EdT

Thank you, Will. I appreciate your comments. I have been a long-time used of a product called Homasote. It is a dense compressed paper product sold mainly for soundproofing. It initially found use for hobbyists as model railroad track base. It holds pins well - and track spikes. I would search online for it. Lowes and/or Home Depot have carried it recently, but a general search may yield other sources. I do not know of a good substitute and have relied on it for years. Let me know what you find. Ed

Beautiful work, Chuck! Ed

Nice, creative technique, Tom. Thanks for sharing.

Hello, everyone, I see that the last posting on this topic was some time ago, but I wanted to take this opportunity to announce that the third and final volume of the book has shipped and to thank those who have purchased so far. For those who received shipments before the holidays, you may have noticed that an incorrect CD was included in those early shipments. This manufacturing error is being corrected urgently by Seawatchbooks, so you should be hearing from them shortly to receive a copy of the correct CD. Apart from this problem, the response to the book so far has been excellent - I am told. I am very glad to hear that. I will say, that work on this volume was, for me, more than the effort on the previous four books combined. There will, no doubt, be the inevitable minor errors in the immense amount of data included, and while I do not look forward to hearing about those, I will endeavor to correct important errors via this topic on this forum - as I have done with previous volumes for both ships. I monitor comments on these topics daily for that reason. So, happy new year everyone. Ed

Thank you, everyone, for all these comments. I have been less active on the forum for awhile, but I still check for notifications and p-messages every day. I am happy to say that YA Volume 3 has shipped - I received my copies before the holidays. Please be aware that there was a problem in assembling the book package - with the CD that was included with the book. Seawatch is sending the correct replacement CDs for all books shipped and correcting this for future shipments. If you received a book you should be hearing from them. So far, the response to the book has been very good. My thanks and apologies to all the early purchasers. As usual. I will be monitoring the forum topics in the Book Review Section here on the forum - for comments, questions etc. Any necessary corrections will also be placed on those topics - for both Naiad and Young America books. Thanks again for all your support over the past several years. Ed

Still hibernating on what, when, or if, Sailor, but I got my copies of Volume III this week and maybe that will shake some cobwebs loose. Thanks for asking. Ed

Thank you for these recent comments - Nils, Kortes, Svein Erik, Micheal and Clipperfan. Seems like a while since I have been in touch on the forum since the model was completed in May. Spent quite a bit of time on the third volume this summer and I believe it is soon to be out. For those of you who got the Seawatch ad insert in the last NRG journal issue, the book is featured. In addition to the features listed in the ad there are also 13 printed drawings in 1:96 and 1:72 scale. These were not mentioned in the ad. Cheers all, Ed

I have used razor blades like those shown by Allan and also heavier hard metal - like saw blades. I also have 16g SS plate cut-offs that I have used a lot. One additional suggestion: scrape the shape onto the a larger wood blank of the right breadth then rip off the molding on the saw. The larger piece is easier to hold in a vise and the stiffness helps when scraping. The final sawed thickness is then always accurate even if the piece is over-scraped. Ed

Stick with it, Guy. Ed

Looking good, Pat! Ed

Beautiful model, Frank. Wonderful workmanship and attention to detail. Love it. Ed

A somewhat belated thank you for these last comments and likes. They are very much appreciated .

Amazing work, Frank - very impressive. Hats off. Ed

Hi Mark, Oil based stains sound really messy to me for this. Also, I believe Minwax stains have an oil based resin resin binder, but that may not stiffen rope if used diluted. I guess this would make the rope waterproof, making any glue sealing a problem. Add to that the environmental issues with solvents. I would not recommend. I do not use hot water to dye rope. Probably would soften cotton rope fibers. Also, no soaking. Residence time in dye is about 1 second as it is pulled through. I suppose low initial torgue in the rope strands could also be at work. I have had no problem with water softening rope - cotton or linen - thread or made rope. India ink is a suspension of carbon black in water with some shellac binder to make it waterproof. Will not fade. I do not know about sepia ink, but suspect the same. Most ink is not a solution, but a suspension of fine particles (i.e. pigment), in this case in water. Soluble, chemical aniline based dyes were invented over a century ago and largely replaced vegetable dyes that were dominant to that time. Vegetable or natural dyes are fadeproof. It is the reason oriental carpets retain the color over centuries. I believe the problem with aniline is that ultra violet light gradually breaks down the large complex molecules, thus weakening the color over time. Fortunately, our clothes spend most of their life in dark closets. Colorfast usually refers the resistance to washing, not to light. On my Victory model I used diluted acrylic gouache to color both hemp and black rope. This too is a pigment, suspension, and has shown no fading in a sunny window for 10 years. Also, acrylic bunder caused no stiffening of rope. Also no softening. Mostly linen rope on that model. I switched to walnut based on Bernard Frolich's process in his book The Art of ship Modeling. He also uses cotton crochet thread. By concentrating in the crevices between strands, dye highlights the rope turns - an advantage of dyeing rope perhaps. Good luck. I wouldn't work this issue too hard. There are good, easy solutions, sorry, suspensions. Ed

Hi Mark, I am with Gaetan on this one. I use walnut dye/stain as well, in the form of Vandyke crystals dissolved in water. Here is a link, but I am sure there are other sources: https://www.amazon.com/Liberon-Van-Dyck-Crystals-500g/dp/B001GU6GVU/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=van+dyke+crystals&qid=1559390082&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spell Natural walnut , as well as other vegetable dyes/stains are non-fading, a key factor. Rit, Tintex or other aniline based dyes will certainly fade, really fade, over time when exposed to light. The dye may be diluted to give the desired shade. It is very close in color to natural hemp. There is no need to dye all the line at once. I dye it in usable lengths of about 6-8 feet on an as-needed basis, by dragging it through a jar of stain as Gaetan suggests. I use a simple wood strip with a wide V-notch to hold the line down when passing through the jar - I use plastic wide-mouth food containers kept covered when not in use. I then wipe the line with paper towel and hang it up between binder clips to dry - about an hour or two is usually enough. I do this with made rope or thread for the small sizes - cotton or linen. Its an easy step. I leave the set up in one corner of the shop. It is somewhat messy. For black, I substitute diluted India Ink. For most of the lines on Young America I then treated the rope by passing it through a diluted emulsion to reduce fuzz and perhaps help with moisture absorption. I used pH neutral pva white glue, but I am sure acrylic emulsion ( matte medium) would work as well. I used one tbsp of glue in a cup of water, but did not test other concentrations. The rope was no stiffened noticeably by this and the fuzz reduction was evident. After all this I pass the line through the flame of an alcohol lamp to burn off any fuzz or fibers lifted by the process - then wrap it on cardboard spools - I should say tubes. Ed