Richard Griffith
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Everything posted by Richard Griffith
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Tools You Can't Live Without
Richard Griffith replied to Justin P.'s topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
eyes, fingers & rum -
Drilling holes for masts
Richard Griffith replied to 1213brett's topic in Masting, rigging and sails
Good ideas above. On one of my builds, I found it best to put the hand drill in reverse because the standard drill bits were too aggressive - the bit wanted to rip into the wood and tear it up. Duff -
Magnificent~!!! Duff
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Printing Sails on Silk Span
Richard Griffith replied to TomShipModel's topic in Masting, rigging and sails
Hi Tom, try model span, or silkspan (no space). I think Nic Damuck did a piece in one of his newsletters. Justin Camarata also has a piece in his book. Duff -
At this point I agree with John. The Vasa 1628 per Fred Hocker, Director of Vasa Research, stated May 8, 2006: "The interior of the bulwarks seems to have been unpainted, but may have been tarred". That was reported to Scottie Dayton, Contributing Editor, Ships in Scale, May/June 2006. (That report also contains lots of other useful info on the Vasa.) "The Great Age of Sail" by Kemp & Ormond, plate 3 shows a pointing of an engagement between the English fleet and the Spanish Armada, 1588, unknown artist. One of the Spanish ships on the left side of the painting suggests a red interior bulwark, but it might be just the railing and an arming cloth. Sorry, I don't have a scanner. Bulkheads at the breaks of the decks were commonly red or red plus other colors as is depicted by Kemp & Ormond. The painting above also shows the bulkheads being predominately red. Without additional research Kurt, you could apply some red to some of the Spanish Ships 1588 but English ships maybe not, just tarred wood would be the safer bet. Duff
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Merci beaucoup! The translation appears to be very good. All the best to you. Duff
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Hello to Gaetan and G. Delacroix. Jean Boudriot did make a tremendous and stupendous contribution! I have studied his seminal work 'The 74 Gun Ship' and this allowed me to build Le Superbe for a client; the model was much improved due to his 4 volumes. And both of you gentlemen are also making tremendous contributions; I have your monograph 'Le Gross Ventre' plus Gaetan's build log. Mr. Delacroix, would you please expand the concept of "arsenal modelism"? Thank you. Duff in Middletown, CT USA
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I too will be following your build Gaetan~! The 5th book must be the timbering plans from Ancre, labeled as the 'the essential complement to your 4 volumes'. Cherry is a wonderful wood to use, as is pear, box, maple and birch. There are many others too. So many ships to build, so little time........... Duff
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Stunning work, Gaetan, the epitome of craftsmanship and artistry. Beyond that, I am speechless. Duff
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- le fleuron
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If anyone is looking for the 2 vol set of the captioned, I have it for sale on Amazon. It is in good to VG condition, Just search DuffGriffith for the listing. Thanks~! Duff
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Good question BE. I started to search my books but have not found anything definitive yet. Since sailors are a practical group, and they avoided chaff as much as possible, leads me to think that the fore tack would be outside the other lines when the fore course was set. They would not bother stowing the tack inside the lines when the course is clewed up. The old models are exquisite examples of the art; but be careful as Jason noted above. I have seen situations on them that were clearly not used on the full sized ship. For example, one of the old model ships displayed recently at the Yale Museum of Art, New Haven, CT had the fore shrouds rigged over the top of the gun port lid. Nope. Anyway, perhaps others have better information. Duff
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Hi Poochie and everyone who posted above. Your selection of tools is always a choice between quality and price. If you will be using a tool a lot, then go for the quality. As you progress with this great hobby, you will accumulate more tools, as the need arises. I have given away or sold tools that did not measure up to my needs or wants and gotten better quality. The Harbor Freight rotary tool shown above is a good example. It is under powered but is useful for drilling very small holes. I sold mine; Dremel is the tool of choice for me. When buying used rotary tools, the 2 most important items to check are the collet runout and the bearings. All the best~! Duff
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Dremels are VERY useful as others have said above. I have 4 corded models, all ball bearing, all with a 3 jaw chuck and all variable speed. (I also have a batter powered one that is useful for drilling small holes in tight spaces.) I also own about 8 pin vises of various designs but seldom use these. They are handy on occasion when the Dremel can not be used. I keep 2 at my main bench so I can leave often used bits in it, such as the drum sander or a drill bit and the other is for other items. A third Dremel is used in my mini drill press, and the 4th is a back up or spare. In addition, I have a Foredom which has a flex shaft, a strong motor, and a small Jacobs chuck. This machine handles heavy carving and larger drill bits. You will soon find that model ships require hundreds and sometimes thousands of holes. Do I need all of these? Maybe not as I made several ships without them when I started out. But they do allow me to improve quality and speed. Perhaps I am like Tim Allen, more power. Or just a tool junky. Anyway, HSM said it best - start building and you will learn what you need. And above all, have fun. Duff
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Books for historic rigging reference
Richard Griffith replied to pshrynk's topic in Masting, rigging and sails
The Harland and Lees books are 2 of the best - they did their homework and the layout is very good. These books are priced wildly but you should be able to get good to excellent copies for under $60. Other books mentioned above have errors and try to cover too broad an area in one book. There are other excellent books on specific vessel types such as the Broudriot, Hoving and Delacroix monograths (just to mention 3 that I know are excellent), plus a number of very good AOS books (anatomy of ships). As with all modelling projects, you need to do some research to be reasonably sure of your 'facts'. We all must make guesses, but at least we can make them with educated foundations. Duff -
Do You enjoy Rigging your ship?
Richard Griffith replied to bear's topic in Masting, rigging and sails
ca.shipwright said it best - 'an hour of rigging is better than an hour of therapy'. I too enjoy rigging, and will do extensive research to make it as accurate as I can. That includes the color of the various lines, chaffing considerations, size of the lines, tension (sag), and all the associated blocks, bullseyes, fairleads, deadeyes, and ironwork. After a few hours of rigging though, I find a good glass of liquid refreshment (ale, rum, bourban) straightens out the eyesight and loosens the muscles.... Keep building and above all, have fun~! Duff -
Beautiful Mark~! I faced a similar decision regarding pedestals and decided the masters long ago had a good answer. They used pedestals and braced the model with an iron or brass rod from the side of the ship to the base, port and starboard. This method allowed full view of her lines. Duff
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Arrrgh Pirate Pete, according to William Falconer: "D blocks are lumps of oak, in the form of the letter D, from 12 to 16 inches long, and eight or ten feet wide, they are bolted to the ship's side in the channels, to receive the lifts, &c." I tried to locate an image in my books but nope. Falconer's definition is a start but an image would clarify the function. Duff
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Beautiful cad drawings Sal~! Enjoy your vacation and see you in December. BTW, when you get to building the engine, the eccentrics would would be offset 90 degrees so as to prevent a top dead center problem, that is the engine would not start. Nice work! Duff
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Looking great, just like a tonsil should........ Duff
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How to sharpen a file.
Richard Griffith replied to dgbot's topic in Metal Work, Soldering and Metal Fittings
Buying new files is much safer, and taking good care of them is excellent advice. Files should be stored in such a way that they do not bang into each other. I store mine in a wood drawer with thin wood dividers, and some have card board sleeves slipped over the teeth. My micro files are also stored with corrugated card board separaters and the really small ones are pushed into the the end of the card board. Old files can be made into excellent knives and turning chisels. Be careful not to draw the temper while grinding. Duff -
How to sharpen a file.
Richard Griffith replied to dgbot's topic in Metal Work, Soldering and Metal Fittings
Good point Jaeger about thoroughly cleaning the file. Another source of H2SO4 (sulfiuric acid) is the automobile parts store, where I got a supply of battery acid. Whatever one does, be careful with this chemical. Duff -
Dremels are excellent within their range. I use 4 in my shop. Be sure to get the ones with ball bearings and variable speed. Their drive mechanism is weak however which is why they tend to wobble after some use. I try to avoid heavy side loads with these. As stated above, I added a keyless chuck. Very handy tools, and not very expensive. So for heavy grinding, I use the Foredom, which is a superior product, very robust, reversible, and variable speed with the footpad. My hand piece holds a small Jacobs chuck. It can also handle deIicate work. I would never give this up. For most delicate carving, I use a cordless Dremel with the pistol grip. It sits on the charger so it is always ready to go. You will find that some experimentation is needed to determine what tools fit your work needs. You can always sell off those tools you don't like. Duff
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I have used birch to good effect (Betula papyrifera) whose heartwood is creamy white, straight grained with a fine, even texture. It also bends well, polishes well, takes clear stains, and glues well. When nailing or screwing, one will need to prebore. Maple and American sycamore also work quite well. Duff
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Another option might be to fill the plastic mast with wood if you have not glued the 2 halves together. If you have, then try filling it with soupy hydrocal. Add a drop of dish washer soap (this breaks the surface tension). Duff
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I use Flexament to secure knots. Dilute it with their thinner. It does have a strong oder but it does a great job without making the line brittle (like CA does). It does cost more, so I also use acrylic varnish. Your choice. Duff
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