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Ahoy Mates When knotting ratlines,at what small scale do you just use an overhand knot in place of a clove hitch? This question just came up in our group meeting yesterday. Would it be like smaller scales than 1/72? That's getting so small that it would be hard to see the difference. If you have elves doing your building with tiny hands this question doesn't have to be asked. We are asking for the normal builder,not an OCD one who would do it down to 1/200 scale or smaller. Thanks Keith

Ahoy Mates To start with I am a now retired tool and diemaker who has been using mills of all types for the last 50+ years. What advice I would give all about milling is that,since you are not having to do it for a job with time being a large factor- Take your time milling. Small cuts do two things: 1- it saves wear on your cutters which are costly to replace and 2 nd it reduces any deflection of either the cutting tool and reduces the over cutting of the mill cutter in your work piece. The small milling machines are not built to handle deep cuts by the milling cutters. In size a standard Bridgeport milling machine handles cutters up to 1" dia. but even then they have a hard time with full cutter depth cutting. If you kept the same size and capibility ratio of milling machine to cutter,the small mills would have only a cutter of 1/4" dia. with a cutting flute depth of only 1/8". So take it easy. And if you are burning wood,either your speed is too high,feed too fast clogging up the flutes of the cutters,or you have a cutter that doesn't have enough room for the chips created by you cutting speed and feed. Mini mills EQUAL MINI CHIPS!!! Keith

Ahoy Mates If you have more than 3 mast's and different level decks,how do you line them up,so that they are in line,and straight up and down? Do you have a method that you use? Keith

God Bless you Chuck! You know how to make my day. I am looking forward to building this kit after I finish up my Mary Rose. It will be great to be able to purchase the resin castings and then be able to carve and learn also. This barge will fit in nice next to my Gunboat Philadelphia that's also in 1/24th scale. And my first build to use all of your rope and blocks in it's building. Keith

Chuck As for the laser cut parts for the carvings,will there be extra's included for those who have mistakes when shaping them? Or will you offer to sell set's of the laser cut parts that need to be carved? I know that I would want at least an extra set so that I can use one to learn how to work the shapes out,and another for the finished model. Please put me on a list for this kit. Happy Customer from Troutdale,Oregon Keith

Wow,eye candy for the ship model builder and a level of craftsmanship that few attain. I can do this same level of work,but only in my dreams. I sometimes hate it when I wake up and realize that it was only a dream. It's like when I would see my dog Vincent sleeping and dreaming while he was laying on his side and his legs were moving like he was running after a chipmunk,And then when he would wake up,his look on his face was ,crap I did not catch that damn chipmunk,it was only in my dream! Still hoping someday that it will not be only a dream. Great work Mick. Keith

Ahoy Mate This is what I have been working on a Mary Rose 1545 showing all the structure down to the main gun deck admiralty style. All scratch built using basswood for the deck planking-what is there that is,and boxwood and swiss pear for the planking and deck beams. I use the basswood because I can then add the wood grain to it by engraving the grain with the point of a xacto blade easily. The boxwood is best for the long beams because it's stronger than the swiss pear. I used the swiss pear for the cross beams for a color difference so that you can see that there are different parts in the structure and where they join. On the hull it's boxwood except for the band that the main gun ports are in,that's swiss pear. The boxwood and swiss pear are hard so that they hold their edges and do not get dented. And you can file slots without having to deal with burrs like on softer basswood. Keith

Ahoy Mates A couple other things you might do: sand the sides of the eyebolt end that gets glued in. I roughens up the surface and also removes any oil or oxidation that would lessen the holding power of the glue that you use. If the eyebolt is going to have tension on it straight in line to the hole it's in,file some notches into the sides of the end that goes into the hole 90 deg. These will fill in with glue and hold the eyebolt in even better than just the glue around the straight sides of the eyebolt end. I have not had an eyebolt come out of a deck after notching the ends for the glue. Do not have a hole too tight to the eyebolt size,you need some space for the glue to form a film around the eyebolt sides. Keith

From what I have seen there doesn't seem to be much of a wooden ship kit collectors market for vintage kit's other than those of around the 30's-50's era kit's.And some limited production kits like LSS kit's from the 90's. The market is very limited and now is depressed due to old collectors like me selling off their collections or the kits being sold off in estate sales due to old collectors of my age not living long enough to sell off the kit's themselves . Their is just not the interest of the younger generations in these hobbies. Same is true in Brass Age Car's. Our fathers collected them because they grew up driving in them and driving them,now that hey are almost gone their prices have fallen,just see some of the car auctions ,not enough bidders wanting them now days. I just wish I had sold my kit collection off twenty years ago when prices were at their peak for plastic kits,and as for the wooden ship kits'I was not collecting any back then. Keith

Hi Pat Thanks for the input. I am working in 1/80 scale on the Mary Rose 1545. I will try out the different ways before working on the model. Keith

ahoy Mates I use a clove hitch for the ratlines except for the two ends. I have used an overhand knot,but should I just use the clovehitch on the ends also? And how do you trim off the ends fluch with the shrouds on the outside? Keith

Ahoy JBSHAN What you said is what I am thinking as to how they were used,I just want to know if anyone has some solid information on how they were rigged. Keith

Ahoy Mates Trying to find out how cat davits were set up on the bow of ships in the time period of around 1535 on English warships? It's for my Mary Rose build. The new Anatomy Of the Ship Mary Rose has sketches showing cat davits that were used,but do not show where or how they were set and rigged for use and storage on the Mary Rose. I have made the two of them up and need to find out this information. Have looked thru all my books and have searched for "cat davit" with no answers being found. Would they have been lashed to the deadeye's on the bow when not in use? I would like to have my model with one of them raising the anchor into place. Thanks Keith

Ahoy Mates Subject: Civil War Blockade Runner Scale: 1/48 Build Type: POB or POF doesn't mater And a Short Kit. Fittings fine in kit,but planking is up to buyer-keeps price down,and buyer can go with either economical wood or other more expensive wood choices. Price Range: $150-$300 Quality- Must have bulkheads and frames that line UP! That are fair and not being 1/8-1/4" off being fair,or shapes not the same frame to frame. Maker should have a outside builder build and show that they are right.And do it before the kit is being produced and on shelves for sale! After buying kits from 6 manufacturers over the last 4 years,not one has a kit without this problem. From 2 that have had just a couple problem frames to a majority where 75% of the kits frames-bulkheads were wrong shapes,and had to be corrected. There are other types of kits using laser cut frames and bulkheads that have tapered and other shapes like the ships we build,but they do not have the same problem with their kit's. I have been in production for all my adult life and quality control processes. There just needs to be a raising of standards of all in the kit making community. Some just need to be made aware and have very little to work on. Others will not care or even listen or try. Just think of it this way,if you have a terrible first build and not the skills to deal with uneven shaped bulkheads to start with. Do you expect that person to want to build another kit-or even finish the first kit with problems? It will only help all of us if the standards are raised up to a level that they should be with CAD and laser cut parts. We are not talking of old school steel rule cut kits of the past. Build Time: I like short time builds and long. I lke to vary it. 6 month's to 2 years I frankly think that raising the quality question and problems that we all are subject to is correct if you are talking about new kits and what we want. I want it to be taken in a positive way not just a ranting way. Keith

Ahoy Mates Just to start being 63 when I started out in a machine shop bak when I was only 12 there was only the lead screw dial that was on it and the next step was mounting a direct reading indicator to show the movement of either the carriage or tool rest. You had to deal with lead screw backlash and it took a lot of skill and use to use them correctly and get things right. Next was when I was 17 and the shop had travel dials on the Bridgeport mill table and cross feed. They were better than the dial on the lead screws,they showed the table travel. But they could slip and if you had to be very accurate,you still had to set up direct indicators on the X and Y axis to also show any crabing of the machines tables when moved,or to show movement when they had to stay still. Still al lot depended on the skill of the toolmaker or machinist . Then DRO's first generation came out. they were better than what had been used before,but the resolution was only .001 total because they used a glass scale with lines etched into the glass. The reader owuld detect the bar and the counters would add up the total number of lines crossed. At this stage they used frequency counters that had been around since the 1940's and Nixe tubes for the numbered lights to show how far you had traveled. You could have a total of .001 error since you could be just up to the next line going both ways without the numbers changing-thus the error of distance. I still had to use a direct reading indicator to know where I was really at. Then they went solid state and now use magnetic encoded bars. They have come a long way,and those of you hwo have only used their mills for hobby work,you really can not know the preasure that we went thru before the DRO's came about to know where your mill table was in relation to you mill cutter of boring head. I have not said anything about the spinel that your tool is in. These also deflect and move around either from being lose in the quill of machine head from use,and the bearings in your spindle also make up a large part of being accurate in holding the cutting tool on center and not deflecting when cutting forces are applied. Just gong down memory lane here. Less and less guys around who had to machine before DRO's were around. I also used tooling buttons,which you set suing height gauges and indicators. You would set these round cylinders on the part you wanted to drill or bore a hole in the exact center of the hole. Then set up the part in the mill or lathe. Indicate the button until it was in the center of the spindle where your toll was. Set up direct reading indicators on all moving parts of the table if you were in a mill. Then remove the tooling button and drill and bore your hole in this place. And hope that it did not move,and if so that your indicators would allow you to move it back on the center you wanted. Are there any guys out there who know what I am talking about with tooling buttons? I still have about 100 of them in different sizes-home made ones and also Starrette made ones.And one's over 100 years old that I got from my Dad. Keith

Ahoy Mates I am just about to start on the main rigging of my Mary Rose and am excited about doing the rigging. Not only because I have been building the ship for over two years now and it's a welcome change,but that now after rigging 3 ship models in 3 years I really love to work on the rigging. From searching thru my books for how to rig different time periods and ship types to seeing how tight and consistent I can get my seizing.And seeing what everyone here is working on,and getting answers to questions here. And most important how even all the deadeye's lashing to each other. And with most builds there's another area and skill to learn and master. Like in diemaking after a while there's little that is really new,just different situations doing the same things. And trying to master what you are doing. So back to my question-do you like rigging? What do you like and what do you not. Keith

Ahoy Mates In what era did catheads start being used on ships? I have not been able to find out what time period they were put into use. Thanks Keith

Ahoy Mates I drill out the hole then fill it with colored Titebond. I use a modified Chuck Passaro way. I color the Titebond with enamel paint-Modelmaster's and have no problems. I drill out the holes after the planking has been Dullcoted first. That seals the wood surface,which makes it easy to remove the excess glue-paint off the surface. I use the end of a xacto blade to force the mixture into the drilled hole leaving a small amount above the surface. You let it harden up for about ten minutes-NO LONGER,then file off the surface flush with the planks. Then repeat if the glue mix has shrunk into the hole. Try it out and see if you like it. I tried using water based paint to color the glue with,but it had a chemical reaction with the Titebond and gelled up the mix. I have used it on my Mary Rose build as the photo shows. I had to try out the color mix,after I sanded them down smooth I coated over with Dullcote,and it darkens them up a little. You just have to find out the right combination. If you let the glue mix dry more than a couple of hours or overnight,it's very hard to sand off the planks,even with the planks having been Dullcoted. The Dullcoted planks also allow the hole edges to be sharp edged without any burrs like uncoated wood does. The planking is boxwood and swiss pear. Try it out and see if you like it. Just another way of doing things. Keith

Thanks Mark for setting me straight on the types listed. Keel blocks it will be. Here's what I have made up today for the dry dock. Ties will be set with rock around them up to within 1/16" of the top of the tie's. They are 1/4" square balsa strips that I cut to random lenghts and then I added the wood grain and stressed areas to them. I painted them with a grey wash. The rocks-model railroad ballast will be brown and grey mixed. With the keel blocks and then the props will be added on outside the width of the base now for added width at a later date. I added the wood grain and distress to the ties with an xacto knife and wire brush. I had different harness of balsa strips,so they made the wash look different in color without having to change the wash color itself. Keith

Ahoy Mates It's the time when I need to decide how to display my Mary Rose model. I want to display it with the hull resting on cradles in a dry dock . Need to know where to look for examples of the type of cradles used in that era or near to it. Thanks for your help in advance. Keith

Hi Dave Get as wide of sheets that you can. I use manila file card stock to get the shape of the splied plank. Then I can transfer it to the sheet . Like has been said above you can nest them together. I start with the top box planks and then work my way down to the keel. That way the curve of the planks are each larger than the last one. And they nest very nice. Using the file holder material works great,and is cheaper than wasting wood trying to match the curves. Keith

Ahoy Mate Check out Red Box figure sets. Hobbyterra.com has them and also Hobbylink has some of their sets. I just ordered 1/72 sets of English Sailors 16th-17th Century. Check them out. I have ordered from Hobbyterra for over 5 years now. They are in the Ukraine. They always have great service,and send emails when they ship your order. Hobbylink in eastern USA is also a great place to purchase from. I will send you a message when I get my orders and let you know what the figures are like. I will be using them on my Mary Rose build in progress now. Keith

Ahoy John My only concern is the MDF. It looks like it will be weak where the frames thin out on the tops. I have a hard time thinking that they will be strong eniugh when you start planking,but I guess that with the flat sides up high that it might not be a factor-hope it's not for you. I would hate to spend that much on a kit and have MDF for the bulkheads and frames. They are getting cheaper all the time,and where they should not.Just my opinion. Even tho it's hard to work with,I would prefer the hard plywood that Caldercraft has used. MDF is for Ikea and basswood bulkheads is for the birds. Too weak for my liking. Keith

Ahoy Mates Here's my clutter that moves around and does just what it wants to do. It's called Sweet Pickels who is the shipyard Supervisor and Inspector of anything that looks or moves like loose wires or strip material,which becomes his prey. Keith

Hello Martin Try looking at the resin rivet decals for Rail roads from Micro Mark. They have the best value for what you get. They have two scales "O" gauge 1/48 and HO which is 1/87 scale. You get straight lines and round patterns and multi rivet line patterns. I have used them on my Accurate Armour's Flak LVCT in 1/76 scale.And my Revell 1/72 Flower Class Corvette along with the Little Ships PE and white metal cast detail sets. Keith