wefalck

Just to note: primers and sanding sealers are two different animals. I pays to reflect upon why one uses what and what the function respectively is. Primers have the function to act as intermediate between the surface and the chosen paint. The surface and the paint may not be compatible from a physicochemical or surface chemistry point of view. For instance, brass or copper are slightly water repellant due to an oxide layer forming on them quickly. Acrylics would not stick on these metals very well. Hence, a primer that reacts with the surface and leaves behind a new surface that is compatible with the acrylic paint. A sanding sealer (including 'filled' shellac) has the purpose to fill the pores of wood, harden the wood and thus to aid in sanding. Traditionally, furniture surfaces are build up from multiple applications of shellac of dfferent dilution, moving from pumice-filled to pure shellac. If you will be using a paint that dries as hard as e.g. shellac, you may forego the sanding sealer and build up the surface with that paint. Modern acrylics, however, can take month or even a year to reach a state of polymerisation and hardness that allows you to sand in the same efficient way as shellac. So, applying a sanding sealer first and then the paint is a more efficient process.

Just use shellac. One should be able to get it everywhere. It's a traditional natural product and compatible with acrylics.

Thanks, Keith ******************* Again, small increments of progress. At the bows the fairleads for mooring hawser etc. were installed. These were milled and filed from 0.8 mm thick sheet of Plexiglas®. Fairleads installed at the bows Then the rails on the bulwark in the rear part of the ship were installed. The rail also serves as a rubbing strake and continues to the anchor-pocket at the bows. At first the bulwark and rail (0.4 mm x 1.7 mm on the model) caused some head-scratching and concerns for the stability of the arrangement. I though about cutting a longitudinal slot into some rectangular styrne, but finally decided to make it in two, with the half glued inside and outside to the bulwark that have been designed higher for the purpose. In this way a 0.4 mm x 0.7 mm styrene strip could be glued all the way to the outside of the hull. A similar strip was glued to the inside. The half-round profile was shaped using a scraper made from a piece of razor-blade and held in pin-vice. The profile was shaped after attaching it to the hull, because it was easier to clamp the rectangular styrene strip while glueing. The glueing was effected by infiltrating CA into the joint between the styrene strip and the bakelite bulwark. Scraper used to shape the rails Rails cum rubbing strip installed around the ship Arrangements varied somewhat between the different boats of the WESPE-class, but there was a WC for the officers in the deckshouse on the starbord side and a WC and pissoir for the men and petty officers on the port side. Each had a half-round evacuation pipe rivetted to the outside of the hull. The pipes were protected against damage by a wooden fender. After a few years of service, a strong wale/rubbing strake was added to the boats that also widened to a kind of sponson at the stern to protect the screws. However, this did not exist at the time for which the model is represented. Evacuation pipes for the toilets protected by fenders To be continued soon ...

The main reason for the 'fat over lean' rule, comes from the old days, when painters used egg-tempera for roughing out the subject and finished their painting of in oils. It has something to do with the surface or wetting properties of the paints. Oil paints are 'lipophilic', which means 'grease-loving' and in consequence water-based paints, such as tempera or acrylics, will form droplets on their surface. They would not 'key' into the surface and also would not form the physicochemical (hydrogen) bonds needed to adhere to the surface. Oils or enamels on tempera or acrylics would spread out on the surface, rather than forming droplets due to the differen surface tension angles. Acrylics and tempera also do have a slight surface 'roughness' that lets the oils key in. The sanding sealer I am using is essential a shellac with pumice suspended in. Rubbed down it provides a good base for the acrylics.

As I said, when you used a sanding sealer, this should be enough to prevent fibres from raising, when applying a water-based paint.

Vaddoc is right, the old painter's rule is 'fat over lean'. However, if you sand down your sealing varnish, you would probably provide enough key for the hydrophilic acrylics to take a hold on the lipophilic varnish. If you have already applied a sanding sealer, technically you won't need any other varnish, you can put the acrylic paint straight on. A coloured primer may have the advantage that you can see imperfections easier than on the wood. The primer should then also be acrylics-based.

Actually not. Laid rope was always calibrated by circumference, whether you work in imperial or metric unit. The reason is very simple that any other method would give differing results depending on where you measure - just try this with a vernier caliper and turn the rope: the measured diameter will change as you turn it. You could use a gauge with holes, but keeping such gauge e.g. on board a ship would be inconvenient. It was easier to wind a thread say ten times around a rope and then measure its length, divided by ten it gives you the circumference. When wire rope and then later braided fibre-rope came into use, measuring diameters became physically possible. However, well into the 20th century wire rope was sold by circumference.

Some people use mock-up masts for this purpose - you can mess around without the fear to drop anything onto the deck or do other damage to the model. It can bring the yard also closer to the working surface, so that one does not need to work with lifted-up arms for too long periods of times.

A quick update to the site linked above: the former Flying-P-Liner PEKING was sold back to German owners two years ago, after rotting away at the South Street Harbour in New York. She was brought to Hamburg and now is being restored as a non-working museum ship - yesterday the first mast was errected again. She will be on permanent display in the new Harbour Museum of Hamburg.

I am soon going to experiment with this idea: I redrew the scroll-work in my graphics program on another layer over a photograph (that was corrected for the perspective distortion); this then will be laser-printed onto some clear decal sheet; on this basis I will build up the scroll-work using artists acrylic gel that will be coloured with some yellow acrylic paint in order to be better able to see the sculpting and as a basis for the gilding. I will not need this in the present case, but one could incorporate twisted wire or rope to represent such elements in the scroll-work. I will cut the 3D decal as close as possible to the scroll-work and apply it to the model. The scroll-work is supposed to be gilded on a black hull. I am still not sure, whether I should do the gilding before transferring the decal, or whether I should transfer the scroll-work before painting the hull, spray-paint the hull, and then gild the scroll-work. The latter sequence may ensure a better adhesion of the scroll-work. I would not like the idea of sealing it with some acrylic varnish all over, as this would change the shine of the black hull paint in this area.

Starch-glue, in Europe based on wheat, rather than rice, once was commonly used in all sorts of paper-craft and book-binding. As druxey noted, it is still used in book restoration and other kind of paper restoration, as the joints are reversible by soaking. The inconvenience in its use is that it needs to be freshly prepared, as it will go mouldy after a couple of days or so, depending on the environment. Also, the items glued have to be kept dry, not only because of a possible failure of the joint, but to prevent them from becoming mouldy. There are starch-based glues on the market, that have fungicides in the formula. As a note: the parboiled rice that is very popular with housewives wouldn't work very well for preparing the paste, as the starch that makes the grains stick together has been washed off. I don't think there would be much use for starch-glue in ship modelling. We tend to rely too much on the glue for keeping pieces together, without any mechanical interlocking. Also, the glued surfaces are too small for the size of the pieces and the possible force on the joint. Starch-glue works well for any kind of laminating work, e.g. paper on wood or cardboard, where the glued surface is large compared to the size of the parts. Once could use it also for dowelling work, to prevent dowels from falling out of holes.

@Bob, didn't notice this comment until just now: in fact, doing this with PVA, which I believe 'Titebond' is, seems to be fairly common in the German modellers community. You can use any temperature-regulated soldering iron for this together with a chisel-shaped bit in it, that allows you to press the plank in place. As I am currently not building in wood, I have never used the technique myself. @Dr Y, just search around the forum a bit; people use home-made clamps, push-pins, rubber bands, etc. depending on the location and accessibility.

I like in particular the 'antique' look of the brass-work etc.

That lady Doris here on the forum does wonders with a FIMO like material in terms of sculpting. The advantage over two-component epoxies is that you have an infinite open time until you take it to the baking oven.

Christos, drawings for galleys you kind find on the database of the Rigsarkivet-Orlogsvaervet (Danish National Archives - Naval Shipyard): https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/other/index-creator/40/3353816/17149179 from No. G 4570 (scroll down) on. It is a bit tedious to work with the digital archive, as there is no preview and the drawings take time to load. There are dozens of drawings of galley from the 18th to the 19th century. In some cases also the way of how the stove pipe is led through the deck is indicated. Sometimes it looks a bit like the one HERMIONE, but in other cases it may have been something like a grating around it. The stove pipes would have been either copper or sheet iron, but in both cases rivetted. There was no welding at the time and soldering would have not withstood the temperatures possibly.

Check out Michael Mott's build logs, he describes a neat gadget to hold yards etc. for fitting out. I think it would be near impossible to do a good and clean job fitting out the yards when up - apart from a stiff neck and strained muscles in the arms ...

I don't know anything about this particular ship and how the rigging-plan was developed. However, running the main-stay down to the base of the foremast and having a fore gaff-sail together seems to me rather unsual. I would expect the main-stay to go down to the cap of the fore-mast. Then the gaff would clear the stay underneath. The square sail should clear the gaff, but would need probably some sort of brails to lift the sheets over the stay - the sheets are drawn above correctly with one leg hanging over the main-stay. In the current arrangement, when tacking, the fore-sail would need to be clewed-up to the gaff/mast and then the sheet lifted over the stay, which would be rather awkward. As only one sheet is drawn, it would need to be unfastened and fastened again. A rather strange arrangement. However, the early 19th century (which is the period of the ship in question, I believe), was a period of experimentation and not all arrangements were fully thought through, I suppose.

There are loads of 18th and 19th century drawings of galleys on the site of the Danish Rigsarkivet/Naval Yard. Perhaps one can find something there. I think chimneys did not swivel until tubular ones came into fashion sometime in the 19th century. However, hoods my have been turned by 90 degs.

No, these are plain wires used as raw materials for various purposes in horology. The key word would be 'bushing'. When a jewel in a watchplate is worn out, it has to be replaced. Jewels are not set directly into the watchplate, but with bushings. One can obtain tubes to cut one's own bushings or ready-to-use bushings. However, their interior diameter is relatively large compared to the outside diameter, so such bushings probably are not useful for this purpose here.

Probably closer to 2.5 mm. One needs to look at period drawings or originals to get the proportions right.

Thanks, Johann ******************* And a little speed update: the hawse pipes were made from some 2 mm x 0.5 mm brass tube. First the angle with the hull was cut and then an oval ring from 0.4 mm copper wire was soldered onto this surface. The part was then taken into a collet on the watchmakers lathe and drilled out to 1.7 mm ID. Finally, the funnel shape was formed with diamond burrs and polished with silicone burrs. The hawse-pioe then was cemented in place and the end above the deck ground down in situ flush with the deck. The cover on deck is an etched part I made already several years ago. It was cemented on using CA and then another funnel was shaped with diamond and silicone burrs. Hawse pipes ready to go on board Hawse pipes installed, but still some cleaning up needed

... that's why I put the comment in brackets My brass spur gear (for an anchor whinch) was actually about 8 mm diameter and he used an 8 mm end-mill to make a recess in a piece of scrap aluminium. I think with a piece of hard wood, a 3 mm (which is what he needs), and a jewellers piercing saw and a very fine blade it should work.

... in some parts of Europe trees growing in/near towns are pretty much unuseable as timber because of shrapnel from WWII aerial bombs etc. imbedded in them 😱

To follow up on post #20 - something an old mechanic showed me, whoe run the students' workshop at my university: take a piece of thick stock, somewhat wider than the diameter of the sheave, clamp it into the vise and drill a hole a few millimeters deep (preferably with a wood drill to give a flat bottom) with the diameter of the sheave, change the drill to the diamter needed for the axle, drill right through, take the piece out and with a piercing saw cut a slot all across the the seat for the sheave and beyond. Now when you clamp the piece in the vixe again, it will be slightly compressed and hold the sheave tight for drilling. (I love my watchmakers lathe and milling machine, for which I have collets and arbors, that can hold such small parts for machining without the need to make jigs ... 😏)

Well, then a rough estimate of the real block dimensions would be 4 mm long, 3 mm wide, and only about 2 mm thick. This means that the sheave should have a diameter of 2.5 to 3 mm and be only about 0.8 mm thick. There are very fine round files in jewellers' supply shops, but they are pricey and difficult to get. I think, if you are plan to stay in that business, the best thing would be to convert the electric into a simple lathe with hand-rest, using the horizontal stand as a starting point. There should be some examples for this on the Internet, or even here on the forum. For turning the grooves you then can use the back of a drill, ground to an angle, like a chisel and held in a pin-vice. I know you Americans have a somewhat strained relationship with China these days, but the Chinese are selling on ebay very primitive miniature wood-turning lathes: (Example from ebay offer https://www.ebay.com/itm/Basic-Edition-Micro-Lathe-Beading-Machine-Woodworking-Tool-Set-DC12-24V/153089968149?epid=9021229608&hash=item23a4df8815:g:5HkAAOSw~SNbQIdu) You can buy one for around 40 USD or use its design ideas for setting up your electric drill. I think, over here in Europe one can actually buy such sheaves from model supply houses. Not sure, though, as I would turn them out on my own lathe.