Thank you for your interest in this kit by Modeller’s Workshop, of Montreal, Canada. We hope you like it and hope you have as much fun constructing this boat as we had doing the research and the design. It has several interesting features that put this model in a new class of kit construction.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“Charles Drown Mower (1875-1942) of New York was a noted yacht designer and author, and was at one time design editor of the Rudder magazine and a contributing author to Motor Boating magazine.
He started studying yacht design in 1895 with Arthur Binney and later Bowdoin B. Crowninshield, moving on to a partnership with Thomas D. Bowes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1911. During the first World War he served as a lieutenant commander in the Construction Corps, Naval Reserve.
After the war Mower worked either alone or in partnership as Mower and Humphreys Ltd. He was also a chief naval architect at Henry B. Nevins, Inc., at City Island, New York, and in 1937 was associated with the office of Nelson & Reid, Inc. He was also official measurer of the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club, the Cruising Club of America and the New York Yacht Club.
Most of his surviving designs are held in the Mystic Seaport Library, where a total of 433 sheets represent 107 designs.[1] A lot of his work was destroyed in the 1992 Noreaster and 1954 Hurricane Carol storms that attacked Connecticut. All of the surviving boat models once owned by Charles P. Mower (Mower’s son) are with Mildred Mower Pastula, granddaughter of Mower, and her sons; David, Stephen and James Osler. At times models have been loaned to Yacht clubs in Greenwich CT.”
The model is designed by Rick Shousha and is 1:8 scale and is 42 inches long. The kit includes the following features:
An optional parts package for the model includes the following 3D-printed parts:
The following parts are not included in the kit at this time:
The design started with a simple line drawing, and a few pictures.
First, we create a 3D hull shape using software designed specifically for making organic shapes and then this 3D model is inserted into the manufacturing software, where we add internal parts as well as the designs for the parts that will be 3D-printed later on.
The intention was to make a revolutionary kit design where the internal stringers look just like what they would on a real boat, and that is to have them follow the curvature of the hull. Most kits I have seen either have no internal stringers or they have a few straight ones.
The 3D-printed parts are available as a separate kit. Note, the cutwater is a fairly complex part. A modeller can use the part or can create their own chrome surface on the bow of the model.
A general list of tools you should have on hand:
As with most models, one needs to be very careful with the beginning of the project as early problems tend to get magnified as an assembly progresses.
Once the alignment is completed and the keel is installed, it is time to install the stringers. Please note that the stringers are designed as decorative elements of the model. They will look really cool when the model is flipped over. This means it is important to make them look good where they will be visible but the ends themselves are not that important as they will not be seen.
Although the location and slope of the propshaft is noted on the keel pieces, this is no longer easily determined. While the boat is still firmly on the building board, it’s a good time to drill for the prop shaft location. I have learned that the prop shaft should have no more than a 10% angle to the waterline (Needs to be verified)
Again, while the general rudder post location is easily determined, it is critical to verify there will be room within the boat for the rudder arm as well as the rudder servo before drilling the location. Future access to the rudder arm, as well as the servo, is also an important decision at this time.
You will notice that there are notches in the last several frames at the stern of the boat for installation of the strakes. These will eventually be parallel to and just at or slightly above the waterline. Usually these are a fragile element of any model, but the notches allow for substantial strength.
I use two layers of 3/32” x ½” yellow cedar for my boats.
The frame dimensions have taken the thickness of the planking into account.
First step is to bevel all the frames so that stringers are just at the surface of each frame. This is simply completed with a sanding block, 120 grit sand paper, some patience, and a light touch. I usually plank the first layer from the keel up to the sheer.
Following completion of this step, which, on the Mower, went remarkably quickly, with virtually no “spiling” of most of the planks, I fair the first layer, using easily sanded wood filler. This insures that the final layer of the hull is very fair with no bumps or depressions. I then add the second layer, planking from the sheer down. I have found that using this sequence removes any chance that seams are aligned.
Locate and roughly clean up the strake locations as you are planking while you can still see them. Strakes will “slot” into these notches after some careful cleaning up and fitting. There are, at this point, two choices.
You may either:
I chose option 1, which, while it took a long time, was a satisfying few hours of
fiddling. And they are strong!
Following completion of the planking, which, on the Mower, went remarkably quickly, with virtually no “spiling” of most of the planks, I fair the first layer, using easily sanded wood filler. This insures that the final layer of the hull is very fair with no bumps or depressions. I then add the second layer, planking from the approximate sheer down. I have found that using this sequence removes any chance that seams are aligned. Locate final strake location and fit strakes permanently.
Re drill prop shaft location.
Its time to release th hull from it’s foundation. While, with care. This is easily accomplished (I use a Japanese saw) , it is also too easy to let the saw wander and start cutting into the carefully built hull. To this, I say, take your time, and verify each cut. There is a lot of excess wood, and it
can be confusing what to cut, and what is your precious hull. Remember, you will be cleaning up the frames and the interior after the boat is released from the building board, and access for final trimming will be much easier. Final trimming of the frames at the deck level will also establish the sheer line of
the boat, so constant use of a batten strip to carefully establish the sheer is
critical.
I chose to fit the 3D printed cutwater after planking, although a case can be made
to fit it to the hiull before any planking or after the first layer of planks. Under any
circumstance, the cutwater fits flush with the hull..
As with most models,
Yup, that's me in front of the Gaspé, in Quebec
George Crouch’s Baby Bootlegger From Wikipedia: “Baby Bootlegger is an American wooden-built speedboat. It was designed by George Crouch for Caleb Bragg in early 1924, and
L.E. Fry’s 1909 Suwanee The original boat is in the Antique Boat Museum, in Clayton, New York. From the museum’s
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