michael mott

Wonderful to see another of your great models Javier. Michael

Just finished catching up Geert, Some lovely work it is inspiring me to get back to my Buzzards Bay sailboat, So many projects! so little time. Seeing the painted hull for some reason it shows off the form of the hull in a more soft way than seeing the planks, I like the colour as well. Michael

On to proof of concept for the interior of the cabin, first I needed to understand the parameters of how to make the interior be able to be removed through the narrow opening sort of the reverse of the ship in a bottle. The expanse of the cabin has to collapse toward the centre so that the components are able to be pulled up through the main opening once the top deck is lifted off. Using some old green file divider cards I cut the panels to give the interior some maximal limits of what can fit through the opening, the bottom the panels represent the floor level. Next I had to tape the panels together so that they would sit inside the opening without the clamps. so that I could place the top deck into position. in order to locate the companionway ladder to the interior. Next the cabin hatchway was placed in position to check the realistic feasibility of a person using the ladder (clearance wise) Then a shaky view from inside looking toward the ladder holding the iPhone inside and hoping that it would produce an acceptable impression. looking aft and forward I can see the shadows of the bars across the skylight windows apologies for the out of focus pics but like all of this project it will improve with practice and methodology. Michael

I will follow along as well Small craft are the test bed for the mettle of a sailor. Interesting how the wood points out to us the correct form as we put in the bends of the planks. Michael

Happy new year to you and your family Gary. I like the drawing of the winch and look forward to seeing it come together in your capable hands. Michael

Druxey, and Greg thanks for your comments. Greg the next area that I am going to work on is in fact the companionway and the interior that can be viewed from the hatch and the skylight. The larger raised area of the deck that the companionway and skylight are fitted to is removable as a unit, so my thought is to model a minimum interior that will include the stair /ladder to the interior into the first area that will detail what can be seen.this whole section will be able to be lifted out in order to place the lead weight into the bottom for the sailing one all the other elements are completed. This will enable some fun surprises inside the cabin which I have not thought about yet. Perhaps for instance a small gimbal stove for making tea. I particularly like the interior of Stirling and Sons Integrity and this one Michael

Mark, if you made your form on the end of a longer piece you could have it overhang enough for the clamp to be underneath. Michael

Looking great John great to see the progress. and a Happy New Year to you and your Family. Michael

Interesting question, having sailed a small boat and coming to the dock one always need a line or two when tying up that need to be handy but out of the way while sailing. We see the Anchor on many models but there are multiple lines used in tying op at the dock my small yawl used 4 lines a bow and stern line and a 2 spring lines which cross diagonally amidships. My dock lines were 3/8 so on a 40 footer 3/4 to 7/8 seems reasonable. The cutters were often sailed with a very short crew, sometimes just a man and a boy according to some accounts. Michael

Eberhard that is a nice little addition Something that I shall have to look into. Michael

Carl first happy new year to you. From a strictly sailing point of view by removing some wedges the mast would be able to be leaned aft which would change the shape of the sail and centre of effort which could affect speed depending on the type of vessel. In Modern racing yachts the mast is bent to change the shape of the sail which affects its airfoil shape making it more full or flat depending on how much bend is put into it. Michael

Well Just because I like using the jewelers saw, I would think that a curved bench pin one that is like the normal pin but fixed to the end of the bench with a couple of hold down screws like the one I have used for the brass stuff but on a curve. This is getting to complex to explain I will make one because I will no doubt need one sometime in the next little while. having said all that i do like using the littel planes and chisels for odd curved bits. Your planking does look superb Mark. and Happy New Year to you and your family. Michael

Druxey, Paul, Mark, and Pat thanks for your comments, and that you to all who have added a like, it is greatly appreciated. Today I finished the second hinge and made a couple of adjustments to the sequence which made the fabrication a little easier in some aspects. After folding the brass as in the first hinge I ran some CA glue along the edge to glue the sides together forming a stronger lamination of .006" before filing the tabs. The following along the same as before fitted the two halves together. This time I did take the pictures of the rest of the sequence. First drilling the holes and placing the pins Then removing them to make a small countersink into the wood, this helped with the countersinking of the brass which was also slightly deformed by the countersink as it formed the depression, the brass was soft anyway and there is not much to actually cut away when countersinking, so it is a bit of a fake countersink. The tiny copper rivets that I have used before are flat head 1/32 Sig Rivets that I purchased eons ago I snipped the end to an angle so that the rivet formed a tight fit for the last bit of the hole which was drilled just a little shy of the full length of the rivet. The head was slotted with the jewelers saw with a # 08 blade I think it is the finest one I have. I use a small bit if Boxwood with a notch filed into it as a guide this works very well once you get the notch depth set and it is easy to reset as the saw wears away the side. I thought I had lined up the heads, but I see in the brutal close ups that I didn't. Oh well, there was a knot in the wood that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. After getting the lid fitted I decided I wanted to ad a way of hanging some rope from the bottom side of the lid (would have been better if I had decided this before gluing it into the cockpit Which made it a bit more difficult to accomplish. At first I tried making some hooks (hats off to yo u Johann your hooks are professional looking compared to the ones I rejected. I rethought the hooks and decided on a leather strap forming some loops things could then be lashed to the loops. Because the lid is only 1inch thick I had to use the smallest real wood screw I have #1 x 1/4 inch the shank of these is .058" + or - they are certainly not precision screws but nice enough. I wanted to use the flat eads so needed to make some fake flat head washers I use some 3/16 brass rod and reduces the diameter about .040" and then bored the .058" hole and countersunk the hole beveled off the outside them parted them off. I used the Small leather awl I made for the leather stitching test I did earlier for the cushions to punch the holes in a strip of brown leather from the leather scrap bin. After drilling the pilot holes very carefully not to poke through to the top, the strap got fitted. I hung a coil of 7/8 rope with a bit of 3/8 rope to the strap for testing the concept. Walter seems to like the method. So I closed the lid on this part of the cockpit, ready to move on, to the next task. Michael

Very interesting how you set the frames up, it does seem like a lot of work though. your drawings of them are wonderful. I am thinking that one of these days it would be fun to make a small boat and only use hand tools both drawing and the building, and this is what you are doing (mostly). I am enjoying watching the boat take shape. Michael

Happy New Year Jack. Good to hear that you are recovering well and that you are able to get back to your "Challenging" Kit It appears that you have a good looking model for all your effort in overcoming the pitfalls of less that good instructions, I was surprised that they did not include the info on the rabbet at the bow and stern that is a serious omission in my view. I'm envious of the new miniature plane, looks like a nice bit of kit. Michael

Eberhard, Keith, Dirk, GL, Johann, and Mark. Thank you all for you feedback. I am happy that the work I am doing has helped, and given ideas to you all, the feeling is completely mutual I assure you. I have learned so much by participating in this fantastic forum there is so much knowledge held by the membership here that it would fill volumes of books (which it does) my own library is very modest at this point but it grows slowly. and this forum is a world class library in itself. So finally thank you to the administrators and owners of this site for your great work that allows us to share this hobby safely, and a happy and prosperous New Year to you all. Michael

Happy new year to you and your family Johann. Lovely work on the blocks and rigging elements, A nice workshop space too. Michael

First A happy new year to you and your family Gary Yes Retirement is wonderful One has to learn to use the "NO" word once in a while because people think that now you are retired you have all the time in the world, and it is amazing how fast it gets eaten up helping others. The workshop looks pretty nice. Michael

First a Happy New year to you and your family. The model is coming along nicely Eric. Michael

Don't be too hard on yourself Pat, those skylight look great. The rest of the ship is coming along nicely as well. Michael

Steve , John, Druxey, Pat, Thanks for your kind words and thanks to those who added the likes. I am really enjoying getting back to the cutter. This evening I had a go at a miniature piano hinge. First I annealed a couple of strips of .003" brass shim-stock, then folded it over a piece of .025" music wire in the grinding vice. Next I trimmed it to width with an exacto knife. Put it back into the vice tucking it down as far as it would go in order to file away the the alternate tabs I basically eyeballed the distance as the width of the needle file. Folded the second strip and repeated the filing using the first one as a guide to get the spacing matched this was a little tedious with a lot of trial and error The two halves fit together nicely eventually. Then they were fitted to the boards this is before the holes were countersunk and the copper rivets slotted to make them look like copper screws, I was so focused on getting this finished that I forgot to take any pictures of the countersinks and slotted screws, I will make sure I do that on the second one. Here the lid is fitted to the starboard side locker. Once they were fitted with the "screws" I ran some CA glue along the joint between the brass and the wood on both sides of the hinge just to lock the pins in place. The hinge feels pretty solid and folds nicely so I am pleased with today's progress. Michael

A happy new year to you and your family Steve. Beautiful Stitching on the oar leathers, Now where have I seen that stitching before..... Super brass work as well, and I just recently purchased a 5c collet block and some collets also. Michael

A happy new year to everyone. Today I started to do a bit more work on the cockpit The supporting side panels were covered with some "panels" of mahogany. So now I can finish the top boards and hing the lids. then the cushions to complete the main elements of the cockpit. The support sheet is pine then the Mahogany was glued to the panels and treated with Tung Oil The edges of the teak seating will now get finished and fitted with the lids hinged to access the lockers underneath. It feels good to get a little work done on the cutter, so thanks Dubz for the inspiration. Michael

Happy new Year Amalio, How on earth do you keep everything so clean? Superb model-work! Thank you for sharing. Michael

A happy and Prosperous new year to you and your family Doris, and thank you for the update on your superb model of the Royal Katherine, it is always a pleasure to see hw you solve and approach the details in your work. michael