WackoWolf

I usually use lead balls that are usually used in model planes to create the correct stabilization, various sizes, cheap, and the rights color to start with.

In a german forum I got a hint for a good source of cannon balls, all sizes:
 
http://www.kugel-winnie.de/epages/62136757.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/62136757/Products/010101003
 
... and some blackening for stainless steel like this one:
 
http://www.amazon.de/ShoXx-®-Brünierung-Schnellbrünierung-Kaltentfetter-Entwässerungsöl/product-reviews/B004CFHNHC/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
 
First one to take the grease off, second the blackening and the oil for dehydration ...
 

 
... first the degreasing ...
 

 
... used a magnet to take them out ...
 

 
... well dried ...
 

 
... and like Roger Rabbit back to the soup, the blue one for blackening ...
 

 
... luckily used old china as the stains remained :-)
 

 
First I wanted to avoid the dehydration oil because of the glueing, but some of the balls turned brown :-(
 

 
So same procedure as every year James, back to degreasing - the rust come of the balls but not off the china ...
 

 
... freshely blackned and oiled.
 
Putted UHU Universal into a old syringe and gave nice injections  ...
 

 
... uand placed the bullets :-)
 

 
Used lots of glue but still some came off, the oxide is a ideal separation agent ...
 
So then, good luck, Daniel

It certainly is Daniel, I also picked up on Gil's system and it is my preferred  method of simulating small splices also.
 
As you say it eliminates the fluffy shower plughole effect
 
B.E.

I remember that there used to be a sticky post with some links to books on 18th/19th century shipbuilding and seamanship, so to start again here are some download sites :
From Google books Pdf download:
A treatise on marine architecture - Peter Hedderwick 1830
A treatise on masting ships and mastmaking - John Fincham 1843
A treatise on shipbuilding and navigation - Mungo Murray 1754
The shipwright vade-mecum - P. Steel 1805
The young officer's sheet anchor with additions by GW Blunt  - Darcy Lever 1853
 
http://hnsa.org/doc/steel/index.htm for The elements and practice of seamanship by David Steel 1794
 
Hope it will be of some use
 
All the best to everybody
Zeh
 

Thanks Jim. I will have to check your progress next. But let me continue with a couple comments about the next steps on my Conny.
 
First a suggestion about the hatch covers. They come as laser cut pieces framed with baswood. I decided to replace that with walnut that I bought from Hobby Mill. I also used simple miter cuts for the corners. See below.
 
Installing the rivets for the bulwark was going to be a tedious job. The cookbook said to do this one by marking and drilling one hole at a time after the planks were glued in place. Wrong!!!]
I decided to predrill the holes in each board using the setup on my drill press with a Dremmel type tool mounted on the quill. This took a fraction of the time. I then glued four of these board edgewise and glued in the rivets. Now I could cut this into sections as shown below.
 
I should also have installed the outside planking of the hull before the bulwark because the alignment of the little posts and sections between the port holes was not all that great. It would have been better to have a smooth looking outside hull.

I use Corel Draw to draft all of my plans too.   For the friezes I just used the ordinary weight paper that you print day to day stuff on.   Its thin and I didnt want to go thicker.  It also prints flat with no sheen like some papers.   I do however sometimes go with an eggshell color but I didnt do that this time.  I will have to send you some files via email some time.  I am sure you could laugh like I do when I read that there are over 100,000 lines drawn on a plan sheet.   Its nuts.  All done one at a time.  For plans I think Cad is overkill.    2D is fine for me.  AlexM also uses Corel Draw.   I have taught others in a few hours how to use it to draft plans over the phone.  Its a nice program.
 
I think a min tutorial is going to be in the works...its cheap if you buy an older version or get the student discount...A copy can be had for $99.  So I like to say good things about it.
 
Chuck

This area of the forum was a great resource for information on where to buy various types of wood. Let's rebuild that information using our collective knowledge and experience. I've given credit in parenthesis to those who have contributed the name of that source.

Sources of milled wood (Australia):
Modellers Shipyard (Shazmira) - A limited selection of sheet and strip stock. They also have kits, tools, and other supplies. Ships internationally.
 
Sources of milled wood (Germany):
Arkowood (TRJ) - A bit on the expensive side, but good for smaller quantities. All major wood varieties, including swiss pear, box, lime.
Massivholzwerkstätten Horschig (Redshirt) - Good assortment of wood, high accuracy and good price.
 
Sources of milled wood (UK):
Hobby's (AntonyUK)
JoTiKa (Marsares)
Cornwall Boat Models (Marsares)
The Model Dockyard (Marsares)
 
 
Sources of milled wood (USA):
Ocooch - Good source for milled sheetwood of all species but no Boxwood, swiss pear or holly.
Syren - sheets and strips of milled Boxwood, Alaskan Yellow Cedar and Swiss Pear.
Itasca - Mainly a source for basswood. Their "Half Price" wood is still of good quality and excellent value. $20 minimum order size. 20% military discount.
National Balsa - Another source for basswood, Maple, Cheerry. More expensive than Itasca, but they have a greater range of sizes and have lots of dowels.
tallships_model_builder (themadchemist) - An eBay store with several items targeted towards model ship builders (eg. Deck planking and sheet wood). May be willing to cut custom sizes for you.
http://www.northeasternscalelumber.com/shop/index.php?PHPSESSID=fbf4aea8bc5623641aa53ab405ec4c6a - Northeastern Scale Lumber
 
I'm adding my list of US suppliers of lumber.  Given the market they may or may not have the wood you want.  IF they do have it, order it, don't wait as they will run out.  
All Righteous Woods Bod Nosen Colonial Hardwoods, Inc. CookWoods Dyes Exotic Wood, Birdseye Maple, Curly Maple & Tiger Maple Bell Forest Products Gilmer Wood Company Griffin Exotic Wood--High Quality Exotic Woods Groffslumberr hearnehardwoods.com- Inlay Banding, Ebony and Holly Wood Products Kettle Moraine Hardwoods, Inc., Hartford, WI Midwest Products National Balsa Wood Co- Balsa wood, Basswood, Mahogany, Architectural Models, Model RC Aircraft, Savox Servos Ocooch Hardwoods - Supplier of Thin Wood for Scroll Sawing, Carving Blocks, Intarsia wood, Plywood for scroll sawing, and more. Rare and Exotic Lumber in Maine - Rare Woods USA Rare Woods USA Rockler.com S.H. Goode & Sons Workshop Specialty Wood Exotic Lumber Exotic Woods - Keim Lumber The Wood Database Tropical Exotic Hardwoods Welcome to the World of Hardwoods Wood Project Source - milled wood sheets and strips and wood carving blocks woodcraft.com- Woodfinder® Marketplace Woodworkers Source for Imported, Rare, Specialty, Exotic Woo    
Sources of rough lumber (Australia):
Trend Timbers (1492) - Local, imported and exotic timbers.
Anagote Timbers (Jim Lad) - Local and imported timbers. Named after a pet goat called Anna.
Australian Furniture Timbers (BANYAN) - A wide selection of timbers. Avilable in 1 meter lengths.
 
Sources of rough lumber (UK):
Workshop Heaven (AntonyUK) - Various sized chunks of exotic wood
Yandles (Kevin)
 
Sources of rough lumber (Spain)
Maderas Barber (ymperivm)

Sources of rough/billets lumber (USA):
Gilmer Wood Company - Mainly Exotic wood and much of it highly figured. The main species of interest for ship modelers will be boxwood, ebony, and holly. $100 USD minimum order for Internet purchases, no minimum for walk-in purchases. Ships internationally.
Cookwoods (mtaylor) - Exotic hardwoods. Ships internationally.
Righteous Woods (davec) - Domestic, imported and exotic timbers. $100 USD minimum order for Internet purchases. Ships internationally.
Tallgrass Custom Wood Productsfff382 (Thairinker) - Domestic hardwoods. Located in Kansas, does not appear to offer shipping.
Woodworkers Source (Sephirem) - Domestic and imported. Lumber is organized based on geographic region that it comes from.
Rare Woods USA (ChrisLBren) - Ships to Continental USA only for online orders, but is free for orders >$100 with conditions.

Sources of rough lumber (global):
A local hardwood store - Usually a great place to buy domestic wood and some exotics. I have seen ebony and purpleheart at Woodcraft.
A local hardwood flooring store (muzzleloader) - Mahogany, maple, cherry and other hard woods. Inquire about sales of remnants at bargain prices.


A note on Gilmer:
This is a local business for me so I am fortunate that I can visit. If you've purchased milled Castello Boxwood for your model then it probably came from here. They told me that they don't have a source for this wood anymore, but in addition to the large stack of wood towering over me they also had a bunch more in another warehouse. The Castello Boxwood starts out as rough 8/4 (2" thick) boards around 6" wide and 7' long. When the stock on their website gets low they pull down a board, clean it up in a planer, spray with shellac to bring out the color, then seal the ends with wax. They told me if I was to buy a board off the top of the stack it would be $30 a board foot (1"x12"x12") but that if I wanted to dig through the stack they'd up the price to $35 per board foot. Indeed, the chunks on their website were about $35 a board foot when I last ran the numbers. Ebony is tricky stuff as it all looks the same in pictures so ask them to select a board with straight grain, if you tell them it is for a ship model they will understand what you need. When I was there last they showed me how to hold the ebony to the light to check the grain for straightness. Also don't be too concerned if the description of Castello Boxwood on the website is "figured" as that is what they listed my piece of wood as and it was actually fairly straight. Not all wood can be sold to customers outside of the USA because of laws to protect endangered species.

If you're doing a French ship from the 1700's this book is a "must have".  Even if you're not building a French ship, his techniques are worth the price.  It's available in several languages.  I have no connection to ANCRE other than being a happy customer.
 
From the ANCRE website:
DESCRIPTION Bernard Frölich has always been a builder of ship's models. As a geographical engineer, he discovered Jean Boudriot's books and monographs in the late 70s. He fell in love with the beauty of sailing ships of the classic period and since then has dedicated all his free time to building historical navy models.
This practical experience made him a genuine authority in that field. He has published numerous articles on that subject over the past years. At our request, he has gathered, edited and significantly enriched these articles in order to produce his book.
L'ART DU MODELISME describes the author's experience and methods in 300 pages abundantly illustrated with numerous drawings, sketchs and more than 600 commentated photos. In this book, Frölich describes in detail all the crafts that a shipmodeler must master : he must be in turn a shipwright; a carpenter; a cabinetmaker; a marqueter; a blacksmith; a ropemaker and a sailmaker. He shows that any beginner, if he is industrious and persevering, can master this art. This fact becomes all the more evident since we can see the tremendous progress made by the author himself through the use of photographs of his own work. This book itself is a tremendous learning experience. In the first twenty pages Frölich describes his studio, his tools and equipment and his library. He then devotes about one hundred pages to the timbers of a 1730 merchant vessel , the Mercure, and to M.de Tourville 's three-decker vessel of 1680, L'Ambitieux. In the next one hundred twenty pages, the author discusses the equipment, fittings, guns, decoration and sculptures, ship's boats and rigging. The final sixty pages offer a description of Frölich's own models (all at 1:48 scale ) : the schooner Jacinthe; the lugger Coureur; the brig Cyclope; the bomb ketch Salamandre; the 12-pdr frigate Belle Poule; the merchant vessel Mercure and the xebec Requin. The unfinished model of L'Ambitieux - the Chevalier de Tourville's three-decker vessel - is abundantly described in the chapter on framework.
Although the author denies it, this book is a genuine treatise on historical naval shipmodeling. The photographs included show that the skills of today 's shipmodelers match the talent of the creators of the period model pieces preserved and displayed in our museums.

 
 
 

Hi friends,
I try all the Pictures of my model "LE BONHOMME RICHARD 1779" to restore.
Regards Karl

Most of them are 3mm normal shape LEDs mounted between the inner and outer planking
 

Between every other gun-port I place one
 

They are coverer up with lanterns.
 

 

Finally looking like this
 

One other type
 

And a candle on the table on the cabin
 
The last two were made using the smalles one I could get 1x0.5 mm with 0.1mm wiring already attached.
 
Best,
Michiel

Good to see your back. Now we can pick up from where you left off.

Glad to see your back, was hopping to see this finished. Never seen one fully done before.

Remco,
 
    Glad you had your pictures save, I have most of them but they are mix in different folders. Glad to see your back.