So the lower section of the hull has now been put together. As can be seen by the photos nice clean cuts means that the panels go together perfectly. I did not have to trim one edge for it all to match up. With the temporary build jig sitting on a nice flat floor I was able to start with the left and right larger side panels and work my way around the hull pinning and tacking with hot glue. Heavy blocks around the bottom of the panels kept them all in check. One thing I did do before the gluing was to check the 1831 dimension across the hull to make sure nothing had crept in size either way. When I was happy with it all I then went to town with the hot glue gun. We then tackled the epoxy filling of the joins. Getting the right gear together makes things easier. Accurate scales and a calculator make the mixing ratios of the epoxy and the microballoons simple. After the filler had dried I used a small mouse sander to round of all the joins ready for the skinning process.
So the lower section of the hull has now been put together. As can be seen by the photos nice clean cuts means that the panels go together perfectly. I did not have to trim one edge for it all to match up. With the temporary build jig sitting on a nice flat floor I was able to start with the left and right larger side panels and work my way around the hull pinning and tacking with hot glue. Heavy blocks around the bottom of the panels kept them all in check. One thing I did do before the gluing was to check the 1831 dimension across the hull to make sure nothing had crept in size either way. When I was happy with it all I then went to town with the hot glue gun. We then tackled the epoxy filling of the joins. Getting the right gear together makes things easier. Accurate scales and a calculator make the mixing ratios of the epoxy and the microballoons simple. After the filler had dried I used a small mouse sander to round of all the joins ready for the skinning process.
Trevor Barrett