wefalck

Try art-suppliers or (Internet) shops for paper and book restorers, they use such paper to double up damaged pages, for instance. Did a quick search: https://store.bookbinding.co.uk/store/category/95/456/Conservation-Grade-%26-Weight/ There must be many more shops like this.

Not bad, but I think at that time the oil-skins and the south-wester would have been a dark grey or something like this.

Kevin, I think the picture is misleading, because it was taken against the light, at around midday with high sun, and a bright background - then all sails look rather dark and all shadows blueish (as you can on the shaded white stripes on the hull). In reality the sails are off-white.

As far as I remember (I have seen her a couple of times) the sails of AMERIGO VESPUCCI are (off-)white, so I am not sure that it is a good idea to tint them in some unsual colour. Would certainly give the ship a 'Disney' appearance 😲 Where is the problem with 27 sails, the only limit is your patience ... The thinner the paper, the better. In fact, even the thinnest silk-paper is likely to be too thick, when considering real scale thickness. Furled panneled sails are possible, but you may need to make them somewhat shorter in order to bring the furled volume to the scale volume. I have done it, but you may be struggling with seams breaking open (I know this from experience). One could explore another strategy for those tighly furled sails in navy style: when furling, the sail would be embedded into a sort of pocket formed by the top-part of it; this is to keep water out of it; for the same reason the sail is stowed on top of the yard; one could sculpt this 'sausage' of sail in polymer clay or something like this and just wrap short lengths of silk-paper around it to simulate the panels.

... and chosing the right materials 😉

Only now read about your mishap with the boat. I would use a good coat of Teflon-spray as release agent or a coating with candle-wax. Personally I don't have much experience with epoxy-resin. I am not very fond of two-component materials actually due to their short time in which they have to be applied. I know that various German modellers successfully used the stockings-plus-epoxy technique to mold boats, ventilators and such stuff. While I used a slightly different technique on my boats (the boats being clinker-built), I can confirm Bob's suggestion that paper soaked in shellac (or some other lacquer that dries hard) makes for a good composite material that can be almost treated like wood. Another option in which you can recycle your plug would be something like vaccum-forming. Well not actually vacuum-forming, but quickly pulling a heated-up sheet of styrene over the plug. There should be some description to be found on the WWW. If not, I could give a quick run-down of the principle.

In the meantime I am healthwise quite normal again. Progress was hampered by a short business trip to Germany ... ********************************* Further completion of the cutter The hull was now cut off the ‘building-board’ and the infilling and the bulkheads shaped in a way I think the tarpaulin-covered sailing-gear, oars etc. which would be stowed in the boat would have looked like. The hull with the shaped ‘interior’ The use of toilet-paper to simulate the tarpaulin had only be moderately successful, but I remembered just in time, that a few months ago I had purchased some very light-weight (9 g/m2) Japanese silk-paper as a basis for sails. Very light-weight Japanese silk-paper An appropriate piece was cut, draped over the boat and thoroughly wetted with zapon-varnish. It was glued in place so that it just covered the top-strake down to the rubbing strake. Once dry, it was trimmed back with a new scalpel blade to just the rubbing strake. The cutter with tarpaulin in place, before painting Installing the rudder while the gig was on the davits turned out to be misconception on my side, the boats were stowed with the rudder unshipped. So this time I only simulated the lower pintle with some flattened wire and a wire upright. Finally, the cutter was ready for painting and was given a good coat of Vallejo model-air ‘white’ all over. The painted cutter In the next step the second strake from the top was painted in black, as the regulations in force at the time demanded that the two topmost strakes to be black. The painted cutter The tarpaulin the was given a wash of Vallejo white with a dash of Vallejo model-air ‘hemp’. Finally the two hoisting-rings made from twisted, tinned 0.2 mm copper wire were installed. The painted cutter To be continued ....

Thanks, Valeriy, that's a good find. Have to download the drawings. I have just got published an article (in German) about the various early mechanical machine guns in naval use. While preparing the article, I came across this guy on YouTube, who has done nice animations inter alia of the workings of various early machine guns: https://www.youtube.com/user/vbbsmyt

For use against torpedoboats Maxim also developed a 37 mm version (to replace the mechanical Hotchkiss revolving gun of the same calibre), which was produced by Nordenfeldt in the UK and later by others. Because of its sound it became also known as 'pom-pom' gun. From Wikiwand The cooling sleeve around the barrel was made from brass, because early versions of the 8 mm machine-gun were actually water-cooled, i.e. a rubber tube was connected to each end and cooling water run through. I gather certain parts of the mechanism were made from bronze because the coefficient of friction between this metal and steel is relatively low and no lubrication is needed. Corrosion resistance is indeed another consideration. Respective parts of mechanical guns of the time (Gatling, Hotchkiss, Nordenfelt, Gardner) and used in the navies were also made from bronze and brass. Later, as everything was painted grey all-over corrosion resistance became less relevant (see picture above).

Thank you to all of you for your kind wishes ! It seems that we have here in France a new subvariant of Omikron that is more contagious, with a shorter incubation period, but generally weaker, but symptoms of longer duration. The paradoxical situation is that the number of daily new cases is four to five times higher than at the beginning of 2021, when we went into full lock-down, but the government basically lifted all restrictions - masks are only required in public transport. Perhaps they think with 70% of the population vaccinated, they can manage the number of cases having to go into intensive care ...

David, Canson is indeed a French manufacturer, who's traditions can be traced back into the 16th century and the Brothers Montgolfier were members of that family. The company offers a broad range of technical and fine arts papers. It seems that in Germany a heavily calandered and dyed in the material paper is sold under the denomination 'Canson-Paper', which is why I used this term. In my case it is their Iris® Vivaldi® with a weight of 120 g/m2, which is perfectly smooth on both sides. And: thanks for the kind comments !

Work on the cutter stalled for a good two weeks due to an unexpected event: we went down to Spain to spend a week there and – in spite of all the precautions and safety-measures we took for the past two-and-a-half years and having been vaccinated three times, on the flight the virus caught up with me and my wife. Flu-symptoms with throat-ache, a light fever and general fatigue. We had to extend our stay by a week, until we tested negative. Still rather tired and bothered by a cough … at least we can relax a bit more for the next half year or so until the immunity declines again… ********************************************************************** Planking of the cutter continued … This work continued as before, eye-balling the run and spacing. I am not sure that I got the spacing at the bows quite right, as the planking is sweeping more up at the bows, than expected. As noted above, the forward section was more difficult than the rear section. Clamping the planks tight at the bows Once the planking was complete, the stem- and stern-post (or rather the deadwood) areas were cleaned up and sanded to match the stem- and keel-pieces. The planks were also sanded flush to the transom. Planking complete and cleaned up Planking complete and cleaned up The stem-keel-piece was laminated from three layers of laser-cut Canson-paper and lacquered into place on the boat. The outside contur was then cleaned up using a diamond nail-file. These files are very useful for the purpose. However, after a few strokes the freshly exposed paper has to be consolidated again with varnish to prevent it from fraying. Like the gig, the cutter had a rubbing strake running along the lower edge of the top strake. This was simulated again using a 0.2 mm copper-wire lacquered into place. Due to the charring from the laser-cutting process, it is difficult to see, whether there are any gaps between the stem-keel-piece and the boat as such. I probably will apply a thin coat of paint to be better able to see any imperfections, that then will be filled with putty. The completed cutter The completed cutter The completed cutter Overall, I a reasonably pleased how the cutter turned out so far and the strategy to attach stem-post and keel after planking is complete has paid off. To be continued ....

I used silk fabric for model airplanes in the past, I think it was 14 g/m2. I put the stuff into a cardboard frame and worked/dried it horizontally, so no issues with not uniform paint distribution. While I don't sew sails anymore, this silk fabric sews better, when you back it up temporarily with some silkpaper - paper is less prone to be distorted when transported through a sewing machine.

The method with the ladies' stockings has been used successfully here by many modellers. So you should be on the right road.

Your best bet would be watchmaking or biology supply houses. Look out for brands, such as Dumont. Ideally, one should inspect them in person before buying to make sure you don't get 'seconds'. I pays off to pay a bit more initially. I had my main working pair of tweezers now for over 40 years, so worth the money. And don't drop it to the floor ...

Yes, good idea. I improvised in the past. Just a side note: the coil would not be hung with the main loop over the belaying pins etc., but rather one uses the last bight and winds it around the coil so that one loop hangs out which is used to hang the coil. To cast loose, you just take it off the pin and pull on the running end - the loop sort of forms a slip-knot. It rather difficult to describe, but there are instructions on the Web: Or another method through which the coil can be cast loose even faster:

Nice find, thanks. This Major Meade was just one previous owner of the book. I own a set of 1894-1902 set of intruction books for torpedo-handling in the Austria-Hungarian Navy in which also one still finds a detailed description of spar-torpedos to be deployed from ships' steam-launches. At the moment I don't have access to my library, so I cannot check what tactical concepts they had in mind. In any case, they would not be effective against the capital warships of the time. One could think of attacking commercial craft or perhaps piers or lock-gates with little anti-torpedo craft defences - a task for which today you would employ underwater demolition teams.

True museum-quality ... I sincerly hope, it will end up at its intended place safely !

Knots and hitches are only used to temporarly fasten a line. In most cases eye-splices are used or seizings, when the rope would be too stiff to tie a knot or a splice would weaken it (as in the example above of the breech-rope). There are many specialised knots/hitches, but depending on the scale, they may be difficult to tie. In most cases I seem to get away with half- and clove-hitches, if required. A real splice would be a challange at most scales, but fake splices are easy to do. Personally, I prefer a fast-drying clear solvent-based varnish for securing rigging, as it can be easily softened with the solvent, if needed.

It works on my Safari 15.5 ... have to continue explore a bit more. Way back in December 1999 I was in Arlington for a conference and took the opportunity to visit a naval museum in the region. It seems that one was not allowed to take pictures. Otherwise there would be a record in my photographic diary (meticulously kept since 1972 ...). I have no other record of the museum, but my memory. However, I do not remember, which museum it was. It was accessible by public transport from Arlington, so much I remember. Anyone any idea?

Ahh, you should have popped into Gilberto Penzo's shop: http://www.veniceboats.com/ Some years ago, he published a book about the vaporetti: PENZO, G., Bocchin, A. (2004): Vaporetti - un secolo di trasporto pubblico nella laguna di Venezia.- 255 p., Venezia (Il Leggio Libreria Editrice). I do not own the book (not 'my' time), so I don't know, whether it contains plans. I did not find them quickly on his Web-site, but he used to offer plans separately on his site. Penzo also offers a laser-cut kit: http://www.veniceboats.com/Kit-vaporetto.htm

Valeriy, are the parts for the block hand-cut/-filed or photo-etched? The blocks look very good indeed. Judging by the matchstick, they must be about 3 mm long? I commend you for your perseverance in those dire circumstance! Keep fingers crossed!

Looks convicingly rubbery ...

To be honest, I don't like balsa too much, because it has a very directional grain and does not cut as well in small pieces. I have done some 30+ years ago a POB hull with bulheads in 0.25 mm brass, filled in with that stuff, which worked very well, because obviously the brass is so much more resistant to sanding than the Rohacell foam. The hull was some 35 cm long, so much easier to work with than a hull that is only just under 5 cm long. I did this at the time, because I wanted to have bulwark stanchion of the right thickness at the right position, which always a bit of a challenge on a flush-decked ship. The bulwark and other plating was made from 0.1 mm copper sheet to be able to simulate the rivetting. Yes, using slightly wider planks gave me more leeway to arrange the planking more uniformly. I see gig 2.0 coming up ...

Thanks, Pat! On with The Cutters As noted above, I will be following a somewhat different construction for the cutters. I will not create a rabbet by gluing doublings onto the keel-piece, but will attach the outer stem and keel, once the planking is complete. Hopefully, this will allow a cleaner run of the planks into the stem. Also, all the planks will be cut with a straight line on one edge. Template for laser-cutting the keel-pieces and the stem-keel-combinations I also decided to fill in the space between the bulkheads to avoid the (minor) cave-in that occurred in some places of the gig. The material should be softer than the bulkheads and I choose a hard foam going by the name Rohacell, which is essentially foamed-up Plexiglas and of which I have still many off-cuts from a project some 35 years ago. Three strakes on However, nearly half-way now through the planking I have my doubts, whether there were any advantages in doing that. It turned out to be difficult to sand down the foam (which in itself sands very well with diamond abrasives or just sanding paper) to the bulkheads without damaging them and therefore alter the shape. If the infill actually is low, it become actually counterproductive, as the planks will follow this shape, rather than +/- the tangent between the bulkheads. Three strakes on The bow-section is not so easy to get right, as it is quite full and there is a tendency for the planking to rise too high, when it comes off the bottom with little dead-rise. Again, I did not mark out the division of the strakes, but eye-balled it. It would be quite difficult to do with sufficient precision at this size. Not sure how it will turn out. Planking half-way up To be continued ....