wefalck

I think the discussion is diverging somewhat from the original topic. In this building log below (no idea, why it shows a Christmas motif ...) I go through a wide variety of milling set-ups, albeit on different small mills.

Still too big for a lot of milling jobs around models. Note that the toolmakers vice has recesses at the top of the jaws that allow you to safely clamp smaller pieces without the aid of 'parallels' underneath. The recesses are about 2 mm x 2 mm.

I do this also with metal, btw. One can solder a spigot to any part so that it can be held in a 3-jaw-chuck or collet for machining. For smaller parts I just use a big enough diameter round brass - a bit wasteful, but safe and simple.

Well, 3-jaw-chucks are made to center round objects If you want to clamp differently shaped objects, you would need an independently adjustable 4-jaw-chuck. This means each jaw can be moved independently, so that you can move a part around the chuck until you have the point you want centred (within the size limits of the chuck). The second question I don't understand. What do you mean by 'accusize vice' ? In any case you will need either clamps (of which there are wide variety of shapes and sizes) or a vice to clamp a part to your x-y-table. A vice is the more common and versatile way probably, as its faces can be carefully aligned to the axes of the table, so that the faces of parts are aligned too.

OK. The clamping is a bit complicated by the fact that you presumably will have a rectangular part, but you have 3-jaw-chuck. It would be possible, but is not so simple. I don't know, whether the 3-jaw-chuck in the dividing head can be changed for one of the independent 4-jaw-chucks PROXXON offers, if I am not mistaken. That would be a better starting point. However, I think using a simple vice would be a lot easier. If you don't have one yet, get yourself what is called a 1" 'toolmaker insert vice': Image from: https://bahrain.desertcart.com/products/58940869-accusize-tools-mini-precision-toolmakers-insert-vises-ga-41-0050 They are very good and more precise than the PROXXON vices. They should cost around 30 USD on ebay etc. You would cut a piece of wood that is a bit larger than the cap, but considerably longer, so that you have a sort of 'stem'. In the first step you would mill the four sides, while the part is clamped with the stem. For this you don't need to move the part, all movements are done with the slides. In the next step you drill down whatever holes are required - square holes can be finished with a fine file later. In the third step you turn the part in the vice on its side, so that the top of the cap protrudes sideways, which allows you to mill its profile. For this you will have to make yourself a chart for the necessary movements of the slides. Finally you saw off the cap from its stem.

A couple of questions upfront: - what do you mean by ‘rotating clamp’ ? - what material do you use for the cap - what milling cutters do you have ? A mast cap seems to be a rather complex project to start with, btw.

I gather that depends on whether you think that you'll need a rabbet there as well. Presumably yes. Also, typically, the keel is as wide or wider than the stem- or stern-post.

Allen, you should check the thickness of the stem and keel of your prototype. If the kit supplied one is too thin, you may want to double them up with thin layers of veneer. By making the inside profile smaller by the amount of the thickness of your planking, you can 'fabricate' a rabbet, rather than cutting it into the existing material.

I guess, when I was in my teens (back in the late 1960s/early 1970s) and did my first ratlines, these gizmos were not around or I was not aware of them. So I did it the 'right' way without asking questions about short-cuts

Personally, I can't see the advantage of putting the ratlines on off the ship. It is going to be messed up and pulled out of shape. Nicely install the shrouds and then with them securely and finally in place work your way up with the ratlines. Draw the pattern as it should be, shrouds and ratlines, on a piece of card that you hold/fix behind the shrouds for guidance. It shows you the correct distances and also, whether you are pulling the shrouds out of line.

The fairing will be an iterative process. The bulk of the fairing, particularly where the waterlines form a steeper angle with the bulkheads, is easier done on the bench, than when the bulkheads are installed. The final fairing, using a spline batten, should be done with the bulkheads firmly installed.

There were in practice many different ways of doing this and the numbers and names of the timbers involved seem to vary. There is normally a fairly massive piece running on the inside of the stanchions. Sometimes it has the half-round waterways cut out in the lower part. Sometimes the waterways is a smaller timber, about double the thickness of the planking and the same width that runs between the larger baulk and the planking. The space between the stanchions can be filled in, but more often there is a thin covering board that is notched out for the stanchions. This covering board may be set-in from the outside and forms a line visible from the outside, forming a sort of narrow shelf. The bulkwark may be raisde above the covering board by a couple of centimeters to allow water to drain outboard. This is often the case in smaller ships, where every second or third frame actually forms the bulwark stanchions.

You are now sufficiently practiced for the grandchildrens' doll-house The only attention our balcony required was the daily sun-downer ...

You are getting really into the specifics there ... can't give founded advice on the hounds, but wondered, whether the difference between the options would be discerneable on the model ? OK, this is our old plague, that we want to get it right, even if no one would notice the difference.

My father trained as doctor and I inherited a box full of them together with other chirurgical instruments. Was has to be cautious with the locking ones - when in the last step before release, they exert a lot of pressure and parts or threads can get crushed. Another name to look for is Castrovejo. He invented various eye-surgery instruments that can be useful.

Outside the US purchase of ammunition would be difficult ... You may also find wooden or styrene balls in architectural model or craft supply stores.

I roll short lengths of wire between two pieces of flat hardwood, which makes the laquer peel off and the wire comes out perfectly straight. I don’t know this particular boat, but thought they were only clinkered below the waterline. So the copper rivets would disappear under the coppering or the anti-fouling treatment.

A bit of targeted research and knowledge of the market ... I gather you have a copy of the commerce raider (Hilfskreuzer) STIER from Wilhelmshavener Modellbaubogen (Möve-/Jade-Verlag ? This one here: https://www.moewe-by-hd-m-verlag.com/stier-hilfskreuzer.html ? It is actually in 1:250 as all of their models. Most of their models have been designed before the 1970s I believe. As a small boy I built several of them. That would then be the standard of those days, which was quite good for the time. I found a building log on this site here, albeit in German: https://www.kartonbau.de/forum/thema/11685-hsk-stier-whv-im-maßstab-1-250/. You can try to follow with GoogleTranslator.

By 'securing' you probably mean 'holding in place until the glue has set' ? That may be only one issue. Or rather, if this is a serious issue then you may be missing the rabbet in the stem post ? Once there is a proper rabbet against which the planks can land, they may be already more or less locked into place, making clamping simpler. An additional strategy will be to water and heat the planks and then to clamp them until dry into a jig that has a similar curvature as the place where they are supposed to go. Such pre-bend planks will be easier to fit and require less force, when fitted finally.

I may be wrong, but I think Citroen used this kin of system for the rear suspension of the half-tracks that were used for the Sahara expeditions and the on-land trip from Paris to Pékin (Beijing) in late 1920s/early 1930s.

Well, the car was conceived in the late 1930s, when there were not too many other cars on the road and mainly for use in rural areas. That it became so popular in the 1960s to 1980s particularly with non-conventional urban young could not be anticipated. The lack of passenger protection was one reason, why it was discontinued. I have a late 1970s repair manual, which shows a lot of cross-sections of the parts of the suspension, but no GA drawing unfortunately, but I found this site with a lot of useful photographs (albeit in German): http://www.entmontage.de/fahrwerk.htm. And the animated graphic from that site:

Actually, the fabric looks very much the one on mine, but the stitching was different.

At least on the later models the grills were stamped and pressed sheet-metal in a light grey plastic frame, independent of the colour of the car. Before the frame was also stamped and pressed from sheet-metal - remember very well, because at some stage I repainted mine. The very first models did not have a separate grille, but just slots in an inverted chevron-pattern stamped into the pressed bonnet. The Citroen inverted chevrons were chromed, if I remember correctly. Will you be adding still the connecting rods to the suspensions ? The 2CV had a rather unique suspension cum shock-absorber arrangement. The longitudinal pipes under the chassis are the spring cum shockabsorber elements. The arms on which the wheels sit are connected to these by long rods. In this way the suspension for wheels on one side is not completely independent. The suspension overall was very soft, but safe, even when taking bends at high speed (relatively to the 2CV that is) - one just had to get used to the swaying of the body of the car. One of the design criteria was that a farmer should be able to safely take a basket of eggs from his farm, across unmade roads, to the market town The first models were sort of painted in sort of satin oil-paint, I think. But since the mid-1950s or so normal painting procedures of the day were followed, resulting in a gloss finish. The quilted leather upholstery is rather posh for a 2CV. Usually they had a sort of velvety fabric, the same as used on the larger Citroens. The seats were rather soft by modern standards, but very comfortable - I could sit in it the whole day without circulation problems.

Colour can also matter. Lighter coloured ropes may appear thicker than dark coloured ones of the same diameter. We also tend to have modern ships in front of our mental eyes. There, even natural fibre ropes tend to be thinner than they would have been say 150 or 200 years ago. Since the 1880s or so techniques to quantitatively testing the breaking strenghts of rope have been developed and also quality control measures on the raw materials that go into them. In this way ropes can be made thinner than in previous centuries, where they had to err on the safe side.

Actually, the (ModelShip)World knows, at least those, who follow the project