With the addition of the frames to the keel I now have the outline of a ship and I'm feeling super excited about that. I also added a few structural pieces at the fore and aft.
View attachment 178094
View attachment 178095
I did the best I could keeping everything square – though it was challenging working in three planes of space simultaneously. I found that using aliphatic resin cement (Titebond) was helpful. CA would have bonded the pieces together too quickly – getting everything aligned requires way more working time than CA would have allowed. For the record, I started with Gorilla brand wood glue, but it was too slow to take an initial set – for some reason the Titebond seemed tackier (?).
What adhesives should I use going forward for the different segments of the build (yes, I know that is a really elementary question…)? Waiting for glue to dry is no fun…but does CA actually bond wood well enough for the long haul?
View attachment 178096
First issue: notwithstanding the book stacking exercise the vertical members of frame 15 are twisted and bent (the plywood is warped – my puzzle making skills are not to blame in this case). Not sure what to do about that yet. Should I straighten it now or use the future support/structural pieces to take out the twist/bend? The ply is much thinner than I might have expected so it should be easy to force it back into shape. Then again, it seems just as likely to break... I guess I'll wait and straighten the frame with the structural pieces that are forthcoming.
As an aside, I traced out a few of the frames before gluing them to the false keel (why is it called
false?). By calculating the thickness of the future hull planking I am hoping to fabricate a dry dock/carriage to use later in the construction. Or at least that seems like a good idea...
I keep imagining what my bride will say when she sees the credit card statement. “
That model ship thing cost $1300? What would a finished one have cost? Me: “
Probably around $800.” Bride:
“What am I missing?” Me:
“Wait until you see what I spent on tools and supplies…”
Thanks for watching!