cog

The tool I used the most this week is the lathe. To turn sheaves and to make adaptors for the light fixtures. Some last words on this not so popular subject, the lighting update is complete at about 75 %.
On a photo you can see the difference between fluorescent and LED tube 4 feet. The lumens are higher for the fluorescent and  the Kelvin are slightly higher  for the LED. Even if both are rated at 6500 none goes that high.
I did put in the garbage my dentist  and  medical exam lamps. Both had halogens and any are in the race anymore to see clearly.
I bought few years ago  for $5 a used Vemco Vemcolite VL-4 telescoping drafting lamp. I kept the stand and replaced the lights( fluorescent and bulb) by a LED light. I also added an handle saved from the dentist lamp.
A final word on lighting, at the same distance, a LED fixture is roughly twice as bright than LED tube 4', Kelvin are about the same; this is true for the lights Im measured.
 

Thank you Jorge and Rick
 
Trying to understanding lighting. We know that LED  is a good step to recreate outside lighting. Actually, I use T8  4 feet long. Specifications are 6500 K and 2850 lumen. I think  these spec are wrong. If I measure temperature I will reads around 4000K. As for a standard bulb where we knew how much bright the  bulb would be by the wattage; 15 watts, 60, 100.  For the T8, 32 watts does not help me much. the intensity of the Fluorescent T8 is written in lumen, 2850 for this one. Intensity is one thing but if you do not write at which distance the reading is done, it is dishonest because the distance plays a major factor in the formula of inverse square law in photography: The intensity of light is inversely proportional to the square of the  distance.
We can see an example  in the second photo. When you move away from the double of the distance, every time, the intensity decreases more than the double. In fact as we can see in the third photo, the light decreases extremely rapidly in the first feet as we can observe the yellow curve. This is for this exact reason that I can take a photo white a light source very close to the model ship boat and have a dark background behind the model. There is another variable which affects the intensity of the light: the number of LED bulbs. I did modify some  tripods fixtures to install these on the ceiling. I also bought new LED lights That I will receive soon  I hope. In the 4th photo, we can read that more LED means more intensity that we read in Lux or foot candle.The temperature in Kelvin stays the same. When  I use the Sekonic  C-500R to read the Kelvin outside on a sunny day I read 4300. Roughly, if we go lower, the image will be red and if we go higher than this middle point higher than 4300 K the image will be blue. I think that it is for this reason that that we can add a blue filter in glasses when we use the computer screen.  For this same reason, we begin to read that the blue Light of some kind of LED lights can be harmful for the eyes as in the  following example (in french).
 
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1169994/del-lumiere-bleue-effets-nefastes
 
In the last photo, the set up that is in progression. In conclusion, there is a world apart when you can see which part you are working and this, you cannot understand if you use just a simple incandescent light of 60 watts; which is literally like working in the dark.
 
 
 

Wonderful items you reccently created, Very crisp detail!

Nearly, pitty though, you could have won a prize ... However it is a BF 109G-6. There is a 109G-4 which has the gun pods below the wings
 
BF (Bayerische Flügzeug Werke changed to BMW (Bayerische Motor Werke) if I am not mistaken
 
Thanks gents, working on two planes presently, the Dr I and a BF 109G-6 both at 1/48 Waiting for paint presently

Greg,
Give the gent some help. You have been qwrestling with those nets several times

Nearly, pitty though, you could have won a prize ... However it is a BF 109G-6. There is a 109G-4 which has the gun pods below the wings
 
BF (Bayerische Flügzeug Werke changed to BMW (Bayerische Motor Werke) if I am not mistaken
 
Thanks gents, working on two planes presently, the Dr I and a BF 109G-6 both at 1/48 Waiting for paint presently

Nearly, pitty though, you could have won a prize ... However it is a BF 109G-6. There is a 109G-4 which has the gun pods below the wings
 
BF (Bayerische Flügzeug Werke changed to BMW (Bayerische Motor Werke) if I am not mistaken
 
Thanks gents, working on two planes presently, the Dr I and a BF 109G-6 both at 1/48 Waiting for paint presently

Nearly, pitty though, you could have won a prize ... However it is a BF 109G-6. There is a 109G-4 which has the gun pods below the wings
 
BF (Bayerische Flügzeug Werke changed to BMW (Bayerische Motor Werke) if I am not mistaken
 
Thanks gents, working on two planes presently, the Dr I and a BF 109G-6 both at 1/48 Waiting for paint presently

A bit more done this eve,   Next to be attached to the wings  are the u/c  doors,   first I cut then off the fret  then I gave them a paint and weather,  then they were glued in place and touched up a bit after fitting.
 
One wing done.
 
OC.

 

Fortunately for you, no 1/32 readily available (buggah)
 
but this one is rather nice to build too ... at 1/48, still needs a bit of clear lacquer

Nearly, pitty though, you could have won a prize ... However it is a BF 109G-6. There is a 109G-4 which has the gun pods below the wings
 
BF (Bayerische Flügzeug Werke changed to BMW (Bayerische Motor Werke) if I am not mistaken
 
Thanks gents, working on two planes presently, the Dr I and a BF 109G-6 both at 1/48 Waiting for paint presently

Seems that many of us are working in 'marginal' areas - havn't touched a rock for decades. But then I did my graduate studies in applied geology and a PhD in environmental geochemistry. Spent most of my professional life in waste and mining legacy management. Over the past ten years or I have been advising the EU as an academic and self-employed consultant on raw materials and mining waste management policies.
 
I must admit that I don't know too much about riverboats, but always had a weak spot for them. Most of my knowledge comes out of Mark Twain's 'Life on the Mississippi'.

Your wife is a sedimentologist or hydraulics engineer ?
 
I've tried to recreate a similar situation, albeit for a tidal harbour, using some real silt/mud, for a ship sitting on a 'grid', they had in some tidal harbour for iron ships:
 

Well, it is one step forward and two steps backwards!
 
I thought with the coronavirus situation I would have plenty of time for the boat but this is not the case. As the little ones do not go to school, we have to do an awful lot of work to keep them busy and keep some pace to their education. So I ve been doing a lot of painting and drawing, made model boat, trains and trucks from various materials, played board games etc. 
 
Going back to the boat, I decided that I do not like the way that I stropped the blocks with copper wire served with thread. The blocks took so much work to make that it did not do them justice. 
 
Ideally I would like to use rope and splice the ends. In the Ketch, my previous model, I used splicing extensively but all ropes there were three strand ropes so easier to splice. The rope I make now is made of threads and not strands and splicing is almost impossible.
 
I experimented for weeks, mainly trying to use heat shrink tube. Michael's suggestion to use it on the shrouds was fantastic but despite all my efforts,I could not make it work on the blocks or the rope ends/thimble. Bellow are some of the failed attempts. They don't look too bad but I could not standardise a method and was not happy with these results
 
This is the old strop versus a proper rope one



So finally I found a relatively easy way to do it, giving consistent results I am happy with. So here it goes:
 
A few tools, a copper/brass ring with soldered ends, thread and needle, some rope and a brass electrical connector thingy is needed.

First, I open the ends of the connector carefully to preserve the round shape and to not leave sharp edges


Then I flay a bit the ends of the rope.

I secure the rope on one connector. Which side the rope end is matters.

Then do the loop and secure the rope and the threads to the other. This is the most difficult step, there is a learning curve

Ready to be tied. Despite the crimping, pulling on the rope ends the loop size can be adjusted.

Tied with fine polyester thread, the ends buried underneath with the usual loop trick . I decided to use black and highlight the stropping rather than try to hide it. Tying the thread around the rope is relatively easy as the rope is secured in the crimps

Ready! 

This block though will have an eye, this is simply tied with black thread

I like this method, gives consistent results and the blocks are reasonably strong

I now have to strop another 40 or 50 more blocks. Humongous work on these blocks and in the future, no one will ever know! Oh well, that's life! 
Stay safe all!

Hi Kees,
 
Good to see you again, I missed your updates!
The ship is coming together nicely. How did you do those navigation lights? They look as if you just made them from real sheet metal.
 
Jan

Some more good work  today,   first thing was to fit the Two  lens units under the wings  - these just popped in with a bit of ca run around the edge,  next was to fit the Two radiator flow control vents  under the wings, these were then painted same as the underside.
 
Then the biggy  - adjust and fit the other main  u/c  unit, again this needed  some sanding  then a good measure of ca to get a good bond,   the tricky part was locating the adjustment leg struts  (I had to keep pushing them in place as they had some flex).
 
Also  here is a pic showing the first stage of the re - paint.
 
So this is the current situation.
 
OC.

Nearly, pitty though, you could have won a prize ... However it is a BF 109G-6. There is a 109G-4 which has the gun pods below the wings
 
BF (Bayerische Flügzeug Werke changed to BMW (Bayerische Motor Werke) if I am not mistaken
 
Thanks gents, working on two planes presently, the Dr I and a BF 109G-6 both at 1/48 Waiting for paint presently

That looks Stunning mate  - the camo is really spot on.
 
OC.

Denis, I believe it's a "Gustav" model variant. The port side air scoop and the bulges between the guns and cockpit. An "Emil" had a smaller scoop and was leaner looking in those areas. The Germans used men's names for the Messerschmidt models. The FW190D , the inline engine that looked like a skinny radial, was the Dora model. The later Kurt Tank Focke Wulfs were Ta152 variants. Tank designed the FW, but they used the factory name/initials for the earlier A and G models with the big radials. The early Messerschmidt's were actually Bf 109s, for the Bayerische Fleugzeug Werks. They took on the designer names part way into the war.

Fortunately for you, no 1/32 readily available (buggah)
 
but this one is rather nice to build too ... at 1/48, still needs a bit of clear lacquer

Fortunately for you, no 1/32 readily available (buggah)
 
but this one is rather nice to build too ... at 1/48, still needs a bit of clear lacquer

Big brother nearly done (also an Eduard kit)

Fortunately for you, no 1/32 readily available (buggah)
 
but this one is rather nice to build too ... at 1/48, still needs a bit of clear lacquer

Just to let you all know I have decided to built the "sister" tank to this model, namely the M4A3 Sherman 75 mm gun version.  Since it is identical to this model except for the 75 mm gun,  I will not be doing a detailed step-by-step build log of it but I will post photos of the finished model here.
 

Kees, I admire your craftmanship. Can not be improved.