BANYAN

Great progress Gaetan, up to your very high standards of workmanship as usual. Nice photos BTW. cheers Pat

Hi all, I use the Beileshi with my glass and without - no issue either way but does affect the working distance. Gaetan, I was skeptical at first but they seem to be proper glass lenses and they do include the working distances per lens (by magnification). The table that came with mine state: Lens Plate Mag ratio Focus (Focal Length) 2 1.5x 20 inches 4 2x 10 inches 5 2.5x 8 inches 10 3.5x 4 inches cheers Pat

Happy new year to you too mate; glad to see you could put in a few more hours (especially in this heat). That cage and netting looks great! A very convincing 'trampoline' - what material did you use, it looks a very fine mesh? cheers Pat

Greg, I recently purchased a Beleshi Glass Lens headband (no light). While these are the enclosed type, I have found the reduced field of view does not interfere with my modelling. They also do not have a 'mounted' LED but I never use that feature anyway. I went for a 'package' deal that included 3 lenses of different focal lengths/magnification. I got these at a really good price through Amazon Australia. At first, based on the price, I was sceptical these were actually glass lenses but they are - much cheaper than many of the the other manufacturers and I have found them very good. The only issue being that because they are ground glass lenses the 'depth of field' is much more defined and dependent on the magnification selected. That said once you determine your working length/focal length they are very clear and easy to work with. I am going to invest in another pair (at that price not a problem) so that I have extra lenses and have two magnification levels to work with, without having to change out the lenses. Give me a bell or PM if you need extra info. cheers Pat

Great technique for attaining the bowsprit shap in the bulwarks Keith; another idea to tuck away. Look forward to seeing your cap rails in situ. I put in a couple of hours today working on my skylights; posts to follow soon. cheers Pat

Agree glass lenses; only way to go. cheers Pat

Nice to see this beauty gracing our screens again Rob. cheers Pat

You and me both mate; I don't think the workshop is a safe place for the next couple of days I have completed the 'honey please do' list so should be back into the model making seriously again in the NY. Best wishes for a great 2020 cheers Pat

Hi Norway (first name?) Depending on the scale you are working, you can do hand serving with a modified bow serving jig (string - as in archery - just google it, they are cheap). The better ones are the sammler types and these simply allow you to maintain and even pressure which results in a very uniform finished serve. cheers Pat

Hi Keith, the whole cap was made and dry fitted on the bulwarks to test for clean joints and alignment etc . The scarf joints were located away from any hard 'dip' in the cap/deck/bulwark longitudinal direction; but, fortunately there was only a very gentle dip between stem and stern with a very slight nadir (probably only about 4mm). When we dry fitted we built some 'platforms' from scrap wood (4 each side) either side of the hull on the cradle; these were shimmed as required to ensure the ply strips (sitting on the cap) would mate properly with these (made for getting the level easy when gluing up with a short dry time). We then knew that if the strips were sitting on each of the platform tops the whole lot had to be mated correctly, and that it sat parallel to the deck etc (level) . Perhaps, if you have a deeper, or more complex curve/dip) shaped chocks between the strips, which would remain level to hold the weights, and the cap might assist? WRT the curves to follow the sheer, we cheated a little and cut the lengths of the cap from wide planks appropriately thicknessed so there was no stress in a lateral dimension at all. It was just a matter of dry fitting then gluing the caps together on the top of transparent 'wax' paper laid over a plan of the upper deck to ensure all was correctly aligned and fitting as required. While dry fitting with the cap held properly in place, two alignment holes were drilled in the cap assembly (one forward, one aft ). These were located in places where once they were filled and painted they would not be evident (if the filler compressed later) and temporary pins, protruding through the cap holes, were used to allow quick alignment in situ (hope that makes sense). As you have varnished finish, the use of the alignment holes may be a little tricky unless you have a couple of spots where equipment or rigging penetrated the cap rail? When we were ready (there were two of us) we ran the glue bead along the top of the bulwark upper plank, one working each side, then lifted and fitted the assembly onto the bulwarks/roughtree timber tops using the pins as quick guides to position the cap before setting it down, we then placed the ply strips, and after rechecking level (the hull is mounted in a cradle that was already leveled) we added the map weights to provide some 'clamping' pressure for the glue. Whole thing took us 6 minutes or so from starting to lay the glue bead. If you do this by yourself perhaps a 15 minute epoxy may be better? I hope all that makes some sort of sense, and my apologies up front for any 'motherhood' - I just thought it better to spell out the whole process we used. Have a great Christmas with plenty of 'cheer' Pat

Up to your usual impressive standards Keith; looks very good. Don't delay the caprail. I had the same dilemmas with "Victoria'; doubts and a lack of 'strong' fitting points etc. In the end, I didn't bother with trying to pin it, just ran a bead of two part epoxy along the top of the upper plank edge and the tops of the roughtree timbers - THEN held my breath while fitting - worked out quite well and it is still very strongly attached (despite some 'accidental' knocks. I used 10 minute epoxy to give me a little wiggle time The hardest part was ensuring the rail sat parallel to the deck (and remained that way while it dried. I simply put a few, evenly spaced small flat 6mm ply boards over them so that it was evenly spaced over both sides which seems to have kept them properly levelled. Looking forward to how you make those valves; I will tuck that away as another mini-tutorial for my records. cheers Pat

Simply stunning work Doris; I especially like the glasswork in the lanterns and stern windows - very lifelike looking effect. regards Pat

If not too late Steven, you can buy small amounts at Bunnings, I have a 1 litre can but I think you can get even smaller. cheers Pat

Nice work Steven, pity you have to remove some parts. Nail polish remover is just acetone which you can get at Bunnings fairly cheaply (may save you some grief 'borrowing' it from your regular supplier Not sure if IsoPropyl would be better but I think the latter is for PVA/Yellow glue not superglue/CA softening/removal. cheers Pat

I am anxiously awaiting my copy to arrive Ed; I am really looking to this as a Christmas treat but may have to wait for the new year with the slow shipping. Whatever you choose I am sure it will be a masterpiece cheers Pat

Great to hear that it is not dust related news Mark, and hope you get over the cold soon. With balsa I have has some good results with a 'sureforn' which you can get in various shapes and 'grits' (or number of teeth) - the finer ones, while still technically a rasp, the finer ones are much less rough on the wood. I took the 'blade' out of handle and fitted it to a former (hardwood) to do the various shapes. cheers Pat

Nice work (as usual) Keith, that deck is starting to look very 'busy' now. cheers Pat

Looks good Pat; on the homeward bound leg of the 'journey' now cheers Pat

Hi Rob, not too far off. I have been sidetracked with a lot of research on the rigging, getting the "honey please do and Christmas to do lists done and... You get the idea I think too many things to do and not enough hours. I am currently working on completing the broadside guns. Thanks for looking in. cheers Pat

Thanks for the feedback Keith, I had been wondering why the gratings were there also, probably serving more as 'duckboards'? I have decided, based on costs and type of type of work I need to do in the future, to purchase a few more Sherline WW collets (to widen my range of collets) rather than go the ER32 route. Anything greater than 8mm can be chucked, and taking your advice I will invest in a better dial indicator for centring in my 3 and 4 jaw chucks. It was a close run thing between purchasing the additional (I think much overpriced Sherline WW collets) and buying a new ER32 Chuck and full set of collets - time will tell I followed your technique with making the eyebolts with great interest and have tucked that aside for future use . I am busy finishing the broadside guns etc at the moment and will post an update soon. cheers Pat

Great to see you back UV and happy to hear the surgery was successful. cheers Pat

An interesting problem (WRT the gratings) Keith; I'm sure no one is going to mic the 'openings' and who is to say they were made exactly to size anyway? Are these built in gratings or lift-out panels made the traditional way? At first glance I thought the cap rail formed part of the platform structure but I then noticed the photos shows they are under the rail hence having to do them first. regards Pat

Nice 'toy' and very acceptable results Eberhard. Quite an interesting concept for producing very small wood partss. cheers Pat

I use this method also - picked the tip up here on MSW cheers Pat

Two good news stories. Is that 'tin' still intact after all that kikin' cheers Pat