gjdale

Next up was a storage and charging station for some of my cordless tools. Another Brad Rodriguez design. Then it was back to the workbench. I decided I really needed some built-in storage under my main workbench. So I made an “original” design to fit four drawers and a cupboard. It was really hard to get in place to take a photo, but you’ll get the idea…. The drawer/cupboard unit has a space above it for storing my sharpening stones, shooting board, and bench hook. The drawers house some of my hand tools: chisels, gouges, auger bits, and planes. A recent addition to the workshop has been a small thickness planer, so of course it needed its own cabinet, so I made a repeat of the Drill Press cabinet for it: I needed somewhere to store an amazingly large collection of screws and other fasteners. I found some neat storage trays in the hardware store and made up some plywood housing for them, mounted again on the French Cleat system. And I needed somewhere for a growing collection of smaller clamps as well. Back in February, I attended a three-day workshop learning how to make Bandsaw Boxes. Here is a couple of photos of my first two boxes, made from Australian Red Cedar and completed during those three days: And here is my third, unfinished box, made from Huon Pine: It is ready for the drawer faces to be carved with finger-pulls. And finally, completed today, was this 3-d design end-grain cutting board for the kitchen. Design is by a Russian woodworker, whose website is MTMWood.com He does some amazing work and I purchased a copy of his plans/instructions for this. The finished board is about 530mm x 330mm x 50mm thick. Timbers used were Jarrah, Walnut and Rock Maple. The “client” is happy with the result… So, as you can see, while I may not have been building models, I have not been idle over the last eight months or so.... Now, back to modelling.........I hope..........

It’s been quite a while since I updated this log, so I thought I’d show you what has kept me out of the model shipyard for all of this time… It all started with a desire to sort out the storage arrangements in the “dirty” workshop – ie the garage, which has to do double duty as both workshop and home for two cars. Then a visit to the Timber and Working with Wood Show resulted in funding approval for a new table saw to assist with the modifications while retaining all 10 digits. Because of the need to retain the primary function of the garage (ie housing for cars), all cabinetry was made mobile so that the workshop could be configured “as required” for whatever the task at hand demanded. The first cab off the rank was storage for my ever-growing collection of “hobby” machinery. For this I made a 1.5m long cabinet that would house the Sherline Mill and Lathe on top. The design was from Brad Rodriguez at Fix-This-Build-That. Taking pictures now is a little awkward, but here is the overall cabinet with the Sherline Machines under their dust covers on top. In use, they can be either kept in place, or moved to another work surface: Inside the cabinet are two doors concealing two full-extension pull-out trays that house yet more machinery, and four drawers for all of the lathe and mill accessories, air-brush equipment, etc. The next thing I decided to make was an assembly table that would double as an outfeed table for the table saw. For this, I combined the plans/ideas from three different woodworkers. The top is a torsion box design by Ron Paulk in the USA. The frame is a design by Paul Sellers (UK), which is knock down design, and I added to that by putting 3” castors on the legs. Then I used an idea from Dave Stanton (Australia) to make the top similar to the Festool MFT table (only larger). The top is made from ¾” plywood. It’s about 1.5m long by about 900m wide. The cut-outs around the side panels serve to both reduce weight and provide handy temporary storage for tools as you go. The dog holes are laid out using the UJK Parf Guide system, which guarantees alignment and spacing. I also added T-Track around 3 edges. The top is sturdy, and although it is fairly heavy, I can lift it on and off the frame by myself with relative ease. Here is a view of the table top removed for storage. You can see the basic construction of the frame, and the locating slots for seating the table top securely. The aprons of the table are held together by half-lap joints and held securely by crucifix joints in the tops of the legs. Two stretcher/bearers are housed in dovetail joints to complete the frame. Here is a close-up of the crucifix joint on one leg during disassembly. Once completely disassembled, all of the frame components sit neatly on the extension wing of the table saw. The whole thing goes together in about one minute flat. Same for disassembly. Next up were a mobile timber storage cart and some mobile bases for both Drill Press and Spindle Sander. While I was at it, I made a table for the Drill Press. It’s a bit hard to tell in this photo, but yes, that is a timber storage cart full of, well, timber….. The Drill Press cabinet and the Spindle Sander cabinet are essentially identical, except that one has four drawers ,while the other has one drawer and a cupboard. The designs were based on more from Brad Rodriguez at Fix-This-Build-That. Next up, I really wanted some storage for finishes and other “stuff”. I based this on a design from Jay Bates. After I made it, I realised I needed a second one….. Also in the above photo you can see my large clamp rack (another Brad Rodriguez design) and a small storage rack for my Random Orbital Sander and various sand papers to go with it (also designed by Brad Rodriguez). All of the wall-mounted cabinets are mounted using a French Cleat system. This makes it really easy to move things around if you change your mind about placement of items as the cabinets are not fixed to the wall. More in the next post…..

Mike, I’m no expert on this and I’m sure there are others who can provide more/better advice, but my experience to date in cutting threads with a die led me to learn that the die (at least good quality dies) have an adjustment screw that sets the “depth” of cut. Basically, it forces the cutting jaws apart. If you start with the cutting jaws as open as possible, and take a light threading cut first, it will be much easier/faster. Then adjust the “depth” of cut and go over it again. Repeat until you have a thread running “just right”. Hope this helps.

...and what makes you think he doesn’t Andy? Seriously though, just wonderful, educational and inspirational work Ed.

Very nicely done on the deck there Bob.

Congratulations on another fine build Mike! Thanks for sharing your journey with us - it has been most interesting to follow.

Thanks very much Mike.

Very nicely done B.E. First class work, as always.

Yes, that’s correct Spider. I’m travelling for work at the moment, but will be home on Friday so can send it then for you.

Spider, If you send me a PM with your email address (don’t post it here), I’ll send you a copy of my riggging spreadsheet(s) that I developed for Victory. The other piece of advice I would offer is, if you haven’t already got it, then get yourself of copy of “Anatomy of Nelson’s Ships” by C. Nepean Longridge. This book is the “bible” for any Victory modeller and I found it invaluable - especially when it came to the rigging stage.

Danny, You obviously need one of these.

Spider, My best advice is to take all the string provided in the kit and throw it away. Then replace it all with quality scale rope from Syren Ship Model company: https://www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com/ Chuck’s rope is the best going. I used it nearly exclusively on my Victory (I’d already completed the Standing Rigging before Chuck started making and selling his).

Thanks for dropping by Guy. I’ll try and take some pictures of the cabinet work on the weekend. I’m almost done with garage workshop cabinet building, so may be able to get back to modelling again soon. Only problem is, the Admiral has presented me with a list of other projects she wants building now that I’ve had some practice.................

Great photography Daria! Looks like you’ve got the hang of using the file too.

Thank you for your kind words Spider. I’m glad my build log has been inspiring for you and I hope that it continues to give you help as you progress. I must note though, that my build would not have turned out nearly so well had it not been for the kindness and generosity of the good folks who make up this forum community.

Thanks for the heads-up Ben - wasn’t aware this was available. Just ordered one!

Looking good Mark. Is that a selfie in the last photo?

Looks like an interesting diversion Marcus. Think I’ll pull up a chair and follow along too.

Welcome to MSW from downunda, Spider. I’ve built this kit and it does make into a nice model with a substantial amount of kit bashing. You are correct in that the instructions will paint you into a corner. As Mark has said, the lower two rows of guns are duumies (barrels only). The problem is the top row (where you have a completely open gun port). The instructions invite you to insert the completed guns, with their carriages, through the gun ports from the outside. They won’t fit through the opening. The only real solution would be to remove the deck that sits above them and place the guns after completing the hull planking and before fitting that deck. The alternative would be to fit gunport lids to these gunports and display the model with these closed. As others have said, there are a number of build logs of this kit, and other versions, on the forum. Read through some of these, start a build log of your own, and ask as many questions as you can. There are no “dumb” questions here. Link to my own build log is in my signature below.

OK - I’m here now Danny - you may proceed. Looking forward to following another inspirational Dan Vadas build.

Congratulations Danny on yet another fine (and instructive) build.

Congratulations on a fine build Boyd. You can be justifiably proud!

Wonderfully well done Antony. Congratulations on a fine build.

Great work Daria. And I think you have captured a very good likeness of your Dad in your drawing!

I’m in! Always a pleasure to follow one of your builds Bob. I think you might have forgotten the photo though.....