Bob Cleek

Not sure if you are telling this story after the fact or in real time. I'm betting your local Joann's fabric store is going to give you a blank stare when you ask if they have any three-quarter ounce nylon spinnaker cloth! Very creative fabrication solution for the sail track slides. They look great, too.

Indeed they do. Actually, there are three basic types of molding sand and lots of specialty sands for various applications, but the basic, tried and true "el cheapo" material is called "green sand." It's a mixture of very fine sand with about ten percent finely ground up kitty litter and water. There are lots of YouTube videos on how to mix up your own casting sand. You can also buy it premixed from foundry supply houses.

I believe the archival material for inking such details is old fashioned India ink applied with a drafting pen over a smooth wood surface previously sealed with shellac or thinned varnish. India ink is basically water, shellac, and lampblack. Modern "markers" with synthetic inks are not necessarily color-fast. "Permanent" means it won't wash out of your clothes and "waterproof" means it won't run or smear if it gets wet. Beyond that, it's anybody's guess.

Here you go: It's from the "More" drop-down menu at the top of the forum homepage under "ropemaking."

Lovely work! I'm curious about what design arrangements you've made for her sailing qualities. Am I correct that your "dagger board" slot will carry the customary long, removable fin with a ballast bulb on the bottom end?

Thanks for the clarification! As I wrote, "Without looking at a carton in my hand right now, I'm going to guess and say that pumice is the finer abrasive powder and rottenstone is the coarser of the two." I was just too lazy to go out to my shop and check which was which.

Okay, you caught me with some time on my hands. Painting and finishing are highly skilled trades that the painting materials industry has spent generations trying to "dumb down" in order to convince untrained consumers they can "do it yourself" at home. If one wants a professional result, they still have to know how to do it like a professional. Whether a steel or wood hull, they both should appear "smooth as a baby's bottom" up close if you want to achieve a realistic look at "scale viewing distance." This is a matter of proper painting technique. As they say, a good paint job is 90% preparation and 10% application. Softwoods like basswood pose the problem of raised grain but this is easily solved. When softwoods especially are exposed to water, or even ambient moisture, their grain will "raise" because the soft wood between the grain absorbs the moisture and swells. The first thing to remember is you must seal the bare wood first. Sealing is an essential first step. Sand your piece well down to 220 or 320 grit abrasive and be sure you have a smooth surface; save for perhaps a few minor dings and divots you will be filling. The purpose of sanding is to remove a thin layer of the surface. Don't sand down to bare wood "chasing" a larger imperfection and don't concentrate sanding on an imperfection. That will cause an uneven surface. After you have sanded well, dust the piece and wipe it with a tack rag and apply sealer. Don't use water-based sealer, paint, or anything else water-based. (If you use acrylic paints, use those that are thinned with alcohol, not water. Alcohol will not raise wood grain.) The water will soak right into the wood and you'll be back to sanding the grain flat again. I use pre-mixed canned shellac to seal model wood, particularly basswood. Shellac will soak into the wood, but will not raise the grain. Shellac is one of the best moisture barrier coatings available and it will significantly slow the rate of moisture absorption and so stabilize the wood. Shellac is compatible with any paint or varnish. If your hull is smooth, so much the better. Remember the "viewing distance" calculations. If you can't see it at your "scale viewing distance," then leave it off the model. Riveted iron plates can post challenges, of course. Thin paper strips can be applied to the shellac sealer to represent iron plates. Shellac is a good adhesive for them as well. If you are going to be showing plates, portlights, eyebrows and similar details on your hull, then you can modify the schedule below to accommodate the detailed surface you have. Seal well with shellac, then airbrush your successive coats while trying to be as dust-free as possible. If your surface is interrupted by a lot of protruding detail, you will just have to "dance with the girl you brought." After the shellac has dried, it should be sanded with 320 grit until it is perfectly smooth all over. Test the smoothness of your surface with your fingertips. They are far more sensitive to surface smoothness than your eyes alone. Again, sand and tack the piece and then apply a sanding basecoat. Sanding basecoat is a thick white paint that had a fair amount of chalk added to it. It serves as an intermediate layer of the coatings lay-up which will fill very light imperfections and will be easily sanded. It also does double duty as an undercoat which produces a uniformly opaque surface which is essential to a uniform finish coat, (You will be painting forever to try to cover color variations beneath a finish coat. Finish coat paint isn't designed for this.) When the sanding base coat is dry, sand it with 320 grit (or start with 220 and work up to 320 if you've got brush strokes all over it... it's thick stuff) Don't make yourself crazy if you still have some small imperfections. You'll get to those next. Again, dust and tack the surface. Your surface should be getting close to perfectly smooth at this point but there may be a few imperfections, a scratch here or a little ding there, that haven't been removed. You should sparingly apply surfacing putty to any remaining scratches or dings. (It may also be called "glazing putty," but it's not for puttying windows.) See: Interlux Paint 257P Surfacing Putty - White-Pint | Autoplicity Surfacing putty is sold in paint stores, chandleries, and auto body and fender supply stores. It's what the pros use to get a perfect finish. It's not cheap but the canned stuff is thinned with acetone and a tablespoon added to the can before sealing well should ensure a long shelf life. There may well be less expensive brands than the Interlux linked above. Check with your local auto paint store. Surfacing putty is about the consistence of toothpaste and is applied to scratches and dings with a flexible spatula or putty knife. The object is to fill the imperfection, and not leave a big "bump" of putty around it. If you apply it properly, a few swipes with some 320 sandpaper should be enough to level the surface without leaving a big "putty bump" on it. The imperfection should be invisible. Pay particular attention to this step and make sure you have not overlooked puttying any imperfections. The fewer there are left, the more they stand out! (Resist the temptation to use drywall patching putty and similar compounds instead of real surfacing putty. their matrix is too coarse and cannot be sanded smooth enough. Similarly, don't substitute "body filler" products like Bondo which are too hard to sand easily. WEST System epoxy resin with their proprietary sanding additives is entirely suitable but somewhat more difficult to sand and quite expensive.) After you've puttied and sanded again, dust and tack and apply a coat of undercoat. Undercoat is a paint designed to cover well and dries "flat" with a matte finish. It provides a base for the finish coat. Importantly, it will seal the areas where you have applied surfacing putty. Dried putty will absorb a finish coating more readily than sanding basecoat and if you skip the basecoat your finish coat will have areas of flat "print through" where you applied surfacing putty unless you sealed the piece with undercoat. When it dries, again sand, dust and tack. This time, however, will be the last time you should be doing anything other than very light sanding on the piece, so take care to be certain that your sanding is absolutely perfect. You may wish to sand with an even finer grit than 320 although there's little to be gained by sanding above 600 grit for modeling purposes because we aren't (or shouldn't be) using high gloss finish coats. For the application of finish coats, it's highly recommended that you go somewhere else with as little ambient dust as possible in order to avoid getting specks of dust in the finish coats. I often use the bathroom when my wife is not at home. It's the least dusty room in any house. Make sure the piece is scrupulously clean. Apply a quality oil-based finish coat. Depending upon the scale, a metal hull can be painted with an eggshell finish. It's a matter of taste, but for larger wooden ships, I prefer a more matte finish than for metal hulls. There are painting instructions elsewhere. You have to be an accomplished painter to apply a perfect finish with a brush. It you aren't, don't bother trying. All your hard work preparing a perfect surface will be for naught if you mess up the finish coats. Most prefer an airbrush because it is easier to use and to control the thickness of the paint application. Apply multiple thin coats. You can always apply another coat when the last one dries and build up your finish coating as needed, but if you put too much paint on at one time and get runs, sags, or "curtains," you're looking at a long and tedious sanding job to correct the damage done. Don't rush. (It may be a matter of taste, but I wouldn't recommend aerosol "rattle can" paint for quality work such as discussed here. As remarkably reliable as the more expensive brands have become in mass producing plastic spray nozzles, all it takes is a single "spit or sputter" from a rattle can to ruin a finish coat.) As you finish coats are applied, it's a near certainty that some dust will fall on the wet surface and stick there. Do not try to remove dust or anything else from the paint until the paint has completely dried. You may try all you want, but if you go back over a wet surface to just pick out that one gnat that landed on it and got stuck you will make a bigger mess than just leaving it there to dry. After each coat of finish paint is applied and dried well, wipe the surface with a soft cloth and this will remove most all of the dust that may have fallen on it. The dust usually is only microscopically attached to the surface and need only be knocked off and the attachment point will be invisible. Apply as many finish coats as you feel are necessary to get the finish you want. It's not uncommon to miss a spot here or there (called a "holiday" in the trade) and need to apply another coat to correct that. If you do get a run or a sag, let it dry completely and then sand it off fair to the adjacent surface and start again. Don't be discouraged if you have to repeat a step along the way. Attention to detail is essential. When you reach what you think is your final finish coat there will still probably some dust that stuck to this coat, as well. Let the finish coats dry well. You may also find that your finish is too glossy for your taste, or too matte. This last step addresses dust specks and the reflective quality of the finish. Be sure the finish coats are thoroughly dry. (Like for a week. Particularly synthetic coatings like acrylics may take a lot longer to "dry" (cure) than we think. Those that have "rubbery" latex-like bases will always be difficult to sand. A hard finish sands well. Obtain some rottenstone and pumice from the paint store. These are inexpensive abrasive powders. Without looking at a carton in my hand right now, I'm going to guess and say that pumice is the finer abrasive powder and rottenstone is the coarser of the two. These abrasive powders are used by being rubbed on the workpiece with a soft damp cloth. The coarser powder will remove the gloss. The more you rub, the less glossy the surface will become. Further rubbing, however will soften the surface to a beautiful eggshell finish. Use of the finer powder will do the same, but can be worked up to a high gloss finish if rubbed enough. This is a "hand-rubbed finish." There are lots of YouTube videos about hand-rubbing finishes, which is commonly done in fine furniture finishing. This hand-rubbing will remove all the dust specks that were on the painted surface and leave a perfectly smooth surface with the reflective quality of your choice. In summary, 1. Sand and shellac to seal. 2. Sand and sanding basecoat 3. Sand and surfacing putty 4. Sand and undercoat 5. Sand and finish coat 6. Hand-rub finish coat When you go to the maritime museums and see the magnificent builders' yard models of the steamships of the early years of the last century with their perfectly painted "iron" and "steel" hulls, this is how it was done.

Sure, that's even going one better than doing it with the block attached to the mast or top. You don't have to approximate the entire length of the line, standing part and fall, but only the length you will need to belay the fall to the belaying pin or cleat when the standing part is set up to wherever it's going. The remainder of the fall is most easily made up in a coil and glued to the pin or cleat in such a way that it conceals the cut end of the fall and appears to be all one piece of the fall. It is important to make coils of the proper length of the fall, though and these will vary depending on how far the block is from the pin or cleat. You don't want a skinny little coil on a pin running to the mast top when it would take a lot more line in real life. Doing it in two pieces, fall and coil, reduces the amount of line you have to coil up at the block before you install the mast. These little temporary coils can start adding up pretty quickly sometimes. You'll want to devise some way of binding up the temporary coils on the mast. Some use masking tape. There is an instrument that orthodontists use to stretch and attach little quarter inch diameter rubber bands on orthodontic braces which I've always thought would be just the ticket for binding little coils like that, but I've never gotten around to getting one. What I've found works are common women's hair "bobby pins." They can be spread open with one hand to slide onto a coil being held in the other hand... if you don't mind your model looking like it's setting "spit curls" while you work on it. Here you go. I found that too. I'd have to play with one to be sure it would work easily for rope coils, but just maybe. Remember, "He who dies with the most tools wins!" See: https://www.amazon.com/Separating-Placing-Orthodontic-Elastic-Bracket/dp/B09FQ4HL8V/ref=sr_1_8?adgrpid=1343603773294172&hvadid=83975306774136&hvbmt=bp&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=43893&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=p&hvtargid=kwd-83975580350394%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=28288_11087873&keywords=orthodontic+tool+for+rubber+bands&qid=1689559059&sr=8-8 And: https://www.ebay.com/itm/184121749659?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D251791%26meid%3Dbff28b2953c247259b8a64230c3a2239%26pid%3D101196%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D292128222729%26itm%3D184121749659%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV2bAndUBSourceDemotionWithUltimatelyBoughtOfCoviewV1%26brand%3DOrmco&_trksid=p2047675.c101196.m2219&amdata=cksum%3A184121749659bff28b2953c247259b8a64230c3a2239|enc%3AAQAIAAABUPzGgyhK8D4QCApcBuWVQe1qsoN395NgJVWTF7eo2rfipPwdfCio0EI4F5H%2Bx0wtS8%2Fu%2Fr%2FRUxEZ1KxNtbAGuwQqNawa9Mz45LW45pYy0nuj71JF2aXsWVmm8A5Xr7t2iE8FTSY2j9w%2BVkQX95XY0T9rK6EzA9ZeC%2FHU7Nm7b3ARSOfzyH5wHBuCoLkOv2XL8qnMgdLOY9NTgiKiXpC2M6cXsFc3RuqCK5taBkW1e%2BiJLZxicfL3UKRodQUV%2B52sjBkM1liMwuhVn7laHbfbj938y3JipYdCbmp5qsvnkRz%2BKoSNEVB9T6j%2FHyW8T3o%2BEyn3TMJR9vG%2Ftd0YZ4FWo9eCjcx1touazjee%2BUlNPzGgH4zgbLTOsUmqbtcaga5q7yBppCr1RBM28mc1jxYKQlxCCRjCS27mWu%2BsRAqHHc4%2FHq9BO%2FU9k%2FYKlp33Hv5doQ%3D%3D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2047675

I overlooked the fact that he was asking abou blackening brass. My bad! Truth be told, I've never tried LOS on brass, but I"ve heard the same complaint from others. I've always primarily used copper instead of brass for fabricating model metal work, mainly because I came by a large stock of it years ago and found it easy to work with and so have used LOS on it. When I have used brass tubing and the like, I've always painted it, not by design, but just by happenstance. Therefore, I'd say...

You could check out liver of sulphur, available at jewelers' supply houses like Otto Frei or Rio Grande. It may be about the same price as the Birchwood Casey stuff and likely very close to the same thing.

Ditto to the best wishes with the docs!

In my experience, shellac alone is an entirely sufficient adhesive for gluing down paper "plating," and it dries much faster than PVA.

It's always been my impression that the current practice of coppering model ship hulls was the result of nothing more than some European kit manufacturers taking the opportunity to throw a little bit of copper foil into their boxes so they could advertise "Real copper included!" and add substantially to the "number of parts included" by counting each copper plate.

I haven't encountered this problem with the one I have. It has a "zero" sized collet which closes completely and will hold even the smallest numbered bit. Other than that, I agree completely with the advantages and disadvantages you mentioned. I would only add that when I use the separately sized collet pin vises in my drill press with a small bit, I generally turn the drill press chuck manually rather than with the motor turning the quill because there's less chance of breaking the tiny bits with a very slow hand rotation. I don't think that this is a "one size fits all" situation. Sometimes you have to have the right tool to do the job and that may mean buying more than one pin vise.

My go-to pin vise is a very common one: This is the Otto Frei pin vise linked above. The neat thing about this pin vise, which it took me years to discover, is that if you unscrew the collet nut, the collet can be pulled out and end-for-ended where there's another sized collect at the other end. If you unscrew the barrel of the vise, there's yet anothr double-ended collect in the handle tube. The OP may want to check his pin vise that only holds larger bits. I'd bet it has a similar arrangement. There should be a zero hole collet and another three going progressively larger from there. The dedicated pin vise sized sets like the Starrett-style mentioned about and particularly handy for holding very small bits which can then be chucked into a drill press. The big bucks you would pay for the Starrett set reflects the machining tolerances that ensure very accurate concentricity of the bits. That level of accuracy is always nice to have, but it's not necessary for modeling wood working. The "hand vise" or "jeweler's vise" is an entirely different animal from the pin vise, even though they are both called vises. The pin vise is for holding drill bits and awl points and things like that and is used as a tool holder. The hand vise is not a tool holder, but rather a workpiece holder. Hand vises come in many shapes and sizes, some being quite specialized. There's nothing better for holding small parts when you need to work on them. The one linked above that has a hole in the handle so a long rod can be run through is designed primarily for pulling long lengths of wire and rod through a draw plate to siize or shape the work piece. The ability to run the rod or wire straight through the handle permits long lengths of material to be puled though the draw plate while maintaining a grip on it close to the face of the draw plate. For general modeling purposes, the engraver's hand vise, sometimes called a "universal work holder" is one of the most versatile of all hand vises: $13.00 from Rio Grande jewelry supply house: Universal Work Holder with Handle - RioGrande Work can be held between the open jaws shown above or work pieces of practically any shape that will fit between the pegs inserted on the face of the vise can be held by placing the pegs as necessary for the sides of the pegs in the holes to squeeze the sides of the irregularly shaped work piece. The wooden handle also screws off, leaving a square block that can be mounted in the jaws of a fixed bench vise to hold the "Universal Work Holder" securely for two-handed work.

I think a lot of it is just an optical illusion because he has such big hands. His hands make the pieces look smaller is all. Just kidding. Johann is my secret hero. His work is incomparable. I've studied a lot of models in a lot of museums around the world and I"ve never seen anything to approach the quality of his work. His build log photography too is some of the best ship modeling porn I've ever seen.

And all th is time I thought I was the only one who was frustrated by the original paperback volume one binding with the pages that fall out. When I got the second volume with the spiral binding that allows you to lay the book flat on your workbench when using it as a reference, I seriously entertained taking my volume one down to the local chain stationary store and having it spiral-bound, as well. One of those things on my list of "probably-never-will-get-around-tuits," though.

Thanks, Roger! That's always been my layman's understanding of it as well.

There's an excellent instructional piece on preparing your own grown wood for modeling use in the NRG's Ship Modeler's Shop Notes, Volume II, I believe, but if you don't have it, buy both volumes and it will be in one of them. A couple of invaluable modeling books and, in terms of bang for your buck, a very good investment. Get them from the NRG online store or used off eBay.

A lot of the Indian tools and tool parts are, or were, produced as piecework in home shops. You can find them in some number on eBay. That said, he Chinese can't hold a candle to the Indians when it comes to knock-offs. As with anything else, you get what you pay for. The Indians do seem to honestly state whether a piece is for decoration, not use, and that a copy of the real deal is just that and not what it's supposed to look like. While you are in the neighborhood, don't overlook Pakistan's large surgical instrument industry. The Pakistani tweezers, foreceps, hemostats and so on aren't the highest quality for medical purposes, most of it apparently destined for Third World clinics, but most all of it is of a quality more than suitable for modeler's purposes. Like the Indian stuff, a lot of it is on eBay.

Believe it or not, I still on occasion find my collection of LEROY templates and lettering instruments useful. The ASCII-standard letters are utilitarian and boring, but some of the old odd-ball fonts produce some amazing work. While I'm often a laser printer font cut-and-paster, there's still nothing like an India inked old style font from the turn of the last century to give a drawing a real period feel.

In my experience, once a yellow metal develops a patina, i.e. oxidizes, the oxidation on the exterior, i.e. the patina, becomes a sealer itself and further oxidation apparently ceases or at least slows way down. In other words, the patina is the sealer. There's no need to seal the patina at all. Now, perhaps some of the chemists and metalurgists in this forum can explain this phenomenon, or expose it as pure bunk, but I've handled a lot of patinated copper and bronze over the years and if it's a patina you want, the best was to get one and keep it is to just leave the piece alone. Surely exposure to salt air, for example, can accelerate the oxidation and keeping it indoors will avoid the green verdigris affect, yielding a "brown penny" look instead, but it all oxidizes the same. Nobody's painted a clear sealer on the Statue of Liberty as far as I know and she's doing just fine. Brass horn players will probably disagree with me, but I wouldn't advise lacquering or otherwise coating polished yellow metal at all. For one thing, bare brass or bronze, lightly polished regularly, will take on a beautiful character owing to those few areas which aren't accessible to the polishing cloth. Hinges, screw slots, and deep corners all develop their own contrasting character to yield a "well used and well cared for" look. The "perfect" bright lacquered finishes that are often applied by manufacturers quickly degrade to a blotchy visual horror because of microscopic scratches and other porosity occurring in the coatings applied. I expect most mariners are familiar with a shiny brass clock or barometer case that after a few years looks like it has "the pox." Because of the coating, it is near impossible to polish these spots away. There's nothing for it but to strip off the coating entirely. This is also often an extremely difficult and time consuming process. Some lacquers wipe off easily with a liberal application of lacquer remover, but others cling to the surface like it was life itself. Every lamp, barometer, ship's clock and other brass or bronze item I own is, or eventually will be, stripped of their factory clear coatings and reduced to their natural bare state and then lovingly (but perhaps too infrequently) hand polished. The satisfaction of polishing a nice piece of brass to a mirror gloss is hard to beat. The moral of the story being that if you coat patina, that coating isn't likely to be accomplishing anything in the short term and probably will cause a whole lot of work for your or some subsequent owner in the years to come. If it's a weathered copper bottom you are seeking, you may also wish to consider applying scale-thickness paper "plates" and painting these with an airbrush and standard model weathering products rather than trying to achieve that look on a model hull with real copper plates. Most of the commercially available "real copper" plates produced for ship modeling are eggregiously out of scale in the first place. Patina itself has its own scale as well. Study your model's bottom and determine what a weathered coppered bottom of your model's scale actually looks like when viewed from scale model viewing distances. When it comes to depicting coppered bottoms, subtlety is the name of the game. See:

Damn! You're absolutely right. I'd forgotten about that for a while.

Let me add one more thing to the above "tome." "Flaming" the thread used for reefing lines to remove any "fuzz" before use is highly advised. Dark line "fuzz" contrasts strongly with the lighter sail material.

Especially when they permit basswood along with mahogany! Maybe they need to update their specifications. Maybe they have and we're just relying on some old data. Nothing ever dies on the internet!