BANYAN

Love your process and determination to get this right Ian; an interesting log to follow. cheers Pat

Hi folks, chains were indeed used, but it appears more so in the later wooden ships (replaced the ropes). While written in 1919, Desmond describes these as being in use in 19th century wooden ships, in his "Wooden Ship-Building", page 101: "In wooden vessels these passageways consist of openings cut across outside of frame timbers (these openings are clearly shown on Fig. 212) and as it is necessary to have some method of cleaning out the openings, should dirt fill them, it is usual to either reeve a chain through all openings from bow to stern, leaving the ends in a convenient place for crew to take hold of them, haul chain back and forth and thus clear [the] limber openings of obstructions, or to leave removable boards over the frames and thus by removing a board [the] crew can reach any obstruction in [the] passage and clear it away. The best and most satisfactory method is to use both the chain and loose board. The passage cut along outside of frame timbers is named the limber; the chain that is run through [the] passage is named a limber chain, and the boards placed over opening left between ceiling and keelson are named limber boards." Also, Charles Davis, also writing of ships built in the latter half of the 19th century onward, in "Building a Wooden Ship", 1918, page 96 describes the chain as: LIMBER-CHAIN-a chain running through the gutter or limber along the bottom of a vessel inside the planking, and used to clean out the dirt and free or clear the limber, so that water will drain freely to pump well. As Bob pointed out earlier these were probably made of a non-corroding metal and of light construction. I think another author also describes these, but I have not been able to find that now cheers Pat

A very neat solution and beautifully presented SIB diorama Glen. You do realise that you have set a very high bar for yourself now don't you cheers Pat

Thanks Grant, that would be great. cheers Pat

Ummm, guys, DMM may be referring to the propeller? On reading the title - perhaps not. As Allan says later, a better description would certainly help. cheers Pat

Coming on nicely. cheers Pat

Impressive! cheers Pat

Nice work (as usual) Greg. Thanks for the feedback. cheers Pat

Hi Grant, as promised. I have now done testing on two products and researched many more. The product I have currently settled on, but needs a little more testing is Technoflux. Another I will try is Kool Jool. Both of these are Jewellers soldering aids but I prefer Technoflux as it is water soluble (for cleaning afterwards). I have not tried with a flame/torch but that is what it was designed for. When using with a flame you need to put a fairly thick dab on apparently, so that would preclude its use in very small/fine work like I am currently doing. However, as I use resistance soldering, I am finding a smaller dabs on both sides of the worked joint (to be protected) is working fine. There is a fair bit of further testing to do using an electric iron etc, but I am deferring that for a while as I need to progress with the build, and the Technoflux, where needed, seems to do the job. I am also waiting to see if there is any longer-term corrosion issues, but I very much doubt it as Jewellers would not use it if it did - and they have used it for quite a while now.. There are a lot of thermal cooling/protection products that come up on a quick search, but closer investigation shows these are a usually a grease used to isolate and/or to conduct electrical computer chips (such as the CPU) and totally not suited to our use. A couple of other products that initially came up in the search lists were not water based and therefore harder to clean, and may have caused corrosion downstream. There is one product I am trying to find (but for some reason can no longer find) is used by welders and has a name something like Blue Cool. When I di find it some time ago it was only sold in very large volumes and needed to be applied quite liberally - so may not be suited. For the time being the Technoflux seems to be doing the job, so I will continue to use that; but, I will also trial the Kool Jool at some point. I got mine from Australian Jewellery Supplies (AJS). here is a link to the product Technoflux Cool Paste - 150gram - by GEMWORLD online store cheers, hope this helps? Pat

Cute bubs, congratulations to all, especially Mum. cheers Pat

Looks good Greg. How are you finding those SMS paints to use? What thinner do you use with it? I have tried Tamiya 400 and it seems to work okay. cheers Pat

That wall looks great Glen. Now I see that I had the mistaken idea that the wall going to be inside also Pity the first attempt at the hollow didn't work, but knowing you, the solution will be elegant and no-one would have been the wiser if you hadn't told us. cheers Pat

That's incredible work Ian; that appears to be a very effective mechanism. cheers Pat

That's looking great Glen. cheers Pat

Thanks Bruce, you have been very busy (any productive) in the past few days. cheers Pat

Very nice, and nicely executed work indeed Vlad, she is looking great. She is a testament to your persistence and efforts. Those shroud fairleads leads look really good. Did you make them? cheers Pat

Looks great Glen, but you have me intrigued. How in the world will you get those larger pieces (such as the wall) into the bottle? cheers Pat

Thanks Craig, I'll take a look. cheers Pat

Thanks Craig that is the shape I was looking for (that the fore edge wrapped up the front of the axle) - I know I have, or have seen, a version like that somewhere in my reference material - I will keep looking. The version I saw though, had the same thickness metal wrapped up the front rather than tapered as you show - either could be correct. cheers pat

Thanks for doing this Craig, you beat me to it (and saved me a bit of work) . cheers Pat

Hi Grant, sorry I missed your question. If you are OK with it, I'll get back to you once I am happy with one as I don't want to lead people astray if it doesn't work. cheers Pat

As Keith has hinted, I think you made an editing error Glen - the penguin text was crossed out " Oh no, not the penguins, not the penguins!" Seriously though, that wall is coming along really nicely, are you going to do any weather and/or scum line etc? cheers Pat

Unfortunately, they are the best resolution I have Allan. I can send the files I have, just in case MSW's file formatting changed the res, but I don't think they do that? Let me know if you still want them? In the meantime, I will make a crop of similar size as yours and try some of the image software I have to see if I can improve it. (Sorry Allan, I tried that, but the original is of very low resolution, and I cannot improve it enough to read the dimensions). Perhaps contacting them may allow you to get the dimensions or a better resolution copy? Another option may be to import the improved image of the gun (second image) that has a scale, into CAD, scale to get the image to proper dimensions, and then measure them? cheers Pat

I thought I should add some photos to also help explain how I go about the process. The first shows the tools I use for the metal forming part, which include a pair of pliers with serrated grip jaws, a couple of needle files, a small 0.5mm spade bit used in my mill (next photo), a jewellers type metal block (can't remember the name) but it allows me to hold tubes of various shapes at 90, 45 and 30 degrees and cut off small pieces to width, and the JB Tools grab handle making tool. The second shows the set-up with the band on the wood mandrel in the rotary indexing attachment for the Sherline mill. The last shows the band, which has now been drilled to indexed angles at 020, 100, 160, 200, 260 and 330 degrees, being held in my alligator jaws in a soldering station I have cobbled together (still being improved). cheers Pat

Allan, I will have to search through my reference material again, but if I recall correctly the straps, or more correctly stays, are two metal brackets that were used to secure/support the axle which was morticed into the brackets. The strap (stay) replaced the lower washers for the brackets bolts that also served to secure the cap square on the upper side of the brackets. Note the bottom part was straight not curved and aligned with the squared part of the axle. (Edit) I found this which sort of explains the 'stay' a little better - I cannot recall at the moment where I found this but may be connected with the "USS Constitution". It is possibly from the Naval Historical Foundation. cheers Pat