tkay11

Yes, I totally agree with wefalck. I bought a pack of what were said to be the finest files a few years ago at the London Model Engineering Exhibition. I found they could only be used for the very coarsest of jobs with small pieces, and since then I have hardly ever used them. In fact I can't remember the last time I used them. Tony

It was the fit between the rotating head and the body that was out in my case, in addition to the fact that the support in these Proxxon stands is a bit flimsy. I'd be intrigued to know how accurate the MF70 mill is in terms of verticality, feed and consistency. At the moment I get by with the modifications I've made but I keep wondering whether it would be worth the expense to buy the MF70. Tony

Nice adaptation, Kris. Far more elegant than my own modification of the cheaper Proxxon MB140 stand. How accurate is the vertical feed on this stand? My stand had something like a 1 degree inaccuracy which I had to compensate for with shims. Tony

Very nice, druxey. You can certainly be trusted to dig out interesting sites. Did you happen on this site as a result of more time spent browsing, or have you been a regular visitor? It's a part of London I hardly know, but having enjoyed Pepys' diaries and a good biography, I hope to visit this church once the restrictions are over. Tony

I got my sail plan from Steel’s Elements and Practice of Rigging, along with Marquardt’s book on 18th Century Rigs and Rigging so that I could understand the structure and making of the various sails. The Steel is available at low cost from Cambridge University Press and Marquardt can often be found on eBay. You can see the results for my Sherbourne (a very similar cutter to Lady Nelson) on page 8 of my build log under the title 'Making Sails'. Tony

Just a note on the glue stick: I used to use Pritt (a water-based glue stick) but discovered that Uhu (a solvent based glue in a tube) which is used by card modellers is much better. The Pritt caused problems by causing warping of the paper and in removal after cutting -- since I found I had to dampen it in order to remove it easily. This itself caused slight warping of the wood on very thin parts. The Uhu doesn't have either of those problems. I just used acetone to remove it, which it does very quickly and without any obvious effect on the wood. Tony

Latin 'pons' = bridge. This has many ramifications in Europe including, interestingly, 'pontificate' which came from 'pontifex' which itself was made up from the words meaning 'make' and 'bridge'. But to 'pontificate' now means 'acting like a pope' and has entirely lost its inherent suggestion of 'making a bridge between people'. That's me done pontificating for the morning. Tony

Is there any progress on the Hudson River Sloop "First Effort" (a good name for a novice scratch builder)? Tony

Yes indeed, Bruce. I've already found that out with the scroll saw! I use beeswax on the table saw blade, though, and on my coping saw blade for brass.

Most of my questions have been answered by an excellent masterclass on bandsaw use on YouTube. It is based on a Record bandsaw, but the lessons apply to any bandsaw. It is also longish at 50 minutes, but very well worth the entire video. It goes into depth about setting up a bandsaw, which blades to use, problems to avoid, maintenance, how to cut various types of timber, changing blades etc. You can find it at Tony

I agree, bruce. I'm also asking whether these small bandsaws manage 50mm thick lumber. I know they say they have 80mm depth of cut, but reviews seem to suggest they have difficulty in cutting to 50mm depth for the hard woods modellers work with. I would have thought it requires a lot of skill in addition to make sure such thicknesses are cut PAR if there is no fence. Are they up to the job I'm asking about? If so, are they all equally so? Tony

Just two questions about the Proxxon bandsaw, as well as other small (8-10") bandsaws: 1. On the Proxxon specifically I don't see a rip fence, so can you use it to re-saw logs to a constant thickness? 2. Several reviews of small bandsaws say they are not very good at re-sawing lumber over 25mm thick. What's the experience of people here? I need to cut pieces 50mm thick as that seems to be the common thickness of wood provided here in the UK, but have been put off buying a small bandsaw because of such reviews. Any advice, as always, is most welcome! Tony

Did you mean nitrocelluose wood sealer? Also, do you use the bleached shellac as the varnish, or the ordinary variety? I used to make up my own shellac from the flakes for finishing furniture, so I might be tempted to start doing that again for the ship models. Tony

@chris watton: do you have a recommendation for a particular supplier of MDF in the UK, or at least a type? There seems to be a huge range of suppliers as well as a largish range of MDF types. Looking online, it is hard to know the difference apart from statements such as 'high quality', 'moisture resistant' and with a range of densities. Tony

It's possibly true that the fashion for buying models made by someone else for home display is waning, but I can't remember throughout my lifetime ever having been in a home where someone has done just that -- apart from the simplified models bought at seaside stores and LEGO pirate ships and the like. Then there are plenty of people who have to make models of modern yachts and ships for the manufacturers and their excessively wealthy clients and governments -- as has been the case for centuries. Just recently druxey posted a picture of the most marvellous silver yacht model for auction at Sotheby's which sold for £10,625. However, I keep hearing that ship modelling itself is dying out, that younger people are not interested, etc. How true is this? It would be good to have some figures as otherwise such statements may be based on localised subjective opinion. It's not that I disagree, more that I don't know the statistics across the whole range of activities that would include ship modelling. From what I understand, ship modelling fora are growing rather than decreasing in size; in Eastern Europe the competitions still thrive (and card modelling is very popular); and there's a constant influx of people who have just retired and who try to find a hobby that is stimulating intellectually as well as practically in addition to giving satisfaction over a long period of time. In addition there are a whole host of professional model makers who work for a variety of different media at many different scales due to the constant demand for period films and tv shows. The skills and tools available to the model maker are unparalleled and new techniques are evolving all the time along with the need for new skills -- especially with computer programmes of a variety of types. Techniques used even in the 1990s have also evolved with the new ideas, the greater sharing of build logs on the internet, and with the available tools which need the parallel evolution of different complex skills. Do we have any statistics (global, national or local) to show whether ship model making (of whatever period) is waxing, waning or simply stable, and among which types of population? Tony