Bob Cleek

Ain't that the truth! Maybe it's a generational thing, and I certainly can embrace many of the benefits of "the digitization of everything" (without which this forum wouldn't exist,) but I do think we do a disservice to the art of ship modeling by an inordinate focus on CAD and CNC machine tool applications at the expense of a sound grounding in how the vessels we seek to model were actually built in real life. I know I'm a Luddite, and old enough now that it doesn't matter, but as far as I know, nobody's yet invented a CAD program that can strike a fair curve as quickly, easily, accurately, and inexpensively, as a flexible batten of wood, nor a CNC machine tool that can cut a curved piece of wood to fit against its mate as quickly, easily, and inexpensively as a sharp edged tool in an experienced hand.  I, too, marvel at the "master machinists" who turn out perfect replicas using state-of-the-art digital age machinery (and I have a lot of tools myself,) but I lament the elevating of the technical above the artistic for therein lies the difference between an art and a craft.

Bit of trivia: Curved sole planes can be used for backing out, as noted. Many plankers' favorite tool for backing out full sized planks, other than the edge of a disk sander modernly, is the Stanley #70 box scraper.
 
http://www.findmytool.co.uk/images/old/scrapers/stanley/70/large1.jpg   The "two-fisted" handle allows for putting some real muscle into it. Box scrapers were used in the days before corrugated cardboard boxes were common and wooden shipping crates were the norm. Addresses would be painted onto the crates using stencils. The box scraper was used to scrape off the painted lettering on wooden crates so the crates could be reused. Now, they are collector's items, although Kunz makes a short-handled copy of the Stanley original.  
 
 
For modeling purposes, a bit of sandpaper wrapped around a dowel should do the trick, or simply make a curved scraper blade. It rarely takes much backing out to make the fit on a model and unless you are showing the interior of the hull, nobody's going to be the wiser if the faying surface isn't perfect. Remember, though, that if backing out is required, your plank has to be correspondingly thicker or your final hull fairing is going to be a nightmare, if not impossible. The outside face of the plank in the middle of its width will be lowered by the depth of the backing out, so your plank has to be thicker by that amount or  you'll have to take all the whole hull's planking down to that thickness to fair it. Here again, though, with a model, fairing isn't such a big deal as it is on a full size hull.
 
It's to make narrower planks in the way of heavily curved frames than to try to back out a thick wide plank.

The Cricut Explore can handle up to about 3/64ths basswood. It has trouble with interior cuts, like for a window opening. It has a pivoting blade so to insure the corner is cut "square" it cuts past the corner, then back at an angle to start on the other section. This leaves a small triangle extra cut out at the corner. Not bad if you will be adding a trim piece to frame the opening, but a pain if you want just the square opening.
 
The new Cricut maker can do at least 1/16th bass, and has a gear driven knife for square corner cuts.
 
I have had difficulty going from CAD to the machine, but have not had time lately to revisit it.
 
If you are trying to cut an existing card pattern (As in a cardstock building, or file download (ship card model, where you want to print out the file and cut to the printed patterns) you are limited to I think 6X8 inch maximum output size. This is because their proprietary software Design Space uses your browser software as a print engine, and you are limited (for unspecified reasons).
 
Clipart and Line drawings can use the full  size sheet up to the largest cutting pad size. Remember though that the cutting pads are sticky to hold the material, so small delicate parts can break or rip when you go to remove them.
 
As I say I've not had time recently to play with my Explore machine more.

For sure. They are very handy for building model case frames. It's nice to have an easy way to put a perfect 45 degree cut on a piece of wood. They are a rather specialized tool, though. It depends upon how often you need to make a small 45 degree cut for a joint. There are other ways to do it, of course, but few so accurate. I've only used them on picture framing molding stock. They aren't cheap if you set out to buy one. A chisel or a hobby knife will cut most model plank stock without any problem. One might find a standard guillotine paper cutter to be just as capable and even handier for more jobs and at a fraction of the cost.
 

With the caveat that I've never done this, I'll suggest that the Cricut (pronounced "cricket") home CNC cutting machine is designed to solve the problem of small scale lettering transfers for modeling purposes, among others. (It shows a lot of promise for photo-etch quality cutouts from card stock, too.) My daughter has one and loves it. It seems to be "a girl thing" as their marketing is directed to crafty "soccer moms," and I haven't seen the Cricut system mentioned in this forum at all as yet. I does seem to be becoming quite popular and the results it produces are excellent. While there is a plethora of "clip art" images for use with the machine, one can also generate their own with any computer graphics program or word processing font. I'd be interested to know if any modelers are using it and how they like it. Once the pandemic gets over, I plan to fool around with her Cricut and see what applications for modeling I can come up with for it.
 
 
 
 
 

With the caveat that I've never done this, I'll suggest that the Cricut (pronounced "cricket") home CNC cutting machine is designed to solve the problem of small scale lettering transfers for modeling purposes, among others. (It shows a lot of promise for photo-etch quality cutouts from card stock, too.) My daughter has one and loves it. It seems to be "a girl thing" as their marketing is directed to crafty "soccer moms," and I haven't seen the Cricut system mentioned in this forum at all as yet. I does seem to be becoming quite popular and the results it produces are excellent. While there is a plethora of "clip art" images for use with the machine, one can also generate their own with any computer graphics program or word processing font. I'd be interested to know if any modelers are using it and how they like it. Once the pandemic gets over, I plan to fool around with her Cricut and see what applications for modeling I can come up with for it.
 
 
 
 
 

With the caveat that I've never done this, I'll suggest that the Cricut (pronounced "cricket") home CNC cutting machine is designed to solve the problem of small scale lettering transfers for modeling purposes, among others. (It shows a lot of promise for photo-etch quality cutouts from card stock, too.) My daughter has one and loves it. It seems to be "a girl thing" as their marketing is directed to crafty "soccer moms," and I haven't seen the Cricut system mentioned in this forum at all as yet. I does seem to be becoming quite popular and the results it produces are excellent. While there is a plethora of "clip art" images for use with the machine, one can also generate their own with any computer graphics program or word processing font. I'd be interested to know if any modelers are using it and how they like it. Once the pandemic gets over, I plan to fool around with her Cricut and see what applications for modeling I can come up with for it.
 
 
 
 
 

For sure. They are very handy for building model case frames. It's nice to have an easy way to put a perfect 45 degree cut on a piece of wood. They are a rather specialized tool, though. It depends upon how often you need to make a small 45 degree cut for a joint. There are other ways to do it, of course, but few so accurate. I've only used them on picture framing molding stock. They aren't cheap if you set out to buy one. A chisel or a hobby knife will cut most model plank stock without any problem. One might find a standard guillotine paper cutter to be just as capable and even handier for more jobs and at a fraction of the cost.
 

Hi Bob, 
In this case the price was very, very negligible. I think these things were around 500.00 new and used they still go for around 150.00. I bought it for a very small fraction of that! Personally I have a hard time with a hobby knife on a 1/4 inch plank. I can never keep the plank still enough under a straight edge nor get the cut perfectly up and down. This chopper can be used to cut pretty much any angle if you abandon the 'fence'. I'll give it a shot and figure it out.
One can never have too many toys 

Not to worry. On a model, the backing out depth dimensions are quite small and it doesn't take much. the sharp turns at the bottom corners of the transom are the worst. If you look at the full size hull pictures above, you can barely see the amount of backing out. You should be able to "fudge" most of it if the inside of the hull isn't too visible in the curved places. On a full size hull, you want the planks laying flush against the frame faces for structural reasons. That's not so important on a model. Keep your frames narrow and you'll be okay.

What Keith said. If you didn't use CA, you may be able to sand down far enough to get to bare wood and give it another try. Otherwise, you'll have to do the deck over again, taking care to avoid any glue on the face of the planks.

What Keith said. If you didn't use CA, you may be able to sand down far enough to get to bare wood and give it another try. Otherwise, you'll have to do the deck over again, taking care to avoid any glue on the face of the planks.

What Keith said. If you didn't use CA, you may be able to sand down far enough to get to bare wood and give it another try. Otherwise, you'll have to do the deck over again, taking care to avoid any glue on the face of the planks.

Welcome to MSW AntonK,

When CA glue is used, it soaks into the wood and become almost impossible to remove, even with heavy sanding. 
 
Bradley

Interesting thoughts. 
 
About hollow planks, my take would be to glue sand paper to a piece of wood rounded to the approximate curve of the frame(s). Possibly with some steering aide to keep the sanding centered on the plank.

Ain't that the truth! Maybe it's a generational thing, and I certainly can embrace many of the benefits of "the digitization of everything" (without which this forum wouldn't exist,) but I do think we do a disservice to the art of ship modeling by an inordinate focus on CAD and CNC machine tool applications at the expense of a sound grounding in how the vessels we seek to model were actually built in real life. I know I'm a Luddite, and old enough now that it doesn't matter, but as far as I know, nobody's yet invented a CAD program that can strike a fair curve as quickly, easily, accurately, and inexpensively, as a flexible batten of wood, nor a CNC machine tool that can cut a curved piece of wood to fit against its mate as quickly, easily, and inexpensively as a sharp edged tool in an experienced hand.  I, too, marvel at the "master machinists" who turn out perfect replicas using state-of-the-art digital age machinery (and I have a lot of tools myself,) but I lament the elevating of the technical above the artistic for therein lies the difference between an art and a craft.

Finestkind! Been around for years. From the folks that brought us The Oxford Dictionary of the English Language ("OED" citation in academic works. It's the academic gold standard.) That's what its a "companion" to. There's a movie out starring Mel Gibson about how they made the OED, The Professor and the Madman, now on Prime or Netflix, one of the two. Worth a watch.
 
I think of it every time a newbie posts a question asking what some nautical term means. As my father used to say, "Look it up in the dictionary yourself. That way you'll remember it."

Odds are, Canada is no better than most everywhere else. The economics of internet marketing has pushed a lot of the "brick and mortar" stores out of business and the online retailers are pretty much the only game in town if you don't have a dedicated hobby shop close by. You can get a good idea of what tools and supplies are available from these two internet retailers: https://modelexpo-online.com/ and https://www.micromark.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9cKInpjM7gIVIz2tBh0FlwgqEAAYASAAEgLtU_D_BwE  However, "buyer beware," many of their offerings are priced higher than they might be found elsewhere and, as for tools, may be of lower quality than professional grade tools that will last two or three lifetimes. Watch for sales and discount codes (some of which are available by clicking on the advertisers' logos on this forum's home page.) Other good sources of tools are commercial jewelers' supply houses and surgical and dental instrument supply houses. 

Odds are, Canada is no better than most everywhere else. The economics of internet marketing has pushed a lot of the "brick and mortar" stores out of business and the online retailers are pretty much the only game in town if you don't have a dedicated hobby shop close by. You can get a good idea of what tools and supplies are available from these two internet retailers: https://modelexpo-online.com/ and https://www.micromark.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9cKInpjM7gIVIz2tBh0FlwgqEAAYASAAEgLtU_D_BwE  However, "buyer beware," many of their offerings are priced higher than they might be found elsewhere and, as for tools, may be of lower quality than professional grade tools that will last two or three lifetimes. Watch for sales and discount codes (some of which are available by clicking on the advertisers' logos on this forum's home page.) Other good sources of tools are commercial jewelers' supply houses and surgical and dental instrument supply houses. 

Finestkind! Been around for years. From the folks that brought us The Oxford Dictionary of the English Language ("OED" citation in academic works. It's the academic gold standard.) That's what its a "companion" to. There's a movie out starring Mel Gibson about how they made the OED, The Professor and the Madman, now on Prime or Netflix, one of the two. Worth a watch.
 
I think of it every time a newbie posts a question asking what some nautical term means. As my father used to say, "Look it up in the dictionary yourself. That way you'll remember it."

Finestkind! Been around for years. From the folks that brought us The Oxford Dictionary of the English Language ("OED" citation in academic works. It's the academic gold standard.) That's what its a "companion" to. There's a movie out starring Mel Gibson about how they made the OED, The Professor and the Madman, now on Prime or Netflix, one of the two. Worth a watch.
 
I think of it every time a newbie posts a question asking what some nautical term means. As my father used to say, "Look it up in the dictionary yourself. That way you'll remember it."

To make a living selling milled dimensioned modeling wood, yes, but that's only because the consumers are hung up on three or four now-exotic (over-harvested) species that were once plentiful and commonly used. To become a self-sufficient modeler, all you really need is a good (i.e. a Byrnes) micro-table saw and perhaps a (Byrnes) thickness sander. Heavier machinery which saves much labor in reducing larger stock to modeling-sized billets can usually be begged or borrowed when that task occasionally arises. There are many great species for modeling that routinely end up in the chipper because they don't exist in size or quantity sufficient to make milling it on a commercial scale worthwhile. That certainly doesn't mean that commonly available woods like apple, persimmon, satin walnut, chestnut, holly and such aren't probably readily available for the scrounging at the municipal brush dump or by plying a friendly arborist with a bottle of Jack so he'll save you some of the good stuff when he comes across it. 

Try a test piece joint for this to see if you like it.  My preferred method is that I mix a small drop of black acrylic paint with PVA carpenters' glue, just enough to make it dark grey or black, but not enough to negate the purpose of the glue itself.  It leaves a distinct black seam and does not weaken the joint.   If any has seeped out it can be scraped and then sanded. 
 
Black tissue like that found in craft stores is very thin but shows the line well and is porous enough that the glue penetrates and does not significantly weaken the joint in my experience.
 
Allan

None that I can see. The practice of bedding faying surfaces with cloth and bedding compound leaves nothing to see but a very narrow seam the color of the bedding compound, if that. Unless a model were built to an unusually large scale, such a seam would be invisible at scale-viewing distances. Some modelers like to highlight their joints by the use of pencil lead, paint, or a sliver of black paper when building unpainted models. Pencil lead is quite sufficient. Paper is more time-consuming and, in my opinion, no more effective than other methods. Additionally, paper between the faying surfaces results in a weaker joint. (Paper between glued joints is a common way to create a temporary joint which can later be easily broken apart.) A careful study of "masterpiece" models in respected museum collections, close-up color photographs of many of which are now available online and in books, will assist a modeler in determining which details they might consider incorporating in their model truly contribute to a compelling impression of reality in miniature and which are inaccurate stylistic conventions which are popular from time to time with the modeling fraternity. 

Art,
 
I hesitate to post this since you’ve already spent $100, BUT, here goes.
 
A number of years ago, I got involved rebuilding wood canvas (Old Town) canoes.  These involve a lot of steam bending.  After jury rigs outdoors I finally set up a system that would be safe to use indoors.
 
Your steam generator will work well.  I used a Wagner PowerSteamer wallpaper steamer that is the same thing that you have, just a different color scheme.
 
After trying PVC pipe as a steam box I found that it would not withstand the heat from the steam.  It sagged badly.  I replaced it with a wooden box made from  4 1”x4” boards nailed together.  With a hinged lid on one end and a block of wood capping the other.  A galvanized threaded flange was fastened to the bottom and a threaded nipple was screwed into the flange that mated with the hose from the steam generator.  A small hole was drilled into the bottom as a drain.  
 
The hinged door allowed me to quickly open the box to pull out wood.  The steam can burn you quickly so you will need some sort of tongs.  Another advantage of the wooden box is that it leaks!  This allows circulation of hot steam within the box and ensures no buildup of pressure within the system.
 
If you have adequate circulation in and out of the box, I don’t see a need for either pressure or temperature gages.  Water at atmospheric pressure boils at 212F, and you don’t want a closed system.
 
Roger