Chasseur

you've gone through a lot of effort....pretty amazing work,  if you ask me     nice work with the bow rail.  hopefully,  you'll figure a way to add the missing back stays.......either by adding the dead eyes,  or simple pendant with pulley assembly.    simply wonderful work!  

Thanks for all the feedback & the likes everyone.
 
Denis, the blocks are about 3mm long & about 4mm with the hook.
 
I looked in my few books I have to see these blocks. Because the hooks were rigged to the blocks I am now adding some line to the blocks to simulate this a little better.
 
Jesse
 
 

Thanks guys!!!
 
Have a great weekend.  Enjoy.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

A close friend of mine went to China for a business trip. He was amazed at all of the knock offs. He bought these fancy purses for wife and daughter that are supposed to resemble $3500 purses here in the west for $300 USD. He was told by a Chinese official you Westerner's have copy-write where as here in China we have the right to copy!
 
Go figure... Jeff

For this thread I will define crossover tools as tools made for one purpose but are useful in model making.  Please feel free to share your own finds.
 
I get catalog updates from a luthier supply outfit.  While browsing through their latest catalog, I saw a number of items that could be useful in model making.  Here are a few:
 
Fineline applicator

 
Angled head vise

 
6" saw blade with .023" kerf and 5/8" bore (I used this recently on a jobsite tablesaw for cutting planking.)

 
Ibex mini planes (5 sizes)

 
Drill press sanding station

And there are others, all available at StewMac.com. 

Check out a beading tool catalog.  Lots of small tools for holding and working on beads make great tools for working on blocks and deadeyes.  Jewelry and watch making tools are probably in every ones modeling tool chest already.

The heck of it is, they even copy their own people's work, not just those from foreign countries. They are an equal opportunity offender. 
What I have seen is many small companies can't afford to fight it. Even some of the larger companies become worn down trying to fight it. Especially hit hard are high tech gadgets of different sorts, like R/C equipment. 

And that is just they way they look at it LOL. My passport is like a road map from going back and forth to china over the last 5 year and I have seen all sorts of stuff that you can buy there. I got a heck of a collection of DVD movies from there most of them Blue-ray and they only cost like 2.25 each, all new titles.

I'm glad to see other people building square rigged ships with yards braced around. I think its a much better look than yards square to the keel and the resulting model not only demonstrates the ability to move the yards around ( which I believe a LOT of people are not aware they can move) but it also makes for a model that takes up less space.

A close friend of mine went to China for a business trip. He was amazed at all of the knock offs. He bought these fancy purses for wife and daughter that are supposed to resemble $3500 purses here in the west for $300 USD. He was told by a Chinese official you Westerner's have copy-write where as here in China we have the right to copy!
 
Go figure... Jeff

A close friend of mine went to China for a business trip. He was amazed at all of the knock offs. He bought these fancy purses for wife and daughter that are supposed to resemble $3500 purses here in the west for $300 USD. He was told by a Chinese official you Westerner's have copy-write where as here in China we have the right to copy!
 
Go figure... Jeff

OK - it's time to turn this into an official build log by documenting the beginning of the build....these photos may look familiar - in fact they're almost identical to photos posted earlier of my tests...the difference is that this is the real deal....
 
I remade patterns for the keel pieces, bulkheads, sternpost and rudder and arranged these on 4 3/16" birch ply billets. I then dragged out the bandsaw and managed to get through 2.5 of the billets before my wife came home with the kids and I had to pack up.....I also took my disc/belt sander for a test drive cleaning up the parts after cutting - I already see the great utility of this tool! One issue is that because of the depth of the gap between the belt sander and the frame I can't use the belt sander to clean up all the bulkhead slots....I'll take a file to these later....in the meantime, I'm quite pleased - I've only really botched one part so far (bulkhead "M", which I'll have to redo) - with a bit of finessing, I think the framework will come together just fine....
 
Anyway here are a couple of photos - it'll probably be back to the America during the coming week (making sails, and finishing the rigging), but while the weather's nice, I'd like to get as much into the Bluenose as possible - once the framework's done, I'll be able to move the build inside for planking, etc....
 
bye for now
hamilton
 

 

Wacko:
 
Or do you prefer WackoWolf?  I wish I knew your name.
 
The 350 is by far the easiest airbrush to clean up after it was left dirty.  Simply unscrew the fluid cap and the needle from the body of the brush as these should be the only parts that have any paint in them.  You can soak them in any solvent for a couple of hours and the dried paint should soften up so you can clean it out.  There is a seal in the fluid cap that can be soaked for anything short of a full day w/o any adverse effects but as long as you are careful of the orifice in the fluid cap and the point on the needle you can't hardly hurt this workhorse.
 
I got my first airbrush for Christmas in 1960 - a 350 and it's still going though in my Grandson's hands now.  I have some newer 350's that I use for instructing and I always have to give them a thorough cleaning when the class is over.  I just disassemble the cap and needle, drop them into some cleaner and rinse them off after an hour.  Only part I have ever had to replace on a 350  is the fluid cap when somebody screwed it down too tight onto the needle and flared out the orifice quite nicely - but not if you ever want to use it for spraying again.  For some reason they never do the same thing with any of the other brushes - probably because they look so much more delicate while the 350 looks like it's indestructible.
 
Happy airbrushing,
Kurt
 
 
 
 

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement Chassseur and Nenad!
 
Nenad, I agree about keelhauling the model author!  I've figured out the rigging situation with missing deadeyes and stays.  They should be ok and I don't think anyone will ever know unless I point it out.  There is nothing else to do with them at this point in time.  God only knows why the kit author/designer decided to leave them off.
 
thanks
Marc

You are right, Marc. Just yesterday, my family friends in visit, wanted to see my model, and after 10 minutes of UH OH AH WOW OMG etc, I pointed to my mistakes, and realised they did not see them at all, even they are very exposed in actual stage of build. For some kind of mistakes, you have to know every detail of original and to compare to be able to notice eventualy mistake (my corps, e.g.). I think this will be extreme rare situation, except you show your model on some competition when real experts will value your work

Very impressive work on the sails. You definitely went to a lot of work here. Well done Marc.

Additional Photos
 
Note the intricate carvings
 

 
Raven

 
Ship's Rudder

 
Stern area
 

Nice work Bro!

Hi Mike,
Years ago I picked up a Paasche double action brush and compressor for around 100 CAD. I did a lot of research before I bought it. Over the years the brush has been flawless. Here are my experiences:
 
Pressure and pattern is crucial.
The right paint and thinner consistency is crucial.
Never mix paints with other brands of thinners.
Acrylics are a bit tricky and you must use the same brand of thinner no exceptions!
Some guys swear you can thin acrylics with windex window cleaner and a touch of dish soap. I tried the aforementioned and I am not thoroughly convinced.
 
Some guys say you need a water separator and pressure regulator however I have never had an issue using my brush straight out of the box. The only caveat I'll add here is if you live close to the coast and relative humidity is high then get a separator if you see water vapour flying out of the tip. Remember H2O is considered a solvent and will thin paint so using water based paints is not an issue without a water separator.
 
I find the right size of tip/nozzle combination is the key to success for what you are trying to paint. I can get away with not using a regulator here as matching the tip and cup restricts flow and what is going on at the tip is where the rubber meets the road. The tatto guys are big on pressure regulation as they don't want inks to wash out but on model ships IMHO spray pattern and control is all that is required and... if you purchase a double acting brush you will achieve the aforementioned without the cost of an additional regulator.
 
Practice, Practice, Practice some more.
 
Learning how your brush operates is key and like everyone has said keeping it clean and free of dried paint is not an option.
When it comes to paint do not cheap out here. Buy the best paint you can afford that is designed for use in a brush. I personally prefer Testors Model Master Paints whether acrylics or enamels. What ever you do always wear at the minimum an N-95 respirator for acrylics and an Organic Vapor Cartridge type of half mask respirator when spraying enamels. If you do enamels be cognizant they stink the man cave up and the rest of your house for that matter. If you want to use enamels you'll need either a spray booth with filters or do it outside on a warm sunny day in the shade preferably with little to no wind.
 
One final note.... Preparation is 9/10ths of the job. Using the right shade of primer to match your base coat is key. Grey primer is good for lighter Colors where as red oxide is good for the darker Colors. Using medium to fine sand paper between coats will really enhance your finish. If you want an outstanding paint job Google the plastic car modellers sites on the Web. These guys go all out and are painting like automotive technicians do. Remember if it's a ship model the weathering is what will make your model stand out from the rest. Please don't over do the aforementioned and weather appropriately.
 
The more you paint with an airbrush the better you'll get. Practice and experience does make the difference here. Hope this helps ... Jeff

I like this quote. It's so true. Very often you look at the mess of lines and wonder how you'll ever get it straightened out. You do it though. One line at a time. I have no fears for you Igor. She'll make it in and looking great by the time your done.

and you can see  at your convenience how you jam the tool you are working with in your finger(s) or e.g. the palm of your hand

Great job on those blocks!
 
I too prefer working with hand tools vs power tools. It allows me to screw up a good piece of wood at a more controlled rate!

Nice work Bro!

Nice work Bro!

Nice work Bro!