Charles Green

Clap Trap: Welcome! I have nothing to add. Follow the advise of the others and make yourself happy. I'm in Idaho now but I grew up in Sioux City. Believe it or not, I miss the flat land.

The video that accompanies this post shows several glimpses of pilot houses. Some are not much bigger than a telephone booth. I would say the comfort of the pilot was secondary to deck-room for the crew.

Fact or fiction, the Lexington persists because it's such a beautiful vessel. Yours looks great - stop worrying!

A while back I waxed long on avoiding lead components on models. The definitive answer to the "lead question" is on page 226 of Vol. II of NRG's Ship Modeler's Shop Notes, which I just received. The article is an excerpt from the full-length article in Vol. 43 of the NRG Journal. The problem is out-gassing of organic acids - primarily acetic acid - from wood, finishes and glues common to model making that attack lead. Once started, the reaction produces its own acetic acid, in self-perpetuating destruction of the lead. The oxidation of bullets in cartridge collections I have seen is a direct consequence of displaying/storing the collection in an oaken display or drawer. In the realm of modeling, bass wood is listed as one of the worst offenders.

Plywood comes in different degrees of quality, each made for a specific use. The ply sold at Lowe's and Home Depot is termed CDX. Its intended use is exterior sheeting, to be covered with siding or roofing. The "C" indicates the grade of the good side and the other side is D grade. What makes up the middle plys is quite variable. Some sheets of CDX I've bought were so full of voids they were more like very narrow boxes than solid sheets. At this point in your construction its too late to change, but what you want is AC ply. It's about 30% more expensive than CDX, but the "A" side is good enough for paint as-is and the back side will be better that the front of what you have now. Around here Ace Hardware stores with lumber departments sell AC ply, as do stand-alone lumber yards.

Feldman shows a stern gallery of five windows at what would be deck level with the captain's quarters and no gun-ports, while the only opening in the stern of Parker's Lexington is one chase port, centered at the level of the quarter deck. Feldman also shows one window at each quarter. Parker shows none. Parker's plans show three gun-ports in each side of the quarter deck. Feldman shows none. Davis and Leavitt show two transom chase ports. The windows shown in your painting are chase ports. No need for gun port lids on a weather deck at that height above the water. Chase ports were commonly left unarmed until needs be when guns from the vessels side ports would be temporarily placed in them. The bow sprit in the painting you have provided shows a yard for a sprit sail and a dolphin-striker. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe these features are from different time periods.

Davy Jones: You are on the way to a fine looking model. The battle history of the Lexington is fairly well documented; it has a remarkable record for a vessel its size. I find the history of plans for its modeling no less interesting, if not down right intriguing. Charles Davis made public the first set of modeling plans for the Lexington in his book from 1933, The Built-Up Ship Model. While this seems to be where it started, I have correspondence from Harold Hahn where he states he had drawings from Davis of the Lexington predating 1933, that were quite different. I regret not having pursued that bit of information from him to ask for at least a description of the earlier plans. Hahn and most other authorities agree that Davis "dreamed up" the plans for the Lexington that appear in his book. Chronologically, George Parker and Clyde Leavitt are next in line with Lexington plans. I have a set of Parker's Lexington plans dated 1947, revised in 1975, and additional plan sheets dated 1976 and '79. Parker authored Five Historic Ships From Plan to Model in 1980 and his Lexington appears in that book. Clyde Leavitt published an article on his construction of a Lexington model in Mechanix Illustrated in 1947. This article was reprinted in a MI modelers handbook in 1950. Full-sized model plans were made available from this article. Rolf Hoeckel, an Austrian, published a monograph on modeling the Lexington in 1950. I have a set of his plans based on this monograph dated 1985. All internal fittings (the cook's oven, cabins etc.) are featured on these plans. In the early 2000's, Clay Feldman published a Lexington construction practicum featured in Ships in Scale. The NRG offers this practicum in CD form. In the current NRG Journal is yet another article on the Lexington! This is all remarkable to me since no one really knows what the vessel looked like! Parker's and Feldman's plans show a vessel with a raised quarter-deck. None of the others have that feature while the bow-sprit on Parker's version shows considerably more steeving than the others. I have no conclusion to this post- as there seems to be no end to the Lexington's story!

It sounds like you need a dictionary of nautical terms. The Sailor's Word-Book is 744 pages of nautical terminology, defined. It's in print and fairly easy to find. The Sailor's Word-Book, by Admiral W. H. Smyth, 1867, Algrove Publishing. After checking Algrove's book list, I'm here to tell you they are no longer selling The Sailor's Word-Book. They do publish a lot of books on traditional wood-working and a few interesting books on the age-of-sail. It's worth a look. Algrove Publishing is part of the Lee Valley Tools web site. The Sailor's Word-Book is available from Amazon among other places.

As per wefalck, I have used the glass from microscope-slide cover-slips for scale window glazing. Hard to handle but a box of 100 is inexpensive. The glass provides for a very convincing effect.

Fein has changed the design of their shop-vacs since I got mine. It's a "Turbo II; a large one. I'm sure the new version is at least as quiet. No muffs required - you can have a conversation with someone while its running. HEPA filter, a primary filter and a filter bag; the exhaust air is cleaner than the room's air.

Roger: ...Just when I thought I was near the end of the trail on this subject!! Thanks for the information. I'll get on it.

Gerard: On Friday, I emailed some information to you concerning the handbook containing Leavitt's work on the Lexington. You may not have paid any attention to the email, coming from an unfamiliar source. Sincerely. Charles Green

Allen: Work with me. What is PM? Charles

allenyed: I had never heard of Kirsanov's tools. It looks like those I am familiar with only amount to wanna be's.

wefalch: I have noticed those spheres in old drawings/paintings but did not know their function.

druxey: Thanks for the links to other sites. It looks like a kit of purpose-made tools is the way to go. Micro-Carving kits with a pare of left and right skews and some gouges never did look adequate!

mtaylor: Thanks for the tip on the carving group. Charles

The masterful carvings from the 1500's to 1800's seen on model ships in museums and books - done by people with talent beyond belief - but what of their work stations and tools? The steel of their carving tools would be considered inferior today. What about lighting - a sunny window? An oil lamp? And vision: When I was younger I could do close work right off the end of my nose, but I was too young to have acquired any talent. Now I need a magnifying hood and with it I still can't see as well as I used to with unaided vision. And this is with modern optics. What did the old masters use/do to be able to see what they were doing? Were tool kits of any of the masters preserved? Are there references to how they physically achieved their results?

I'm new to this site so I'm late on this topic but, if the glue is Tite Bond or some other variety of common "wood glue", vinegar (acetic acid) will soften it. If it is "wood glue" and it's been hard for a while, like what you have, it's necessary to go a step further and make up our own batch of stronger acetic acid. Photographers Formulary out of Montana sells Glacial Acetic Acid - mixed up diluted, it's for the stop bath in the photo process. GAA is the strongest form of acetic acid. A 40% solution and time will soften hard wood glue. Just keep applying it with a small brush; it may take a few hours. GAA is considered a hazardous substance so it will only ship UPS ground. It freezes at around 50 deg F and looks like ice, hence its name. The fumes are very strong, as bad as ammonia, so keep it away from your nose and take the same precautions with the undiluted liquid you would with any acid. I've used this process on maple boards and aircraft-quality birch ply with no problems to the wood or delamination of the ply. I still shoot and process photo film and prints so I mix up a very dilute solution of GAA all the time; just be careful.

Bob: Smaller diameter blades are a great idea - stiffer and cheaper - I've just never done it! Powermatic makes a solid, smooth-running, powerful saw that will last forever. But, as it comes from the factory: use a dial indicator to verify blade alignment with the table slots and fence alignment with the blade; there will be work to be done! The saw allows for this type of fine tuning, just don't expect it to be done at the factory. The "improved" dust collection system on newer saws makes me wonder just how ineffective the older one was. The improved system leaves a lot to be desired. The blade collar has a black oxide coating. Its clamping surfaces were turned and appeared to be flat but a pass over the stone showed the high spots bright. The collar's blade contact was limited to a 1/4 inch wide ring right around the hole for the mandrel. It was only about 0.002 inch high, but that ring was the only part of the collar in solid contact with the blade. It may have been designed that way, but the back of the collar is flat now and accuracy has improved. It's a hair-splitting improvement but it's improved. I was hoping to find a decent Yates while shopping for saws. All I came across were 3-phase industrial machines that had seen better days.

mgdawson: The temperature wefalck mentioned can be easily achieved with a hardware-store variety propane torch. Chemical blackening is only necessary when the heat used for simple oxidative blackening would alter a part's hardness - not a problem for scale cannon balls! This all applies to steel alloys only. The bismuth and tungsten shot I mentioned will not react to heat or chemical blackening.

Good Morning Suparno and Welcome: I joined just a couple of weeks ago. There are experts here, you will get an answer for any question on your mind. Sincerely, Charles

allenyed: My experience with lead oxidation comes from my interest in firearms cartridge collecting. Bullets cast from pure lead can start to oxidize in a few years. It's hard to find any lead bullet made before the 1960's that isn't coated white. Lead is commonly alloyed with tin and antimony to harden it and enhance it's casting properties. These additions can put off the oxidation process for quite a while. Again, atmospheric conditions have a lot to do with lead's rate of oxidation. I'm betting the shot you used falls into the category of "hard shot".

Lead shot is an attractive source for scale cannon balls but it's only a matter of time before the lead will oxidize. Hard shot will oxidize slower. Humidity and temperature are variables that will influence the oxidation rate. I don't know of any coating to prevent oxidation that will stick to lead. Bird-shot made of tungsten, bismuth or polymers is available in many sizes and will not oxidize. Heating steel/chrome ball bearings is a good way to blacken them.

I use a Powermatic 10 inch cabinet saw until parts are small enough for the Jim Saw. Recently, I bough a 10 inch narrow kerf slotting blade and went ahead and got a 5 inch dia. stiffener to use with it. I've used the stiffener with regular kerf blades too and I'm recommending a stiffener for general use. The Powermatic is a good saw and the stiffener makes it better. The stiffener came with instructions to deburr the face of the blade-stop on the saw's mandrel as well as both sides of the blade collar and the face of the nut that bears on the collar. I used a 120 grit flat stone for the deburring and I was surprised at how much metal had to come of the face of the collar that bears against the blade. Everything is flat and rigid now. The combination of flattening the blade's clamping surfaces along with the stiffener takes some of the disappointment out of trying to hold to close tolerances.