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Thread: 171 Extreme Build - 1/8 Scale Boeing

  1. #1
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    Default 171 Extreme Build - 1/8 Scale Boeing

    Hi, been following along on this forum for a while, finally decided to jump in and build a kit. Aiming to build the Boeing in 1/8 scale, and document along the way. There is not a lot of info out there on how to build these, so hoping to add to the knowledge base. Hopefully I can learn something along the way from all the experts here as well!

    Will try to document in detail, take a lot of photos and close ups. Ive been scouring the internet looking for photos of this particular kit, there is one excellent build on this forum, and about half a dozen photos on the MLboatworks site, but thats about it. Hopefully will be more after this thread. Onto the build:



    The kit comes as about 4 laser cut sheets of plywood. The quality of cutting is excellent and the kit fits together fantastic. A lot of thought has gone into the design of the tabbing, how the components fit together, etc.




    I also grabbed 4 extra sheets of plywood and a bunch of basswood sticks, all from ML boatworks as well. Ive gone with west systems for my epoxy, both the regular and the gflex.



    Finally i grabbed a some MDF as a nice flat building surface that i wont mind cutting up and drilling into.
    Last edited by nocebo; 05-23-2021 at 10:12 PM.

  2. #2
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    Building the kit starts with cutting out the individual pieces from the plywood. They are left in place with small breaks in the laser cutting. I found them easiest to cut with a razor. They also need need to be filed flat with a file or some sandpaper.




    The laser cutting leaves a burnt edge to the plywood parts - I cleaned this off with some metho and a rag. If you dont clean it off it will mark up the clean plywood - Im not sure if i want to leave the inside clear so wanted to keep the plywood clean



    Started my build on the center section - here are the parts you need:




    First step i took was to fix down the floor of the hull. All the plywood parts are a little bit warped, so the need to be held down while gluing or the whole thing will warp. Ive seen others (M5 Performance makes great videos) screw the floor down to a flat sheet of MDF, but I didnt want to put holes in the hull. I went with a super thin double sided tape, which actually worked really really well.

    Last edited by nocebo; 05-23-2021 at 10:15 PM.

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    Started with a trial fit up of the center hull. Heres the transom:


    Its in two pieces, this is the first


    and the second

    Next are the center ribs



    And then the central longitudinal pieces


    Last edited by nocebo; 05-23-2021 at 10:17 PM.

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    Here it is together:



    Last edited by nocebo; 05-23-2021 at 10:19 PM.

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    Looking good. If you haven't found Scott Myers You tube channel yet I suggest it . https://www.youtube.com/user/matinco2 Tons of knowledge.

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    Cool project. Interested in seeing more updates.
    Vac-U-Tug Jr (13mph)

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    Thanks, yeah have seen his channel, great knowledge there and been following closely for this build.

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    After trial fitting, next step was to do the glue up of the main hull. My process for gluing up is to lay everything out, and trial fit everything together without glue. I put every clamp on and get everything completely ready before mixing up any epoxy. Nothing worse that trying to work out how to clamp that awkward part while your epoxy is kicking off.

    Ive been reading that a lot of builders will super glue all the parts together and then run a bead of epoxy over the whole thing to hold it all together. Ive tried to avoid this with the build and stick to mostly epoxy on all the mating surfaces - my thinking is that this will be stronger? Im also using the 24 hour epoxy (West Systems slow hardener) This gives me more working time and forces me to work a bit slower and not make stupid mistakes. I tend to try to do one glue up a day, let it set overnight, sand the next day and do the next glue up.




    Here is everything laid out ready for the first glue up. Im using the pump system from West Systems but honestly rarely every use a full pump. Most of the time I will use some scales and mix up 6grams at a time into a shot glass. (5 grams of Resin and 1 gram of Hardener)



    Here is everything ready to go - as you can see Ive trial clamped everything and have spare clamps ready to go.




    And here is the first glue up. I glued the two part transom together, as well at 1/8 basswood sticks to the bottom of the 4 main stringers. The basswood sticks help straighten out the stringers, which is helpful as they warp quite a bit once out of the pack.
    Last edited by nocebo; 05-23-2021 at 10:22 PM.

  9. #9
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    Next day after the epoxy had dried - next step was to glue on the transom. Used a straight edge and some weights to make sure it was completely square and flat.


    Last edited by nocebo; 05-23-2021 at 10:23 PM.

  10. #10
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    I recently finished the 171 extreme kit. It’s a solid kit that goes together seamlessly. Do you have the cockpit yet?
    Lookin good so far!

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    Quote Originally Posted by jingalls007 View Post
    I recently finished the 171 extreme kit. It’s a solid kit that goes together seamlessly. Do you have the cockpit yet?
    Lookin good so far!
    Hi, thanks for taking a look, agree so far it has been going together well, well designed kit. Currently up to the sponson sheeting, which is a little more difficult : ) Would love to see how you did your sponsons, having trouble working out how the ride pad matches up with the side of the sponson? Seems different on the starboard and port sides.

    Unfortunately dont have the cockpit yet. Emailed rcboatworks a few months ago but seem like he is under the pump at the moment building cockpits - on backorder. Its not holding me up yet as im still working on the sponsons. Im basically avoiding doing anything at the front of the boat because im worried the cockpit might not fit when it does come in : ))

  12. #12
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    B4641679-FFB4-401C-A005-5E81E60EDECD.jpgB9BEE7BC-6E78-4F79-9225-5BE1B47AB5A8.jpg35910042-A926-4288-A301-4980EE896A10.jpgD971AA73-842C-46E2-B7E7-32925C0F2961.jpg

    Don’t worry about gaps or curved cuts in your skins. You’ll be doing some amount of filling to get it all smooth. If you haven’t already chosen a putty I’d go with Icing. It’s a two part polyester that’s easy to sand, water resistant, and rock hard. As you can see in the pics above I love the stuff.

  13. #13
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    Have you seen Mike’s smugmug profile on his site? This kit is in there and he walks thru assembly steps showing a fair amount of detail. I use his smug mug photos for his scales kits.

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    Quote Originally Posted by jingalls007 View Post
    B4641679-FFB4-401C-A005-5E81E60EDECD.jpgB9BEE7BC-6E78-4F79-9225-5BE1B47AB5A8.jpg35910042-A926-4288-A301-4980EE896A10.jpgD971AA73-842C-46E2-B7E7-32925C0F2961.jpg

    Don’t worry about gaps or curved cuts in your skins. You’ll be doing some amount of filling to get it all smooth. If you haven’t already chosen a putty I’d go with Icing. It’s a two part polyester that’s easy to sand, water resistant, and rock hard. As you can see in the pics above I love the stuff.
    Thanks, this is exactly what i was looking for, some close up of the sponsons and how the sheets butt together. So far Ive done the sheeting on the air trap and the back of the sponson, hopefully will do the ride pad tonight. Will check out the Icing putty, havnt picked anything yet.

    Your build looks great by the way, its crazy how big these things are when they are all together.

    Yep been all over Mikes Smugmug profile - he has heaps of pictures, just not many of the 171 build. Each sponson design is slightly different so just trying to work out exactly what sheet butts up to what sheet, or overlaps, or overhangs, etc.

  15. #15
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    Yeah I have a few more sheets to cut and then I’ll sand it all down, putty where it needs it, then clear coat. I used exotic vaneer for the top decking so we’ll see how that turns out.

    They’re “big”[1/8 scales], but the gas scale boats are massive. I’m building two of Mike’s gas kits, the 164 and 172, and these boats are ridiculous. I’ll post build pics in a new thread if you have any interest.

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    With the transom glued into place, the next step is to glue the main stringers to the hull floor and the front support rib. This where I made my first mistake:



    I had glued on the basswood support pieces to the main stringers before affixing to the hull. Unfortunately the main stringers and the ribs slot together to make a very solid and clever design. This means the basswood support pieces get in the way of the slot so you cant join the two pieces together. If you are building put the basswood on last, not first : ) I was eventually able to very carefully bend the wood to make it work without the whole thing coming apart.

    Setting up for gluing down the main stringers is one of the more complex glue ups of the build. You need to ensure the stringers are dead straight, and in place at exactly 90 degrees to the hull. The whole thing also needs to be weighed down so its perfectly flat along the whole length. I ended up cutting up some aluminum angle to use as a support for the stringers. On the outside of the hull I actually screwed the angle into the MDF baseboard and then clamped the angle firmly to the stingers.





    After a full night curing i was able to remove the clamps. Came out dead straight



  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by jingalls007 View Post
    Yeah I have a few more sheets to cut and then I’ll sand it all down, putty where it needs it, then clear coat. I used exotic vaneer for the top decking so we’ll see how that turns out.

    They’re “big”[1/8 scales], but the gas scale boats are massive. I’m building two of Mike’s gas kits, the 164 and 172, and these boats are ridiculous. I’ll post build pics in a new thread if you have any interest.
    Very cool - so are you planning to not paint the body and just clear coat it so the timber shows though? That would look awesome i think.

    Never seen the gas scale kits in real life, only from watching you tube videos. Would love to see your builds of them, they look amazing, and would be great to get more than 3 minutes run time when compared to the electrics : )

  18. #18
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    Your shop is awesome! It’s setup nice and clean with quality benches and tools.

    The gas scales I’m building will be electric so short run times indeed haha! But it’s more the enjoyment of building than running so it works out ok.

    I’ll start a build thread of the T6, Valken.com U-7, I’m working on.
    Last edited by jingalls007; 05-27-2021 at 02:22 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by jingalls007 View Post
    Your shop is awesome! It’s setup nice and clean with quality benches and tools.

    The gas scales I’m building will be electric so short run times indeed haha! But it’s more the enjoyment of building than running so it works out ok.

    I’ll start a build thread of the Valken.com U-8 I’m working on.
    Ha thanks, been getting the shop together for a while now, trying to make it all fit in a 2 car garage that i occasionally park a car in. Still need to finish of the welding table (hence all the steel on the floor) and make a couple of other stands etc, but otherwise its all finished. Would love some more room for a small Mill and a lathe, but that might have to wait until the next shop.

    Looking forward to the build thread, im guessing some serious motors and batteries to get something that size moving.

  20. #20
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    After fitting the main stringers to the hull, the next step was to glue up the cross ribs. I also glued on the top basswood supports during the same glue up. First problem i encountered was that the basswood seemed slightly too large for the cutouts in the ribs. See below



    This was the case for all the cutouts for where the basswood supports run through the laser cut parts. I dont know if this was deliberate, or (more likely) the basswood has inconsistent dimensions. Either way i found it easier to trip the lasercut parts with a file/razor to make the basswood fit.

    Once everything was trimmed, i was able to drop the ribs quite easily into place, and then the basswood supports on top. I then used every clamp i had to keep it all in place.




    The basswood needs to take on a bit of curve to match the hull, i found the easiest way to do this was start clamping aft, following the line of the stringers. Lots and lots of clamps working all the way forward.



    Some creative use of rubber bands to ensure there is full contact across all the glue joints:



  21. #21
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    Rather than trying to match the sharp curve at the front, i simply let the basswood extend straight out past the front of the hull. Once its dried, I will fill in the gaps with more basswood, trim to length and sand to shape.



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    Once this was all dried up, i cut the battens to length and filled in the "missing" sections with more basswood. This was then sanded and planed to shape, following the curve of the hull.

    Trimming to length:


    Small piece of basswood i used to fill in the underneath of the outside batten:


    Here is that same batten sanded to shape:


    This is the inside batten:


    Piece of basswood glued on top:


    And in the process of sanding to shape:


    I didnt get a final shot of this sanded to shape but it essentially follows the curve of the hull. Most of the rear end of the additional basswood is cut of and only a sliver at the front remains.

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    Onto the sponsons!

    While the hull was drying up, I made a start on the sponsons, these are definitely harder to build than the hull, and I am still working through the sheeting process. The shape of the sponsons are more "organic" so require some funky approaches to clamping. Also really important to keep the sponsons firmly clamped down as they are drying up to prevent warping (for those of us who have not build a dedicated jig)

    Anyway here are the parts you need to make the sponson frames:





    First step is double up the starboard rear sponson frame - where the turn fin attaches. Im assuming this is doubled up for extra strength.

    Not sure what the consensus is here on how much stronger you need to make this part - can you get away with just this or do you need to back it with aluminium plate or carbon fibre? What does everyone usually do here?



    Next step is to start laying up the sponson frames. Just like the main hull, I double sided taped the sponson frame to the build board to keep it flat. I then laid each of the frames one by one, using a square to make sure they were exactly straight. Unlike the main hull, i used CA glue to tack into place, and then backed up later with proper epoxy. The sponson is sort of flexed into place in spots, so really handy to have the CA glue working as an extra hand.



    Once the main frames are in place you can start to tack in the front sponson supports - sort of the ride pad supports. This is where the whole thing needs to flex a bit and its a bit fiddly, the ML kit actually fits together really well though and all the parts are clearly marked. If you take your time, following the numbering system and these photos it will slot into place - if you are having to really force it its probably not right!



    Here it is from another angle so you can really see how the frames work:


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    Once the frames were glued in, I started installing the battens. Starting from the front and working my way back, spot gluing each rib as i worked my way back. The top battens need to be tapered into the sponson to match the sheer line - i did this (poorly) with sandpaper.



    As i worked backwards, I used to square to make sure each rib was perfectly square to the main frame before tacking in the batten.





    As usual, I left the battens long, and once dry, trimmed to length:



    On the bottom of the sponson, there are additional battens that need to be fitted into place




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    Once all that had dried up, I pulled the sponson from the build board and glued in the rest of the battens. These are hard to clamp when the sponson is stuck down



    There is a bit of curve towards the rear, so lots of clamps and rubber bands to keep everything in place






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    With the basic sponson frame done, I needed to fill in the rear of sponson to provide an area to sheet against. For this I used a piece of lightweight balsa.

    Cut to basic size:



    Glued in solidly into the rear of the sponson:



    Trimmed roughly to shape with a flush cut saw



    And I then spent way too many hours sanding to shape to match the curve of the hull. The balsa sands quickly with 120 grit sandpaper on a block, but i have since gotten a nice small handplane, which is faster and quite accurate. Anyway, I basically followed the lines of the sponson and tried to keep everything nice and fair:






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    Finally, i clamped the two sponsons together so i could finish off the shaping of the rear, this allowed me to keep everything reasonably symettrical







    Sorry if im posting too many pictures, hopefully they are helpful!

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    Thanks for sharing! This will be an excellent build reference for others in the future!

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    Quote Originally Posted by longballlumber View Post
    Thanks for sharing! This will be an excellent build reference for others in the future!

    Thanks. Hopefully people can learn from my mistakes!

  30. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by nocebo View Post
    Thanks. Hopefully people can learn from my mistakes!
    Coming along famously. I envy builders like you that take the time to explain each step and the reasoning behind your choices. Excellent man! And btw, did I mention I’m jealous of your shop?!?

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