Bob Cleek

I'm not sure if this link has been posted before. The Introduction and Use of Copper Sheathing - A History, by Mark Staniforth, Academia.EDU PDF first published in 1985, bulletin of the Australian Institute of Maritime Archaeology (28 pages.) This is a very interesting academic work on the history and technology of copper sheathing. https://www.academia.edu/358814/The_Introduction_and_Use_of_Copper_Sheathing_A_History?email_work_card=view-paper

I found them on Google Images at https://www.frankhagan.com/weekender/gaffhaly.htm. The diagrams, from that website, are originally from John Leather's Gaff Rig Handbook, a highly thought of authoritative work. The discussion related in the text, as it turns out, cites commentary from two acquaintances of mine, Andrew Craig Bennet and Ian McColgin, both highly knowledgeable on the subject of traditional rigging details. The point of the article, it seems, is "different ships, different long splices." There's no absolute "right way" to rig a gaff peak halyard, but some are a lot better than others. If you are looking for a good book to add to your library, Leather's The Gaff Rig Handbook is a must on the subject. I'll add that modern "rigging books" written for modelers are often abbreviated and generalized, if not full of errors. They're sort of the Cliff's Notes on the subject. Books written on rigging full-size prototype vessels are much more useful to modelers, generally speaking. The detective work that goes into building an accurate period model is a fascinating aspect of the hobby to some and if you are one of those modelers, you will find contemporary rigging manuals such as those by Biddlecombe, Lever, and Steel invaluable and, fortunately, readily available in reprints and even in free PDF format online (courtesy of our sponsors, below.) https://thenrg.org/resources/Documents/articles/TheArtOfRigging-Steel.pdf https://thenrg.org/resources/Documents/articles/TheArtOfRigging-Biddlecomb.pdf

Yes. Thinned white (clear) shellac works well and dries very fast.

I'd do some testing before going that route. I've not seen one of those plastic Revell Connies in a long while, but, plastic being what it is, you may find that drilling the pin holes in the pin rails may weaken them to the point that they snap clean off when the total rigging tension is applied. You'd be perforating them in a line down their entire length. They might not be able to handle that. Check your scale and make sure whatever pins you use are the correct size and shape. While not as bad as many, the ones pictured in the link are, IMHO, butt-ugly. They are way too fat and have an odd-ball shape. There is a relatively standard shape for a belaying pin and I don't know about anybody else, but incorrect belaying pins hit me like a poke in the eye every time I look at a model with them. (Note that the bottom of the pin is truncated in the above drawing. It should be 2/3 the length of the entire pin, with the handle the other third. See real pin pictured below.)

I've read this here and there a time or two, but I've never encountered a pin with a line belayed to it that could have been pulled out of a rail as described. Neither have I ever seen it done aboard a sailing vessel in my half-century plus of belaying lines to pins. Just sayin'. Maybe there's a trick to it that I haven't learned, but I've never encountered a pin that was going anywhere with a line belayed around it.

Any time your push stick gets bit by the blade, it's time to do some serious analysis to identify why that happened. Better a "sacrificial" push stick gets bit than your flesh, but even so, it ain't supposed to happen.

I often use a #2 pencil with an eraser as a push stick. The eraser side down on the wood. I also make up push sticks as I go. It only takes a few seconds. Rule One: Never reach over a table saw blade. Rule Two: Never stand in line with the blade. (Avoid getting hit by a kick-back.) Rule Three: Always use a push stick when ripping.

First read the instructions that came with the saw. (I'm not saying this to be snarky. You'd be amazed how many people in this world never read the instructions... including my Dearly Beloved.) The instructions should show you how to set up your saw. You will probably want to move the fence to the other side of the blade and you'll want to find a place to keep your miter gauge until you are ready to use it besides where you've got it in the photo. Then, start with the YouTube video below and then keep watching the basic full-size table saw operation videos on this page: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+use+a+table+saw The operation of the Byrnes saw is the same as that for a full-size table saw. Pay close attention to the safe operation rules. The Byrnes Saw is small and quiet, but no less worthy of respect than a full-size table saw. It will injure in all the same ways, albeit perhaps on a smaller scale. To get the most from your saw, you will probably want to also acquire the factory-made cross-cutting sled that will make short repetitive cross cuts easily and with extreme accuracy. This advice may seem a bit simplistic, but a good command of the basics will get you off on the right foot.

When tying off, apply a small drop of thinned shellac to the knot. That will keep it from loosening. If you ever do have to untie it, a light application of denatured alcohol will dissolve the shellac and the knot can be undone.

The Complete Rigger's Apprentice, by Brion Toss (just recently deceased.) https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Riggers-Apprentice-Techniques-Traditional/dp/0070648409/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&hvadid=78340264775888&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&keywords=the+rigger's+apprentice&qid=1602362353&sr=8-3&tag=mh0b-20 The Gaff Rig Handbook, by John Leather. https://www.ebay.com/i/184384037037?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-213727-13078-0&mkcid=2&itemid=184384037037&targetid=4580290572086399&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=403204655&mkgroupid=1227055191472610&rlsatarget=pla-4580290572086399&abcId=9300377&merchantid=51291&msclkid=6141db830e2a1da5d9c3840112cc890e

Garrett Wade has them, but they are presently out of stock. https://www.garrettwade.com/miniature-spokeshave-set-3.html

Guys, I'm not saying that the Veritas miniature tools, for what they are, aren't well made or won't do the job within the limits of their sizes. Owning one, if you didn't have something better to do with your money, would, I'm sure, be satisfying. They're very cool. However, my point, perhaps stated more artfully here, is that they are "collectables" and, for the price, there are many other options which are designed to work wood in small sizes and better suited for those tasks than simply a miniature version of a much larger tool. Two hands versus one hand. Capice? .https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/miniature-tools/planes/75057-veritas-miniature-bench-plane?item=05P8222 https://www.lie-nielsen.com/products/Model Maker's Block Plane?path=block-planes&node=4072 The Lie-Neilsen model maker's block plane above, at around $100, costs twice as much as the Veritas miniature bench plane, but is engineered for a full sized hand. It is a knock-off of the original Stanley #101 model maker's plane. Used original Stanley #101's and other makers' new copies of the original Stanley #101 can be had for around twenty bucks. http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan12.htm https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/kunzpalmplanewithhandle.aspx And the current folded metal (not cast) Stanley version without the beaver-tail palm handle retails new for about seven bucks. https://www.zoro.com/stanley-small-trimming-plane-12-101/i/G9174277/ And if you really want to go first class on such tools, consider the "finger planes" made for luthiers. The Ibex line will make a dent in your wallet, but they're finestkind. https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/finger-planes.aspx

These Veritas miniature tools are collectors' pieces. While they do "work," they are not built for serious use. For one thing, as miniatures, they aren't ergonomically suited for use in a full-size hand. They were intended for the gift trade (and hence the nice fitted box,) not serious miniature woodworking.

My comment on this is a bit late to the dance, but I missed this thread on the first bounce. As for milling, my late friend Elof Granberg invented the "Alaskan mill" chainsaw planking mill and I've played with them some. They do work, but their kerf is large. They are fine if your are milling large logs, but not practical for small stuff. As you note, securing the small logs for cutting is a problem. I've found that for modeling stock, which doesn't have to be large dimension stuff, splitting the log is often a good way to go for logs that are too big for my 14" bandsaw. I rip a cut the length of the log with a circular saw and then drive wedges into the kerf and split the log into halves, quarters, and so on, until it's small enough to handle on the bandsaw. I square two sides on my jointer, or plane one face by hand and then cut slabs off with the bandsaw. I keep billets fairly large and mill pieces as needed from the billets instead of trying to mill a bunch of standard sized stock. Building boats or models, nothing is dimensioned lumber ever anyway. It saves a lot of wood that way. You only cut what you need. Another advantage of splitting your logs is that you minimize grain run-out. Trees are basically "cones" with the "rings" getting progressively smaller as the trunk or branch tapers upward. By splitting along the grain, you know that side of your piece has its grain running right along the split, instead of running off the edges of your planks when cut square. Sawyers of commercial stock would never do that these days because they can get more lumber out of a straight cut than they can along the ring, but modeling stock is small bits and pieces and we can afford to be "wasteful" when we mill it.

And that's a huge understatement. The world is full of great modeling wood species. Many aren't commercially viable at all because they don't grow large enough to produce anything other than small pieces. In fact, those small, slow growing species often produce the best modeling wood species of all. Think "boxwood" and "holly," etc. I just had a three inch thick branch break off of a persimmon tree on my property. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can mill out of that. I expect it will be great modeling wood. (It's main commercial use once upon a time was for carving golf club driver heads.) Good luck trying to buy some at your local lumberyard. And the best thing about harvesting your own wood is that it's all free!

Beautiful model ! Great job ! Thanks for sharing it.

Plain denatured alcohol, "ethanol" (in the US) or "methylated spirits," (in the UK) is sold in hardware and paint stores. Isopropyl alcohol and other "spirits" formulated for medical use are sold in pharmacies (in the US) or by "chemists" (in the UK.)

"What do you all think I did wrong? I didn't wait long enough? Put it on too thick.?" Or a combination of the two. Enamel paint hardens 1. as the volatile solvents (thinners) evaporate and 2. as the oils (binders) polymerize. The solvents evaporate "from the top down," with the solvent closest to the surface exposed to the air evaporating first. Thus, a coat can "skin over" with the solvents evaporating and be dry to the touch, but, particularly when a coat is thick, the paint below the skinned over surface won't have completely cured. The skinned surface slows the rate of solvent evaporation, as well, so when you start to sand through the "skin," you run into a real mess sanding. If you put another thick coat on top of a coat that hasn't fully dried, it just compounds the problem. When the later coat skins over, the paint surface shrinks, but the lower soft "wet" paint allows the shrinking surface to "slip" because it's soft, so you can get "wrinkling" on the hardened top coat. Testor's enamel is notorious for taking forever to dry. At least that's what I've often heard as well as experienced. It's formulated primarily for use on plastic models and is fairly thick stuff. I expect that most of the "model" paint sold today is made for the plastic model kit builders' market. The wood and metal modelers are decidedly in the minority and a lot of the modelers working with traditional materials mix and condition their own paints from artists' oils or acrylics, anyway. If you seal your wood with thinned shellac which permeates the bare wood (and will dry very fast) , and then do your final finish sanding, you should have a perfectly smooth surface without any sanding dust-loading problems on your sandpaper, which is caused by trying to sand uncured paint. The only reason you'd really require a primer coat would be to get a uniform base color. Real "sanding basecoat" (sometimes called "high build primer") is a paint made with chalk dust added, which gives the paint more solids which cover well and sand very easily. Use that if you have to fill a lot of minute imperfections. It also will cover dark patches well. If you are trying to get a uniform base color, try to prime with a paint that has a lot of solids (pigments) which will cover well. The thinner your coats, the better. Unfortunately, the lacquers that we used to love are hard to find these days. Frankly, "model" paints really aren't the best option in many instances because they are somewhat "generic" and favor the plastic kit building market, rather than the materials many ship modelers use. You will often find better options in art supply stores, quality paint stores, marine chandleries, and automobile paint supply houses. Note that Rust-oleum Paints, which are sold pretty much everywhere, have many different primer options, as well as a good line of quality oil paint in many colors. Your paint store can color Rust-oleum to your specifications while you wait. Rust-oleum enamels can be purchased in pint cans at a relatively reasonable price and are easily thinned with lacquer thinner for airibrushing. Finally, "rattle cans," while perhaps seemingly convenient, really aren't the best option for painting miniatures. There's a wide range of quality with the nozzles, which are the main determinant of the quality of the finish you can get out of them. There's a world of difference between the control you have with a decent airbrush and what you get with a "rattle can." And, of course, the cost of a "rattle can" is far greater than the cost of the same amount of paint in a regular can.

Just cheap denatured alcohol from the hardware store. Make sure you get the clear denatured alcohol, though. In some places, they dye denatured alcohol blue (often when sold as stove fuel) to keep people from selling it as drinking alcohol.

Save your money and your sanity. "Plank crimpers" are next to useless. Go to the Articles Database, https://thenrg.org/resource/articles, and read everything in there on planking. Then go to YouTube and watch Chuck Passaro's plank-bending instructional videos. Then you're good to go.

The Romans had docks, to be sure. They had a huge inland port near Rome to serve as the terminus of a canal from the main port of Ostia where large amounts of cargo were offloaded. The limitation in the Mediterranean, however, was one of suitable dock space in harbors. Because it was possible to "parallel park" a larger number of vessels than to tie them to the side of a quay or dock, cargo was handled across the bow or stern of the vessels "parked parallel," instead of from midships as would be the case if the vessel was tied alongside. Hence the "gang planks" which are common in the area even to this day.

The "search thingy" is your friend. Here's a thread from the past answering your question. Hope it helps. Remember, if you buy your accessories at the same time as you buy your saw, you will likely save a considerable amount on shipping costs, especially to Germany, than if you have to keep "going back to the well" to get another accessory you've discovered you'd have a use for!

A batten can be made of any "springy" material. Straight-grained wood slats work well. The thickness of the batten will determine the batten's flexibiliy, which is a matter of taste. Metal will also work, if it has spring to it. A broken piece of bandsaw blade with the teeth ground off serves well. So do pieces of metal packing banding. Manicure files and emery boards can work, too. They come with the abrasive grit already on them and the ones with a coarse and a fine grit on opposing sides are often handy. Plastics will work, depending upon their stiffness. You want your batten to be stiff enough to make a fair curve when laid over the bulkheads or frames, but not so stiff that you break the bulkhead or frame trying to make your batten take a curve. Experiment and see what works best for your application. Hand and power tools each have their places, but hand tools often have greater ranges of utility. Power tools can be too aggressive and thus difficult to control, particularly in modeling. For fine fitting to close tolerances, hand tools have the advantage over power tools unless you pay the big bucks for highly accurate power tools. Really good power tools will provide accuracy greater than possible with many hand tools, but at a price. Like power tools, however, hand tools do come in a range of qualities and the good ones are priced accordingly. A decent set of chisels in smaller sizes are very useful. There are a number of small planes on the market, but there's a huge difference in quality and ease of use between the cheap plastic ones that are sold by modeling retailers and, for example, the nice metal ones sold primarily to luthiers. The critical thing to remember about hand or power tools, but especially about hand tools, is that they have to be kept sharp. Keep your tools sharp and they will not fail you. The same applies to sandpaper. When it wears out or gets loaded with dust, get another piece. Work from coarse grits to finer grits. Don't waste your time trying to remove large amounts of material with fine sandpaper. Only buy a tool when you actually need to use it and always buy the best tool you can possibly afford. Realize that old used hand tools in decent "user" condition are often your best value. Learn to sharpen and maintain your tools and do so as often as necessary. You will easily be able, over time, to build up a good selection of fine tools following these principles and your work will be more enjoyable and better with good tools. You will also save money because a quality tool is one that you will only have to buy once and if you ever decide to sell it, it will retain some of its value. This is a (rusty blade) plastic Xacto "plane." I use the term loosely. I have one which came in a boxed Xacto knife set I bought at a garage sale decades ago. I attempted to use it once. It is totally useless. Consider acquiring a Stanley "model maker's plane." http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan12.htm This is a current Stanley model #12-101 small trimming plane. It'll cost you ten or eleven bucks retail. Note that its body is made of folded sheet metal. It will do the job well enough. This is an original old Stanley #101 small trimming plane. (A very early one, by the trademark on the iron.) Mint condition collectible ones aren't cheap, but "users" are quite common on eBay and on the used market. (Don't overlook thrift shops and low-end "antique" stores, which often have tool bins full of junk tools, often with a few "finds" among the junk. They often aren't aware of the value of the good tools and there are bargains to be had.) Note that the body and cap are of cast iron. This one will do the job easier and better because it has more heft and will not flex, has a convenient pad for your index finger to rest upon, and has a better quality iron which will hold its edge longer and be easier to sharpen. This is Lie-Nielsen's No. 101 Bronze Violin Maker's Block Plane, a copy of the original Stanley #101 in bronze with a precision wheel blade depth adjuster and a cryo-treated A2 steel iron. https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/lie-nieslen-101-violin-makers-plane.aspx It'll set you back $100, but it's a real piece of "jewelry" and a really great plane, from all reports. It represents the upper end of the price point and quality scale. Assuming both planes are properly sharpened and set, this plane and the old Stanley #101 will work equally well. Here's a collection of Ibex Archtopped Carving Planes with convex soles. The small ones will set you back around $100 a pop. The large one in the foreground, about the same size as a Stanley #101, will make a $225 dent in your wallet. That said, just the thought of owning a set of these beauties will make most model makers start to tingle all over. These puppies aren't cheap, but if you are building concert violins, you gotta have 'em. https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/types-of-tools/planes/ibex-archtop-carving-planes.html He who dies with the most tools wins!

Nottingham, PA... Who'd a thunk it? Add me to the list of those who didn't read carefully!

First, the bulkheads or frames have to be sufficiently rigid to withstand sanding without moving. They must also be set up accurately, but that probably goes without saying. If they move too much, you can put temporary (or permanent if it won't ever be seen after planking) blocking between the bulkheads to give them more rigidity. What works for me is to use a "sanding board." This is a batten of suitable size and width with sandpaper of a suitable grit (120 for rough shaping) glued to one face of the batten. If you want to get fancy, you can glue knob handles on the smooth side of the batten at each end of the batten. This flexible batten is then bent across a number of bulkhead edges or frames and the "high" end of the face of the bulkheads or frames are sanded down to the "low end," which defines the shape of the hull. I generally will mark the "low" edge face of the bulkheads or frames, if not the entire face, so that i can readily see what has been sanded and take care never to sand beyond the "low" edge of the bulkhead or frame. Using the "sanding board" will permit you to fair the bulkhead edges accurately from any direction across the faces of the bulkheads or frames. Where there are bulkheads or frames that require a significant removal of material, you can also carefully cut larger amounts of material using a small spokeshave or other edged tool, but taking great care not to remove too much. Always "work up to the line" with your sanding board.