Bob Cleek

Perhaps you're joking. If not, actually, the fittings are bronze (always bronze, never brass) and, properly, they are left unpolished and left to weather and form a patina, as with bronze statues.

I've seen more "gold platers" in my day than most, having once worked for a classic yacht brokerage many years ago, and I thought I'd seen everything, but I have to say that I've never, ever, seen blocks with fitted leather covers sewn on them to keep them from getting nicked up! I guess they're the nautical equivalent of the old Porsche hood "bras." (That application generally is addressed by a "thump mat," a Turk's head spread flat and placed with the eye bolt passing through the middle.)

There are various ways of doing it. The problem, of course, is that full-sized blocks are stropped with strops that are laid up from a single strand of rope laid back on itself to form a continuous loop. A seizing is then worked around a thimble which tightens the strop around the block and the thimble. (The thimble in the photo is incorrect. It is a thimble made for modern wire cable, not fiber cordage. I got the photo off of google images, so...) You can lay up your own strops if you are really anal about it, but that's very difficult at small scales. I used to say "impossible," but from what I've seen of some people's work on this forum, I don't use that word when speaking about ship modeling anymore! Frankly, I've always found even making strops for full-size blocks a difficult bit of work, primarily because the modern synthetic rope used for it modernly does not hold it's shape or "twist" the way hemp rope does. Others have their favorite methods of depicting a stropped blocks for models. Some books recommend gluing the line together on the block, generally at the bottom, opposite the thimble or wetting the end of a tail with some glue and then whipping it, for tailed blocks. I've never liked that option so much because I don't trust glue to hold the kinds of stresses rigging lines are sometimes subject to. I try to devise a way to knot the line so as to achieve a real "strop" that holds the block as in full-size rigging practice. I tie a loop the size of the strop I need, and then place the knot (usually a square knot) at the point of the juncture between the thimble (or the loop in the strop, if a thimble isn't being used,) and then tie the customary racking seizing on top of the knot so that it is hidden from view. Whether the strop is served depends on the scale. If it's to be served, it has to be done before it is placed over the block and thimble. The connecting knot can be hidden in the service, obviously, and then concealed by the seizing. I then apply a clear shellac to the cordage. The shellac sold in paint and hardware stores is "two pound cut," (the thickness of the mixture ratio of alcohol and shellac flakes) and this is generally very thin, so it wicks in easily with just a touch of a paintbrush. There's no need to mask the block, if you are careful applying the shellac. It will be invisible when dry and will "cement" the strop and seizing very well. (Some swear by CA ("super glue") for this application. It's just my preference, but I avoid using CA for anything unless absolutely necessary. I follow the USN/Mystic Seaport archival materials standards to the greatest extent possible. Shellac is soluble in alcohol and can be washed off and undone, unlike some other adhesives. See post #1572 and following on page 53 of archjofo's scratch-build log for La Creole (1827) if you want to learn how to make blocks that will knock your lights out. He's working at a quarter inch to the foot. Note how he actually splices his strops at the bottom, leaving the splice unserved so it appears as a "pudding" at the bottom of the block, which is perfectly accurate. The puddings were used to protect the strop where it was exposed to the most chafe and impacts.

After "rough dusting," generally with compressed air, I use a tack cloth to remove all residual dust immediately before applying finish coats. (Wow! I didn't expect a picture this big! ) Tack cloths are cheesecloth impregnated with a long-lasting "tacky" coating. Dust sticks to them, rather than simply being "moved around" by other dusting methods. They are designed to remove all residual dust before painting finely finished surfaces. They are sold at paint and hardware stores and are inexpensive "consumables." If one folds the cloth to expose a clean square of the surface when a previously exposed square surface becomes full of dust and no longer tacky, a considerable area can be cleaned with them. They will dry out if left exposed to the air for long periods of time. Storing them in a zip-lock plastic bag will keep them tacky for a long while. There is nothing as effective for dusting surfaces prior to finish coating.

Larger round shot was carried with tongs. This was, of course, absolutely necessary with "hot shot." Shore batteries used a lot of heated shot against ships. The red-hot heated shot would set the ships afire. The Royal Navy forbid the use of heated shot aboard ships, due to the risks involved with it. The French and Americans, among others, used heated shot in certain circumstances. USS Constitution had a shot furnace for heating shot installed aboard at one time.

How'd it do on the half inch ply? Oops! Wait a minute. I forgot the HF table saw blade won't raise a half inch above the table. Just razzin' you. They do cut, assuming the blade is sharp, and if it works for you, go for it. The way I see it, though, (and I have one) what's the point of paying forty bucks for an electric saw with its limitations? A hacksaw would have gone through that 1/16" aluminum just as fast and be capable of cutting a lot more metal that the HF saw could ever hope to cut. Your mileage may vary, of course. Realistically, nobody needs a mini-table saw for modeling unless you are going to be ripping strip wood or doing a lot of highly precise repetitive cuts, like when making gratings. They're essential for that and nice to have, but to do what they are really needed for, you can't get the power, and more importantly the control and accuracy, that you can get from one of the expensive ones and, for my money, the Byrnes saw is so much better that anything close to it, the few bucks more in cost is worth every penny and then some. Unfortunately, there isn't anything on the market that really fills the price point void between the Harbor Freight forty buck special and similar Asian knock-offs and the three to five hundred buck mini-table saws because the accuracy needed for cutting to close tolerances is expensive to produce. It's the same with all highly accurate machine tools. It's why wood lathes that work to "eyeball" tolenances are always so much less expensive than metal lathes which work to =/-.001" tolerances.

Ditto on LittleMachineShop. Double-ditto on spending more on tooling than on the lathe! That goes with the territory with lathes and mills and that's just for what I'd call essential tooling just to get done the basic operations one would expect the lathe to do.

So how thick was the aluminum it was actually cutting?

Sandpaper is sort of like underwear. It's a matter of personal preference and quality is pretty much indicated by price point. These days, everybody wants sandpaper with holes in it so their dust collectors will work with it. That makes it more expensive. And they've been pushing "hook and loop" (Velcro) attachment, too. Obviously, you don't want either on the Byrnes sander. (And "hook and loop," which softens the face of the disk, tends to round the edges of pieces being sanded, so that's no good for modeling purposes. The vast majority of 5" disks are made for hand-held sanders and so they're making most of them with holes and "hook and loop" these days. It is possible to purchase PSA (adhesive-backed) 5" disks, though. Any of the good quality brand would be fine. I'm partial to aluminum oxide abrasive, which works well with metals, too, but again here it's a matter of personal preference. There are premium abrasive disks made for heavy use on stationary disk and belt sanders which do last longer, but the real determinant, I think, is the backing, which is thicker, sometimes even cloth. For a disk, I don't think the heavy duty stuff in the grits used in modeling is worth the upcharge for the heavier backing. The issue is cost. Pre-cut PSA disks are expensive because you are paying for the waste of the trimmings when they are cut out of square stock at the factory. The convenience of pre-cut disks can be justified in a commercial production environment where time is money and there's a lot of disk changing going on. There's little or nothing to be gained from pre-cut PSA disks in a non-commercial environment. If you go and price sandpaper, you will be amazed at how much less you are paying per sheet if you purchase standard size sandpaper sheets in sleeves of 100 sheets. The investment in 100 sheets may seem a big chunk to pay at once, but the savings justify that and you will save even more by not having to run to the store for more so often. I buy what I use the most often in my home shop in 100 sheet sleeves, 120, 180, and 220. (I buy 80, 320 and other grits in smaller packages because I don't use ad much of those. I store it in a dry place. I have a stacked "in box" sort of desk filing thing from the office supply store and I put each grit in a separate box in the stack. All of my disk sanding equipment, hand and stationary, is set up, like the Byrnes sander, for use with adhesive. I use 3M Feathering Disc Adhesive or the equivalent to stick the sandpaper to the disk. This stuff is sort of like rubber cement. You can put it on and then pull off the paper fairly easily (if you don't over-do it) and it remains sticky through several sheets, depending how fast you use them up. (It comes in a tube or a spray can. The spray can is more expensive, the nozzles always clog up, and the overspray gets all over your tools and makes a mess. Forget the spray can.) If it sits for a long time, it's harder to get it off, but a bit of a warm up with a heat gun or hair dryer and the disk will peel off okay. When the disk adhesive starts to build up on the disk face, you just clean it off with acetone on a rag. For hand sanders, I just put a bit on the disk, and place the disk face down on the back of the sandpaper sheet and slide it around a bit to spread the adhesive and then just cut around the edge of the disk with a drywall knife while the paper is face down on the bench and I'm good to go. You can get two 5" disks out of a sheet of sandpaper. The "trimmings" I save for other uses, such as on my Fein Multitool, which otherwise takes those really expensive triangular sandpaper pieces (I sanded the "hooks" of the face of the Fein pad and use disk adhesive on it.) or for little bits of paper for hand sanding in nooks and crannies. (Obviously, for the Byrnes sander, I just take a compass and make a 5" circle on the paper and cut it out.) You won't go wrong on the top brands of sandpaper, 3M, Norton, Klingspor, and the rest of the usual suspects. I've found that a good place to find good sandpaper at reasonable prices, particularly in the super-fine grits, is in auto body and fender repair supply houses. Those guys use a lot of sandpaper! The Byrnes sander comes with a 180 grit disk. I'm using 220 on mine. I found anything coarser was too aggressive for my taste. It's all up to you, though. Guys in the business of using sandpaper have their personal favorites, but anybody who's earning their living using the stuff has probably pretty much figured it out and you can go with their recommendation.

I impulsively bought one of these on sale at the local Horror Fright store years ago, just for grins. (I think it set me back $25 or so.) I should have read the reviews on line. It's sitting in a cupboard in my shop, unused. I took it out of the box once when I bought it to see what it would do. Fuggedaboudit! Totally gutless. Very under-powered. It'll cut balsa if it's not too thick. Maybe it'll cut 1/8"basswood if you take it really slow. That's about it. The miter gauge has no degree ruling marks on it. It doesn't have a fence at all. The blade height is adjusted by raising the table and keeping it in place with a set-knob. It's made of metal and looks fairly substantial, but it's a toy, really. Push a piece of wood into it and it'll slow and stall in a hot minute. It saws what can otherwise be cut with a drywall knife and a straightedge. One of these days, I'll give it to my grandson to play with if he ever has any interest in such things. Mounting a circular plate with some sandpaper glued on it on the arbor might turn it into a very light duty disk sander. The blades are non-standard and unobtainable on the aftermarket, AFAIK, so good luck trying to put anything else on it but the stock ones. Given the competition, it's probably worth what they are charging for them, if anybody has a use for something within its very limited usefulness parameters.

The only other thing I can think of is that perhaps the spot where you are trying to drill is an area of particularly dense wood. This can occur adjacent to a knot which may have been cut away, but the 'fringes" of dense wood remain. That said, if it's wood, it ought to be able to be drilled rather easily. It's a mystery at this point why it isn't.

Compared to any other identical generic Chinese "7 by," the Microlux will cost a few hundred dollars more for the Microlux label. Microlux does have a nice add-on package of metal change-gears and adjustment wheels to replace the standard plastic ones for a couple of hundred bucks, though, if you are into putting lipstick on a pig. I think the Microlux-branded ones cost more because they have the factory clean the casting sand out of the gear boxes before they ship them out. (But for the price, if you can get one that is fully fettled and tuned up, they are probably a step up from a Sherline or Taig, if only because you can make small stuff on a bigger lathe, but you can't make big stuff on a lathe that's too small for it. Tooling is also readily available, albeit in many instances of poor quality. I'd buy one from a place like Grizzzly Industrial before anywhere else, if for no other reason than that you can return easily it if defective.)

Within normal ambient humidity levels, the moisture content of the wood shouldn't have much to do with how hard it is to drill. The problem is likely a dull drill bit. You might also try starting the hole with a sharp "pricker," a small sharp nail or pin, as you would with a center punch in larger work, to give the bit something to "bite" when starting out. You may find a Dremel to be over-powered for drilling free-hand with small bits. The small bits will often easily break if there's the slightest wobble when they are running at speed. Good luck with it!

I've not found a better keel clamping vise than my trusty old Zyliss vise. These were originally designed by the Swill military for field use as a portable vise and clamping system. The are incredibly versatile and developed something of a cult following. They were (are?) only sold at trade shows, usually by one of those fast-talking guys in a booth with the microphone around his neck saying, "It chops, slices, dices, blah, blah, blah." You can get the second generation model on line at http://www.homeshow.co.nz/accessories.html, but I've heard rumors that theses guys are now having them manufactured in China and they aren't as good as the Swiss-made originals from the sixties and seventies. (There are also a variety of knock-offs around, which are probably suspect quality-wise.) They show up on eBay regularly, some even unused in the original packaging, and can be had for around a hundred bucks. They weren't ever cheap because they were so well made. They won't replace a big hunk of cast iron on the end of your heavy workbench, but they will hold just about anything in any position anywhere that you could possible want. Carvers, pattern makers, finish carpenters, and other niche craftsmen love them. Their portability is a big plus for modelers who sometimes don't have space for permanent bench set-ups. Google "Zyliss vise" and you'll find plenty about them on line. If you get one, make sure you get the "turntable" accessory and all other parts to the system (pictured on the website above. (The turntable part is essential for optimum keel clamping range of motion.) They're the sort of thing that gets sold used because somebody bought one on impulse and never used it much. Essential parts can go astray easily, so make sure you get the whole thing if buying on eBay, although replacements are available on line at the site above. The keel-clamping set-up is shown at 4:09 on the video below. You can turn a hull every which way you want with it and it's a lot sturdier than the overpriced "panavise" suction-cup base jobs the hobby outfits sell. It can also be set up as a drill-motor powered wood lathe and a drill press for Dremel-style rotary tools and plenty of other neat tricks. It won't replace a real lathe or drill press, but for what it is, it'll probably get the job done for small scale work. Surprisingly, it seems a lot of today's modelers don't know about them.

Google is your friend. They come in various shapes and sizes to match the size range of the pins or nails you want to drive. https://www.amazon.com/Crown-Tools-110XW-Rampin-Pusher/dp/B001C04FYO/ref=sr_1_18?hvadid=77721782242675&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&keywords=pin+pusher&qid=1578508113&sr=8-18 https://www.micromark.com/Push-Hammer https://www.micromark.com/Push-Hammer-for-Pins-3-64-Inch-Maximum-Diameter-Heads https://www.micromark.com/Push-Hammer-for-Nails-with-3-64-3-32-Inch-Heads https://www.ebay.com/itm/TAJIMA-PUSH-HAMMER-PHA-M-MADE-IN-JAPAN/173860799427?_trkparms=aid%3D1110001%26algo%3DSPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D40719%26meid%3D64817b96a6844da7956597ebd258aca3%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D153532617128%26itm%3D173860799427%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1 However, if you can't drill small holes in your frames with a pin vise drill, you'll probably not be able to push a pin or nail into a frame with a push hammer without breaking the frame. Appropriately sized holes are generally drilled before the nail or pin is pushed in unless the wood is extremely soft, such as with balsa.

It's one of those "use your best judgment" sorts of things. A hair dryer should be fine from a safety standpoint. You're standing right there doing it. Hair dryers don't get that hot to begin with. If things start to smoke, or catch fire, you should be able to put it out without much problem. (Every shop should have fire extinguisher(s.)) On the other hand, building a somewhat air-tight tent over a piece of work that is out-gassing volatile gasses and putting a couple of light bulbs burning in it to "heat things up," and then going to bed, isn't something I'd recommend. It may be no problem at all, or ... . Any product that says, "Use only in a well-ventilated area.", is probably flammable. Treat it accordingly. It's just common sense. As your dad probably discovered, a hair dryer will cause water to evaporate and whatever is wet, like hair, will dry when it's blown with one, but as for getting paint or varnish to cure quickly, blowing air over the surface is probably more likely to ruin the finish by stirring up dust than it is to do anything productive. Additionally, accelerating the drying of the top surface of a coating, while leaving the lower part unevenly cured beneath it is likely to ruin the finish. It's one way get a "crinkle finish" as the top dries hard and then the lower part later dries and shrinks, scrunching up the harder top layer.

Supposedly, tung oil won't spontaneously combust like linseed oil can (and will under the right conditions.) I've made it a practice to never leave any oil-based products unattended until they have dried and never to subject them to heat in any enclosed space without a lot of forced ventilation.. I've no concerns about a coat of oil, varnish, or paint on a surface exposed to well-circulated air, but I'd be very leery of enclosing any oil-based coating and adding any sort of heat source into the mix. There's just no telling whether, under the right conditions, gasses or the coating itself might reach "critical mass" in an enclosed, stuffy space and ignite. Particularly oily rags and also paint brushes and steel and bronze wool must be stored underwater in a bucket or hung outdoors in the air to dry completely before disposal. Similarly, mixtures of epoxy resin and hardeners are susceptible to exothermic reactions and can "cook off" unexpectedly when the heat generated by the curing process accelerates the curing, creating a "chain reaction" in which the mixed epoxy rapidly gets hotter and hotter until it ignites whatever flammables are nearby. Just sayin'. (Don't ask me how I know this stuff! )

I don't come to this conclusion after reading the attached news reports. The reports say that the conservators removed accumulated paint coats and identified the coat of paint which was the latest applied at the time of Trafalgar. (This coat was associated with contemporaneous charring, presumably battle damage, as well.) It was consistent with the contemporaneous specifications for mixing the color. The color wasn't the result of an opinion, but rather, if the reports are to be believed, a scientific identification of the exact color seen during the battle. It's not a theory or an opinion. The color visible as of the date of the Battle of Trafalgar was scientifically identified and replicated. It is what it is. That's hard to argue with, I'm afraid, even if other color options are more pleasing to our eyes. That said, what does vary widely are the colors seen in photographs on the internet. The colors seen in these vary due to variations in camera colorization and in screen color variations from screen to screen. What we see on our screens is different from one screen to another, so you're right, unless one uses on the model a color matched to the "official original color" in the flesh, or by using paint matching the scientific description of the color, indeed "nobody knows." from looking at pictures on the internet. (Which is why commercial paint chip pages on line always carry a disclaimer that what we seen on the screen may not be the true color "out of the bottle.")

It pays to make friends with your veterinarian. Vets use a lot of large syringes for large animals and for hydrating smaller animals. Those are the big ones in the picture above. they are 3/4's or an inch in diameter. (You'd go nuts trying to use the skinny insulin syringes.) These hold plenty of glue. You can remove the needle, or not, as you wish. (The needles come with handy plastic caps. If you don't have the needle on the syringe, the needle cap will fit over the end of the syringe in any event and keeps the glue from hardening.) Vets don't seem to be quite so conservative about "bio-hazards" as people doctors do, or so it seems. If they are concerned about "sharps" disposal protocols, ask if they will just save the syringes for you without the needles. I get a bag of them from our vet every so often. (It pays to have a champion basset hound kennel, I guess. We usually have eight or ten dogs at any given time. I put his kids through college! ) I use them for other things besides glue applicators. They are very handy for applying isopropol alchohol in between faying surfaces to unglue parts glued with aliphatic resin glue. Just poke the needle into the crack. I also find them very handy for transferring paint from a container to my airbrush cups. Also for mixing small amounts of paint. I sometimes make my own oil-based paint using artists' oils conditioned with linseed oil, turpentine, and Japan dryer. I can measure exact proportions using the graduations on the syringe. I also mix modeling paint in small pharmacy bottles (the ones pills come in.) A few BB's or small ball bearings dropped in the medicine bottle make mixing a breeze. Just shake the bottle like a "rattle can" and you're good to go. The BBs trick works well in large syringes, too. I can mix thinned aliphatic resin glue and paint right in the syringe by shaking it. It makes clean up easy and small amounts of mixed paint can be stored between modeling sessions right in the medicine bottles. For cleanup, I use isopropol alcohol for glue and mineral spirits for paints. Just suck it up, shake and squirt out a few times. I use the same routine for models as I do for painting full sized boats. Three cans: 1) used solvent drawn off the top of the used solvent can after the solids have settled for the first rinses, 2) clean new solvent for the last rinses, 3) dirty solvent can into which dirty solvent is dumped and left to sit for the solids to settle on the bottom. This is then decanted and becomes "used solvent" for can #1. Maybe it's a lot of hassle to go through for small amounts in modeling, but surely for full-scale painting, it saves a huge amount in brush and spray equipment cleaning solvent costs.

Generally, smaller scale models are built with solid hulls, rather than planked. "Miniatures" can be built on frames, but that requires a very high level of skill few of us have. Those techniques are addressed in the books on the subject of miniature ship models. A couple of good ones are Donald McNarry's Shipbuilding in Miniature (https://www.amazon.com/Shipbuilding-Miniature-Donald-McNarry/dp/0668058005) and Lloyd McCaffery's Ships in Miniature (https://www.amazon.com/Ships-Miniature-New-Manual-Modelmakers/dp/0961502134) The problem isn't getting wood that thin. (Boxwood is frequently used.) It's having the skill to work at those scales! A millimeter is about 4/100ths of an inch. Stripwood that thin can be done with the right material and the right equipment (can you say "Byrnes saw?"), but don't expect to buy it off the shelf easily. You'll likely have to mill it yourself. Some plane off shavings, soak them and lay them out under glass to dry flat and work with that. As Dirty Harry said, "A man's got to know his limitations."

Well done! Thanks for sharing the project with us.

And now we know why the Byrnes machines are so accurate!

It may be helpful to actually build a mock-up of the case which would hold the model out of sticks or cardboard using a hot glue gun ("Martha Stewart style,") similar to the "story poles" they use on proposed building sites to actually see what the building will look like in place. I have been unpleasantly surprised on more than one occasion by the great difference in mass between a model on the bench and a model in a case in the house! Such a "quick and dirty" case is also a good thing with which to cover the model on the bench when you are not working on it during the building process. It protects it from dust, dirt, and damage during the sometimes long periods of time when you can't get to it.

I believe the miter slots are exactly 1/2" in width. Perhaps you can source stock locally for jig making.

I very much agree. I have found this to be the case, too.. The overall size of the finished (and cased!) model is a decisive factor for considerations of display space, but if "the sport in the game" is pushing the limits of one's "personal best" in terms of workmanship and skill within the the limits of the materials, then the scale is irrelevant. Given that, the scale really affects the amount of work, more than anything else. It may be easier to make some parts at a larger scale, e.g. rigging details, but then you've got that same level of detail to deal with elsewhere on the model, e.g. thousands of treenails to drill and drive in place!