michael mott

Passable for sure! A very nice solution for the fabrication I certainly can see the benefits of the square collet block in your work. Michael

Hi Keith I set up the fence like this Here is a shot of the shooting board being used to reduce the width of the rails I planed some cedar to .060" and used a scraping tool to put a reveal along the edge Then parted it off with the exacto knife Used the shooting board to reduce the width to .162" The small inserts will work fine I think. I will need to shorten the panel for the end inserts, I will make enough long ones first. Michael

Mark, the stips inside the thickness jig are 3/16 (4.762mm) x 1/8 (3.175mm) strips of evergreen styrene they are outside the edges of the blade the cross end stop is about .1" (2.54mm) so I can flip them up to work with thicker wood or change them for 3/16 x 1/4 (6.3mm) the blade is of course also adjustable. I find the easiest way though is to add a known thickness of paper under the wood to reduce the thickness. as soon as the edges of the plane ride on the plastic it stops cutting I am able to work with very small pieces of wood that I could not put through a regular thickness planer. I do not like sanding soft woods no matter how fine the grit it is just that grit. A sharp blade leaves a sheen because the fibres of the wood have been sheared not scraped with chunks of rock. the other advantage is there is virtually no dust. I have both of the Veritas (Lee Valley) low angle block planes one is 12 degrees and the other is 20 degrees with the adjustable throats. short pieces can also very quickly be reduced in width on the shooting board with a right angle fence (sheet of 1/8 thick styrene by 3" x 4" I will add a picture of this in the next post. The Yellow Cedar is also called Yellow Cyprus the colour is a little lighter than Castelo but much softer and easy to work. The local hardwood supplier has a good supply of the cedar and occasionally can have the Castelo. I can get a 2" x 6" plank of yellow Cedar 6 feet long for around $45 so it is also considerably less expensive than the Castelo. Michael

Seven, Keith, Pat, Steve, Moab, and Druxey Thank you all for your kind remarks. Also a thank you for all those who are following along and using the like button. Pat the water will not be a problem because the interior has to be removable in order to place the lead sailing ballast it needs over a 100 lbs to get down to the waterline. At first I was not going to add an interior but I reconsidered it because it will be on display more that in the water. The yellow cedar is such a lovely wood to work with for this small joinery paneling with a sharp low angle block plane in my simple thickness planing jig I can get a lot of control. Using it along with the shooting board is making this work really a pleasure. The way the thickness jig works allows me to thickness very shot pieces without any difficulty. The lower panels have a sloped dado al around so I set up an angled fence on the big table saw 12.5 degrees this way I was able to use a new zero clearance insert (I flipped around the insert for the 8 inch 200 tooth slitting saw blade that I use mostly for brass the holes help to keep the blade cool) I did not want to angle the saw blade. it was a simple one pass around the edges to create the dado bevel I put them back into the thickness planing fixture with a piece of copy paper underneath the wood to raise it up a couple of thou and gave it a single pass to clean them up. Both side are getting close to being ready for the final gluing, I did not want to do any sanding on any of these pieces of wood so keeping it all absolutely clean is going to be a challenge before the tung oil is applied once they are glued up. I wanted to get the two side panels done first because the end once are a little more complicated because of the angles involved. There is a small element that surrounds each panel that I am going to add it is about a 1/32 by 1/16 actual size with a rounded ogee type profile, The upper panels are flat but thinner than the stiles and rails, still a ways to go yet before it all gets glued up. Michael

The second photo looking forward in post #130 looks like the full size boat, superb modelwork!

Hello Geert in looking at your gaff peak halliard if it were me i would spread the load a little wider like this I think that it would lessen the possibility of straining the gaff , Just my own thought. Michael

Welcome Sanada from the cold snowy norther climes. The J class Endeavour is a wonderful Yacht, One of these days I would like to build one of these types of Yacht . Start a build log in the kit section. Good luck with your build. Michael

I have been using my razor saw just like this one for at least 20 years its a bit beat up but still works like a charm one trick to getting the saw to cut vertical when setting up your mitre boxes (you will end up making a few they are really handy) st to use a small square next to the saw as a guide if you don't have a small square a square block of anything to guide the saw works well. Michael

Mark thanks for the link, I have been sorting out how to tackle the side elements of the interior and at the same time discovered an error in the depth of the cabin, I had made it a foot too deep by correcting the error I was able to make the floor in one level. The paper template was how I discovered the difference. I finished up the work on the basic ladder. and using a combination of cad work and then freehand drawing over the print was able to get the pattern for the paneling sorted. I order the save on material and also not to waste some of the divider card that I had been using to plan out the cabin I decided to use the very stiff polished cardstock as the foundation for the wood paneling, first I glued some 1/8+ square stiffeners to the backside of the panels Then cut some 1 inch x 4 inch yellow cedar (had to wear a mask its a nice smell but not too healthy to breath) The began roughing out the wood for the stiles and rails. The upper panels are cabinets that will have opening doors with the dining stuff inside. That's all for now. Michael

Keith, Thank you for the information I do have teflon, nylon, Thordon bearing material which is made from thermosetting resins which are three dimensional, cross- linked condensation polymers. And some rigid PVC and both extruded and cellcast clear Acrylic. I am not familiar with acetal, polyacetal and polyformaldehyde. It is interesting what materials I have collected over the years for various projects in the design and fabrication of displays and exhibits. Michael

From humble beginnings to a beautifully executed model so far! Michael

Johann thank you for your explanation of the rope tooling, and as others have already remarked superb workmanship. michael

Nice sequence Keith. Any idea what the black plastic is? Michael

I continued on the floor units today, and now that the floor is set properly I was able to revisit the dimensions and adjust the drawings for the rest of the interior. I also set the ladder a bit more vertical it is now 22.5 degrees off vertical. I also decided to cut the stringers by hand and used my centuries old exacto razor saw, it still cuts well I set up a fence on it so that I could make the cuts for the treads in the mitre box. The mitre box is basically a disposable one it was made out of a bit of maple a few years ago by disposable i mean that eventually it will need to be replaced because it will loose its integrity. The side stringers ready to be chiselled for the treads. the ladder stringers are clear Douglas fir 1 x 6 inches This cross section image shows the main cabin area that I am modeling. Michael

Lovely work Kees I like the small deck Companionways and especially the small boat. and a happy new Year to you and your family. Michael

Funny you should say that I have butchered quite a few Bachmann Percy H0 locos over the last few years Michael

Eberhard, yes I am talking scale inches on the cutter model. I'm sorry that you do not like the saddle tank locos of the British persuasion. As a British lad I grew up on the clean lines of the British locomotive styles that were well looked after until the first grouping of all the small lines that dotted the English countryside. Michael

Hi Keith I loosely based this model on Louisa which is one of the Hunslet locos, I have not done the saddle tank yet. The interior is going to be loosely based on the interior of "Integrity" which is quite simple but hearkens to the classic interiors of the restored Cutters of the last century. this will give me ample opportunity to play with different materials. I just love the green tufted cushions and the simple kitchen facilities. Michael

Keith I know that your focus on the last picture is of the stern rail, but is looking at the picture I am struck by the level of superb workmanship and crispness of all the other fine details in the picture. Michael

Hi Johann thanks for kind words. Yes the model in the background is a 3 1/2 inch gauge live steam locomotive that i have been working on slowly for a few years. Steam engines are one of my other passions so as my energy waxes and wanes in each type of model I keep busy and enthusiastic in the workshop. Michael

Pat and Druxey thanks. and thank you to all of you who added the likes, I really do find them supportive and encouraging. Now that the proof of concept has been sorted it was time to begin with the base structure, I chose some 6 inch by 1 inch clear fir boards for the cabin floor these were thicknessed on the small hand thicknessing jig. first the flat side then the edges, I used some spacers and a wedge to hold the boards upright to clean up the edges and with one of the miniature planes for scale. The floors boards were cleated on the underside with some 4 x 1.5 inch cross beams for the forward vertical support wall (bulkhead) I planed up a bit of Western Red Cedar that had a nice tight grain, a bit of careful planing to match the width of the opening and ensuring that all was square before gluing it all together. I glued the main elements together oyt of the hull because it is just so much easier. The horizontal boards are 10 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches. thin after the glue was set I dropped it back into the hull to set up the aft piece of floor that the ladder lands on. The aft section of floor is nine inches higher than the main floor. Once it is set up I can begin to work out the elements that fit onto the sides it reminds me of the pull outs on the modern RV's Michael

Johnn, in your close up picture I see that you are using a sleeve type tool to push the rope over the the end of the stave. How are you opening up the rope before sliding it over? Thanks. The results are really superb. Michael

Today I did a clean up of the shop and made a better mock up of the ladder into the cabin and put a card floor to better see the area I have to work with. Tomorrow I can start the structure of the interior elements. Michael

Looks good, and a happy New Year to you. Michael

Well certainly a week of picking up on older projects. Today I started to make the pattern for the keel ballast weight. I also decided that the hull will be painted. The planking on this hull is not as good as I would like for a varnished hull perhaps on the next one. so a coat of primer and the rough block from some poplar that I cut when we lived at the lake. Build part 37 Then an afternoon of sanding to fair the planks at the stern-post and the pattern for the ballast Another coat of primer ready for more sanding tomorrow morning. So I will be working on both the Buzzards Bay 14 and the cutter for the next little while. Lots of Herreshoff deck fittings to keep my metalworking side happy. Michael