Hi all,
After a summer break following the construction of the Benjamin W. Latham, I am now embarking on a somewhat crazy project: The complete scratch construction of a 1929 American yacht, the Olympus.
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Why the Olympus you ask me?
First of all because I wanted to build something other than old rigs without it being a too recent boat. Then for a question of size and scale. To be able to produce details I wanted to opt for 1:33 but without the result being too large (less than a meter, for dark reasons of family cohesion)
Finally, because I simply like this yacht.
First obstacle and not the least, there is no plan of this boat. His former captain has started a profile and top shot but there is no shot of the couples.
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This yacht has long belonged to an owner from Seattle and was recently sold to a New York shipowner who offers private cruises. The name has not changed, only its home port is now New York.
Note that this yacht was initially called the Junaluska. Junaluska is now the name of the Olympus Annex.
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There is a fairly extensive iconography of this yacht on Facebook in particular and a 1:12 model has already been produced by Fred Heim (but it measures more than 2 meters long).
But enough of the chatter, it’s time to start producing.
I struggled to model the hull and I got help from a Cinéma4D expert (thanks Alexis!). Here is the modeling carried out based on the plan above and various photos of the yacht in care:
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From this model we quickly obtain the structure of the couples using the “Slicer for Fusion360” software:
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Then simply export to PDF format and everything is almost ready for laser cutting:
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Laser cutting on TROTEC SP500:
Once the couples have been cut out, all that remains is to assemble them on a basic site. I found in my box of gadgets some small Venetian blind brackets which are perfect for holding the frames at 90° while the glue dries:
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Here are some photos of the start of the planking. I use 6x2mm mahogany sticks (more precisely sapele). It's quite stiff as sticks and for the curves I use the bending pliers.
Where necessary I created balsa apostles:
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The bow is made up of vertical sticks:
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The stern of the Olympus is quite special, that’s what gives it its charm
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At the same time I tackled the windlass. Here is the actual windlass:
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I modeled this windlass from the few photos I have
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And I printed the parts in 3D (PLA on Prusa printer):
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All that remains is to assemble and paint them. I haven't found any other solution to make this windlass. The base plate measures 2x3cm.
That's all for today.
Best regards
Fred