wefalck

The discussion is veering off the original subject into the merit of shellac on wood ... Anyway, the question is what the merit would be of completely 'sealing' a wooden artefact against the atmosphere ? It cannot be achieved perfectly and was never attempted in history, if you look at antique pieces of furniture and models. It is well-known that shellac (french polished) surface are not resistant against water stains. The reason for french-polishing is probably purely aesthetic and not for 'protection'. I learned about shellac probably in the late 1960s as a teenager, when my father treated the surface of a work-table with it, that still is around. It was my first choice, when I did my woodworking projects. As Ab noted, applying several layers of shellac with a brush is difficult too impossible. The solvent (alcohol) immediately begins to soften the already applied layer(s), resulting in a sort of leathery surface. Traditional 'french polish' is applied in a different way: first the wood is sanded or scraped smooth, then it is rubbed down with a pumice stone, but the dust is not removed. A rather dilute solution of shellac is then applied with a lint-free cotton 'pad'. I used for this an old, hundred times washed piece of cotton underwear, stuffed with cotton wool. The shellac is applied in the direction of the wood grain with fast strokes of the pad. If you are too slow, the pad will stick to the surface, if you are too fast not enough shellac is transferred. The pad also may not be too soaked, other wise you leave streakes. One has to learn the right parameters by experience - in the old days 'french polisher' was a trade of its own for a good reason. Once the layer is thoroughly dried, it is rubbed down again with a pumice stone and the whole procedure repeated until a flat, mirror-like surface is achieved. The subsequent strokes with the pad have to be very fast and light, so that the shellac dries almost immediately and the solvent does not have a chance to soften to previous layers. For this reason one also works with more concentrated solutions than at the beginning. The last, very very light application may still leave light streakes. These are remove with a very light pumice rubbing. The surface than is dry-polished to a gloss. A modern, abreviated variant I am using is to apply nitrocellulose-based wood-filler over the sanded, wetted and sanded again surface. The filler is sanded down to the wood and another layer of filler applied. Depending on the wood grain, one may need to repeat this again. The last coat is not sanded, but rubbed down with steel-wool or scraped with a razor-blade. On this surface one or more coats of shellac is applied and rubbed down with steel wool after each application. If you are good, you may achieve the final glossy finish without dry polishing. On models I more or less use the same procedure. Depending on the size and shape of the parts I use pumice powder, rather than steel wool to rub down the surface. The pumice can be rubbed on with a slightly wetted finger or a cotton stick. The pumice then is carefully brushed off. The last coat is rubbed down again with pumice, which leaves behind a more or less matt surface. You can create a nice satin sheen by polishing this surface with a felt-wheel in your hand-held drill. This polishing allows you to control the sheen from satin to gloss. Overall, this shellac treatment does not actually build up an appreciable thickness, but almost sits in the wood. Here a model I build in the early 1980s:

My recent exploits of this technique: steering wheels laser-cut from 'Canson' paper (about 0.15 mm thick) and assembled into 3D-wheels using zapon lacquer ... The major grid-spacing is 10 mm. Cutting friezes and the likes would be no problem. I would soak them in lacquer, paint them in acrylics and then apply them.

Sennelier is one of the old paint dealers in Paris. They have been around for more than 130 years. However they don't actually say whats in their 'fixatif'. just resin and alcohols, which in fact sounds like shellac: https://www.sennelier.fr/Fixatif-latour_fiche_4358.html A few weeks ago I happened to visit their shop, which is a nice, traditional shop down by the Seine with a counter and behind lots of little drawers with goodies. As someone noted above: don't blast the whole model (as some plastic modellers do) with something like this. I only use the lacquer to immobilise knots or splices and to coerce my springy model rope into real rope-like shapes, e.g. when hanging from belaying points:

BobG, I don't know what's in your wife's fixative, so I cannot comment on it. The point is to not 'soak' a pastel or it will loose its character. With too much fixative, it will look like a gouache painting. The book I have was written in the 1970s originally, with some revisions in the 1990s. The author has been aware of more recent developments in binders, such as acrylics, but at his time they hadn't been fully developed yet. What shellac to use depends on the purpose and effect you try to achieve. So one cannot recommend either or the other in principle. I have never used Klucel G myself, but was aware that it is used as an adhesive e.g. in paper restoration, I think. It comes as a powder that you have to dissolve in the alcohol. The ratio presumably depends on the viscosity you need. Also too much of the binder may make for a weak bond. You always want the minimum of adhesive that keys into your materials on both sides of the bond, that gives you the strongest bond. As we converse, I am working on a project where I make extensive use of paper re-enforced by lacquer (actually nitrocellulose as it were). Not that I am particularly fond of it, because it is difficult to get a really smooth surface (as on styrene or on bakelite paper), but I recently bought a small laser-cutter and make the tiny parts that I had planned to etch originally. But this is another conversation. This laser-cutter only cuts paper reasonably well. The strategy is to soak the paper as much as possible, let it dry, smooth it with very fine steelwool and then assemble/laminate with more lacquer. Just check out my SMS WESPE building log. Apropos threaders - we had this discussion recently somewhere else, but I would like to re-iterate my main observation: if you can use a needle threader on blocks, the holes in the blocks are too big. The width of the sheaves is only a fraction wider than the rope for which it is meant, otherwise the rope would jam. So threaders are not really useful at least for blocks.

Sorry for the bad joke, but it looks like a goose in the oven ...

I am always somewhat suspicious of single-purpose tools. The question would be what do you use it for: to drive headless pins without flattening them on the top, to avoid the impact of a hammer, to avoid hitting something else, if you are not sure with the hammer, to get it straight down, etc. I think the only really valid reason would be the first one from the above list. There are also tweezers with V-grooves across to hold small nails and pins, e.g. when nailing.

I was talking about nitrocellulose varnish/lacquer with pumice mixed in. Some people call it sealer, but its function is actually a filler - kind of 'french polish' in one go. On wood I use the ordinary, slightly orange variety, because it is this what you get in DIY stores. It imparts also a warm 'depth' to the wood. However, I would not use this type on rigging, as it changes the colour of the material. For rigging purposes I prefer 'zapon' lacquer, as it is less brittle than shellac. The brittleness on rigging also depends on how concentrated you apply it. I rather dilute shellac solution would be sufficient, that just soaks into the thread without covering it visibly. Then the brittleness might be less of a problem. Shellac was traditionally used to stiffen fabrics, for instance the felt used in bowler hats.

Well I have used shellac as the only wood varnish on my models for over 40 years now. In order to avoid the laboursome procedure of 'french polishing' I use it over nitrocellulose wood-filler (which I sometimes use as the only treatment). Due its fast drying properties, shellac is a very versatile product and one may not be aware of its many everyday uses. Have a look at the bottom of the Wikipedia-page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac I am just reading a book on art materials, art techniques and conservation techniques. In this context long-term stability is of utmost importance and shellac is preferred varnish to protect oil paintings and pastels. On oil paintings this varnishing is reversible due to it alcohol solubility. Mixed with fillers, shellac also make a good thermo-setting 'bio-plastic' - remember those 'shellacs' before vinyl records were introduced in the 1960s ? You can also create your own compound materials by soaking e.g. paper in shellac. Most shellacs are slightly yellow in tint, at least those sold for DIY purposes. Artist supply stores also sell a more expensive bleached variety. If you need a colourless and very fast (faster than shellac) drying lacquer you can use zapon lacquer. This is nitrocellulose dissolved in a mixture of ethyl acetate, ethanol, and amyl acetate. The ethyl acetate has a higher vapour pressure than ethanol, which is the reason why it evaporates faster. You can get it in many DIY and also good art supply stores. Tradtional nail varnish is essentially the same, but typically more viscous due to higher nitrocellulose content and has a lower vapour pressure, i.e. it dries fast, but slower than shellac. In addition, the ladies seem to be prepared to pay a much higher price for their beauty

Kind of reveals my age, but here is a PDF of an article I published in 1980 in German ship modelling magazine. Note sketches 13 and 14 on the second page: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/tips/FALCK-SM-5-80.pdf

Once modelling has been done, it should be possible to print them in all sorts of scales ... it's more a problem of managing the Web-shop than a technical one, I would think.

I discovered this kind of splice in a textbook on knots and splices that I got around 1970. There it is named something like 'yarn splice'. I have used it since on my models to simulate splices. I prefer solvent-based fast-drying 'zapon' lacquer for securing splices and knots, as it can be loosened with aceton, if needed.

Carpenteria molto pulita e fresca 👍

I had completely missed out on this one and thought there hadn't been a new 'Baron' for while ... very atmospheric as usual !

Quality work and quality tools !

Un lavoro fantastico !

Another master of rotting artefacts is the Swiss Marcel Ackle: http://www.feldbahn-modellbau.ch/

On very small models I just turned a soft (6B) pencil in the respective holes.

Not very cost effective, but these paints that are pre-thinned for airbrushing also make very good washes, particularly also because their pigment is finely ground.

Jaager, I think you are talking about freeing ports, not scuppers ?

When you discussed the chipping paint, I was just thinking of the 'chipping' technique some modellers use by applying some humid salt onto the basecoat before spray-painting the actual colour-coat(s). The top-coat then easily rubs off, where the salt is. I have never done this myself, but the 3D-effect on the edges of the paint layers looks quite convincing. But I think you are aware of this technique.

Somehow it is a pity, that all this wonderful carpentry will be almost invisible at the end ...

I have used the Vallejo Model Air and the Schmincke AeroColor series of paints and some others without any problems in my retouching airbrush with a 0,2 mm nozzle (I believe, as I don't remember exactly, having had it now for close to 40 years). I normally use them straight from the bottle.

Any idea, why they are called 'Copenhagen' curves ? As they are also called Burmester-Curves in Gemany, I first thought this had to do with the Copenhagen yard of Burmester & Waine, but it actually refers to the mathematician Ludwig Burmester (1840-1927), who seems to have invented at least one type of these templates based on third order splines. In Germany they are also called French Curves, which may reflect the fact that they were also used in the fashion industry to create continuous flowing curves when designing patterns. Not sure, whether the mathematical rules for each of the individual templates have been preserved. Otherwise one could scan them from a catalogue or a set of originals, clean the files up and produce from them digitised versions as a basis for a laser-cutting project. I bought a classical 3-piece set in acrylics some forty years ago, which has a recessed edge on each side to be used with ink drawing pens. I inherited another simple set in pear(?) wood inherited from my father. At that time I think people glued cardboard bits onto the sides to raise the templates off the paper for drawing with the ink pens. When drawing lines plans, I found the 3-piece set mostly sufficient, but even the long template too curved for spars and similar. It also depends on the absolute size of your drawings, of course.

Using fly-fishing fly-tying thread might get you closer in dimension and colour to the original, when seizing sails to the hoops etc. Otherwise, I have used exactly this method for many years myself ...

If you are talking about those lead pipes that lead from the inside of the waterways outboard, you may consider using hollow soldering tin. Dissolved the resin in aceton and shabe it to your needs.