Dumas Products Inc. Lightning Sailboat 19 DUM1110 Boats Kits Sailboat

The media could not be loaded. I just finished my boat and put her to sea. I went all out and built my own RC system for the full sailor experience. She capsized on her maiden voyage, bug a heavier weight solved that problem. I’m still learning how to sail but fun so far….I’m and above-average builder and here’s my experience. I glanced at the directions to get a sense for order, but you will need to take your time and build the boat in stages. I used small clamps (clothes pin size) to fix the pieces for glue drying. Too much pressure, rubber bands, or large claps and parts will break. The ribs are balsa wood so expect some to crack—no big deal, just glue a small sister board over the split and move on. I added 2 sister ribs to the main keel rib (making it 3 ribs wide) to give more glue area to the bottom mahogany skins. Carefully sand the frame before gluing the panels. I used 100-grit and it cuts very fast. Glue all mahogany panels one by one and don’t get over zealous and sand the panels flush to the frame before gluing on and adjacent panel. Definitely glue the bottom in 2 stages so you can at least clamp the center to the keel rib. I did deviate a bit on the instructions—namely to stiffen the screw eye areas. I bought longer screw eyes and epoxied them into the bow before adding the mahogany panels. I also tripled up the beams where the other screw eyes go. We can’t have these pulling out while she’s at sea. I did stain the cockpit to darken the mahogany and in order to seal the front and rear areas, I brushed 2 coats of polyurethane to seal the joints between the frame and panel—do this before gluing on the tops. Final sanding of the hull was with 320 before brushing on 2 coats of poly.I’ve built and installed my own RC unit from an Arduino, EBYTE transceiver, and some SG servos and several custom 3D printed parts. I can control the rudder, main and jib. The boats unit has a NANO, 3 servos, the wireless transceiver, batteries and all squeezed into a 4x4x1 3D printed box—and sits below deck. I 3D printed a rudder and bracket so it fits better with the servo. The antenna wire travels up a grove I cut into a custom mast (slightly larger and cut from oak) so the antenna and LED wires are nice and tucked away. The antenna sits on the top of the mast mounted to a 3D printed part. Heck I even put an LED at the top of the mast that will illuminate blue for active RF, and red for lost signal and flashing red for low battery. The whole RF unit (receiver and base) cost around $50, garage printed PCB boards, a dozen 3D printed parts, and a couple hundred lines of code, but it works like a million bucks.I also named my boat “Miss Elizabeth” after my daughter and glued some 3D printed name plates to the bow.This model will take some experienced hands, patience, and an understanding that balsa wood is fragile and will break. Take your time, don’t force things, and use lots of small clamps. You can do it. It’s a hoot to build and sail.

My husband abandoned did Sunday sailor my in Memorial his in this Class of Sail Boats. It will be a while nderful gift for him to build and remember the fun times sailor by in this class of sailboat.

I got this as a gift and thought it would be neat to build and sail this thing across the neighborhood pond. However, I was in for a surprise when it came to building the actual boat. The designer of the kit explains that there are 2 different sets of instructions, the latter to help clarify the 1st set. This is a joke as it would take an additional 3 sets of instructions along with the trade secrets for water warpeing wood. The designer states that if you are a brute, you will break it. Well let me tell you this, it would take a woodworking master with the patience of Job to get those panels to bend into shape. Sure enough, it snapped and so did I. That hunk of balsawood junk got gutt stomped in the middle of the dinning room floor and I must say, even though I'm out the cash, it's still cheaper than a trip to the psychiatrist......

At first I hated this kit. very week strucktual componnents. It took 3 kits to build and not all the kits are complete. Why was it so important? It's a rememberance and tribute to an uncle who had a similar painted craft. once you understand how intricate it is and what to do about it. You;ll like the outcome. looking back it was worth it.

First the good. The quality of the wood and hardware in my kit is excellent. The basswood, mahogany, and balsa were all top grade, as was the quality of the laser cutting. Kit is about 80% complete, and so far there are no missing pieces.Now the bad. As noted in a comment earlier, there are 2 versions of the plans, which can be confusing. The kit is a laser-cut update to their ancient die-cut kit. However, (and the updated plans note this several times!) the 1:1 plans will not match the laser cut components AT ALL because the plans got stretched during scanning! So the full size plans are virtually useless. Also, the locations of the stringer slots on two of the frame bulkheads are cut in the wrong location. If you are not an experienced builder and try to build the boat as designed, it will end up a disaster. Experienced modelers can work past this and end up with a decent looking model, but you will be creating your own components a fair amount of the time and ignoring entire sections of the plans from time to time.

Just missing the Mast in box. But got around it since dimension supplied in part list.

I will write a new review, my order was delivered today, I will rate this idem 5 Stars

My husband is putting this together and likes the challenge. He founda few mistakes in the instructions - like you can't install thefloorboards before you put the pin in the center board to hold itin... but there hasn't been anything he couldn't figure out. It doestake a lot to put all the pieces together.