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TBlack

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Everything posted by TBlack

  1. TBlack
    I've been struggling with building the funnel for this craft. Here's what it supposed to look like: And here's what I've come up with so far: I started with a 5/8"brass tube; fabricated a wooden plug to establish the slope of the skirt and drilled the center out to 5/8". The skirt in the picture is brass which started out something like this reject: I'm still not happy with the result, as the edges of the skirt get wobbly with all the handling. I'm going to try fabricating it out of sheet styrene. The other issue is the rings around the top. I wanted to make them out of brass strip, What's available commercially (that I've been able to find) is strip of the right thickness, but 1/4" wide. I have no way of cutting the 1/4" down to, say, .5 mm. So, first I tried styrene strip of the right size, but there is no adhesive that I could find that will bond plastic to brass. My fallback was wood. What you see in the picture is apple wood and epoxy. It's good and solid, but it's too thick compared to the rings around the stack in the first picture. I'm hoping that Michael Mott, who drops by this log occasionally, will have some recommendations on how I can "tool up" to be able to cut brass to small dimensions. Tom
  2. TBlack
    Whoa!, Cap't, a lot of progress between entry #106 and #121. I'm looking through those beautifully clear windows and seeing mahogany trim inside. I had a terrible time with my pilot house at 1:48, and you're working at 1:96! (maybe your fingers are smaller than mine?) Very nice work. Tom
  3. TBlack
    Casey's comment is spot-on. That's a wonderful paint job; it looks like fiberglass. How do you do it? Tom
  4. TBlack
    Andy, you have never failed me! Tom
  5. TBlack
    Michael, I know I'm coming late to this party, but my thinking is like John's vis a vis the cabin top. Although I understand your attraction to "pinstripe" decking; it is attractive. That binacle and compass are truly outstanding. It's good that you put dimensions in the log entries from time to time, otherwise we get to thinking it's life-sized. I've seen for a while now that you know how to talk to brass, and apparently it answers you back! Tom
  6. TBlack
    I decided to take Andy's suggestion and buy some pre-cast dentils from an outfit in Calif. rather than try to make my own. They are made of styrene and come in 2" strips. They're close enough, and I certainly can't make anything smaller. They needed some adjustment along the top, but married to a single bead moulding along the bottom, and the whole assembly looks OK. It's not an exact replica of the prototype, but I can't get that detailed with the tools I have. To make the single bead molding, I cut the profile in a razor blade secured to the tool post of my lathe, using both the large Dremel cut-off wheel and the small Dremel cut-off wheel. The thickness of the larger wheel is just the right width for the moulding (2mm), and the thinner wheel is as small as I can get to cut the bead. It's the profile on the right. Sorry for the bluriness. So the final product still needs to be smoothed out where the joints occur and all painted. Sorry for the lack of close-ups, but my camera doesn't do it very well.
  7. TBlack
    Dan, A beautiful effort. The finish, the deck hardware immaculate! What particularly catches my eye is the cutwater and the upholstery. Very clean! Tom
  8. TBlack
    Thanks, Andy, for this. I knew nothing about MSDS; interesting reading. I loved the comment on the cyanoacrylate page that states, "almost impossible to swallow". I wonder who got to test for that!? Tom
  9. TBlack
    Pete, Great progress. Wonderful looking, both of them. But actually, I LOVE the sawhorses! Tom
  10. TBlack
    Bob, Nicely done. I especially like your approach to the windows with the tape, although I would be severely challenged to get the tape in the right place and lined up properly. Looking great so far! Tom
  11. TBlack
    Pete, Nice pictures that capture the graceful, classic lines of this beauty! You're doing her great justice. Tom
  12. TBlack
    Andy, Actually there is a cowl vent, just barely visible. Back in entry 30, page 2, of this log we had a brief discussion of it. At the time I thought it was a smoke stack for a stove in the salon. Since then, I've discovered this photo which makes me think it is a cowl vent which is what you all were trying to convince me of in the first place. It's just visible behind the pilot house roof. Tom
  13. TBlack
    Thanks guys, for the validation. Damn this is a smart group! Tom PS. I'm just looking at the time Andy posted his response. Andy, do you ever get to sleep?
  14. TBlack
    I know what you mean; good move! TB
  15. TBlack
    While I wait for the dentils to arrive from CA, I'm turning my attention to the stack. The photo shows the base that I shaped on the lathe. I have a 5/8" brass tube that should serve nicely as a stack. I'm assuming that the holes you see in the photo at the base are, in fact, holes and not rivets. Tom
  16. TBlack
    Pete, You're out of the starting blocks! I notice that you have the keel set at an angle to the building board. I guess that's to account for the drag? And do the instructions tell you to do that, or is that your initiative? Nice little boat, BTW. Tom
  17. TBlack
    Patrick, I'll certainly join the chorus; beautiful work! Could you share with us how you made the winches? There are quite a few of them, all beautifully turned out. Tom
  18. TBlack
    Okay, okay, you guys, I get it, sheesh! A practice run with the saw shows a kerf of .5 mm which should be just fine. But yesterday I sprung for Andy's dentils. So I'm committed, and we're going to wait to see how they look first. Tom
  19. TBlack
    Andy, Thanks for doing the math. I'll give them a try. Tom
  20. TBlack
    Andy, thanks for the link. I did check it out and it's a little hard to tell the dimensions of the "blocks" from the picture. I'm thinking of going with John's suggestion which is doable. The problem I'm facing is the size of the cuts. If you look at the above picture, the cuts are about as wide as the mullion in the pilot house window. That translates to a cut of .5 mm on the model. I have a Preac saw, a Rolls Royce in its day, but Charlie Files, the creator, died a few years back and that was the end of the company and its supplies. I own a blade for the saw with a .020 thickness, that's going to be on the wide side. Charlie used to make available a blade with a .010 thickness, and I haven't been able to find anyone who sells the thinner blade since Charlie's passing. So I'm stuck with the .020 cut. So there it is. Crackers, I'm no good at lettering. I thought what I would do is just make a copy of the sign on my computer printer to size, cut it out and paste it onto a backing. Tom
  21. TBlack
    Thanks guys for the support and encouragement. My next task is to come up with a moulding around the top of the pilot house (not the one around the edge of the roof; that's easy) that looks like the original:
  22. TBlack
    Boat deck secured and support stanchions in place. Some more photos: In the bow shot you'll notice the second stanchion on the right needs fixing. My pipe fitters took care of that this morning as you can see in the subsequent photos. Also, the chief of the boat is in charge of painting that panel on the pilot house door. Tom
  23. TBlack
    I'll try to overwhelm you a little more by adding my congratulations on the finish of a job beautifully done. When's the launching party? And are we all invited? Tom
  24. TBlack
    Ronkh, "Scale", great that you bring it up. Scale is a little indeterminate in this model. Something I tried to address before I got started on this project; unfortunately, the normal tip-offs to scale: the doors, the deck furniture, the overall length aren't consistent with any scale. So at the end of the day I just went with boats that seemed to fit. I hope this doesn't destroy your sense of my abilities, or lack thereof. Tom
  25. TBlack
    A little more progress. I've installed the stays and am on to the shrouds. Mighty small scale! I added a couple of boats that were not on the model originally, but I thought they were needed. Tom

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