wefalck

I don't have specific information on US Civil War practices, but the 1840s to 1870s have seen many attempts to improve the controlling and handling of guns as they became heavier. A particular problem was the control of the reoil and balancing the efforts of running the gun out against destroying the recoil in some way. These are two opposing requirements. The recoil on a gun on four-wheeled trucks is partially destroyed by its inertia, partially by the friction of the wheels on their axles, partically by the friction in the running-out tackles, and largely by the elasticity of the breech-rope. An additional problem is, that in a heeling and pitching ship, the direction of the recoil can be rather unpredictable. In order to catch two birds with one stone, a wooden bar with iron re-inforcements was laid underneath the trucks and pivoted on the deck; the truck was lifted onto the bar with an early form of compressor in order to turn its rolling movement into a sliding one with higher friction; also, the bar directed the recoil as it formed a sort of internal rail; the bar obviously could be trained. For similar reason the two-wheeled carriage was developed, as the hind-pads rather than -wheels increased the friction; the two-wheeled carriage was also combined with the above directional bar. It seems that such systems where particularly developed in France. I have some offcial naval artillery handbooks that cover the period from 1850 to the late 1870s, where these systems are shown in great detail. The French used them even in conjuction with 'modern' breech-loading rifled guns before they become supersed by pivoted carriages. Given that the French naval and weapons industry supplied at least the Confederate forces, it is not surprising to see such systems on ACW ships.

Recently I have come across very thin, down to 0.05 mm molybdenum wires that can be had from Chinese sources for little money. Apparently they are used to separate the (broken) glass from the displays of mobile phones ...

Preiser, in my view, makes the best figurines. However, they focus largely on 'railway' scales, namely 1:220 (Z), 1:160 (N), 1:120 (TT, limited range), 1:87 (HO), 1:43 (O, limited range), and 1:22.5 (LGB). There is also a military range for 1:72 scale aircraft. The availability of these figures made me choose 'railway' scales for my shipmodels. They do large sets of unpainted figures that are cheaper per piece and a good starting point for conversions. There also 'academy' sets in various scales, which are naked figures broken down into body-parts that can be assembled to your gusto and 'dressed' using the usual sculpting techniques. An example of using Preiser-figures is given here, for instance: http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/models/botter/botter.html#Creating_the_Staffage

See my response above ...

Tea is acidic and will bleach with time as most natural organic dyes. You would have to look for a permanent, synthetic dye or ink.

I guess wire is easier to coerce into shape ... I found it very difficult to twist three wires into a uniform 'rope', slight differences in tension make the wire with the least tension bulge ...

if it had to be really fast: every sailor had a knife in a sheath on his back so that it could be reached by both hands ...

My sailing instructor in 1971 told me to have the loose end always on the outside and the standard German textbook on ropework for yachtpeople (first published in 1953, got the 1969 edition) warns against having the loose end inside, because it can rub against the bollard etc. and become damaged ... Apropos books: I build up a considerable library of contemporary and antique books, but found that it has become devalued quite a bit (apart perhaps from the collector's value), because many of them can now be downloaded for free on the Internet. Still it is nice to have them on the shelves around you

Just catching up again with this wonderful work !

Going to be interesting. I am not very familiar with the 17th century, as I am more into the 19th century. It is interesting to see how either a type evolved over time or how a denomination shifted from one type to another. In any case, the boeiers of the 19th century look rather different from those of the 17th century and also have a different purpose, being either a short-distance private conveyance or pleasure boat (equivalent to a horse-drawn carriage in less waterlogged parts of the world), rather than being a freight ship. I always found these Dutch boats somewhat bizarre and ungainly - but got to love them during my years in Noord-Holland ...

In Europe, we don't seem to have these 'For Sale' signs for sale - indeed, in some countries they are forbidden in order not to deface the looks of streets For a cheap alternative to a styrene sheet, you can also coat a piece of paper in sanding filler, which will give you a similar non-absorbing surface. In general, it is a good idea to test the appearance of a painting scheme on some material of similar surface roughness to were you want to apply it. Surface structures can be a curse and a blessing - mostly a curse, I think, because they are usually grossly overscale. Figure painters, particularly the 'war-gaming' fraternity, seem to like them, because you get a lot of (pseudo-)detailing with a simple dry-brushing technique. Personally, I like acrylics, because they dry fast, so that you can work fast without washing off previous layers of paint. Other people work in artists' oils with very good results, but this requires more patience, as you will have to wait for several days between washes and there is always the risk that the high solvent content (turpentine) of a wash dissolves a previously layer, when you insist too much with a brush. Working with multiple layers of washes has the advantage that you can built up slowly the desired effect and that you can wash/rub off the layer you worked on while it is still wet, if you don't like what you did. The process gives a lot of control over the effect to be achieved. Adding washes at particular places allows you to control the hue or saturation of colours, depth of shadows and strength of highlights. You can mix this with other media, such as pastels or coloured pencils, e.g. for highlighting edges.

Actually, I think every shipmodeller should have a book on knots/hitches on the bookshelf for reference (and doesn't quite need to be the 'Ashley'), even though a lot can be gleaned off the Internet these days. There are also several Web-sites that illustrate, how they are tied. Search for instance for 'animated knots'. However, beware that these sites are not always 100% fool-proof and sometime perpetrate common mistakes. For instance here: http://www.animatedknots.com/bowline/ the bowline knot it done incorretly with the loose end inside the loop, which can make it difficult to untie, if it becomes wedged between the loop and the bollard ...

'Marbleing' and 'Wood-Graining' were actually specialisation in the painters' trade, but have largely died out after WWII with Resopal and Melamin taking over as false wood surfacing. It still seems to enjoy a certain popularity in the UK, judging by the fact that you can buy instruction books on it and some of the tools, such as special rubber combs, rollers and brushes to imitate wood grain. I have one of those books and others on faking materials. If you have a chance to visit the Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen (NL) to see their collection of traditional Dutch boats, you should also pay the old painter's shop a visit, where they demonstrate the techniques of marbleing and wood-graining. BTW, your fake (I hesitate to use this word these days ... the French faux seems to be less loaded ) looks really good, Druxey.

A ring-light is definitely a most useful attachement to any mill. I found the microscope-ones to bulky for my machines and thus fabricated one myself. The basis was a so-called angel-light, an LED-ring to be installed in car head-lights that you can buy for a Euro or so from ebay, plus another couple of Euros for a small electronic transformer ('LED-driver'): http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/attachments/attachments.html#Ring-light Not sure that I would go for the Sherline 8-axis configuration. Tramming the column to be vertical can be a pain. I would rather go for tilting vice or the Sherline-native tilting mounting plate. I would agree that a rotating table is a useful implement, if not even a must ...

I am actually using paints pre-diluted for the airbrush. I put a drop into a glass mixing palett and water into an adjacent cup. The paint is diluted in the brush and applied. If needed, I take more water into the brush and distribute it. As long as the acrylic is wet it can be diluted or washed off again. Once dry, the paint is permanent and more washes can be applied without removing the previous ones. The trick is to build up the desired effect from several layers.

Actually, my 'workshop' is a 3.5 sqm (= 36 sq ft) corner of my office, where I earn my living. I made some small (1' by 2') workstations, like the one above, for the heavier, metal-working machines. The other machines are kept on shelves around.

Got some shelving in solid beech staves cut to size, or you may find cut-offs from similar kitchen tops. I sanded them nicely and gave them a coat of cellulose sanding filler, which was rubbed down with steel wool. This gives a nice satin finish that is quite resistant to oil, easy to clean and pleasing aesthetically. Otherwise, I made boxes or under-bench cupboards with drawers for the numerous attachments and tools one tends to collect with time. For the spindle tools (chucks, collets) I turned the drawers upside-down and drilled holes for the shanks into them:

I got one of those mechanical edge-finders, but nearly never use it. In most cases I either take the shaft of a broken carbide endmill into a collet and slowly move the workpiece up against it until I feel the resistance, or for scribed marks, I use the the very sharp tip of a conical burr close above the surface to aim from two directions along the scribed lines.

I think we had this question here before. Below a 'resin' model on which the technique chj mentioned was applied: I begin with a sprayed on base-coat of acrylic paint, in this case 'Wood' from Vallejo; over this washes of burnt umber and black acrylic paint are applied; for a weathered look you may want to add a light wash of white too; depending on the kind of wood you want to simulate, you may use a more reddish or yellowish wash; you can also water-based wood stains as washes on flat acrylics - do not use alcohol- or solvent stains, as these may dissolve the acrylic paint. Base-coat applied with an airbrush With washes of burnt umber, black and white

Is there a (free or nearly free) software package like DelftShip that would run on an iPad pro ?

Well machined !

Well, actually, the varying colours of cotton vs. hemp sails were noted here already: https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/15584-a-method-for-making-panelled-sails-using-paper/&tab=comments#comment-486775. Older sails also tend to be lighter in colour due to bleaching by chlorine radicals from the seawater and strong UV-irradiation. And here is how I made paper-sails from inndividual panels in 1/90 scale: https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/68-zuiderzee-botter-by-wefalck-finished-artitec-resin/&do=findComment&comment=47886. I have used the same technique also with silkspan in 1/60 scale.

These needle threaders seem to be an obvious solution - but I realised early on in my carreer that they cannot really work on scale(!) blocks, because in addition to the double thickness of thread you have the double thickness of the wires - in reality, however, the clearance in the shell of the block is not more than about a quarter more than the diameter of the rope for which it is made. Enlarging holes in model-blocks to suit, blows the idea of scale out of the window. The only solution is to stiffen the end of threads. My personal choice for this is fast-drying lacquer, such as solvent-based nail-varnish - I keep the use of CA to the absolute minimum, I almost hate it. With the lacquer you can also twist the end between your fingers to tighten it up - not recommendable with CA

The steps will always remain an issue and the more so, if the printing plane is only slightly tipped with respect to one of the axes of the printer. This is inherent to the technology and will require some 'post-processing' for the foreseeable future on all filament printers at least. As noted before, I looked into this technology on and off for the past dozen of years or so, because I was attracted by the theoretical possibilities. Somehow I came to the conclusion that in our case it is probably best suited to print basic, but shapes with complex curvatures. Just as you would get raw pieces from a foundry and finish these using traditional machining techniques, such as turning, milling, or grinding. Generating complex surfaces using a digital technique, whether additive (3D printing) or substractive (CNC milling) will leave you at our scales always with the stepping issue, but will move the most difficult part to the computer.

Ed, you should actually put a scale figurine next to all the iron work in the photographs - it strikes me how massive these forged parts must have been on the original. I gather the yoke would have been something like 2 m (7') across ...