wefalck

Mad-man had another go ... ... and turned his attention back to the hull and its superstructures. All surfaces that would have been iron plating, will be covered in thin sheets of Pertinax. The necessary holes for portholes and other opening will be drilled or cut out before the sheets are fixed. In this way the barbette was lined with sheets of Pertinax as was the deck-house. Deck-house covered in a thin sheet of Pertinax The decks on the prototype were iron plate and this plating was covered in oil-paint that was mixed with sand and cement in order to provide a certain corrosion resistance and above all a better grip in wet conditions. A modelling plan drawn by Wolfgang Bohlayer shows wood on some decks, but evidence that since has become available shows that this was not the case. Also, linoleum decking apparently was never used on these boats. Engraving plate-lines and planking seams As the model will show the boat in its original appearence, the plating was reproduced by engraving fine lines into thin sheets of Pertinax. All decks, including that of the barbette will covered in this way. The exception is the deck above the foc'sle that has a cover of planks, presumably to reduce wear, where the anchors were worked. This planking was laid-out in a radiant pattern, which seems to have been more resistant to the gun-blast than the more common parallel layout. The planks were also reproduced by lightly engraving the plank seams. In reality these seams would have been more or less flush with the deck, depending on the temperature and humidity, but a light engraving adds some life to the appearance. Engraved rear-deck plating and planking for the foc’sl to be continued ...

Rudolf, just read the last paragraph ... ************* People can get quite dogmatic in certain fields of modell-building and I know that e.g. in military modelling there is this 'matt overall'-fraternity. The logic is that at small scales glossy surfaces may look out of scale. However, personally I prefer the visual interest that arises from the different material-specific sheens. It is true though that something that has been painted in glossy paint on the prototype may not look right, if painted in glossy paint on the model - sheens have to be toned down (sometimes). Having said this, I indeed applied different polishing and rubbing techniques to painted surfaces in order to achieve the sheen that I felt was right. In addition to transferring skin-grease (sorry) by rubbing something with my bare fingers, I also used felt-wheels or chamois-mops to polish surfaces. A moistend finger with some ground pumice is also useful. Alternatively, you may use a cotton-stick ('Q-tips'), dry, humid, or humid with a bit of pumice. Be cautious not to rub through the paint and it has to be really hardened before you do any of this. As this polishing also equalises and thins the paint-layer details may come out clearer. Giving a higher sheen to raised parts, particularly those that would be touched often on the prototype, adds to the realism of the representation.

Really nice simulation. One could take this straight to 3D-printing too ... should get into this, but then I would spend even my hobby-time in front of the computer

Are you using carbide drill-bits ? They tend to be unforgiving, particularly when they catch in brass. HSS-bits with a 2.35 mm or 1/8" shaft might be better suited. There are also special drills for brass with a steeper spiral, but these tend to be difficult to come buy and in consequence expensive. I gather we have to live with what drops of the table of industry, but I wish that there carbide drills with of only say 3 mm usable length, rather than the usual 10 or so mm. Such short drills would be stiffer and would break less likely. We often have to drill holes that are a only maximum three or five times the depth of the diameter ... For pointing I am using a conical burr - one can see very well, where it goes and it leaves a small indentation that is big enough to catch the drill.

To get away abit (sort of) from all that intricate micro-machining and to see something grow, I turned my attention to the skylight above the officers' quarter in the back of the boat. Skylight above the above officers’ mess (Laverrenz) It was, as other skylights, constructed again around a little block of Plexiglas™ that was milled to shape. Milling to shape a small Plexiglas block The panelling was constructed from various layers of 0.4 mm thick Pertinax. For sanding the edges square the then newly constructed micro-grinding machine came handy. Grinding square edges on the micro-grinding machine On the prototype the upper part of the skylight could be lifted off and the coamings of the hatch had half-round trimmings around. For this something half-round of 0.4 mm diameter was required. Short length of half-round wire was produced from lengths of 0.4 mm diameter copper wire that were stuck onto a piece of aluminium that was milled flat in situ to ensure an even thickness of the half-rounds. Milling half-round profiles from 0.4 mm copper-wire Grinding 45° bevels onto half-round 0.4 mm copper-wire I am not absolutely happy with the result, but one has to consider that the skylight has a footprint of only 7 mm by 8 mm. Perhaps I should have another try with shop-made photo-etched parts to be designed for the purpose. The skylight before painting To be continued ...

Thanks, Gentlemen, for the encouraging words . *********************************************************************** I am now catching up from the point, where the log had been interrupted, namely from post #51. The gears were cut from brass stock in the milling machine with the help of direct dividing head and different division plates. The shape of the teeth is not exactly correct, because I used a disc-shaped burr as cutting tool. However, at this module (0.06), where the teeths are merely pitched 0.1 mm apart, this is hardly noticeable. The gear wheels are parted off from the stock on the lathe. The gear segment that will be attached to the barrel was produced in the same manner. Cutting the gears for the gun elevating mechanism using different division plates Cut-off wheels before further machining to be continued ...

Is the 'false' stem and keel already fixed ? If not, the sanding-down of the planking will be easier without them ...

Amateur, the decks are all plated and originally were covered in a paint mixed with cement and sand to give more grip in wet conditions. Some parts were later apparently planked to improve the climate of the accomodations underneath, although various contemporary pictures taken late in the life of the class still show the plating. Most models erroneously show planking on the aft deck and linoleum on other parts, which probably was never used on these ships. The foc'sel was always planked in the characteristic radiant pattern that seem to better resist the stress of the gun-blast than the usual parallel pattern. However, I will come back to the decks a bit later, as I was bothered by some chicken-end-egg problems in construction, when I left off.

I hope everyone made it safely into 2017. Now that various toolmaking and machine-building projects have been completed I am returning to SMS WESPE after a long break. First I had a look at the box with the parts already made to aid my memory a bit: Also, the building-log proper is a great aid in recapitulating what has been done already. I hope to be able to report soon here on real progress ...

Hope everyone arrived well in the New Year ! ************* Here a few additional pictures of the machine with the attachment for indirect dividing mounted. It also shows the over-arm (or rather under-arm) to support longer and slender parts. Both were already fabricated some 15 years ago for the use on my lathe. The first picture also show a micrometer depth-stop for the vertical slide, which was made some 20 years for use on the small 6 mm-watchmakers lathe.

OK, it appears that some people had problems with displaying the movies on non-Apple devices. Here another try: http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-V1.mp4 http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-V2.mp4 http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-V3.mp4 http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-V4.mp4 http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-V5.mp4 http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-V6.mp4

Tonight I did some test-runs and made some short videos, showing the machine in action: http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-V1/Resources/MF-V1.mov http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-V2/Resources/MF-V2.mov http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-V3/Resources/MF-V3.mov http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-V4/Resources/MF-V4.mov

Good idea for a simple tool to make a difficult task easier ! But the title of the post is misleading or even wrong: ratlines don't actually need to be 'tensioned', in reality they are slightly sagging due to their own weight. This uniform sagging is rather difficult to reproduce, as the catena-shape changes as you proceed upward. I would modify the tool a bit and drill two holes in the ends for a couple of machine screws with wing-nuts. But take caution not to squeeze the shrouds flat ...

Following on from dafi's post, one should point out that most people (except dafi) put the identations on the wrong way around. These are not rivetted plates as you would see on an iron- or steel-ship, but (relatively) thin sheets of copper nailed onto a flexible bed of tarred felt. Hence, the nail-head are slightly sunk in as opposed to being proud of the surface. Therefore, all commercially available sheathing, whether embossed or etched is wrong - unless you apply the the embossed ones the other way around - no remedy for the etched ones. While overlapping application would be technically correct, I am not so sure of the scale appearance, as even the thinnest (0.05 mm ?) copper sheet is still too thick for many scales. Below is an image of the real thing on HMS GANNET (1878) that shows the identation from the nailing and that the overlap of the sheets is barely perceptible on the original:

Like the systematic approach to polishing. It is important to not cross-contaminate between different grades of polishing agents. The jewellers, watchmakers and other metal-workers have a whole arsenal of different abrasive materials that contain pumice, chalk/limestone ('rotten stone', Wiener Kalk = Viennese Chalk, Tripel or tripoli), and red iron-oxides (Parisian Red). One can have these as liquids (as above) or bound in waxes to charge felt-wheels.

Thanks for the kind words. Well, actually most of the really serious machining (namely the guides for the slides) was done decades ago by the Lorch-guys in Frankfurt/Germany. That really cannot be done with 'nothing', but requires a bigger and sturdier milling machine than I have. The quality of their workmanship is difficult to find these days. I also wished I could work with cast parts, rather than having to fabricate them. About the scale: sorry, I am so familiar with the size of these machines, that did not think of adding a scale. The overall height of it is 35 cm or 14". for those across the water. ********************** One of the most important aspects of the machine is the flexiblity in holding even tiny work-pieces. The dividing head offers a wide variety of work-holding options using the spindle-tools from the 6 mm-lathe, such as 3- and 6-jaw-scroll-chucks, independent 4-jaw-chucks, ring- and step-chucks, face-plates, as well as the whole range of collets from 0.3 mm to 14 mm diameter. 3-jaw chuck Step-chuck Ring-chuck Independent 4-jaw-chuck A very old face-plate (I have newer model too, but this is not refurbished yet) The dividing head can be positioned at any angle between vertical and horizontal. Direct dividing is provided for by a drum with three rows of 8, 10, and 12 indents respectively. This allows the milling of prisms or pyramids with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, or 12 sides. A worm-wheel of 40 teeth that is driven by worm on the axis of which is mounted a dividing plate with 90 teeth provides for indirect division of up to 3600. While such divisions are unlikely to occur in practice, the fine angular movement is useful for shape-milling against a schedule table. When the indent is disengaged the worm-drive can be used for round-milling. Dividing head in horizontal position Dividing head set at an angle Worm and dividing plate for indirect dividing Collets for work-holding are particularly useful, as a wide variety of small parts can actually by milled from round material of various diameters and then sawn-off from the stem held in the collet. The collets, a holder for standard 6 mm end-mills, arbors for slitting saws, as well as a small boring-head are stored in a fitted antique box. Antique collet box adapted to the use with the micro-mill To be continued ...

Once the motor-housing was painted, what remained was to solder the electrical connections, to put everything together, to oil and to adjust the machine ... The completed micro-milling-machine To be continued ...

I believe draw-benches existed since the Middle Age. There is also a variety, where the drawn wire is wound up on a reel that also transmits the pulling force.

Although hardened steel draw-plates were used for brass and iron/steel, these would wear rapidly, resulting in a gradual increase of the diameter. So, today carbide or ruby dies are used for anything harder than copper and, of course, in any commercial context. I would doubt that drawing your own wire without a draw-bench as illustrated above would be successful. The forces and steady action required would be difficult to apply by simple drawing with elbow grease. The process results in the metal sort of flowing and this has to be maintained also without changing the direction of pull. Otherwise the wire will break. However, this is digression from the original subject ...

Well, we prefer the original Bellini, though we were not impressed by the one served in Harry's bar (in the Cipriani hotel in Venice), where it was invented - they seem to be rather nose up in the air there and the setting is not really nice and comfy, more something for serious drinkers, such as Hemingway, who don't want to be distracted by the scenery ... our prefered spot for a Bellini (and some excellent food) is the terrace of the Gritti.

These tongs really only make sense, when you have a draw-bench. A draw-bench is used for drawing wires, not wood/bamboo. The draw-plate is fixed at one end and at the other there is a chain with a geared winding mechanism, or a belt. The hooked arm of the tongs points upward, while the straight one slides on the bench - in this way the pressure on the wire increases the stronger you pull. Here a historical example from the Internet: Source: http://phiden.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/draw-bench.jpg I don't think these tongs would be useful to draw material for tree-nails ...

The motor also needs a housing, so that the electrical connections can be adequately installed. I wanted to make the supply cable detachable in order not to have it hangig around, when the mill stored away. Unfortunately, the motor has the somewhat odd outer diameter of 51 mm and it was not so easy to come by a suitable pipe. Finally, I chanced upon a can from a weird drink that pretended to be an alcohol-free Bellini-cocktail. In this way the overly expensive can somewhat amortised. I shortened it to suit with a diamond saw in the hand-held electrical drill. A lid was cut and turned from a piece of 5 mm Plexiglas™. Three fastening holes were pierced with a needle and opened up using cutting broaches in the very thin and flimsy drinks can. The lid was drilled and tapped for M2 screws. A 6 mm hole for a 3.5 mm mono-socket was pre-drilled with a small drill and then reamed to size into the bottom of the can. The motor housing before painting To be continued ...

OK, first another little item, I have been working on in between travels ... ********************* Several years ago I constructed a micro-vise that was intended to be hold in a collet e.g. in the upright collet-holder on the larger Wolf, Jahn & Co. milling machine. The stem has a 5 mm diameter, which was chosen so that it also fits into the largest regular collet of a 6 mm-lathe. Shop-made micro-vice While the collet thus can be mounted in the dividing head, this may not always be convenient. Therefore, a small holding block was fashioned from a piece of steel. Steps in machining the holder for the micro-vice This holder allows to rotate the vice around the clamping bolt, but also in the mounting hole. With this arrangement and the tilting capability of the vice itself, it can be offered to the milling spindle in any conceivable angle. http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-125.jpg Parts of the holder for the micro-vice http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-126.jpg Holder and micro-vice Various ways of positioning the micro-vice To be continued ...

It really depends on the period and the type of guns. There are three main materials for guns, namely bronze, cast iron and steel. I gather, we are talking here about either bronze or cast-iron guns. The surface treatment was intended to stop or reduce weathering and degradation of the guns exposed to the weather. To my knowledge, bronze guns were not given a specific surface treatment. With time bronze develops a brownish patina that reduces further degradation. However, as bronze sculptures, one can also create articial patinas by rubbing the material with sulfur compounds or vinegar-based concoctions. This can change the colour from a deep green to a sort of metallic black. Cast-iron rusts easily and needs to be protected. This was done by either (black) paint or by creating a passivating patina. In the latter case the guns were repeatedly rubbed down with vinegar. The resulting rust, mixed with iron-acetates, was solidified after drying the guns carefully by rubbing them with lineseed-oil. Effectively, this process created in situ an iron-oxyhydroxide-based paint of a deep brown colour. Some navies also used black or (rarer) dark green oil-paint. One would need to establish this for a particular prototype and period. We have become used to certain types of surface treatments on models and their guns. Very often, these may be aesthetically pleasing, but are certainly not 'realistic'. While a painted gun certainly would not have a metallic appearance (except for the muzzle), a surface treatment on the model that suggests 'metal' might enhance their appearance. In the case of black guns, I would spray-paint these in a semi-gloss and then rub ridges, rims etc. lightly with a very soft pencil; this then can spread and blended in using one's finger or cotton-sticks. Such a treatment gives a certain 'plasticity' to the gun. Not sure about a procedure for bronze guns, as I never had this issue.

Beautiful execution and excellent workmanship ! However ... the Muntz-metal sheathing would not have had raised nail-heads I think. Not sure how the plates were fixed to the isolating wood layer, but assume they would have been nailed like in the older days. It was important to achieve a galvanic separation between the Muntz-metal and the iron/steel plating underneath. When the plates are nailed down on the wood (with a layer of felt in between), the pattern looks a bit like on a deep-buttoned Chesterfield sofa. One can see this on the copper sheathing of HMS GANNET (1878) in Chatham: