Rik Thistle

I hope you find many, many more items to add to keep the build going for another year or two 🙂 Great work, Richard

I've got the blue Lowes in my shed for small work, and the yellow Stanley in my study. The Stanley is the one to go for because of it's flexibility and reasonable build quality. The ball joint on mine (bought 7 yrs ago) was tight and rough so I took some Emery cloth to the ball and that fixed it. The Stanley comes with plastic soft jaws and the metal jaws have a groove running the length of the jaw and also a groove at right angles to the first in the centre of the jaw...both grooves are very useful for gripping cylindrical objects. It clamps quickly onto a desk surface (....the Stanley clamping surfaces are plastic covered to protect the desk). For £20 the Stanley is good value ... https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001HBS0I0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Richard

Yes, it is. Just taken from a different angle but mounted in a newer (?) base. The different angle may give another take on the routing of the ropes, but it's not a high res pic. Richard

Another pic here .... from https://www.authenticireland.com/blog/aberdeen-aberdeen-prettiest-town/ ...scroll down almost half way. Now set in a larger base. Richard

Erik, Congrats on the successful team presentation, and getting back to the shipyard for the festive period. BF 1479 is looking very neat and (in my imagination) keen to get a catch on board ;-) Richard

Hi Glenn, I did say that the fix to be balanced with it looking 'acceptable' 😉 ... but you're right ... it can be a head scratcher sometimes trying to figure out how best to correct a mistake... but I enjoy solving puzzles, so it's another good aspect of modelling. As I learn more about modelling I'm growing my list of ways to fix 'instructions misunderstandings'. Happy days. Cheers, Richard

Dave, A member on here kindly advised me that putting the nail through a scrap piece of wood (say, planking off-cut) first, then tapping the nail (plus scrap) into the plank/bulkhead was a good way of making it easy to extract the nails once the PVA glue had set. The scrap keeps the nail head about 1mm or so (scrap thickness) above the glued plank so it is easy to jam a lever into the scrap and extract the nails. The scrap also spreads the clamping load over a wider area than the nail head as the glue dries. Richard

Probably still plenty of thickness to fill, sand, and repaint the hull. Since posting, I've sanded the white paint back a bit and added some filler. And repainted - it's now looking not too bad. Nice job on the Wales, remove and replace is a way of life for me... 🙂 Yes, 'fixing' becomes part of the build process... ie realising I've messed up and, once I get over the 'doh!' moment, enjoying figuring out the least painful fix balanced with it looking acceptable. Richard

Yeah, it would need to be quite light as you say. But I suspect there must be a steel beam of sorts running down the length of it to stop it breaking it's back when being moved. Then build everything around the beam. I wonder if it was a shipyard apprentices' project or maybe trainee naval architects? The fact that it is being refurbished in a naval shipyard give me the impression it was originally made to a decent standard. Richard

Hi all, Work continues on Flirt - two steps forward, one step back....due to someone not reading the instructions properly. Below - Clearing out the holes in the bulwarks after the internal planking was fitted. The Banggood 'dremel' is really quite useful, and it's rechargeable battery lasts an acceptable amount of time. The internal planking needs a little bit of 'filling' plus a bit of touchup paint. And hacking out the gunhole ports with a scalpel blade and then a needle file to smooth the sides off. Yes, the stain (now difficult to see after major clean up) above the wales looks like someone has mistakenly glued the wales above the pencil marks rather than 'up to' the pencil marks. Also, I couldn't find the 3mm x 1 mm wood so used some walnut I had in the 'stores'. Below - Keel being glued into position. The toothpicks are wedges to make sure the keel lies centrally. Yup, there is a handy gap (don't ask) between the keel and the garboard planks for the toothpicks to dig in to...filler later removed those gaps. Filler is great stuff 😉 The MDF Pegs for aligning the keel parts are necked at their ends... so I couldn't get them to slide on to the keel parts. Not sure what I was doing wrong here? Wales painted black, and a bit of general tidying up done. Below - Marking the waterline with my home made marker. Note the bulldog clip, bottom right on the keel to stop the hull sliding about in the base. Hull painted white. Gaps showing between the planks. They look worse than they actually are, but I may add a touch of filler and repaint, or more likely hand paint in the gaps at a later date. I don't mind the planks showing since it indicates what the structure is but the gaps mustn't be too obvious. Whilst the white paint dries, the rail and timber posts were painted black. There are a lot of small parts that need painting black, yellow etc. Below- After getting fed up continually digging in to the Flirt box for wood/brass sheets I decided to lay them all out my home made drawing holder/work platform. A Banggood Christmas tree has been added because...well, it's that time of year. Nope, I'm not on a commission from Banggood 😉 I think that's all for this post. Flirt seems to be progressing very slowly. The hull planking did take quite a bit of time and I lost a bit of momentum, but I guess it's not a race. Catch you all soon, Richard

Whilst reading 'USS Bonhomme Richard on Fire' https://modelshipworld.com/topic/25040-uss-bonhomme-richard-on-fire/?tab=comments#comment-776194 ...I ended up on 'VIDEO: Navy Restoring Unique Parade Float Based on WWII Battleship USS Alabama' ... https://news.usni.org/2020/12/16/video-navy-restoring-unique-parade-float-based-on-wwii-battleship-uss-alabama ....now that is a large model! Was the model made in an actual Naval shipyard...I can see it is being refurbished in Norfolk Naval Shipyard? Is it made mostly of wood, or sheet steel? Richard

B.E., I'm not too sure about the intricate workings of the capstan but I think there would be a pawl system on it. Sailing Drifters is a good read, so many snippets about life in a fishing community around the turn of the century, even down to the cost of a pint of ale! I have now bought the sister volume on Sailing Trawlers. Thanks for the reply. Sailing Drifters is an amazing read. The author certainly put his heart in to it. Reading it though is not that easy, as you hinted a little while back, since March just jumps straight in with all the technical jargon of the time - and being a noobie there are numerous paragraphs where it may as well have been written in a foreign language. However, there is a Glossary at the back that I am flicking back and forth to. I'll be sad when Muirneag leaves the shipyard...maybe she'll come back in a few months for a refit? Regards, Richard

For me it's upgrade from Dremel to a decent flex shaft tool. Good suggestion. The Dremel body is very heavy and bulky for fine, light work. The flexible drive (coupled with the mini hand tightend chuck) makes the Dremel cutter/drill/sander bit on the end so much easier to manipulate. It may be wiser to get: A gift certificate to a special tool vendor: This is the ideal solution since your father won't know what tools he really needs until the need arises. The suggested books do look good though as do the quality tools. A book might be a good supplementary gift though since he can read it in the 'family' areas and start 'did you know that....' conversations 🙂 Richard

Schooner iced up. A stunning painting yet scary at the same time. Another one of my favourites 🙂 Richard Edit: I see the icebergs have arrived...now it's even colder!

Muirneag is looking very sweet. Just thinking aloud.....So the steam capstan is used to pull the sail tight at the front rather than lift the weight of the sail straight up the mast. I guess it's easier and more accessible for the crew to lift the sail straight up, but a greater strain on the human body to attempt to try to generate enough force to get the sail nice and tight at the front....hence the use of the capstan? Is there a 'slipping clutch' arrangement on the capstan to stop it generating too much force, or did the crew rely on experience to 'know' when the ropes were tight enough and then turn off the power to the capstan? Amazing how they quickly used 'new' technologies to make life on board more efficient. And then they later used capstans for hauling in the nets, AFAIK. Slowly getting in to March's Sailing Drifters...it's a very good story apart from being a deep insight into the history and workings of these boats. Regards, Richard

Yeah, the more I look at Ian's pics the more puzzling it is .... on pg4 http://www.ianlawrencemodels.com/wipmaid4.html ....about 1/4 of the way scrolled down, there are two pics (identified by a row of storage trays at the top of the pics -1st pic BP078, BP079 etc , 2nd pic BO337 etc). The first pic shows there is a rope from the end of the yard to a block attached (seemingly*) to the ratline. But in the second pic the rope appears to go down to the deck....there doesn't seem to be any ropes going to the ratline. Is it an optical illusion caused by the angle the pics are taken at? *looking at the tension in the rope I'd have thought the ratline would have bulged out towards the yard end? The mysteries of ship building 😉 Richard

Hi gthursby, Edit: I should have first pointed you towards the seven or so builds already on MSW ... https://modelshipworld.com/search/?q=scottish maid&quick=1 ...apologies. ------------------------- I wonder if these pics of an AL Scottish Maid model can help ... http://www.ianlawrencemodels.com/maid.html ...and his build log ... http://www.ianlawrencemodels.com/wipmaid4.html You might be able to zoom in on some of the pics showing routing for the yard rigging. The line extending to the shroud looks like a drawing error, but I'm not a ship modelling expert. There are many others on this website that can give more informed advice. My AL Dallas build had different rigging and no shrouds but the yards were controlled via blocks. Generally, I found the draughtsmanship on the AL Dallas plans to be very good, even though some of the important details were not that obvious on first inspection, but they were still there. Regards, Richard

Glenn, Your decking layout and the sharpness of it's detail is to be much admired. Richard

Nazir, 6. If I just keep current bits loose, is there good tool to measure diameter that u can recommend? The manufaturer/material/drill diameter is usually stamped/etched on the blank end of the drill. An eyeglass can make out that small print. If that print is unreadable then a micrometer (or a Vernier at a push) across the widest diameter of the cutting flutes will acurately tell you the drill diameter. Richard

I haven't used those two brands Jim, but seeing that the price of a single drill from them is about the equivalent of a set of 'budget' drills from Amazon gives some indication that they are for serious use, as they would be in your shop Richard.

Bob, And those are 1986 prices!...gulp. Yes, the old defence contractor network was sure milking that the NASA cow for all it was worth. But I can't see Musk tolerating that kind of behaviour...his delivery rocket launches are about 1/10th the price of LM, Boeing etc IIRC. And I don't think his teams ever have time for coffee so no machines needed 😉 Richard

Here's a useful chart of equivalent drill sizes ...https://vermontamerican.com/drill-bit-decimal-equivalency-chart/ There's four columns - Letter/Number, Metric, Inches (in decimals), MM (in decimals). The Letter/Number column also switches to fractional inches (in 1/64ths) as required. The pocket sized Zeus booklet (UK only?) contains all that info and much more eg thread info .... https://www.amazon.co.uk/RDGTOOLS-ZEUS-CHART-LATEST-REVISION/dp/B00S9SVESM/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=zeus+book&qid=1607602520&sr=8-1 When I was much younger, HSS drills seemed to last longer. These days, most of the cheap twist drills I buy from Amazon are junk - particularly the sub 1 mm ones ...they are fragile and the 'cut chisel edge' is often way off centre .... https://ruko.de/en/blog/eight-characteristics-of-a-twist-drill However they are 'good enough' for general work around the house and some hobbies. SKF & Dormer, Presto and Osborn were good makes back in the day. But we are now in the 'disposable' age so fewer and fewer products are made/expected to last too long. I'd be curious to know what drill manufacturers supply NASA and SpaceX ...those guys will demand the best quality. Richard

Bob, Thanks for the info and the links. The Brodart's video is pretty much what I did with my 'plastic bag' solution, but not as professionally. I might still order a roll of the Brodart's or similar material for protecting my books...from what you say you get plenty in a roll so it lasts a long time and the larger size can be cut down for smaller books. These days I tend to order the Kindle version of books since I can read them on multiple devices, they take up no space and are (usually) slightly cheaper. But real books are still, in my mind, more easy to flick through, bookmark and just more readable. Thanks again, Richard Edit: Bob, just read your 2nd post and Brodart does seem the way to go, long term.

Jack, and everyone who responded, thank you. It does help to discuss things, so I seem to have solved my issue by using a soft polythene bag...see below. Unfortunately, a previous owner had tried to fix the dust cover with Sellotape which has led to wrinkles in the cover and discolourisation. But my main objective was to preserve the picture in the front and the information contained in the two leaves, and that has been achieved at the moment...50 yrs down the line who knows ;-). Thanks, Richard

Roger, There are acid free archival tapes and glues that claim to be reversible. Look for them on Amazon. I've browsed those. I'm still a bit concerned about sticking anything to the old cover since I think the 'protection' will be stiffer and force the dust cover to stretch to take the shape of the protection. I'm now tending towards making my own protective cover using large, soft, clear polythene bags I already have. I don't know how acid free they are. I'll post any results on here. Thanks for your input, Richard