SJSoane

Nice, very nice! Mark

Igor, incredible drawings! What software did you use? Mark

Incredible detail, Michael, even to the orientation of the screw slots. You continue to set the highest standard! Mark

Nice! Mark

Hi Michael, Yes, it is. I can't imagine life without yet another building challenge to work through. And don't we hope these challenges build character when the going gets tough! Mark

The best books, in my view, for understanding the entire scratch build process with every step spelled out, are 1) The Fully Framed Model, HMN Swan Class Sloops 1767-1780, vols. 1,2,4 by David Antscherl and vol. 3 by Greg Herbert, and 2) Ed Tosti's books, especially for the period of your intended subject, Frigates of the Royal Navy: The Naiad Frigate. These show how much there is to do, but break it down into manageable parts with lots of drawings and photos, and clear explanations. I have learned immensely from these fine craftsmen and authors. Mark

Hi Chuck, Thanks, I will likely take you up on that idea. I will try one more time to see just how small I can work with reasonable quality. You web site shows how great your's look really close up. For everyone else, here is just how small these little puppies are. These are Chuck's small and medium. Mark

Thanks, Greg, I forgot about the multiple teams of craftsmen of the 18th century. druxey, if you promise to send the social workers if this doesn't work out, I will try to make the little ones, just to see...

HI everyone, Another week of working on cyphers. The paper idea did not work, for two reasons: 1) ragged fibrous edges at this size, and 2) the angle of the scalpel blade got in the way of seeing where I was cutting to. Then I tried cutting it out of copper shim, first attaching to thin wood with carpet tape. Using a 4/0 jeweler's saw and a 77 drill, I was able to rough out something that might work with more care the second time through. I also purchased Chuck's cyphers, which are marvelous to see. The largest one is about the right size for the smallest cannon, and I may use this for the final because it is just about microscopic to see and therefore exceedingly difficult to create on my own. But these are too small for my larger cannon, and so I will have to keep working on cutting my own. I have reflected on whether it is OK to purchase any parts at all for this build, since I want to say I made it all. But I did read in Longridges' The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships that he hired an engineering works to make a contour cutter for turning his cannon, and also hired Mr. Hammond, the great seal engraver at Hatton Garden, to make a steel die of the cypher. Longridge then used this to punch out thin shim cyphers, which he then soldered to the cannon. So obtaining a part which is then used to cast my own cannon doesn't seem quite so bad...does it? If you don't obsess about this, and they fit your scale, Chuck's cyphers are truly spectacular. I think I am getting dangerously fanatical about these things; the pewter cast below reveals how little of this really shows up, especially when it is blackened. I am not sure why I keep questing after something more perfect on this tiny detail. Some psychological help might be in order... Mark

Peter, brilliant! I am so glad you are pioneering along with using Fusion for ship modeling. I have discovered that there is a lot of "what if I try this" to make Fusion work, and you are clearing away a lot of dead ends to this process. Mark

Nice! Mark

Alan, looks great! Let me know when you have a showable 1:64 cannon! Mark

Peter, I tried your method, and it worked perfectly. Thanks so much! Mark

Katoom, thank you for your description of these postings as a novel! On reflection, posting updates to this website is a little like journaling for a writer--almost a flow of consciousness while trying to think things through. Only with the huge advantage of an international group of people with great insight and skill looking over my shoulder and helping out! Mark

Beautiful, Gaetan! Nice to see her underway in the new year. Mark

Looking at the cannon in Siggi's photos above, I notice that the king's cypher is somewhat smaller than I had been drawing. Look at the second photo down, third cannon up; and the last photo. It looks to me like the cypher is about one half the length of the distance between the mouldings on the second reinforce. Based on this, my required cyphers would be 3/16" and ⅛" (too small a difference between the 18# and the 9# to show). That would be Chuck's sizes for sale. I will try the paper idea, and if that doesn't look good I will then reflect on how I feel about purchasing rather than making from scratch this detail. The photo below shows how, at this scale with my skills, the cypher is just a suggestion of detail after being cast. Mark

Hi John, I like your advice about moving on. The MicroMark kit seems well designed, it includes two pieces of plexiglass and four clamps to get everything very flat. I don't know what the resist film is (it comes with a protective film on each side that has to be removed at various stages in the process); the resist developing solution is ¼ oz Sodium Hydroxide mixed into quite a bit more water. I never did get to the stage of actually etching the metal, although if I had, it uses Ferric Chloride. I regret that I never did study any chemistry to understand more of this. Hubac's Historian, I should have had those whiskeys with you. After my technological failure with the photo-resist, yesterday I got a CD stuck in my Apple drive, and it won't come out for love or money. Not my day for technology... You have got me thinking about paper. Why not? I may have been overthinking this whole thing. At 3/16" scale, these are really tiny, and I looked again at some earlier experimental pewter castings I made with a very good cypher given to me by Greg; after casting and darkening, they turn out as a general impression of detail, not anything close to the level of detail that I kept seeing in my mind's eye with the digital drawings. I will get a fresh blade in my scalpel, and see what I can accomplish. A sheet of bond paper is just about as thick as the brass in the etching kit, giving about a ½" actual thickness to the cypher. Mark

Hi Dan, Yes, it is disappointing not to have learned this skill; maybe another time I will try again on another project. But for now, I want to keep moving forward with another idea than photo-etching. I did consider Chuck's excellent monograms, but I think they are the wrong size for me. Based on the drawings in David Antscherl's Fully Framed Models, the sizes I need relative to the sizes of my cannon are ¼", ⅜" and 5/32". Chuck's are 5/32", ⅛" and 3/32". I would love to be wrong on the size and have Chuck's monograms work for me... My next plan is to try Alan's colleague's idea of sculpting with Weldbond Adhesive. Let's see what happens. I somehow knew this cannon project was going to take me all winter! Best wishes, Mark

Hi everyone, Well, I am going to have to admit defeat at the hands of photo-etching. Third attempt today, and the entire resist washed off in the developer. Not even a trace of the resist. I may not have the right mind-set or aptitude for this kind of work. There are dozens of steps, each of which requires judgment as to how clean, how much water, how much exposure, how much brushing, etc. At any point, the process can fail, and then you start all over again from scratch. I had thought that the third time through to the development stage, I would have learned from most of my mis-judgments, so it was a surprise when this was the worst example of losing the resist altogether. I somehow managed to get through my entire education with only physics and no chemistry. Either I was not suited to something like chemistry, or the lack of this education put me at a big disadvantage when it comes to the mysteries of chemical actions in photo-etching! Maybe I will come back to this another time, but for now I will explore a couple of other ways to get these xxx$?x& cyphers onto my cannon masters. I only need 4... I tip my hat to those of you who have mastered photo-etching! Best wishes, Mark

Hi Peter, Exceptionally clever! I never would have thought to do it that way. I will try it myself and see how it works. Fusion has just the right tool for everything, it seems, if just you can find it. Mark

druxey, what are the wooden structures immediately behind the gunports? Mark

John, thanks, that sounds very helpful. A bit frustrating to have it all wash off. Mark

Hi Mike, Fair enough! Purism should never win out over maintaining high quality of craftsmanship if a choice has to be made, as far as I am concerned. I wonder how good a job the sailors did out at sea, cutting paint to that outer edge. It might have looked like smeared lipstick! My wife the retired architect, never, ever, specified paint to change color at an outer edge because it is impossible to get a clean line. Mark

Hi MIke, Beautiful work! I somehow got the idea in my head that the red paint at the gunports would extend out along the revealed edges of the planking, to meet the face of the planking at the outer edge, not the inner edge. Do you have another understanding, or are you planning to paint those edges later? I have been fretting over how to do this myself, assuming I did not misunderstand this detail! Best wishes, Mark

Hi Alan, I might still be trying that. I learned more about photo etching today, getting as far as exposing and then developing the resist. I discovered (after talking to the great tech support at Micro Mark) that I had probably not cleaned the metal enough and/or run it through the laminator enough times. The resist had not stuck properly to the metal, and washed off completely in big areas. So, the artwork is good, now I need to start again with the metal prep, exposure and development of the resist. My wife is very patient about me taking over the guest bathroom for my developer studio... Mark