gjdale

Bummer John. Hope tomorrow goes better for you. Perhaps that nine year old was right after all!

Ah! Real timber from Jeff at Hobby Mill. There is no hope for you now my friend! Whether you realise it or not, you are now an addict. Yup, his stuff really is that good! May as well give in now and succumb to the lure of the Darkside......Bwahahah!

Thanks Mick, Yes the trip was wonderful. We were quite fortunate with the weather - only had a little bit of "Scotch Mist"

You are most welcome Kevin, I hope it meets your needs.

Thanks Augie, Mark, Aldo and John. As directed by certain senior officers, I returned to the shipyard today and re-commenced block production. I had previously made batches of 1/4" and 3/16" single blocks, bedding down techniques on these larger sizes before tackling the smaller ones. Today I made a batch of 5/32" (approx. 4mm) and made a start on some 1/8" (approx. 3mm). It was about a third of the way through the 5/32" batch that I had a major "aha!" moment, or as some might say, a BGO (Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious). The BGO came as I was thinking about the drill-press component of the process. As you know for previous posts and Chuck's description of the overall method, the blocks are made from "gangs" of stock strip that are shaped on one end first on the mill, half shaped at the second end, then drilled with two holes, then retuned to the mill for the final end shaping and parting off from the gang. The mill process is quick and easy. It takes a little fiddling to get the set-up right to start with, but once done it remains set for the entire production run for that size of block. Until now, the slow part of the process has been the drill press as the fence has to be re-set for the second set of holes with each row from the gang. This is not only time consuming, but also a source of inconsistency in hole placement as it is very difficult to re-set the fence in exactly the same place each time. Then it hit me! If I set the fence for the holes at one end of the block, and then inserted an appropriately sized spacer against the fence, I could then drill the second set of holes without moving the fence. And of course, this would mean that the fence would be set only once for the entire production run, saving time and providing consistency of hole placement. As it happened, the required spacing was exactly the thickness of a blank piece of stock for that sized block - not sure if that was just a coincidence, or if there is some mathematical logic behind it, but it worked. I'd say this "discovery" has increased my production rate by about threefold, at least, and has also significantly reduced a frustration factor! The not-so-good news is that I think I will have to re-make the stock for the 1/8" blocks. I did the set-up and a couple of trial runs late this afternoon, and it appears that the groove I cut for the sheave holes is too deep. This weakens the side walls to the point that there is a lot of breakage when run through the mill. Chuck did warn about this in his original posts, and I've just learned it first hand. It's not a big deal, just a small amount of wastage and a bit of extra time to prepare the new stock. A job for next weekend me thinks.

This looks to be an interesting build. I have the book by Gib McArdle and will be very interested to see the model built up from his plans.

Great picture John, looks you all had a wonderful time together.

Congratulations on your promotion LCDR Mobbsie! You are in serious danger of joining the Windbags table very soon!!!

Nice to see you back at your Victory Rosemarie. I look forward to seeing more progress over the coming months.

Congratulations on completing a fine build Meredith. Well done.

Almost there Sjors! And then you can do it all over again on Il Defenso!

Nice work on the chains and boats Mobbsie. Looks like you'll be amongst the rigging very soon.

Nice Andy. I did a similar thing with my futtock staves but used bamboo instead of wire. The wire will certainly be stronger at that thickness, so I'll add this to my play book too! Safe travels and best of luck with the leave plans.

She certainly is coming together nicely Augie. Interesting to read your comments on your approach to gluing the false deck - that makes quite some sense to me.

Nice to see you back at it Remco. I've missed your beautiful work. I wonder what miniature challenges we can throw your way again.......

Thanks for the welcome home Danny, John and Mobbsie. Finally got home at lunchtime today - a bit knackered after the flights, but pleased to be home again after a wonderful holiday. One of the highlights of this trip for me, and one which will stay with me for a very long time, was the opportunity to get together with Mobbsie and Christine, and Sjors and Anja. I look forward to many more Skype chats with you all and of course I would love the chance to return the hospitality if you make it down under. In the meantime, after a further day of rest, work will recommence in the shipyard on Monday (long weekend here - how's that for planning?! )

Hong Kong was just a 24hr stopover to break up the flight. Georgina (the Admiral) slept for 12 hours straight when we got there, so we didn't even venture outside of the hotel on this visit! Finally made it back to Oz at 7:30am this morning, landing in Sydney after a nine hour flight from HK. Then we stood in a queue for an hour and a half just to transfer to the domestic terminal for our final one hour flight home to Canberra. I feel embarrassed for all the visitors to this country who are met with this sort of inefficiency the moment they set foot here! Still have an hour to kill before our connecting flight, so a perfect opportunity to catch up with the forum. Augie - the US is in our sights for another trip in a few years time (once the bank balance recovers from this one!) I'll look forward to some good old US hospitality then.

Congratulations on your promotion Captain John! Come join us at the windbags' table. It's not quite as windy as at the flag officers' table with Sjors, but we make up for that in numbers.

John, I think Augie meant, whatever you're smoking, he'd like a kilo of it! And yeah what Sjors said.

Racing along now Sjors - not long before you're onto the yards and running rigging. Looking good my friend. (Sent from Hong Kong airport, awaiting our final flight home).

You can order directly from Model Expo in the US, who produce this kit, but you will still be up for a hefty postage bill - a problem regularly faced by we Antipodeans. If you buy from Model Expo when the kit is "on sale" (quite regularly), the savings on the kit price might offset the cost of postage. That's the approach I take anyway. I note that Cornwall Model Boats in the UK do carry a limited range of the Model Shipways kits - you might try asking them to get one in for you, but I don't know how that will affect the price. Hope this helps.

Lovely work Len - she looks a treat!

Great work on the frames Rusty - she sure is big at this scale!

Hi Bob, I just have to echo everyone else's comments and say well done under difficult circumstances. I hope you reach fairer winds and calmer seas soon.

Congratulations Robbyn on reaching this major milestone - it's a mixture of satisfaction and relief to get to this point isn't it? You've met and overcome quite a few challenges to get to this point, so you should also be feeling very proud of yourself too! Despite the poor kit instructions, don't rush the next part with yards and running rigging. Take your time and think it through, and it will all come together for you. You've already proved your ability to do this, and do it well. I hope you find a new dog soon - they are such wonderful companions, regardless of breed. As Mark says though, sometimes the "right" time happens without us knowing it.