the deck is in place it has a slight camber.

Now at this stage I have 2 options:
a. Use these deck beams curved side down so that the deck sits on a level flat surface.
b. Try and remake all 5 parts so that they are all even and the deck sits correctly on the camber.

Not at that stage yet so time for a break and a home-made Pizza I think 😊

All looking good Tony, you're attention to detail will pay huge dividends much later in the build.... .. Look forward to your next update.....

Regards

Alan

Tony, looking forward to seeing this build rolling on as it was one off my first plastic builds to many years ago.

Regards

Trev

THE MAYFLOWER – 01st MARCH 2020

CONTINUED - GLUING THE FRAMES INTO THE KEEL

PICTURE 14

Picking up from were we left off last time, we continue to glue the remaining frames into the keel.

Remembering to ensure the piece are glued in square and true on both their left/right and front/back axis.

PICTURE 15

In theory we should continue gluing the frames to the keel in numbered order. However, looking at what we have to work with, if the Left-hand frame in pic 15 is glued in first it will make it more difficult to clamp up the remaining frame 12.

PICTURES 16, 17 & 18

So, I decided to glue frame 12 in prior to frame 11.

Here you can see this frame has to be glued in at an angle, flush with the rear of the keel as arrowed in Pic 17.

The use of Lego blocks allows us to easily created an angled clamping surface Pic 18.

PICTURES 19 & 20

Once frame 12 is dry we can glue in the final frame 11.

We have more room to work here in terms of being able to clamp the piece while it dries.

Its worth noting that this frame is also glued in at an angle.

MAKING BOW FILLER BLOCKS

PICTURES 21, 22 & 23

To support the planks at the bow the kit provides 2 pre-cut blocks that are to be glued as show on in picture 23.

Having looked at the parts they look more like “Charcoal Briquettes” rather than providing the required gluing surface.

I think if these were used as is and then faired at a later stage its highly likely a lot of that charred wood will just fall away.

PICTURES 24, 25, 26 & 27

Rather than use the kit supplied parts I decided to try and make my own from balsa wood.

I had a couple of blocks of rather hard balsa that was around a centimetre thick so I transferred the bow filler pattern onto this balsa sheet.

What is worth noting is the bow filler blocks should have a rear cut out that will allow one of the deck support beams to be glued in place but its missing on the supplied parts.

Picture 25 arrowed you can see how I have marked up that required cut out.

My intention is to completely fill the bow section with balsa so that the resulting planks have a better surface area to glue around.

Some time ago I was fortunate enough to pick up a Dremel Moto Saw (basically a fret saw) for a reasonable price (Picture 26).

Its one of those tools that rarely will get used but when there is a need for it, its invaluable.

Now I am certainly no fret saw expert so I am fairly pleased with the results I managed to achieve that you can see here in picture 27.

SHAPING THE BOW FILLER BLOCKS

PICTURES 31 & 32

We need to give ourselves some idea on just how much of these filler blocks we need to remove.

Taking Part 15 from the false deck pre-cut sheet we can use the part to draw around and give ourselves a “cut mark” to work to when shaping this area.

Its interesting to note that the board carrying the deck sections is die cut, and die cut poorly.

The parts are only around 50% cut through so you can just press these parts out but need to employ careful use of the craft knife to deepen the cut and eventually remove the part.

PICTURES 33 & 34

I mentioned earlier that the balsa used is quite hard and therefore to reduce some of the filing required I decided to chop of a few sections of excess balsa.

Another tool I rarely use (Picture 33) is this craft saw from Tamiya. Reminds me more of the “Surgeons Bone Saw” but that said it does a fair job of quickly removing material with little effort.

PICTURES 35, 36, 37 & 38

Here you can see my attempts at beginning to shape up the bow section.
I am using a couple of flat files to shape this are.

Picture 38 is were I am leaving things for today. Its around 98% finished but I will leave the remining shaping until I move onto the frame fairing stage.

Well that’s my week off from work over and done with – so “Looking forward” to going back tomorrow.

Probable not a lot of work will be done on this over the next week but I will endeavour to update my build again very soon.

Hi Tony,
Starting to take shape!!! Looking Good.
Kind regards,
Garth

THE MAYFLOWER – 19th APRIL 2020

Since my last update I have been spending time “slowly” fairing the frames ready to start the planking.

“Slowly” because you really only get one chance at getting this right. Too heavy handed on the filing you can remove too much wood and while you might be able to recover from that, its best to try and not get to that situation.

I have found the best tools for frame fairing are a couple of files from my Perma Grit set – a Large flat file and a hollow tube file which allows you to get into some of the tighter areas much easier.

Its not an easy task but I am more than happy with the results achieved on this kit.



PICTURE 1

The kit provides 5 ready cut deck support beams. These have the deck camber already made.

These parts are totally useless. As you can see from this picture when lined up the camber is totally uneven.

PICTURES 2 & 3

So, taking the only decent one I checked the size of each end to ensure they were even and decided to produce my own.

PICTURES 4 & 5

I had a sheet of ply in the correct thickness to the kit parts so traced around the one decent part 5 times with a view to cutting my own.

PICTURES 6 & 7

One of the “luxury” tools I purchased a while ago is this Dremel fret saw. Its something I hardly ever use (hence the “luxury” description) but when it is needed for these sorts of repetitive tasks its ideal.

I have not had a great deal of practice using this but the end result was 5 nicely symmetrical deck support beams.

PICTURES 15, 16 & 17

The kit provides gun barrel support beams should the builder decide to have the gun ports portrayed in the open position.

At this stage I am not planning to do so on my build but who knows if that may change as the build progresses.

The supplied pieces of ply are on the short side so again I have taken a couple of ply strips from the sheet I have and made my own.
These are then painted black.

FOREMAST SUPPORT BLOCK CORRECTION

PICTURES 21, 22, 23 & 24

The instructions would have you glue parts 20 so they sit against the 2nd frame (pic 21).

I never picked up on the fact the mast and bowsprit holes have to be drilled out and having these support blocks in the position they are will make drill the bowsprit hole that little more difficult as you would be drilling into the 4mm keel with an 8mm drill bit.

Easiest fix here is to take some spare plank offcuts and glue these between frame 1 and the support blocks.

As can be seen in Pic 24 you then have a solid “block” into which to drill the bowsprit hole.