Roger Pellett

If your need is to cut wood strips for planking a POB kit hull, a Model maker’s razor (Hand saw) works fine.  These often are sold in sets along with a small miter box.  Look up Zona Saw on Amazon.
 
Roger

Sorry but I disagree.  Properly heat treat steel tears.  It does not chip like these blades did.  Ordinary steel used for consumer products is relatively soft and ductile.  It cannot be hardened by heating and cooling.  To produce steel suitable for holding a sharp edge it must be alloyed with something else, the cheapest way being to increase the carbon content.  This “tool steel” is hardened by heat treatment. After heating to a high temperature, it is rapidly cooled by quenching in water or oil.  In this state it is very hard, brittle, and can shatter under impact.  To make it usable it must be tempered at a low temperature.  It would seem that in producing these blades the final step was omitted.  
 
Long story short, they’re defective.
 
Roger

When I was 3 or 4 years old my father was building a 23ft L. Francis Herreshoff sloop in our side yard.  This generated a lot of scrap lumber that he turned into a large bag of building blocks.  I enjoyed them for years thereafter.  No Legos.
 
Roger
 
 

I have been using Vallejo acrylics for years. Their shine depends on how they are applied, with a brush or with an airbrush. Airbrush application gives matt or satin surfaces. For a high gloss of varnish it needs to be applied by brush or very wet by airbrush - with the risk of 'runners'.
 
Acrylic paints are a mixture of emulsion and suspension (while oil paints are suspensions). Emulsions are very delicate and the wrong thinner or mixing them with other brands can lead to a break-down of the emulsion, i.e. coagulation or clotting.
 
Pure acrylic emulsions are glossy when cured. Matt or satin varnishes or paints are achieved by adding various quantities of finely dispersed pumice or diamtomee earth. Adding pigment to give a paint in itself acts like a matting agent, which is one reason, why most acrylic paints are satin at most.
 
Acrylic paints and varnishes cross-link quickly, which is why they dry fast. However, this process traps some water in the structure, which then can take days or weeks to diffuse out and evaporate. At the same time the cross-linking continues to intensify. For this reason, acrylics stay sort of rubbery for a long time. Depending on the formulation, they never will be as hard as fully oxidised paint based on lineseed-oil.
For this reason, the classical method discussed above, of rubbing down oil-paint with pumice and then re-buff it to the desired sheen does not really work, at least not with the Vallejo-paints. There acrylic paint formulations for industrial applications, such as painting machine tools, that will be as hard as oil paints.
 
Rather than mixing something into your black paint, I would experiment with different mixing ratios of gloss and satin Vallejo acrylic varnish (I would use the pre-diluted Model Air range for this) until you get the sheen you want with your chosen application methods, i.e. brush or airbrush.

Why would one cut 4 mm x 4 mm wood with a gouillotine and not properly with a saw?
 
There are probably several factors that led to the blade failure in these application: too thin blade, blade sticking out too far, and not stiff enough tool. All these are inherent in the tool, which probably wasn't designed for such an application. If you'd use a stronger/thicker blade, something else will break or wear quickly.

Amati sells such blades like this one, but have a look around as there are different types of them.
But this plastic tool is not designed to cut such thick strip as the 4x4. For that one you will need a saw. The use of this is to make repeated cuts by the same length or same angle, like cutting deck planks from thin strip (after adding a stop to the tray). 
If you can't cut the strip by a handheld knife, neither this tool will do. 

When I was 3 or 4 years old my father was building a 23ft L. Francis Herreshoff sloop in our side yard.  This generated a lot of scrap lumber that he turned into a large bag of building blocks.  I enjoyed them for years thereafter.  No Legos.
 
Roger
 
 

You can make your own black paint with the exact amount of gloss that you want.  Buy a tube of artist’s acrylic black and a bottle of acrylic gloss medium.  A tube of white would also be useful for adding a “scale effect” to the black. Here in the US any craft store will stock these items.  Start by squeezing out some black on a palette; a piece of glass is perfect.  Mix in a little white to get the right scale color.  Add a little gloss medium. When you’re happy with the result, mix up a larger batch, thin with water, and paint.
 
Roger

Since you have posted this under metalworking it would seem that you are considering metal.  Metal, particularly brass can be an excellent choice for very small parts as grain is not a factor.  A piece of hard brass wire should work.

Steven,
 
I understand that materials readily available in one country may not be in another, BUT!    Here in the USA we have a Company called K&S.  They sell thin walled brass tubing in sized from 1/32” OD to about 9/16”OD.  Each size telescopes into the next size larger.  They also sell similar metric sizes.  This stuff would be ideal for your roof supports.  Using the telescoping of two sizes you could avoid soldering.
 
Roger

Steven,
 
I understand that materials readily available in one country may not be in another, BUT!    Here in the USA we have a Company called K&S.  They sell thin walled brass tubing in sized from 1/32” OD to about 9/16”OD.  Each size telescopes into the next size larger.  They also sell similar metric sizes.  This stuff would be ideal for your roof supports.  Using the telescoping of two sizes you could avoid soldering.
 
Roger

Steven: You need to stretch the SilkSpan, wet it with water alone first and let it dry to make it drum-tight. Then, when you re-wet it with dilute acrylic, it will initially sag, but re-dry tight and smooth again.  

Steven,
 
I understand that materials readily available in one country may not be in another, BUT!    Here in the USA we have a Company called K&S.  They sell thin walled brass tubing in sized from 1/32” OD to about 9/16”OD.  Each size telescopes into the next size larger.  They also sell similar metric sizes.  This stuff would be ideal for your roof supports.  Using the telescoping of two sizes you could avoid soldering.
 
Roger

Of all of the American Clippers being built or contemplated on MSW, Flying Fish appears to be in First Place.  Maybe the reason is the availability of the Model Shipways Kit.  Readers might, therefore, be interested that in the late 1970’s Model Shipways commissioned a new set of drawings to accompany the kit.  The drawings were prepared by a then well known member of the Nautical Research Guild.  It might have been Ben Langford but I don’t remember.  Anyhow, at that time, he wrote a very interesting article in the Journal about the research that went into the new plans and the assumptions made.  This article should be available as an inexpensive back issue from the guild office.
 
Roger

Steven, there's also "Albion Alloys" in the UK which similar to K&S makes brass/aluminium tube and rod down to micro sizes. Last time I needed some 1/32in DIA tubing I obtained it from Albion because K&S would only sell me in large paks, not onesies and twosies. Albion may be in your country too, being British.

When I was 3 or 4 years old my father was building a 23ft L. Francis Herreshoff sloop in our side yard.  This generated a lot of scrap lumber that he turned into a large bag of building blocks.  I enjoyed them for years thereafter.  No Legos.
 
Roger
 
 

Some forum members, particularly those glazing the windows in the sterns of Nelson Era sailing ships use Mica.  It supposedly cuts with scissors.  Perhaps there’s some on your farm!  Otherwise check Amazon.
 
Roger

When I was 3 or 4 years old my father was building a 23ft L. Francis Herreshoff sloop in our side yard.  This generated a lot of scrap lumber that he turned into a large bag of building blocks.  I enjoyed them for years thereafter.  No Legos.
 
Roger
 
 

When I was 3 or 4 years old my father was building a 23ft L. Francis Herreshoff sloop in our side yard.  This generated a lot of scrap lumber that he turned into a large bag of building blocks.  I enjoyed them for years thereafter.  No Legos.
 
Roger
 
 

When I was 3 or 4 years old my father was building a 23ft L. Francis Herreshoff sloop in our side yard.  This generated a lot of scrap lumber that he turned into a large bag of building blocks.  I enjoyed them for years thereafter.  No Legos.
 
Roger
 
 

Get your money back.

Ok, I think that I can see what’s going on.  It would appear that the red orthogonal lines on the floor are permanent, representing the waterlines and buttocks in the end (body plan) view of the hull.  Vertical markers are then set on the floor at strategic locations at offset locations known from the lofting.  The framing segments are set against these markers.  The templates can then be used as a final check and for marking additional information as needed.  A clever system.
 
Roger

Andy,  A remarkable project; duplicating in miniature at more or less the same time that the full sized vessel Is being rebuilt near by.
 
I have a question about the two photos that you posted.  Old shipbuilding texts, both for wooden and iron/steel construction mention the use of a “shrieve board” for assembling frames.  This was apparently a large portable floor with all frame shapes scribed on.  Your guys appear to be using a similar but different system.  I see the waterlines and buttock lines forming a grid (red lines) on the floor.  I also see the plywood template.  Are the actual frame shapes marked directly on the floor as with the shreive board?  I can’t see from the photo.  Was the template used to mark the shape on the floor or is it used somewhere else in the assembly process.
 
Roger

Great workmanship as usual Valeriy!

Some forum members, particularly those glazing the windows in the sterns of Nelson Era sailing ships use Mica.  It supposedly cuts with scissors.  Perhaps there’s some on your farm!  Otherwise check Amazon.
 
Roger