wefalck

Perhaps another thought: this is a past-time, something we do in our spare hours. So, I like to be in a pleasant, comfortable atmosphere that is also congenial to the subject I am working on. Hence, I have tried to create around me a bit of a 19th or early 20th century workshop atmosphere. I know, there are practical limitations to comfort, when you work with larger woodworking machinery and the dust it may create in spite of extractions fans etc. For me this is not a modern, efficient industrial environment, but I want to immerse into an atmosphere more contemporary to the models. Therefore, I prefer also 'warm' lighting and being surrounded by wooden cabinets. Not only the final product matters, but the way towards it. After all it is valuable life-time you are spending in the workshop.

There is also the 'Mini-Lathe' Web-site that should answer allmost any question about these lathes. It has been around for some 20 years by now. Used to subscribe to 'Model Engineer's Workshop', but since the publishers Nexus ran into trouble and it was delivered somewhat haphazardly, I gave up the subscription. I am sorry to say, but this kind of subscription has been superseded largely now by the Internet and the fora.

I used the threaded inserts mentioned by Roger Pellet for tying down interchangeable bases for my watchmakers lathes on the lathe stand, but didn't think of putting them into the workbench at strategic locations for tying down other moveable equipment - made a mental note for this !

It probably would have had what is called 'grapnel': From: https://www.alwayshobbies.com/model-boats/model-boat-fittings/aero-naut-grapnel-anchor

Looking at the rudimentary drawing, this looks like a patent windlass that would be worked with the T-shaped handle bar. These did not exist yet in the 1830s. Off the cuff, I am not sure, when they were introduced, but probably not on a larger scale before the 1850s. Their construction involves the casting and machining of larger pieces of iron, which was not available everywere. Originally, a boat of the 1830s would have been fitted with a simple windlass, operated by handle bars. A patent windlass may have been fitted later, of course. What do you know about your prototype ? Ships that did not need to anchor frequently would have retained the simple windlass for reasons of economy. A frequently reproduced illustration of a patent windlass you will find in Paasch's 'From Keel to Truck', which can be downloaded on the Internet. I have a collection of windlass pictures, but it would be useful first to ascertain what kind of windlass may be required, before pulling them out of my collection.

Some ten years ago I bought an ER11 collet chuck for my watchmakers lathe and set of collets from 0.5 to 7 mm in 0.5 mm steps. I think the set cost me less than 50€ and I use them now always instead of a drill-chuck. Beware that ER-collets are meant for tool-holding and may not grip safely, if the part does not go through completely.

9°C being 'comfortable' ? That's just above freezing ! You Brits are crazy (at least concerning temperatures) - but I knew this from my years in Nottingham (when I first moved up there and looked for a place to rent, I visited one that was advertised to have 'central heating' - well it hat a single gas-fire that was located centrally in the apartment ...).

Perhaps you then should invest into a chuck for ER collets and some small collets ... There are also drills down to 0.5 mm with 2.35 mm bodies (like the well-known burrs etc.)

I almost don't dare to say this (it could sound like desperately looking for a fly in the soup): the rope for the rudder halliard looks a bit soft, meaning that it could be twisted a bit tighter in order to keep with the quality of the rest of the model ...

Coming back to the lugs for the shrouds etc. (have been travelling last week and couldn't follow progress): how would they have been attach to the bulwark on the prototype ? Somehow, I would have expected some sort of chainplate to distribute the stress or the stanchions taking this function (albeit they are leaning the wrong way for this - or perhaps the right way in order to prevent the bulwark being pulled in by the shrouds). No comments on the metal-work

Impressive metal-work on the davits. I gather you used some sort of jig to keep everything together, while soldering ?

I quite like solid brass pins as raw material, because the forging/stamping process hardens the material and makes it easier to turn. However, if you have access to hard brass rods, that is probably the easier option, requiring few machining steps. What shall I say, I can only join into the chorus of praise ...

At the end of the 1950s I was just geeting out of my toddler years and already very much interested in everything mechanical. Unfortunately, there was no MEE in my country. My paternal grandfather (a torpedo mechanic in the Imperial German Navy up to the end of WW1) surely would have taken me there, had there been a MEE and hadn't he suffered from dementia and died too early. My father was into electronics and always a bit ambigeous about my model building activities.

Kit manufacturers indeed give the lenght, but beware that proportions of blocks changed quite a bit over times. I see that you are working on a sub-modern boat - in more recent decades blocks tend to be a lot flatter than in the preceding centuries Their proportions would also be different depending on whether they have an external strop made from rope (in the old days) or an internal strop made from iron (more modern).

Tape seems to be a good idea in principle, because one can write onto it - otherwise one can tie the lines together with short pieces of sewing thread - or bunch them up prototype fashion

Slitting saws have standardised dimensions, starting with 20 mm. In the watchmaking industry supply, you may also find smaller ones, with 3.5 mm or 4 mm holes, but they tend to be pricey. Thickness starts from 0.2 mm, but some suppliers also have 0.1 mm. 20 mm Ø - 5 mm hole 25 mm Ø - 8 mm hole 32 mm Ø - 8 mm hole 40 mm Ø - 10 mm hole 50 mm Ø - 10 mm hole 63 mm Ø - 10 mm hole Larger sizes then have 13 mm and 16 mm holes.

The Allen-key diversion makes me think - I have whole bag of them, as each piece of IKEA furniture comes with one and I didn’t know what to do with them - until now. The steel is reasonably hard.

Michael, the guy here shows (about mid-way down the page) how to make a holder for grinding relieved cutters. This is important, when you require exact curvatures on the final product (such a gear teeth), but not relevant for rectangular ones. Still an useful holder that could be used on different arbors. In my case I used solid collet blanks.

Using cutting tools with a defined geometry definitely results in crisper parts. Slitting/slotting saws is one option (and I have a whole collection of diametres and thicknesses), but fly-cutters are another option. Watchmakers use very small fly-cutters to cut the teeth in watch and clock wheels. They are cheap and easy to make from HSS bits or broken drills, when you don't have the right thickness of slitting saw or want another profile than a rectangular one. Just back from weekend in London to visit the Model Engineering Exhibition in Alexandra Palace. There were a couple of guys who demonstrated their 'ornamental lathes', which in fact are a combination of lathe and milling machine. The milling is done with miniature fly-cutters set up in a cutting frame on the lathe cross-slide. Otherwise, the MEE is a far cry from what is was 20 or 30 years ago. The number and quality of the models and tools on display has gone down considerably. Haven't been to the show since the late 1990s or so and probably won't go again.

Thanks. I am not so terribly familiar with all the companies selling products for modellers. They seem to have quite an interesting range of paints. Next time I'll be in Spain, I will have look in the modelling shops I know.

I had contemplated various options involving wire and blobs of glue (see the article on my Web-site from 2006: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/tips/SteeringWheels.html), but it is difficult to give them all the same shape. Who are AK ? I have very good, finely dispersed, gold bronze paste from the Czech manufacturers AGAMA (http://www.agama-color.cz/en/products/colours), but for the brass rim, I will try out gold leaf.

Druxey, actually one has unlimited time in principle, as one can always add a bit more lacquer or solvent in order to ‚re-float‘ a part. The parts quite feel like wood afterwards, but don’t sand very well. I am not completely happy with the result, as the handles look a bit too chunky. Should have used only one central layer.

Steering wheels The WESPE-Class boats had two sets of steerings wheels, the main one on the bridge and the emergency one in the stern. Both had double wheels that worked in the traditional way on drums and ropes. There is a rather good photograph of the emergency steering position, which allows to deduct the details of the wheels. Emergency steering position in the stern After some tests with the laser-cutter, I finally chose 120 g/m2 Canson-paper, which is 0.15 mm thick and has a smooth surface. It cuts well with the laser-cutter, as it is not ballasted with inorganic material, such as barytes. Some trials were needed to determine the right cutting parameter combination of contrast, laser-power and cutting depth. One should assume that for a simple B/W-picture the contrast should be 100%, but somehow changing the contrast setting changes the width of the cuts. For this reason the final dimensions of the parts depend on the contrast setting. Laser-cutting is contactless and the cut-out parts are not moved during the cutting process. Therefore, it is possible to cut them out completely and in contrast to the photoetch-process they do not need to be attached to some frame. When designing the image with which the laser-cutter works, one needs to consider all these factors that sometimes can only be determined by trial and error. The laser-cut parts of all four steering-wheels The wheels are built up from several layers in order to simulate the joinery work and to arrive at the necessary 3D-rendering. Two core parts are thickened by two more layers the outline of which was drawn a bit smaller to simulate the profiling of wheels and handles. A further layer on each side simulate the rim and hub. The individual layers were cemented together with zapon-lacquer, which impregnates and stiffens the cardboard. Unlike many other glues this lacquer only forms a very thin layer, not adding to the thickness of the wheel, and the parts can be adjusted, as long as the lacquer has not dried. Assembled wheels before finishing (the grid on the cutting mat has 5 mm spacing) Handles and spokes where ‘rounded’ with some thinned PVA glue applied in several layers. The prototype steering-wheels were re-enforced by brass-rings screwed on each face. My intention was to make these rings from real brass shim (remember: only real metal looks like real metal ...). However, I did not manage to cut so narrow rings from 0.05 mm brass-shim. In the end, I cut the rings from cardboard. They will be covered, after the wheels are painted, in in gold-leaf. The idea was to produce the rings on the lathe. To this end a dozen small squares of brass-shim were glued together and stiffend by squares of 0.5 mm bakelite. A central mounting hole of 2 mm diameter was drilled through the package and mounted onto the lathe on arbor. The package then was turned to the required outside diameter. The 1.5 mm thick package then was transfered to a ‘wheel-chuck’ on the watchmakers lathe. However the attempt to bore out the inside diameter did not work. The next step will be the construction of the steering-wheel stand To be continued ... hopefully soon ...

Nice joinery work. It usually pays off to do things prototype-way, scale permitting, of course. Years ago I picked up this book on a flea-market and found it very help in understanding how things were done and what the typical dimensions of the parts may be: DUCKWORTH, P.G. (1923): Ship Joinery. The Woodwork Fittings of a Modern Steel Vessel.- 215 p., London (G. Routledge & Sons Ltd.). "Sterling silver tea-sets" on a pilot-boat ? I don't think the guys were that rich ! It was more likely some white and blue emaille, like this (in 1:90 scale):

BobG, a rule of thumb would be: sanding sealer on wood, primer on other materials (if needed). Sanding sealer is almost always (except for some very dense and hard woods) required. For primers it depends on the material and what you are doing with the part afterwards. Parts that are to be handled afterwards (as in working model) probably need priming, but for a small-scale show-case model I would rather not do it, because priming may flood details. To some metals (e.g. brass and copper) aqueous paints in particular do not stick very well, because they form a slightly hydrophobic oxide layer very quickly. Here priming may be really needed. The same may apply to plastics, particular, when one brush-paints. I normally air-brush plastics without priming and have no problems with that. I also air-brush brass and copper without priming and it works very well. However, I found it quite a challenge to brush-paint with acrylics on these materials. For me the base coat of paint kind of acts like a primer before applying washes, wheathering and dry-brushing techniques. Acrylics stick well on acrylics. So once the first layer(s) are on, it is easy to put in the details with a brush. As an example, this resin hull with brass and steel parts was first spray painted with acrylics and then finished off with washes in acrylics: