dafi

First oups: I still owe you the answer for the anchor cable: How much of the 8/0 fly fishing line was used for this anchor cable ... ... of 2 mm diameter and a length of 1,5 meters? Different guessings were 80 to 300 meters. And here is the solution, it is quite easy: Each of the 3 Strands was done out of 3 threads in different colors, hook in 4 times, duplicated because of running forth and back on three hooks multiplied with the length of the walk of 2,5 meters: 3x3x4x2x3x2,5m=540 meters But anyway, here we go again ... (no, I am not starting to sing again ...) ... second oups ... ... it is all Pollux´s mistake ... ... as he gave me the hint of a even thinner thread in our german forum ... ... and what is this?? - on top for comparison a 0,1 mm copper wire. - then the Uni 8/0, my favourite - the new Caenis 20/den two stranded laid - the new Caenis 20/den à la nature - one of dafi´s hair - the new Caenis 20/den four stranded laid To show the size a small montage as closeup: I scaled in a way that the 0,1 copper wire has a thickness of 10 pixels. My hair has 9 px, the Caenis has 8 px which means about 0,08 mm :-) My favourite Uni 8/0 looks like a real anchor cable in comparison ... But why laying such thin cables? The fly line is like dental floss, it is very uneven and does not keep its shape. Bent around a corner it looses it round shape, flattens up and gets twice as thick. Also I have the feeling it is easier to knot and can be easier tried to be given a nice slag. That is all for now, Daniel

Okokok, I am back to what I like most: Destruction!!! ... but what is it this time? Yeah ... ... there were two fighting tops missing :-) Ok, get naked and we have literally two topless tops, hihihihi, dafi likes that. Just for comparison there is too the old fore top with the old batten design. And here is my newest acquisition: some scaler from the dentist department ... ... made a guide with the correct width for easy engraving ... ... flattening the build up edge with the spatula ... ... and engrave a second time. Tilting left and right makes nice even grooves. For straight continuations around the testle trees I build a small special guide ... ... and for cleaning everything up I used the small Dremel bristel-brushes. Revolution speed as low as possible and with little pressure, otherwise the plastik may melt, guess why I do know this ... Ok for now, Daniel

And see, you were so blinded by these pettiness that you did not see the essential things in the last picture - the thimble ... This was a side product of having to paint the white sheaves. Thinking how to do them out of black material. Remembered a trick from the WW1 plane builders, that do the locks of the bracing wires by heating up a Q-Tit and pulling it to the needed diameter. The same system as we use to du with sprue it keeps the hole inside in the right proportion to the diameter. This in mind I thought this could also work in a bigger diameter, slipped some 8 mm sprue into the machine ... ... drilled slowly with 4 mm turning the chuck by hand ... ...heated up and pulled (ok could be done more evenly) ... ... and cut onto the right lengths and got a nice variety of discs, sheaves and raw material for thimbles :-) Tried to enlarge the ring by using the cone of the drill did not really work. Used two needles as marlinspikes to do a splice ... ... put the required disc in, tacked it with a drop of CA, adjusted and finally glued it properly in position and opened the hole carefully a little bit more with a drill ... ... and worked on the edges with the 1 mm cherry miller. The proportions still could be improved, but I found a nice solution for myself for the thimbles :-) In the size I am building it is a little bit difficult to do them out of metal tube or injection needles. All the best, Daniel I hope to not disappoint you too much - in last case we have to found a self-help group, something like "dafinists anonymus" or so ... :-) :-) :-) XXXDAn

When i just did the micro blocks, it all continued with an answer from Jan here in MSW: You will drive yourself insane! My guess is that your next "problem" will be to get these tiny blocks stropped according the rule book Next you will realize that blocks have sheaves, that sheaves are held into position by iron pins, that these pins have nail like heads, that.... etc. We will follow your route to insanity with ever increasing admiration! Jan OK-OK-OK, Jan´s challenge was accepted :-) The stropping we had already, so the next is ... ... put a 1 mm poly rod into the machine, drill with 0,4 mm, turning the chuck of the lathe of course by hand ... ... and cutting it off still on the drill to 0,5 mm slices ... ... and this is the result of the production. So what is missing next for some good blocks? The casing: So milling a double slot and a single slot into a 2,5 mm x 1 mm batten ... ... doing some carving ... ... colored the disks with marker for not adding to the thickness ... ... inserted the disks and the axles ... ... and cleared it up. And here the family shot with the benchmark, the wonderful 2 x 2 x 2 mm block from JB. While stropping I finally re-remembered the great power-splice, which makes things easier and cleaner, prepared a loop ... ... and slid the block into it, secured with glue and ... *drummrollandsmallfanfare* ... and the thing on place :-) Lessons learned: It is really possible to make blocks of 2,5 x 2,5 x 1 mm with turning sheaves! And by pulling on the loose end, the tackle works much easier than the other ones without :-) :-) :-) The most difficult? Checking if the sheaves are turning after securing the axles with glue. Managed to do this with the point of a needle. Confirmed positivly! ;-) Liebe Grüße Daniel

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

Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper We are ready to tie...don't fear the Reeper I still owe you the last line ... (oh what a pun!!!) ... but how did this start again? I just wanted to try out the new blocks ... ... but the packet string was apparently not the right thing. That is why I had my fun on the Reeperbahn ;-) And I realised something else: The blocks were too small for the 32 pounder :-0 That´s why I am now using the smaller 12-pounder for the next test - it was faster than doing bigger blocks ;-) Here a picture from a working stage, comparing old and new ... ... and this was the result: *jumpingofhappiness* Not yet perfect, but the direction is right :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel *happilysinging* Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper We are ready to tie...don't fear the Reeper Baby, I´m your man ... lalalalalaaaaaaa...

Oh these days I used the whole 2,5 meters of my Reeperbahn :-) The anchor cables and messengers were due As the small motors were to small dimensioned, I had to use the electric drill. And for long ropes or ropes with many single threads ... ... one has to knot each of the three strands on the predrilling side together for not getting small lumps. Three of the resulting cables were laid further to create the bigger ones ... ... and for an enjoyable result :-) The anchor cable has a diameter of 2 mm which equals about 24" circumference on the original, the messenger should have about the half, this one being still too thick with 1,5 mm. This means, half of the yarn is not resulting into half the diameter. Interesting is, that even though I used the same proportions of the colors Tan and Rusty Dun, the resulting cable have different colors. Possibly because the messenger is tighter laid, there is not as much light from the surface penetrating the outer yarn and being reflected inside. To compensate I added one part of white to the existing two colors ... ... and the result can be seen compared to the middle messenger. On the bottom the thinner messenger of 1 mm is shown, which - using the same colors as the first one - appears lighter due to be laid less tight. That the first messenger was laid too tight I realised, as some of the outer fibres were broken ... ... so less tension was used for the following cables. The problems on the broken one I was able to fix by cutting off the bitts and smoothening it with Uhu-Plast. Next came parcelling and servig That one is for you Evan ;-) I realised, that on a lot of great models, the parcelling and serving made the cable too thick, due to the too thick diameter of the material used. But as the fishing line is like dental floss, it flattens up while beeing wrapped around ... ... and even shows the structure underneath, something I saw on the originals :-) Still a little ink or chalk to get the plastic gloss off, and it will be ok. And of course I could not resist, to try out a spliced eye on the messenger :-)

Sometimes, yes sometimes I wonder why-why-why ... ... but after looking at my first lashing trials done with supermarket yarn for the tampions and the apron, 0,3 Krick line for the lashing and a breech rope laid out of the same material ... ... and when I compare with my own material ... ... I do remember why :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel

Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper ... and now we are going through the thick ;-) Some of the samples that came out: Here are the different raw materials that were used from right to left: No 20 crochet thread - the thinnest from the wool shop -, a 0,4 mm metal thread for comparison, the fuzzy yarn from the supermarket, the 3/0 Uni, the 6/0 Uni, das 8/0 Uni, the 17/0 uni and the fil au chinois. Here the macros from the tests (the laid ropes were done in an early stage, so they are still quite uneven), the numbers indicate the number of strands. Supermarkets´yarn Fil au chinois 8/0er Uni After I found no color scale in the shop, I ordered all colors that were not unsuitable for sure. So I used the surplus colors for the tests, here the Rusty Brown: The great result is, that I can do everything I need with the Uni 8/0 :-) :-) :-) And again the numbers indicate the number of single strands. The AOTS of the Vic shows a nice tablature about all the ropes and their required sizes. And once again I see, that we often take too thick lines for the rigging ... The lower shrouds should be a 30, the ratlines the pure yarn!!! Twists and turns Apart from the 2 and 3 stranded rope it is possible to make Z and S laid ropes as required :-) Those two ones mentioned have first to be untwisted, which results in a more uneven rope. But as they are so thin that it is impossible to be seen in a model of that scale, there is always a possibility of cheating ;-) :-) Colors One of the reasons to do my own rope was to be able to choose the color. The available once for the standing rigging are too black, the one for the running rigging to colorful. Research in the reenactment-scene shows faded grey ropes: http://europe-today.ru/2012/03/stroitelstvo-kak-1200-let-nazad/. I choose the color Tan, as it is avaliable in 8/0 and 6/0 and I will help perhaps with a little bit of ink once it is installed. For the black I found a nice solution: I mix colors while laying :-) Black with dark brown gives exactely the shade I found on old tarred ropes :-) The color can be nicely adjusted by the quantities of the colors within the mixing. Also you can nicely see the different hands on the picture. As for the running rigging I will possibly also mix in some strands of a less colorful yarn. Laying cables And then the hour of truth: Using the self made ropes to make cables for anchor and shrouds: Looks promising ;-) Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper The best is, the production now goes so easily and uncomplicatedly that I will not prepare to much rope in advance and will lay it as "just in time production" in the needed quantity and thickness while rigging :-) So the first production for the lower deck is done ... ... and please tune in again when we come to the next line of the famous song ... Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper We'll be able to tie...don't fear the Reeper Alles Gute, Daniel

Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper If one is stuck one should do what should have been done in the start - Listen to your inner voice and listen to the others :-) Not: "I-wanna-have-a-ropewalk-and-do-same-nice-ropes-as-seen-on-the-modelling-exhibition" but "I-need-great-ropes-for-my-Vic" :-) That changes a lot as I am building a completely different scale. Changes a lot towards the materials and the usage of the walk. So freshly focussed back to work: First listen to the others: Oli/Modellbaumechaniker and Holger/Pollux from my german forums gave me the right hints for the right materials. Fil au chinois and flyfishing lines were the right hints! http://www.neheleniapatterns.com/html/filagant.html http://www.baker-flyfishing.com/shop/bindematerialien_faeden.php?v=n183 And this is what came: The bigger bobbins are the fil au chinois, numbers for the colors see the picture The smaller bobbin sare from the flyfishing, Uni-Thread green 8/0 the thin one, orange 6/0 the middle one, the thick 3/0 and the superthin 17/0 The fil au chinois is cotton with very little fussy bits, the Uni is free of fuzz :-) The Uni has a large range of colors avaliable, unfortunately not all colors in all sizes. The 8/0 and 6/0 are great for my purpose, the 3/0 has the great appearence of colored dental floss and the 17/0 is also quite uneven and transparent. First tests proved to be the right direction sizewise :-) Left the fuzzy thread from the supermarket, my thinnest possibility before this date. Then comes the fil au chinois, the Uni 8/0 and the Uni17/0, always the original strand, then two, 3 and 6 stranded with blocks of 3 mm, 2 mm and 1,5 mm for comparison. And the first test also showed that turning the axis by hand is a tad tiring and the cordless screwdriver is a little bit unhandy and also too insensitive ... ... So ... ... reopening the Fischertechnik box from my youth, getting the motors out, glueing them with double sided tape onto the machinery, here the pretwisting side to be seen ... ... and the laying side ... ... the motor can be turned sideways to reposition the hooks ... ... and felt was put untderneath for easy gliding, and a steel ruler in the middle to control the movements of the sliding parts :-) Both sides were clampedto the rail to be able to put the yarn properly. After chasing behind the bobbin for several times, a holder like the sewing machines ones was introduced, and from there the the yarn was brought to the hooks of the pretwisting side - I am showing a 6-stranded rope - ... ... and after 3 times twice forth and back ... ... the yarn was fixed on the laying side. The steel ruler shows the movement of the slide - I use 10% on this rope - loosen the clamp on the laying side, the pretwisting hooks start turning and the opposite slide starts moving miraculously towards the predrilling slide :-) If the required distance is achieved, I clamp both sides onto the rail, and the three strands are laid until the required tension is achieved ... ... some CA for fixing ... ...going with the fingernails over to release unwanted tension ... ... and you can make a clean cut :-) Lessons learned You can see two things: First: I am not using any more the little guide block :-) No difference to be seen apart from that it is much more even ;-) Secondly: I am fixing both sides while laying the rope! In the first trials I had the trouble, that the start of the rope was coming out nicely tight and the second half was much more loose ... I realised that at the start of laying the pretwisting slide does not move, and the shortening of the rope is only compensated by the lateral spreading of the yarn. Just later on the slide starts moving. But it was not just after I forgot once to remove the clamp of this slide and got out a great and even clean cable that I realised, that the loosness of the rope came from the missing tension on the other side. The next tests without the guide and fixed slides prooved to be successful :-) Just if the motor is having to work too hard, I stop it and I loosen the tension a tad by carefully moving the slide and then contimue. Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper ... and the part that should be pronounced is: feel the thread :-) XXXDAn

Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper ... Let´s go back to the glorious days, when a little dafi was all proud reporting about his own-build Reeperbahn (ropewalk) ... ... showing happily his first ropes ... ... and all the crochet threads he bought in the neighbourhood and the world-wide-web ... ... and how he rope-walked and walked the rope ... ... changed his place into a painters place ... ... and did many-many-many test to find the one and only right and trueful color for his new ropes ... ... until he questioned: What am I doing here? As nicely to be seen ... ... everything much to thick for his purpose ... :-( And the colors? Did not work either ... the pure stain wrong colors, mixing did not work ... the black was too blueish, mixing with dark brown resulted in blueish blackish ropes with a brown core as the brown penetrated and the black resided just on the surface ... other paints and inks were not so successful either ... ... and also the ropes were too uneven, the start always tighter done than the end, as can be seen, the middle line is the start and the one underneath is the same rope, just the end ... ... ok, think it over ... ... and especially ... Don´t fear the Reeper

These thimbles were a side product of having to paint the white sheaves of my micro blocks. Thinking how to do them out of black material. Remembered a trick from the WW1 plane builders, that do the locks of the bracing wires by heating up a Q-Tit and pulling it to the needed diameter. The same system as we use to du with sprue it keeps the hole inside in the right proportion to the diameter. This in mind I thought this could also work in a bigger diameter, slipped some 8 mm sprue into the machine ... ... drilled slowly with 4 mm turning the chuck by hand ... ...heated up and pulled (ok could be done more evenly) ... ... and cut onto the right lengths and got a nice variety of discs, sheaves and raw material for thimbles :-) Tried to enlarge the ring by using the cone of the drill did not really work. Used two needles as marlinspikes to do a splice ... ... put the required disc in, tacked it with a drop of CA, adjusted and finally glued it properly in position and opened the hole carefully a little bit more with a drill ... ... and worked on the edges with the 1 mm cherry miller. The proportions still could be improved, but I found a nice solution for myself for the thimbles :-) In the size I am building it is a little bit difficult to do them out of metal tube or injection needles. All the best, Daniel I hope to not bother you too much - in last case we have to found a self-help group, something like "dafinists anonymus" or so ... :-) :-) :-) XXXDAn

And it continued with an answer from Jan here in MSW: You will drive yourself insane! My guess is that your next "problem" will be to get these tiny blocks stropped according the rule book Next you will realize that blocks have sheaves, that sheaves are held into position by iron pins, that these pins have nail like heads, that.... etc. We will follow your route to insanity with ever increasing admiration! Jan OK-OK-OK, Jan´s challenge was accepted :-) The stropping we had already, so the next is ... ... put a 1 mm poly rod into the machine, drill with 0,4 mm, turning the chuck of the lathe of course by hand ... ... and cutting it off still on the drill to 0,5 mm slices ... ... and this is the result of the production. So what is missing next for some good blocks? The casing: So milling a double slot and a single slot into a 2,5 mm x 1 mm batten ... ... doing some carving ... ... colored the disks with marker for not adding to the thickness ... ... inserted the disks and the axles ... ... and cleared it up. And here the family shot with the benchmark, the wonderful 2 x 2 x 2 mm block from JB. While stropping I finally re-remembered the great power-splice, which makes things easier and cleaner, prepared a loop ... ... and slid the block into it, secured with glue and ... *drummrollandsmallfanfare* ... and the thing on place :-) Lessons learned: It is really possible to make blocks of 2,5 x 2,5 x 1 mm with turning sheaves! And by pulling on the loose end, the tackle works much easier than the other ones without :-) :-) :-) The most difficult? Checking if the sheaves are turning after securing the axles with glue. Managed to do this with the point of a needle. Confirmed positivly! ;-) Liebe Grüße Daniel

And some more basic work. To do the side takles of my guns in 1:100 I need small blocks. The smallest commercially available are the 2 mm from JB, great stuff but still a little bit to big for my taste. So I wanted to see what there is still possible :-) Literature shows several ways of doing blocks, most of them done in a similar way, so I am following that, just have to take out most of the machinery because of the size. First I prepared a batten of 1,5 mm high and 1 mm thick, and marked it all 2 mm which gave the basic size of these ambitious project ... ... each of these marks got a diagonal cut in one direction and after all done, the batten was turned and the other side cut, so the grooves on one side were finished. Repeated on all four sides ... ... and this was achieved rather fast, some matt varnish to strengthen the edges ... ... and first drilling tests ... ... with the 0,5er drill. Result, difficult to get the right place, so more testing until it looked like in a swiss cheese factory ... ... and finally the enlightenment: 0,5 mm drill fixed in the stand, a stop in 0,5 mm distance is fixed. The stop has the width of 2 mm which facilitates positioning. Now hold the batten tight and near at both sides and slide it up the stop until drilled ... ... move down and turn the batten 180° around the longitudinal axis, slide up and drill the second hole :-) (I spared you the fingers on the picture :-) Looks already ok, the four blocks left of my little worker are the single blocks of 1 mm x 1 mm x 2 mm - hihihihihi - ... ... a second coat of varnish, the cutter makes the groove on the side for the line - the most difficult part on the whole action - some sanding off of the edges, some more varnish and done. They stay on the batten and will be cut just prior to production for not getting lost - just in time production :-) Just a family picture: the Krick 3 mm, the JB 2 mm and Microline from dafi, and as it looks nice a macro shot. So I already see the crowd out there laughing in anticipation of the knots in dafis fingers, while trying to tying some rigging onto these littel bits ... ... and this was the result with a descent rope: *jumpingofhappiness* Not yet perfect, but the direction is right :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel

And now to something completely different - the strops ... First threading test ... ... first had to squeeze the tip of my threading help to a smaller diameter, then pulled gently with brutal force this thickish 0,3 line through ... ... and test step N° 1 completed :-) More difficult is the stropping as I remember from the tiller, so taking the line out again for security reasons as some glueing will be required ... ... fix the stropping line with one drop of CA in the groove on one side, carry once around the block, fix the extra strop for the hook, prepare the loop of thin line for securing the ensemble, fix it with Uhu Plast, - good fix but can be reopened if necessary - position the knots and ends properly, fix for good with CA, and once more I do a good cut :-) And then with good hope and high expectations back to the scene of crime ... ... and not tooo bad - and there are really two separate holes in the 1,5 mm block :-) Okokok, the back hook still is too long, the line a packet string and the splices worth 24 with the cat´o´24-tails ... ... but the direction is right :-) Disclaimer 1: This was a test, I wont do thaaaaaat for the lower deck guns ;-) Disclaimer 2: I took a barrel with a sinking mark to remind you of the provenience of this model ... ;-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel

And some more basic work. To do the side takles I need small blocks. The smallest commercially available are the 2 mm from JB, great stuff but still a little bit to big for ma taste. So I wanted to see what there is still possible :-) Literature shows several ways of doing blocks, most of them done in a similar way, so I am following that, just have to take out most of the machinery because of the size. First I prepared a batten of 1,5 mm high and 1 mm thick, and marked it all 2 mm which gave the basic size of these ambitious project ... ... each of these marks got a diagonal cut in one direction and after all done, the batten was turned and the other side cut, so the grooves on one side were finished. Repeated on all four sides ... ... and this was achieved rather fast, some matt varnish to strengthen the edges ... ... and first drilling tests ... ... with the 0,5er drill. Result, difficult to get the right place, so more testing until it looked like in a swiss cheese factory ... ... and finally the enlightenment: drill fixed in the stand, a stop in 0,5 mm distance is fixed. The stop has the width of 2 mm which facilitates positioning. Now hold the batten tight and near at both sides and slide it up the stop until drilled ... ... move down and turn the batten 180° around the longitudinal axis, slide up and drill the second hole :-) (I spared you the fingers on the picture :-) Looks already ok, the four blocks left of my little worker are the single blocks of 1 mm x 1 mm x 2 mm - hihihihihi - ... ... a second coat of varnish, the cutter makes the groove on the side for the line - the most difficult part on the whole action - some sanding off of the edges, some more varnish and done. They stay on the batten and will be cut just prior to production for not getting lost - just in time production :-) Just a family picture: the Krick 3 mm, the JB 2 mm and Microline from dafi, and as it looks nice a macro shot. So I already see the crowd out there laughing in anticipation of the knots in dafis fingers, while trying to tying some rigging onto these littel bits ... Stay tuned, Daniel

Holy impatience ... ... still not happy with the self made lines ... ... the thick ones no problem, the thin ones are a drag ... ... but big want to continue. The best result was a 0,3 mm Krick-line, that I unraveled and laid from new :-) But first came sorting the rings ... ... by size and form, served hot on tape ... ... and fixed on the lower deck guns. Then came the lead aprons for the gun locks ... ... the line for the tompions and some turns around the muzzle. As I had to preassemble the gun outside, the task was that all the lengths for the rig are different due to the tumbledome and the different breadth of the deck. First fixing a template ... ... and it fits :-) Now some bondage - I like making some guns happy ;-) First the breechline around the bum, fixing with CA ... ... knotted in the front, the groove on the side helps as a guide for the height ... ... and two wedges to make it tight. Then flooded the breechline with CA and phase 1 done :-) Phase 2 some more bondage, a shortened needle is a good help ... ... and well bound and done too. Then still fixed a gauge for the upper lashing ... ... some CA-flooding and phase 3 done too :-) After freeing the whole thing it stands nicely there ... ... held to its final place and shortened the over lenghts. Fixed some rings as they might be seen by the open gunports. And finalemente the whole in place. That is what I was looking for. Small check from the outside: The side takles will still be set, but this will be the next story :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel

Hello Michiel, it is always warned about lead corrosion. The lead can disintegrate into white powder. Museums usually refuse taking models with this material because of that reason. I saw some nice effects already in the different forums about this issue. In the MSW.1 there was an article about it. Can anybody reproduce this one and start as a new topic? Daniel

Nothing exaggeratingly new, business as usual ... ... main mast done, together with the oob-version ... ... and the mizzen got his split lines. Happy rest-eastern, Daniel

I was looking at the pictures above. They looked great, but something was disturbing. I was looking at the pictures in of the V. in P. ... ... they looked the same. ... ... until I asked myself, why do I display steel masts?!? What makes the visible difference in this scale in between a painted steel and painted wooden masts? The wooden ones are made up of four parts around a core, showing the splitlines :-) Ok, operation on the open heart, means on the finished painted mizzen mast ... ... carving the split lines, restoring the paint and the inking and retaking the pictures :-) Much more what my heart desired! So this was the open heart surgery, soon there will be the brain surgery on the fore mast with the top already fixed, that will be fun too ;-) And by the way, Dave at MSW realised, that I fixed the boom the wrong side up on the saddle ... ... already fixed too. All the best, Daniel

As usual it started with making a small pile of rubbish ... ... than marking the positions for the new mast hoops on the now naked masts, fixing the start and bending round with some hair clamps. . Small quizz: whats that: Gettit? The supports of the boom´s saddle. Also renewed the ring for the belay pins and brought it into a horizontal orientation and checked the height with the old trial poop deck. Refined the edges and corners of the cheecks, hounds and fishes ... ...painted, inked and highlighted as usual, and the mizzen mast was done, here compared to the fore. One can nicely see the more ladylike proportions, the different angle of the testle trees, the missing rubbing fish in the front and the missing of tapering and rubbing battens on the all new top. And also this joke I could not resist: Usually the masthoops were painted black as a standard. Nelson gave order to repaint them in buff according the rest of the masts for recognition reasons. But as the painters were lazy - or better said economical - the hoops underneath the quarterdeck stayed black :-) But stop, something elementary was missing, the belay pins ... Okok, making some new ones in 1:100 ... ... some wire, put in a stand, some white glue to form a drop on the top and some paint spilt over it. All exactly 4 mm long, just standing a little bit messy in the stand. Things got stuck together - pins with rail and pins-rail-mast together with trial poop deck ... ... it goes deep down ... ... and much up :-) All the best, Daniel

Even me, even I do stupid things ... ... uneven groud, color first too thin - than too thick - then too thin, wrong brush, uneven application, airbubbles and especially too late night and hurry to go to bed ... ... bad mixture ... ... okokok, as a punishment and not as an excercise sanding lesson ... ... ... but next session a little bit more competent and concentrated ... ... after fixing the buff, also the new top got its paint ... ... you can see nicely the slots underneath the gunwhale. As a result of the freshly introduced quality management our little a able-bodied seaman checks the fitting of the rail ... ... fixes the netting as demanded by the trade unions and insures himself about the stability of the planks of the platform.. Then came my usual drybrush and incing session, looks rather strong in the macro, but with the final viewing distance of min 40 cm it looks fine, especially to articulate the details with all the rigging still to come. Soo dafi looking rather happy now again :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel

After that much research I needed something easy to relax ... On the left Hellers version of the rudderwheel, right dafis version, just enjoy, no further explanations :-) Gute Nacht, Daniel

Lee discribes on page 24 the use of additional crosstrees for tops of large ships. The timeframe is just the great repair and the Vic could be considered a "large ship", so seen by Lee this version could be qualified ;-) Aapproved by the admiralty from 1802 to 1815, these tops were made out of two pieces for easier replacement, these tops needed further strenghening by upper crosstrees/sleepers. This led too to a different layout for the battens. I already found some pictures of top of todays Victory mast tops, they all are done the "Heller way" :-) Neither Marquard or Schrage show this arrangement. But I found in Goodwins HMS Victory: her construction, career and restauration, he writes on page 21 that during the great repair of 1800 to 1803 the Vic was fitted with fighting tops "in two halves to make repair easier". This should be this version Lee talks about :-) And I found some sleepers on USS Constitutions 1930´s tops. http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/5888797806/ As pictures better show than long explanations can do, I made a fast model compared with the classical version. One can see the extra cross trees on the top side and the different layout of the battens. Just Lees drawing does not show all the details, also it does not correspond with the small cross section he is showing underneath the drawing. Here are the details that I am trying to find out: Is the back of the gunwhale open as the classical one is? How is the shape of the span piece? The battens are shown in the longitudinal section with no decreased height towards the center. As the battens that point towars the lumber hole have no second barrier, I decided to diminish the height as it is in the classical one. How is the form of the front span piece? Are there filling pieces underneath, is ther a slot like in the back or does the span piece go bdown to the rim? Also, do the upper crosspieces diminish height towards the outside as the lower ones do? Then came version two: Half of my questions were answered by Lee two pages later in the 1815 version of the tops, just he names them now Sleepers instead of upper crosstrees ... How should I know that ... So there is stated, that the sleepers have the same form as the lower crosstrees, just halve of the height. So three suggestions of mine have been proven: Same form as the lower cross trees with chamfering towards the outside, too thick in my version '#1 and the span pieces go down to the rim - 3 hits, not bad for the ego ;-) Ok, back to the machinery, slimming down the sleepers, giving them the chamfer towards the outside ... ... rounded off the edges, cleaned up a bit, and it looks much more harmonic and so we get a little dance from ... ... our beloved dancing sailor :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel

Actually I never got, that you striped the superstructure from the existing model ... :-0 This beats all off my humble tearing down parties! Love to see you back, Daniel