kurtvd19

Steve:
The lack of a rabbet is probably due to the fact that the boats were built by carpenters who were lured to the project by some high wages and supervised by only a couple of shipwrights rather than being built by experienced ship builders.  Also, the boats were not built for long term use.
 
An interesting somewhat related point:  When touring the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath a few years ago during the NRG Conference we were in the original workshops and noted that the buildings had certainly been built by the shipwrights rather than carpenters as they used knees at the top of the walls to support the roof construction.  Carpenters would not have used knees.
 
Kurt

Clare:
Anybody checking in mention you are a MSW member and we will mark your name badge with MSW and we can recognize each other by the MSW.  There are no formal events for any evening except Saturday.  We traditionally get together in the bar after the Friday events to make arrangements for who to go with and where to go for dinner.  We can make a sign for the registration table area that the MSW members who desire can meet there or Thursday evening to have a drink or more.
 
Let us know at check in you are MSW too and we can see about an informal get together.  Next year we can make a set time and place.
 
Kurt

Clare:
Anybody checking in mention you are a MSW member and we will mark your name badge with MSW and we can recognize each other by the MSW.  There are no formal events for any evening except Saturday.  We traditionally get together in the bar after the Friday events to make arrangements for who to go with and where to go for dinner.  We can make a sign for the registration table area that the MSW members who desire can meet there or Thursday evening to have a drink or more.
 
Let us know at check in you are MSW too and we can see about an informal get together.  Next year we can make a set time and place.
 
Kurt

The Byrnes saw is by far the best and I would urge anybody in the market to save up for one.  Don't settle for the others as you will always be wanting the Byrnes saw and you will be forever wishing you had not wasted the money on the other saw. 
 
However, I wouldn't part with my Preac saw either.  Both the Byrnes and Preac sit on my saw station all the time and I use them bot - a lot. 
 
The Preac saw can be made to work better than the day it was new by sharpening the blades with an alternating bevel to the face of the teeth.  There is no set to the teeth of the slitting blades used on the Preac and simply putting a bevel onto the face of the teeth will greatly improve the ability of the saw to cut wood.  Also, depending on the blade, removing every other tooth on the blade and then sharpening the faces of the teeth, alternating the bevel on each tooth will make a blade that cuts wood like you increased the HP of the saw by a factor of 3.  Lloyd Warner of Warner Woods West showed this technique at a NRG Modeler's Seminar and I know several guys who swore at their Preac saws just love them with the altered blades.  Of course, nothing will help the 1/4" limit of the thickness the Preac can cut, but with the altered blade one can cut through 1/4" boxwood like it turned into basswood.
 
So, can you live w/o a Byrnes saw?  Yes, but you will wind up wishing you had one.  And, heaven on Earth is having both a Byrnes saw and a Preac saw on your bench.
Kurt

The Byrnes saw is by far the best and I would urge anybody in the market to save up for one.  Don't settle for the others as you will always be wanting the Byrnes saw and you will be forever wishing you had not wasted the money on the other saw. 
 
However, I wouldn't part with my Preac saw either.  Both the Byrnes and Preac sit on my saw station all the time and I use them bot - a lot. 
 
The Preac saw can be made to work better than the day it was new by sharpening the blades with an alternating bevel to the face of the teeth.  There is no set to the teeth of the slitting blades used on the Preac and simply putting a bevel onto the face of the teeth will greatly improve the ability of the saw to cut wood.  Also, depending on the blade, removing every other tooth on the blade and then sharpening the faces of the teeth, alternating the bevel on each tooth will make a blade that cuts wood like you increased the HP of the saw by a factor of 3.  Lloyd Warner of Warner Woods West showed this technique at a NRG Modeler's Seminar and I know several guys who swore at their Preac saws just love them with the altered blades.  Of course, nothing will help the 1/4" limit of the thickness the Preac can cut, but with the altered blade one can cut through 1/4" boxwood like it turned into basswood.
 
So, can you live w/o a Byrnes saw?  Yes, but you will wind up wishing you had one.  And, heaven on Earth is having both a Byrnes saw and a Preac saw on your bench.
Kurt

Parts 29/29A are a good fix for the lack of an attachment piece for the interior ceiling adjacent to the frame.  If you haven't put them in yet, use some of the carrier sheet for the laser cut parts and make another piece of each to double them up so you have a decent width for the planking to attach to.  The kit pieces will work but wider is better in this case.  Do the same in the stern area by frames 5 and 6 with parts 5A and 6A - double them up.  In the photos attached I used a shorter backer to space the kit piece out - if I was doing it again I would have used duplicate parts for more gluing area rather than the way shown.
Kurt

I would urge that the exterior planking be done first - at least the starting planking at the shear line as these plank runs are marked on the outside of the frames.  Starting the interior ceiling planking you are guessing as to there to start.  Once you are started on the exterior planking the interior can be started but be sure to make the inner planks level port to starboard with the exterior planking - there is a tendency for these interior planks to rise up and be higher in places that the exterior planks causing one to have t trim them level by sanding.
 
The added filler strips to support the inner planking at the bow area that I added are shown in the photo on either side of the keel piece.  I forgot about this area being visible in the finished model so I had to do some cleaning up and filling of the small voids alongside the outer planking.  These pieces I added actually show in the plans and some photos of the original boat in the Smithsonian and Bratten.
Kurt

Parts 29/29A are a good fix for the lack of an attachment piece for the interior ceiling adjacent to the frame.  If you haven't put them in yet, use some of the carrier sheet for the laser cut parts and make another piece of each to double them up so you have a decent width for the planking to attach to.  The kit pieces will work but wider is better in this case.  Do the same in the stern area by frames 5 and 6 with parts 5A and 6A - double them up.  In the photos attached I used a shorter backer to space the kit piece out - if I was doing it again I would have used duplicate parts for more gluing area rather than the way shown.
Kurt

Frank:
I like your holding fixture for the miter box and I am going to copy it for my shop.  Thanks for the great tip.
 
John Vojtech of UMM is going to be a vendor at the upcoming NRG Conference in St. Louis (October 16-18) and he's told me he has some new tools not yet in his web site catalog that he's bringing to the show.
 
Kurt

Frank:
I like your holding fixture for the miter box and I am going to copy it for my shop.  Thanks for the great tip.
 
John Vojtech of UMM is going to be a vendor at the upcoming NRG Conference in St. Louis (October 16-18) and he's told me he has some new tools not yet in his web site catalog that he's bringing to the show.
 
Kurt

I would urge that the exterior planking be done first - at least the starting planking at the shear line as these plank runs are marked on the outside of the frames.  Starting the interior ceiling planking you are guessing as to there to start.  Once you are started on the exterior planking the interior can be started but be sure to make the inner planks level port to starboard with the exterior planking - there is a tendency for these interior planks to rise up and be higher in places that the exterior planks causing one to have t trim them level by sanding.
 
The added filler strips to support the inner planking at the bow area that I added are shown in the photo on either side of the keel piece.  I forgot about this area being visible in the finished model so I had to do some cleaning up and filling of the small voids alongside the outer planking.  These pieces I added actually show in the plans and some photos of the original boat in the Smithsonian and Bratten.
Kurt

Parts 29/29A are a good fix for the lack of an attachment piece for the interior ceiling adjacent to the frame.  If you haven't put them in yet, use some of the carrier sheet for the laser cut parts and make another piece of each to double them up so you have a decent width for the planking to attach to.  The kit pieces will work but wider is better in this case.  Do the same in the stern area by frames 5 and 6 with parts 5A and 6A - double them up.  In the photos attached I used a shorter backer to space the kit piece out - if I was doing it again I would have used duplicate parts for more gluing area rather than the way shown.
Kurt

Chuck:
Have not been able to check the progress for a bit so I am late in responding.  Yep, you qualify for a NRG research ninja pin   I decided that doing the nails was not for me on this build - to each his own.  Your model is looking great.
I attached a photo of my Philadelphia as of the other day - I had decided to replicate the museum's replica boat that floats in Lake Champlain.  Got some of Chuck's blocks yesterday for the project.  Wish he had the right size blocks for the guns - they are coming but I couldn't wait with the magazine schedule.
Kurt

Chuck:
Have not been able to check the progress for a bit so I am late in responding.  Yep, you qualify for a NRG research ninja pin   I decided that doing the nails was not for me on this build - to each his own.  Your model is looking great.
I attached a photo of my Philadelphia as of the other day - I had decided to replicate the museum's replica boat that floats in Lake Champlain.  Got some of Chuck's blocks yesterday for the project.  Wish he had the right size blocks for the guns - they are coming but I couldn't wait with the magazine schedule.
Kurt

Chuck:
Have not been able to check the progress for a bit so I am late in responding.  Yep, you qualify for a NRG research ninja pin   I decided that doing the nails was not for me on this build - to each his own.  Your model is looking great.
I attached a photo of my Philadelphia as of the other day - I had decided to replicate the museum's replica boat that floats in Lake Champlain.  Got some of Chuck's blocks yesterday for the project.  Wish he had the right size blocks for the guns - they are coming but I couldn't wait with the magazine schedule.
Kurt

Chuck:
Have not been able to check the progress for a bit so I am late in responding.  Yep, you qualify for a NRG research ninja pin   I decided that doing the nails was not for me on this build - to each his own.  Your model is looking great.
I attached a photo of my Philadelphia as of the other day - I had decided to replicate the museum's replica boat that floats in Lake Champlain.  Got some of Chuck's blocks yesterday for the project.  Wish he had the right size blocks for the guns - they are coming but I couldn't wait with the magazine schedule.
Kurt

Chuck:
Have not been able to check the progress for a bit so I am late in responding.  Yep, you qualify for a NRG research ninja pin   I decided that doing the nails was not for me on this build - to each his own.  Your model is looking great.
I attached a photo of my Philadelphia as of the other day - I had decided to replicate the museum's replica boat that floats in Lake Champlain.  Got some of Chuck's blocks yesterday for the project.  Wish he had the right size blocks for the guns - they are coming but I couldn't wait with the magazine schedule.
Kurt

Chuck:
Have not been able to check the progress for a bit so I am late in responding.  Yep, you qualify for a NRG research ninja pin   I decided that doing the nails was not for me on this build - to each his own.  Your model is looking great.
I attached a photo of my Philadelphia as of the other day - I had decided to replicate the museum's replica boat that floats in Lake Champlain.  Got some of Chuck's blocks yesterday for the project.  Wish he had the right size blocks for the guns - they are coming but I couldn't wait with the magazine schedule.
Kurt

Chuck:
Have not been able to check the progress for a bit so I am late in responding.  Yep, you qualify for a NRG research ninja pin   I decided that doing the nails was not for me on this build - to each his own.  Your model is looking great.
I attached a photo of my Philadelphia as of the other day - I had decided to replicate the museum's replica boat that floats in Lake Champlain.  Got some of Chuck's blocks yesterday for the project.  Wish he had the right size blocks for the guns - they are coming but I couldn't wait with the magazine schedule.
Kurt

Chuck:
Have not been able to check the progress for a bit so I am late in responding.  Yep, you qualify for a NRG research ninja pin   I decided that doing the nails was not for me on this build - to each his own.  Your model is looking great.
I attached a photo of my Philadelphia as of the other day - I had decided to replicate the museum's replica boat that floats in Lake Champlain.  Got some of Chuck's blocks yesterday for the project.  Wish he had the right size blocks for the guns - they are coming but I couldn't wait with the magazine schedule.
Kurt

Chuck:
Have not been able to check the progress for a bit so I am late in responding.  Yep, you qualify for a NRG research ninja pin   I decided that doing the nails was not for me on this build - to each his own.  Your model is looking great.
I attached a photo of my Philadelphia as of the other day - I had decided to replicate the museum's replica boat that floats in Lake Champlain.  Got some of Chuck's blocks yesterday for the project.  Wish he had the right size blocks for the guns - they are coming but I couldn't wait with the magazine schedule.
Kurt

I too have used the Westleys on resin parts with great success.  I usually give new resin parts a bath in the Westleys stuff to remove all traces of mold release.  The same as with styrene plastic - wash the parts thoroughly in dish washing detergent after being in the Westleys.  I find it best to air dry parts to be painted to avoid lint from a towel.
Kurt

I too have used the Westleys on resin parts with great success.  I usually give new resin parts a bath in the Westleys stuff to remove all traces of mold release.  The same as with styrene plastic - wash the parts thoroughly in dish washing detergent after being in the Westleys.  I find it best to air dry parts to be painted to avoid lint from a towel.
Kurt

The tips on using a combination of C/A and TiteBond is good though I tend to clamp rather than using the C/A on wood.  When I sit at my work bench I have a small fan going at all times because of my overhead halogen lights and the heat they put out - but it is real important when using C/A and doing soldering to make sure the fumes are blown away and not inhaled.
Kurt

I use Westley's Bleche-Wite (yes that's the correct spelling) meant for cleaning car tires.  It's safe for the styrene - and it's not as hazardous as oven cleaner - and can go down the drain OK.
Kurt