bruce d

Michael, no straight answer from me but is this any help?

Chronos have very good aftersales service.

Thanks Mike, keel update soon. If it is of interest, here is the link to the thicknesser used for the tapering: HTH Bruce

Depends what you want to do with the saw. Chop off saws are good at, well ... chopping off. The Proxxon FET saw ... https://www.chronos.ltd.uk/product/proxxon-fet-table-saw-240v-210576/ ... is pretty good at most small tasks that suit a conventional saw-table. I have one, it is consistent and once you get used to the fence and mitre seems well suited to a modellers typical needs. It also of course can chop off wood using the sliding mitre. You will undoubtedly hear that the best saw on earth is a Byrnes saw: I am sure this is true. Sadly I do not have one so can only say that so far I have been satisfied with the Proxxon. HTH

Welcome to MSW

Always looking for problems solved by others before I come to them in my build. Good luck and maybe you could ask if the numbers relate to some linen industry standard? That seems to be the case but I'm guessing.

Hello Mike, I think this fits the description ... https://www.linladan.com/products/the-flax-flower-hemstitch-yarn?variant=21884453748841 ... for the 874 but no sign of the 870. HTH

Hello Slowhand, just looked properly at your log for the first time. A very interesting subject and the way you are keeping your cool while navigating the what-scale-is-it-today game is admirable. I will follow along if you don't mind? BTW, my Scheppach bandsaw only had one weak spot: the tyre wear which never made sense. The UK after-sales support was always first class. I have now upgraded to a Metabo BAS261 simply because I needed to do some bigger stuff.

You are my hero.

I love MSW. It has yet again made me think. So here is my question. If two pieces of wood are to be glued together, and one of the surfaces has been painted with acrylic paint, which glue gives the best result? Part two of the question: what if one surface has paper glued to it? (big hint: scarf joints, edges of planking)

By following this suggestion you will find the results of your wood, your glue and your sanding/scraping materials. All three affect the outcome and you may find that you just don't like carrying out a particular process despite liking the results other builders have produced. I sympathise, and a few experiments with the scrap wood from your kit will tell you a lot.

I admit when I got the first one I was wary of this but (maybe luck) mine stay put unless given a good wallop.

My workshop has absolutely no floor space left so I couldn't use an easel as intended. The solution was a piece of 1mm steel sheet from the local blacksmith (£5) screwed to the wall above the workbench. It is big enough to take A1 size plans and magnets do all the work. For what it is worth, I have a policy of never putting shelves above a workbench (ask me how I know what can go wrong... ) and am very pleased with this arrangement now that it is in place. The picture below was taken immediately before beggining work on my Mediator and I assure you the bench does not look so clear now but the wall is unaffected by events below. A new trick I discovered: a short steel ruler is now always stuck on the plan with magnets, always there when I look for it. Also, the small LED lights with magnetic bases originally for use on the mill and bandsaw are very handy to attach in any position above the workbench so I am ordering a further one, a bit bigger. HTH, Bruce

Sometimes the obvious needs to be said. Your way makes so much more sense than my 'take-the-paper-to-the-plank' attempts. Thanks, Bruce

Allan, I have been fiddling around with paper and so far I am making a mess of it. I really like the results others have achieved with paper and hoped it would pop up in this thread. Is there a description somewhere of how to get it right? Thanks, Bruce

Welcome to MSW, looking forward to the Bounty.

Welcome to MSW!

Can I help? Got the gear.

Many thanks Ryland, I will try harder in the future.

I goofed and put my Mediator scratch-build log in the 'kits' forum. If there is a way for it to be moved by me I have not found it. Can you correct my mistake please? Thanks, Bruce

All shaping and fettling of the keel, stem and sternpost is done now before gluing the bulkheads in place. For the ‘1/4 inch material’ specified for these components, I am using cherry. Starting at the sharp end, the components are a stempost comprising three pieces. Probably due to the circular shape of the finished item, the stem gracefully butts to the keel without either deadwood or rising wood. Close examination of the NMM plan reveals nothing to contradict this so, again, my compliments to Jeff Straud for unravelling this aspect of the plan. The keel: the height tapers from thick at the fore end to less at the stern. I also will model the taper fore and aft of the width although it is drawn with parallel sidings. A false keel is fitted and it’s depth is provided for in the shape of the stem where the two meet. The sternpost is one piece and straight with a taper. The finished keel will have a single scarf joint, a taper in height from the stem to the stern, and a taper in width at each end. I think I know how I am going to tackle this combination of angles but will take stock when it is on the workbench. For the record, the plans as drawn do not include the taper in width. This is my take on practice of the time. I cut an overlong piece of cherry 6mm x 11mm on the bandsaw and spent a couple of minutes sanding it to a smooth finish. Before any shaping or trimming to length, first comes the keel’s scarf joint. I cut it at approximately the right spot and milled the two pieces simultaneously. The result seems acceptable. . Here is the glued scarf after sanding. I hope it will not be a weak spot considering the handling and fettling needed for all those angles I just mentioned. I used a dab of acrylic paint in the PVA glue and it worked but I had hoped for a more crisp line to the join. To taper the length of the keel piece I needed a jig. The taper was achieved by removing material from both top and bottom faces of the keel piece. The stern is about 4.5mm thicker than the stem and, by my laboured calculations, the new top and bottom edges would pass through the butts of the scarf at the correct spot to leave a scale-correct appearance. I spent a few tense minutes lining up a straightedge to test the theory and eventually relaxed. A piece of steel strip a bit longer than the workpiece was the starting point. It had straight, parallel sides with a clean, un-nicked edge. Double sided tape was placed along one edge. The long keel-piece was laid carefully in place with the unwanted material overhanging the edge and pressed into the sticky tape. Next, I took this little ensemble to my home-brewed thicknesser which was already set up to match exactly the width of the steel strip. The right-hand edge of the steel travels along the fence, the left just barely touches the rotating drum: the material hanging over the edge is removed. With one side down and one to go I was pathetically pleased to see the new edge passed through the butt end of the scarf exactly where it should. After carefully prising away the keel (mind the scarf!) I left the tape on the steel. After marking the other side of the keel piece and mounting it as before, re-using the same tape, I ran it through. It worked. The emphasis was more on getting two straight lines rather than a smooth finish as neither face will be visible, only the sides. Key to success: running the drum at high speed. I used 3500 rpm.

Good grief, I dozed off on that one. Thanks! Mods, help please? Or can I do it myself?

The deck planking of Mediator is laid on top of a sub-deck: the main and quarter decks are each drawn as mirrored images and the four pieces that make them up are cut from thin plywood. Each is notched to accept the bulwarks extending upward from the bulkheads. There are no instructions but I saw an opportunity here to ensure the sides were symmetrical by cutting the two pieces in one operation. In some vague sense I also felt this symmetry would pay off when it came time to deal with the top timbers. Cutting thin ply is no hardship on the bandsaw with a good blade but there is always some degree of tear-out unless precautions are taken. Bringing the pieces to be cut tightly together and mounting them on a sacrificial plank greatly increases the odds of success. I started with the main deck pieces. Double sided tape is used to first attach the workpieces face-to-face. Next the plan was glued to the top piece of ply, aligned to the edge. … and the assembly screwed to the plank. It looks like overkill but with all those notches to cut the possibility of ‘chatter’ is high unless these steps are taken. Cutting proceeds very slowly. The outline shape is cut first, the waste part of the plank is now discarded. The notches can now be cut easily. After cutting was complete, I unscrewed the workpiece and carefully prised apart the ply deck pieces.

Getting the plans unstuck from the former was pure misery. The spray adhesive was a cheapo from a bargain store and in some places dried rock solid: I will not be using it again. Next gripe: the supposedly straight line at the bottom of the former where the keel attaches had an inexplicable curve in it. It was only a tiny bit but it would prevent the keel piece from sitting properly so it had to go. A sanding jig was improvised by temporarily fixing the former on a steel plate (a base for a small lathe) and lining up the bowed edge of the former with the straight edge of the plate. 80 grit sandpaper screwed to a square stick and run along edge, which is also known to be square, produced the straight 90 degree edge I needed. Straight line achieved.

Thanks Druxey, I am always looking for the traps and tripwires. I don't expect to see them all but I spotted this one!