Roger Pellett
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Everything posted by Roger Pellett
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I have often wondered about the logistics of being a reinactor who chooses to be a cavalryman or dragoon. In addition to owning a horse, you would need to have a way to get it to the reinactment site, a place to board it, vet bills, etc. Here in the US, horses are referred to as “hay burners” because of their large appetites. How about reinactors who belong to horse artillery units. Who owns the horses? This would have to be a way of life, not a hobby. Roger
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Silver soldering
Roger Pellett replied to Dziadeczek's topic in Metal Work, Soldering and Metal Fittings
The post about sanding is interesting. This is a case where common sense doesn’t work. One would assume that to get a really clean surface mechanically abrading with sandpaper would be the way to go. 60 or so years ago when welding was being developed to fabricate aluminum, a shipyard was having problems getting sound welds. After trying everything they put two pieces of carefully aleaned aluminum in a clean room and told their best welder to weld them together while their welding engineer watched through a window. The welder flipped down his hood and then ran his gloved hand down the weld groove as was his habit to clean out any debris, contaminating the cleaned joint. Roger -
Bear in mind that on the real thing decks are laid edge to edge, and the joints between planks ar caulked and then payed (filled in) with tar. V grooves in a deck between planks are undesirable as water left in the grooves would be a source of leakage and rot. What the eye sees is the tar between the planks. You might consider filling in the scribed marks, painting the resulting smooth deck with a flat paint and then ruling the deck lines with a very fine drafting pen. Seal the ruled deck with Dulcote or other matte clear finish. Roger
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Tips on rigging small ships
Roger Pellett replied to DispleasedOwl's topic in Masting, rigging and sails
I also recommend Tom Cunliffe’s Hand, Reef, and Steer, a book on rigging and sailing traditional gaff rigged craft. Written by a real working sailorthe book describes not just the “what” but also the “why” of small sailing craft rigging. Roger -
Brian, I like the Winchester high wall/low wall single shots. The Cody museum is on my bucket list. Maybe we’ll get there someday. It’s good to see that you didn’t get abducted by a flying saucer at Devil’s Tower and can resume work on your spectacular model. Roger
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Steven, I just saw your progress report elsewhere on the forum. Wonderful! I was just studying Lateen rigged vessels in drawings by The French painter J.J. Baugean for a project that I have been contemplating for many years. Baugean drew his drawings in the late 1700’s, early 1800’s and still shows guys crawling up the yards to furl the sails. Roger
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Charlie, First thing- Take out the little peg that fits into the miter gage to index it at 90 and 45 degrees. Paint it with the brightest paint that you have. When you drop it on the floor, you’ll have a fighting chance of finding it. As usual don’t ask me how Iknow this. Roger
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That to my mind was a really funny comic strip. Satire but not pointed to hurt individuals. As I get older I fins modern day humor to be less funny. Roger
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Before full speed ahead- Work out your technique on scrap first!!!
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Wasn’t, that Joe Bjnxf (sp?), the professional jinx in Lil’ Abner? Roger
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Mahogany Marvels by GPR
Roger Pellett replied to Patrick Matthews's topic in RC Kits & Scratch building
Beautiful models and wonderful craftsmanship! The first picture, one of the Lake Tahoe boats?, is an interesting demonstration of scale effect. As the size of the model decreases relative to that of the full size prototype the water appears to be more viscous. Back in the day when they used models in movies to depict sea battles it appears that the ships are sailing through a sea of molasses. Of course, the viscosity of the water does not change, but the interaction of the boat with the water changes as the boat becomes smaller relative to the prototype. To overcome this effect the model would gave to be traveling at a speed equal to the prototype speed multiplied by the scale factor; eg. If the model is built to a scale of 1:12 to have the same effect on the water’s viscosity it would have to be traveling 12 times as fast. Roger -
One of the joys of model building is dreaming up innovative techniques to solve problems. if this were my model, I would seal the deck with a very light coat of thin clear shellac. I would then paint the deck with thinned acrylic paint, the color of the caulking. When the paint has dried, scrape it off with a single edged razor blade, leaving the color in the scribed deck seams. Try this on some scrap first!! Roger
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And of course they had 50 crewmen that could heave on an anchor cable.
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Miniature spokeshave
Roger Pellett replied to stuglo's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
Many years ago while studying Naval Architecture at the University of Michigan a group of built an 8ft long model of a tanker to tow in the Department’s 400ft+ long towing tank. The Model was built from clear 5/4 pattern maker’s white pine, beautiful stuff. The professional modelmakers used these little bronze body spokeshaves. Inexpensive and sturdy. 55 years later I’m still using them. If you can find them, they are worth having.
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Unlike a deepwatet sailing vessel that could stow anchor cableuntil the ship reached soundings, I suspect that these galleys anchored often. The anchor and cable would be available throughout the voyage- the cable wrapped around the windlass. Roger
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Problems with a medieval bipod mast
Roger Pellett replied to Brinkman's topic in Masting, rigging and sails
Yes, that’s right, just a halyard and a pair of sheets. I don’t have time to look it up at the moment but a replica of the Bremen Cog has been tested under sail and may provide some answers. I’ll look it up tonight and report tomorrow. On time deliveries are a feature of mechanized transportation, roughly the past 150 years. Befote that time people were dependent on the weather. Sailing ship historian Allen Villers has written that a major factor that doomed the sailing ship was an inability to predict when any given cargo would be delivered. Since shippers were dependent on weather businesses had to maintain large inventories to assure deliveries to their customers. Waiting on weather, whether a day or a month was a feature of the age of sail Roger -
OC, That reinactment looks like pure chaos! Are injuries, minor or serious common? Roger
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A note from a lazy model builder. Theoretically, with the proper selection of blades you don’t need both saws. The Byrnes saw will do anything that the Preac will do and more. Practically, this assumes that you are willing to change blades when called for. I find, however, that when I am working inertia is a major factor interfering with quality work. “Do I really want to spend time changing blades or maybe the one that’s already on the Byrnes saw will work.” Results from this thinking should be obvious. The same inertia applies to my Sherline milling column vs a stand alone milling machine but to date I have not sprung for an upgrade and continue using the column. A number of years ago, I tried to sell my Preac saw (before belonging to Model Ship World) and found no takers. I’m glad that I kept it. Roger
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Problems with a medieval bipod mast
Roger Pellett replied to Brinkman's topic in Masting, rigging and sails
You might want to consider that this Yard was set “flying” a halyard secured to the center of the yard and sheet at each bottom corner of the sail, that’s all. To swivel the yard the halyard is slacked off and the sheets trimmed. Roger -
Oars were typically covered with leather where they contacted the thole pins or oarlocks. WoodenBoat Magazine recently (the last two or three issues back) included instructions for making oars and a side bar for adding the leather.
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I recently reread a book about the almost year long siege of Petersburg, VA that effectively ended the Civil War. Obviously a bunch of guys sitting around with a lot of idle time on their hands, between some bouts of horrific fighting. Apparently shooting ramrods at the other side was a form of amusement. They made a wierd sound as they flew through the war. Roger
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Problems with a medieval bipod mast
Roger Pellett replied to Brinkman's topic in Masting, rigging and sails
I’m not sure that a lot of swiveling of the Yard was necessary or intended. The sail might have been used for sailing only in favorable winds- downwind or a broad reach. When the wind shifted ahead, the sail would have been dropped and the boat rowed or anchored in a protected cove “waiting on weather.” Flat bottomed boats without a keel will not sail upwind as proven by the replica of the American Revolutionary War Gundalow Philadelphia and trying to tack a boat like this is hard to imagine. I don’t see why the yard could’nt be suspended by a single block secured to the apex of the two masts. Roger -
Historical Fantasy. Oh, and Heresy.
Roger Pellett replied to Gazzarian's topic in Nautical/Naval History
Chris is right on! The cutter is an indigenous British watercraft. Cutters were used for coastal trade, smuggling, pilot service, and became the basis for the famous plank on edge yachts in the late 1800’s. In the early 1800’s cutters were apparently everywhere around the British Isle’s and were illustrated by contemporary British Artists. If you go on the web, you should be able to find dozens of paintings of British coastal shipping that include cutters. With the exception of smugglers, cutters intended for non-naval use would not be as heavily rigged. Steele provides instructions for rigging cutters. A full volume of Steel’s work is quite expensive, but less expensive reprints of the “Masting, Rigging, and Sailmaking are available. Roger -
From what I’ve read, a major factor in the air war was the difference in pilot training doctrine between the Americans and Japanese. When the war began the pilots of the Imperial Japanese Navy were products of years of intensive training and were highly skilled- second to none. Combat and other losses drastically reduced their ranks during 1942. Unfortunately for the Japanese experienced combat pilots were not rotated home to train new fliers and the Japanese training system could not be adapted to train high quality pilots quickly. A major success for the Americans was their ability to quickly turn huge numbers of depression youth into capable pilots, many previously educated at the excellent US network of public universities. Their training was enhanced by experienced combat pilots rotated home to training duty from the fleet. Therefore, while pilots flying the Hellcat were flying a better plane than the Wildcat, they were often no longer competing against the elite Japanese pilots encountered earlier in the war. If the US Navy required several years to train combat pilots from a supply limited to Annapolis graduates, results might have been entirely different. Roger
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An interesting progression of the Grumman short, fat design philosophy from your previous mid 1930’s Grumman biplanes. I’ll look forward to watching this. This was the fighter that held out against the Japanese first string pilots during the interesting part of the Pacific Campaign, the big carrier battles and Guadalcanal. Could RP52 be a inflatable life raft? BTW, what do use to glue resin parts together? Roger
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