Scratch Build Log of a 1/38 scale POB R/C Bunker Boat

I found some photos online of completed Helen Euphane models. The first one is a scratch built from these same plans. The following 3 are 1/24 scale models from kits. The photos are poor quality but they give some idea, especially of the purse boats hanging from their davits.

More work on the superstructure while waiting for the planking to arrive. The 4X5 fish hatch is built over 1/8" plywood on a frame of 1/2 X 3/16 pine. The planking is from a 2X5mm sycamore sample sent to me from HobbyMill. The simulated caulking is done by running a #2 pencil along the edges of the plank before laying it. The color is imparted by a coat of sanding sealer (toxic stuff, use outdoors only!).

Here's the fish hatch installed. It's removable for access to the R/C gear.

The crow's nest.

The Helen, as typical of such boats, carried two 32' purse boats on davits at the stern. These were used to set the seine, draw the purse closed, and assist in hauling the catch. I made them bread & butter style from 1/2 and 1/4" poplar sheet, and decked them with the sycamore planking.

The rowboat is callecd the striker. Think foreman of the operation. It stows on the fish hatch when underway.

 Here's the frame for the wheelhouse. The posts are 1/4" square spruce. The roof and deck are from an 1/8" mahogany plywood door skin. I bought an approx 30"X6'9" piece of this for about $7 and I'll have enough for another 5 or 6 models out of it. It's really junk wood but the price is right. 

Another view. The paper garbage is the residue of the template cut from the plan 

The forward deckhouse with wheellhouse above dry fitted to the deck. The skins were a bit of a challenge. The radius of that bend around the wheelhouse is 1.5". I used 2 layers of 1/32" plywood, placed with the surface ply vertical. I think the wood is birch.

Thanks Jim. Not at all unusual for me. All I do anymore is late 19th - early 20th working boats, maybe static, maybe R/C, always in wood.

Nice work on an unusual subject. Keep us posted on the build and keep the pics coming.

Jim

A bit of a tortional warp in the (mostly) completed frame. I wet down the whole enchilada and twisted it with weighted clamps. Overnight did the trick.

Some of the superstructure dry fitted. Now the deck sheer is obvious. The block forming the stern is balsa. It will serve to help the planking form some serious compound bends in that area.

Now you can see that the stringers are attached to the upside down building board and scribed to define the position of the bulkheads so as to define the sheer of the deck when it's laid.

 And here's the frame right side up. Curiously, the plans didn't provide for the blocking between bulkheads. I added them because of the incredible weakness without them. I can't imagine how this would have held together with balsa construction.

The cradle is built, the keel is laid, and the bulkheads are laid out for the scroll saw.

It's hard to see from this angle but the stringer laying on the building board is scribed in profile to establish the deck sheer. If that's as clear as mud, see my next post.