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Volume 1 Issue 2 |
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donnie@shipsofscale.com |
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There's nothing like a newsletter to make you humble. It is then that someone like me comes to the
realization that there is so much material out there to cover that I know very little about. You have
such topics as history alone is mind boggling. Then you have tools, techniques, nautical terminology,
all of which the author of a newsletter should be well informed for his audience. Speaking of audiences,
you have such a wide span from modelers just starting out for the very first time, to the well initiated,
and expert in the hobby. Well, I fit somewhere in this spectrum and sadly to say, it is not in the expert
end of the "mast". So, I must re examine my motivation in doing this in the first place and that is just
the plain ole fashion of enjoyment. I think that there is a balance somewhere.There is also running the
risk of "been there - done that" type of information. What is fresh to the subscribers? Well, that
certainly depends if the audience is just now starting out, or if my audience is very well versed.
I hope that I can appeal to both ends, this is the challenge! For what ever it is worth as I say just "Enjoy" !
Without furhter delay, here are a few topics covered for March. As you can see I put my focus on the Steam Paddle ships.
Featured mini-series on scratch building
Featured Ship Builders Wim Steensma and his "King of the Mississippi"
Featured Review of the Chaperon, by Gleason Sackmann
Featured Review of the Chaperon, by Gerald Spargo
Featured Tool the Sherline Lathe
Scratch Building your first ship:
"Where do I find the plans or will I have to make my own?"
Ok, as promised, at least I was able to come up with something. I must
admit very quickly that I am needing some help here. So any
one that has any scratch building experience, here is your chance to get the spot-light. Grab a topic (and end of links below) and go with it and send me some
notes!!
This list is a list of links that I did some research on. A lot of you may already know about these links. The way I look at it is that
you have to know who has the plans. You gotta start somewhere! You can have a drawer full of tools, the best power equipment, and all the
knowledge of the world, but you have to have plans. Right? So dig in to this treasure chest mates and go grab some plans !!!!
All hands on deck modeling freinds. I need some help here. Anyone want to grab an article
below, then contact me at donnie@shipsofscale.com. It does not have to be perfect - just for fun - right ?
Scratch Building: "Intro to getting started, what ship do you want to build?"
Scratch Building: "Do it right with the right tools"
Scratch Building: "What about research, what if can not find documentation?"
Scratch Building: "Where do I find the wood and parts?
Scratch Building: "Getting started with your project
Scratch Building: "Getting through some tough spots"
Scratch Building: "Your completed model"
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Featured Ship Builder:
Wim Steensma
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Name: King of the Mississippi 1870
Manufacturer: Artesania Latina
Scale: 1:80
Length: 66 cm
A few years ago one of the rooms in my house was not used anymore and guess...I start modelling again
after a break of more than 20 years.
Browsing the internet I found a Mississippi paddleboat, it was love at first sight, this was the ship I wanted
to build first.
The build started in November 2008 and was finished in June 2009, it looks like a speedy build, but I spent
hours and hours at my workbench working on this beauty.
Kit
The content of the kit looked pretty well, lots of wood and brass for details. After a further look it seems I
missed some flags and the picturebook. Besides that a few pieces of wood were "powdered", very difficult to
work with.
Flags were ordered online, the picturebook was send to me by a colleague-builder and I could start building.
Overall i was satisfied with the kit.
Build
The construction of a paddleboat's hull is simple compared to a period ship and I encountered no problems
in that stage. Four decks should be planked, two of them in "fish bone" pattern, they were challenging.
The ship is very detailed: cabins, windows, chimneys, fences, stairs, doors, decorations and so on.
With patience and perseverance, they are not so difficult to build.
Very important is the order of building, i forgot a fence on the second deck and needed tweezers
for placing it afterwards.
The only thing with serious problems were the 'spiral staircases' at the frontside, it took me several
days and several attempts to make them satisfying. I finished the ship with a glossy varnish.
It was a pleasure to build this ship and it motivated me to continue modeling other ships.
I already finished a French fishingboat and a Chinese Junk. My present build is an Egyptian
ship and preparing a scratchbuild paddleboat, the Creole Queen.
Thank you for reading my feature.
kind regards,
Wim Steensma
You can see all of Wim's builds on the Contributors Gallery:
1:80 Scale King of the Mississippi
1:25 Scale Bon Retour
Featured Ship Builder:
Frank Piscatella
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Building the Mississippi River Boat by Artesania Latina was quite an enjoyable project.
The kit itself presented no major problems, and the contents of the kit were of decent quality. Plans and instructions
included were easily followed, and there are plenty of pictures at each step to help with the construction.
As far as the kit goes as being historically correct, it comes close, not perfect, but close. All said and done, I
would say this is a nice kit for anyone desiring to build one of these great river boats.
The build time for this kit took about a year to finish. Even though this kit has a multitude of parts, no big problems
were encountered, (out side of a few typo errors in the parts section).
One thing should be noted , some of the steps in the instructions had to be done prior to what as indicated. For some
one attempting to do this kit, I would suggest that you read ahead on the instructions, and look over the plans carefully.
The Mississippi Steamboat Era in Historic Photographs: Natchez to New Orleans, 1870-1920 [Paperback]Joan W. Gandy
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Instead of using the box art as a reference for the finish, I decide to go for a weathered look. It would be helpful to
those interested, to purchase "The Mississippi Steamboat Era" by Joan & Thomas Gandy. It has many pictures that would
help your build.
Although this kit is fairly easy to assemble, I wouldn’t recommend it for a first build experience, due to the numerous
steps and parts.
As a second build it shouldn’t create any difficulties. So if any one reading this decides to build this kit,
I would say to them , enjoy, have fun, and smooth sailing!!
Frank
You can see all of Franks builds on the Contributors Gallery:
King of the Mississippi
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Model Shipways Chaperon
Review by Gleason Sackmann
The kit is well designed and there appears to be very little,
if any scratch building of parts. The instructions in the manual are pretty straight forward which makes the assembly of the
model assembly.
The lumber is laser-cut, and there is a good supply of photo-etch materials included with the kit.
For those interested, here is some additional kit info:
27 sheets of laser cut basswood in various thickness
sheet of photo-etch brass for gingerbread trim, etc…
5 sheets of plans showing and identifying each piece of cut wood
1 plan sheet showing and identifying the photo-etch brass pieces
References used during the build:
Instruction manual from Model Shipways Chaperon Kit
Original manual written by Robert E. Hunt
6 part article “Building the Chaperon Sternwheel Stern Packet – 1884” By Kurt Van Dahm
Ships in Scale: Volume 20; issue numbers #5, #6. Volume 21; issue numbers #1, #2, #3, #4
You can see all of Gleason's work
Here.
Model Shipways Chaperon
Review by Gerald Spargo
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The box this kit comes in is packed
full, not much for empty space in this box.
Kit Specifications:
Length 34−frac12;″
Beam 7−frac12;″
Height 12″
Scale ¼″=1ft.(1:48)
Kit Contents:
Wooden Parts:
Wood supplied in this kit is basswood, and lots of it. You will find 27 sheets of laser cut
parts in various thickness. Two of these are very thin, at 1/64’’, they’re almost like photo-etched
parts on wood. There are various sizes of wood strips, and dowels, not much to spare though. The
framing consist of a 3 piece keel, and 29 bulkheads. These went together very well. The decks
to this kit are pre-scribed. They’re nice deck pieces, but the fit of the joints are very tricky,
there is a gap in the joints, I used wood filler on mine. The superstructure is also made
from laser cut parts.
Metal Fittings:
The isn’t a lot of metal parts in this kit. The metal that is include consist of such parts as;
2 boats, capstan, whistle, cleats, and etc.
Brass:
The kit does include a large sheet of photo-etched brass parts for detailing the Chaperon.
Rigging:
The kit does include 3 sizes of rigging line.
Plans, & Instructions:
The kit comes with a 13 page instruction manual, 6 sheets of very detailed plans, a parts list,
and a 6 pg. parts identifier.
The kit is designed so that it can be built straight from the box, with little to no scratch-building.
It is as I see, a model to have a lot of fun with, as at this scale, there could be a lot of detail
added to it. Even though it is designed so that one does not need to do any scratch-building, there
quite a few features I plan to add to the Chaperon that should be there, and to add detail to the
features already included in the kit.
Some of these will be adding detail to the inside of the pilothouse, a Breastboard, and Visor in
place of the front window of the pilothouse. More detail will be added to the Boiler. Build a new
capstan to replace the metal one supplied in the kit, and replace the metal boats with wooden ones.
I will also be weathering my build of the Chaperon.
I have so far completed the framing of the keel, and bulkheads. Added the main deck, rub rails, and
wheel fenders. The kit has gone together quite well to this point. My view so far, is that this is a
very good kit. This would be a very good for anyone that enjoys doing a lot of building,
and detailing.
Gerald Spargo
You can see all of Geralds's Chaperon work
Here.
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Some History:
Chaperon Paddle Steamboat
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The J.C. Kerr was built in 1884 and operated on the upper Ohio River until 1892 when she moved to the
Green River trade in Kentucky where this photo was probably taken. In 1894 the J.C. Kerr was sold and her
new owners who remodeled her to some extent and renamed her the Chaperon which she is better known by.
In 1917 she was renamed Choctaw, and operated on the Yazoo River and its tributaries in the state of
Mississippi. The Choctaw was lost to a fire on the Tallahatchie River in 1922.
Nori Muster created and maintains steamboats.com
Nori kindly gave me the primary "wing" in her online museum..
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Featured Tip:
You gotta Tip to share?..just send them in and we can
publish it online.
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Featured Nautical Terms:
Cross Jack
This is the name given to the
lowest spar or yard on the mizen mast of a square rigged ship. Unlike the other yards, the cross
jack itself does not generally carry a sail and is there to hold the sheets for the mizzen topsail.
Because of this, there is no requirement, in normal operation, to raise or lower this yard.
The term could also refer to a sail carried by this yard, but such sails were not normally fitted
as they were of little use due to interference from the spanker.
..thanks Arthur Wallis for your contribution!
Barrelman
Without the use of navigation aids such as the astrolabe, compass and modern
navigation equipment, early sailors and navigators relied upon the raven or crow to determine where the closest land lay when no land was in clear
sight. As a bird was released a dead reckoning course would be set. As ships grew in size and complexity that station became to be mounted on the
highest mast of the ocean going vessel and it became to be known as the crow's nest.[1] The simplest construction to providing a lookout and setting
course direction for the ship was to lash a barrel to the mast. A member of the crew experienced in the matters of navigation was charged with manning
this perch and became to be colloquially known as a barrelman.
Close Hauled
A boat is sailing close hauled when its sails are trimmed in tightly
and it is sailing as close to the wind as it can without
entering in irons. This point of sail lets the boat travel diagonally upwind. This is a precise point of sail. However, the exact
angle relative to the wind direction varies from boat to boat. A boat is considered to be "pinching" if the helmsman tries to sail
above an efficient close-hauled course and the sails begin to luff slightly.
A square rigged ship cannot operate well in the close reach position, as the maximum deflection offered by the braces
is typically 45 degrees off the running position. When heading up beyond a beam reach, many square-riggers must rely on their
staysails and spanker.
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Featured Books / Reading Material / Research:
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"The Encylopedia of Ships"
I bought this book several years ago. It is really an excellent source of history. Over 1,500 Military and Civilian Ships from 5000 B.C. to the present
day.
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"Ship Modeling Simplified by Joe Mastini"
I think that just about everyone has this book. If I remember, this was the very first book I bought on ship modeling. I bought it many, many years ago.
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Featured Tools, etc:
A Sherline Lathe and Terminology
Content provided via Sherline Products
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The parts of a lathe and what they do (See photo above)
Variable Speed Control Knob — Controls motor speed from 0 to 2800 RPM
Headstock — Contains the spindle in two preloaded ball bearings.
Spindle — The spindle is inside the headstock and is driven with a belt running from the motor pulley to a pulley on the rear end of the spindle shaft. The nose of the spindle is treaded on the outside to receive chucks and tapered on the inside to receive other accessories.
Chucks — A 3-jaw or 4-jaw chuck threads onto the spindle nose to hold your work, a drill chuck is used on the tailstock to center drill your part.
Tool Post — Attaches to the lathe table and holds a 1/4" square cutting tool
Crosslide table — Also sometimes spelled "cross slide," it is the table with two T-slots that holds the tool post.
Crosslide Gib — A tapered plastic wedge that is held in place by a gib lock. It fits between the angled surfaces of the dovetail and is used to adjust for wear. As wear occurs and the table develops "slop," the lock is loosened and the gib is pushed further into the gap, taking up any play. This allows the machine to always be kept in peak adjustment.
Tailstock spindle — Has a #0 Morse internal taper for holding chucks and other tools. A handwheel moves it in and out for drilling.
Tailstock locking screw — Locks the tailstock in place on the bed to keep it from moving. When loosened, the tailstock can be slid up and down the bed.
Bed — The dovetailed steel bar that the saddle and tailstock are moved back and forth on.
Saddle — The part that supports the crosslide table and is moved up and down the bed using the leadscrew handwheel.
Saddle Gib — Functions like the crosslide gib to keep the saddle in tight adjustment against the dovetailed bed.
Leadscrew — The threaded screw under the bed that controls movement of the saddle. A "saddle nut" underneath attaches the bed to the leadscrew. Turning the leadscrew handwheel moves the saddle down the bed.
Tailstock Gib — A brass part attached to the base of the tailstock that runs on one of the bed dovetails. The brass part is expected to wear rather than the more expensive bed and can be adjusted for tightness as it wears.
Lathe Base — The cast metal base upon which the lathe bed and headstock sit.
Drawbolt — Goes through the hole in the spindle to draw chucks and other accessories into the headstock taper inside the spindle. A special washer locates it on center in the spindle hole.
#1 Morse Arbor — The tailstock drill chuck normally has a #0 Morse arbor threaded into the back of it for use in the tailstock spindle. That arbor can be removed and replaced with the #1 Morse arbor so the drill chuck can be used in the headstock.
Dead Centers — #1 and #0 Morse arbors have a 60° point and are used to locate and hold work "between centers" on the lathe. The #1 Morse arbor rotates with the headstock, but because the tailstock spindle does not rotate, the rear #0 Morse arbor is called a "dead" center. This needs to be kept lubricated because it creates friction with the moving part it is locating. Most machinists eventually replace this with a "live" center that turns on a ball bearing.
Tommy Bars — Round steel bars used to tighten and loosen chucks and other spindle accessories. Sometimes called "Spindle Bars."
Faceplate — A cast plate that threads onto the spindle nose. A workpiece can be bolted to it as an alternative to using a chuck. It has three slots to drive a drive dog.
Drive Dog — Also called a "Lathe Dog," this part is attached to a piece of bar stock by means of a screw that goes through the side and the long point is placed into one of the slots in the faceplate. The part is located between the lathe centers (live or dead) and when the faceplate turns, the dog actually drives the piece to rotate it for cutting. It also acts as a universal joint when turning a part between centers when the headstock is rotated to a slight angle, allowing a tapered part to be cut.
Headstock Locking Screw — Holds the headstock in place. The screw is a pointed set screw. The point engages a tapered groove in the pin that sticks up out of the lathe bed. When the screw is tightened, it pulls the headstock down onto the alignment key and holds it tight against the lathe bed.
Alignment Key — A precision ground key that fits in slots in the top of the bed and bottom of the headstock to keep the headstock aligned straight with the tailstock. Removing this key and rotating the headstock allows tapers to be cut.
V-belt — A Kevlar-reinforced Urethane belt that drives the spindle by means of the pulleys.
2-position Pulley — The motor turns a maximum of about 6000 RPM. Putting the drive belt in the normal (rear) position gears the motor down about 2:1 for a maximum speed of about 2800 RPM. The "High Torque" position (closest to the headstock) gears it about 4:1 for lower speed but more torque when needed for heavy cuts.
Other lathe and machining terms
Adjustable "Zero" Handwheels — On base model machines, plain handwheels are used. They are laser engraved with 50 marks (inch) or 100 marks (metric) and numbers for reference. Adjustable zero handwheels allow you to stop at any given point, loosen a knurled wheel in the center of the handwheel and rotate the laser engraved collar back to the zero mark before starting the next cut without moving the position of the handwheel. This means each time you are starting from zero rather than from a random number, making your depth and cut calculations easier. This eventually means less mistakes. 4400- and 4500-series lathes and 5400- and 2000-series mills include these upgraded handwheels as standard equipment.
Compound Slide — A device found on many lathes that allows the cutting tool to be brought into the part at an angle for cutting tapers. A compound slide is optional on Sherline lathes, but is not included as standard because the rotating headstock feature allows a Sherline lathe to cut tapers without the use of a compound slide. The optional compound slide is P/N 1270 (inch) or 1280 (metric).
DRO—Stands for "Digital Readout". Digital readouts incorporate an electronic box with a screen that reads out numbers rather than you looking at the graduations on the handwheels to determine movement. If offers two advantages: For those with poor eyesight it is easier to read than the little marks on the handwheel and 2) it keeps track of accumulated distance so you don't have to count handwheel revolutions when making longer movements. This helps eliminate a common source of errors. Any Sherline lathe or mill can be ordered fitted with DRO or it can be added later. Also incorporated in the readout is a sensor and RPM indicator for the spindle to eliminate guesswork regarding spindle speed.
CNC—Stands for "Computer Numeric Control." Instead of you turning the handwheels, a computer determines the speed and distance and drives DC motors called "stepper motors" or "servos" to move the lathe for you. Any Sherline machine can be ordered ready for the application of CNC or as a complete CNC system with steppers, controller, computer, software and everything. CNC can also be fitted at a later date to any Sherline lathe or mill.
HSS—Stands for "High Speed Steel." This is the most common material for cutting tools used by the home machinist. It is inexpensive and easily sharpened on a bench grinder and can be resharpened with a stone or grinder when it becomes dull. It can also be ground into different shapes for special purposes like boring, threading or cutting special shapes. (Called a "Form" tool.)
Carbide Insert Tooling — Tool holders that clamp a small, replaceable carbide tip into place for cutting harder materials like stainless steel or titanium. Often used in professional machine shops because of the higher metal removal rates they allow, many home machinists like using carbide tools too. An alternative is "Brazed tip Carbide" tooling where the piece of carbide is brazed to the tool shank and is not removable. Generally, once chipped, carbide tooling is disposed of because it is not easily sharpened.
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