grsjax

Take a look at Model Shipways Bounty Launch and their Willie Bennett Skipjack kits.  Both are large scale and have fairly simple rigging.

This is a chunk of Black Mesquite. I love Mesquite in my BBQ pit and now I'm going to see how much I like it on my modeling bench. I have an upcoming build and want to use this for my keel, sternpost, stempost, deadwood and rising wood components. It's some hard stuff for sure. It's going to give my tools a good workout, offering lots of sharpening opportunities in my future! 😬
 
   

I used to use wood from a guava tree.  It's pretty much like apple wood;  good to work with and no grain.   

I have previously posted about interesting wood that I have found/harvested here in Hawaii.  I am always looking to find new material for making parts.
I was wondering if anyone else does the same in their areas.
Please post info about unusual, strange or down right weird wood you have incorporated into a model.
 
To start things off I will mention two woods I have used.
Citrus x latifolia - 'Tahitian' lime This is the citrus tree not the Lime or Basswood common in models.  Nice hard, tight grained wood with a faint yellow color.
Hibiscus schizopetalus - 'Chandelier' Hibiscus This is a rather unusual ornamental plant that has bright red flowers that hang down and form a kind of lacey ball.  Wasn't expecting this to be usable wood.  However I dried a few pieces and found that the wood was fairly hard.  The wood is light tan in color and carves easily.

Wonder if they are going to release a set of drawings of the boat?

I have previously posted about interesting wood that I have found/harvested here in Hawaii.  I am always looking to find new material for making parts.
I was wondering if anyone else does the same in their areas.
Please post info about unusual, strange or down right weird wood you have incorporated into a model.
 
To start things off I will mention two woods I have used.
Citrus x latifolia - 'Tahitian' lime This is the citrus tree not the Lime or Basswood common in models.  Nice hard, tight grained wood with a faint yellow color.
Hibiscus schizopetalus - 'Chandelier' Hibiscus This is a rather unusual ornamental plant that has bright red flowers that hang down and form a kind of lacey ball.  Wasn't expecting this to be usable wood.  However I dried a few pieces and found that the wood was fairly hard.  The wood is light tan in color and carves easily.

I have previously posted about interesting wood that I have found/harvested here in Hawaii.  I am always looking to find new material for making parts.
I was wondering if anyone else does the same in their areas.
Please post info about unusual, strange or down right weird wood you have incorporated into a model.
 
To start things off I will mention two woods I have used.
Citrus x latifolia - 'Tahitian' lime This is the citrus tree not the Lime or Basswood common in models.  Nice hard, tight grained wood with a faint yellow color.
Hibiscus schizopetalus - 'Chandelier' Hibiscus This is a rather unusual ornamental plant that has bright red flowers that hang down and form a kind of lacey ball.  Wasn't expecting this to be usable wood.  However I dried a few pieces and found that the wood was fairly hard.  The wood is light tan in color and carves easily.

Scale wetness? It is a ship after all ...

Could you run some clear Matt finish over it once it’s rigged on the model?
that would cut the sheen.

This photo is just a support of my advocacy for shiny ropes. At the end ship model is always an artistic representation of a real ship. 
 
 

The polyester ropes I make at Ropes of Scale are a bit shiny. It's only really noticeable on the black and dark brown ropes. I've noticed that it helps make the details pop even in low lighting, so I'd personally leave them as is.
 
 Brushing the ropes down with matt varnish after rigging is an option. In the picture, you see unvarnished ropes on the right and varnished ones on the left. 

Actually the inevitable very fine dust that will settle on your model and rigging should make that barely noticeable.   It wont remain shiny at all for long.   😉
 
Chuck

My opinion is the rope shine just adds the beauty to the model. Just IMHO. 

Hi, folks.
 
Consider this a gentle reminder about our forum guidelines regarding signatures:
 

 
We have some members whose signatures are getting very lengthy indeed! This is not something that our small staff wishes to spend hours ruthlessly purging, so we are counting on the members to kindly self-moderate.
 
Thanks for your cooperation!
 
P.S. If a member wishes to see every topic a member has created, they can easily do so by going to the member's profile page and clicking the "see my activity" button. The results can be filtered for 'posts' (i.e., all posts) or just 'topics'.
 

I have revived this build. Now being 93 years old I am not liking not doing building. I find my dexterity is failing but I'm not giving up.  I have started adding the deck furniture.  This is where I am at this point.

Those following my HMS Wolf card model build may be wondering where I disappeared to. So this is what I've been doing for the past couple months.  A couple years ago, I bought a Mantua/Sergal Sovereign of the Seas kit, unstarted, at an estate sale. I guess the sellers were so happy to move the kit that they threw in a partially started Amati Prince (yes, the rare, and huge Amati Prince in the wooden box), and this partially completed Yacht Mary.
 



Having recently completed Woody Joe's Charles Royal Yacht, and having so enjoying modeling a royal yacht, I was interested in working on this new acquisition. But, the model left my possession for another modeler to work on. But, over time, I thought about how the original builder, a Mr. Richard Fletcher who lived up near Placerville, CA, was building this as a wedding present. I didn't know the man or the details of who it was supposed to be fore, but I didn't know that the builder's widow really wanted to know that her late husband's models were being continued.
 
Later on, finding out that the modeler I had passed this onto was turning into some random fantasy ship, I decided to try to rescue it, with the intent of finishing the model and presenting it back to the Mr. Fletcher's widow. So, with my new plans, I managed to get the model back, and start working on it.
 
My intent is not to make a perfect model of the Mary, nor a perfect model of a Dutch yacht. Rather, it's to essentially take Richard Fletcher's work and to continue the model to completion without changing too much. That's not to say I would avoid ANY "corrections" to the build, but mostly to avoid changing the nature of the model more than I need to.
 
While I don't have any photos of the model after it came back into my possession, I did have to clean up some alterations that were done to it, such as the removal of a "poop deck" railing that was installed for the fantasy model, and a couple other minor things that had been broken since I saw it last. Aside from that, I noticed the original builder had some trouble with a few things and left a big gap just between the transom and the gallery windows casting. So, I did a few small modifications to make the model look better. 
 
By the way, I've always been interested in modeling the Yacht Mary, and even have an unstarted, original Mamoli kit, which gave me access to the original, full-sized kit plans, which I found helpful. I think my interest in the model dates back to seeing the late Jean Eckert's build in the old Seaways' Ships in Scale magazine. She, by the way, started and ran the South Bay Model Shipwrights club that I'm a member of still today.

 
I'll post a series of photos later to show the progress to date. I'm hoping to complete the model by June. So, this will not be a long and detailed build log. Mostly just wanted to be able to share about the work.
 
Note: I will be getting back to my HMS Wolf build shortly!
 
 

In the past I've concentrated my builds in the 1851 to 1900 time period around the New York Harbor area with the idea that all my models could have been seen plying those waters together during the same time period.
 
 The difference with this model is the time period. Yes, I could try and shoehorn this build into the 1851-1900 time period but what I don't want to do is take away from the story of the Hard Coal Navy whose story is well worth the telling.  
 
 There are three photos of this sternwheeler though the last one posted here is pretty useless for any detailed observations. I believe this sternwheeler was fueled by coal because of the smoke coming from the stack. Because the wheel is split into two sections and because pitman arms cannot be seen on the outside edges of the wheel, I believe this vessel was powered by a twin cylinder steam donkey engine. Because of the way a twin cylinder steam donkey engine is built it makes sense that the the two cylinders were connected to the inside edges of the two halves of the wheel. Because the two cylinders could operate independently of one another it would make the two wheel halves independent meaning one wheel half could go forward and one wheel half go in reverse meaning.............it could do donuts!  I think.
 
 I'm early into my research and much more is required before I start cutting wood. After building the pile driver and hiding the steam donkey engine inside an engine shed, I wanted to build an open air twin cylinder steam donkey engine. I now have my chance.  

 

 

 
https://unchartedlancaster.com/2023/06/17/scraping-the-bottom-dredging-for-coal-on-the-susquehanna/
 
https://susquehannagreenway.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Danville_Hard_Coal_Navy_Sign-for-web.pdf
 
 
 

As in the case of purchasing any kind of machine tool, it is useful to make a list of fundamental specification and capabilities needed:
 
- Which are the maximum dimensions of parts I want to produce?
- What is the maximum thickness of materials I want to work with?
- What kind of materials do I want to work with?
- What sort of operations I want to do, i.e. cutting out 2d-objects or sculpting 3d-objects (2-axis router vs. 3-axis milling machine)
- What is the spatial resolution needed?
- Do my objects have have to have sharp corners or can I live with or hand-treat rounded corners?
 
Then also a list of possible constraints is helpful:
 
- Do I have the surface space to permanently accomodate the machine ? (moving it around may cause alignment issues)
- Do I have the possibility to vent out fumes?
- Do I have connections for cooling water? (needed for some types of lasers)
- When do I want to work with it re. nuisance due to noise produced by routers
- How can I manage dust?
 
'Sculpting' with a laser in principle is possible by modulating the power and/or the lengths of pulses and the number of repeated passes. However, it always will result in charred surfaces and removing the charred wood form small intricate parts can be difficult, particularly when one wants to have the 'real' wood surface in the end.
 
On the other hand, the laser works 'contact-less', which is particularly useful for very small and delicate parts.
 

I too considered a laser, but opted to purchase a tabletop CNC router instead. Cheaper to purchase, cheaper to repair and takes up way less space. No laser char to deal with either! You can also carve 3D objects with the router where you can't with a laser. The below CNC router, on Amazon, also sells a 4th axis accessory that rotates like a lathe for carving round items. I think, for the money, a good CNC router is a lot more versatile than a laser.
 

the question is how much use will it get? i considered getting one, but after some scrutiny, i realized it will just sit next to the tredmill that has several winter coats hanging on it. 
 
the once in a blue moon i want something done... id put out a call to the guys in here that have lots of experiance and wouldnt mind making some extra gas money. besides, if i were to do my own, it would take me a long learning curve and plenty of wasted material figuring it out. 
 
then consider which machine you want... go cheap or go all out for a top of the line? go cheap usually means poor results and frustration. go over the top, great quality but a big outlay for a first time starter you may not like anyway.
 
so is it worth the efforts?... unless you plan on doing alot of design n printing as a new hobby?
 
a parallel experiance... photography printers. i bought a top of the line printer to make large prints. special roll paper, big tanks of ink.... and lots of waste, expensive waste. i sold it at half price when the ink ran out because a set of inks was just way to expensive. instead, when i need large prints, i go wo wallmart up the block which prints on million dollar printers. if i dont like the quality, they redo it at no extra cost.
 
as said before, its a personal choice. 
 
 

That is subject to your own personal feelings. Some folks would say it was worth it while others would disagree. What it is worth to 'YOU' is all that really matters. 😉

Thimbles are now in stock...only 2mm today but the other sizes will show up over the next few days...a couple of new sizes per day starting tomorrow.   Packaging these things are a pain.  A massive pile on the table of round items that roll.   I count by two's
 
2, 4, 6, 8, 11....15....25 thimbles.  ugh.  Repeat.
 
FYI
 

This is a smaller version of the one above.
https://baileigh.com/manually-operated-mini-shear-brake-sb-8

This is a smaller version of the one above.
https://baileigh.com/manually-operated-mini-shear-brake-sb-8