mgdawson

Hi Richard Another option which may be more convenient to you is Jaycar Electronics, they've got a range of small drill bits. www.jaycar.com.au Mark D

Hi Pete Typically the helmsman is watching the luffs of the sails, particularly when beating so I imagine he would stand to the weather side of the wheel to give himself the best view possible, similar to the helmsman on a yacht today is most often seen on the weather side of the helm where they can watch the luff of the genoa. Occasionally you'll see a yachts helmsman to leeward but if you look carefully they're looking under the mainsail to see the luff of the genoa. Mark D

Hi Chuck Sounds like you have a dremel set up as a drill press. I'd suggest putting a block against a fence and drilling a hole through a block the size of your spar then turn it over keeping the same edge of the block against your fence and drill a cross hole the size you want to drill through the dowel. Using the fence this way will ensure the centres are aligned. Slip your dowel into the block, align it to the fence and when you drill the dowel, the block will stop the bit wandering as it starts into the dowel. Mark

Hi Simon How about 2 strips on a base board to hold the keel with slots cut for the bulkheads as per the photos. I glued the 2 strips down and then cut the bulkhead slots with a tenon saw. Sizing between the bulkheads was taken from the bulkhead slots in the keel board. You can also see the reference centreline and the notches cut in the front 2 blocks for the bow filling pieces. The whole thing is a fairly snug tight fit so nothing moves. Mark

Hi Tom I use digital calipers in all sorts of applications and find that the vast majority of things I'm measuring are under 25mm (1") and very very few are over 75mm (3"). Generally the long arm on a 150mm caliper gets in the way more often than it's of any use, I prefer a set of 100mm (4") calipers but I do have a 150mm set available for that very rare occasion when I need something bigger. Mark

Hi There was a brilliant modeller Young C Park, unfortunately passed away last year, who did cutaway aircraft in aluminium. There's a few pointers on working with aluminium on this page which may be useful to someone thinking of working in that material. http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/park.htm Mark D

Top find Rob, thanks. Mark D

Hi All Saw this video a few weeks ago and thought it might give someone food for thought, perhaps for a base board. He uses paper bark pieces to lay down a montage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXvYR1Cx8A0 A search on youtube also turned up a video using sheet birch bark for draw fronts with a detailed explanation of how he flattened the bark. Mark D

Hi Gary Could they mean 'not compatible with airbrushes without thinning.' ? I'd email them and ask for clarification, will probably turn out to be a typo that they're not even aware of. Mark D

Hi jdivan, I've not heard of ca thinned in the way I think you mean, although I have heard of thinning aged ca which has thickened with fresh thin ca, presumably you could also use this method to thin down thick or medium viscosity ca's to get an intermediate viscosity. Mark D

Hi All Some people might be interested in an app for iPhone called ShopCalc which appears to be designed for carpenters, among other things it converts between fractional inches, decimal inches and metric for length, area & volume as well as basic calculator functions + - / x in whatever units you're working with or converting to. Perhaps someone familiar with Anroid can check if there's something similar available for that environment. Mark

Hi Geoff As I understand it, ships, prior to copper sheathing were not 'painted' as such, they were coated in various mixtures of tar, oil, resin, tallow and pitch to try and prevent the growth of barnacles and weed on the hull as well as trying to impede the attack of toredo worms. I'm not near my references at the moment but from memory the yellow tinged white was tallow with some sulphur added, a common mixture in the mid/late 18th century Royal Navy before they switched to copper. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than me could pipe in here. Mark D

Hi Ed Can't help with specific sizes but I have some photos that may help with perspective, I've sent you a PM. Mark D

Hi Bob, Can you please tell us what CLR is. Ta Mark D

Hi Steve I'd guess you're looking for the Future/Pledge acrylic floor polish much favored by plastics modelers, I remember reading, I think on fine scale modeler forums, that it's been replaced by another product with quite a different formulation. There was no comment on whether the new stuff was as useful to modelers as Pledge/Future. Mark

Hi Tyrnac I don't know what the gun laws in Thailand are like which might make it difficult to get True Oil but if you do manage to find somewhere that has woodworking finishes you may find China Wood Oil, this is an alteranative name for Tung Oil. Mark

Where dat puddly tat ?

Down under you can get acetone in hardware stores, paint section, 1/2 litre or larger, works out a lot cheaper than nail polish remover if you're going to use the volume. Mark D

Hi James Muriatic acid is actually Hydrochloric acid, sold in hardware stores for cleaning cement off brick etc you'll see brickies using it by the bucketful. Safe with appropriate precautions but if you're not comfortable go with one of the alternatives. Mark D

Hi Robert The breeching rope certainly looks to be going through the breeching ringbolt the wrong way in the 1st image, in 'Anatomy of the Ship, The Frigate Dianna' the breeching rope is clearly shown going through the ring the other way. And as Kester has pointed out the breeching rope would go over the gun tackle ring bolt as shown in the 2nd drawing not under it as depicted in the first drawing, if it went under, it would not only unnecessarily increase the strain in the rope and twist the ring bolt it could also flick the gun tackle out of the ring bolt with some force as the tackle is only hooked in, not shackled. I think they are simply a couple of artists errors. Mark D Edit : Just had a look at 'Anatomy of the Ship, Endeavour', on the 4 pounder carriages illustrated there the breeching rope ring bolt is actually below the gun tackle ringbolt, presumably to get the guntackles up to a better working height. So in that situation the Breeching rope does run under the gun tackle.

Hi Pat, I'm curious about what the lithograph you mention shows, in the photo you linked in your initial post it shows the steve of the Warriors cat head to be rather extreme, does the lithograph of the Victoria show her cat head to be canted at such an extreme angle ? Mark D

Hi Pat Afraid I don't have a bunch of time to search out my references so I'm going from memory here but regardless I think this is one of those cases where you need to put yourself in the shoes of the people at the time and apply the basic rule, 'simple & functional' then decorate. The cat heads would have been just long enough to keep the largest anchor clear of the hull, the longer it is the greater the danger sending men out there, life might have been cheaper then than now but you didn't throw away good seamen. Also, when you then haul the anchor up to the billboards you don't want to be pulling it into the hull as well as lifting it, ships were hard work, you don't want to make it harder. The whisker booms were designed to spread the jibboom stays but they needed to be kept in line, if there was any upward or downward force on the whisker it would fold up as soon as you started taking up on the shrouds. So by placing the shrouds in place without the whisker and laying the whisker under or on top of the shrouds as appropriate will give you the line required, then push the shrouds out along that line. Basically you need to push them out to enough to clear any headwork, but if that doesn't give you enough side support to the jibboom you may need to go a little further, other warships of the period will give you an idea of what the navy considered an adequate angle. As you pointed out merchant ships and naval ships were rigged with different criteria, man power, redundancy, weight considerations were all quite different so while the physics may be the same the arrangement may not be. I do have a couple of books on rigging warships at home which I'll look at tonight and see if there's anything there that might help you but those books all relate to pure sailing ships 1750-1820 so there are likely differences to a later steamer with auxiliary sails. BTW have you considered showing your research to Gary Renshaw at Modellers Shipyard, he may be interested in including it in his Colonial Ship series of model kits. I'm a little afraid if you only give it to the AWM it will disappear into their archives never to be seen again, much better to spread 'the word' first then give the material to a safe place and tell everyone where it is. Not really surprised by the Navy Heritage Centre disinterest, the Australian military seem to think that they popped into existance in their modern form, they don't acknowledge their early heritage. Mark D

Hi SoS Going on your weathered timber theme, how about getting some recycled / distressed timber with rusty nail marks etc to build the case. (maybe you could grab the plank it's sitting on in the photo ) How are you treating the brass mounting posts ? Bright & shiny may look a little out of place depending on how you do the case, perhaps some 'aged' timber blocks with a prop under one gunwhale to stop it rolling over, the boat doesn't have to be perfectly upright after all. For that matter you could angle the boat within the case, something a little different to the boat being perfectly square. Something else just occurred to me which could fit into your weather timber theme or might appeal to someone else, how about a very simple diorama, beach scene, below the high water mark would make the sand nice and smooth, you just need a furrow where the keel has been pulled up the beach. If you wanted to take it a bit further, make some footprints with a toy soldier to give it a human touch and perhaps an anchor out onto the beach or a painter around a tree. Mark D

Hi BLarock Perhaps if you could scan and post the relevant part of the diagram, someone who doesn't have that kit may be able to help. Mark

Hi Mark T As others have mentioned I've also heard about damage caused by well intenioned people attempting restorations. I'd suggest getting in touch with a local (maritime?) museum and seeing if you could take the models in to show a conservator. Certainly some of the conservators I've spoken to would be happy to help with a bit of advise. Or perhaps a uni within reach who have a course in conservation may be approachable. Mark D