Star 45 RC Sailboat Build Blog

Haven't posted for a while but since my last post I have installed the deck hardware for both the standing and running rigging (at least most of it). Today I stepped the mast and installed the shrouds, forestay, backstay and jib stay! The mast is standing by itself! Still not done though. There are a number of things left to rig yet. You might have noticed that there are no sheets rigged. Hard to sail without the sheets! The backstay needs a brace. There is no downhaul, "uphaul", topping lift, etc... But I hope to get a couple of blocks in the mail tomorrow so that I can rig the sheets. Then I'll need to make a backstay arm thing, install the sail adjustment lines and make any last minute changes. Friday night I'll be charging the batteries and doing a lot of tweaking and such. And then finally, on Saturday, it's Opening Day of Yachting Season here in Seattle and I hope to take it out for its maiden voyage!! Happ...

Got my bolt order from Bolt Depot today. Really quick delivery and the bolts, nuts and washers each came in their own ziplock bag. Nice parts. I would definitely use them again for bolts! Wish they had a bit better selection of SS options though. And more wood screws in #1 and #2 sizes. But I doubt they get many hobbyists. I ordered 20 each of #2-56 x 3/4" SS bolts, #2-56 nuts and #2 washers. They were pennies each and the whole order came to just a few bucks, so I figured I should order a lot. Future projects ya know... Today I installed the remaining deck hardware for the standing rigging. Installed the jib stay rack: Then installed the backstay bracket. I made my own out of a jib stay rack. See an earlier post about that. Then installed the shroud stay anchors. Some people use the same jib stay racks and mount one on each side. I've already got enough to look at on the deck so I though a cleaner look would be to use eyebolts instead.They are mounted throug...

My Tippecanoe T37 behind my new Star 45 which should be sailing within a couple weeks. The rig is going up over the next week or two!     Please excuse the mess of cables and the modem on the floor... things are getting shuffled around!  The Star 45 stand had to be that short in order for the rig to fit inside the house. Will be about 7' 5" off the floor with that short stand and the rig up.  Peace!

Finally! After 5 months I'm finally starting on the rigging. Phew... Today I only managed to install the through-deck block at the back of the boat. Also had to buy some new drill bits and such which is why I only made one step on the rigging. It fit though! Had to trim out the opening just slightly, and had to drill larger holes than I intended, but it finally went in. The hard part was getting the main sheet to go through the small rubber gasket that they put on the top. They suggest coating about two inches with CA glue and letting it dry hard. Then you trim it and shove it through the bottom opening. It worked after a few tries. Turns out that I had to let it really harden overnight first. Also installed the electronics and RMG On/Off switch. It all works just fine. My new goal is to be sailing by Opening Day! Opening Day of Yachting season in Seattle that is. It's on Saturday, 3 May which gives me a week and a half. Should be able to do that barring any unfore...

Haven't posted in a while because I've been a bit stuck on the varnish job on the deck of my Star 45 RC sailboat. However, I think I've now reached a stage where I simply need to let the varnish cure for a month or two and then do a final polishing treatment. Just applied one final thinned coat to the deck and will see how it looks tomorrow. It's already got a number of dust nibs on it. But the idea is that I can lightly sand those out with some 1200 grit paper in a month or two. Then I can work through the Micro-Mesh polishing pads that I found at Rockler. They work well! So... next step is to start in on the rigging. That means that I may be only a week or three from sailing!  Spent yesterday at the T37 Regionals. Started off fine but then the wind and rain blew in. Had a big squall for a time and many boats, including my T37, were blown down and/or damaged. Yikes... My T37 is sail number 2073. See my T37 blog for more information about the T37 and how to...

Couldn't do anything on the boat today while the clear epoxy paint was drying, so I made a boat stand. It's exactly like the one I made for my T37 but shorter. However, it's still not short enough! Grrr... The Star 45, when fully rigged, will be almost 8' tall. Therefore I'll need to make a stand for it that sits on the ground. Does anyone have any great ideas for displaying a Star 45 indoors? I'm assuming now that I'll need to keep it unrigged in the house. More pics of the new stand and the hull with the clear epoxy. This is before I sand the hull so it's super shiny. Here you can see the new boat stand. The yellow chevrons don't show up well here. The Star 45 RC Class Sailboat is a beautiful boat and I'm hoping others are having a great time building theirs! See ya! 

So I'm coming around to this clear epoxy paint. Yesterday I sprayed the top of the deck for my Star 45 RC sailboat. This morning I inspected it and it was needing to be sanded. I had thought as much. I still think I'll put some varnish or spar urethane on the deck for a bit of color and some UV protection. The bottom and sides were looking a bit iffy. I had to make some fixes. Some places needed sanding, etc... But I was worried that the clear would give too much of a tint to the white on the sides. In the end, to help hide the blemishes, I gulped and then sprayed down the entire bottom and sides. Now that I can see it I really like it! It easily covered where I had sanded. Can't tell any difference between where I sanded and did not sand. Looks great! I richens the colors too, even the white, and gives a great appearance. Now the question is "Do I leave it as is or do I sand it?" There is a small amount of orange peel on the sides. The clear cedar ...

Today is a big unknown for me. I've never used clear epoxy paint by Klass Kote . When I mixed it up it had an amber tint to it much like varnish although much lighter. So I'm anxious to see if it will keep its tint as it dries. My original intent was to hose down the entire boat with it, but now, until I know if it will tint the colors, I've masked off the sides and will see. The only color I don't want tinted at all is the white base paint. I don't mind if the other colors take on a tint. Spent some time last night applying some numbering to the jib boom adjustment scale that I painted on. Used model railroad dry transfer rub-on decals. We'll see if they survive the clear epoxy paint or if I'll need to sand them off! Added some 'technical' look to the scale though. Also added the boat name to the transom in gold rub-on decals. This is a pic of the jib boom adjustment scale after three coats of clear epoxy paint. Taken in the garage so looks mo...

Finished the touch-ups and will now let the boat cure for a day at least before I start spraying the clear epoxy paint. I also finally trimmed the keel bolts. When you trim yours MAKE SURE THAT YOU THREAD ON A FEW NUTS OR WING-NUTS BEFORE YOU CUT! I'm very glad that I did as it was the only way that I was able to get the threads straightened out again. When I unthreaded the wing nuts they straightened the threads. Phew. Here's what the boat looks like so far... More after I spray the clear epoxy. Fingers crossed that it works. Peace!

Today is touch-up day. I need to fix a ton of paint issues. First there is a large smoosh in the red paint on the starboard side that will need to be sprayed. Then using the remaining red paint in the cup I'll do a number of touch-ups along the hull/deck joint where the white base coat can be seen. Then several more fixes. Spend this morning scraping black paint off from where it bled through the masking. Looks better but still not great. At this point I'm hoping that people see the overall boat and not focus on too many of the small issues. If you stay at least three feet away it looks great!  =P  The goal is to get the boat ready for some of the dry transfer numbers and lettering I want to add. Then hopefully I can start spraying the clear epoxy paint by tomorrow. We'll see how that turns out! Fair winds!

Today was the day for the final color. I've added a huge hull number ("723") to the deck and smaller ones to the sides where I had left a white area. I also thought it would be useful if I added a jib boom adjustment scale to the foredeck. I made ticks at 2", 3.25" where Windjammin Sails Star 45 Tuning Guide suggests, and a few more after that. The Star 45 RC Class Sailboat is a beautiful and classic looking boat, but most people paint it one solid color. I thought we could do better. LOADS of touch-ups to do. Will need to do some sanding and such as well. I tried two different masking sheets and both bled. Grrr... One was standard shelving sticky paper. The other was Tamiya Masking Sheets. You might expect the experiment with the shelving material to bleed, but not the Tamiya! Erf... this will create a lot of work. But nothing can be done right now. Need to let it harden overnight and then start scraping and sanding tomorrow. Sigh... This pic is of the T...

I've added the third color... yellow chevrons on the deck. Odd look right now but the idea is that there will be a ery large hull number over the yellow stripes. We'll see how it looks... fingers crossed! This Star 45 RC sailboat will look great! ... eventually! Don't give up on it yet... it'll look great when it's all done. It'll be technical looking, vintage racecar/powerboat looking, and ocean racing sailboat looking all at the same time! Peace!

Here is a pic of the red that I added last night. It turned out OK but there are some touchup's that I'll need to fix, especially around the hull/deck joint. Also a few goofs here and there. The idea here is that I'm trying to replicate the vintage powerboat/racecar look... big number painted on the sides and deck, racing stripes, accent colors, etc... mixed with traditional hull painting (pinstripes, waterline, etc...). We'll see how it turns out. One thing is for sure though - like it or hate it, it's not like any other Star 45 out there! Most are one solid color without even traditional hull pinstripes or waterlines. I think we can do better for such a classic design, so even if you don't like my numbers and racing stripe idea, please consider adding a pinstripe and waterline stripe to yours. The Star 45 RC class sailboat is such a classic design that it deserves some classy paint. You might not like my hull numbers, but the pinstripes are ...