KeithAug

Sooty, very nice small model. The sea is very realistic. It would be good to know how you did it.

Very impressive work.

Good progress Allan, the furling gear looks particularly realistic. Allan, for future reference this company produces micro-bore brass tubing that is good for sleeves. It’s a bit expensive but you don’t use much. https://www.albionalloys.com/en/ https://www.chronos.ltd.uk/omega-search/?q=Albion alloys .

Eberhard, I have to agree and even worse without the benches in place. At least they will add a bit of diversity to the build process. Allan, I tend to buy things like this second hand from a local dealer. V blocks are handy but 1,2,3 blocks are probably more useful for this application (and a bit cheaper). see - https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Workholding/Vee-Blocks-Angle-Plates/Stevensons-Metric-Blocks. However if I hadn't had the V blocks handy I would have used lego or duplo blocks as they are accurate and cheap.

Keith, Eberhard, John, Richard, Boris, Kees, Pat, thank you all for your kind comments. Moving on, I next attempted the benches that sit over the life rafts. These benches disassemble and are variously shown in position or removed. I will build the model with all 3 benches in place, I won't reproduce the cushions as the photographs only show these when the boat is at anchor or moored. As usual I started with a sketch, scaled from the photographs. all 3 benches are of different lengths and I only needed to sketch the ends. The only slightly complicated elements were the feet. These were profiled on the mill before being slit off. All the other bits were cut out and the planked bench tops were made. I glued the ends to joining planks using a couple of engineers blocks to keep things square. Finally the tops were glued in place. I now need to make the life rafts but that will be another day.

Eberhard, I was not aware of this type of anchor although in concept it seems similar to what I would call a Danforth anchor. The stern anchor is what I have always called a Fisherman’s anchor. Both very nicely made given the limitations of scale. Taper turning 0.3mm steel rod is a bit of an achievement. Was it a case of very light cuts or did you conjure up some other technique?

Brian, isn't it annoying when life intrudes. Great job on the stove, I particularly liked the aluminium tape technique.

Thank you Richard and Gary and thanks to everyone for the likes. Well here we go again, shortly to be locked up for another month - good job we have a dog to get us out for woodland walks. The hatch was finished by creating a framed surround and then glueing it in place in the open position. I could have made it slide but the previous one (on Altair) quickly ceased up. It didn't therefore seem worthwhile. The underside was then given a quick once over with wire wool before being masked and painted with 4 coats of white acrylic paint. For no particular reason I then moved on to the "wings" on either side of the deckhouse. The box structure are variously photographed with planked tops and with protected skylights. As previously I went with the skylight version. Having made similar structures before I didn't need a very detailed sketch. The port wing is longest at 2.9 inches wile the starboard structure is only 1.85" long. Both are .650" high by .710" wide. As previous I started with oak cores. These were clad with mahogany frames and panels. The skylight frames were then made and glazed and brass strips were cut to take the protective bars. The brass strips were drilled and mounted prior to installing the bars. The bars were then installed. Finally the planked section was made to cover the exposed section of the longer wing. I haven't glued the tops on yet - a job for tomorrow.

Richard - pumps very nicely made, excellent machining of such small parts.

Valerie, excellent shackle - and the extra bit of explanation was yer helpful. What diameter wire did you use?

Your builds pass too quickly Javier. This one is progressing at warp speed.

Thank you Allan, I always seem to forget that styrene is an option. Boring out rod is pretty straight forward, let me know if you need any advice.......... but as you say the original is wood then wood is A good way to go.

Allan, Anchors can be quite tricky things to make. The photo isn't very revealing but it would be good to know your process for making it. Also the mast hoops look good but what was your rationale for making them out of holly rather than metal.

Exactly so Michael. Eberhard - Thank you, but its not something you are going to find very useful at your preferred build scale.

Hello Kevin. Thank you for the compliment. I guess you were jesting but I think you can do it on the MF70. Use 2x24" planks of MDF attach one to the table, hanging out over the end of the bed. Put the pivot at the off table end and then mount the top MDF plank on the pivot. Problem solving is such fun.

Hi Michael, thank you for your comments. I only ever part off on manual feed so doing it slowly was fairly easy. I find soft solder is remarkably strong for jobs of this type, it rarely seems to come apart during machining. I did however make sure the parting tool (which was only .025" wide) was very sharp. Pat - I look at many models on this site with admiration, everyone seems to have something that they excel at. And so to cutting the roof end mouldings. I checked the curvature against a set of radius templates that I downloaded from the web. The radius required turned out to be 22". I improvised a jig to cut this radius. I started by cutting a piece of wood to be a snug fit in the end slot of the mill table. Into this I inserted a steel peg. A piece of MDF was then cut, one end with a hole to fit over the pivot pin and the other end with a "L" section cross piece onto which the mahogany stock was mounted. The distance between the pin and the centre of the cross piece was 22". The mahogany was mounted with double sided tape and the curved beam was cut by progressively passing it backwards and forwards while feeding the end mill down. It didn't take long and the results were fine. I used the previously made scraper to form the profile before glueing the ends to the roof. The corners were then manually finished so the moulding shape wrapped around the corner. The cut out for the hatch was then removed and the hatch runners and side detail was then commenced. The hatch planking was built on the roof to get the correct curvature. Sellotape was laid on the roof to facilitate this operation.

PoulD - Early on I did toy with putting LED's inside the hull but I knew that after the first few months I would never turn them on again. Thank you for your kind comments about my craftsmanship, I keep trying but have a lot of room for improvement.

Druxey, Steve, John - thank you for the compliments, they keep me warm as the workshop starts to cool - only 9 weeks to Christmas.

Keith - You are right to suggest it won't be possible to see them so it is somewhat pointless....................... but of course I will.

Richard, might work but at 0.2" thick I think it would have some memory and would flex back to a larger curve. I could over bend but this might be a bit hit and miss. I have worked out a plan to machine the planks to the desired radius. I'll try it some time this week and report on my success or failure later this week.

Vaddoc This is also a good supplier of wood and usually cheaper than Cornwall. https://www.slecuk.com/ Nice work with the scroll saw, but glueing pattern on the reverse sounds very tricky. Good luck.

A very elegant ship and very clean work.

Nicely done.

Pretty amazing. I'm in awe.

Allan - basically yes - I'm using the mill which of course has a x,y table and of course I also have z axis control on the grinding wheel. All very controllable. Eberhard - yes I believe the deckhouse is vented via the frieze and mushroom vents. My guess is that the vents are brass but the crew seem to have run out of brass polish. I will make them from polished brass.