wefalck

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.

Ab, I gather you read German ? I think you have been in touch with the German colleague who sails as 'Schmidt' in various fora ? He has experimented quite successfully with a lamination method for sails: https://www.segelschiffsmodellbau.com/t7592f815-Laminatsegel-fuer-Modelle-im-kleinen-Massstab.html. Essentially, Japan silk is laminated between two layers of Filmoplast R. Filmoplast R is an extremely thin paper with a thermo-setting glue on one side. It is being used by book-restorers to stabilise nearly invisibly torn pages. This laminate can be wetted and pulled into shape, but does not tear, as plain paper might do. It probably can also be tinted with washes of acrylic paint. I have not tried this method yet myself, however, as I have not been able to obtain Filmoplast R here in Paris. The art-shop that normally stocks it, had run out of supplies, when I tried a couple of months or so ago. I gather with your connections to the museums and restorer, it should be easy to obtain. Here is a link to the manufacturer's Web-site: https://www.neschen.de/product/filmoplast-r/#pdetails. I was always fascinated by the way sails hang down limp and in folds, when half set for drying. So different from the belowing sails one usually sees on models. I will try to reproduce such effect in my next project ... one day.

Did some canoeing on Ontario river with friends in Deep River, but completely missed out on the museum in Peterborough on my way down to Toronto. Did it exist already in 2007 ?. The classical book on canoes is btw: ADNEY, E.T.; CHAPPELLE, H.I. (1964): The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America.- XV+240 p., Washington, DC, U.S.A. (Smithsonian Institution Press; reprint 2007 by Skyhorse Publishing Co., New York). And a superbly illustrated book about Adney's canoe models: JENNINGS, J. (2004): Bark Canoes. The Art and Obsession of Tappan Adney.- 152 p., Richmond Hill, Ont. (Firefly Books).

Mica is a layered silicate. There are two varieties the light coloured muscovite and the dark biotite. The silicone dioxide molecules are sort of arranged in tretraeders that form layers along which the mineral cleaves very well. To the contrary, the layers hold together very well and are rather stiff. Hence one cannot bend the mineral and it break easily. Traditionally, muscovite was used in some parts of the world, including Russia and notably Moscow, hence the name, to glaze windows. As it breaks less easily than glass it was used on ships. It still is used due to its temperature resistance to cover peeping holes in furnaces. I don't think it would be very suitable for modelling except for glazing windows and lamps.

I use a cardboardbox to catch overspray, but then I am working so slowly that I need to paint perhaps once a year or so. Rattle can spraying is done outside against the box to catch overspray too.

Druxey, this material is much harder then styrene and files/sands well. However, it is also more brittle and sawing has to be done with caution. Sheets of up to 0.5 mm thickness can be scored with a scalpel and then broken for straight cuts. Unlike thin metal sheet it doesn‘t dent, but is as smooth as metal without preparation. I would perhaps prefer acrylic glass, but that is not available down to 0.1 mm thickness. Acrylic would glue better. However, I found that the bakelite glues well with CA - I clinker-planked a little boat with it some 25 years ago and it does not show any signs of deterioration. The glueing with laquer is likely to hold up well too, as the lacquer is known to be very stable. The bakelite paper also paints well with acrylics without any special preparation.

Thanks, Keith. Way back in post #32 I am making cores for skylights from Plexiglas and discuss the techniques. It is straightforward: you just have to face off the rod with a very sharp tool, then, if really needed, I smooth with a very fine 'rouge' paper attached to a flat surface (kind of emery file, but with 'rouge' paper), holding it flat to avoid rounding the edges; finally I use a tiny blob of metal polishing cream on a folded piece of toilet paper.

Got the HMS BEAGLE kit around 1966, when I was ten, and built it then, 'oob' as one would say today. Got the HMS BOUNTY kit around 1970, I think and started to built it. In 1972 I first visited the NMM in Greenwich, which was a revelation then. They had some drawings of the BOUNTY on display then and I got the permission to take pictures. However, I didn't know about the archives and how to get access to them at that time. Already, when working on the BEAGLE, I didn't like the plastic shrouds, but didn't know any better. Still using the dead-eyes from the kit, I properly (well, more or less) rigged the shrouds and rattled them down with ratlines. But then the project ground to a halt, because I just could not come up with a solution for blocks of a sufficiently small size with my limited experience and tooling. No Internet to be even dreamt of I still have the model, boxed up, but I don't think I will ever complete it, because I recognise my juvenile mistakes and would need to completely redo it. Good luck with your project !

Thank you ! ************* Doors in the foredeck and the decks house Foredeck and decks-house were accessible through various doors. These were cut from 0.1 mm bakelite paper with the laser-cutter. The hinges were laser-cut from thin paper. In both cases various tries were needed with different cutting parameters and slightly altered drawings in order to arrive at the correct size. Die parts were assembled using zapon-lacquer. Zapon-lacquer was also used to glue the door into place. Laser-cut doors from bakelite paper before clean-up On historical photographs I noticed that each door had a narrow step. These were represented by shaped and laser-cut tiny strips of paper. View of deck-house and back of the fore-deck with the doors installed Once the door were in place the hole for the bullseyes were drilled out. The laser-cut hole served as a guide. Once the boat is painted, the glazing will be installed in form of short lengths of 1 mm Plexiglas rods. The front of the rods will be faced and polished carefully on the lathe. At a later moment also the door-knobs will be turned from brass and installed. P.S. Apologies for the somewhat poor quality of the photographs, but I have been too lazy to take out the SLR camera and took them with the telephone. To be continued ...

The pigment is iron-oxide-hydroxide (FeOOH), called ochre. It can be found as a mineral, but also produced synthetically. Natural minerals vary in colour from yellow (ochre) to a blueish red (ochre), depending on how much crystal water the mineral contains, what kind of impurities and how much residual clays perhaps. A classical source was the Roussilon region in southern France: From: https://www.francetoday.com/travel/travel-features/provence_travel_why_is_roussillon_red_fact_and_fable/ All artists' and modelling paint makers have various (red) ochres in their range.

I have seen this 'do not part off with the tailstock supporting the free-end' in various textbooks, but never understood why ...

Normally such small machines are fitted with an universal motors, but I take your word for it, that the sanders have an induction motor. Of course induction motors can only be controlled with inverters. As I said, these phase-cut dimmers are for resistive loads.

Put a dimmer before the machine. You will loose some torque, but gain a cheap speed-control. In fact, I am running some of my machines from an extension cord with momentary foot-switch and have a 'plug-dimmer' in the socket, into which I plug the machines. Allows you to preset the speed and start/stop the machine with the hands free. Everything that is effectively a resistor, incandescent bulbs, motors, soldering irons, etc., can be controlled with such dimmers.

Paints come in different qualities, meaning the pigments used can have different quality and can be ground to different fineness and homogeneity. Higher quality paints obviously have better pigments finer ground. Higher quality has its price though. In general, the paints sold to modellers are of higher quality, particularly those derived from and made by companies that originally catered for artists, e.g. Vallejo (Spain) or Schmincke (Germany). These paints typically achieve better coverage with fewer coats, thus keeping your details and shapes crisp and clear. Therefore, it is not such a good idea to use industrial or general purpose paints on static models at least. For working models that may see relatively rough handling the logic could be different. Artists' and modellers' paints also come in so many different colours that it unlikely to not find a suitable one for prototypes before standardised paints/colours were introduced sometime after the end of WW1. Paint compositions and recipies varied even within navies, so ships may not have looked as uniform, as we today tend to think.

Collets increase the precision when re-chucking and also are much safer to work with than 3-jaw-chucks. Not sure, where the repeatedly given advice comes from, not to use a tail-stock during parting off. It will be impossible to cleanly part off longer pieces (say more than 4 times the diameter) without support, as any imbalance will make the part wag like a dog's tail, once you get down to say 1/10 or less of the original diameter. Another thing modern mechanics (and instructors) seem to frown upon is using a hacksaw or a jeweller's saw for parting-off. Our model-engineering or watchmaking lathes are not rigid enough for more serious parting off jobs. On larger lathes this is done with an tool upside down in a rear toolpost, but the smaller ME lathes are not normally equipped for this. Old-time mechanics 'vademecums' suggested to start the parting cut with a grooving tool and to finish the cut with a hand-saw. This is what I have been doing for 30+ years. Saves you a lot of hazzle and material(!). This is another reason, why I prefer collets over chucks - no risk to get caught in the jaws. When sawing or filing (another old-time practice, now discouraged in textbooks) with the lathe running, make sure that your body and face is not in line with the saw, so that in the event of a kick-back it does not hit you ! Re-chucking a piece with a wooden dowel in order finish off the other end of the piece is likely to cause re-centering problems. It may be ok for filing, but almost certainly does not work for turning, let alone CNC operations. It might be easier for CNC operations to turn a gun in two parts and solder the pieces together.

You mean paper filters ? They are rather thick, arent't they ?