Bob Cleek

I, apparently contrary to conventional wisdom, do not see the need to add any clear coating over a finish paint job unless one needs to flatten a finish that is too glossy. What's the purpose of "protecting the paint?" It can take care of itself. I don't know where this fad of covering everything with clear varnish comes from. All it does is thicken the paint coating and thus obliterate surface detail. Obviously, other's mileage differs.

PVA is all you'll need. You can get that at any hardware or craft store. The same goes for tools. You'll not need many tools for those kits and it's better to buy tools when you know you need them than when you think you'll need them. The nice thing about ship modeling is that I don't think there are any tools that you must have to do it. Just tools that make it easier to do as you go along.

Real sailors don't get sea sick. Buckets are relatively inconvenient things on a sailing ship. They tend to slide around if left to their own devices and are prone to getting knocked over. I doubt a chamber pot was ever carried on a naval ship in the Age of Sail unless there were a lady aboard. Emptying a bucket over the side of a three-decker isn't all that easy. Even after you get up onto the rail you've got to clear the not-inconsiderable tumblehome when pitching a full bucket overboard.

For those interested in such things, see: Hygienic Notes on Ships' Bilges | Proceedings - 1876 Vol. 2/1/2 (usni.org) One wonders exactly what the Navy was so concerned about disinfecting in the bilges of Navy vessels.

Yep, no question about that. This is one reason why I've avoided acrylics over the years. They cure to a relatively soft and flexible surface. Rubber doesn't sand well at all. The drier the better. Acrylic paint continues to harden slowly after an initial curing to a tack-free surface. The harder it is, the more easily it will sand. Again, this is one of the disadvantages of acrylic coatings. Excellent advice always. But before anything else, I'd urge him to determine what type of paint he is using. Any chemical removal of the paint he has on there now has to be compatible with not only the paint he is removing, but also the plastic it's painted onto.

With help like that, who needs friends? Sprayed with what? Oil-based enamel or water-based acrylic? I would not advise trying to strip the paint off of plastic. Isopropyl alcohol will remove some types of acrylic paint, but not all. Stripping the paint with any other sort of solvent runs the risk of softening the plastic. Your best bet is to wait until the paint is thoroughly hardened. Then sand, wet or dry doesn't matter. Wet is messy. Dry is dusty. There's no free lunch there. That said, from the picture you posted it looks like your plastic hull isn't smooth, but rather has some raised surface lines there that look like they may be armor plating belts or the like. If that's the case, forget what I said about sanding. It would be very difficult for you to sand that area smooth and preserve the raised surface detail there. If the hull has surface detail, then chemically removing the paint is the only way to do it and preserve the surface detail. You will have to ascertain what solvent will remove the paint. If there is any instructions on the can about what solvent to use to clean up with, that will give you a good hint. Otherwise, call the manufacturer if you have to and ask them. Don't use any solvent until you are sure the plastic can withstand it. You can test solvents on some sprue material. If the solvent makes the plastic sticky, it's too "hot." One solvent that may work and is always worth having on hand anyway is called "Goof-Off." It will remove oil-based paint and acrylics if the acrylics haven't been curing for weeks. You can find it at any hardware store. It's sold for wiping up paint spatters. If you have to strip the surface, make sure that it's completely clear of any solvent residue afterwards because the solvent may react adversely to the paint you will be applying. Ignore the following information about sanding and start up again at the step where you apply your boot stripe masking tape. If you are sanding instead of stripping, you should sand the surface down until it is completely fair. Use a foam sanding block which will avoid your developing flat spots that you'd get from a hard block... or use your fingers. The goal is not to sand the "goof" fair at the expense of the surrounding area. You want to sand the whole surface fair without simply developing a smoothed "divot" in the overall surface. This is important because it will really show up when the whole surface is repainted if it's not perfectly faired into the whole surrounding surface. It looks like you have a fairly thick smear there, so you may wish to start with somewhere around a 320 or 400 grit paper and once you get it faired with that, then go over it again with a 600 grit. You want to get the whole area "smooth as a baby's bottom." Don't forget to carefully attend to the detail sanding around the through-hull on the side of the hull there, It needs it, too. Don't sand too aggressively with the larger grit sandpaper. If you sand too aggressively with heavy grit, you will likely see sanding swirls and scratches on the painted surface that will be difficult to remove with your finer grit paper. After you've sanded it smooth dust it well and wipe it down with a "tack rag" which can be bought at any paint store. If you haven't encountered one of these before, it's just a piece of cheesecloth that is covered in some sort of slightly sticky stuff. They're cheap. Wiping the surface with a tack cloth will remove all traces of sanding dust on the surface. (Did I mention that sanding at your workbench and then immediately painting thereafter is asking for dust specks all over your paint job? Sand in one room. Paint in another.) If you fold your tack cloth carefully, you will see that it provides a lot of tacky surface and can be used a folded square at a time for a long time if you keep it sealed in a zip lock bag between uses. If you don't, it will dry up in a week or two. Don't apply your boot stripe masking tape until you've tacked the area well. Dust under the tape edge may cause paint to wick under the tape. (For this same reason, never lay a roll of masking tape on its side, especially on a dusty workbench top. It will pick up dust on the edge of the roll and you'll have dust all along the line you mask with it. Store masking tape in a zip-lock plastic bag and it will stay clean and not dry out over time.) Once your hull is sanded and taped, tack it again immediately before you paint it. Then paint it. Good luck if you are using a "rattle can" to spray the paint. If you are lucky, you won't get spits and spatters out of it. wiping the nozzle with a clean rag and a bit of solvent before spraying is a good idea, as is testing your spray pattern on a piece of cardboard or the like before aiming it at the model to make sure it's working okay before committing to the real job. Spray it on in light coats. Begin the spraying beyond the end of the model and let up on the nozzle beyond the other end, holding the can level and at a right angle to the surface being sprayed. Don't bend your wrist to "brush" it with the spray pattern. This will vary the distance between your nozzle and the sprayed surface and result in an uneven application of paint. Don't apply too much paint. A thick coat runs the risk of runs or "curtains." It is best to apply several very light coats, letting them dry before applying another. It may be just the lighting, but it appears that you may not have even color coverage on the hull as it is. It's difficult to cover grey plastic with a red paint. You end up with a somewhat darker color red when the red paint doesn't fully cover the grey plastic. covering any dark color like grey with a lighter color is very difficult and if the top coat is not evenly applied there will be color differences noticeable. If the top coat is is applied thickly enough to cover the dark color below it completely, it may have to be so thick that it obliterates surface detail or causes other problems when drying such as a "crackle" finish. If your red bottom paint color didn't cover the grey completely the first time around (and you didn't apply way too much red to try to accomplish that) you should consider applying a neutral opaque undercoat to ensure an even color. This paint has a high volume of pigment and is designed to cover very well without applying an excessively thick coat. Spray opaque undercoat is available anywhere the paint you are using is sold. You may well be aware of all these little details, but I added them while I was at it because others with less experience may be reading this post and the whole "tutorial" may be helpful to them. Good luck with it. "Goofs" just go with the territory. Don't beat yourself up over it, but maybe you might want to keep that friend out of your modeling shop in the future, though.

I expect limber chains (or rope line, considering the cost of chain in earlier times) would certainly have been run through the limber holes in the bilge when the condition of the average bilge during the Age of Sail is considered if for no other reason than that the bilge's usual contents were highly likely to clog the limber holes. Especially in foul weather, although likely in any instance where it was simply more convenient, the bilges were used to answer "nature's call" be it "number one" or "number two." A modeler need only consider the number of souls aboard a ship-of-the-line and the number of "seats of ease" provided in the heads and the officer's cabins to confirm that there was a decided shortage of "facilities" aboard a sailing vessel of any size. Consequently, the contents of any bilge would hardly be susceptible to being willingly "cleaned out manually." At the moment, I can't remember where, but I once read someplace that one of the most onerous tasks aboard ship was cleaning the bilge and for that reason it was generally left for the shipyard workers when a ship was being refitted rather than ever by the crew when she was in commission.

In an attempt to drop an anchor to prevent further "thread drift," I suggest those interested in the impact of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 has on ship modeling read the applicable statutes and draw their own conclusions: 18 U.S. Code § 1159. Misrepresentation of Indian produced goods and products (a) It is unlawful to offer or display for sale or sell any good, with or without a Government trademark, in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian or Indian tribe or Indian arts and crafts organization, resident within the United States. (Bold emphasis added.) The essential element of this prohibited act is offering or displaying anything for sale in any way that falsely suggests it was made by an Indian. The Indian Arts and Crafts Board enforces the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 that prohibits false advertising in the marketing of Indian arts or crafts. The Board also provides certified Indian-owned business listings, provides federally recognized tribes with business assistance, and operates several Indian Arts and Crafts museums. See: https://www.doi.gov/iacb/ The particular applications of the IACA are set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations,Title 25, Chapter II, Part 309 (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-25/chapter-II/part-309) : § 309.1 How do the regulations in this part carry out the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990? These regulations define the nature and Indian origin of products protected by the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 (18 U.S.C. 1159, 25 U.S.C. 305 et seq.) from false representations, and specify how the Indian Arts and Crafts Board will interpret certain conduct for enforcement purposes. The Act makes it unlawful to offer or display for sale or sell any good in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian, or Indian tribe, or Indian arts and crafts organization resident within the United States. § 309.9 When can non-Indians make and sell products in the style of Indian arts and crafts? A non-Indian can make and sell products in the style of Indian art or craft products only if the non-Indian or other seller does not falsely suggest to consumers that the products have been made by an Indian. [68 FR 35170, June 12, 2003] The IACA only addresses false advertising. It was enacted in large measure to prevent the practice of selling Asian knock-offs of Indian arts and crafts as real Indian handicrafts. The IACA doesn't address nor attempt to enforce claimed rights to designs, patents, and trademarks which is the province of intellectual property law. For example, the Navajo Nation trademarked traditional Navajo weaving patterns and designs, as well as the brand "Navajo," as early as 1943. The Navajos' rights to those designs, patents, and trademarks properly registered under applicable laws are clear and enforceable. However, Indian intellectual property rights beyond formal patents, trademarks, and copyrights become much less clear. Questions arise as to the ownership of cultural rights claimed by an entire group of Indians. There are also religious rights protected by law which inure to various Indian tribes. Questions arise such as whether a non-Indian person can build an "Indian sweat lodge" for commercial purposes because it is an activity reserved to certain tribal spiritual traditions, or copy a sacred symbol, and so on. Therefore, if one were to undertake to build a model of an Indian canoe with painted Indian symbols on it, and not display or offer it for sale misrepresenting that it was an Indian art or craft item, it doesn't appear they would be violating the IACA, but they could nevertheless be violating an Indian intellectual property right in the reproduction of copyrighted Indian symbols on the canoe, no differently than they arguably would be violating Coca-Cola's trademark rights if they painted a Coca-Cola logo on the side of the model, or they might be violating an Indian cultural or religious practice right if the symbols were sacred to the involved Indian tribe. (The Urban Outfitters clothing company recently got themselves entangled in an expensive lawsuit when they made and sold underwear in Navajo weaving pattern prints. The Navajo were offended by the prospect of "skid marks" on their traditional patterns.) Similarly, all else being permissible, even the use of the name of a tribe to describe the type of canoe, e.g., "Tlinglit canoe" or "Haida canoe," could run afoul of the IACA without a prominent disclaimer that it was not made by an Indian (e.g., "Tlinglit type canoe" or "Haida style canoe" and labeled "Not Indian Made.") or violate a copyright if the tribe has registered its name as the Navajos did eighty years ago. However, I would imagine that if one politely contacted the applicable tribal council and respectfully requested written permission to reproduce a tribal design or symbol on a model canoe that was not being made for commercial purposes, they would probably get a welcome reception. That would be, after all, the polite thing to do.

I suspect "MGUS" is a sub-diagnosis for the wider, but less frequently publicized, diagnosis, "HIIK," which stands for "Hell if I know." There's a lot of that going around. I fortunately do not have any significant "foot drop" (knock on wood,) but I did develop a pronounced "shuffle," mainly because my numb feet impaired my balance, a function I never realized they performed until the didn't. My "foredeck ape" days are over also, but I long ago became unable to afford to keep up with the old yachtsman's rule of thumb that your boat should be as long in feet as your age in years anyway.

It's six of one and a half-dozen of the other. I understood that you were referring to deck planking, but I wasn't able to locate a diagram of a deck planking seam, so I used the hull planking seam diagram to show how the plank seam is beveled. In fact, there's no difference in the caulking seams between a traditionally caulked plank deck and a carvel planked hull. Exactly the same procedure is used, although deck planking can be thicker than hull planking in some cases. Similarly, the seam width at the outboard surface of the plank, be it a hull or a deck plank is the same or nearly so, depending upon the thickness of the planking. I'm not sure if you are aware, but some may not be, that the "stopping" or seam compound, traditionally pitch or tar and later "marine glue" (which isn't a glue but a patent compound of tar and rubber) isn't intended to keep the hull or deck from leaking. That is the driven caulking material's job. The stopping's job is to keep caulking material from getting wet and rotting. The caulking material serves a dual purpose, firstly, to force the planks hard against each other so when they get wet and swell the structure becomes watertight, as with a barrel, and secondly to increase the rigidity of the entire hull structure which results in a great deal stronger the hull and deck structure. As a practical matter, caulked carvel planked deck seams on the outboard face of the planking (the top of decks being outboard as well) will generally be a bit wider than hull seams because deck seams are stopped by paying heated pitch or other stopping material from a paying ladle into the caulked open seam, and so they make deck seams a bit wider to make it easier to pay the stopping. Hull planks, on the other hand, have no need to accommodate paid stopping and can't because they are horizontally oriented rather than vertically oriented like deck planking and so hull seams are puttied, rather than payed and a narrower seam is preferred. Modernly, deck planking is often payed with polysulfide "goop" and so a quarter-inch seam is preferred to permit the cured polysulfide to stretch when the planks dry out and not pull away from the sides of the seam. The rubbery polysulfide needs some "meat" to stretch without pulling away and when it does stretch, the center of the polysulfide in the seam will "narrow" in the same way a rubber band will get thinner when it's stretched. Narrow modern yacht planking seams paid with polysulfide showing teak wood grain for scale: Deck seams on HMS Victory: Deck seams on USS Constitution: So, the short answer is that deck seams are between a quarter and three-eighths of an inch wide at the outboard ("sided") face of the plank, so they should be scaled accordingly on a model, but with one exception. If the ship is old and her decks have been recalked or, as happened more frequently, repaid, the seam width at the outboard face of the plank may be a bit wider than as built and perhaps unfair along the edges because some wood was removed along with the stopping when the seam was reefed (the old stopping removed.) Reefing irons have sharp edges so that they scrape the seam edges clean to ensure the new stopping sticks well and they have a tendency to "erode" the seam sides if used too aggressively or too many times over a long time. BELOW: Three different sizes of "store boughten" reefing irons for planks up to about 2.5" thick from a catalog. (Caulking Irons | Ship's Coy. Forge (shipscoyforge.com) Note that the difference in the three reefing irons (AKA: "reefing hooks") is in the thickness of the hook edge which here is probably a selection between a quarter inch and 3/8" inch. Smaller reefing irons for thinner seams are customarily shop-made by heating and bending the tang of an old dull bastard file and grinding the shape of the tang to suit the desired seam width. Caulking Irons | Ship's Coy. Forge (shipscoyforge.com)

Same here. I think the fingers and toes, hands and feet, usually come as a package. Mine in my fingers doesn't bother me as much as it used to as well. I never figured out whether it was my nerves finding other circuits to use or just my imagination! As we know, once the damage is done, it's irreversible. Mine was my own damn fault. I just ignored symptoms I should have recognized and done something about until I ended up on a gurney in the ER with a blood glucose level in excess of 500 that they picked up on a blood test taken for a long overdue routine physical. Dodged a diabetic coma in the nick of time. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt! Fortunately, there was no other permanent damage! A word to the wise: We're all supermen until we're not!

You are correct. I've read the same thing. However, being the cheapskate I am, I've always used Zinsser Clear Shellac (containing some natural waxes) because it's s two-thirds the price of Zinsser Seal Coat which is their dewaxed shellac. Ten bucks a quart is a fairly big difference. I've never noticed any problem with waxed shellac at all, even with acrylic paints. I don't use a lot of acrylic paint though and stick to enamels and artists' oils for brush and spray painting. Maybe I've just been lucky. Who knows?

It will depend upon the thickness of the plank. Carvel plank should be 3/4" thick at a minimum, although an experienced caulker may be able to caulk 1/2" carvel plank. Carvel planks are hung flushly butted edge to edge with the inboard two-thirds to one-half of the plank thickness fully against the adjacent plank or rabbet edge. The outboard two-thirds to one-half half of the plank thickness is slightly beveled so that a narrow "vee" is produced in the plank seam when the two adjacent planks are hung butted against each other. The caulking material is hammered into the "vee" seam sufficiently deep to create a space for the stopping (traditionally pitch or "marine glue") to be poured into the seam. The width of the "vee" at the outboard faces of the planks will vary depending upon the depth of the "vee," but in most cases will be between 1/4" and 3/8" as may be consistent with the thickness of the plank. Stopping was faired to the level of the deck and so would show a black or very dark brown seam of that width. However, if the stopping was poured and stopping standing proud not faired, or repairs were made roughly, a considerable overlap of the "vee" seam edges could occur, leaving a wider dark line of stopping visible with a width of as much as 3/4" to 1". However, this would not be the case on naval vessels and sharp packets which were maintained "Bristol fashion" and had their decks regularly holystoned. The below is for illustrative purposes only. It depicts "yacht construction" of a small vessel with approximately 3/4" thick planking. The caulking seams on a ship-of-the-line would be correspondingly larger due to the man-o-war's thicker planking, but not in direct proportion. The thicker planking might just as easily be caulked with a "vee" chamfer that was not much deeper than a much less thick plank. The depth of the "vee" need be no more than that required to hold the caulking material to be hammered in and leave a trough for the stopping putty or pitch on top of it. There is little to be gained by a larger "vee" and oversized "vees" would waste caulking material and be more work to caulk.

Living in the S.F. Bay Area all my life and also having a father who spent his entire working life in the Pacific Rim shipping industry, I have a lot of experience with chopsticks. I've noticed a marked decline in chopstick quality over the last few decades, particularly with the shorter Japanese restaurant version. Decades ago, Asian restaurants provided diners with reusable split bamboo, and later, plastic, chopsticks. The bamboo chopsticks were made of a medium to dark tan bamboo that was long- and tightly grained. It was quite hard (dent resistant.) Somewhere along the line, somebody invented a router bit that would carve a pair of chopsticks out of a piece of wood, regardless of the grain orientation. The routing leaves the two sticks connected at one end and the user broke them apart to use and they were then discarded. The wood used to make these disposable chopsticks is softer than the bamboo used previously and is of a near-white color. Comparing the two types of chopsticks, the old reusable bamboo chopsticks were much better for modeling purposes. The new routed disposable chopsticks (pictured below) aren't much use at all. Admitting to being guilty of "thread drift" here, but in the interest of sharing some interesting facts that may be of interest to those who used to rely on the old "hard" chopsticks for modeling stock, I'll share some fascinating facts about today's disposable chopsticks. Recent reliable estimates are that eighty billion pairs of disposable chopsticks are produced each year, destroying up to 20 million 20-year-old trees —that’s enough chopsticks to fill Tiananmen Square 360 times! Japan consumes about 25.5 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks annually, about 200 pairs per capita, but it only produces about 3% of that with the rest coming from China. China exports half of its disposable chopsticks to Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. Disposable bamboo chopsticks are made in China, but about 45% of the Chinese disposable chopstick consumption is made from poplar (cottonwood,) spruce, and birch, in the U.S.! Greenpeace China estimates that 100 acres of trees need to be felled every 24 hours, 16 to 25 million trees per year, to produce chopsticks. Projections indicate that the current Chinese disposable production rate is unsustainable and will eventually entirely consume vital forest resources. China has recently imposed a 5% tax on disposable chopsticks in what appears to be an unsuccessful attempt to discourage their use. It seems disposable chopsticks are soon to go the way of plastic straws and bags! Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the U.S. is now cutting our forests to produce disposable chopsticks which we are exporting to China! See: GlobalizationPresentationChopsticks.pdf (ubc.ca) OLD STYLE REUSABLE BAMBOO CHOPSTICKS: INFERIOR MODERN ROUTED DISPOSABLE CHOPSTICKS:

Double ditto to Jaager's recommendation. There are a wealth of small craft designs available. Many plans are available in book form, such as Howard I. Chapelle's American Sailing Craft and Small American Sailing Craft and Basil Greenhill and Julian Mannering's Inshore Craft: Traditional Working Vessels of the British Isles. These small vessels are generally in the under-50' range, some even in the 10' or 15' range. They can be built to larger scales, 1/2" or even 1" to the foot are not uncommon for small craft models. They do not have a lot of complex small-scale rigging details. As they tend to be somewhat primitive types, their fittings and rigging blocks are easily fabricated. Assuming you get yourself one of Jim Byrnes' mini table saws, a Syren Ship Models "Rope Rocket," and perhaps a scroll saw, you'd be set up for the rest of your days to mill your own modeling wood from that really great Alaska Yellow Cedar you've got growing up there, spin your own scale rigging line, and be entirely free to build anything you wanted at virtually no cost. Working in larger scales can be very satisfying. Smaller boats have fewer and less complex details and when modeled at larger scales little detail need be sacrificed as is otherwise the case with larger vessels at smaller scales. Another advantage of small craft modeling is that the models are generally smaller and easier to display, and you can build more of them in a shorter period of time, which avoids the inevitable boredom in the middle of a large model project that may take years to complete with a lot of repetitive tasks along the way. With no malice intended to plastic ship modelers (of which in my misspent youth I was one,) assembling plastic sailing ship models can be every bit as tedious as building wooden models (and yield a finished model of far less archival value.) There is relatively little difference in difficulty between rigging a plastic square-rigger and a wooden one. It would not appear that you would be gaining much in terms of compensating for your physical challenges by building in plastic rather than wood. I do admire your dedication in staying at modeling despite the "ravages of age." You certainly are among good company in this forum! I'm guessing a large majority of this forum's members have reached retirement age and by the time we get there, most have "old war wounds" with which to contend. My particular modeling challenge is the loss of feeling in a number of my fingertips due to peripheral neuropathy. Others, I believe, are wheelchair users and, of course, most of us have progressive deteriorating close-up visual acuity. Nevertheless, "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers," soldier on. Additionally, small craft models are sadly overlooked by many. While I risk stepping on a toe or two here, I will say that in my opinion there is much well-deserved accomplishment to be had by any ship modeler in doing a good job assembling yet another Victory or Constitution kit, but, at the end of the day, beyond that the result of all that work is no more than addition of another kit model added to the hundreds, if not thousands of models of these same ships built before. On the other hand, scratch building small craft offers the opportunity to create a unique model of a vessel which will have been rarely, if ever, modeled by anyone before and, if well researched and documented, it can be appreciated not only as a satisfying accomplishment of the modeler's skill, but also as a valuable addition to the historical record. Up in your neck of the woods, the Pacific Northwest canoes of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian tribes raised dugout canoe building to perhaps its highest level of development. They carved thin-hulled canoes out of cedar and Douglas fir logs and then filled them with water and hot rocks to steam the wood which was then spread to increase the beam and thereby yield a graceful and seaworthy hull. These canoes were then colorfully painted in shamanistic themes. The construction method of these canoes perhaps explains the fact that they don't seem to be frequently modeled. That said, a clever modeler could perhaps take on the challenge and, if successful, really produce a fascinating and academically valuable set of models of these indigenous watercrafts. BELOW: NOOTKA CARVED CEDAR DUGOUT CANOE MODEL Late 19th/Early 20th Century Bow and stern with vertical incised carving. Length 30". Auction catalog estimate $400 - $500.

I'm sorry I don't have any more specific information on this, but I recall once reading somewhere that of the several species of bamboo, some are better suited structurally for use as trunnels because they draw to size more cooperatively than others. Somebody reading this may know more and share with us the right species of bamboo to use and where it might be sourced.

Most will. Many will even replace parts you've botched up yourself! It would be good to do a search on this forum to see the policy of any particular kit manufacturer regarding parts availability. The second consideration after you confirm that they do have a part replacement policy is to confirm that they are able to provide parts for the model kit you have. Sometimes, a run of kits are manufactured and stocked by the manufacturer but spare parts are no longer available. Sometimes parts are generic and used for several different models in the manufacturer's line. (Which is why you will find out-of-scale or out of period fittings on the models sold by some manufacturers. E.g., an 19th Century anchor in a 18th Century model kit!) or some parts for a specific model kit are left over after the kit production run. Other times, Spare parts have been sold or are otherwise no longer in stock and you will probably be out of luck even it the company would have been happy to send you a replacement part if they still had any in stock. Regarding purchasing kits in current production, I think that most experienced modelers would strongly advise you to start your wooden model building learning curve with the Model Shipways Shipwright Series of kits. See: Model Shipways Shipwright Series (modelexpo-online.com) Few kit manufacturers are as forthright as Model Shipways is in telling beginning wooden ship modelers the realities of the hobby's learning curve and the fact that there is no point in wasting a large amount of money and effort trying to build a square-rigged ship-of-the line bristling with cannon as your first attempted kit build!

If one is intending to accurately depict the prototype in miniature, I believe Jaager's answer is the only correct one. it's not a matter of personal opinion if the object of the exercise is to build a model that looks like the real thing. If metal fastenings were used, as was the case in later times, these would be countersunk and plugged as Jaager describes in order to minimize rusting of the iron fastenings. Depicting fastening locations in an unpainted fully framed model ("Admiralty Board style") can be nicely done by gluing black fishing line of the proper scale diameter into drilled holes, but such fastening "locaters" would never be visible in an actual full-scale vessel. However, if the black fishing line holes are not drilled precisely where the fastenings on the prototype vessel would have to have been placed, the job will result in a worse effect than if the fastenings were left unindicated. I mention this because the original poster asked, "I have fishing line at 0.23, 0.32 and 0.5mm, color black. Is it appropriate color for hull and Deck treenails or is it too dark? what size best (1/64 scale)?" I suppose we just have different definitions of the word "appropriate" in this context. Obviously, a model builder is always free to paint their model any color they wish.

I would caution you to steer clear of older second-hand wooden kits unless you are thoroughly familiar with a given kit. There have been tremendous advances in kit "technology" in recent years, notably, CNC laser cutting has made the newer kits less challenging to assemble. You will find that many of the kits sold forty, or perhaps even thirty years ago, especially solid hull kits, will demand as much scratch-building as an actual scratch build you do yourself, exclusive of the plans development and that what plans there are will often be simply a lines drawing, a spar schedule, and a rigging outline. Make sure you are familiar with any used kit you contemplate buying. Checking the building log section for kit reviews will alert you to any potential problems with any given kit. As you probably know, there is a huge difference between assembling a plastic kit and building a wooden kit that will require a considerable amount of cutting, shaping, turning and even carving.

I'm not aware of any negative effects of adding thinners or conditioners to paint which is thereafter stored long term. That said, "long term" is a relative concept. Anything less than an air-tight seal and the absence of any oxygen in the paint container (e.g., a partially-filled can) will permit polymerization to occur, causing skimming and eventually the hardening of the paint. (An oil paint can may be purged of oxygen by slowly filling it with propane from an unlit plumber's torch until the heavier propane displaces the oxygen, after which the can is securely sealed.) The more air, the faster this will occur. Additionally, long term storage will permit the pigment to settle in the bottom of the container and it may eventually become so compacted that it will be near impossible to stir and redistribute evenly in the liquid medium without mulling it again. It's my guess that as much as ninety percent of the small bottles of model paint, fingernail polish, and touch-up appliance and auto paint, and the like end up hard as a rock by the second time a consumer attempts to open the bottle and ends up tossed into the trash. Buying pre-mixed paint in tiny amounts is the most expensive way paint can be purchased and buying "ready to use pre-thinned "airbrush paint" is the most expensive way to buy paint thinner! This is one reason why some modelers have switched over to mixing their own paint using tubed artists oils and acrylics which have long shelf-lives and tend not to harden in the tube because there's no room for exposure to air nor any dryers added to the tubed paste. (The end user thins and conditions tubed paints themselves.)

"He who dies with the most tools wins!" That said, if you think you can never have too many books, just give it time! You'll get to that point soon enough. Speaking of which... I'd encourage anybody who is building a reference library to buy real books instead of e-books. There's nothing like reading a real book and you'll find you will want to have a reference book at your elbow at your drawing board or workbench and a computer screen just doesn't work as well. As for Harold Underhill, buy anything he ever wrote and you won't go wrong. His two volume work Plank on Frame Models and Scale Masting and Rigging is an incredible basic text on scratch-building. I'm surprised it's going for $125 (or $75 used) these days, but that's a good example of the value of building a good reference library. I got my set fifty years ago from the old Dolphin Book Club (anybody remember them) for something like fifteen bucks if memory serves. That said, eBay has an entire section of nothing but Underhill books and you can find a copy of the Plank on Frame Models set for fifty bucks there. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=harold underhill&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-34002-13078-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=102&keyword=harold underhill&crlp=_&MT_ID=&geo_id=&rlsatarget=kwd-76965989210900:loc-190&adpos=&device=c&mktype=&loc=43893&poi=136333&abcId=&cmpgn=395402853&sitelnk=&adgroupid=1231453229593206&network=o&matchtype=e&msclkid=fac4ea45a5a5170f4c298ebcdf27ca39 Stick with the "classics" for openers and stay away from anything with "made simple," "simplified" or "from kits" in the title. There are a lot of books out there that are basically compendiums of previously published works. They may be helpful, but they don't stand the test of time. I'd put Zu Mondfeld's Historic Ship Models in the same category. As many copies as are out there, they are dirt cheap, so you won't be wasting your money if you get a used copy for less than ten bucks. It does have a very broad scope of information. I think he claims to cover somewhere from 3,000 BC to the present, but, hey, putting than information between two covers can only provide a very cursory overview. If you find books with good coverage of modeling techniques, grab them. (e.g., The Techniques of Ship Modeling by Gerald Wingrove.) The same goes for books that have good ship plans in them. Any book by Howard I Chapelle will be worth having in this regard. Sadly, the days of spending hours picking over the offerings in dusty used book stores to find a treasure or two are long gone. Buy used books for the best value online if you must, but don't get carried away. It's easy to end up with well over a thousand volumes. Don't ask me how I know this.

I"d suggest you get a longer polypus than the $15 short one. Also, sometimes the cheapest isn't always the best, particularly with anything from the Chinese People's Patriotic Export Tool Manufacturing Collective! Nice collection of tools there. It looks like you've got the situation well in hand. The side-locking tweezers are very handy. So is the Castorviejo iris scissors, assuming it's from a quality manufacturer. (Knock-offs of the real deal are everywhere it seems.) If one has to cut corners on tools of these types, it is always best to economize on the forceps and needle holders (fine-pointed forceps) than on anything with a cutting edge. You want the best metal cutting edge tools you can find for cutting. They are a waste of money if they won't hold an edge. Unfortunately, good scissors are expensive. (My "Dearly Beloved" dropped about three hundred bucks apiece on a trimmng scissors and a thinning scissors for grooming her show dogs without blinking an eye. ... Ahem.)

What the other guys said. Don't waste your money on those "rigging tools." I can't imagine what they could be useful for either. Particularly given your unsteady hands (a challenge many older modelers must overcome), you would do well to study, practice, master, and use surgeons' suture instrument knot tying techniques. YouTube has many instructional videos on the subject, most published by medical schools and surgical instrument companies for the medical profession. The use of surgical instruments and surgical technique will make model ship rigging much easier. If you can tie knots like a micro-surgeon, tying knots in rigging on a ship model becomes a piece of cake compared to trying to stich up aortic valves inside of a chest cavity! As for instruments essential to knot tying, the basics are: A number of fairly good pairs of tweezers. There are a lot of cheap ones out there. Spend the money for at least a couple of not-so-cheap ones. Don't limit your selection to those short, stubby tweezers used by watchmakers and ladies plucking their eyebrows. For rigging tasks, long tweezers are far more useful and often essential for reaching hard-to-reach places. Get a few tweezers in the 6" to 12" long range. A selection of surgical forceps, hemostats, and needle holders, all of which are more or less the same thing for modeling purposes. As with tweezers, make sure you have some long-handled ones so you can reach "into" the rigging as you work. One or more "ear polypuses," buy the longer ones first and then expand your collection. The "ear polypus" is a unique forceps which permits you to reach into very confined spaces to grab line and tie knots. Surgeons use it to remove foreign objects inside patients' ear canals. Ear polypus: Just the jaws on the tip open and close when the finger holes move: There has recently come on the market a polypus that has a cutting scissor jaw on the end instread of a forceps jaw. I don't know how well these work, but they may be useful for cutting excess line in tight places after tying. I've never had any problem cutting rigging line in tight spaces with a sharp scalpel, though. Dental and surgical instruments are some of the most valuable model-making tools, particularly for rigging. Some of these tools are offered for sale online by modeling and hobby supply houses such as MicroMark. Beware! The "hobby market" prices for inferior quality versions of these tools are generally far higher than medical instrument supply houses ask for the "medical quality" versions the medical professionals actually use. You will find an extensive range of dental and surgical instruments for sale on Amazon and, particularly, on eBay. The latter has a lot of listings for Indian and Pakistani-made instruments which aren't the highest quality but are certainly serviceable for modeling. There are also many online retailers selling used surgical and dental instruments at perhaps the lowest price points for these often very well-made instruments. Many will correctly say that "you can't have too many clamps," and the hobby tool marketers offer a wide range of clamps for that reason, but keep in mind that you can often buy used hemostats and needle holders in lots on eBay for close to the same price as fancy clamps and have a much more versatile clamping and holding tool that is better suited for the shaky hands of old pharts like us!

Believe it or not, all the way down here in Petaluma, CA, (Sonoma Wine Country north of San Francisco,) we've had "spare the air" days and the elementary schools kept the kids indoors at recess time a few times last week because of all the smoke from the fires up along the California/Oregon border. We're no strangers to wild fires down here. (We lost over 3,000 tract homes in one in nearby Santa Rosa in the 2017 Tubbs Fire, California's most destructive in history... so far.) I can only imagine how bad it is up there for you guys. Your fires have been burning for a long time now! Keep safe!

Chartpak graphic tape is still readily available. Good stuff, but not specificially designed for masking. https://www.staples.com/chartpak-graphic-chart-tape-glossy-black-1-16-x-648-bg6201/product_909815?cid=PS:MS:SBD:PLA:OS&msclkid=31dd847c9edb12ca8a61e08eaf6a5f95&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%23PLA%2F_(1)_BNG_(2)_US_(7)_GEN_(9)_Office Supplies|&utm_term=4581252648129840&utm_content=All Products&dclid=CMmJpfiJioEDFWXArQAdoK0E5A I've found Tamiya a bit pricey and often wider than needed, which makes taping curved edges somewhat more difficult. My "go to" for masking fine lines is 3M (Scotch) Fine Line masking tape sold primarily for auto painting jobs. It comes in varying widths: 1/8", 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2". Not cheap, either, but a roll will last practically forever for modeling purposes. Most auto body and fender supply shops have it on hand. https://www.amazon.com/3M-06302-Fine-Line-Masking/dp/B00HSCMCL8/ref=sr_1_10?adgrpid=1337006711851222&hvadid=83563242241651&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=43893&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83563282543041%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=2082_13504107&keywords=3m+fine+line+masking+tape&qid=1693594490&sr=8-10 There's also another brand similar to 3M's that looks the same and may be less costly, although I haven't tried it. It's called "Lime Line." https://www.amazon.com/s?k=3m+fine+line+masking+tape&adgrpid=1337006711851222&hvadid=83563242241651&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=43893&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83563282543041%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=2082_13504107&tag=mh0b-20&ref=pd_sl_1c1kh9zkry_e I'll add the reminder that all masking tapes, and particularly the expensive fine line stuff, should be kept in a ziplock plastic bag at all times when not being used to prevent the adhesive from drying out. Also, tape rolls should never be laid down flat so that their sides can pick up dust and grit. If the side of the roll is contaminated with dirt, the edge of the tape will carry that dirt and grit to the work and you'll end up with ragged edges and dirt in your paint job. Always keep your tape in a zipped up plastic bag and don't lay it down anywhere except in the bag!