tt-r

I ordered some plans from Roger Newton of the Smokin Joe -94.
I have never built a boat from scratch before, but building many planes from scratch helps me understand the wood and glue world.
The thing i wonder the most is how people transfer the drawings to actual lines on the ply.
I gues templates is the right way to go, but how do you draw them ?
I dont want to mess up the plans either.
If someone with hydrobuilding experience could write a step by step instruction or sometihng i would wery much apreaciate that

Thanks in advance

Square Nozzle

My Feedback: (1)

As with you, I never like to destroy the plans to make templates. I simply put a piece of carbon paper between the plans and the wood and trace the plans, transfering the image to the wood. I use ships curves, straight edges and circle templates where necessary to trace an accurate image. People have also had the plans copied and sacrafice the copy for templates. Tracing is easier.

jw637362

My Feedback: (1)

tt-r - What I have done is take the plans to the nearest Kinkos and get them copied about 2 or three sets. I never work with or ruin the original plans.
\ After you have copied them, cut the pieces out and use a spray adhesive to attach them to the wood you wish to cut.
Then either draw / trace the parts onto the wood or just cut it out with a scroll saw.

This has worked quite well for me and then when you are all done cutting the peices out you have the reference of the original to put the cut pieces on and sand to final shape if needed.

Hope this helps you on your way. I too fly airplanes and have just completed my First 1/8 scale Hydro project. (Atlas Van Lines)
I am about done fitting it with hardware.

Jeff

ByronRC

My Feedback: (2)

Heres a question. From cutting the plans on the wood do you cut above, center, or below the line to compensate for the kerf of the blade with your scroll saw?

jw637362

My Feedback: (1)

Byron, In RE" From cutting the plans on the wood do you cut above, center, or below the line to compensate for the kerf"
Well, you don't cut below the line as you would cut the pieces too small. The Kerf of the scroll saw blade is .018 thickness and will not hinder the cut if you cut out side the line and follow it around. Never cut on or in the shape with any saw as the Kerf of the blade will make you cut the piece too small.
I also stated to take the cut pieces off and mate them to the original plans and sand to shape. If you cut on or outside the line you should not have problems at all.

This is a process I have used and seems to work for me.

Hydro Junkie

Having dealt with Roger and his plans for years(known him personnally for over 20 years), one thing you DON'T DO is cut out the parts to the lines shown. Cut out the three transoms, engine bay sides and sponson insides from 1/8th(Left sponson transom and engine bay/sponson insides) and 1/4(right sponson and rear transoms) ply. These should be sanded to the lines on the bottoms only. Be sure to verify that the engine bay sides match the bottom profile on the plans BEFORE you glue anything to them(don't ask how I know). Now, glue 1/4 spruce stringers to the engine bay walls(OUTBOARD SIDE ONLY) and sponson insides, matching the bottom profile(INBOARD SIDE ONLY). At this point, you need a building jig, to keep the hull square and straight. Mount the sponson insides to the jig and epoxy the transom to them(BE SURE THE TRANSOM IS EPOXIED AT 90 DEGREES TO THE SPONSON INSIDES). Repeat with engine bay walls, and now you're ready for the cross frames. You will need to custom fit these, so take your time and get them right. It's much easier to get them right now than to try to fix them later(again, don't ask me how I know). That should get you started. I can try to answer any other questions you might have as well. I'll try to post a couple of pics to show what I mean by a building jig, as well as how these boats go together

tt-r

thanks alot for good help.I should get started soon i hope.

Hydro Junkie

One thing I forgot to mention is FRAME 10. Don't know why Roger did it, but he drew out 10R WRONG!!!!!!!!!! I'm assuming yor boat has the two different width sponsons, so here's how to get it right.
Trace out the bottom and outboard sides as drawn, from the top outboard corner of the notch for the sponson sheer to the outboard side of the inboard notch top corner for bottom frames D & E. At this point you need to shift your tracing paper to the right till the dashed lines for the D/E notch are in the same place as the line you have already drawn. Now, trace out the rest of the bottom following the dashed lines INSTEAD OF THE SOLID, as well as the inboard vertical line and stringer notch. At this point, you will need to realign your tracing paper again, lining up the inboard end of the top to the outboard top corner of the stringer notch and the outboard end to the top of the sponson sheer notch previously traced. The curved top line WILL extend past the end of the top line marking the sponson sheer notch, so don't worry about that. One word of caution, make sure the center top stringer notch is still in the same location in relation to the inboard verical line, as this also runs along the top of the verical nontrip(the side panel behind the sponson transom)all the way to the stern. Now, trace your top curved line and the center stringer notch and you will have the part shaped properly. Trust me, it will make more sense to read this while you're tracing this out. This one correction fook me about ten attempts to figure out. You will be able to verify if you have it right or not by laying the completed frame on top of the sponson transom. If you got it right, the D/E notches will line up. Good Luck