BANYAN

I can't provide any advice on the drilling as I do not have that level of experience in this area. You have far more experience and you are receiving some great advice from some talented and more experienced (than me) modellers - but I am learning a lot from this discussion. Thank you all. That said, I must declare that I like Dan's idea. Mate, I will stand in the trenches shoulder-to-shoulder with you in defence, should you decide to paint . As you can see from my models, I prefer to paint them as I try to recreate the look and feel of the 'real ship' as she may have looked (and this is my opinion only - everyone has their own ) . I say 'may have looked' as I am a long way off perfecting the 'scale colour' as it is called by more artistically experienced modellers - that is scale the colour tones etc to suit the model scale. There is enough wood remaining in the deck furniture to satisfy my 'love of natural wood' - but each to their own ideas on that. cheers Pat (standing by to receive any incoming )

I have been pondering on what to call the rig also Druxey and had been leaning towards 'Steamer rig' as that is the type of vessel (both paddle and screw driven) it seems be exclusively fitted to. I do like the use of 'transitional' also and perhaps I will add that. I am working on a document at the moment (Word) that collated the research I have done to date and I will make it available via PM (for anyone one interested) or, via this thread, in the very near future for those whom may be interested to comment upon etc. At this point, the research is purely to provide the reasoning for the shaping and structure of the masts, and the rigging/sail plans (and eventually a belaying plan) as I have enough information to draw the masts now I think. I know it is a single stick upper mast (combining the top, topgallant and royal masts) to which I will apply the 'rules of thumb' proposed by Kipping and Fincham with a slight adaption to the head of the royal based on a comment by one of these authors. Once drawn in isolation I will overlay it to onto the lithographs and photograph of the ship and adjust to best fit. Hopefully I will be quite close. The next exercise is to determine the spar furniture and here I will run with the proposals of the same authors for the fittings specific to a steamer and adapted for merchant rather than RN (service) ships. Many thanks for your continued interest and suggestions; it is very much appreciated. cheers Pat

I hope things improve very soon for you Rob. I can empathise with what you are going through and it isn't any fun at all. Get yourself well first mate; GR can wait (unless you leave that door Druxey found open ) cheers Pat

Hi Ed and thanks for your feedback. I had tried inverting it, but I would need to redrill the existing, or get a new, Z-Axis bar to mount the tool to. But even then unfortunately the y-axis table will still strike against the base It was never designed to work in this configuration unfortunately. If I used it more often I would consider doing some modifications but I really only use it for template making and the like now (in a more basic set-up) as I use the Sherline for all my milling etc. I would have used the Sherline if I had a way to turn the work through 90 degrees as I have a slitting saw for that. cheers Pat

Thanks mate. That is a very similar colour used by the RAN fore while and I also need to do some non-slip (Devron) walk areas on my little 'lugger' so will watch with interest. cheers Pat

That serving on your lines for the buoy look great - very nice job. The serving is very tight and even. cheers Pat

Looks a good solid base of colour Greg. What is the actual colour (and Brand) f paint you used for the decks? cheers Pat

Nice progress Pat, the 'inserted' port lids look good. cheers Pat

Great job on the bowsprit/jibboom Alan; they look very well proportioned. cheers Pat

Very nice job on the telegraph and planking Keith. The bulwarks appear to be 'stiff/rigid' enough to be usable, and hold their shape in the photos, probably difficult to know until you remove her from the building frame? cheers Pat

Hi folks, thanks for the interest in my little project. I am still in the learning stages and I am sure some of you more talented/experienced folks could suggest some improvements. Carl; that contraption is a modified "Vanda-lay Industries' milling tool. See http://vanda-layindustries.com/ Keith; thanks the jig works well, I just wish I could have got the cross-table closer to the work (shortened the extension of the holder). p.s. the reason the work is further away is that I had to flip the positioning of the dremel to the back of the tool rather than the front to get the blade rotation (approach to the workpiece) in the right direction so that it minimised the risk of bending/breaking the straps on contact (and there was not enough travel in the y-axis to have it at the front anyway ). Rob; it took a while to sort out the concept, but it was a bit of fun (and frustration) thinking it through. Michael; See link above re Vanda-lay Industry Tools. This was one of my first 'adventures' into tooling and worked fine for a while. However, as I mentioned earlier, I find the tool (as a milling machine - ACRA mill +) much to unstable (too much play in the Y-table especially). However, it is a great tool for other purposes. I asked for a modified plate (L shaped) adapter by which to fix the dremel holders to allow more positioning flexibility and he was happy to produce it for me. I use this with the dremel saw arbor / attachment for many tasks where I prefer to spin the cutter/grinder in a fixed position and offer up the work (making templates and the like especially) It is basically a part from the http://vanda-layindustries.com/html/hold-it_plus_jr_.html which is adapted to fit on the cross-arm of the Z-axis (see here http://vanda-layindustries.com/html/mill_accessories.html ) which I then asked for modified fixing plate rather than straight one that was being offered. I am not quite sure where I picked up the drill arbor/attachment; if I recall I will get back to you. I have no affiliation with the company, merely answering the queries cheers Pat

Hi folks. Not much progress to report as I research the masts and rigging plan. In the meantime I am starting to assemble the 'Rigmaiden Lanyards' which were used in-lieu of deadeys and lanyards. See my earlier post here: I have had most of the brass strap parts photoetched after drawing them up to scale. However, I have had to solder a small ID thin walled tube to the ends of each of the chain plate straps to represent the eye. these were cut off flush to either side after being soldered. The Contract called for "Lang's Eye Plates" so I am assuming this different (to the usual chain plates) arrangement is what is meant but I am open to suggestions To help cut the slot in the eye to accept the bottom part of the Rigmaiden Lanyard, I milled a slot into the end of some brass square stock then made a sleeve to slide up and down to hold the 'plates'. the sleeve weas needed to stop the strap bending as they were half-etched at a few point to facilitate consistent and sharper bending points. This jig was then held in a vise which had been mounted into my Vandalay Milling table adapted to hold my Dremel in the horizontal. For this job, the table was 'adequate' but I would not recommend it for any precision work (simply to much play once the y-axis cross table is added. I think the photos show the principle. I had to use a longer extension of the jig to approach the saw blade due to the very small blade diameter and not being able to get the table to close the distance (obstructed) cheers Pat

Couldn't you simply file it down in situ to a 'thinner' profile a, to me at least the 'diameter' or max OD of the nut is not too big? cheers Pat

Thanks again Carl and Eberhard. Carl, Eberhard has answered re the sprues much better than I could have. The part I am trying to assemble is 5mm long, with 5 x diminishing 'U' shaped supports. The long spine is the prop guard and the supports are equally spaced. By diminishing I mean the central support is 3mm apart at the base where they join the hull, the outr only 1.25mm - so you can see how small these parts (2) are and my frustration in trying to make them. Thanks for the detailed explanation Eberhard; appreciate the better understanding. cheers Pat

Thanks for the feedback Carl and Eberhard. Carl: I haven't tried it on this build as I have not had good results with it (may have been a bad batch?). That said, it may be worth relooking at - thanks. Eberhard: I have a hot air gun with variable settings (range similar to yours) with several nozzles. As above, I think I may have to relook at this. cheers Pat

Stunning work Keith, if I didn't know they were miniature I would have assumed they were the real thing! cheers Pat

Many thanks Eberhard, i'll have a poke around for some. I have now finished gluing and filling the hull components (x 4) together and primed/undercoated the hull. I have been holding off doing more as I have been waiting for some additional parts but I think these may have 'fallen through' so need to readdress the approach for those. i tried making from wire and soldering but I keep blowing it apart even at the lowest temps. i am experimenting making these (propeller guards) from styrene at the moment, but my first efforts don't look too flash. cheers Pat

Very handy items Paul, I use them to prepare brass for blackening also. The 'dust' fibres are just as bad as small cactus fruit burrs once they stick into your skin, they are a devil to get out (see for a starter) so I usually wear rubber gloves when using them. Don't ask me how I know about the cactus fruit cheers Pat

Try a machinery shop Carl (metal working tools especially but some woodworking also), as they normally carry them, just be sure to specify imperial and not metric if JBs saw. cheers Pat

Those 'repairs' are looking good Steven; lovely progress. cheers Pat

No probs Pat. the replica is somewhat different in some areas as they had to make some compromises to register/accredit the ship to carry passengers. this has resulted in a slightly longer ship, and some minor changes to the 'tops' to accommodate the rader and machinery etc. cheers Pat

Sorry Vossie, you need to get used to us Aussies - our typical response to being asked 'how are you', is "not half bad mate" - so 'pretty good' is a 'real compliment' - Glad I didn't say 'That's not bad mate' - I may have been run out of town cheers Pat

Hi Pat, thought I would check in and see how you are progressing. Nice build; the hull looks very nicely faired with a great finish to the planking. If you have any questions just holler (I'm just across the ditch ) For some alternate build/finish options check out the builds by Dave Rowe, Dashi and Shipaholic also. cheers Pat

Thanks Pat, much appreciate your kind words. I am happy to hear that you have found the build log useful. cheers Pat

Looks great Rob, boy you work fast with rigging (shows your experience with this) cheers Pat