HMS Hood: 42 and 45 ft barges

[SG1]

EJ it's great to see such a production of fine hull-plugs! perfectly shaped from assembled strips in 4 days only. I am amazed once more. I am glad you have somehow standardized the technique. Looking forward to see the vacuum-formed boats soon!

[EJFoeth]

Done!



The last series of plugs were fixed to the vacuum former using double-sided tape, positioned with the stem and stern directly over a suction hole. They needed to survive at least three attempts (made four sets). After forming which takes no time at all comes the trimming. The flat transoms remain difficult, so now I simply cut them off and replaced them by 0.2mm sheet sheet. A cutting outline was glued to the raw hulls starting at the transom, followed by longitudinal strips fixed with a tiny drop of glue in the center only. After drying the strip ends are first bent and glued to the transom strip and then at the bows with another spacer strip setting the height; the 35ft barges fortunately have a fully flat sheer line that is simpler to add. The hull were carefully parted; don’t need the plugs anymore but don’t want them damaged either. The resulting cut was not as clean as I’d hoped requiring some careful sanding to get a nice fluid sheer line.

[wefalck]

Nice resutls. Yes, sharp corners, such as those between the hull and transom cannot be achieved with vacuum forming. Making the plug a tad longer than needed, inserting the transom at the right position and then trimming the hull back is certainly the best strategy

[EJFoeth]

Thanks! The transom cutting was not really part of the plan but seemed like a good idea after forming; the hull length is exactly what it needed to be and the plug's transom made a very nice cutting plane. Now onwards to adding planks to the dinghy's. Parting skimming dish hull #2, ruined the first one

[SG1]

EJ the vacuum formed hulls look beautiful. Great thing the hull plugs were left undamaged following the vacuum forming. You never know they might come handy in the future. Now you have quite a fleet of barges to superdetail, the fun is about to start!