wefalck

Nice parts ! Did you take pictures while you were making them ?

Nice idea. In the old days they seem to have used simple pin in the end of the tiller, around which a rope/the running end of the tackle to support the tiller was laid. Doesn't get the device in the way, when holding the tiller normally, i.e. without the outrigger ?

I hope @archjofo doesn't mind that I show here the tool he uses to split leather for some leathering work on his rig: I also seem to have seen on ebay some tool for splitting leather from Chines sources - there appear all sorts of unusual or tools not seen for decades in Western Europe on Chinese ebay-shops. I think there used to be a sort of scraper with a half-round blade to thin out leather - if they were still alive I would ask my grand-aunt or my great-grandfather, they had a glove-factory.

Excellent machining ! Was there a particular reason for using (expensive) hexagonal stock, rather than round bar stock ?

Really nice joinery work ! Did I get you onto something with the saddlery ... ? 😏 I am sure, you will come up with a nice solution !

Not sure anymore, whether you where aiming for the original or the 'Nova'. For the former, you may want to consult: BRIX, A. (1911) Praktischer Schiffbau – Bootsbau.- 327 p., Berlin (Akademischer Verein Hütte). or BRIX, A. (1921) Bootsbau, Praktischer Schiffbau.- 370 p., Norderstedt/Hamburg (Verlag Egon Heinemann GmbH). which gives a lot of details on German (big) yacht building of the time.

David Hathaway sells a whole range of cardboard models fo British lighthouses on his Web-site: https://www.papershipwright.co.uk/category/lighthouses/ If these don't serve your purpose, you could contact him and ask him about his sources.

I gather there are two 'extreme' ways of presenting a model, in an 'artisanal' style, to demonstate one's artisanal skills and with aesthetics in mind, or in a 'realistic' style, that shows, how a ship may have looked at her time. The latter style is common among plastic modellers, while those, who build wooden ship models seem to go for something in between the two extremes, but leaning often towards the more 'artisanal' one. In the latter case you can have any artistic, or rather artisanal license you want, but we also seem to have certain conventions ...

Don't know what Johann's plans are in this respect, but I usually go over the all the standing rigging in situ with washes of paint - as would have been done with tar on the prototype.

Actually, things have become worse since that EU Directive took effect: now you have to explicitly disclose information in order to tell them that you don't want them to store exactly that information ... crazy.

I am not actually into watchmaking/-repair, but due to my heavy involvement with watchmaking machinery I have been frequently involved with that community too. I also remember my father telling me something about aligning screw-slots ... his father was a precision mechanic. Anyway, it is impractical to align screw-slots in metal, as you simply cannot tighten them beyond a certain point without risking to either shear off the head, or damage the slot - conversely, it you don't tighten them enough, they will become loose. Thus it is virtually impossible to line-up countersunk screws, particularly when also their top has to be flush with the surrounding material. In the case of cheese-head screws watchmaker have a special tool with which they can shave of a bit from the underside of the head until the slots align. It is a trial-and-error procedure that is very time consuming and you also risk to damage the slot by repeated tightening and loosening. On the other hand, it is usually no problem to align slots in wood screws. The wood is elastic enough to just turn the screw a bit more. One has to be cautious, of course, also, as you may rip out the whole screw, if you overdo it - guess how I know this 😏

Well, I would go for the left version, with the lanyard a tad darker.

Yep. So you know how to do them 👍 Shaped wooden seats can be quite comfortable, but I appreciated the cushions on the plastic yachts I have been sailing in - the fibre-glass can be quite tough on your bottoms after several hours ...

Plus some deep-buttoned British racing-green leather cushions for fair-weather sailing ?

The resharpened bits in the link look interesting, as they seem to be shorter (of course) than new bits and, hence, less prone to break. On the other hand, used drill bits from the electronics etc. industry that have been exchanged due to pre-emptive maintenance before they become really dull seem to be a lot cheaper. So breaking one costs less than breaking a resharpened one. Somehow, I feel quieter with HSS-drills than with carbide ones below 0.5 mm when using them in hand-held devices. Unfortunaly, these have either nominal drill-size, 1.5 mm, or 1.0 mm shafts.

Don't know how difficult it is to pry the winches apart, but I think it would be worthwhile to replace at least the worm. It is these little details that bring a model to life and make the difference. From our PM exchange a few weeks ago, I conclude that you would have all the necessary tools anyway. P.S. it is quite frightening how Google/YouTube spy on you: although I had seen the above video already a long time ago, it popped up in the 'recommended viewing' side-bar of YouTube after I suggested the worm-gear hobbing in my first post on this ... without doing any search on Google or YouTube ...

Pat, I didn't want to say anything, but this is what I would have probably done, taking a small screw and turning down the ends to simulate the axle of the worm. As a matter of fact, I may have also taken off the tips of the thread to simulate the more square tooth-shape one would find on such heavy-duty worm-wheel-combinations. Incidentally, there is a method to make matching worm-wheels that does not require any fancy tools, but just the respective tap. It can be done on a lathe or a milling machine. The tap is used as a wheel-cutter or 'hobber'. One only needs to fashion a holder on which the wheel blank can spin freely, but without wobbling, bringing it to exactly the axis of the tap. The exact diameter of the wheel-blank is calculated from the pitch of the thread and the number of teeth you will get on the circumference. For non-working versions one cheat a bit. The tap is then slowly fed into the blank - then by and by the wheel teeth magically emerge. It may look messy first, but when the tap is finally fed-in to almost half its diameter, you will have a clean pattern. Below is an example, where I made a concave knurl by the same method (on the mill). Such knurls are geometrically similar to a worm-wheel (that is, if they are 'roped' and don't have straight teeth): I found this idea on Web-sites where people make large worm-wheels for telescope mounts. In this case, the wheels are 'gashed' first with a slitting saw and a dividing attachment to ensure the proper tooth spacing. For small, non-functional worm-wheels made from brass, gashing is not needed. Even the steel knurl above was not gashed first. Here is a little video showing the worm-wheel hobbing on a lathe:

Yes, they also caught my eye - and found something similar on ebay for less than €200. Just a word of caution: I believe most 'micro-motors' are designed for dental tools with a 2.34 mm shaft and do not have different sizes of collets to take drills etc.

Nice 'forgeries' 👍

I know several German colleagues, who have this micro-motor from China for which you don't have to ask a ten-year advance on your pocket-money: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-Dental-Equipment-MARATHON-N3-Micro-Motor-35Krpm-Handpiece-Polishing-Machine/302849066764?epid=1665442752&hash=item468336070c:m:mADTGf5-18Ti5Vu-ku3mGjA:rk:8:pf:0. They seem to be very pleased with it. They may not last as long as the professional units, but then we are probably not using it that extensively. There seem to be brushed and brushless varieties on the market.

That's why I simulate them with a blob of tinted PVA glue or acrylic paint ... in 1/128 scale they would be just over 0.5 mm in diameter.

Excellent strategy. It's a pitty that it doesn't work for various other navies, where the 'eyebrow' was attached separately.

The distance of the grommets/hanks seems to depend on the type of cloth and the width of the panels. I believe European linen cloths were woven in narrower runs than US American cotton cloth. It seems that there are one to two grommets per panel in European sails. It also depends on the type of sail, larger and heavy-weather one requiring more grommets. I think at 1/128 scale hanks could be fashioned from springy bronze or molybdenum wire, which is available down to 0.03 mm diameter. The forged horseshoe-shaped hanks can be bent in a jig made from three pins (one larger diameter, the other two very thin) driven into a piece of hard wood. Wind the wire around and then clip off excess wire. Tie them to the (fake) grommets with 'small stuff' made from unravelling the smallest available (16/0) fly-tying yarn. As this can be very tiering to do on the model, I would perhaps do this before the sail goes up and set up the stay with the sail attached to - contrary to what is normally done.

If I win the EuroMillion tonight or on Friday ...

Just a bit more shop talk: you can control the speed of almost any machine at little cost by putting an electronic dimmer before it. Make sure it is sufficiently rated in terms of Amps. There are dimmers that simply can be plugged into the wall-socket and then take the machine's plug. Doesn't work, if your machine already has an electronic speed control (in case you wanted to extend its range downward).