scaleboater

I'm in the process of restoring/completing a partially built 63' Chris Craft (old Sterling kit), and will be converting to R/C.

I'm looking for any suggestions:
- Best waterproof wood glue to use? Testor, Elmer, commercial wood glue?
- Where can I obtain spare sheet mahogany? As I need to recreate some broken superstructure.
- Recommendations for power - Dumas, Mack, other? I'd be content with scale speeds.
- Superdetailing part sources? There are a lot of nice details on some of the boat posts that I've never seen [8D]in catalogs!

Thanks in advance for input.

Tug Guy

I might be able to help in some of these areas.
Glue. Depending on how much time you want before the glue sets, I use both Gorilla glue ( a poly glue) and both thin and medium CA glues. After I plank a hull I fiberglass it with cloth 1.4 oz on the outside and thinned resin on the inside to seal it up.
Mack products has a package I believe for this model that will power it well.
For wood as a ;last resort check ebay stores. This guy that has the lumber store has always treated me real good.
http://stores.ebay.com/THE-LUMBER-ST...Q3amesstQQtZkm
I am not affiliated with him in anyway he is just a good dealer.
As far as super detailing I fall short there. Best advice is to Google 63' motor Yachts and see what comes up.
Wish I could help more.

Tug

fritzke

My Feedback: (1)

Mahogany sheets:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...p?&I=LXAU10&P=
And good old epoxy is hard to beat for boats that get wet.
Dave

martno1fan

for glue use the zap ca for gluing things that need to be held in place imediately then used epoxy to run along the joints to make it last also as said use epoxy to water proof the wood also ,on large areas an old credit card to spread it is great ,on small areas use a paint brush.the cloth on the hull outside is also a good idea but i use polyester resin for this as its way less expensive but it stinks to high heaven !!.

green-boat

Try a hardwood lumberyard/ supply for mahogany veneer. It comes in thin sheets and fairly inexpensive.

scaleboater

Thanks to everyone for their comments. Regarding mahogany, what's the best way to deal with cutting intricate parts from it? I don't have a wood shop or laser saw . Any special tools suggested? I'd think that if I'm working with anything thicker than 1/32 width, regular Xacto knife won't be enough.

Kaymac

I often use my selection of Dremel bits for cutting and shaping small parts. There are some small diameter cutting bits that work well with mahogany.

Wolfmann

Try either www.billingboatsna.com or www.modelexpo-online.com. Both are great supply houses and have both R/C and static models and supply's. So you should be able to get any wood and detail parts you need.
You have enough advice on the glue site. I just want you to be aware of the Gorilla glue. It is a great glue and easy to apply and gives you a fairly long work time. Just make sure you understand that it will expand quit a bit. Meaning it will foam out of what ever you are gluing. It can be helpful as in filling in small gaps or openings you cant get to other wise. I love the glue and have used it on a lot of R/C projects.
A Dremel tool is the best thing you can have in your tool box. You can get just about any bit, sanding drum and cutting disk for any application you have.

azcaptain

Hi,

I recently completed such a restoration. I've carried this model around with me for more than 50 years and decided to tear it down, refurush it and give it to my son-in-law as a gift. All done, runs great.

In short this is what I did. I stripped the model completely of all fittings etc. I cleaned out the interior. Tore out whatever didn't seem "solid" and replaced some ribs and bulkheads with either basswood or birtch plywood. Then I used polyeuethane witha brush to waterproof interior. I sanded all the main level decking and applied a coat or 2 of polyester resin, and sanded to wet sand and desired satin finish. I used fiberglass cloth and several coats of pollyester resin on the hull and sanded til IT looked good.

I cut the cabin roof off and completly redid that area.

I scratchbuilt a flying bridge. Added tons of detail and new fittings, lights and simple 2 channel radio with 12 volt motor and nicads.

I'll try to attach a photo for you. Somehow I don't often succed doing this, however.

Generic suppliels like basswood etc. are producted by companies like Midwest Products and can come from most any hobby (or online) shop but special fittings etc. I found Harbor Models really great.

If you want more advice please let me know. You'll have to be patient. I put more than 150 hours into restoration.

scaleboater

Looks great, azcaptain! I really like the flying bridge - it adds nicely to the boat's profile. I'll have to add one to mine.

Unfortunately I'm rebuilding a half built kit I found on eBay. One of the shortcomings is that it's missing almost all of its original fittings. I'm wondering how you rebuilt the stanchions/rails, if they were not original, and what kinds of parts you used?

Also, do you find the single 12V motor gives it enough cruising speed? Thanks for sharing.

azcaptain

Ok.........let me see if I can rememer what to answer here...............

For fittings I used a few that I was able to salvage from the original model, but not many. The rest came from 2 sources. First was Dumas. They will sell fittings sets from most of their models. So I went to their website and acquired a fittings set from them for their ChirsCraft cabin cruiser model. ( I don't offhand know what the name of it is) Dumas is an excellent company and is very accomodating and supportivel, by the way.

The railing stantions are from Harbor Models. They have an excellent on-line catalog and sell many, many accessories, fittings, etc. The "railings" are piano wire that I acquired from my local hobby shop. Any hobby shop that caters to model airplanes will have piano wire. I also replaced moldings and trim pieces using strip mahogany, also available from local hobby shops and or on line from such companies as Tower Hobbies or MicroMark. I pre-fininshed them using polyurethene, so all I had to do was glue strips in place for such things as trim around the edge of deck, etc. The hull, as noted was re-done with very thin fiberglass cloth and polyester resin from Sig. This is also available from Tower Hobbies and others. All other imperfections were filled and sanded using typical water based wood putty. All painting was Krylon spray can paint or Minwaz Polyurethane.

A lot of the rebuild and refinish were needed with my model because the original balsa had gotten kinda shabby over the years.

Propolsion, a single 12 volt motor does pretty well. You would be suprised. I use a 7 cell nicad. You could put more power to it, that would be interesting. But it cuts the water quite well the way I have it set up.

Good Luck !!! Keep me posted !!!!!! You can email me direct. Check my "profile" for the email address...........

azcaptain