Bob Cleek

Perhaps now's the time for somebody to set up some kind of internet platform that connect airline travelers and shippers together. I could easily be wrong, but it seems to me that somebody flying on a commercial flight from the US to Australia to easily add a box with a Byrnes Saw and sliding table to their luggage allowance, paying for overweight, if any, and get it there for a lot less than $616! Then again, on a per mile basis, I'm sure shipping the same package across the US would be every bit of $100, so perhaps not. Not to be a conspiracy theorist or anything, but I can't help but think the corporate capitalists have seen the "recovery" from the pandemic as "open season" on charging as much as the market will bear to make up for lost time. I heard the fuel companies' profits for the first half of the year were the highest in history.

Or it could go like this:
 
"What is in the box, sir?"
A miniature table saw I obtained in the US. Here's my customs declaration form.
"Did you pack it?"
 No, but I unpacked it when it was received from the manufacturer and then repacked it myself.
"Welcome home. Your import duty is..."  
 
 

When I bought Bluejacket 9 yrs ago, I told people I never bought so many kits at one time in my life!

Knots on model rigging are often approximations of the actual prototype knot because it's nearly impossible to tie a real knot that small. The best information on knot tying for model rigging are the many YouTube instructional videos on surgical knot tying generally posted by medical schools for the use of their students. Search for "instrument knot tying" and "suture knot tying."
 
For general knot information there are two definitive references, both still in print, as far as I know:
 
Ashley's Book of Knots by Clifford Ashley
 
and
 
The Encyclopedia of Knots and Fancy Ropework by John Hensel and Raoul Graumount.
 
These two books have just about every knot devised by man. The Encyclopedia is the more technical of the two, categorizing the knots as to their mechanical design and type. "Ashley's" categorizes the knots by their various uses. 

Or it could go like this:
 
"What is in the box, sir?"
A miniature table saw I obtained in the US. Here's my customs declaration form.
"Did you pack it?"
 No, but I unpacked it when it was received from the manufacturer and then repacked it myself.
"Welcome home. Your import duty is..."  
 
 

Or it could go like this:
 
"What is in the box, sir?"
A miniature table saw I obtained in the US. Here's my customs declaration form.
"Did you pack it?"
 No, but I unpacked it when it was received from the manufacturer and then repacked it myself.
"Welcome home. Your import duty is..."  
 
 

Great shots of coppering Bob, thanks.
 
I would agree the model coppering on that Morgan model looks more stylised that authentic, it's not a look that appeals to my eye.
 
B.E.

Count me out!
 
"What is in the box, sir?"
"Not sure. It could be a saw"
"Did you pack it?"
"No"
"Do you know who packed it?" 
"No. Perhaps someone in China".
 
"Sir, can you please step this way? We have a few more questions."

This thread dates back to 2015, which I believe was before Jim Byrnes began offering the crosscut sled for the Byrnes saw. While the cost of a Jim Saw and sled is far beyond the "Choppers" and the Horror Fright chop saw, Byrnes Model Machines has the bases covered here also, and again by orders of magnitude more accurately and more efficiently. (Albeit that the price of the Byrnes quality is also greater by orders of magnitude, but you get far more than you pay for with Byrnes tools.) I may be stating the obvious here, but I can't resist giving a plug to the best collections of products out there.
 

This thread dates back to 2015, which I believe was before Jim Byrnes began offering the crosscut sled for the Byrnes saw. While the cost of a Jim Saw and sled is far beyond the "Choppers" and the Horror Fright chop saw, Byrnes Model Machines has the bases covered here also, and again by orders of magnitude more accurately and more efficiently. (Albeit that the price of the Byrnes quality is also greater by orders of magnitude, but you get far more than you pay for with Byrnes tools.) I may be stating the obvious here, but I can't resist giving a plug to the best collections of products out there.
 

This thread dates back to 2015, which I believe was before Jim Byrnes began offering the crosscut sled for the Byrnes saw. While the cost of a Jim Saw and sled is far beyond the "Choppers" and the Horror Fright chop saw, Byrnes Model Machines has the bases covered here also, and again by orders of magnitude more accurately and more efficiently. (Albeit that the price of the Byrnes quality is also greater by orders of magnitude, but you get far more than you pay for with Byrnes tools.) I may be stating the obvious here, but I can't resist giving a plug to the best collections of products out there.
 

It almost looks like the sheets of copper were individually treated with liver of sulphur of various degrees of dilution. 
 
Not to dispute Mr. Romberg, if it be he who built it, but to my eye the bottom of that model ship doesn't look anything like a real coppered bottom. Certainly, new plates hung in the drydock would appear as portrayed by the "new" copper plates, although plates wear more at the waterline than anywhere else. 
 
This is what a real newly coppered bottom looks like:
 

 
This is what a coppered bottom looks like when it has been in the water for a while, the upper picture of Constitution is after she'd had some time to dry off and the lower one is as the dock had just been pumped out. Note in the latter picture the dark mottled "weathering:"
 

 

 
For a coppered bottom on a model to look like it should, care needs to be given to remain true to scale. At scale viewing distances, the model's bottom would have to be nearly flat with only paper-thin plate of the proper scale size if one were working in a scale where the thickness of the plate edge could be discerned at all. In my opinion, if the scale doesn't allow for "plate" material of the proper scale thickness to be seen on the model, it's better not to try to show individual plates. A "weathering" job would provide the more accurate portrayal.
 

Perhaps now's the time for somebody to set up some kind of internet platform that connect airline travelers and shippers together. I could easily be wrong, but it seems to me that somebody flying on a commercial flight from the US to Australia to easily add a box with a Byrnes Saw and sliding table to their luggage allowance, paying for overweight, if any, and get it there for a lot less than $616! Then again, on a per mile basis, I'm sure shipping the same package across the US would be every bit of $100, so perhaps not. Not to be a conspiracy theorist or anything, but I can't help but think the corporate capitalists have seen the "recovery" from the pandemic as "open season" on charging as much as the market will bear to make up for lost time. I heard the fuel companies' profits for the first half of the year were the highest in history.

Perhaps now's the time for somebody to set up some kind of internet platform that connect airline travelers and shippers together. I could easily be wrong, but it seems to me that somebody flying on a commercial flight from the US to Australia to easily add a box with a Byrnes Saw and sliding table to their luggage allowance, paying for overweight, if any, and get it there for a lot less than $616! Then again, on a per mile basis, I'm sure shipping the same package across the US would be every bit of $100, so perhaps not. Not to be a conspiracy theorist or anything, but I can't help but think the corporate capitalists have seen the "recovery" from the pandemic as "open season" on charging as much as the market will bear to make up for lost time. I heard the fuel companies' profits for the first half of the year were the highest in history.

Hi......worked in ophthalmology for several years.......also consider Castroviejo or Westcott tenotomy or iridectomy scissors,,,,,,,,these are inexpensive, incredibly sharp, and in cataract surgery are used once and thrown out.  No pesky finger loops.  For cotton or whatever line can be used over and over,
 
james

I have at least 5 different types of scissors and use them according to the situation. I don't believe there is one tool that can do everything. 
Also, I have learned two things: 1.- not to spend money on cheap tools, and 2.- there is no such thing as "too many tools". 

Look for Iris Scissors on ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-Iris-Scissors-4-5-Curved-Surgical-Dental-Instruments-/190699065234?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c668ccf92

Another option i you have a medical type friend - suture scissors. They are sometimes discarded after one use. They have a little grove and curved tip that allows you to grasp the exact line.
Ed

Ras,
About the time that the movie came out, I helped my father build a wooden Thistle Class Sailboat from a kit that we bought from Douglass & McLoud. The same Douglass that designed the boat.  The kit included a moulded plywood hull, and bandsawed mahogany parts all requiring final fitting.  I did all of the sanding, painting, and varnishing.  It was a great boat but challenging to sail.  I sailed it for almost 10 years.
 
Roger

Have you tried covering your mold ("plug," actually) with kitchen plastic cling wrap ("Saran Wrap") to prevent sticking to the mold form. You should be able to lay up multiple layers of toilet paper or even paper towel material, wetted down with shellac, over the plastic wrapped mold. It will dry quickly as the alcohol evaporates fast. What results in a hard paper and shellac matrix which can be sanded and will take paint well. Epoxy resin will work as well, but it's nasty and messy, as you've probably discovered! 

Hi Mark!  You're doing great for a first effort. Obviously, you are a skilled "maker," and it's just the subject matter that's new to you.
 
Vossie has given you good advice. I'll just clarify what appears to be a misconception about serving. It's only the "standing" rigging that is served, i.e. the "ropes" that don't move, mainly the "shrouds" which run from the masts to the sides of the ship and the "stays" which run parallel to the centerline of the ship. The "running" rigging, which moves to control the sails and spars and such isn't served. We'd all be in the looney bin by now if all the line on a model had to be served!   If you have a lathe in your shop, you won't need a "serving machine" because you've already got one. Just run the line through the headstock, securing it at the head in a chuck or however you wish and at the tailstock with a swivel so that when the lathe is run (slowly) the whole line turns rather than twisting. The excess line can be secured at the outer end of the headstock so it turns with the working part of the line and doesn't twist up and kink. One of those swivels they sell for fishing rigs to keep lures from kinking the line when they spin works well for a "live" end on the tailstock.) You can then tie a thread onto the taut portion of line between the headstock and tailstock and, holding the spool of thread in your hand, serve the shroud or stay easily and quickly. It takes a bit of practice, but it's easy to get the hang of it.
 
I also strongly suggest you get a copy of Frank Mastini's book Ship Modeling Simplified: Tips and Techniques for Model Construction from Kits. It's in print in paperback and runs about $16.  Amazon and Barnes and Noble have it, of course, and somebody is selling them on eBay with free shipping for only $8 right now.
 
 

 
Mastini's book is a general introduction to kit building for folks starting out and, for that purpose, it's excellent. If you get involved in the hobby, you'll quickly find yourself amassing a library of reprints of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century treatises on naval architecture, ship rigging and naval ordinance, but that will come in due course. Mastini's book addresses the somewhat standard practices of the kit manufacturers and answers a lot of questions raised by the manufacturers' often too brief instructions. If memory serves, it also contains a translation glossary of nautical terms in French, Spanish and Italian, so one can figure out what the foreign language instructions are talking about. I'd consider it a must for a first time kit builder. It will save you a lot of grief and frustration.

This is a great thread and I agree that actually you don’t need that many tools. However some power tools do not just speed the job up but make the results more accurate and repeatable. I have Jim’s tools and I cut all of my own material from bigger pieces of wood.  They allow me to make strips of wood in any size time and time again.  Is it really needed - probably not and I think builders should use what their budget allows. It’s taken years of saving to get this kit but it never stopped me before I had it. Having said that I wish Jim would make a vibration free spindle sander 😊. If I had to buy just one piece of kit I would buy a table saw as it’s so flexible in what it can do. 

Harry Dring and Karl Kortum were great guys. I'll never forget Harry's rants when we used to talk about the NPS's inability to recognize the necessity of proper maintenance on the historic fleet they inherited from the original Maritime Museum Karl Kortum and Roger Olmstead built from the ground up. You must be familiar with the J. Porter Shaw Library, then. As you probably know, J. Porter Shaw, its namesake, took a large number of glass plate negative photographs of early San Francisco shipping and waterfront life, the donation of which formed the nucleus of what became the library. You and he were kindred spirits! 

Ras, I'm sure this trouble won't stop you!  
 
As a separator, you can try using ordinary stationery tape.
Before applying the epoxy, tension must be applied to the stocking. I am posting a photo that I took on this forum, but, unfortunately, I do not remember its author.

Have you tried covering your mold ("plug," actually) with kitchen plastic cling wrap ("Saran Wrap") to prevent sticking to the mold form. You should be able to lay up multiple layers of toilet paper or even paper towel material, wetted down with shellac, over the plastic wrapped mold. It will dry quickly as the alcohol evaporates fast. What results in a hard paper and shellac matrix which can be sanded and will take paint well. Epoxy resin will work as well, but it's nasty and messy, as you've probably discovered!