Richard Griffith

Ratlines are tedious you say? Nah, they just bramage my dain. What? Nice ratlines Sal. Duff

Very inspirational Dan~! Thanks for taking the time to photo and post so we can enjoy your work. Duff

Making your own is easy- cut half the eye off a larger needle and glue it into the end of a wooden dowel. For pulling, make a hook in the end of a slim piece of hard wood. The idea is to push and pull the lines where you cannot get your hands or where the distance is beyond the reach of your tweezers. Duff

Ray, Producers of kits must balance commercial success with accuracy (amount of research and the detail in their dies). In my experience, every kit needs bashing, that is upgrades, added detail, removal of inaccurate items. More to your question, Airfix makes very good kits as does Heller. The Airfix 'Wasa' is very good (which I am building) and the Heller 'Soleil Royal' is also very good. My research on the Soleil revealed a few errors which were easily fixed. Revell and many others have very good kits but sometimes produces a poor model. Again, do some research and modify the kit to your satisfaction. Keep building and above all, have fun~! Duff

I've used both their blacking and browning agents. Both gave excellent results by soaking. You have to watch or time the immersion since these are mild acids (etchants). Fume odors are mild but you might want to do this in the bathroom or kitchen. Keep building and above all, have fun. Duff

Hi Dave, builders who publish books also recommend trunnals in addition to the glue. Wood moves with humidity changes and after a number of years, some glue joints might fail. Keep building and above all. have fun~! Duff

Beautiful work, Sal~! Duff

You might try: small and tiny clothes pins masking tape, sticky side up pins and needles The pins and needles can be pushed into the part where it won't show on the model. Some parts are best painted twice, such as trucks. Keep building and above all, have fun. Duff

This is a great discussion; one that will benefit all of us. For me, both hand honing and power grinding are essential. Hand honing is a skill that needs practice and very little money. Power grinding needs a, hmm, machine. The very best machine IMO is the Tormek from Sweden. It is pricey but worth every penny. One wheel rotates in water so the steel never overheats, the other is leather and rouge. For example, I decided to remove the double bevel from a Swiss 1/4" chisel and regrind a single bevel. The water wheel removed about 3/8" of steel in 5 minutes while making the single bevel, then the leather wheel dressed it to a very sharp edge. Beautiful - a paring chisel that is more useful for me~! Hand honing this would have taken about 6 hours. Dust is a serious hazard and must be managed. Even a small amount of dust from hand sanding can harm some people. All wood dust can harm you if you become sensitized to the species (one of my brothers became sensitized to mahogany so he either avoids it or must take great precautions). Nearly every one can be harmed by wood that is toxic. Remember, you can be sensitized to any wood if exposed too long and some woods are just plain nasty. There is more information on this subject elsewhere on MSW. If you have a chuck of wood and want to know its toxicity, ask. It would be very helpful if you know the species, as wood identification is complicated. Keep building and above all, have fun. Duff

Albert, your amazing work is lighting a fire under me to try building a ship like yours. All the best for 2016~! Duff

I had some copper plates come loose. They had no adhesive but I did sand the backs a little, then applied them with thick CA. The basswood hull got a thin coat of urethane varnish. To re-attach the loose plates, I applied thick CA with a wire bent into a very small eye at the end so it would hold a small drop. This allowed me to precisely apply the CA to the back and to avoid getting the CA all over the outside. Good luck with your build and above all, have fun~! Seasons Greetings to you all. Duff

Yup, looks like the Maserati of mills, makes a mess and only $4k~!!! And then you only have to program it. Hmmm, we do mostly one offs, like Janos said. Next life time........ Hey Mark, why not build a miniature Chevy flat head and install it into a Hacker craft model boat? It would scare a lot of water fowl. Duff

Mark A beautiful work of art and technical 'perfection'~! The bar is raised again. Congrats. Duff

Hi EPH, for gluing most woods together, most of us use Titebond (an aliphatic resin) or sometimes Glue All (a polyvinal acetate). I am quite fond of super glue for the smaller parts, both thin and medium viscosities. When gluing metal to wood, use medium or thick super glue or epoxy. Metal to metal can sometimes be done with super glue, but I prefer soldering. Photo etched parts require super glue. Don't bother with the hot glue gun - it's too thick, stringy and non permanent. Welcome aboard, ask more questions, and enjoy this hobby~! Duff

A very good question, and Frankie hit on most of the key points. This got me a-thinkin' and studying the reference books. So I looked up Longridge (Victory), Boudriot (74 Gun Ship), Lees, Lever, Anderson (The Rigging of Ships), Napier (Valkenisse) and Campbell's plans of the Victory. Of course there were variations of block shapes, attachment points of the shoe or fiddle block (the upper block), the use of spans or pendants, and country during different eras, but for the period in question, the references generally show the upper block attached to the forward lower edge of the cap either with an eye bolt or span which allows the lift to be rigged FORWARD OF THE LEAD TOPMAST SHROUD. Various photos of extant models show the lifts rigged forward of the shroud. (BTW, Nelson's Victory used 16" single blocks with a becket and a double span; Valkenisse used long pendants; both rigged the lift forward of the topmast shroud.) There is substantial variation in the references which leads to confusion now a days as to what is 'correct'. After some reflection, I think Frankie is correct that the lift should be rigged forward of the topmast shroud, and its fall taken through the lubber hole to the deck. Chaffing gear would have been used where ever possible. Anyone wanna be bosun? Duff

Marc, what a great write up~! I'm jealous that I never developed my upper arms to climb up shrouds/stays/sheets like that. Now I don't even like climbing ladders..................... Thanks for posting your long post-it is very insightful. Duff

Good advice and tutorials above. The AOS book by John McKay has details in the extreme, including the coppering, page 55. You might try Amazon for a copy of this valuable reference book. ISBN 087021280x Good luck and happy modeling~! Duff

Like any hand tool, practice makes the master. I do not claim to be a master even though some colleagues and my admiral think so. As David B stated above, you need a backer board, often with slots in it, either V shaped or square from a table saw cut. Leave the spar long so you can hold it without damaging the part. Then use a small hand plane and small spoke shaves to get the round shape. Finish with sanding devices. I do use an electric drill and stationary belt sander sometimes but be careful not to build up any heat or your wood will bend out of shape. My wood preferences are maple, Costello box, pear and cherry. Basswood is good but is soft and will easily dent and scratch. Duff

I also use and like maple, either soft or hard. After scraping the deck I use a light oil stain. American birch (Betula papyrifera) is also one of my favorite modeling woods. The heartwood is creamy white; it polishes well and takes dyes and clear stains better than pigmented finishes. For full disclosure, I have not used it for a deck yet, but have used it on scale model model trains with excellent results. Duff

The AOS book is "The Armed Transport Bounty" by John McKay, ISBN 087021280x. On pages 26/27 is a clear plan view showing the rake of the masts. This book is available at reasonable prices on amazon. Duff

What a great conference~!!! Major kudos to the Van Dahms for organizing all the details, attendees and speakers. Cograts also to the entire NRG Board. For me, meeting fellow modelers was the highlight. Every one is a gentleman, gentlewoman and a pleasure. Thank you. Duff

chisels, files and tonic with lime with vodka does the job.................Duff

Sorry, I am having issues uploading the pictures.

Laid “inner profile” (IP) on flat surface. Squared frame LAL 18S as shown. Note laser burn removed. Note broken off transom area of the IP. My bad!!!! Not Nics! Glued frame to IP and let dry. I'm using a 1/4” x 1/2” squaring block between frames. This strengthens the hull bulkheads and assures a 90 degree bulkhead to frame position. Do not mass cut a bunch of these blocks to save time – the bulkhead-to-bulkhead distances varied.. Note building board as we go vertical. A new transom piece was made from the “carrier stock” remaining. Note the starboard framing of the of the propeller box. Bracing is 3/32” sq on the horizontal and angled end piece as called for. The vertical in 3/32” x 1/8” (my scrap stock) to extend gluing surface to LAL 18S. The opening area was trimmed out after the bracing was adhered. A view from the other side. Note the transom piece is firmly attached and the prop box starboard side piece is attached, but the port side of the prop box has not yet been completed. Working forward – port side. You can see that quick clamps and step blocks work wonders to assure alignment when gluing up and holding the IP at 90 degrees. After LAL 11s and LAL 11p are installed, I noticed the “leg extensions” were very fragile and as this hull will be planked upside down, they need to be braced. Also note the prop box port side is being completed. Duplicating the exact size of the lower frame spacer blocks, spacer blocks for the leg extensions have been installed. At this point I also test fit the subdeck halves. OK so far. Another view. Note at the bow that sub-decks are flush with the top of the IP. More investigation need to determine LAL 2 and LAL 3 bulkheads to be shimmed upward. Note that preceding forward we have hit the area of the main mast. Here, as with the mizzen previously, the spacer block will be inserted about a 1/4” under the lasered mast seat. Proceeding forward to foremast. Note: LAL2s/p and LAL3s/p were installed before LAL4 s/p to better keep the inner profile in proper alignment. According to the instructions, these two bulkheads were to seat “1/16” above the bottom of the hull profile.” I found them to seat as all the other bulkheads: 1/16” below the hull profile. The framing now complete, the port sub-deck has been fitted, but not glued, to the port side. The sub-deck notches required some trimming to achieve the proper fit.

Hi Bob, Druxey, BE and Mark, I think Mark found the right definition of 'score'. However the plans show internal iron stropped blocks, so they do not need scoring for stropping ropes. Bob, are you building a fishing schooner or a warship? Who drafted the plans? What is the name of your ship? Answers may help us find the answer to your question. Duff