wefalck

I am well aware of this method, but was always worried, that the edges of the putty may crumble. Automotive (spray) putty is quite strong on the surface, but it is actually a bit crumbly, so as to permit easy sanding. I gather, once painted the edges of the strakes become much stronger?

Moon-shine calvados could come in any kind of bottles 🫢 A year of 1938 in 1944 would make more sense for calvados than for cidre though, which is generally drunken young (and traditionally from bowls, rather than glasses).

Castrovejo would the keyword to watch out for re. eye surgery instruments. I think he was a Californian surgeon. I have various scissors, needle-holders and such.

If it’s Normandy, it should be cidre/cider, rather yhan wine / comes in champagne-type bottles. To my knowledge, there are no vinyards in Normandy. The bottle modelled would be a Burgundy bottle, long slender neck, as opposed to the short necks of the Bordeaux bottles.

Diamond files don't have a 'pitch'. They are like sandpaper, the diamond grains are randomly distributed. There are also diamond needlefiles, but the cheap ones seems to be too coarse for fine work. One has to look up and down ebay & Co. to see what is on the market (don't forget the 'nail art' department, where they sell the same abrasive strips as for modellers, but at half the price or less ...). It seems one can spend easily as much money on 'aftermarket' parts for kits, as for the kit in the first place, or even more.

I stopped 20th military modelling some 40+ years ago ... however, I understand that today Friul Modelismo makes metal tracks with individual links for many (most?) tank kits on the market. They seem to be preferred by 'serious' military modellers over the rubbery plastic one, because they sag prototype fashion. Just to mention ... Polystyrene does not work very well with normal steel files. I use diamond files (including cheap nail files of different sizes and coarseness). Back in 1941/42 the Brits in North Africa apparently were hunting down German 'jerry' (hence the name) can, because they were far supperior to the simple thin metal boxes that were used by the British Army then. In the German army they are still used and since WW2 a white cross indicates that they are used for water. Back in the days, when I drove a Citroën 2CV, I always carried one with me, effectively doubling its range.

Strange, but then pigment manufacturers sometimes have strange names for their products. I wonder what it is technically. Perhaps it is just ground-up natural titanium ore, rather than the refined product, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium_dioxide, that is normally used and would apparently also have the code PW6.

What is this supposed to be? Titanium pigment is TiO2, i.e. titanium oxide, and that is a stark white. Being a inorganic chemical compound, there is nothing to bleach and it is absolutey lightfast.

I have simulated wire rope by twisting together strands of copper wire and then painting them in some dull silver colour. One can also get at a reasonable price silver wire down to 0.007 mm(!) diameter (which is used to bridge broken printed circuit connections in repairs, I believe). It is difficult, however, to twist more than two wire together evenly. For simulating rigging wire, it should not be twisted too tightly, as in real wire rope the angle of the strands is less than for fibre ropes. There is also some (expensive!) japanese fishing line in steel grey, which seems to be braided with four strands. I have not seen it in real life, but it may be worthwhile exploring: https://www.ebay.de/itm/284004752603?var=585466534836

A bit bizarre that someone in distant Mexico/USA should build a model of an 'Emspünte' ... Unfortunately, I would have only technology solutions for your anchor-problem, I would either solder the grapnel up from brass wire or perhaps making a design for laser-cutting from paper stiffened with varnish. Actually, if you can get hold of some wire, material doesn't matter too much, you could bend four 'fish-hooks', bundle and tie them with some threads and smear the whole assembly in white glue. I think the village blacksmith would have used a similar process to make the real thing, using rebar or whatever iron rod would have been available, bending them and welding them together, adding reenforcing sleeves to the shank.

If you don't dare to take on splicing, you can also just make ring with an overhand-knot, put the block in and a pin for keeping the eye open at the other end. You then start the seizing with a series of half-hitches until you reached the desired length of the seizing. Then you pull on the loose ends of the strop to shorten it to the desired length. Fix the seizing with a dab of varnish or paint and trim the loose ends of the strop and the seizing respectively. On a real ship the stropping would have been done in situ, but on a model it would be better to do the stropping off the boat with the ring slipped over the traveller and only then to install the traveller.

Thanks for showing this in a video. I have used half-hitches actually ever since I got into this kind of ship-modelling. I don't use CA glue though, but rather fast-drying varnish, so that I can slip thing up tight against the block, if needed by just a drop of solvent. However, it seems to me that you are using a series of overhand-knots rather than half-hitches !? Of course, this works well.

You don't mention the scale, but it is possible to make simplified long-splices by pulling the ends through each other with the help of e.g. a hypodermic needle as marlin-spike. You then dab the splice in varnish and roll it between your fingers. Then you basically proceed with full-scale practice and tie the strop around the block and the ring on the traveller. The splice will disappear under the seizing.

Looking good! I gather the book on catalan lateen-rigged boat that you got, will give some more ideas on the specificities of that rig. One of these is that the parrel is a sort of rope with an eye at its end that goes around the mast and is fixed to the halliard. The purpose is to be able to loosen the parrel to allow a better adjustment of the antenna. Not sure though, whether this would be case on the more lugger-sail like sail of the canoa here. On the photo below from the Albufera near Valencia (Spain), the parrel is a pretty ugly affair, not quite ship-shape: Probably your photographs don't show such detail, but usually the rope that attaches the sail to the yard is not just wound around, but at each grommet there is a half-hitch - I don't have an image to hand that would show this. In that way, the sail has less a tendency of slipping along the yard or pulling out of shape.

Just wondered why 'Spring Chores', as we are heading now into the Christmas period - but of course, you guys down under are not only standing on your heads, but also got the calendar wrong Here it is mulled wine time, not cocktail time ...

Thanks for the links, have to look into this - just revisted the Sjöhistoriska Museet in Stockholm three weeks ago - one of the last of the maritime museums that really seems to appreciate its model collection.

The stakes become higher and higher and not only because it is the main topsail yard ... 😉

In Europe it were Norway (NorskHydro) and Switzerland (Alusuisse) that had been the main initial producers, due to their hydropower capacities.

Hope you don't need to repaint your models now - we were quite happy with the colour schemes of the woods etc. BTW, Gratulations to the successful surgery! I gather it is like getting new glasses: the brain has to readjust the images to the perceived realities.

How could I know, that you are working on three projects at the same time ... so I missed the beginning 🙄 Very good subject! I doesn't always have to be a VICTORY cross-section ! I know very well the space and mobility problem.

Supplyhouses for architectural model building usually also have a range of dowels and sometimes even hardwood.

Funny thing is that often here on the continent stock sold is not exactly metric, but actually imperial, say 6 mm dowl rod is actually 6.25 mm = 1/4" ... As you have to shape it anyway, the starting dimension just needs to be bigger than the biggest diameter required.

Self-centering 4-jaw-chucks are far and between, because they can and should only be used on square stock or parts. Sherline does offer one of the hobby market and that is the only one I am aware of. Independent 4-jaw-chucks are very common and are either used for precision centring of round stock/parts with the help of dial indicator or, indeed, for irregular/rectangular/square stock/parts. There are many offers on the hobby market. Sometimes and particularly in the USA independent 4-jaw-chucks are confused with faceplates with moveable jaws. Chucks, however, are meant to take up longer stock/parts, while faceplates are meant for mounting short stock/parts on their surface. On faceplates the jaws are sitting on the surface, while in chucks the jaws move in T-slotted or dove-tailed slots. Incidentally, chucks with dove-tailed slots are rather rare today. Normally, either solid jaws run in a sort of douple T-slot or the jaws are in two parts, so that the top-jaws can be reversed or exchanged for other types of jaws. 4-jaw-chucks and faceplates have to be operated with caution, as the excentric load can cause vibrations and light machines to jump around, when not fixed to the workbench. As far as I remember, PROXXON offers a metal and a plastic chuck for its light wood-lathe. The idea is that with plastic jaws there is less risk of marring the material. I am curious what lathe you are using that has a 16x1.5 spindle-thread?

Museums and other high-end customers may not like styrene, as it is prone to deterioration over time due to the outgassing of the softeners. That is a reason, why I use bakelite paper, there are no softeners inside.

To me it looks, as if the boom runs in at deck level. It then could be secured on deck with wooden cleats and a stopper block at the inner end.