Bob Cleek

Normally, if you have an iron band around a spar it would have one or more eyebolt attached to it (the method depends on the period). Blocks stropped with a rope would have an eye formed with that rope. This eye would be formed around a metal cringle which goes through the eye of a hook. This hook would be hooked into the eyebolt on the mast and the hook is secured with a 'musing', which is twine wound around the neck of the hook and its tip (which slightly bent up to prevent the twine from slipping).
 
In the second half of the 19th century the hook would be replaced by a shackle (this only became an option once threads had been standardised).
 
At the same time (internal) iron stropped appeared, which also would be attached with shackles.
 

This would not be hard to do as this is a “hard chine” boat.  The dotted lines represent the chines in each view.  For each section simply measure distances from the centerline in the plan view and above and below from the waterline, plot, and connect the points with straight lines.  No CADD program is needed.
 
Roger

If your using a spirit based paint ,easy to tell by a good sniff, use pure gum turpentine to thin. not white spirit, it stops the feather edge you get with white spirit or turps.

Phil,
I took a look  at MM as I was curious about these.  Thanks for posting this.   I am sure they would look great for a house or a building which had stairs instead of ladders.   I think wooden ships always had ladders with side rails rather than stairs with stringers.   I may very well be dead wrong, but I have not been able to find stairs on any contemporary ship drawings or models,  just ladders.  
Allan

Yes, mainly because these air turbine-driven handpieces also feature air and water cooling options for the burs. The old dental engines had no cooling provision, so the extreme heat generated by the grinding was a significant contributor to the pain of the dentist's drill.

Absolutely correct. They are simply air turbine-driven dental handpieces packaged for use by jewelers and carvers and priced about the same. They aren't cheap and they require routine maintenance, primarily regular cleaning and lubrication. They operate at very high speeds, with make them great for dental work, but not so much for other applications. Their largest drawback for modeling work is that they trade speed for torque in their operation, much like a low torque high-speed internal combustion engine does on a vessel with a low pitched prop as opposed to a low speed high-torque steam engine with a high pitched prop. They take a lot of small bites at high speed instead of a few larger bites at slow speed. For modeling work, including drilling holes, sanding, buffing, and grinding metal parts and such, they are far better than a heavy, clunky Dremel tool, primarily because they have a smaller, lighter handpiece. At slower speeds, they stall out.
 
Similar in size and capability, but far lower in price (remember you have to buy a suitable compressor to run the air turbine handpieces,) are the electric  micro-motor handpieces. These suffer from the same drawbacks in terms of high-speed and low torque issues, although they are not as finicky about cleaning and lubrication as are the air-turbine handpieces. More expensive electric micro-motor units are available for professional applications, too. Most run on 12 VAC micro-motors and so have very light and thin power cords to the handpieces, which do not interfere with the operator's range of motion when in use.
 
Even if you have a steady hand and don't mind "high speed - low torque tools, if you plan to work with plastics or even metals that melt at low temperatures, the ultra-high speed handpieces may not be suitable because the high speed can cause heating that will melt the plastic or metal you are working on and also tend to then gum up your burs and abrasive disks.
 
The Foredom flex-shaft system is preferred over these high-speed, low-torque tools because it does offer greater torque and power at lower speeds.  They are also nearly bulletproof, although the shafts require lubrication now and then. The big advantage with Foredom is the wide range of specialty handpieces available, including powered micro-chisel handpieces. These have long been the industry standard for jewelers. On the downside, the flex shaft isn't as flexible as one might wish and that can be fatiguing.
 
Lastly, and most desirable according to the experts, are the "old-fashioned" (but still made) "dental engines." These are favored by many "old school" dental labs for making dentures, bridges, and crowns. They are the belt-driven Rube Goldberg articulated-arm dental drills some may remember from the dentist's office when we were kids. These dental engines can be slowed down to rather slow speeds without appreciable corresponding loss of torque and that permits fine work with maximum control of the handpiece. I believe they have a faster  top speed than a Foredom flex shaft with a max speed of 45,000 RPM.
 
The dental drills generally have collet-held standard 3/32" shanked dental drill burs and mandrels in a myriad of shapes and sizes. As with the Foredom system, handpieces with Jacobs chucks can also be readily sourced, or 3/32" shanked chuck or pin vise adapters can be used for 1/8" shank burs and small drill bits. One significant feature of the dental handpieces is that there are many specialty handpieces which provide features like angled drives that permit getting into places no other drill will. (E.g.: making drilling trunnel holes on ceiling plank an easy task. Remember, they are designed to work inside a patient's mouth.) These things are a lot like lathes and mills. You buy the basic machine and then can easily spend the same amount again on tooling! That said, when we're talking about dental equipment, the quality is such that it's going to last long enough for your grandkids to be using it.
 
Keeping a close watch on eBay for used dental equipment will turn up lots of used dental lab and dentist's office equipment of this kind. A used dental engine can be had for a few hundred dollars or less. For the whole range of what's available new from one of the major manufacturers of these tools, see: Handpieces - Buffalo Dental Manufacturing Co. Inc.  There are lots of others.
 
As it turns out, I scored a brand new Buffalo Heavy Duty Bench Engine and handpiece the other day on eBay for seventy-five bucks. Retail is around $750 for the motor and arms and another $200 to $300 for the handpiece selected. Amazingly, it was being offered as a "non-operational steampunk decorative piece!" (Sometimes eBay's algorithms screw up and stuff gets listed where you'd least expect it and is overlooked.) Careful examination of the photos revealed it was in pristine condition. After a quick call to the manufacturer, which confirmed all parts were available for that model, I figured it was worth $75 to try to make it run. When it arrived, it took me about five minutes to realize it was of recent manufacture, had never been used at all, and was in brand new condition, but only missing its belt, a pulley sheave (wheel,) and its  motor brushes, with one brush holder socket broken. I have no idea how the seller came by it. So, once I get the parts ordered and received, I'm good to go. My Foredom flexshaft may be gathering dust soon!
 
My new Buffalo Dental Manufacturing Company Heavy Duty Bench Engine:
 

 

"Rolling and tipping" is for sissies!    Real painters brush or spray. But that's a story for another night. We're not talking about painting acres of topsides here.
 
Seriously, though, the key to a good finish is conditioning the paint. This is much more than just thinning it, although the addition of thinners (paint thinner or turpentine, acetone, etc.) can go a long way to improving consistency of what comes out of the can. Proper conditioning is dictated by interrelated environmental variables such as temperature and humidity. Perhaps the most important consideration is the speed of drying. If the paint dries too fast, brush strokes (and roller stipple) will not have time to "lay down" sufficiently and yield a uniform thickness on the painted surface and "maintaining a wet edge" will consequentially be much more difficult, leading to even more dried brush strokes on the dried surface. Penetrol (which is now difficult to source in environmentally "woke" jurisdictions that have outlawed it due to its VOC content,) is basically raw linseed oil. (Not "boiled" linseed oil, which isn't boiled at all, but rather contains added heavy metal driers that accelerate the polymerization of the oil binder in the paint, causing it to "dry" faster. A dried coat of paint is simply pigment bound by polymerized oil following the evaporation of the solvent thinners.) Along with the temperature of paint when applied to the surface, the proportion of driers to oil in the applied paint dictates how fast it "dries" and a greater proportion of oil to driers increases the drying time and, thus permits brush strokes to "level" and disappear. Ideally, the object of conditioning is to yield paint that levels adequately before drying and dries as soon after leveling as possible. Many manufacturers of modeling paint offer proprietary "retarders" that slow their paints' drying time, "accelerators" that speed it up, and "thinners" that thin their paint. If that's true in your case, use the paint manufacturer's proprietary conditioning products and follow their product instructions for best results.
 
Thinners (volatile solvents that thin the oil,) on the other hand, primarily regulate the viscosity of the paint, making it easier to spread. Over-thinning, however, will reduce the gloss of the coating (not a problem with models so much) and dilute the pigment load of the paint, thereby reducing its ability to "cover" differing underlying colors (which can be a problem in modeling.) Moreover, the volatility of solvents varies. "Hot" solvents are more volatile and evaporate quickly, such as acetone, while other solvents are less volatile and evaporate less quickly, such as mineral spirits. (And one must beware of modern "green" and "ordor-free" substitute thinners which may be incompatible with some oil-based enamels! Just because they may work for cleaning brushes doesn't mean they will work for thinning paint properly. Testing is always advisable before diving into painting the workpiece.)
 
Conditioning paint is one of those things that's easy to teach by the "show and tell" method, but not so easy to teach with written instructions. It's not  all that complicated, though. It's like baking a cake. A half hour of instruction by a knowledgeable  painter would be time well spent for anybody who wants to achieve good painted finishes, particularly with oil-based enamels.
 
While a good brush is a joy to use, (and remember: natural bristles are for oil-based paints, synthetic bristles are for water-based paints) a poor finish is far more often the fault of the paint and the painter than it is the fault of the brush. Within reasonable limits, it's generally more the skill of the craftsman rather than the quality of his tools that determines the quality of the finished product.
 
Multiple thin coats produce the best finishes. Don't expect to get the perfect finish with a single finish coat. Generally, a properly prepared (smooth) and primed and base-coated surface will require a minimum of three rather thin finish coats to "cover" sufficiently. Sand those brush strokes "smooth as a baby's bottom" and give it another coat. Repeat until perfect.  

Yes, mainly because these air turbine-driven handpieces also feature air and water cooling options for the burs. The old dental engines had no cooling provision, so the extreme heat generated by the grinding was a significant contributor to the pain of the dentist's drill.

Absolutely correct. They are simply air turbine-driven dental handpieces packaged for use by jewelers and carvers and priced about the same. They aren't cheap and they require routine maintenance, primarily regular cleaning and lubrication. They operate at very high speeds, with make them great for dental work, but not so much for other applications. Their largest drawback for modeling work is that they trade speed for torque in their operation, much like a low torque high-speed internal combustion engine does on a vessel with a low pitched prop as opposed to a low speed high-torque steam engine with a high pitched prop. They take a lot of small bites at high speed instead of a few larger bites at slow speed. For modeling work, including drilling holes, sanding, buffing, and grinding metal parts and such, they are far better than a heavy, clunky Dremel tool, primarily because they have a smaller, lighter handpiece. At slower speeds, they stall out.
 
Similar in size and capability, but far lower in price (remember you have to buy a suitable compressor to run the air turbine handpieces,) are the electric  micro-motor handpieces. These suffer from the same drawbacks in terms of high-speed and low torque issues, although they are not as finicky about cleaning and lubrication as are the air-turbine handpieces. More expensive electric micro-motor units are available for professional applications, too. Most run on 12 VAC micro-motors and so have very light and thin power cords to the handpieces, which do not interfere with the operator's range of motion when in use.
 
Even if you have a steady hand and don't mind "high speed - low torque tools, if you plan to work with plastics or even metals that melt at low temperatures, the ultra-high speed handpieces may not be suitable because the high speed can cause heating that will melt the plastic or metal you are working on and also tend to then gum up your burs and abrasive disks.
 
The Foredom flex-shaft system is preferred over these high-speed, low-torque tools because it does offer greater torque and power at lower speeds.  They are also nearly bulletproof, although the shafts require lubrication now and then. The big advantage with Foredom is the wide range of specialty handpieces available, including powered micro-chisel handpieces. These have long been the industry standard for jewelers. On the downside, the flex shaft isn't as flexible as one might wish and that can be fatiguing.
 
Lastly, and most desirable according to the experts, are the "old-fashioned" (but still made) "dental engines." These are favored by many "old school" dental labs for making dentures, bridges, and crowns. They are the belt-driven Rube Goldberg articulated-arm dental drills some may remember from the dentist's office when we were kids. These dental engines can be slowed down to rather slow speeds without appreciable corresponding loss of torque and that permits fine work with maximum control of the handpiece. I believe they have a faster  top speed than a Foredom flex shaft with a max speed of 45,000 RPM.
 
The dental drills generally have collet-held standard 3/32" shanked dental drill burs and mandrels in a myriad of shapes and sizes. As with the Foredom system, handpieces with Jacobs chucks can also be readily sourced, or 3/32" shanked chuck or pin vise adapters can be used for 1/8" shank burs and small drill bits. One significant feature of the dental handpieces is that there are many specialty handpieces which provide features like angled drives that permit getting into places no other drill will. (E.g.: making drilling trunnel holes on ceiling plank an easy task. Remember, they are designed to work inside a patient's mouth.) These things are a lot like lathes and mills. You buy the basic machine and then can easily spend the same amount again on tooling! That said, when we're talking about dental equipment, the quality is such that it's going to last long enough for your grandkids to be using it.
 
Keeping a close watch on eBay for used dental equipment will turn up lots of used dental lab and dentist's office equipment of this kind. A used dental engine can be had for a few hundred dollars or less. For the whole range of what's available new from one of the major manufacturers of these tools, see: Handpieces - Buffalo Dental Manufacturing Co. Inc.  There are lots of others.
 
As it turns out, I scored a brand new Buffalo Heavy Duty Bench Engine and handpiece the other day on eBay for seventy-five bucks. Retail is around $750 for the motor and arms and another $200 to $300 for the handpiece selected. Amazingly, it was being offered as a "non-operational steampunk decorative piece!" (Sometimes eBay's algorithms screw up and stuff gets listed where you'd least expect it and is overlooked.) Careful examination of the photos revealed it was in pristine condition. After a quick call to the manufacturer, which confirmed all parts were available for that model, I figured it was worth $75 to try to make it run. When it arrived, it took me about five minutes to realize it was of recent manufacture, had never been used at all, and was in brand new condition, but only missing its belt, a pulley sheave (wheel,) and its  motor brushes, with one brush holder socket broken. I have no idea how the seller came by it. So, once I get the parts ordered and received, I'm good to go. My Foredom flexshaft may be gathering dust soon!
 
My new Buffalo Dental Manufacturing Company Heavy Duty Bench Engine:
 

 

Yes, mainly because these air turbine-driven handpieces also feature air and water cooling options for the burs. The old dental engines had no cooling provision, so the extreme heat generated by the grinding was a significant contributor to the pain of the dentist's drill.

Absolutely correct. They are simply air turbine-driven dental handpieces packaged for use by jewelers and carvers and priced about the same. They aren't cheap and they require routine maintenance, primarily regular cleaning and lubrication. They operate at very high speeds, with make them great for dental work, but not so much for other applications. Their largest drawback for modeling work is that they trade speed for torque in their operation, much like a low torque high-speed internal combustion engine does on a vessel with a low pitched prop as opposed to a low speed high-torque steam engine with a high pitched prop. They take a lot of small bites at high speed instead of a few larger bites at slow speed. For modeling work, including drilling holes, sanding, buffing, and grinding metal parts and such, they are far better than a heavy, clunky Dremel tool, primarily because they have a smaller, lighter handpiece. At slower speeds, they stall out.
 
Similar in size and capability, but far lower in price (remember you have to buy a suitable compressor to run the air turbine handpieces,) are the electric  micro-motor handpieces. These suffer from the same drawbacks in terms of high-speed and low torque issues, although they are not as finicky about cleaning and lubrication as are the air-turbine handpieces. More expensive electric micro-motor units are available for professional applications, too. Most run on 12 VAC micro-motors and so have very light and thin power cords to the handpieces, which do not interfere with the operator's range of motion when in use.
 
Even if you have a steady hand and don't mind "high speed - low torque tools, if you plan to work with plastics or even metals that melt at low temperatures, the ultra-high speed handpieces may not be suitable because the high speed can cause heating that will melt the plastic or metal you are working on and also tend to then gum up your burs and abrasive disks.
 
The Foredom flex-shaft system is preferred over these high-speed, low-torque tools because it does offer greater torque and power at lower speeds.  They are also nearly bulletproof, although the shafts require lubrication now and then. The big advantage with Foredom is the wide range of specialty handpieces available, including powered micro-chisel handpieces. These have long been the industry standard for jewelers. On the downside, the flex shaft isn't as flexible as one might wish and that can be fatiguing.
 
Lastly, and most desirable according to the experts, are the "old-fashioned" (but still made) "dental engines." These are favored by many "old school" dental labs for making dentures, bridges, and crowns. They are the belt-driven Rube Goldberg articulated-arm dental drills some may remember from the dentist's office when we were kids. These dental engines can be slowed down to rather slow speeds without appreciable corresponding loss of torque and that permits fine work with maximum control of the handpiece. I believe they have a faster  top speed than a Foredom flex shaft with a max speed of 45,000 RPM.
 
The dental drills generally have collet-held standard 3/32" shanked dental drill burs and mandrels in a myriad of shapes and sizes. As with the Foredom system, handpieces with Jacobs chucks can also be readily sourced, or 3/32" shanked chuck or pin vise adapters can be used for 1/8" shank burs and small drill bits. One significant feature of the dental handpieces is that there are many specialty handpieces which provide features like angled drives that permit getting into places no other drill will. (E.g.: making drilling trunnel holes on ceiling plank an easy task. Remember, they are designed to work inside a patient's mouth.) These things are a lot like lathes and mills. You buy the basic machine and then can easily spend the same amount again on tooling! That said, when we're talking about dental equipment, the quality is such that it's going to last long enough for your grandkids to be using it.
 
Keeping a close watch on eBay for used dental equipment will turn up lots of used dental lab and dentist's office equipment of this kind. A used dental engine can be had for a few hundred dollars or less. For the whole range of what's available new from one of the major manufacturers of these tools, see: Handpieces - Buffalo Dental Manufacturing Co. Inc.  There are lots of others.
 
As it turns out, I scored a brand new Buffalo Heavy Duty Bench Engine and handpiece the other day on eBay for seventy-five bucks. Retail is around $750 for the motor and arms and another $200 to $300 for the handpiece selected. Amazingly, it was being offered as a "non-operational steampunk decorative piece!" (Sometimes eBay's algorithms screw up and stuff gets listed where you'd least expect it and is overlooked.) Careful examination of the photos revealed it was in pristine condition. After a quick call to the manufacturer, which confirmed all parts were available for that model, I figured it was worth $75 to try to make it run. When it arrived, it took me about five minutes to realize it was of recent manufacture, had never been used at all, and was in brand new condition, but only missing its belt, a pulley sheave (wheel,) and its  motor brushes, with one brush holder socket broken. I have no idea how the seller came by it. So, once I get the parts ordered and received, I'm good to go. My Foredom flexshaft may be gathering dust soon!
 
My new Buffalo Dental Manufacturing Company Heavy Duty Bench Engine:
 

 

Yes, mainly because these air turbine-driven handpieces also feature air and water cooling options for the burs. The old dental engines had no cooling provision, so the extreme heat generated by the grinding was a significant contributor to the pain of the dentist's drill.

Absolutely correct. They are simply air turbine-driven dental handpieces packaged for use by jewelers and carvers and priced about the same. They aren't cheap and they require routine maintenance, primarily regular cleaning and lubrication. They operate at very high speeds, with make them great for dental work, but not so much for other applications. Their largest drawback for modeling work is that they trade speed for torque in their operation, much like a low torque high-speed internal combustion engine does on a vessel with a low pitched prop as opposed to a low speed high-torque steam engine with a high pitched prop. They take a lot of small bites at high speed instead of a few larger bites at slow speed. For modeling work, including drilling holes, sanding, buffing, and grinding metal parts and such, they are far better than a heavy, clunky Dremel tool, primarily because they have a smaller, lighter handpiece. At slower speeds, they stall out.
 
Similar in size and capability, but far lower in price (remember you have to buy a suitable compressor to run the air turbine handpieces,) are the electric  micro-motor handpieces. These suffer from the same drawbacks in terms of high-speed and low torque issues, although they are not as finicky about cleaning and lubrication as are the air-turbine handpieces. More expensive electric micro-motor units are available for professional applications, too. Most run on 12 VAC micro-motors and so have very light and thin power cords to the handpieces, which do not interfere with the operator's range of motion when in use.
 
Even if you have a steady hand and don't mind "high speed - low torque tools, if you plan to work with plastics or even metals that melt at low temperatures, the ultra-high speed handpieces may not be suitable because the high speed can cause heating that will melt the plastic or metal you are working on and also tend to then gum up your burs and abrasive disks.
 
The Foredom flex-shaft system is preferred over these high-speed, low-torque tools because it does offer greater torque and power at lower speeds.  They are also nearly bulletproof, although the shafts require lubrication now and then. The big advantage with Foredom is the wide range of specialty handpieces available, including powered micro-chisel handpieces. These have long been the industry standard for jewelers. On the downside, the flex shaft isn't as flexible as one might wish and that can be fatiguing.
 
Lastly, and most desirable according to the experts, are the "old-fashioned" (but still made) "dental engines." These are favored by many "old school" dental labs for making dentures, bridges, and crowns. They are the belt-driven Rube Goldberg articulated-arm dental drills some may remember from the dentist's office when we were kids. These dental engines can be slowed down to rather slow speeds without appreciable corresponding loss of torque and that permits fine work with maximum control of the handpiece. I believe they have a faster  top speed than a Foredom flex shaft with a max speed of 45,000 RPM.
 
The dental drills generally have collet-held standard 3/32" shanked dental drill burs and mandrels in a myriad of shapes and sizes. As with the Foredom system, handpieces with Jacobs chucks can also be readily sourced, or 3/32" shanked chuck or pin vise adapters can be used for 1/8" shank burs and small drill bits. One significant feature of the dental handpieces is that there are many specialty handpieces which provide features like angled drives that permit getting into places no other drill will. (E.g.: making drilling trunnel holes on ceiling plank an easy task. Remember, they are designed to work inside a patient's mouth.) These things are a lot like lathes and mills. You buy the basic machine and then can easily spend the same amount again on tooling! That said, when we're talking about dental equipment, the quality is such that it's going to last long enough for your grandkids to be using it.
 
Keeping a close watch on eBay for used dental equipment will turn up lots of used dental lab and dentist's office equipment of this kind. A used dental engine can be had for a few hundred dollars or less. For the whole range of what's available new from one of the major manufacturers of these tools, see: Handpieces - Buffalo Dental Manufacturing Co. Inc.  There are lots of others.
 
As it turns out, I scored a brand new Buffalo Heavy Duty Bench Engine and handpiece the other day on eBay for seventy-five bucks. Retail is around $750 for the motor and arms and another $200 to $300 for the handpiece selected. Amazingly, it was being offered as a "non-operational steampunk decorative piece!" (Sometimes eBay's algorithms screw up and stuff gets listed where you'd least expect it and is overlooked.) Careful examination of the photos revealed it was in pristine condition. After a quick call to the manufacturer, which confirmed all parts were available for that model, I figured it was worth $75 to try to make it run. When it arrived, it took me about five minutes to realize it was of recent manufacture, had never been used at all, and was in brand new condition, but only missing its belt, a pulley sheave (wheel,) and its  motor brushes, with one brush holder socket broken. I have no idea how the seller came by it. So, once I get the parts ordered and received, I'm good to go. My Foredom flexshaft may be gathering dust soon!
 
My new Buffalo Dental Manufacturing Company Heavy Duty Bench Engine:
 

 

As for the proper name of the referenced splice, the lengths I see people go to avoid calling this splice by its proper name in written works never cease to amuse me. It's understandable, I suppose, but "talking like a sailor" goes with the territory. The etymology of the name is glaringly obvious if you think like a sailor. There's only two customary uses for this splice, one being to receive the "button" or "knob" (not the "cascable," which is the entire section of the length of the gun aft of the base ring) and to secure a lifeline made up of multiple splices around each of the outer ends of the bars of a capstan so the capstan can be manned in heavy weather. You're not a real "salt" unless you can call it by its proper name without sniggering.  
 
Yes, Flemish coils were only seen when laid down for "dress ship" inspections.  So said my retired USN master chief bosun's mate mentor long ago. Flemishing was a temporary thing. Once the ship's dress was struck, they were returned to their proper stowed coil configuration. There are a number of  good reasons for this. First, they are something to trip over and that's never a good thing on deck. Second, the line does not run free from a Flemish coil and the line tends to kink and tangle if one tries to let a line run from a Flemish coil. Laying a Flemish coil up in the traditional fashion, by laying down the first few turns and then turning the "pad" to coil the falling part around the "pad" until it ends with the bitter end, tends to kink the standing part with the resulting twists. Line left Flelmished on deck for long periods of time will cause the sunlight to weather the line on only one side, causing uneven deterioration. Lastly, in any sort of seaway, if running water is taken on deck, the Flemished line floats up and all over the deck, tangling and often ends up flushed and running out of the scuppers and freeing ports. Now, that's not "contemporary" authority, but I'm betting the reasoning was no different in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries as it was in the Twentieth.

I would assume that this is the same technology that dentists have been using for at east 50-60 years.   It was supposed to have revolutionized the experience for patients relative to the old belt driven drills.

As for the proper name of the referenced splice, the lengths I see people go to avoid calling this splice by its proper name in written works never cease to amuse me. It's understandable, I suppose, but "talking like a sailor" goes with the territory. The etymology of the name is glaringly obvious if you think like a sailor. There's only two customary uses for this splice, one being to receive the "button" or "knob" (not the "cascable," which is the entire section of the length of the gun aft of the base ring) and to secure a lifeline made up of multiple splices around each of the outer ends of the bars of a capstan so the capstan can be manned in heavy weather. You're not a real "salt" unless you can call it by its proper name without sniggering.  
 
Yes, Flemish coils were only seen when laid down for "dress ship" inspections.  So said my retired USN master chief bosun's mate mentor long ago. Flemishing was a temporary thing. Once the ship's dress was struck, they were returned to their proper stowed coil configuration. There are a number of  good reasons for this. First, they are something to trip over and that's never a good thing on deck. Second, the line does not run free from a Flemish coil and the line tends to kink and tangle if one tries to let a line run from a Flemish coil. Laying a Flemish coil up in the traditional fashion, by laying down the first few turns and then turning the "pad" to coil the falling part around the "pad" until it ends with the bitter end, tends to kink the standing part with the resulting twists. Line left Flelmished on deck for long periods of time will cause the sunlight to weather the line on only one side, causing uneven deterioration. Lastly, in any sort of seaway, if running water is taken on deck, the Flemished line floats up and all over the deck, tangling and often ends up flushed and running out of the scuppers and freeing ports. Now, that's not "contemporary" authority, but I'm betting the reasoning was no different in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries as it was in the Twentieth.

The techniques in the video of setting up the breeching rope rings and eyebolts look to be very useful.   At these small scales the loop for the cascabel is not unreasonable as making a proper cont splice is not so easy at the smaller scales.   Unfortunately the running out and training tackle is wrong as she neglected to include the hooks on the ends  that go into the eyes.  I am not so sure her methods would work if she included the missing hooks. 
 
We see Flemish coils on a lot of models modern as they are so visible, but I wonder as to the accuracy of using them. I have searched, without success so far, for contemporary evidence that Flemish coils were used in place of frapped lines.  If anyone can share any information based on contemporary sources about the use of these coils that would be great.    I have seen stacked rope coils  for other running rigging, but no Flemish coils for the 17th-19th centuries so far.  
 
Allan   

"Rolling and tipping" is for sissies!    Real painters brush or spray. But that's a story for another night. We're not talking about painting acres of topsides here.
 
Seriously, though, the key to a good finish is conditioning the paint. This is much more than just thinning it, although the addition of thinners (paint thinner or turpentine, acetone, etc.) can go a long way to improving consistency of what comes out of the can. Proper conditioning is dictated by interrelated environmental variables such as temperature and humidity. Perhaps the most important consideration is the speed of drying. If the paint dries too fast, brush strokes (and roller stipple) will not have time to "lay down" sufficiently and yield a uniform thickness on the painted surface and "maintaining a wet edge" will consequentially be much more difficult, leading to even more dried brush strokes on the dried surface. Penetrol (which is now difficult to source in environmentally "woke" jurisdictions that have outlawed it due to its VOC content,) is basically raw linseed oil. (Not "boiled" linseed oil, which isn't boiled at all, but rather contains added heavy metal driers that accelerate the polymerization of the oil binder in the paint, causing it to "dry" faster. A dried coat of paint is simply pigment bound by polymerized oil following the evaporation of the solvent thinners.) Along with the temperature of paint when applied to the surface, the proportion of driers to oil in the applied paint dictates how fast it "dries" and a greater proportion of oil to driers increases the drying time and, thus permits brush strokes to "level" and disappear. Ideally, the object of conditioning is to yield paint that levels adequately before drying and dries as soon after leveling as possible. Many manufacturers of modeling paint offer proprietary "retarders" that slow their paints' drying time, "accelerators" that speed it up, and "thinners" that thin their paint. If that's true in your case, use the paint manufacturer's proprietary conditioning products and follow their product instructions for best results.
 
Thinners (volatile solvents that thin the oil,) on the other hand, primarily regulate the viscosity of the paint, making it easier to spread. Over-thinning, however, will reduce the gloss of the coating (not a problem with models so much) and dilute the pigment load of the paint, thereby reducing its ability to "cover" differing underlying colors (which can be a problem in modeling.) Moreover, the volatility of solvents varies. "Hot" solvents are more volatile and evaporate quickly, such as acetone, while other solvents are less volatile and evaporate less quickly, such as mineral spirits. (And one must beware of modern "green" and "ordor-free" substitute thinners which may be incompatible with some oil-based enamels! Just because they may work for cleaning brushes doesn't mean they will work for thinning paint properly. Testing is always advisable before diving into painting the workpiece.)
 
Conditioning paint is one of those things that's easy to teach by the "show and tell" method, but not so easy to teach with written instructions. It's not  all that complicated, though. It's like baking a cake. A half hour of instruction by a knowledgeable  painter would be time well spent for anybody who wants to achieve good painted finishes, particularly with oil-based enamels.
 
While a good brush is a joy to use, (and remember: natural bristles are for oil-based paints, synthetic bristles are for water-based paints) a poor finish is far more often the fault of the paint and the painter than it is the fault of the brush. Within reasonable limits, it's generally more the skill of the craftsman rather than the quality of his tools that determines the quality of the finished product.
 
Multiple thin coats produce the best finishes. Don't expect to get the perfect finish with a single finish coat. Generally, a properly prepared (smooth) and primed and base-coated surface will require a minimum of three rather thin finish coats to "cover" sufficiently. Sand those brush strokes "smooth as a baby's bottom" and give it another coat. Repeat until perfect.  

"Rolling and tipping" is for sissies!    Real painters brush or spray. But that's a story for another night. We're not talking about painting acres of topsides here.
 
Seriously, though, the key to a good finish is conditioning the paint. This is much more than just thinning it, although the addition of thinners (paint thinner or turpentine, acetone, etc.) can go a long way to improving consistency of what comes out of the can. Proper conditioning is dictated by interrelated environmental variables such as temperature and humidity. Perhaps the most important consideration is the speed of drying. If the paint dries too fast, brush strokes (and roller stipple) will not have time to "lay down" sufficiently and yield a uniform thickness on the painted surface and "maintaining a wet edge" will consequentially be much more difficult, leading to even more dried brush strokes on the dried surface. Penetrol (which is now difficult to source in environmentally "woke" jurisdictions that have outlawed it due to its VOC content,) is basically raw linseed oil. (Not "boiled" linseed oil, which isn't boiled at all, but rather contains added heavy metal driers that accelerate the polymerization of the oil binder in the paint, causing it to "dry" faster. A dried coat of paint is simply pigment bound by polymerized oil following the evaporation of the solvent thinners.) Along with the temperature of paint when applied to the surface, the proportion of driers to oil in the applied paint dictates how fast it "dries" and a greater proportion of oil to driers increases the drying time and, thus permits brush strokes to "level" and disappear. Ideally, the object of conditioning is to yield paint that levels adequately before drying and dries as soon after leveling as possible. Many manufacturers of modeling paint offer proprietary "retarders" that slow their paints' drying time, "accelerators" that speed it up, and "thinners" that thin their paint. If that's true in your case, use the paint manufacturer's proprietary conditioning products and follow their product instructions for best results.
 
Thinners (volatile solvents that thin the oil,) on the other hand, primarily regulate the viscosity of the paint, making it easier to spread. Over-thinning, however, will reduce the gloss of the coating (not a problem with models so much) and dilute the pigment load of the paint, thereby reducing its ability to "cover" differing underlying colors (which can be a problem in modeling.) Moreover, the volatility of solvents varies. "Hot" solvents are more volatile and evaporate quickly, such as acetone, while other solvents are less volatile and evaporate less quickly, such as mineral spirits. (And one must beware of modern "green" and "ordor-free" substitute thinners which may be incompatible with some oil-based enamels! Just because they may work for cleaning brushes doesn't mean they will work for thinning paint properly. Testing is always advisable before diving into painting the workpiece.)
 
Conditioning paint is one of those things that's easy to teach by the "show and tell" method, but not so easy to teach with written instructions. It's not  all that complicated, though. It's like baking a cake. A half hour of instruction by a knowledgeable  painter would be time well spent for anybody who wants to achieve good painted finishes, particularly with oil-based enamels.
 
While a good brush is a joy to use, (and remember: natural bristles are for oil-based paints, synthetic bristles are for water-based paints) a poor finish is far more often the fault of the paint and the painter than it is the fault of the brush. Within reasonable limits, it's generally more the skill of the craftsman rather than the quality of his tools that determines the quality of the finished product.
 
Multiple thin coats produce the best finishes. Don't expect to get the perfect finish with a single finish coat. Generally, a properly prepared (smooth) and primed and base-coated surface will require a minimum of three rather thin finish coats to "cover" sufficiently. Sand those brush strokes "smooth as a baby's bottom" and give it another coat. Repeat until perfect.  

"Rolling and tipping" is for sissies!    Real painters brush or spray. But that's a story for another night. We're not talking about painting acres of topsides here.
 
Seriously, though, the key to a good finish is conditioning the paint. This is much more than just thinning it, although the addition of thinners (paint thinner or turpentine, acetone, etc.) can go a long way to improving consistency of what comes out of the can. Proper conditioning is dictated by interrelated environmental variables such as temperature and humidity. Perhaps the most important consideration is the speed of drying. If the paint dries too fast, brush strokes (and roller stipple) will not have time to "lay down" sufficiently and yield a uniform thickness on the painted surface and "maintaining a wet edge" will consequentially be much more difficult, leading to even more dried brush strokes on the dried surface. Penetrol (which is now difficult to source in environmentally "woke" jurisdictions that have outlawed it due to its VOC content,) is basically raw linseed oil. (Not "boiled" linseed oil, which isn't boiled at all, but rather contains added heavy metal driers that accelerate the polymerization of the oil binder in the paint, causing it to "dry" faster. A dried coat of paint is simply pigment bound by polymerized oil following the evaporation of the solvent thinners.) Along with the temperature of paint when applied to the surface, the proportion of driers to oil in the applied paint dictates how fast it "dries" and a greater proportion of oil to driers increases the drying time and, thus permits brush strokes to "level" and disappear. Ideally, the object of conditioning is to yield paint that levels adequately before drying and dries as soon after leveling as possible. Many manufacturers of modeling paint offer proprietary "retarders" that slow their paints' drying time, "accelerators" that speed it up, and "thinners" that thin their paint. If that's true in your case, use the paint manufacturer's proprietary conditioning products and follow their product instructions for best results.
 
Thinners (volatile solvents that thin the oil,) on the other hand, primarily regulate the viscosity of the paint, making it easier to spread. Over-thinning, however, will reduce the gloss of the coating (not a problem with models so much) and dilute the pigment load of the paint, thereby reducing its ability to "cover" differing underlying colors (which can be a problem in modeling.) Moreover, the volatility of solvents varies. "Hot" solvents are more volatile and evaporate quickly, such as acetone, while other solvents are less volatile and evaporate less quickly, such as mineral spirits. (And one must beware of modern "green" and "ordor-free" substitute thinners which may be incompatible with some oil-based enamels! Just because they may work for cleaning brushes doesn't mean they will work for thinning paint properly. Testing is always advisable before diving into painting the workpiece.)
 
Conditioning paint is one of those things that's easy to teach by the "show and tell" method, but not so easy to teach with written instructions. It's not  all that complicated, though. It's like baking a cake. A half hour of instruction by a knowledgeable  painter would be time well spent for anybody who wants to achieve good painted finishes, particularly with oil-based enamels.
 
While a good brush is a joy to use, (and remember: natural bristles are for oil-based paints, synthetic bristles are for water-based paints) a poor finish is far more often the fault of the paint and the painter than it is the fault of the brush. Within reasonable limits, it's generally more the skill of the craftsman rather than the quality of his tools that determines the quality of the finished product.
 
Multiple thin coats produce the best finishes. Don't expect to get the perfect finish with a single finish coat. Generally, a properly prepared (smooth) and primed and base-coated surface will require a minimum of three rather thin finish coats to "cover" sufficiently. Sand those brush strokes "smooth as a baby's bottom" and give it another coat. Repeat until perfect.  

A half liter Gflex kit should be more than sufficient for a single coat on that model, but perhaps not for two. To be on the safe side, I'd get a liter, although, if you run out, there's no problem applying more to what you didn't have enough to cover, although coats are best connected within a couple of days to ensure a molecular, rather than a simply mechanical bond between the two. (This is especially true of CPES epoxy sealer. Read Smith's instructions.)  The catalyst and resin have very long shelf lives, so you can always put any leftovers to good use. Mix it in small batches and use a flat surface to mix it.  I use a shallow tray lined with tinfoil. When the job is done, I simply discard the tinfoil. Beware of exothermic reactions. These cause a batch of epoxy to "cook off" when the heat generated from the chemical reaction of the mass of mixed catalyst and resin begins to accelerate the curing process and the process runs out of control, getting hotter and hotter until it starts flaming. A flat mixing container spreads out the surface area of the epoxy mixture and permits it to dissipate heat. Fill a paper cup full of the stuff and you can have problems.
 
You can mix some additives together without any problems and not others, but those you can are relatively obvious, like a thickener with a color additive. Always refer to the WEST System instruction manuals which are online. They will provide instructions on everything you could ever want to know about WEST products: Epoxy Instruction Manuals - WEST SYSTEM Epoxy Check to see if there are any contraindications to mixing the additives you are intending to use together. I'd be inclined to apply the two you mention separately, the fairing additive first, and then the barrier coat. Barrier coat goes on fairly smooth and is hard to sand. Fairing additive sands like butter, but if applied in a "peanut butter" consistency, it won't be smooth and will require sanding to fair it. Mixing the two isn't likely to produce a "waterproof easily sanded" surface. I'd be more inclined to expect you'd get a harder-to-sand surface that wasn't waterproof. But, again, check the manuals.
 
I'm not completely familiar with the installation procedures for your kortz nozzle, but I would say it would be best to fair and coat your hull before installing the nozzle because 1. epoxying and sanding is a messy business and working around the nozzle would be a huge pain, if possible at all, and 2) the fairing and coating process will add thickness to the surface of the hull and yield the final dimensions to which the nozzle will have to be fitted.
 
Good luck with it!  And again, consult the WEST System manuals on line! Don't guess. Using epoxy coatings can be mastered by anyone who knows how to follow "cookbook" instructions, but if one ignores the instructions, it can quickly turn you into a "mad scientist" with an out-of-control experiment.
 
I'll also add that you should probably "start small" and get the feel of the stuff as you go along. Mix a small single "pump" batch and apply it on a piece of scrap wood and let it cure, Sand that and apply your barrier coat and see how that works out on the test piece. Don't use your hull to learn on. When you are comfortable, mix no more epoxy than you can use before it starts to cure too much. You can always mix more as you need it, but if you mix a big batch and it "cooks off" before you're done working with it, that epoxy is wasted and the stuff isn't cheap, as you know.
 
 

I have experience painting canoes with alkyd resin paints.   Using these paints straight from the can, I had problems with brush marks, and areas where the paint did not cover; effectively a major brush mark.  I was finally able to get a good finish by;
 
Thinning the paint with mineral spirits.  Keep in mind that these are volatile, so the paint will actually thicken while you are painting with the can open.
 
Adding a conditioner called Penetrol.
 
Using a painting procedure called rolling and tipping where the paint is applied with a foam roller and then very gently tipped, or leveled with a paint brush.
 
So is any of this applicable to your situation:
As recommended above, thin your paint with turpentine or mineral spirits. Add thinner if the paint thickens as you paint.
 
Check your brush.  While the roll and tip technique is not going to work for the small surfaces on your model, an overly stiff brush is going to leave marks.
 
Roger
 

Enamel as on pots is something different from 'enamels' as in paints ... Enamel as on pots is a layer of glass. It is applied as a layer of a glass-powder mixed with some flux on the bare metal, which is then heated in a furnace to the melting temperature of the glass. A technique thousands of years old. I believe 'enamels' as in paints are named so because they form a hard and smooth layer resembling real enamel. 

Fiberglass can be a "strong, hard wearing surface," but it's a real bugger to work with, particularly on small scale pieces and it sure isn't "easy to sand smooth for painting. It will add thickness to your hull and weight, neither are advantageous. It can be tricky to work with and if something goes wrong, it could ruin the model completely. It's about as strong as an eggshell, so until it gets around 3/16ths of an inch thick, it's going to crack like an eggshell if it gets whacked. At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 
If your hull is properly put together, it should not need any strengthening and if you operate the model prudently, it should not require a "strong hard wearing surface." 
 
If it were me, and I realize is ain't, I would sand the hull fair and apply a liberal coat of Smith and Co,.'s Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer. ("CPES")(See:http://www.smithandcompany.org/ for technical information) This will penetrate the wood surface and cure, turning the surface of the wood into rock hard wood impregnated with cured epoxy resin. (CPES is not just "thinned epoxy," it contains special solvents which cause the resin to permeate the wood fibers. Before the CPES cures completely (less than 2 or 3 days... read Smith's instructions... this will create a molecular, rather than just a mechanical bond between the CPES and WEST epoxies,), I would apply a thin coating of WEST System G/flex 650 epoxy resin mixed with WEST System 407 Low-Density or 410 Microlight fairing additive. The additive will make the cured epoxy very easily sand-able to a very finely smooth surface. It will also fill any cracks or divots on the surface. Then sand the surface fair (without sanding the epoxy off down to bare wood. If that happens, apply more CPES to the bare spot(s.)) Then paint with a good quality marine enamel primer and topcoat paint.
 
WEST G/flex epoxy resin cures to a hard, but slightly flexible epoxy that should not crack with slight wood movement. The CPES will provide a decent water barrier and the West G/flex will add to that. A good marine enamel will complete what should be a matrix that isn't going to leak in your lifetime, nor, probably, the lifetimes of your grandchildren. It won't add noticeable thickness to your hull and won't weigh down your model with unnecessary weight.
 
You could also add WEST System 422 Barrier Coat Additive, which will increase the moisture resistance of the G/flex epoxy resin, but it's overkill for this application. You've also got the option of using WEST's kevlar additive if you want your bottom to be bulletproof, but that's a story for another night. Amazingly versatile stuff, epoxy.
 
Fiberglassing small, irregular surfaces is tricky business and the glass cloth or mat is nasty to work with, too. (Tiny bits of glass fibers become airborne and land on your skin, quickly working their way into the skin like fine cactus needles, resulting in painful itching. I don't ever want to begin to think what they do when you inhale them, but I've done my share of fiberglass work on boats in the days before hazmat suits and filtered air-supply masks and I'm still here, so...
 
Anyway, that's how I'd do it. 
 

Thanks again Bob, great advice. I'll definitely test it out first on some scrap. Really looking forward to getting the hull sealed ready for paint.