Gregory

Something to keep in mind:

I rarely include tabs  on my parts to be cut after the laser is done.  With no tabs, air assist can blow small parts around, to end up in the exhaust or in the path of the laser down range. 

Air assist is more useful for me on thicker stock, greater than 1/16..

4 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

The times I've had where the laser didn't cut all the way through I've been able to salvage the part with a scroll saw and a very thin blade.

Before I had my 40w C02, I used a low power laser for scoring on anything thicker than 1/32, followed up with a scroll saw, which tended to follow the scoring.

Have you settled on the Domanoff type machine?

While I have seen that it can produce decent scale rope they can be problematic and limited when it comes to making a wide variety of rope.

For different size rope, you would have to change the bobbins, and you are limited to four strands of any one size.

Which means for a particular size rope made from a particular size thread, to get a larger rope, you would have to make 2 or more lines, then wind them onto bobbins, and proceed to make larger rope from them.

With a rope walk like the Syren Rope Rocket, you don't have to worry about bobbins, you just use any length of thread, depending on the length of the line you want to make.  You can also increase the size of the rope by adding more threads to the 4 whorls that make up the heart of the machine.

It is not as compact as the Domanoff, but is much more versatile.

Then there is the Frolic style, discussed here:

, but requires a lot of DYI..

There are a lot of satisfied Rope Rocket users here at MSW.

Fusion 360 is great for 2D and 3d..  Free for personal use..

13 hours ago, Boatsinc2000 said:

Gregory, those are really helpful.   Thank you so much. 

While we are at it:

I just came across this in my browsing.

An America model by Loyd McCaffery

I can see myself using a similar design on a future project..  Simple but very elegant.

Does Glowforge have air assist?   It will reduce charring somewhat.

I have found the amount of charring has the most to do with the type of wood and how seasoned it is.

14 hours ago, Boatsinc2000 said:

  Any input on coppering and / or using pear for the stand?

I think the pear would be great for a custom base/cradle/pedestals.

You can get some good ideas from the models at NMM

Embedded in the PDF are some links:

Those links are broken.  The domain is dead..

Once again Chris,  my comments  were not questioning the quality of your work.

I just found the MDF cradle to look rather incongruous in the context of the box art..

The acetate is very nice.

I was reluctant to make comments that sound critical, I just felt the MDF cradle really detracted from the otherwise beautiful model in the photographs..

Chris,

Any thoughts on coming up with display pedestals for your box art and promo pictures that are a little more in keeping with the quality of this beautiful piece of art?

I realize display option details will be up to each builder, but I find the base as shown somewhat distracting from the rest of the fine workmanship.

I really like your shade of red ..

He had a build log for the ZHL Royal Caroline, a knock off of the Mantua/Panart kit, over at another forum.

Bob Hunt was once a respected contributor to the ship modeling community, but he has chosen to go over to the dark side and support the theft of intellectual property..

https://modelshipworld.com/forum/149-our-stance-on-piracy-in-the-hobby/

I would not recommend supporting his business..

It's ironic in that he has often complained of people stealing his  intellectual and real property..

On 1/25/2021 at 3:35 PM, allanyed said:

Tony,  Most of us would LOVE to have some true boxwood and use it in its natural color.  Why do you want to color it?     If whatever finish is on the ruler is removed, the wood will be a bit yellowish and may even  have darkened over time.  This is a beautiful wood that the model builders of old used and I do not believe they stained or otherwise colored them. 

 I have seen many contemporary models where the blocks are approaching black..

Then there are these, which I believe may be boxwood, as the color is a lot like very old boxwood  carvings I have seen.  I have seen similar blocks on other contemporary models. 

If I could source blocks like this, it would never occur to me to try to stain them, but as I said above, I really don't want to wait 200 years for the color to develop.

The boxwood blocks I have acquired from Syren, the quality of which can't be matched from any other source, are too light for my taste.

After reading the info in this discussion I have dyed some of my 'Chuck' blocks with some Fiebing's leather dye with results I like.

1 hour ago, John Fox III said:

The bolt rope goes around, stitched to, the entire perimeter of the sail,

Exactly..

Hard to wrap my head around this with no sail present..

It would be like adding reef points with no sails..

Like you, I don't want to struggle with these numbers, but you might find this interesting..

With your Rope Rocket at 26 feet  moving 3 feet with tensioning, that comes out to about 11.5%.

I checked my rope walk, and with 55 inches of thread, it starts to lay up after the looper travels about 6.5 inches, or 11.8%..

50 minutes ago, Tim Holt said:

it would be nice to dial in a desired count for each step based on that ratio plus how long of a setup I was using. 

Like Chuck says, you can over think it, and gain absolutely nothing..

FWIW, with my set-up, when you have twisted the yarns enough, the rope starts to lay up..

This will vary with the type of thread..  Counting would be pointless..

I have been curious about what the RPM of my whorl gears are..  I might get around to checking it someday..

The laying up is only a small fraction of the twisting of the strands, and it also depends on the length of the rope.

The longer the rope, the more twists in the lay up.

I have a more traditional rope walk with motor driven whorls and a looper that is driven by tension. I would guess the yarns/threads are twisted hundreds of times for each twist in the strands in the layed up rope.

11 minutes ago, cbeckenb said:

 I think rigging is one of the most impressive features of model ships (and it's my favorite part of the build.

There are the trees, and there is the forest..

While the rigging in many ways defines these ships and their models, what the modeler hopes to achieve is worth consideration..

If you are going to model without sails, I feel a lot of the sail handling rigging would detract from what you have in the absence of sails..

Without sails, I think braces and lifts make for a clean look.

On 6/11/2021 at 9:49 AM, tlevine said:

All that is left to make is the capstan bars and brakes.

Looking for an opinion..

Chuck had posted a picture of this contemporary model in another topic..

I had asked about the eyebolts but no one responded.

There are only two, and they look a little heavy for the bar retention pins as shown on your model.

After seeing your model, I thought maybe they might put several pins on one eyebolt.

Another thought was, did they sometimes move the upper capstan out of the way?  In which case the eyebolts might be for attaching tackle.

Thanks for all the info...

Sorry I'm  late to this discussion, but when I see the pictures of this ship, and consider it is a "medium "  clipper, what is an example of a " large " clipper?   

4 hours ago, allanyed said:

...absolutely gorgeous even though it is soft by comparison (580 lb ft).  

... which is really important to keep in mind. It has been mentioned before that it is easy to make visible dents with your fingernails.