Kevin-the-lubber

I don't think I'd say it's 'out-of-range' but it depends on what you prefer and how much work it would be to try to lighten it.

For what it’s worth, as a ex-mountaineer and caver I would often coil rope around an arm and lay it down on the ground, where it would look just like Marc’s coils. I agree that some very stiff rope, especially when new, can want to do it’s own thing but even hemp or bark/grass rope softens fairly quickly. (On the climbing and caving side, most of us would have paid more for a rope that did behave rather than continually kinking. We used to have to regularly drag 50 metres of rope along the ground to get the kinks out and stop it twisting during coiling).

While I haven't noticed any F360 workshops on here, there is a huge amount of free tuition on youtube and back in the day, my go-to was Kevin Kennedy. I can't help you with vectric or carveco but for what it's worth, I would start with free software and take it from there before spending $300+ on something I might not like.

I thought I'd give 1.5mm a go again, as I'll probably want to try using these myself shortly. It's worth saying that a 1.5mm block is close to half the size of a 2mm, in terms of surface area, i.e. it's not just a tad smaller, it is a LOT smaller! As expected I had to ream out the through hole and still couldn't get 0.1mm thread through, so I used some 34g beading wire (0.2mm) as a proof-of-concept proxy. I fear thread of the same diameter might look a bit too large for the block and the thinnest possible might be the way to go. My takeaway conclusion is that 1.5 is bordering on insanely small, but still doable so long as you have a bottomless well of determination 🙂and I know, by putting it next to a victory 12lb-er, that it just looks more 'right' than the 2mm. Maybe the solution (for me at least) is a compromise, 1.7mm or 1.8mm.

1.5mm blocks… that is incredibly small, isn’t it, but if anyone can manage those it’ll be you Marc. It’s probably do-able using a resin printer but the real challenge is the through-hole, chances are that this will close up and need opening out by hand on each block. Plus the walls will almost certainly be wafer thin and fragile, although that’s less of an issue. What size thread is being used for the ropes? For that matter, is the block design for the SR significantly different to later ships like the Victory?

I’m guessing you’ve done that before? Either way, you certainly got a great result. The parts look much better than if you’d masked the polished areas, maybe because the transition edge is smoother.

Looks good! That EzeTissue is tough stuff, I’ve used it while experimenting and it doesn’t tear easily. My issue has been that I can’t get it to stretch or deform. When I’ve made a half-furled sail (albeit a not good enough example) using well dampened tissue, and spread the tissue flat again when I give up, it’s exactly the shape it was when I cut it out. I haven’t tried using dope, does it make the fabric pliable?

Insane level of detail! MFH certainly give VFM. And I love the steering wheel, from here it looks quite like walnut.

Yup, macro is an evil something, isn't it. The worst of it is that getting back into model-making led me to buy a new camera and 2 macro lenses, which shows up every last, tiny blemish. Vaseline all over the lens is the way to go 😄. I can't wait to see the engine in the bay, this one super-realistic model kit!

I’m late to the party but have to say what an incredible model and build. You are being way too hard on yourself Rob (says one perfectionist to another) and you are clearly more than up to this challenge!

Commiserations. I realise this is a little superficial, but I’m not sure I’d really want to work for an organisation that doesn’t have the courtesy to call each of the final four personally. It’s never a nice task but it’s an important one. I had a comparable experience 20 odd years ago and, on reflection, realised I hadn’t liked them nor they me. I figured that might have been because we had different values. So maybe you’ve had a lucky escape. Anyway, I wasn’t even aware of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge. That’s now added to the must visit list! There is also a beautiful botanical garden near Cambridge, Anglesey Abbey, so I can kill two birds with one stone.

Mark, you haven’t mentioned having these fretworks 3D printed and I don’t know if that’s a deliberate omission or not. But as you don’t seem completely averse to plastic that is another option. Or, going down the lost resin (lost wax in old money) casting route. In either instance the printing would probably be very straightforward and there would be no stress of the parts when glued in place. The hard part is creating the 3D designs in CAD. However, if you have clear dimensions to work from it may not be so difficult. Alternatively, you could probably apply the thin boxwood approach to styrene sheet. Marc (Hubac’s historian) has done some amazing styrene carving on his Soleil Royale.

Have you tried getting quotes from CraftCloud, searching ebay for "3d printing service", or asking on here for the same? I can see offers of about $5 + postage for the lower wheel on craftcloud, which seems pretty reasonable. If you only want a few bits for the model this may be the most cost effective way of doing it. You'll need these wheels printed in resin, the quality would be quite poor using filament. Personally, wherever possible I would always scale in the design software. In fact I never really scale, I replicate to the scale I want. This is a bit more work than scaling but not nearly as much as doing the initial design. I do this because I typically have a 0.15mm - 0.2mm clearance between parts that fit together, which applies to the majority of things I make. If I simply scaled down, the clearance would be too tight, scaling up would make it too gappy. Reworking maintains the correct clearance. With very small parts it also allows me to adjust the sectional dimensions while maintaining the overall part size (more or less) i.e. I would bump up the 0.8mm cross section on that upper wheel to 1.0mm, making it 25% stronger but without really affecting the optics. Anyway, as you've decided to go with 1/18 the parts will be fairly robust.

As Pat has made this freely available you should be free to use the STL's. Attached are the wheels, scaled down to 1:24 & 1:27. It's a little hard to say for sure how small you could go without first knowing the thickness of the thinnest part, but a quick run through suggests he used 1/16" as a typical diameter and thickness for thin rods, planks and boards. If you go to 1:24 all of that will be 0.8mm which is slightly on the thin side but fine for a static model, possibly even okay for an RC once it's all assembled. If you scale down any further then it'll start to become a little fragile, especially for an RC. wheels.zip

I thought I recognised this - the Patrick Matthews build, yes? The photo you showed, from Patrick's build log, is almost certainly of resin cast parts but these can just as easily be printed. As you're in FreeCad, find them and export them as STL's and they'll be good to print. The upper steering wheel is going to be pretty skinny at 1:24, about 1mm sectional diameter. But still perfectly printable.

What you've got here is a very nice 3D model of the whole boat at 36 inches long, give or take a bit. There are 579 different parts, which I'm attaching in the zip. On my PC, I have a preview pane in my file explorer, which would allow you to go through the unpacked zip more quickly. I have to dash now but will follow up later. Pilar v291 Bodies.zip

Dave, I don't mind doing that for you. At the least, I'll convert it into STL format and you can then open that in TinkerCad https://www.tinkercad.com/login which is probably the easiest form of CAD for a beginner, and have a look for yourself. Just send it via messaging or attach it here.

That doesn’t look like a ready-to-print object, there are nowhere near enough supports. It looks more like a resin casting. Not that this would make too much difference, the model can be cleaned up a bit before printing if necessary. This will be easier if you have the actual CAD file but is still do-able if it’s the print file (usually called an STL). In terms of getting the printing done, I have no first hand knowledge of printing companies in the states, but All3DP gives a rundown of the top companies, on their site. They may have a vested interest of course. You might find it worth asking here, via a new topic, as there’s a growing army of people with printers, or have a look on eBay. Here in the uk there are a few people that offer a service via eBay, probably much cheaper than the big names.

I think your wife is on the money here, Bill. Even zooming in, this is really hard to spot and even harder for a viewer to realise it's a small mistake rather than a natural artifact.

Good point. It reminds me that I need to shift my FDM printer into the garage alongside the resin printers, as I plan on doing a lot more FDM this year and I doubt the fumes from even PLA or PETG are totally harmless.

Is your printer enclosed? If so, it might be worth giving ABS a go, as I believe you can smooth the surface with a bit of acetone. I haven’t tried this myself, keep meaning to make an enclosure and try ABS again, previously I couldn’t get it to stay on the plate.

I hadn’t realised Discovery now is so different. I guess that’s the story with most ships though, they are constantly modified. There is a tiered walkway inside the victory scaffolding that allows an up close view of parts of the framing and what they are doing restoration-wise. Also, chances are it will be very quiet at this time of year - but also, pretty cold. Good luck with the interviews. I’m so glad that stuff is now behind me!

Perversely, you have both made me feel much better! I caught something a couple of weeks back and can't believe how quickly it burrowed down into the pit of my lungs. I thought it was just me but it sounds like this virus is everywhere, and a nasty, vicious one to boot. I started antibiotics yesterday and am already feeling a whole lot better. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with Marc. Even though I haven't really experimented with rope coils other than the odd bit of messing around, I think they are one of the things that can bring the ship alive and make the model convincing, especially if they drape or lie like real rope. Sails are much the same, and every so often I have a brainwave and try another experiment. Sadly none, so far, have proved successful.

The Victory inside makes for a very interesting visit but be aware the ship is almost entirely enclosed in scaffolding and wrapping right now, with all the outer planking, masts and rigging removed. The stern and quarter galleries are still intact and viewable. I made a mental note that when I next return, to focus more on the Warrior, as I always seem to leave too little time for a really good walkthrough of this ship, which I have vague ideas of modelling one day. You didn’t mention the Cutty Sark in London so I guess you’ve either seen it or aren’t interested. Have you thought of a day trip to Dundee, to see the Discovery in person? It’s very do-able, Stansted (nearish to Cambridge) to Edinburgh return flight, 1 hr drive in a rental. Probably not much different cost-wise to visiting Portsmouth.

Most of the stuff I've printed in filament has been for outdoors and unpainted: all of it is still doing fine 4 or 5 years on, having had constant exposure to sun, wind, rain, snow, bird poo, squirrel warfare etc. Originally I used PLA, tried ABS as I wanted the flexibility, but couldn't get it to stick so switched to PETG which is fine for just about everything I make. I am starting to see PLA products being sold in shops now and recently read an article on a factory that runs something like 2000 FDM's churning out kids toys, so personally I don't have any real concerns about the longevity of filament prints. In fact I'd be happy to hear that it does start to crumble after 20 or 30 years as my one reservation about 3D is that I'm adding to the plastics mountain. Not by very much, but it all adds up, doesn't it. Resin is a different kettle of fish. While here again I've got some extremely finely detailed prints that have sat unpainted on my windowsill for 3 or 4 years without any apparent decay, for end product I would always paint them as this acts as a UV barrier (or so I read). That even extends to tiny blocks, where a holy grail seems to be to make them so they look good enough without paint (perfectly do-able, but a different discussion). I'll still paint. I'm not sure anyone knows, or if they do, is willing to say, how long resin objects will remain as good as new. My view is that anything I print in resin is going to end up on a model of some sort, which if it's worth keeping, will probably be kept in a case, out of the sun, and get very, very little post-assembly exposure to UV. While this is not at all scientific, I'd be surprised if it didn't last decades. It would be nice to leave a legacy, but nicer still if that had a relatively short lifespan, for the same reasons as above.