Le Coureur 1776 CAF Model by OT1138

ot1138 said:
Hi everyone,

I received my CAF model recently and like others, was missing E1/E2. Seeing as I had to wait for these to arrive as well as the Ancre monograph, I thought I would start with the smaller boat, some barrels and creates from the associated kits. At the very least, I hoped to get a little bit of familiarity with the CAF pieces.

First impressions - the frames for the boat are very fragile! #2 broke in half while sanding. I thought that the jig would help to reposition this properly but it ended up going down too low on the keel. No way to tell this while it's in the jig.

View attachment 184580

The tolerances are very tight. While trying to pop the completed frame out of the jig, two of the frames broke. Lesson for other builders - use some snips and carefully cut the jig away in pieces.

View attachment 184581

Another problem is that the instructions are really quite minimal. There's no indication of where to play the top plank on the frames. I didn't have the Ancre monograph either at this point so I just guessed. I got lucky and it ended up pretty close, but I ended up with a small (.5mm) gap between the keel and the garboard strake.

Another tip - I would gently sand the char off the frames prior to assembly. It's just too difficult once things have been glued in place.

View attachment 184582

The planks come pre-splined, which is pretty awesome. However... there are microdots on the edges which are nearly impossible to sand down due to the fragility of the planks. This wasn't evident to me until I had gotten a few done. I did my best but ended up with these tiny dots which could be seen when the boat is held up in front of a light.

Nevertheless, I was really pleased with the fact that there were almost no clinkers or gaps on the planks. Well done.

View attachment 184583

You can actually see some of the microdots between the planks on the lower right of the photo above. You can also see that I didn't sand the chaf off on the inside of the frames... wish I had done that now. You guys will at least know better. It didn't look too bad though and perhaps it will even look desirable at the end.
Click to expand...
Hallo @ot1138 - Today is your 50th!!!!
we wish you all the BEST and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Enjoy your special Day
Birthday-Cake

Are you working on the Coureur? Maybe you could show us some update .....
 
ot1138 said:
Es schmerzt mich zu sehen, welche wundervolle Arbeit ihr im Vergleich zu meiner leistet (ganz zu schweigen von den Fotos in verschiedenen Büchern). Aber wenn ich mir das heute morgen noch einmal anschaue, freue ich mich sehr:)
Click to expand...
hallo ot1138 Ich finde deine Arbeit toll, Hut ab. Ich bin gespannt, wie es mir ergehen wird, denn es ist wie mein zweites Model bei euch.
 
Hey, thanks everyone!

I've taken a bit of a break as it is driving season. However, I just moved my workshop to a much bigger space so will be getting back to this once the weather cools off a bit. Looking forward to finishing the interior in the next couple of months.
 
ot1138 said:
Hi everyone,

I received my CAF model recently and like others, was missing E1/E2. Seeing as I had to wait for these to arrive as well as the Ancre monograph, I thought I would start with the smaller boat, some barrels and creates from the associated kits. At the very least, I hoped to get a little bit of familiarity with the CAF pieces.

First impressions - the frames for the boat are very fragile! #2 broke in half while sanding. I thought that the jig would help to reposition this properly but it ended up going down too low on the keel. No way to tell this while it's in the jig.


The tolerances are very tight. While trying to pop the completed frame out of the jig, two of the frames broke. Lesson for other builders - use some snips and carefully cut the jig away in pieces
Another problem is that the instructions are really quite minimal. There's no indication of where to play the top plank on the frames. I didn't have the Ancre monograph either at this point so I just guessed. I got lucky and it ended up pretty close, but I ended up with a small (.5mm) gap between the keel and the garboard strake.
Another tip - I would gently sand the char off the frames prior to assembly. It's just too difficult once things have been glued in place
The planks come pre-splined, which is pretty awesome. However... there are microdots on the edges which are nearly impossible to sand down due to the fragility of the planks. This wasn't evident to me until I had gotten a few done. I did my best but ended up with these tiny dots which could be seen when the boat is held up in front of a light.

Nevertheless, I was really pleased with the fact that there were almost no clinkers or gaps on the planks. Well done.

You can actually see some of the microdots between the planks on the lower right of the photo above. You can also see that I didn't sand the chaf off on the inside of the frames... wish I had done that now. You guys will at least know better. It didn't look too bad though and perhaps it will even look desirable at the end.
Click to expand...
Hallo @ot1138
we wish you all the BEST and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Birthday-Cake
 
Funny how time gets away from you! I spent the rest of the summer rebuilding the garage and then the next two years restoring a couple of vintage cars. Then Covid was over and I decided to unretire myself when an interesting work opportunity came along.

I was dusting off le Coureur the other day and thought it might be nice to start working on it again. But where to begin...!
 
The great thing about the new workshop is that I have a dedicated space for a boat build. Plenty of power, lighting and storage for tools. Very nice to be so organized.

I took inventory of my parts - thankfully none of which were lost during the past 2 years. I figured for sure my kids would have gotten into them but they didn't. The only thing missing is vol 2 of the instructions. I'm ok for now due to Uwe's thread but if anyone has a digital copy they could share, I would great appreciate it.

I left off about halfway through the hull interior. Last night I glued together floor #7.

I'm curious - what do all of you use for cutting planks? The 1.5mm wood is a little tough for my X-Acto blade (one actually shattered yesterday). I'm thinking of perhaps investing in a small drill-powered turner and a small table saw to make short work of the many cuts ahead of me.
 
ot1138 said:
The only thing missing is vol 2 of the instructions. I'm ok for now due to Uwe's thread but if anyone has a digital copy they could share, I would great appreciate it.
Click to expand...
..... maybe @CAFmodel is able to send a digital copy to you?
 
I'm encountering my first challenge since restarting this build.

The starboard side of the aft-most wall (the one with the doors) is a few mm higher than the port side (which is flush with the rail where the crossbeams sit).

It would seem that the floor it sits on must be slightly tilted but I quite sure that the fore crossbeam that it sits on is perfectly level. Furthermore, the aft wall of the ammo compartment also fits almost perfectly (no shaping was needed).

So the question is, how can I adjust the angle of the floor to bring the starboard side down a tad?

aft wall.jpg
 
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