Dauntless
Dauntless Build Started
The very first step of the Dauntless construction is shown. I used some 5 minute epoxy to splice glue the keel pieces and the sheers.
The flat building board is finished with three coats of polyurethane. The door looks almost too good to build upon.
The keel hasn’t been laminated yet and I have ordered some 30 minute epoxy with which I will do the lamination. I also ordered some System3 T- 88 epoxy that I will use when I need a slow setting epoxy. I am always fixing things with epoxy and this stuff has been around for along time, originally designed for boat builders.
I discovered the System3 T- 88 is recomended to only be used as an adheasive. because of its thickness it is not recomended for sealing wood or laminating fiberglass. For surface coating System3 recomends several other lower viscosity clear finish products in the end use chart. I will consider those coatings that can also be used when I cover the hull and other surfaces with 2 oz fiberglass.
I laid the keel haves side by side to illustrate the curve of the hull. Epoxy will be applied on the top surfaces seen here and then joined together to make a thicker keel.
Door Building Board
I now have my building board. As you can see in the pictures I purchased a 24 inch by 80 inch flush door. I ended up getting it at Home Depot after Lowes didn’t have ANY 24 inch in stock. No problem, they are close to each other.
It cost $24.00 and with tax it ended up two cents shy of $26.00. That’s not a bad investment for a flat place to build a large model boat.
The floor clerk cut 20” off the door. He volunteered to do it for me after I told him I was building a large model boat. I said, “That would be great as you’ll do a straighter cut with your panel saw than I could do at home.” Also the door in two pieces would fit into my VW GTI much easier. It probably took him less than two minutes to safely make the single cut.
Now I have two flat surface building boards. The large one is 60 inches by 24 inches and the smaller board is 20 inches by 24 inches. I won’t count the saw kerf as missing OAL.
As you can see I made and glued in new end supports in both door pieces. I had to dig the mighty Powermatic out of its hiding place to do the sawing. The thickness of the end wood is 1 and 1/8 inch. The insert width can be anything. The large piece I was able to make 1 and 1/4 inch wide. The small piece I could only scrounge up a 3/4 inch piece. Both will do the job just fine. Overall length of both pieces was 22 and 1/4 inches. That makes the stock wood sides only 7/8 deep each.
That material seen inside the door shell is just cardboard. With the sharp wood chisel seen in the photo it took all of 3 minutes to prepare space for the new end wood piece. For the primeval forest tree huggers, that is not real Lauan wood. It is a pressed fiber like paper with somehow receiving a super thin coating on the outside to make it look like wood. I am sure it is an ecologically sound material.
I choose Type III Titebond glue but I do have an equal amount of Type II here in the shop. Either would work fine. I coated both surfaces before making the joint. Now I am pealing Titebond skin off my fingers just like my model airplane days (or woodworking).
Oh and as usual, one can’t have enough clamps on hand.
A once over with the sandpaper block and the door/boards look like they were always that short. I am thinking I should give the building boards a coat of urethane just as a moisture (humidity) protection. Then on with the project build.
Slow Start
I am writing in LibreOffice Writer, a component of Fedora Linux. The office program seems to be much the same as the OpenOffice.Org which is written in Java and now sponsored by Oracle. Looks like Linux is getting more commercial than they claim. Oh well, it seems to be very similar and functional.
I have Fedora installed on one of the shop computers and in the shop is where I have been all day (so far). The weather is so nice that I hate being in the house with so much that can be done here. It has been raining off and on for several nights so the yard is at last getting well refreshed but not ready for a cutting.
It’s nice to have a comfortable workshop again. I haven’t started the build on the Dauntless but it is getting close. The project is a hobby, not a business so things like a daughter getting married move to first in the line. That event just ended with a hitch and in this case that is a good thing.
I have been looking for an 18” hollow core door panel for a boat building surface. It is one panel of a bi-fold closet door. I don’t have time of the energy to haunt scrap yards as I can buy a new 24” single door for under $30.00. I am about to go do that. Too wide is OK.
First job will be to cut down the length to make it more manageable. I figure about 20- 24 inches removed should do it. That operation will probably be the next post.
Kit Dauntless
Got my delivery today. Here is the starting point on the Dauntless build. The box of wood that will eventually get glued together in the shape of a rather large model boat called the Dauntless. There is a date on the box 5/2/2011 so this is a fresh kit at a very good price. Not much more I can say at this point. I’ve got a building board I need to make from a luaun door panel. Enjoy the pics.
The Dauntless Chosen
The choice has been made. I selected the boat that will house the RCS control system. I did a LOT of internet searching and found out the Dumas Dauntless does have a long and fairly loyal following. Here is a link to a forum with lots of Dumas Dauntless builders.
There are quite a few kits that died on the vine, started but not finished. Also some very poorly built and finished examples. That’s just how it is. The kit build is a serious undertaking and is not a well documented build from Dumas. I bought the plans a few months ago and I can see why some builders struggle.
From what I can determine, the kit has been around (produced by Dumas) for almost 35-40 years. I’ll post the true length of production when I find out for sure.
As plans go, the Dumas Dauntless plans are minimal as far as step by step instruction. What a kit provides is a box of wood and some almost scratch builder plans. There are some details in the plans but Dumas says quite clearly that the plans are not suitable for scratch building. For example there are no full size hull formers (frames) drawn. I am sure that is intentional. Since the kit wood is already die cut, little measurement is provided. The plans do look to scale but there is nothing confirming that.
All in all I believe I am capable of the Dauntless construction task having built many wood models in my life including several smaller Dumas boat and many aircraft kits. Let’s say I am not intimidated of doing something incorrectly.
I did the same research on the Dumas American Enterprise. It’s an older kit than the Dauntless. I saw some pictures of the kit being built “right side up” from the keel and it looked like the builders were having a very serious problem keeping it straight. I also read a lot of complaints that the wood supplied was of dubious quality with some plywood delaminating. No idea how long ago that was. The Dauntless is built upside down on a flat building board as were the other Dumas boats (Deep V’s) that I have constructed.
I think the American Enterprise is a beautiful boat and would like to build one someday. I have seen some well constructed examples and they are exotic. The models on the internet have model jet drives but I read no reports on how they run.
In any case I am committed to the Dauntless on this project. I ordered the Dumas kit through Amazon and it will be shipped from Best Service Stores for a total cost of $130.95 including shipping. Not bad since Dumas direct wants $210.00 plus shipping.
Since I have access to a complete modeler sized machine shop I am anticipating making most if not all the operating hardware myself. I think the Dumas running gear is minimal design and far too expensive. There other much nicer commercial model boat driveline vendors on the internet. Their product looks very good but also higher priced than the Dumas. There appears to be much higher value in the “after market” gear. I think I can do as well.
Stay tuned. This is a major project. Much more to come on the Dauntless build.