kurtvd19

I recommend the Badger Modelflex Marine Paints - acrylic paints ready for spraying.  MSW sponsor USA Airbrush Supply carries these paints.  Simple shake to use.  Note that when you go to the sponsors on the right hand side of the main page here there is a line of text that says to use a NRG discount code at check out.  USA Airbrush has the lowest prices for these paints and then an additional discount.

I recommend the Badger Modelflex Marine Paints - acrylic paints ready for spraying.  MSW sponsor USA Airbrush Supply carries these paints.  Simple shake to use.  Note that when you go to the sponsors on the right hand side of the main page here there is a line of text that says to use a NRG discount code at check out.  USA Airbrush has the lowest prices for these paints and then an additional discount.

I recommend the Badger Modelflex Marine Paints - acrylic paints ready for spraying.  MSW sponsor USA Airbrush Supply carries these paints.  Simple shake to use.  Note that when you go to the sponsors on the right hand side of the main page here there is a line of text that says to use a NRG discount code at check out.  USA Airbrush has the lowest prices for these paints and then an additional discount.

I rinse with water, then a cleaner I mix.  Use it between colors and then at the end of the day I do the same, remove the needle and reapply needle juice when I put it back into the brush.  Final thing I do when done for the day is to spray a short eyedropper of Lacquer thinner through it.  Have never had a problem with a dirty brush but have cleaned many up for friends who were not as thorough.

I rinse with water, then a cleaner I mix.  Use it between colors and then at the end of the day I do the same, remove the needle and reapply needle juice when I put it back into the brush.  Final thing I do when done for the day is to spray a short eyedropper of Lacquer thinner through it.  Have never had a problem with a dirty brush but have cleaned many up for friends who were not as thorough.

I rinse with water, then a cleaner I mix.  Use it between colors and then at the end of the day I do the same, remove the needle and reapply needle juice when I put it back into the brush.  Final thing I do when done for the day is to spray a short eyedropper of Lacquer thinner through it.  Have never had a problem with a dirty brush but have cleaned many up for friends who were not as thorough.

I rinse with water, then a cleaner I mix.  Use it between colors and then at the end of the day I do the same, remove the needle and reapply needle juice when I put it back into the brush.  Final thing I do when done for the day is to spray a short eyedropper of Lacquer thinner through it.  Have never had a problem with a dirty brush but have cleaned many up for friends who were not as thorough.

Thanks for sharing your building techniques.  I learn something new every time I watch one of your videos.

All right, here's all the pictures and captions duly redone from above. Grrrrr.....
 

The way the jig was used to drill a 3/16 inch hole equidistant from the edge of the casement at all Davit points. A 3/16 inch long drill bit used in place of the brass rod. (BK05/24/19) 
 

With the use of the jig, the stanchions were able to be aligned perfectly. (BK 05/24/19)
 

All four and a half surfaces of deck houses are finished to add visual appeal to the model. (BK 05/24/19)
 

Hammocks (160) are tied and ready to be fitted into the line of hammock stanchions on the hurricane deck (done by Vince and Tim, 05/10/19)
 

Using a 1-in. belt sander, the front casement portholes are rough sanded off the ship. (BK 10/10/19)
 

The horizontal timbers are all fit in place and the port and starboard gun ports are filed smooth and true to the template gauge.
 

 

(Previous two pictures) Pear slabs are end glued to begin remaking the gun carriages.  (BK 05/30/19)
 
 

Front of carriage locks are trimmed to plan dimensions. (BK 05/30/19)
 
 

When glue which joined the stacks of cannon carriage sides is removed at plan lines, the stack of gun carriage sides falls apart. (BK 05/30/19)
 
OK, hopefully this will be good. Again sorry for the clunkiness, working to get better. October coming next.

Yes indeed Kurt, boiling Sparex (which is incidentally an expensive packet of sodium hydrogen sulfate) could be dangerous because once dissolved it is sulfuric acid.  It is quite dilute initially but if it becomes concentrated by boiling it will produce oxides of sulfur (chemically SO2 and SO3). These are dangerous gases and if inhaled could cause permanent respiratory damage.
 
John

With the refund of the Black & Decker taken care of from Amazon, I'm now dithering about purchasing another portable a/c - I have the make/model picked up, just somehow have a hard time hitting the "place order" button!!! Same goes for a part that the manufacturer says I need to repair my Frigidaire Mini-Fridge. The part is $95.00 & change and I'm hesitant to order it. If it was $25.00 I wouldn't feel so bad, but with tax, etc. it will come in over $100.00. Yes, cheaper (if it works) than replacing the fridge, but .....!!! I don't think the Freon needs charging as it does get cool, but doesn't freeze (upper box) or get cold (lower box). The a/c unit will run over $500.00 so these two expenses are worrisome to say the least.
 
Repairs to NEW JERSEY during her Pier side Availability have been made and she's now been relocated to her new homeport:

So, after doing a bit of preventive maintenance on my drill press (and ordering a missing part), I'm getting the workspace (Laydown Area #1) ready to begin on my USS STODDARD project. Once I have all the plans/photos/info sheets, etc. on hand for beginning super detailing the bottom of the hull, I will be able to start. I need to build a shallow cradle to hold the hull upside down so I can work on it - that will come next. Maybe by then I will have made a decision or two on the above discussion...

The NRG is pleased to announce that we will be offering a calendar for 2021.  These pictures represent some of the best models being produced by members of the Guild and MSW.  Some of these pictures have never been published. 
AVAILABLE FROM THE NRG STORE
 

Roger:  Thanks for the comment and your suggestions on the anchor.  I believe they would have used the winch heads if the anchors were in fact heavy enough to justify it.  After all, it's right there.  I've already made some changes to the anchor that I describe in this post, so I'm going to let that settle before deciding on any other action. 
 
Tom:  I hope it's artist block and not blockhead.  But I agree, sometimes you just need to stay away for a time.  Thanks for the reassurance Tom. 
 
And thanks to all for the likes.
 
 
Anchor re-do and Blocks
 
In my last post I stated I wasn't happy with the way the anchor looked on the deck and couldn't put my finger on why. I received a number of excellent ideas on how the overall look might be improved and I thank everyone for their valued input. I'm going to start with what I think is the most glaring problem first. Druxey rightly pointed out that the ball on the end of the stock was too large and only needed to be large enough to keep from slipping through the shank. Agreeing with that assessment, I reduced the ball size and also replaced the original stock with one that is tapered from its greatest diameter at the midpoint and reducing down towards both ends. The anchor is now more delicate looking (if such a phrase can be used to describe an iron anchor) and the overall look is improved albeit subtle – good spot Druxey.
 

 
 
In addition, I also replaced the pipe anchor chocks with lower profile wooden ones. This positions the anchor down closer to the deck and the painted wood chocks ease the transition from black anchor to gray deck. I may return to the other suggestions made after I let the current changes simmer for awhile.
 

 
 
An interesting detail that I've seen on a number of these draggers is the use of diamond shaped blocks to hoist the heavy cod-end of the net. Diamond blocks were designed for use with wire rope and have a larger radius pulley. They are being used here with textile rope presumably to take advantage of that larger radius. These blocks are smaller than the beefy tow blocks that were suspended from the boom/mast on boats that didn't use a gallows frame. Here is a drawing of how they are constructed.
 

 
 
Styrene bits are cut.
 

 
 
And two blocks are made.
 

 
 
 
There are three hoisting locations and for the other two I'm using smaller blocks that I purchased from Bluejacket Shipcrafters. These blocks scale to about 8” tall and at just under 3/16” these blocks are nicer than I can make or have the inclination to try. So I cleaned up the parting lines and added injection molded bolt heads for the pulley shafts.
 

 
 
Next I made up some hooks from .02” phosphor bronze wire. The bronze wire is pretty tough stuff and holds up to my bending and re-bending. Flattening the lower arc of the hook mimics the cast-in gusset of the real thing.
 

 
 
Everything gets black enamel, pigments and graphite.
 

 
 
I threaded the blocks with miniature rope - about 5/8” for the smaller blocks and 1” for the diamond blocks. The diamond blocks are arranged in “luff tackle”, the smaller double blocks in “two fold purchase” and the single blocks in “gun tackle”.
 

 
 
I don't know and won't pretend to know how the fisherman went about the business of fishing and how they used these hoists. The boats didn't have identical hoisting and rigging arrangements and so I decided to place on my model merely examples of the many types of hoisting gear that I've see in old photos whether their location on the model is practical or not. But it seems the third hoisting location down from the end of the boom always carried the heaviest gear and it was from this gear that the heavy cod-end of the net was hoisted. This makes sense to me because structurally this is the strongest point on the boom. And I have seen in photos where the gear at the end of the boom is being used to swing containers of catch onto the dock.
 

 
 
The rope tails of each hoist are coiled and placed on the deck. Actually, each coil is a separate piece that was wound on the workbench, glued together and then placed on the model to look as though they are the tail ends of the hoist rope. I did this because the rope is rather stiff and naturally wants to straighten, so the coils constantly spring open. But that really is a moot point because there isn't enough finger room to coil them in situ anyway. In this image, you can see two of the traveling blocks hooked to eye bolts positioned along the short rail. I also added several industrial looking cleats that I soldered up from brass wire.
 

 
 
As I'm posting this, I notice in the photo above that the rope at the winch head is wound in the wrong direction. I may go in and change that if it starts to annoy me, but I've already snapped and tore off stays, eyes and chainplates with my thick fingered Shrek-like hands – so probably not. I take my hat off to you builders of multi-masted ships with all those delicate spars and endless rigging. I find even this small amount of string work to be challenging.
 
A couple more photos.
 

 

 
Thanks for looking in.
 
Gary
 
 
 
 
 

Actually the wood tends to slide towards the blade - away from the fence which is up hill (to the right) from the blade when the saw sits on the bench.  You do have it right with the "book" tilting the saw so the tilt table is level with the table top.

That's what I thought and at the premium price I was paying for outside GB I decided to drop it. 

I dropped my subscription many years ago when my copy here in the US quit providing plans to US subscribers.  Same attitude when I contacted them no way did they think a subscriber in the US mattered.  Maybe left over from our breaking away?
 

I dropped my subscription many years ago when my copy here in the US quit providing plans to US subscribers.  Same attitude when I contacted them no way did they think a subscriber in the US mattered.  Maybe left over from our breaking away?
 

Withholding digital plans from a former colony seems a mite petulant. 😅

Actually the wood tends to slide towards the blade - away from the fence which is up hill (to the right) from the blade when the saw sits on the bench.  You do have it right with the "book" tilting the saw so the tilt table is level with the table top.

One tip on using the tilt table.  If the saw is kept level using the tilt table is a bit awkward.  Use a couple of wedges under the saw so the tilt table is level with the bench top and it does away with the awkward working on the tilt table and the tendency for gravity to work against holding the wood against the uphill fence.

I dropped my subscription many years ago when my copy here in the US quit providing plans to US subscribers.  Same attitude when I contacted them no way did they think a subscriber in the US mattered.  Maybe left over from our breaking away?
 

One tip on using the tilt table.  If the saw is kept level using the tilt table is a bit awkward.  Use a couple of wedges under the saw so the tilt table is level with the bench top and it does away with the awkward working on the tilt table and the tendency for gravity to work against holding the wood against the uphill fence.

One tip on using the tilt table.  If the saw is kept level using the tilt table is a bit awkward.  Use a couple of wedges under the saw so the tilt table is level with the bench top and it does away with the awkward working on the tilt table and the tendency for gravity to work against holding the wood against the uphill fence.

The first NRG Conference that I attended took place in the historic town of Marietta, Ohio, population 16,000 and 100 miles from any sizable city.  My wife and I were living there and I read about the upcoming conference in our local small town newspaper.  I had never heard of the Guild prior to this.
 
Attendees included Harold Hahn, Bob Bruckshaw, Jack Kerzow, and Merrit Edson, all regular NRJ contributors and master modelers.
 
I joined up immediately and have been a member ever since (45 years this October).
 
 

Kurt this is spot on - I should have said this in my post.  If you tip the saw so that the fence is parallel with the floor it makes the job so much easier.  When I first used my tilting table I did struggle a bit as it does take some getting used too.  But when you get it sussed what a great addition to the saw.  My advise to anyone using this attachment is to have a good play with it until you are happy with your use of it.  Once sorted you won't look back as any angle is achievable with a clean cut that can be repeated as many times as you like.