thibaultron

Well done!

Nice looking build!

I found the book both fasinating and helpful.

In model railroading, you can find a prototype for just about anything. One of the hard and fast rules, though, is never put a window in a chimney. However, when I lived in Pittsburgh, there was a house with just such a window in the middle of the chimney! A couple of years ago I found the house on Google Maps, and the street view shows that the chimney and window are still in place!

Chesapeake workboats had painted decks, so nails would not show. While the Sharpie is not specifically of Chesapeake origin, it would probably been treated the same for a similar use.

Part 003 I received the Boesheild rust converter/protector/blade cleaning kit recommended in the site I talked about earlier, and worked on cleaning up the sheet metal parts of the saw. The protectant and the resin cleaners are both recommended for wood working tools and are stated not to effect the finishing of the wood. Here are three shots of the sheet metal assembly, before I treated it. In the first shot I had already tested the rust converter on the inside of the center area. I disassembled the main and end pieces, so I could get to the area between them. I started with the smaller piece, spraying the converter on and using a green kitchen scrubby to work the solution into the pits, and loosen the flakes of rust. I then repeated the process for the rest of the assembly. The write-up I mentioned said to use a brass brush, but I could not find mine. Looking at the photos, the scrubby did not get down into all the pits, so I would recommend using the brush. In the last picture, you can see that the converter also darkened the galvanizing slightly. After rinsing the parts with water, I sprayed on the protectant. It seems to be similar to WD-40 in application. I set the parts to dry, as in the instructions on the can, and will check them out tomorrow.

PART 14 A quick update. I sanded the faceplate to expose the original plastic color of the part, and it worked. I wish now that I had painted it with a lighter color, to make the contrast better, but you can clearly read the name. Here is a shot of the nameplate. I only had 320 grit sandpaper available, so you can see some scratches in the close-up, but not from viewing distance. I touched up the areas around the edges that also caught the sanding, and will go with this look.

My condolences!

The old kits are 1/96th solid hull, the new POB ME kits are 1/48th. The old kits come in 2 flavors. The 2nd version of the Yellow Box kits have more rigging detail shown on the plans, and the rigging is shown by red lines, helping you to distinguish them from the hull/mast details.

I had to go with the paint I have. It is too late to add yet another layer of paint. Even Vallejo Model Color builds up, with multiple coats.

PART 13 Well, after a long delay, I’ve finally made some progress on the model! I painted the interior Vallejo “Light Blue”. This color is the closest I have to the Humbrol blue provided in the kit. As you can see in the photo , below, some of the blue got on the side of the white rail, but that is the best I can do. It is almost invisible from more than a few inches away. I will probably have to replace the plastic traveler ring, that I broke when painting the hull (in the left of the picture). I’ve tried gluing it a couple times, and have had it not hold. I’m not sure that the ring would hold up under the stress of rigging, even if it was intact. After looking at this photo, I noticed that the white primer was showing through the blue, so I gave it another coat. I painted the name plate the same color as the base and masts. I then tried a couple of different ways of highlighting the name. The first was to paint some gold onto a glass sheet and carefully press the name plate onto it, so that only the letters would get coated. This failed as the letters are too shallow, and/or the paint too thick. The paint got on the nameplate surface every time I tried it. I had similar results trying to paint just the letters. Finally I painted the whole front and sides gold, and in a day or two, I will try carefully sanding the letters to expose the brown paint or raw plastic. This “simple” build to give me a break from longer builds, has turned into an equally long one. My next major task is the sails. Do I use the vacuum-formed ones in the kit, or try to make some silkspan ones. The plastic sails would look OK, but both the larger “Square” sails are formed billowing, which is wrong for this type of boat. In the real boats each sail is set on opposite sides of their mast from how the other sail is hoisted. One sail is hoisted on the port, and the other starboard. Thus as the boat sails, one sail is always pressed up against its mast, causing it to crease where it touches the mast. This is quite unique, and I would like the model to show this. I can’t find my silkspan, however, and I’ve never made sails of any type before. This is shown on the cover of a different release of the Heller kit (circled in red). As a side note, this cover also shows that no one is minding the tiller! I once owned a 17 foot sailboat, and obtained an ad for it on the Web. The boats “spacious” cockpit was shown with 4 or 5 people occupying it! On closer inspection all the people were young children. I love ad companies!

A model to be proud of indeed!

Yes and no on the maintenance issues. Toward the end of steam, they had progressed mechanically with roller bearings and better counterballancing to where they did not require much more maintenance than the diesels, but the die was already cast. Yes they did dent the track over time, but the diesels did, and still do, wear the track just about as much, but in a different way, the drive wheels slip more and burn the rails.

I'll be following along too. I've read his book a couple times, and have the kit also. If you have questions, just ask the forum, they love to help.

If you mean kits of the same craft, yes. But they are pirated versions. No one makes a legal version of those boats, but the ones from Master Korabel.

Thanks for all the input guys!

The Model Shipways Emma C. Berry is a POF. I believe it is also a true POF. The Bluejacket 1/96th Bluenose, is a semi POF, as not all the frames on the original are included in the plans or kit. As for the BJ 1/48th BN and the JD, I have no knowledge of them.

Here is a link to a video on 12 table saw jigs. The video is for a full size saw, but the ideas can be translated to our size ones. You might find them useful.

Part 002 I started working on the saw today. The first task (after I disassembled it), was to make a wrench for the blade shaft. The shaft has two flats on it to hold the shaft steady while you remove the blade nut. When new, the saw was supplied with a little wrench made out of sheet steel, shown circled in the picture below. The photo below shows the area the wrench has to fit in, with the flats circled. The space for this is too thin for a regular wrench to fit, and the Dremel part is long gone. So I made one from a piece of an old carpenters square. It is not fancy, but it works. I cut out a ¾ inch wide slot in one end with a Dremel tool with a cutoff disk, then I chamfered the other end to remove the sharp corners. The next task is to firm up the assembly that tilts with the blade and motor, to make angled cuts. The whole assembly rotates on hinges mounted on a sheet metal plate. The motor and blade assembly then slide on this plate to raise and lower the blade. The picture below shows the plate. The hinge for the assembly is one the right, and the slot that allows the motor/blade assembly to slide up and down is on the left. This shot shows the two bolts, circled in red. The saw has bolts for mounting the motor/blade assembly. The instructions say to tighten them, then loosen slightly to allow movement. This allows some slop. My idea is to put a nylon washer under the regular washers, and tighten the bolts so that there is no slop, but the assembly can still slide freely on the slippery nylon. I did not know the size of the bolts, so I bought washers for #6 and #8 screws. The store was out of the #10s. Well guess what, the bolts are #10s, naturally. I’ll stop at a different store and get some #10s. I need to buy a nut for the one screw, the factory supplied one is missing. The housing is taped and the nuts are used as lock nuts, once the bolts are adjusted. The hinge/plate assembly is tight, so there is no slop in it, though there is some flex. There is another area that allows some slop, and once I correct this, I’ll see if I have to further work on this problem. I also need to clean up the rust and add a protective coating to the steel parts. I’m a little short on funds, so that will have to wait until next payday.

On the stripe of oil on the wall behind the lathe. I bought a large piece of formica and leaned it behind my lathe, resting the bottom inside the chip pan. This kept the residue from the wall. Eventually a little got on the ceiling but that was over a few years. I use cutting oil for all my machining. There are various types for different metals, but the regular ones for steel work, if that is all you have. I never turned copper, so I do not know if there is s specific one for it.

Looks great! Wish I could get one of mine to look half as good!

The above link is for the model 580-2 (The second version), here is a link to the revised 580-2 model parts list. http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1798/1665.pdf Here is a link to the original model manual, circa 1978 http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1798/17162.pdf

Here is a link to the manual. Note that this is for the second version, circa 1990. The saws only had slight differences. You can tell a 580-2 from the first model, as it has a black background on the front panel decal. The first version had a red background. http://vintagemachinery.org/files/PDF/Dremel/580-02.pdf

grsjax, not a problem.

Thanks for all the input! For now I just need to rip planking for some dioramas and decks. I will not be doing a lot of scratch building, for now. I just need the saw for upgrading some of the woods supplied with the kits I have, and a couple of small scratch built boats I want to do. Mark, I will test the supplied blade carefully before doing any major work with it, safety first! Thanks for the link to the saw blades. At some point, if I find that I need a table saw more frequently, I will get the Byrnes saw.