Here are some images for various ways that you can use rubber bands to clamp down the planking when making a model wood RC sailboat like my Vintage Marblehead (VM) "High Flyer" Sun Wind II. Start with a fairly wide strongback. Mine is 8" wide 3/4" MDF. Then drive tacks or even small finishing nails, into the outside edge of the MDF in line with each frame. MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE LINED UP WITH THE FRAMES! If you do this in-between the frames, you will warp the planks. Then get yourself a couple bags of various sizes of rubber bands. To clamp down a plank, just be creative! There are many ways you can use rubber bands to exert pressure on the planks. Here are a few examples: The Sun Wind II is coming along. It'll be a while though before the planking job is finished. Phew... Aloha!

Only one job to be done tonight, and that is to install the inner sheer rails. I couldn't also install the stringers because the rubber bands that are clamping the inner sheer rails need to use the stringer notches. The sheer rails are composed of two laminated strips on both sides of the hull where the hull meets the deck. The frames have notches for both the inner and outer sheer rails. The idea is that you epoxy on the inner sheer rail to the notches on the frames one day and let it cure. Then the next day you run epoxy down the entire length of the inner sheer rail and then laminate on the outer sheer rail. It's the lamination of the two rails that adds so much strength to the hull. The lamination also permanently holds the two rails together in the proper curve. Later on during planking, you will actually add, essentially, a third sheer rail when you laminate on the first plank. In this first picture, you can see the inner sheer rails on Frame 0. They are held toge...

Got the keel braces epoxied in. They butt up against the fin to transfer the load of the fin onto the frames and hull planking. The entire 10 lbs. of the fin bulb will put a lot of leverage on the top of the fin, which only extends into the hull less than 2". What the braces do is to lock the top of the fin at the edges of the slots so that the top of the fin is completely anchored to the frames. There is little chance of the top of the fin now breaking from the frames. I'm hoping that the three doubled frames with additional keel braces is enough to transfer that load. In the bilge, frame 5 is now 1/2" thick! And frames 4, 4.5, and 6 are all 3/8" thick. At this point, I'm actually quite confident that this arrangement will work. It also leaves the interior wide open, except for the mast support column, for the servo tray and lines. The keel braces added about 2 oz. but I feel that they are worth it. Now off to shape and fiberglass the rudder. P...