vaddoc

Dear all Many thanks for your likes and comments It is Mark but I am looking for something simpler and maybe less permanent. I d like to avoid wielding a very hot iron close to the rigging and the shackles will have rope attached. Still, I think I should try it. Oh yes Druxey, very nicely! But the ones I can get this side of the pond are very expensive. This boat has already gone way overbudget and the admiral unfortunately has noticed... Michael, the holes are 1.1 mm wide and in line. My problem is, after I install them on the boat and pass the rope and the pin through, how to secure the pin in a quick and cheap way that is reversible and looks ok. I ll experiment a bit and post the results. Since there is very little metal in each shackle, maybe a quick touch with the soldering iron would be the better option. For now however, I cannot go in the garage. I had however lots of free time to sit in the computer and got side tracked by another project. I will probably start another log for that. Regards Vaddoc

A quick post I took down the rope walk and is shackle time! I think I ll need very many so I d like to make 100 and choose the best. Now that I have standardised my method, it takes a few minutes to make each shackle. I made a few today, no failures. They still need to be polished. I am struggling a bit with the pin for the shackles. The hole is 1.1 mm and the diameter of the pin ideally should be 1 mm. I could use 1 mm brass wire and CA glue but this is slow and messy. I have ordered some small brass crimp beads with an 1.2 mm hole. I could not find smaller ones. I do not like this idea either though. Vaddoc

Beautiful! Will you paint the hull Geert?

Welcome Afonso! Even a small boat can be surprisingly difficult to make, especially large scale scratch built. But it is also equally surprisingly fun and rewarding. Vaddoc

Very true. There is a current thread on $1000+ milling machines that many of us feel is almost as necessary for life as oxygen. Yet we have built many models without one...I d say just start building using whatever you have. Do start a log. As you progress, you will know what more you need/want/would be very nice to have. (It will be a long list). Regards Vaddoc

It's an unfair world. The admiral recently decided she needs a new hob, extractor fan and living room furniture. My opinion was needed and was given to me...It would not work the same with the milling machine. Is it possible to covert the milling machines mentioned so far to computer guided/router with reasonable bother and expenses? Vaddoc

Indeed Alan, I have come to the same mindset. What would be the features of a sensible buy and what are the real options for a versatile machine? I do not need a milling machine (and cannot afford one just right now) but I sure want one! It seems that the main issues are the travel limits of the table and the spindle speed, whether it can go low enough for wood. Vaddoc

Welcome Tony! Multiyear projects with life getting in the way...yep, you ll fit right in!

I think an update is in order I have been busy as a bee with all sorts of things and spending the limited free (-ish) time making rope. I made a variety of sizes because my rope walk takes up the whole garage so I wanted to take it down and not put it up until my next model. Overall I made 250 m of rope! My rope walk works fantastically well and I actually had a go at making a cored rope. It did not work but the experience was very valuable. I might actually in the future make a whole new motor-cog unit with 4 positions, to make 4 strand and also cored rope. This are my results in regards to thread and rope sizes Left Twist: Petra, Perle Right Twist: Cebelia, Babylo, Cordonnet, Mara one ball Cordonnet 40 makes about 22 m of rope DMC Petra 3, 1x3---1.46 mm Petra 5, 1x3---1.18 mm Petra 8, 1x3---0.88 mm Petra 8, 2x3---1.25 mm Cebelia 10, 1x3---1.06 mm Cebelia 10, (1x3)x3---2 mm Babylo 40, 2x3---0.9 mm Perle 5, 3x3---2.1 mm Perle 5, 2x3---1.72 mm Perle 8, 1x3---0.81 mm Perle 8, 2x3---1.25 mm Perle 12, 1x3---0.63 mm Perle 12, 2x3---0.94 mm Cordonnet 20, 1x3---0.61 mm Cordonnet 20, 2x3---1.12 mm Cordonnet 40, 2x3---1.04 mm Cordonnet 60, 2x3---0.87 mm Cordonnet 60, 3x3---1.08 mm Cordonnet 80, 2x3---0.82 mm Cordonnet 100, 2x3---0.7 mm Cotton/linen yarn, 2x3---2.3 mm (too fuzzy) 100% cotton yarn, 2x3---2.3 mm (Too fuzzy) Gutermann Mara 30, 1x3---0.81 mm Mara 30, 2x3---1.06 mm Mara 30, 3x3---1.43 mm Mara 70, 2x3---0.77 mm Mara 70, 3x3---0.94 mm Mara 120, 2x3---0.56 mm Various Linen 40/2, 1x3---0.66 (Irregular, bad rope) Dual Duty XP, 4x3---1.6 mm (bad rope) Dual Duty plus, (1x3)x3, 1.6 mm (bad rope) Cottolin 22/2, 3x3---1.9 mm (quite fuzzy) DMC thread are very expensive but really wonderful. Gutermann Mara threads are very impressive, if I ever build a period ship I will only use these. I ll go back to the actual building now. On a different note, I have been very superficially thinking about the next model. A (very) large scale RC cold moulded sailboat is somehow coming up constantly. But I also want to make a simple clinker rowing boat, again at a very large scale, I feel the need to get immersed in the lapstrake planking. I certainly do not have the time, equipment and piece of mind to tackle the two masted schooner I ve always wanted to build. We will see.

Dear all Having spend a lot of time making rope I d like to share my experience. I ve made many rope sizes using all of DMC range as well as a few others. This is what I came up with. Left Twist: Petra, Perle Right Twist: Cebelia, Babylo, Cordonnet, Mara one ball Cordonnet 40 makes about 22 m of rope DMC Petra 3, 1x3---1.46 mm Petra 5, 1x3---1.18 mm Petra 8, 1x3---0.88 mm Petra 8, 2x3---1.25 mm Cebelia 10, 1x3---1.06 mm Cebelia 10, (1x3)x3, 2 mm Babylo 40, 2x3---0.9 mm Perle 5, 3x3---2.1 mm Perle 5, 2x3---1.72 mm Perle 8, 1x3---0.81 mm Perle 8, 2x3---1.25 mm Perle 12, 1x3---0.63 mm Perle 12, 2x3---0.94 mm Cordonnet 20, 1x3---0.61 mm Cordonnet 20, 2x3---1.12 mm Cordonnet 40, 2x3---1.04 mm Cordonnet 60, 2x3---0.87 mm Cordonnet 60, 3x3---1.08 mm Cordonnet 80, 2x3---0.82 mm Cordonnet 100, 2x3---0.7 mm Cotton/linen yarn, 2x3---2.3 mm (too fuzzy) 100% cotton yarn, 2x3---2.3 mm (Too fuzzy) Gutermann Mara 30, 1x3---0.81 mm Mara 30, 2x3---1.06 mm Mara 30, 3x3---1.43 mm Mara 70, 2x3---0.77 mm Mara 70, 3x3---0.94 mm Mara 120, 2x3---0.56 mm Various Linen 40/2, 1x3---0.66 (Irregular, bad rope) Dual Duty XP, 4x3---1.6 mm (bad rope) Dual Duty plus, (1x3)x3, 1.6 mm (bad rope) Cottolin 22/2, 3x3---1.9 mm (quite fuzzy) This is how 230 m of scale rope looks like!

Very nice Geert! Your boat has a wooden loveliness, a pleasure to follow!

I have not been able to follow your work on this boat Elijah and I very much regret it. Your skills have developed so much, you are doing a fantastic job! The planking came out superb. Regards Vaddoc

Large scale small rowing wooden boat, what a fun project! And very nicely done!

Welcome Hector!

I recently used copper wire served with thread. It may work for you and the scale you work at.

Looks very nice Geert! Going back to the planking: I think that you might get away without spilling in 1:62 scale or similar but not in 1:10, especially with 3 mm thick planks. I think a guide to how the planks should be is that when looking the planks from the side, they should look almost horizontal In the Deben, the gardboard and the planks close to it where very curved upwards. The planks in the middle were straight (-ish). The planks near the sheer were quite curved the other way. All of the planks however, when put in place appeared almost horizontal. When defining their position in the frames, I used a 3 x 3 mm pear strip to make sure they were fair. So in your boat, maybe it could be something like this (Sorry for the patches in the picture) Considering the curved plank will need to come out of a straight one, and that trees have a given width, this tells you how wide the planks could be in the real boat and how many planks need to be on each side. Very curved planks need to be quite narrow otherwise they would need to come out of massive pieces of timber By changing the shape of the gardboard in the middle and aft at the sternpost and also changing how far up the stem it will end, you can change the shape of all the other planks. 1:10 is a great scale, you can use 1 mm screws to hold the planks in place and then fill the holes with tree nails.. Another thing, for 3 mm planks you would need to shape their edges a bit so they can sit closer when the hull has a significant curve. Apologies for the long post, hope I did not hijack your log! Your hull looks great so your method in the end worked just fine Vaddoc

Such an enjoyable log Gary. The valve and hose blew me away. Too many new things to absorb, looking forward for more Regards Vaddoc

Very nice work Jose! It's amazing how much wood this boats had, they were floating forests. Your boat is lovely, your hard work shows through.

Lovely work Geert, just found the time to visit. I especially like the scale and the proper steam bending of the frames! The second method of planking you followed is much more likely to produce accurate results. Could I make a few suggestions from my experience: You can take the pattern of a plank in segments, one third first, then add the second etc, see photo bellow Use thicker card so that it cannot be bent laterally. The cardboard in the photo is 2 mm (The planks were also 2 mm) The garboard plank should reach as low at the stem as possible, so the rest of the planks are less cramped and lie more fair. The shape of the planks, after the position in the frames is determined, need to somehow be faired. Your hull looks great. What glue did you use for the ribs? Regards Vaddoc

One last update, probably the last one for some time By attaching a second swivel to the existing one, it now rotates much more freely. The piece of wood is there to stop the line at the other end of the swivel twisting as well. These are the sizes of rope I produce with the various combinations of threads. I think I ve made close to 100 m of rope this weekend. I think that the majority of rope will be 1.1 mm (11 mm in real boat), a few bits maybe 1.3 -1.4 mm and the rest 1 mm or less. It is much faster to make 2x3 rope than 1x3 as tying the threads to the rope walk is much quicker. So I think I ll use Perle 12 and various Cordonnet sizes in 2x3 and also Petra at 1x3 which makes great rope but needs a lot of tying. DMC threads are very expensive but also very nice.

Just a few of my tries, the twist of the rope produced was pretty tight. This thread has a right hand twist but can be untwisted and twisted the other way easily. Mara 30 3x3 1.43 mm 2x3 1.06 mm 1x3 0.81mm Mara 70 3x3 0.94 mm

My DMC threads arrived and today I ve been making ropes. The rope walk takes up the entire garage and is a bit of a job to set it up so I would like to make all the ropes I will need or that is likely to need. So I ll just produce huge quantities of various sizes and then take the rope walk down so I can work on the boat. The DMC threads are wonderful and the rope equally great. I actually like the ecru colour.

Indeed Druxey, this modifications improved the lay up dramatically. Glad you found it helpful G.L., the current problem I have is the swivel at the weight end. It is a fishing swivel and although in the hand it rotates very freely, it does not during rope making and this puts strain on the threads. I have not found yet a solution for this. Many thanks Daniel! The Debens are small boats but actually pretty complex, you ll have a lot of fun Thanks Michael, now I really liked your solution, very elegant. I bought some tube but also some fishing double barrel copper crimps to experiment. I am not sure if your crimps are just copper tube but they look great.

Very nice Patrick! This boat is turning out more formal and business oriented, compared to the others that were a bit party animals. Is that a pool in the upper deck? Maybe putting in slightly blue gel might stand out more. Vaddoc

So I managed to find some time to work this Sunday, mainly because it has been raining for days and the admiral is busy looking for furniture. Still, to be allowed into the garage, I had to draw and render our living room and all the proposed furniture on CAD! Today it was all about ropes. I know, this subject is beaten to death but I will need a lot and I needed to standardise sizes and colours. First, I made the second Highfield lever which came out pretty much identical to the first one. I have though some concerns whether they will fall apart. The reason is that although this is a static model, the mast will all stuff on will be quite heavy and the backstays will be doing some actual work. The 0.6 mm wire rope is very strong and needs some tension to be taught. We shall see! I took out my rope walk and decided that it needed improvements. I was never happy with the way the cone moved and also the pulley design for the counterweight. After a bit of head scratching and a thorough search through the garage, I found solutions that seem to work pretty well. I also improved the cone, the grooves had to be sanded much deeper. Now I can make 2.8 m of rope on each use of the 3.3 m rope walk and things seem to move relatively effortlessly. I ve taken a video, it really takes probably less than 10 min to set up the ropewalk and produce the rope. I used the thread Chuck suggested, the Gutermann Mara and I liked it. However, I experimented with many others and I will use either DMC Perle (expensive) or DMC Petra (less so). The rope is beautiful, both threads are left twist and I am happy with ecru colour. Regarding the twist, this little list may be of help to others: DMC Cebelia is right twist DMC Perle left DMC Petra left Guttermann Mara right DMC Cordonnet Right Cotolin (Venne) is left The next photo shows some of the ropes I made. Apart from the cheap polyester and the expensive polyester/cotton mix, they are all very good and do not untwist. The Gutermann Mara looks indeed nice. Time to put the little ones to bed Regards Vaddoc