Jump to content
HOLIDAY DONATION DRIVE - SUPPORT MSW - DO YOUR PART TO KEEP THIS GREAT FORUM GOING! (Only 24 donations so far out of 49,000 members - C'mon guys!) ×
2025 NRG PHOTOGRAPHIC SHIP MODEL CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED ×
Ship Modeler's Handbook - Back in Stock ×

wefalck

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    6,592

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by wefalck

  1. wefalck
    You are right, when it comes to buying things, one needs to be sure of the terminology in order to get the right stuff. However, I often find that even salespersons are not well trained anymore in the stuff they are selling ... and the English on Chinese/Indian web-sites sometimes can be, well, challenging ...
  2. wefalck
    Just out of curiosity: I have the predecessor to this machine, purchased in the early 1980s. At that time it had ball-bearings, which of course would not be oiled, but greased. Did they change the bearings to plain bearings, which would need to be oiled ? This would be rather surprising, as one hardly ever uses plain bearings these days. And, yes, I use 'sewing machine' oil for my small lathes and mills, which is what the manufacturers recommended at the time.
  3. wefalck
    Slightly off-topic: Pat, I gather this black thingies are Pomona™ micro-grabbers ? They look very useful. Just checked on the Internet and I could get ten for USD 20 plus shipping and handling of USD 23 . Somehow I don't understand how the Chinese can sell a pack of ten similar 'grabbers' at € 1.35 with shipping included: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Wo4AAOSw4GVYOQ84/s-l1600.jpg OK, the US American ones look more upmarket ... sorry for the USA economy, but the hobby budget is limited.
  4. wefalck
    I really like this sailor's (or rigger's) work, with all the splicing, serving and leathering. Makes me itchy to start a project with sails again ...
  5. wefalck
    I believe sailors call 'yarn' everything thin that has not been twisted into a tight rope. I recall a lively semantic discussion in a German forum about such issues. Sailors tend to be less strict in the use of their terminology, although individuals might be quite insisting on the use of certain terms, than industrial technologists. Serving may occur on all sizes of rope and, hence, the material used on the prototype may range from 'yarn' to thin rope. Incidentally, I have simulated served rope in very small dimensions by copper-wire that is covered in silk, as was used in electrical and electronic equipment in the old days. For years it was difficult to obtain, but more recently some companies seem to cater for the radio restoring trade and the likes. While the rope as such looks convincing, it is not so easy to make good eye-splices. Silk covered wire can be obtained here (https://www.wires.co.uk/acatalog/craft_col_silk_covered.html) for instance.
  6. wefalck
    Well, I would rather look at pictures of some real ships for the relationships between rope diameter and serving yarn diameter. On models the serving is - for reasons of material availability, almost always too thick.
  7. wefalck
    I was, indeed, wondering, what happened to the project ... Why are there two different types of rudder ?
  8. wefalck
    There may be also free digital copies of older books on the subject available through GoogleBooks or national libraries.
  9. wefalck
    How is your new workshop coming on ? Any more progress on the ALBERIC ?
  10. wefalck
    You are right, it was McGregor, not Underhill, who draughted the plans of her. Just a note on double halliards or lifts: they can be worked as single or double, depending on whether one keeps on part belayed (as standing part) or pulls on both. BTW, I always like the aesthetics of the 'Aberdeen Bow' ...
  11. wefalck
    Depends on what kind of metal work you are talking about. Machining ? It also depends a bit on the kind of machines you have or consider buying. As I said in another recent post, there are quite a few tutorials and the likes on the Internet and useful fora, for instance the one that is run by the traditional magazine 'The Model Engineer': http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/ There are also many good tutorial and reference books on the market. An on-line booksellers that I used in the past and that has virtually everything that is on the market is: https://www.camdenmin.co.uk/ I personally collected also a few books meant for vocational training in metal and machine work. Particularly pre-1960 books are useful, before NC was introduced seriously and all was treated more like a 'craft' than an economic engineering problem. They give you the basics and can be found on flea-markets or at antique booksellers for little money.
  12. wefalck
    The main question would be how big or how small the holes would be, you want to drill. Down to 0,5 mm this is not a very big issue, but below that the run-out of the drill-spindle and the chuck/collets become a crucial variable in your considerations. I gather, if you are based in continental Europe, as your first name might suggest, you may want to look into PROXXON-products, for both hand-held and bench-drills. Have intensively used their bench-drill for the last 35 or so years (I must admit, after a lot of abuse due to oversize work etc., now the bearings aren't the best anymore). All PROXXON-drills can be used either with a drill-chuck or collets. In general, I prefer the latter, as they are smaller and have a smaller run-out. I never had any of the fancy Dremel or PROXXON hand-drills. Bought a simple DC electric motor in aluminium tube and with a collet attachment that is still alive and well after 40 years of heavy (ab)use. Again, I think steel collets are preferable over drill-chucks. For a hand-held drill I would try out how it feels in your hand - diameter/balance. The rest is not so important.
  13. wefalck
    I cannot give specific answers to what the rigging of the SCOTTISH MAID may have looked like. Not sure anyone can. Isn't there a set of Underhill-plans on which the kit presumably is based ? To the question of the point, where on the gaff the haliards should be attached: if you move the point so far out that the halliard leads down to the mast-cap you would exert a downward pull onto the throat halliard, which certainly is not desirable. Otherwise, one would distribute the fixing points along the gaff so that wind-pressure from the sail is distributed relatively evenly and the gaff does not bend unnecessarily.
  14. wefalck
    Yarn is a generic term, referring to any kind of thread that is not, or not as tightly, twisted as a rope.
  15. wefalck
    It is all a question of building scale. However, the finest yarn you can put your hands is probably the best for serving in the popular building scales - in reality, it might still be oversized. I am using fly-tying thread myself. However, I would shy away from monofilament, even though it is the thinnest material you can get, because it has more 'wirey' properties and might come loose, when handling the served rope. When serving, the yarn has to be really tight around the rope. It also important to stretch the rope before, as rope, of course, becomes thinner, when stretched and, hence, the serving will come loose. It might be a good idea to treat served rope with lacquer or paint as soon as possible to keep everything together. A rope-walk and a serving machine would be useful, if not even necessary. With a rope-walk you can split commercial yarn (including the fly-tying one) and recombine it to a suitable one, if needed. A serving machine allows you to serve the rope tight, while it is stretched out between two hooks.
  16. wefalck
    I agree, that it is better to have single-purpose machines, that is, if you have the space for them. The time of setting up combination-machines for special tasks is often a nuisance. Also, sometimes you don't want to disturb a set-up in order to be able to go back to it after a different machining step on another machine.
  17. wefalck
    I am not sure, I would want to pay 50€/65$US for some pieces of MDF that perhaps can be used only once ... It would be difficult to clean any glue etc. spilled from the MDF.
  18. wefalck
    Although the layout of each ship was different, I gather, there has been some sort of general convention, where what was belayed in order to cope with changing crew compositions.
  19. wefalck
    Jaeger et al.: the funny thing about these machines is, that one begins to make attachments and tools to make more tools - eventually one might make parts for shipmodels too I find that it depends a bit on the period of the prototype you are modelling. The more modern the ship is the more likely it is that machines were used in its construction. In consequence, to reproduce the relevant parts in adequate quality you would also use machines. Machine work will also allow you to reproduce identical parts more quickly and consistently. In some case, perhaps, one would only produce the basic shape on the machine and would have to hand-finish the part to reproduce complex shaped curves.
  20. wefalck
    I don't think there are too many people on this forum with an interest in the subject and the skills and experience to go with it. (Steam) model engine builders are mostly found on fora such as the one that is run by the traditional magazine 'The Model Engineer': http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/ There are also many good tutorial and reference books on the market. An on-line booksellers that I used in the past and that has virtually everything that is on the market is: https://www.camdenmin.co.uk/
  21. wefalck
    Yes, such a larger footprint baseboard adds to the stability of the machine, particularly, when the x-y-table is moved out far. Beware, however, that you probably will find soon that the two drawers will not accomodate all the addtional parts for the machine you will accumulate over time It may be an illumination artefact, but it appears to me somehow that the column is mounted on the wrong side of the base !? Looking from the front, one should see the full lenght of the x-y-table ... or what is the dark rectangle underneath the head ?
  22. wefalck
    To me the difference of a thimble/heart and a bullseye is that the thimble/heart is meant to keep the eye in a rope/wire at a safe radius, when attached with a shackle or hook; it also protects the rope/wire from chafing, when there is a movement between the eye and the shackle/hook. To the contrary, a bullseye either serves as one part in a purchase or an arrangement to redirect the run of a rope, when there is no movement of the rope under normal circumstances. It appears that bullseyes were favoured over deadeyes when used in stays from the late 18th century on, though 'traditional' Dutch (merchant) vessels seem to have used deadeyes right to the end of the 19th century. The explanation above concerning the advantage of a bulleyes over a block is certainly true for rope-rigging, while from the later part of the 19th a block with a metal casing seems to have been used in conjunction with wire-rigging.
  23. wefalck
    Did the laser work with polystyrene ? I gather one would need a ventilation hood because of the fumes.
  24. wefalck
    Fly-tying thread may be a bit stiff, but I am making my own rope from it and rope is less stiff than the thread itself. A bit of matt varnish (or black paint for the rat-lines) keeps things in shape.
  25. wefalck
    Which one was it, I have seen several of such machines on ebay and crowdfunding sites. The laser-cutting capacity seems to be limited for technical reasons, as more serious lasers would require more serious cooling arrangements.

About us

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

SSL Secured

Your security is important for us so this Website is SSL-Secured

NRG Mailing Address

Nautical Research Guild
237 South Lincoln Street
Westmont IL, 60559-1917

Model Ship World ® and the MSW logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,929,264 & No. 6,929,274, registered Dec. 20, 2022)

Helpful Links

About the NRG

If you enjoy building ship models that are historically accurate as well as beautiful, then The Nautical Research Guild (NRG) is just right for you.

The Guild is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to “Advance Ship Modeling Through Research”. We provide support to our members in their efforts to raise the quality of their model ships.

The Nautical Research Guild has published our world-renowned quarterly magazine, The Nautical Research Journal, since 1955. The pages of the Journal are full of articles by accomplished ship modelers who show you how they create those exquisite details on their models, and by maritime historians who show you the correct details to build. The Journal is available in both print and digital editions. Go to the NRG web site (www.thenrg.org) to download a complimentary digital copy of the Journal. The NRG also publishes plan sets, books and compilations of back issues of the Journal and the former Ships in Scale and Model Ship Builder magazines.

Our Emblem ®

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

Nautical Research Guild ® and the NRG logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,999,236 & No. 6,999,237, registered March 14, 2023)

×
×
  • Create New...