KeithAug

I obviously misled you Druxey. I did the machining over 2 days. Dog walking limits my performance. Michael - yes you would think that the cutting forces would break the bond but I have never experienced a failure. Modern glues are really impressive aren't they. A number of you have commented and offered suggestions on lettering. I agree that your suggestions are quite feasible. The issue for me is that the size is so small that without a magnifying glass an observer wouldn't notice the lettering. Hmmmm! Looking at your work I don't think the skills would be much of an obstacle, and machines can be bought relatively cheaply these days. Eberhard, Mark, Bedford - thank you for your feedback and suggestions.

Yes Kevin - the dog has that effect on me as well.

For a while I have been thinking that the bowsprit foot would make an interesting project and so I decided to tackle it next. I find that solving machining problems is a lot of fun and in this case the step in the profile of the foot (Item A) caused a bit of head scratching. The oblong boss (item B ) was a lesser problem to resolve. The brass name plate at the back of the foot is quite nice but at scale size the larger letters are circa .05" high so I don't think I will be trying to reproduce them. Through a combination of plans and photographs I was able to sketch and size the foot. I decided the best way to produce the step was to make the foot from 3 parts labeled 1,2 and 3 in the sketch. The foot on Germania is made from a silver coloured metal which could be stainless steel but my guess is it may be aluminium. The colour makes it quite a pronounced feature so I decided to reproduce this by making the foot predominantly from aluminium. I started the manufacture by cutting a 0.650" wide block from a 2" x 1" piece of aluminium bar. I just love hacksawing thick metal sections like this!!!!!! Having cut the block I reduced it to .55" wide by .775" high by 2" long. I then drilled and reamed a 6mm hole through the block .5" from the narrow edge. Apologies for the mixed units my reamers are all metric. I then used the reamed hole as the location for milling the outer radius of the top. The next step was to slice off and finish to thickness the central part of the foot - item 1 in the sketch. With this removed the surface of the remaining material was reduced by .025". A further slice was then cut off and finished to size to create item 2. The next step was to start profiling the shape of item 3. To do this I needed a 1" diameter cutter. As I don't have one I used a fly-cutter instead. I set this up by positioning the centre line of the cutter spindle directly above the edge of the machine vice and then indexing across by .5". I then set the fly cutter blade against the side of the vice to give me a fly-cutter diameter of 1 inch. The kick up at the front was then removed on the mill before the curved face was finished by draw filing. Part 3 was then glued to a 6mm steel rod and transferred to the lathe. Here the face of the 6mm hole was cut back with a boring tool to form a flat seat of the bowsprit. With this done I applied a little heat to break the glue bond and then hacksawed and milled part 3 to length. Finally I removed the centre of the foot to form 2 toes and drilled the holes for attaching the belaying pins. The part finished foot was then assembled. I hope to finish it tomorrow.

I enjoyed catching up Marsal. Very fine work indeed.

Nicely done - you will find the collet blocks more and more useful. I even tried to find an octagonal one recently but with no success so I am constrained to using the square block with a "V" block.

Yes Oddball it is surprising what little you need to get started. I will be interested to see how much your tool collection has expanded in a few years time. If you are like many of us you will be looking for a bigger workshop by then.

To mirror everyone else who has commented - stunning work. Well done Michael. The most fun part is solving problems.

Nicely done Eberhard.

Pat:_ - Tough you is Bedford. John - Cold is fine - its the overcast greyness that really depresses. Fortunately today its wall to wall sun - but very cold. thankyou all for your feedback.

Thank you all for visiting and commenting. Much appreciated.

Yes Paul - its amazing what a few degrees can do. I too find 6 degrees pretty uncomfortable. The temperature seems to have been dropping throughout the day so tomorrow may be a workshop avoidance day.

Paul - Michael is correct and bobbin and button both seem to be used. Ideally they should be left loose on the shaft so they can rotate. Once you have filed down to the bobbin / button it rotates and the file rolls over it without cutting - hence you stop cutting the metal being filed.

Bedford;- I recently bought a cheap (Chinese) ER11 collet chuck an collets on eBay. Not the best quality but adequate of modelling. I find them a very useful addition for small work in my medium sized lathe. The whole lot cost about £20. Lovely work on the rudder - I forgive the rope.

It is pretty miserable outside today but at least the workshop is sitting at a comfortable 9c (48f). I made the pawl handle from a scrap bit of square section tube .250" outside and .025" wall. I cut a piece of mahogany .2" square and glued it in the tube to provide strength while I machined it. I then drilled a 1/16" hole towards one end to create the pivot point for the handle. I then drilled a second hole in the side furthest away from the pivot holes to take the eyebolt. I then parted off the handle to the required width (0.1") on the Byrnes saw fitted with a slitting saw blade. I then hand filed the end with the hole to form the radius and remove the adjacent side. I then threw it away dissatisfied with the accuracy of my filing. I repeated this whole process a second time with the same result. I was taught many years ago how to file perfect radii but I had never tried it on such small parts (.05" radius). Anyway I made myself some filing bobbins from mild steel and did the job properly. I did a test fit on the pawl body and then went on to make the eyebolts (.09" diameter) as per the method previously described. The eyebolts were then soldered in place. While I was at it I soldered a location spigot on the base of the pawl body. Finally I cut some 1/16" rod for the pivot and assembled the parts. The small chain rollers were then made - not much explanation needed as the photos say it all. I then got on with fitting the various parts to the deck. The wooden plinths were made and positioned using card templates. The positions for the chain pawls were likewise located using a template. The pawls and chain rollers were then glued in place. Finally I found a bit of chain and tested the run. The chain is a bit large really. It has 11 links per inch and I think I will try something smaller before I commit.

Yep - wives have a habit of revealing our flaws, bless em.

Eberhard. I don't have any decent photographs of the area as it is very congested - lots of blocks and halyards obscure the view. The plans show reinforcing steelwork between the lugs and the deck - although not in enough detail for modelling. As it wont be visible I don't plan to reproduce.

The workshop conditions over the weekend have been tolerable so I have done a bit more brass work. The chain guide bollards were a straightforward turning job. The only complication was I needed rather small turning tools so a bit of grinding was necessary. In the photo they are temporarily placed on the deck minus their circular wooden plinth which will be made later. Having scratched my head for as bit I decided that the lug on the slender bollards would be more easily created if I made the bollards in parts with a split at the lug position. I therefor turned the top portion and then cut a slot to take the lug. The lug itself was milled to shape and then parted off to thickness. A 1/16" central hole was drilled along the axis of all parts for location purposes. The lower section of the bollard was then turned and its square based was milled. All parts were assembled on a central rod and glued with CA glue. I then made a start on the chain lock. I decided that I could make the 2 pawl devices from a piece of brass bar of 1.0"x.55"x.25". I needed a thickness of .2" so I reduced the thickness with a fly cutter. I then drilled the 2 off 1/16"holes for the pivot point of the pawl. I then cut off the waste material.........plus some that wasn't waste material..............the cutter slipped in the collet. So the plan changed to making 1 pawl device from the piece of brass. I milled the circular profile by pivoting the brass in the vice around a central pin (actually a 1/16' drill) - taking a succession of horizontal cuts will the end mill. With a light filing I had the desired circular form. I then slotted out the centre using a slitting saw. I repeated the process to create a second pawl body. The two parts were then aligned through the pivot hole and stuck together using double sided tape. It was then back to the mill to cut the ramp angle on the in-feed side. With the ramp cut the two parts were cut off to height with a slitting saw. I hope to finish tomorrow.

Michael - the computer keyboard reminds me how big your model is. I do like the opportunity for detail that it presents. I must consider building smaller ships at larger scale in future.

Very clean work Valeriy, I wonder how you keep the soldering so neat?

Doris - I wish my eyesight was better to be able to marvel at the detail you create.

The frames are so nice it is a shame to plank them./

Thank you Rob - much appreciated.

Michael - screw slots look a little wide and deep .............................. only joking - well done.

The weather has been somewhat on the cool side and as a result the workshop has been declared out of bounds. I have consoled myself by sitting in my arm chair planning the next steps and making manufacturing sketches from my stock of photographs. I have been focusing on the foredeck and in particular the various features around the anchor chain. In the next photograph you can see a pair of bollards and a couple of chain guides hiding under a plastic canoe. Here are the same features with their location better defined albeit with a loss of detail. The rear most pair appear to be fixed guides and scaling of the photographs enabled me to produce the following sketch. The front pair are quite tall and slender. The lugs will make manufacture of these somewhat more than a simple turning job. Finally I returned to the "chain locking device" that was the subject of a previous discussion. I took the advice that this was some sort of pawl lock and I imagine that it operates something like the depiction in the following sketch. Scaling from photographs produced the following sketch. The weather is forecast to become more stormy and a little warmer so I hope to manufacture these items over the weekend.

Starting to look like a real ship John. Framing looks the bees knees.