Roger Pellett

Beautiful. Work, and a nice demonstration of using the rotary table to mill circular shapes. Well done! Roger

Bill, That’s Volume 1. At that time since there was no volume 2, there was no need to label it Volume 1. Mine’s coming apart too. The spiral binding of Volume 2 works better for us. Roger

For personal reasons, I prefer Volume I. I have a complete set of Nautical Research Journals dating back to 1975 when I joined the organization. Volume II is mostly a reprint of materials already published in the Journal during this time period. Volume I includes information that was either written especially for the Shop Notes or predates the journals that I have. Roger

Nicely done! In 2018 my wife and I went on a wonderful garden tour of Devon and Cornwall. We spent three nights in a seaside hotel in St Ives. There were two lug rigged fishing boat replicas that looked just like the ones in your paintings. It was interesting watching them beat into the Harbor, dipping the lug sails each time that they tacked. Roger

Bill, Beautiful work! For my last model, I used the step method on my Sherline to turn belaying pins from brass. It worked well. My telescoping tube idea is a variation of this method. I don’t like the Sherline’s system for turning tapers; rotating headstock. With the headstock rotated, of course you can’t use the alignment key so the headstock doesn’t want to accept Sid loads from turning. What is your experience trying to turn tapers? Roger

When she sank in 1899, Margaret Oilwell was by Great Lakes standards, a new vessel- only 12 years old, but because of her wooden construction she was becoming functionally obsolescent The Great Lakes was and to some extent is still a refuge for obsolescent vessels. They are typically moved down to less competitive trades until that have no more economic value. As this is written a 100+ year old Lake Freighter is being scrapped here in the Duluth Harbor. Prior to scrapping she was used nearby as a stationary bulk concrete storage vessel. My guess is that Margaret Oilwill was on the same path at the time of her sinking. In 1887 wooden ships were still engaged in hauling iron ore and grain; the premier Great Lakes trades. By 1899 400+ steel hulled ships were state-of-the-art, and a few years later new vessels would be 600 ft long. The short haul stone trade often featured vessels “bumped down” from other trades. I suspect that she was one of these at the time of her tragic loss. One these short Lake Erie trips sail assist was no longer needed. Roger

I wish that someone would offer a kit for one of the US Navy railroad guns from World War I. There is a real one on display at the US Navy Memorial Museum at the Washington Navy Yard. I would buy that kit in a heartbeat. Roger

I believe that 1:12 (1in= 1ft-0in) is a common doll house scale. That’s a whole different world, but I believe a very active one. You might try exploring sources for this hobby. Roger

When I rigged my 1:32 scale longboat (photos on gallery) I decided to include furled sails. The guy at the hobby shop asked if I wanted “Light” or the heavier grade. I picked light and was happy with the results. I have no idea how to describe the difference in grades quantitatively.

Joe, My very crude sketch below is based on a design from Reuel Parker’s The Sharpie Book. It fits the lines, blocks and attachment points on your model. I believe that the line attached to the haulyard is actually the traveler outhaul. While I show the jib hanked to the forestay, there are also some photos that jibs could be set flying. Roger

If you look closely at the pictures that Bob posted, there is a round collar just above the chuck. This collar is threaded onto the spindle. Unscrewing the collar pushes the chuck off of the Morse tapered spindle. They used to sell collet chucks that would fit the Morse taper. These collet chucks had their own threaded collar that screwed onto the threads on the spindle to lock the chuck in Place. This allowed the drill press to be used for routing. I have one for my drill press and it works well. The higher end Rockwell Delta drill presses had interchangeable spindles. One for drilling, another for routing. Actually, I almost never use the drill press for routing. I much prefer another vintage method: Sears Craftsman moulding heads mounted on my table saw. Roger

This is an open ended question depending on where you live, how much you are looking to spend, and how much room you have. So: Assuming that you live in the US, are not intending to spend $1500 or more on a professional quality model, and are considering a bench mounted model, I would head to the closest big box home improvement store and check out their proprietary brand. I would consider these factors: Ball or roller bearing supported spindle with Morse taper. The Morse taper is an industry standard so you can change chucks if needed. Belt driven motor with stepped pulleys. These can be changed if the motor dies. If Integrated variable speed motors die that’s a problem. Adequate distance between spindle centerline and column. This determines the “size” of the machine. The largest table possible. The fewest plastic parts The drill presses that I have seen at our local Menards are surprisingly cheap- $100- $150. If you can find an older used one, it will probably be a better built machine that meets all of the above criteria. Mine is a 50 year old Toolcraft, made in Springfield, MA it literally gets used every time that I’m in the shop and is still going strong. The same criteria would apply to a used machine, plus of course the spindle needs to rotate freely without play in the bearings. You will have a hard time finding a bench top machine with a 1/2 in chuck and especially one with a chuck that will close to zero. This doesn’t have to be a deal breaker. If the spindle has a Morse taper, you can replace the chuck. You can also buy Drill bits larger than 3/8in diameter with reduced size shanks. The chuck on my drill press will not close on a drill bit smaller than 3/32in. I chuck bits smaller than this in a pin vice and mount it in my drill press chuck. Roger

During the depression my father, a recent aeronautical engineering graduate, and my mother started the short lived Viking Aircraft Co to supplement his meager salary. My father designed model air craft, drew the plans, and produced the kits; balsa sheet, strips, and tissue paper. The kits included a bottle of model airplane Dope, homemade by dissolving celluloid in acetone. When painted on the model, the acetone evaporated leaving the celluloid. Model airplane cement was supposedly a thicker version of the same stuff. Roger

In my (not so humble) opinion, the model is later than the 1920’s. Maybe c 1930-1050. In the mid 1930’s, L. Francis Herreshoff designed a double ended yacht to contend for the America’s Cup. She was eliminated in the trials. Maybe she or one of Herreshoff’s other double enders inspired the model. Roger

For those not familiar with the Lake Freighter Model that I am currently building, inspired by Wefalck (impregnated paper) and Bob Cleek (shellac) I plated the hull with shellac saturated paper, glued on with common Titebond woodworking glue. Primed with several coats of Tamiya spray can primer, the result has been a surprisingly durable surface. I recently managed to set the plated hull down on a on a blob of glue left on a piece of cardboard. When discovered, the glue had grabbed but not completely hardened. The cardboard peeled right off without damaging the surface. mikegr could cover his balsa hull the same way. Roger

It would seem that much of the reason for these early tanks would be in their shock value. Why then would you be worried about hiding them from the enemy with camouflage?

Ship model building flourished during the 1930’s and 40’s encouraged by serialized articles published in Popular Mechanics and Mechanics Illustrated Magazines and probably because it did not require a lot of expensive materials in depression era America and later during WWII. These models featured hulls carved from solid blocks or laminated pieces of pine. During the 1970’s there were a number of articles published in the Nautical Research Journal and Model Shipwright Magazine advocating use of today’s classic ship modeling woods; Boxwood, Pear, holly, etc. This was in connection with making built up or Admiralty style models. About this same time, POB model kits began to be imported into the US. Heavily marketed, they displaced many of the traditional American solid hull kits. Hooking on to the desire of the uninformed to build a “museum quality” model these kits often feature deluxe sounding but unsuitable Woods like a brown wood marketed as walnut. I have two models built by my father with solid pine carved hulls. One is over 70 years old and one is over 80, even though adhesives used today are much better than those available to him. Both are in perfect condition. The solid hull construction method using readily available inexpensive pine lumber should not be overlooked by scratch builders wanting to build a model that can be passed along to grandchildren and great grandchildren. Roger

I have had a long term ambition to build a series of 1:32 scale warships boats. After finishing three boats, I decided to finish my Benjamin Noble model, but I have done considerable research on Civil War era ships boats. The City Class gunboats were an early Civil War project involving three organizations: The Army that “owned” the boats, the Navy who provided one or more constructors to supervise construction, and Samuel (?) Pook who designed and built them. As the need to secure the river’s was urgent I don’t believe that anyone waited for generation and approval of formal specifications and these backwoods boatyards were used to building river boats with minimal paperwork. From the photos that you posted these appear to be typical US Navy small boats and could have been requisitioned from East Coast Naval Shipyards, assuming that rail connections were available to the Ohio or Mississippi rivers. They could also have been built onsite from drawings provided by the supervising Naval Officer. Drawings for typical Civil era boats are published in Chapelle’s American Sailing Navy Book. Antebellum US Navy specifications specify that boats’ interiors be painted in either Straw or Lead colors. Instructions for mixing these colors can be found on websites dealing with antique paint colors. Roger

I never thought that I would see a crescent wrench used to build a model ship! Nice work!

Scratch building model ships requires ingenious use of the materials at hand. It’s the results that count, and no one can argue with the quality of the model in your photo. I think that we’re trying to say that by using balsa you’re making life hard for yourself. As a very soft porous wood, it is hard to hold crisp clean edges, it dents easily and is difficult to finish. It is commonly used to build model aircraft because it is light, a property unimportant to ship modelers. I’ve never been to Greece but I believe that it has a robust wooden boat building industry. See if you can track down one of the penetrating epoxies that I mentioned above. Roger

It’s impossible to answer your question without a photo of the boat that you’re trying to restore. There are just too many variables. For example, a 1920’s vintage boat could be either gaff rigged (square sails) or Marconi rigged (triangular sails). Each has different rigging. Pond yachts could be either free sailing or self steering. There are some web sites that deal specifically with pond yachts. You might find photos there to compare with the boat that you are working on. Google “Pond Yachts.” I’m sure that if you send us a photo It will generate plenty of replies. Roger

If you are building modern steel hulled ships, this means that you’re going to be painting the wood so appearance is not a factor. Thin craft grade plywood is readily available here in the US. It comes in fractional inch thicknesses down to 1/64in which I believe is less than .5 mm. A higher grade material in the same thickness range is also sold for model aircraft use. It should be available in Europe and will work for structural applications.

Ras, Small hole saws for cutting holes in wood can be easily made from K&S brass tubing sold in better stocked hardware stores and on line. The saw is made by filing teeth into the open end of the tube. Accuracy can be improved by epoxying a wood dowel in the tube upstream of the teeth. A much smaller pilot drill can then be epoxied into the center of the dowel. Roger

The answer to your specific question might be a product called “git rot,” sold here in the US by marine supply houses to salvage rotted wood (it would be easier to answer questions if you guys would give us a rough location of where you live.). This is a very thin epoxy resin intended to penetrate the wood. In the last few years there has been an explosion of other specialized epoxy resins intended to solve various problems, and you might find something that meets your needs, sold by companies like WestSystem and System 3. Intended for use by wooden boat builders and repairers, they can be expensive for modeling applications. I second, Jaager’s suggestion to solve your problem by substituting a different species of wood, IMHO, in the rush to build a model from what is considered to be “museum quality lumber, ordinary construction grade pine, not spruce or fir, is overlooked by many modelers. If you sort through wood at your local lumberyard or big box home improvement store you will find a nice piece of pine for a fraction of what it will cost you to salvage the balsa. Since most of our applications require small pieces, we can generally work around knots and checks. This means that less select grades can work fine for us. Roger

An interesting series of posts. As a novice machinist working with very small parts, securely holding them is more of a challenge than the actual machining. Roger