Jack12477

Dan, don't know where in Central VA you are (not necessary for you to say here) but for reference - I'm 10-15 miles from HRMM and a drive to Annapolis MD is about 5 hrs for me - maybe 6 to Richmond, in case you want to visit and maybe look in their archives.

Dan here's a video of a model of the Mary Powell's walking beam engine. Also see if you can find the book Mary Powell by Donald C Ringwald.

Why don't you try contacting the Hudson River Maritime Museum I'm sure they would be more than happy to help. They have a lot of Mary Powell artifacts and probably a lot of data in their collection(s).

Ken, thanks for the tutorial. Nicely done.

Per, in an earlier post [now deleted] you described an issue you had with a photo processing lab's clerk refusing to print digital images from a memory card you had, even tho the photos were your own. My Pentax DSLR has a feature that will store a Copyright in the Properties section of the digital image, it clearly shows the word COPYRIGHT followed by my name. See if your digital camera has that feature; some of the smaller point-and-shoot digital cameras do not have it {my Canon Powershot is one]. It will prevent a similar issue in the future. The information stays with the digital image even when transferred from camera to computer or Thumb-drive.

Wow, I missed that one! It's barely visible on my screen and I'm using the default theme. Had to look hard to see it. Clever, Chuck

I got tired of shoveling my driveway out every time I came home from NYC at 8 PM, so I went out the next summer ('96) and bought a snow blower - didn't snow a flake for the next 4 years and since then I've used it maybe a dozen times. So hang onto it, Dennis, NH can get some pretty good snow dumps. Boat's looking great !

Shiloh, see this link on length of Copyright Protection

That applies very heavily to Trademarks and company logos are generally Trademarks which is a different protection under Copyright. And yes they must be vigorously defended. Famous case is Refrigerator - lost it Trademark protection. That's why Xerox keeps publishing ads telling people not to say I'm going to xerox something but rather say make a Xerox copy or photocopy something. I'm not sure if mere Copyright is that vigorous but I'm way out of my league on that nuance.

Dan, get a copy of the Fair Use Act and wave it under their nose and tell them it falls under that. The key test under Fair Use seems to be 1.) is it a reasonable number of copies requested, 2.) is it for your own use in research, or critiquing an article or work of art, making a model, 3.) are you the purchaser of the copyright piece (e.g., book). But as Jim Lad points out this is an international forum and international copyright law may differ from US Copyright law - so be careful and when it doubt get legal advice from a Copyright lawyer.

Peter, simple answer is it falls under Fair Use Act - Do a Google search on Fair Use Act Copyright Law - it's complicated but you are allowed to make copies for your own use to critique a book, or do research, etc. Example closer to home - you buy a set of ships plans that you intend to use to build a model. You take the original plans and make two copies. You place the original in protective package, you take 1st copy and glue it to build board, you take 2nd copy and cut-out various parts to use as templates. That's permitted under Fair Use. It's for your personal use (note emphasis). BTW I am NOT a lawyer this is a layman's understanding - As an amateur photographer who did publish my photos I did study the topic. On other note I'm talking about United States Copyright Law - other countries are signatories to International Copyright Law and I don't know how it applies outside the United States. For more information on the US Fair Use Act under Copyright Law see this Columbia University link

Crackers, many years ago I had the opportunity to attend a employer sponsored week-long R&R type seminar. One of the many speakers was the Chairman of the Copyright and Patent Law department at Columbia University Law College. His talk was on Copyright and Patent law. He started his talk by giving us the legal definition of Copyright; then to help us understand it better he gave an example. The example was this: "You're a teenager at summer camp,. You go to the camp store, buy a postcard and stamp; on one side you place the stamp and your parent's address, on the other side you write 'Hi Mom and Dad, having a great time at summer camp. Food is great. Love Joey" and you mail the card to your parents." He then explained that what had been written on the postcard was Copyright because it met the definition. To further illustrate he gave a second example "You go on vacation with your family to one of the National Parks and while there take lots of photographs. When you come home, you take your film (this was pre-digital photography) to the drug store to be developed and printed" Your printed photographs are now Copyright. He further explained that the circle-C symbol or the word Copyright does not have to be emblazoned on the work - all tho it enhances the protection. The protection exists from the moment you place the work into a media and publish it. And the work does not have to be registered with the US Copyright office - altho that is the best protection - to be Copyright. By his explanation, every photograph, every note to Mom & Dad, every finger painting your kids ever did - all are immediately protected by Copyright. Now I've given a very simplistic example of Copyright but be wary - someone somewhere owns the Copyright - even our own build logs and photos of our models are protected by Copyright - ever notice that Dirk (Dubz) explicitly stamps his photographs with "Copyright Dubz 201x" Now there is the Fair Use Act under Copyright law but that I will leave that to the members to research for themselves.

Pulling up a chair also.

Hi Nigel, pulling up a bench to watch your build also.

Altduck, see last photo in post #108 above, that's the bow chain roller - all wood.

Ken, I found out what that brass piece was. It's the flagpole cap - goes on the top of the main mast.

Thanks George, Ken, Sal and all those who clicked the Like button.

No nothing like that at all George. After thinking about it, I would say it would be a bit difficult to scratch build from these plans.

One correction - the parts list is in 4 languages - Spanish being the fourth. George, here's a couple of pictures of the overall plans.

The paper plans are 1:1 so yes I have been using them to pull measurements, But they don't show all the views I would like. They're on two sheets of paper printed on both sides - a good portion is waste by the parts list printed in English, French and German. Then another part is wasted with complete layout of each sail - as if you were going to cut them out and sew them yourself, except they're in the kit. The top down deck view is pretty good for measurements, the side view is only the port side - no starboard view (which is not a mirror image of port) There's a whole section 1:1 for the masts, spars etc. The first picture of the capstan is a partial view of the top down deck plan view 1:1.

I probably should step back a moment and clarify my remarks about the instructions. First let me say that this kit is fantastic and right up to the standards I've come to expect from AL. The wood is excellent, the brass parts are excellent, well machined, etc, The sails, which I have not shown, are excellent, all sewn with a bolt rope around all edges, seams sewn into the sail in prototypical fashion. The model is very attractive. There is no shortage of wood, or brass or nails (I'm inundated with little nails), rope for the rigging, blocks, etc. In fact I will probably have some left-over stock to add to my stash. The gripe I have is with these [what I will call] picture book instructions which show the step from a poor angle, with poor detail, and little to guide you other that a numbered balloon with a line point to a part. Even the parts lists does not accurately describe the dimensions of the part. The least they could do is show 2 angles [view points] for some of the more complex assemblies, like the capstan as an example. I would recommend the kit to anyone but just be aware that you may have to wing it with some of the assembly steps. Except for the frustration with the poor pictures I am enjoying this build a great deal.

Don't think it is a ship's bell, Ken. The hole goes all the way thru and it appears to be shaped like a capstan the one side is flush the other side has a cone shaped recess. Some close up pictures. It measures 5 mm long by 4 to 5 mm in diameter. Forgot to add a close up of the chain roller in the bow (another fun sub-project) - there was no information on how big or small to make the cut out in the bow wall. Had to dry assemble the piece and get measurements off it then transfer to bow, drill a series of small holes to form a rectangle, cut out with small saw (#11 saw blade), then file, file, file, file until it all fit. Some touch up of the paint job will be necessary.

Another update: First challenge was interpreting the pictorial instructions The very clear instructions for the capstan: Then sorting out the parts and assembling them. The parts list called for a 1 mm diameter brass wire 150 mm in length to be used as the hand crank - searching thru the kit all the brass wire was 100.xx mm in length, none was 150 mm. The two end pulley drums each had a nipple on one end - okay one fit into the gear but the large center drum did not have any holes drilled into it , hmmmmm???? After some fiddling we finally got it together. Don't like the bends in the crank handle but it had to be bent installed because it would never snake its way thru the assembled pieces pre-bent. Must get myself a better set of bending pliers. Parts laid out for identification - note the small pulley in the upper right corner between the gear and the brass wire, never could identify it - the hole bored thru it was too small for the wire specified and I could not located it in the step 17 photo. Turning the bowsprit was interesting. Some time ago one of my woodcarving club members gave me a old Dremel lathe (free - he'd gotten it free also) so I decided to try tapering the bowsprit on the Dremel. WRONG ! First the bed barely took the length of the dowel I had cut for the bowsprit and then as soon as I applied the least pressure with a sanding stick the Dremel stopped turning the dowel. So we went to Plan B, which was get out the Lee Valley Veritas low angle miniature hand plane and slowly plane the dowel into a taper. Worked fine ! Slow ! But fine ! Bow on shot of the current status. Back to the "picture book" for the next step in the construction Stay tuned !

Bob, here's the link to the Coast Guard Historian's web page where I found the information. And here's a link to a PDF file listing all the hull numbers including your boat. Their site says the W designation started in 1942, but not sure how long it took to implement fleet wide. Nice photo of her in 1944.

I get mine in the local Michaels craft store and none of the pieces I looked thru were warped. The had them down to 1/8 thickness. Saw a couple pieces of 1/16 "airplane" plywood but wasn't too impressed with it. Most of the sheets were 8 x 8 or 12 x 12 with some 4 x 8 (all inches not feet).