aviaamator

Still a bit of time to make... CNC helps! Really want to immediately to glue all these details, but the mind says " Not so fast!"

Very nice work Aviaamator, the precision of your treenails is admirable. Nice also to see your son helping, such a great experience for him.
 
I hope your health is improving well.
 
Michael

And here is the result! 

And here is the result! 

And here is the result! 

This is the latest Video

Moving forward!

The first model I built when I was the same as my younger son's, little helper daddy...

Thank you all for your kind comments! Yesterday came to visit me my friend, brought to display their boats, which are made in scale 1:20. Valery has kindly allowed to take photos and show them on this Forum.

And here is the result! 

Young - little sailor! Great helper!

Continuation.
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
The beginning of the relation is available at this address:
 
 
http://5500.forumact...ndre-1-24#66516
 
 
 
Regards, Pawel

Woodcarving is a very interesting hobby, I begin to study it.

These two pieces were done with just #11 blades.  No finish applied on the top one yet.  They are about 1/4" wide and just a few inches long.....only 1/32" thick.   I think a large chisel would obliterate them.
 

I have not tried Chuck's #11 knife blade for carving (yet); mainly because the type of carving I do - figures and caricatures - would probably snap the blade on the first cut. Haven't tried the new Flexcut micro gouges either; I recently got a set of the now discontinued DockSide micro chisels.  I am looking forward to trying my hand at Chuck's miniature carving project.
 
I am a self taught woodcarver. Picked up a book (see my post here)  and started reading and practicing. My first knife was the "bench" knife shown on the extreme left in photo below: I found this knife very frustrating to use and after joining a woodcarving club and consulting with some of their experienced carvers and trying out some of their knives, I switched to a style made by Dave Lyons called the Lyons knife (naturally) shown in the 2nd and 3rd photos. The design of the handle is more ergonomic and fits a lot nicer in the palm of your hand without fatiguing your hand after hours of carving. I might add that Dave's knives came razor sharp right out of the box and required no additional honing on my part - something I spent hours doing with the bench knife. Oh, the 2 knives to the right of the bench knife in photo #1 are chip carving knifes.
 

 
For finger protection I recommend the finger guards shown in the photos below. They are leather on the bottom and an elastic material on the top and come in small, medium and large sizes to fit all finger sizes. The one on the right in the photo fits over the thumb while the one on the left  fits over the forefinger
 

 
And finally I constructed a bench hook as shown in these photos, the design is shown in Ellenwood's book referenced above. The notch in the back allows the piece to be placed in a diagonal position against the side stop. The gap between the side stop and the back is to allow chips to be removed more easily.
 

 
I can get into a discussion of chisels and gouges at a later time as interest dictates.

I havent used them much yet.....but flexcut has a special shaped "whatcha-ma-bob" to sharpen them.  See below.
 
http://www.flexcut.com/pw12-flexcut-slipstrop/
 
 
They also have a great how to video showing how to sharpen the chisels.  Cant say much else because I barely used mine.....havent tried it yet.  I mostly used a #11 blade.
 
Chuck

I have a set of Flexcut chisels. They are very nice for small work, but not too useful for figure carving, which I normally hold in my hand while carving. I always use a protective glove on my holding hand and a thumb guard on my knife hand. I normally use basswood because It's very nice to work with. It cuts easily and holds even the smallest details quite sharply.
 
The first thing to learn for anyone wanting to get into wood carving is how to properly sharpen and hone their carving tools, as a razor sharp edge is essential for success. As for the kind of scroll work relief type carvings seen on the stern of larger ships,  these can just be cut from a pattern on the scroll saw and detail added with carving chisels afterward.  The Flexcut chisels would work really well for that kind of work. This method might not appeal to someone who wants to carve the scroll work directly into ships planking, but personally I could live with just gluing it on.

Just catching up after being away for a while, Mark.  She's coming along very nicely.
 
John

Your review is an excellent practical guide! And we continue learning!

I'd like to see the finished version!

Woodcarving is a very interesting hobby, I begin to study it.

Woodcarving is a very interesting hobby, I begin to study it.

I am building the HMS Thorn Swan class of 1779, so far there is only one plan from the National Maritime Museum that makes any referance to this ship. She was part of the fleet that invaded Trinidad in in 1797 a fleet that carried my ancester to Trinidad. It is my plan to video the entire build on an ipad and post videos as i go along. So far i have made 5 videos on the build.

Hi All,
 
Well, its been a little while since I posted, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. I had a great time at the NRG conference in San Diego last weekend and met so many wonderful people there.  I was very pleased with the amount of interest fellow modelers showed in the Naiad.  There were so many impressive builds!
 
Here are a few shots of some attachments that I made for my build board, which sits atop a custom rolling cabinet (I still need to make drawers for the cabinet).  As mentioned previously, I do all my modeling while standing.  I like a high platform so I don't hunch over when doing detail work.  The attachments rest on cleats that fit over the edge of the build board and have thumb screws to tighten them.  I am able to move them around where I need them.  There is a tray with a  cork lining and mahogany sides (hey, it was scrap), I have a pana-vise mounted on a cork top, as well as several Amanti jigs for cutting and carving.  I will make a few more as time goes by.  I plan to store some inside the cabinet when not in use. My goal is to keep most of my small hand tools and other accessories easily accessible in the cabinet.
 
I am 446 hours into the build.  I did a little rework on the frames.  I didn't like how some of them faired, so I ripped them out.  I am not taking pictures of the rework, too painful. I am still loving the build, but need to remember to move slow for maximum speed.
 
Best, Gary

I carved my pieces using only a #11 blade.
 

 
I also tried a few micro chisels from Flexcut.  They worked really well.  I only really used the "v" shaped one.  The important thing is to keep them very sharp.....as soon as the #11 blades got a little dull I threw it away and got a new one.
 

 
I havent done any rotary carving because I dont like the look of the pieces after using the bits. Too rounded for my tastes but only probably because I dont know how to do it correctly.   I also like the feel of the blade vs. the rotary tool.
 
But guys,  please discuss your tools and approaches here and hopefully we will have a few that will try rotary carving.
 
Chuck