Little wood Flattie

[MM2CVS9]

Well, Being new to the forums here, I gotta start somewhere. I've been in the bench doldrums lately and need to get going. Have been working with my grandson at school for the Science Olympiad program, mentoring 5 teams of two, in the bridge building competition. Has kept me busy for sure.

Have 2 longer term builds coming up. An LCM-3 dioama, a vintage 1/540 USS ESSEX angle deck carrier ( I served on ESSEX in the 60's). I get bored with the long builds easily, so I like to have some smaller builds going at the same tome to switch off to.

This kit came from a friend of mine (his widow) that started this kit but passed away at age 90, before he finished it. I want to build it in his memory and do it justice. It is a fairly simple kit as wood kits go, but should be fun to build. This is what I got. This style of flattie was built in the Chesapeak Bay / Pamlico Sound area, but they were used in the Virginia / North Carolina area too for hauling vegetables and oysters. A flat bottom and a retractable centerboard gave them a very shallow draft, plus they could be run aground without causing damage. Also, they were fairly cheap to build.

Page 2 of the plan sheet was missing, but I got a replacement from Midwest.
He had the keel, bulkheads, main deck and transom assembled, and the mast stepping and keel strips installed. Quite a ways to go yet, but this part was well done. An inventory proved that only one strip of basswood was missing from the parts list.
















And some extras. I don't know what I'll ever do with the huge bronze propellers.



Should be a fun little boat to build.

EJ

 

[moon puppy]

Nice tribute :drinks

I'm very interested in seeing this build. I got "The Skiff" a while back. Opened it up and closed it right back when I found the ores were solid square sticks, not even basic shape cut out.

 

[jknaus]

Oh very cool. Will be watching this one. Might even look for one and do something I havent done since the 70's.
James

 

[Sherman 18]

Oh nice! Will be watching

 

[lupanzer]

... ... Very cool!

Luiz

 

[Tim A.]

It doesn't get any simpler or sweeter than this looking forward to seeing it finished! :captain



Tim

 

[Tim A.]

Nice tribute :drinks

I'm very interested in seeing this build. I got "The Skiff" a while back. Opened it up and closed it right back when I found the ores were solid square sticks, not even basic shape cut out.

Lol Bob.... funny thing about this is there is an old rowboat here at the cabin and since it don't have oars I've used a board so there ya go thems already done.


Tim

 

[moon puppy]

BAM! That'll work. Just use some flat planking, less whittlin'

 

[Plastik Smurff]

 

[MM2CVS9]

Well, after looking a bit closer, I discovered the transom/stern board and the main deck were mis-aligned, and there was a small "hump" in the deck where the keel board was. So, I cut the join, adjusted the positions and re glued it all.
Next, started installing the chines. Put them in the soakers for a while, then glued the stern ends in place.





While the glue set up, I soaked the panels for the sides of the cabin, then set them up in a jig to dry in the appropriate curve.



I bent the chines to the notches in the bulkheads and glued them up. When the glue set, I cut the bow ends to fit and glued them in place.



Then spent some time with a sanding block and "faired in" the chines, stern board, bow stiffeners, ready for planking.





Next day, when the cabin walls were dry, I installed them, sanded them to fit and installed the cabin roof beam.



Then the cabin roof.



Next will be the side hull planking and the bottom hull planking, and on to more detail work and a bit of filling.

EJ

 

[moon puppy]

Very neat idea for soaking. I may be asking some very basic questions here so bare with me.
Soaking the cabin walls, how are you getting the correct curvature?

The Chines, are they still wet when you work with them after soaking? (feel like that's really a dumb question but there it is)

That looks like a Foredom hand piece back there.

 

[TomN]

Those are dumb questions Moon...glad you asked them before me...

Really enjoying this build MM2, and learning a lot too. I get the feeling you've done this before.

I have one of those Midwest kits too, think it's a dingy or something, may have to pull it out of storage.

Tom

 

[moon puppy]

Those are dumb questions Moon...glad you asked them before me...


Tom

At your service...

 

[lupanzer]

Enjoying so much

Luiz

 

[MM2CVS9]

Thanks guys. This is a fun build. Quite a simple kit as far as wood kits go. Did a Titanic lifeboat once with a lapstrake hull that was quite a challenge. Most of my plastic builds I kitbash and scratch quite a bit. Comes naturally, as a wood kit is really a package of material to make the parts from. As a retired carpenter, that comes naturally.

The "soakers" in the picture are made from PVC pipe. Sometimes I use just hot water, sometimes I add 75% ammonia to it. Softens the wood so it bends to the shape without "hopefully" breaking. I also have a home made "steamer" that works really nice on thicker, stiffer wood. If you like, I can post a drawing of how I built the soaker. Let me know.

Yes, the wood must be still wet or at least damp while assembling for it to bend well. If steamed, it must be done very quickly, before it begins to cool off. Often I'll bend the part around a form or jig until it cools and dries, so it holds it's shape. Med CA glue kicks very well with damp wood. The water seems to act like an accelerator.

The cabin walls - well, it's an educated guess. I hold the part near where it goes and judge by eye what curvature is needed. In this case, I placed a pencil under one end (to the right in the picture) and weighted the part kinda in the middle (I used a steel angle block wrapped in plastic wrap so it wouldn't get rusty - on the left in the picture) to get a bit more curve than needed as there is usually a bit of springback. If the part is still damp when installed, it usually will bend right into place with no trouble as it is fairly flexible yet.

I'll try to get a bit more background in my pics to show that stuff in future posts. Yup, that's a foredom, hangs by the back of the bench. Might post some picks of my cave too. Where would be a good place to post those?

TomN - I've done the little Midwest dingy too. It's a great little kit to get your feet wet working wood. Makes a cute little boat and fun to build. If you do plastic, you probably already have all the tools you need for it.

EJ

 

[Tim A.]

Looking very good!


Tim

 

[MM2CVS9]

Todays Flattie update -
Added a piece at the stem as I didn't think there was enough glue area there.



With the new stem piece faired in, next was the two side hull panels. went on pretty well.





After having a cup of coffee to let the glue kick well, I faired in all the panel edges at the stem, stern, top edge and at the chines.







Now it's ready for the bottom planking.

EJ

 

[moon puppy]

Shaping up nicely, what sort of glue you using?

 

[TomN]

Shaping up nicely, what sort of glue you using?

Was about to ask that...

Are you using CA with accelerator...?

This looking great!!!

Tom

 

[lupanzer]

Very nice finishing....

Luiz