Wasa 1628 by Snug Harbor Johnny - Billing Boats - 1:100 - old kit c. 1970

[clearway]

On 4/3/2023 at 9:21 PM, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

As far as rabbit holes are concerned, I try to back out off them in most cases.  The one that almost got me good was trying to figure out how to make my own replica of the Antikythera Device ... google that.

😵‍💫looks like a  load of greek to me 😁, but seriously that would be one hell of a device to show off!

 

Keith

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  The Antikythera mechanism (found in a roman wreck that sank ca. 50 BC/BCE) was essentially an 'Earth Centered' Orrery - since earth was thought by most to be the center of the Universe back then.  There are many nested shafts and some complex gearing, like that which approximates the changes in the moons orbital speed (they did not know of the ellipse then).  Several modern reconstructions have been made with modern gear forms to reduce what amounts to awful backlash with triangular teeth.

 

  Ah HAH, (again) ... I realized that I have the BOTTOM of the kit box from Billing Boats, and it only measures 22" wide.  With an inch needed for clearance/packaging, a full-length single keel wouldn't have fit for a true 1:100 Vasa.  'Kind of looks like something 'rear ended' my model ... but it still has the appeal of a miniature.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

   Old Johnny's been busy prepping the yard and garden for Spring ... and now I'm hit with an order for over 30 Colonial Soldier hats I do on piecework for a Sutler ...  so first a small update on Vasa.  I decided to wrap 22 gauge brass beaders' wire around deadeyes that measure a little over 4mm and twist the end.  That made it easier to slightly enlarge the holes with a wire drill.  

 

  I'm NOT going to pre-lace with mating deadeyes ... a wise choice it seems.  a small loop was formed around the end of the wire so it could be secured into the pre-drilled hole with a tiny brass brad.  A small amount of gel CA was put on the underside of the channel where the wire comes out - and the adhesive 'wicked' into the hole nicely.  A small amount was touched to the brad to allow for similar capillary action.  Once the CA hardened (which was not long), the channels are now WELL reinforced, whereas before they were subject to breakage (splitting).  The dead eyes are not tight in the wire, but they can be rotated as needed later.

 

  Now (for something completely different)  I'll post some photos so you can see what I'm doing with the hats I mentioned.  The blanks are supplied by the Sutler, and he has to get them now from China ... they're nowhere near as good as the blanks he was able to domestically source before Covid.

 

 

  My model is 'awash' in a sea of linen hat liners I made - strips are first cut from a bolt I have to source.

 

  I sew them on a 'good 'ole' Kenmore I modified for coarse work.

 

  I use a fabric glue (acetone based ... so it might have an application with model sails) to set the band in before sewing ... I find it convenient, all the blanks are different (I use an adjustable hat plug to gauge each one, as the hats are made to order) and the bands are hand trimmed during the tacking-in step.

 

 

 

  I use an old Wilcox & Gibbs straw hat sewer (loop stitch) over 100 years old to sew the liners (they are adjustable hat bands with a shoelace tie).  I had to do a lot of work to re-condition the motorized mount for the machine, as well as get the darn thing set-up and adjusted for the work I'm doing.  'Couldn't get needles, so I had to modify some that were close to begin with.

 

  Using a single-thread loop machine is different than with a bobbin machine.  Once I got everything working, things went OK (for the most part).  In the last photo (I'm not showing the addition of perimeter hat trim on the Kenmore), you can see the 'high arm' (large 'throat') of the machine ... many like this were sold overseas as a lot of hat work has gone there.  The remaining ones (Singer machines are better) are coveted (not just by collectors) and closely held by various sorts of hat makers.

 

  I was REALLY lucky (after about 1 1/2 years of searching on the internet) to get this one from a woman way out on Long Island who had reduced her hat business to a solo operation on one machine.  There were two others that 'needed work' and one junker.  I picked a nearly operable one that had an inside stop (turned out to be essential for my task), but got her to swap feet with the other 'work needed' machine, since the foot on the other machine was a narrow type (also very helpful) that could work right up to the bend in a pre-formed hat blank.

 

 

    I hauled the machine and stand in a minivan and payed $500 cash 'as-is', and ended up disassembling the stand, sanding, painting, rewiring the motor and controls using proper conduit.  I used $150 or so of materials that included a new leather drive belt and different pulley to slow  it down from the 'lightning' pace of an industrial machine ... also some hard-to-get needles.  Now I've got to do this hat run (must be Spring muster time) before I go back to model making ... and before stuff has to be planted outside.

 

 

 

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  ... SO many Springtime activities and other 'life gets in the way' stuff that I'm not getting much done in the shipyard right now.  I thought I'd write a letter to my teenage self - not that he'll ever get to see it, but what the heck.

 

  Dear Young Johnny,

 

   You can do anything you sets your sights on if you believe in yourself ... except Calculus or advanced Physics - well, other really hard stuff that takes a near genius mind that can recall lots of facts/data easily.  And forget excelling at things that require an athlete's body like gymnastics, high diving, ice skating or any professional sport - you'll hurt your body.  You can practice piano many hours a day, but you're going to 'hit a wall' where you just won't get any better - so play keyboard to amuse yourself when no one can hear. 

 

  Steer clear of trying to run your own business, running for public office or trying to 'change the world' - there is no Field Marshall's baton in your foot soldier's pack because you're an 'expendable', like all the other grunts.  Focus on achievable things like safe driving, tending house plants, cooking pasta in the right amount, caring for your family ... stuff like that.  Don't despair, for with time and some luck you will achieve competence in a limited number of ordinary, unremarkable things that you can do almost every day with repeatable results.

 

  You'll always be the 'star' of your own sitcom, but avoid speaking to the imaginary TV audience ... people will think you're strange.  You can write that novel, but do it for your own satisfaction since no one will line up to read it.  Save some money along the way - you're going to need it later.

 

Yours truly,

Old Johnny

[clearway]

amen to that Johnny- if only we knew then what we know now!

 

Keith

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Hey Gustav ... want me to 'pimp your ride'?   I've long been pondering what to do with the gallery and cupola roofs on the Vasa, since the original has a lot of curved carved sirens (or other figures) mounted for decoration.  They are very skinny but still painted.  Kits today (1:75 and 1:65) have moulded figures that go all over the model, but the 1:100 old version I've been fooling around never had any.  You've seen the military miniatures (HO, N and I've found a few Z for good measure) that have been modified and painted to be 'good enough' for my purposes - as well as the moulded stern piece (from plastic wood formed by a latex mold I made over a plasticine original) that painted up pretty well. 

 

  Yet the irregularities in my built-up clinker (lapstrake) roofs preclude the application of uniformly molded bits.  Rather than leave the roofs plain or try and just paint decoration in, I tried using fine chain - first 'flattening' the chain a bit by using a planishing (flat faced) hammer and a flat steel base.  Still, the chain was fiddly to work with (a pain , actually) - and after dong some, I thought of another approach.

 

  I braided three pieces of 26 gauge soft beadwork wire from the Admiral's horde (with permission).  The starting end was twisted a bit and put in the edge of a vise, so that the 3 strands were tugged into an ordinary flat braid (like braiding hair).  Before trimming anywhere, a small amount of regular CA was dabbed on the location (where it 'wicked' into the braided structure) and touched with a little accelerator for a quick cure.  The braided strand can be bent as desired and is MUCH easier to work with than the chain.  The top end of a section to be applied was pinned into place and a potion of the run was tacked with CA (and accelerator).  A dental tool was used to control the amount of glue applied (sort of, since thin CA tends to want to 'run' everywhere), and a dabber applied the accelerator.  The next bit of run was then positioned, then glued.  The place to cut was glued first (to prevent individual wires from shifting at the cutting point), and the cut end was pushed into place and glued.  See photo below.

 

 

 

  'Looks 'good enough' for me - so I'll do the other side with braided wire before attaching any painted figures.  Now it was so much trouble getting the chain in place that there's NFW I'm even going to think about pulling it off to re-do.

 

  I expect that before long there will be a development concerning perhaps the 'next' build I do once the Vasa is done as far as I want to go.  But I'll wait until the chicks have hatched before any crowing.  It will mean either putting off a clipper build - or perhaps dong one concurrently.  That can be a way of doing things on one build while glue cures (or whatever) on the other.  That would mean a longer time to the completion of both, but not as long as the time to do each sequentially.  Hmmmmm,  we'll see.

 

  Fair sailing!            Johnny