My Susan. Offshore Transom Fishing Trawler. Model Boats Plan No: MM925. This one started off as a "Chuck it on the car seat Jobber". Not to big, but a handie size and with a roomy interior. Large deck opening which i like, makes for easy access to all running gear and radio. On the plan it's main construction is of Balsa wood. But I as always foolishly decided on something different and went for my usual of Ply Keel and Bulkheads with planking, approx 6 x 3 mm..
Making constructional modifications at this early stage can lead to disastrous results and it always open's a big if not gigantic can of worms. ( I wish i had listened to these old wise words ).
Usual start for me, trace all the bulkheads and keel onto a tracing paper of some sort, i tend to use drafting film as it's reusable and if traced with a pencil, the tracings can be rubbed out and the film reused. If you have a long keel etc: then just "Selotape" with about an inch overlap, i have done this up to a keel length of 56 inches with A3 size tracing paper. The using a "pricker" as in something like a dentist probe or a nobed pin set into the end of a piece of 3/8"dowl, its like making up your "Join by dots" pricking through the drafting film onto your selected timber. Then the exciting bit follows, joining up all the marked picked holes with a pencil or ball point pen, ready for the saw. Make sure you holes are well pronounced as it may be hard to find when you start to Join the dots. ( I,m not laughing honest ). Now its time for the saw, and join the Rabbits bedding society, Making sawdust. Once it has all been cut the keel and bulkheads, time for a dry fit, and alignment . If it all looks as should be, then you can open or remove the innards of the bulkheads, not forgetting to make up the prop shaft doublers in the keel. I always tend to start at the Bow end and fix the Breasthook and first couple of bulkheads to make a good starting point, leaving it clamped up overnight.

Continuing with the Hull, making sure that everything is aligned and as true as one can make it, Grab the glue bottle and get stuck in, pinning where required, i tend to use .5mm x 7mm Brass pins, especially when planking also some .5mm x 15mm Brass again, the glue i tend to use is Titebond, the standard one which is Yellow in colour but dries close to translucent, if using darker timbers like Mahogany or Walnut then i go for the Titebond 3 which is brown in colour they do have a reasonable Grab time for me, but it's builders choice. You can brace up the frame with stringers to help keep its correct shape, this one was placed in a mini Workmate type workbench, but lining the jaws with cling film or a grease proof type of paper, this is to protect the Keel from being permanently attached to the workbench, or the workmate from the keel, whatever. This is left overnight, there is some detail at deck level open Gunnels which i wanted to show so decided to plank from the deck level down, well to start with just to get the deck levels correct. There shud be more pics so i,m off hunting them down.. ATB and stay Safe.

Thank you to all the "Likes" received, but i got a bit lost in saying a Thank you on the site.. But Thanks.. The Rudder is a standard type of purchase thing, it comes in about 3 different sizes i nearly always buy the biggest, as one can always manipulate / cut down to the requirement's , in this instance decided to give the rudder a bit of a profile, so drilling a few holes in it about 3mm dia: for the adhesive to bite to, then building up with off cuts of ply, anything realy balsa even that stuff, Plastic Fantastic better known as Plasticard, further moulding the shape with car filler type stuff. The under deck was laid in ply 1.5mm to strengthen the frame, now to start the planking, from the top, completely backwards for me as i usually start at the keel, not forgetting to do both sides equally, trying to eliminate warping of the hull frame, and dont forget to jig the whole lot up if left overnight, lessons learnt the hard way ! .. More pic hunting, Thanks to all, and stay Safe.

Hello, Think there is a mix up with the pics, they have separated and are not in any sort-of-order, Sorry. The Hull planking completed, using Titebond and brass pins, the deck planks were laid with cyno and an accelerator, makes things move along a bit. The rudder was shaped up and filler added to hide the rough workmanship ! about an hours work and it gives a better impression than a sheet of brass sticking out the bottom. Stay Safe..

Finishing off the hull, Fitting the running gear, which i chose a £3 special 380 motor size from Howes a "Cheap and Cheerfull" jobber, good volts range appox 5v to 18V and of course the motor current can be kept low, hopefully. My main motive fuel is from Nihm cells but recently have obtained some LI-ion, and i,m impressed. Couple more pics of the rudder assembly, not in order i,m afraid. And fitting the Transom plus some planking, not being to fussy with the planks as i wanted the joint's to show through the paint, basically to show off the planked construction. Once the Transom was cleaned up to shape, and a couple of coats of paint primer/filler applied, time to start on the upperworks/wheelhouse. Keep Safe ...

Make a start on the wheel house, i like drop on decks/wheelhouses with a deck combing, mainly for easy access to the workings, made up a frame to drop over the combing but this did not work out well, scrapped that idea and went for 3 individual boxes and stuck em all together help in place with masking tape. At the bow end the main item in the construction was a 1/2" block of balsa, i do like the innards to be vented where possible, some of these motors do get warm ! even a small PC axial fan works well but just circulates warm air, but venting to the outside air is better, but of course one needs an in and out for the airflow, using the bals block as a cabin floor will make removal of timber a lot easier when making air access holes trunking, The cabin was built up with .5mm ply then some strip wood added to give that old'y world'y look, i hope. Once the wheelhouse/cabin was in situ, then the cabin floor could be removed as shown, not to much , i didn't want a wobbly wheelhouse. If i glaze the windows then will make the door as an opening, Stay Safe.

At this stage i had to stop using the drill/machine vice as a stand, and cut out some ply for the stand ends, using the bulkheads as a template, allowing for planks and insulation to form a scratch guard. A substantial bow reinforcment from mahogany was epoxied into situ, helped with some brass pins, ok the heads are bent over, but they were removed after the glue set, honest. Another test run with the motive power or furniture, motor rudder, electrics etc: started on the hull trim around the outside and on top edge of the planking. This is the end of this saga for the time being, as she sits waiting for paint, which aint in stock, and with this -19 thingy going about it does not look like its going to be within the next week or so.So there must be something else to do, like find another blog, maybe Keep smiling stay safe. Muddy..

I found another one.. This Plan was loaned to me for 48 hours only on condition that i built it.
A lot of tracing was done and a couple of pics. The titles were missing, but it was refereed and to as an Eagle class Boat ? and it was a Fatality of the "Dunkirk little Ship's". It was the usual type of construction for me, a 5mm ply frame keel and bulkheads with 6 x 3mm planking and a walnut deck. First set of pics shows the framework construction. The finished item did not turn out so good, but sailed for an hour, then went back for modifications, more on this later. Thought i would try something different and use patterns for the bulkheads, must have had a funny senior moment, again. But i think it was because i did not want to damage the loaned plan. Muddy,

One of the other reasons for this build was that originally at pondside conversations, i mentioned that i had a pair of Decapers that i did not know what to do with them, then in conversation this plan was mentioned and originally someone had built it with a pair of Decaperms, so away we went apon deleivery of the plan. Cutting out the bulkheads and then lightening them where possible, its about a 40 x 12inch model at 1/12 th scale.. Once a few planks were laid/fitted then a start on the motive power and shafts, a couple of simple templates for alignment of the prop-shafts and distancing from the hull bottom, i was in a hurry with this one and did not bother with brass skegs for the prop-shafts, but a simple triangular wedge shape to support the external part of the prop-shaft. Just a note here, when planking it is more than advisable to maintain an equal ammount of planks either side of the keel, this will help if not stop keel warping, beleive me , yes i did ! or did not at the time, poor Lorrain. Keep safe Muddy..

Continuing on, with the hull planking, again checking the shaft and motor fitting. These large headed brass pins approx 15mm in length are not a fixture just a retainer,, they will be remove at a later stage, as in My Susan Bow Bar, although bent on insertion, they were removed totally. Then a lot of sanding down, followed by about 6 coats of dope thinned with celulose thinners at a ratio of 75% Dope 25% Thinners, with a light sanding between coats, these coats will probably dry in about 30 mins: so all this can be done in a day easily, the next thing was to tissue cover the outside of the hull, laying the grain of tissue oposite to the timber, and not cutting the strips but tearing them, it does look unsightly when being applied but all will be good when finished. Same concocktion of thinners and dope applied to the hull and "Painting into the tissue", dont worry about air bubbles or creases they will all disappear at the later stages, then apply another 6 coats of Dope/Thinners, same mix, lightly sanding between coats again. Now she should be ready for some undercoat. But at this stage decided to fix the For Deck, Was not going to plank this deck originally but looking at the lower deck level it just did not look right, so the ply floor was fitted for the planking to sit on, next the planking, Walnut was the choice, to match the rest lol.. I forgot to check the colouring of the Walnut, and it look a bit strange when finished.. Sorry there may be a a couple of pic doubles ... Muddy