Dziadeczek

I have this duplicator and I also have a Sherline lathe. Have done some work (wooden cannon barrels for my Victory 1:98) with this setup - works reasonably well. Still, you have to finish your turnings with miniature files and fine steel wool for details. (Nothing beats CAD/CAM turning in brass, though!) The article mentioned was in nr. 105 of Model Shipwright ( I believe that in the Ships in Scale as well) and the Unimat lathe was used there. For a Sherline lathe you'd have to slightly adopt this duplicator, fashion legs for the base to bring the entire unit to an appropriate level. But it can be done fairly easily. If you want this article (4 pages), I have it digitalised and can send it to you via the email for your reference. PS: Similar setup can be seen in the Channel Islands Maritime Museum in Oxnard, S. California. This is a duplicator used by Ed Marple for his models (See pics attached).

I found this on the Web: https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/woodworking-tips-1606jun/toolreview/sterling-roubo-curves-tool-review.html

Mark, Check out this thread: I wholeheartedly recommend this heat/water bending technique, especially the method presented by Mr. G. Kammerlander about 3/4 down that page - a piece of video in German, but the pics speak for themselves. Long time ago there was an article on this very topic in the "Ships in Scale" magazine, where I discovered his technique, and it still works for me. I am quite convinced that you should be able to bend your piece of walnut 90 degs, as you want it. Recently I managed (with some difficulty and patience, I must admit) to edge-bend a 2 mm thick piece of ebony (for some curved railing) with my electric plank bender (well..., converted soldering iron, but it WORKS just as well)! And we all know how difficult is to bend ebony!

Does it have to be African walnut? How about ordinary American variety? Or South American (a bit darker)?

Since nobody wrote anything so far, I will give it my three pennies. It appears to me, that the modeler used a soft wood plywood for the decking and tried to score it (with a pencil?) to mark its planks. The scoring is not very well visible, sometimes the natural grain of wood is more pronounced than that and overwhelms it. Also, there appears to be a few rather large holes in the center, between the mast holes. Because of all this and overall unevenness of the wood and its blotchy appearance, I would tend to rather replace the entire decking, using either individual strips of some hardwood (like fruitwood species, or perhaps birch or (best IMHO) beech wood, or even very lightly colored holly), with one edge blackened, and glued them tightly, running along the center axis line, next to each other ON TOP of your old deck. Or - if you don't have the possibility to cut those strips yourself, make the entire deck from a thin (1/16 to 1/32 in. birch aircraft plywood and score the run of the planks on it with a hard pencil, like 4H or so. Select the piece of plywood that has possibly the smallest, most even and regular grain. But before all of this, you will have to thoroughly scrape off all your polyurethane from the old deck, since the wood glue will not adhere to it. The best way to do it is with a piece of sharp edge of a broken glass (ducktape the rest of glass to avoid hurting yourself!) or an industrial razorblade, or even a sharp edge of a chisel. Then make a precise cardboard template of the new deck making sure that it fits tightly around the bulkheads extensions of your bulwarks and other structures on top of the old deck. Only then draw its shape with a pencil on the plywood and cut it carefully with a sharp exacto knife. Replace the deck, gluying it on top of the old deck. The small height difference afterwards should not present a big problem, I think. Next step is to paint your new deck wit a liquid called WOOD CONDITIONER by Minwax (obtained in places like Home Depot, or such) - this will prepare the wood for even staining without blotches and/or oiling it with Danish oil. When the deck is still wet from this wood conditioner, stain it (if you want it) and/or oil. I'd personally rather not stain it at all, just oil it. No other glossy laquers, polyurethane, or such!

Years ago I bought an Iwata + their compressor, and they are still going strong! Don't regret buying them.

You mean like this one? https://www.dailybreeze.com/2017/12/08/out-with-the-old-ports-o-call-transition-sparks-angst-and-confusion-on-eve-of-demolition/

But if you want to torment yourself, try this:

Fantastic model! I admire the craftmanship of the modeler, but this is also very educational, of how these vessels worked! It reminds me of a large scale model of the WW2 US sub, the USS Rasher, which is housed in the Palm Springs Air Museum in Southern California. One could stand there and gape for hours!

Lloyd Warner only drilled one pair of holes in his double blocks, because the other pair (of holes) will not be visible (or be nearly invisible) under the rope passed through the block anyway. I am sure, you know that inside the slot cut through the block, there is a sheave upon which the rope rolls. In order for the rope to roll, it has to be passed ON top of the sheave (pulley) and not under it. Here is a couple of pics showing it in detail. Hope it helps. Regards, Thomas

Jeff, Before you proceed with the rest of your cannons, correct please the rigging of the blocks! I don't know why, but you've rigged the Warner's block correctly, but the Chuck's blocks incorrectly. At least your pics show it such. Pass the rigging line through the holes that are nearer to the wire hooks rather that those further away. Sorry... Regards, Thomas

Many thanks for the extremely useful info I got from you all, since my last entry! Things are slowly clearing up for me, thanks to you! Dr PR - I printed your reply and will use it for future references. Ryland - this link is exactly what I've been looking for! I will try to contact Gene Berger and ask him if he could possibly etch these details for me (for a fee, of course). But, as I said, I will first give it a try by myself, if I manage to gather all chemicals and other necessary paraphernalia. I too would prefer to etch smaller plates, but unfortunately I have this one long piece of 22 cm (8,5 in.) that will have to be etched whole. Other pieces are smaller, about 2, 5 in. so perhaps I should try to do them first as a learning experience, before etching that long one, I think? In any case, thanks again! Regards, Thomas

Many thanks to you all for good advice! I too was thinking about getting this Micro Mark kit just for learning expernience - like you said, Mark. I may go this way later on. As far as the video tutorials, and the books, I already searched this options (and learnt a bit, thank you very much). The book mentioned by grsjax doesn't have very good opinions, is supposedly a bit dated and doesn't deal a lot with the actual etching process, so I might skip it after all. But thanks anyway! I too agree that I should start with smaller pieces - easier to etch and manage. However the longest piece I have to etch, is about 22 cm [8.75 in.] in length and I'd rather not etch it in sections and solder the pieces together later on, since I don't think it would look perfect. So I think I have to etch it whole. See the attachment (this drawing I prepared in Photoshop with the resolution of 600 dpi, so I think it should be fine enough. But I am still tweaking it). Oh, by the way, the light box I made, has both sides equipped with UV light strips (the bottom and the cover), so I can expose both sides of my plate at the same time. What do you think about it? Would it work? Yes, I know that I have to place the light sensitive transparency the ink side down, towards the brass plate, - somewhere in those tutorials it was emphasized. I intend to copy the drawings with a good quality laser printer (professional quality machine) onto dedicated laser printer transparencies (and make mirror images of them for two sided exposures) , rather than using regular printer and cheap transparencies. Someone said it makes a big difference in the quality of prints. Later on I will let you know how my experiments went. Keep your fingers crossed, please! Regards to all, Thomas PS: Does anyone know the US source of Positiv 20 in a spray can? (I couldn't find it anywhere within the US). Or should I rather use a photoresist foil? Which one is better?

Bruce, The size of the plate (brass sheet 0,3 mm [0.014 in.] thick) would have to be about 24 x 14 cm [9.5 x 5.5 in.] to accomodate all parts. Since it has to be etched all the way through and the sheet is rather thick, I think that it would have to be exposed on both sides and etched a bit longer. This all is a mystery to me, but I will try to do it myself first and see if it works. If not, I will have to look for someone else who knows how to do it. At this point I am at the stage of gathering all materials and figuring out what to do. Thanks for asking! Thomas

Hi, I am about to embark on an entirely new technology for me - namely brass sheet photo etching and I have no clue how and where to start. Before I relegate this task to someone alse, I would like to try doing it by myself, at home, with fairly simple methods and acceptable results. I need a few intricate brass etched parts for my French 74 guns ship model, which I am building in 1: 48 scale, specifically an ornate stern balcony ballusters, quarter galleries ballusters and gunports hinges, and such... I've already built a UV lamp, have drawn some artwork and I am wondering, what's next. I have only a vague idea of how the entire process works, but don't know specifically, where I can obtain chemicals, suitable transparencies, etchants and so on, within the territory of the US (specifically Southern California). I would prefer not to order those from oversees, since these are corrosive, hazardous chemicals and I might have problems with shipment. Hence, I have a million questions to ask. Should I start with purchasing a good book, booklet, brochure, which would in simple, concise words explain everything to a beginner, and if so, which book is recommended? Are there any good tutorials? Or should I first collect necessary ingredients and start experimenting? I must unfortunately bypass the offer from Micro Mark, since their kit only permits etching very small plates and I have to etch rather bigger details. Any help in this matter will be greatly appreciated. Regards, Thomas

This reminds me of old casein glue, which I used to homemake ages ago for building paper models. https://hubpages.com/art/woodworking-how-to-make-your-own-strong-wood-glue-from-milk It is surprisingly long lasting and strong (read about its uses in the article), cheap, easy to make and, unlike rice glue, water resistant.

It should be: Hi, I finished 13th row of planking. (government= rząd, który rządzi w danym kraju, row=rząd, np. drzew w lesie, żołnierzy w szeregu, itp...)

I have their treenail cutters (I see, they are no longer available - pity!) and also their thickness sander. Both gadgets are still fully functional after all these years. Very good quality products!

Are you using Explorer?

holly

Does it allow for raising and lowering, as well as tilting the blade (for angled cuts) - like the bigger Proxxon?

Hi Pond, A few years ago I too started on the Rattlesnake kit from Model Shipways (due to its size I wouldn't recommend it for beginners - parts are SMALL and FRAGILE and easily break during construction). To this day I still didn' manage to finish it - a few sails remain to be hunged. As you'll see in the attached photos, I also slightly bashed the kit, using my own wood (mostly cherry), etc... As you'll find out, there are many ways to succesfully plank the hull, every modeler has his favourite one. In the kit you have excellent plans and step-by-step instructions by Ben Lankford - stick to them and you should be fine. Most important thing is to properly spill (shape) the planks before mounting them. Once you've attached your wales according to the plans, divide each bulkwark with battens into a few symmetrical 'belts' - eliptoid areas from bow to stern and gradually fill them up with spilled planks. Checking symmetry on both sides is crucial. Start your planking from up (wale) towards down (keel) or opposite, whichever way you prefer. Shape (spill) a PAIR of planks (each plank for one side of your bullwark), wet them for a few minutes in lukewarm water and hot shape them with your plank bending iron, first outside of your model, frequently checking the curvature against the skeleton of your hull. I think that your steaming box is, in your case, an overkill (they were used in full size practices, but your planks are scaled down, so much smaller and thinner than the full size boards, that it s quite easy to shape them when they are just wet. The soldering (plank bending ) iron will dry them almost perfectly during the bending process, and if you glue them and pin them both to the bulkheads, one on each side, they won't warp your hull. Especially if you keep the hull in the mounting board. Also by doing so, you'll ensure that your planking is perfectly symmetrical on both sides. Repeat the above for each succesfull pair of planks, until you'll fill each belt. The way I shape the planks, is, I place a wet plank on a wooden surface (e.g. wooden painting stick from Home Depot, or such), keep it by its end with one hand. With the second hand I hold my hot iron (not too hot or you'll burn your plank) and gently place its head on the surface of the plank, rubbing it to and fro. At the same time, with the first hand I gradually raise one end of my plank, giving it a desired curvature and frequently check it against the hull. Giving it some desired twist and edge-bending is also possible. When the curvature of my plank is perfectly laying (or almost perfectly) on the bulkheads, I attach it to the hull with glue and a few pins (placed every other bulkhead or so), gently tapping ordinary seamstress' pins with a tiny hammer, into the plank and the bulkhead, untill it grabs. You don't want to hammer in the entire pin - you might damage, split the plank and/or bulkhead. Perhaps three or four gentle taps will suffice... Once the entire elliptical belt is filled, remove the batten and procede to the next belt. And so on... After the entire hull is planked, I sand it with a medium grade sandpaper and/or scrape it with a sharp edge of a broken glass or sharp edge of a metal scraper - this will remove 'fuzziness' on the wooden surface left after sanding it. Good luck! Thomas PS: I developed this technique many years ago, closely following advice from a German modeler, Gebhard Kammerlander. Some time ago there was a detailed article on this topic in the, now defunct, magazine "Ships in Scale". But to this day, as far as I know, there is also a video instruction by Gebhard himself on You Tube, on how he does it. Worth checking...

Sorry to intrude into your conversation, but the server (spool traveler - as you called it) isn't supposed to be supported in any way by this steel rod below. At least in my instance, mine hungs freely under the rope being served, suspended only by the serving thread. The gravity alone provides enough torsion and tension for serving. If the server tries to rotate around the rope, it means that there is too much tension on the thread, and you have to very slightly loosen up the screw on the bobbin so that it moves a bit easier. Perhaps the pics from Johann were taken from up and showed erroneously in perspective that the bobbin somewhat rests on the rod? Or maybe his does rest on the rod? I would like however to know, how he did the worming on that rope.

Holy cow, Doris! You are blinding fast, while maintaining your excellent quality standards! Fantastic!!!

I once tried to do it by hand, leading the thread into the 'grooves' of a rope stretched on a serving machine (with mixed results). Pain in the ... Maybe someone has a more mechanical and better method?