Roger Pellett

If you are going to plank it the “correct” way, every plank will be unique and will get wider and/or narrower from fore and aft. Shaping of these planks is called spiling. If you plan to do this, cutting standardized planks at this point is just going to waste wood. Since you are going to glass it easer methods such as strip planking might work. If you have not already done so, I suggest that you Google “Building a Strip Planked Canoe.” Druxy’s advice is worth following, he’s an expert! Use thread to plan out your planking. Roger

I believe that the dimensions listed in your last post; 8’x8’, 8’x10’, etc. are the sizes of the hatch openings. The individual hatch covers would of course be sized to fit these openings. The covers had to be small enough to be handled by the deckhands in the absence of power equipment. Benjamin Noble’s hatch covers per her builders drawings were made from 2”x 6” white pine planks laid edge to edge and fastened together with metal strapping on the underside. My calculation is that each 9’x 2’-6” cover would have weighed about 150#, possible for two hefty men to handle. You MAY have photo evidence that two narrow panels were fastened together to make a larger one, OR, maybe the “black stripe” is just the edge between two adjacent covers stacked against the bulwark. Of course, you can always punt and show them tarped. Roger

I used shellac impregnated paper for the shell plating on the Steamship model that I am building. It worked great! I just sprayed it with zinser shellac from a spray can. It did not react with the PVA glue that I used to cement the paper plating to the wood hull. Roger

Smart choice! At 1:700 scale skip the plating and simulate with paint. Roger

Thanks Andy. I wonder if the black line on the hatch is a steel or wrought iron strap fastened to the wooden cover that serves to secure it. Roger

She would have had wooden hatch covers like those that I made for Benjamin Noble. A curious feature in your photo; the hatch covers appear to be fastened together in pairs. As the covers would float under any head of water there would also be something to secure them in place. The Noble has a grid of 3” steel angle that laid atop the covers with rods to padeyes on deck. Details coming soon. Roger

During many years of model building I have built many more models in my head than on the workbench. A result of one of my mental exercises: It seems to me that coppering a hull with real copper is a weak link in the modeling process. Gluing copper over a wood substrate is problematic as both Rubber cements and pressure sensitive adhesives have doubtful longevity. Nothing is more discouraging for corners of plates on a tediously coppered hull to begin lifting up. Then as Bob Cleek points out there is the scale factor. If you are building at a scale of 1:100 scale thickness of the copper could be .001in or less thick. I would suggest that you instead use plates cut from thin paper. These can be glued on with any good wood glue including PVA. You can paint the plated hull as needed. An airbrush would work well for simulating different weathering effects. Roger

As an author of a published maritime history book, I feel that you guys are mistakenly picking on the publisher. Criticism of this sort should be directed at the author. The author is responsible for the book’s content including factual errors. The publisher is responsible for turning the author’s manuscript into a book. The publisher will usually provide an Editor but these people are experts in English Grammar, not necessarily the book’s content. A good editor can do his or her Job without the author ever realizing that changes have been made. Roger

If you are limiting your drilling to #60 - #80 wire sized drills or their metric equivalents I cannot believe that you are loading things to the point where you are flexing the pedestal. I would think that you would first be buckling and breaking the drill bits. Ignoring carbide, there are only two types of HSS drill bits: those that cut and those that don’t. Trying to drill a hole with a bit that does not immediately cut is a waste of time. Unless you are equipped with some sort of powerful magnification there is no way to tell how sharp these small bits until you use them. I recently bought a new stand of wire sized drill bits. Even with significant pressure it didn't cut brass so I consigned the entire stand to drilling holes in wood. A sharp HSS bit of the same size drilled 50 holes in the same material with virtually no pressure. I f something is flexing check your drill bit. Roger

Wow! Hull looks great!

Many, many years ago a dentist gave me a handful of steel dentist burrs. They have sat in a 35mm film can ever since. These have a 3/32” shaft with a “snout” tapering to a ball shaped cutting head. I recently found it necessary to drill a series #75 of holes through a piece of 1/16” diameter brass tubing. I first filed a narrow flat along the top of the tube. I have been unable to find a center punch with a really tiny point so ground one on the end of a piece of piano wire but actually using it fell short. I then dug out my dentist burrs and found a really tiny one. Chucked in my sensitive drilling attachment this did a great job in a accurately grinding a tiny depression at each location. The job was then easily finished with a conventional HSS twist drill. Roger

Those are all good books that would be a nice addition to anyone’s library. Roger

My current modeling project has recently required me to drill 100’s of small holes (.010”- .025”) in brass. I am fortunate to own a well equipped Sherline lathe and milling column. My Sherline tool kit includes a sensitive drilling attachment. Using this fitted with a sharp HSS drill bit, I can drill holes in brass like it’s butter. Structurally, drill bits are columns. These small drill bits are very slender columns. When subjected to axial loads, columns fail by buckling. If the load is not truly axial, (the load does not pass down the longitudinal center of the column) even less load is required for the column to fail. So, how does this theory effect us? First, any force in excess of that actually required for the drill to cut can cause the bit to buckle and fail. Second, anything that results in an eccentric load will dramatically reduce the drilling force leading to failure. This latter could either be caused by the center punch not being correctly lined up beneath the drill chuck or by the drill bit skating when trying to drill without first center punching. Structural theory would, therefore, indicate that these micro drill presses could be blind alley. While an x-y table can allow proper alignment of the drill bit with the work piece, the mechanical advantage of the lever actuated quill does not give one the sensitive feel needed when using tiny bits. While I realize that many do not want to Spend 1000++ for a Sherline mill and accessories, a better option might be one of the full sized house brand drill presses now sold by home improvement stores, and fitted with an x-y table and separate sensitive drilling attachment. Roger

British ship modeler Brian King has written a number of interesting books about building 1:100 & 1:200 Royal Navy steam warships. One book focuses on what he calls Model Engineering, the topic at hand. In typical model ship book fashion he includes chapters on useful hand and power tools. He has a few short comments about a tool that he calls a ”Linisher.” This is the same as the small bench mounted vertical belt sanders sold everywhere in the US. These typically use a 1” (25mm) wide belt. He claims that this is a metal working tool with no real woodworking applications. I bought one of these many years ago at a hardware store that was closing. Like Mr King I did not find it to be particularly useful until taking his advice I used it to grind a HSS lathe tool. I personally found it to be much easier to use than a conventional bench grinder. It produced a well shaped tool quickly.

Very nice looking model!

Correction of my post from this AM. The knockout bar furnished by Sherline for removing tools from the #1 Morse taper headstock is 5/16” diameter, not 1/2”.

I have a brass hammer that I use to dislodge the cluck from my Sherline Lathe, but I have never had to repeatedly pound the bar. And the knockout bar is just a piece of steel. If the end gets peened, file it off. Normally when you dislodge the chuck you are not transmitting the full impact of the hammer to the headstock bearings. The knockout bar rests only on the end of the tapered shank holding the chuck. As soon as the chuck begins to move there is no load on the bearings at all. You are not pounding on the spindle itself. The tailstock on the Sherline lathe is fitted with a #0 Morse Taper. Tools in the tailstock are removed as Alan O’Neil writes; by retracting it completely. This is not true of the headstock. Sherline uses drawbolts to snug the Jacobs Chuck and milling tools into the threaded socket. It is necessary to use the knockout bar to dislodge them. Other Sherline chucks and tools are thread onto the headstock spindle. Give it a good hard smack. It should pop loose. Roger

When you buy something from Sherline that fits into a Morse Taper it usually comes with a steel pin to tap it out of the tapered socket. The threaded bolt is to be used for drawing it into the taper, not driving it out. A piece of steel round stock larger than the hole in the tapered tail of the chuck with the two ends machined or filed square is the correct tool to use. I believe that the pin supplied with my Jacobs Chuck is 1/2in dia. A good hard smack should dislodge it. Keep in mind that since it’s tapered, as soon as it starts to move it should drop out. Roger

I would second the use of Aluminum for homemade tools. It is of course way too soft for cutting tools but is easily machined with hobby sized machine tools to make jigs and fixtures. Many of these are “one off” for solving a particular problem and sometimes they can be re-machined to suit as the part evolves. Here in the US, hardware and home improvement stores stock several sizes and shapes of inexpensive Aluminum and I always keep some on hand. Being soft, Aluminum jigs and fixtures may not have a long life but a new one is easily made. Solder does not stick to Aluminum and its high thermal conductivity makes it a good heat sink. Roger

Wood is a confusing subject as commonly used names can have no connection with the actual species. Examples: Poplar, pine, fir, lime, sycamore, and yes cedar. I have no experience with Yellow Cedar but I have used three other types of wood called cedar, the aromatic type, red cedar, and Northern White Cedar, each with very different properties. The Northern White Cedar found here in Northern Minnesota, also known as Arbor Vita is used for ribs and planking of Wood Canvas Canoes. It is a light, fine grained but very soft wood. It splits easily. It is becoming increasingly hard to find. There is also an Atlantic Cedar but it could be just another name for the Northern White Cedar or a completely different wood altogether. Roger

These dories were mass produced by specialized boatbuilders and furnished as “outfit” to owners of the fishing Schooners. This would have allowed use of stock moulds, patterns, etc. Two highly regarded maritime historians; Howard Chapelle, and John Gardner have published information on dories. Both explain that they were available in standardized sizes from 12 to 16 ft in 1 ft increments. Length was that of the bottom of the boat. The length of the dory carried depended on whether one or two men fished in the boat. Roger

Since you are gong to paint the finished model, why not just spray it with a pigmented primer. This will highlight and allow you to deal with all sorts of blemishes that you will not see with a clear coating such as Shellac. This first prime coat is sacrificial. Once you have filled blemishes and sanded the hull there should be very little left. You can repeat this prime/fill/prime process until you are happy with the results. If you use a water based primer (many acrylics are thinned with water), it will raise the grain in the wood creating a rough surface. That’s OK because you are going to sand the primed surface anyway and the water’s effect on the grain will disappear after a few applications of primer. Fillers: To a large extent, the primer will fill the grain, but you will need some sort of filler to fill nicks, planking gaps, etc. Everyone seems to have their favorite. Mine is Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty. This can be found in hardware stores. It comes as a powder to be mixed with water so you can mix it to different consistencies. Roger

What does Bates’ Western Rivers Steamboat Cyclopedium say about these weather exposed decks? Tar paper or canvas, if you paint It black, it could be either. Coal firing was a messy business. With soot from the stacks the deck was likely to get black anyhow. Roger

Tia and Dave, Ship model building tools cover a wide spectrum so let’s limit your choices to woodworking bench top power tools. The gold standard is the family of tools manufactured and sold by Byrnes Model Machines. IMHO nothing else come close. Unfortunately the owner of this small business recently died. His widow is trying to sort things out and the word is that she plans to reopen in the near future. The model tool company Micro-Mark offers a line of power tools superficial similar to Proxxon, branded as Microlux. I have no experience buying or using their tools. Roger

Ian, Planking a hull is a daunting problem for many modelers. The “correct” way to do it is to use a method called spiing. If done correctly it will provide a pleasing pattern for wooden ships/ models. You are not building a model of a wooden ship so you might want to explore a simpler planking method. There is an alternate planking system for planking full sized watercraft. It is called Strip Planking. It is especially popular with builders of wooden Canoes. It involves planking a hull form of bulkheads with narrow strips of wood and then covering both the inside and outside of the hull with fiberglass. Sound familiar? I have not seen this exact system used for models but it might have some applications. Try looking up strip built canoes on the Internet. Roger