wefalck

Well, hand-cranking is what moves any manual milling machine or lathe. For some milling machines you can buy electric drives for the x-axis (or make one yourself), but this is for long, end-to-end surface cuts only. The other option is CNC, which requires a lot of programming and typically is not worth it for one-of parts (you end up making several trial parts before all parameters are set righ).
 
I never worked with a MF70, only played around on it in shops, but have the feeling that the hand-wheels are too small for the pitch of the lead-screws. Personally, I would replace them with slightly larger ball-handle cranks, which give you a better feel when doing precision work. In that way you also get rid of the sloppy, turning handles that are detrimental to a good feel of what is going on at the milling cutter.
 

Greetings to all!
Just some progres pictures here. I am in for a treat trying to close the deck while keeping it fair and a smooth run for each plank.



Cheers!

These kayaks look very realistic 👍🏻 I don't remember, did you already describe how they were made?
 
Since I worked for some years in one of the French arctic research instutes (long story how this came about), I got interested a bit in traditional skin-boats and began to collect literature on them: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/maritimebibliographies/skin-boat-bibliography.pdf. I had a Greenland kayak lying in the corridor in front of my office.
 

As for most of us, our collaboration was required for various Christmas-related preparations, such as grocery shopping, decoration, cleaning the silver, but also kitchen-work, which ate into the workshop time. But it is a good and enjoyable time of the year. Workshop activities resumed with
 
Fitting the deck
 
Or rather cutting out the openings for the deckhouses etc. When I prepared for the layout and put the previously prepared deck onto the drawing, I realised suddenly that the engravings of the planks at stern were not symmetrical to the middle line and very noticeably so now. So, it was kind of back to square one with cutting a new deck and fitting it to the model. Using the old one has template sped up things, but there was still an evening of sanding and fitting and sanding again, etc. lost. Then also the planks had to be engraved again, this time taking utmost care not to get it wrong again. This has now been the fourth incarnation of the deck …
Then I started to tackle a job that literally has zero tolerance for error, meaning that the cut-outs for the deckhouses had to be a snug fit and there is no way to correct any inaccuracies. If there was any gap, it would have been again back to square one, with lots of possibilities to get something wrong again.
 After some rough layout, holes were drilled into the square, where there will be an opening and cuts were made with a scalpel and sufficient margin around the edges. Two diagonal cuts allowed to break out the waste in form of triangles. The openings then were cautiously widened by filing and frequent test-fitting until a snug-fit all around was achieved. By taking time, this went smoothly and without further incidents.
 The deck and the deckhouses are only temporarily installed and will be carefully adjusted during the final installation. I now need to make a temporary mast to determine the exact location and shape for it deck opening. This allows me also to determine the position the pump and drill a hole for it.
 
To be continued …
 

These kayaks look very realistic 👍🏻 I don't remember, did you already describe how they were made?
 
Since I worked for some years in one of the French arctic research instutes (long story how this came about), I got interested a bit in traditional skin-boats and began to collect literature on them: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/maritimebibliographies/skin-boat-bibliography.pdf. I had a Greenland kayak lying in the corridor in front of my office.
 

Your tin-plated parts look very good and simulate stainless steel very well. Just the right shine for a model.
 
Personally, I would glaze the windows e.g. with some acrylic glass or microscopy cover glasses.
 

Your tin-plated parts look very good and simulate stainless steel very well. Just the right shine for a model.
 
Personally, I would glaze the windows e.g. with some acrylic glass or microscopy cover glasses.
 

As for most of us, our collaboration was required for various Christmas-related preparations, such as grocery shopping, decoration, cleaning the silver, but also kitchen-work, which ate into the workshop time. But it is a good and enjoyable time of the year. Workshop activities resumed with
 
Fitting the deck
 
Or rather cutting out the openings for the deckhouses etc. When I prepared for the layout and put the previously prepared deck onto the drawing, I realised suddenly that the engravings of the planks at stern were not symmetrical to the middle line and very noticeably so now. So, it was kind of back to square one with cutting a new deck and fitting it to the model. Using the old one has template sped up things, but there was still an evening of sanding and fitting and sanding again, etc. lost. Then also the planks had to be engraved again, this time taking utmost care not to get it wrong again. This has now been the fourth incarnation of the deck …
Then I started to tackle a job that literally has zero tolerance for error, meaning that the cut-outs for the deckhouses had to be a snug fit and there is no way to correct any inaccuracies. If there was any gap, it would have been again back to square one, with lots of possibilities to get something wrong again.
 After some rough layout, holes were drilled into the square, where there will be an opening and cuts were made with a scalpel and sufficient margin around the edges. Two diagonal cuts allowed to break out the waste in form of triangles. The openings then were cautiously widened by filing and frequent test-fitting until a snug-fit all around was achieved. By taking time, this went smoothly and without further incidents.
 The deck and the deckhouses are only temporarily installed and will be carefully adjusted during the final installation. I now need to make a temporary mast to determine the exact location and shape for it deck opening. This allows me also to determine the position the pump and drill a hole for it.
 
To be continued …
 

The Gaff Topsail is hoisted!  Next up are the yards' lifts, braces and sheets.  

As I've built the two intact Nattilingmiut kayaks that Amundsen collected on King William Island, I thought I'd also make the three wood and caribou antler sleds-- the specs for these come from J. Garth Taylor's 1974 "Netsilik Eskimo Material Culture: The Roald Amundsen Collection from King William Island."  The model sleds are made from cedar, paper, and copper wire, lashed with button thread. 

As for most of us, our collaboration was required for various Christmas-related preparations, such as grocery shopping, decoration, cleaning the silver, but also kitchen-work, which ate into the workshop time. But it is a good and enjoyable time of the year. Workshop activities resumed with
 
Fitting the deck
 
Or rather cutting out the openings for the deckhouses etc. When I prepared for the layout and put the previously prepared deck onto the drawing, I realised suddenly that the engravings of the planks at stern were not symmetrical to the middle line and very noticeably so now. So, it was kind of back to square one with cutting a new deck and fitting it to the model. Using the old one has template sped up things, but there was still an evening of sanding and fitting and sanding again, etc. lost. Then also the planks had to be engraved again, this time taking utmost care not to get it wrong again. This has now been the fourth incarnation of the deck …
Then I started to tackle a job that literally has zero tolerance for error, meaning that the cut-outs for the deckhouses had to be a snug fit and there is no way to correct any inaccuracies. If there was any gap, it would have been again back to square one, with lots of possibilities to get something wrong again.
 After some rough layout, holes were drilled into the square, where there will be an opening and cuts were made with a scalpel and sufficient margin around the edges. Two diagonal cuts allowed to break out the waste in form of triangles. The openings then were cautiously widened by filing and frequent test-fitting until a snug-fit all around was achieved. By taking time, this went smoothly and without further incidents.
 The deck and the deckhouses are only temporarily installed and will be carefully adjusted during the final installation. I now need to make a temporary mast to determine the exact location and shape for it deck opening. This allows me also to determine the position the pump and drill a hole for it.
 
To be continued …
 

On with the various details:
 
Chain plates plated & installed with glue, nb: with a 1mm diameter brass rod below, into the deck structure.

 
The traveller is from 2mm brass rod, & the details from brass rod centre drilled to slide on. I made a cardboard template to bend the shape over, although it didn't work fully as the shallow curve had to be done by hand as the metal didn't take the shape on the template. The legs extended down into timber take give a good glue fix. Tinned & polished.

 
The purchased scale winches were plated, & with the spacers for the smaller ones - kindly made by Bedford - fitted, they look good. Also, small bevels to the lower outer edges, to look right they must have a small gap to the timber they sit on.

 
The mast seal was made from 4x 2mm acrylic layers, laser cut into sized doughnuts & sanded to give the rounded edges, painted etc. The actual fitting is a roofing rubber seal with a rubber piece that can be trimmed to suit the size of the pipe (or mast).

 
And the portholes...I had some brass washers & started by enlarging the centre holes to suit. 2 small & 4 large. The washer is on the right, on the left are the washers with the ID adjusted, by hand with the rat tail file & finished with sandpaper wrapped on some dowel.

 
I then had to reduce the OD, & for this I made another version of the home-made lathe. This time using a piece of timber dowel with a centre cut & a timber wedge to lock the washers in place, Crude, but it worked well. I held sandpaper against the spinning edges until the diameter was right. The washers got extremely hot, so actually it was some rags below the sandpaper, & you can see the dowel is slightly scorched.

 
Then soldered the thin wall brass tube pieces to transform them to the portholes. The lip created by the tubing is a small but visually significant detail. In this case I won't show the fixings (6x c/sunk bolt heads on the flanges), as I believe they would be visually much more noticeable than on the actual boat, so in this case they will be left off.

 
There are some flaws, & of course I didn't photograph those ones....but not significant enough (I think) to be an issue. 

The hull the portholes sit on is jet black, & won't put 'glass' into the porthole apertures. But after considering it, I will paint the part of the hull visible through the portholes - but a slightly lighter shade than full black. In reality, glass will reflect surrounding light more than the hull paint & so will appear paler. I'll do a v dark brown/grey, just add a small amount of tints to some black base.
 
thanks,
 

As for most of us, our collaboration was required for various Christmas-related preparations, such as grocery shopping, decoration, cleaning the silver, but also kitchen-work, which ate into the workshop time. But it is a good and enjoyable time of the year. Workshop activities resumed with
 
Fitting the deck
 
Or rather cutting out the openings for the deckhouses etc. When I prepared for the layout and put the previously prepared deck onto the drawing, I realised suddenly that the engravings of the planks at stern were not symmetrical to the middle line and very noticeably so now. So, it was kind of back to square one with cutting a new deck and fitting it to the model. Using the old one has template sped up things, but there was still an evening of sanding and fitting and sanding again, etc. lost. Then also the planks had to be engraved again, this time taking utmost care not to get it wrong again. This has now been the fourth incarnation of the deck …
Then I started to tackle a job that literally has zero tolerance for error, meaning that the cut-outs for the deckhouses had to be a snug fit and there is no way to correct any inaccuracies. If there was any gap, it would have been again back to square one, with lots of possibilities to get something wrong again.
 After some rough layout, holes were drilled into the square, where there will be an opening and cuts were made with a scalpel and sufficient margin around the edges. Two diagonal cuts allowed to break out the waste in form of triangles. The openings then were cautiously widened by filing and frequent test-fitting until a snug-fit all around was achieved. By taking time, this went smoothly and without further incidents.
 The deck and the deckhouses are only temporarily installed and will be carefully adjusted during the final installation. I now need to make a temporary mast to determine the exact location and shape for it deck opening. This allows me also to determine the position the pump and drill a hole for it.
 
To be continued …
 

As for most of us, our collaboration was required for various Christmas-related preparations, such as grocery shopping, decoration, cleaning the silver, but also kitchen-work, which ate into the workshop time. But it is a good and enjoyable time of the year. Workshop activities resumed with
 
Fitting the deck
 
Or rather cutting out the openings for the deckhouses etc. When I prepared for the layout and put the previously prepared deck onto the drawing, I realised suddenly that the engravings of the planks at stern were not symmetrical to the middle line and very noticeably so now. So, it was kind of back to square one with cutting a new deck and fitting it to the model. Using the old one has template sped up things, but there was still an evening of sanding and fitting and sanding again, etc. lost. Then also the planks had to be engraved again, this time taking utmost care not to get it wrong again. This has now been the fourth incarnation of the deck …
Then I started to tackle a job that literally has zero tolerance for error, meaning that the cut-outs for the deckhouses had to be a snug fit and there is no way to correct any inaccuracies. If there was any gap, it would have been again back to square one, with lots of possibilities to get something wrong again.
 After some rough layout, holes were drilled into the square, where there will be an opening and cuts were made with a scalpel and sufficient margin around the edges. Two diagonal cuts allowed to break out the waste in form of triangles. The openings then were cautiously widened by filing and frequent test-fitting until a snug-fit all around was achieved. By taking time, this went smoothly and without further incidents.
 The deck and the deckhouses are only temporarily installed and will be carefully adjusted during the final installation. I now need to make a temporary mast to determine the exact location and shape for it deck opening. This allows me also to determine the position the pump and drill a hole for it.
 
To be continued …
 

Christmas wishes to you as well, Eberhard. The model is really starting to take form now, & a pretty ship she is.

Looks great Eberhard, I like the methodological approach you are taking with this little gem.
 
Glad to hear you had a great Christmas and wishing you only the best in health and prosperity for 2026.
 
cheers
 
Pat

As for most of us, our collaboration was required for various Christmas-related preparations, such as grocery shopping, decoration, cleaning the silver, but also kitchen-work, which ate into the workshop time. But it is a good and enjoyable time of the year. Workshop activities resumed with
 
Fitting the deck
 
Or rather cutting out the openings for the deckhouses etc. When I prepared for the layout and put the previously prepared deck onto the drawing, I realised suddenly that the engravings of the planks at stern were not symmetrical to the middle line and very noticeably so now. So, it was kind of back to square one with cutting a new deck and fitting it to the model. Using the old one has template sped up things, but there was still an evening of sanding and fitting and sanding again, etc. lost. Then also the planks had to be engraved again, this time taking utmost care not to get it wrong again. This has now been the fourth incarnation of the deck …
Then I started to tackle a job that literally has zero tolerance for error, meaning that the cut-outs for the deckhouses had to be a snug fit and there is no way to correct any inaccuracies. If there was any gap, it would have been again back to square one, with lots of possibilities to get something wrong again.
 After some rough layout, holes were drilled into the square, where there will be an opening and cuts were made with a scalpel and sufficient margin around the edges. Two diagonal cuts allowed to break out the waste in form of triangles. The openings then were cautiously widened by filing and frequent test-fitting until a snug-fit all around was achieved. By taking time, this went smoothly and without further incidents.
 The deck and the deckhouses are only temporarily installed and will be carefully adjusted during the final installation. I now need to make a temporary mast to determine the exact location and shape for it deck opening. This allows me also to determine the position the pump and drill a hole for it.
 
To be continued …
 

As for most of us, our collaboration was required for various Christmas-related preparations, such as grocery shopping, decoration, cleaning the silver, but also kitchen-work, which ate into the workshop time. But it is a good and enjoyable time of the year. Workshop activities resumed with
 
Fitting the deck
 
Or rather cutting out the openings for the deckhouses etc. When I prepared for the layout and put the previously prepared deck onto the drawing, I realised suddenly that the engravings of the planks at stern were not symmetrical to the middle line and very noticeably so now. So, it was kind of back to square one with cutting a new deck and fitting it to the model. Using the old one has template sped up things, but there was still an evening of sanding and fitting and sanding again, etc. lost. Then also the planks had to be engraved again, this time taking utmost care not to get it wrong again. This has now been the fourth incarnation of the deck …
Then I started to tackle a job that literally has zero tolerance for error, meaning that the cut-outs for the deckhouses had to be a snug fit and there is no way to correct any inaccuracies. If there was any gap, it would have been again back to square one, with lots of possibilities to get something wrong again.
 After some rough layout, holes were drilled into the square, where there will be an opening and cuts were made with a scalpel and sufficient margin around the edges. Two diagonal cuts allowed to break out the waste in form of triangles. The openings then were cautiously widened by filing and frequent test-fitting until a snug-fit all around was achieved. By taking time, this went smoothly and without further incidents.
 The deck and the deckhouses are only temporarily installed and will be carefully adjusted during the final installation. I now need to make a temporary mast to determine the exact location and shape for it deck opening. This allows me also to determine the position the pump and drill a hole for it.
 
To be continued …
 

As for most of us, our collaboration was required for various Christmas-related preparations, such as grocery shopping, decoration, cleaning the silver, but also kitchen-work, which ate into the workshop time. But it is a good and enjoyable time of the year. Workshop activities resumed with
 
Fitting the deck
 
Or rather cutting out the openings for the deckhouses etc. When I prepared for the layout and put the previously prepared deck onto the drawing, I realised suddenly that the engravings of the planks at stern were not symmetrical to the middle line and very noticeably so now. So, it was kind of back to square one with cutting a new deck and fitting it to the model. Using the old one has template sped up things, but there was still an evening of sanding and fitting and sanding again, etc. lost. Then also the planks had to be engraved again, this time taking utmost care not to get it wrong again. This has now been the fourth incarnation of the deck …
Then I started to tackle a job that literally has zero tolerance for error, meaning that the cut-outs for the deckhouses had to be a snug fit and there is no way to correct any inaccuracies. If there was any gap, it would have been again back to square one, with lots of possibilities to get something wrong again.
 After some rough layout, holes were drilled into the square, where there will be an opening and cuts were made with a scalpel and sufficient margin around the edges. Two diagonal cuts allowed to break out the waste in form of triangles. The openings then were cautiously widened by filing and frequent test-fitting until a snug-fit all around was achieved. By taking time, this went smoothly and without further incidents.
 The deck and the deckhouses are only temporarily installed and will be carefully adjusted during the final installation. I now need to make a temporary mast to determine the exact location and shape for it deck opening. This allows me also to determine the position the pump and drill a hole for it.
 
To be continued …
 

Carlines are done.   
 

The hog chain braces are still loose and need to be cut to length.  I also included a template for the pilothouse.  There are a few other cutouts on the hurricane deck.  One is a (? viewing?)  hatch that may have been used to allow the pilot a better vision when docking.  Not completely certain what this was for but several of the Ryan built boats had these. Any of your ideas would be greatly appreciated. The other is the opening for the ladder from the boiler deck to the hurricane deck.  This is what the unpainted ladder looks like.
 

I get more model time and more done during a Wisconsin winter when the weather is conducive to indoor pursuits.  Now it is time to plank the hurricane deck.

As for most of us, our collaboration was required for various Christmas-related preparations, such as grocery shopping, decoration, cleaning the silver, but also kitchen-work, which ate into the workshop time. But it is a good and enjoyable time of the year. Workshop activities resumed with
 
Fitting the deck
 
Or rather cutting out the openings for the deckhouses etc. When I prepared for the layout and put the previously prepared deck onto the drawing, I realised suddenly that the engravings of the planks at stern were not symmetrical to the middle line and very noticeably so now. So, it was kind of back to square one with cutting a new deck and fitting it to the model. Using the old one has template sped up things, but there was still an evening of sanding and fitting and sanding again, etc. lost. Then also the planks had to be engraved again, this time taking utmost care not to get it wrong again. This has now been the fourth incarnation of the deck …
Then I started to tackle a job that literally has zero tolerance for error, meaning that the cut-outs for the deckhouses had to be a snug fit and there is no way to correct any inaccuracies. If there was any gap, it would have been again back to square one, with lots of possibilities to get something wrong again.
 After some rough layout, holes were drilled into the square, where there will be an opening and cuts were made with a scalpel and sufficient margin around the edges. Two diagonal cuts allowed to break out the waste in form of triangles. The openings then were cautiously widened by filing and frequent test-fitting until a snug-fit all around was achieved. By taking time, this went smoothly and without further incidents.
 The deck and the deckhouses are only temporarily installed and will be carefully adjusted during the final installation. I now need to make a temporary mast to determine the exact location and shape for it deck opening. This allows me also to determine the position the pump and drill a hole for it.
 
To be continued …
 

As for most of us, our collaboration was required for various Christmas-related preparations, such as grocery shopping, decoration, cleaning the silver, but also kitchen-work, which ate into the workshop time. But it is a good and enjoyable time of the year. Workshop activities resumed with
 
Fitting the deck
 
Or rather cutting out the openings for the deckhouses etc. When I prepared for the layout and put the previously prepared deck onto the drawing, I realised suddenly that the engravings of the planks at stern were not symmetrical to the middle line and very noticeably so now. So, it was kind of back to square one with cutting a new deck and fitting it to the model. Using the old one has template sped up things, but there was still an evening of sanding and fitting and sanding again, etc. lost. Then also the planks had to be engraved again, this time taking utmost care not to get it wrong again. This has now been the fourth incarnation of the deck …
Then I started to tackle a job that literally has zero tolerance for error, meaning that the cut-outs for the deckhouses had to be a snug fit and there is no way to correct any inaccuracies. If there was any gap, it would have been again back to square one, with lots of possibilities to get something wrong again.
 After some rough layout, holes were drilled into the square, where there will be an opening and cuts were made with a scalpel and sufficient margin around the edges. Two diagonal cuts allowed to break out the waste in form of triangles. The openings then were cautiously widened by filing and frequent test-fitting until a snug-fit all around was achieved. By taking time, this went smoothly and without further incidents.
 The deck and the deckhouses are only temporarily installed and will be carefully adjusted during the final installation. I now need to make a temporary mast to determine the exact location and shape for it deck opening. This allows me also to determine the position the pump and drill a hole for it.
 
To be continued …
 

And here's the more or less finished building temporarily in place, just so you can see the context. Still a variety of small details to add, like a main sign on the front, maybe a few posters on the wall, etc. There will be another similar storefront between this and the backdrop. I did a bit of weathering on the walls to break up the smooth paint scheme.

I like the "alley" behind this block of buildings and the leatherworks. Gives this area a bit more urban feel and helps with the transition from upscale commercial into the more industrial depot district.

 
And here's a closeup. The sidewalk is just set in place, it'll be painted/weathered appropriately. But this shows how the interior helps; you can see some details of the store and even the proprietor. Much better than an empty box, with this many large windows.

I'll use more scenic materials to blend all these buildings in once they're done. But it's nice to start getting this end of town filled in.

During my first visit to the USA in 1984 or so, I think it was in one of the East Coast university towns, I noticed strange vertical seams along the classical Doric columns of the grand porch of a building, knocked on it to confirm my suspicion - and indeed it sounded woody-hollow 😲

If you recommend products, keep in mind, whether they may be available in other parts of the world and perhaps at what price … 
 

I have two areas in the same room, one for wood kits, and one for plastic kits. I collect the old aircraft kits from the 60’s, the ones I built as a kid. The wood model area has two drawing tables, my small tools, small Wen bandsaw, a proxon sander, dremels ect and Bluejackets Smuggler in works… No carpet or rug for the wood area, easier to vacuum up the dust and shavings.