Sunday, November 18, 2012

Iceboating at scale

Well, after way to much thinking and not enough action I have started on the remote control E Skeeter project. After talking with a friend about his Stern Steerer version, and then visiting Sparky and seeing his E Skeeter, a scale of 1:6 was settled on.

Next I needed some accurate measurements to work from. After some web searching, YouTube viewing and email correspondence I ended up with some very accurate measurements and could get started.

First up the plank. It will end up being 48" with a 2" width at the center and a 1" width at the ends. It was suggested that I just use some clean pine. After a  quick trip to my local Menards, and some advice from their lumber folks, I settled on some Aspen for the plank with the hope that it more closely matches the basswood that is used on the full sized iceboats.

With the wood purchased, I cut it to size and then planed it.

Next came the gluing and clamping. I used an offset in the middle of 1 1/2" by 4". The plank pieces were glued together with epoxy and clamped to a 4x4 that I had available. I wrapped the plank in wax paper and moved it inside

Coming up next... Testing the plank deflection and shaping.