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Jaager

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  1. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from Canute in Index for "Progressive Scratch-Building in Ship Modeling"   
    One of the things I really liked about WordPerfect  was how easy it was to set up a macro.
    Pre-computer, I was taught by my dissertation director to set up a 3x5 card with keywords, for the photocopies of research articles,  so that what was wanted could be found again.
    There was an old sharewear database program,  comma delimited, very straight forward, and easy to use.  I used it to do a database for stick and string articles in  NRJ, MB,  SIS, MSB, and MSW.     Windows killed it and I could find no low cost and easy replacement. 
    The data was a txt file,  so I can search it using EditPad,  but with no macro,  it took forever to reformat into something that looked good.  Instead of one long line with commas for each entry.                  
    I lost heart - just typing was not as much fun as filling in a form - so I can find nothing published after 1995.
  2. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in The Shellback's Library A cautionary tale or a search for a productive contact for this vendor   
    Bob,
    Thank you for the information.  This is what I hoped would happen with this post.
     
    ( unnecessary editorial comment:)
    [ I know or have experienced that Seawatch does not do email acknowledgement for orders placed or reassurance via email, but they do respond to email and do fill orders.  I just wish that they would get better at patting us on the hand. ]
     
    With Shellback , there was nothing - except the PayPal message about the deduction. That was on 3/20.  Dead air.  I sent an email on 4/4: more dead air.  I contacted PayPal on 4/14 - they said to email the vendor, I did: dead air.  PayPal took over on 4/30, when I escalated - because they said I was SOL if I did not do that before 5/4.  They must have gotten no response either because. I got a full refund on 5/20.   I fear that your hope is a forlorn one.  I will try your link, because I do want the book.
  3. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in Lapwing 1816 Revenue Cutter   
    What research and experience has shown me:
    In post #41 -  the frames from H fore to 10 aft are all bends (paired frames with alternating,  overlapped,  butt joins) .  There is a significant shift, narrowing, and air gap as they rise.  They are still paired bends.  They would have been assembled with chock lumber pieces holding the gap and the bolts and dowels that held the pair together would go thru the chock wood.  The chocks would not be a lot larger than the bolt diameter, so as not to impede air circulation.   They did not use glue, so the strength of the bend structure would be the same,  timbers touching or spaced apart.  The same as washers on a bolt.   Between the bends would have had temporary or fixed chocks too.  They may or may not have been knocked out when the planking firmed up the structure.   The cant frames forward of H and aft of 10 would have had their own chocks.  The result would not be very attractive.  Not worth showing in a model.  Little wonder that most models with visible framing from back when is at least a bit stylized.   Most old tests do not show this, but they don't show how to drive a nail either.
     
    So you are going POB.  .....groan. 
     
    Imagining this as POF - an obsession, I admit - I would side glue the bend paired frames and not narrow the sided dimension.  A single frame flying in the wind would be weak. End grain to end grain glue joints are not reliable and can withstand almost no stress.   A glued up bend is a strong structure.   To me, the upper - topside - above the LWL - framing structure is functional only and has all the visual attraction of the 2x4 framing in a single family dwelling.  I plank over it.  Because I hide it, and because it makes the whole significantly stronger, I fill the spaces between the bends above  the LWL with the same wood as the frames -and also glued.
    Trying to figure out the join angles of the cant frames makes my head hurt, so I would frame using square to the keel bends thru M forward and 15 aft.
    The hull below the LWL can then be totally planked over - with proper support for single layer planking, or partially or totally  not planked  .... for show.
    Just an alternative to consider.
  4. Like
    Jaager reacted to Bob Cleek in The Shellback's Library A cautionary tale or a search for a productive contact for this vendor   
    Beyond what I said above, I've got no more information on David Goodchild. These days, I have to remind myself more and more frequently that people I've known for years are getting older, too. A lot of them were older than I in the first place. "Whatever happened to Charlie?... Oh, he died a couple of years ago." is sadly a common experience for me these days. The last time he "dropped off the radar" a few years ago, some of us who had done business with him over the years were hoping somebody would take over his business. I think it's pretty much a "one man show," but his catalog was amazing and from all indications was always thriving. 
     
    Also, I believe he did not maintain any inventory of printed books, but rather produced each reprint on demand as it was ordered. I'm not sure how what technology he used, but his books were not photocopies of the original, but rather separately typeset bound volumes. The process was that an order would come in and he'd have the copy printed and bound and then sent out. I'm not positive, but I don't think he was doing the printing in house. It's also entirely possible that the local pandemic restrictions shut down his printing operation. He lives, or used to live, in the suburbs of Philadelphia, as I recall. I don't know what the pandemic situation is there right now. Like a lot of businesses, he may simply be shut down due to the pandemic. Your order would have been right around the time the "lock downs" started and it may have been stuck in the pipeline.
     
    If it's any consolation, The David Goodchild I know would never take somebody's money and skip out. There's got to be an explanation there somewhere.
  5. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from Justin P. in Making blocks yourself.   
    And where appropriate, a round profile scraper might could convert a square bottom to a rounded groove, if careful.  Maybe a reverse profile scraper also round over a top edge.
     
    I wonder what effect a carbide sharpening stone would have on the outer edges of a 3" slitting blade?  Ruin it or or the wood or cut a groove?
  6. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from iMustBeCrazy in Lapwing 1816 Revenue Cutter   
    Craig,
     
    That sounds like more fun.   I would so this using the Station Sandwich Method. (I developed it, so of course I would.)  Anyway, The only frames that I would need to loft would be the midlines of the bends at each station. About as many as the molds (bulkheads).  Actually, I would not draw them.  I would extract their curves from the Body plans.  Draw the moulded dimension,  site the deck level, port sills, wale,  - Mirror and meld.  The spaces would be filled with Pine, bonded using double sided tape.  I would regularize the bend locations.  For most vessels, the stations ARE the midlines of the bends.
    Because of the bevel, even between most stations,  a perpendicular hole within the body of a frame will not hit all of the frames in that grouping.  BUT, perpendicular holes outside the shape of the center most station and outside the moulded shape curve of the outermost station WILL work to align the group of bends and spaces.  Once group of frames and spaces are bonded together, ( PVA for the spaces above the LWL and tape for the spaces below) the bevels for the group are sanded.  It is a strong unit.   Your vessel is two bends per station.  I would glue up one bend before assembling the sandwich.  The other bend would be actually one frame of the bend at each station.  Depending on your scale, 1/4" or 3/16" should be OK, 1/8" shaky,  the tape should hold the timbers below the LWL at the ends.  If the deadwood is chosen to be continuous bow to stern in your build, it would be a keel width piece that fills the space between the bends above the keel.  PVA bond that, and the unit is even more secure.  
    Locator dowels inside the frames at each station will exactly align two sequential station sandwiches. The shape is identical.  When everything (all of the sandwiches) between the hawse timbers and the stern framing is assembled, the whole hull is solid and can be final shaped outside and inside as a strong unit.  The glue on the double sided tape does not like ethanol, so the spacer Pine pieces can be removed when it is done.  I wait until the clamps and keelson is fitted.
    The keel, stem and sternpost go last.  The hawse timbers and stern framing  have to be done the same way any other framing method, although I use the temporary filler, shape as a solid method there too.
     
    Bottom line, 
    12 + 15 +1 = 28 bends  - traditional method - 3 x 28 = 84 frame outlines - outside and inside curves to plot.  112 if you use the staggered frames as the plans have it.
    15 stations = 15 curves to extract (no plotting or drawing needed) and 15 moulded shapes to draw, my way.   And I do that and easy way.  I have a series of disks with diameters in scale from 15"  to 3".   I position a disk that is the diameter of the scantling thickness at each known level (cutdown - outer edge of keelson,  floor head,  fut 1 head,  deck, rail - whatever the scantling table gives me).  I place transitional diameters between them.  Then I draw a line that is at a tangent to the disk, to get the moulded shape. It takes a lot less time than typing this did.
    In all candor I would probably have to plot station 15.  I do all this using a raster based drawing program.  The lines are slightly faceted, but sanding the wood solves that.
  7. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from trippwj in Index for "Progressive Scratch-Building in Ship Modeling"   
    Way back when an IBM XT was cutting edge, there was an excellent program = Word Perfect  that could search a document for all instances of a selected word.  This sort of program has become more sophisticated and capable and OCR has also.  In the posts where old school draftsmen are discussing a lost job type,  I am musing that there may have been specialists, no longer needed,  who assembled the index for technical books and articles.  Were I an author, I am pretty sure it would be a deal breaker if I was required to formulate an index for my own work pre computer.
  8. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in Converting a Backyard Shed into a Model Workshop   
    Hank,
     
    If the spacing and thickness of the floor joists leave something to be desired,  perhaps another layer of subflooring - with staggered seams., first?
    If you use long countersink drywall screws,  it can be undone, or later repurposed.
    Under the bottom shelf on the left and under the cabinets on the right,  at first I thought, under the cabinet lights,  but they look long enough that a full on 4 foot LED ceiling fixture would fit.  They are so light weight and pull so little current that a couple of big boys should work.
    And a large, wall mounted, battery powered clock.  Some of them "talk" to the Bureau  of Standards everyday a self correct-  who knows, maybe they work for the NSA too?
     
  9. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in Making blocks yourself.   
    And where appropriate, a round profile scraper might could convert a square bottom to a rounded groove, if careful.  Maybe a reverse profile scraper also round over a top edge.
     
    I wonder what effect a carbide sharpening stone would have on the outer edges of a 3" slitting blade?  Ruin it or or the wood or cut a groove?
  10. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in Making blocks yourself.   
    Using a rock tumbler type,  home made machine for the mass rounding of edges is here.
    I bought an economy actual rock tumbler from HF on sale and the 20% coupon, in case I every get that far.  I will have to experiment to see if a flapper can be added.
  11. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in Bending cross-grain bulwark rail?   
    Rather than balance the rail on a knife edge and have a problem with its horizontal orientation,  I would probably fix the timber heads first.   If they are timber heads in the original construction, My shipyard would have left the sides perpendicular to the centerline.  Check the plans for the shape.  If cant frames were used ( probably fore only )  they would likely have the angle of the cant. 
    The rail would have a 3 point base and a significantly more secure bond.
  12. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in Bending cross-grain bulwark rail?   
    The angles at the bow are far from as bad as they could be and most commonly are.
    1. Do not try to use one piece to be the rail.  Outside of Redwoods et al. normal trees do not grow that tall, that clear and straight.  The joins were not a straight butt either. The scarph is more involved.  By using pieces, with the curves sawn, instead of bent, no spring back will occur.  The wood will not "want" to return to its natural shape.
    2. Given the curve in question, you may get by using the kit supplied material.  For a serious curve, a wider piece of stock ( at least for a buff bow ) is used and the actual rail is spilled from it.  Alternatively,  a wider piece of wood of an appropriate species (Maple, Cherry, Pear, etc.) that is the needed thickness would be bought.  It would surprise me if your kit supplied species takes to scraping the outboard OoGee or whatever pattern into it.  The harder, tighter species do this much better.  The color can be adjusted by using a wood dye.
     
    Bending:  wet heat works best.  The water - steam transfers heat to the interior faster and more efficiently than dry. 
    No matter what you read, no sort of ammonia that you can access will aid in bending wood.  What did that was anhydrous ammonia, commercial only, explosive, toxic,dangerous and it would probably dissolve you if you got on you.  The household ammonia cleaner will only discolor and deform the surface fibers of wood. 
  13. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from Scottish Guy in A question about glue.   
    My personal bias:
    Contact cement is really terrible for anything on a ship model.  It tends to oxidize and fail in a decades time line.  You get one shot at placement, no fine adjustment possible.
    Duco is not a good choice and fails any serious strength test.
    Hide glue I have not tried it, but really old school is hide glue flakes melted in a glue pot.  Messy and time consuming, but it should last a couple hundred years.  I tried Franklin liquid hide glue as a reversible wood to wood bond - it held too strongly for my purposes.  Old Brown Glue is said to be a better choice,  but this type is probably too aqueous to play nice with wood.  The pot type has a lot less water.
    CA,  some love it and a lot of us moldy figs really hate it and do not touch it.
    Epoxy,  the thing to use for metal to wood,  but too messy and ugly for wood to wood.
    PVA  - the go to for wood to wood.  The closer the two surfaces, the stronger the bond.  It comes white (dries clear), yellow ( aliphatic ) dries amber and has partial to complete water resistance -depending on the formula used.  It also comes white pH7 - bookbinders strictly for rigging done using natural fibers.   If you coat both surfaces with PVA, let it dry, put the two surfaces together and iron it, the heat allows a bond.  It is a contact cement of sorts. I doubt that the strength is anything like a wet PVA bond.  A proper PVA bond is stronger than the lignin that holds the wood fibers together.
    Foaming type would be awful to mess with.
    Resorcinol glue is the thing if you are building a full size PT boat,  not worth the trouble on a model.
     
    Your bonding - PVA and clamping or weight.  East coast US,  what with the humidity, I prefer Titebond II.
  14. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from thibaultron in Converting a Backyard Shed into a Model Workshop   
    Hank,
     
    If the spacing and thickness of the floor joists leave something to be desired,  perhaps another layer of subflooring - with staggered seams., first?
    If you use long countersink drywall screws,  it can be undone, or later repurposed.
    Under the bottom shelf on the left and under the cabinets on the right,  at first I thought, under the cabinet lights,  but they look long enough that a full on 4 foot LED ceiling fixture would fit.  They are so light weight and pull so little current that a couple of big boys should work.
    And a large, wall mounted, battery powered clock.  Some of them "talk" to the Bureau  of Standards everyday a self correct-  who knows, maybe they work for the NSA too?
     
  15. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in Looking for the Correct Sequence and Terminology for Deck Plank Butt Shift   
    I would not insure that one,  or pay a private yard if it was a navy contract build.
    2-3-4  are  on adjacent beams and touch. So is 1-5  At least they are not all butting on the same beam, or every other one, as I saw recently.   But it is likely a mistake in any case.  With a sequence with 5  and 1  at the ends, it can never work.
  16. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in Converting a Backyard Shed into a Model Workshop   
    A light colored vinyl tile flooring, that is peel and stick should be quick, easy for rolling stools and machine stands,  and give a better chance of recovering dropped or jumping parts,  as well as helping with the lighting.  Wet swabbing or a ruff leak - a blue million seams would not be good for the subfloor.
    By using Liquid Nails, it seems that you do not share Moriarty's philosophy  of having a reverse gear faster than the forward gears.
  17. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in Looking for the Correct Sequence and Terminology for Deck Plank Butt Shift   
    strakes #3 and #4 butts are on adjacent beams.
  18. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from uncarina in Looking for the Correct Sequence and Terminology for Deck Plank Butt Shift   
    The only way I can see that there can be 5 numbers in a four butt shift is if the four refers to the number of planks between two planks having their butt on the same beam.  The repeating sequence actually involves five planks.
    The first picture above,  numbering from the top down =  Beam 1 - beam 3 -  beam 5 - beam 2 - beam 4
     
    The second, top down =  beam 1 - beam 4 - beam 2 - beam 3
     
     The American "Lloyds"  ASA 1870   " No butts of adjoining plank should be nearer each other than the space of two beams ( when a stake intervenes the distance of one beam will be allowed).  No butts should meet on the same beam unless there be three stakes between them."
    The second picture fails that rule.
  19. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in A question about varnish.   
    Dan,
    If you look at SpyGlass' photo, you will see drifts of wood scrapings.  A vac will get most of it,  but a solvent rub will get what is left.
     
    SpyGlass was not saying not to apply a clear finish, he was saying it is good to:
    Mask - blue painters tape or green frog tape or the old crepe paper masking tape if you must.  Cover any areas that will have wood glued to it, but just those areas and maybe a hair less.  So that there is not a bare zone outside the glued on structure - neat looks and all that.  .  PVA bonds to porous surfaces - the polymers invade the substance of the wood.  A smooth glassy surface = no bond.  Now, you can prime and coat the whole deck with shellac, and then scrape the shellac off of the bonding sites, but it takes real talent and skill not to take off too much or scrape too deeply.  Prevention is easier.
     
    Commercial varnish vs shellac  -  mostly a personal preference situation.  But most varnishes work better if the surface is primed first.  The common and traditional primer for other clear finishes or paint is half strength shellac.  You really have to work hard to find something that is not compatible with shellac.
    Old style varnish is boiled ( cooked to polymerize it - so that it will dry in your lifetime) linseed oil in mineral spirits.
    Modern stuff is plastic ( like polyurethane ) in either mineral spirits or lately water.  It tends to be both thicker than shellac and glossy.  If you apply 10 coats, shellac can be glossy too.  It is just not a look that you want for this type of surface.
     
    Buffing the surface of a clear coated surface, before the next coat,  produces a smoother and better looking surface.   Tradition is to use 0000 steel wool.  BUT, steel wool leaves bits of itself behind.  If it is not totally removed, the steel residue can rust and stain a model.  Shellac is soft enough  that a plastic abrasive pad will smooth it without having to worry about rust.
  20. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from coalman in A question about varnish.   
    That is exactly what I recommend that you use.  For the first coat, cut some it 50:50 with shellac thinner.  Long ago and far away, that used to be methanol - wood alcohol - but if your drink it, your liver metabolizes it to formaldehyde - and you die.  It all seems to be ethanol now - with a trace of something noxious and emetic - and is called denatured alcohol.
    Drug store alcohol has too much water and water turns shellac white.  That is why shellac is not used on tabletops - not everyone uses a coaster.
    My local hardware has this brand and pints or quarts of denatured alcohol.  I checked Home Depot and Slowes - they only list quarts of Zinsser.  I go the hardware store route.
    An old tee shirt square is as good as anything else for application.  The first coat will just soak it and not leave all that much on the surface. The next full strength coat will cover the surface, but it is not thick enough material to need skilled brush application. a soft rag is enough.  Alcohol repairs mistakes and a Scotch-Brite  pad will smooth the surface, if needed. 
    You can use a single edge razor blade to to smooth the surface, with an alcohol cleaning, before you apply any shellac.  But if you have open pores, the dust from using sand paper may fill them some.  Scrapping does not leave any residue behind.
  21. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in A question about varnish.   
    I have no direct experience with plaster of paris as a filler.  I remember it from a book on fine furniture finishing.  I thought it strange too.  The best I could speculate about it is that the particles are translucent when exposed to shellac.  Otherwise, Black Walnut would look like it had white measles.  .... I checked my library and I can't find it.  It may have been pumice.  Anyway, it was so startling that it stuck with me.  "Never mind."   It is better to never use a species of wood where a coat of half cut shellac is not an effective sealer. 
  22. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in New Young Model Builder from Minnesota LOOKING FOR ADVICE   
    I have an old Model Boats #2 catalog - English  and from 1970 or earlier.   It features plans for pond boats and other adaptations of sailing  ships for actual use in water.  The point and take home lesson from it is that the physics and physical properties of water do not scale.   In order to sail and not turn turtle,  the hulls have to be adapted to a different shape.  It looks like the hulls are much deeper below the waterline and may also have more beam, than the prototype.   It does not look like the adaptations are much like a scaled down version of the original below the waterline.   I suspect that there is serious engineering design, rules, and principles involved in this sort of adaptation.
     
    I well may be wrong about this,  but there may be more to this than simply scaling the hull of a scale model.
  23. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from mtaylor in A question about varnish.   
    That is exactly what I recommend that you use.  For the first coat, cut some it 50:50 with shellac thinner.  Long ago and far away, that used to be methanol - wood alcohol - but if your drink it, your liver metabolizes it to formaldehyde - and you die.  It all seems to be ethanol now - with a trace of something noxious and emetic - and is called denatured alcohol.
    Drug store alcohol has too much water and water turns shellac white.  That is why shellac is not used on tabletops - not everyone uses a coaster.
    My local hardware has this brand and pints or quarts of denatured alcohol.  I checked Home Depot and Slowes - they only list quarts of Zinsser.  I go the hardware store route.
    An old tee shirt square is as good as anything else for application.  The first coat will just soak it and not leave all that much on the surface. The next full strength coat will cover the surface, but it is not thick enough material to need skilled brush application. a soft rag is enough.  Alcohol repairs mistakes and a Scotch-Brite  pad will smooth the surface, if needed. 
    You can use a single edge razor blade to to smooth the surface, with an alcohol cleaning, before you apply any shellac.  But if you have open pores, the dust from using sand paper may fill them some.  Scrapping does not leave any residue behind.
  24. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from tkay11 in A question about varnish.   
    That is exactly what I recommend that you use.  For the first coat, cut some it 50:50 with shellac thinner.  Long ago and far away, that used to be methanol - wood alcohol - but if your drink it, your liver metabolizes it to formaldehyde - and you die.  It all seems to be ethanol now - with a trace of something noxious and emetic - and is called denatured alcohol.
    Drug store alcohol has too much water and water turns shellac white.  That is why shellac is not used on tabletops - not everyone uses a coaster.
    My local hardware has this brand and pints or quarts of denatured alcohol.  I checked Home Depot and Slowes - they only list quarts of Zinsser.  I go the hardware store route.
    An old tee shirt square is as good as anything else for application.  The first coat will just soak it and not leave all that much on the surface. The next full strength coat will cover the surface, but it is not thick enough material to need skilled brush application. a soft rag is enough.  Alcohol repairs mistakes and a Scotch-Brite  pad will smooth the surface, if needed. 
    You can use a single edge razor blade to to smooth the surface, with an alcohol cleaning, before you apply any shellac.  But if you have open pores, the dust from using sand paper may fill them some.  Scrapping does not leave any residue behind.
  25. Like
    Jaager got a reaction from Bob Cleek in A question about varnish.   
    I have no direct experience with plaster of paris as a filler.  I remember it from a book on fine furniture finishing.  I thought it strange too.  The best I could speculate about it is that the particles are translucent when exposed to shellac.  Otherwise, Black Walnut would look like it had white measles.  .... I checked my library and I can't find it.  It may have been pumice.  Anyway, it was so startling that it stuck with me.  "Never mind."   It is better to never use a species of wood where a coat of half cut shellac is not an effective sealer. 
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