Jaxboat

Hi Bob

Love your build! You mentioned you were on your last bottle of Polyscale. I am not the craftsman that you are but I do know a little about paint. Micromark is now selling water based paints that color match the old Polyscale paints. The new range is private labeled for them by Vallejo, a Spanish company. These paints have excellent flow and leveling for water base paints. They can be brushed or sprayed with excellent results.  I doubt we ever see water based paints that perform as well as the best solvent borne paints because water is a lousy solvent with way too much surface tension. However, Vallejo and others (e.g., Tamiya) have made huge strides in WB paint performance. You might want to experiment

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Jaxboat

Has a site been announced for next year, yet?

Jaxboat

Hi Druxey,

Love this discussion. White lead carbonate was used in house paints (exterior) as late as the early 70s. It had the advantage of resisting mildew. However, it turned grey if exposed to sulfur fumes H₂S, SO₂. This was a common problem in Southern US regions near wet lands (PC term for swamps). I would expect a similar situation in any marine environment. Red lead (minion) is Pb₃O_4.  PbO is Yellow lead oxide. Bizarrely, PbO is still used widely in the US for painting lateral delineators on roads. In the case of Victory, perhaps some of the lead oxide was off spec and had a touch of red lead in it. Even a tiny amount would effect how certain people would perceive the color. Kind of bazaar, though. I can't envision Nelson fighting Trafalgar on a pink Victory/Victoria

Jaxboat

Great to see the Model collection at least in pictures. Mystic had many of these on display in earlier years. Not sure why they keep them out of sight.

Best Jaxboat

I did a little research on "Milk Paint". The binder is casein which, indeed, does come from milk. Many of the pigments they use were indeed available during the great age of sail. (iron oxides).  Ultramarine is a synthetic version of Lapis Lazuli which was used in blue paint but was extremely expensive until the synthetic version was accidentally discovered in the 19th. Chrome oxide green was not available until mid 19th century, All of the pigments I saw listed were inorganic and very color stable under normal UV and temp conditions.  Best aspect of these paints is their total lack of toxicity. I would be somewhat concerned about their durability from a UV exposure and moisture resistance standpoint.

Jaxboat

Hi Druxey

Does the heating process permanently soften the blade or do you have to complete the filing while the blade is hot?

The Confederacy is a much better bet. It is a beautiful kit. It still suffer from terrible castings like the Essex which is no fault of the designers. Chuck Passaro's company (Syren) sells a resin cast figure head and beautiful cannon replacements. Enjoy

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Jaxboat

Hi Stefan,

Check the date for the parts list. If it is recent, then the kit is the new version. The same holds true for the Instructions print date. The ship's plans were not updated to the best on my knowledge. Be aware that the laser cut parts were improved substantially and now fit but the metal castings remain awful.

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Jaxboat

HI Greg,

I can testify that dye spills are a disaster!  The dye seems to have near zero surface tension. In my case, it flowed through the cap (tightened)  when I accidentally knocked over the bottle and did not notice it had fallen over. What a mess . Since dyes have no solids like paint and do not form a film I know of no reason that you could not use the same adhesives on dyed pieces as you would on undyed pieces. My clumsiness is legendary so I have switched back to paint out of fear!   Still, there is no denying the dye has a wonderful degree of "jetness" that is hard to obtain with paint.

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Jaxboat

It gives an excellent jet black appearance but is very difficult to keep from getting all over things where you don't want it. It's best to apply the dye to parts before you assemble them.

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Jaxboat

Just ordered Revenge. There is a special pre order price. Have other projects underway but could not help myself as I have been fascinated by this new kit since I first heard of it

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Jaxboati

RE: Fatty acids. Yes fatty acids would have less acidity than Muriatic acid because the acid group's effect would be diluted (COOH in chem speak) by the long fatty carbon chain. For example Tall Oil fatty acid (the word "tall" in this context has nothing to do with height) is a derivative of pine trees. It is the active ingredient in Murphy's oil soap and is a C18 fatty acid.

Druxey raised my curiosity about beeswax with his comments on conservators wax. I was selling beeswax and its derivatives into the personal care industry at the time. I confirmed all of Druxey's comments with a beeswax/wax expert. Beeswax is a natural product with a very broad range of chemical substances many of which are not "wax".  In the long term, beeswax does become slightly acidic. Do not know what the time frame is for the pH effect to occur.  Microcrystalline wax is a 100% hydrocarbon based wax with no acid components either as supplied or upon aging. There are different grades of MC wax based on melting point range. I don't remember what the range is for the conservators wax.

There are also different grades of beeswax also, depending if it was bleached to reduce color or distilled to increase melting point. If I was looking to finish a model with wax, I think I would choose carnauba, a plant based natural wax. It is harder than beeswax. For those of a certain age, you might remember Du Pont's Simonize Car Wax. It was almost all carnauba wax with just a touch of a hydrocarbon solvent to make it workable. "Wax on, Wax off", grasshopper .

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Jaxboat

PS: OCD Chemist peeve - you "dissolve" wax into turps, not melt. You can "melt" wax with the proper application of heat

What an interesting subject you have chosen to model, Nils. I look forward to following your build log.

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Jaxboat

OMG, Vince. I think you are right about the diversion. Also how many tree will this take ? Great Idea though. Love your work. This beastie is on my to do list. Your work is an inspiration!!

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Jaxboat

HI Bill,

I was able to secure Essex replacement parts from ME very quickly once they were available (that was another story). A couple of suggestions: if you bought the kit directly from ME include your date of purchase and order number, call directly to find out what the issue is.

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Jaxboat

HI Dave,

I did not like it at all. I apply glue from a syringe device and I could not fill the reservoir easily with the stuff. To get the no run no drip viscometrics of No-run No drip you would have to have some kind of additive. Don't get me wrong, Titebond has an excellent product line. I would just use one of their conventional flow PVAs if it were me. Surprised about your comments about Weldbond. Isn't it a PVA too?

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Jaxboat

ME is either laughable or sad or both in their inability to carefully proof instructions or even labels for their kits. My Mark one Essex kit label said it was solid hull. Obviously, someone printed off a label from their old Essex kit . They use reputable,

talented designers then totally screw up on execution. I just don't understand them.

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Jaxboat

Bob,

you might want to check with Admiralty. They sell a PE Lantern but not sure the scale is correct

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Jaxboat

Thanks Bill and Bob!

Jax

Received correction package from ME. I made my request along the lines of what Terry said he received. The new laser cut parts look to be a real step up from the stuff I originally received and weren't made from "mystery" wood. I also received a new instruction book. I did not ask fro new plan sheets. Can anyone comment if I should have? While I appreciate MEs supplying the new parts, I would like to respectfully point out that they could have saved a lot of angst (and expense) if they had built a second prototype out of production parts to catch any problems BEFORE they shipped out the early kits.

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Jaxboat

Interesting idea, Druxey. I think it would be relatively easy to design the right casting wax. You need precise melting, flow and set

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Jaxboat

MDF gives off formaldehyde. It would be trivial from the amount in a model ship. However, I would not want to laser cut the material without a substantial fume removal system. 

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Jaxboat

Hi Terry,

Very encouraging. Did you have to enumerate what you needed or did ME offer a standard list?

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Jaxboat

Based on comments here and the obvious availability of the kits now on ME's website, ME is finally shipping backorders. I wonder when they will make replacement parts available to early purchasers. I note that they have the new instructions on their site but not the parts list. Has anyone obtained corrected bulk heads? This whole situation is very annoying

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Jaxboat