bruce d

Jim, I don't know how but your build log slipped past me. Brilliant work, I am watching from now on.

Alan, good luck on Friday, looking forward to seeing all those frames and blocks in a few weeks. And helm ports.

Hello Eugenio and a warm welcome to MSW

Careful with that watercolour: the NMM links it to 'Waterloo' which would make it the 1824 Bellerophon.

Pumps?

Hello Mitsuaki, I have not seen your log before, it is very impressive. I like the jigs, I will watch if you don't mind? Regards, Bruce

That is dedication. Well done.

Hello silverman834, I like what you have done with this obscure subject. I assume you have seen the two papers in this link: Regards, Bruce

From experience: under no circumstances breathe in the smoke or fumes. The smoke is HOT and I needed medical help after a similar accident occurred on the workbench right under my nose, burning my sinuses. Good warning, might save someone some pain.

Welcome to MSW, Daniel. There is a current build log for Polaris which you may have already seen, it could be useful. Bruce

Welcome to MSW, Patrick. Bohuslan looks like a good project, look forward to seeing your build log. Regards, Bruce

Hello Clark, before buying from CAF I contacted Tom via messages on this forum and he is extremely helpful. Even though I only ordered some of his smaller kits( like the longboat) he offered to help in any way once I start. I believe the website is 'work in progress' and he concentrates on kits. Looking forward to all these CAF builds! Bruce

Gerco, welcome to MSW

Thanks for the kind words. I try not to think of how immaculate your cutter looked at this stage compared to my build. I started with a plan and the issues I have had so far all stem from my choices of materials. I will tread carefully from now on. There is still a quarterdeck and cabin roof to do for Mediator and I have been playing around with some materials, dummy-ing up the parts in card to see if I can predict any issues with different thicknesses of materials. Heaven forbid I actually have to buy something.

Mediator is fighting me. I am winning, but it is important that I do not underestimate the ability of Mediator to lay an ambush. The new sub-deck pieces (see last post) have to bend in two planes to sit properly. They were made of an inferior plywood that appeared easily bent. A test run revealed splits in the surface and de-lamination after being bent and left overnight, so it was the end of the line for these bits. Fortunately I still had the original sub-deck pieces made of superior plywood. To get them to bend over the bulkheads (which was the reason I had rejected them) I cut a series of grooves in the underside to allow the stiff ply to bend. For some reason I imagined that the grooves were not needed right up to the edge where the two halves would meet. Stay tuned… To hold the two halves in their new shape while the Titebond worked required clamping. Due to the compound curves I needed to improvise something that would hold the centre edges straight, pull the width onto the curve of the deck across the tops of the bulkheads and keep whole kaboodle true to the sheer. These are the clamps I made from the type of small screw-in eyes used in picture hanging and 2.5mm eyelets: Pilot holes were pre-drilled in the deck pieces but not into the bulkheads in order to get the most out of the gripping power of the self-tapping threads. They were screwed in with fingertips. Started in the centre on the hull centre line and worked towards each end. Once that was done I improvised a hold-down clamp like this … … on the centre line until the whole line was tightened down. Then, a bit of force to pull the outer edge down. Lots of glue, worked quickly … … and let it sit for a day before unscrewing. The whole thing worked and was as solid as I could have hoped for, but the centre join line was proud where the ply had resisted bending. This was due to my bright idea of not cutting the grooves near that join. To be safe drove a few pins in before about half an hour with 80 grit sandpaper wrapped around a sanding sponge to fair the join. That's all for now.

Large clinker built cargo vessels from the late medieval period in Northern and Western Europe - The Mönchgut 92 wreck in context Master thesis Klara Fiedler Maritime Archaeology Programme University of Southern Denmark Large_clinker_built_cargo_vessels_from_t.pdf

Welcome to MSW Greg,

Hello Bob. I have had a ground steel 200mm engineers square that was out by a whole degree: it happens. Fortunately, that amount of 'slop' doesn't happen very often but it is wise to check carefully especially if buying budget tools.

Wonderful work, Doris.

Allan, I have seen the results of Alcad products on plastic and they can be verrrrrry convincing. Not used them myself, but a friend swears by them. https://www.alclad2-online.co.uk/product-category/finishes/

Shipbuilding Practice and Ship Design Methods From the Renaissance to the 18th Century MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Multi language, covers a lot of subjects: design, construction, launching, models (!), national styles etc. P245.pdf

Hello Daniele and welcome to MSW. I look forward to seeing your chosen subject and a build log.

Pretty sure it was Mariners Mirror 64 (1978), pp 349 - 60. HTH, Bruce

I will try to describe a method I used a long time ago. The idea is simple, it is just a case of whether you like the effect. I couldn’t produce raised lettering but it was easy to produce lightly embossed print and images. So I turned 'embossed' into 'raised' like this: (1) print what you want; (2) place it face down on a firm but slightly compressible surface such as a cutting matt; (3) trace the image/text from behind with a ball point pen or a stylus, pressing as hard as the paper will allow; (4) turn it over and admire your work. I got the best results by producing the text as a negative (white text on black field) and then printing this onto gold coloured paper. When embossed from behind the slightly raised effect of the text was quite convincing. The black background was then cut to shape and a coat of pale varnish sprayed on and the work of art was then CAREFULLY put in place with tweezers. It took a few attempts to learn how to handle the printed piece without the photocopied solid black area developing small cracks but this was using a toner printer, inkjet is probably more forgiving. Also, since my project was only needed for a particular occasion and it didn’t matter if the materials had a short life, I used gift wrapping paper. I suggest something more light-fast for a ‘keeper’ model. I see no reason why it would not work on paper with a woodgrain print as the background. Hope this helps. Bruce

In post #6 above I made the subdeck pieces out of some really nice modelling plywood. This turns out to have been a mistake. The subdeck pieces must bend to conform to the curve across the tops of the bulkheads and the plywood I used was just too stiff. Experiments with the offcuts proved that it would not work without excessive force and, rather than start trial and error bending with heat, it was just easier to remake them. A piece of inferior plywood was chosen as best for the job (didn’t think that would be part of the story) and the same process as before was used. I was able to simply use one of the existing subdeck pieces as a template for tracing the profile. Prising the two pieces apart. I love that 3M spray adhesive. Just sitting in place to get a feel for the next steps. This plywood will bend easily, should have used it to begin. I am still getting used to the look of the hull/bulkhead assembly with the spacers. It looks like something out of Barnwood Builders. However, I will have plenty of places to get a fixing for the subdeck pieces . Bruce