Made the bilge keels from two laminations of mahogany sheet to get the correct thickness and then glued them in place. Once this was done I was able to return to the superstructure. Drilled the holes for the portholes and then glued the cabin sides in position.

Made the forward cabin front window and glued in followed by that for the rear cabin. Bolted and screwed the upper support for the drop keel whilst I still had easy access.

Really starting to take shape now but still a long way to go!

Chris

The roof for the forward cabin has been made from bass strip. It is removable and will remain so but it will fixed in place by virtue of the mast being mounted on it. Next job will be fitting the sub-mast that runs between the keel and the underside of the roof.

Not much progress of late for various reasons. Decided not to fit the sub-mast yet as I wanted to progress the superstructure. First job was to measure up for the rear wall of the cabin and knock up a quick drawing. This was then transferred to ply, cut out and glued in place. Ready to form the roof then but hadn't got enough bass strips so placed an order with SLEC including other timber and ply to replenish stocks for future projects.

Whilst waiting for that I made a cardboard template for the cockpit floor to make a ply template that will be used to cut the floor out of laser etched planking ply.

Package from SLEC duly arrived and I've formed the roof for the rear cabin ready for sanding.

Bit of work to the cockpit area. Introduced some mahogany, that will be varnished, to form the "wings" to the rear of the cabin that enclose the wheel and console area.

A template was then made for the floor and then transferred to some laser etched planking ply I'd got left from previous builds, which was cut out and sanded to provide a good fit. This will be left loose for future access and routing the rudder servo cables through. With the floor in place I made the housing for the engine.

Then a start was made on the rudder. Like the full-size boat this has a mahogany blade which I'm laminating with thin ply on each side. I've increased the depth of the rudder as is common practice with sailing models, though I've always got the motor to give a helping hand!

The servo for the rudder arrived this morning. What a great little thing it is being only 10mm thick and 30mm wide and has the benefit of the mounting holes being vertical which will facilitate mounting. Fitting will require some surgery to the stern but I'm confident I can make this work. I will probably have to form some small boxing over the seating area to cover the swing of the servo arm but I can live with that.

I also need to make or buy/modify the rudder hinges so that I can mount the rudder to work out exactly where the servo needs to sit.

Once I'm able to I will get on with this and progressing work to the superstructure.

Before I go much further I need to paint the hull (which I was procrastinating on!) so I've switched to fitting the deck so that I can then fit the rubbing strips and paint the hull - I need to do this now as unlike most of my other Faireys which have removeable superstructures this one is fixed so it will be difficult to work on the model upside down and will risk damage.

So first job was to form the camber on the bow which I did with a triangular bass strip along the centre-line to give the height and angle and glued balsa sheet either side which was then sanded to shape. 2mm ply was then glued in place and sanded at the edges. Next I added in some additional ply pieces to support the joints and cardboard templates were made for the side decks which were transferred to ply with an allowance for sanding and again glued in place and sanded. The stern was a bit more complicated because of its shape but followed the same procedure. I hand sanded the decking around the outside of the hull which is always hard work on ply edges and so for the inside of the cockpit area I used my multi-tool with a grinding wheel to take most of it away and then finished off with curved and round files.

Just a little bit more progress. Few low timber strips to the main cabin roof so filled those with wood filler and sanded smooth. Fitted the mahogany rubbing strips and gave the hull a good sanding and took the sharp edges off the keel. had some minor gaps where the bilge keels meet the hull so these were filled with P38 and sanded smooth. Few more coats of Eze-Kote and a final sand and it will be ready for some paint.

Before that though I'm going to have a look at making the fittings to mount the rudder and then the servo can be mounted.

The rudder has been hung and once I have made a brass horn to fix to the rudder I can start on the servo mounting and linkage.

Well that was fiddly and couldn't be rushed! Time was first spent looking at my various options for the linkage given it's short length and awkwardness due to a relative lack of space and after trying a couple of options ended up with something I was happy with and was easy to fit and remove if necessary. The collar on the rudder horn is a bit chunky, but will do the job for now whilst setting up and later I will look at putting a thread on the short plain rod and using a domed brass nut which will look neater.

As regards the servo initial thoughts were to mount it closer to the stern but this proved to be difficult as balsa would have to be removed both for mounting and providing sufficient room for the servo arm. I couldn't get any suitable power tools in and it would be difficult to accurately remove it by hand so I decided to stand it off a bit. To this end a mounting plate was made from thin ply and bass strip and the servo screwed to it. Bass bearers were then glued to the back and sanded to an angle to ensure good contact with the curved balsa forming the stern. The servo and mount was then held in place by hand, ensuring correct positioning and alignment of the linkage and then odourless cyano was used to glue the bearers in place. The rudder horn will then be bolted in place and the servo piggybacked from another model to check its operation.

This morning I bolted the rudder horn in place. I'd got some M1.6 hex brass bolts and they were perfect when fitted with washers and domed nuts. I've said it before but how do they make lovely things like this so small!

I also found a smaller brass collar, though the bore is oversize, that looks better than the other one.

Once I've checked the operation and that the hole through the hull is large enough I shall make a mahogany piece to tidy it up.