vaddoc

Now, this museum seems to be a hot spot. Down under is unfortunately a bit far from Cambridgeshire, otherwise I d love to drop by John!

Very nice Mark. I presume the letters are bought, single adhesive letters?

Indeed a spectacular hull. Looking forward to seeing the boat right side up greed from the jig. Very nice!

A day with many disasters today, thankfully I was able to fix things. I first did a second attempt with the traveller, this time using 1.2 mm wire instead of 2 mm rod. Clearly it was more to scale but also my stitching was better. Then I bent some wire to shape and passed it into the leather sheath. Then I turned it around so the ends of the wire would be at 6 oclock, first passing through the hook and the loop. The wire is not soldered, just the edges brought into contact. It came out fine I think. I ve decided not to blacken any metal parts, I ll just leave everything brass coloured. I actually quite like it. Then the disasters start striking. I glued the sampson post in place and before that I had nailed the bowsprit to the post. Then, I started gluing the gammon iron with CA glue but while I was half way, having installed two nails already, it suddenly fell apart. The soldering had failed. I managed to take the nails out and then, thankfully I was able to remove the sampson post simply because I had forgotten to glue the toothpicks to the deck! I made the gammon iron again and then I tried to install again everything on the boat. Oh dear! The bowsprit was way off to port, really very much out of alignment. I had messed up drilling the holes on the deck. The next photos show how wrong the holes were and since the bowsprit is really long, the error was multiplied. I drilled new holes, this time correctly and then glued everything in place. One of the wrong holes was covered and out of sight but the other one was very much visible. The solution was easy enough, I just put a toothpick in, cut the excess and put a drop of paint on. The repair has pretty much disappeared, it is much less visible than in the close up photos Then I put on the traveller and the cranse iron. The bow slowly starts coming alive. And the bowsprit pointss dead ahead! Really the repair has almost vanished I hope the standing rigging will actually hold, although it is a static model due to the scale there will be some forces applied to the parts. The bob and whisker stays will really need to do some work to keep the end of the bowsprit from wandering.

You really did a ton of work on Genesis Patrick, this boat is on a different level. Amazing details and a very unusual model. A very enjoyable journey approaching final port of call. So...twin hulls next?

Very interesting. I faintly remember, as a little boy, my older cousin making a large paper kite using a mixture of flour and water as glue.

Absolutely!

Just to add my experience, I bought the little proxxon table saw KS230. The only thing I ask is straight cuts in thin wood material and I think this is the only service it can provide. I have our old decommissioned vacuum permanently attached to it. For any other task a much better, bigger and ultimately very different saw would be needed. This saw should provide the same service and really it is pretty cheap. Hopefully it will prove reliable, accurate and user friendly. Please Clark keep us posted One more thing to consider is safety. The little Proxxon is very underpowered which is good, as I found that table saws can be very dangerous. I have had a few kick backs and other incidents and the real safety feature I think is the lack of power. I now treat it with great respect, wear always eye protection etc. Maybe a better saw would be safer just by being better built. Really everything must be very well aligned and rigid otherwise things fly off at supersonic speeds. I also run into this, Proxxon rebranded very cheap saw. Maybe worth a look https://www.amazon.co.uk/ABEST-Electrical-Bench-Benchtop-Hobby/dp/B07CGBX394/ref=pd_sbs_60_1/257-0385828-8066955?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07CGBX394&pd_rd_r=0493ab71-8056-11e9-91a9-331929dfa632&pd_rd_w=SObJT&pd_rd_wg=zN97t&pf_rd_p=18edf98b-139a-41ee-bb40-d725dd59d1d3&pf_rd_r=QRZX244G0YCADQTP8ECP&psc=1&refRID=QRZX244G0YCADQTP8ECP

It's bank holiday weekend in UK and I did a bit more work. Actually, I think I passed another small milestone. I need to start finalising the rigging plan and this weekend I focused on the headsails. I opened my books and did quite a lot of internet search to see how this would work and I decided to go for a staysail, a flying jib and a jib topsail. Indeed this seems to be the original sail plan. The deck will be a very cramped place I suspect! I drilled a slot and installed a sheave for the traveller. I also applied sanding sealer and sanded the bowsprit to 400 grit I also sanded and sealed the spreaders, and drilled a through hole. Actually I had to make again one of the spreaders as the shape was wrong. I used the very last suitable beech offcut. I then made the connector for the bob stay chain. I managed to find my loctite and I ll use it for final assembly, so the screws will not loosen over time. Then it was time for the major task of the day, to secure the samson post to the deck. It cannot be glued and I want it to be secure. I actually made the post again as I was not too happy with the previous one. I then drilled 2 mm holes to the base of the post to insert pieces of toothpicks which would slot into corresponding holes on the deck. I used some red paint to know were to drill on the deck. I think they call this a leap of faith...no turning back now. I drilled the holes on the deck. Well, Luck was on my side! The final task for the day was to attempt the leather sheath of the traveller. It seemed easier to stitch over a straight rod and then bend to a round shape. I made something like a jig and stitched over the rod using the proper 2 needle technique. I think it looks OK. I do not intend to solder the loop, I ll just slide the sheath so that the gap is hidden. Very soon I ll need to start making the myriad of blocks that will be needed. I have many sheaves and I would like the blocks to be functional. A mill would be very useful, too bad I do not own one. Regards Vaddoc

Deco art sealer is a water based sanding sealer for bare wood prior to painting.

Many thanks to all for your good words, I am very grateful. I thought it would be best to make a new thread on making cleats. Please find the link bellow. The cleat template is attached there.

I used to use shellac, but really this stuff works so much better, at least for me. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deco-Art-Multi-Purpose-Sealer/dp/B000IM5EKQ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=decoart+multi+purpose+sealer&qid=1558770896&s=kitchen&sr=1-1-catcorr Dries in 15 min and then can be sanded leaving a very smooth surface. I first sand to 400 grit, then apply two coats lightly sanding in between. Never goes bad on the shelf. Might be the same as the Delta sealer mentioned above

Very nice Patrick. I do not think I ve ever seen plants added to a model boat! Genesis feels a very nice place to be. Lovely work. He he, Knights of Ni...😂

Dave, You ll need proper brushes in different sizes. Search Proarte or Daler-Rowney system 3, the ones I use, they are fantastic. Thin initially to a watery consistency. If it seems too thick, it is. Best to use the recommended thinner and consider a retarder Always good to use a sealer (I use Americana water based sealer, very good) and sand to at least 400 grit. I often also use a primer before painting. You ll need many coats. Acrylic coverage is poor. I wait 15 min between coats. Trust the self levelling properties of the paint. Spread the paint but resist going over once more to correct it. Wait for the next coat, most times it will be fine. Brush dry to wet, start from an unpainted area and finish at the area you painted previously blending the two. Use low tack special tapes like frog tape or Tamiya. Paint will bleed under all other tapes. Do not use masking or electricians tape. Valejo model colour paints, combined with their thinner for hand brushing and the retarder give fantastic results. They are optimised for hand brushing. Acrylic paint is far less tough than enamel, you ll need to vanish over. Take care of the brushes (leave in water while painting, clean with dish soap after) and the masking tape edges. Not sure about the poly treatment, may cause adhesion issues. i would sand with 400 and use a primer. Regards Vaddoc

Dear all, I would be most happy to share my method to make cleats, \i think this weekend I might find some time. In the mean time could I present the world's ugliest serving machine, mine! I used an amazing variety of scrap material that I had lying around in the garage. It was actually much more difficult than I thought. I bought some flanged bearings and some plastic cogs. It took a couple of days and quite a lot of head scratching but surprisingly is solidly built and even more of a surprise, it works! I did a test run with some scrap rope and it worked beautifully, a length of more than 30 cm was served in no time. Some minor modifications and improvements are needed and there is a bit of a learning curve I think I must say though that if I was on the other side of the pond I would just buy Chuck's machine, slightly higher cost but much less hassle.

Indeed, very impressive and innovative work.

How very nice! Your weathering skills are fantastic. A very enjoyable and educational journey.

This is how I started, working on the dining table. One important thing with modelling is lighting, very strong white (daylight 4700K I think) makes working easier and less tiring. Also, light from many angles to eliminate shadows. It looks you could use a few more lumens, maybe one of the high output bulbs? With all the reflection in the white walls you ll probably get no shadows and brilliant light.

Mark, I think you are spot on, indeed it make sense to actually have deadeyes due to the tabernacle but also nowadays in most instances there would be wire rope for the shrouds. However, this could be served and actually a search on the net showed that served wire rope shrouds are commonly used. So this is what I ll do! There has been some more progress but really disconnected. In regards to shrouds, I have 0.45 mm and 1 mm wire rope and I think that 0.65 mm would be a good compromise. I ve ordered some beadalone wire rope which is fantastic, encased in a plastic sheath and very flexible. A bit of experiment showed it responds very well to serving and will happily go round the deadeye I thought of using something to imitate tar and I used some black gesso I had. It worked beautifully but any handling of the rope later on brings on fuziness and dulls the black colour to grey. Much later it occurred to me to use black thread... I then cleaned the garage and changed sanding paper and work surface on my home made disc sander Then it was cleat time! I will need quite a few and although I ve standardised the process, it still takes a long time. They came out fine though. I ve decided to use 1 mm micro screws to secure them instead of tree nails so they are drilled through (1.1 mm) and then counter drilled to 1.8 mm. I also made a serving machine but I did not like it. I ve ordered some bearings and plastic cogs, I think I can make it work. Three pairs of shrouds plus two forestays plus two backstays mean about 6 m of wire rope to serve, possibly more! Vaddoc

I think so but it will still need to be annealed and cleaned of all oxides dirt and oils. For silver soldering and blackening no way round good cleaning to raw metal

Maple is also fantastic for planking.

Might work: Heat with a torch to red hot, using gloves or forceps leave in pickling solution (or just warm vinegar), polish with steel wire wheel on Dremel. You should now have bright polished brass that should blacken well. Disclaimer: My few previous attempts at blackening brass were pretty much disastrous, admittedly years ago.

I ll take a sit in the back and join you in your journey if it's alright Edward. Vaddoc

As others said, PVA works when clean surfaces are in close contact. All PVAs will perform adequately, no huge difference one brand from the other. (There are differences between aliphatic and plain white PVA) If there are gaps or close contact is not certain, I use epoxy thickened with talk powder (or wood dust, I ve even used ground coffee, all worked the same). Epoxy alone is too brittle and in my experience these joints can fail. Epoxy is brilliant stuff but can be messy. Best not to come into contact with skin as sensitivity builds up over time. I use single use syringes, pots and gloves, it is an acquired skill. Unlike PVA, epoxy resins can be very different, some hard and some really flexible when fully cured. I now use only zpoxy which is fantastic. 30 min as glue, finishing resin for laminating. Regards Vaddoc

To not be confused, there is plain PVA glue which is white, dries clear and has large opening time. And there is the aliphatic PVA, which is yellow, dries not really clear and has very short opening time. Titebond original is aliphatic, non waterproof and has a really short opening time. The other ones are waterproof and offer slightly longer opening time. Not important for our purposes I use usually an aliphatic PVA (happens to be Titebond original at the time but others work the same) but when I want long opening time or no marks to show on the wood I use hardware store white PVA.