faufresh

So it's been a couple of months of construction here and there. I remembered to take a couple of snapshots for whatever reasons. So here they are! The Maryland is my first Model Boat and so far it's been quite an experience! I loved the fact that i've had to build each and every individual piece. The satisfaction of me knowing my boat intimately is pretty satisfying if i do say so myself!
Pic 1 is of the planking. I busted out the handy dandy Dremel tool and went to town with the ribs. I used 1/4" plywood for the ribs and the same for the bottom and keels. A real pain to cut with just a dremel. So i later on invested on a nice lil Jigsaw. Everything was first tacked on with superglue and kicker to ensure proper alignment and then finally Epoxied in place using the 30 min batch.
Pic 2 shows the end results of the planking. I later proceeded to fill in teh nasty gaps and dents with balsa putty. Beautiful stuff. I allowed this to dry overnight. Next night i then fiberglassed the whole thing. It was my first time fiberglassing anything to this extent and learned quite a few things. Such as take your time, nasty credit cards are useful for gathering up left-over resin, make sure there are no holes whatsoever, and wear full body coveralls because fiberglass itches like theres no tomorrow after sanding.
Pic 3 has the internals drying. I chose to use good ol resin to waterproof the interior of the boat. Here you can also see a shot of the stuffing tubes. I hope I built em right!
Pic 4 are those beautiful internal guts. I did a test fit to see where i wanted the motors located at and also attached the rudder and servos. I used a High Torque servo for the rudder post. The rudder was made out of balsa and 4 Layers of Fiberglass cloth. That thing isn't breaking anytime soon!
Pic 5 is the result of several layers of Bondo and Primer paint. Primer is a wonderful thing, it shows you all teh screw-ups ya made. Theres a pesky gap all around the decking tho that needs fixing. The deck was made out of this beautfil Doorskin type wood and stained a tad to give it that overall color. Very Durable, Very perty.
Pic 6 is that beautiful rear end.

faufresh

and pics 5 and 6

faufresh

I did a quickie water trial in my pool and was quite happy with the results. She needed quite a lot of ballast and ended up resorting to my extra sockets that never get used. Her speed was a lil fast for what she is. Also, the turning radius wasn't all that great. She barely turns inside my pool, which is about 20 ft wide. The rudder makes a solid 45' angle and hope it's big enough.

So....

A couple of questions, i'm considering putting bow thrusters in her and was wondering what you all use. I'm not alll thast much concerned about the scaleness of its radius. I just like having a boat make a 180 turn in her own length, heh. So any pics, links, and or suggestions would be great in this area!

Also, All the decking details is up next on the list. Any ideas, tips, suggestions, do's and don'ts for the guns, bridges, doors, etc. etc. would be more than helpful in this regard. Thanks in advanced and looking forward to hear your comments and crits!

speedygonzales

im not into boats but i have to say that looks like 1 beutiful boat.
keep up the good work!

Cobalt Saber

is it done yet?