���The kit is lovely and the instructional video will make building the kit so very easy. . . . I wonder if this little boat could be adapted for RF control and actual sailing on small ponds. Does anyone have a way to judge this? Even just tiller control would allow it to sail from reach to reach.

   Great video but could you take out the organ. It was kind of annoying. Maybe some sax would be better.

Nice video and the kit looks very good - I'm tempted! I much prefer to scratch build though and NE Dory plans are the same price! Can I be so bold and make a couple of comments?

I don't want to be picky but it's just as easy to make two extra eyes like the rudder mounts for a gooseneck. Make them linked and glue one end into the boom and the end of the other into the mast. It'll look a bit nicer than that bit of wire on the front of the mast. I like your simple rowlocks but 5 minutes with a soldering iron and some solder would make the wire into  quite a nice solid item. I'm a bit like your comment when you are making the rowlocks though, a little bit OCD model maker! Very nice model though!  

I've built a few lasercut kits and one thing I've noticed is that they always smell like an old house fire and the edges are covered in a black char that comes off and makes a mess. You can actually see the smudges all over the boat in the video.

My solution is to take some extra time and clean the wood before beginning assembly. For example, with my 3D printer kit I lightly sanded the edges and washed them with denatured alcohol, then lightly sanded the sides and finally applied a teak oil finish before assembly. It added 3 days to the build, but it looked so much better.

Since the boat models are being glued instead of screwed, I'd skip the oil, but I'd still clean the char off before assembly. Pre-sanding the wood before assembly also lets you do a better job prepping for paint or varnish, since you don't have to sand around the seats.

Finally, if you want to simulate the application of glass cloth, but without epoxy, you could use white tissue paper and model aircraft dope.

Laszlo

I wounder if they are going to sell the plans only? I was really excited about this untill I saw the price. Unfortunatly $100.00 for a static display is way outside my income level.    

Mike,

You've got the real boat. Ask Mr. Google about taking lines off a boat (and ignore any answer that costs money or involves more equipment than a pencil, paper, tape measure, yardsticks and plumb bobs). Get wood from your favorite supplier (I'm trying to convince John to sell us what he uses), a sharp Exacto knife and razor blades and have at it.

FWIW, $100.00 is 27 cents per day for a year, or less than two dollars a week for a year. I'm not trying to sound all preachy, but if you start putting your pocket change into a jar, you could have a kit this time next year. Or, drop hints to all you friends and relatives for contributions for Christmas.

Have fun,

Laszlo

  Laszlo

Yes, I have the boat, and yes, I could figure out how to scale it down. But if John is willing to sell the scaled down plans for a reasonable price, I would happily pay it. Now as for your 27 cents a day theory. Life just simply doesn’t work that way. If I saved said 27 cents a day in a jar, when it reached $100 some other need would far outweigh building a model.

Mike, if you have the plans, then make yourself a model dory - if you want to!  The easy way is to convert all measurements to millimetres. If you have full size drawn plans all you need is a baseline, vertical lines and a ruler. Then all you need is thin plywood. 

Kits are for . . .  Sorry, got carried away there!!

Kits are OK but if you can make a full size boat from plans then I just have to wonder why you haven't made a model from the same plans. What else are you going to do in the evenings?  :)

   I don't have the plans just the manual. 

   A tanbark color lug rig RC dory would be cool.  OK, yes, that's what I have..Maybe a crew member in the real boat could have the RC controller and sail together.  .I wonder which boat would win?  

Curt

Curt,

You could also set up some seriously confusing photographs with the two boats.

Laszlo

   Laszlo...yes, thaat crossed my mind too!!