wefalck

I would ask myself two fundamental questions: 1. Am I interested in ships/boats or in the 'craft' 2. Do I have the patience to embark on a multi-annual venture with as many downs as ups ? Ad 1 - Sounds like a strange question to ask on a forum like this, but it can be crucial. If you are interested in ships/boats as such, you may be able to find a subject and material that is suited to your means and circumstances (i.e. plastic vs. wood, the latter requiring substantial more tools and room). Of course, as your experience grows, you may want to move onto more demanding subjects. If you are mainly interested in the 'craft', you may want to look for objects that can be tackled with less tools and that require less space etc. Ad 2 - patience is one of the most important tools in our trade, it can compensate for a lot of other tools. Our ancestors had a lot less tools and still were able to turn out superbe models, it just may take a little longer to do and a little longer to acquire the dexterity with the tools required.

In theory, files (with cutting ridges) are for metal and rasps (with individual cutting teeth) are for wood. Certain woods may dull quite quickly on wood or are too fine, so that they clog quickly and become ineffective, requiring frequent cleaning. Diamond impregnated 'files' are similar in action to sandpaper, i.e. they have many, but geometrically not very well defined cutting edges. Diamond files come in many different price ranges and qualities, but unlike their grading is not as well established as for the 'cut' of files. So, unless you can inspect what you buy, it may be difficult to know what you get. Diamond files typically also have less well-defined edges, so are basically not suited to work on sharp inside corners. In general, I am using cheap diamond nail-files (the first one I bought some 40 years ago and it is still in use) for working on flat surfaces, but steel needle-files for producing geometrically correct cut-outs etc. I found diamond needle-files less useful, except perhaps the round, rat-tail ones.

I gather the engineering solution depends also on the expected plank width, not so much on its thickness. For the above pictured solution, which is simple and neat, one would need to get sharp-angled profiles - many drawn profiles are appreciably rounded at the corners, which makes holding very narrow strips difficult.

White caulking/stopping was actually also used on larger yachts and some warships. Here the oakum was already soaked in lineseed-oil with white lead, rather than tar and the sealing was with the same compound instead of tar. It was not as effective and needed more maintenance than the usual method, but the ladies' and gentlemen's boat-shoes would not get these nasty stains ... Bristol-board can also work as simulation for this kind of caulking. Narrow strips between the planks and then a good coat of sanding-filler prevents the cardboard from becoming fuzzy when sanding down the deck.

Whether plans show the outside of the planking or the frames depends on the kind of plans. 'Real' plans are typically drawn to the outside of the frames, as they were used by the shipbuilder, who is not interested in the outside of the planking at this stage. Model reconstructions and the likes are usually drawn to the outside of the planking, on the other hand. It also depends on whether you talk about wooden or iron ships.

Shellac is indeed a good option too. I prefer the other type of varnish, which is a solution of cellulose-nitrate (also known as gun cotton :) ) in amylacetate, ethanol, and ethylacetate, because it stays slightly elastic and is not brittle. It is essentially the same as nail varnish.

I didn't know about the 'Sand-It' sander when I made my own, but it follows the same 'guiding principle', namely the sandpaper is set into a recess, so that the sanding-block is guided as if in rails. One needs to clean the rails and the block frequently, so that the abraded material doesn't grind them down. When designing the sander, I figured that my material would be rarely thicker than about 4 mm, so a sanding strip of 5 mmm width would be sufficient and provide for an economic use of the sandpaper. Recently I started to experiment with sanding strips as used by dentists or dental technicians to smooth the side of teeth. These are plastic strips of about 5 mm width that are impregnated with diamond powder. They are available in various grades. I got them through ebay. There are also steel-strips on the market that are impregnated with diamond powder. I found these very useful for various applications, but still have to design a method to fix them flat on the sanding block - I didn't envisage glueing them. Glueing the sanding strips flat onto the block is an issue. Using spray-adhesive may be the answer, but I have not used it yet. A short while ago I also bought a cheap needle file in China, about 20 mm wide and 200 mm long, which I want to use on the sanding device. Still have to figure out how to cut the file to size without ruining my cutting tools When filing wood and plastics, these diamond files should last forever. Perhaps one could be stuck to the 'Sand-it' sanding block. Alternatively, there are also now on the market various cheap diamond pads of different grade - apparently they are used to sharpen angling hooks and knives. P.S.: Thanks @Altduck for your kind words on my tools 😇

The principle of the tool in the first post is neat, particularly for long, thin parts. I think I will go on to make one myself from metal. I have used for years this centre-finder (about 50 mm long): It was and still is a bit pricey at 52€, but this is what you have to pay for quality measuring tools.

I also had the issue with disc sanders taking off too much too quickly and made myself a little sander that allows to sand plank ends square and at angles: I also constructed a miniature disc sander around a surplus watchmakers lathe. It is powered by a relatively slow-speed motor with controller. In this way the grinding process can be controlled better. For grinding I use either cheap diamond grit discs or flat discs with fine sandpaper glued on.

As I certainly stated here repeatedly, I never use CA glues for anything else, but proper joints. I certainly do not use it to re-enforce any rigging. The lacquer or varnish I use is called (in German) zapon-varnish. It cellulose-based and contains also components that keep it slightly elastic. It's main traditional use is to protect silverware and brass (instruments) from tarnishing. The very varnish also keeps rope coils in place. Of course, one can use a lacquer or varnish as glue too. Below a couple of pictures of various types of coils, all coerced in place with varnish. The first picture shows how the coils are shaped and kept in their place, while the solvent evaporates - usually in a few minutes.

Not sure what you mean by 'fumes'. You would use only a tiny drop of lacquer/varnish, applied with a brush, you wouldn't dowse the model in it. The stuff I am using is very similar to nail-varnish and smells like that as well. Actually, I like that smell.

There is an intermediate method: scan the body plan with sufficient resolution and then import the picture into your (2D) CAD-program. You then can draw in another layer each bulkhead/frame half by tracing the scan with a vector line. It is useful, if your program has a spline-function or similar to smooth the hand-drawn curves. A graphics-tablet is also useful, but I have done it with the mouse or even a track-ball/-pad. Making the drawing big helps to even out the inaccuracies of tracing.

I tend to use thin organic-solvent based lacquer for this. Drape/coil it and then soak in the lacquer, so that the rope becomes stiff. Further adjustments can be made by applying a drop of the respective thinner - the rope becomes soft again and can be coerced into shape. If you find a solvent for the glue-stick glue, this may also be an option.

At least the level of evidence on her is quite high, when I compare this with the navies of my home-country of the same period - usually we only have some pictures taken from the distance, if any at all, and virtually no plans 😥

I was going to ask these questions too. It seems like an unusual place to store the hammocks, as it would be difficult to cover them in foul weather. Or were they put there only to dry ? But why then rolled ?

White metal contains lead, which is the culprit, I think. The worst cases (pun intended) are glass cases fitted with silicone - it gives of acetic acid fumes, which speeds up corrosion in form of lead acetate.

It has been around for some years. It sort of tries to cut into the market of lathes made on the bases of extruded aluminium profiles, such as the Taig/Peatol ones. As there are still plastics in their structural parts, I wouldn't expect a too high accuracy. Also the motors seem to be rather underpowered, judging by the powersupply-plugs. The idea of a modular machine is a good one though. One could use the parts for setting machines for specific purposes, but would need lots of parts, as reconfiguring is a pain.

Looks like a neat idea, but - it seems to be rather wasteful on material, as you need a large sheet and the corner squares are waste - particularly thinking of larger boxes - it may be difficult in practice on large thin sheets, because you may cut the groove through - the joints should be virtually invisible - with the proper acrylic cement, which is essentially uncured acrylic glas and does have the same refractive index as the acrylic itself; the cement has a rather high viscosity, like honey, and would be difficult to infiltrate into the tight joint, there is no capillary effect. Manufacturers of e.g. Plexiglas recommend to cut the sides with a very slight bevel to accomodate the glue and then fit the parts together flat. When well done, i.e. with no air bubbles trapped, the box becomes virtually seamless.

My concern would be the glue - glues on self-adhesive materials may not be very persistent.

The funnel is connected to the boiler-house via a kind of apron that also accomodates the funnel rake of 2.5°. The apron was turned from a piece of acrylic rod and then taken into a 'wheel-collet' on the vertical dividing attachment of the micro-mill. With the vertical axis inclined by 2.5° this allowed to drill out the apron at this angle. In the same set-up the holes for the two safety-valve exhaust pipes and the steam-whistle were drilled. Boring out the apron for the funnel The funnel is actually only a sleeve and inside there is one smoke-pipe for each of the four boilers and a stiffening pipe in the middle. These pipes of 1.8 mm and 2.3 mm OD respectivel were turned from thin Plexiglas™-rod and then partly drilled out to the approximately scale wall thickness. Taking the funnel into the upright dividing attachment on the micro-mill, holes were drilled in the appropriate pattern. The upper ends of the pipes will receive stays from thin polystyrene sheet. Funnel with smoke-pipes To be continued soon ...

The freeing-ports normally could be locked in a closed position.

I think that it is how it was done. I think they used some sort of anvil on a long arm. I faintly remember having seen an illustration somewhere.

Conversely, I have never seen a photograph or drawing with these guard-bars on the outside of the hull (just checked a 1910 text-book on iron-shipbuilding and it shows the bars on the inside). There they would be rather prone to entangle the lower sheets or being sheared-off in harbour (unless the hull had sufficient tumble-home). Restricting the swinging out of the freeing-ports would also defeat their objective, that is to clear out as much water as quickly as possible. I don't understand the point about the 'stays'. There would be no stays near the bulwark, or did you mean the bulwark stanchions ? Or did you mean the shrouds ? In any case the distribution and size of the freeing-ports would be chosen so as to not interfere with any of these elements.

The use of this additional layer of wood may have been at earlier times. The 19th century hull I have seen don't seem to have intermediate layer. However, there was a layer of tarred and sulftur-impregnated felt under the copper. Before good antifouling paints were invented, iron ships were clad in a layer of wood before the customary tarred felt and copper sheathing was applied. This was needed in order to prevent the electrolytic corrosion of the iron hull by the more 'noble' copper. Heavy metal ions, including copper ions, can inhibt (partially) the polymerisation of cyanoacrylate cements. They can also interfere with the structure of other cements. The fact that the area, where the copper was attached was brown, seems to indicate that the oxide layer became detached from the metal, leading to a failure of the bond. This is indeed one of the mechanisms by which copper antifouling sheathing works: the oxides slowly becoming detached and with them anything that intends to attach to it.

Jaager, if you didn't rub bright the back-side of your heat-treated copper it is no wonder that the plates are falling off ! The cement bonded to the copper oxide that slowly comes off the solid copper. I have stuck birght copper plates with contact cement to a model and they are still there after 30 years. There have been various discussions about the colour of copper sheathing on this and other fora. The work-day look would be a dull reddish brown, perhaps with a bit of green in the zone between the wate and the air. It does not look metallic at all. Painted, very thin paper plates may be route to go for small-scale models.