bruce d

I have had my own experience with Ebay sellers and, with respect, I believe it is very possible that Ebay knows something you don't. The clues are: (A) They stepped in because of 'issues' with the seller's account, not because you asked for help. This indicates prior activity had alerted them. (B) It was immediately after a sale that bypassed all buyers safeguards at the request of the seller. (C) The seller is not raising hell. (D) The item was sold across international lines at a below market-value price and for a sum that many people would not consider worth fighting over. All these points can of course be explained away, and the seller may be as pure as glacier water, but the pattern is there. Look at it this way. If you cancel the payment (if there is still time) and the item arrives, just pay him again and apologise. You have his bank details, he has your contact details, and you will no doubt both blame Ebay for the confusion. On the other hand, if it doesn't arrive and Ebay were in fact acting in good faith by trying to warn you, don't hold your breath. HTH Bruce

Revisiting the subject. This paper gives specific examples, use SEARCH for 'tar'. (The pdf was renamed for my own storage, the original title is " THE STRUCTURES OF ENGLISH WOODEN SHIPS ") HTH Bruce TAR in keel construction.pdf

I walked around a few of the big timber stores (UK versions of HOME DEPOT) with a micrometer and all the '6mm' ply on the shelves was between 5.6 and 5.85mm in thickness except for, surprisingly, a batch of smaller sized sheets at HOMEBASE which came out at 6.35mm. No expalnation for the different thickness of the smaller sheets as the store staff had no access to any information. Possibly a luthier suppler such as TIMBERLINE could help. Since I am scratchbuilding I can get away with these dimensions but I discovered something recently that might be useful: I busted up an old desk and the drawers in it had ply bottoms. They were spot-on 6mm, and seemed to be better quality than anything currently on the shelves. The desk was at least 50 years old and probably made from 'nominal 1/4 inch' imperial plywood so do some tests before attacking the Admiral's favorite bedside table. HTH Bruce

Found this, thought anyone interested in 17th -early 18th century French rigging may find this useful. Title = "LA BELLE: RIGGING IN THE DAYS OF THE SPRITSAIL TOPMAST, A RECONSTRUCTION OF A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY SHIP’S RIG A Thesis by CATHARINE LEIGH INBODY CORDER" Corder-MA2007.pdf

Hello and welcome from the UK. See post #5 above, Mark has pointed you to Rule Number 1: Glad to have you aboard.

Welcome to MSW, glad to have you aboard.

Edward, First let me say that the opinion of more experienced builders should carry more weight than mine, but as we are in the same position I feel qualified to speak. I too am in the early stages of my first scratchbuild and tackled the same headache. To complicate matters, I have a perfectly good Hegner scrollsaw and always assumed that I would get a bit of practice and then breeze through the bulkheads and other bits. Short version: no, I didn't breeze through the job. It was clear that the 6mm ply I was cutting, despite all expectations, was simply not cutting cleanly. Each bulkhead I cut took ages and still needed a lot of time to clean up on a disc sander and with hand tools. Then I got a bandsaw and have not looked back. I still clean up after cutting the bulkheads on the bandsaw but it is a a minor amount compared to the early scrollsaw process. Provided the right blade and intelligent methods of holding the stock are used you should be happy. I also cut other woods and get very nice cut edges requiring little further work provided the right blade is used. My saw is a Scheppach, the smallest they make: https://www.screwfix.com/p/scheppach-hbs20-80mm-electric-bandsaw-240v/96071 The comments by Jaager (quoted above) most closely reflect my experience. I hope this helps, everybody is different and I again point out that there are some very experienced people posting here but the bandsaw solved the problem for me. HTH Bruce

Mark, it is worth looking at posts #5 and 22 in this thread: HTH Bruce

I second what maturin said. Well done.

Richard, that tool is now on my favorites bar, many thanks. Quick comment for others that may stumble as I did: if entering 'English Feet/Inches', the way to success is enter feet and then inches, even if it is 'zero inches'. I am sure a tech-savvy child would have seen that coming but it fooled me on the first attempts. Nice one. Bruce

Oh yes, several specialist items available but this PH Minus product is cheaper, available off the shelf (in some places) and works. I found it was sold in sizes from 100g upwards as well so that is useful. I have used a model railroaders blackening product from CARRS MODELLING PRODUCTS in the past will get some of this PH Minus before long for comparison, will let everyone know what happens. Has anyone here already used it and can comment?

Thanks Greg, very impressive. The Sparex seems to be an important part of the success and I can't find a UK source (yet) for that product. However, it turns out Sparex is sodium metabisulphate: the stuff sold under the brand-name 'PH Minus' which is added to the swill in a hot-tub is the same material and is used by jewellers as a pickle. It is available from several suppliers. HTH Bruce

Yes please Dirk, I am interested in some other non-digitised items and will be happy to see how you get on before contacting them.

It is D2394, sadly not digitised. See these index entries, it appears all are under the same (D2394) reference: Hope this helps. Bruce

Dubz, maybe you already know this, but in the Dansk archive there is an English cutter named 'SHERBORN'. This would not come up in a search for 'SHERBOURNE'. Also, I am looking for a description for drawing F207 you posted above, will let you know if I find anything.

Having worked with both thick and thin copper I would be very surprised to find any professional driving a nail through a plate of that material. You drill a hole first, to a clearance that allows the fastener to just enter without binding: the head of the nail/rivet/screw does the work of holding things in place. I doubt if the dockyards of 19th century thought differently but would be interested if anyone knows better? EDIT: Bob posted his comprehensive comment above while I was writing mine.

Great start mtbediz. The bulkheads and filler look solid as a rock. Can you tell us if you are using existing plans or your own drawing? And the scale? Bruce

Got a good example to illustrate the point. I use copper self-adhesive tape around flower-pots to protect plants from slugs (it works very well: the slugs don't like crossing copper). Three years ago I did a pathetic job of putting on one of the bands of tape but left it anyway. See photo below. The bare copper side has patina, the glued side is still bright. I did nothing to the tape after installation and why the exposed sticky side didn't get covered in muck is a riddle, but the picture shows how even the glue coating protects and preserves the bright finish despite spending years on a patio. As far as I know, none of the contributors plan on subjecting their models to the same environment as my tomato plants but you get the point.

Chris, take comfort in the fact that you are still in the Beautiful South. Perhaps a bit more time this year to watch the autumn colours?

The tiller on some ships had waterproofing cloth that was coated with tar. I do not know the name of the material but tarred flannel sounds good for the job.

Welcome to MSW. It is a fine place to share and gather information, full of helpful people. Looks like a good start on your build, will you start a build log? Bruce

Kudin, thanks for that lesson. I have used ordinary nuts to convert square to round in the past but that does not work if you want leave part of it square, only if to turn down the entire length. With your die method I see you can do the ends and finish with a tidy square face. Good stuff.

Ignore my question, Kurt has the better solution for you.

Hi Kevin, is it an external motor?

Hello Frank, There are several reasons for confusion concerning the details of PICKLE, the biggest being that there were two ships in the same waters with the name at the same time. But you have certainly already found this, so here is my path through the maze: Ignore Wikipedia. The current entry cites refs of the Naval Chronicle which are the source of the confusion between the two ships, not the solution. Rely on the painting ‘The Victory of Trafalgar’ by Robert Dodd. There is little doubt that it was created under the direct guidance of Commander John Lapenotiere in the days after his arrival in London in November 1805. It shows a ship pierced for fourteen guns (also a distinctive application of the Nelson Stripe). The Naval Chronicle Vol 10, page 257 describes Pickle leaving Plymouth as ‘… the Pickle, of 14 guns, Lieutenant Lafontaine [sic]’. Ignore the PICKLE replica ship. A close up from the Dodd painting: Also, as an observation, she is described in various sources as ‘… of eight guns...’ or just ‘… six guns’. This may reflect the number of guns carried at a particular date but is different from what you and I are looking for: how many guns she was pierced for. I am treating my Pickle as a fourteen gun, gaff-rigged Bermuda schooner. She will be mounting four 12lb carronades; two boats, a cutter and a jolly; a coppered hull and two stripes. For what it is worth, the book ‘HMS PICKLE, The Swiftest Ship in Nelson’s Trafalgar Fleet’ by Peter Hore is my main source. It is based on Hore’s own research (which he is quick to correct when shown contrary facts) and that of the late Derek Allen. The muddle in the Admiralty records in London arising from two Pickles operating simultaneously is patiently unravelled. I have read a lot of the Pickle logs and related files at The National Archives in London and have found nothing that contradicts the account given in the book. Let me know if you want to pick over any details and compare notes. HTH Bruce