mtaylor

This is the real ship, right? It sure does look real.....

Sweet work on her majesty's throne, Nenad. And a grand picture of Hothead.

That type of binnacle might be too late a period for this ship. I'd suspect it was all wood and not brass.

Lovely work, Piet. These "fiddly bits" are bringing more to life.

That is very nice work area, Jack. I notice you even have a skateboard for when you need a break. For the building slip... are you building right side up or upside down? The way that hull is curved with the high prow and stern I could see being a problem.

Tough call on the what's first, Mike. I try to do my ports (and anything else such as blocks) if they are behind the planking or if there is a lip such as for the port lid. Careful trimming of the plank at installation then becomes imperative. If the item is flush the planking, I'll hold off until the planking is done so it can be sanded into place. Then again, there's the caveat at the bottom of this... Scuppers, etc... are probably best done after planking. But again.. some do it ahead of time and then use the hole to guide the drill/knife to the proper place. Caveat: It's more of a "do what makes you comfortable" type of thing. A good example is that I'm holding off drilling my hawse holes until the gun deck is installed. Some do it earlier, even before the planking. I'm more comfortable waiting until I know everything is lining up properly.

It's quite possible that hand ropes on internal ladders were only rigged in heavy weather... there's lots of these odds and ends floating about that we don't have documentation for.

Daniel, One thing I noticed is that in your first picture, is the position of your davits. I would expect the davits to swing fully out with the boat high on them and then lower which would give more clearance. As for paintings, historical references, etc. I have no idea when the davits were first used on this ship. It's possible they are an "after the fact" add-on.

Well, Denis, you had to start someplace on finishing the rigging. Might as well be this one. Makes it even more special for the lads. Nice work.

Neat and clean work, Mike. Spiling is fun isn't it. I'm looking forward to seeing everything stained.

Beautiful work, Bob. I had mixed feelings seeing these kits, but they do look interesting and make a sweet model.

Nice work, Denis. I guess they thought Grandpa needed something to keep him busy and yes, I'll wager that they will be "all eyes" when they see it.

At it's simplest, a binnacle would be a pedestal with a compass in it. Nothing too complex as this is small vessel. Rigging... I'm not sure what reference to use. Maybe Chuck has an idea since he's building a "sister".

Maybe a 427 SS logo on the side? :D

That's a bummer, Dave. I'm sorry to hear it. They are funny critters. They'll sit on your shoulder for hours, or fly off and steal anything shiny. I haven't had birds in a long time, but they are full of personality.

As long that doesn't develop into a 3-way conversation or argument, you should be fine.

A Star Wars and hot rod humor aside, Bob, if you have questions, feel free to ask.

Mike, The easiest way (and potentially least disaster prone way) is to do as much off ship with the masts as possible. I and others have gone so far as to completely assemble them, run and rat the upper shrouds, attach the yards (with all their hardhare), etc. before stepping them. In the end, it's up to you to sort out what works and what doesn't work for you.

The best I can do is links. The A/C guys use it to glue their clear plastic canopies to the airplanes. It won't craze or fog the plastic. http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-few-words-in-praise-of-canopy-glue.html http://www.supergluecorp.com/?q=zap/zap-glues/formula-560-canopy-glue The catch is, I don't know if it's water proof. This article lists glues and clear varnish might be an option also. http://www.scalemodelguide.com/construction/materials/learn-glue/

That's the $64,000 question, Michael. The same would need to be asked for epoxy. What about canopy cement like the A/C guys use?

Do get healthy quickly, Shaz. Syren's calling and so are probably other things. I hope it'll be a great year for you two.

Buck, I think she'll get you to finish this...

Silicone or epoxy, Michael? I can't see you risking the pane using CA.

:D You're right Druxey. I forgot about the zoomie stripes adding 10% to the top end.

Background: Well, not all K40's are created equal. So I'll put this up with caveats and the "gotchas" that I found. I hope that this will be of value to someone. At this point in the market, the prices are dropping and quality is getting better. Do some shopping, read the reviews. Ebay has great prices but... and it's a big "but".. there's hidden costs such as duty, import broker fees, and getting it shipped from the port entry to your door. There's also "service" which seems from reviews to be non-existent. I'd suggest looking for a dealer in the country you are located. The MM Laserknife, is basically an upgraded K40 with a better power supply, a safety switch to kill the beam if the lid is opened, and better quality control than the run of the mill Chinese K40. As is, it worked pretty good for what I've been doing with it but I wasn't exactly pleased trying to cut thicker woods. For example, 3/16" boxwood was very problematical, but 3/16" cherry was pretty good. Hindsight being what it is, I would have bought a totally different unit for around the same price and gained cutting size and power out. But... <shrugs shoulders>... see the first paragraph for caveats. So.. off I went into "UpgradeLand"... Previously, I upgraded the lens from the small 12mm lens to a better grade 18mm lens with the same focal length. This produced a finer beam at the wood but I did loose the ability to re-focus by moving the lens. I worked around that by setting p the z-table so I could move it up and down to compensate. So far, so good... but still, I wasn't happy with cutting the thicker bits and harder species of wood. I realized it was either buy another machine or upgrade this one... upgrade is/was the lower cost alternative. Doing the homework: I researched tubes and couldn't find a 50W that was up to snuff with a good price. I did, however locate a 45W that had a good price and the company does provide good service. The tube in the machine is called a 40W. Reality... it's about a 35W at steady-state. The 45W I selected pumps out 45W steady-state. It is however longer (730mm vs. 1000mm) and bigger diameter (50mm vs 55mm). There is a 60W available that longer than the 40W (naturally) but also has a higher power requirement so it's out. I saw some 50W tubes but I'm questioning if this isn't more marketing hype like labeling the K40 as a 40W machine. The power requirements and tube size were smaller than those for the 45W I bought. Puzzling to say the least. First thing to check was power supply... the old tube needed 15kV at about 12mV. The new one needs 15kV at ~18mA max. MM uses a 220 VAC input (using a transformer) which outputs 20kV at 20mA. This was good as PSU's are pretty pricey. The next was water pump... The new tube needs 10L/minute flow. The MM pump is rated at 50L/minute. Then there's the mounting... a hole will need to be cut in the case and an extender installed. The mounts themselves would require modification to accept the bigger size. I ordered the new tube, extender, and about 12 feet of 6mm silicone tubing. I bought 100% silicone caulking/sealer from Lowe's. The tube I received was tested the day it shipped at 45W output using 15mA of power and metered at 18" from the tube end. Yippee.... stated wattage is actual wattage. In the K40 world, this is pretty iffy. The Upgrade I took several photos of the unit before removing anything. I also marked the place where the output of the tube was located for reference. I removed the wiring, cooling hoses, and then the tube. I also removed the rubber mount pad from the tube mounts. Note that different K40's can have different mounts depending on manufacturer. Mine were metal and looked like an old style hose clamp in some ways. But they did/do give me the wiggle room for upgrading. The actual upgrade then started. First steps were to cut the hole and mount the extension. I cut the hole, put the new tube in place and checked everything. I then removed the tube and mounted the extension. There was a problem with the mounting holes for the screws. The hardware didn't match the drawings but I was aware of this from reading on the support forum where I bought the parts. I had to make my own template. One note... do make sure to completely remove any metal chips from cutting and drilling. If one gets into the wrong place, you can have sparks, fire, etc. and end up needing a new power supply at a minimum. I shimmed the mounts using foam carpet tape and several pieces of thin cardboard to get the tube close to where it needed to be. I went back during alignment and re-seated and adjusted these mounts. The tube was installed and the wiring connected by wrapping the bare copper around the post. These can't be soldered as the seal for the post to glass tube will melt. I stuck on a piece of 6mm silicone tubing and filled the tube with silicone compound. This made for a good connection and also insulation as one doesn't want 20kV sparking about. I replaced the old cooling hoses with new at this point. The unit was then "tested" by first firing up the water pump, rotating the tube to remove any air bubbles (due to the way they're made, they really only work well in position for this). I also began the alignment procedure as this is critical. The cutter now looks like this from the front The first step was shimming the tube to be level from end to end and then using thermo paper (cash register receipt) and very low power, getting the beam dead center on the first mirror. I locked down the tube and re-checked. Then I did mirrors 2 and 3. A bit fussy with checking at the near points and far points of travel but it must be done. I then locked everything down and re-did the alignment tests. Post upgrade evaluation: I've not cut anything worthwhile yet, but I have done a bunch of testing. The first after alignment was to check the focus. I'm still spot on without having to change my table shims except when I change wood thickness. The kerf is thinner and on 3/16" boxwood the "V"ing of the kerf is much, much less. This is with a bit less power (amperage) and faster speed. Misson accomplished. Next will be when I get some time is to thickness a 1/4" boxwood plank and see what happens. My total cost at this point is around $2500 including original machine, new lens and lens mount, new tube and the extension. This doesn't include a GFI protector, the cooling water and bucket, or the hole saw for the drill. I'm not an expert but I've learned a lot with this.