mtdoramike

Thanks Craig, I tried to stay pretty close to the original, but you know me, I had to give it a little color. I also extended the rear hatch close to an extra inch toward the transome to give a bit better access to the rear rudder assemblies, which always require constant adjustments on the double rudder boats to keep them tracking properly. I also squirted in clear silicone into the observation pod to make it water tight and ordered some glazed portholes from England to use on the observation pod since the portholes in the kit were all unglazed. I also used glazed portholes on the side portholes in the hull just in case it were to be in rough seas and water splashed up. I told you I would get her done. I think she is beautiful and the old sea goddess still captures my heart even after 50 years when I last saw her moored off of the water front in St. Thomas USVI. That was a magical time for me as a teenager and it brought back fond memories that I would get lost in for a while when I was building her.

This is about the same as cleaning an airbrush, except you don't have to break it down, you just run paint thinner through the nozzle, which you really can't do on a rattle can. Is this equal to a $200.00 airbrush setup with hours of practice under your belt? no. But it's a cheap and easy solution to the air sprayer systems. Even if I get one to two applications with it, it's paid for itself.

Well, here is the finished product. This has been one of my all time favorite builds.

Hey Paul, glad to see you getting back on the horse again. One good thing about model ships, they will be there when you are ready to work on them. Yes, The Vic at the Library is still doing quite well, I stop by there every now and then, but not as much as I used to though.

This will be a build of a pleasure/river/lake boat, which was designed by Pat Tritle of the Miss Chloe. I will be working off of a set of plans that I obtained from P. Tritle. She will be roughly 26-27" in length and Beam will be about 7.5". I put in an order for the wood needed to build the Chloe from National Balsa. I started off by cutting out all of the frames and various parts from the plan sheet and gluing them to card stock type heavy paper in order to make templates for current and future use. I then tacked up the working plans and will stare at them for a few days in order to get prepared for the build. Disclaimer: I may decide to make some changes here and there, so don't expect a straight from the plans type of build. You may be dissapointed.

I picked up a twin pack on Amazon for less than $12.00. I see it is made in the USA, which sold me right away since we don't make that much anymore.

Well well well, I'm going to have to look into this as well. The old rattle can paints are starting to get harder to find in my area whether it be Home Depot, Lowes or Ace Hardware.

Hi Paul, the original chuck that comes with the Worx rotary tool is the same style that comes with Dremels where you use a wrench to loosen or tighten the collet. In the picture with the showing the lights on the rotary tool is a dremel chuck that came off my old Dremel tool that I purchased years ago, but it works on thew Worx as does all Dremel attachments. I like the chuck that I can twist with my fingers without having to use a chuck wrench, it makes it a lot easier and faster to change bits.

I edited the original post with my finding

My daughter bought the MakerX rotary tool for me for my birthday a few months ago mainly because I own and really like several of the Worx line of power tools. The MakerX is not what I would call a traditional cordless rotary tool, however, it is portable and can be used without having to plug it into an outlet. The MakerX uses a Central Hub that their 20v lithium batteries attaches to, with a cord running from the Hub to the rear of the rotary tool. What I noticed is the size of the rotary tool isn't much bigger than a flex hose attachment and lighter than your traditional cordless models. It is compatable with most if not all Dremel accessories that I have tried on it. Now to get down to brass tacs here, Does it work and how well does it perform? From my experience it's performance rivals Dremel's cordless rotary tool. It has more than enough power with the 20v battery and will run for hours and when nthat battery starts waining, just pop it off and add another one (Ihave several batteries). It comes with like a 3 year warranty.My kit came with numerous bits and accessories in a nice tote bag. The MakerX is what Worx calls part of their power share line that uses their 20v battery, but that aint all folks. The MakerX has it's own power share tools that uses the MakerX Hub to power them like a small heat gun, little paint spray gun, rotary tool and a host of other add ons that can be purchased together or separately.

Thanks Mark, I'll edit the original post with any updates., So far, I'm liking it. It seems to do what I need it to do and that says a lot for me since I'm a big Dremel fan, although I have used some different rotary tools in the past like a Sears and a Black and Decker. The Sears was OK, I really liked the Black and Decker and would still be using one, but they are hard to find since they stopped making the one I used to use.

I was on line with idle hands not really needing anything, but wanting everything I didn't need and came across the Worx WX106L 8v rotary tool. It was offered for $29.00 with free shipping, I had to do a double take. Usually cordless rotary tools run close to $100.00, especially Dremel. I currently own several Worx tools and really like them: 20V weed eater, blower, 20v nail gun (just finished building a fence around my back yard with it, awsome tool) and a power share Makerx rotary tool using the 20v batteries, it's not truely a cordless rotary tool like the WX106L. Needless to say I bought one of the WX106L rotary tools and did the old walk of shame thing since I already owner 3 or 4 rotary tools not quite sure how many at the moment, but I;m sure my wife will point it out to me sooner or later. Now I owned several of the old Dremel 7.2v nicd/nimh cordless rotary tools and loved them, especially the fact that they had a removeable battery for charging and coulod be replaced when the battery got to weak. But they no longer make that model. The WX106L has a built in lithium battery and came with half a charge, which is normal. It came in a nice plastic storage box, with several different bits, sanding drums, wire wheel and a USB cable for charging the rotary tool. You either plug it in to a computer or use a wall plug adapter, which I did. This tool has quite a bit of power over the old 7.2 Dremel and is about the same weight. I will put it through it's paces in a few days and report back as to how it performs. I probably should mention here that the Worx WX106L comes with a 3 year warranty, for a cordless rotary tool, that's pretty darn good. And from what I know of Worx, they stand behind their products. Update: I have put about 90 minutes of use on the Worx WX106L from using the cut off wheel, mini saw blade, sanding drum, grinding wheel and found that there is plenty of power to do most any job that a corded rotary tool can do. It's still on the initial charge! I have to find something I don't like about the tool, so not to really nit pick here, I don't care for the on and off button, which is flush mounted to the body of the rotary tool, which means when using the tool, you have to actually look for the on or off button, taking your eyes off of the work area each time. On all my Dremels and even the Sears rotary tools, the on off button was raised making it easier to find by feel. Good points: I love the front mounted lights which helps these old eyes. I really like the soft start of the machine, unlike the hard starts of a Dremel. I also like the holding capacity of the lithium battery. PS: I thought I would add in here that the USB charging cable may be proprietary and made specifically for the Worx Rotary tool. I have several old cell phone chargers and USB cables and none have the extra wide end. Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase and for $29.00, it makes it one of the if not the best purchase of the year for me so far.

I would have bought this if I didn't already have a Trumpeter 1/200 USS Missouri waiting it's turn.

I'm happy that you finally received a satisfactory result from this company, which I think is great, but it seems the elephant in the room has been missed. To me, the elephant is that pesky little issue of lack of communication on the companies part, which is usually a problem for businesses that wind up going out of business. A quick and simple email to clients that requested sails to be made making them aware of his issue with the machine.

She still paints, but more of a hobby.

My daughter painted this for me when she was 9 years old. I know it isn't museum worthy, but it is priceless to me and I have it proudly displayed in my workshop(s) for the past 30 years. When ever she stops by, she says "I can't believe you kept that old thing after all these years" I tell her, it can't be bought with money marbles or chaulk.

This is one of my points, you chose to deviate from the instructions of the kit and changed what you didn't like about. I'm not a purist when it comes to model building. I look at scale as what is pleasing to the eye and as long as it suits your eye, that is all that matters.

Yeah, I wish I were 20 years younger as well with enough cash to make my dream come true. It would be like a kid buying a candy store.

I spent a few hours making and installing the railings.

I was able to pick up one of the Trumpeter 1/200 scale US battle ships USS Missouri at a very good price $225.00 from a fellow modeller who believed in the old phrase "I can do anything tomorrow", but as with most, his tomorrow never came. But at least he was smart enough not to leave his wife stuck with trying to get rid of it when his tomorrows come to an abrupt end. How ever, I do love you tomorrow modellers because you keep me busy, God bless you. But one consolation is the kit even if not built is magificent just to set and stare at, which I do quite often while building the Calypso.

My Dremel(s) are the most used tools on my work bench. I have built probably 150 models over a 25 year period and it's my go to tool.

A strong solution of vinegar works great in getting rid of mold. But upon looking over the pictures, the display base got the worst of it. The hull and deck look quite weathered and gives the ship character. When restoring a boat, I try to only fix things that are falling apart, have come loose or something that greatly detracts from the model. To me, it would be a crime to remove or re-do an aged model to looking prestine again, which eraces the journey that model has taken and the history of it. If you are looking for a rigging plan for the model, I would recommend looking for a rigging plan for the HMS Bounty, because this model has a striking resemblance to the Bounty.

I've been working on the Lady of the sea lately and she's now about 3/4 the way finished.

A strong solution of vinegar works great in getting rid of mold. But upon looking over the pictures, the display base got the worst of it. The hull and deck look quite weathered and gives the ship character. When restoring a boat, I try to only fix things that are falling apart, have come loose or something that greatly detracts from the model. To me, it would be a crime to remove or re-do an aged model to looking prestine again, which erases the journey that model has taken and the history of it.

I disagree with Allan as far as wasted time. To me, any project that furthers your abilities is not wasted. But with that said, I would opt for a ship model kit with the most rigging and learn from there, the most important part is the rigging diagram plan sheets that will accompany the kit. Most of the current kit manufactures have decent to great riggings diagrams, Model Shipways, Artesania Latina is good as well as Mamoli to mention a few. One thing to bear in mind when rigging a tall ship model, there were certain rigging like ratlines and standing rigging that are pretty much standard, But running riggings is a more catchers catch can, meaning they would tie them down where ever it was convenient at the time. They have several Anatomy of a Ship books that are great for detailing parts of ships.