The Kit-Basher's Guide To The Galaxy

[NenadM]

Cap, we are expecting "hair" story !!!

[CaptainSteve]

No.

Not many people need to make coconuts ...

... or do they ???

Edited December 6, 2014 by CaptainSteve

[NenadM]

Maybe do not need coco... but sure need idea

[hornet]

 A cheap and cheerful dremel clamp/holder.  Pics are self explanatory

 

 

[DSiemens]

Your post just gave me a ton of ideas.  Thanks!

[hornet]

CONNECTOR SLEEVES

 

These are used to loop nylon fishing line. They are crushed to hold the line in place but are made of brass and come in different lengths and diameters. Once the protective covering is removed (inside and out) they can be used with brass wire and copper sheeting to make gudgeons and pintles.

 

 

 

They are available at most fishing tackle stores

 

 

I cut one in half to produce the `hinge' part of the pintle and gudgeon.

 

 

After a bit of silver soldering and blackening, they come out quite well!!

Edited September 11, 2015 by hornet

[hornet]

STAINLESS STEEL SCREWS FOR EYGLASSES HINGES

 

Available on ebay for around $5.00 per box - enough to last a lifetime.

 

 

I sometimes have trouble getting nails holding gudgeons and pintles to stay in the rudder (even with glue)

 

I have experimented with using these micro screws instead

 

 

Screws have CA glue applied to thread. Once in place I file back the heads.

 

 

Then paint!!

 

I'm sure there are other ways to use these micro screws in a build.

Edited September 11, 2015 by hornet

[CaptainSteve]

Your post just gave me a ton of ideas.  Thanks!

 

... just another of the many services we offer here at Kit-Basher's.

[CaptainSteve]

Hair Clippings (yes, Human Hair)

 

Cap, we are expecting "hair" story !!!

No.

Not many people need to make coconuts ...

... or do they ???

Maybe do not need coco... but sure need idea

 

For those wondering just what the above dialogue was all about:

 

I had made some coconuts from Sculpey to be included as decorative detail on my Bounty Launch build ...

... but, the husked coconuts just seemed to be too smooth and shiny.

 

... and so I came upon the idea to finely chop up a handful of hair (collected from the floor of my neighbourhood barber). The baked, plaster coconuts were coated with PVA glue, and then rolled around in a bowl of the hair-clippings.

 

Once the glue had dried, I cleaned off any excess follicles. To me, the result looks a lot more realistic.

 

(Sorry it took me so long, Nenad)

 

Footnote: Never try to argue with a lawyer ... you cannot possibly hope to win!!

Edited February 26, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[hornet]

A couple more simple ideas

 

Take a used No. 11 blade and grind it down as shown in pic below:

 

   

 

Slit a piece of dowel and insert the blade so that the square(reverse) end is protruding from the dowel.

Bind with cord.

 

 

Because the `butt end' of the blade is `square,' it makes a good scraper to remove excess glue for jobs such as

fitting  the second layer of planking.

 

 

Pegs screwed to a T shaped base board are good for holding parts for gluing and  painting.

 

 

Golf tees have a large base which is easy to glue to a board. I grind down the tee shaft to the desired diameter then use them to hold cannon for airbrushing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mattsayers148]

DISECTED EMPTY BIC LIGHTER / FINE CROCHET THREAD(side 3 to100/color ecru)

 

The masts on a ship in a bottle use a form hinge to "flatten" masts to fit thru bottle neck. Cut masts and place spring to rejoin masts, flatten out and incert into bottle.

 

The part where fuel comes out I used for belay pins(1:24)

 

The fine crochet(6 cord/mercerized) use for lines and sailmaking. Wax will dark thread, could be stained to your liking.

 

 

Great topic CaptainSteve, Matt.

[grsjax]

Beading tools.  Some nice tools used to hold beads, ream holes in beads and thread beads on a string.  Some these can be found being sold as "special" tools for modeling but if you look under beading tools on ebay or elsewhere you can usually find the same thing a lot cheaper.

[WackoWolf]

You can also find them at craft store in the USA like Michale's

[geoff]

size 1/0 Aberdeen fine wire eyed black fishhooks with the bent bit cut off make very neat eyebolts & handrail stanchions. I got 50 for £2.40 from Amazon

[CaptainSteve]

Beading tools.  Some nice tools used to hold beads, ream holes in beads and thread beads on a string.  Some these can be found being sold as "special" tools for modeling but if you look under beading tools on ebay or elsewhere you can usually find the same thing a lot cheaper.

 

I've used these very successfully for rigging ... especially for threading dead-eye pairs.

[mattsayers148]

TUBE ASSORTMENT / ANY SCALE

 

I found these little grab bags at my local hobby shop and went back to get another, and none were to be found. Well eBay is the place to go. Search "k&s 320" also may add to that search "tube assortment"(changing a word or two will find you more items)

 

I bought 5 bags for a bit over $16 shipping included.

 

It made quick work for the pintles and gudgeons on my Bounty Launch.

 

Matt

[mtaylor]

I believe MicroMark offers similar grab bags but, as I recall, not at that price.

[grsjax]

TUBE ASSORTMENT / ANY SCALE

 

I found these little grab bags at my local hobby shop and went back to get another, and none were to be found. Well eBay is the place to go. Search "k&s 320" also may add to that search "tube assortment"(changing a word or two will find you more items)

 

I bought 5 bags for a bit over $16 shipping included.

 

It made quick work for the pintles and gudgeons on my Bounty Launch.

 

Matt

Just ordered 3 bags off eBay today.  Great find.  Hobbylinc also carries this item and has a good price on it.

[Salty Sea Dog]

                                   CLEAR PLASTIC JARS OR BOTTLES, BRASS TUBING & STUBBORNNESS

 

The Captain invited me to his table to share how I recently made a compass box for my whaleboat. One of the pieces needed was a 'glass' lens for the compass. I ended up using a piece of clear plastic cut from the side of a plastic jar. The curvature of the jar adds a bit of magnification to the lens which makes a nice effect.

 

It proved tougher than I expected to make a little lens and I ended up with a few rejects.

 

Here's what I learned from my failed attempts:
 
1) Do not shape it with sandpaper or a double-cut file. The thicker jar plastic actually seems to be a 3-layer lamination, and I'm guessing the heat from coarser shaping methods causes a de-lamination that clouds up the edge of the lens. It actually swells up too. In hindsight, the really flimsy clear water bottles are probably a single layer and may not have these problems. However, it may be the thickness of the jars that help create the little bit of magnification. I don't know if all of the thicker plastic containers are laminations. More testing is needed!
 
2) When using a single cut file, don't keep filing for long in the same place or the heat will start clouding the plastic.
 
3) Use scissors to cut the plastic as close to the final shape as possible so you don't have to file very much. Don't try to cut tight curves with scissors though or it will cloud up. Cut straight litle segments instead of curves, and then file to a smooth curve.
 
4) It's really hard to file a perfect circle. I wasn't able to. 

 

 

The compass box itself was made with thin pieces of hardwood because I was concerned the tiny box joint fingers would snap off if I used too soft of a wood. This is 1mm thick purpleheart. I used guitar nut slotting files and progressively widened the little slots between fingers from .010" up to .032" wide. These files cut a rounded bottom (for guitar strings) so I squared up the corners of the .032" slots with the skinny .010" file tilted to get into the corners. The joints were then fine tuned for fit with 320 grit sandpaper. The sides of the box were labeled for orientation since the joints at each corner were unique. It's a little tedious but it looks cool! If I were going to do a lot of this sort of thing, I think that I would jig up a Dremel flex shaft with a cut-off wheel under a little table and cut the pieces just as you would at 1:1 on a table saw with a sled.

 

 

 

 

Here's the pieces ready to assemble. The housing is a short piece of brass tubing. The rose compass was from Google Images, and I found that if I put the image into a Word document, I could shrink it way down with decent resolution by grabbing the corner of the image and making it tiny on the document itself before printing. I shaped a piece of cedar to almost fit inside the tubing and then pressed it in and the tubing shaved it to shape. If you happen to have a dowel of the right size, just use that. Note that the end of the cedar that the compass rose is attached to is intentionally at a slight angle. I was after the effect of the compass tilting on its mounting giblets....mounting gimlets?...mounting gimbals? Anyway, whatever those mounting thingies are called that alows a compass to self-level.

 

The assembled compass box:

 

Best wishes and Happy Nw Year!

 

EDIT TO ADD: This compass box is 1:25th scale and is 7mm x 7mm x 5mm tall with a compass (brass tubing o.d.) diameter of about 3/16" overall.

 

Those of you building the Bounty Launch are at 1:16 or 3/4" scale. The compass box sizing is from my New Bedford Whaleboat plans, which are also 3/4" scale, so your compass box should be a huge 7/16" x 7/16" x 5/16" tall with a compass diameter about 5/16" overall.  

Edited January 2, 2015 by Salty Sea Dog

[CaptainSteve]

Arrr ...

Thank Ye, Buck !! 

Methinks your compass will be making an appearance in a few upcoming Bounty Launch builds ...

Edited January 16, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[geoff]

would a reject contact lens do the same job?

[CaptainSteve]

Hmmm ... that could just work, Geoff.

 

(Dang !! Now I have to get Buck to re-do the whole thing!!)

Edited February 26, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[geoff]

sorry!

[mattsayers148]

Hey Buck,

 

Absolutely incredible! I really like the finger joints on the box. I think CaptainSteve is right that this may become part of many builds.

 

Matt

[Canute]

very cool. Another option for the lens is Mod-Podge. Available at arts n crafts places. Dries clear.

[CaptainSteve]

If an adventurous soul wished to try, they may even take a 3mm to 4mm watch-hand and magnetise it ...

They might then decide to float that watch-hand in a few drops of (very thin) oil under Geoff's reject contact lens and then affix it to Buck's piece of cedar (see above).

 

Just Sayin' ... 

 

[EDIT: If someone ever does this, PLEASE quote this post and add photos]

Edited May 16, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[Salty Sea Dog]

Hi, Just a quick note to say that I added some scale size info to the compass box post that should help you Bounty Launch builders.

[hornet]

I needed to drill some holes in a position where I could not get the dremel. A drill bit extension was required.

Taking an old `Rabbit Ears' TV aeriel that I had lying around, I found that the shaft of my proxxon drill bits fitted

snugly into a section that I cut from the end. The fact that these telescopic  `Rabbit Ears' sections taper, means

that a section could be found and cut to fit most drill bit diameters.

 

 

I then inserted a broken proxxon drill bit into one end and silver soldered it in place.

 

 

The drill bit I wanted to use also fitted snuggly in the opposite end. I found that it was a tight enough fit to use

  `as is' but if too loose, it could be soldered into place as well.

Edited January 4, 2015 by hornet

[7 Provinces]

Wow great topic. Good thing to get all these ideas together in one thread.

I hope to contribute in the future 

[mattsayers148]

"The rose compass was from Google Images, and I found that if I put the image into a Word document, I could shrink it way down with decent resolution by grabbing the corner of the image and making it tiny on the document itself before printing."

 

Hey Buck,

 

Thanks for the Google images tip. That worked perfect for mine. I'm pretty computer illiterate so I was able to print out the pics, then used the down-size option on my printer. Great tip!

 

Matt

Edited January 11, 2015 by mattsayers148