Bob Cleek

USA tool maker, Starrett, makes steel rules graduated in 1/48 inch.  Six-inch-long, part # C601-6; 12-inch-long, part # C601-12.  Front and back, top and bottom of the rule make for four graduated edges.  One edge is graduated in 12ths, 24ths and 48ths.  The others give measurements in 10ths, 20ths, 50ths and 100ths; 16ths, 32nds and 64ths and lastly, 14ths and 28ths.  They will be very well made and surprisingly expensive.    

Try here for something more closer to your location:
 
https://www.bnamodelworld.com/index.php?route=product/search&search=Scale ruler
 
Andy

Not coincidental at all. "Getting  your ducks in a row" is a direct reference to fairing a line with a batten and ducks.

Look for some drafting scale rules on eBay. They come in all scales and "quarter-inch" is pretty common. In the U.S., triangular scales as pictured above commonly have a "quarter-inch" scale on one side. I've never seen one here with a combination of Imperial and Metric, although some engineer's scales (as opposed to architects' scales) will have inches divided into tenth's.
 
Alternately, 1:48 scale is equivalent to "O" gauge model railroad scale. You should be able to find a 1:48 scale rule offered for sale on a model railroading website.
 
See also: Triangular Scale Ruler for 1/12, 1/24, /1/32, 1/35, 1/48, 1/72 (L: 17cm) | eBay

My Unimat SL lathe had a 220 VAC motor on it when I got it from a fellow who had bought it in England years decades earlier.  It had the same two-pin plug as the one in the picture. When I was in England 30 years ago, my electric razor power converter plug was also the same double round pin plug shown. I suspect this plug is the British equivalent of our two-prong plugs and has been largely supplanted by three prong grounded plugs, as have our two prong plugs here.

Look for some drafting scale rules on eBay. They come in all scales and "quarter-inch" is pretty common. In the U.S., triangular scales as pictured above commonly have a "quarter-inch" scale on one side. I've never seen one here with a combination of Imperial and Metric, although some engineer's scales (as opposed to architects' scales) will have inches divided into tenth's.
 
Alternately, 1:48 scale is equivalent to "O" gauge model railroad scale. You should be able to find a 1:48 scale rule offered for sale on a model railroading website.
 
See also: Triangular Scale Ruler for 1/12, 1/24, /1/32, 1/35, 1/48, 1/72 (L: 17cm) | eBay

Not coincidental at all. "Getting  your ducks in a row" is a direct reference to fairing a line with a batten and ducks.

Look for some drafting scale rules on eBay. They come in all scales and "quarter-inch" is pretty common. In the U.S., triangular scales as pictured above commonly have a "quarter-inch" scale on one side. I've never seen one here with a combination of Imperial and Metric, although some engineer's scales (as opposed to architects' scales) will have inches divided into tenth's.
 
Alternately, 1:48 scale is equivalent to "O" gauge model railroad scale. You should be able to find a 1:48 scale rule offered for sale on a model railroading website.
 
See also: Triangular Scale Ruler for 1/12, 1/24, /1/32, 1/35, 1/48, 1/72 (L: 17cm) | eBay

I have always heard them referred to as "ducks" or more formally Spline Weights.  Calls to mind the expression about getting all your 'ducks in a row,' but I suspect it's coincidental.
-Harvey  

I was going under the impression that the unit in question would be a UK only deal.
Bob, cut thru my knot and jumped on the most simple answer - just save the head and attach it to a regular soldering iron handle.
That would make the plug on the sale unit not relevant.  It would also open it up to the US.
 
I was looking at  Romex at Home Depot, since a recent post was about how expensive a coil has become.  The 220V is  4 wire.  The plug on Ebay is two prong and round.  I was trying to get my head around a match up of 4 wire Romex with that plug.  I also wonder if a kid who stuck a metal object on into a 220V plug would have a more interesting experience than a US kid who did it with a 110V?

British Voltage is rated at 230V but if measured is generally 240 -245. That is not a BS1363 plug. At a push you may be able to get it in a shaver socket. You can still get 5A round pin sockets for lighting circuits but have not generally seen round pin sockets in domestic wiring since the 1960's. In industry you get round pin commando 230V Sockets but these still have an earth pin so could not use one of these.
 
Of course, could use an adaptor but it is highly likely this would be a 110V device and so you will find it won't last long. 
 
Your choice not to trust what I say but after 30 years in electrical industry and the last 10 of this as a Senior Electrical Engineer I would hope I have some idea.

From the eBay photos, it appears to be a British plug, so that would be 220 VAC. I doubt it will sell for as little as a pound. I've seen them go for some pretty amazing prices. I don't know why nobody makes these anymore. They are definitely a great tool. Finestkind! I don't know of another plank bender that allows the user as much control as this one.

Correct. For a considerable time, steamers carried sail, not only in case the engines failed, but also to extend the steamer's range, particularly in the trans-Atlantic trade It took a lot of coal to cross the Atlantic and the wind blows for free. It was not until 1892 and 1893 when Cunard launched RMS Campania and her identical twin sister RMS Lucania, that trans-Atlantic steamers abandoned their sailing rigs.  Note in the photo below, Lucania still carries her masts and was capable of setting a headsail or three in an emergency, but never did. Her masts also served her cargo derricks fore and aft. They also came in handy in a few short years for radio antennas when Lucania became the first ocean-going vessel to be equipped with the new Marconi wireless system. Lucania took the Blue Ribband from her sister, Campania on her second voyage and held it for five years until the Germans built faster steam turbine powered vessels. When launched, these sisters were the largest and fastest passenger vessels in the world. 
 
It wasn't just the "belt and suspenders" redundant engineering of steamships with sailing rigs that was common until the maritime industry finally came to trust steam in the 1890's. Campania and Lucania were also the first ships to be equipped with electrical lights throughout. Note that just above the rail on the side of the bridge superstructure are two running lights, one above the other. One was electric. The other was an oil burner. One of the very few ships ever so equipped. Not only didn't they not trust steam, they had their doubts about electricity, too!  
 
 

When you get the craves... call your sponsor!  

Bob, thanks for posting that image - one learns every day.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Like many large steam ships in the age when steam ships also carried sail, it appears that Great Eastern flew her fore and aft gaff-headed sails from semi-permanently rigged gaff booms. The sails were furled by brailing them to the masts and gaff booms. When the sails were struck and sent down, the gaff booms remained rigged as if the sails were set, with the gaff peaks raised to the same angle as when the sails are set. The gaff booms could be unrigged and sent down for maintenance and such, but at all other times, the gaff booms stayed rigged with the sails brailed to the gaff booms and mast.
 
In port with gaff booms raised and sails sent down.
 

When you get the craves... call your sponsor!  

Like many large steam ships in the age when steam ships also carried sail, it appears that Great Eastern flew her fore and aft gaff-headed sails from semi-permanently rigged gaff booms. The sails were furled by brailing them to the masts and gaff booms. When the sails were struck and sent down, the gaff booms remained rigged as if the sails were set, with the gaff peaks raised to the same angle as when the sails are set. The gaff booms could be unrigged and sent down for maintenance and such, but at all other times, the gaff booms stayed rigged with the sails brailed to the gaff booms and mast.
 
In port with gaff booms raised and sails sent down.
 

Most you ever want to know about gaff rigs is explained in
 
LEATHER, J.  (1977): Gaff Rigg.- 272 p., London (Granada Publishing).
 
There are indeed standing and lowering gaffs as Bob explained above. In general, boom-less gaff-sails (as in GREAT EASTERN) were typically rigged with standing gaffs. There would have been no place to store the gaffs in the absence of booms.

And that makes modeling great.  And it reinforces my argument. Build to your interests. Don't build to mine. By the way, naval vessels are, in fact, working vessels.  I served on seven of them.  Ask my wife about how hard we worked.
 
Bill

Ok ok guys I got the idea. I will save my money for a bottle of Patron Tequila instead. You talked me out of buying this device. You are all right. What was I thinking?
Thanks guys,
Bill

Different ships, different long splices, I guess. Me, when I see the word Victory, I just yawn and keep on scrolling. I'd rather see a good model of a working boat than a naval vessel any day. I guess I'm just a pirate at heart.  

Please read Jaager's above post again and definitely read the link listed at the beginning. This is an internet forum and free advice on the internet often costs much more in the end than one paid for it. The reader must always separate the fly specks from the pepper. Too quickly believing what you want to hear is an ever-present danger.
 
The author of the above post is one of the most experienced and accomplished modelers on this forum. Seven members (as of this post) have endorsed his advice to you. One of those who gave Jaager's post a "thumbs up" is Chris Watton, owner of Vanguard Models and world-renowned model ship kit designer. I believe he is currently working on designing a kit model of HMS Indefatigable, a 64-gun third rate ship-of-the-line designed in 1761, which, in modeling terms, poses most of the challenges posed by any fully-rigged ship of the same period as HMS Victory. Notwithstanding the well-intentioned encouragement of some responses to your post, what does Chris Watton's endorsement of Jaager's post tell you?
 
Choose wisely, Grasshopper. Master walking before you try to run. 
 
 

1.     The ensign is flown from the aftermost gaff peak when a ship is under sail. The halyard is lead down to a convenient cleat on the boom inboard (or sometimes at the mast) so that the halyard belaying point is easily accessible from the deck. In this fashion, the halyard moves with the gaff sail as it moves across the centerline of the vessel.
 
2.     The ensign is flown from a staff on the centerline at the stern when the vessel is not under sail. When not under sail, the aftermost boom is secured slightly to port or starboard of the ensign staff. The ensign staff is struck and and stowed on deck when the ship is sailing. If your model will not have sails set, the ensign should be flown from the ensign staff. If the model has sails, the ensign should be flown from the aftermost gaff peak and the ensign staff should be stowed on deck. When the ensign is flown from the ensign staff, the ensign halyard and its block remain rigged at the gaff peak with the halyard belayed at its cleat. 
 
At present, photos indicate that Victory secures her aftermost boom to port of her ensign staff. I can't discern the ensign gaff peak halyard in the below picture. It may be that because she is in a dry dock and never sails, they haven't bothered to rig a gaff peak ensign halyard at all. (I don't see the boom topping lifts, either, perhaps for the same reason. The ensign in the photo is much smaller than the ensigns flown in earlier times, which were much larger for better visibility at sea.)
 

 
 
On the other hand.... I expect the duty signalman found himself on report the day this photo was taken!  
 

 
Large ensign flying from the ensign staff while the ship is anchored. A spectrum of various sized ensigns were carried for various occasions.
 

 
 
 
 

1.     The ensign is flown from the aftermost gaff peak when a ship is under sail. The halyard is lead down to a convenient cleat on the boom inboard (or sometimes at the mast) so that the halyard belaying point is easily accessible from the deck. In this fashion, the halyard moves with the gaff sail as it moves across the centerline of the vessel.
 
2.     The ensign is flown from a staff on the centerline at the stern when the vessel is not under sail. When not under sail, the aftermost boom is secured slightly to port or starboard of the ensign staff. The ensign staff is struck and and stowed on deck when the ship is sailing. If your model will not have sails set, the ensign should be flown from the ensign staff. If the model has sails, the ensign should be flown from the aftermost gaff peak and the ensign staff should be stowed on deck. When the ensign is flown from the ensign staff, the ensign halyard and its block remain rigged at the gaff peak with the halyard belayed at its cleat. 
 
At present, photos indicate that Victory secures her aftermost boom to port of her ensign staff. I can't discern the ensign gaff peak halyard in the below picture. It may be that because she is in a dry dock and never sails, they haven't bothered to rig a gaff peak ensign halyard at all. (I don't see the boom topping lifts, either, perhaps for the same reason. The ensign in the photo is much smaller than the ensigns flown in earlier times, which were much larger for better visibility at sea.)
 

 
 
On the other hand.... I expect the duty signalman found himself on report the day this photo was taken!  
 

 
Large ensign flying from the ensign staff while the ship is anchored. A spectrum of various sized ensigns were carried for various occasions.