Last night was spent avoiding the State of the Union address by instead working on the latest, and hopefully final, version of the Sun Wind II laser cut frames. Unless something obvious comes up, this is the file that I will shortly use to make the complete Sun Wind II boat from. It's nine sheets. I know that someone out there could have puzzled this together better to make it fewer sheets, but whatever... Six sheets are 1/8" plywood, and three are 1/16" plywood. There is a tenth sheet that can optionally be cut from 1/32" ply. The only part on it is a spacer for the rudder, but alternatively you could also just grind the edges off of the 1/8" rudder post to get it down to the 7/64" thickness of the actual rudder inner piece. Either way you run the risk of being slightly off-center with the post, but the amount should be so little as to be inconsequential. More later when the laser cutting starts... hopefully next week! Peace!

The planking was finished this morning, and by this afternoon I was able to sand it and add some 1.4 oz. fiberglass. This is a mock-up, half-built hull to check for fit and fairness. I purposely didn't fiberglass the entire half hull so that it could serve as a demonstration for my school. Should be fun to look at! Will trim the excess glass this evening, and then tomorrow will cut it off of the base and take it to school. Tomorrow I will attempt to turn some wood that I glued up on a lathe. Hoping to make a male mold for the lead bulb. Not sure how that will go as I'm crappy at turning. Fingers crossed! Peace! Thanks for visiting RC Model Yachts. This site focuses on the art of building radio control wooden sailboats. See the links to my other wood radio controlled sailboat pages for more resources, model yacht groups, rules, suppliers, and more.

While waiting for epoxy to cure on my Sun Wind II mock-up hull, I've finally been working on making a 3D model of the 1949 Rip Tide. I started with some curves that were drawn in AutoCAD by a gentleman named Roger. For now, I'm simply calling it the Rip Tide II. After a false-start a few months ago, I now have a nice 3D model that is almost ready to create some laser cut frames. Here's an update... First, these are the lines that Roger made based on the original lines. I've seen the original lines that are going around the internet, and they are pretty crude. So Roger did a great job! Then, from Roger's 2D CAD drawing, I have made a 3D model so that I could test the fit of all the parts and frames. I've also made changes to the design to make the Rip Tide a "High Flyer" RC sailboat. So I dropped the draft to 16" and added a spade rudder. Here is what it now looks like... I also built a building base for the frames to help with a...

Well I just hit the R/C Sailboat jackpot! Rod Carr, of Carr Sails in Redmond, WA, and the second ever member of the AMYA, just gifted me a Marblehead "Rip Tide" hull and many of the parts and templates to finish it! Thank you Rod! I'm not sure when I'll be able to work on this, but hopefully it will turn into a fantastic vintage Marblehead. The gentleman who started it did a fantastic job. He was a true artist and I will do my best to get as close as I can to his workmanship but it will be a challenge. Here are some pictures... He even cast his own bulb and the mold came with the hull! I could probably start making my own fleet of Rip Tides as he also gave me many of the templates and such. I will only need to pin and epoxy the bulb to the fin and fair it smooth. It will be easy to do. The frames look and feel like he hand cut them on a scroll saw, but they are very close to perfect. He used thicker plywood than I may have but they are very sturdy. The ...