Lots of progress today. I’m literally one strip away from having one entire side complete (except for the cockpit coaming). I also finished the last of the quart too.
The stripping started with running a full length (~8 ft) basswood along the outer edge of the detail strip. This allowed me to continue the front one to the back and tie both the front and back detail pieces together. A bit of trimming at the back and a splice cut to ensure the ends of the two strips met tightly is all that was needed. Well that and a bunch of clamps.
The resulting gap required a few extensively trimmed pieces to fill it in. One wasn’t too bad, the other involved lots of fitting, trimming, fitting, trimming, etc. until it finally fit the space.
The process was same as before. Take the strip, cut well oversize. Check to see how it fits compared to the previous strip and the forms. If beveling is needed, do so. Trace the ends from underneath or mark from above and connect the dots. Trim down to just a little oversize. Plane one end. Check the fit. Adjust the whole edge or just the part that is not fitting right. Sometimes this involves changing the angle. Once it fits tight, make a reference mark (or two). Repeat on the other end until both are a good fit. Glue in place. Tape/clamp as necessary. Dot on hot glue stitches to hold it. Once they are cooled and dried, repeat.
While this process makes sense to me as I’ve installed probably over a hundred strips already, I realized it might not be so obvious for readers. A picture helps, but today I did a sequence of movies to illustrate this process.
Following the above process, over and over and over… I was able to complete almost all of the strips on the rear quarter and connect it to the front quarter. I have a final strip on the outside edge of the deck and of course to eventually cut out the cockpit, but otherwise this part is done. If I get any chances this week I might be able to complete the other side, if not then next weekend is definitely a possibility to have it done.
Of course I had to get some pictures. This far in and I’m still enjoying the build and happy with the way it looks.
