wefalck

Plastic is not plastic. The plastics used in extrusion printing are probably too soft for masts and yards. The UV-curing resin technique uses acrylics, which is much stiffer, but as Ron already noted, also more brittle, particulary in thin sections. I don't it is necessarily the ideal material for small masts and yards. In more stable sizes the printing cost would be probably prohibitive. Another aspect to consider is that 3D-printers lack the fourth axis, i.e. the one by which the part produced is rotated. You will have the digitation steps on the part, which is unavoidable in this technique, though the thicknesses of printing layers are being reduced as the technique evolves. One could perhaps 'grow' the spars vertically from their support. CNC-milling could be interesting option, provided that the mill has a fourth axis, that is a CNC-dividing head and matching tailstock. Working on long slender parts is always a challenge and one would need some sort of steady to support the part during machining. That is not a problem to configure for a conventional milling machine (see below), Milling operation on a mast made from steel rod but is more involved on a CNC machine, as you would need to constantly adjust the height of the steady. One could do the process semi-automatically by stopping after each run, adjust the steady, and then start the next run.

This is a discussion that seems to pop up over and over again. Perhaps the Administrators can 'pin' it up permanently for quick rerefence to the different techniques ? Two comments that I made before, I think: - the short plugs over the bolts that hold down decks (not actually tree-nails, which are used to hold planks to the frames etc.) are cut from the wood so that they show the grain across them - they don't show end grain; there are two reasons for this, one technical and one aesthetic: end-grain is prone to rotting and the idea was to make them as less visible on the deck as possible; shipbuilders and -owner wanted to have a clean-looking deck. Also, with the typical maintenance by 'holy-stoning' decks using blocks of sandstone, the harder end-grain would soon stick out over the deck. - model building seems to follow conventions and fashions and seems to have done so for centuries; modern model builders often try to reproduce historic models, rather than historic prototypes, they make models of models, rather than models of real ships; this is ok, but one has to be clear with oneself about the intentions and should not mix styles, or the results look odd; so, on a real ship one would barely see the fasteners (see above), therefore, on a realistic representation one should not see the fasteners either; conversely, on artisanal type models, the visible fasteners are either due to the techniques used (at the time), or intend to show the builder's diligence and skill.

Actually, yes, these carbide drills are available 'used' quite cheaply. In various manufacturing industries they are replaced by 'pre-emptive' maintenance before they really get worn. It is cheaper to regularly change the drills in production than to throw away poor or damanged parts. The drills are still good enough for our applications.

These carbide drills are very brittle. There are HSS drills down to 0.1 mm with shafts of 1 mm. Normally, they are ridicously expensive, but I got boxes full of old 'new' stock through ebay from a workshop sell-out or something like this. Standard HSS twist drills with a shaft as thick as the drill are available down to 0.3 mm at a reasonable price. I only use my carbide drills, when I am sure that they won't wander or slip. People make themselves cross-drilling jigs. This can be a piece of square rod in which you drill a hole lengthwise of the diameter of the material to be drill and another one exactly perpendicular and centric to the first one. The material around the lengthwise hole doesn't have to be very thick. It should just prevent the drill from slipping off round material that is difficult to centre-punch and keeps your drill on centre line. It can also be helpful to flatten the area to be drilled with a small end-mill that cuts across the centre. This give the drill less chances to slip.

A side question: how do you do the powder coating actually ?

I have been thinking of the SPRAY, but is it was presumably lost with Slocum at sea, I thought there wasn't much information on her. However, there was a replica of her, but I don't know on what basis. I vaguely remember that there was also a writer's boat in the Vancouver Island Maritime Museum, but their Web-site is quite difficult with respect to finding particular artefacts. Was it perhaps the SPRAY replica ? After all Slocum was Canadian by birth.

An alternative to an octogonal collet block could also be a collet indexer for e.g. 5C collets: I fashioned something like this from an old collet-holding taistock from a watchmakers lathe by adding a ring with rows of 6, 8, and 10 (should have made 8, 10, and 12) indexing holes and a stop on the body: Unfortunately, it cannot be mounted vertically, but then I have a vertical collet holder that can be centred on my rotary table.

Another one tricked ... 👹 ... it is actually a low resolution photograph worked over in picture editors on my iPad and Mac. I outlined the main contours (the ApplePencil comes handy for that) in a transparent layer and using the 'watercolour' function juidicially in Photoshop before merging the two in Photoshop on the Mac. Should really become honest again and redevelop my skills with the pen and brush

I just eye-ball the size and then try out the most likely bits - they are all stored in one place. Probably less life-time spent on this procedure than meticously labelling all the screw containers.

On many fishing boats one sees them kind of hanging in the bows from the capping rail with shank in-board. On the other hand, when approaching the ship it would have been probably completely taken in so as not foul or chafe anything.

A boat with a (vague) 'literary' conotation is the boeier SPERWER (1884). The dutch boat was owned in the 1930s by Merlin Minshall (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_Minshall), a british naval intelligence officer, who is said to have been one of the inspiration for Ian Fleming's 'James Bond'. The boat is very well documented in terms of drawings and preserved in the Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen/Netherlands: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/zuiderzee/zuiderzee.html. An ukrainian colleague here on the forum recently completed a model of the boat. BTW, there are also many painters' boats. A french impressionist painter, Gustave Caillebotte, was also an influential yacht designer and competitive sailor.

Don't know, how you guys use your disc-sander, but normally one moves the work-piece along the disc to avoid scratching marks. So you can work on pieces at least twice as wide as the table of the sander. Of course, if you use the protractor, then there may be further limitations. Otherwise, you might need to look into belt-sanders.

... but no sundecks, bars etc. - at least the kind of open sail-boats for 'real' sailing I am thinking of

I am thinking of a sturdy sea-boat, something like one of those replica Cornish Crabbers or indeed a Catalan type that is more suited to the relatively unsheltered coast off Valencia, but my wife thinks more of a motorboat ... Or one of those traditional lateen-rigged boats that are used on the lagoon just south of Valencia: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/albufera/Boats-of-the-Albufera.html. Would be a challenge, as I never sailed a lateen-rig. Will have to explore all this once we are settled down there.

I know someone, who is really envious of the 1:1 version, but even once he will have the time (after retirement), he will not have the space (living in a city appartment) nor the right aqueous environment (though will be living at the coast) for this kind of boat 😭

I am using a set of angle gauges like the one below to set the table of my (shop-made) disc sander:

Kind have thought so. Difficult to find good model and mould-makers and casters these days.

Somehow I need a double or triple 'like' button ... Out of curiosity: was the prototype forged or cast or fabricated/welded ? Any idea ?

It is also good practice to clamp a piece of waste wood over the hole to be drilled, or a metal plate with a hole pre-drilled to the correct diameter. This prevents the drill from wandering and ripping out pieces on entry.

Mark, I hate to contradict you, but the French and the Spanish did use hammocks. Not sure though since when: LA BELLE POULE (1834) in the Musée de la Marine, Paris Armoured frigate VICTORIA (1867) in the Museo Naval, Madrid The easiest figures to find and with the largest range are the German Preiser model railway figures in 1:90 scale. Of course their dresses have to be adapted, but their sculpting and animation is excellent. There are many tutorials on the Internet on how to convert styrene figures.

I knew about the file-button method, but never actually used it, I think. Instinctively, I would have tried to set up the centre of the respective borehole on the rotary table to mill the round. The file-buttons seem to be easier ...

Horological collets are very good for holding such small things as screws. You also may want to watch out for so-called 'jewelling collets'. These are insert collets that go into a 5 mm collet.

Any wordprocessing or drawing software will do - in principle. Depends what kind of writing you are thinking of. The artful and fancy engravers cursive writing is difficult to reproduce on a computer, but there may be a program or app(lication) in newspeak out there for it.

I think Keith will break the records ...

Looks more balanced now, the brake, indeed !