mtaylor

I've had mine for a few years. It does a good job as long as I'm not trying to take off too much wood, feed the wood through too fast (slowly feed, very slowly) and not trying to do too much at once. In other words, for a few pieces at a time, it works. There's no way of setting the thickness except by trial and error that I've found. This sander, is not a Byrnes Sander by any stretch. If I were buying one today, I'd hold off until I could afford a Byrnes.

I bought one some time ago when it was on sale. Here's the current webpage: http://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/cut-off-saws/bench-top-cut-off-saw-42307.html This is similar to the one MicroMark sells for roughly twice the price. It's a good tool but not a great one. Once the miter guage is calibrated, it cuts crisply and cleanly with no blade wobble. The vise holds the wood firmly. However, the miter gauge will need to be checked anytime it's moved to a new setting due to the slop in the mechanism. Also, use a piece of wood about 1/16" (1 mm) or so behind the workpiece to move it forward otherwise the wood is not completely cut. Below is a pic of mine with an attachment so can see where the blade is actually cutting. It also provides a precise method ot put a small ruler to get repeatable cuts. Would I buy another one? Yes. For the money, it's a pretty good deal as long as you're aware of it's limitations

Good to see you back here, Toni. What many of us are doing is either (as Remco put it) a "Management Summary" of pictures only and minimal text or just picking up where we are now. Your choice.

That won't have been from the "Wooden Ship Modeling for Dummies" site would it? http://www.shipmodeling.ca/index.html BTW, this site is well worth the small one time fee to get in.

Mike, This is one impressive and rarely seen model. I hope you'll keep us abreast of things.

Hi Walter. Click on "More Reply Options". Down at the bottom of the reply window, is the Attachments. You have two choices... either the Basic Uploader (files are uploaded one at a time) or Advance Uploader (lets you do a massive upload). Once you click browse, just find your photos on your PC and upload. Hope this helps. If there's any questions or if you need more help, put a post in the site suggestions and problems area.

Nicely done. Wow! That lifeboat is tiny..

Nice one, Daniel. I don't think I saw that one before.

Hi Bob, Sorry for not dropping by sooner. Nice to see your log back here.

Ah...I get a front row seat... cool! I'm looking forward to seeing this build.

Hi Daniel, Good to see you're back and putting your log up.

No problem Sjors. We'll see you when Anja lets you have the computer back.

Happy to see you back, Andy. We're all in that same boat with buildlogs and many are taking the "Management Summary" approach.

Hi Caroline, Great to see you and your San Francisco back.

No worries, Ron. We'll try not to let it go anywhere.

Take your time, Greg. No rush. You found us again and that's a good thing.

And here's the cross-section stuff:

Here's the pics for my Triton Build. First up was test build of one of the cannon done in 1:24th

Sorry about the length... Anyway, at this point, I'm planking the gundeck. Mark

Here's the pics to date:

This ship caught my attention the first time I saw the plans because it had a white flag. Laughed a bit until I researched it. But then the lines caught my eye. She's a 32 gun, frigate of the 8 pound gun class. A bit of history... built 1755 in Brest. Not too much in the way of history available except for some highlights: 1756 - Carried troops to Quebec. 1757 - with Marsaint's divsion on the 21 Oct. A "most bloody conflict" with the British off Santo Domingo. No ships lost on either side, but a high casualty count. 1762 - expeditions against British shipping and the Sale pirates. 1778 - she was part of a small fleet in company with Le Belle Poule, Hirondelle and Le Coureur. They ran into Keppel's squadron. Licorne as surrounded and captured. La Belle Poule had a famous two-hour duel with the British and escaped to a nearby bay.For the next five years it was known as HMS Licorne in the British Navy. 1783 - Sold out of the service. From the plans, it appears to be a good beginner scratchbuild. Clean lines, minimal carving. Some things from the Hahn plans needs changing such as the mast caps and the cannon rigging. I'm still researching via Boudriot and Frolich. I'm planning on completely planking her, but that may change. Anyway, I ordered a bunch of Hahn's plans a few years ago out of curiousity... guess I was walking down the primrose path to the minefield and here's where I've landed. Not knowing what to order in the way of wood.. I guessed and ordered the wood for the Confederacy from The Lumberyard since both are 3/16" scale. Blew it a bit.. keel on the Confed is 1/4", on the Licorne... 3/16", same for the frames.. Luckily, I have a thickness sander... unluckily.. that's a rather large pile of wood. But, I'm happy. I'll make the frames a tad thicker and order some 3/16" sheet for the keel, etc. Next time.. I'll study the plans closer. So... here's where my build begins. Started by scanning and copying all the plans as blueline prints fade with time. Laid out but not cut the building board. I've enclose pic of what I've built to date: Pics of the Famous Ed Measuring Tool and my frame jig. Pic of some of the framing wood with my thickness sander (daunting in person). And lastly.. a work in progress... my shipwright. Currently looks like Krylon the Cylon, but he'll get better. Once he's finished, I'll properly name him and start building frames. Due to the website crash, all the descriptive stuff is gone. I'll post all the pics to-date and then start text, etc. on my next post.

I'm not going to try to recreate the whole log, but here's all the pictures from the previous log. They're not in any particular order but they might help someone. Feel free to hit me with any questions.