Thistle17

Ger one of our members commutes from Syracuse. I am sure he would be happy to cart you in some Saturday AM (2nd Saturday of each month 9 to 12). He is a fine fine modeler and very personable. Joe

Walter welcome to this amazing and engaging forum. I am curious as to your location as we have a modeling group here in the Rochester NY area. We are a small group with both nearby and distance members. We have members from Buffalo and Syracuse and even a distance member in Lisbon Portugal! Please visit our web site www.modelshipwrightguildwny.org for more about us. We surely would like to have you visit us if that is feasible. Regards Joe (Model Shipwright Guild Facilitator)

I have started early stages of painting the hull and bulwark area. I was advised that Tamiya spray should work just fine with ABS plastic. I am told it does not need to be primed. Having no experience with Tamiya paints (spray) and/or ABS I am at the mercy of others at the moment. Anyone out there that can confirm or refute that advice I surely like to hear back. Joe

The second last step to completing the bulkwarks prior to assembly was to enable the fastening system on the model. Six, 2.2 X 6.5 mm flat head screws were provided for each side. Once again using the Sherline mill, 6 clearance holes were drilled and then counter sunk with a larger drill bit to enable "fill in" so as not to show after painting. The mill proved invaluable in this seemingly simple operation as it enabled accurate depth and alignment control of the machining process.

The masts (and booms) arrived yesterday via Ages of Sail from Krick in Germany. These folk were so good about following through with my request. It is heartening to know some people still care about customer support!

I had another though,t although I have never used it. I just received a sheet of Alaskan Yellow Cedar. It is beautiful with little to no grain and seems to be another candidate for carving. I would imagine it can be purchased in billets. You might query Wood Project Source (Roman) as to availability. Joe

I have used sugar pine and it is a delight to work with if you can find it. Try the west coast lumber suppliers for musical instruments. If you can afford it mahogany carves beautifully as well and is quite stable. It too was used by pattern makers. Joe

This has been an incredibly busy summer so working on this model has been almost impossible. However yesterday I managed to sneak in some time and decided to work the bulwarks for this huge model. I am driven by the fact that it has to be painted soon and I do not have a spray booth. Given the size and extent of painting required it has to be done out of doors. The bulwarks need to be applied to the hull pre- painting. The work shown is related to the scuppers. There are 5 each side. I tried hand fashioning but almost knew before I started I wasn't going to be satisfied with the uniformity of each to its neighbor. Luckily one of our club members loaned me his Sherline vertical mill. This machine has made it a breeze. Mounted in the table vise is a block of pine rabbeted to accept the stepped bulwarks. The block elevates the bulwark and enables use of the miniature "quick grip" clamps to clear the mill table. Using a 1/8" router bit I am able to carefully mill the scupper slots to a high degree of uniformity. The bulwarks where the machining is taking place is maple and machining produces a clean cutout in-spite of the slower speed of the mill drive. Prudence dictates multiple passes to cut through the material. I am sold on a vertical mill and plan to acquire one soon. Just an aside. This mill is a Model 4000 and does not behave well at slow speed. I believe the brushes are worn and the commutator is dirty. Given its vintage the motor must be disassembled as the brushes are internal. Newer models have brushes external. I will be fixing this for the club member as a thank you for his loan.

Heard some good news yesterday. Krick came through and shipped masts to Ages of Sail and they will in turn provide them to me. Krick could not ship them directly as European post services do not permit packages of that length in their systems. The masts are 1400 mm long. I can't thank these folks enough for being so supportive!!

An inquiry for the drawing request was made within the past few day's to our Navy contact. Hopefully we will hear sooner than later. Joe Update as of 8/12/17: The request for drawings was finally signed off and I am to understand that the request has gone to the David Taylor Model Basin (old name) for fulfillment.

Many thanks for both heads up. It is more and more obvious that I need to do more homework. Secondly the tip to call Sherline never occured to me. I woll do that. Joe

OK guys I keep saying I have made up my mind on the Sherline Mil,l 5400 with DRO. But what keeps popping up on my radar is the CNC ready version of this mill. My background was as an electrical engineer so I have never let go of the "technology" interest. Does anyone out there employ a CNC version in thier model work? Is this version overkill? I am assuming one can use the CNC ready version as a manual machine. Is that true? Joe

I don't have this book yet but by the accolades herein it is surely one for my library. I had the good fortune to spend some time with Rob when he lived in North Chatham MA. It was in the 1980's and when I would vacation there I would visit his shop. He was an incredible modeler even then and of course remains so. What I found, possibly even more remarkable, was his incredibly detailed documentation of his works. To say they complimented his projects wouldn't do them justice. To me they were in themselves works of art. At the time they were hand drawn and printed. I can't imagine his published books to be anything less than that! Joe

Welcome to this august, friendly and supportive group. You are in for a journey of enjoyment and accomplishment and you won't travel alone as the folk who support this forum are there to help and advise as you have already seen. Joe

Tom I am not coming up with KeithAug's log. Can you give me a more direct pointer? Joe

Jud just this past Friday I was on the phone asking for an update on the Navy drawings. Not surprisingly the answer, as you guessed, was it will take time to get the drawings released to us. We are hopeful that this happens before the summer is over but we are on the "wag end of this puppy". Standby. In regard to your latest post it must have been just crazy nuts there! The guys were just amazing in getting the job done! Joe

It seems that it is in all our DNA to love ships! Welcome to this terrific and forum and re-entry into the world of modeling and research. Joe

Victor welcome to the forum. Don't hide your work under a bushel. Get it out there! Joe

Bryan: As they used to say to me when I lived in Denton Texas (for a period of time) "Y'all gonna love it here!". This was the wisest thing the NRG board did. There is so much rich and inspiring work within. Welcome to you! Joe

Tom thanks for the heads up as I have not seen Keith's build. I will surely have a look see. I will be interested to hear your comments on the rig as ordered when it arrives. Joe

Thank you all for the input to my last query. You all have been so helpful. I really appreciate all the advice! Joe

I am wondering if any of the Micro Lux or Proxon accessories are compatible with the Sherline Mills. Its seems that some items like the hold downs and vise should fasten correctly but does anyone have experience with inter-changeability with some of the more sophisticated accessories? My question is driven by cost alerts that others have offered in terms of accessories/attachments. Thanks. Joe

For what it is worth, and if I recall correctly, when this occurred before it was due to the owner's full time work needs. In communications I gathered he was traveling (I think) for his company quite a bit.

Cliff many thanks for your response. Unless something dramatic happens in the near future to sway me I have pretty much settled on the Sherline 5400 DRO machine. I will be purchasing one for the fall if all goes as planned. I ran across 2 sites that seem to offer free shipping and some dollars off on these machines. They are Blue Ridge Machines and Campus Discounts (I think). And yes I will have to go further with hold downs, vice, collets etc. I was so impressed by the kids pictures! All too many of are young do not seem to have the interest in and willingness to learn these lifetime skills. And again welcome to the forum! Joe

Good info from you folk. I did find the brushes on-line for a decent price (under $25 including tax and shipping). I am going to try this route first and if that fails it will be a new motor or (at around $200) or send it back to Sherline. These brushes are rated at about 300 hours of run time. I have to believe that running at the highest speed of 10,000 RPM that might be a stretch claim. Anyone have any feedback on this? Joe