Rik Thistle

Hi Reynard and a warm welcome also. I've got a 'tram' on my ToDo list...the Istanbul version...so if you decide to do a Build Log of your tram on here I will follow with interest. Regards, Richard

Clickspring has dug into the design and manufacture of the Antikythera Mechanism eg .... The Antikythera Mechanism Episode 1 (of 10 to date) - Greeks, Clocks and Rockets. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML4tw_UzqZE It is very puzzling how this mechanism is the only 'clockwork' type device found from this period. Were there other sophisticated mechanical clockwork mechanisms that formed part of everyday Greek life BC, or at least in places of learning? It would be well over 1,000 yrs before other clockwork mechanisms started to appear. And what machinery did the Greeks use to make the mechanism?....they didn't have metal working milling machines or lathes. So were all parts hand crafted? It's really quite strange. And that's not to mention the maths required to calculate the teeth counts etc to accurately represent the planatery movements. Richard Edit: Clickspring is a co-author of the paper published in Dec 2020containing the new information on the mechanism ... Antikythera Mechanism - Evidence of a Lunar Calendar, parts 1 and 2 https://bhi.co.uk/antikytheramechanism/

Theodosius, 1) I see in this pic... ...that the Bow end of the bulwark isn't tight up against the deck level. I wonder if you need to consider doing a little more sanding of all the parts the bulwarks are glued to? I also wonder if the Stem Post isn't fully seated into the deck notch? 2) And as Spyglass has mentioned, you need to interlock the front ends of the two bulwarks before the glue has set hard so that the two bulwarks support each other, at least at the bow. 3) I suspect the bulwarks have become a bit warped with all the reheating, exacerbating the 'wave' appearance. The bulwark plywood , as you note, is made of three (?) thin veneers glued with their grains at 90 deg to each other. With all the reheating that glue will have softened and the veneers will perhaps taken up different relative positions when cooled. If you do decide to remove the bulwarks again perhaps try ironing them flat and letting them completely cool down so that they remain flat before trying to get them to curve with more heat. 4) I still feel that at the end of the day, once the planking that goes on the inside (one layer) and outside (two layers) of the bulwarks, the bulwarks will take the curve of the planking and the 'waves' will be insignificant. And don't forget to take a break of a day or two here and there ;-)... a change of scenery works wonders for recharging the batteries and clearing the mind 🙂 Richard

I found this interesting video (30 mins) .... The Antikythera Cosmos https://vimeo.com/518734183 .... whilst reading this article on the ancient Greek astronomical calculator https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/03/scientists-solve-another-piece-of-the-puzzling-antikythera-mechanism/?comments=1 The ancient device is actually a a Mechanical Earth System since, at that time, it was believed everything revolved around the Earth. I imagine the decice is not new to many of you but the above is news on some recent opinions on how it actually worked. Since the ancient Greeks were believed to not have lathes it is puzzling how the device's concentric tubes may have been made. By the way, there are some magnificent small lathes etc shown in the modern labs in the video. Richard PS: The YouTuber Clickspring has a number of videos on the manufacture of a similar (...the same?) calculator ... https://www.youtube.com/c/Clickspring/videos

Very educational talk, and Q&A session. What a profound effect these boats had on the areas they travelled through and visited. Thank you. Richard

Theodosius, Thanks for dropping in. Once I have all the cannons rigged I'll probably go back round them all and try to make their ropes drop straighter to the deck (as if gravity is pulling them down under their own weight). At the moment, some of the ropes tend to curve unnaturally up to the sky, so I may damp them with some watered down PVA to direct them downwards. Well, that's the theory 😉 Richard

Theodosius, Regarding the 'waves', if you look at where the bulwarks follow the deck, there are no waves. But where the bulwark rests against the bulkhead tabs there are waves. This is particularly noticable at the foremost bulkhead tab. Maybe that tab needs a bit more sanding - however, as you note, the tabs will later be snapped off so the bulwark waves will not be so prominant, and probably fade away over a few hours. Richard

Hi all, I've decided to fully rig all the cannons. And have managed three so far....so general progress has really slowed down. The slowness is partly explained by me trying to figure out the optimum production method to complete the cannon rigging to a 'good enough' level but in a timely manner. I've also been doing other things, but have a bit more free time now to try to get the cannons finished. Here's what I've learned so far (and there's a lot more to learn) when rigging cannons... a) Don't glue the cannon onto the deck and then try to rig it. Way to difficult, as others had earlier hinted at. Rig the cannon first and then finally glue the cannon onto the deck. b) Don't glue the breech rope eyebolts into the bulwark first; rather attach the eyebolts to the ends of the breech rope and then glue those eyebolts in to the bulwark c) I used 0.3mm (black plastic coated) wire to form the hooks on the blocks. 4) The breech rope ends need a touch of PVA glue to made them stiff enough to feed through the cannon eyebolts. 5) I cleaned out/opened up the cannon eyebolts with a 1mm drill, otherwise it was very difficult to feed the breech rope through the eyebolts. 6) The thinner rope also had it's ends PVA'd to get it to poke through the blocks. Below, a breech rope being fed through the 1mm dia ring (that I added) at the end of the cannon). Below, all the rigging necessary for a Flirt cannon. (I wish I'd paid a bit more attention earlier on when assembling the cannons themselves...close-ups reveal some ugly mismatches.) Below, three fully rigged cannons...only eleven to go...sigh. Whilst trying to train myself to do cannon rigging I found this useful video talking about blocks and serving cables ...... Blocks Not From Scratch, Part 2 There's also a Part 1, which I'm currently watching 😉 Hope to post again within the next month, he says...when the cannons are all rigged. Richard

Theodosius, Remember that your bulwarks will be planked, twice. So any 'waves' will be long gone by the time you have sanded the thick 1st planking, and then added the 2nd planking. Get a plank out of the box and place it on the bulwark to get a feel for what I'm talking about. The 'waves' are perhaps caused by the bulkheads sitting slightly inwards of the deck. I guess you could flatten the waves out by adding thin wooden shims along the bulkhead edges...but to be honest it's probably not worth doing. Note - You are dealing with wooden parts that are laser cut to a tolerance (eg +/- 0.05mm?) and that these parts sometimes mate up with sanded parts. So you will never get joints etc that are within 0.025mm accuracy. Also, wood shrinks and expands during the day so, all in all, minor misalignments are not usually an issue, unless a later part needs to accurately slot in between two or thee parts that were glued together the previous week..... then some corrective action may be required, as when Spyglass recommended you may have an obstruction (excess glue?) sitting in a groove. I think you're doing fine and asking lots of good questions...pretty similar to ones I was thinking about when I started my ship building hobby last summer 😉 Regards, Richard

Mr Pucko, The ships, the clothing etc etc. more here .... https://buildingterror.blogspot.com/2018/05/building-terror.html That link is a very interesting read, thanks (Note: it contains spoilers) .... ' Historical Reference: Erebus and Terror were among the first Royal Navy sailing vessels to be converted to screw propulsion. This was accomplished by installing railway locomotives in their holds. Peter Carney has conducted extensive research on this conversion and has determined that Archimedes and Croydon (shown here), identical locomotive engines, were likely candidates. This is the only known plan of the Croydon type engine.' And the series production team have got CGI and green screen work down to a fine art .... it really is now almost impossible to tell CGI from reality. I've just watched the 1st episode on the BBC iPlayer and it's a bit gloomy and foreboding but, as mentioned, the attention to detail is very realistic. So the scene is now set for whatever episode 2 brings 🙂 Richard

It is very good, though, if a little strange... To fully understand the story of the monster, reading the book is necessary. But even without that part, scurvy, botulism, consumption, freezing and starving is terrifying enough.... I will get my popcorn ready for the weekend. Ok, I'm convinced...definitely watching it 😉 I've set my TiVo to record a Season Pass on it. Richard

There is a 'new', 10 part series on the BBC.... Inspired by a true story, The Terror centres on Captain Sir John Franklin, and his crew’s lost Royal Navy expedition to the Arctic in 1845 to discover the Northwest Passage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUZKjdewbZQ I haven't started watching it yet but it looks interesting. I'm not sure, but is this the first season of a 2018 American AMC production?.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terror_(TV_series) Richard

There is this one as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7pheKy5apk Ah, missed that one 😉 I don't think I'd spend $2.5m (even if I had it) on that particular car. I suspect that it would require more than the bearings being heavily greased to ever get that car out of it's current location. Richard

Theodosius, Yes, the transom needs to be bent around something with a smaller radius to get the required curve, as you did on the 2nd go. PROBLEM: I realy managed to put it slightly out of its needed place. Perhapw 1/10 of an mm I wouldn't think 0.1mm is an issue at all. The rudder hole is a little off centre but I don't think that is too much of a worry. You can slightly sand it out to make it more central. Main thing is to make sure that the other items in that area (rudder etc) can pass through the hole OK. Once the ship is finished no one will notice a slight imperfection. Just to be clear, I'm no expert myself...still a noobie 😉 ....and I make loads of mistakes as I work my way through a build. Part of ship building 'fun' is solving the puzzles of how to correct my mistakes so that no one can tell they happened. One way of judging the effect of a mistake is to read further through the manual to see what happens in the area of the mistake ...it may be that another part is fitted over the mistake so no worries, or the other part can be sanded to compensate. Richard

Tomasz #11 "...did not have cursor anywhere in post to place pictures" Yes, you must place the mouse cursor in the post field where you want a pic to appear. So... position cursor>insert first pic> cursor positioned below first pic> insert second pic> cursor positioned below second pic etc ect. Of course you could upload all the pics to the initial cursor position and then add carriage Returns between each pic to make space for text entries. Either way is fine. I use Firefox v86. Richard

James, They seem to be duplicates of pics already appearing in the post. It may well be finger trouble of my part although I have tried to be very careful in clicking only once on each pic from the collection of pics below the post. Ah, you said 'uploaded'...maybe I was uploading some extra pics (eg same looking but different resolutions) to the website? So any pic that gets 'uploaded' will be inserted in the post - clicking on a pic from the collection of pics underneath the post only selects the order in which the pics appear. And any unclicked pics, when I Save the post, get automatically added underneath the post. Hmm... that might explain it. Richard

I upload photos one at at time. As James says, I place the cursor where I want the first pic to go, then put the cursor a couple of lines below the first pic (to leave room for text), then click on the next pic to be inserted and so on. I have to say that sometimes I end up with a couple of unwanted repeat pics at the end, under my post. Not sure why that happens, and I can't seem to delete them. But it's not a showstopper. Richard

That internal door with the fish types on it, and the usage stains on the door handle etc is actually a full sized door...isn't it? Otherwise I have an impossibly looong way to go in the model boat building world! Seriously though...what a start. Richard

An interesting story on an elusive McLaren F1 - Part 1 ... My hunt for the El Chapo McLaren F1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn742vmAbEA and Part 2 .... An update on the El Chapo McLaren & other lessons learned in 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8orbC7KoWc- Richard

Theodosius, For those of us who haven't built model ships before it can, at times, be a bit of a steep leaning curve. But if it was easy then it wouldn't be a challenge nor would the sense of achievement on completion be as great 😉 You'll soon be approaching 'the planking stage' ...and that's another whole set of new but interesting challenges... The 1st planking layer provides a base (for the 2nd planking layer) that follows the contours of the hull determined by the bulkhead sizes and bevelling. You can get away with a lot of 'tweaking' on that 1st layer since it will eventually be covered by the 2nd layer. Some things to look out for on the 1st layer are... - as you have noted the bulkheads (by sanding) determine the path the 1st layer planks take. - some of those 1st layer planks will need bending and twisting to follow the bulkheads path . This is achieved by heating the planks so that they permanently take on the necessary shape/path. - the 1st layer planks need thinning at their bow and stern ends, Otherwise the thickness of the 1st and 2nd layer planks, when added together, is much greater than the keel thickness. Basically you want both layers of planking to blend in smoothly to the keel. - Some of the 1st layer planking will not only need bending, but also tapering at the bow and stern ends otherwise the accumulative width of the planks will add up to more than the depth of the hull at the ends. You might also find that even with maximum bending and tapering you still have visible gaps between planks - these gaps can be filled in with mini planks cut to fill in those gaps (I think they are called Stealers). - Then you glue the planks on. I'm still juggling ideas as to the best way to keep the planks in place whilst the glue dries. I believe the optimal solution is to make sure the planks are perfectly bent to their path so that they sit unaided in the correct position allowing PVA glue and 30 seconds of finger pressure to achieve a perfect fixing....I've a little ways to go on that one 😉 - Finally, the 2nd layer, which is usually quite a bit thinner than the 1st layer (so easier to twist and bend) is added and can be given a smooth sanded finish and even a coat of paint. That was just a brief planking heads-up. Feel free to post questions...there are many others on here that understand 'planking' far better than I do and will jump in. Regards, Richard

Theodosius, Sorry if I mislead you about the markings. I was sure either my VM Flirt or Fifie had some indicator lines on them. Anyway, James' build of HMS Flirt .... (which is very similar to Speedy) has good pics of the amount of sanding required and where it is mainly needed - see his post #14. Stringers - yeah, I think I broke one also but PVA'd it back together and it was fine. All the best, Richard PS: I've just had a read of the downloadable .pdf for my Flirt manual at https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/product/hms-flirt-standard-edition/ ...and pg7, pic 13 says ... " A small number of parts must now be bevelled before installation. These parts have engraving lines etched on them. Bevel bulkheads 2 and 3 that you previously removed from the MDF sheet, and also the two Bow Pattern Inner parts (17) and the two Bow Pattern Outer parts (18). These can be bevelled using either sandpaper, files or a rotary tool. For the prototype, we used a Dremel set on a safe 9000 rpm" So some of the bulkhead parts do have thin engraving lines (guidelines) for bevelling on them, at least on Flirt. And I've had a quick scan of the Speedy .pdf and it doesn't mention guidlines. Flirt was a released after Speedy so perhaps the guidlines were a new addition?

As Glenn says, "thanks for sharing"...lots of useful info in your posts. Richard

Theodosius Well done on a good start and good choice of kit. I think some kits do come with a hairline indication where to sand down to. And I think at least one of the Vanguard models I have does have those markings, at least where the planking approaches the bow and stern. I'm not in the shipyard at the moment so can't check. I wouldn't sand down exactly to those lines until I got to the planking stage...maybe leave 0.5+mm spare on the bulkheads so you have some meat to play with when fine tuning the contact between the planks and the bulkheads. Richard

Thanks Bob. She's my favourite so far, out of all 2 1/2 ships I've built 😉 I've a hunch if I ever get to 10x ships built she'll still be a favourite. The build was not too difficult/not too easy ...and just the right length of build time. I'd recommend her in a flash. Regards, Richard

Hi all, My posts are getting farther and farther apart probably due to 'rigging' incoming, nicer weather outside, some other odds and ends, and taking a bit of a breather. Anyway, for now a little post on my first attempt at cannon (singular 😉 ) rigging. Below, attempting to rig a 2.5mm block and add a hook. The hook wire is silver in colour and 0.35mm dia...the wire is quite flexible but just about stiff enough to form the hook. I have since taken delivery of black coloured wire, 0.3mm in dia, but it was too late for most of the first cannon's 'metalwork'. Below, a tray of parts. Some quite dodgy looking hooks that had been painted black ...yup, the paint doesn't stay on after a bit of handling. Threading up a couple of the 2.5mm blocks, with a dab of PVA glue to help keep things under control. Below, three sets of training tackle completed. I've also fitted the breech rope and threaded it through a glued metal hoop at the rear of the cannon. A finished first cannon. All four sets of ropes fitted. It kinda looks OK but it was a fair faff getting all the hooks to engage with the bulwark rings. I need to rethink the manufacturing process eg is it better to attach the bulwark rings direct to the ropes and then glue those rings into the bulwark. A close-up reveals how fuzzy the ropes actually are...from where I'm sitting they looked pretty sharp! But I've received a beeswax block which, I believe, helps keeps the fuzziness downs, so I'll use it on future ropes . I can't say I totally enjoyed fully rigging the cannon, probably because I was in uncharted waters. However I have learned a bit about the process and have to decide do I really want to fully rig the remaining 13 cannons or just fit the thick breech rope to them. Hmm... In parallel I had started doing a little work on the masts but ended up concentrating on the cannon. I've had my first Covid jag (Oxford AstraZenica one) with little side effect like most folks, although some report extreme tireness for 24 hrs. Catch you all soon...or, failing that, 13x rigged cannons later 😉 Richard