Dr PR

For what it is worth, block sizes were determined by the size of the lines running through them. So if you know what size lines you are using you can figure the proper block size. When looking at historic information on line sizes remember that the dimension given is the circumference of the rope. However some more modern books, especially ship modelling books, refer to the diameter of the line. Zu Mondfeld's "Historic Ship Models" has a table of block sizes based upon line diameter on page 242. You can probably find the same information somewhere on line.

I have made additional bulkheads by tracing the two bulkheads on either side of the gap, one on top of the other, and then just sketching in lines for a new bulkhead between the to trace lines. This is just an approximation so I allow a little extra width that will be sanded away during fairing. Or you could just copy the wider bulkhead and remove the excess material during fairing. Use the technique of holding (I use rubber bands) a wood strip (like a hull plank) along the length of the hull and noting places that it is "proud" (sticks up too high). Sand these high places until the wood strip curves over the new bulkhead without a high spot - a smooth curve along the hull.

I am modelling a small schooner and I was wondering what "necessaries" they might have had. Most deck plans leave off the heads and other deck furniture, so the lack of heads doesn't mean the ship didn't have them. I think in most cases we will never know for sure unless we find an accurate model that shows the features. I did start a thread about schooner heads that has a bit more discussion if you are interested: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/29060-schooner-heads-1700s-through-1800s/?do=findComment&comment=829120

ZB, Thanks for the information about tacking the gaff topsails. I was wondering how it was done. There as been some discussion and different ideas on other threads, but the videos you posted show the process nicely.

Bob, Thanks for the comments about shellac's shelf life. I have wondered if this was just rumor. I have seen other posts from folks who have used containers of shellac that have been around for many years. Like you said, I suspect that solvent evaporation is the most serious problem, and that is easily solved by adding more ethanol. And cheap ethanol is easy to find. It is sold as 95% denatured alcohol fuel for stoves, with 5% methanol to discourage it from being ingested.

Looking great, as always! That Jackyard topsail is huge! I read in John Leather's Gaff Rig Handbook that the jackyard evolved as a means of getting around some type rules for racing. It allowed the area of the spar gaff topsail to be expanded greatly without violating the rules as written. He said some jackyard topsails had greater area than the main sail! You would have to be quick handling those things if a sudden squall blew up. It is a beautiful model!

There are other threads on the forum discussion seats of ease. Someone posted a link to the attached thesis on the subject. Seats of Ease Simmons-MA1985.pdf

I have started experimenting with shellac and I like working with it. I have both a spray can (wasteful) and flakes, both clear and dewaxed. It seals the wood nicely with a mat or satin finish that I like, and it doesn't stink. I have also painted over it with acrylics with good success. One caution about shellac. After it is mixed it has a limited shelf life of only a few months. That is why many modellers get the flakes and mix them in alcohol (95% ethanol, available cheap as a fuel) when needed. Allow a day or two for the flakes to dissolve completely. There are extensive discussions about shellac and how to mix and use it on the Forum.

I have used lead bearing solders for at least 60 years, with no "toxic" effects. Lead is toxic if you eat it - as with the early lead soldered metal food containers. And it is toxic if you drink it - as with water delivered in lead pipes or copper pipes with lead solder joints. But you have to eat or drink a lot of it. Just momentarily handling lead solders is not hazardous. Soldering does not produce hazardous lead vapors. Maybe if you handled lead or soldered for hours daily for years you might suffer toxic effects. But occasional hobby work is not going to cause problems. I do like to have adequate ventilation to remove the smoke and fumes from the fluxes used with soldering. They are probably more "dangerous" than the lead. And it is a good idea to wash your hands with soap after handling soldered pieces because brass, copper, tin and lead are all metals with possible toxic side effects. The problem with lead solders is that objects carrying lead soldered parts (electronics circuit boards, etc.) are/were being disposed of in city dumps where the lead can leach out into the water table. This is why lead bearing solders have been banned, not because they pose a direct hazard to people using them to solder things.

I have a 15 star/15 stripe flag (replica) that I was presented as part of a War of 1812 celebration at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park in Buffalo, NY. A note that came with it said the flag was used May 1, 1795, through July 3, 1818. This would have been on Lake Erie and that area. The flag was 3x5 (actually 60 x 34 inches).

Capella, The motor control (fan control) you listed should work, but note that it is for brush type motors only and not brushless motors. But all the drills I have seen have brushes, especially the cheaper drills. Also, it is rated at 15 Amps and that is good enough for any motorized device that has a cord to plug into a wall socket on an ordinary household 3 prong 15 Amp 120 Volt AC circuit.

Electric motors are inductive loads - like electromagnets. These do some peculiar things (a non-engineering explanation) to the driving AC current. Light dimmers usually use a solid state switch called triac or silicon controlled rectifier (SCR). Operation of these devices is very dependent upon the characteristics of the AC current - as delivered by the AC power line - and are designed to drive resistive loads like light bulbs that don't mess with the characteristics of the current. If you try to drive a motor with a dimmer the results may be unpredictable and/or the dimmer may go up in a puff of smoke. The motor may overheat, and the dimmer may emit a lot of RF noise that interferes with television, radio and cell phones. There are some fairly inexpensive variable speed AC motor controllers that you can just plug the drill into without cutting the cord. Then you can plug these motor controllers into an off the shelf AC foot switch to interrupt power to the controller to stop the drill. And these things are wired correctly and UL/CSA approved so they won't burn your house down. I have an old (1980s) Dremel motor controller and foot switch I use to control AC motors.

Bob brings up an interesting point about "collector items." Some collectors prefer the dirt and grime be intact as an indication of the item's age. They say you ruin the value if you clean an old object. Other people prefer a shiny clean piece. You should just do what you like and not try to follow other people's rules. Personally, as a microbiologist, I find the idea of using saliva to "clean" things disgusting. To me something that has been spit on is just filthy! If you do try using a solvent (water, soap and water, alcohol, etc.) be careful. Those old paints might dissolve in the wash. So try it on an unexposed place first if you can find one.

You can find small multi-strand wire in jewelry supplies in hobby stores. I have some Beadalon brand 7 strand at 0.012", (0.30 mm) 0.015" (0.38 mm) and 0.018" (0.46 mm) diameter. I also have some nylon coated Cable Strand Corp. Acculon brand 3 strand at 0.012" (0.30 mm) diameter.

The Prince was a pretty ship. I'll be interested in seeing how you do on this. I understand the "ordinary" part. I am slowly completing a model that sat unfinished for at least 30 years.

George, Very nice. I am following this with interest. I have worked out a preliminary belaying plan for my topsail schooner build, but I am not happy with the belaying point plan I have for the fore mast. Too many lines are crowded onto fife rails around the base of the fore mast. I have been considering a belaying pin ring or cleats around the mast to take the running ends of some of the tackles. Also I could use cleats on the shrouds for lines that do not have much strain on them when sails are set (clew lines bunt lines).

Thanks to everyone for contributing to this discussion! There is a lot of good information here!

Ras, Valeriy is the Professor, I am the student.

Valeriy, Thanks. I did notice that you plated some parts with copper before nickle plating, and wondered if that was to get a more uniform nickle plating. But the real solution is to just be careful with the soldering. Using a minimum amount of solder helps, and a good liquid flux (I like citrus based fluxes) helps promote solder flow between pieces. I also have a resistance soldering machine and have experimented some with it. It has the advantage that heat is generated at the contact/solder point, reducing heating of adjacent parts and previous solder joints.

Valeriy, Thanks. I have used some rouges for polishing but I was interested in how you do it. Your results are beautiful! I have also puzzled over what to do when a bit of solder flows over visible areas on brass parts. The tin in the solder dissolves into the brass leaving a tin colored stain. Careful positioning of the solder areas to inside or non-visible places helps, but sometimes a visible solder fillet is necessary. Blackening and other coloring agents don't work evenly over these exposed high tin areas. But it seems you solve this problem by nickle plating the parts. The plating covers the brass and solder areas evenly. Looks like I will have to set up plating equipment. I already have power supplies and I was an undergraduate chemistry major so that part will be simple.

I will be happy to share any information I have on the blueprints, weapons, radars, directors and such. However the CAD model is in DesignCAD file format and the files are not compatible with other software, and I don't intend to spend more years trying to translate them. I do have a few STL files that I can share. These are from my 3D printing experiments. You can contact me by personal message on this Forum or through my contact page on my Okieboat web site: https://www.okieboat.com/Contact page.html

Ras, Thank you. That project turned out to be a very deep rabbit hole and it took me about 14 years to find my way out again! In addition to the blueprints from the Archives I had hundreds of photos I took on the ship and hundreds more that other OK City sailors sent me (plus tech manuals for the equipment, etc., etc.). I originally posted the CAD model build on the DesignCAD Forum (for the CAD program I use) over the 14 year period. That is where I first met Valeriy - a friend of his in Ukraine was building a model of the ship using the pictures I posted on the DesignCAD forum and he contacted me. I still want to build a 1:96 scale model of the USS Oklahoma City CLG-5, but right now I don't have the space or tools to do so. I started on one in 2005 but stopped when I realized I didn't have enough information to do a good job. So I dove down the rabbit hole. You can see some photos of that early attempt here: https://www.okieboat.com/Ship model page.html I had planned to use styrene and Plexiglas for the main structural parts and brass for the details. Recently I have obtained a 3D printer and have been experimenting with that, but it just isn't good enough (too fragile and too much pixelation/jaggies) for what I want to do at 1:96 scale. And I have seen Valeriy's work (and Kieth Aug and others on the Ship Model Forum) and that has raised the bar for what I would like to achieve. Now I am planning a workshop addition to my garage so I will have a place to work, and accumulate the tools needed to do good work. But don't hold your breath. It may be years before I resume work on the real model.

Valeriy, I just spent the day re-reading your log from start to here to refresh my memory of your building techniques. I wanted to see how you get such beautiful finishes on your metal parts. You said you used Zapon varnish on the brass parts, and you nickle plate a lot of the metal. How do you polish the metal before paining or plating it? Does the metal plating just naturally produce a smooth shiny surface?

There was also a Black Pearl yacht in Newport, Rhode Island back in the 1960s.

More good ideas! Thanks! Steve, I will have a contractor do the main work and that will have to go through the city engineering department for permits, etc. What I have drawn is just a conceptual drawing. The city's inspectors are pretty thorough. Insulation is important. We rarely get down to freezing here, and rarely over 90F in the summer, so it is pretty mild. But the uninsulated garage gets down into the high 30sF (~4C) in winter and into the 90sF (~35C) in summer. So I'll need good insulation to make the space usable year round, and for the benefit of the machine tools. I had not thought of insulation beneath the concrete floor. I have never seen that used here. It might compress and allow the concrete to break. I'll see what the contractors recommend. I think I recall reading in our building codes that at least one window is required since this will be an "occupied" space (as opposed to closets and such). Having a flow of fresh air when it is nice outside will be good.