wefalck
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Weak Joints - Deadeye Strops
wefalck replied to VTHokiEE's topic in Metal Work, Soldering and Metal Fittings
Living in France I use a French product ... -
Weak Joints - Deadeye Strops
wefalck replied to VTHokiEE's topic in Metal Work, Soldering and Metal Fittings
And you need the appropriate heat-source, a torch, as the melting point would be around 600°C as opposed to 350°C or lower for soft-solder. There are silver-soldering pastes, btw. -
Perhaps trying to find a picture of the real thing may help to understand what the final product should look like. Otherwise, making a jig from a small piece of wood would probably help putting part 23 and 22 together. As 22 simply butts against 23, I would rather solder these joints than glue them. After cleaning up the part and perhaps some pickling, part 24 can go on with CA. Alternatively, one could solder 24 onto 22 first with a higher melting-point solder.
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The tanker seems to be flying the Danebrog - the Union between Denmark and Norway ended in 1814 ... Great watercolours anyway !
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I am going to retire to a sea-side city in a few years time, but the down-side is that it is an open coast. I would love to have such a neat boat in such a lovely area as you are in. Unfortunately, most of similar areas in Europe are in regions with pretty miserable weather and short summers .... I am jealous ...
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Sherline 5400 versus Micro Mark Milling machines
wefalck replied to allanyed's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
Personally, I prefer these old-time machines and have a whole collection of antique watchmaking lathes and milling machines. However, some people prefer the Sherline machines even in a professional context in spite of also having antique machinery. Take a certain Jerry Kieffer for example, who is mentioned on the Sherline Web-site and who is an accomplished model engineer and a professional horologist. Using aluminium alloys, these machines appear to be stiffer than you would expect from their weight. Otherwise, it is certainly true that a a heavy machine reduces vibrations, which adds to the precision of the work. While it is also true that one can do delicate work on a big high-quality machine, I found that having to move large masses of cross-slides by cranking not necessarily adds to the quality of small parts. This is one reason, why watchmakers lathes are small. For the same reason I built myself a micro-milling machine from watchmakers lathe parts. If one is already a reasonably accomplished meccanic, one can probably take one of these Chinese lathes and milling machines and turn it into a useful tool. It is kind of safe to consider them as kits in an advanced stage of machining -
Ahh, this is going to be an interesting building-log ! Somehow I have always been fascinated by these craft (and birchbark canoes). There were so many different forms and variants across the Arctic, from Greenland to the Alëuts and across the Bering Strait into Siberia - one-hole, two-hole and three-hole ones (the latter for travelling Russian dignitaries in Siberia). About ten years ago I ended up in what became the French Arctic Research Institute, working inter alia with ethnologists and teaching students from Artic regions environmental sciences, risk assessment etc. We also had a fun-course, where each of the staff could give lectures on subjects of their special interest. I gave a lecture on arctic boats. For this, I amassed quite a bit of literature. If that is of interest, I can post here the bibliography.
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Sherline 5400 versus Micro Mark Milling machines
wefalck replied to allanyed's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
Two observations: - I use the Sherline motors on my watchmakers mill (until it ate the commutator) and lathe (the older one that still works) and never found it lacks power (in this case the transmission with round belts is the limitation). - I am using the lathe and the mill equally often probably; there are many things that can be done on a lathe, but not on a mill; many things can be done on a lathe with a vertical slide, that can be done on a mill. Sherline offers CNC-ready machines and conversion kits. I gather third-party conversion kits are available for the other makes. -
Museum conservators and restorers snuff on a mix of materials because it may cause problems for them. I can understand that position, but some parts are easier or better to make in one material than in another. The end justifies the means. As long as you work in relatively small dimensions issues such as different thermal expansion coefficients or different swelling due to different humidity uptake are not so big issues. It is also important to use glues that work with the chosen material. So, in general I don't have a problem with mixing materials and also use styrene, even though there may be issues with its long-evity. It really depends on the purpose of the model what kind of materials you use. If it is model to show a working hypothesis or to serve as a prop in some film or static visual imaging process, one does not need to be too concerned about the stability of the materials. Also, the level of detail has to be appropriate to the purpose. For static display models the situation is different. Hence, I think your choice of material and level of detail is absolutely appropriate.
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Just catching up with things after emerging safely from having organised the annual conference, an excursion and the AGM for our German association last weekend in the Baltic city of Stralsund. 'Houtboard' seems to imply that it is a cardboard made from, inter alia, wood shavings. Is this correct ? Why do you prefer this kind of cardboard ? I have been attracted by cardboard, because it is easy to work, less messy than wood, and glues well, but in the end found it not effective, as it is neigh impossible to sand cleanly, even when soaked in sanding filler. I never got clean edges and smooth surfaces. Perhaps it is my way of building that requires adaptation and shaping. So I moved away from its use again. P.S. Sometimes we Germans also confer here among ourselves in (some sort of) English
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I like this description ".... while the stem head fitting was revealed via the mill ..." - reminded me of the joke, where an old lady asked a sculptor, whether it was difficult to sculpt a lion. The man responded: "Quite simple actually, Madam, you just take a big block of marble and knock away everything that doesn't look like a lion" ...
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Looking at the price, I kind of figured that it was actually the second model you mentioned somewhere in you building-log.
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Thanks, Keith, but I just realised, that I used the wrong term: wanted to say freeing-port, rather than port-hole. The freeing-ports on SMS WESPE have a rectangular, U-shaped frame that is rivetted to the bulwark. I was going to 'fake' the freeing-ports by glueing the lids onto the outside and the frames to the inside. In this way I do not need to cut out the bulwarks and weaken them. I gather at 1:160 scale this is an acceptable short-cut.
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Swann Morton chisel blades.
wefalck replied to harlequin's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
Would be interested in a reasonably priced source in the Euro-Zone too. Looked at the single-bevel ones a while ago, but they seem to be rather expensive over here. -
Sherline 5400 versus Micro Mark Milling machines
wefalck replied to allanyed's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
Micro Mark is a dealer, so the question is which machines did you look at ? I gather they mainly import machines from China, but have some sort of quality control, which you may not have, when you buy e.g. directly. When choosing your first machine it might also be important to assess your own machining skills and whether you feel capable to make your own attachments - and the will to learn it. Sherline offers a fairly complete range of attachments. My concern would be that the structural material is aluminium, but it seems that many successful modellers and horologists use them without problems. Perhaps one should not work too much steel with them. An old rule-of-thumb when buying a machine is that one should go for one twice the size/capacity one thinks first ... this means one should think carefully about what kind of parts/attachments/fixtures you expect to make. This determines the travel along the three axes. A modeller doesn't really 'need' a (milling) machine - after all it is a hobby. However, once you have one, you will wonder, how you managed without one up to then- 27 replies
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A 'whaler' or 'whale-boat' in my understanding was a double-ended boat, as opposed to the other boats, that usually had a square stern. Whale-boats where particularly used to land on a shore through surf, where a following wave might lift up the stern and throw the boat head over heel, if the stern had too much buoyancy (something that experienced myself once with a motorised dinghy). I think by the middle of the 19th century the terms have been settled quite well in the navies. I didn't check, but May's book 'The Boats of Men-of-War' may have some information on the RN. My own sources begin only in 1872 with the first German textbook on (naval) boats and boatbuilding.
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I gather this is your's here on sale by Charles Miller: https://www.charlesmillerltd.com/auction/lot/321-AN-IMPRESSIVE-AND-FINELY-DETAILED-148-STATIC-DISPLAY-MODEL-OF-THE-IMPERIAL-RUSSIAN-STEAM-YACHT-STANDART-ORIGINALLY-BUILT-BY-BURMEISTER--WAIN-COPENHAGEN-1895/?lot=13252&so=0&st=&sto=0&au=48&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=0&pp=48&pn=7&g=1# ?
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It's these trivia and their absence or getting them wrong that will be picked out by 'professionals' and old tars ... they are difficult to know, if you haven't been part of the story. Luckily, for anything older than WW2 hardly anyone is left, who really knew.
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Going to face the same problem soon, except that my portholes are only 3 by 5 mm ... have been tossing with various ideas, including etching and laser-cutting. The problem there is that I would like simulate the rivets at the same time ...
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There is a German, who wrote a whole book around the strategy of milling pieces from round bar. He often uses fly-cutters, which has the advantage that one can also make easily form-cutters, a technique commonly use in milling watch- and clock-wheels in an artisanal way. In fact, I built my micro-milling machine for exactly that purpose. Milling from round bar, can be a bit wasteful in terms of materials use, but has the advantage that once you set up the machine and made yourself a sketch for the machine movements, you can churn out easily any number of identical pieces. This can be a challenge, when clamping rectangular stuff in a vice. Getting good-quality brass for machining seems to be not so easy, often the stuff is too soft. For very small pieces I sometimes resort to brass nails. The stamping process work-hardens the material and thus makes it stiffer and easier to machine. Finally, round brass bar seems to be cheaper per weight, than square bar, which outweighs the waste, which is minute anyway at these dimensions.
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Yes, collet-blocks are very useful. I had one for my watchmakers lathe collets for many years. I think the ER ones are also available 6-sided.
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Nice way of doing the row-locks from the solid. Not terribly material efficient, but good for keeping small parts under control. This is one reason for which I built my small milling machine with dividing head.
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I think there are two questions mingled together: 1) how was it done on the prototype and 2) how to represent this on the model. First one has to work out for the given period and the given type of ship and for the location of the block, how it would have been attached and whether the strop might have been served. Some blocks have a strop with an eye and a hook, other blocks may have tail, etc. How to represent this, depends on the scale, as was already said. However, blocks are (almost) never attached with knots. Usually splices are used. Splices can be mocked even at very small scales by pulling the thread twice through itself and then stabilising it with a drop of varnish (preferable over PVA or CA cement, as it can be dissolved with the appropriate solvent).
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Indeed, getting the hawse-pipes coming out at the right place is a challenge - guess how I know, what you are talking about 😏
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Is there an abonnement button for the 'like it'-button ?
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