Devin W.C. Ryan

Building 4 Star 60 Day 1: The tail starts

Yesterday I bought a Sig 4 Star 60 kit off John from our club.  I’ve been so excited and nervous about building I wanted to get a start on it ASAP so I called up Peter today, as he’s teaching me, and got over to his place after supper.

We opened the box, seen in the image, and went through everything.  Noticed that for the plans we had two 2 of 2 pages and we were missing page 1 of 2 of the plans!  Thankfully a quick trip to Johns and he was able to provide us with the missing plan.

Starting the Tail
Starting the Tail

I got a start on the tail this evening after an intro into learning how to read the plans which includes how to tell the different tyes of woods and the way the grains are going. The grain direction is important as it provides strength.

They do recommendtwo copies of the plan as then you have one you keep in good condition and another you place on the table for working on. We cover it with wax paper to keep the glue off but still poking pin wholes through it.

I punched out the required pieces and then sanded any edge that will be glued to remove the ‘burn’ marks from the laser cutting and the rough parts from where a piece is punched out.

Once that’s done made sure everything was lining up properly and glued the framework together and pinned to make sure it’s held tight.  This didn’t include the 6 pieces for support.

The 6 pieces were done from biggest to smallest (this allows for if you cut to small you can use it for a smaller one).  Theirs one piece of wood that’s the appropriate width and then I measured and cut (using a bandsaw) each piece.  Before cutting the next I’d sand the end down until their was a snug fit.  Don’t want it to big or else it’ll push out the frame and cause warping/twisting of the frame.

Once I got them all fitting together properly going by Peters markings as to where the overlay stopped I placed glue on the surfaces that would be contacting the ‘main’ (top and bottom) pieces.

Throughout this process we’d pin the wood down to the table to ensure everything was snug and flat.

That sums up today’s building process as left the glue to dry.  I was uncertain how I’d like building but if today was any indication I’m going to love it as I really enjoyed this build session.  I know I just started, so will have to see how good my patience and ability to learn construction skills really are!

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