KeithAug

Eberhard - that was my worry and I also thought the method I chose was potentially the easiest to guarantee alignment between the upper and lower bearing holes. Tom - relatively cheap from Amazon or Ebay. And yes they are excellent for waterlines. Thank you Eberhard, Tom, Druxey, Rick, John and Nils. And thank you to the usual crew of followers for the likes.

I find that the older I feel the Dozier I get, and I can't even blame it on late nights. Remember every failure is an opportunity for improvement.😀

That's the problem with natural products - they tend to be quite variable. It seemed to workout quite well.

A little more progress on the rudder frame. Thank you Rick / Richard - Exactly so Richard. I am still using paper templates to get the shapes right. The wedge angles produce a little distortion in the templates but nothing worth worrying about. I cut the bulk of the excess metal away with straight cuts using my hacksaw. I then clamped the frame to a piece of wood for a bit of milling. I nibbled my way towards the desired profile using an end mill cutting vertically. I then blended the frame to shape with various files. I also drilled holes (upper and lower) to take the rudder shaft. The frame around the upper rudder bearing is round and not square as currently formed. So I needed to form the 4mm diameter round boss. I did this by first slotting out the end of a piece of 4mm diameter rod. This was then placed over square section nib and soldered in place. The excess was then cut away and the boss was cleaned up with a file. Finally a paper template was used again prior to cutting away the waste. The frame was then test fitted into the pre made slot in the hull. Although not fixed in position I checked the alignment with a laser level. The frame isn't finished as it needs a fair bit of polishing with wet and dry paper before finishing on the polishing wheel. Next the rudder.

Not withstanding your trials and tribulations the hull painting turned out remarkably well. The red waterline is particularly crisp.

Beautifully neat work Valeriy.

Thank you for the tip. I'd better stock up before they ruin them. like Colron wood dye and Nitromors paint stripper.

Great progress Nils. I am feeling a bit dumb because it was only in your last few posts that I realised she has a means of propulsion. The Trinity House light ships I am more familiar don't have propulsion and are towed on and off station.

An impressive little ship, excellent work.

Mike - i hadn't considered using a scroll saw. I don't have any metal cutting scroll saw blades other than the very fine jewellers saw blades. I really need to order some. I think I can manage the cut with a combination of hacksaw and mill. Thank you John and also thank you to anyone else who has left a like.

My daughter has gone off on what she calls a sabbatical. So far as I can tell this involves an extended holiday from work drifting around Europe chasing the snow. She parked her car here before she went which is how I discovered that it was more of a garbage truck than a family vehicle. Anyway, today I spent 6 hours getting it back to being tolerably habitable. The good news is that I found enough half eaten snacks to replenish our pantry for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately I didn't find any money. Today wasn't very productive in the shed but fortunately I did get some time yesterday. I started by machining the wedge angles on the edges of the rudder frame outer thickening pieces. I used a block of wood to hold the pieces on the mill at the correct angle, the angle being set using a bit of trigonometry. I don't have one of those clever little digital angle gauges but sometimes the old methods work perfectly well. You can see in the picture that the thickening pieces are screwed to the wood, but what is less apparent is that they are set in a cut out which supports them on 3 sides. I decided that relying on the screws alone probably wouldn't have worked. I machined both thickening pieces without removing the wooden block from the vice - thus ensuring that the wedge angles on the 2 thickening pieces were identical. Using a similar technique I machined the other two wedge angles with a different block set at a different angle. You can also see that I used the central piece as a template for scribing on the final internal shape of the thickening pieces. Then it was back to the jewellers saw to cut out the internal shape. I still hadn't ordered the coarse saw blades so inevitably it took longer than it should have with more breakages. Old fools never learn! I then machined on the final chamfers on the little nib on the left hand side in the above shot. The three pieces were then assembled together using the small brass locating pins. The assembly was held together with stainless steel clothes pegs and flux, solder and heat were applied to turn the three pieces into one. Apologies for the messy soldering, I was rushing a bit. The good news is that it cleaned up quite well. Now I have to cut the bottom profile which of course is now 0.3" thick and well beyond the wildest aspirations of my little jewellers saw. I need a different plan.

Wonderful work Eberhard. When I have needed small diameter hardened brass in the past I have taken a length of brass wire and put one end in a drill chuck while clamping the other end in a vice. While keeping the wire taught I have turned on the drill for a few seconds to twist the wire, thus work hardening and straightening it at the same time. I got the idea from looking closely at some 0.6 mm brass rod supplied by Cornwall model boats. under the magnifying glass you could see a definite helix along its entire length. Unfortunately I don't have a ready supply of brass nails.

Keith . My wife, daughter and daughter-in-law swear by these books. They all have dishes where you load all the food on one tray and bung it in the oven and about 45 minutes later you have a very tasty meal. I can confirm the food is very good and the washing up is minimal. I don't know if you can get them in the USA but it is worth looking. Here is a review - https://vaithehy.co.uk/2020/07/book-review-the-quick-roasting-tin.html

Hats off to you Keith, it seems to me that you are doing a marvellous job. You will know you are on the home straight when Maggie starts complaining about the cooking and offers to take over.

Looking like a fascinating build. I am hooked.

Looking very smart Valeriy.

She is quite a cute little ship with a lovely smoke stack.

Roger - I think it's called technical dementia. Thank you John.

Eberhard - When I think you are done you find even more detail to add. Do you have an end point or is it a project for life?

Marvellous John. She may be slow but she is majestic.

Facinating Andy. Worthy of Sherlock.

Beautiful looking hull Gary.

Pipes have never been so interesting.

Lets hope she lasts longer than the original. A great project.

Flashing along at your usual pace Nils. If I blink I am going to miss the next instalment.