wefalck

When this structural work was completed, the plinth was treated with a mahagony stain. After a light rubbing down with steel wool, it was ready to be varnished, again in mahagony colour. A treatment with wood filler and shellac in several rounds would have been better, but with age one gets a bit lazy. Plinth and glass case joined. I had to interrupt the work on the glass here until after my summer vacations: I realised that I bought 3 mm brass angles (for 2 mm glass), but actually used 3 mm glass, which requires 4 mm angles to cover the edge joints. I won’t have time to buy the angles before going away. To be continued ...

Thanks for the kind comments ! Just a quick note in case someone is interested: this design is only possible with Plexiglas, as drilling through silicate-glass would be a bit tricky to say the least. In the past I used a design, where the glass tightly fits into a groove of about 6 mm depth formed by the baseboard and the frame and was not secured any further. In the image below I sketched the construction used here (left) and how I did it for silicate-glass (right). Cross-section of vitrine construction to be continued soon ... wefalck

I am not a natural fibre specialist, but when a bundle of fibres takes up humidity, it swells. As the mass of the fibre substance doesn't change, this means that, when it becomes thicker, it must become shorter. This effect is further aggravated in a laid rope, as you have more fibre length between two points. Try this out by making fast one of your ropes on one end and at the other end put a spring-balance (or just a spring) in between. Then you can measure the elongation and force excerted. Not sure, whether this is useful suggestion, but when your ship used wire rigging, you may want to resort to wire for the model too when you live in an environment with significant changes in humidity. wefalck

It is a method regularly used in archaeology. However, you need the bath, a transformer, Voltmeter etc. A lot of equipment for the occassional job. wefalck

Reading the FAQs section on their product Web-page it seems that the solution contains a reducing agent and some phosphates. Actually, the tea-leaves are also a reducing agent, which is why the solution become black (from iron(II)) - and they are free ... wefalck

On the subject of tempering: some time ago I bought an electrical hot-air soldering gun; the airflow temperature can be set from 100°C to 450°C; I found this very useful for tempering not too big metal parts as there is no risk of overheating. wefalck

Rust is iron turned into iron oxyhydroxide, which means that you lost metal. Not sure it is worth de-rusting files and drill bits, as their cutting edges are likely to have suffered. My method for antique tools is to soak them for a few days in used tea-leaves. Collect your tea-bags over a few days, rip them open and make a sort of slurry from them into which you immerse the iron parts. The biiter-tasting dark brownish stuff that comes out of the tea-leaves (which is why you take the bag out of your cup in time) is a collection of high-molecular weight organic acids that are good complexants for iron(III). They help to dissolve the iron oxyhydroxide and keep the iron in solution. In fact, the solution turns pitch black with time (you may want to keep the filtered solution as a nasty black stain for wood, btw). After a few days of immersion you take your iron parts out, rinse them thoroughly and then dry them quickly, e.g. with a hair-dryer to prevent them from rusting again. This process removes the rusted iron, but it doesn't bring back the metal, of course. So, a rusted cutting edge is lost forever. Some people also use Coca Cola (probably the best use for it), but the phosphoric acid in it converts the rust into iron phosphates, a form of iron that is sparingly soluble and quite stable. It is essentially the same process that is used in so-called 'rust converters' sold for mending rusting car bodies. For tools this is not particularly useful, as you will have a black crust sticking ferociously to the surface where the rust has been before. This crust is difficult to remove even by harsh wire-brushing. Apropos wire brushing: I would not use steel wire-brushes on cutting edges, as this may blunt the edge. wefalck

What's wrong with slack standing rigging ? In real life it would not be as tight as a tight-rope - it is a bit of a misconception we are used to in modelling. Rigging always sags a bit under its own weight, because you would pull out all fastenings or push the mast throught the keel, if you would try to tighten it, as we do it as modellers by aesthetic habit. The difficulty though is to get the slack into the right direction - downwards. wefalck

To me this looks like a simplified arragement for the model. As noted by Russ, I would expect a pair of wooden jaws resting on a wooden collar for the boom. Sometimes the jaws were reinforced by metal straps, but these would not go all the way around the mast. wefalck

In the meantime the case received its lid. The fifth piece was cut to size using the technique described above and cemented on the others. This open box now has a remarkable stability. The next step was to fit a wooden plinth around the glass case. It was cut from 5 mm x 20 mm ramin-wood laths using a mitre-saw. The fit of the mitres was perfected on a home-made disc-sander. The parts of the plinth After careful sanding on the future outside, the parts were glued together using PVA glue. The fixture for picture frames came handy here again. When the glue had set, the top of the resulting frame was sanded flat. Before that two holes were drilled through the wood and the Plexiglas. They were countersunk for brass wood-screws with which the glass-case will be secured to the baseboard. Waiting for the glue to set The drilled and sanded plinth wefalck

Not me actually. I never look into this section as I usually make everything myself ... wefalck

They don't look bad and the 'sheave' is rounded, which is good. However, you use the same photograph for all sizes on your Web-site. It would be good to see the different sizes next to each other so that one can assess the quality of smaller ones in particular. wefalck

Thanks, Jan. I think I saw the link to the boatyard before. It is particularly interesting, as it shows the construction of the underwater body, which otherwise is not often seen, even if the boat is hauled out, as it usually covered by a thick layer of tar. I gather, if you don't want to sail on a sieve and constantly pump, you have to replace planks from time to time. It is a problem with 'historic' wooden ships, that much of their wood has been replaced at some time or another. I don't remember the percentage, but I think a good deal of what now is the VICTORY actually has not been in the battle of Trafalgar ... wefalck

I don't know what VICTORY's complement was, but with a three-watch system, you would expect on sea always a certain number of crew being turned-in. wefalck

This is a botter, just like the one I am building. There are some fine variations in detail by which the real expert can tell where the boat was built, whether Voldendam, Marken, Urk etc. She seems to be in the process of re-registration, as the registration number on starboard is being scraped off and the one on port has not being repainted. wefalck

Pat, Thanks for your kind words. Most Dutch vessels have leeboards, owing to their shallow draft. Volendam was most notable for a special variant of the botter, the kwak. The kwak is a bit bigger and wider than an ordinary botter and has a particular spill mounted in the stern, the 'kwakkerol' to handle the net. wefalck

The individual parts were cut such that the front and back pane abutt against the side panes. Since ordinary Plexiglas is much more prone to scratching than silicate-glass, the protective paper is being left on as long as possible. On the inside, however, it would be difficult to remove, once the case has been assembled. This was even more the case with the slightly oldish sheets I am using. Therefore, the paper was completely removed from the side that will face inward. On the outside a narrow strip along the edges was removed to prevent the glue sticking to it. The paper was only removed from the parts that were assembled at that moment. Plexiglas can be cemented together with a variety of glues, including cyanoacrylates or those UV-hardening acrylates that recently entered the DIY market. Epoxy resins, however, should not be used, as their exothermic reaction can stress the Plexiglas, which eventually will lead to fine cracks. If you can produce a perfectly flat edge that is at a right angle to the sheet, you can use a low viscosity cement. In most DIY applications it is better to use a more gap filling higher-viscosity cement. In order to achieve high quality bonds from both, the optical and mechanical point of view, the best option is to use the Plexiglas-manufacturer’s (Rhöm, now Evonik) own cements. I used Acrifix 192, that is easy to obtain. Acrifix is a light-curing cement, essentially liquid Plexiglas (http://www.acrifix.com/product/acrifix/en/products/reaction-adhesives/acrifix-1r-0192/pages/default.aspx, more information on Plexiglas cements here: http://www.acrifix.com). This means that the bond has almost the same optical and mechanical properties as the sheet itself. According to the manufacturer, Acrifix 192 has a shelf life of two years. The stuff I bought apparently in 1998 and kept in different fridges at various places around Europe since then worked without any problems. Only the open time was a tad short, but this seems to have been due to my two 100 W worklights. When I used only one and turned it away from the case, I could work longer on the bond. Cementing the parts of the glass case together The parts were arranged around the base plate. It would have been better to build the case before starting the scenic display, but my impatience to try out my ‚icing’ skills got the better of me. Now have to work a bit more cautiously when cementing the parts together. The four parts are held together temporarily by a gadget that is normally used to fix picture frames and the likes during glueing. In addition I used cellotape to keep the parts together. In order to allow the application of cement, the fixations are loosened a bit at the respective corner. The cement is applied rather sparingly in order to avoid it squirting out and damaging the surfaces of the Plexiglas sheet. All four corners are cemented together one after the other. Cementing the parts of the glass case together It is possible to obtain a perfect bond without any bubbles – with a bit of practice. However, I wanted to be on the safe side and used a minimum of cement, which may result in some bubbles. This is of no consequence as the corners will be covered later by L-profiles in brass anyway. To be continued ... wefalck

Just an observation (without any reference to period or location): I have seen on many (contemporary) models water barrels that are not round but sort of oval in shape. A reason for this could be that they would not roll around like mad when come loose, but rather slide, giving the crew a chance to catch them. wefalck

Actually, on the real thing there were no treenails in the decks. What you see (or rather mostly not, except when really standing on a deck) are wooden plugs that cover the holes drilled for iron bolts (at least in later ships). The plugs do not show end-grain (as would treenails do) but were cut so that the grain runs in the same direction as the planks. The idea was to make them almost invisible for aesthetic reasons. It seems to be a fashion among modellers to use treenails to show how much effort they put into a model. There is also some mechanical reason, as the treenail securely fastens the plank. Otherwise, I would ignore them on a true 'scale' model. wefalck

As I noted before, the model is now at a stage, where it needs protection from the domestic elements. The first step was the base-board with the scenic surroundings. The second step is a glass case. In spite of the hot weather I started this today – it turned out that the study/workshop was actually the most pleasant room in the appartment, but I had to restrict the lighting to a 100 W lamp ... Scoring of the Plexiglas before breaking (it is still covered in its brown protective paper). The construction of the glass case is inspired by the design MCCAFFERY describes in his book ‚Ships in Miniature’ of 1988. In the past I used silicate-glass for the purpose. Silicate-glass has the advantage, that it doesn’t scratch. From another project, however, I had a pile of 3 mm thick Plexiglas-sheets since 1980 in my materials hoard. My father then worked for a subsidiary of Röhm GmbH and we got the stuff quite cheaply. From that time I also have a copy of the very useful manual on how to work with Plexiglas. Fixing the plate at the edge of table Lucky for me, the panels for the case could be cut from those sheets with just a few cuts. In a domestic context, when you don’t have a big table saw, sheets of that thickness are best broken, rather than sawed. When marked the sheets are scored with a ‚cutter’ knife. Per milimeter of thickness it needs one go with the knife. It is important to score right to the edge of the sheet, otherwise corners may break out. The sheet then is clamped down with the scored line exactly at the table edge. Then, with a decided jerk, the plate is broken off. A clean, straight edge that needs little or no sanding before glueing is the result. A clean broken edge To be continued soon ... wefalck

How are you going to make the nets ? I could think of some very thin ladies' stockings, stretched and stabilised with varnish. Do you have a better idea ? wefalck

Italian exaggeration ... ... well, Thanks ! We all try to give our best, at least trying that is. ******** The next step will be building the (Plexi)glass case, but this requires some preparations and it is very hot here in Paris ... wefalck

Thanks, Andy. I gather, you Toronto-guys know something about ice ... wefalck

After a longer break – due to a lot of travelling, here an update. In spite of the high temperatures in our appartment, ice began to form in the harbour of Volendam. At the beginnig there were only a few floes, but the NE Wind pushed them together and piled them up in front of the dyke – pancake ice. The botter-crew tried to keep the ice away from the boat – ice is not so friendly to a wooden hull, but in vain. The low ridge of loose ice around the boat bears witness to the efforts of the crew with crowbar and broadaxe. In the meantime a continuous ice cover has developed, streaked with a few snowflakes by the wind. As noted before, the basis of the ice surface is a piece of Plexiglas, which was stiffled with acrylic gel using a bristle brush. The next step was a bit of an experiment: in the past I created drifting foam and breaking waves using a sort of icing (no pun intended) made from sugar and wallpaper glue. As we now have acrylic gel and varnish, I tried out a mixture of sugar with these. The sugar in France is rather coarse, so I ground it down in a mortar. The sugar partially dissolves in the varnish and then recrystallises. The viscosity can be adjusted by mixing sugar and varnish in different ratios. It dries up milky-white. Using this mixture, the ice floes were modelled in several steps. Also, the piles were set into the ‚ice’ with this mixture. Actually, several years passed by since the pictures in the previous post was taken. In the meantime the piles and other woodwork further weathered and became gray. Well, pastels and white watercolour accelerated this process. Vegetation has began to encroach on the dyke. Reeds root at its toe and grass began to cover the brickwork. The severe frost, however, has made the grass to wilt. wefalck

Attention, the Proxxon FD 150/E doesn't have a leadscrew, so you will not be able to cut threads ! It is what is called a mechanic's lathe. The cross-slide has to repositioned by clamping it to the bed. Which means that the longest piece you can cut is not the bed length between the centers as in other lathes, but only the travel of the top-slide. The good thing is that it has a conus for standerd ER collets, but the capacity of the ER11 collets is rather small at 7 mm. One has to remember though, that ER collets are made for toolholding and not workholding. They don't hold properly, when not using stock that is as long as the collet itself. The backbone, i.e. the bed, seems to be the same extruded profile that is used for the column of their micro-mill. wefalck