Sunday, December 26, 2021

Hanging the rudder

 The rudder is hung on 3mm dia eyebolts - slightly opened out - to accept  the stainless steel spindle, which 1/8inch diameter.



The waterline is marked by the bottom edge of the blue tape. Haven't quite decided what to do about the tiller yet. Maybe cut a slot in the upper part of the stern and laminate a wooden one. However, the first task is to fit the servo and control rods, so the rudder can be controlled.


Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Hull inside Gunwales

 I added some 1.5mm thick plywood to the inside of the hull. This will strengthen the edge and also provide a good surface to glue the uprights, which will represent the tops of the frames. The ply was glued to the GRP hull using West Epoxy. As the ply was only A4 size, there was a need to use several pieces but aim to use the uprights to cover the joints.







Monday, December 20, 2021

The Rudder

The drawings supplied with the hull moulding provide minimum information, so it is proving necessary to give some careful thought to how progress with the construction, especially where the servos will be sited and how they will operate the rudder and sails. Therefore it seemed sensible to make the rudder, which is constructed from three pieces of 3mm plywood laminated together. The outside faces have been scribed to represent the planking.











Friday, December 17, 2021

1/12 th Scale

 The model is meant to be 1/12 th full size, so to help gain some impression of this I looked for a figure to get the proportion correct. Those available from model boat suppliers didn't seem suitable but a search on eBay showed a range of dolls house figures. 

DOLLS HOUSE DOLL 1/12th SCALE MODERN MAN WITH BEARD RESIN FIGURE | eBay

Although sold as a "Modern Man" - it does look reasonably realistic, once his white boots were repainted.



The plan is to use two sail winches, one for the mainsail and the other for the jibs. I want to design and make these so they can be removed and refitted once the deck is in place, using a hatch in the centre of the deck. To check this will be possible a simple template of the deck was made in card.





Making a start

There are several good model boat forums and a good search of these does provide some advice. I'd hoped to find another modeller who had built a "Katie". However, I did find this record of a similar boat and this record includes many useful tips - many thanks to the builder "Laker", who has completed an excellent model.

Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Build – ‘Eliza Rose’ (modelboatmayhem.co.uk)

The suggestion of adding a piece of brass along the keel is an excellent idea, so decided to follow this and used some 7/16 inch square brass. This is currently held in place by 3mm csk machine screws but will be finally fitted in place with some West Epoxy as well.




Bristol Pilot Cutter

The Bristol Pilot Cutter is a specialised boat that was designed for the strong tidal waters of the Bristol Channel. Its purpose was to quickly transport the pilots out to incoming larger vessels and then guide them to the city ports. The craft was equipped to remain on station for days or even weeks, awaiting arrivals outside the channel.

The design has been described as the best sailing boat design ever, for being both high speed, highly manoeuvrable and yet easy to handle by just two crew.


Katie is a 1/12 scale model, which is based on the general design of this type of boat, rather than a specific example. The hull of the model is made from GRP and was obtained from Sarik Hobbies. It is 40 inches long. See link below.


Katie (Gaff Rig Pilot Cutter) - By David Alderton - Sarik Hobbies - for the Model Builder


The photos below show the hull as it was supplied.