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wefalck
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Everything posted by wefalck
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Actually not. The under-planking is just there to allow better fairing of the real planking. So, the rabbet should be cut, after the under-planking is on. -
Stopper for what ?
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I don't think it is known, how these boats were built, using moulds or just by eye. As you are going to reproduce a reconstruction, making moulds or a plug to reproduce the reconstructed lines-plan would be the way to go. You say "The scale makes true mortice-and-tenon construction pretty challenging", but you don't say what your planned scale will be ...
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I gather it is a question of the relationship between the stiffness of the material used for planking and the distance between the bulkheads. You want a spline, rather than a chord. Also fairing the bulkheads is difficult, when they are too far apart.
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For wood, you should look for 2-flute carbide endmills then. The ones with 1/8" shaft are easy to find on ebay in diameters up from 1 mm to 3.2 mm, i.e. 1/8", and cheap. Larger diameters tend to be more expensive. These carbide endmills are not really suitable for steel, but can be used on brass and aluminium, as well as on plastics, such as acrylic glass. For milling on bevels and V-grooves, you can also use single-lip carbide engraving cutters, again with 1/8" shaft. They can be also sourced quite cheaply on ebay. For milling half-round fillets and flutes, there are 2-fluted ball-nose end-mills in carbide. Same source again. On ebay you can also find small wood-working routers with 1/8" shafts as sets at a low price. Some of them may be only CV steel, so they may not last too long.
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As Kurt noted above, the technical reason for using double-planking is that the bulkheads on kits are spaced too far in order to prevent the planking from sagging. Letting aside the aspect of gaining experience (which is not so important, if you plan ahead and work carefully), there is another and probably faster way around this: (partially) filling the spaces between the bulkheads with scrap pieces of wood. The wood should have more or less the same hardness as the bulkheads. One colours the edges of the bulkheads and then glues pieces of wood between them that are just a tad proud of them, creating a sort of thick shell. You then sand the pieces down until you touch the coloured bulkheads. During the fairing you will bevel the forward and after bulkhead until only a thin coloured line is left. Depending on how the waterlines look like, in the midship section not much fairing may need to be done. In any case, you will end up with a hollow, faired hull that is ready for planking.
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Exactly. Bevelling doesn't mean rounding, it means that a corner is 'broken' into a facet, often 45°, but not necessarily so. This kind of bevel with sharp edges is frequently found on stems in order to improve the hydrodynamics. You would have to verify it, however, for your special case.
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If you look closely, you can actually see the bevelling, it begins at a distance of about the diameter of the bowsprit below the bowsprit.
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Which varnish??
wefalck replied to Edwardkenway's topic in Painting, finishing and weathering products and techniques
Even in the days, when I applied Humbrol by brush, I avoided altogether the Matt Varnish because of exactly these white spots. Actually, I don't see much use for really matt varnish in ship modelling. Very few parts, apart from those where the paint has been eroded by seawater and UV light, would be completely flat. -
Which varnish??
wefalck replied to Edwardkenway's topic in Painting, finishing and weathering products and techniques
The 'matt' in Matt Varnish is brought about by adding very finely ground pumice or the likes to the varnish. This will settle with time, so needs to be very thoroughly stirred before and during use. The white patches may be higher concentrations of the matting agent. I remember this from the days, when I used Humbrol enamels. Question: why do you put clear varnish on something already painted ? -
Looking for Serving Thread Vendors?
wefalck replied to RBohlman's topic in Masting, rigging and sails
Searching for '100 wt black thread' turned up numerous results in the USA and Europe. Dito on ebay. -
Your domestic workshop ?
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Perhaps you can tell us, what kind of mill you are talking about and what materials you intend to work with ? In general, I would stay away from hobby-shop stuff. They buy (bulk) the things that are available elsewhere too and there you normally get information on what you are actually buying. There are three main categories of tool material in general use today: chrome-vanadium steel (CV), high-speed steel (HSS), and carbides. The typical bits with 2.4 mm or 1/8" shank are usually CV, which accounts for their quickly becoming dull, when working on ferrous metals or wood. HSS is the better option for mills and drills. Carbide mills and drills have a much keener edge, but a more brittle and less forgiving than HSS. However, carbide mills and drills can be found quite cheaply e.g. on ebay due to the fact that factories replace them in their production processes before they become actually dull. They are still good enough for our puposes then. Otherwise, more information would give you better quality answers.
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Microlux x-y table attachment
wefalck replied to Moab's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
These appear to be clones of the original PROXXON table that is part of their MF70 and also sold separately. I don't think PROXXON is too pleased that the Chinese sell these tables at half the price of the original one. Personally, I don't find the turning handles on the handwheels very useful. You have a less positive feel of what the table is doing. Like all such tables, the gib-strips need to be adjusted very carefully to ensure smooth movement. I would also install a zero-ing micrometer drum, if it was mine. -
Yes, it is understood, that the hole rope/tackle would be impregnated. I am doing this to get closer to the natural sag of ropes and coils of ropes. Here is an example of arranging ropes in situ and weighing them down until the solvent has evaporated. Any sheen from the varnish tends to disappear, when when one applies some pure varnish (here acetone) with a brush.
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British naval training vessels from mid-19th century onward
wefalck replied to Louie da fly's topic in Nautical/Naval History
The new Hamburg Harbour Museum, which will host the PEKING, has been able to secure a multi-million Euro grant from the Federal German Government that will be disbursed over the years to come. This is quite remarkable, as public funding for the preservation of the German maritime heritage has been notoriously scarce. It is important to remember that not only the restoration has to be paid for, but also the continuous upkeep. One should note that a sister ship of the PEKING, the PASSAT, has been in preservation in Travemünde (Germany) since 1957. She was 'grounded' after the desaster of their sister PAMIR in the Atlantic Ocean, which brought the era of merchant sail training ships to an end in Germany. A colleague of mine has been visiting her recently: https://www.arbeitskreis-historischer-schiffbau.de/mitglieder/ontour/viermastbark-passat/ Incidentally the Prussian Navy bought two RN training brigs, HMS MUSQUITO (1851) and HMS ROVER (1853) in 1862 and used them under their old names as cadet training brigs. In 1871 they became part of the Imperial Germany Navy and stayed in service until 1891. SMS MUSQUITO -
I use clear solvent-based varnish, rather then glue. A drop of solvent allows you to re-adjust things, if needed.
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A new angle in precision sanding
wefalck replied to Arcticbeaver's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
Well, I have been collecting these for about 30 years now ... The sanding discs are of various diameters, ranging from 40 to 70 mm. I have flat disc onto which wet-and-dry paper of various grades is stuck and diamond discs of various grades. I quite like the diamond discs, but they are not easy to get to run flat, though I have good arbors. They are quite cheap, so perhaps I should sacrifice one side and stick them to a flat running thick wood or metal disc. It would be quite simple to build yourself a disc sander with the various components that are now available cheaply from ebay. For really delicate work, I find that most commercial machines run too fast. Some times you need to take off just a few 1/100 mm in order to fit a piece. I am running the 40 mm diamond discs at around 100 rpm only. Work holding is the major challenge, if you have really small parts. So I made various kind of clamps with defined edges/surfaces that can be guided by the fences. -
I have just put on-line a page on my Web-site on the traditional boats of the Albufera lagoon south of Valencia (Spain): https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/albufera/Boats-of-the-Albufera.html
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True. Usually, edges were bevelled or rounded or profiled using different types of planes - something that is not often reproduced in models. But in the case of the keel/stem, as in other cases, one should check against the prototype what was/would have been really done. One should also not overestimate the radius of any rounding and work to scale. So on a model the edge might still appear quite sharp.
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We tend to underestimate the colourfulness of past worlds. The paint has usually disappeared from preserved artefacts and they are typically preserved under unoxic conditions (which is why they have survived), which tend to turn the woods dark, almost black (think of the preserved Viking ships). We now imagine them like this, which is not necessarily correct. The same for say gothic churches or greek statues - they have lost their paint over time or were stripped due to changing aesthetics. So, the medieval and early modern world was probably more colourful than we tend to think today. However, sensitive surface analytical techniques often reveal traces of paint. Which pigments were used depends on their availability and price for a particular time and location. Some earth-pigments, such as yellow or red ochre were cheap almost everywhere. Dito chalk/lime for a white colour. Otherwise, the baseline technique for wood conservation would be to apply wood-tar, which gives the wood a translucent, brownish-reddish colour. Also mixtures with lineseed-oil were used. Adding a pigment to lineseed-oil is easy - you just get oil-paint.
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A new angle in precision sanding
wefalck replied to Arcticbeaver's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
Spending 200+ USD seems to be a bit over the top. Hand-cranking seems to be attractive because of the speed control, but co-ordinating the two movements is not easy. I solved the problem through a speed-control and a foot-switch. You can put an ordinary plug-type dimmer (with the apropriate rating) between the disc-sander and the wall-socket and you got your speed-control. I built myself a micro disc-sander around the headstock of a watchmakers lathe: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/microgrinder/microgrinder.html And I also made this little hand-sander: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/handsander/handsander.html Dust is not really a problem, considering the small quantities of material taken off. -
Pin vice recommendations?
wefalck replied to CPDDET's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
Sure, old toolmaker's tools are the best, but I recently found quite good quality ones on ebay (disclaimer: I have no other relationship with the sellers then as a customer): https://www.ebay.de/itm/Good-Quality-Slim-Brass-Single-Ended-Pin-Vise-Tools-Hold-Drills-Pins-Wire-Vice/281157809979?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 https://www.ebay.de/itm/Quality-Wooden-Handle-Single-Ended-Pin-Vise-Tools-Hold-Drills-Pins-Wire-Vice/281339713517?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 Stay away from double-ended pin-vices and those with collets. It is good to have a whole collection of them, as it is handy to leave certain tools in them for quick use. -
What does the prototype look like ? That should be the guide.
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Working on several projects at the same time can be dangerous, as you may loose track of what you are doing and what you have been planning. Though it happens, that I slip a shorter project in between working on a long-term project. When building from scratch, there are certain natural sequences, as certain parts have to be finished, before you can tackle others. For many details this is not so important and I can take on what I fancy or what seems to provide a particular manufacturing challenge. I may also work in parallel on different parts that require the same machine-tool set up. Or I stop working on something for a while that turns out to be too fiddly and continue with something else, where one can see more progress in shorter time. And then their is procrastination: some parts that seem to be too challenging or which there are different alternative routes I might push in front of me ...
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