Thank you Nerys,
I too have used light ply, and heavier marine ply building tenders and prams for my dad's fishing boats, even a 2 seater kyak when I was at school (a long time ago).
I've never tried lime, must give it a go.
Cheers Colin.

Hi Colin,

May not be the right thing to say, but I'm glad I'm not alone with the rash problem. Thinking back, I think the balsa that affected me came from a local craft shop. I've been very wary about buying any since then, but did have a few strips which I wanted for a particular purpose, from Cornwall Model Boats which didn't affect me. Any strip wood I've wanted since then, and I seem to use quite a lot, I've bought lime. It's a lot harder but I like working with it - and that helps a lot! Sheet material, I use ply quite successfully. probably because I'm used to it, I built numerous real dinghies with it in days gone by, but that's another story! I hadn't remembered Ezekote, but I used it on a kit boat, the first model I built.

Nerys

👍
Had wondered Colin cos Nerys mentioned it as well!
Guess I'll have to spread "Local" out a few more clicks. (Not the mouse type!)
Cheers, Doug 😎

Hi Nerys,
Thank you for reading my balsa bits.
I've had a problem with a skin rash after I bought from the net, it turned out that the balsa supplied had been chemically treated by the importer to kill some kind of infestation.
Happy building, and ezekote is one of the best ways to seal and strengthen all types of modelling wood.
Whenever I have a vintage boat in need of a refurb I always coat it with ezekote and 0.03mm glass cloth, you could always use a pair of tights instead of the glass cloth as it can be stretched over the Hull then coated and trimmed off after it's dry, and that's usually within an hour.
Hope this will help,
Cheers Colin.

Hi Doug,
when I said about the sizes and hardness I was referring to the 2 local model shops one is 5 miles and the other is 25 miles.
And when I duy balsa its only for repairs to my vintage boats.
Plus I prefer to see and feel before I buy.
I am sure there's many a good supplier on the net.
I hope this clarifies the issue.
Cheers Colin.

Hi All,
Really surprised at all this "too short" only 18" stuff😮
I buy my balsa supplies from Krick here in DE.
https://www.krickshop.de/e-vendo.php?shop=krick_e&SessionId=&a=re_search&SearchStr=searchfield_technic_0%3Abalsaholz&select=brand%3DKRICK
Can still get 1m lengths of sheets and profiles. 😊
Get a stock in chaps and chapesses, before Boris Yellow Hammer mucks everything up!☹️

Snag is no local shops where you can "taste and try".
So far so good though with Krick.
If it's a bit soft I harden it with diluted EzeKote like Colin👍

Surely SLEC etc must also have decent lengths?
(Not what Alice might be thinking Nerys 😮 keep her under control! 😉)
Cheers, Doug 😎
PS Our posts crossed DG, thanks for the SLEC confirmation👍)

I've recently bought from SLEC and Howes Models - both on the web.

The SLEC site provides sheets up to 48" long, but was quite expensive when postage was added. You can specify Soft, Medium or Hard, and these are provided accurately - though some sheets had varying density...

The Howes stuff, off Ebay, was cheaper, and arrived in less than 24 hours from order! It was a mix of hard and medium, well packed, but a couple of sheets had minor blemishes on them ..

I have not been very happy on the few occasions I have used balsa recently, as Colin says, far too soft, varying in thickness and not available in bigger lengths in so much that I have given up using it in favour of lime, much harder of course. I found that it would snap far too easily and it's very softness made it difficult to use. However, I might give it another try using Eze Kote if that helps it as much as you say. Another thing putting me off was coming out in a rash after using one batch. Perhaps sealing it with Eze Kote would stop that as well.

Cheers,
Nerys

Ezekote is water based Ken. Dilute it with water and you can use it as a sanding sealer and hardener. Used neat it's ideal for sealing hulls inside and out, with FG tissue as required, and it don't pong or need a hardener so 'er indoors can't complain if you work indoors with it😊
When you're done just wash the brushes in warm water. Luvly stuff😉
Cheers, Doug

Hi DG, yes I have found it hard to find larger lengths of balsa sheets nowadays most stockists only have smaller sizes, under 18". Plus it's harder to find the harder varieties. It's mostly very soft almost spong like these days. So if you want a harder form of balsa then I soak in a 50%solution of ezekote, then you can bend it round a former and leave it to dry if you require a curved piece. Once dry it will cut easily enough without flaking.
Cheers Colin.

That's quite a collection! Do you have any comments on the quality of balsa then compared to now?

Well guys, back to the Balsa, I have a few models built in balsa using various methods.
My 5ft cabin cruiser built in1964 is decked in 3/8"x1/8" balsa over 1/4" frames.
My 4' 6" tug built in the 1970's has its Hull and decks in balsa, decks 3/16" thick planks. And the Hull is 1/4" thick x 1/2" wide planks.
Then my grandfather's tug built in the early 1950's is bread and butter construction 14" long, 2 1/2" beam. Built using 3/4" x 3" balsa with the interior carved out for motor, battery and ballast blocks.
All of them are used regularly and are still waterproof, relying on either paint or varnish to keep them safe.
I find it quite easy to repair damaged sections, as you can cut out damaged parts with a sharp scalpel very easily. Then cut and shape the replacement part to fit snugly. But before fitting the new part I put a piece to bridge the gap on the inside.
Once fitted the new part can be sealed with sanding sealer, I prefer shelaq based, then sand back and repaint with your desired finish.
Cheers Colin.

The Ohmynackker bird from kenya has one very long tes..cle and lives in rocky deserts, and is named after the loud call it makes .😊 But you knew that! I'm off to the hammock so -"Bluebottle, weigh anchor" --(sounds of grunting) "that's 20 pounds 5 ounces my capitaine"
Evening all, or ahiahi pai from Aotearoa - land of the long white cloud.
JB

Way past Red "and loving it" as Maxwell Smart used to say. 4.42 AM here. should really get some kip, but it'so nice to not have any routine now retired, so I'm making the most of it'.
JB

Just to jog your memory,
The whoop whoop bird Was used as a backup alarm on the old destroyers.
They were hunted almost to the point of extinction.
Some times you might hear one when you go to a model boat show.
Martin555.

(Or visit Doug in Munich!😁😎)
https://www.zedge.net/ringtone/39a49397-3a0e-44ba-8d6b-1a07be10da19

Martin - is that the one that uses United Airlines ..............

JB, I think you are thinking about the whoop whoop bird.LOL!

Martin555.

Sorry Martin, remembered they're from (as apposed to in) different continents!
JB

Arent we all Kiwi...........

By the way is it not past your bedtime there - what time would it be in Kiwiland - its 20 to seven pm here.

Just being polite Red 😁 keeping it seemly😉

No JB,
Totally different breed.

Martin555.

Close - but no cigars Kiwi - wrong item............. (Your post for Martin )- and definitely not the grass..........

Anything like the ohmynackker bird Martin?

Into the grass ? Red

Occasionally then you get the next generation.

Martin555.

You'd notice it if they did Dodgy,
Be like matter and antimatter meeting-
💥 and they'd both disappear simultaneously **** 😮
😎

Do they ever get cross-threaded?

There's two breeds of warra warra bird right handed and left handed or should I say winged.
Both travel in opposite direction.
They are famous for the figure eight dance.
Martin555.

Tis beginning to sound like the warra warra bird destined to move only in diminishing circles and finally disappearing..........

I know you think you understood what you thought I said, JB

But I'm not sure that you realised that what you thought you heard was not what I meant!!

Or - See pic!
Doh! My bwain hurts🤕
😎

By the time I type anything the subject has been answered and finished.

Martin555.

Thought you were mind reading there for a minute Doug!- just posted my last question and it seemed to be answered instantly, -thought jeez this guy can type!, -but it was the answer to the previous question which answered my next question.
I think, I thank, I thought, but now I can't remember what I think I thought!☹️

"Pocket money" watch out for fagan's boys Doug LOL!

Martin555.

Hi JB, the balsa was falling apart, and I wanted to add some freeboard as well, to allow for the extra weight of 12V 7Ah SLA a pair of 540S and full RC!
Original was built to run free on a flat-pack 4.5V lamp / bell battery, and two rattly little Mabuchis. A "Pocket Money Destroyer". Cheers, Doug 😎

Wouldn't it have been easier to glass it with some f/g finishing tissue ? or was the balsa stuffed.
JB

It was JB🤔,
but the original was getting rather fragile, brittle and easy to poke holes in.
By the time of the refit I had a bit more "disposable" and a LOT more knowledge 😊
The revamped hull was then sealed and strengthened with FG tissue and resin.
Foot of the bow was protected from running aground on the sloping shore of our lake with 0.3mm brass. Now she's fit for ramming U-Boats😉
I replaced the Bridge and Flak deck structures with 0.5mm and 1mm ply and decks with 3mm ply at the same time.
They say ship modelling is a Labour of Love❤️😉
Cheers, Doug 😎

... and then get the filler and sander out JB!👍
Needs must when the devil drives 😉
😎

Re "3mm - 1/'8" is rather thick for skinning a boat at around 20"
Re skinning would have been a mission Doug!?
JB

You could still use the 3mm Martin but you might still have to make some wide planks and just cut them to flow with the grain (pic to give rough idea for a simple boat.)
JB

"3mm - 1/'8" is rather thick for skinning a boat at around 20"
Heartily agree Dodgy👍
When I first built HMS Hotspur, back in the Middle Ages, I used layers of 1/32" balsa, grain vertical, to get around the curve of the stern.
Rest of the hull was 1/16".
At her first refit ca 20 years later she was reskinned with .5mm model aircraft ply.
Cheers, Doug 😎

Hi Doug,
Very appropriate because I think it is his boys that keep picking my pockets, no wonder I have never got a budget for my model making LOL!

Martin555.

I think, therefore I'm spam... (or do I just think I am? 🙄😎)

The version of that one which I like the best came in an old 'My Word' radio show - the bit where contestants were required to produce funny stories to explain the origin of well-known sayings. Frank Muir had his Descartes looking after the cakes for his wife's carefully-planned New Years party, and passing a written message to someone who was eating them too early...

"I think they're for 1 a.m...... ?"

"I think I need to do a bit more thinking."

I'm reviewing the situation ...
.
I think I better think it out again!🤔


😎

Thanks DG,
I think I need to do a bit more thinking.

Martin555.

"......The sides will have to be made using the 3mm......"

3mm - 1/'8" is rather thick for skinning a boat at around 20". I use 1/'16" - 1.5mm.

If it's all you have and you don't want to get anything else, then pre-bending will be useful, as might kerfing, though it's a bit thin for that!. See video. You might want to consider skinning in sections and then sanding to a smooth curve.

Hi DG,
I have been studying the building on the EeZeBuilt site.
And I find it really crazy that after many many years of model making I have to ask such silly questions about how to use Balsa wood!
I suppose it won't take me long to get the hang of it.
Mind you I thought the same thing when I started working with recycled plastic materials.

Martin555.

Thank you JB,
I have just measured the Balsa that I have and most of it is 3mm and at various widths and lengths.
I also have a small amount of 5mm it too is different widths and lengths.
Unfortunately I will have to use what I have to make this boat.
The sides will have to be made using the 3mm, so I assume that I will have to try and use the grain in different directions to achieve the curves!
I don't want to plank it with individual strips as I am trying to make this an EeZeBuilt project.

Martin555.

"....The trick is to feel how the plank likes to lay around a flare with the least stress, and go with that angle if poss...."

Indeed. Woodworking's a skill, like riding a bicycle. You get to feel what the grain will let you do, and make use of the way it will move. You can see simple examples on other EeZeBilt plans, where items requiring extensive bending, like the transom of the Beaver tug, are required to be cut across the grain.

................

I remember back to the dawn of time, when there were still beam engines pumping water, the summers were blazing, the winters were white, 64k was as much core memory as anyone could possibly need and when you bought balsa sheets from the model shop the density was uniform throughout. 😍

Nowadays machinery controls are non-intuitive graphics, any weather change is the subject of emergency alerts from the Met Office, you have gigabytes in a smart phone but no ability to control what goes where and when you buy balsa off the net it has bands of differing consistency along each sheet... 🤑

If you are bending things like stringers, chine spray rails etc soak the part you want to bend in a trough (if you have one- wallpapering trough is good) of boiling water for about 4-5 mins, -remove and bend around screws/panel pins set to the radius on a flat board and weight down till dry (long enough pins will let you stack a number of pieces).
If you are bending sheet balsa, the softer the better, (across the grain and with it, careful bending across,- snaps easily if too firm or thick) This will also depend on how tight a radius you need, ( if only gradual- like a clinker dinghy) you might get away with firm balsa. 2mmx 10mm wide strips will follow a curve nicely. For a bow with a flare you will need to plank (vert or angled)with soft to med balsa strips (10mmx 2mm or thereabouts)- gives you room to sand and fair.
The trick is to feel how the plank likes to lay around a flare with the least stress, and go with that angle if poss. If the hull past the flare is flatish you can use whole sheets to speed things up. For the truest shape, complete planking gives the best result (although a bit time consuming and a bit more sanding involved).
JB

Thank you DG,
I will probably have a few silly question, but it will also help the new guys that have never made models using Balsa wood before.
Any hints and tips about working with Balsa wood will be greatly appreciated.

Martin555.