The Amsterdam comes with a thick plastic hull, plenty of die-cut wood sheets, rudder, driveline/prop and two trays of fittings. The kit components look to be of very high quality and the die-cuts are very well done, almost as good as laser cuts. I am impressed with the quality of the parts.
The instructions are simply the best I have seen to date. They consist of a full color manual that shows detailed photographs of each building step and a separate manual with the written instructions. The written instructions do have a few translation mistakes but it is not hard to figure out the true meaning. The photograph manual is the true jewel of these instructions, I wish every kit had one.
The first part of the construction is to assemble the false keel. The die-cut wood snaps out easily and only requires the barest of sanding to give a smooth edge. The pieces fit well making the assembly go very quickly.
I am trying a new type of glue for this assembly, Gorilla Glue. It is suppose to be excellent for gluing wood together and will also bond with plastic. It expand as it sets into a waterproof foam like material. I will only use it where it will not show as it tend to ooze out of joints.
When the gorilla glue sets up, it expands out into a spongy foam. This helps tighten up the joint but it is a bit unsightly.
The rear of the false keel gets to supports glued to it because the keel must be cut to allow the drive shaft to pass.
I went ahead and cut the keel slot for the drive shaft while it was out of the hull to make it easier to install the drive shaft in later steps.
I used an 8 mm drill bit to open up the passage for the drive shaft. The two supports required a good amount of work to allow the shaft to clear.
I used CA glue to attach the center false keel piece. I then went back and used gorilla glue to reinforce it. That is probably overkill. The frames are glued next but I would not advise gluing the middle one picture here until the poop deck is installed since that deck piece must be flush with the frame.
The rear keel support does not fit well against the hull. I had a 5 mm gap all the way around. The keel piece itself was flush with the bottom of the hull but the frame piece simply did not fit.
The instructions recommend using silicon adhesive on the frame pieces. It's ugly!
The blueprints included with the boat calls for a motor about the size of a Dumas Pittman. I plan on using a much larger Pittman motor that I purchase from C&T Hobbies.
Pictured here is a Dumas Pittman in the foreground and a C&T Hobbies in the background.
To fit the larger motor, I cut the false keel out at an angle so that the motor will line up with the drive shaft better.
