I agree that the strongback as well as the garage both look extremely clean.
I'm doing my first build, also a guillemot. Right now I'm finishing up the external stems and hope to be glassing the hull within a week or so.
I second the advice about forms 15, 16, and 16.5. I heeded the warnings from others' build diaries and took the time to make sure I had the strips bent so they fit well. I found using a heat gun didn't let me get the amount of twist I needed to get a good fit. So I went looking for plan B.
What I finally settled on was a steam cleaner - a machine that looks like a little vacuum cleaner, but produces steam for cleaning bathrooms, etc. It will produce a constant, somewhat high-pressure stream of steam. The steps I used are:
- Drill a hole in the middle of a length of PVC pipe
- Clamp strip to flat surface at the beginning point of twist
- Place PVC pipe over strip
- Clamp free end of strip at the end point of the twist
- Shoot stream through hole in PVC pipe while applying twist using the clamp on the free end of the strip
- After about a minute, stop steaming and hold strip in place for another minute
- Allow the strip to dry sufficiently before gluing in place
CAUTION: Don't get your hand in front of the steam!
I had to hold the twist about 5 or 10 degrees further than I wanted the strip to twist. On a few strips I had to repeat the procedure because I had the strip twisted too far. On some of the trickier spots around the above mentioned forms, I had to twist a strip one way in one place, and then twist it back a little in another.
The attached photo shows the process in action (the foil is to protect my work table from steam). More photos are available at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20153569@N00/sets/72157624819978021/with/4985619082/
Good luck with the build!
-T-
![](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4113/4985619082_13e2417e10_z.jpg)
Messages In This Thread
- Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah! *PIC*
G New -- 9/12/2010, 8:14 pm- Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah! *NM* *PIC*
G New -- 9/12/2010, 8:16 pm- Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah! *PIC*
Tim Sheehan -- 9/13/2010, 1:02 am- Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah!
G New -- 9/13/2010, 9:11 pm- Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah!
G New -- 9/13/2010, 8:58 pm- Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah!
Ian Johnson -- 9/13/2010, 9:24 pm
- Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah!
- Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah!
dave g -- 9/12/2010, 10:47 pm- Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah!
Ian Johnson -- 9/12/2010, 11:36 pm- Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah!
dave g -- 9/13/2010, 12:26 am- Re: Strip: Guillemot progressing slowly but surely *PIC*
Ian Johnson -- 9/13/2010, 3:19 am- Re: Strip: Guillemot progressing slowly but surely
dave g -- 9/13/2010, 7:35 pm- Re: Strip: Guillemot progressing slowly but surely
Ian Johnson -- 9/13/2010, 9:04 pm- Re: Strip: Guillemot progressing slowly but surely
Bill Hamm -- 9/14/2010, 9:03 am
- Re: Strip: Guillemot progressing slowly but surely
- Re: Strip: Guillemot progressing slowly but surely
- Re: Strip: Guillemot progressing slowly but surely
- Re: Strip: Guillemot progressing slowly but surely *PIC*
- Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah!
- Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah!
Jim Farrelly -- 9/12/2010, 10:28 pm - Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah!
- Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah! *PIC*
- Re: Strip: Strongback Completed Yeah! *NM* *PIC*