Star 45 RC Sailboat Build Blog

Today I got out my strongback that I used on the first Star 45 and cleaned it up a bit. The original frame bases came right off and the bottom balsa alignment pieces stayed in place. Bit of luck there! I removed the frames from the laser cut panels and cleaned them up a bit. I was very careful last time to be sure to clean up all the laser burn marks but this time I'm being lazy. The new frames slipped right in place but I haven't glued them in place yet. Let me explain why. My intention in building this second Star 45 is to make an experimental version that updates the design just a touch. The Star 45 has a very classic design, but it's also somewhat modern in the front sections and reminiscent of a modern offshore ocean racing yacht like a Volvo Ocean 65. I really like the look of the modern Volvo Ocean yachts and other similar variations. My idea is to tweak the Star 45 to make it look somewhat similar. Not an exact knockoff mind you... I want to use the exis...

This afternoon I unclamped the laminated deck planks that I glued up yesterday and did my best to mill it down. Started by lightly planing each side. That went fine. But then I tried to resaw it on the bandsaw and that was a disaster. The blade wandered almost right to the edge before I stopped it. Ugh. So I took some measurements and decided that I had enough meat in the plank so that I could resaw it on the tablesaw and still have enough on the two side to plane. It went fine and then I was able to plane the two halves to be pretty smooth. However you can see where the bandsaw came too close to the edge. In my design ideas for the deck I may be able to hide it or cut it out altogether. We'll see. In the picture above you can see the walnut "caulking". I think that it looks pretty good! When the epoxy hits it it will darken more and really stand out. The wood "planks" look... Ok, I guess. It's hard to tell while you're making it even thou...

Just managed to get the deck planks and veneer glued up this afternoon. Will let it dry and then tomorrow will try to resaw it in the bandsaw to attempt to get two "book matched" sides for my planked deck. Fingers crossed the blade doesn't wander too much! If I can pull that trick off then the next one will be to send the two sides through the planer and get them down to around 1/8" so that the deck isn't toooo heavy. The trick there though is to plane it down without the side cracking apart. IF it all works then I should end up with a lovely deck material that looks like planking. The thin walnut veneer will look like caulking. Hard to see at this point though.  Stay tuned! Fair winds!

I took the Star 45 down to the Seattle Model Boat Pond this past weekend hoping to have an hour or so of sailing. But when I got all set up and turned on the RMG SmartWinch (it's hooked to the RMG BEC Switch too) I got an odd ring tone sound. After that the winch wouldn't work properly. All my Travel Adjustment setting on my Tx were not working and the winch would run ALL the way out. I only have 50% of my stick useage... the top 50% of my stick travel was just dead stick. Weird huh. Anyway, after messing around for a long time it was finally suggested to me that I call Rob from RMG. The only problem with that is that he is in Australia! Can't wait to get that phone bill! Rob was very helpful and we tried a number of things. Eventually we got it all to work how I wanted, but it's still not exactly how it was before. Just acting odd. He ended up thinking that it may actually be my Tx instead of the winch and he may be right. In the end it's all fixed and work...

I'm back! At least for a bit. So am I starting Star 45 number 2? I'm not sure yet. However I did get a hankering to cut some wood and make a deck. Decided that IF I actually go through with it, that I'll make a boat that's "based" on a Star 45 but might have enough alterations to the hull that it might not even qualify as an official Star 45. If it doesn't then I'm OK with it. We'll see what happens. What should I call my Star 45ish boat? Star 45x? Star 46 (or whatever length it ends up being)? Star 45ex? Star 45xm? Hmmm...For now I'll call it the Star 45x RC Sailboat. (UPDATE: It is now called the Salish 475 as of 10 May, 2015! Click the link to see the completed boat!) Today I cut some fir into strips as well as some walnut veneer I found at Rockler. Thought that I'd make a deck similar to the one I made for my Tippecanoe T37 that I made a year ago. The idea is that the thin veneer is glued on its side between wider strips of ligh...