I was intending to tint the windows as per my original boat ( was fitted with 5mm tinted acrylic) and as the local car accessory store was having a sale on some car window tints, I thought I might as well buy some. I bought a roll of 35% ( scale works backwards for tints for some strange reason, ie 35% is lighter than 6%) for $31 for the 3m x 760mm roll.

I had cut the windows from some .75mm PETG sheet (which I had left over from trying out canopy moulding with my vacuum former) and applied the tint to the inside face after removing one side of the protective coating on the PETG (won't remove the other side till fitting to avoid scratching as the PETG is quite soft - same material as used in drink bottles, packaging, 3D printers etc). Would have bought .5mm PETG but it is not available in NZ in that thickness, - would have had to special order it through the plastics co here from China. Very handy stuff, very clear (same as acetate sheet) and almost indestructible and cheap ($53 at the time for 1220 x 2440 sheet)

Tint seemed to go on ok but will know how well once the covering is removed. As long as it doesn't come off once windows are bent into position. I have also filled primed and painted the hull which will be checked tomorrow to see if it needs any further 'love'. I tend not to get too carried away with finish, as almost every boat, wood, glass or alloy has dozens of dents scrapes and lumps, (unless brand new) and it's not going in a museum. Besides, the subject boat in question would be about 38 years old by now and has probably been used as firewood😁

Windows now fitted, along with the cabin side 'flashes'. Hull has been faired, primed and then topcoated in white acrylic. Bottom and deck will be a medium blue as per original. Still have lights and grab rails etc to make for cabin, along with more internal trim.

Decided to make a start on the flooring, so have now removed the temporary frames and 'spine' to work on that. If I can work it right, a lot of the partitions will be built on the floors and be removable as units.

Got a bit sick of woodwork so got onto a side metalwork project (will post later if some bits arrive) That done I have done a little bit more internal woodwork and made the 4 partitions, -port side for cooker and sink bench, stbd for portaloo (a necessity for when mermaids are aboard😁) and storage. Made the helm station and covered it with 1mm ply (leaving the top unglued for 'instrument' fitting) Also made a wheel from brass rod which will have a mahogany spoke covering (as original wheel)

The 4 partitions are trimmed with basswood which will be varnished and the partitions painted. Also painted the bottom with a colour as close to the original as poss, by mixing acrylic paints from spray 2 cans (light blue and black) and spraying on using a touch-up gun, as the original Epiglass (now similar to international Lauderdale blue) colour is not acrylic. Bunks are next on the list and deck painting (may glass the deck first)

Painted the partitions and floors and stained the trim on the partitions and helm station (first coat). Trimmed the wheel spokes with mahogany as well. Painted the deck and applied some non skid patches, (doped embossed heavy black art paper). Added a top transom rubbing strake. Before painting the deck I doped on some fine glass/paper finishing material I found in one of my plans boxes (didn't know I had it,- must be from the 70s) and primer/fillered it. Once painted it came out with a bit of a non skid look. I have also started the frames/boxes for the rear seats/bunks. Lots to do still.

More bits done. Made the galley sink, faucet and cooktop. Sink was made from the wooden top of a cane reed room fragrance bottle and cooker top grille from brass rod- soldered, with 3mm machine screws for burners and control knobs. Cooker body from balsa. Faucet made from brass rod with a 3mm machine screw tap. Rear deck is made to be removable for access to servos if necessary. Deck is dropped in and locked backwards under beam.

Heaps to go yet.

Got sick of looking at the hole in the cabin roof, so decided to fill it in with the sliding hatch.
Hatch is made from 1mm ply with basswood frames. The runners are 1.5 x 1.5mm basswood glued to 1.5 x 5mm basswood uprights on the cabin top and the hatch has a corresponding 'underhook' with 3mm basswood sides and 'hook' of 1.5 x 5mm basswood, ( on the full sized boat I used 40 x 5mm formica sail battens cut down for the runners). The end plates of the hatch are filed out to fit the runners.

Everything was sealed with dope, primer/fillered and sprayed with white acrylic. Not the prettiest job, but was trying to do that as well as replacing the steering rack boots on my old Toyota Carolla liftback, (early birthday present, it's 32 in Dec😁) CV boot's next on the list😐,-mind you they've lasted 32yrs and 215,000km (along with the clutch which is still good) so mustn't grumble😁. Only use it as a spare but haven't the heart to part with it, as it's only cost around $1.50 a week in repairs over 17 yrs and still runs perfectly.😀 It's a manual, carbureted and with Armstrong window winders and no computer, so can't be hacked by Russians😂.

Received my waterproof booties for the jet unit pushrods from Banggood, plus a nice 17kg JX 180deg digital servo to try as a sail winch in my Graupner Optimist yacht, which hopefully I'll get back to after this model.

Decided to have a crack at the boarding ladder Sunday night/early yesterday morning and after many hours and even more choice words, I finally got it looking something like a ladder. Quite tricky making it as it's made from 2.5mm brass rod and the pivot pin is only 1mm which needs pretty accurate drilling (had a couple of goes as my eyesight is not brilliant as I missed the center with the center punch, - even though I filed a flat, - and it drilled off center) Luckily I have a large bench top drill/mill which makes it easier but it was a bit like using a sledge hammer to drive a panel pin😁

Bent the rod by drilling a 3mm hole in some alloy bar, holding that in the vice, inserting the rod end in the hole and winding the rod round the bar, cutting the bent leg off and trimming everything to size.

Made a rough balsa jig to solder all the pre cut rungs and rails together but this was the most frustrating part, as the spacer legs were next to a rung, and when trying to solder the leg on, the rung solder would melt and the rung would move. Ended up using a small pair of pointed vice grips as a heat-sink on the rung which worked quite well. Pivot pins were made from 1mm rod , pre tinned and soldered on the outside rail, (pushed through just proud of the inside of the lower step rails,) then trimmed and filed, Rail deck ends and stand-off rod ends had 3mm washers soldered on for pads (didn't think the stand-offs out very well😴,- should have left a few mm to mount through the transom, as the deck ends are not fixed due to the removable top deck). Might have to drill small rod holes in the ends or hope the good Loc-tite cyano will hold😐

Lots and lots of soldering and unsoldering later, the ladder was painted with Dupli-colour chrome epoxy enamel and trimmed with mahogany veneer treads. NEXT😀--------------

A little bit more work on the dash with the gauges done. They will have a lamp mounted in the cabinet behind to backlight them. Done the samel way I've done aircraft dashes for years, by finding a very clear pic on Google, scaling them down and printing them, then mounting them on the back of a piece of pre applied acetate sheet. I use std A4 paper as it ends up opaque and lends itself well to backlighting. You can actually buy a dash kit for aircraft which has various printed gauges in a range of sizes, and the thin acetate sheet to mount them over. You can also buy ready made dash packs for r/c cars which look very nice.

Doug mentioned curtains so I thought I would humour him by adding one to the portable 'head' area (which as previously mentioned is usually carried for 'mermaids' only😁, - gentlemen to the transom and leeward!😁) Also managed to knock up a set of grab rails for the cabin tops (1st coat of stain on.) These were made by using an aluminium pattern with the rail 'blanks' clamped to it, the bulk carved out, and finished with a drum sander in the drill.

Quite quick and easy to do, especially in basswood. Rails were 2 pieces of 6x1.5mm basswood laminated to get the desired thickness, and to allow for a bit of finish sanding, (didn't want to make them to fragile) Also finished fitting the inner top and bottom cabin window, lower varnished trim pieces.

Any guesses on the curtain material?