Bill Tuttle

I would never tackle rounding a mast or any other spar anyway other than by hand with a small plane, taking successively tapered sections by hand although I know many use the lathe practice successfully. 
 
As an owner of a number of different lathes, if I had it to do all over again, I would choose the Sherline, as you can add to this as your skills develop and they are a great company making a great product.  Good luck with your search.  Taig also makes a nice tool, a little less expensive and there are Unimat 3's available sometimes on E-Bay but usually over priced.  I wouldn't consider any Unimat other than the 3 or the earlier SL.
 
 

I would never tackle rounding a mast or any other spar anyway other than by hand with a small plane, taking successively tapered sections by hand although I know many use the lathe practice successfully. 
 
As an owner of a number of different lathes, if I had it to do all over again, I would choose the Sherline, as you can add to this as your skills develop and they are a great company making a great product.  Good luck with your search.  Taig also makes a nice tool, a little less expensive and there are Unimat 3's available sometimes on E-Bay but usually over priced.  I wouldn't consider any Unimat other than the 3 or the earlier SL.
 
 

I would never tackle rounding a mast or any other spar anyway other than by hand with a small plane, taking successively tapered sections by hand although I know many use the lathe practice successfully. 
 
As an owner of a number of different lathes, if I had it to do all over again, I would choose the Sherline, as you can add to this as your skills develop and they are a great company making a great product.  Good luck with your search.  Taig also makes a nice tool, a little less expensive and there are Unimat 3's available sometimes on E-Bay but usually over priced.  I wouldn't consider any Unimat other than the 3 or the earlier SL.
 
 

I realize I am late in mentioning this but have not been on the website for a couple of weeks due to a hospital visit.  I like many others that have mentioned this above, have been a sucker for every saw produced looking for one with some degree of accuracy.  Like everyone else has reiterated this have finally been solved with the Bryrnes Saw.  I did however fail to see you mentioning the Preac which I used for many years prior to the production of the "Jim" Saw.  This is a great little saw with a lot of capabilities.  I have no idea how available they are now or how they are priced but sooner or later everything shows up on E-Bay and this is one great little saw.  I still use mine to supplement the Brynes Saw.  Just thought I should mention this.
 
 

I realize I am late in mentioning this but have not been on the website for a couple of weeks due to a hospital visit.  I like many others that have mentioned this above, have been a sucker for every saw produced looking for one with some degree of accuracy.  Like everyone else has reiterated this have finally been solved with the Bryrnes Saw.  I did however fail to see you mentioning the Preac which I used for many years prior to the production of the "Jim" Saw.  This is a great little saw with a lot of capabilities.  I have no idea how available they are now or how they are priced but sooner or later everything shows up on E-Bay and this is one great little saw.  I still use mine to supplement the Brynes Saw.  Just thought I should mention this.
 
 

I realize I am late in mentioning this but have not been on the website for a couple of weeks due to a hospital visit.  I like many others that have mentioned this above, have been a sucker for every saw produced looking for one with some degree of accuracy.  Like everyone else has reiterated this have finally been solved with the Bryrnes Saw.  I did however fail to see you mentioning the Preac which I used for many years prior to the production of the "Jim" Saw.  This is a great little saw with a lot of capabilities.  I have no idea how available they are now or how they are priced but sooner or later everything shows up on E-Bay and this is one great little saw.  I still use mine to supplement the Brynes Saw.  Just thought I should mention this.
 
 

There are detailed drawings in Middensdorf‘s Book of 1905 on masting  and rigging (in German). He draws on his experience in rigging the Late Flying–P–Liners, which include the PASSAT and the PADUA, as well  as the PREUSSEN.

I would watch E-Bay for a used  Starrett. I own a few of these and they very accurate. Probably run around the same price as the Tamiya Richmond has mentioned. Good luck I just hate the cheap ones being made now, as it seems none of them are centered 

I would watch E-Bay for a used  Starrett. I own a few of these and they very accurate. Probably run around the same price as the Tamiya Richmond has mentioned. Good luck I just hate the cheap ones being made now, as it seems none of them are centered 

I would watch E-Bay for a used  Starrett. I own a few of these and they very accurate. Probably run around the same price as the Tamiya Richmond has mentioned. Good luck I just hate the cheap ones being made now, as it seems none of them are centered 

I would watch E-Bay for a used  Starrett. I own a few of these and they very accurate. Probably run around the same price as the Tamiya Richmond has mentioned. Good luck I just hate the cheap ones being made now, as it seems none of them are centered 

I would watch E-Bay for a used  Starrett. I own a few of these and they very accurate. Probably run around the same price as the Tamiya Richmond has mentioned. Good luck I just hate the cheap ones being made now, as it seems none of them are centered 

Thank you so much Druxey, Chris, Steve, Patrick, John, Keith and Moab.  I truly appreciate your support, interest and generous comments.
 
And as always, thanks to everyone stopping by and hitting the like button.
 
 
More Pilothouse Roof Stuff
 
Unfinished from a previous post is a rain slicker that I wanted to hang on the pilothouse coat rack.  I received some great suggestions from Druxey and Chris on possible approaches, but I just couldn’t get it right.  I ended up using polymer and even though I’m not thrilled with it, I’m going to surrender and call it done.  At just over ½” tall, this is the result.

The navigation lights are made of styrene and approximately 1/4" tall.  I begin with the basic size and proportion requirements.
 

From this I select the four different shapes and sizes of styrene that will be needed – 2 tubes, a rod and some flat stock.
 

The rod and tubes that were selected are roughly the correct sizes and closely fit into one another.  This defines the top of the housing.
 

A window is cut from the largest tube and the flat stock is used for banding.
 

The interiors are painted red and green and colored 0603 SMD LED's are soldered up and inserted.  Clear Gallery Glass is used to hold them in place and simulate the lenses.
 

Directional light blocking boxes (I don’t know the proper term for these) are made up, painted and weathered.  The NAV lights are glued in.
 

The searchlight is made up of styrene and brass.  The bullet shaped housing is formed of .01" styrene.  The tip of an ordinary construction nail was filed and polished to the desired shape.  It was then heated and the styrene formed over it.  A white 0603 SMD LED is inserted.  It is painted with enamel and weathered with acrylic.  A water based weathering is used so as not to effect the underlying enamel.  
 

An air horn is made up which scales to about 18” in length.  It too is made of styrene.  The cone of the horn was made of a tube that was a larger diameter than required.  The tube was heated in the middle and pulled to form the cone shape.
 


Painted

A pair of 1411 LEDS is placed up between the roof rafters for general interior illumination.
 

Everything glued onto the roof.
 
 
 There will also be a pair of brackets attached to the roof for holding a dory.  But I’m holding off on that until the dory is made.
 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.
 
Gary

Chris, Druxey, Michael and Dan - Thank you for looking in on my build log and for your kind words and encouragement.  I sincerely appreciate it.
And thanks to all who stopped by and hitting the like button
 
 
Here’s an overview of hatch positioning on the aft section of the deck.
 
The placement of the bitts and the curvature of the transom differ here from my model because it’s a different boat.  I’m choosing this deck layout simply because I found it in drawings and photos more often than any other layout. 
 
The area highlighted in green is the top of the storage and sits 15” above the deck surface.  There are two removable covers, one on each side.
 
The orange lines represent the wooden planks that make up the fish sorting pens.  Period drawings often label this area “checkers.”  These pens can be assembled in different configurations and pulled apart to be set out of the way.  Even though the drawing indicates that these pens can be set up on both starboard and port side, I have not seen a single photo showing this in practice on these small draggers.  They are always on the port side only.  In use, the trawl net is emptied into this area and the catch is sorted by size and species.  Non-target fish that still have a market value are sorted out into separate pens and boxes. 
 
The image below shows a mixed catch of lobster and fish in the sorting pens.  The photo is from an excellent book by Peter K. Prybot titled White-Tipped Orange Masts.
 
To get started on the storage area, I install a couple of support beams for the decking.  They have been bent to match the crown of the deck and installed so the top sheds water forward.

A card template is made for the forward facing side.  Wood is glued to it, cut out and then stained.

 
Card is cut and glued to the top of the storage area.  Leaving the ends wild, pre-stained boards are glued on.  The boards scale to 1” x 4”.  Once this was complete, I tore them all off for a re-do, because they were crooked and looked terrible.  In this photo you can see the boards tending toward port.  After all boards were on, it was much more obvious.
 

After the redo, I filed the board ends even.  And though the boards now appear to be pointed slightly starboard, I have convinced myself that it’s just a camera angle illusion thing.  Before I am done with this storage deck, it will receive a wash to tone down the contrast a bit.
 

 Next, I layout the cover positions and cut a hole in the deck for the hatch cover frame.  Although there are two covers, only one will be removable on the model.  The frame and the two covers are made.
 
 Cover handles are bent from .0125 phosphor bronze wire and placed.  I’m using the bronze wire over brass simply because that’s what I have.  But as a side note, most of the fine wire I use in modeling is phosphor bronze.  Like brass it’s a copper alloy, but it is harder and has more spring to it.  It doesn’t have a tendency to slump like brass wire does, which makes it ideal for railings, tie rods, guy wires, etc.
 
The handle escutcheons are 1:160 styrene eyes.
 

 

 

 
Next, the pen boards are made up.
 

 
The sequence is simple and produces predictable results.  In these next photos, I setup the lighting for strong contrast to show grain in the wood - so the texture appears exaggerated.
 
The piece of basswood is 3/16” x 1 ½”.
 

First, it is wire brushed to bring up the grain (soft wire brush).

 Then hand holds are cut with needle files.
 
 A hole is drilled to accept a knot.  It is placed where the wire brush found softer material and dug deeper.  This deeper cut is exaggerated with a file leading into the knot hole.
 
A toothpick is glued into the hole and cut flush on both sides.  The wood is stained front and back with chalk/alcohol.  The white along the bottom is meant to represent salt wicking.  To get the colors to blend on such a small piece, a lot of alcohol was used.  There is no such thing as too much alcohol – I’m talking about modeling here remember.
 
Wood 2" x 2" are installed as placement guides on the hatch sides and stanchions.  The board ends slide down into these guides.  Styrene nut/washers are added to the guides.
 
The arrangement of pens is slightly different on my model than is shown on the layout at the beginning of this post.  The drawing depicts a larger boat and has pens forward of the fish hold.  Smaller boats like mine have the hoisting winch directly in front of the fish hold and deck space is at a premium.  These small boats sometimes have a diagonal pen off the port side of the fish hold.  So that is how I configured mine.
 
Notice that of the three large pens, only the forward two have pen boards up against the bulwark stanchions.  This is to keep small catch from slipping out through the scuppers.

 

 

 
Thanks for taking a look.
 
Gary
 

Thanks Keith
 
Lining OFF
Beginning the sawdust phase, I cut the bulkheads out with my scroll saw leaving the piece large (cutting to the outside of the template line.)  I do this because I have no skill with the saw and cannot keep to a line.  I then use a bench top disc sander and work back to the template outline.  This works great with the convex edge and I use a Dremel sanding drum for the inside curves.
 
I glue these forms to the platform base and attach the keel/stem.  Before the keel went on, I cut a rabbet on the stem.
 

 
Using a batten to see how the bulkheads faired, I found a problem.  Station #8 was too small and #7 was ridiculously too large.  Looking back at the body plan it’s hard to see how I missed it.  But, that’s the point of going through the fairing up process.  So, I built up #8 and went after #7 with a file.
 

 
Based on photos and drawings, the planking widths for this vessel seem to vary in the 5” to 7” range.  I have a stash of stripwood that scales to approximately 6.5” wide x 1.75” thick so decided to use those.  Because station #7 has the longest edge length of any bulkhead, it will be the location where the planks are at there full width.  From here they taper to the stem and taper back to the stern.  It will require 23 courses of planks per side.
 
There will be 4 belts per side of 6 planks each.  Belt #1 beginning at the keel will have only 5.  From station #7 back to the stern, 4 planks are lost in belt #1.
 
I measure the length of each station edge and check it against what my CAD drawing says it should be.  Knowing how many planks will be required, I generate the following plank width tick mark strips for each bulkhead edge.
 
  
 
The width of the planks at the bow is just under 5.25” which satisfies the “not less than half” plank width guideline.  No steelers or drops are needed.
 
The strip marks are temporarily taped on the bulkheads and a batten strip is used to get a general sense of the curve following the tick marks.
 

 
Happy with the way it looked, I transferred the tick marks to the stations with pencil and temporarily attached thread at each belt as a final check to see how the plank courses run.  After a few minor modifications, I was ready to start planking. 
 

 
Planking
The coloring and weathering the model will receive will not only reveal but also accentuate the planking on the hull, so I won’t be using any filler or putty.  On a previous model, I planked the hull somewhat haphazardly, knowing that I was going to slather Bondo on it and sand it smooth.  I’m happy with the way the model came out, but it would have been more realistic with the planks showing through the paint.
 

 
I set up a little jig to hold the stripwood firmly in place as I slice the taper into it - then sand to fit

I begin planking at the keel with the garboard and lay on two belts of planks on one side.  Each course is tapered on the upper edge of the planks so that each successive course starts with a straight edge.
 
Each course of planks is made from a single strip of wood.  After it is tapered and test fit, it is then cut to simulate the butt ends of two individual boards.  The joints are reinforced on the reverse side. 
 
Two more belts are added to the other side.

 

 
Then the last 4 belts are added minus the top three courses.
 


 
At this point, I cut the hull from the platform.
 

 

 
The next course of planking requires the scuppers.
 

 
Finally, I sand the hull and finish it off with a soft brass wire brush.  The wire brush removes the sanding shine and any cross grain scratches and in general sort of unifies the look.  It will also help with the weathering later on.
 
These final photos were taken in full direct sunlight in hopes that the effect of the wire brush can be seen.  A few final licks with 800 grit paper will take the remaining wood fuzz off. 
 

 

 
This post brings me up to date in real time on this model.  
 
Thanks for taking a look.
 
Gary
 
 

I always have, too, and never have had any sagging problems. Instead of water-thinned glue, I use thinned clear shellac. It probably isn't much difference between shellac and thinned glue, but I find the shellac soaks into the fibers very well and is waterproof, which not only stiffens the line, but perhaps keeps it from absorbing moisture. It's also easy to "work" and undo, since it is soluble in alcohol, unlike glue which, when it sets up, is permanent, short of soaking it in isopropyl alcohol. I also find that I can work with the shellac as it sets up to "fix" rigging in place the way I want it. I can in that way get the catenary I want in my running rigging and make sure my coils hang from belaying pins as they do in real life, rather than having them coiled in gravity-defying circles like a cowboy's lariat! (A detail which is essential to a high-quality model.) 

KURT,
 
This is a very nice router base but as Bob says it is on the pricey side.  I have watched these things for years and Micro Fence appears to have the ultimate product but you need to take out a home equity line to pay for it.  I like the looks of it but just can't justify the price.  I am not sure how much use I would get from it for model work.  Very nice for inlay.
 
Another one that the luthiers use and seem to be very happy with is the Stew Mac version.  If you feel like you are really interested check out this one.
 
https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Routers_and_Bits/Routers/Precision_Router_Base.html
 
Pricing on this one runs between the Dremel and Veritas.  
 
Good Luck!

KURT,
 
This is a very nice router base but as Bob says it is on the pricey side.  I have watched these things for years and Micro Fence appears to have the ultimate product but you need to take out a home equity line to pay for it.  I like the looks of it but just can't justify the price.  I am not sure how much use I would get from it for model work.  Very nice for inlay.
 
Another one that the luthiers use and seem to be very happy with is the Stew Mac version.  If you feel like you are really interested check out this one.
 
https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Routers_and_Bits/Routers/Precision_Router_Base.html
 
Pricing on this one runs between the Dremel and Veritas.  
 
Good Luck!

Jack,
 
This is a great product and appears to take up very little space.  I do a lot of painting in my driveway and the west wind whips through there constantly.  I will be shopping for one of these today.
 
Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
 
 

Jack,
 
This is a great product and appears to take up very little space.  I do a lot of painting in my driveway and the west wind whips through there constantly.  I will be shopping for one of these today.
 
Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
 
 

KURT,
 
This is a very nice router base but as Bob says it is on the pricey side.  I have watched these things for years and Micro Fence appears to have the ultimate product but you need to take out a home equity line to pay for it.  I like the looks of it but just can't justify the price.  I am not sure how much use I would get from it for model work.  Very nice for inlay.
 
Another one that the luthiers use and seem to be very happy with is the Stew Mac version.  If you feel like you are really interested check out this one.
 
https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Routers_and_Bits/Routers/Precision_Router_Base.html
 
Pricing on this one runs between the Dremel and Veritas.  
 
Good Luck!

KURT,
 
This is a very nice router base but as Bob says it is on the pricey side.  I have watched these things for years and Micro Fence appears to have the ultimate product but you need to take out a home equity line to pay for it.  I like the looks of it but just can't justify the price.  I am not sure how much use I would get from it for model work.  Very nice for inlay.
 
Another one that the luthiers use and seem to be very happy with is the Stew Mac version.  If you feel like you are really interested check out this one.
 
https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Routers_and_Bits/Routers/Precision_Router_Base.html
 
Pricing on this one runs between the Dremel and Veritas.  
 
Good Luck!

For spray painting I use this inexpensive collapsible spray shelter from Woodcraft  . It is big enough for most all models

I use acrylics 90+% of the time - I have a spray booth for the smaller stuff but have not felt the need for a big booth as the over spray is completely dry before it lands on anything beyond the model.  A bit of cleanup with a vacuum cleaner and no problem.  If spraying over a finished floor use a cheap plastic drop cloth (picnic type table covers are good) and when you are done take it outside and shake it clean.  It's good enough for when we demo in a hotel ballroom at trade shows.  But ONLY for acrylics - solvent based must use safe extraction.
Kurt
 

Don's site has good reviews of a lot of brushes.  Covers the important things. 
 
I forgot to mention that in keeping with the NRG's and MSW's advocacy for not buying pirated goods be careful to buy only brand name airbrushes.  Many that are sold with non-airbrush brand names (store names, etc) are inferior copies of brand name airbrushes. 
Name brand airbrushes are all good and I defy anybody to tell the difference in a paint job done with an Iwata or a Badger or a Passche.  The skill of the artist/modeler plays the biggest role in a quality paint job when using name brand brushes. 
 
Name Brands:  Badger, Paasche, Iwata, Thayer & Chandler, Harder & Steenbeck, Grex.  If the name isn't listed here I wouldn't recommend it.  Stay away from cheap garbage.
 
Also, don't buy the most expensive model  or the newest model thinking it's going to make you an artist when you use an airbrush once a year.  Practice is so very important.  You worked a long time on the model, don't screw it up trying to airbrush it w/o some practice - your model  is not a practice piece. 
 
Kurt