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Everything posted by vossiewulf
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Miniature Hand Tools
vossiewulf replied to Julie Mo's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
For simple rounded sole planes with a much larger radius than typical gouge radii, I use the Veritas Mk.II Honing Guide with the camber roller. In fact I also use the cambered roller on the straight blades as well, just not as aggressively, so their edges feather out. -
At this point I have to ask who ISN'T building Lady Nelson.
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Yes thanks, exactly what I was looking for.
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Well first I found that >I< was using large thumbnail links from Imgur so that was part of the problem, I've edited and now that last post is at least showing the 1000px versions. I found no options controlling max image size. I will try submitting a large image again, but if it still doesn't work I found you can set a link on an image, so in worst case I can set links on all the small images to 4k versions on Imgur.
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Hey Pat, thanks for the kind words and the suggestions on the images. I'm not using attachments, just the insert image button because you can't interlace text and attachments at least as far as I know. Let me see if I can find the options that control the max image size.
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Again, how does one link to larger versions of images here? I can't figure it out, and these small 700px or so images are not very good at showing detail.
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Instructions want to first have the keel/stem/sternpost added and then deck and then the last stern hull bulkhead, so I've left the hull in the "almost sanded fully down" state, and fully sanded the deck side so it's ready for the false deck to be added. First I made a sanding block out of maple with a radius somewhat less than the radius of the deck sheer so I could sand the deck lengthwise without fear of flattening the sheer. And used it to fully clean up the deck along with knives and planes. Then it was time to start making the cocobolo replacements for the keel/stem/sternpost, so I first ripped that 2x2 turning blank, making a .550" x 2" piece that I could then take to my little table saw. Checking the existing keel shows .124" thickness. So I ripped my .550" x 2" x 12" piece into strips that were .550" x .150". Then I took those to my Mk. I Thickness Planer, you see it's a pretty high tech machine consisting of a Veritas low-angle smoothing plane with PM-V11 iron, a 1/8" thick piece of scrap, and two cam clamps. It's more physical effort of course, but I'd be surprised if a Byrnes thickness sander was faster than this method for anything less than a whole pile of planking stock. And this method leaves a far superior finish, absolutely perfectly glass smooth, even if you wanted to improve that surface, you couldn't. Here's the replacement keel. And it doesn't vary more than .001" over its length, not bad for three total passes on each side. I like sturdy, so I decided I'd put some .040" carbon fiber rod reinforcement to the keel glue joint. For this kind of thing I just use my rotary tool with nice twist drills from Otto Frei on 3/32" shanks, they drill wood like it isn't there. I can drill reasonably orthogonal holes in surfaces freehand looking at a 45 degree angle, and that's what I did here since we can ream it out if there's a problem, but there wasn't in this case. Still for real precision holes I use a pin vise and constantly flip between two 90 degree views to ensure perfect alignment. Sometimes I use my mill, but most often done by hand by one of these two methods. Here are the keel and sternpost/stem pieces, arrows point to marking knife cuts showing shape of stem and sternpost pieces. With the keel piece, I just flipped it up on its side and planed a perfectly straight and smooth and square edge with the smoothing plane. First I drilled holes in the kit false keel and made the carbon fiber pieces. Red arrows pointing to those, since they're hard to see. Then drilled holes in my cocobolo keel, and here it is mounted on the kit false keel with no glue. So I think we're good here, and I will rip it down to final height now. However before I did that I also planed about a .005" sweep in the glue joint of my new keel, so when it goes down on the carbon fiber pieces the two ends hit first. So when I go to glue it I can use CA and just press down in the middle for 30 seconds and the whole length should have a good glue line. That's where I knocked off. Next up is cutting out the stern post and stem pieces, gluing the latter together, and then then gluing them along with the keel onto the boat.
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Awesome, thanks Rick. Off to order it.
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I'm aware of that, but I have a set of plans that say Lady Nelson, I'm not going to call it "generic cutter from the 1800s". Thanks for the pointer to the book, I didn't realize this rig qualifies as fore and aft rig, when I saw that book some time back I decided I didn't need it for now. And I'm still confused between brig and brigantine, I know the description but Wiki's diagram doesn't make much sense. It says the Brig has two square rigged masts and the Brigantine has one square rigged and one hybrid. Don't see how that's the case when both have spankers, just one a bit bigger than the other. Brig Brigantine Edit: I'm aware the cutter isn't either, but its one mast is one or the other of those two's mizzen masts, I'm trying to figure out which one and why.
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Weird, I was posting 1000 x whatever it was pixels images and they weren't getting resized, if I post a 4k image it gets resized to 680px or something, I guess the breakpoint is above 1000. Ah hell these are still 600 or so px when you click on the thumbnail, what is the purpose of having the thumbnail function then? Ok I go back to 1000px next time unless someone can tell me how to get bigger ones to be shown when someone clicks on a thumbnail. Anyway, in spirit of a documented build log, more photos. Here filling in balsa in first three bulkhead gaps on bow and stern. Excalibur saw, rough cutout. Quickly rough-shaped with knife and gouge. And glued in place. I was using CA until one grabbed and refused to move, leaving it slightly out of position. Reminded myself CA is not always necessary and did the rest with yellow glue. Once all blocks were in place, both ends got another quick go-over with the gouge prior to sanding. The deck sides of the blocks were knocked down to .5mm above deck with a chisel plane so I could get into the stanchion corners. He was made intentionally somewhat dull as balsa can be cut with a butter knife along the grain and doing so made it easier to prevent him from nose-diving into the wood, which every chisel plane tries to do. This is more or less the same as doing it with a paring chisel, but I think I have more control with the plane, and both were down to the very minimal sanding required point quickly and easily. And sanding began but had to call it a night at this point. Sanding is being done with a flat plywood piece and a 9" long segment of 1" diameter aluminum rod, both covered in PSA 120. Next time around I will start with 80 for speed's sake, this time being cautious to figure out how to get to the final shape without taking too much anywhere.
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Speaking of shooting boards for tapering and beveling planking strakes (no really I did mention it up there!), I'm considering using a method I employed for something similar a couple years ago - taking my LN scraper plane, flipping it upside down, clamping to benchtop, then do my tapering and beveling freehand and Mk.I Eyeball. When I did it before, I found it much easier to control than I thought it would be, so going to run some tests using scrap stock. If that doesn't work as planned, I think I'll just make a traditional shooting board and use that to do the taper. I'd then do the bevel freehand with one of my small scraper planes.
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Question for the knowledgeable crowd, since I'm doing no paint I should do the stem correctly in multiple pieces scarfed together. Where can I find the correct layout for this class, or at least some RN cutter from the period? I don't see this joinery detail in the period plan elevations, and it's not in the kit drawings. Also looking for rigging detail in James Lee's Masting and Rigging book - is the one mast of this cutter essentially exactly the same as a ship-rig's mizzen mast? Only discussion I see in the entire book seems to assume a three-masted ship rig.
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Miniature Hand Tools
vossiewulf replied to Julie Mo's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
I have the flat version of this plane and agree it's excellent, but then again it's Lie-Nielson and everything they make is extremely good. However as Julie says, not sure of the use for models, if so it would only be on the very large ships and even then you're going to want super-straight grain that's oriented the same way on every plank, otherwise bad things will happen. If you want to go bigger than the Lee Valley micro planes, I'd recommend the small scraper plane from Veritas, sharpened well it can still remove material pretty quickly but it's a scraper plane, so no tearout. I think it should have a heavier iron than it does but it still works reasonably well. -
Good question. I'm not sure. Probably boxwood, but I haven't decided that or the color, except that I don't want to use the dark brown shown in the kit as that's not even in the ballpark of being correct (at least I think so, correct me if I'm wrong). Although I haven't yet confirmed, I'd also be surprised if it was actually made in one piece like in the kit, with no iron hoop or other reinforcement. Whatever is the correct real configuration of the mast is what I'll be making, and if yellow/buff is the correct color for the mast then boxwood would be the obvious choice. And thanks for the input on the cocobolo, I'll plow ahead then with my plan. Only sticking point being I ordered from Crown Timber a couple weeks ago and have gotten no response on my request for a timeline. If they don't deliver relatively soon, we're going to be stuck.
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Anyone who has any ideas on the color scheme please let me know. To reiterate, currently thinking of cocobolo for stem/strenpost (keel painted white) and wales and rail tops, boxwood for the main planking (probably stained light brown to go with the cocobolo), holly for the deck, and maybe ebony for the yards. One of the points here is to make a minimal-paint version, it's likely to be the first and last I do this way, in general I prefer the historically-painted look. The one I'm worried about is the cocobolo because of its large figure, and have to think it's a pain to bend also.
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Thanks Tony. As for approach, I've never built a kit of anything out of the box, I'm sure that will be the case here. Certainly I think I can do better on the masting and rigging looking at the plans and the kit photos. And otherwise do it as well as I possibly can, I will try my best to make a perfect Lady Nelson, but know I will never get there. I have looked at some finished ships and skimmed the build logs, but I'd rather figure out my solutions than follow someone else's steps. so I only look at what other people are doing in detail if I'm struggling to find a workable solution. A major part of the fun is figuring out whatever I need to do next from first principles. For example I have looked at a number of discussions of planking, enough to understand the concepts and the options, but I'm still not exactly sure of the process I'm going to follow, except that I've decided to start with a plank bender. I'll figure that out once the rabbet is in place and I'm ready to start. In the meantime I'm cogitating on shooting boards for taper and bevel and which of a number of small plane options to use. Probably a scraper plane to avoid any issues of tearout. As for this step, I thought about it but it didn't make much sense to me to bevel the builkheads prior to assembly, trying to guess what the final bevel contours should be considering the vagaries of kit manufacture and minor variances in assembly seemed unlikely to be fully accurate. And anyway it's such a small amount of material to remove. So right now it has the balsa in place and that's been brought down until I'm just starting to shape the builkheads. Tomorrow it won't take long to finalize, then I'll move on to the deck. To avoid a clamping circus, I'm just going to glue that on one bulkhead at a time with CA, gluing from underneath. I'll remember to take more pictures and explain more, my first thought is people have to have seen bulkhead setup eleventy trillion times and a cutter is not exactly scratchbuilding Le Soleil Royale at 1/24 scale level of interesting. I'll have more photos later when I start using the 18/0 fly-tying thread to serve and seize all the rigging correctly. Or at least trying to.
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Seems to be a required rite of passage to publicly flail your way through a first build. For introductions, name is Jay and I'm director of production support for the MAP division at Visa that includes Cybersource and Authorize.net. That means I'm on call 24/7. So, no stress or anything. When it comes to the subject at hand I'm something of a ringer though, as I have extensive experience making small precise stuff in many materials, and I have two entire rooms dedicated to workshop. One is for medium-sized power tools and a small scale machine shop (mini-lathe, mini-mill, etc.), other is primarily a woodworking area for hand tool work (this is where ships will be set up). Well three rooms because the semi-finished "bonus room" has my full-sized table saw and I have plans for a Laguna bandsaw to go in there too. And I've already spent a couple years reading extensively on the ships and the building techniques while working on my game, which also needs to continue to make progress, called Line of Battle. Anyway, I have a crapton of tools and my home is arranged around my workshop areas, so you can assume I am divorced and have no constraints The plan for now, and I already have all the kits, is to go Lady Nelson -> brig Syren -> MS Constitution -> Victory HMS Revenge -> Caldercraft Victory. But I also want to do some very small scale also, we'll see. Since this part is uninteresting, only a couple photos - one of squaring up the transom bulkhead and the assembled frame. In case you're wondering, all my little brass flat sanders that are used with PSA paper were machined perfectly square so I don't need to fiddle with heavy machinist's squares except for outside 90s. In case you're wondering, it's being held in a GRS engraver's block. But anyway all clean and straight and square and ready to go to next steps. Planned next step is balsa filler blocks at bow and stern, and to make things super easy on myself I'm probably going to fill in the first three gaps on both ends, so everywhere significant bending is occurring I'll have a surface to work against. However, need some advice on wood. I bought the Crown Timber boxwood package for this, so I have a bunch of boxwood coming. However, I have my own wood and don't want to do it 100% in boxwood, whatever I don't use will get used later in something else. Right now what I'm thinking of is cocobolo for the keel, wales, and rails, lightly stained boxwood planking, and a holly deck. BTW these 1x1x12 American holly turning blanks are available at Woodcraft for $10, good deal if you can resaw to scale timber. However, I'm not sure about the cocobolo, the color of course is great but it has pretty strong grain and figure and may not look good in this small build. Also I'm not sure about the idea of having a keel/stem darker than the main planking. Anyway, advice appreciated, as I'll have this ready for the keel and planking soon. I know, I'll plank it in snakewood. Cut this into 4mm strips, cut in half (it's 5/16" thick) and then plank both sides with strips in the exact order we see here Just kidding of course. That's a $150 guitar fingerboard blank and will be used for that purpose in the future.
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More tools - Luthier, jeweler, fly-tying
vossiewulf replied to vossiewulf's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
Trying to do an inventory of my stuff, coming up with a few more. First anyone serious should spend some time here, jewelers have a phenomenal assortment of abrasive solutions, particularly for small/hard to reach places. I haven't yet tried the ceramic polishing tools listed on this page yet, but those look really promising: One type I use regularly are these, the flexacrylic rods mounted in my rotary tool. They are easily shaped into points and rounded tips by running them against a piece of sandpaper. I also have several types of silicon polishing wheels and points, they are like hard pencil erasers with grit embedded. These are really excellent for cleaning up carvings, those of you doing serious stern decoration and figurehead carving should have these in your arsenal. Several manufacturers listed on this page. The ones I like best for small areas are the Italian 3mm points. -
Saw Frame I have this saw frame, and to say it's an improvement over standard frames is like saying wagyu beef burgers are an improvement over 1960s school cafeteria burgers. It's much, much lighter. With the cam saw tensioner, it's way faster to change blades and tensioning them doesn't require jamming some pointy steel corner on a normal saw frame into your hand. Knew Concepts Cam Tension Jewelers Precision Sawframes Also if you don't buy real jeweler's saw frame blades, do so immediately. They're not expensive (~$20 for 144) and are an order of magnitude better than ones you get in hobby stores. Nakanishi Brushless Micromotors Like the flex shaft was a step up over standard Dremel, these are a major step up from any Dremel or Foredom rotary tool. I have the previous model, and it is so smooth and quiet that it has to be turning >10k before I can even hear it or feel it while holding the tool. They're just outstanding tools, making any rotary task easy and fun. They're hiding pricing for some reason, the basic kit of control unit and standard handset should be around $600. Nut Files These are unfortunately only available in a few fixed sizes, but if the sizes work for you, they're the perfect tool for creating ad-hoc precies grooves, they are specifically designed to create exact size, perfectly smooth grooves with no further processing - the grooves they are intended for are at the top of the neck of stringed instruments, and if they're not perfect bad things happen. You can find them at Stew-Mac, LMI, or other luthier supply places. Hackle Pliers (clamps) These are used by fly-tiers to hold onto rooster neck feathers (hackle feathers) to wrap them around dry flies, they simulate legs. From a ship modeling standpoint, they are excellent little clamps that come in a number of styles with clamping strength from medium to pretty serious squishing. The style of the ones to the top left are quite strong, and generally I use some sort of clamping pad to protect the work. The ones lower right are not so strong, and with the wider contact area are really excellent for clamping small bits of wood together. JS Stockard unfortunately doesn't make it possible to isolate them, you have to start here at the list of companies and check out each one. That's not necessarily a bad thing through, because while you're there you should also check out the precision scissors, the thread bobbins, tweezers, and pliers. They're all excellent quality, there is no such thing as crappy fly-tying tools, at least not from any mainstream manufacturer. And also my understanding is that fly-tying thread is the #1 choice of some of the better very small scale builders (bottle ships and the like).
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Precision router base for Dremel 4000 etc.
vossiewulf replied to vossiewulf's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
Welcome to you and everyone else I'm a guitarist also, I started doing my own work when a so-called luthier ruined the neck on my 40th anniversary Strat by stripping the truss rod. Luthier supply houses are an excellent place to find ship modeling tools. I'm going to post another thread with a few other things I have that people might find of use. You know those $20k custom guitars with inlay up and down the neck? Chances are it was done with this tool. It really does work extremely well for minute adjustments, and with a little time invested in designing and building a table for it, you should have a very flexible precision tool. I need to do the same, I've had it for a while but except for some pretty thorough tests, I haven't used it in a project yet. I have all the supplies and materials and hardware for a really sweet Strat-type guitar with my own body design, it just hasn't made it to the top of the queue yet. Mostly because ship models are interfering. More places you should spend some time checking out what they have: LMI Philadelphia Luthier Also, if you have the Byrnes table saw or another capable of small scale work, you can get some good prices on wood of most domestic and exotic species by buying fingerboard blanks. They're typically 5/16" x 2.5" - 3" x 21"-25". LMI has good ebony fingerboards in this size for $20-$25, a single one could be resawn (with a nice .03 slittling blade) into quite a lot of ship scale timber. -
Tweezers - Japanese vendor Kaneshin
vossiewulf replied to Landlubber Mike's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
Here's the carbon-coated precision tweezers that are my favorites for gluing little tiny bits. The coating provides a noticeably better grip than uncoated ones. -
Tweezers - Japanese vendor Kaneshin
vossiewulf replied to Landlubber Mike's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
The place I start for tweezers is electronics manufacture supply. They have more options for quality tweezers than anyone, plus probes (rigging tools) and cutters - I use my little full-flush end cutter constantly. Here's the tweezer section. Just about every metal and other material is available in a myriad of styles. Unfortunately their new site design has made it really hard to filter on some of the important factors - the ones I use most are smooth with carbon-coated tips, which provides massively better grip. But I don't see a way to filter on that, and all I'm seeing at the moment are the diamond-coated ones that are the same idea but more expensive. That said, I like some of the options I'm seeing on the bonsai site, thanks for posting that. -
I don't see you mention files. You need both a set of medium sized files, single cut not double cut. You can get these for not much at any hardware store. The other is a set of needle files. If budget is a factor, just get standard hobby store needle files, also pretty much any online hobby store carry them. They should be $10-$15 for a set of 6 or 8. Actually that's an important question - are you trying to go with the cheapest options available, or do you want to buy good quality basic tools that will last? I definitely recommend the latter, mostly because in my opinion the cheapest tools generally work so poorly that they cause lots of frustration, the kind of frustration that makes people give up. Good tools used correctly make whatever they're supposed to do easy and efficient. If you're willing to spend some money, you'll get an order of magnitude better performance by getting real jeweler's needle files. On the other hand, some good tools aren't expensive - I use a ring holder regularly for holding small parts. If you haven't noticed a trend, most of the hand tools I have now are professional jeweler's tools from Otto Frei or Contenti. They work so much better than hardware store tools that they make previously difficult jobs very easy.
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Being new, not sure this has been mentioned before, I searched and didn't see it. This is a luthier's tool for doing inlay, which ship modelers don't do much. However, any router base that precisely controls depth can be flipped over and turned into a router table. I haven't gone so far as to make a real table, but I have used it on small pieces while clamped upside down in a vise, and it works great. It operates very smoothly and the depth can be adjusted with really minute accuracy. Precision router base for Dremel
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Miniature Hand Tools
vossiewulf replied to Julie Mo's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
I too have bought several of the miniature tools and also use them... but in my opinion, cool as they are, the better option for basic small scale planing is their detail palm planes. They are planing an area around the size of their miniature bench plane, have an adjustable-length palm rest that should fit hands big and small, and I find I have more control and can go faster than I can with the straight miniaturized bench and block plane. And they have scrubbing irons for cases of difficult grain. I have the flat and the double-concave, don't see enough of a use for other two.
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