Mike Y

Bolin, maybe you would be an appropriate person to ask, since it is a bit related to the vessel you are building.. Last summer I had a brief visit of Skärgårdsmuseet on Nämdö, a tiny museum in the old school building on one of the islands. They had some factoids about Roslagen sloops and one thing made me puzzled: apparently there were some restrictions on the size and type of the ships that the archipelago farmers were allowed to have, and these restrictions were one of the major drivers for the design of these sloops (trying to maximise the efficiency). What was the reason for such restrictions? Do you have some sources to read to find out more? It's unlikely to be driven by natural factors (there are no critical channels in this area), sounds more like an anti-competition measure. Would appreciate if you can share more details that you've found during your research

The ceiling planking is completed. Finishing was super easy and I'm happy with the resulting finish. Final result with a natural light: Not as happy with the overall result. There are some mistakes in the treenail pattern, and some lines are not so smooth and fair on the photos. Uneven treenails also bug me - even after finishing they look pretty different, some are much darker than the others. It looks like I used different wood and different diameter holes, which is not the case. Would never use bamboo treenails anymore, even if they are easier to make. But luckily that whole area would not be so visible, so no re-do is necessary. I learned a lot from doing it and hope to improve when it's time to plank more exposed areas. So now I'll spend some quiet evening time surrounded by books and plans, trying to make sense of the whole internal arrangement in the hold of the ship It's a real puzzle! As usual, Hahn plans are not so detailed, so I'm looking into various sources for the same period / type of ship and try to map it to the NMM drawing.

I did tested a water-based and a spirit-based dye, though on pear instead of boxwood (both have similar texture, pear being much cheaper). After 10 months of being exposed to an occasional sunlight the spirit based dye turned into a mess. Before: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/7297-beavers-prize-by-mike-y-148-1777-pof-hahn-style/?do=findComment&comment=455741 After: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/7297-beavers-prize-by-mike-y-148-1777-pof-hahn-style/?do=findComment&comment=514733 As usual, the finishes popular in US may be hard to find (or expensive) in UK or EU. Your results may vary... I was surprised with such a difference. I am not the only one, I remember a few logs where people faced a major discoloration and blotches appearing on their dyed wales after a while. Of course exposing your model to sunlight is not a smart idea, but if a certain finish tends to fall apart after such test - it would probably do so in a regular indoor environment too, just slower.

Your accuracy and precision level pays off! These frame pieces look great, please avoid using that scary drawknife on them!

Håkan, Osmo is pretty common in Sweden, I have it in two random local hardware shops, no need to order from other countries. Plenty of sources online: https://www.pricerunner.se/sp/osmo-hårdvaxolja-3062.html For example: https://www.bygghemma.se/golv-och-vagg/malarfarg-och-tapet/olja-och-bets/hardvaxolja/hardvaxolja-osmo-orginalet-matt-3062/p-449522-427600 It is really easy to apply, you can use literally anything to just put it on your part, spread it around with a tool of your liking, and then you have around 3-5min to wipe it off carefuly with a paper towel or a cloth before it gets sticky. For a full-size woodworking applications it is recommended to use the scotch-brite pad to "get it into the wood", which is not practical on a model. I never had any problems when not using that pad. It is also easy to store - my can is 3-4 years old, nothing is clumping up or drying up, no film build-up. See this video, for example: I would not try it with an airbrush - no need, and cleaning it up afterwards would be a giant mess. Gaetan, thanks for the very detailed information! Actually I do not want any major colour change, I just want to add a bit of depth, bring up the grain and have some protection against finger stains. I was considering a non-finished version, but I like the look of a lightly finished wood, just a personal preference. I want the finish to look natural - with no visible film/layer and the least amount of sheen. Basically the opposite of a varnish. The tung oil I have is pure (at least it says so on a box), some kind of local fine woodworking / boatbuilding brand. I do not have the original package to show It behaves exactly as you say - making wood darker, and I like that effect on the frames. It is also showing the grain really well. Of course all finishes are applied before the glue-up, however I know that sometimes I would make a mistake and apply a finish too early, just to add something on top of the part a few years later. Hence the re-application test. No, absolutely not. I already see that finishes are specific to the wood type and an application you have (long grain, cross grain, darker/lighter/etc). I also see very little difference on boxwood planks, they all look very similar (except a darker tung oil), but on pear the difference is substantial. For any other wood the test needs to be done again, and on a test piece more complex than just some random cutoff. Of course, it should be sanded to the same grits as on the model. I have previously tried Osmo Polyx on Cherry and Black Walnut, and pretty happy with the results. However it was always applied in two coats, which I would not want on a model (the finish ends up too thick for a small scale).

Finishes that were tested: (the bottle on the left side is a pure tung oil) Results: Unfortunately photos can't show all the nuances, I'm not a good photographer Don't want to make you bored with a full description of each test piece, just the main notes: 1) Be careful with your pure tung oil, it looks like mine started to solidify - the finished piece is full of small shiny glitter-like speckles, and the result is quite uneven. When I finished frames with the same tung oil - there was no such problem, but the oil was fresh. It is also the darkest of all the finishes. 2) Sanding sealers were hard to apply - they become sticky really fast, and the #7 Rustins Shellac Sealer was so sticky that a lot of paper fibers just got glued right away. As a result, all shellac-based sealers were too blotchy and uneven. Maybe you really need to dilute them, but I did not want to play around with that - the number of possible recipes goes up to infinity, and it's too fiddly to do The cellulose sealer was the least bad out of them all. Look on all that hairy fibers that got stuck! Eeew. 3) The leftover glue looks more or less the same for all finishes except tung oil - it makes glue whiter and shinier. 4) Tung oil also makes treenails look a bit thicker, the rest of the finishes have the same effect on treenails. As a result, I have two finalists - Danish Oil and Osmo Polyx (hard wax-oil mixture #3062). They look very similar, closest to the natural wood colour. Coincidentally they are also the easiest to apply and spot-fix! Danish oil has a little bit more shine, while Osmo is the matt-est finish of them all. I was worried about wiping off Osmo (it is supposed to be sensitive to it, no thick layers should remain). Surprisingly, a thorough inspection with optivisor could not find any problems in tight areas, no build-up or any imperfections. During the recent years I used it on a number of mini woodworking projects (boxes, pens, etc) and it holds well over time. So, surprisingly, the winner is Osmo Polyx #3062! Danish oil is the second close. Osmo is a relatively new finish, getting traction in fine woodworking, but I only found a few logs on MSW that mention it. It's not cheap, but a small can would last for a pretty long time. Based on these test results - I really encourage others to try and share what you think!

To test the finishes I made some test pieces: 1) Boxwood planking fragment. With a bit of treenails, cross-piece with a glue left over from one side, and a few glue drops specifically planted. I remember that some finishes highlight the glue drops and any imperfections, so I've made them on purpose The cross-piece makes it harder to wipe off the finish, and I want to see how the build-up in that corner would look like. 2) Deck structure imitation, with a bit exaggerated curve to see how finish absorbs into diagonal grain. Half-circular piece creates a tiny corner that is hard to clean up, again to test the build-up. Most of the piece is made using swiss pear (pink-ish), but two parts are in a yellow pear (aka regular pear, but non-steamed), leftover from the original timbering package. I am planning to use different shades (a bit like Albert on his Naiad) and curious to see how different finishes highlight that difference. This was a fun project of its own, I really enjoyed making them. It was a good opportunity to test my fancy fret saw. This brand is usually used as a decoration on a background of your woodworking youtube channel, but since I do not have one - I just cut wood with it It's quite ok, need to practice more to cut straighter, but the main benefit is quietness - I can slowly cut my pieces while the family is around, while they need to hide somewhere if I fire up a bandsaw. The common way of cutting the underside of a beam by using a mill is a bit too cumbersome with such tiny pieces, so I just scribe a line and then sand to this line with a small sanding drum: It was also a good practice in cutting notches. Two marking gauges and very handy, chisel registers in the scribed line and does not slip anywhere. The resulting quality was not always good, you can see a few gaps and dings, so this practice run was quite necessary. Each piece got one coat of finish, non-diluted, just as it says on the box. Excess wiped off more or less immediately with a paper towel. After a few days, I imitated a spot-fix (e.g. if I need to glue something to a finished part) - scraped away a small spot and re-applied a drop of finish to that area, blending it to the adjacent area. The point is to see how well it blends, if there is a visible difference between that area with two coats as compared to one coat on the rest of the piece. There was no post-finishing with steel wool - since this would be hard to do on a model, and I'm afraid of tiny metal particles getting stuck in random places and rusting after a while.

Just a small note - the crank one from IKEA is very flimsy and has a lot of play, you get what you pay for. The proper electrical (BEKANT) is pretty sturdy and I can fully recommend it, best tool in my workshop. Note that they sell it without a tabletop as well, and you can screw on any tabletop that you like. The office-style fiberboard top may not be strong enough if you clamp a vice on it, drill some holes, etc. Solid wood is more practical for out needs.

Very realistic! Can you make it smell too? Might worth to scratch it a tiny bit with steel wool or some brite pad (aka the scratchy side of a dishwashing foam pad) to lighten the edges a bit. Though it definitely needs some experimentation first

Very fine quality work! And a nice photography as well Thanks for showing your milling setups, some of them are quite creative! One question though: when you milled ladders by using a double sided tape and a block of wood - how do you attach that block of wood to the mill table? I do not see any clamps there. Another layer of a double sided tape?

Greg, druxey, thank you both for the input! Will definitely try the "clean" look too

Håkan, you are lucky, we have a number of suppliers who sell it (I use Arkowood from Germany). It's not cheap (they sell custom milled sheets (50x500mm) with good surface finish for around 8-10€ for 1-2mm thickness, 13€ for 3mm, 15€ for 5mm, 19€ for 8mm), but not prohibitively expensive considering the size of your models. Beware - once you've tried it - you may be hooked

Alan, putting glue into each hole would be quite messy and complicated, every second counts here since it's quite a lot of treenails. The holes are a bit oversized to allow for glue (otherwise it is very hard to push, and such a thin treenail breaks easily). The oversizing is small though - instead of a "proper" diameter of "the third smallest hole on Byrnes drawplate" I use the second smallest hole. The end of the treenail is dipped into a small puddle of fresh glue and inserted, then trimmed with scissors immediately. In 5min glue get slowly sucked into the hole, I had no issues with treenails falling off even in areas where I need to shave off quite a lot of wood afterwards. No chamfering of a lead corner, instead I make sure to "open up" the hole by gently poking a round tip of a wood scriber into it. It does not change the diameter of the hole, just opens up the entrance from loose fibers and other obstructions. It takes a bit of practice to "sense" a hole when there is a glue drop obstructing the view. But after a while it gets easy and relaxing.

Carl, I'm not denying the history or suggest to remove Cromwell from all the books. I just don't want him anywhere close such a intimate thing like a model that you put hundreds or hours and elbow grease into In the same way as I would never build a model of Herman Göring's yacht. And, as Brian mentioned, I am lucky to have a choice - the ship was captured, slightly modified and renamed, it's not too late to pick the version to build. So back to the modelling! Roughly 1200 holes were drilled, the Buzzr did its job perfectly with zero broken bits! 💪 Bamboo treenails were glued in Resulting in a pretty satisfying sight Pointy bits were cut off and most of the glue was removed with a dremel with nylon bristle brush. The hull was covered in plastic since this process is quite messy, small bits of glue are statically charged a bit and stick to everything. Now the best part - sanding and fairing. I really love this one, turns an ugly uneven surface into a neat and clean one (unless there are gaps) Hahn jig is really convenient for such work, since you can actually lean on it and rest your hands on it without damaging the model. That allows you to work precisely and for a longer periods of time with elbows resting. I can really recommend constructing support like this even if you do not use Hahn's method. Nevermind my corona haircut Wide gauge chisel (Pfeil #7) came in handy for removing the remaining glue residue in hard-to-reach areas, as well as fairing the planks. It's surprisingly easy to control, can definitely recommend this tool. The rest was done with a combination of sanding, scraping and chiseling. Final sanding grit was just 400 instead of a usual 600-1200. Here is the end result. Notice how the treenail color is quite different, even though they were all cut from the same wood that looks identical from the outside. I know the the nail pattern is not entirely correct, as an excuse - it was marked up a year ago! It's definitely not perfect, there are a few tiny gaps and dings, but it's good to practice on an internal planking (that would be barely visible afterwards), to build up skills for the more exposed areas. Now it's time to apply some finish (at least to get an even treenail color), but I have no idea which one to use - these planks are actually the first boxwood parts on the model! All my finishing experiments were on pear, cherry and walnut, and the results are very wood-specific. I definitely do not want to turn this boxwood dark green-ish or dark yellow, ideally want to keep the color as light as possible. My guess is that oil is not the way to go, but some kind of sanding sealer would be better. Will make some samples and try all the main finishes I have before using them on the model. Feels a bit wasteful to spend quite a lot of boxwood for these experiments, considering its price and availability... But I wasted less than budgeted on whoopsies and redos, so there is a bit of a reserve

It's actually smaller than a penny (16.25mm for a euro cent vs 19.05mm for a penny). (Pardon, crawling back under a pedantic rock). What giampieroricci is doing is incredible, can't imagine that accuracy on such a small scale, looks like an ultimate challenge! 😲

I have a shameful confession: since the beginning of the build, I've never actually read who Oliver Cromwell was further than a basic summary. "Some aristocratic British dude, whatever, I like the model". In hindsight that was not the smartest thing, it's like picking a rare name for your child without googling it first 🤦‍♂️ Over the last year I found more and more articles about him and his legacy, and it started to smell pretty bad. History (and the present) have had enough brutal authoritarian tyrants, and Cromwell was a pretty dedicated one. I started feeling shame and disgust when opening my own build log, like it's a dirty word that may be actually offensive. I hereby apologise to Irish for my ignorance.. Luckily, there is a way out without deviating from history - that ship was renamed once it was captured by HMS Beaver. The new name was very creative - "Beavers Prize" - probably to make sure nobody would contest the origin of the vessel It's great! It has no relation to any historical figures, a bit humorous and may work as a conversation starter The spelling is not so obvious (Beaver's Prize is also used), but I would use the simpler spelling with no apostrophe, same as on the original NMM plans. So from now on this log is renamed accordingly. Horrah to the Beaver! There are a few modifications that need to be done. When captured, it was measured and the plans were drafted. While there, some improvements were suggested and then implemented: * Second double-level capstan (I guess capstans were like clamps - you can never have too many) * Improved lower deck layout * Fore mast moved ahead a bit * New galley stove installed Quote from the Hahn's book "Ships of The American Revolution": Suggested changes are drawn as a dotted line on the NMM plan: I really like that changes, especially the second capstan - it would make the quarter deck a bit more interesting. P.S.: the actual construction is going well, all treenails are in place and I'm sanding and scraping the internal planking. Will post photos once that phase is completed.

Great subject! I had the opportunity to help a bit to prepare it for the winter (just a few times, it's on the opposite side of town for me..) It was a nice way to spend a weekend, the smell of tar and the joy of helping Great for kids as well!

Looks like you got through that steep learning curve! I cheated and started with some midship (square) frames before approaching fore and aft. Paid in bruised knuckles, but it paid off. Starting "the right way" looks much harder Great build, pulling up a chair!

Hi Hans, Hope things are ok for you! Have you figured out the transom geometry?

Nice to see it taking shape! Everything is so crisp and neatly shaped, I am in awe Glad to see you back on track!

And here is the current state of things:

Time to install top railings. Daria learned how to use a blade for scraping to turn rounded edge to a flat one: Installed: Also added an extra layer of wood for whales, etc. .... And then we had a long break .... She finally got a rabbit that she was planning for a long time, we started mountain biking together, and her baby sister needed attention too, etc etc (excuses, excuses). Modelling was a bit on a backburner for a while. ... A year later we got back to it. - Hm, daddy, I think we haven't been building our ship for a while? - Say no more! 😎 Now time for some fiddly things. "Fashion piece" imitation. I am proud that she could fine fit such a delicate part on her own (very thin and prone to splitting). Catheads. She does not like the feeling of a file rubbing on skin, but masking tape helps with that She wanted a timelapse:

I would seriously challenge the idea of a shop vac for our hobby (assuming you are not doing a full scale woodworking on a side). I am using a regular household vaccuum for 4 years already, though a bit of a fancy variety (Bosch ProSilence, HEPA filter included). It's quiet. The airflow is more than enough, I rarely use it on a highest setting. It's quiet, nothing is ever getting clogged, no dust is spread inside. Its guts are clean as new, and dust bags are cheap and readily available. I also used if for small-scale woodworking, from cutting quite a lot of wood on a table saw to thickness planing. It's way cheaper than a shop vac (100-120 EUR/USD), way smaller and quieter. Since it's quiet - you can easily run it on a low or medium-low rpm during the entire modelling session. I use it all the time when sanding by hand, which actually produces quite a lot of fine dust right next to your mouth. Would you run the shop vac all the time while working on some parts? Unlikely, since it is ungodly loud. This gently kitty can be run all the time. And if I'm wrong and you really need a massive shop vac and a cyclone - it can be always repurposed as a regular household vac, no loss P.S.: the hose of this vac has the right diameter to fit Proxxon tools with no special adapters. I hope that the US version is not using a different hose though...

Yep, these days not sending a short mail "your order is shipped, tracking number is XYZ" is so strange, since literally 95% of the shops do that. It's like ordering a pizza with no order confirmation. Maybe it's coming, maybe it's not. But please enjoy the surprise, eventually your parcel will suddenly show up (assuming your post office is reliable enough, otherwise you are out of luck with no tracking). P.S.: still love SeaWatchBooks and will order more from Bob, just this one particular nuance is so frustrating for some Imagine ordering things to business address with no tracking? Maybe it was delivered to somebody on reception 3 weeks ago, but that person forgot to pass the package. P.P.S.: best wishes to Bob and thanks for providing a very vital service for the community!

Just a few cents The best way to think about it is "put yourself into others shoes". First problem is simple and technical: it's impossible to find your build log link. Even in this topic, where some may be encouraged to have a look - there is no link in your signature. I honestly thought "oh, sure, let's have a look and maybe I can help a bit" - but no, it would take too much clicks just to find it. See https://modelshipworld.com/topic/23663-how-do-you-add-links-to-your-build-logs-under-your-signature/ Second - make sure your question is asked clearly, and preferably with photos. Keeping correct terminology is pretty hard, especially for a beginner, so just using words is not the best idea. For example - I found your topic on deck cutouts, but it's pretty hard to really understand without any pictures. What are these "cutouts"? How are they located in relation to masts and so on? A lot of people would either guess what you mean or just move over to another question, because it takes too much efforts to decode. Third consideration is a bit harsh, and I am not sure how to put it in a very neat terms - but first big heap of initial modelling knowledge is acquired mostly by reading other logs. Majority of newbie questions were already asked bajillion times, there are FAQs, manuals, tutorials and so on spread over MSW. Even with best intentions, it slowly gets old to explain the very same thing for a dozen times, so people loose motivation to help. I cringe when I read some of my first questions, I want to travel back in time and slap myself "just read the manual one more time before asking!". Using this moment to thank everybody who was helping! Ignore the particular vessel, just pick the build log where the build process is shown, not just the end result. Some logs are very educating, you will learn a lot from reading them. Basic techniques are the same. Do not hesitate to go to scratch build logs - there are fewer of those, but often they are very detailed and educating. The balance is delicate. Please do not be shy to post your updates and your logs! Everybody is welcome. But think about it like a giant dance event. You come through the doors and you are in a crowd with thousands of people. They are open and a lot are keen to teach you and dance with you. But first you need to watch a few tutorials on basics, and then just start a small talk to get familiar with some of them. Make yourself friendly and available (see - build log signature). They are under no obligation to help you, but also there is physically no time to dance with everybody. You need to stand out of the crowd just a little bit, to make sure you will be noticed. Good luck, and hope you will find your way and join one of the friendliest and constructive communities in the internet!