Roger Pellett

Whether the scenario you show with the enlisted mechanic on the step ladder and the guy with the “hat” on the wing actually would have happened, the scene looks lifelike and realistic as far as I am concerned.  NICE WORK!

Roger

In normal times, I like to browse in hardware stores and often end up buying stuff that strikes me as being useful to my model building activities.  Sometimes it can be used to advantage for purposes known only to me.  There is a Menards big box store near out local Target Store. I can often spend an enjoyable hour at Menards while my wife is at the Target analyizing the toilet paper selection.

Unfortunately, Ace Hardware’s business strategy seems to be “extreme helpfulness.”  They pounce on you as soon as you enter to select the product that in their opinion works best for the problem that you are trying to solve.  This hovering prevents browsing.  For this reason I seldom go there.

With the virus, am following my Doctor’s advice to wear a mask, and spend as little time as possible in the confined public space of a store.  This makes the local Ace Hardware store more attractive.  I tell them what I want and they go get it.  

Roger

Michael,

They say that the best two days of boat ownership are the day that you buy it and the day that you sell it, but for those of us that have poured heart and soul into creating or restoring a boat I have found some sadness in parting with it.

Living within 2 or 3 miles of the georgeous sheet of water that is Lake Superior I often miss no longer having a boat but then having just passed my 77th birthday I realize that building miniature ones in my shop is a good substitute.  Now will you will have more time to devote to complete your stunning creations.

Roger

Well said Joe.

Roger

Very nice job painting the crew member.

Roger

A shooting supply store that carries muzzle loading supplies should have 36 caliber.  Round balls.  They will ne lead so you will have to prime them well.

Roger

If this were my model, I would not add another layer of planking.  You have a nice fair hull accurate to the plans that you used. Putty up the planking gaps and move on.  Adding another layer creates its own problems as the hull will no longer match the drawing dimensions.

Roger

Nice work, Larry, and an interesting subject too.  Wooden camp boats bring back great memories.  The camp that I went to had a fleet of wooden catboats for beginners.  “Wood Pussy” or “Beatles,” I don’t remember which.  If I modeled the one that I sailed it would have a lot of scrapes from hitting the dock.

The camp should be delighted to receive this handsome gift.

Roger

Ships boats were specialized tools intended to assist the parent vessel in accomplishing its mission.  Their design, therefore, reflected what it (the parent vessel) was intended to do.  Even “lifeboats” assumed to exist on ships built by neophyte modelers were actually specially designed to perform a specialized service- to shelter the maximum number of occupants safely in the case of a maritime disaster.

I am not familiar with the Mermaid and cutters as a vessel type served in many roles where small fast vessels were  preferred.  Knowing what Mermaid was designed to do would provide some idea of the types of boats that she carried.

Roger

Murphy is alive and well aboard ship.  Anything that can come loose in rough weather will, and once they start rolling around they become a lethal missle.  Barrels belong below decks well secured.

Roger

A nice job.

A question-  How did this “marinized” Spitfire perform as a carrier based fighter in comparison with the US Navy’s purpose built Hellcat?  I am assuming that these Seafires flew from Royal Navy carriers when they operated in the Pacific in late 1945.

Roger

Above photo is the entrance to the 1,48th Fighter Wing,  MN Air. National Guard.  The Bulldog on the tail represents the UniverSity of Minnesota Duluth Division 1,  National Championship hockey team.

Roger

I am on my second Badger 350 and find it to be great for spray painting a model with acrylic paints.  (I don’t represent the company.). It is foolproof and easy for a ham handed person like me to clean without damage.

I use this with a small air compressor with air tank.  The air tank allows the compressor to maintain a constant pressure at to the airbrush.  As posted above, one of these at a big box home improvement store will cost slightly less than $100.  The air brush uses a surprising amount of air and I second the comments about the “canned air.”

In my opinion, a secret to using an air brush is having a good supply of air at a CONSTANT CONTROLLED PRESSURE.  My compressor stores air at 125psi but the airbrush works at about 25psi.  It is therefore important that the compressor include a regulator valve to control pressure to the air brush.

The body of the Badger air brush is made from cast resin and the nipple connecting the air supply is machined brass pressed into the body.  Overpressuring the air brush will eject the nipple from the body and require buying a new one (CA or Epoxy doesn’t seem to stick to the resin body.).  

Over the years, I’ve tried all sorts of poor boy paint spraying setups and this is the only one that works reliably.

Roger

The current issue of the Nautical Research Journal includes an article  by Ian McLaughlan on this very topic (The fake Lexington and the Enterprise mystery).  In the article, Mr McLaughlan an expert on small sailing warships, compares Davis’ plans with those for a British Cruizer Class brig and plans that have been found that supposedly apply to USS Enterprise.

Well worth reading!

Roger

I agree!

Roger

Brian,

I went back and reviewed the series of posts for Cairo’s sister, USS ST Louis that Kurt referenced above.  On the first page there is a photo of the plan view of USS Cairo that they got from the NPS.  It is different from the one that you are using as it shows the chine running back to the stern post as we discussed.

On the fifth page there is a photo taken during the CAIRO salvage that shows the stern with rudder attached being lifted from the water.   It clearly shows what we have been discussing.

Roger

Brian,

Sorry if I am causing you more heartburn but is it possible that although  frames 10 and the one preceding it match the drawing they are also wrong?  If the bottom began to narrow further forward the stern lines would taper to a finer point at the stern post as your photo seems to show.

Roger

Your plan is wrong.  The line that you highlighted in red is the boat’s “chine” the line between the flat bottom and the angled side.

The plan and the photos of the actual vessel indicate that the stern post is vertical. Assuming that the bottom continues to be flat on either side of the paddle wheel well, and the sides continue to be straight lines, not curves then the chine must intersect with the bottom of the sternpost as you show with your green line.

This means that the slope of the side frame relative to the flat bottom will gradually increase as you move aft until it becomes vertical at the stern post.

You need to redraw the chine in this area.  Unfortunately I don’t believe that you have sufficient information to actually plot this so you’ll have to use your best judgement- a nice smooth convex curve.

Roger

Nice job!

With all of the B-17’s being built I was wondering when someone would build a B-24.

Roger

As someone who built, or rather tried to, build models old fashioned hide glue, a brown smelly liquid was available.  Animal based and water soluble.  This is where the expression about sending old horses to the glue factory came from.

A higher tech glue especially used for building balsa/ tissue model airplanes was an acetone cellulose glue that went by the brand names, Duco, Ambroid, Testers.  Quick drying and water resistant it later acquired a bad reputation for kids sniffing it.  

Both of these glues are are still available.  Hide glue is sold be specialty woodworking suppliers and I bought a tube of Duco Cement the other day at our local Ace Hardware.  It is good for temporarily gluing metal military figures to wood bases so that they can be handled while being painted.

Roger

Jaager,

While the volume of the finished model will be smaller by the cube of the three scale factors, to build the model John only need to concern himself with linear ones, ie; multiply linear dimensions in the practium by .84.  

Roger

What makes Jim Byrns’ Tools unique is their high quality, but he did not “invent” the model makers table saw.  Years ago before CAD when engineering firms built scale models, scale plastic structural steel and piping was cut with a similar saw; I think a Jarmac.  Later, Plans for building a model makers table saw were published in the Nautical Research Journal.  Shortly after that the Preac Table saw was offered.  I still have mine.  I tried to sell it when I bought my Byrnes saw but no takers.

In this case, I really don’t think that the Chinese are stealing anything.  They’re merely making a small saw.  It’s up to the buyer to decide if it meets their needs.

Roger

Steel for carving tools was available in small quantities.  The springs in antique fire arms are an example of steel that could be heat treated to hold an edge.

Roger

I would have built it in about 1974.  It was a 17ft and as I remember there were two types; folding and non-folding.  The one that we built was non-folding.  It came as a kit with cut out bulkheads,wood strips, and the vinyl covers.  It was like building one of the old balsa/ tissue airplanes.  You first erected the bulkheads on a strongback, ran the longitudinal stringers, and covered the whole thing with the vinyl cover.  The cover for the hull was two ply, the second ply being cemented to the first with contact cement.  The deck was single ply.

I now have two Old Town wood canvas canoes, a 1915 Charles River and a 1945 OTCA both rescued and rebuilt.  Haven’t paddled either of them lately.

Roger