wefalck

@druxey You are probably right, but I used the materials that were at hand. In addition, I am rather limited in display space, so I wanted to keep it small 😊

Thanks again too all for your continued moral support ! *********************************************** Mounting the model In another thread the question was raised as to when (permanently) mounting the model. It is a question of scale, of course, and also whether we are looking at a full-hull or a waterline-model. Smaller scale model can be very delicate, while larger scale models tend to be inherently more robust. A waterline-model may not offer you a lot of positions from which you can grab it during construction and final mounting. So, in general, it will have to be done earlier than for a full-hull model. In this particular case, adding more delicate items, particularly also those outside the hull, would make it almost impossible to handle the model without damaging it. Therefore, it was decided to prepare the mounting now. The base-plate, a piece of 20 mm thick, MDF, forms an integral part of the display case that had been constructed earlier. To this the model will be fixed with a single wood-screw from the bottom. The hole in the model for this had been drilled early on in the construction process. I did not envisage to have to mount and unmount the model frequently, otherwise I would have embedded a threaded nut into the bread-and-butter hull and used a machine screw instead. With hindsight, I perhaps should have extended the hull a bit more than just 2 mm below the waterline. The 2 mm are not that much to model the sea, but would translate into a wave-height of around 32 cm or a good foot. The scenario I imagined for the presentation is that the ship moves in a rather calm sea, but at moderate speed (the max. speed of the WESPE-class was only around 10 kn anyway). The weather is fine, with sun and a light breeze – a summer day on the North Sea or the Baltic. There is only one image I am aware off, that shows one of the boats moving, S.M.S. NATTER moving slowly along the Kiel-Kanal. Therefore, we do not really know what their wave-pattern would have looked like. The bow is quite full, it has a ram protruding below the waterline, and hard bilges with a flat bottom. In a way, this is the form of our river freighters. Therefore, I looked around on the Internet for pictures that show such ships on the move. Of course, there is a difference in wave patterns due to the restricted water depths in river channels. The wake would be more or less a Kelvin pattern with the waves radiating from the ship with an included angle of around 40°. The base is not much bigger than the ship to allow close-up view of the model, so there is actually not so much sea to model. Base-board covered in moulded water-colour paper and primed I decided to try something new (for me) and instead of sculpting and carving the sea from plaster of Paris, as I had done in the past, I used a sheet of thick water-colour paper. The waves were formed by placing thin scraps of acrylic foam (because I happen to have some) underneath and then gluing it down with white glue, working from the bow to the stern. The space for the model was cut out first, of course. Once the glue set, the paper was trimmed to size. The gaps under the paper were filled with acrylic wood-repair putty and the edges sanded smooth once the putty had set. At this stage also the fit of both, the model and the display case were checked and small corrections made. Finally, the whole base was given a coat of sanding filler to seal the paper and the wood. The edges were sanded smooth again. Base colouring sealed with gloss varnish Painting proceeded in several steps. First a coat of Schmincke AeroColor turquois acrylic was applied by airbrush. However, the paint was applied in a glancing fashion against the direction of the waves. A second coat using Vallejo ModelAir ‘steel blue’, again glancing, but with the waves was applied. Here in this application, it is not really apparent, but when there are shorter, steeper waves modelled this causes a colour change effect, when you look at the sea-scape from different angles. The front of the waves then was lightened up somewhat by a light spray of Schmincke AeroColor chrome-oxide green and the crest areas further lightened up with a light dust of Vallejo ModelAir ‘hemp’ to give the sea a flatter green appearance. This base colouring was sealed by two generous coats of acrylic gloss varnish applied with a flat hairbrush. In the next step, the wave crests were modelled using acrylic gel and gel filled with acrylic ‘micro-balloons’. In the past I actually used crystal sugar as a filler, which works very well, as not all crystals dissolve, but remain as transparent parts. I used this even before I became aware of acrylic gels together with wallpaper-glue and this ‘icing’ is holding up well after 40+ years. Part of the bow-wave was sculpted again in this way. Sea-scape with wave-crests sculpted in filled acrylic gel With the sculpting of the wave-crests and foam stirred-up complete, the sea-scape was given several more coats of gloss varnish to smooth it out, playing also with more rough areas behind breaking waves, as these should appear more matt. Assuming that the top of the waves would be more exposed to the action of wind than their front, these areas were also stippled with acrylic gel using a bristle brush, simulating the wind rippling that indicates an incoming gust of wind to the attentive sailor. S.M.S. WESPE placed temporarily into the sea-scape Having prepared the sea-scape in this way, the model will not yet be placed irretrievably into it. Filling the gap between the sea-scape and the model with acrylic gel will be left to the very end, so that the model can be removed, should the need arise. S.M.S. WESPE placed temporarily into the sea-scape To be continued ....

Painting skin is always a challenge because of its translucency. Building up the colour from washes is what artists do indeed. The darker the skin is the more difficult it becomes, as the contrast range dramatically decreases compared to fairer skin. I believe there are books available on the subject and surely also tutorials on on the Internet on portrait painting (rather than figurine painting). The Old Masters, it seems, often used an underpaint of pale green for skins as this increases the brilliance of the following reddish washes. Whether this would work with dark skins, I don't know. However, as one can see from the not too many paintings available, the Old Masters were struggling with the low dynamic contrast range of dark skins, which then often looks flat.

We had this discussion already in another thread some time ago: If you can use such needle threaders on blocks this means that the holes in the blocks are too big for the 'rope' and/or that the 'rope' is too soft and can be squeezed too much. The holes should be about 10% wider than the nominal 'rope' diameter. I would follow Mark's advice and stiffen the tip with varnish and then cut it to a point.

Good to hear from you and that you keep your spirits up in spite of the dire times ✌️

Yes, it seems that other nations soon began to copy the carronades - no international patents and IPR protection then ... For a short period, carronade-type guns were produced with trunnions, rather than the later ubiquitous lug at the bottom. See: DELAUNEY, J.F., GUITTARD, A.C.A.J. (1889): Historique de l'artillerie de la marine 1692-1889.- 328 p., Paris (D. Dumoulin). LAFAY, J. (1850): Aide-memoire d'artillerie navale.- 721 p., 50 pl., Paris (J. Corréard).

I know, this is a concern, but it also depends on the paper you are using, i.e. what are it's raw material and how was it processed. Certain fabrics, particularly man-made ones, may have similar concerns. I would say it also depends on the type of model. Any model in which thermoplastics (e.g. styrene) were used may be more of concern than papers that claim to be acid-free. To be honest, I used to quite pre-occupied with longevity as well, but I realised than that I would have to make too many compromises with respect to visual appearance, which is the main objective of the model. Certain long-term stable materials are also very difficult to work with in very small dimensions, which imposes further limitations.

I would suggest you mirror your trials here for easier reference, since you already opened this thread. The choice of material and its treatment will also depend on the effect you are trying to achieve. A key question will be whether you care about translucency (as seen when observing the sail against strong sunlight) or not. in the latter case, the density of weave will be less of concern, as you can paint the sail to clog the weave. I have done this in the past, here on a 1:60 scale model, where the sails are made up of individual strips of imprenated silk-span: Below is an example in 1:87 scale of 'tanned' sails made from strips of silk-paper impregnated with varnish and then painted with acrylics. The 'tanning' process renders the sails opaque due to concoction of tallow, oils and ochre. They are also a lot stiffer than untreated sails.

There is no 'one size fits all'. The high top-spindle speed of the Proxxon MF70 was obviously chosen to allow the clean milling of wood. For metal the lower end might be still too high but for the smallest end-mills or burrs, when using them on metal. Also, milling of thermo-plastics, such as acrylics, require quite low speeds, as their heat-conductivity is low, so that they cannot dissipate the heat generated by the cutting quickly enough, resulting in melting. One thing you probably find yourself doing or at least tempted to be doing is to make tools and fixtures for your mill and your lathe. I never assessed this, but I would guess that this is about half of the use-time on my machines. The reason is that it is fun, that it is cheaper than buying, that mean tools and fixtures you can buy are too big for these small machines or they are not precise enough, and the you can design them to your specific needs. One budgetary consideration is also, that you probably have to spend a similar amount of money on tooling for the machines, mills and lathes, that you have spend on the bare machine. You will need milling vices of several sizes probably, clamping fixtures, a rotary table or indexer, a tilting table, and last not least a collection of spindle-tooling. The later also will need to be replaced (or resharpened) as they become dull.

A 'gasket' would be a braided, flat rope, either three or four braids, like little girl's braids. On square sails these are attached to the jackstay and drop down the front of the sail and have a kind of eye the hangs down on the back. The gasket has a toggle in the end that is tugged through the eye. It can also be the other way around, that the toggle is close to the jack-stay and the eye is in the end of the gasket. Arrangement can also vary, depending on whether the sail is furled in front of the yard or above it - different navies and different ship owners/masters had different preferences. For main gaff-sails there may be different configurations depending on the time and the geographical area. However, gaskets or ropes were not used with loose-footed sails, but rather the lowest reef-points would be used to tie the sail to itself and to the gaff. It would/could not be tied to the boom. If the foot of the sail was laced to the boom, the reef-points would need to go around the gaff and the boom, unless a wooden jack-stay was used (as seems to have been more common in the USA), then the reef-points would be tied around it and the gaff. If the boom is rested on a crutch, when the sail is furled, one can also use the main sheet to lace together boom, gaff and sail, which is something commonly done on small boats. I am not sure about the procedure for the loose-footed fore-sail. The gaff would be certainly lowered (remember 'standing' doesn't mean, that it cannot be lowered!) to furl the sail towards the gaff, but the reef-points could not be tied to gaff probably. However, the reef-points can be used to tie the sail to the hoops. For the hoops above the highest reef, ropes or gaskets could be attached to the hoops for this purpose. On would presumably first furl the sail to the gaff and then proceed top-down along the hoops, while the gaff is being hoisted again.

It would be good to have a catalogue of fabric names (in different languages) and either their (commercial) use or (generic, not store names) potential sources. There may be many different types of potentially suitable fabrics, but they may be difficult to get (in small quantities) for the average person, unless one has connections to professional users. There are two factors that will be of particular importance, the thread count or density of weave and the thickness of the fabric. I am well aware that 'thickness' means little for the professionals dealing with fabrics, as it cannot really be determined due to the compressibility of the material (thread and weave). However, one can measure say sail-cloth of different weight as it comes of the bale and then divide it by the scale factor of your respective model. This gives you an indication for what you have to look for in terms of fabric 'thickness'. If, for example, a sail-cloth had a thickness of 2 mm, you would need to have a thickness of about 0.02 mm (or 0.0008") in your case. There are lots of fabrics that are very thin, but have a loose weave or vice versa. What we need would be a fabric of very high thread count while being very thin - sounds expensive ... Another factor to consider is the stiffness of the material. Real silk threads can be made extremely thin and very flexible, but silk is problematic material from the conservation point of view. Man-made fibres still tend to thicker and generally much stiffer. The stiffness is not very important, when you are aiming for sails bellowing in the wind, but on a real ship only certain sails would be set under given conditions, while others would be brailed up or stored. So the material will have to look convincing in this state. There are lots of different materials that run under the denomination of 'silk-span' (isn't it even a brand-name originally?). As such the material tends to have a too loose weave, which is why me and others have impregnated it with varnish or paint. The objective is to have a material that is reasonably tear-resistant and shows just a hint of texture. Such tissue cannot be sewn, because it is too loose and there are no needles fine enough anyway. Seams, doublings etc. need to be applied using glue or varnish. An alternative to silk-span may be screen-printing fabrics, but I have no practical experience with them. They are available in a wide variety of thread-counts, but also have a loose weave because it is the 'holes' that are important for the original application. I have the suspicion that silk-span is a secondary application of these fabrics. A colleagues of mine some time ago came up with a technique by which a very fine and long-fibred Japanese tissue paper is sandwiched between two layers of paper restoration tissue. The latter is impregnated with a heat-setting acrylic resin. When ironed-on it is almost invisible on the 'repaired' paper. Using this technique, one can produce quite realistic seams and doublings, while retaining the translucent quality of the 'sail', which was his objective. I have acquired the materials, but have not tried this out for myself yet.

It would also depend on where you are located. Sherline is more expensive over here in Europe and Proxxon outside Europe. Sieg and under whatever other names they are sold over the world vary considerably in price. Prepare to basically get some 'castings in advanced state of machining', when you go for a bargain offer. Lots of finishing and adjustment work needed it seems. Adjustment will be needed for any machine after delivery, so don't expect it to work perfectly out of the box. And I agree, it would be nice to have an Aciera or a Sixis ...

At 1:96 scale I would rather not use any cloth for sails, it is far too coarse, even the finest ones you can find. Have look around the forum there are several threads on using silk paper or 'silkspan'. Dito for rolled hammocks. For netting at this it is not so easy, as most commercial netting or screen is likely to have too fine mesh and/or too thick threads. Printing silk-screen could be an option or recycled silk teabags. There is also wire- or sieve-mesh, but it may have the same problem. Drawing every second thread in both direction could be an option.

It seems that this officer in the 'Ottonian' Navy was British then. In this case I would assume that his terminology was reasonably good. However, as I said the use of terminology may not have been as strict, as we would expect from today's perspective. Re-reading the passage, perhaps Mr. Hastings did not actually see the gun himself, but was relying on what the schooner owner told him?

Well, first of all is the original text in Greek or in English? Perhaps these are just translation errors. Today, we seem to be obsessed with 'correct' terminology (sometime perhaps to show-off, I gather ...), while in the old days tended to you terms much more casually (which arguably now causes problems for historians, of course). Perhaps, for the author in question the distinctive feature of a 'carronade' was that it was slide-mounted and not so much what the barrel looked like. Up to first quarter of the 19th century, indeed, a slide-mounted gun was virtually always a carronade and not a long gun. It was about that time that people realised that guns above 32 pounds on 'free-wheeling' carriages are difficult to control and can be quite dangerous. In addition, small numbers of big guns on small ships are better deployed on slides, firing from the centre-lin of the ship, than moving them around to different gun-ports.

This is definitely not a carronade. However, it may be that the photograph was distorted by the book-producers to fit the available space. The carriage looks rather low. Early carronades were mounted on normal trucked carriages. Also half-trucked carriages were used sometimes, I think in particular in France. But then quickly the slide carriages became common for them.

On the sheaves vs. blocks question: I have the feeling that the sheaves went out of fashion in the later 19th and were replaced by blocks bolted to the deck. The idea is turn the run of the rope by 90°, so that more men could work on it. If you pull straight down on a rope you can use your whole weight, but you could have only two men working the rope. Blocks were commercial items by then that would be mass-produced, while a bitt with sheaves would have to be made by the shipyard and would have been more expensive. Also, the sheave-holes weaken the bitts.

Mostly, carronades were used as broad-side guns, whose carriage was pivoted at the front. However, the sliding carriage could also be designed with a pivot in the centre, so that it could be rotated through a full circle, when mounted on the centre-line of a ship. I gather that this what is meant. However, I doubt that using a carronade is a good proposition for this. Carronades are short-range guns and as such would have a considerable muzzle blast, which could blow away bulwarks and damage the deck-planking. Normally, long guns were used in such positions.

I am not sure, whether she would have had a coppered bottom during her professional life. Today, due to the penetration of terredo navalis through the Channel into the North Sea, she certainly will need protection though her berth is in brackish water, in the Elbe estuary.

I didn't realise that this would be a clinker-built. Nice job ! Did you chase the upper edges of the lower planks to allow the following strake to run into the stem rabbets?

The company that makes them is called Small Stuff: https://www.smallstuffmodels.com/p/products.html#!/1-72-Detail-Sets/c/4286864. However, I just realised that there may be supply disruption due to the war ... Most of the engines are of the radial type, but they also have a couple of others: That's a Mercedes 200 hp one.

I think I have seen this strange fore-and-aft arrangement for a steering wheel on some naval launches too. Surely needs a bit of time to get used too - can lead to fatal errors (the pilot-schooner ELBE Nils is building here on the forum was run over by a freighter a few years ago because the amateur helms-man confused putting the helm to starboard with putting the rudder over to starboard ...). Since I saw these beautiful 3D-printed WWI aero-engines available in 1:72 and 1:48 scale I am tempted to make a (free-lance) runabout with one of those - post WWI a lot of these became surplus and were used in speedboats.

If have been to the yard, where they built (S.M.S.) GRAF GOETZEN for the lake ... Coming back to the problem in hand: an option would be to roughly cut the disc from 0.5 mm brass sheet and then use what the watchmakers would call a wax- or a cement-chuck - You take a piece of round bar, doesn't matter what metal, chuck up in your three-jaw chuck and then face it off flat; to this you cement your roughly cut brass disc using CA or shellac and turn the outside and the grooves ...

As you have a lathe, why don't you simply turn them from brass or acrylic stock. They will have to be painted black anyway, I suppose. They look varied a bit, but they often had shallow concentric grooves as an anti-slip feature and typically to sunk-in handles give a fulcrum to turn them - they were locked with a sort fo bayonett-lock into a circular cast-iron frame in the deck.

I was quoting from memory and my memory sometimes is not the best anymore ... so obviously I only scored a near hit. As to the violin: these were used, inter alia, as 'party boats', so not surprising that there would be also some musical entertainment.