This the story, possibly to be a long drawn out one, of a scratch built wooden boat. Nominally for my six year old son, he has provided the spec for the armament, and as no amount of firepower is too much for a boy, he has asked for torpedoes, guns and missiles, hence the name!

Been looking for a hobby for a while now to fill in the small amount of spare time I get and having (mostly) finished my Dads Aerokit 36" (detailed in another blog somewhere here) fire tender a mere 40 odd years after he began it, I decided to see if I could do the hard bit and build a hull myself rather than fitting out what he had already done. I do like to do things my own way though so decided to go from scratch rather than a kit. I can't list marine architect on my CV so I used the Aerokit hull to get a start for the dimensions then altered it all to suit what I thought would be best, especially the spacing between the bulkheads to allow for batteries and radio etc. The superstructure will be different to reflect the er, interesting weapons specification demanded by the 'customer'. Hopefully we will end up with a wooden hull around 880mm long by 255mm beam, powered by a Caldercraft CEM750S at 12v driving a single prop. I did want to go for a twin motor set-up but the extra cost didn't really justify itself to me.
I have drawn full scale the plan and side elevation and the bulkheads which have now been photocopied full size. I cut the main keel section from 5mm ply and laminated it with two 9x9mm spruce sections using polyurethane adhesive. Despite clamping to a flat surface during the cure it still ended up a banana which is why I like to work with metal but never mind, I clamped it to a long radiator in the lounge (understanding wife required here) for a few days and it is now straight. I have pasted the plan views of the bulkheads to 3mm ply and will be fret sawing them over the next few days if time allows. That's about it so far.

I bet this was written off as another idea that got no further! I will pop some photos up soon but I have completed the main part of the hull minus skins, once I glue the last stringer on I will clean up what I have done and get the camera out. I have learned that bending 3/8" sq spruce around the deck profile is easier said than done and laminating in 1/8" strips is easy! I also found that warming said 1/8" sq strip is easy with a heat gun and less messy than steaming which is how I did the 3/8...said I hadn't built a boat before.

Ought to say the skin here is just trial fitting, not gluing on, see comments below! Couple of pictures just to prove it really does exist! I am about to start on the lower skins but here you can see the stringers and bulkheads etc. The second to last one definitely did not get drawn wrong and need a modification, oh no. it isn't on the kitchen table when my wife was at work either.
Bit concerned at the change of profile at the forward keel, not looking forward to that bit but will be able to re-profile it if need be as there is a lot of spare material there. I'm using 0.032" ply for the skins and will laminate to strengthen as required, not having done this before I am as usual guessing a bit. it seems to me easier to go with the more flexible materials rather that struggle with the thicker- how thick does the skin need to be? How does 2 plies of .032" with a layer of epoxy between them sound, I don't know, well stiff enough I would have thought on the high seas but generally abuse proof enough I am not so sure.

After a long pause I am as far as propshaft, motor and rudder installation. I need a servo next but spent all my pocket money climbing a mountain in Wales this month. it was good but wet.
The motor lives on the usual alloy bracket, screwed to two wooden plinths made from strip laminated with araldite. it's all standard stuff but making it this way allowed me to shim the height correctly, the strip being about 1.5mm thick. I'll post some pics if I can work out the Google drive thing but you will also see that the lower skins are on and after the servo installation I can think about the upper hull skins and then the superstructure. All good stuff😀.

Easier to form lower skins than I thought, laminating from the 32thou helped a lot.

Ooh look, 9 years later I'm doing a bit more, it's sat on the top of various wardrobes over the years but now it's back. There's a 2mm deck and some superstructure and even some possible Sterodent torpedo tubes....the hull was done, motor mounts and propshaft all in. I'll nick the radio out of my MK2 Fireboat, it rarely runs anyway. I did find an Iranian Navy gun/missile boat the other day, add a torpedo or two and perhaps this isn't such an OTT concept after all!

And it is a little, changing jobs and families keep us all busier...
Anyway, I have done a bit to the superstructure. What I amusingly refer to as the weapons deck, IE where the missile launchers and torpedo tubes live, has progressed. Please remember this is only a bit of fun, a fantasy creation and it's not to any scale or prototype. The launchers, very unfinished, sit in a recess and will appear to be raised by a hydraulic ram. They'll look better when fitted up and painted, I hope...and less like the machine tool boxes they actually are. There is a blast deflector behind them cos you don't want to set fire to the stern, do you? Quite proud of the rams for that, they are pop rivets and a piece of tube but I think they look ok! The main lift ram has it's gland in place but that's all, it's made from a chemical dropper.
The gun element of the title will be a CIWS type of thing, recessed into the bow, somewhere.
I did start on a windscreen and cabin but it didn't work so back to the old drawing board there.
On the actual proper working boat front there are now splash rails, whatever I'm supposed to call them.
Hopefully with evenings available again soon I can start to fit the servo and radio etc inside.

I wouldn't say this is the inspiration but it is a missile boat of approximate specs! It's an Iranian design so maybe most of them on the seabed by now.