I will try to document the whole of this build and update these pages as often as I can.
Thank you fo looking, come back often and please feel free to e-mail me with your comments.

25/7/06
The plans are at 150th scale but I'll be building it at 100th scale so everything needs enlarging, this will be my first job.
This is the only photo I could find of her on the net, if you know of any more please let me know where I can find them.

  This is the plan as published in Marine Modelling magazine. It is two sheets joined together and gives a 150th scale length of 5 feet. I'm not going to enlarge the whole thing, just important section so I'll have to remember to add a half to any measurements I take from it.
  Before doing anything else I have to think of the problems involved in building a model which will be 7 1/2 feet long. This includes transportation, launching, ballast, etc. By making it in two halves I solve the transportation problem but that adds another headache, joining the two halves. What sort of stresses will there be on the joint during launching and sailing, how do I fix them together and keep the joints watertight. The easiest way to launch will be to put each half into the water seperately and then join them. I'm estimating she'll need about sixty pounds of ballast which will be best left out until she's on the water. I'm considering using water as ballast since it means I won't have to carry it around with me. First thought is to pump water directly into the hull but that creates all sorts of other problems. I've used plastic milk bottles filled with water to ballast a barge I've made for Egrete and I'm thinking this is a nice, easy and simple way of adding ballast. No matter which way I go, I'll have to decide before I start building the hull.  
4/8/06 The hull is to be made from plywood - 10mm ply keel, 10mm and 4mm ply ribs with a number of 'stringers' from ply or wood. On my other models I have used thin ply for the skin but I'm going to try using aluminium sheet this time. Due to the complex curves at bow and stern I think this material will be easier to use. Of course, it won't be as resistant to sharp edges as ply so I'll have to take care when launching etc. The picture at the right shows the plywood parts that make up the bulbous 'nose' under the waterline at the bow. These, like the block where the prop shaft comes out at the stern (below), have been cut roughly to shape, glued together then shaped with a course file and sandpaper. The rudder and its mounting post are also made from 10mm ply.
 
   
  
 

RIGHT - The first set of ribs which make up the stern section up to the front of the superstructure.
BELOW - Fitted but not glued to the keel.
These ribs have only been cut roughly to shape and need more work doing on them. The first three on the left need a hole drilling through for the prop shaft. The next two need a large hole cutting out to accomodate the motor. Since I still haven't decided how to ballast the model and may yet decide to just flood the hull, I will be cutting only absolutely necessary holes through the ribs.
 
 
  
17/11/06

Apart from being very busy for a while, I haven't been in the mood for modelling so not much has happened with the build. I've been doing a lot of thinking about this hull, how to build it, ballast it, etc (probably too much thinking and not enough doing). Anyway, I've got my head in gear now so work has started again.
Two things have been bothering me. One is the aluminium skin, it's very thin and I think will need a lot more support than plywood. The other is ballast, the only sensible way that I can see is to pump water into the hull once the model is on the water. If I am going to use water as ballast I will have to make many compartments within the hull to stop the model from becoming unstable. I have already planned to use a rib every two or three inches and I will fit bulkheads between each rib to make compartments and to help supprt the skin.
This is the stern section which will not be flooded but this shows the extra strips of ply which will support the skin in pretty much the same way as I intend to do throughoutt the hull.

 
 
  
1/1/07

Happy New Year - hopefully this will be a productive year for me.

Finally got all the ribs cut and shaped for the rest of stern half of the hull. After more cogitation on the subject of ballast I've scrapped the idea of flooding the hull. Since it would be almost impossible to dry it out after sailing this would mean everything within would need to be waterproof - not a task I fancy attempting. So now it's back to lead ballast. Since this is going to have to sit on the bottom to keep it as low as possible I've decided to use 1.5mm ply for the flat section on the bottom of the hull. Hopefully this will be strong enough to take the weight of all that ballast. These pictures show a dry-run to make everything lines up properly. After a little more shaping on the lateral strengtheners I'll be able to start gluing this lot together.

 
 
 
  
26/4/07
 Now that I'm in the right mood for building again I've made some progress. I've done a few 'dry runs' to get everything aligned and sitting pretty. Also drilled quite a few holes through the various ribs for cables, etc. Made up a mounting for the rudder servo and motor. I also spent quite some time working out the 'joint' between the two halves of the hull. I'm using some neoprene tubing as a gasket in the joint, six nuts and bolts will hold the two ections together.
 
 
  
30/4/07
 Nine months after I started this project I've got the frame for the rear section finished up to the point of skinning. I made an error with one of the ribs - I moved it back to give plenty of room for the motor but didn't change it's profile to match it's new position. I didn't even realise until I started gluing in the stringers which will help support the skin. In the photo below you will see a kink in the lower string where the profile aught to be a continuous gentle curve. Oh well, too late to do anything about it now! Next job will be seal all the timber and fit the motor and rudder servo. After that I'll make up the deck before putting on the skins - at least that's the current plan. I'm putting this section aside for now to start on the front half.
 
  
  
     

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