dafi

And it keeps hurting ... ... long time ago I proudly presented the pump ensemble ... http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/76-hms-victory-by-dafi-to-victory-and-beyond/page-3#entry4419 ... but now, suddenly something was missing on the lower deck ... ...ouch...ouch...ouch... ...?!? Long time ago I realised a remark in Arming and Fitting that from about 1740 on, the ships were supplied with an extra set of pumps. First quests were begative, but then I discovered the described sets of pumps on almost all plans in the NMM, among them the plans of the Vic of 1788, showing the etxra pumps on the middle deck. http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/79915.html http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/79916.html http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/79917.html Here is a montage of the three decks of the pumps area One can nicely see the Layout: The single story pumps linked by the cistern, the double story pumps with a cistern each on the lower deck but not interconnected. But no technical details to be found. The only place showing the details is Rob Napier´s book about the contemporary model of the HMS PRINCESS ROYAL 1773. The linkage in between the two stories was in form of a well, all the lower deck cisterns have adapters for dales and the cranks of the single story pumps protrudes through the well of the two story pumps. Why this arrangement almost never is shown? The curse of the museums ship? So here we go adapting the pumps ... ... a touch of color, a tad of highlights and ink ... ...the clamps on the ships side for the dale´s round end pointing into the scupper, once open and once closed by a slider ... ... maneuvered onto its place ... ... and the pump ensemble shoved into its habitat too. Interesting is the way the dales go ... ... being quite close to then guns. That is why I do have the side entry port, for the nice view, and yes, I know, if the dale is fixed, the slider should have been taken off ... And now we go on and have to fix some new cranks and drill some scuppers ... ... so the thrill goes on :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel

Nurse! - Scalpel - wadding - death certificate ... ... please put the patient up ... ... adjust field of view ... ... look for culprit ... ... aaaaaaaaaand - CUT!!! ... Dear Sirs and Madam, we proudly present bitstopper version 2. The old one - not only looking more alike a blopp than a stopper - was a great security risk: only the thin lanyard was fixed on the anchor cable ... http://pete-coleman.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1035&start=480#p14601 ... not very stable. The right way now seen means that the stopper is lashed directly onto the anchor cable, only the turks head looking out, the rest of the lanyard being wormed along the cable and secured Looks more heavy duty now ... ... also the bitstoppern ... ... and the dogstopper. And so we get a nice new picture :-) Sincerily, Daniel

As five hands sometimes are not enough for rigging, I build myself a small rigging bench. An inclined plane with a pin in the middle ... ... and two hairgrips on a holder. The holder can be fixed also pointing the other direction - or being left off - ... ... and even tiny bits can be worked on with ease :-) For serving small parts I included a hook on a thread. Turning the part in between the fingers, it is still nicely held under tension and does not wobble around :-) These are the nice bits one can do with it ... ... and even to be repeated precisely :-) Gruß, DAniel

As five hands sometimes are not enough for rigging, I build myself a small rigging bench. An inclined plane with a pin in the middle ... ... and two hairgrips on a holder. The holder can be fixed also pointing the other direction - or being left off - ... ... and even tiny bits can be worked on with ease :-) For serving small parts I included a hook on a thread. Turning the part in between the fingers, it is still nicely held under tension and does not wobble around :-) These are the nice bits one can do with it ... ... and even to be repeated precisely :-) Gruß, DAniel

The bosum´s mate´s whistle sounds across the deck ... ... I will make you spin, dirty old landlubbers, ... Jack, Ben and Phil are looking with astonishment. The head still heavy, but not from the lovely sound of the beautiful voice, no, much more from yesterdays rum in the cosy inn "at the funny anchor", where this lovely mate made them sign in, for a funny cruise with plenty of entertainment and great atmosphere. ... I will teach you, go to the crow´s nest, fetch some eggs for the captains breakfast ... And here they they find themselves standing on the messenger, supposed to pull it clear the capstan on the outgoing side ... Jack thinks ... Breakfast ?!? Eggs ?!? Can I have some too? ... Ben thinks ... what massage was I supposed to get? ... Phil thinks ... who is he talking too, this funny ol´man ... ... I will take you apart and reassemble you for new, even your mother won´t recognise you any longer ... ... and with a loud SQUACH Jack finds himself taken to pieces, lying helplessly on the deck, having NDE-kind of visions just ... ... just to find himself pulled back together again pulling the messenger. ... and I will fix your head ... Phil feels a strange pain in the back ... ... how I will have a hold on you, ... ... his knees shaking, after a first cut his knees went straight, after the second, leaving a deep cut, thats allows the knees to be bent more with some loving and tender brutality ... ... but he still was happy, as he saw Ben´s fate ... ... I will teach you what it means to show balls ... ... who, after a tender squeeze into the family jewels, opened his legs a tad more to have a better standing. Already more willing to show working position ... ... our three freshwater sailors reassemble themselves on the messenger, but the bosum´s mate only yells ... ... I ... WANNA ... SEE ... MORE ... ... with a friendly and sweet sounding whip of his starter accompanying each syllable. So the back leg bent even more to put more grip onto the front one ... ... and ... heave... heave ...heave ... ... and an unnoticeable smile deep on the inside of the mate´s sinister soul comes from enjoying the effects of HIS successful work :-) And how our three new-bees will become dirty, sweaty and stinking lowerdeck rats, this will be told in one of the future dafi´s sailor's yarn. XXXDAn

These are the words, that Maurice used when he got his little serving machine. So here comes my interpretation of it. Famous for my lifetime-supply of old Fischer-Technics (luckily my son never was interested in), it can be either turned by hand ... ... or the motor can be switched down. As it is works by friction and not by the gearwheel, the drive can be stopped easily while working just by holding the axis if any correction is needed I did not use hooks but tubes, a wire is used to get the lines through ... ... and the other side is hold by a toothpic squeezed into the tube. Like this I can shift the serving area to the left or right if longer distances are needed. First tests on the trials of the mainstay show a nice result, still showing the structure underneath. But it not just works for the big ones, here are the tests for the thinner ropes, this one 0,5 mm thick. Here some serving tests. Right the 3/0 fly fishing yarn with the charm of dental floss - very uncool. On the left my usual 8/0 yarn, much better :-) After serving a touch of CA on the ends, still some diluted white glue along the sausage. And juch-huui! Still tried the 6/0 one, the black one on the right, that is a tad thicker and goes therefore faster in serving, that it will be. Also tried the direction of serving. Going with the cuntlines - here serving rightwards - results in the serving line getting stuck in the groove and running of, like seen on the right side of the orange one. So always against the cuntlines, that it means :-) And the result? The modelling ropes have the bad habit to flatten if taken around sharp turns. Totally uncool. Not with Dr. dafis non-patented serving machine! Here a rope of 0,5 mm wraps itself gently around a 0,5 mm drill and nicely keeps its form. And smaller parts? No prob, if well planned, some of these can be ... ... nicely placed on the same line like Münchhausens duck hunting :-) So have a nice day until it will be shouted again: "Mom, he did it again!!!" Sincereily, dafi PS: This kind of machines can be found in many variations on the net, either to buy or DIY. But this was a great opportunity to proove dear darling wife that it was a wise decision to keep all these items in the cellar, and not to sell, swoop, give as present - or even through away - already many years ago ... XXXDAN

"A machine that will serve me well" These are the words, that B.E. used when he got his little serving machine. So here comes my interpretation of it. Famous for my lifetime-supply of old Fischer-Technics (luckily my son never was interested in), it can be either turned by hand ... ... or the motor can be switched down. As it is works by friction and not by the gearwheel, the drive can be stopped easily while working just by holding the axis if any correction is needed I did not use hooks but tubes, a wire is used to get the lines through ... ... and the other side is hold by a toothpic squeezed into the tube. Like this I can shift the serving area to the left or right if longer distances are needed. First tests on the trials of the mainstay show a nice result, still showing the structure underneath. But it not just works for the big ones, here are the tests for the thinner ropes, this one 0,5 mm thick. Here some serving tests. Right the 3/0 fly fishing yarn with the charm of dental floss - very uncool. On the left my usual 8/0 yarn, much better :-) After serving a touch of CA on the ends, still some diluted white glue along the sausage. And juch-huui! Still tried the 6/0 one, the black one on the right, that is a tad thicker and goes therefore faster in serving, that it will be. Also tried the direction of serving. Going with the cuntlines - here serving rightwards - results in the serving line getting stuck in the groove and running of, like seen on the right side of the orange one. So always against the cuntlines, that it means :-) And the result? The modelling ropes have the bad habit to flatten if taken around sharp turns. Totally uncool. Not with Dr. dafis non-patented serving machine! Here a rope of 0,5 mm wraps itself gently around a 0,5 mm drill and nicely keeps its form. And smaller parts? No prob, if well planned, some of these can be ... ... nicely placed on the same line like Münchhausens duck hunting :-) So have a nice day until it will be shouted again: "Mom, he did it again!!!" Sincereily, dafi PS: This kind of machines can be found in many variations on the net, either to buy or DIY. But this was a great opportunity to proove dear darling wife that it was a wise decision to keep all these items in the cellar, and not to sell, swoop, give as present - or even through away - already many years ago ... XXXDAN

Known for my non linear working scheme, I tackled something I was pushing for a while, the lettering for the figurehead. After long search I found the (possibly) smallest letters available. After all these years of building the first PE ;-) First a template to get a feeling for the space and needed sizes ... ... and really it is the smallest of the set ... ... after cutting the letters I placed them on the backside of a Post-it, as this one glues not too heavily. Then side 1 "Honi soit q(ui)", the last two letters underneath the volute ... ... and side 2 "mal y pense" . For glueing I gave up the CA quite fast, and came back to the hint to try paint. The best was the matt varnish I had for my decks. But not easy to cut without zoing and free ticket to nowhere, and placing on the right place before the paint is too dry ... And afterwards the next task: the letters on the side of the stem. Creating some cleanroom atmosphere ... ... and after some nerve wrecking long moments, tada ... ... "Dieu et mon Droit", ... ... and a last one to enjoy. Amicalement, Daniel

As usual, the last details always need most attention and especially work ... Whaddat? A dogstopper. Where from? From deep inside, there where fixing bits on bitts is the most fun, located at number 2. And it is rather clear immediately. As the turns around the bitts won´t give enough grip for the anchor cable, the cable is further held by several stoppers. The dogstopper secures the incoming side of the cable against the outgoing side before and after the bitt. In front of it we have the bittstopper, alternatively done without the short strop and lashed directly against the bitt ... ... and behind we have n# 3, 4 and 5 three deckstoppers, short strop against an eyebolt and with a thinner rope for lashing. This thinner rope is turned around several times inside the cuntline before being lashed up. Greetings, Daniel

And what does one do if one has almost a cable length of anchor rope and some movable manger boards ? Of course one tries out things :-) And what? The last pictures show the anchor rope tight and well clear the manger boards. Usually with the guns run out, everything looks neat, tidy and spacious. With the guns lashed it becomes already more tight. But what with the cables prepared for throwing the anchor? Hihihihihihihi... So here we go ... ... the tensioned anchor cables clear above the manger boards. But some time ago, I already did put up some heretical questions: - the boards of the manger are not constructed in a way that a heavy anchor cable can rub over them. - several sources claim the manger´s boards to be removable for what purpose? - for what purpose were they taken out? - why are they usually shown as a permanent fix? While preparing came out Goodwins new book Victorys "Owners´ Workshop Manual" that gives a nice describtion on how to prepare to throw an anchor - Clear the deck. But I kept the guns lashed (Lets suppose we have a heavy sea and do not want to unleash them). - The sides of the manger were taken out! HA!!! That is why I made them removable, I knew it!!! - The starboard side anchor cable is stored on the port side because of handling. So bring it up the gundeck and flake it out in long loops along the deck, in a way that it can´t get jammed. HA!!! That is why I made my cable that long!!! - When the required length is laid out, fix the rope around the bitts and add some stoppers in front and back of the bitts (missing in the pictures still) - If not done yet take a smaller messenger cable and get the cable through the hawser holes to to be fixed on the anchor. Then comes a series of sailing manouvers . Then the anchor is let go and the rope can run out the hawser holes and uncoil easily throughout the deck without rubbing against any manger boards. Like this it makes finally sense to me :-) Finetuning still welcome! And this is how it looks like: Starboard manger boards taken out ... ... uand the long hanks down the deck. This is almost a cable length. And some more pics for pleasure and fun. And suddenly, it doesn´t look that spacious and clear any more ;-) As a guide the length of the cable should be 3 times the depth of water if I understood right. The free end of this cable shown here on deck is 150 meters, so the water shoud be 40 to 50 meters deep. The Cable length of about 183 meters came out of the length of the old ropewalks. If longer cables were needed for deeper water, two cables had to be spliced together. Than we would have had about 9 hanks instead of the five here shown on the pictures. I think this should be still possible space wise. Sincerily, Daniel

Thank you Pete :-) And off we go. Took out the capstans and replaced them slightly to give better use of the lenghts of the bars. Like this the bars can be 0,5 meters longer, but the main capstan in front of the mizzen mast is limited by the rigging of the rudder, resulting in quite short bars. And with two anchor cables fitted it looks rather clean and neat ... ... several stoppers still missing ... ... and the manger. Cheers, Daniel

Shaving horses, what a fun :-) Seen the shaving horse some years ago on the V. in P., the nice officer that guided me, explained how it works. Long time gone since and many details forgotten, it was a nice hunt to find out the details again. Serving as a workbench for holding the object to work on, it consists of a board with feet and a small bench on top to hold the work piece (the darker bit on top) ... ... and a pivoting frame that holds down the work piece by the push of the legs. For working the drawknife is pulled towards the body of the craftsman. Skilled craftsman could easily produce round battens on it without having to use a lath. And again, a small bit of ancient craftsmanship is understood :-) :-) :-) Wikipedia sayz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaving_horse ... and the noble officer on the original horse as shown on the Vic. I used the chance to enhale a little bit of life into my mallet-man. And after some moments with only me, him and the brush I was shure: His name only can be Thor :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel PS: Just to make sure - Thor has nothing to do with shaving horses, he just did fine on the pictures ... ... and he still is missing his duty ;-)

Let me put together all the guesses I received for the little tools purpose: - for calling the big kraken to get more bamboo skewers - juice maker, as the brits were called Limeys - winemaker for the captain´s port - jack for excanging the steeringwheel - torture: stretching bed or thumbscrew - olive press - garbich press - nutcracker king-size for coconuts - tool to inflate the ship in harbour to save tax - archimedes screw for the bilge - ship biscuit juicer to liquefy maggots - tool to iron captain´s uniform - dvice for fine adjustment of the water line - sealing leakages / repairing beams The last point I would have said yes, that too for sure :-) And here is the sweet bit in it´s natural habitat: It is in deed the jack to lift the deck beams in order to remove and put back the stanchions that are in the way of the capstans bars. Blaise Olivier describes them well with the dry comment, that the french system with iron bars on hinges is far more practical ... All the best, Daniel

Let me put together all the guesses I received for the little tools purpose: - for calling the big kraken to get more bamboo skewers - juice maker, as the brits were called Limeys - winemaker for the captain´s port - jack for excanging the steeringwheel - torture: stretching bed or thumbscrew - olive press - garbich press - nutcracker king-size for coconuts - tool to inflate the ship in harbour to save tax - archimedes screw for the bilge - ship biscuit juicer to liquefy maggots - tool to iron captain´s uniform - dvice for fine adjustment of the water line - sealing leakages / repairing beams The last point I would have said yes, that too for sure :-) And here is the sweet bit in it´s natural habitat: It is in deed the jack to lift the deck beams in order to remove and put back the stanchions that are in the way of the capstans bars. Blaise Olivier describes them well with the dry comment, that the french system with iron bars on hinges is far more practical ... All the best, Daniel

...hihihihi... ...couldn´t resist ... ...hihihihi... :-) XXXDAn

Dear Kevin :-) It really is present since entry 75!!! Just for the records! ...hihihihihi... Lieber Gruß, Daniel :-)

Hello Kevin, look at the pictures atop :-) Did you mistake it for an ostrich egg? ...hihihihi... Daniel

Welcome to dafi´s world. Being in the middle of IAA, one of the worlds biggest fairs for the automotive industry, what did dafi discover? Our clients, what did they see? Naturally some Calamary-Amuse-Gueules. But what did dafi see? He only saw these great bamboo-sticks, marvelous tool to apply superglue :-) I felt rather sick afterwards after eating that many of those to rescue the sticks ... Sodele and jetzetle, being back home I was finally able to work on something, that I was dreaming of for the last four weeks ... ... it started all innocently on the lath and then came something that you can find on the market-places of many german wine villages, a nice spindle: And then came a long box with spikes underneath, drilled from the top... ... having a nose inside ... ... to scew the spindle in with love. Finished with some iron loops it looks like this :-) And now the the holy question: What is this little engine about? Data would have said "fully functional", if you know what I mean, hihihihihi ... So this is the next riddle, after the guy with the big hammer is still waiting for what job he is meant to do ;-) Sincerily, Daniel

And as the shrouds are up I took the chance to try out the ratlines. Now I know why I kept the Heller ratty machine ... ... the lower 4 lines have the given circumference of 1,5 inch, means 0,12 mm :-) On top of it I tried 3 sets of four lines, once thinner, once thicker in black and once thicker in tan in case for optical reasons other thicknesses could be more appropriate. Against the light the differences stand out quite clearly, I will most possibly stay with the "original" size, means 4 strands of 20/0 Caenis. And now the difficult topic, tarred or tanned ratlines: Discussions running wild on the net, so I decided to get a more pragmatic approach. Many sources report "hands employed blackening the shrouds". I do strongly believe, that the ratlines were not taken down for that, so the knots and the adacent areas would get their fair share of tar too. The middle in between surly darkened fast too because of the tarred feet of the hands, so the difference if a light or dark line was underneath would soon have disaperead. Even though I wanted to see how a blackened light line could look like ... ... but the effect is that minor in my scale (see the Tic-Tac) and the paint spoiled the color of my shrouds, so I stay with the black line to facilitate things, leaving the lower four ones as my personnel choice :-) And see, the little sailor was taking good care in his training and puts the hands to the shrouds for that a - nobody steps on them b - he has something stable to hold on in case of the ratline breaking :-) Best regards, Daniel

Not to loose the hang of it, I always try to be at least every second day in my corner, even if it is just for 15 minutes ... This sequential working looks like this for example: day 1: taking mast tops down and looking at them day 2: looking for material for the rail and swearing, ordering new Evergreen of suitable size day 3: waiting for the Evergreen day 4: Cutting the Evergreen into the right length and gluing the bottom side of the iron fork day 5: gluing the sides of the fork day 6: cleaning up and trying to find out which material I used for the stanchions of the for top rail day 7: discovering on the old pictures it was no brass but steel of 0,5 mills day 8: drilling holes into top and rail day 9: fitting the stanchions, applying paint and ...Hurray! This is the result of more than a weeks work (without paint yet) - railings for main and mizzen tops. And then, new game, new love: day 1: preparing two deadeyes day 2: closing the wrong holes on one side with tooth-pics day 3: shortening them and closing the other side with tooth-pics day 4: flattening and sanding twice two sides day 5: applying some black paint day 6: looking at ship day 7: *start sweating* Really, because of the hot weather, the fam did not want to do anything but relax :-) So upstairs I went into my littel sauna and preparing some work to come in a years or two time :-) And here we go, trying the new ropes on the deadeyes :-) Lanyards applied ... ... on the right still the Mark 1 done the previous year with the old material ... ... and with the chains. Ok, that is it for a long time now, Daniel

... heave ... heave ... heave ... As long as the question remains, I was playing a litte bit italian ice cream saloon ... ... you know the small paper umbrellas ... ... but it facilitates putting the bars properly ... ... and the swifter goes round and round and there we are :-) And there they push, 10 strong english tars on each bar ... ... getting tight all along ... ... that´s why the guns have been put to the sides ... ... all along the boards ... ... and heave -ho, also the swifter is being pulled ... ... some 120 souls together ... ... heave-ho ... ... heave ... ... XXXDAn

Dr dafi´s chamber of horrors I love this hobby Where else can one really follow his dark spirits without the psychiatrist and 4 strong man will come and take one away? ... ... yes here ... ... and here we meet in Dr dafi´s chambers of horrors, where all humanity is lost, hotter than hell which appears like a children playground and meaner than one season of big brother? ... so, Frankenstein was yesterday, today Dr. dafi is master of the darkest sides, Master of creatures, reorganiser of live´s blocks ... ... and just to warm up ... ... some wings and limbs, some rumps too ... ... fixed to dry and now the intriguing question: What is the job of this funny young man? Meanwhile I will go on breaking some bones and twisting some more joints, ER was yesterday, if it gets too loud out here, put the soundbutton ot the tele up, if you are lucky, something relaxing like the Killer Tomatoes will come ... Dr. dafi

Dr dafi´s chamber of horrors I love this hobby Where else can one really follow his dark spirits without the psychiatrist and 4 strong man will come and take one away? ... ... yes here ... ... and here we meet in Dr dafi´s chambers of horrors, where all humanity is lost, hotter than hell which appears like a children playground and meaner than one season of big brother? ... so, Frankenstein was yesterday, today Dr. dafi is master of the darkest sides, Master of creatures, reorganiser of live´s blocks ... ... and just to warm up ... ... some wings and limbs, some rumps too ... ... fixed to dry and now the intriguing question: What is the job of this funny young man? Meanwhile I will go on breaking some bones and twisting some more joints, ER was yesterday, if it gets too loud out here, put the soundbutton ot the tele up, if you are lucky, something relaxing like the Killer Tomatoes will come ... Dr. dafi

Dr dafi´s chamber of horrors I love this hobby Where else can one really follow his dark spirits without the psychiatrist and 4 strong man will come and take one away? ... ... yes here ... ... and here we meet in Dr dafi´s chambers of horrors, where all humanity is lost, hotter than hell which appears like a children playground and meaner than one season of big brother? ... so, Frankenstein was yesterday, today Dr. dafi is master of the darkest sides, Master of creatures, reorganiser of live´s blocks ... ... and just to warm up ... ... some wings and limbs, some rumps too ... ... fixed to dry and now the intriguing question: What is the job of this funny young man? Meanwhile I will go on breaking some bones and twisting some more joints, ER was yesterday, if it gets too loud out here, put the soundbutton ot the tele up, if you are lucky, something relaxing like the Killer Tomatoes will come ... Dr. dafi

And now the quiz: How many meters of 8/0 fishing line are used for this anchor cable of 1,5 meters? Diameter is 2 mm. Good luck with guessing, estimating or calulating :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel