Chris Craft 24 ft Sedan

I made a start on this today. It is mainly a balsa core, with 1/16th mahogany for some parts. The skins for the hull are plastic - so a multi media kit  The balsa is very soft, so care is required. The mahogany is also fragile, but the instructions appear to advise when strengthening is required.
The instructions are quite comprehensive, and written in a very chatty style - I'll try and quote some later.

This is where I got to this morning. I need to go slow as I don't think it will take too long to build.



Barrie

These are the construction diagrams with this kit. I wish all manufacturers' were as good and clear.



As I said some of the balsa is very fragile and today I broke two pieces. Luckily they were clean breaks and have re-stuck.  This is where I'm at.



Next stage is to add the sheer and chine stringers. That should add some rigidity to the structure. After that the plastic skins go on which will protect the balsa core.

Barrie

 

Sheer and stringers installed - not without some breakages . The instructions say to sand off the bumps on the sheer, but that will bring them inside the bulkheads  I need to give it some thought  When I've sorted that out, the next job is to add the skins. That will cover up all the balsa

Barrie

The two bottom skins applied today, and much more balsa broken . I can't see why they used it especially in the orientation they did. Its almost impossible to get any grip on the hull without risking breaking something. I have strengthened some bits with ply. Once the side skins are on it should be better, but before them there are the bottom skins to trim

Barrie

Hi Barrie

My only experience with a Dumas kit was much the same as yours i.e. amusingly folksy, "down-home-y'all" instructions and pretty clear drawings, but where do they get such useless, soggy balsa? Now you can see why some of us turn to liteply for such jobs. Every single plank in the Lord Nelson Victory Tug kit ended up binned, along with many of the parts which were die-crunched from packing-crate material masquerading as plywood. The plastic supplied for much of the superstructure was a strange, dense foam sheet which was brittle and very heavy. I planked the hull with obechi and glassed it, but gave up in the end and sold the thing. I saw the chap who bought it quite recently and he'd parked it on a shelf until he summons up the enthusiam to do anything more to it!
Hope yours has a happier ending, mate.
Dave M

Thanks Dave. I knew you had had problems with Dumas. I think when I get the side skins on it will be OK. Its not intended as a working model so should be OK. The roof is balsa so I may have to remake in liteply, but otherwise I think I've finished with the stuff

Barrie

Well, the problems continue  After a lot of hassle, the side skins are on, but only after re-making and repairing various balsa pieces.

 

The gaps at the bow are to be filled with balsa blocks. As you can see there is quite a bit of trimming to do

It really is a pity that such inappropriate materials were used for this kit. It would make a very nice model if liteply had been used instead of balsa. 

Barrie

Great work so far given you issues, keep it up, really enjoying your build!

Bow blocks added (using my own balsa. The kit piece was rubbish) After sanding and first filling, this is where I'm at. Fine filler added waiting to harden.

 

Barrie

After more sanding and filling at the bows, I turned to the cabin sides. Thanks to all the problems with breakages of the balsa I had fun getting them to fit in the slots . I also made a new transom. The kit one was mahogany which would have required lots of work to get to match the sides, so I made one from plasticard - it still needs some trimming.

Barrie

 

The transom was trimmed and more sanding of the bows - still not very happy, but it may have to do . The fore deck was stuck with epoxy as my CA didn't arrive in time.
I then moved on to the side decks which required lots of sanding to get a good fit to the cabin sides. Finally the rear deck was added and all trimmed flush with the hull sides. At the bow there some 'ears' which fit on top of the deck. These will be the next job, followed by a rubbing strip of 1/16th half round plastic strip  The instruction suggest this should be painted silver

Barrie

 

 

I have now finished the decks, including in the well. These have all been varnished with satin varnish. The cabin front windows have been installed after much fiddling and the use of some mahogany plastic wood . The cabin sides have had two coats of gloss varnish. I can now glaze the windows. I have started to understand how the roof fits. Its in three parts and is requires shaping. Its made from balsa so will not be fitted until I have finished the hull, including painting as I don't want it to collect any 'dings'. I will treat it with resin, but I don't think that will be sufficient.



Finally today I had a look at the fittings - not very good . Lots of flash and a much harder material than UK white metal fittings. As you will see. the wheel is missing part of a spoke 



Barrie

The windows have been glazed  The instructions actually suggest painting them black, which I would have done anyway.

I also finished the rear well, except for painting the seat cushion.

[/

Looking again at the fittings, its going to be difficult getting a good finish. It is very hard material. Also there are flagstaff fitting which have to be drilled, and the instructions imply they may split rather than drill

Barrie

Really fast progress on this Barrie! I was only awol for a day great work so far, turning out to be a nice looking boat.

Aron

I'm trying to go slowly RR, but its not a big or complicated model  

Today I added the rubbing strips - 1/16th half round plastic. I think 1/8th would have been better, but that is what is supplied. I also cleaned up the prop and rudder and fitted these. Cleaning some of the other fittings is going to be extremely challenging as they are so small, and the metal is hard.
I also gave the upper hull a coat of satin white - acrylic this time. I decided I would give it a try as Humbrol enamel is so variable in consistency. Some tins like water, others like treacle

Barrie

Not too much progress today. I marked the waterline then gave the underside a coat of dark blue. This is enamel as I don't have an acrylic version of this colour.  It will need another coat.
I next turned my attention to the fittings and cleaned them up as well as I was able - they are very small and the metal is very hard . They have now been painted silver, except for the wheel.

Barrie

The underside of the hull has now had 2 coats of paint, and the sides three of Satin White Acrylic. This appears to come out of the pot with lots of limps. It does smooth out, but rather strange .
Next job is the get the cabin roof sorted. It was a little short on one side which is strange   I have glued a strip of balsa on the back and tomorrow I will have a go at shaping it.

Barrie

The cabin roof is now fixed. 



and has had several coats of resin. It will need several more  

Last lap now. The windscreen is ready to fit after the roof is smooth and painted.  The fittings are painted and ready. I have ordered a new plinth as the one supplied is too large and flimsy - just vac-formed plastic. 

Barrie

Final touches today. Several coats of satin white on the roof and part of the sides. The latter not too impressive due to the heavy grain of the mahogany. Fittings attached. There should be a bollard on the bows but it snapped trying to remove the flash . I will search my bits box to see if I have a suitable one. Also there should be a skylight on the bows, but it looked ridiculous so I haven't fitted it.

Considering the quality of the supplied material I am quite happy with the result, although I will NOT be buying any more Dumas kits

Barrie

hi barriew

you are flying through these kits at a rate of knots .  this one looks like a nice show piece, do you have a lot of room to show them. my trouble is i have got over thirty boats all in boxes as i have no were to show them
you certainly look like you are enjoying your self in this lock down hope the next one is as interesting and stay safe in your man cave


david

David,
This was a really simple model. If the materials had been any good it would have been finished even quicker, so I should be pleased they were rubbish . 
I only built this because I wanted to build the static version of Andrea Gail by Billings, but nobody had it in stock. Of course as soon as I bought this I found a fibre glass hull of a fishing boat on Ebay. This is my next project. That will be a more difficult build as the hull is not very good, and the plan is incomplete  I will have to design quite a bit of it myself.

As for display, most of my models are in my workshop, but I have three on display in the house, and four more in my study. I don't think I will be allowed any more in the house. I have had to move the ones I built for my grandson into the garage. Once we get some more freedom I will have to try and sell some!

Another great model there Barrie, great work as always, thanks for sharing!

Hi Barrie,

I have read your build blog with some interest as I am also working on a Chris Craft model that was built from an American kit - and it too was made from some pretty poor and fragile materials - so I found the similarity with your Dumas kit very interesting!

My 48" Corvette model was built from a Sterling kit that dates from 1954 and was rescued from a skip (which is where is probably should have stayed) and the lockdown was probably the only thing that saved it as I wanted something to keep me occupied - and this has certainly done that!

Although this is a big model it was mainly built from balsa wood and the construction reminded me more of a flying model aircraft than what would normally be expected to be used in a large model boat. 

Some very thin low grade plywood was used for the cab sides and decking but it had not aged well as it crumbled and/or delaminated as it was touched so it was actually weaker than the balsa wood - and that was not good!

I ended up trying to glue all the different delaminated shards of ply back together again to give me some of the the shapes before I could remake them in better quality plywood before I could replace them.

The size of the boat obviously tempted the last owner to give it some serious power and a large single cylinder two stroke engines was bunged into it  . Sadly the planked balsa hull became fuel soaked and as it dried-out over the following years this caused the balsa to be as brittle and weak as the plywood so it really was a basket case!

I have replaced the cab sides with 3mm plywood and re-skinned the decks with 1/16 ply .  I have replaced the missing sections and doubled the remaining fragile balsa wood hull formers with new 1/4" balsa wood and replaced some of the planking with hardwood planks that I striped from an off-cut of oak that I found laying about in the workshop (shed). Sections of the split and soggy balsa wood keel have been replaced with 1/4" ply so it is now substantially tougher than when it was new............but I still have a long way to go.

Some of the cast fittings have (surprisingly) survived, but unlike yours these are quite soft and are very heavy so I suspect that they have a lot of lead in them - perhaps because lead would have been cheap at the time and easy to cast?

My thoughts are that this large (and at the time expensive) kit probably had similar poor quality (fragile) materials when new, and this could have been comparable to the Dumas kits of today........


Stay safe!

Bob.

Hi Bob
Yes - steer well clear of Dumas. The only good thing about them is the instructions which are written with humour and by someone who actually built the kit. I'm not sure the latter is always the case
The fact the material was such rubbish actually worked in my favour as it extended the build time.

Barrie

Hi Barrie,

.........have you ever heard of a good quality American model boat kit?

The only ones I have ever seen have all looked good when completed - but have been supplied with rubbish quality materials!

I did think that the early Sterling kits bad quality wood selection could have been due to shortages following the war etc, but it looks like model boat kits from the USA often have the lowest quality wood chucked in the box!

Stay safe!

Bob.

Yes Bob - MidWest - but they've stopped making kits. This went together vey well, and DaveM (Inertia) commented on the quality of one of their kits he built.

https://www.thercmodelboatforum.com/t1502-american-coastal-tour-master

Barrie

Well barrie,
you have made a real good job of her considering the problems you have been having with this kit.
Nice work and an entertaining read thank you.

Martin.

Would you like it? Its going in the skip soon!!

Barrie