Planking my Vickers V8 IOM RC sailboat has started. It's going... okay... I guess. It just seems that I'm seeing a few more bows and wows than I had hoped for. Most of them ought to sand out fine when I fair the hull, but I just expected that because I'm using the original files as they were drawn that the planks would fit better. It could be that the V8 may have been drawn in 2D instead of 3D which might account for that, but I don't know. There is an obvious flat spot amidships that just looks a bit tooooo flat and not fair. We'll see how it sands out. Regardless, it's going okay. I am having to be creative with the planks from the sheer rail down to the hard chine at the transom. There is barely enough room at the transom for a few thin planks so I decided to try to place the chine rail on by sight. Fingers crossed that they will work. Here is a keel-plank centering jig that I made up. I made four. Each one perfectly fits into the limber holes of

At some point I would very much like to model a vintage America's Cup yacht. The one I've been most interested in lately in the 1964 winner Constellation. But this past week I was sent a 1/16 scale drawing of the 1934 Rainbow. It's a beautiful drawing! Full sized so it's very large. I have been working on making it into a 3D model, but as is true with most hand-drawing lines, none of the lines from one view match up with the lines from the other views. For example, I spent a lot of time tracing the "sections" view so I could make stations. But when I tried to match them up with the plan/deck view or the waterplanes view, none of the lines met. Some came close, but all had to be adjusted. Then, once they are matched to the deck and keel lines, it's obvious that the hull is not fair. I honestly doubt that the hull would be fair if you simply used the station lines as originally drawn either. Back when they made these boats, they put it on the actual bu

Finished laser cutting the Vickers V8 IOM frames today. They look great.   Next I need to source some nicely colored Western red cedar and let it acclimate inside for a week or three. Then to milling. At that point I can start planking, so don't hold your breath on this build! Cheers!

Taking some time away from my fantasy IOM design that I've been working on, I thought it would be good to actually start making something again instead of just working on the computer. Today I was finally able to find some time to start cutting the V8 frames today, although I only was able to cut two of the eight total sheets. As a reminder, Ian Vickers graciously allowed me to use his original CAD file to create a file for laser cut frames. This means that the frames are exactly (to about 1/10 mm accuracy due to the width of the laser beam and such) as Ian drew them originally. They are offset by 2mm to allow for planking and shaping. I finished the file over a month ago but haven't had time to get to the laser cutter at work. Here is what I was able to cut today... Will hopefully finish tomorrow or early next week so I can get them set up and start planking. More later as I find time. Aloha!

Still messing around with some concept wave-piercing bows for an IOM RC sailboat. Here is my latest version. The current working title is x6b for lack of a better name. Trying to get as much volume up forward as I can and still get whatever advantages a wave-piercing bow might offer. The forward area underwater, except for the very front, is pretty flat as you can see in the sections view. This version I think might have some legs, so I've started drawing up the frames for it. Might actually make this one! (Still might also make the Vickers V8... perhaps at the same time!) Aloha!