richardt

Hi Karl, Truly amazing work Richard

Hi Wayne, You have done some very impressive work here and it is an excellent reference that must be maintained and added to. I had a very much smaller collection but like you, I am a bibliophile but enjoy the reading more than the posession. Virtually all of my collection has been passed on to needier hands than my own and this has also given me satisfaction. I still rely extensively on the Inter-Library Loan system available in BC as well as all of Canada. Some years ago I lived in Burnaby BC who have an excellent selection of Ship modelling books. A simple search knocks out over 100 titles. What they don't have can usually be gotten elswhere within a week and at no charge! Recently, I have become more interested in Biographies etc. as well as historical naval/nautical novels that I'm soaking up like a sponge. If you are assembling a similar list on these subjects, I would like to see it even if you don't intend to publish it on the MSW. Perhaps I can reciprocate and direct you to more authors, who knows? I finished my first model ship at the ripe old age of 11 years and bought my first dedicated tool: a fret saw that is still in perfect condition and used virtually daily. I can work faster and more accurately with it than I can with any scroll saw. I also get the full mileage from it by using the whole length of the blade rather than the much smaller range offered by the cam of a scroll saw. I sailed my model successfully in the pond of our local park and never looked back but later on I settled on static models. I'm 73 now and I honestly can't remember all the models that I have built. Some, like the Bounty and Endeavour etc., several times. Richardt

Diluted PVA is the stuff to use. (It must be diluted otherwise it is too viscous to soak into the thread. I can only recemmend CA to convert the end of your line into a rigid section that makes it easy to thread through blocks etc. Put a drop of CA onto a disposable surface to make a small puddle. Use a toothpick (or similar) to draw about 10mm of the end of the line through. Wipe off all excess CA immediately.and you will have a hard needle end. Snip this off after you have threaded it through the block(s). This will also illustrate what will happen to your knots and seizings etc, if you use CA to secure them. Richard