vossiewulf

If you're willing to spend the money, what you're looking for is called a micromotor. Brushless, small, high torque, but not cheap - probably $500 minimum and the better ones are up to $1500 or more. But if you get one, you'll never look at a Dremel tool again. The most reasonably-priced one I am aware of is the Marathon: https://www.artcotools.com/marathon-micromotor/

Here's a good example, a couple years ago I went through surgical supply places and bought some professional medical and dental tools. One of them that you couldn't pry out of my dead hands is called a Barraquer Needle Holder. It sits in a happy place between pliers and tweezers and has taken over much of the duty from both of those. If you go to Ebay and just type that name in, you get this: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=barraquer+needle+holder&_sacat=0&_fsrp=1 A zillion Barraquer needle holders for $15 or less, made in China or Indonesia by god knows who. These would be what Micro-Mark would sell, and they probably don't work super well. However if you hit the "over $35" button you get this: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=barraquer+needle+holder&_sacat=0&_fsrp=1&_udlo=35 If you bought one of the Storz or V. Mueller or Accutome ones you'd get an instrument that's at the top level of world instrument quality in any field, and you'd use it constantly and be very happy every time you did so. I know they're expensive but I really think the return on investment makes it worth it every time. Another good one is called Colibri Forceps, they're for opthalmic surgery and they're by far the best tweezers I've ever used. One, good ones are very finely engineered so that the harder you press, the more force is put on what you're holding until it bottoms out. You can lift surprisingly heavy things with them. Two, the L-shaped jaws are genius. Instead of holding something at points like with most tweezers, you're holding with these L shapes and they are an order of magnitude more resistant to having the object you're holding twist than any tweezers I've used. You can lift bottles of paint with them, and with perfect control place tiniest piece you need to attach to something. Just be careful as some come with teeth. They're big sharp stabby teeth that are exactly what you don't want. So make sure with pics or text that you're looking at ones with no teeth. Here's a competent example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Asico-Colibri-Forceps-0-12mm-AE-4030/362497499945?hash=item546688e329:g:y80AAOSwc-tY1CAI:rk:20:pf:0

This evening I sanded her all over with 2000 grit to knock down all the fuzz and to flatten the finish a bit, then she got two more coats of a different more satin clear acrylic. I'll do a light final sanding with 2500 tomorrow and she'lll have a nice smooth finish. The black is slightly variable, but I've decided I like it, or at least am doing a good job of talking myself into it. The markers worked well over all but had two problems I didn't anticipate: one, it reacts to dry CA glue, forming a halo around it. I had to resand things even more carefully before putting the final coat on. And two, I didn't anticipate the effects of having to go over and over in certain hard to reach areas, which is pretty much everywhere but the turn of the bilge downward. However, the resulting effect looks almost like scale paint brushes to me, and there is a little bit of variability that I'd expect on a real ship. It also covered with a much thinner film than paint, leaving the woodgrain still visible. Hopefully tomorrow I will unmask the deck and start looking at the deck planking. Since I am using holly, I am not wasting a ton of wood with hooked planks, it's after 1800 so it's legal for me to do nibs. I have a good drawing of a nibbed deck that seems straightforward. Easy, no, straightforward, yes. Making the outer plank is going to be an adventure. I plan to do it similarly to how I did the rest of the planking, making the nib cuts in the outer plank in situ. I think.

Thanks Tony, have bookmarked that for later I'll let it sit and I will stare at it a while before deciding to do anything. But if I do want to switch, I have at least three other compatible satin clearcoat options in the closet, so it won't be any big deal. I thought about that while making them- and went back and deepened them a couple times before I felt double extra sure that any brass strip of correct size will easily fit through

I use Renaissance Wax. Used by the royal museums in England to protect their collections, of course no silicone. A very thin coating keeps my planes and chisels and carving tools (I have up to jack planes so not all small) rust-free.

One for the beginners, if you need a bunch of very narrow mortises in something, cheat and make it out of two pieces. And at the bottom, how she stands as of this evening, with two supposedly satin clear coats but it looks pretty glossy to me, will have to see how it looks tomorrow. May need to switch to something more satiny. But the clear coats do finally bring the cocobolo to life, it's one of those woods that looks good unfinished but finished it's whoa... Bummer of the channels is that the oar port there no longer makes sense, but I didn't think far enough ahead. If done over, I'd plank over the oar ports, I see several models showing none.

Keep in mind that the quality of tools from Micro-Mark varies quite a bit. Some are pretty good, but many are cheap knock-offs of professional tools, mostly jeweler's tools. I long since stopped buying from Micro-Mark and I go straight to professional jeweler and watchmaker and machinist supply places, this is very much a you get what you pay for thing - if you buy a set of needle files for $10, don't expect them to work real well, it's far better to save your money and spend $50 on a professional set that are dead straight and extremely sharp and will last many years. Start here: http://www.ottofrei.com/

I sanded mine to 800 grit, but no filler used. Below it was at the 400 grit stage.

http://www.hocktools.com/products/knives.html http://www.hocktools.com/products/perfectedge.html https://www.amazon.com/Sharp-Pebble-Sharpening-Waterstone-Whetstone/dp/B01FZZUL30/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1543524111&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=combo+water+stone&psc=1

The best solution because you use it everywhere is a better option than X-Acto. That's a real knife with an Rockwell hardness of 62+ and proper sharpening stones and then you have something that can be made much sharper than X-Acto blades and it will hold that edge orders of magnitude longer. And sharpening blades is neither that difficult nor very time-consuming once you get the hang of it. Pick up a copy of The Perfect Edge by Ron Hock if you don't already know how to sharpen things. And then go to his store and buy a good detail knife, in my opinion he makes the best blades outside Japan.

Good to see you're still building like four ships at once Smaller wale and cap rail installed and first of the black sections colored in. It was done before the cap rail was installed, and the cap rails themselves were blackened before install as both would be hard to reach easily once the cap rail was in place. Now working on channels, I am making a single one for each side using five deadeyes per the fore and aft book, although Tony's pics all seem to show them with four. They will go below the gunports, again like the book, with a gap for one gunport. Well harrumph pic I uploaded is blurry. Trying again...

I don't see a link there

Probably after, I should have put one in first but I forgot and went ahead and painted the gunwales, which I did with airbrush after masking everything. I may try to add a small strip after the deck planking is in and hand paint it. For anyone who has the Rigging Period Fore and Aft Ships or whatever the title is, the first section is of course basically this ship. I'm confused however by the shrouds he shows. On one page he shows five deadeyes per side with one paired with a burton pendant, all six pairs going to the mainmast. But then on the next page he shows two deadeyes per side running to the topmast through spreaders. Seven per side seems a lot of deadeyes for a cutter, but the vice versa is two per side going to the top leaving only three shroud stays per side going to the mainmast, and that doesn't seem right either. If someone can clarify it would be much appreciated.

Thanks everyone. Things seem good and stable for now so hopefully progress will continue Rick, especially glad to see you around still. Thanks, I think that is what I will do, that's a good compromise.

Thanks Tony. It's been a long time with many challenges, most of them bad, so it's nice to be sitting at workbench again making progress. Last evening and today I made the gratings, cut my small wales pieces and the external stern counter reinforcement pieces (I'm sure there's a specific name for those pieces but can't remember) from cocobolo and dry fit them, and also picked up Faber Castell india ink art markers at the local art supply store as they're the only art markers I've seen that are actually black. Prismacolor, Tomboy, Sharpie, all are dark purple, not black and that clashes with my cocobolo pieces. And if you're wondering why I'm using art markers, the answer is because they're the best way to do the next step in the way I'd like it done. India ink markers, even if pigment-based, leave a much thinner film than does paint and I really didn't want to lose the texture of the wood under paint layers. Being india ink they'll be light fast, and also make it much easier to apply the black than masking everything for an airbrush or brush painting everything. I'm going to play ship coloring book and color in the black with my markers

So I've been away for a while much longer than intended, life, health, work, yadda yadda boring stuff. Apologies to those who were following. I finished the planking, have the main wale on, and have painted the interior gunwales and stern red ochre or at least my version of red ochre. Main question I have now is should I place the deck fixtures and plank around them, or glue them on post-deck planking? The instructions recommend the latter while I think the former is more accurate. I think I'm going to paint it black topsides except for the stern (holly) and the wales (cocobolo) and below the waterline, all of which I'll leave natural. The lighter color of the boxwood can represent the white lead paint without covering over all the planking.

The way to avoid that problem is to build the wings and tails over the plans, that is what I have always done. Tape plans or a copy of them to your building board taut and flat, repeat with some plastic wrap over top to prevent any problems with glue sticking to plans, pin or clamp spars in the correct place and off you go. No way to have a problem unless the plans themselves are wrong. Andrew, I recommend you contact Model Expo, they have a free replacement for broken/missing parts policy. I cannot see any reasonable way to fix what you have or use it in the finished model as is - explain to them what happened and see if you can get replacement parts for the wooden parts of the top wing.

Thanks Rob I've been thinking about selling a range of tools for modelers that are a considerable step up from hobby shop tools, just don't know where the time is supposed to come from. I'd have to find someone who can totally manufacture what I want to my standards, no way with the job I have to do another job on top.

First I found a watchmaker's screw driver sharpener that was just the right size for the straight chisels, so I can sharpen those easily. Otherwise I am using waterstone slips, although I'm thinking of using sanding film stuck to a brass backing. In the long run I'm making myself a brass jig with wheels that can handle all of them, including the gouges where you have to turn the tool as you move forward and back. I've designed it and drawn it out and have the brass and other bits I need, just haven't sat down to do it yet.

There should be special "Victory Builder" license plates for people who complete quality Victories, and this is definitely one of them. Congratulations!

And BTW, very active forum just for WWI aircraft modelers.

You guys should check this out, 1/32 meant to work with the Wingnut Wings kit(s)? WNW have most of the D.VII versions out already and at least in the fuselage there were definite differences, not sure what version(s) it's meant to work with.

Some thoughts on potential responses: That's like being told that behind Darth Vader is the Emperor, so weep even further for your pitiable ship-building skills It seems like I will need to kick Spain in the shin for being an entire country of better ship-builders than me I don't want to see Baldomero's models, I'm afraid I would be driven mad, mad I tell you, by the endlessly repeating "HOW DID HE DO THAT?!?" question spinning through my mind

Danny is part of the goal to only use the kit materials? Because I've never built anything out of the box, I always replace things, usually many things. I ask as that if I was doing that particular kit I probably would have done the bows with a couple pieces of balsa with some 1/64" plywood over it, and then just paint the whole hull. Which wouldn't be a bad thing, I'm impressed with the engineering of the kit but not how they're printing the colors.

Not sure what you guys are talking about, sanding sealer is just a standard clear lacquer/varnish/poly with a high percentage of solids. As such, once applied, the strength of any glue bond you get is (depending on finish thickness) mostly or entirely limited to the strength of the finish's adherence to the wood, which is always going to be MUCH less than that of glue bonding with wood. In some cases with thin CA and a light coat of sealer you'll still get a semi-strong bond as the glue sinks into still-open grain and that creates a mechanical hold, but it's still not going to be as strong as it should be bonding with plain wood. I almost never do that, I will remove any finish including sanding sealer from a surface before gluing. Anyone who wants to really understand what all these finishes really are and the basic chemistry of how they work should read Understanding Wood Finishing: How to Select and Apply the Right Finish, it's about the most advanced finishing book I've found in terms of explaining all the source materials of finishes and how/why they work the way they do. You'll learn that much of what you think you know is wrong and that much of what manufacturers say about their finishes is complete nonsense, but other info on the can that you're not really paying attention to now is very important and will tell you exactly how that finish will behave. It's from American Woodworker which I normally don't associate with highly technical woodworking (like Fine Woodworking) but this really is the best book I've found, and I probably have 15 or 20 books on different types of finishing.