kurtvd19

Chuck: The bus picks us up at the hotel and takes us to the dam and after the tour is done we go to the boat. It's all part of the same package. I would imagine that if you don't want to actually tour the dam you could keep the bus driver company or just stay near the pick up spot and rejoin the group as they go to the boat. After the cruise and lunch the bus heads back to LV. The cost is essentially for the bus to and from along with the cruise and lunch. There might be others who are not going inside as I don't know just how accessible the dam tour is and some of out older members sure aren't going to keep up. The only thing other than what I have said her would be for you to check with Mike Lonnecker at one of the meetings as he's handling this for us. Take care, Kurt

2018 NRG CONFERENCE UPDATE October 25 – 27, 2018 Registration Forms - https://www.thenrg.org/nrg-2018-conference.php The 2018 Conference dates are October 25 – 27, 2018 and the Conference Hotel is the Palace Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. The hotel is just off the “strip” and has free airport shuttle service on a set schedule and free shuttle service to and from the “strip”. HOTEL INFORMATION Room rates (with $15.86 LV Resort fee) are $65.85 (+ tax) for Tuesday through Thursday nights and $125.85 (+ tax) for Friday and Saturday nights. All rooms are equipped with high speed internet access with a daily newspaper and admission to the exercise facility. Last date to get the special conference room rates is September 25, 2018. Reservation Link = https://palacestation.sclv.com/ You must use this offer code for the discounted room rate when making hotel reservations - PCINRG1 If making reservation by phone you must tell them you are attending the NRG Conference The hotel has five restaurants and a Starbucks. The Feast Buffet is one of the best buffets in LV with breakfast, lunch and dinner – open from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM with $9.99 breakfast, $11.99 lunch and $16.99 dinner prices ($3 to $7 less for Boarding Pass members). The Grand Café is open 24 round the clock and has very reasonable prices with breakfast available at any time or how about a cheeseburger for breakfast? Breakfast prices from $6.99 to $13.99, lunch from $6.99 to $10.99 and dinner from $8.99 to $17.99. For the seafood lovers the Oyster Bar is open 24/7 with any seafood you can think of on the menu. Fine dining is available at the Charcoal Room, open from 5:00 PM until 10:00 PM Sun –Thur. and 11:00 PM on Friday and Saturday. Little Tony's offers a variety of Italian and American pizza styles, including classic Italian, classic American, Sicilian, New York, traditional Chicago, cracker-thin, and gluten-free. Additionally, a selection of pastas, calzones, stromboli, antipasti, and salads are offered, all with a focus on authentic Italian ingredients and organically-grown produce. Open from 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM – M-Th, 4:00 PM to 11:00PM F, 11:00 AM to11:00 PM Sat. CONFERENCE EVENTS The Thursday Tour is a trip to the Hoover Dam and a lunch cruise on Lake Mead on a sternwheel boat. The guided tour of the Hoover Dam includes the entire inner workings of the Dam, not just the exterior. The cruise, with lunch and beverage provided, provides a water side close up view of the Dam. There is also a cash bar on the boat for those wishing to have an adult beverage. DESERT PRINCESS - Lunch Cruise Informal gatherings on Thursday and Friday evenings with a cash bar will be an opportunity to gather and see old friends, make new friends and can serve as a meeting place for those going to dinner together. The speaker line-up for our 2018 conference is almost finalized with an interesting group committed. As of press time almost all speakers are on board. Some names you will certainly recognize as being outstanding and respected members of the Guild or very well known in their areas of expertise. * Ken Foran will talk about Soldering Brass. * Tony Devroude will talk about carving figureheads. * Dr. Al Ross of BlueJacket will speak about kit development. * Kurt Van Dahm will speak about model size table saw use and safety. * Steve Wheeler will talk about some unique Colorado River boats and their construction. * Doug Tolbert will talk about researching the 74 gun class Buckingham. * Chris Dostal, Asst Prof at Texas A&M Nautical Archaeology Program, will speak about nautical archaeological excavations and the use of 3D rendering of the artifacts. * Justin Parkoff, Texas A&M graduate will speak about conservation work on the Union Civil War Gunboat Westfield (aka Texas City wreck). DAILY SCHEDULES (Tentative) – We will have a 90 minute lunch period on Friday and Saturday during which we encourage attendees to visit the vendors and check out the model display. FRIDAY – TECHNICAL SESSIONS * Ken Foran – Soldering Brass * Steve Wheeler – Lapstrake Hull Construction * Kurt Van Dahm – Table Saw Use and Safety Afternoon will feature several round tables – topics and speakers to be confirmed. The Annual Membership Meeting will follow the round tables. Gus Agustin's 2017 Round Table - Making Flags David Antscherl's 2017 Round Table - Frieze Painting SATURDAY – GENERAL SESSIONS * Tony Devroude – Carving Figureheads * Al Ross – Kit Development * Chris Dostal – Nautical Archaeological Excavations – 3D Imaging * Justin Parkoff - Union Civil War Gunboat Westfield – Texas City wreck * Doug Tolbert – Researching 74 Gun Class Buckingham The after dinner speaker will be NRG member and artist Peter Rindlisbacher whose talk will cover his use of ship models to help create his paintings. MEALS Lunch on both Friday and Saturday will be sandwich and salad buffets where you can select your own sandwich and salads. This has been a very popular type of lunch for our members at past conferences. Banquet meal choices are: * Sautéed Chicken Breast – Herb Roasted Marinade * Orange Roughy with Fresh Tropical Salsa * Traditional 6 oz. Filet of Beef All dinners include rolls and butter, salad, vegetable, potato, coffee, hot and iced teas and desert. If you have special dietary restrictions please let us know when you register so your needs can be accommodated. Special dietary needs can’t be accommodated if we are not notified at least a week before the event – due to the hotel’s requirements. VENDORS At press time there are two vendors confirmed. BlueJacket Shipcrafters and Train Troll will be attending and displaying their materials. The NRG will also have a sales table. MODEL DISPLAY Please bring a model; we will have a lot of space for model display. The model registration form is also on the web site. 2017 Model Display Downloadable registration forms are now on the website. The hotel registration information and link is also posted on the website.

Dave: I have been the contest chairman at Manitowoc for 18 or 19 years and I will be quite busy BUT we will find time to talk. Are you planning to go to the Friday evening get together with dinner at a neighboring restaurant and then back to the museum for ice cream and cookies? I did up the participation certificates and the model display cards the other day and noted your entry I can guarantee you will enjoy the weekend. See you soon. Kurt

Joe: Not to take anything away from Dave's fine work but the reason I like this project so much is that the plans provide the templates for the jigs - and they are on duplicate sheets so there is no need to cut up or copy plan sheets. I was able to inspect the 3 models Bill Strachan built during the development of this project at the Joint Clubs meeting in New London, CT on April 28 and they are proof that this is a neat project. I expect Dave's build will be fun for him - once the jigs are done - and I look forward to talking with Dave this coming weekend at the WI Maritime Museum's 42nd Annual Midwestern Model Ships and Boats Contest and Display. http://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/special-events/midwestern-model-ships-boats-contest-and-display/ Kurt

I have a review copy from the publisher and the book will be reviewed in the Nautical research Journal soon. I have only skimmed the book as I am getting ready for the show/contest at the WI Maritime Museum being held on the 18-20 of May but it reads well and is nicely put together. iI have read enough to highly recommend the book if you have any interest in this type of craft or Great Lakes vessels and history. As soon as I am back reading this book is a priority. Congratulations Roger on being published. Kurt

Outstanding!

Do a search here on MSW - this topic had an extensive discussion some time ago - may different ways to do this. Kurt

We have some Canadian members who report that their Journals take up to 90 days to arrive. They start to look for their Journal when the see the next issue posted to the NRG web site. The Journals are sent to a consolidator in NY who ships them across the boarder and they are then put in the Canadian mail system. This is the way all non USA periodic Journal mailings are done. Some members in Australia routinely report less than 30 days from our shipping to NY until they get them down under. I get a confirmation (and the bill) from the NY consolidator when they are shipped out so the delay isn't at that end. Canada is by far the worst when it comes to delivery times. About 1/2 of our Canadian members pay for first class mailing to avoid the delay. Kurt

I read someplace that Bacon fat could be used as a lubricant for working on non-ferrous metals. As I had just cooked a pound of Bacon I had a jar of fat cooling off. Took a very small bottle lid of it to the shop and it worked quite well when I was drilling with a #74 bit pretty deep. I was concerned about the depth w/o lubricant and the Bacon fat worked quite well - didn't break a drill bit and got 6 holes done. A toothpick dipped into the fat transferred the fat to the drill bit. Kurt

Very small chain is available in spools from jewelry supply stores. It's relatively cheap. HO scale is easily fit with readily available chains. Even places like Hobby Lobby stock small chain. I have all sorts of the stuff picked up at garage sales. Kurt

Those are extra parts in case you goof on the first set. Kurt

Ken beat me to mentioning UMM-USA. John was a vendor at the NRG's St. Louis Conference and his tables were always crowded and doing a brisk business. I have a whole bunch of his tweezers - g\very good quality at a good price. His tools are all of good quality and he has a bunch related to photo etch bending and handling. Kurt

Dave: You didn't waste any time in getting started - I only mailed you the plans 8 days ago! It sure looks like it will be a nice project and I will be following with great interest. Kurt

The NRG has archived our back issues of the Nautical Research Journal on CD discs available for purchase. We have done this since about 2002 when we did a 2 CD set for the NRG years 1-40. We have followed up with 2 additional CD's covering the next 10 years 41-50 and the years 51-60. Due to changing technology we now have had to make this information available on USB flash drives because so many computers do not have CD/DVD drives anymore. When the next digital revolution makes flash drives obsolete we must be sure to transfer the back issue data to the "new" media in a timely manner - but as long as it's done in a timely manner after the "new" system is introduced there should be no problem.. It's when the organization says "there's plenty of time to do this" and puts it off until it is too late that there are issues. I got stuck trying to archive old 1" reel to reel video tapes onto VHS - it never happened and when I retired there were still reels of old fire investigation recordings sitting on a shelf. Open cases require the evidence to be kept virtually forever - but it's a catch 22 when there is no way to retrieve it. Kurt

Mike" I made a base with drawers to keep the various tools for the lathe real close. It's heavy enough that I didn't want to move it for an uncluttered shot but you can get the idea. Kurt

Thanks Bruce. It's fixed now. Kurt

Sherline makes conversion kits for the mills and lathes to change them between inches and millimeters - a lot cheaper than buying a new machine. Kurt

Dave: I just went to the download and it worked fine. You might have tried while it was being fixed but it worked fine from here at 1:40 PM. Kurt

An error was found on page 23 of the monograph and it has been corrected in the file that is downloadable from the NRG web site as of 3-30-18 at about 11:30 AM CST. In the chart on page 23, the dimensions for the BASE PLATE should be 1/2" x 2" x 3 1/4". The error was the 3 1/4" dimension was shown as 2 1/4". If you printed out the monograph earlier than this morning you may want to reprint page 23. If you downloaded it you may want to delete the copy and download the file again. Sorry for the inconvenience. Kurt

Dave: Don't be intimidated about showing. Models are judged on the merits of the model's workmanship and in Novice, Intermediate and advanced classes. Anybody entering for the first time is eligible to be in the Novice category. The Novice and Intermediate classes get a handicap (that is calculated after the model is judged) and models are not judged against other models until they win a gold award when they are eligible for a best of category (miniature, best novice, best Great Lakes, etc.) and it's the points that are compared - the judges don't go back into the contest room to look at one model vs another (except in rare instances of ties). Looking forward to meeting you. Kurt

Dave: No, there is not a bill of materials as such. Bill, the author felt it was critical that scratch-builders know/learn how to develop a bill of materials. At the start of each section of the monograph there is a bill of materials for that section - listed by sizes of material but not by lengths. The following text does give the lengths needed in that section so adding up the lengths is all that is needed. All of the materials are common stock sizes no special milling required as the project was designed so that the builder w/o access to power tools could still do the project - while accomplished builders can use any woods they have access to. I am sure that someone who has purchased the plans will do up a list and they may share it here. BTW, your plans were mailed yesterday by Priority Mail. Are you by any chance coming to Manitowoc in May? Kurt

Each of the Shop Note books are a bit over 200 pages. The binding allows it to lay flat if you are using it for reference at the bench. Each book contains Shop Notes that have been published in the Journal. The original SN has content from the start of the Journal up to 1980. SN 2 content is from Journals published from 1981 - 2005. I will let others give their opinions on the usefulness of these books - all I will say is I have both in my shop and find them very useful. Kurt

THE GENERIC EAST COAST OYSTER SHARPIE – LATE 19TH CENTURY The plans and monograph are now available to build a late 19th century, Generic East Coast Oyster Sharpie. The eleven sheets of CAD plans and the 277-page, step-by-step monograph are designed as an introduction to scratch building a small workboat in a miniature version of a full-size board for board build. This project was created primarily for modelers of intermediate level of skill or experience with special instructions for those with limited access to power tools. This project will also appeal to all workboat fans and those wanting a change from long-term projects. The project was designed and written for the NRG by William “Bill” Strachan with the plans done by Al Saubermann, both members of the NRG and the CT Marine Model Society. Bill Strachan is a retired Enrolled Agent and an avid miniaturist. Early in the 1980’s he was the Comptroller for an architectural firm and had the opportunity to build all their architectural models. In the 1990’s he joined the SW FL Shipmodeler’s Guild. He served the Guild as Bosun and Newsletter Editor. Retirement meant moving to CT, and he became Secretary and Newsletter editor for the CT Marine Model Society he also served as Vice President of CMMS until last fall. Bill and his wife Sue live in Wolcott, CT. Al Saubermann is a retired physician whose career in academic medicine spanned 45 years. He's been building model ships for over 35 years including scratch building for the last 10. He recently completed a board model of the USS Peacock (1813) built from the original plans conserved in the National Archives. He currently serves as Secretary for the Connecticut Marine Model Society. Al and his wife Olga live in Deep River Connecticut. Plans from Mystic Seaport and the Mariners’ Museum and books by Howard Chapelle and others are the reference sources for this 3/4” = 1’0” scale model, and presents three options to choose from to complete your model. The 277 page, monograph contains 441 color photographs and diagrams to guide the builder. Referenced and quoted sources are footnoted for the modeler and a bibliography is provided. The monograph is provided as a free download from the NRG web site. Ordering information is on the NRG web site. The plans are shipped rolled in a sturdy box. The monograph is also available on a USB flash drive for an additional charge.

Not unless you are working at a large scale - Like 1:1. A mallet helps when making deeper and wider cuts than on almost any model - unnecessary for the fine work we do on models. Kurt

Noted riverboat modeler Glenn Hensley - 1919-2018 – passed away recently and was buried with full military honors on February 16 at Jefferson Barracks, MO. Glenn was a WWII Combat Photographer in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations. Several of Glenn’s riverboat models are exhibited at the University of Missouri-St. Louis' Mercantile Library. His models also reside in the Smithsonian Institution and Mystic Seaport Museum. It was reported by the St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat Club Commodore Jane Benefield, that Glenn was laid to rest down by the river under the shade of trees. Glenn had been a member of the St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat Club for many years but had not been active for several years. I had the opportunity to get to know Glenn back in the 80's and to see his models prior to their going into the Mercantile Library and after they were moved there into very nice settings. If you are in St. Louis and interested in riverboats the Mercantile Library has many models as well as extensive research materials on just about everything you might want to know about riverboats. Kurt