tom q vaxy

3 hours ago, Chuck Seiler said:

For what it's worth, I would never use basswood for anything but filler.  . . . 

would sitka spruce be okay for a paint finish?

National Balsa is having a (approximately) 30% off sale - Sitka Spruce Sticks – National Balsa

5 hours ago, allanyed said:

I contacted Model Expo and asked what kind of wood this is. Caveat emptor       

  I wrote:

 

Is this boxwood buxus sempervirens (English boxwood) or calycophyllum multiflorum (Castello)? If not, can you please let me know what species it is? Thank you kindly for your help.

 

Their reply is below:

 

Message

It is yellow in color. Other than that, I do not know.

we all want "honesty in advertising"

in my naivete, i was falling to the trend of artisanal woods.

for the most part, i'll probably use basswood and render some exotic incantation as i work with it.

it will make me feel special, anyway.

desk is beautiful

sobering advice; thank you.

i have a fair selection of tools from 54 years in the residential construction field.

(when i ate meat) i would once in a while go to a restaurant and order "a steak." just 45 minutes of gastronomic indulgence; i didn't want the server to explain all the parts of a cow to me.

sort of in that situation now. i do my "retired" projects for free & pay, but for myself i want to save some energy to play.

i did entertain getting a Bryne saw before Mr B passed away, and perhaps may still end up there. but to get more stuff to schlep to the 'end of the road' yardsale isn't my first approach.

like the finish steps regardless of how i proceed. Zinsser products are a favorite 'go-to'.

i use their amber shellac over yellow newbaum cotton cloth handlebar tape on my bicycle and get plenty of "ooohs & aaahs" on my daily rides. 

thanks again for the perspective.

amazingly generous offer; thank you.

but i'm 1,500 miles north!

thanks for the information.

i'm not a ship modeler (boo - hiss!!!) but a railroad modeler (NOT a model railroader - there's a difference) and want to put some framed structures together in 1:12 scale, so my sizes are finite and limited to common dimensional lumber, i.e.,  2"x 4", x 6", 8" - you get the picture.

i'm on the northeast coast, USA, and have used a couple of the resources in post #1, page #1, of this thread.

it was getting a bit overwhelming & frustrating to go from site to site without knowing which species i should focus on.

thanks for the help,

sid

is there a species of wood which has tight grain, accepts paint well, and readily available in a variety of sizes?

my first guess would be pear, second bass, but guesses are key.

i am going to end up painting grain & character knots, but am finding styrene strips for a large scale (1:12) project unavailable.

thanks.

i've had a few chances to use them on styrene and i do not regret the investment.

currently working on getting my 1:1 workshop projects far enough along i can squirrel some marine grade plywood for bases.

as a loose tool, they take a 3rd hand to hold steady during use.

i'm considering this package:   Ultimate Precision Tools Package: Sander, Repeater & Slicer by Ultimation Modeling Tools

i mostly build with styrene and i believe anything powered will turn the styrene to, uh, melted styrene.

with the chopping tool, i see the sanders as a necessary evil. compound angles would not be the norm, and anything which would require could be jigged.

as David Pye mentioned in his book The Nature of Art and Workmanship,* there's the workmanship of risk, and the workmanship of certainty.

* The Nature and Art of Workmanship: Pye, David, Shales, Ezra: 9780713689310: Amazon.com: Books

thank you for posting that M.

that's too bad. 64 is not old.

i'm willing to bet the majority of serious hobbyists are north of 50. i bade farewell to 70 this year.

RIP JB

7 hours ago, Gregory said:

I had the Microlux/Micromark saw before I acquired the FET , and I'm pretty sure the Proxxon wasn't available at the time, over 20 years ago. 

I would suspect that Proxxon looked at the Microlux and refined it a bit.  They may have even had some kind of collaboration going on.

 

P.S.

Just saw somewhere that the Proxxon and Microlux are made in the same factory in Japan,  so I believe they probably share some components. 

so you found them both a fairly acceptable tool?

so .... if Byrnes fails to open, take it off the table for now, is there a #2 saw that will perform? not perfectly, universal opinion points to the seemingly unobtainium for the immediate, but adequate no one will have angina over using it?

is Proxon or Micro-Mark acceptable if talked about in hushed voices? i find it hard to believe the future of the hobby clings on one man's hiatus.

Q: any long term effects of adding flow aid & thinner to a bottle of paint vs using it at the time of painting?



several sources of decanting odd shaped bottles into a consistent 17ml dropper bottle suggest using the above additives in order to facilitate transferring and it runs contradictory to what i have always been lead to believe.

https://youtu.be/p_OR2ZeMKNU?si=nGD50H7SgLnuEm-h

On 8/11/2023 at 10:47 AM, alross2 said:

This will provide you with all you need:  The Boat that Won the War: An Illustrated History of the Higgins LCVP  by Charles C. Roberts  | Sep 1, 2017  

this is now checked out from my local library and i can readily see it working its way into my reference library.

some links to items i have found (don't believe they have been mentioned above) & might be helpful to others:

Higgins Boat LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) (militaryfactory.com)

LCVP Higgins Boat (robertsarmory.com)

LCVP (United States) - Wikipedia    - embarrassingly i never think to check wikipedia even though most of my searches end up there!

gadzooks; fish in a barrel indeed!

interesting (LCS drawings). i did not realize the lineage and simply assumed all boats had the drop down unloading ramp.

thanks for the responses. got my homework cut out for me!

is there a source for the classic Higgins boat plans. larger the better, and then i can have the local printshop make them 1:12 scale.

thanks