KeithAug

Sorry but it now looks better than the original. Needs a bit more bodging!🙂

Nicely done Nils. You didn't say much about your carving method and I would be interested. For instance did you use templates or just freehand it?

Great article - you must be very proud.

Eberhard - Very nicely done. Are all the bases port bottle corks? If so how much port did you have to drink to create the crew?

Yes it looks pretty good. Were all your planks a constant width or did you have to taper some of them to get them to fit? The stern shot of the real ship might suggest some tapering but in reality it's quite difficult to see. In any event your planking has turned out well.

Sounds wonderful. What is the bi-plane if you don't mind me asking?

Boat life looks good - particularly as you seem to have a stove for heating. I assume she is still mobile? Nice work on those engines.

Ah! it is a wobbler engine. If you ever want to try something a little more efficient - double acting, self starting and reversible you can always try this on your next model. https://www.machinistblog.com/downloads/paddleduck/04_building_a_model_steam_engine_from_scratch_chapter_4_567_418.pdf I built one and it works a treat. Nice work on Miranda. You should do a build log on the boiler and engine build. You seem to be living on a boat?

John - How many productive years do you have left. You only need just enough!

Fame at last. Are you going to post the article?

Remarkably rapid progress Jon. Looking good.

Keith. It is tough for you both and there are bound to be times when spirits flag. I know what you mean about the thought of a retirement home being daunting. I am approaching old age when mentally I have only just reached adolescence and (probably like yourself) anything that challenges my status quo is particularly unwelcome. I hope your search goes well, but even more I hope something clicks for Maggie and her recovery gets back on track. Best wishes to you both and keep your chin up. P.S - I understand that retirement home "Grab a Grannie Dance Nights" can be quite exhilarating.

I think that sounds like a wonderful pastime.

Tom - Milled it with a 2mm end mill. No skill required! Eberhard - It felt like the simplest option.

That happened as well Tom.

More plankers progress. I have to admit I wasn't really on it this week. The workshop proved to be unusually frustrating. It felt like every time I put something down on the workbench I had to search for half an hour to find it again. It wasn't as if the bench was particularly untidy, I just seemed to be in the habit of hiding what I wanted under the thing I had just put down. Anyway for what it is worth here is the progress. About half the hull is done but that means I have had to sort out the skeg slot in the area of the prop shaft. Because of the fineness of the lines in this area the edge of the slot is very thin and quite ragged as a result. I decided that planking over this area might prove to be problematic, particularly as the plan is to varnish the lower hull thus precluding the use of filler to mask errors. Rather than planking I thought it would be better to replace this section of the hull with a solid piece of mahogany shaped as per the pink section of the following plan. I cut out the template and pasted it to a 3/4" thick piece of mahogany. I then cut the straight edges and drilled a hole to form the small diameter curve adjacent to the prop shaft. I then rough cut the rest of the curve on the scroll saw, before sanding it to finished size. I then milled the end to fit around the prop shaft. The next step was to gradually hack away the hull while checking the block for fit. Once the fit looked OK I cut the slot to take the brass skeg. The insert was then glued in place.

Nils - I think brass for the runners and wheels would be your best chance of success.

I appaluad your ambition Nils, however I suspect that the lack of weight in the boat and the friction in the mechanism will conspire against you. However nothing ventured noting gained.

Eberhard - Yes I am aware that cargo capacity(volume and weight) v's operating cost has to be optimised more so than ever before. In consequence modern hulls must be hydrodynamically efficient. I would just like them to look more aerodynamically aesthetic as well.

Indeed Gary. In fact a lot more elegant than many modern hulls - particularly on container ships which seem to me to have all the elegance of house bricks. Perhaps our ancestors reliance on oars caused them to minimise the water resistance at low speed.

Yes Eberhard I may have seen that but I can't remember whether I am confusing it with the excellent exhibition on the Sutton Hoo site. I have been to both several times and so plenty of opportunity for me to be confused.

John - I think you have to imagine it as an early experiment in lost wax casting (or alternatively a medieval child's beach holiday)😀. it is now a National Trust site but unfortunately no longer a hole. Very good exhibition though.

Steve - They are collecting the chips, shavings and offcuts and selling them to tourists in large bags as authenticated kindling - quite expensive actually. Very enterprising.🙂 Yes, it was heartwarming to talk to them. They were a great bunch, you would have felt very much at home.

Rick, don't put yourself out. You have been more than helpful already. I was just wondering if you remembered.

Mark - they said that the finished ship would be almost entirely oak. The rate limiting step is currently getting the oak. Apparently getting the right quality and shape is a lot more difficult than it was in AD 625. Their target was to finish it within the next 2 years although difficulties with the landlord of the assembly shed may get in the way of this. Their construction times seem to be shorter than many of ours!