Tool Maker's Surface Gauge

[jbelwood]

I borrowed a friends Tool Maker's Surface Gauge (Micro-Mark) to establish the waterline on my Bluejacket

Portland hull. What a great little tool for this application. I sanded down a regular pencil to a diameter that 

would fit the hole where the scribe would normally be. Placed the ship and gauge on a leveled wall mirror

and encircled the hull. Worked perfectly the first shot. Up next is the masking and painting. That will be interesting.

 

John Elwood

 

 

[jud]

A surface plate and one of those devices does a good job for this kind of marking. You can make your own, as many here have done, the home grown models can be simple or complex, both working well for the intended use. A block with a hole bored with it's C/L at the desired height with a pencil poked through the hole, a table or even a clear spot on the floor, will do the job. Good that these types of aids are brought up in posts periodically, new builders may not have seen the things that others have found useful in the past.

jud

[grsjax]

An easily portable DIY surface plate can be made from a piece of granite counter top.  It will not be perfect but for model building use is more than adequate.  Check with someone that does kitchen renovations to find a piece of granite.

[jbelwood]

Thanks for your responses jud and grsjax..None of the surfaces in my house were exactly level including our granite counter top.

The two big issues were getting the inverted hull level with a working surface due to the sheer and the errors I made athwartship

with the two large main deck pieces. Prior to using this tool I did make my own marking device but was unable to adjust it properly.

Getting the mark over the four sponsons was critical. This was my effort in marking a water line. 

 

John Elwood

[jud]

Don't believe that whatever is used for a surface plate needs to be level, just a uniform flatness, you are measuring from a reference plane and as long as your model stays put, it makes no difference how plumb it is. Glad to see that you made your own, sorry to hear that you found it needed improvement. Obtaining the Surface Gage you used was a good follow up. From what I can see, it looks like you are doing well with your model.

jud.

[jbshan]

It doesn't need to be level unless you're using a level to level out the model.  :-)

It does need to be pretty much even, of course.

[WackoWolf]

Either way John you got the measurement done to your liking, and that is what counts. Hope to see you at the next meeting.

[Julie Mo]

My first stab at marking the waterline was with this

It worked well enough but I didn't secure the hull from rocking.  The bow is 15/16" higher than the stern so I placed spacer blocks and shims under the stern but failed to secure the hull making the marking of the waterline a bit tricky. For the final marking, I'll secure the hul.

[Modeler12]

John, you probably know that the gauge is useful for a lot of places where you need to mark or make measurements.

I use one with a magnetic base to level the table on my mini-mill.

[thibaultron]

Another good "Flat" surface, is a thick piece of plate glass.

[thibaultron]

Another thing, if you are going to leave the plate glass in place permanently. If the surface under it is uneven, you can build a temperary frame around it, and pour in liquid RTV. It will flow under the glass, and fill the voids. Once it cures, remove the frame and trim the RTV. Now the glass is evenly supported under neath.