tkay11

Just out of curiosity, what does a drill press add that is not done with a drill and drill stand? Is it the precision? Tony

Very useful info, Grant. Thanks for posting. Tony

I like the idea of adding rice grains -- would make it easier to distinguish the blocks. Has anyone tried doing it this way, with the small film canister? I'm still at the stage of trying to sand small blocks and am having quite a large number disintegrating instead, so the idea of a tumbler is appealing to me and I have been looking at a few examples on this site -- including Janos' and the subsequent modification that was posted. Tony

There are some excellent resources on deck planking you can download from the 'Article Downloads' section on this site. Very simple to follow. Tony

A very nice build, Skippy. Well worth following. Tony

I'll make sure you're in the loop, Mark, should ever I find another source. I seem to remember from MSW 1.0 that Jim Byrne's slitting blades are better than the MicroMark ones (longer lasting). So should I ever figure out the adapter I'll probably buy the blades from Jim. Tony

That's all sound advice, Joe. I'll do some digging and delving here in the UK. Otherwise I have a brother-in-law who lives in Palo Alto who sometimes comes over here, so he might be able to order and bring the stuff. I might even have a go at slicing a 1/2" dowel and drilling through with a 10mm drill bit using one of the techniques described in Drilling jigs for dowel and metal rodding on this forum. Tony

Yes, Joe, I know that they are the same machines -- although the MicroMark one is not FET but FS/E -- which makes some of the nice attachments that MicroMark offer unusable on my machine. It was that understanding that made me have a look at MicroMark in the first place as I thought they might have an adapter. If you by any chance have used some of their fine kerf blades with the adapter for the MicroMark saw I'd be glad to hear of your experience. Or have you stuck with the blades that have the 10mm spindle hole? Tony

Ebay's a good idea, Martin, and I'll certainly look there. It's the adapter I need, though, to fit blades from other manufacturers, since I have the Proxxon blades. Proxxon seem to have their own unique 10mm spindle which is not the norm for other manufacturers. Tony

Hmm, Wacko (I like the sound of that more than Joe, and hope no offence taken). Might just be a good excuse to buy a lathe. Costs a bit more than the shipping, but maybe if I put long term costs to the Admiral for budget approval.... Thanks, though, for the suggestions. It was the shipping and import costs that put the Byrnes machine out of reach for me. But I really do like the Proxxon, and I have gradually become more adept at using it. I'm now down to doing 1.6mm strips of 0.5mm walnut without a problem, and probably will manage smaller. It's what made me think of doing gratings as I am a bit dissatisfied with the main grating on my ship at the moment. Tony

I would like to buy a Byrnes saw blade of .030 kerf to use with a Proxxon FET table saw. The only trouble is that his saw blades are for a 1/2" spindle and the Proxxon uses one of 10mm. Jim has told me that he only makes adapters to go to 1". I have seen an adapter in MicroMark for $6.50 that will do this, but as that is based in the USA and the shipping for that alone to the UK is $18.50, the price would be exorbitant for such a simple and small adapter. So my question is whether anyone knows of such an adapter in the UK (or perhaps Europe) that would make such an adapter. My search on the web so far has not turned up anything. Or is this something I could make? I don't think I have the tools to do it -- I imagine a lathe would be necessary. The reason, by the way, is to make 0.8mm gratings. At present my saw blades are 0.6mm, 1.1mm and 1.2mm. I haven't seen a method of making gratings with an under-sized blade, but if you know of a method of doing this then please let me know. Any advice or suggestions welcome! Tony

Thanks a lot, Wayne. I do agree about the kit -- a really nice kit for beginners. I hadn't seen your Sherbourne, so I've been mulling over that and your Granado. It'll be a long while before I can achieve the crispness and tidiness of your finish on both the wood and the rigging (which has yet to come for me). And the tiller you made on the Sherbourne has made me think of re-doing mine. It seems I have a thing or two to learn about tillers! Also a very interesting remark you made about blackener benefiting from heating. I'll be trying that next time. My own feeling is that once I have completed the Sherbourne I'll want to move into building from plans rather than a kit. The experience with the ship's boat has shown me the challenge, the possibility and the sheer joy of achievement in working from plans. Tony

Just a further comment on 'easy'. I think what I meant by 'hindsight' relates to the thinking involved. When I start out on any of these numerous 'mini-projects' that are part of the overall build, I am often very hazy about how exactly I am going to do it. So off I trot doing a search on the forums, looking at other builds, reading books. Then I think a lot about it while walking or sitting in a plane or having a beer until I can visualise in my mind's eye just how I can take each step, with which tools and, most importantly of all, with which compromises (and as a novice I accept many more compromises than those who have already been through such processes many times over). I'd say that is the hard part. Once it's all visualised, it then becomes 'easy' until I realise that my visualisation is not quite correct and I come across an unexpected outcome. So the process of visualisation starts all over again. The building part, being a mix of foolhardiness, dexterity, learning how to use good tools, patience and perseverance, seems much easier. Tony

Thanks a lot, guys! I very much appreciate the comments. I don't know about 'easy', Carl. It's always easy in hindsight and after finding a way to overcome a problem -- and this is one of those very rare occasions in which the photos look better than the model. Mark hits the 'mark' (groan, I put that in before realising the pun) when talking of 'perseverance': that, and learning from mistakes. Next time round it will be much easier for me. Thus I've certainly unglued and re-done quite a bit of it a few times over. For example, I realise now it was a bit presumptuous to dig out a rabbet: the planks never did quite fit into it so I messed up the keel irreversibly (unless I carved it out all over again). Then the sternsheets were first made out of a single piece of cherry that didn't fit correctly and looked totally out of place -- so I had to re-do those from walnut strip. And the thwarts went through two iterations before I could get their width and spacing better (for some reason I had mis-set my vernier calipers first two times round). All that and the problem I had with the sides coming away from the keel a couple of times as a result of the pressure I was putting on this fragile little shell. However, I thought such tribulations would be regarded as commonplace by the experienced crowd here, so I thought it better to leave all that out. Thank goodness for isopropanol and its power over PVA glue! And thank goodness as well for all the experience on this forum that gave me the courage and ideas to go about the whole endeavour! Yes, John, you're right. The tiller needs a lot of work. I mention in a photo that it's only on the way to completion but didn't clarify that in the text. I just thought I'd post the photo as I was pleased at thinking of a way to attach it! I hope the final result will be a little more realistic! Thanks again for keeping to pop in and give encouragement! Tony

The Bank Holiday weekend in the UK allowed me to make a little bit of further progress on the ship’s boat. First on was the sheer strake. I reckoned that would be good to place first because then I could estimate the number of planks between that and the keel. I then cut out the garboard plank, as seen in the photo. Shaping the planks was a bit easier than I expected – but this was mostly because I didn’t spile them correctly and just tapered one side of each plank! Having finished the external planks, I could remove the shell from the mould, cut away the ribs from the point where the gunwale joins, and then add the gunwales. That was a moment of magic for me -- it really did look like a boat shape! It may not have the magnificent carpentry of the other ship's boat builds that are on this site, but I had managed at least the rudiments and it certainly boosted my morale and my appetite to continue! I made the gunwales by gluing a 1mm square strip of walnut to a 0.5 x 1mm strip, then bending appropriately. By the way, I now use a small soldering iron to do the bending. I do this after soaking the planks and allowing them to saturate. It really is quite a nice sound to hear the hiss of the steam as I apply the plank to the iron, and watch it (the plank, that is: not the iron) dry and bend. After putting on the gunwales I cut strips from masking tape to show me where to place the stringer supporting the thwarts. You’ll see the strips in the photo. Then I laid a false keel along the keel top, and started the floor planking. The next stage was to cut away the rowlocks into the gunwales. This is not really accurate, as the gunwales I added are thicker than the plans recommend, but I compromised! The sternsheets, sternsheet transom (made from strips of 0.5mm walnut) and the seats were then added. The rudder was then cut out, a handle made from 1mm square cherry, and 0.6mm holes drilled into the handle and the rudder in order to join them with a sliver of walnut. I’ve had a bash at the thwart knees, but so far have not found a nice way of doing them. I might give up on that score. I’m also debating about the position for a mast. However, the most immediate work to do will be the gudgeons and pintles for the rudder, and the oars. The only real problem is the mix of walnut and cherry (apart from an obvious asymmetry in the height of the sides and the spacing of the ribs). That came about just because of the wood I had to hand. I had started the ship's boat more as a proof of concept -- not really believing I could make one. Now it's beginning to look like a real boat I am loathe to do it all over again. I decided I'll put it all down to experience for the build of my next ship's boat! And now, back to the work that pays and funds the ship modelling (among other things). Tony

Thanks, LFrank, I had a look, but it's based in the USA and also the strips there are no longer sold by them or out of stock. I'm really looking for a UK supplier to avoid heavy shipping costs. Tony

As a matter of interest, Norman, where were you able to buy 0.5mm cherry from? Was it in the UK? I'd be glad to know because I need 0.5mm cherry to finish off my ship's boat. I've been using 1/16 and 3/32 cherry board which I found at Cornwall Model Boats, but haven't yet found a supplier of smaller strips. As a result I had to do the ribs using walnut and the combination looks a bit odd. Tony Tony

Here you are! http://www.ancre.fr/manuel19-e.htm Tony

My only comment is that I have a problem with 4-head pin vises because the tiny bits tend to slip out of the vertical more than in those with three heads. But maybe that's a problem only for me! Tony

You can also get pear in a range of thicknesses at Jotika. You have to ring them to place an order and they say it takes about 3 weeks to deliver. Tony

I haven't used cherry, but I used walnut to make the frames on my ship's boat. I used 1mm x 0.5mm strips, soaked them in boiling water until they sank, then wiped them with PVA glue so they wouldn't splinter. Then I very carefully and slowly bent them round a post using a hairdryer to play on them. The heat not only allowed the wood to bend, but dried the glue and made the curve firm. I was able to achieve the same kind of bend as you are looking for. The key was doing it very gently. For the first round I held the wood in pliers while the hairdryer was on. This also heated the metal post I was bending the strips round and it retained its heat for some time. Whilst it was still hot I completed the bending by hand round the post. Tony

Thanks, David. Yes, it's great that this forum is filled with people learning from each other . Very convivial, educative and enjoyable. Tony

From my own experience a kit labelled as 'easy' or 'beginner' could mean that if you just follow the instructions given and use only the parts provided you can put it all together and obtain a model fairly quickly. I reckon I could have finished my kit of the Sherbourne in a few months if I had done that. The trouble is that as soon as you do some research on the web and come across a forum of enthusiasts, your eyes are opened to what is possible. As soon as those eyes glint with the challenge, you are then drawn into a series of tweaks and alterations that will take up as much time as you want or have available. If you take on a kit labelled as 'difficult' the expectation of the manufacturer is that you are already aware of tweaks and alterations that might be necessary and have already had experience doing that. So they deliberately play the game you want. Think of it as a computer game. In a computer game there are often different levels of 'difficulty'. This just means that the manufacturer of the game knows that those who attempt the more difficult levels already have some knowledge of the 'rules of the game' and the skills involved in order to achieve it. Most humans will be able to reach the top levels with perseverance, but with practice and knowledge. Humans like puzzles and challenges, and ship modelling includes lots of both if you want them. The time for the completion of my kit has been lengthening ever since I joined this forum, and also since I found I was having more work to do outside of ship modelling. Each new piece or stage of the kit brings new skills and challenges not that I have to learn, but that I want to learn. As I learn those skills I find myself more confident of wanting to make parts more accurate (or faithful to an original) and taking on new skills. Some of these skills may not be entirely necessary. There is an air of masochism to the obtaining of some detail. For example may modellers like to be sure that observers can see the treenails on decks and hulls even though on real ships they are barely noticeable. Is this accuracy or showing off or personal satisfaction at getting to that 'level'? I don't know, but on my ship I decided not to show treenails on the hull, but did so for the deck. For me it was a matter of obtaining a skill. If I hadn't done it, I would still end up with a lovely model and as I don't know any other modellers in my circle of family and friends, nobody would have known the difference. It is up to you how far you want to go and which challenges you decide to take up. Whatever you decide, it's probably best that you do it because you're happy to do it and not because others have done it. Whichever way you choose, you can be fairly confident that those around you who have not done any modelling will admire the work you put in. My family look at my model as it grows and say they are amazed at the detail and skill. I try to explain that it is nothing like the skill of others, but to them it is a thing of beauty. And the truth is that I am amazed at myself as I achieve each new stage. I can't possibly rate what I have done in terms of 'difficulty'. I can only rate it in terms of satisfaction. And that is very high indeed. Every model can be as difficult as you want to make it. Some of the supposedly 'easy' models are difficult because the instructions as so awful that people give up. Just some thoughts! Tony

I very much admire the way you allow the rigging to hang. Excellent work! Tony

As far as I know, primer is useful in that it seals the wood as well as allows for better sanding. However, I haven't used primer. Just multiple coats of diluted acrylic paint together with light sanding between coats. I should mention, though, that I have still a lot to learn about finishing surfaces! Tony