michael mott

Wow John, I had no idea your model was so small, with all the detail I had thought is was much larger!! Just goes to show what a superb craftsman you are. Michael

Daniel it is interesting to follow your research into the colours and weathering of the woods on the ships and boats. Michael

Popeye, thanks for the though. Germanus, thanks again for your thoughts and compliments, I have found another great link regarding shackles and their sizes and capacities Very interesting this will help me in the long run. Carlos, thanks for looking in. Michael

Exquisite Dan!! are those bolts properly threaded? Michael

Alex I use a small centre drill with an X Y table and hold the shackle by slipping it over a piece of maple in the vice. I will take a photo of the drilling when I get to the drilling of the rest. Daniel I am also looking forward to the rest of the rigging, The thing that appears a little daunting is all the rope I am going to have to make, and sewing the sails. John you are exactly right. Germanus, thanks for looking in and giving me that critical eye. So now I will have to re evaluate the whole Shackle issue to make sure they pass inspection. Germanus a good lathe is one of those tools that I would suggest is something to search for, they can be had if you look hard enough. I would be lost without mine ...... no I would jury rig something;>) Yea it is sunny today , I think a lot of the snow will melt today. Michael

Andy, thanks for the compliment, I was tired by the time I got to the photographs, I left the holes for today. John, yes, the interesting thing is that there are all sorts of shackles, I have some that are made from sheet stainless that are used in small boats., looking at the photographs of the full size smacks and Cutters it seems that many of them are either galvanized or bronze. Alex today I used the metric side of the scale so that you don't have to do the calculation, I also made some smaller shackles. Druxey I suppose that swageing the ends is akin to forging in a way, thanks for stopping by. Tom, The first one is still OK it is going to stay in the lower bob stay fitting, I must say though that I prefer the aesthetics of the turned and swaged shackles. Mark thanks, for that comment. Daniel, I am happy that you think it looks easy, As I was working on them I was thinking about some of the metal work done by the folk here like Remco and Recon and Gaetan turning up all those cannons and all the little bits that go with them , makes my humble little shackles seem rather clunky. Regarding the little cutter I am giving my eyes a rest, I will get a little more done soon. Sometimes I wonder why I go to all this effort but I am having a lot of fun. Today I started to manufacture a few more shackles some were turned from some 1/8th inch rod and some from some 5/32 inch rod, a couple were from 3/32 Inch rod. I used the same process as before, I did these while waiting for the segments to glue for the winch barrels. Flattening the ends of the turned parts This pic shows the smaller shackles Evening up the ends prior to drilling Gluing up the barrel staves I am gluing them in pairs which I find much easier that trying to glue them all at once. this way they do not need clamping. family shot of the different sizes of shackles. The new smaller one has a 1x72 threaded pin which was made from 1/16th rod I have a busy day tomorrow in town and into the evening so that's it for a little while I will be happy when this snow is finally gone and I can get the door open and get the hull painted with some top coats. Michael

Paul it must feel good to be back to "Normal" whatever that means;~) The work is looking great, very clean. Kevin a much less expensive way to buy Styrene sheet is from a commercial supplier in 96 inch by 48 inch sheets, over here they are not that expensive and the 5 thou and 10 thou sheets are rolled to carry home. Michael

Robert, you tease us with the first photograph, I am eager to see more of how you accomplished this wonderful model. Your wife must be smiling. Michael

Ah thanks Bob, Had I been sharper I would have sorted that out from your extensive description, one of those can't see the forest for the trees moments, but in this instance can't see the fish for the bait(knife) Michael

Hello Walter, your little problem must have been rather annoying, But it sounds like you have got the situation sorted and on track to get where you want to be. This dance we play of one step forwards and a step or two back seem to come with the territory of model boat building. Good luck with the fix you have outlined. Michael

Druxey, Sherry, Mark, John thanks for the kind comments. I feel a bit like a dog with a bone sometimes, The shakle thing was still bothering me so I did some more experiments today and the results are promising. First I thinned down a bit of 3/32 brass rod into a sort of dumbbell then I annealed and flattened the ends re annealed and flattened a little more Then holding the unit in the round nosed pliers folded up the ends next the ends were flattened in the vice to ensure they were flat to each other Then drilled and tapped 2x56 and added the pin and hooked it up to a pulley. I think I will use this method for the rest of the shackles big and small. Michael

Dan the insetting of the ebony is a masterful touch, it is great that you did not give up and glued the pieces together and continued. The end result speaks volumes. Michael

John Thanks for pointing me to the site. Today I did a little more metalwork, made the bob stay fitting and then mucked about sorting out a shackle. The fitting on the stem was fretted out folded and then the holes drilled and tapped then the tab was silver soldered on. The shackle was a lot more work than I thought it would be. At first I bent up some different diameters of brass rod, but was not really happy with any of it. So opted to make one out of some 5/16 x 1/16 brass strip. Bending it to shape was a bit harder because I did not want to anneal the brass I wanted to keep it hard. After the main body was bent to shape I tapped the locking side and then turned up a pin and flattened the end to facilitate winding it in, I still need to drill a small hole in the flattened end to add a safety wire. I had a little chain not quite the right stuff but good enough to get a good Idea of how the final will look. Michael

Very clean carving job Dan. Michael

Very neat getting models into bottle always amazes me. Michael

What a pleasure to see such great workmanship. Michael

Sherry the progress looks great, Nice clean work. Michael

Bob, That looks great, what its the square of wood sitting on the seat? Michael

Hi David, Thanks, building stuff I can do, play a musical note you don't want to hear it, My musical abilities would make a deaf person cringe. Michael

Russ, thanks, I must admit the clean up looked daunting yesterday, especially with the iron wire embedded into some of the silver solder. John, yes I know one step forward and one step back. After the bits and knees were glued to the deck I had to go back and shave about 1/32 off the width of the bowsprit. so now I need to go look at travelers and see how they were made. Michael

Russ thanks for posting the history, very interesting. I didn't realize they were center boards in these boats. Michael

The Gammon Iron was mounted today and a saddle carved for the bowsprit along with finishing cleaning up the bowsprit end cap. I will need to make a protective metal saddle for the anchor on the opposite side of the Gammon Iron and also the winch for the anchor chain. I'm beginning to see why these models take a while. I put 4 screws to hold the cap to the bowsprit. The next items are the jib traveler for the bowsprit and the bob stay fitting on the stem. Michael

Wim that looks really sharp, nice brass work. Michael

John , Johann, thanks for your kind words. Bob here is a couple of pictures that will hopefully show the way that the blade is clamped. The screws are 4x40 the top one is a regular cap screw the bottom one is a round head cap screw for the top one I drilled a #43 hole and slotted the end with a .010 slotting saw and the bottom one is by having a clearance hole #33 through the brass arm and a piece of 1/4x 1/4 brass threaded with the 4x40 to clamp to the main bar. Michael

Ilhan, just catching your build again. Exquisite workmanship clean precise use of wood and other materials enjoyable to watch the progress. Michael