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wefalck
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Everything posted by wefalck
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´Ballenmattiierung’ essentially is a shellac solution. -
HMCSS Victoria 1855 by BANYAN - 1:72
wefalck replied to BANYAN's topic in - Build logs for subjects built 1851 - 1900
Pat, without your markings I would have interpreted the photograph so that the heel-chock sits in the more inward position. The jib-boom seems to be somewhat tapered on its top. I think I have seen this on other ships. From the second quarter of the 19th century on it seems that jib-booms were gradually extended to eventually doubling the bowsprit to account for the higher loads due to taller masts. I would also go for an iron-cap. Though the navies have been quite conservative re. technology for a good reason, namely the ease with which battle- or storm damage to wooden parts could be repaired away from a base, iron was the fashion of the day. And if the iron cap was lost or damaged, they still could make a replacement one from wood.- 993 replies
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I love these little 0-4-0 engines, but don't like the British saddle-tanks too much, they look bizarre by continental European aesthetics. What's your's going to be ? I have started to collect some material on the French Corpet-Louvet and the British built Neilsons for a potential future project. When you say 6" by 1" you probably mean scale-inches, i.e. 3/4" by 1/8" in reality ?
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Well, my wife made it very clear, before we got married: models only in my study ... which really limits me to small sized models. This can mean either a larger ship at smaller scale, or a smaller boat at larger scale. For convenience sake, I limit the size of my models in a way that the profile drawing/side elevation fits onto an A4 paper, which means that I can print the drawings off an ordinary laser-printer. As I like to display the models in an appropriate environment, I prefer 'railway model'-scales, because of the figurines available commercially (usually from German company Preiser). This means 1:160 for larger ships and 1:87 for boats.
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I also found that the iPhone produces quite good close-up pictures with much less hassle than my big SLR with all the gear.
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One can get brass sheet/foil down to 0.02 mm thickness - check out the usual coastal fishing grounds ...
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HMCSS Victoria 1855 by BANYAN - 1:72
wefalck replied to BANYAN's topic in - Build logs for subjects built 1851 - 1900
Our knowledge about how the steam-side of these ships was operated seems to be rather limited. You not only have to hoist the ash-buckets up to deck-level, but also carry them across the deck and then discharge them overboard. There must have been some sort of ash-chutes already. At least in the mid-1870s these were installed on both sides, so that you could always discharge to lee. It seems that during the time the ships were flush-decked, the buckets were indeed carried by hand. When ships began to receive engine-houses and other superstructures, typically some sort of overhead rails were installed along which the buckets could be moved. I don't recall having ever seen any ash-hoisting installed on a model. Perhaps you could contact the Portsmouth guys and see, how they think this problem was solved on HMS WARRIOR. She is a few years younger, but essentially of the same structural layout. I don't recall any such information in the books about her I have in my library.- 993 replies
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HMCSS Victoria 1855 by BANYAN - 1:72
wefalck replied to BANYAN's topic in - Build logs for subjects built 1851 - 1900
Yes, these Victorian skylights are masterpieces of joinery and a challenge to model, particularly at such small scale. Building them around a acrylic glass core would also have been my method of choice. A few months back I confronted the same problem. In one case I etched little grooves into the inside of the 'wooden' frame to provide for the uniform spacing of the bars. In another case I milled the grooves into a raised part of the acrylic core and built up the panelling with styrene sheet. The bars are/will be short sections of very fine brass wire lacquered in. Lacquer has the advantage over e.g. CA glue that I can adjust the wires, if needed. Painting them without messing up everything will be a challenge still lying ahead. And I agree, you did a good job on those skylights ! P.S. (added after I read druxey's comment) - tools indeed have to be sharp and should have a relatively steep rake; it is, however, also a question of the material, as not all acrylics are exactly the same; I occasionally found that people are trying to sell other clear plastic as 'acrylic glass'; personally, I am lucky to still work from a stock of original Plexiglas, obtained directly from the manufacturers, when my father was working for a daughter company to Röhm GmbH, as it was known then.- 993 replies
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Well, deep-buttoned green leather has something to it ... sitting on some, while writing this
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Neat, I say, needless to say ... BTW, slotting screw-heads, this is one of the tasks for which collet-chucks were invented for: Pictures from http://www.lathes.co.uk/levin/page4.html I have a nearly identical set from Hardinge for my B6 collets. It was missing the draw-bar, but since I was able to obtain the right tap for the thread and make a new draw-bar, it gets used quite often. The knurled screw at the end is a depth-stop that is adjustable on a very fine thread. Modern versions for use in a vice on the milling machine do not have this sophistication.
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Sounds familiar. My beloved wife claims that this is her strategy against dementia ...
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Made something similar up in aluminium a while ago for profiling strips of wood or polystyrene. I designed it so that the material would be pushed through, but turned out that the strips are not stiff enough for this, even with guides. This design is open on one side, so that the strips can be pushed against the scraper and pulled through. This may be a better design in principle. When I saw it for the first time, I had the same thought: why would I pay this amount of money for something that I could knock up for next to nothing with materials that are already knocking about in my workshop.
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I am well organised, built little cupboard with drawers, racks on the walls and all that. Everything has its place and I know what kind of tools is in what drawer - problem is that I have so many fancy tools that I forget that I had them by the time I really could make good use of them ... Wives and tools: she always shouts at me that I never 'share' anything from the workshop - but the problem is that she takes whatever lies around, rather than using the 'right' tool for a particular job. Same applies during her work in the kitchen, btw. Using the wrong tools for the job, kitchen or workshop, always drives tears in my eyes.
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Homemade thickness sander
wefalck replied to vitorcampos's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
Vitor, you may want to change the title in 'Shop-made Thickness Sander'. Nice idea, btw. -
I personally find that irrespective of scale, I tend to pack as much detail into it as is physically possible with the available materials and tools. So building at a larger scale does not really change much in terms of dealing with miniature bits and pieces. It is true, however, that the standard marlinspike seamanship items are easier to make at larger scale ...
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Clever way of making these mast-bands. I am using collet-blocks for my WW/B8 and B6 watchmakers lathe collets and agree that being able to tighten them from the back has advantages.
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Aaahh, you are not 'mixing' paints, as per the thread title, but you want to apply coats of different types of paint onto each other - this is something different, not to be mixed up. There have been already various discussions on this this subject on the Forum. There is a century old golden rule: fat on lean, never the other way around, meaning you can apply lipophilic paints (e.g. oil paints or enamels) onto hydrophilic (e.g. gouache or acrylics) paints, but not the other way around. Water-based paints, such as acrylics, would not stick on oils or enamels very well due to their different physico-chemical properties (surface tension, wetting behaviour, Van der Waal interactions, etc.). The same applies to varnishes, that could be either oil-based or water-based. Varnishes are essentially resins dissolved in some solvent, but contrary to paints do not contain pigments. Some modellers extensively apply 'intermediate' varnishes to seal layers of paint, but these have to be compatible with the paints. It is a common process among modellers to apply a base-coat of acrylics (typically by spraying) and then to work-in details (e.g. weathering, highlights, etc.) using (artists') oil-washes.
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Viking ship rigging ... What’s this called
wefalck replied to Srodbro's topic in Masting, rigging and sails
Have you searched the more recent literature on this, particularly that coming out of the Viking-ship museums in Oslo and Roskilde ? -
Belay Pins
wefalck replied to shipman's topic in Discussion for a Ship's Deck Furniture, Guns, boats and other Fittings
Never sailed on a ‚tall-ship‘ (which indeed is an inflationary expression today, also applied to small two-masted schooners and such). However, with my limited experience of belaying man-made fibre ropes on cleats, I found that things get rarely moving before only one figure of eight is left. cleats are different, because they wedge the rope more, but I doubt, that a third figure of eight makes any difference. The only reason I can see is that a locking hitch is avoided (which can be ver difficult to cast loose, when the ropes are frozen), because it keeps down due to its own weight. Having learned to sail before getting into serious model building, it was always logic to me to measure out the lengths of rope so that the tackles could be worked. I then sometimes cheat by cutting it in order to put it on as a separate coil, which makes things more manageable. -
I picked up various antique/old foot-switches on flea-markets and replaced the switches with momentary ones (which seem to be difficult to find in electronics shops these days). Thinking of bare feet/feet in socks runs shivers down my spine - there is always swarf or splinters on the floor ... at least in my workshop space.
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In fact, I fitted my foot-switches with the kind of switch, that are ON, when you put the foot down and go immediately OFF, when you lift it. Makes the operation also a lot safer.
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I never used any of the Unimats, but control all my machines from a foot switch, while having a separate speed-control. These sewing-machine speed-controls are basically variable resistors and one loses a lot of torque and maintaining a constant speed for prolonged periods of time caused me cramps in the leg.
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It seems that the 1/350 and 1/700 scale warship and the model aircraft fraternities use this kind of stuff frequently. But as mtayler said, I would have serious reservations against using anything elastic.
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