The hull structure, showing the rear keel and rebates in position, ready for skinning.
And skinning commences. Use hard 1/16" sheet balsa. Note the grain running across the beam for ease of bending.
The hull bottom is sheeted with two pieces. Note the balsa has been given a light coat of varnish as a sealant - if you want a balsa boat to last it needs sealing everywhere...
The supports for the cabin windscreen and curved front go here, as shown.
Practice assembling the cabin windscreen and associated parts and trim with sandpaper to get a good fit before gluing.
The prop-tube is sealed with epoxy poured around the skin joint. Degrease the brass first and it will adhere well.
Here are my deck pieces - ready scored for boards and varnished, because it's easier to do this while they are flat.
Note that the lugs from the Bow Former stand up above the Bow Hook - this is intentional and gives the bow deck a camber. Glue well all around the deck edges.
KF1a and KF4 are given doublers made from 1/16" strip to help gluing...
Once the deck is in place, you can start to fix the Bow side skins. Note that for formers F1 and F2 there are little triangular fillers which continue the line of the former over the Chine Former. Make sure they are in position!
The deck is made out of one strip of balsa - join the two paper templates together. Unfortunately, even the slightest error in joining them will result in a gap against the superstructure, so it is best to use the superstructure as a template to join the paper, then cut slightly oversize and use a sanding block to get the edge as precise as possible.
Alternatively, make the deck out of two parts...
The Cabin Windscreen roof is made up from three triangular pieces of balsa, joined like this. Note that the two large pieces are NOT joined at right angles - they tilt towards each other slightly ...
The front superstructure former is supported like this. Note that the former does not run right up to the deck - there is 1/16" of clearance at the front for the roof pieces to slot into.
