I weighed the Vickers V8 IOM this morning after the urethane was dry, and the hull weighs 733. Excel tells me that I'm on track for about 125 grams of corrector weights. Not too bad if I say so myself. Just hope I haven't forgotten to include anything! :p Will sand it tomorrow (if I can wait that long) and see how it looks. I've got some orange peel and a few drips. But I won't be afraid to spray on two more rounds (each round = 3-4 coats sprayed on in a session with 20 minutes between coats, then letting it cure for 48 hours) given that yesterday's coats only weighed 20 grams. That's lighter than varnish! UPDATE after the second round of clear-coating: After sanding the coats from the first round, and doing some weighing, I'm approximating that each round of clear-coating, after sanding, will weigh around 15-17 grams. The hull weighed 730 after wet-sanding the first round. It currently weighs 749 after applying the second round but before sanding. I...

I waited 48 hours after my second coat of Klass Kote clear 2-part urethane , and then tonight wet sanded starting with 1000 grit and worked up through 2000 grit, and polished the hull with three different grades of compounds and polishes using my Porter Cable 7424 polisher. It turned out really well. It'll look even better with a coat of wax on the topsides. It still doesn't have the depth of shine that I'd like, but it's really close. I might even do the old scale modelers trick of spraying some Future floor polish on the topsides. It would really shine it up.  I still can see a few pits and dips, but whatever... it's a hobby not a profession. I'm getting better but am a ways away from the guys who can get those deep, deep shines. Maybe someday. To totally eliminate the small pits and remaining orange peel, I'd have to sand much more aggressively, and then risk cutting through the clear coat. Someday I'll try harder, but when I...

Today I wet sanded with 800 grit and then sprayed on a second round of 2-part clear urethane. It looks better regarding the underlying scratches, but I'm still getting some orange peel. I'll see how it looks when dry and then decide if I'll wet sand and polish the whole hull or just leave it as is. Aloha!

I've decided to forego any and all varnish for the Corbie 5 IOM sailboat. It would weigh too much and take too much time. Instead I'm spraying Klass Kote Clear Urethane . It'll give a nice shine, good depth, and it has UV blockers. I've only used this product once before and didn't get great results. This time I have a much better gun and so far it's clearly (pun intended) better. Still, it's not perfect. I'll let it dry overnight and then sand it with some 800 in spots and 1500 overall, and then give it another round of coats. The pictures look good, but in person you can see at least two runs and maybe a sag. There are also some spots that just aren't that glossy. I think I had my gun at too high of a pressure (50psi) and I'll lower it to 35 psi tomorrow. Should be better. Overall it's much better with this new gun, but it's still tricky to get a really nice coverage. Ugh! But to be fair, it's already looking be...

The clear Klass Kote two-part urethane was sanded and polished today. Looks pretty good! Bought myself a new tool... the Porter Cable 7424XP 6-Inch Variable-Speed Polisher ! It worked much better than my cordless drill that I had been using. Here are some more pictures: You can see a bit of the deck in this one. That's the next step... finishing the deck and hatches. Then it's time for the rigging. You can see the small brass rudder keeper that I made. Below is a section from my Vintage Marblehead Construction Manual on finishing: How to get that perfectly smooth, gloss finish : So how do those guys get that perfect, glossy finish? 1.        First, they sand the paint . Just about any gloss paint will create some orange peel. To get a glass-smooth finish you will need to sand it down a bit. Start with very gentle pressure using a sanding block with 800 grit and WET sand it. This should just flatten the orange peel at least enough ...