The Kit-Basher's Guide To The Galaxy

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

Also lead is a heavy metal and you DON'T want that in you!

I've done a similar thing with copper wire and it worked well. You might have to put it through the roller quite a few times though.

Havagooday

Greg

[mischief]

Silver solder is still holding up for my stuff

[grsjax]

The downside of solder is the lead.  It will deteriorate with time.

No problem to find lead free solder these days.  Most are tin based.

[ColoradoDave]

I guess I'll need to keep an eye on it. I'll let you know in 25 years. The solder is 60 / 40 Tin / Lead. I'm no chemist, but that may lengthen its' lifespan. Finding a lead free solder with a rosin core may work just as well as the core makes it more malleable and easier to flatten. I just hate using brass flat stock due to its' brittleness. One bend is all you get on that thin stuff.

 

I'll just need to post a note in front saying ' Please don't suck on the boat '

 

I do clean the rollers with a paper towel when done rolling.

Edited January 18, 2017 by ColoradoDave

[Chazz]

A good source of fine absolutely straight wire (if rather short pieces will work) is a wire brush.  The wire is stiff but not so stiff as music wire and can be bent with needle nose pliers to a rather sharp bend. Good for railings, some jackstays, and other small fixtures.

 

To get the wire out of the brush, you'll probably have to cut the brush; the wires are usually anchored in their holes with staples.

 

Another source of straight wire, but softer and somewhat larger in diameter, is Christmas tree ornament hangers.  They come in several diameters and colors.

 

 

Chazz

[jbshan]

One of our members needed whip antennas for a destroyer model.  His son had left his drum set behind when he moved out.  The wire brushes from the drums provided long straight wire that wouldn't bend easily.

[mtaylor]

Brian,

 

They're really only a temporary type of product used during storing or shipping.  The problem I can see is getting them out to bake any collected humidity which should be done periodically.  Maybe hidden discretely in a display case might be better.   I'm also not sure if they would draw the moisture out of the wood and cause premature aging.    

[jbshan]

21 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Brian,

 

They're really only a temporary type of product used during storing or shipping.  The problem I can see is getting them out to bake any collected humidity which should be done periodically.  Maybe hidden discretely in a display case might be better.   I'm also not sure if they would draw the moisture out of the wood and cause premature aging.    

Perhaps better to put a dehumidifier in the room with your models, if you're lucky enough to be able to have them all in one place.  If you're in a constant rainy region, however, that might not be helpful.

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

Also these gell can weep water if they get too hot.

If you ask me, it's too bloody dangerous and risky. 

Good though though.

Havagooday tof all

Greg 

[CaptainSteve]

Let's see if we can get this thread back on track ...

 

CHALK

Perhaps the best method of recreating small, carved details can be found in XKen’s USS Constitution build log. Wood carving is a skill-set that can take years to master. One slip-up can mean having to re-do hours of work. But Ken has found an easier way.

 

Here, he shows us how to use a piece of ordinary black-board chalk to carve the detail ends for his catheads. With Ken’s permission, I have lifted a few pictures from his log. I’m sure that his explanations speak for themselves …

 

 

 

And here's the final result, in position on Ken's Constitution build.

 

 

 

Edited September 17, 2017 by CaptainSteve

[CaptainSteve]

SHOELACES

Browsing some of the logs that I follow recently, and I stumbled upon this idea by one of my favourite USS Constitution builders.

 

Thanks to Tom (UsedToSail) for this idea to reproduce more realistic slings for the boats on his build.

Over to Tom …

“I have been doing some thinking about how to stack the two cutters on the waist rails. The plans show only the large cutter with cradles underneath and strong backs over the tops to hold it down. I could use the same method and use cradles on the small cutter to sit on the strong backs, but I thought they might stick up too high. In the AOS book, they show the small cutter inside the large cutter, with fenders between them. I liked this method better, but was struggling how to make fenders until one day, as I was tying my shoes, it hit me to try pieces of shoe laces. I bought some white oval laces and after cutting the pieces, I browned them using brown shoe polish. I was quite happy with the look.”

 

Tom says that he first tried this with round laces, but it didn't look as good:

 

Better success was had using a flatter lace …

 

And a later pic from Tom’s build, showing the boats positioned on-deck …

 

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by CaptainSteve

[CaptainSteve]

DRINK CAN RING-PULLS

After the above entries, taken from USS Constitution builds that I follow on MSW, this one comes from my own build.  I had noticed some iron-works marked on the plans. As this hull will eventually be copper-plated, I wanted to replicate these hull braces as an added detail.

 

To my eye, the horseshoe-shaped front brace looked a lot like a drink can ring-pull …

… so I salvaged a few for a trial. Holes were drilled to simulate the bolt-heads. The ring-pull ends were trimmed off.

 

… shaping the bow hull-brace around a pencil-tip.

 

Braces for the stern were cut from the rim of the drink can, annealed and straightened.

 

… grooving out a seat for the stern braces.

 

The horseshoe-shaped bow brace fitted into position ...

 

…. and the stern braces also placed. The surface of the braces sits slightly proud of the keel.

 

 

Since I am still a long way from planking and copper-plating my hull, a test was done to see how the braces would appear, once plated …

... NOTE TO SELF: Be more careful when coppering-over the holes.

 

 

Edited September 17, 2017 by CaptainSteve
Update

[RPaul]

BRASS WIRE OFF RIOJA BOTTLES

 

Not sure if it's available globally, but a lot of Spanish red wine comes in bottles with brass wire netting (to use the word in a broad sense). The wire can be easily untangled, straightened, and used for things like rigging blocks etc., or anywhere else where very thin wire is needed.

 

The only problem is, there's literally yards of it on each bottle, so it's not really an excuse to buy a bottle a day 'for the rigging'...

 

 

Edited June 9, 2018 by RPaul

[Roger Pellett]

Re: Stacked Boats

 

i don’t know what period the above Constitution model represents but by mid Nineteenth Century US practice was to nest the cutters in the 1st and 2nd launches.  All of the thwarts in the launches were removable. When in use thwarts were fastened by iron pins into heavy clamps worked into the boat’s interior structure.  This allowed the stack of boats to be considerably lowered.

 

See: William Brady, The Kedge Anchor.

 

Roger

Edited June 9, 2018 by Roger Pellett

[usedtosail]

The above Constitution model is in the 1812 era.

[NenadM]

FOLDER MECHANISM - part 4

 

In my sctrach build of CS, chekpoint I get stuck are deck winches ...

Scale is app. 1:100, so, considering C-plans, dimensions are show on picture above

Hmm, pretty small, and I want as much as possible details

Question of material to use raised

First attempt was wit paper laminated with vener, covered with acrylic paint, with idea to use acrylic ability to plastify

Not good, too fragile

Next attempt was with Cu foil 0,3mm

So soft to manipulate with

Results:

I need something harder, but not to much, to be able to modify it with my Einhel graver set and tools I have

And i rembered, that I use earlier in my build parts of folder mechanism, so why not again?

I printed my working drawings on self-adhesive paper, and prepare metal part for working with

And - yes, this is it!

 

On next pictures you can se test part

Sure, next step is to make four of them more precise

 

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by NenadM

[wefalck]

I would stack the four of them onto a thin piece of plywood for working on. When starting the 'crossing-out', as the watchmakers call the process of making the spokes, I would drill appropriately sized holes in the respective corners. This gives you the directions for sawing out the rest using a jeweller's piercing saw. As material I would use hard brass, not soft copper. Alternatively, styrene would allow you to easily add the reenforcement ribs by glueing, rather than soldering.

[jeff watts]

ALUMINIUM BONSAI WIRE

hi i love this thread , so many great ideas , i would like to recommend using 'bonsai aluminium wire , it comes already coated in dark brown and is soft enough to bend easily for deadeye strops etc  and its relatively cheap and comes in many different guages  i use 0.8 mm

Edited December 17, 2018 by jeff watts
heading

[Keith Black]

This looks like might be useable and as are some of the others.  

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/559404811/brass-gallery-bezel-wire-ribbon-45mm-24?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_b-craft_supplies_and_tools-string_cord_and_wire-wire&utm_custom1=fb7d1c1f-90d5-4496-9fef-fe1be4726bfd&utm_content=go_270947795_42253719300_190780227835_aud-318110574626:pla-295943621946_c__559404811&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlLvh2rTT4AIVRP_jBx3UFAJLEAkYDSABEgLFvvD_BwE

[wefalck]

Have to remember the term ‘bezel wire’ ...

[CaptainSteve]

POPPY SEEDS – Trying to represent the bolt-heads on the stem-plates, pintles and gudgeons for my Queen Anne Barge (1:24), I stumbled on a cheap and easy alternative ...

Each seed is approximately 0.5mm wide, and much smaller than any nail-heads that I had. I soaked a small pile of the poppy-seeds in a black wood-stain, allowed them to dry …

… and then affixed them into pre-drilled holes with CA glue. Give them a light coat with a thin varnish afterwards to hold them in place …

Here are a few examples as used on my Barge build …

 ... the copper keel-plate.

... on the stem-plate.

... on the pintles and gudgeons.

[CaptainSteve]

KITCHEN SCOURER

The following is from MSW member, Thanasis, where he has used a kitchen scourer to make baggiwrinkles on his ship. This will work in any scale whatsoever.

 

Over to you, Thanasis ….

Baggiwrinkes in 5 minutes

 

I think you all know of those green kitchen sponges ... 

1.    Take an unused one. Usually they are in green colour, but you might find some in the colour you like.

 

2.    Cut a small piece close to the dimensions you want your baggiwrinkle to be.

 

3.    Gently twist the ends between your fingers and your workbench (or between the palm of one hand and two fingers of the other hand) to trim down the corners, and you are almost ready.

 

4.    If you cannot find the scourers in any other colour than the standard green, then you can use some paint to show the threads on the surface (I used a gray in spray form).

 

Finally, place it on your model, using a needle at the edge of a strand of your standing rigging before you fasten both edges permanently. If you don’t glue it, it will slide up and down the rigging line.

[Thanasis]

Hi all and...

Thx    

 

[Rach10199]

On 12/13/2013 at 11:35 AM, Dee_Dee said:

WOOD COFFEE STIR STICKS

 

These come in 5.5" and 7.5" and are 1/16" thick.  You can get some at your local coffee shop, or purchase a few thousand on eBay for less than $20.  

 

These are made of birch, very pliable and hold a corner very well.

 

When I build my 18th century long boat, I will replace the basswood planking with coffee stir sticks.  

I use these sticks frequently for use in my other miniature projects. What a great idea as planking!

[NenadM]

Wooden dowel for masts

 

[NenadM]

There is one question that made my mind fluffy ... dead eyes 3-4mm dia ... from different reasons I don`t want to order and to by them ... at another side, to make them from wood - impossible mission for me. So - what to do?

And idea comes after couple months braking my head

On photos I present only idea and testing of idea, with non-adequate ropes and knots

I found brass pipes with inside dia 1mm and 2mm ... and thinking ... oneo to other, I have got 3-4mm outer dia ...

 

Soldering three of them in triangle form

Cut this structure on desired width and clean holes, and I got this!

Playing arround with first "rope" I found in home, just to try

Ok, it can be painted ....

And just testig does it work

 

And I think this will be final soolution for me

 

[wefalck]

Not a bad idea at all ... but you also need a groove for the shroud on the outside, which you probably can file.

 

If you actually needed round dead-eyes (as per 17th century onwards), you could solder three smaller pipes into a larger one.

 

On the other hand, if you don't like wood for them, you could also cut disks from a brass- or styrene- or acrylic rod and then drill the three holes in a simple drilling jig.

[Louie da fly]

Very clever  

 

Steven

[knightyo]

Was the impossibility of making them out of wood that you had referred to based upon drilling correctly spaced holes?  You could also use the metal deadeyes you made as templates to pass a pin-vice through in order to create perfectly spaced holes in a blank of wood the thickness you desire, then carefully sand the wood blank to shape around the outside.  I've been using boxwood strips to make things lately, and it's been great to work with.  It can be held between your fingernails while you sand it, and it's hard enough that your fingernails don't "dent" it while you are sanding (I look through a cheap magnifying unit while working). If there are dents, they will be shallow and can be sanded out pretty quicky.  

 

Alan

[GrandpaPhil]

On the subject of yards and masts, a couple years ago, I ended up with a case of bamboo kitchen skewers.

 

They make most excellent yards and the thinner masts.

 

I have used them in several models now, without problems.

 

It cuts easily and the grain is dense enough that you don’t have some of the issues that you run into with dowel rods.

 

I have made cannon and other smaller parts from the skewers too.

 

The only thing to watch out for is that bamboo has joints in it, since it grows in a segmented fashion, which are equivalent to carving a knot on regular wood.

 

One must be careful carving across them on longer pieces.