Roger Pellett

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

For some, but by no means all kit manufacturers, the names given to these woods is little more than a marketing opportunity.  Their advertising leads buyers to think that they are getting deluxe materials while in reality as Jaager points out the species offered would not be chosen by experienced scratch builders. As a general rule, the real premium ship building woods are slow growing species with tight, coded grain structure.  Many fruit woods would qualify.
 
Roger

For some, but by no means all kit manufacturers, the names given to these woods is little more than a marketing opportunity.  Their advertising leads buyers to think that they are getting deluxe materials while in reality as Jaager points out the species offered would not be chosen by experienced scratch builders. As a general rule, the real premium ship building woods are slow growing species with tight, coded grain structure.  Many fruit woods would qualify.
 
Roger

For some, but by no means all kit manufacturers, the names given to these woods is little more than a marketing opportunity.  Their advertising leads buyers to think that they are getting deluxe materials while in reality as Jaager points out the species offered would not be chosen by experienced scratch builders. As a general rule, the real premium ship building woods are slow growing species with tight, coded grain structure.  Many fruit woods would qualify.
 
Roger

Great workmanship as usual Valeriy!

I see that you are a Tarheel, so  Sycamore and Walnut will have different meanings from what is European in origin.
 
I doubt that any kit will include Black Walnut or any member of the Juglans family.  What is provided in kits is called "walnut" because of its color. Most is one of several African species in the Mahogany family or a near relative.  Actual Walnut is a much superior wood, but for our uses, it has open pores - not good.
 
What Europeans call Sycamore is an Acer.  It is a Maple.  The Plane tree - what we call Sycamore - a large fast growing but messy tree - has fine grain, no open pores, usefully hard hard wood. However, the grain is busy, it is currently sold as Lacewood,  it has an unpleasant smell when cut and the fibers roll.
 
Lime is Tilia.  It is a soft wood with almost no visible grain.  A color similar to Pine.  It has been used in Europe - northern Europe - for a long time for carving.  The North American member of the family Tilia,  used here as a substitute is Basswood.  Lime is twice as hard as Basswood and not as fuzzy.  Bass does not hold a sharp edge.
 
The light color wood would be either Lime or Sycamore (Eu). If it is soft and shows no grain = Lime. If it hard and with an visible alternating grain = Sycamore.  The color defines its location.
 
Sapele is another African Mahogany.  It is for show.
 
The black is something that has been dyed.  I would guess it is for the wales.
The grey is something that has been dyed.  Probably the same species as the black.  I would guess for decking.
For a new deck, Lime or Acer would match the original Pine or Oak decks,  but the Sun and hard use will turn a "not for show" deck grey.
 
If you catch the ship modeling bug and if it sets in so hard that you come over to the dark side,  Except for the Acer, you can use the wood supplied in the kit as examples of species that you would never use.  For the Acer,  we have the premier member - Hard Maple earning an "A".    The European species gets a "B". 

Great workmanship as usual Valeriy!

Great workmanship as usual Valeriy!

Great workmanship as usual Valeriy!

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.

Thanks for advice. I think it will be best choice.

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 just used ordinary hardware store masking tape and taped it all around.  I keep a stock of cheap construction grade softwood lumber in my shop for knocking up things like the frame.
 
Roger

Brian, you’re doing great!  Overall you are capturing the look of this regional American watercraft.
 
I’d like to weigh in on your soldering problem:
 
Wire-  A while ago someone on MSW mentioned square wire.  It’s great stuff! It is available as both copper and brass in a variety of sizes; the smallest that I’ve found is 1/32.”  Lots of applications.  Uprights for your railings?
 
Solder Flux combination-  Some highly recommended solder flux combinations ,  particularly the pastes just don’t work for me.  I don’t know why.  I use Bakers Fluid for flux.  It’s a very low viscosity liquid that draws solder into tight joints.  I use this with solders of different diameters, particularly 1/32” dia and .010”dia 
 
Heat Source-  My hat’s off to Kurt and others who can solder with a torch; it’s a real art, not easily learned. A while ago, I would have recommended a Weller cordless iron but mine just died after what I consider to be an unreasonably short life.  I use two plug in irons, a 15 watt with a very narrow tip and 40 watt.  I like the electric irons as they can concentrate heat over a small area.
 
To summarize, soldering seems to involve a degree of witchcraft despite attempts to rationalize it.  If something doesn’t work try something else until you find a combination that does.
 
Roger
 
 

Here’s a photo of the Sherline vise.  Note, The socket headed cap screw that tightens the vice pulls down as well as in.
 

I drill small holes using a sensitive drilling attachment in my Sherline milling column.  For reasons not understood, I don’t have the touch for using the carbide drills with the larger 1/8” diameter shafts that can be chucked in a Jacobs Chuck or a collet.  I, therefore, drill with HSS wire size drills.  My drilling attachment does not accept collets so I use the provided Jacobs Chuck.
 
I have noticed that the drills bits themselves are not necessarily straight.  While the chuck runs true, there is often a slight wobble of the drill bit itself.  On the other hand, these tiny wire sized drills will “find” any slight center punched depression nearby.
 
It appears to me that the key to accurate drilling is marking out and center punching holes in the first place followed by correct lining up of the center punch mark beneath the drill bit.  While this might not be good enough for true miniature machining it will produce results good enough for our purposes.
 
Roger
 
 

That tongue and groove floor should be really nice!

Climate control is not as much for you as it is for your tools and equipment.  High humidity and condensation can rust tools overnight.  It is, therefore, wise to provide some means of controlling humidity even when you are not present in your shop.  It is also a good idea to put down a plastic film vapor barrier on the concrete before laying down the wooden floor.
 
Roger

When it comes to ship models I am a traditionalist in that the basis for any worthwhile model is its hull lines.  In other words, does the shape of the model’s hull match that of the real ship being modeled?  That is the first thing that you should check out.  High quality decorations on a misshapen hull is putting lipstick on a pig.
 
 

Here’s a photo of the Sherline vise.  Note, The socket headed cap screw that tightens the vice pulls down as well as in.
 

Here’s a photo of the Sherline vise.  Note, The socket headed cap screw that tightens the vice pulls down as well as in.
 

Today I would like to introduce my new chosen-out project :
It will be the well known lightship Elbe 1 ( named Bürgermeister Oswald), the "red Lady", since then being appointed as an German lightship and on duty in the German Bay, mouth Elbe river, Northsea. After serving for 50 years it was directly replaced 1989 by an unmaned lightvessel-robot on the former position of Elbe 1.
 
Several years ago my attention was drawn to this lightship, and to keep in mind for building a model of it someday. At that time I had purchased a special edition of the rare  1994 MODELWERFT magazine, related exclusingly to the Elbe 1 Lightship an kept it since then somewhere in my hobby office. A few days ago I remembered it and went looking for that magazine, and it seemed to be lost. After a days search I finaly found it sticking somewhere between my maritime books on a shelf.
 
This publication was issued by author Helmut Thomas, a very talented and skilled senior modelist. The incredable model he had created of the Elbe 1, the fine pics and detailed build log description shown therein was very inspiring for me and it was my "benchmark" if I ever were to build it myself, knowing that I would be pleased to get at least somewhere near to that benchmark.
The 80 page publication was comprising also 2 outfold double pages of a buildplan including lines and frameplan. I let these build plan pages magnified to scale 1:87 in my local copy-shop, and started to study all about the ship, and if I could possibly build it, ot try to do so.
In comparation to Helmut`s model that would have been too large (length 114 cm)  I decided to downscale it to an overall length of 66 cm. An apprropriate glas-case for that size would also be whithin my capability afterwards.
 
I remembered that once Billing Boats had brought out a model in scale 1:50 of this model, but it was the predecessor of this lightship with several differences, Unfortunately today there was neigther an unbuilt Billing-Kit perhaps even with fine fittings-detail-kit (lightmasts, etc, ) to be found anymore, so a scratch build would be the solution.
 
So this is what came out : .........
 
Nils 
 
The beginning

The rare "Modellwerft special" magazine of 1994 / 1

Model of Helmut Thomas

a postcard

side view overall

frameplan
 
 
 

Brian, you’re doing great!  Overall you are capturing the look of this regional American watercraft.
 
I’d like to weigh in on your soldering problem:
 
Wire-  A while ago someone on MSW mentioned square wire.  It’s great stuff! It is available as both copper and brass in a variety of sizes; the smallest that I’ve found is 1/32.”  Lots of applications.  Uprights for your railings?
 
Solder Flux combination-  Some highly recommended solder flux combinations ,  particularly the pastes just don’t work for me.  I don’t know why.  I use Bakers Fluid for flux.  It’s a very low viscosity liquid that draws solder into tight joints.  I use this with solders of different diameters, particularly 1/32” dia and .010”dia 
 
Heat Source-  My hat’s off to Kurt and others who can solder with a torch; it’s a real art, not easily learned. A while ago, I would have recommended a Weller cordless iron but mine just died after what I consider to be an unreasonably short life.  I use two plug in irons, a 15 watt with a very narrow tip and 40 watt.  I like the electric irons as they can concentrate heat over a small area.
 
To summarize, soldering seems to involve a degree of witchcraft despite attempts to rationalize it.  If something doesn’t work try something else until you find a combination that does.
 
Roger
 
 

When it comes to ship models I am a traditionalist in that the basis for any worthwhile model is its hull lines.  In other words, does the shape of the model’s hull match that of the real ship being modeled?  That is the first thing that you should check out.  High quality decorations on a misshapen hull is putting lipstick on a pig.
 
 

When it comes to ship models I am a traditionalist in that the basis for any worthwhile model is its hull lines.  In other words, does the shape of the model’s hull match that of the real ship being modeled?  That is the first thing that you should check out.  High quality decorations on a misshapen hull is putting lipstick on a pig.