I've made loads of progress on the Corbie 5 since my last post. Most of it has gone well, but I've had a few not so good things happen too. I've finished the fin box and installed all the bulkhead work around it. It looks like a lot, but doesn't weigh toooo much. It should keep the fin in place though, and it includes a raked mast step slot, a rudder servo mounting plate, and a winch mounting plate. These two images show the deck just sitting on top. You can see how much access there is to the winch and rudder servos. Should be OK. This picture shows the shroud chain plates being epoxied in place. I'm a bit concerned that they won't be strong enough. I'm used to "locking" in the chain plates mechanically by slotting them into nearby frames. This seems to be the way it's done though. Gulp. I used a good amount of thickened epoxy, so fingers crossed they'll hold. When I installed the fin though, I noticed that it...

Tonight I only had to finish the aft rudder tube keel assembly, and then add Frame 0 to the forward keel piece. Easy jobs. In the picture below, you can barely see the hole for the rudder tube. The idea in this assembly is that the rudder tube fits in a gap created between "Keel piece #2" and "Keel piece #3". That gap is held open by two side pieces that are perfectly aligned by running 1/8" stock through the two alignment holes in back of the gap, and the three holes in front of the gap. In the picture below, you can see the stock protruding from the front alignment holes. Then frame 9 will slip into the slot you can see just in front of the assembly.  When planked, this rudder tube assembly will be extremely strong and yet relatively light. Much better than trying to carve a solid piece of wood and fit it to the bottom and then accurately drill a hole through it. Ugh... been there. This way, the hole is perfectly aligned, and perfectly straight. Tomorro...

It begins! Yesterday I cut all the parts for the new, improved Vintage Marblehead "High Flyer" division, wooden Sun Wind II RC sailboat. Then last night I began assembly, starting with the servo tray. I'm still not entirely happy with it, even though it's now version 5 or 6. At this point, I think it will be a constant evolution. I'm torn between a simple board that mounts all the things, versus a board that tries to hide the cables and such. It's a balance that I haven't achieved yet. Today I've started to laminate some of the doubled-up frames. Will continue tomorrow. Peace!

In the size of RC sailboats that I enjoy building (Star 45, my Salish 475, Vintage Marbleheads, maybe someday an East Coast 12 and others... all between 45"-60" LOA), it is tough to find rudder control arms that fit a 1/8" rudder post. It's virtually impossible. Recently I found a website that showed how they made their own. Today I tried it and it worked really well! I'm simply horrible at metal working, especially soldering, but after a few mistakes I finally got it to stick. Here are my first tries. When I finally get around to building the actual boat, I will make better ones. But this at least proves that even someone as solder-challenged as I am can do it! Click HERE to go to the website I found. They were working with 1/16" shafts, but the steps are the same for my 1/8" shafts. There is also a nice discussion on RC Groups about rudder control arms. This is another example for an RC hydroplane . Then I found someone else, and I can...