kurtvd19

I use acrylic paints exclusively. I seal off the wood prior to painting with shellac - it dries very quickly and seals off the wood from the acrylic primer I use without raising any of the wood's grain. When the primer is applied there is no worry about having to knock down the wood fibers that are raised when acrylics are used w/o a sealer. I use a primer - Badger's STYLNYLREZ not only as a primer but sometimes as the final color. It's made in 16 different colors. I recently did a model sailboat that won a gold medal and it was painted exclusively with STYNYLREZ as the final colors. An added bonus I didn't have to take it home and put it in a case because a fellow modeler offered to purchase it and I said OK. I used to spay the wood with water - a light coat - to raise the grain, let it dry sand and repeat until no more raising of the grain occurred then I would prime/paint w/o having to sand wood fibers between color coats. I decided to simplify things and shellac was the answer. Others have said sanding sealer, etc. - nothing wrong with doing it tat way - but shellac works for me.

Lighting should be the first thing considered when trying to improve seeing the work. Years ago my Ophthalmologist told me to use bright white light and recommended Halogen lighting for reading and model work. I followed her advice and my eyestrain was no longer an issue. Later when my eyes were changing with age the new Ophthalmologist told me to do away with the hot halogen lights and switch to white LEDs. Changed my reading light and workbench overhead lights to LED and after getting a cataract fixed the LEDs look like the current answer. I had switched to glass lenses in my optivisor before the lighting issue and the combo of glass lenses and LED lights has been my answer. As to plastic lenses I wish they would just go away. My Ophthalmologist has just told me I need a minor procedure to fix my recent blurred vision issues because my implant lens (plastic) is clouded just like some car headlight covers get. A simple 5 minute laser procedure in the office will make the implant clear as the day it was implanted. Nobody ever told me about this - I would still have done the implant because I went from 20/400 w/o correction to 20/20 with the implant and have been assured my vision will again be 20/20 after the laser procedure. So if I have to get this done every 5-6 years no problem. I am sure the plastic lens implant is better than an actual glass lens in the eye so I will live with a plastic lens in my eye but not externally to help with magnification.

Chris: Hang onto the expensive set - especially if the lenses are glass - you will probably need the better setup as your eyes age. I used a plastic lens Optivisor for years - a few years ago I tried an Optivisor with glass lenses at a trade show and it didn't take me more than a few hours later that day to order an Optivisor with glass lenses. Difference is light night and day.

I have to agree with Bob's reasoning and his recommendation to get Vol 2.

I can say with complete confidence that the NRG - and MSW - have never been in better shape than right now. We have experienced continued growth and member involvement. It was common to get less than 100 members responding to surveys and voting and we now can count on hundreds participating in votes and feedback. We will be sharing a lot of information with the membership tomorrow about growth and activities.

The Zoom invite will go out to all members tomorrow for the Annual Member Meeting as per the email sent recently.

I hit the send button too early. Check the NRG's website - https://thenrg.org/events - the events page has shown the 2021 Conference as being cancelled for several months (Feb or March I believe).

Justin, we have sent out all member emails every month, sometimes more than one in a month. Check your spam folder.

Members are obviously interested in photography and I would bet some are saying "it's about time". The great thing about MSW is there is something for everybody. Another great thing about MSW is that if a subject doesn't interest you then you are completely free to skip over it and go on to another subject. Everybody is free to have their own opinion on any subject and you have expressed yours. I personally have enjoyed reading the recent posts on the subject. To each his own.

NRG VIRTUAL WORKSHOP USING THE TABLE SAW SAFELY Saturday, December 11, 2021 Plan to attend the next NRG Virtual Workshop on Saturday, December 11, 2021, at 10:00 AM CST entitled "Using the Table Saw Safely". Presented by NRG Director Kurt Van Dahm. This is an updated version of Kurt's talk which was presented at the 2018 NRG Conference in Las Vegas. As usual this event is free to NRG members while others can attend for the bargain price of $5.00. The safe use of smaller table saws, like the Byrnes saw, will be the subject of the presentation. Though smaller than full-sized table saws, model-sized saws can still take a finger off or severely injure the modeler if they are used in an unsafe manner. Kurt will show how to perform rip cuts, cross cuts, lap joints, miters and other common operations in a safe and efficient manner. Many modelers say they are totally intimidated by the dangers of the table saw and that they are hesitant to use the saw they purchased. After this program, these modelers should be less hesitant to use their saw. And those modelers who routinely use their saws will appreciate the tips on proper saw set-up. At a minimum this presentation will provide a helpful review of safety tips and might even prevent an injury due to complacency. Pre-Registration is required, and registration is now open. Use the link below to register. This is free to NRG members and non-members can attend for the low price of $5.00. Follow the directions on the website link page to register. LINK https://thenrg.org/event-4571585 NRG members should be able to select the FREE registration option after starting the registration process and entering the email address on file with the NRG. You may need to log into your NRG account to register for free. If you're not sure how to log into your account, click here for more information. Not an NRG member? Click here for information on joining! We plan to have several of these Workshops each year. With NRG memberships starting at $40 you will receive the quarterly Nautical Research Journal, discounts on NRG products and FREE admission to the Workshops.

I used to do forensic photography back in the days of film. Correct color balance was vital and you didn't dial it into the camera. We used filters to correct for the lighting and it was tricky. I used to start every roll of film with a shot of an 18% gray card with color chips (of a known value) and the lab used the settings they got when printing the gray card/color chips (standard tools of the trade) to print the rest of the prints so they all matched. It was so critical that I used only Canon lenses - no Vivitars or other brands - and the guys who shot with Nikons only used Nikon lenses - no other brands. Just like light meters are hardly used today ask anybody today about a color meter and they will look at you like you are from Mars. Setting a white balance today is a walk in the park in comparison. When digital first appeared on the scene there were all sorts of articles in the pro publications about how the images could be manipulated and the courts would never allow digital to be used in court. They were wrong, but when the first digital images were finally allowed it was a real challenge to provide everything they might require the photographer to provide to make them certain the image(s) were accurate. It got to the point where I was happy to get out of the business because of the hassle. I had to give up a very lucrative business I did on my days off from the FD when I got promoted and put on a 40 hour M-F work week. It came at the right time for me (getting the gold Chief's badges and pay raise mostly made up for the loss from the business) because it was getting to be a grind.

I suggest you apply CA to the end of the line and while it is still wet use your fingers to taper the end of the line - just apply pressure to the line and draw the line between your fingers. This is often adequate but you can also try to cut the end of the line at an angle after the CA is applied. A sharp blade is necessary. I usually cut the line at an angle.

Our webmaster has been notified. Thanks for letting us know.

This seems to work great for you. You will be happy with less eye issues. I advise anybody buying the Optivisor type magnifiers or any other type of magnifiers to not waste money on plastic lenses. Go for the real glass lenses and you will not believe the difference from the plastic - I used plastic lenses in an Optivisor set (they make plastic and glass lenses) for 20 years before my ophthalmologist told me to throw away the plastic stuff and get glass lenses - it was like a different world when I got the glass set.

I have to disagree with Bob regarding the Medway Longboat. Chuck doesn't recommend this as a starter kit. It's pretty darn small and finicky for a beginner. We did this as a group project at the local club and few were completed though those that were are excellent models but they were built by some of the better modelers in our group. Bob's entirely correct in start small and simple. Kurt

Thanks for your donation.

Even the most expert modelers started as newbies. Their first models were not equal to others that followed - each one was an improvement over the previous models. The more experienced one gets the more time they take to do each step. When each step is done at a comfortable pace the build progresses faster due to not screwing things up and having to redo them or make adjustments to subsequent assemblies because the earlier steps were haphazard / rushed causing fit issues later.

No. Just took me a bit to find my link to the company. They are in Poland and ship quick and the shipping costs were very reasonable. A lot of product can fit in a #10 envelope. Steve Wheeler and I purchased a lot of parts from this place. We would pool our orders together - it gave us an excuse to get together. Everything we got was of very good quality and they are quick to get the parts in the mail. https://www.rbmodel.com

I have scratch built turnbuckles but I found a source for very well made brass turnbuckles at a very reasonable price and will not scratch build another turnbuckle. These are for more modern boats than steam riverboats where I will still have to scratch build them.

I use Badger paints exclusively and their Anti-Fouling Red Oxide matches the old Floquil color of Boxcar Red / Red Oxide as close as my eyes could match them. I usually apply the Anti-Fouling Red Oxide over black to achieve a slightly darker color. Barns and steamboat decks were painted red because red was the cheapest color and readily available. The color varied from region to region based on the available red clay in the area. So one red isn't any more accurate than another - within the range of colors available in the region. Boats built in the same area or refurbished in the same area would have very similar reds vs a boat from another area.

Welcome to the NRG. You will soon be looking forward to each new issue of the Journal. Take care

Basic membership level - and all other levels of membership. Basic Membership Levels: Digital Journal only = $40. Print Journal only = $55 Digital and Print Journals = $65

As previously stated - every page of every issue is reproduced exactly as originally printed. They are PDFs and can be printed for shop reference. I have the digital sets of course but for serious research and reference I use the digital files to look up data and then if it's what I want I go to my bookshelves and use the print copies for reading. If I need copies for the research file I download the digital pages to my subject files. I will not get rid of the print copies I have because taking the laptop to the john just isn't for me!

I know what you mean - about who they are acting like. I wrote to a company to alert them to piracy of their work and they never responded. This seems to be common. Just don't try it with anything that has a "MAC" in it - one of our neighbors by us will have a team of lawyers knocking on your door saying they don't care if it's a widget and not a hamburger but you can't use those 3 letters in anything -- according to them and they are so big it's fruitless to even consider going against them - the other extreme.

But they are still protected which you obviously know - just mentioning it here for those who think because they are OOB that it's free pickings. I share your opinion of the company - they went OOB multiple times - I think it was twice before the final time. Those of us who subscribed got shorted any issues still remaining on our subscriptions and had to resubscribe in order to get those we were shorted in our previous subscription. I did this twice and before the third and final time I was able to purchase my mentor's (Dana McCalip - longest serving NRG Director at his death in 1998 - 25 years) collection when he passed away. I got a complete set at that time minus the issues he had articles in that the family wanted to retain. I was able to get copies of those issues by trading some copies of multiple issues I had on hand. Only lack a few for the complete set and at this stage I am not looking to complete the set. Kurt