FriedClams

Extremely nice work John! Coming together very nicely. Gary

I have a dry quirky sense of humor Michael - I was just ribbing you about the screw slot orientation discussion. Gary

Nice re-do on the cabinet woodwork Michael, and they are beautiful just as I knew they would be. Very interesting discussion on the making of scale hinges, but aren't the screw slots supposed to be horizontal? Gary

Nice work on those plinths Keith and the completed bollards look great. I enjoy seeing your clever work methods and jigs to produce these small identical parts and the shroud brackets are another example of this. Great stuff. Gary

Very nice work on that outer planking Jim. It looks great and I'm sure it will sand/smooth up wonderfully. You may have to re-think painting it - a polished walnut surface would be beautiful. You're going after this model like it was your 30th build, not your 3rd. Impressive, keep it going! Gary

Thank you Johann and Hubert for visiting and the for kind comments. And as always, thanks to all for the likes and stopping by. Trawl Winch Continued Work on the trawl winch has been intermittent and slow, but here’s where it stands. Some of the materials for the main section of the winch are shown below. The round disks that will make up the drum reels were cut from .02” styrene sheet using a paper circle cutter. The two hand wheels are 1:87 boxcar brake wheels injection molded in Delrin. I decided to change the position of the bull gear from where I had it originally drawn. The gear has been moved from the end of the shaft to the center and now has a drum reel on either side. I did this after additional research convinced me this was by far the most common configuration of double drum winches regardless of time period. Once this fact penetrated my skull, I changed the drawings accordingly as shown below. The drawing below describes how the drum reels are assembled. I used solvent and CA gel to put these reels together - solvent when the pieces could be dry fit and gel where the parts were placed freehand and a brief window for position adjustment was needed. The shift ring slot will be cut later on. The base frame is made from six pieces of styrene “I” beams. Cutting templates are drawn and the pieces cut. The base frame construction is simple. The frame is simple, but placing and riveting the corner angle iron plates was time consuming. I didn’t have any injection molded rivets that were small enough for this application, but the detail is easy to simulate. A rivet in the 3/4" diameter range was needed, so I heat stretch some plastic sprue frame to the diameter required. I hold the piece of sprue over a flame and when the middle begins to slump, I pull it apart (stretch it) to a fine thread. Somewhere along the length of the stretch will be the diameter I need and a one-inch section is found that calipers at .015". Monofilament fishing line also works great for things like this if the right diameter is in your tackle box. The angle iron (and "I” beam) is styrene strip material from Evergreen. This structural shape material is a real time-saver if one of their available dimensions matches what you need. Here I’m using angle that is .060" (1.5mm) per side. That scales to 2.88" in 1:48 and is close enough to the 3" I was looking for. Now it’s just a matter of drilling holes into the angle iron, gluing the end of my stretched plastic into the hole and trimming it with a slight reveal sticking out. I use a piece of brass shim stock as a height gauge to trim them off. I could round over the heads with fine grit paper - but my sanity is more important. Some rivets were placed along the upper I-beams. Bolts and plate washers hold the base frame to the deck. Pillow block bearings are made from copper tube and .010" styrene. There are two layers of styrene, one under the bearing and another wrapped over the top. The main shaft is .070” diameter brass rod. In my parts stash I found this white metal gear. It is about the correct diameter and thickness for the bull gear so I’m going to use it as such. I cleaned it up and drilled out the hole for the shaft. The lower portion didn’t cast very well and is missing teeth, but I’ll rotate that to where it won’t be seen. A drum reel disc is shown as a relative size comparison. A section of angle iron will be bolted to the I-beam base to support brackets for the brake wheels and clutch engage levers. The brackets are made from .020” x .040" styrene. The clutch lever bracket gussets are .010” material. I’ve started on the clutch levers and yokes, but there is still a lot left to do - brake pads, pinion shaft, main winch head, frame and sheet metal guard for the auxiliary winch head, etc. And of course, the coloring and weathering. Thanks for stopping by. Gary

Very nice Jean-Paul, she is coming along great. Clean work on the hull and the treenail simulation is very convincing. Gary

Really sweet work on those shock absorbers Keith - attach a gold chain and sell them as jewelry. Thanks for showing us your work process. Always such an interesting log read. Gary

Ouch! I’m surprised the backing sheet method didn’t work out as it seemed like a solid approach. The maple will certainly be beautiful and at least the design is already worked out. I agree. A few years back I bought a set of cabinet scrapers and the finish from them is so clean and the wood seems to have added depth. If you make a 1:8 sterling silver tea set - I’m going to throw away all my modeling stuff. Beautiful work Michael and a great build log. Gary

Nice job on the hand rails and the bridge walkway Kevin. She is looking great. Congratulations on your retirement - I wish you a happy and healthy one. Gary

Beautiful work G.L. - and I echo the statements of others on the boats’ authentic appearance. The model looks absolutely real. Wonderful choice of woods and color tone. Sweet work! Gary

From modeling to fixing a leak in your engine oil pan - J-B Weld has a solution. Very nice bow decoration Boris - excellent delicate work. The ship is beautiful and progressing nicely. Thanks for sharing it with us. Gary

A nice process for producing the frames G.L. and very clearly explained. With all the frames now placed, the shape of a graceful craft suddenly appears. Very nice work. Gary

Beautiful work Johann. I've been following along on your progress and find your attention to every detail inspirational. The wrap of every rope and the precise and elegant shape of every piece of hardware is so exacting and perfectly to scale. And thank you for taking the time to show us how you do it. Bravo! Gary

It looks smart to me Kees and the results are excellent. A beautiful model - an informative log. I will be watching for future updates. Gary