kurtvd19

Shellac is a very common finish for furniture and wood projects - it was used extensively here in the US until sturdier finishes became available and fine furniture makers still use it. It is still easy to get here and to use. The woodworking stores sell cans of ready to use shellac and they also sell the flakes so one can mix up a fresh batch and it can be made to different consistencies by adding more flake to the liquid. If you buy any, get the smallest amount you can get as it doesn't have a real long shelf life once it's mixed but if the can is kept tightly closed I have used stuff that was 2 years old. Here is a link to the Wikipedia definition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac Hope this helped. Kurt

I use only acrylics and specifically Badger Airbrush Co's Marine Paints - they have virtually no odor. I doubt that you have access to this brand. I often just airbrush a light coating of water onto the wood and when dry sand the raised wood. If it was raised a lot - softer woods raise more than hard woods - I sometimes spray another coat and sand that when dry and then apply the acrylic paints. Sometimes the model will not work well with sanding due to tight corners, etc and then I use a coat of shellac under the paint. The shellac doesn't raise the grain and once it seals the wood there isn't any way that the acrylic will affect the wood. Kurt

Making a sternwheel operate is much more difficult than adding an electric motor. Most operating model sternwheels use a circular drive wheel, inside the engine room, that the inboard end of the Pitman arms attach to. This makes the pitman arms operate in a circular motion while the real steam engine connection to the inboard end of the pitman arm is a slide mechanism that goes fore and aft and the pitman arm attached to the sternwheel follows the sternwheel's circular motion. The inboard end slides back and forth at a set elevation while the outboard end rotates in a circular motion where it attaches to the sternwheel. When you see the slide mechanism operate vs the inner wheel type drive the latter looks very toy like. Kurt

Eric: Thanks for doing the research. I have filed the info and links in my steamboat files. I know it will proove helpful down the road. Kurt

Grant: Sorry, but the limitations of the web site would make it visible to everybody as there is not a "members only" section. There is an upgrade in our data base under consideration and members would have access to update personal info and see the member number but it's sometime down the road. If every member would look at their mailing label - the Spring 2017 issue is in the mail - and record their member number they will have it at hand when needed. Take care, Kurt

I don't think you see your member number on the store - we don't ask for it and the store and member data base are not linked. Send an email to the office and ask what your member number is - or call and ask and renew at the same time. The email is info@thenauticalresearchguild.org Phone is in the Journal - page 1 and on the web site www.thenrg.org Kurt

I will be periodically listing some older, out of production, kits on MSW. The price to the left of the item is the minimum bid that will be accepted. Some boxes are marked with these prices from the 1980’s. Some are classics produced by out of business manufacturers and are selling on eBay for much higher prices than we have marked. Send your bid(s) to me, and Reply by PM ONLY. The auction will continue until midnight – CST - (Chicago, IL) on Saturday, March 11, 2017. The winner of each item is the highest bid received prior to the deadline. Be very specific as to the item under bid – use the description noted below. When a bid is received, a PM update will be sent to all bidders as soon as possible. This may allow you a chance to submit a counter bid before the deadline. Each of these items has been inspected and are complete unless otherwise noted. Some of the boxes are less than pristine but the contents are undamaged and complete unless otherwise noted. Some are still in sealed boxes. The funds will benefit the three Chicago area model ship clubs through their Tri-Club Association. Shipping will be additional. Cost of shipping will be by USPS with no upcharge once destination is known. Kurt MARINE MODELS $39.00 - New Bedford Whaleboat kit #1069 - 1/2” scale – complete A J FISHER $35.00 – Lark – Baltimore Clipper – 1812 – 1/8” scale – complete

Airbrushes are kind of a personal fit. I had a Paasche VL double action brush long ago and after many attempts to use it sold it. Just couldn't use it. Some time later at a club meeting I was able to try a Badger 155 Anthem and I could spray with it right away - I fell in love with it. Turned out that it's the difference - for me - of the fat barreled VL and the thinner barreled Badger. The VL just wasn't comfortable but the 155 was. I have found that when doing demos for Badger I never demo the Creschendo 175 model because of it's fat barrel. I have big hands, prefer a fat pen but prefer a thin airbrush. To each his own. The comments below, while showing Badger brushes, are true regardless of brand of airbrush - as long as we talk name brand brushes. Not copies or the "$9.99 Professional" brushes we see advertised. Some have stated their preferred brushes and I will do the same. For the modeler who doesn't regularly use an airbrush a single action brush is the easiest to use and puts the paint onto the model just fine. Once they are adjusted for the paint and pressure being used it's just a matter of pushing down on the trigger and painting. The 200-20 shown below is my go-to single action brush (everybody makes a similar unit) and in my opinion is perfectly adequate for most occasional users. The airbrush I use 90% of the time is the 360. It is a double action brush with both gravity and suction feeds - the front end from the black band forward - revolves 360 degrees - thus the name. As shown it's in the gravity feed position with the color cup on top, but rotate the front end 180 degrees and the bottles plug into the throat of the color cup. The advantage of the 360 is that for a small amount of painting the paint can be put into the color cup by an eye dropper. This is great for doing some detail work or painting a few small parts. With the front end rotated and a bottle plugged into the color cup, larger pieces can be painted. This is a good double action brush for the modeler who uses an air brush often enough to work with a double action brush. Smaller models / pieces can best be painted with a double action brush if the user is skilled enough. If you do 1/700 models a detail brush is the choice. This type of brush has a narrow angle of paint stream and is not meant as a general use air brush. Trying to paint the hull of a 1/72 scale submarine is not a job for the detail brush. The Patriot 105 Extreme is a new brush aimed at the modeler doing very fine work. I use this brush often but for ship modelers it is a second not a primary unit. It is designed to paint a line as narrow as a pencil line but only about a maximum of about 1/4" to 3/8" wide. The next is a brush that I rarely use and it's being shown here as more of a trophy than as a tool. It is actually gold plated! It is one of about 12 that Badger made for presentation to staff or friends. This is the last one they ever assembled (better late than never) and I was able to watch the technician assemble it and then accepted it from Badger's President. One thing people always ask is "what is the best airbrush?" My answer is there isn't a best airbrush. However, the best airbrush for anybody is the one they are comfortable using and does the job for them. At our local IPMS chapter one of the members works for Iwata. When people ask him about airbrushes he talks about Iwatas. When they ask me I talk about Badgers. When somebody stands up during a meeting and asks a general airbrush question we both get equal time to give our opinions. The points that we both always mention is that the best airbrush is the one you are comfortable with and that all name brand airbrushes when compared by type - single action and double action - lay down paint the same way. I think that the proficiency of the user is much more responsible for the quality of the paint job as the name brand brushes are all very good. Buying a Badger or an Iwata is not going to guarantee a good paint job if the user doesn't practice or have any skill. In the hands of a skilled operator the equipment is secondary - but also very personal. Kurt

The NRG Membership Number is above your name on the mailing label. The mailing label is affixed to the Secretary's Newsletter (SNL) facing out from inside the plastic mailing sleeve. The labels are not affixed to the Journals so that the covers are not defaced. An email can be sent to info@thenauticalresearchguild.org at any time to ask for your number - you will need to tell Mary your name, city and state (we do have duplicate member names) and she will return your email with your number - no later than the next business day. We provide each member with notice of when their membership is due to lapse, right on that mailing label "EXPIRES VOLUME 62 - ISSUE 4" appears for the first two issues (assuming a January start date) telling the member his membership us up when he receives the issue noted. With the 3rd issue (2 issues to go) the words 'RENEW SOON" are printed on the label. The next issue has "LAST ISSUE - RENEW NOW". When a member lapses we keep them on the mailing list until time for the next Journal to go out. At that point they go onto a recently lapsed list so reinstatement is very easy. We even send emails before somebody lapses yet Mary is kept quite busy reinstating up to 20 or 30 who wind up lapsing each issue, because once the next issue ships w/o the member's renewal they need to pay for mailing of the missed issue - IF we have any in stock. So, the best way to keep your collection intact w/o missing copies is to heed the messages on the mailing labels and renew early - and this helps keep Mary happy too, and I truly appreciate that. Kurt

We are working on a digital version, but as Chuck described, we need to make it secure. When the digital version is available the non USA members will be able to get the digital for the regular US member price as we do away with the mailing expenses. Just a FYI - for less than 200 non USA members the mailing fees equal the mailing fees for the entire USA membership! And the digital version will eliminate the mail lag - with some non USA members telling us that they routinely experience a 90 day delivery time. Surprisingly, Canada has some of the biggest delays. When we get closer with a digital edition we will be explaining to members what is planned and how it will work. One thing that is very important to many of our members, the print edition is NOT going away. Members will have a choice of digital or print (or both) but the print edition is NOT going away. Kurt

Ron: The "recipe" actually calls for liquid Spic & Span (no flavor specified) - but I have a box of the powder and that's what I have used. So I would say just use your nose to pick lemon (my choice as I love the smell of lemons) or citrus. Kurt

Ron: You might consider an extension of the booth's base out from the front of the box. The photo is the Badger booth before I added the light. I do all the actual spraying on the base area outside the enclosure. The filter to front of enclosure is 5" and the enclosure to outer edge of the base is 8". The airflow is higher the closer you get to the filter, so moving out from the filter will decrease the airflow so your blower might be just fine. Spray water from the brush to observe the airflow at different distances. Kurt

Ron: Most workshops are held in my shop when local club members - the three Chicago area cubs - meet for Saturday morning hands-on how-to's. I do Introduction to Airbrushing sessions on behalf of Badger to area clubs - mostly IPMS - but they have sent me as far as Denver. I have also done these sessions at NRG Symposiums and Conferences. Kurt

I have used Birchwood Casey Brass Black after trying a lot of other stuff. There was a lengthy discussion here on MSW about blackening brass - a search will provide a lot of other opinions and tests. Kurt

A couple of things: - Ron's posting yesterday of the video by Ken Schlotfeldt, Pres. of Badger Airbrush, is a must view by anybody who wants to know how to use and clean an airbrush. I recommend this video to everybody before they attend the airbrush workshops I do. As Ken says in the video, what he's showing and telling works for any airbrush. - Regarding the use of lanolin in a cleaning solution, I would be very hesitant to use any sort of lubricant in the cleaning solution when my primary paint is acrylic. It might not be a problem with solvent based paints, but the slightest bit of oil will screw up acrylic paint application big time, and there will be some lanolin left behind after cleaning, to be transferred to the paint. The only lubricant needed in an airbrush is on the needle and in the trigger area. The airbrush mfg's have lubricants that will not affect the paint. Badger's goes by the name "REGDAB Needle Juice" (note - REGDAB is BADGER spelled backwards). - This is the formula for the airbrush cleaner I have used for several years. This is ingredients are what can be purchased from retail sources of what is in the airbrush cleaning solution that Badger Airbrush sells. I am sure that anything similar to Spic & Span will work. Kurt FOR 1 GALLON OF CLEANER 2 OZ. CLEAR AMMONIA 5 OZ. OF SPIC & SPAN CLEANER 1 GAL. WATER AT 120° F MIX THOROUGHLY

There are some build logs here on Woody Joe kits - check member Clare Hess' completed kit models. Most who have seen or built the kits think they are pretty good - at least the Japanese wooden boats. Kurt

The airflow works for any spraying media - if the airflow is too strong the paint doesn't get to the object because it's drawn to the fan. I have no idea if the cooling fans would work or not. As I related before the 165 cfm unit I have sometimes is too strong when doing fine detail work and I turn the fan off. The size of the booth matters as 165 cfm might well be totally inadequate for a larger booth. I have been in automotive spray booths that made my hair stand up - but they also use a lot more pressure to the spray gun. As I seldom use over 20 psi the airflow easily disrupts the paint spray. If one routinely sprays with higher pressures I am sure a higher cfm exhaust fan would be needed so the spray doesn't escape the booth. With the work involved I wouldn't try to use cardboard. What you describe could work but if being able to fold it up is the important part why not use ply and piano hinges instead of duct tape? I once used foam core to make an overhead soft box for photography - light weight, duct tape to hold it together. Wound up remaking it with light ply when the duct tape kept coming apart - the adhesive doesn't last forever. The foam core version proved the size worked and I used the pieces as patterns for the plywood version but for the effort I would have been ahead of the game just using the plywood to start. LED lights are sure the way to go today. Ron - I think regular 3/8 plywood would work for the bigger booth. Maybe the outdoor version you used has more flexibility than regular 3/8 ply because of the thinner areas between the "planks"? The difference in weight between 3/8 and 1/2 inch is considerable. Using the corner bracing/gluing strips really beefs things up. Kurt

Ron: The photo below is of the Badger Air Brush spray booth - the fan is 165 cfm. It is more than adequate for the 13" x 18" size of this unit. There are times I do not turn on the fan because the air movement draws the paint away from the object being painted. Using only acrylics, so turning it off isn't a big deal. I think you may be overpowering the spray booth with the 250 cfm unit but with the depth of your unit being so deep, moving the object out and away from the rear of the box might be the answer to too much air movement. I used 4" metal duct off the fan to go up from the fan, over to the center of the unit - past the motor - and then down. I secure a nylon stocking over the end of the metal duct to catch any over-spray that isn't caught by the filter in the unit - and some does get by. Being acrylic, the stuff that gets by the filter is dry particulate and is caught in the piece of stocking. Also, the Badger paints are virtually odorless so I have never been encouraged by the ADMIRAL to exhaust to the exterior. I like the design you are using and the plexi panes are a nice addition. Look for a 2' led type light for the top - the more light the better. I added a light to the top of the Badger unit that is just outside of the front of the box. This is OK as most of the time my work sits just outside the front of the box anyway to have access to the part being painted, but your location is the optimal location. The 165 cfm fan in the Badger unit is entirely adequate to catch the over-spray and pull it to the filter so you won't have any problems if you bring the object forward. You will probably want to get a turntable of some sort. I use the one by Tamiya and every so often I drop it into the paint remover to clean up the top turntable surface. I have a larger turntable but it's finished wood so I cover it with a piece of newspaper so it stays clean - when it's not being used in the spray booth it sits on the table where club members use it to access the snacks during meetings. Following with interest. Be sure to let us know how the unit works. Kurt

Those are the hold downs for the pilothouse. Made from brass strip with a hole in each end, the end bent down at a 45 degree angle - rigging line was taken down to the deck. The attached photos show how I did them. The photo with the rigging line on my Chaperon shows the rigging before I went back and tightened it up. Fig 9 - shows a different type of wind brace/tie down - this is from Alan Bates' Steamboat Cyclopedium The other drawing is from the old Model Shipways plans (for the solid hull kt that was never produced) Also detailed on Sheet 4 of the instructions for the current kit. Kurt

Welcome to the hobby and MSW Daniel. This is the place to learn and be part of the hobby. There is a very active club in Denver - the Rocky Mountain Shipwrights - probably the most landlocked club in the US. Having a local ship modeling club is a great tool for the beginning modeler - just like MSW. Check out our web site's listings of clubs for the info on the Denver club. A friendly bunch of guys and gals - I have attended some of their meetings and several members attend NRG Conferences regularly. http://www.thenrg.org/modeling-clubs.php Take care, Kurt

I used silkspan cut into scale 3 ft widths glued down with Artist's Acrylic Matt Medium. The Matt Medium was painted on with a brush and the silkspan was laid down and pressed into place. The next length was overlapped a scale 4-6 inches and continued the length of the roof. When the adjacent strip was started I overlapped the first strip by 4-6 scale inches for the entire length and at each continuing strip. I brushed a bit of the Matt Medium on the back side of each strip where it was to overlap the previous strip - didn't worry too much about any squeeze out as it looks like the tar that held the roofing material down. It was very easy to do and many have commented on the authentic appearance of the roofs. Kurt

Len: The Chaperon was built in 1884 at Chambersburg, OH as the J. C. Kerr and operated on the upper Ohio River until 1892 when it was sold to Capt. R. H. Williams - the photo of the cabin area shown yesterday is for another Chaperon - built in Clinton, IA - the upper windows (skylights) shown were not on the Chaperon in question. But, the layout shown in the photo was probably close to what the Chaperon looked like in the forward area. There are a tremendous amount of photos showing interiors of steamboats and while some were quite elaborate the Chaperon wasn't one to have lavish ornamentation and furnishings. Kurt

The Klondike steamer in Whitehorse was featured in a short article in the NRG's Secretary's Newsletter in the Winter 2016 issue. Our Secretary lives in Whitehorse so it was easy for him to photograph it. Kurt

Because the man is Mr. Brass. Kurt

I explained it in the magazine article - copied below; Parts 39A P/S (Port/Starboard) are to be installed at this point. These parts are supports for the boiler deck and they match the shear of the decks so their orientation is important. Also, these parts need to be cut shorter than they come out of the laser cut sheet as they interfere with the smoke stacks unless they are cut short at the forward end. See Photo #26 that shows part 39A on the port side installed as the part comes from the kit. Photo #27 shows part 39A on the port side interfering with the smoke stack passing through the hole in the boiler deck. Part 39A must be cut short as shown in Photo #28. I discovered the interference when I first laid the boiler deck onto the model to check the fit of the boiler deck and the parts were painted and glued in place. Photo #12 in the instruction manual does show the correct shortening and assembly of parts 39A but the instruction do not call this out. The fix was easy to do once I figured out what was needed. I spoke with Bob Crane, the kit designer, and the instructions for this assembly will be corrected in the next printing. The 3 photos accompanied the text. The middle photo shows the deck piece moved towards the centerline of the boat. Kurt