Jaager

I guess that both have fairly straight forward hulls - easy to carve from mirrored stacks of WL layers - scratch allows for any scale - 
 
Even getting adequate plans could be a challenge
 
one lead:
 
 
Anvers. Red Star Line Museum
The collections of the new museum come partly from loans from the Antwerp city museums (Letterenhuis, Plantin-Moretus, MAS, etc.). But the bulk of the objects and documents, managed today by the non-profit organization Friends of the Red Star Line, were originally collected by Robert Vervoort, a retired dockworker and passionate collector of everything associated with the Red Star Line. history of the disappeared shipping company (advertising and administrative prints, ship plans, etc. souvenirs and objects used on board liners, etc.). Monumental triptych by the painter Laermans, The Emigrants (1896) is on loan from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Let us also mention a series of works loaned by the Eugeen Van Mieghem Museum, a small private institution dedicated to the memory of this talented Antwerp painter, "people's artist" whose realistic drawings, engravings and paintings immortalize the daily life of port workers and emigrants in his native district, het Eilandje. But, beyond the works of art, documents and period objects, it is the personal testimonies of Red Star Line passengers which constitute the common thread of the museum presentation. As the major construction site of the museum progressed in recent years, the team of researchers from the new institution led an intense campaign to collect testimonies and personal objects from former passengers of the Red Star Line and their descendants, in Europe. like in North America. This campaign made it possible to expand the museum’s initial collection.
 
If the USN had her, perhaps the National Archives has something?
 
file:///C:/Users/Jaager/Downloads/chungosgr-1.0216303.pdf
 
 
 
https://test.marinersmuseum.org/search?query=DE GRASSE (STEAMSHIP%3A 1924)
 
 
 
 

Hi - If you had the arbours wrong the blade would not run true and give you all sorts of problems - you would know it wasn't right.
 
So assuming they are ok if your wood is tapering during a cut it could be one of many reasons.
 
1.  The edge of the wood that is on the fence is not straight and true.  This will need correcting.
2.  You are not keeping the wood tight up against the fence as you cut?
3.  The blade is too thin and is deflecting - what size blade and with how many teeth are you using?
 
Cheers Mark

I guess that both have fairly straight forward hulls - easy to carve from mirrored stacks of WL layers - scratch allows for any scale - 
 
Even getting adequate plans could be a challenge
 
one lead:
 
 
Anvers. Red Star Line Museum
The collections of the new museum come partly from loans from the Antwerp city museums (Letterenhuis, Plantin-Moretus, MAS, etc.). But the bulk of the objects and documents, managed today by the non-profit organization Friends of the Red Star Line, were originally collected by Robert Vervoort, a retired dockworker and passionate collector of everything associated with the Red Star Line. history of the disappeared shipping company (advertising and administrative prints, ship plans, etc. souvenirs and objects used on board liners, etc.). Monumental triptych by the painter Laermans, The Emigrants (1896) is on loan from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Let us also mention a series of works loaned by the Eugeen Van Mieghem Museum, a small private institution dedicated to the memory of this talented Antwerp painter, "people's artist" whose realistic drawings, engravings and paintings immortalize the daily life of port workers and emigrants in his native district, het Eilandje. But, beyond the works of art, documents and period objects, it is the personal testimonies of Red Star Line passengers which constitute the common thread of the museum presentation. As the major construction site of the museum progressed in recent years, the team of researchers from the new institution led an intense campaign to collect testimonies and personal objects from former passengers of the Red Star Line and their descendants, in Europe. like in North America. This campaign made it possible to expand the museum’s initial collection.
 
If the USN had her, perhaps the National Archives has something?
 
file:///C:/Users/Jaager/Downloads/chungosgr-1.0216303.pdf
 
 
 
https://test.marinersmuseum.org/search?query=DE GRASSE (STEAMSHIP%3A 1924)
 
 
 
 

I guess that both have fairly straight forward hulls - easy to carve from mirrored stacks of WL layers - scratch allows for any scale - 
 
Even getting adequate plans could be a challenge
 
one lead:
 
 
Anvers. Red Star Line Museum
The collections of the new museum come partly from loans from the Antwerp city museums (Letterenhuis, Plantin-Moretus, MAS, etc.). But the bulk of the objects and documents, managed today by the non-profit organization Friends of the Red Star Line, were originally collected by Robert Vervoort, a retired dockworker and passionate collector of everything associated with the Red Star Line. history of the disappeared shipping company (advertising and administrative prints, ship plans, etc. souvenirs and objects used on board liners, etc.). Monumental triptych by the painter Laermans, The Emigrants (1896) is on loan from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Let us also mention a series of works loaned by the Eugeen Van Mieghem Museum, a small private institution dedicated to the memory of this talented Antwerp painter, "people's artist" whose realistic drawings, engravings and paintings immortalize the daily life of port workers and emigrants in his native district, het Eilandje. But, beyond the works of art, documents and period objects, it is the personal testimonies of Red Star Line passengers which constitute the common thread of the museum presentation. As the major construction site of the museum progressed in recent years, the team of researchers from the new institution led an intense campaign to collect testimonies and personal objects from former passengers of the Red Star Line and their descendants, in Europe. like in North America. This campaign made it possible to expand the museum’s initial collection.
 
If the USN had her, perhaps the National Archives has something?
 
file:///C:/Users/Jaager/Downloads/chungosgr-1.0216303.pdf
 
 
 
https://test.marinersmuseum.org/search?query=DE GRASSE (STEAMSHIP%3A 1924)
 
 
 
 

I have one also.  The belt is 4x36.  I have never mounted the disk sander.  The belt is useful for grubbing away the bulk of wood for bevels for frames at the bow quarter and aft quarter.  I work a stack of frames in the +/_  1.5" thick range of thickness.  The table is only helpful for a small part.  Most is freehand.   There is a vac hose socket at the back.  It is in a piece of sheet metal that is so thin that the vac pulls the sheet metal into the moving belt.  I have to use steel corner braces to shim it out.  For the flat, the vac is only partially effective.  For working inside curves, I use the rounding end at the top.  A side funnel for the vac gets some of the dust, but most of it goes airborne.  The work space become drifts and dunes of sawdust.  It is epic.
 
A set of very sharp gouges would probably be a slower but much less messy way to debulk and free my frames now that I consider it. 

I have one also.  The belt is 4x36.  I have never mounted the disk sander.  The belt is useful for grubbing away the bulk of wood for bevels for frames at the bow quarter and aft quarter.  I work a stack of frames in the +/_  1.5" thick range of thickness.  The table is only helpful for a small part.  Most is freehand.   There is a vac hose socket at the back.  It is in a piece of sheet metal that is so thin that the vac pulls the sheet metal into the moving belt.  I have to use steel corner braces to shim it out.  For the flat, the vac is only partially effective.  For working inside curves, I use the rounding end at the top.  A side funnel for the vac gets some of the dust, but most of it goes airborne.  The work space become drifts and dunes of sawdust.  It is epic.
 
A set of very sharp gouges would probably be a slower but much less messy way to debulk and free my frames now that I consider it. 

I have one also.  The belt is 4x36.  I have never mounted the disk sander.  The belt is useful for grubbing away the bulk of wood for bevels for frames at the bow quarter and aft quarter.  I work a stack of frames in the +/_  1.5" thick range of thickness.  The table is only helpful for a small part.  Most is freehand.   There is a vac hose socket at the back.  It is in a piece of sheet metal that is so thin that the vac pulls the sheet metal into the moving belt.  I have to use steel corner braces to shim it out.  For the flat, the vac is only partially effective.  For working inside curves, I use the rounding end at the top.  A side funnel for the vac gets some of the dust, but most of it goes airborne.  The work space become drifts and dunes of sawdust.  It is epic.
 
A set of very sharp gouges would probably be a slower but much less messy way to debulk and free my frames now that I consider it. 

I forgot - not screws but it is  four something- the fit is tight - a watch case opener or seam separator may cause less scarring than a flat screw driver

My back of the envelope calc has the Home Depot endcap 2x4's coming in at ~ $0.75 per BF.  If you have the tools to cut them, that price is difficult to beat.

The machine that are useful to you will very much depend on the jobs that they are needed for.
 
My Byrnes 5" disk sander is an integral part of my process.  I need a lot of precise end meets end joints that have zero room for play. I have never needed anything more aggressive than 220 grit and even that chews thru narrow stock quickly.  I need A LOT of light at the action point. I do not know if a slower speed would be of much help.   The key step is with the feed rate of the stock. The mass of the 5" disk does not mess around - it takes a while to power down - the dust collection is as effective - better even  - than with any other machine that I use.  Were I using plastic as a material, the variable speed 4" would be vital to avoid melting.  With wood, finger force rate can control heat generation.
 
I have a combo 1" belt/5" disk machine. Mine is branded Dremel, but all of the ones that I have seen look the same.  I find it noxious to use.  For the disk - the table is poorly designed and fabricated.  Dust collection is a joke.  The belt is too narrow and the tracking is flimsy.  It takes being overly generous to call what it has "a table".  Dusk collection is an unfulfilled wish.  It is useless for inside curves and the wrong geometry for outside curves.  A drum is better at doing both.  There is a single contact point with a round drum.  Collateral loss is limited by the round versus a flat grit face.   I guess for other types of woodworking, this could be a useful tool.  Ship modeling involves working with complex curves and this limits our degrees of freedom for useful machines.

 
 

I forgot - not screws but it is  four something- the fit is tight - a watch case opener or seam separator may cause less scarring than a flat screw driver

Is true
"the saw blade"?   the width of possible blades ranges from the ones with carbide teeth to slitting/slotting blades that are too thin for doing more than that - i.e. even though the narrow width and resulting reduced loss to kerf on a rip cut makes them tempting for  use on thicker stock, they do not have the necessary properties to do a proper job of it.
I do wish that Jim had offered a second style of sliding table with a shorter right side so that the fence could be slud to the side instead of having to remove it.
A homemade version is easy enough but the Al and bells and whistles of the Jim version is cool.
 
The Vernier dial defeats me a bit.  I am thinking about seeing if I can adapt a:
 
iGaging Digital Readout DRO 6" Travel X-Large LCD Display EZ-VIEW PLUS
 
but then - the NRG Thin Strip Saw Jig may make it superfluous.

My back of the envelope calc has the Home Depot endcap 2x4's coming in at ~ $0.75 per BF.  If you have the tools to cut them, that price is difficult to beat.

Is true
"the saw blade"?   the width of possible blades ranges from the ones with carbide teeth to slitting/slotting blades that are too thin for doing more than that - i.e. even though the narrow width and resulting reduced loss to kerf on a rip cut makes them tempting for  use on thicker stock, they do not have the necessary properties to do a proper job of it.
I do wish that Jim had offered a second style of sliding table with a shorter right side so that the fence could be slud to the side instead of having to remove it.
A homemade version is easy enough but the Al and bells and whistles of the Jim version is cool.
 
The Vernier dial defeats me a bit.  I am thinking about seeing if I can adapt a:
 
iGaging Digital Readout DRO 6" Travel X-Large LCD Display EZ-VIEW PLUS
 
but then - the NRG Thin Strip Saw Jig may make it superfluous.

I forgot - not screws but it is  four something- the fit is tight - a watch case opener or seam separator may cause less scarring than a flat screw driver

Is true
"the saw blade"?   the width of possible blades ranges from the ones with carbide teeth to slitting/slotting blades that are too thin for doing more than that - i.e. even though the narrow width and resulting reduced loss to kerf on a rip cut makes them tempting for  use on thicker stock, they do not have the necessary properties to do a proper job of it.
I do wish that Jim had offered a second style of sliding table with a shorter right side so that the fence could be slud to the side instead of having to remove it.
A homemade version is easy enough but the Al and bells and whistles of the Jim version is cool.
 
The Vernier dial defeats me a bit.  I am thinking about seeing if I can adapt a:
 
iGaging Digital Readout DRO 6" Travel X-Large LCD Display EZ-VIEW PLUS
 
but then - the NRG Thin Strip Saw Jig may make it superfluous.

The machine that are useful to you will very much depend on the jobs that they are needed for.
 
My Byrnes 5" disk sander is an integral part of my process.  I need a lot of precise end meets end joints that have zero room for play. I have never needed anything more aggressive than 220 grit and even that chews thru narrow stock quickly.  I need A LOT of light at the action point. I do not know if a slower speed would be of much help.   The key step is with the feed rate of the stock. The mass of the 5" disk does not mess around - it takes a while to power down - the dust collection is as effective - better even  - than with any other machine that I use.  Were I using plastic as a material, the variable speed 4" would be vital to avoid melting.  With wood, finger force rate can control heat generation.
 
I have a combo 1" belt/5" disk machine. Mine is branded Dremel, but all of the ones that I have seen look the same.  I find it noxious to use.  For the disk - the table is poorly designed and fabricated.  Dust collection is a joke.  The belt is too narrow and the tracking is flimsy.  It takes being overly generous to call what it has "a table".  Dusk collection is an unfulfilled wish.  It is useless for inside curves and the wrong geometry for outside curves.  A drum is better at doing both.  There is a single contact point with a round drum.  Collateral loss is limited by the round versus a flat grit face.   I guess for other types of woodworking, this could be a useful tool.  Ship modeling involves working with complex curves and this limits our degrees of freedom for useful machines.

 
 

If you have a table saw you could make your own plywood that would be more suitable than anything that you could buy including the high priced stuff.  Cut strips from ordinary lumberyard construction grade pine and laminate them with  PVA glue. Two plies with grain oriented differently and joints staggered Harold Hahn style should work.
 
Roger

I have wanted an angled drill for work inside a hull. 
I have a right angle adapter that fits a Dremel.
I have a right angle adapter that fits a Foredom.
What I most want - for sanding in tight quarters is a 45 degree adapter.  No luck there.
 
The adapters are bulky and awkward for use in the tight spaces we work in.
 
I have a different approach for you.
Use a small Chinese DC motor instead. 
Aliexpress had/has  vendors that offer a wide variety of DC motors.  Many quite small.  many with collet chucks and Jacobs chucks.  A variety of chuck sizes.
They are not at all expensive.  Some are two, three, four finger width long - minus the chuck and bit, but if you can get your hand in there are motors that will fit.
As for a power source, why not cut to the chase? 
A benchtop DC power supply -  this one has clicks for 1.5V, 3V, 4.5V,... to 14V  so the rotational speed is under your control.
No batteries  or set DC plugin with a set output to try to parse a value for.
https://www.mpja.com/15-14V-2-Amp-Variable-Output-Supply/productinfo/36688+PS/
and
There are smaller gauge wires, but the plug that fits at one end and small alligator  clamps at the other are handy.
The rotation reverses if you switch the leads.
https://www.mpja.com/Set-of-2-Test-Leads-2-meter-Silicone-Ins-Red-Black-Pair/productinfo/32734+TE/

I have no doubt that this is a frequent occurrence with the older POB kits from some companies.
I do question the explanation.  Wood is fairly to significantly old before it is even harvested.
Once felled, the wood will then have its original water content reduced to ambient humidity (seasoning).
How long this takes involves a number of factors - thickness being a major one.  From then on wood will
change its concentration of water to be in balance with the humidity of its surrounding air.
 
I propose that the major problem with these older kits lies with the choice of wood species selected for inclusion in the kit.
From day one with these kits it is GIGO as far as how the wood behaves.  Using glue, finishing agents, paint, etc.  will alter how it responds over time.
 
However you factor this out,  our dominant investment by far is: TIME.
We never get it back. 
We will never be compensated at any hourly rate commensurate with that of professionals doing similar skill level jobs.
Quality wood does not fight you at ever step.  Its presentation is more appropriate.
 
Your time would be better spent building quality kits.  The intangible feeling is more pleasurable.
If you are determined to proceed with this,  your experience will be more rewarding if you were to replace every wooden part with a quality wood.  Use the original wood as patterns where this is worth doing.  If the cost of the second hand kit does not make this economical to do, you would be spending too much.

I have wanted an angled drill for work inside a hull. 
I have a right angle adapter that fits a Dremel.
I have a right angle adapter that fits a Foredom.
What I most want - for sanding in tight quarters is a 45 degree adapter.  No luck there.
 
The adapters are bulky and awkward for use in the tight spaces we work in.
 
I have a different approach for you.
Use a small Chinese DC motor instead. 
Aliexpress had/has  vendors that offer a wide variety of DC motors.  Many quite small.  many with collet chucks and Jacobs chucks.  A variety of chuck sizes.
They are not at all expensive.  Some are two, three, four finger width long - minus the chuck and bit, but if you can get your hand in there are motors that will fit.
As for a power source, why not cut to the chase? 
A benchtop DC power supply -  this one has clicks for 1.5V, 3V, 4.5V,... to 14V  so the rotational speed is under your control.
No batteries  or set DC plugin with a set output to try to parse a value for.
https://www.mpja.com/15-14V-2-Amp-Variable-Output-Supply/productinfo/36688+PS/
and
There are smaller gauge wires, but the plug that fits at one end and small alligator  clamps at the other are handy.
The rotation reverses if you switch the leads.
https://www.mpja.com/Set-of-2-Test-Leads-2-meter-Silicone-Ins-Red-Black-Pair/productinfo/32734+TE/

I have wanted an angled drill for work inside a hull. 
I have a right angle adapter that fits a Dremel.
I have a right angle adapter that fits a Foredom.
What I most want - for sanding in tight quarters is a 45 degree adapter.  No luck there.
 
The adapters are bulky and awkward for use in the tight spaces we work in.
 
I have a different approach for you.
Use a small Chinese DC motor instead. 
Aliexpress had/has  vendors that offer a wide variety of DC motors.  Many quite small.  many with collet chucks and Jacobs chucks.  A variety of chuck sizes.
They are not at all expensive.  Some are two, three, four finger width long - minus the chuck and bit, but if you can get your hand in there are motors that will fit.
As for a power source, why not cut to the chase? 
A benchtop DC power supply -  this one has clicks for 1.5V, 3V, 4.5V,... to 14V  so the rotational speed is under your control.
No batteries  or set DC plugin with a set output to try to parse a value for.
https://www.mpja.com/15-14V-2-Amp-Variable-Output-Supply/productinfo/36688+PS/
and
There are smaller gauge wires, but the plug that fits at one end and small alligator  clamps at the other are handy.
The rotation reverses if you switch the leads.
https://www.mpja.com/Set-of-2-Test-Leads-2-meter-Silicone-Ins-Red-Black-Pair/productinfo/32734+TE/

There are lots of 45 degree dental engine handpieces in different styles, as well as other angles. Take a look at Paul Budzig's YouTube video above. He explains how an air turbine dental drill can be run off of a shop air compressor, which was news to me. The turbine drills are high speed / low torque, of course, so they are available at much lower price points than the heavy-duty bench engines used for making bridges and dentures, etc. There's also now a whole generation of "micro-motor" motorized handpiece technology on the market now. The older-style belt-driven "dental engines," which are still used for lab work, can really put out the torque at slower speeds which is best for micro-carving with shaky old hands.
 

 
I scored my Buffalo Dental engine (picture below) on eBay for seventy-five bucks. Heavy Duty Bench Engines - Buffalo Dental Manufacturing Co. Inc.  It was described as "not running," but it looked brand new and it came with a handpiece that I knew was worth about $250, so I took a chance that it was something I might be able to fix. I checked it out when it arrived and, BINGO!, The motor brushes were gone and it was otherwise brand new! A phone call to the manufacturer and a new set of brushes and a drive belt arrived in the mail and it was good to go. My guess was that it was in stock in a large production dental lab and somebody's engine needed brushes and none were in stock, so they just cannibalized this new machine in the supply room to get the brushes and forgot to order replacements for the ones they took.  I got lucky on that one.  Must be my clean living.  
 
I just checked eBay out of curiosity, and somebody's got one listed as "buy it now" for $138.00 + $25.00 shipping.  BUFFALO DENTAL BENCH ENGINE NO 10 JEWELRY HOBBY POLISHER GRINDER ARTICULATED ARM | eBay  
 
Below is what my Model 16 looks like. It has a 1/5 HP motor. The one for sale on eBay is a Model 10 and has a 1/10 HP motor. The Model 16 which is currently in production retails for $800.00. The interchangeable handpieces are separately priced and retail for around $200.00 and up, but there's lots of them on the used market, as well. These are expensive, very high quality tools and because of changes in the dental lab technology these days (3D printing of custom dental prostheses) they are showing up on the second hand market with some regularity. If you can find a used one in decent shape, you can score a great modeling tool at really great savings. 
 

 

I have wanted an angled drill for work inside a hull. 
I have a right angle adapter that fits a Dremel.
I have a right angle adapter that fits a Foredom.
What I most want - for sanding in tight quarters is a 45 degree adapter.  No luck there.
 
The adapters are bulky and awkward for use in the tight spaces we work in.
 
I have a different approach for you.
Use a small Chinese DC motor instead. 
Aliexpress had/has  vendors that offer a wide variety of DC motors.  Many quite small.  many with collet chucks and Jacobs chucks.  A variety of chuck sizes.
They are not at all expensive.  Some are two, three, four finger width long - minus the chuck and bit, but if you can get your hand in there are motors that will fit.
As for a power source, why not cut to the chase? 
A benchtop DC power supply -  this one has clicks for 1.5V, 3V, 4.5V,... to 14V  so the rotational speed is under your control.
No batteries  or set DC plugin with a set output to try to parse a value for.
https://www.mpja.com/15-14V-2-Amp-Variable-Output-Supply/productinfo/36688+PS/
and
There are smaller gauge wires, but the plug that fits at one end and small alligator  clamps at the other are handy.
The rotation reverses if you switch the leads.
https://www.mpja.com/Set-of-2-Test-Leads-2-meter-Silicone-Ins-Red-Black-Pair/productinfo/32734+TE/

I have wanted an angled drill for work inside a hull. 
I have a right angle adapter that fits a Dremel.
I have a right angle adapter that fits a Foredom.
What I most want - for sanding in tight quarters is a 45 degree adapter.  No luck there.
 
The adapters are bulky and awkward for use in the tight spaces we work in.
 
I have a different approach for you.
Use a small Chinese DC motor instead. 
Aliexpress had/has  vendors that offer a wide variety of DC motors.  Many quite small.  many with collet chucks and Jacobs chucks.  A variety of chuck sizes.
They are not at all expensive.  Some are two, three, four finger width long - minus the chuck and bit, but if you can get your hand in there are motors that will fit.
As for a power source, why not cut to the chase? 
A benchtop DC power supply -  this one has clicks for 1.5V, 3V, 4.5V,... to 14V  so the rotational speed is under your control.
No batteries  or set DC plugin with a set output to try to parse a value for.
https://www.mpja.com/15-14V-2-Amp-Variable-Output-Supply/productinfo/36688+PS/
and
There are smaller gauge wires, but the plug that fits at one end and small alligator  clamps at the other are handy.
The rotation reverses if you switch the leads.
https://www.mpja.com/Set-of-2-Test-Leads-2-meter-Silicone-Ins-Red-Black-Pair/productinfo/32734+TE/