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Roger Pellett

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Everything posted by Roger Pellett

  1. Roger Pellett
    Very nice! Roger
  2. Roger Pellett
    Assuming that this thread can be broadened to Western Rivers Steamboats, I would include the HO scale kits of upper Ohio River craft sold by ???. I can't remember the name of the vendor but he was at the Mystic NRG conference. I thought that these models were highly accurate especially the model of the small "pool boat." Similar but smaller than the W.P. Snyder preserved in Marietta, Ohio. Hopefully someone else can identify the vendor. Roger
  3. Roger Pellett
    I have two sets of tweezers, surgical forcips, and sissiors from trips to the emergency room. One from a not so near miss table saw accident and one from a kitchen knife accident that my wife had Thanksgiving a year ago while visiting our son out-of-town. Each time, the surgeon asked if I was a fly fisherman. Apparently, some hospitals throw them out, others autoclave them for reuse. I realize that I am the only accident prone ship model builder on this forum, but If you just happen to be in this situation, it never hurts to ask. Roger
  4. Roger Pellett
    Re: Spencer Mast Readers interested in this topic may wish to refer to the "American Warships for which there are no plans....." Thread in the Nautical History section. On the next to last page there are two old photos of the deck of the frigate Santee. These show Spencer masts on mizzen and main masts. One appears to be seated into a gooseneck fitting. The fitting itself is unfortunately not visible. The main mast Spencer appears to be seated into a boss protruding from the fife rail that runs behind the mast. Good views too of the Spencer mast hoops. Roger
  5. Roger Pellett
    OK J, Here are two of my models, US Navy 40 Ft 1900 Standard 40ft Steam Cutter and a US Navy Standard 26 ft Motor Whaleboat. Both models are scratch built to 1:32 scale. The figures are purchased 54mm military figures that I painted. Roger
  6. Roger Pellett
    Maury, If you have not already done so, Google "anchor hoy". You will find a photo of a model of the anchor hoy that you are building sold by American Marine Model Co. This model was built by Eric Ronnberg, an excellent model builder and maritime researcher. On this Model the spencer mast runs clear to the deck where it is secured into a hole in a block of wood. That is also the simplest solution and simple is usually better. Roger
  7. Roger Pellett
    My models are generally built from laminated lifts layed up from buttocks. I build two half models and then put them together using pre drilled locator pegs to ensure accurate alignment. I have built one plank on frame model, the NY pilot boat Express using the Hahn method but the rest of my models have carved hulls. The plank on bulkhead method does not appeal to me. The little spokeshaves are perfect for carving and fairing these models. Roger
  8. Roger Pellett
    For me, the two fingered holding approach would be difficult. In general, tools with larger handles are better for me as I have lost some strength in my hands due to a complex health problem and maybe just getting older. The attached photo shows a set of miniature spoke shaves that I do find useful. They are gripped between the thumb and forefinger- both hands and pushed or pulled. I bought them in 1965'after seeing them used by professional model builders at the University of Michigan''s Naval Architecture Towing Tank. I believe that the set cost less than $5. They are no longer available new but occasionally show up on EBay. I made the simple aluminum fixture ho hold the small blades in my honing guile. Roger
  9. Roger Pellett
    The chisels are finely crafted tools, but I don't see the point. The chisels are not miniature in width. Unless I am missing something they are offered in standard widths- 1/8, 1/4, 3/8 in. As reklein points out the small handles make them awkward to use ( at least for old guys like me) lengthen the handles and they're just short shanked full sized chisels. Can anyone explain? Roger
  10. Roger Pellett
    Actually, there is a lot of published information available on the rigging of the Fair American. The Nautical Research Guild published a series of articles twenty years ago or so on this topic. My recollection of the articles is that the Naval Academy's model was rerigged in the 1920's by Charles Davis who included many anachrostic features such as a dolphin striker not used at the time when the ship was in service. Therefore, if you are making a model of the Naval Academy model the rigging doesn't represent actual practice anyway. Reprints are cheap. Look on their web site. On the other hand at one time the MS model kit included a monograph written by Eric Ronnberg. Eric is a thorough and meticulous researcher. And if your kit still uses Eric's plans and instructions I would be surprised if a lot of information is missing. If not, you might want to track down Eric's monograph and plans. Roger
  11. Roger Pellett
    Some time ago as part of a build log of the USS Constitution, someone was building one of these "cages" and doing a beautiful job of it. Actually, I believe that these are frames for supporting canvas canopies for bad weather. He left them as bright brass as they are on the real size USS Constitution today. These ships had very large crews with plenty of time on their hands to polish the brass. Roger
  12. Roger Pellett
    A "must" attachment for the Sherline mill is their Sensitive Drilling Attachment useful for drilling holes with very small wire sized drill bits. This is particularly useful for making blocks and deadeyes and essential if you don't have a drill press. I don't know if the other mills that you are considering can be used with such an attachment. Regarding size of milling cutters. With the Sherline mill and the right collets you can always use the smaller mills (1/8in shank) but with the smaller mills you can't use the larger ones. Roger
  13. Roger Pellett
    If the Proxxon milling machine is limited to cutters with shaft diameters 3.2 mm and under that is a major limitation. I have a Sherline Milling column that converts my Sherline lathe for milling. I have a 3/8in tool holder that (I think) came with the column and a set of milling collets that I bought. This allows me to use standard 3/8in and 1/4in spiral end mills available from any local industrial supply house. Roger
  14. Roger Pellett
    I agre with Chuck, I just made some thimbles from standard hobby shop K &S brass tubing although I used a somewhat different method- I hadn't seen his post at the time. From some solid brass round bar I machined male and female dies. The male die was just a cylinder with a nipple machined on one end. The diameter of the nipple a slip fit for the id of the brass tube thimble stock.. I left a small radius between at the shoulder between the nipple and the round bar. As long as the diameter of the round bar is larger than the of of the brass tubing the actual diameter is unimportant. The female die was just the same round bar stock with a hole center drilled. The diameter of rhe hole a slip fit with the male die nipple. To make,a thimble,I first chucked the tubing in my lathe's head stock with only a sixteenth or so protruding. I chucked the male die in the tail stock. After turning on the lathe I fed the male die into the hole in the tubing. When the shoulder between the nipple and the round bar came in contact with the tubing it flared it. I then parted it off with a razor saw. I then reversed the piece of tubing on the male die so that the flared end was pointing towards the lathe headstock, and I chucked the female die in the headstock. I started up the lathe and fed the male die into the female die, flaring the second end. It was much easier than it sounds. Roger
  15. Roger Pellett
    I'm amazed that you are able to machine the window mullions without the cross grained areas collapsing, even using the Costello Boxwood. Roger
  16. Roger Pellett
    Don't forget, the weight of the gear and the bending loads from the capstan were in large part, resisted by the ball race below the gear. This very large and (early ?) example of a ball bearing would not needed to be lubricated. Roger
  17. Roger Pellett
    Gold dry transfer letters? Roger
  18. Roger Pellett
    Rob, Have you looked into a model of the whaling brig Kate Corey? This model was based on information developed by Eric Ronnberg. Eric is an excellent model builder and researcher of New England fishing and whaling vessels. I have not built this kit and cannot voucher for its quality but as far as research and plans are concerned what Eric does is more than first class. Roger
  19. Roger Pellett
    Re: Your concern regarding the transom Why not paint it, say a semi gloss dark blue (just the transom, not the whole boat!). This would provide a nice contrast with your diagonally planked wooden hull and would provide a great background for lettering. Gold lettering would look good and would be appropriate. Fill it first with a filler that hardens, even Bondo. This will give you another chance to get some sharp well defined edges between transom and hull. Just an idea. Roger
  20. Roger Pellett
    Maury, I would like you to encourage to not use spar tables but to model the spars as shown on the drawings. There are two reasons for this: First, the drawings are documentary evidence of the way this craft was intended to be built. They were carefully drawn, if not by Grice himself, than by a skilled marine draftsman who knew what he was doing. There is no reason that the rig and spar dimensions are any less accurate than other features shown on the drawings that you have incorporated into the model such as the gear arrangement or the hull lines. Second, it is logical that the mast would be heavier than one shown in spar tables for a sloop of this size. Spars on an ordinary sailing vessel would be sized to support the sails. Thie mast on this vessel served as a derrick lifting very heavy loads like the anchor shown on the drawing. This would place a large bending moment on the spar. While the array of backstays was intended to counterbalance this, I believe that the mast would have been beefed up to resist these bending moments as well. Roger
  21. Roger Pellett
    Why not put your bench where you intend to do your detailed hand work under the window so at least part of the time you have natural light? I find that bench top power tools work quite well with light from overhead recesed overhead fluorescent fixtures. I second having a dedicated circuit breaker box in your shop and you can't have enough outlets. On the other hand, I run a 10in contractors saw to mill hardwoods satisfactorily on 110v. Roger
  22. Roger Pellett
    Charlie, If you have not already done so, before deciding on a color scheme for these models I would obtain a copy of Eric Ronnberg's excellent article on period correct paints from the Nautical Research Guild. It is from Volume 36, issue 4 downloadable from their web site. Roger
  23. Roger Pellett
    Nice job! Roger
  24. Roger Pellett
    Maury, Yes, I agree that other then showing the basic gear train the Grice drawing does not provide the necessary details. In that case, I generally try to find out what the state of the art was at the period in question. In this case, I believe that the technology was not available in the US to machine involute pattern gear teeth in a large iron wheel like this. On the other hand examples exist in England of large wooden gear trains in water mills. For example see www.whitemill.org. There is another example of an iron gear wheel with wooden teeth. The teeth were shaped from a hard wood like apple and were inserted into cavities cast in the iron wheel. This approach was favored as the teeth were the "weak link" that would fail first and could be easily replaced. The famous marine engineer Benjamin Franklin Isherwood used a wooden gear train in the late 1860's (40 years later than your period) to increase revolutions of the main engines of the high speed cruiser USS Wampanoag. The gears supposedly wore 5/8in during the vessel's sea trial. You are to be congratulated on building this model of a usual and unique craft. You are doing a great job. Roger
  25. Roger Pellett
    Maury, Yes and no. The vertical forces thansferred to the vessel's structure by the gear's weight are primarily resisted by the ball race but as this race is not rigid it would be expected to deflect and some of this load would have been transferred to the keelson. The gear's effect on the center of gravity of the vessel's hull would be at the vertical height of a plane passing through its vertical centerline. Are you sure that this gear was a one piece casting? It could have been built up from cast segments bolted together, cast iron segments bolted to a wooden spoked wheel, or it could have been entirely wooden like those seen in water mills. Roger

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