gjdale

Thanks Brian, Lawrence, Keith, Remco, and Ben, and also all the "likes" - all of your comments and likes are very much appreciated. Brian - thanks for the recommend on the Bandsaw - it's a bloody beauty mate! Lawrence - the bandsaw is really nice, but I'd put the disc sander way ahead on the priority list. Save your pennies and buy yourself a Byrnes disc sander - it's a lovely piece of machinery and a joy to use. Keith - the small scale is a real challenge. I appreciate your comments, but I'm really looking forward to working with something in a bit larger scale! Remco - nice to see you back. You are of course one of those responsible for the growing tool collection! Ben - the dust extraction system is fantastic. I don't know how I managed for so long without one. The real bonus is that it's both a lot quieter in operation, and a lot easier to switch between machines, than I had anticipated. The scroll saw is not a dewalt, but an Excalibur, purchased through Carbatec here in Australia. It too is a real beauty and is proving to be worth every cent I paid for it (definitely NOT cheap!). One of it's key features is that instead of the table tilting, the entire headstock tilts, enabling an angled cut while maintaining a level cutting surface (more on that later). So, with thankyou's done, it's time for an update............next post.

Just lovely Sherry.

You could always invest in a Thickness sander from Jim Bynes Same fantastic quality as his other tools. Perhaps not applicable in all situations, but worth thinking about.

Just beautiful Alexandru!

Johann, It is somehow re-assuring to know that even a master craftsman like yourself makes an occasional mistake! Thanks for sharing this with us.

Very well done Mike. Those oars look great.

It is indeed smashing stuff Nigel. Here's another phrase for you: it looks as flash as a rat with a gold tooth!

Lookin' good Sjors. I'm not even going to comment on cotton balls vs real ones..................

Lovely work Mark.

Lovely work Joachim!

Fantastic work, as always Bob. Great foresight and planning with the main lower yard sheets too - that really is smart thinking.

So, from full time work, to retirement, to working on a production line eh Mark?................ Can't wait to see what rolls off the end of the line!

Welcome home Danny. Another lovely little piece to celebrate your homecoming! BTW, great job you're doing on that del prado Vic up at the van too.

Fabulous Rusty - just superb. Well done, Sir!

Fantastic work Nigel. Can't wait to see the "new" timber put to work.

Welcome home Augie. I trust you won the battle with the great outdoors. Nice to see you back in the shipyard, even if the "summer schedule" means slower progress.......

Just beautiful work Albert!

Very nicely done Mike. She looks fabulous.

Thanks John, Keith, Mark and Daniel. Keith the scroll saw blade in the pics is a 28 TPI skip tooth blade and it seems to work okay for this. I've got some 46 TPI spiral blades (that cut in any direction) but have found these very difficult to control in the past. I may give them another go for this as some of the smaller frames have REALLY tight curves. I also had a look at Ron's work in his Oneida log, having spotted the reference in your own log earlier today - some might fine work there, but oh to be working at 1:48 instead of 1:90! Next time........ Mark - yes, rest assured the new tools have more to do with future builds than ships boats. Daniel - nice to see you back. Always a pleasure to see you here - you were one of the first to encourage me to do better. So, in a way, it's all your fault!

Sorry John, Our posts must have crossed in the ether. Don't have a final tally time on Victory yet - she's not actually finished yet - but we're now at 18 years and counting) thank goodness I haven't been counting hours! As for what's next, you'll just have to wait and see, but the dark side is definitely involved........

Okay, so I've been mulling over methods for constructing the remaining ships boats. My launch came out pretty well, but there were some aspects to that method that weren't the greatest (in my opinion). I thought about using the method that Chuck does for his Longboat and Pinnace kits, and as copied very successfully at 1:64 scale by Blue Ensign in his Pegasus build log. I was concerned that scaling down to 1:90 would make this method a little too risky. So, I went back to my Warrior Practicum (Romero) and reviewed the alternative methods described there. I have decided to test one of these, and if successful, will use it for both Pinnace and Cutter builds. At 1:90 scale, the 28' Pinnace will be 95mm long, while the 25' Cutters will be 85mm long. Romero provides plans at both 1:64 and 1:96 scale, so I adjusted the 1:96 scale to suit my needs. As he focuses on the 1:64 scale, he provides only occasional reference to dimensions for the 1:96 scale and in fact suggests using the same thickness frames in both scales. Unfortunately, the drawings don't agree with that approach, so further thinking about stock size was required. In the end, this is what I have come up with. The keel/deadwood will be a total of 1/16" thick, but will be made by laminating two pieces of 1/32" stock at 90 degrees to provide greater structural stability/strength. This will allow me to cut the keel and stem in one piece. Frames will be a total of 1/32" thick, again made by laminating two pieces of 1/64" stock. I ran a test on the frames today, using some boxwood. The inside of the frame pattern was cut CAREFULLY and SLOWLY on the scroll saw (hence the need for the zero clearance top). It was then cleaned up by hand with a couple of files. The inner piece was then re-inserted and temporarily glued in place. Once dry, the outside of the frame was shaped using the Brynes disc sander. The inner piece was then re-separated using a dab of isopropyl alcohol: And here is the finished test frame - about 1/32" thick in all dimensions (that's less than 1mm for the metric only folks ): The inner piece is important as it will be glued to a construction board to provide backing support while planking the boat. Conclusion: It works! The frame appears to be relatively strong. Onwards to production - only 20 frames per boat and three boats to do....................

Hi folks, Thanks again for all the additional kind words and "likes". I've spent the last couple of days thinking about and preparing for some ship's boat builds, and in doing some preparation/mods to some tools. First up - the tools. I finally got around to setting up the new toys properly. Here is the Bandsaw (it's a 10" model from Carbatec): Having never owned (or used) a Bandsaw before, the instructions for setting it up were.........let's just say they make some European ship model kit instructions look good! However, through another woodworking forum, I came across a video of a guy named Alex Snodgrass demonstrating at a woodworking show how to set up a bandsaw correctly. Having watched the video a couple of times and taken notes during the second viewing, I applied his instructions step by step and in no time I had the saw setup and running perfectly. If you want to see this video, just search for Alex Snodgrass in YouTube - it really is worth watching. Next up was the Dust Collection system. Similar deal with the instructions, but managed to work it out by myself. I opted for the 2 micron pleated filter upgrade (standard is 5 micron), which was a real bear to fit, but we got there in the end. It comes with a standard 4-inch fitting, and I also bought a range of adaptors which enables me to connect virtually all of my dust-making machines, including all the Byrnes machines. Next up - a mod to the Byrnes saw. I've been thinking about the issue of ripping thin stock and the rear of the blade binding against the cut strip and either stopping the saw, or throwing the strip back - neither of which is good news! The most common fix for this appears to be to offset the rear of the fence to allow some clearance, and in fact this was the advice from Jeff Hayes at Hobbymill. I know that Jeff uses this method very successfully, but I have found it to be both fiddly and somewhat unreliable (could be just me). Anyway, I got to thinking and came up with the thought that if I were to add another guide to the inside of the tall fence, but that stopped around the mid point of the blade, then that should provide the necessary clearance at the rear of the blade to prevent binding. I ran this idea past Jeff and he said he thought it should work. I bought some 3mm thick aluminium bar stock (25mm wide to match the height of the tall fence), drilled and tapped the high fence and secured my fence mod. Sounds easy, but I managed to break three drill taps in the process - don't know if that was just my ineptitude in using the taps, or what......... In the photo you can see some empty holes at the end of the fence mod. That is because behind these lie the broken off drill taps - I decided that two screws would have to do in the end. I haven't tested it yet, but I'm confident that it will work. (Famous last words!). Final tool mod was to create a "zero clearance" table top for my scroll saw. This was very simply done using a piece of 3mm MDF, cutting to shape around the existing table top, and drilling a small hole for the blade. It is simply clamped in place on the table top. This one I have tested, and it works fine. In the next post, I'll talk about my tests for small boat frames..........

Thanks for posting the extra info on your sled Mark. I'll be making one of these up for myself very soon now. Your photos and comments will be invaluable.

Very nicely done Mark.

All hail the King! Long live King Sjors!