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Christian, regarding your July 4 post on cannon you said you would go with "normal" guns. Do you mean guns from the kit? If you want to have cannon that actually look like cannon of that era for French vessels, you can have them made by a 3D printer at a reasonable price. I provided a drawing of two cannon sizes in STL format (I had someone help me as I had NO experience with this kind of drawing) to a small printer company and he made me 20 cannon for $8 total, including postage. I bet there are some folks that could help you locally with the drawings if you do not know how to do this yourself and there a lot of local small printer folks that could probably make them for you in black resin (which was the best after we tested several materials) for a very low price. Even at a very small scale it is easy to include the cipher and tapered trunnions and other tiny details and they will all show up on the finished barrels. J'espere que ca aide!! Alain

From what I can see in the photos you have the tiles such that the holes are pushed in as if nailed to the hull which is as it should be. It is a very very nice change to see this done correctly rather than have bumps stick out as if they were bolted to the hull. Well done. Allan

Zambok, What kind of wood and how thick is it? A lot depends on the type of wood (ebony can soak for a year and not be pliable) as well as the thickness. I have soaked holly that is 1/16" thick for five minutes and it could be bent around a carved plug for frames for a ships boat without heat. Castello boxwood thicker than about 1/4" is difficult to bend even if soaked long enough for the water to fully penetrate. But, while gently bending and hitting it with a hot air gun (don't use her hair dryer unless she is out of the house for a while) it can be bent around a form while wet with some ease then clamped in place until it dries completely via the hot air, or air dry for some hours. Thinner stock pf this wood is not so bad. The amount of grain and direction will also contribute to the ease or difficulty. Dry bending with heat is another option that few people use but can be tried as well to see if it works for you with the wood you are using. Allan

Regarding CA on rigging, ditto on the above, don't use it. CA is helpful and for some it is preferable in some instances of a build other than rigging, but it is not a necessity anywhere. White PVA diluted as discussed above is the ticket!

The fact that you are not settling for the "no one will ever know" route is a great. Good for you for taking the time and making the effort!! Allan

Tim, I know it sounds complex, and in fact it is for most of us. (Caveat, if you are talking about the whaler Swift that the Royal Navy purchased in 1804, some things may not apply) The size of a heart, as are all masts, spars, ropes and blocks, is related to the size of the ship and year. If you take the Vadas spread sheet and enter the extreme beam and length of the lower deck in the appropriate year segments in the spreadsheet, you will get the size of the masts, spars and ropes. From the size of the rope you can then calculate the length of the heart, which, according to James Lees, is 1.45 times the circumference of the stay for which it is intended. Each stay and collar is a different circumference so each heart is different in size as well. He makes no mention of the number of turns inside the heart, but David Steel states there is to be room for four or more turns for the lanyard in The Elements of Rigging (1794) on page 158 which can be found on-line for free. He gives not other dimensional information that I could find. As to whether a heart or deadeye is to be used, it depends on what stay or collar and sometimes which year. Note that Biddlecombe is 1848 so probably not applicable to Swift and while I love Chapelle's work, it is not very detailed for this kind of thing. If you want to try the Vadas spread sheet go to https://thenrg.org/resource/articles and scroll down to his spreadsheet in the rigging section of these many fine articles. You will have to have the extreme beam and lower deck length for this or the formulas in Lees' book. Allan

Hi Tim, What is the circumference of the line? (not kit supplied rope, the contemporary size that it should be?) If you do not have this, but have the size of the vessel (for English ships) and the year it was built you can calculate the size of every mast, spar and rope. Once you get the size of of the rope itself you can then calculate the size of the heart. Sorry it is not very straightforward, but if you want accuracy this is possibly the best way to do so. If you have the size and year of the vessel, (and it is English) you can you use the spread sheet calculations developed by Dan Vadas here at MSW. It is very accurate except for a period between 1670 and 1711 for which it is incorrect from the first calculation thus through all calculations that follow for that time period. These are based on James Lees ratios (again, except for the 1670-1711 period) Allan

Depending on where you are located some storage units have climate control. Down here in SW FL, there are a good number of them. Allan

Rock, I have made kimchee at home in the past, mainly with large radish and of course the pepper and garlic, etc. The cabbage kimchee I get here is from Korea and quite good though!!! Allan

Welcome to MSW Chun! I love your model photos and I loved Seoul the last time I was there, some 15 years ago. The only problem with that visit was I became addicted to Korean food and it is hard to find good Korean restaurants in the USA outside the big cities such as Manhattan. Still, I get my kimchee from the local Asian markets and it keeps me content!! Allan

Hi Pete, Glad to say WELCOME ABOARD!!!!! ALMOST had a chance to visit your country this coming September as our youngest son and his wife were to run in the 200 mile mountain race but with the quarantine required, that went out the window for this year. They are going to try again to get into one of the 2022 200 milers. Yeah, we love them even though they are completely nuts to run 200 miles in mountainous terrain. Ship modeling seems to be much less stressful, physically at least. Allan

Hi Ed, Glenn may have the best answer, but not sure if you are talking about holding the hull while you put in your planking or something to hold the planking in place. If you are building POF, the keel holder may not help as much when you are planking between the wales and garboard. Be sure to read the planking tutorials here at MSW, it will help you get it done properly and with as little trouble as possible. Some, not all, kits would have the planking done in a way that is not close to realistic so beware. Study Glenn's build log on the cutter Cheerful as he does a VERY good job on the planking!!

Welcome aboard Ian, Loved your introduction, it a pleasure to read the various backgrounds of our members who take the time to give a little history!! Allan

Scalpel blades are indeed more susceptible to breaking. If the cut is so much that it could break a blade I go to a honed chisel which would be a more appropriate tool for that particular task. I have found over the years that Xacto or scalpel blades are not the end all to every job that requires a sharp edge. Whatever anyone feels works best for them and gets the job done in the end is always the best choice. 😄

Don, Your willingness to remove and redo should be an inspiration to others. Not just saying close enough can be tough, but kudos to you for not caving in! Allan

Lovely drawing Igor! I think the knee of the head is supposed to taper to about half the width, or less, than the width of the stem by the time it reaches the forward most point of the bobstay. (see white lines on the below picture. Again, your drawings are wonderful!! Allan

The National Archives in Kew. There are copies of contracts in a number of books as well, including Goodwin et al, but again, there is a cost involved. Unfortunately, not everything we need to use in our never ending research is free. Wish that was not the case, but.......... Allan

Riotvan, If you want to go the route of actual practice you could build a mold using your hull. I did this years ago making models of the Islander 36 sailing yacht and a couple Californian 48 motor yachts for their owners and they came out beautifully. I was lucky in that I worked for PPG Industries Coatings and Resin division at that time and had folks in the lab to show me the ropes. IF you want to give it a try, these are the basic steps as I remember them. After you are satisfied the original hull that you have has a perfect finish and is polished as much as possible, coat the hull with a mold release and rub and polish it until it gleams. Any soft rag will work for this. A rough finish is not desirable based on my own experience as it will show on the final product. Next paint on a couple layers of gelcoat onto your hull. Black is what I used, but any color should do. I used black to contrast with the final color of the hulls that I would be making. Once the gel coat is cured, apply the fiber glass and resin on top of the gel coat. I would not use woven glass as the weave can be noticeable no matter how many coats of your final finish that you use apply. I speak from experience on this. Unwoven fiberglass cloth is a far better choice and is generally thicker so will make a stronger mold. While the resin is still wet, you can add some stiffeners that will also allow the mold to stay upright when it is done. Glass over these pieces of wood stiffeners and let the entire set up cure. You will wind up with what looks like a small bath tub in the shape of your vessel hull. Once cured, remove your hull and you will have a finished mold from which you can make as many hulls as you want. When going to make the glass hull, apply and polish the same mold release onto the gelcoat inside the mold. Once it dries apply a coat of gel coat that is a contrasting color to the mold. In my case the hulls were blue or white. Once this coat of gel coat, which will be the extreme outside of your hull, is cured, apply nonwoven glass and resin in the mold. Once cured it can be popped right out and you have a glass hull similar to an actual fiberglass boat. You can add some wood battens here as well before the resin cures and lay some additional glass on top of these battens/stiffeners and they will be there forever and protected plus stiffen the hull. Sounds like a lot of work, but they were fun projects. I truly wish I still had those molds. Foolishly I got rid of them during one of our many moves. Such is life. I am sure there are tutorials on line so if you want to investigate further take a look as things may have gotten easier since I took this on back in the late '70s before getting into wooden ship model. Allan

Bob, Thanks for the tip on fine line tape!!! I have always used painters masking tape but paint the edges with a clear varnish or poly to seal the edges before painting. This prevents any bleeding of the paint under the tape, but I will definitely give your suggestion a try in the very near future. Owl, Consider a pencil holding adjustable height gage as well. If you are looking to add just a stripe, not the bottom from the water line down, I have had great success for many years using pinstripe tape available on line or from auto supply stores. It adheres very well to a clean surface (cars are out there in all kinds of weather with this stuff staying put). When I apply the final four or five topcoats of a clear UV protective matte or eggshell finish to the hull, it further protects the pin striping from degrading or peeling off. The below photo shows a part of the water line that was set up with painter's masking tape and a pin stripe from the local auto supply store. Allan

Jonesy, For future consideration, look at scalpel blades and handle. The handles are not round so do not roll off the bench onto the floor or stick in your leg. They are sharper and available in packs of 100. Swann Morton is the brand I have been using since switching from Xacto for blades, but there are probably others. No need to get the sterile blades which tend to be more expensive. I still love Xacto for key hole saw blades and such. Allan

Good morning Don, Maybe ask Santa, Christmas is not too far away. Used copies of Goodwin can be had for $40 on Amazon these days. BTW, what is SOW? I am familiar with The Shipbuilder's Repository, Steel's Elements and Practice of Naval Architecture and Scantlings of the Royal Navy, but not SOW. Allan

Don, I double checked folio XL in the Sim Comfort book on Steel and for the platforms for a sloop of war the scantlings are indeed given for carlings that are four inches broad and ledges that are 3 inches broad. Keep in mind, Steel was 16 years after Discovery was launched, so may not be apropos. Then again lacking other contemporary information this is probably reasonable information to use. Check out contracts on similar sized vessels and they give dimensions of ledges and carlings as well. By the same token if you study a few contracts you will see that they do not conform to Steel in some cases. One example is the 16 gun sloop of war Echo, 1782. The following is an example of the description of a platform and lower deck from the contract of Echo: AFT PLATFORM ...................... beams sided 6½ inches and moulded 5½ to be kneed if directed, to be provided with Carlings and Ledges same as the Lower Deck................. LOWER DECK CARLINGS AND LEDGES ....................the Carlings to be 7 inches broad, and 6½ inches deep................................ The ledges to be of Oak 4 inches broad, and 3½ inches deep, to be spaced not more the 12 inches, nor less than 9 inches asunder. Do look at the ledges and breast riders in Goodwin's and Antscherl's books. Some look nothing like the majority of ledges which are rectangular in shape when seen from above and there are no places where any ledges lie in such a way that they would appear to be attached nearly side by side with the athwartships arms of the lodging knees. Hope this helps. Allan

Don, I double checked folio XL in the Sim Comfort edition of Steel and for the platforms for a sloop of war the scantlings are indeed given for carlings that are four inches broad and ledges that are 3 inches broad. Keep in mind, Steel was 16 years after Discovery was launched, so may not be apropos. Then again lacking other contemporary information this is probably reasonable information to use. Check out contracts on similar sized vessels and they give dimensions of ledges and carlings as well. By the same token if you study a few contracts you will see that they do not conform to Steel in some cases. One example is the 16 gun sloop of war Echo, 1782. The following is the description of the platforms and lower deck from the contract of Echo: PLATFORMS ...................... beams sided 6½ inches and moulded 5½ to be kneed if directed, to be provided with Carlings and Ledges same as the Lower Deck................. LOWER DECK CARLINGS AND LEDGES ....................the Carlings to be 7 inches broad, and 6½ inches deep................................ The ledges to be of Oak 4 inches broad, and 3½ inches deep, to be spaced not more the 12 inches, nor less than 9 inches asunder. Do look at the ledges and breast riders in Goodwin's and Antscherl's books. Some look nothing like the majority of ledges which are rectangular in shape when seen from above and there are no places where any ledges lie in such a way that they would appear to be nearly side by side with the athwartships arms of the lodging knees. Hope this helps. Allan

Don, I agree with Mark, the carlings look under sized when compared to the ledges. If you are using scantlings from Steel, the carlings would be 6 inches broad and the ledges 3.5 inches broad and no less than 9 nor more than 12 inches asunder (yes you are correct that this is the space between them, not C. to C.) For a lot of detail on how these go in pages 258 and 259 of TFFM volume I shows the solutions that you need. As well, Goodwin has an excellent drawing of this situation on page 72 in The Construction and Fitting of the English Man of War, including breast riders in place of ledges where necessary. Goodwin points out on page 74 that the while measurements of the ledges was stipulated (Establishments and contracts I presume) they sometimes varied according to their position. They are not always the same shape or breadth in the outboard tier. Allan

I bought mine on line. https://sigmfg.com/products/sig-silkspan-tissue The hobby shops near me had plastic type materials and no silk span, so maybe call ahead to your local hobby shop to avoid wasting a trip. It is pretty cheap stuff, but you will also need good quality artists tubed acrylic paints (not the cheap poor quality stuff in bottles found a few aisles over from the better quality paints), matte medium and some scrap wood to make a frame and plug that goes inside the frame. It is not at all complex, Follow the steps on the tutorials for the first try, then it is an easy go from there. There is some information here at MSW including in the scratch build of the Boothbay 65 as well as tutorials in David Antscherl's booklet and You Tube clips. Allan