grsjax

A battle cruiser is a battleship with less armor. The idea is that it could outrun anything it couldn't fight and beat anything it couldn't outrun. Jutland sort of ended this idea although it stuck around until WWII. An armored cruiser is just that, a cruiser with more armor. Originally there were light cruisers, protected cruisers and armored cruisers. Light cruisers were essentially large destroyers used for scouting and screening the fleet. Protected cruisers were heavier but did not have much armor, the protection was from placing the coal bunkers and water tanks around the machinery and other vulnerable spaces. The armored cruisers were armed much like the protected cruisers but had heavier armor. Protected cruisers were used like big gunboats, show the flag missions, isolated postings with limited possibility of encountering a heavily armed enemy and as flag ships for detached squadrons. Armored cruisers worked with the fleet. This is just a quick view of a subject that is really pretty complex. The history of warship design from the 1870s up to WWII has many examples of ships that do not fall into any defined catagory but are lumped in with catch all groups like "protected cruiser". An interesting thing is the last of the battle cruisers were the USS Alaska and USS Guam. The were designed as flag ships for fast carrier squadrons and combined fleets. They were launched in1944. The Navy called them large cruisers but their designation was CB (battle cruiser) and they match the original idea of what a battle cruiser was. Both were laid up in 1947 and scraped in 1960.

Koa is a beautiful strongly figured wood that is mostly brown. However the color can vary between light brown to deep red/brown. Cypress and mahogany are probably to coarse grained to give the right look at a smaller scale. You might want to consider a finer grained wood and use a dilute mahogany stain to get the color right. the harder types of basswood or poplar might be good choices or possibly birch. Another way would be to use koa (it is available mail order from Kamuela Woods in Waimea, Hawaii). The grain would still be to coarse but the use of the original wood would look really cool.

My personal experience is that using a sanding sealer prevents the grain from lifting during sanding resulting in a better surface. I haven't any problems with the finish as a result but I generally use a water based sealer with water based finishes.

"But not one single photo from "the doctor", this is, what I still miss for the build. Regards Gerhard" Couldn't find any drawings or "the doctor" but there are several good pictures of these engines on the web. They appear to be relatively simple single cylinder walking beam engines.

There is a publication put out by the National Park Service that details the salvage and reconstruction of the Cairo. It includes several sheets of detailed plans. It was published in March 1981. I found a copy on the net but can't find the link at the moment. A google search for "Cairo historic reconstruction report" should turn it up. Hope this helps.

If you can get a hollow ground planer blade for your table saw you can cut very thin planks with it. Finish on the planks should be usable with little or no sanding.

Ran across a model kit manufacture that I hadn't seen before. Turk Model has some interesting looking kits. Anyone had any experience with these kits?

Have you considered using a small plane? Make a cradle that will hold the strip with the edge to be planed facing up. Use a very sharp blade and make small cuts until you have the surface you want.

Anyone have any experiance with this company? Ran across a solid hull model of the Schooner Bluenose by this company and wondered if it is a good kit or something I should pass up?

A problem with using a fret saw is putting to much pressure on the blade when sawing. I try to let the blade do the work with as little extra pressure as I can get away with.

The original double hull canoes were carved from huge Koa wood logs. I believe the Hokule'a was actually built using plywood and fiberglass. However to build an authentic Hawaiian canoe the hulls should be carved. That said if you are going to paint the hulls it would be simpler to build using frames and strips and no one would know the difference.

I was having problems with sawdust build up on the wheels of my 14" bandsaw. I looked around for a add on wheel brush to solve the problem but the ones offered by various outlets just didn't seem adequate. A Google search brought up this article. http://lumberjocks.com/projects/19465 Great idea to use an old toothbrush as a wheel brush. Cheap and easy, my favorite two words.

Depends on what you think is difficult. A small scale three masted ship may not cause as much difficulty as a large scale open boat with a wealth of detailed structure and fittings. Take a look at Model Shipway's whaleboat kit and compare it to Amati's 1:177 (think that is the right scale) HMS Bounty as an example. The larger the scale the more detail is needed. Of course for a whaleboat and Bounty built at the same scale the latter is going to be more complicated. All in the eye of the builder.

Picked up a Delta replacement spring for $9.50. Took about 5 min to swap out the old one. Cheap and easy fix.

No the band saw is to old to be under warranty. The spring didn't break it just got shorter. I have seen this before but only in light weight springs. Could be a bad spring but I am not going to worry about it. Cheap and easy enough to fix.

Put a new blade on my 14" Delta clone and had problems getting the tension right. I would get it setup and start cutting and the blade tension would loosen. After going through everything I found the problem. The blade tension spring had failed and would not keep the blade tight. I was kind of surprised because I always loosen the tension when I am done and the spring is a pretty hefty one. The springs cost about $10 and are easy to replace. Lesson learned is to check your bandsaw over regularly with particular attention paid to things like springs that can fail.

Elmer's WoodFiller. Easy to work with. Goes on blue and turns white when it is dry.

They may be fair leads for some of the running rigging. A side view or detail view would shed more light on the subject.

4 to 5 inches.

Here is a picture of a piece of the wood. I think this is sap wood which is lighter than the heart wood. Still very wet so could change color as it dries. It planes easily.

I picked up a load of avocado wood today. Anyone have any experience using it in model building? According to the internet it works much like birch or big leaf maple. Color looks to be a light to medium brown. Haven't cut it into boards yet so don't know how the grain is going to look.

These are the articles I was referring to. If you can't find them in the on-line store at the NRG website email the journal and ask if they are available. Ronnberg, Erik A.R.: The Albatros - Swallow Reconstruction. Nautical Research Journal Vol. 29, Bethesda, 1983. pp 90-92, ill. Ronnberg, Erik A.R. Jr: Albatros - Swallow - Postscript. Nautical Research Journal Vol. 29, Bethesda, 1983. pp 133-135, ill. Gillmer, Thomas C.: Albatros - Swallow, Additional Comments. Nautical Research Journal Vol. 29, Bethesda, 1983. pp 136.

Read "The Baltimore Clipper" by Howard Chapelle for a wealth of info on the design and construction of these ships. Be forwarned that the Harvey is not a real ship and in some ways doesn't really represent a Baltimore Clipper. There are also some excellent articles in back issues of the NRG journal (vol 29:91) on this very subject. I think they were in the mid '80s but you can check the NRJ index.

I have DesignCad 3D v21 which is made by the same company. Works very well.

Good question. I have never tried to wet sand wood filler.