Jaager

Painter and Paint Shop Pro will both import PDF images. For free I would put money on GIMP doing it.

One way - use a draw/photo program that can open PDF files. A file with a legend printed on your home printer. Match the legend to a 1;48 architects ruler and adjust the scale of the file until the % adjustment needed to match is obtained. Except for a few components, a 8.5 x 14 sheet should reproduce most any part. I did the Body and needed to scale it up by 105% to match the 33'7" breadth. The profile 103% Horizontal and 104.8% Vertical to get the station intervals and heights to spec.

Use of a primer with paint probably comes from full size practice. The first coat soaks in, uses a lot of paint, and leaves an incomplete surface. A primer came have a budget level cost and finish paint can be expensive. For large surfaces and a lot of paint, it saves money by using a primer. If you have a surplus of finish color, a separate primer has no savings advantage, so using the finish as primer will work. If the surface has a mold invasion, or it is a wood species with sap or rosin, a proper sealing primer is usually wise, it keeps the mold or sap from migrating to the surface over time. I wonder if the advise to use poly as a primer came from a source who thought a way was found to show up the traditional suggestions made by professionals in wood finishing. Polyurethane is a synthetic plastic, if you are not a moldy fig about using "modern" materials on a model, it seems to have been shown to have stability over time.

Wearing a tie anywhere close to a lathe- really insane.

MPJA sells a power supply for $17 3-12 volt selection range. Allows for a range of RPM.

A long time traditional first coat is shellac. It is pretty much compatible with everything. It is cut 1:1 with alcohol for the first coat. As a final finish, it must be kept from water, Water turns it white. Many sand and sealer formulations are designed to be a primary base for open pore wood species - such as Oak, Willow, Ash, Walnut. It fills the pores and has a smooth surface for a final clear finish product. These are generally thick and leave a layer that is out of scale on a model. I prefer to avoid using wood species that have open pores - unless it is not visible. 0000 steel wool between coats, leaves "tooth" for the next coat to bind with. Just vacuum and tack rag to remove any steel fibers. They will rust and stain.

I will offer what are personal opinions. Modeling a plastic kit is a bit different than a wood based kit. It is more fabrication with the wood, rather than assembly. Ship models are fabricated using plastic raw materials, but I think wood is an easier and more pleasing material to work with at that level. Most wood models are probably easier to rig, once you shape the spars, because plastic is easier to break under line tension, My search for a SS Mariefred kit leads me to the conclusion that it is a POB hull not POF (plank on frame). The HMS Snake kit is also POB, so the basic method will be the same. I would try to fall in love with the Viking boat and build it first. You have paid some of your money already. The clinker planking skill earned will help with some ship's boats that are a part of larger vessels. Some of the wood stock might be replaced with third party species that look and work better. Pay close attention to the planking run. A recent series in SIS shows that it can be done incorrectly. HMS Snake is a 3 master, based on the hull of HMS Cruizer. There were over 100 vessels built using that basic design. It was designed as a large brig and is a single deck. This places it at a place between beginner and intermediate, closer to intermediate. The Cruizer class is well represented in build logs in scratch and in kit forums. It also has an older but high quality book dedicated to it: MODELLING THE BRIG OF WAR IRENE PETREJUS,E W N V UITGEVERSMAATSCHAPPO "DE ESCH" HENGELO, HOLLAND 1970 MODELING TECHNIQUE 19TH BRIG NA MASTING RIGGING POF EQUIP DECK Looking at the kit, the outer planking is a species of Walnut. The color is nice, but the grain and open pores - a more appropriate species of planking material might be considered from a third party supplier. If the copper plates supplied have embossed nails, they are grossly out of scale and a smooth copper substitute should replace it. The number of moulds to support the inner planking is insufficient and needs amelioration.

Downed trees, in contact with the ground, have a near continuous supply of water and recycling is likely. You may find that fungus and boring insects do not leave much useful wood. The species that you list are pretty much all available commercially as seasoned lumber. The work expended using ad hoc tools might be more efficiently expended on species not readily available from commercial dealers. Fruit wood, hawthorn, boxwood, hornbeam, honey locust, dogwood The Maple, Beech, Birch might provide branched stock, that at larger scales, provide naturally curved pieces for knees, hooks, catheads, etc.

I may be incorrect about this, but to introduce another complication: for proper function, should not the long axis of the pintle and the long axis of the gudgeon be in the same plane and be perpendicular to the axis of rotation?

I wonder if the additional of belaying pins on a model of a late 15th century ship is an anachronism? A cursory search leads me to the conclusion that belaying pins first began to be used in the late 17th century or early 18th. Kevels, cleats and lashing to the planks fixed to the inside of the stanchions are the more probable belaying sites?

Since carpenter's PVA is vinegar range acidic - bookbinder's neutral pH PVA may be a more prudent choice.. And an armchair experiment to consider: Sew the ratline thru the shrouds. Overlay the join locations with a clove hitch using a rope with a diameter that is a step lower than the actual ratline. I suspect that the knot when using a actual ratline looks larger than it would on an actual ship. It may even be a quicker way and less to finagle.

Take a look at locally available Acer sp. ( Maple) Beech Birch Hornbeam Pear - excellent for hull planking and frames. Wood choices get a bit twisted in locally available species. In North America, we often substitute our domestic species for ones economically available in Europe but expensive here and they somehow get a boost into a preferable import status there. It is a bit perverse.

IIf you do not mind cutting "fat" and finishing with a drum sander: An Asian 9" bench top band saw that uses standard 59.5" blades 1/8" is the most narrow available here. with a guide mount that will accept a Carter Stabilizer. Over here the saws are in the $150 or less range and the Carter is $75 more or less. The fitting allows for tight curves to be cut. 1/4" Maple is no problem. You will need a hand fret saw to cut inside closed jobs. You will only face headache and frustration if you try to use a band saw this weak to resaw wood that is thick, so justifying the purchase with the additional function will not pan out.

To present the map - you choose your own route: PVA bonds thru a polymerization reaction. The chains have to penetrate the substance of the wood to produce a strong bond. The closer the two wood surfaces - the stronger the bond. A force that crushes the wood fibers is something to avoid, but below that force, the stronger the clamping pressure the stronger the bond. Total coverage of both meeting surfaces is a good goal. Preparation of the meeting surfaces is a detail to consider. Sanding the surface with a grit finer than 220 runs the danger of leaving the surface with no substance for the polymer chains to penetrate. Sandpaper can leave the pores filled with wood flour if too fine a grit is used. Scraping leaves clean and open pores.

POB? initial layer of planking? Small dents = PVA mixed with wood flour. serious hollows = scab a piece of thin veneer of Softwood or Basswood or Yellow Poplar with PVA and sand/ scrape to conformation.

The gunports are very close to the deck. Looks like small caliber guns on skids. Iron hammock braces on top of the rail and drawn skewed to show their construction. The curved piece looks like the end moulding of a bulwark, but nothing ekse supports that. The number of lines at the rail and the hanging knees below, could be a partial spar deck over the gunports. I would guess 1835 +/- 15 years.

If you can mill it to the needed dimensions, an inexpensive source of filling material: in the US, dwellings are framed using 2x4 by 8' Fir or Pine lumber. A mega store building supply chain sells it for< $4 each It is a softwood - evergreen - not difficult on cutting edges. Pick clear straight stock. As long as it is not sappy Pine, it glues well. If you have access, a free supply might be had from a building site from the end cuttings and scrap, if you ask.

Since, no one seems to want to touch this; It is not a contest or a race. These is no "best". I prefer hard, closed pore, tight grain, low contrast. If I have looked up the correct species in the data base, what you were provided in the kit would be high on my reject list. The exact species depends- what color?, what scale?, bare wood or painted? can you mill your own wood? You do not list your location. I think a locally available species is more cost effective. This is especially true for framing stock. A full size 1st rate took a forest to build it. A model of one can require a lot of wood - especially 1:72 or larger.

I am not going to look it up, but I remember it as the blade ideally having 3 teeth in contract with the wood and the crown of the blade being a minimal distance above the stock. That means the blade hits the stock at about a 30 degree angle from the horizontal. Too many fine teeth and the gullet fills with cuttings and can no longer cut. Too few teeth and it is like cutting with a chisel driven by a hammer - intermittently. To get your 1/8" stock from a 1" or 2" thick billet - a different and larger tool. The efficient choice is a band saw - and not a bench top model - and a thickness sander - a hollow ground blade on a 10" table saw works, but has more waste and wants to eat your fingers.

JD, If you pursue this method, you may find that a frame press a useful tool. I made one from a HF bench top pipe vise - sold by them long ago - and 3/4" plywood 12" x 12". This one is from Amazon and is smaller than the HF model. I have large dowels at all 4 corners in an attempt to keep the clamping surfaces parallel. It sits in the middle . The tool looks like a wine press ot 1st generation printing press. Something similar can be made using a pipe clamp. These are sized for 1/2" or 3/4" central pipes.

Bruce, I wish to re enforce - if you have toast, but the wood is solid and not full of checks and splits, even if grey or blue, no better wood can be had for planking a hull. It is hard, very faint grain, no obvious pores, it bends like a champ, holds a crisp edge, takes a dye really well. Dyed black, it is probably easier to work and just as attractive a Ebony for wales. So it would not really be toast. I read a short story long ago, where the punch line - a sharp salesman had sold what he thought was junk (but was anything but junk) and had pulled one over a wealthy buyer, received a gift from the buyer = a block of solid gold painted to look like a brick.

Bruce, Here in the US, Holly is a special case when seasoning. The fresh log contains a lot of water and the internal communication is such that no part is isolated. There is a fungus that lives with the tree and quickly infects the wood when the tree is felled. It is termed Blue Mold. It leaves the wood with a lt blue or grey color. The other properties of the wood are unchanged, so it is usable. It is just bot snow white. It makes for realistic sun bleached deck when grey. It takes dye well. If you find that your stock is similarly infected, It is still a superb wood for model construction, it is just not the unrealistic white favored by some for decks. The tree is too small to be used for a full size deck and no other tree has wood that color even when stone sanded. The way to obtain the white wood is to fell the tree in Winter, billet it and get it into a kiln - essentially all on the same day.

I was not as clear as I thought about the heavy duty folding shelf brackets. I would use them to make the actual bench top wider and deeper- with the addition at the front. One of the 'rules" I learned when a grad student in a research lab is = you can never have too much bench space. The casters - in case being against the wall blocks the side bench top extension and in case the room needed to be temporarily repurposed. A Byrnes disk sander could find a home there. I find mine to be a significant improvement over the MM version I used previously. Something like a couple of Sterilite Drawer Organizers mounted up under the bench top on either side.

Additions that I would apply: drop down casters from Woodworkers Supply on the inside of eachleg. at least one power strip two "cranes" on the top of the back to site an LED shop light or two over the work area. an X brace on the two back legs folding shelf brackets on the side and perhaps the front Why build something if you can't over engineer it?

You should consider the following in your process of coloring the wood: a stain is a form of paint, sits on the surface - semitransparent - so some of the wood shows thru. a dye penetrates into the wood - not on the surface - it enhances the natural grain. two types of dye - alcohol and water - alcohol has shallow penetration - dries quickly - does not affect wood surface. water penetrates more deeply - takes longer to dry and the first exposure to water can swell surface fibers - needing a sanding or scraping before finish. a way to fix this is to first apply just water - with 10-20% PVA to swell the fibers that will swell and the glue to lock them. sand or scrape after 24 hrs and then apply the actual dye solution. no more swelling, so no need to abrade the dyed surface. If you use crap wood, using a stain is a good choice. If you use expensive or attractive wood, use a dye so as not to hide what you paid for.