KeithAug

Don't buy bathroom scales. About 40 years ago I bought some for Christmas and the divorce proceedings went a long way before she forgave me! Every time I go out to buy her a present she reminds me of the experience.

Thank you all for taking an interest in my minor operation. I decided to make hay while the sun shines so I cut some wood I printed and cut out the frame templates and then glued them to the 1/8" birch ply sheets. I glue them using Pritt Stick which I find adequately secures the paper while making removal acceptably easy. The sheets are 12" x 48". I did a few arrangements to try and minimise the wastage. There are 41 frames plus the stern keel piece. I didn't print the bow keel piece because my short term memory failed. I then separated all the frames using the hand held jig saw. So now I have 42 pieces of wood ready for the scroll saw. I get to use the scroll saw in anger about every 4 years and I have to go through the learning curve each time. It isn't worth making a start however because all the lines a fuzzy. Hopefully they will become much clearer in due course. Tomorrow my daughter is taking me Christmas shopping to ensure that Santa has an adequate pile my wife. Hopefully I will buy the right things and as a result I will make it through to the New Year without too much grief.

Michael - unfortunately not possible, banned from any activities which involve dust or spray - Including showering! May need to spend a lot of time in the playroom.

Yes a miniature miracle indeed. Very impressive.

The lovely work continues Richard. I didn't quite understand - are you printing the scroll work on the bow?

Just catching up Gary. I hope you are keeping well. The end of the year is fast approaching so hopefully the shipyard will soon get back into full swing.

Nils - I find that the problem with scratch builds is that everyone is an experiment. I have often thought that it would-be better to build each model twice and eliminate all the inaccuacies that inevitably occur in the first version - unfortunately life is too short.

Thank you all for the good wishes re my eyes. The first one is bing replaced on Monday so I am trying to make a bit of progress before I am banned from the workshop. They do one eye then the other after 4 weeks presumably to make sure the first one works before attempting the second. Anyway I have to avoid housework / shedwork for 2 weeks after each replacement. My wife doesn't trust me to be sensible so I expect to be under close supervision for a while.

The crew heads are excellent. For clarity I am referring to the heads that sit upon the bodies not the bodies that sit on the heads.

Great Model George. I spent an enjoyable afternoon visiting her about 30 years ago. Unfortunately I now live at the other end of the country. I remember the huge transverse beams designed to take the pressure loads from the ice pack. They crossed the hull in the accommodation areas at a most inconvenient height. She is well worth a visit but Rockville is more than an afternoon trip away. Good luck with the build.

Thanks again Valeriy. I sort of assumed you might be using different melting point solders and heat sinks - but your method is much easier.

Valeriy - thanks for the advice.

Sorry Valeriy I should have been clearer. I was referring to the bulwark not the deck plates. Eberhard I agree but plasticard is always an option. Also I have found paint finishes on brass to be a bit problematic as in my experience the brsss doesn't take the paint evenly and when dry flaking tends to be a problem. It may be that I haven't prepared the surface correctly.

Valeriy - As Eberhard says - I must do more brass work to develop my skills. Very inspiring. It would be good if you were able to supply more detail on your build / soldering sequence. I'm interested in how you make the later joints without unsoldering the earlier work? Also it would be interesting to know why you chose brass for the deck planks rather than something else e.g. very thin birch ply or even card?

Michael - yes it's a glass DRO scale. The mill has DRO on 3 axis fitted by myself for about £200. The surgery shouldn't be a problem - it's quite routine these days and only tales about 20 minutes under local aesthetic.

Andy / Keith - I may get banished to the Garage. Plenty of room in there.

Well I suppose it's about time that I started to make some sawdust, even though it is only the building board. It will be 5" wide by 6' long by 3/4 inch thick. The hull beam is about 9" so the sides will overhang. The length is about 6" longer than I need. The board will be made from 2 pieces of MDF fixed end to end. This is because I don't have a 6' piece handy, however it does ease the machining on the mill which only has a nominal capacity of 18". I started by cutting two board to give a combined length of 6'. I also drilled two/three 10mm holes in each board to take the bolts for clamping the boards to the mill table, I then routed a 1/4" longtitudinal slot in each side of each board 1/4" deep. Both slots were cut from the same datum edge to ensure the top and bottom slots aligned. I then cut 2 wooden blocks to fit tightly in the mill table central slot and hammered them in place. I then drilled each block with a 1/4" hole using the same X axis setting. Once drilled each block had a 1/4"diameter peg inserted. These pegs fit into the lower slots in each building board, allowing the board to slide in the X direction while maintaining it at right angles to the table. This then allows the board to be cut over a much greater length that the limitation of the 18" X axis travel of the mill. (The mill table X axis handles however have to be removed for the longer of the 2 boards). The frames are going to be cut from 1/8" ply (because I have some left from a previous project). So slots are cut across the board 1/8" wide by 1/8" deep by 5" long. The mill Y axis travel is 6" so the 5" board width is a convenient size. Once cut the boards were cleaned up and aligned against a 6' straight edge. Side pieces were then glued in place to join the boards. The upper central slot then had 1/4" strip wood inserted to locate the central notch in the frames. This might all seem to be overkill but it does make the task of keeping the frames aligned and at right angles very simple. The sharp eyed among you will notice i have numbered the slots with the frame numbers. Hopefully I will put the correct frames in the correct slots.

Thank you all for the good wishes. My wife was done earlier this year and ever since she has hiding the mirrors and complaining about the decor. I still think she is 21. 😱

Very impressive. Not long now until you finish. What next?

Keith - Germania is in the play room. The kids left home about 20 years ago so I only go in there when I am in the dog house. I spend quite a lot of time in there really!

I don't have a lot of choice art the moment Tom. I'm waiting for cataract surgery on both eyes and struggle with accuracy when cutting out stuff. I will have about 8 weeks off from dust making once the surgery takes place, in the mean time I eagerly await the appointment. Im actually looking forward to getting it done but may be less enthusiastic once I see myself in the mirror. At the moment I delude myself that I am still a bit of a catch 😁. It is good to think that at least one of the problems of aging can be reversed.

Thank you very much. Sorry for the late reply I haven't visited Germania recently.

Nicely done - such a cute little boat.

The scroll saw work on the frames looks very tidy. Not an easy skill to master but you seem to have nailed it.

Very smart looking model Grant. Excellent work.