Bronco Type XXIII by Ken

[redboat219]

Going with the top hatch or with Manfred's front-back hull separation for WTC access?

[Ken_NJ]

Manfred's hull hold together technique and David's deck hatch technique.

[Ken_NJ]

Something that I missed will go here when I get to it.

[Ken_NJ]

I neglected to take pictures of doing the same with the aft section. Here are both sections 'bolted' together.

[Ken_NJ]

Radial Joint

With the forward and aft sections bolted together, the deck area is pretty floppy. I added another tab with machine screw to hold the forward section together. This is a temporary bolt.



The aft section slides over the forward section. I used backlighting to highlight the joint where the aft section slides over the forward section if they were to be glued and marked the end of the joint.



Acrylic strips were cut to width and edge finished (so it looked nice).



A heat gun (Harbor Freight) was used to heat the acrylic to get it to shape.



The soft heated strip was pressed into the hull to get the shape. It required multiple heat sessions to get it right.



Both sections ready for trimming and install.






I used my Laser/Engraver to cut three templates the diameter of the sub driver.







Estimating the hull cut and placement of the sub driver template.



I moved the hull deck cut upwards. As long as the SD is below the waterline, but lower the better. This is just estimating at this point. The lower is probably better so there is more room for foam in the upper area above the SD. Notches were made where the cut will be so that when the cut is made I don't encounter that inner wall making difficult to make the cut with the Exacto knife.

[Ken_NJ]

Hull cut preparation

The forward and aft sections were joined at the central radial joint with three 080 machine screws on each side. In the end, the hull sections lined up perfectly.









Using the mark previously made at the end of the previous post, it was transferred to the outer part of the hull. I'll be using an angle piece of aluminum to make the cut line, and be using it to make the actual cut. Very fortunately, this hull is the same flatish shape most of the length of the hull, not like modern cigar shaped hulls.

,




This curved section will require using a different method to get the cut line.






The bow section was easy with this flexible ruler.



Out of order picture. The aft section.



The more difficult aft section. Note that I located the cut line going through a less conspicuous section of the hull feature in the lower right. I did this where all the cuts would be.



Thats it for laying out the hull cuts. Next up is glueing the deck area.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Methodical, logical, exacting work, pal. You're taking us all back to school.

David

[MFR1964]

Nice progress Ken, to marry both ways David and I used will be very usefull in the future, keep going

Manfred.

[redboat219]

For the curved section of the hull you could use an old tape measure as a flexible guide

[Ken_NJ]

Thanks David and Manfred.

Romel, the tape measure may work but for me it is too flexible and unruly and difficult to manage. The 2 inch wide flexible ruler is much more manageable in this instance, I used it before on other models and it works well.

[Ken_NJ]

Apply solvent to the deck joint

Before cutting the deck from the hull, the deck halves needed to be joined together. Using the Weldon 4 solvent and a brush, the solvent was applied to the deck seam and the sections were manually squeezed and aligned so that there was a minimum deviation between the sections.





Solvent was not applied forward of the bow cut line.



Nor was it applied behind the aft cut line.



And the solvent was not applied below the horizontal lengthwise cut line.



After letting the solvent set overnight, the joints were sanded with 220 and 400 grit sandpaper. This will be further sanded prior to painting.

[Ken_NJ]

Cutting the deck from the hull

I positioned the cut below the horizontal weld lines so that when the filler piece is added, it is added to the hull section, and sanding the filler piece will not impact the weld lines on the upper deck section.

Double sided tape was applied to the hull.



The aluminum angle was applied to the double sided tape. The tape was wide enough for both legs of the angle, holding it solidly in place.



The Exacto blade is 20 thousandths wide. Good to know how wide the cut will be.



The back side of the Exacto knife was used to score against the straight edge. I kept the knife as close to being parallel to the waterline as I could.






Yup, about right. Will use a 30 thousandths filler strip.



First cut. Straight and perfect.






For the more difficult turn of the hull near the stern, came up with this rig. A thin bendable piece of scrap wood.



Continued the cut from the main cut to the line.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Cutting the deck from the hull

I positioned the cut below the horizontal weld lines so that when the filler piece is added, it is added to the hull section, and sanding the filler piece will not impact the weld lines on the upper deck section.

Double sided tape was applied to the hull.



The aluminum angle was applied to the double sided tape. The tape was wide enough for both legs of the angle, holding it solidly in place.



The Exacto blade is 20 thousandths wide. Good to know how wide the cut will be.



The back side of the Exacto knife was used to score against the straight edge. I kept the knife as close to being parallel to the waterline as I could.






Yup, about right. Will use a 30 thousandths filler strip.



First cut. Straight and perfect.






For the more difficult turn of the hull near the stern, came up with this rig. A thin bendable piece of scrap wood.



Continued the cut from the main cut to the line.

Excellent job, Ken. Here's a scribing-sawing tool I made for a similar task:

[Ken_NJ]

I do have the tools I used on the Marlin, you remember that. I used a pointed hard tipped tool on the Marlin. I'll keep that scribing-sawing tool in mind, looks interesting and useful. I did use the razorback saw for a quick cut to be shown later, the same one Mike used on his XXIII to make the deck cut.

[Ken_NJ]

Bow radial cut

For the bow radial cut I heated a strip of acrylic with the heat gun and formed it around the hull. Then anchored it in position and cut the slot with the Exacto blade.








Aft radial cut

This was more simple, used a straight edge and juts made the cut.