Blocks Not from Scratch, Part 1
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- Here's a video about how to make commercially available blocks look more like the real thing. You will also see how to make shackles from scratch.
The NRG: www.thenrg.org...
Model Ship by Thomas J. Lauria: tjlauria.com/
Is there one thing you learned from this video? Let me know what it is in the comments, below.
Is there one thing you were hoping to learn, but didn't? Let me know that, too
Hi Tom.
Just want to make a brief comment.
There are a multitude of you tube video on tips, tricks and techniques on ship modeling, but I have tell you your videos, in my opinion, are the best. The clearest and easiest to understand. You do a fantastic job. And I personally thank you for that.
I’ve been building ship models since I was 14 - that was 70 years ago, but I’m still learning new techniques on how to build these ship models.
Thank you again for all your all efforts and sharing you knowledge. It’s appreciated
Barry Rudd
Thanks for those very kind words, Barry. I'm glad you find the videos useful. Like you, I've been building models since I was a kid and the learning and striving to improve never stops. As I mentioned in another video, I stand on the shoulders of the many people who shared their knowledge with me and it has been my mission to spread the word. And, as you mentioned, there are a lot of us out there all with something to share. It's a generous group we are a part of. Thanks, Tom
I have retired and I will be getting back into modeling again.Your lesson are for me, invaluable
Oh man, you are he Bob Ross of ship modeling! Please make more of these!
Thanks for the high praise. There are more on the way.
Tom Lauria I have a similar job to you, reconstructing history to give people a window to the past, yet I do it digitally with VR. You inspire to go the extra mile. I like how you say that it's our obligation to make our work as good as we can.
Kindred spirits, certainly. Thanks, Matthijs.
@@shipmodelguy I looked back after the documentary, I totally forgot if it was me who said that! I didn't realize how much it meant to you. Still stand by it!
@@DrTheRich Yes, it did mean that much. Even more so now. When we were all enthralled with watching him work his magic, maybe we didn't know why we were drawn to him. But over the years, I've come to realize, it was his ability to take the mysterious and make accessible.
Thanks for making these types of videos. And they are very timely. I'm building a model of the Bluenose schooner, just about to complete the masts and trestles. This is my first model build, so rigging, I'm sure, will be a big challenge. Keep the videos coming!
You've certainly pick an ambitious first attempt. Is it the Bluenose 1 or 2?
Bluenose 1, by Model Shipways . Yep, very ambitious. I've been working on it for eight months so far. Lots of time searching out videos and other resources, such as the Nautical Resource Guild. Planking the hull was a challenge, the deck was a little easier. The one thing I have going for me is patience.
Good luck with the rest of the build. Love to see some photos when you're done. You can contact me through my web site. In the meantime, here's a link to one of the galleries on my site you might find of interest: tjlauria.com/gallery/l-a-dunton/
Found your Videos last week, and I’m very impressed about your work.
Like you I”m also very influenced by Chris from Clickspring and his videos.
I’m living in Triest/Italy and boats are all around - but my passion is to make Steam-locomotives (brass) and since I saw clicksprings work also to make videos.
Yours are a loved new motivation...
Thanks.
Thanks for the encouragement. Brass locomotives... I think I'd need a whole lot more the Clickspring's videos to inspire me to attempt that! Glad you're enjoying the videos. There are more on the way. Tom
Love the up close details
Thank you Tom. Again another well done and informative video.
Very informative video on improving the cast metal blocks. However I find it easier to use black annealed wire rather than using brass or copper wire and blackening it. Annealed wire comes in many different diameters. And can be purchased from Bluejackets, Model Expo or on Amazon. At least one manufacturer of annealed wire in a company called Anchor wire.
Glad you enjoyed the video.
I used, and still, use the steel wire, but I tend to keep it to a minimum. That stuff has a nasty habit of rusting and ruining the appearance of the model, so I try to stay away from it, if I can.
Tom, you started your video by stating that often blocks received in a model kit are the wrong scale. However, you did not elaborate as to how to determine the right size blocks to purchase based on the scale. Retailers such as Bluejacket only state the block size again with no reference to scale. Currently, I am building a 1/50 scale of the Sloop, "Puritan" and I do not know what sizes of blocks to order due to no baseline of reference. Your comments are greatly appreciated and I have learned a great deal from your videos. Thanks. Don T from Mass.
You raise a very good question, Don. I will try to answer as concisely as I can. But be forewarned, this could lead you down a rabbit hole.
If you're a kit builder and you are relying on the manufacturer to provide the correct sizes of RIGGING AND BLOCKS, you will probably not be satisfied with the result. And, it isn't the manufacturer's fault. They have to do things as economically as possible.
I'm going to start by recommending you get a copy of Harold Underhill's, "Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier". There are tables and formulae that will help you determine what sizes of rigging a vessel of the size and type you're building would have actually carried. Also be aware that the sizes for ropes listed in these types of books are of the its circumference and not it's diameter. That's an important difference to be aware of. Once you know the sizes of the rigging, you can consult the other tables and formulae in the book for the block sizes. Then it's just a matter of converting the info down to the scale you're working in-divide by 50.
Another thing to remember that may help you to simplify the rigging task is that generally, most running rigging was usually no bigger than 2" in diameter-and that was for pretty large vessels. For a sloop like Puritan the heavier lines would probably have been no more than 1-1/2" . That's like about thirty thousandths in your scale
You may also be able to find the actual rigging specs for this vessel, as it was built at a time when more care was taken in writing down specifics and more complete plans were being used on a more regular basis. Hope this helps. Tom
Great work Tom , Really informative. I started model building 60 years ago and could have done with the internet ( which wasn't even thought of) and your informative dialogue and pictures. I particularly liked the weathering post. Spent my life in the theatre building and painting sets for the stage and television so really appreciate all your information...Thank you very much.....Jim Cleland.........Aldinga Beach South Australia5173
Jim,
Glad you're enjoying the videos. If you've been building and painting sets for the stage, you've already spent most of your life developing that sense of what gets weathered and what doesn't. You would be a natural at it!
Great content and clearly presented.
Wonderful video, well designed and thought out, great teaching skills! Thank you!
craftsmanship.......good job........
Thanks for very helpful videos for this new ship builder!
Great video! Came to your channel to find some rigging tips/guides - haven't yet, but I just started :)
Excellent video and technique. Thanks.
Awesome video, please keep making these
That's the plan, even though there's no timetable.
Good job. Very informative. Thanks.
Excellent info, thanks Tom.
Tom,
Excellent video again on blocks, I make my own now using a milling machine and small quarter round end mills, but this was particularly interesting to me to see your shackles. I use a heavier gauge wire, flattening the ends and drilling iti which sometimes gets out of scale so I am pulling out the 28 gauge as you described.
I am interested in seeing more on the use of the rolling mill to flatten wire for blocks. I read about this in the article you did in Ships in Scale on the Kate Cory but it was only mentioned and not described. I have never seen a little rolling mill like that, only the cheap ones out of India. Can you provide more information on your machine. Thanks and I look forward to your next video.
Thanks for the interest, William. The little rolling mill was based on the one cited in the Nautical Research Guild's book, "Ship Modeler's Shop Notes", Vol 1, page 40. It is still available through the NRG. Here's a link to their website where you'll find the book: www.thenrg.org/the-nrg-store.php#!/NRG-Shop-Notes/c/2719585/offset=0&sort=normal
@@shipmodelguy Thanks Tom, have owned the book since it was published. Will check it out.
Bill
Very well presented
Glad you liked it. Hope you keep watching.
I must say that this is one of the most instructive videos, and above all, not boring.
When will you have the video on the wooden blocks ready? I'm working on my first model --The Blue Nose II -- by Artesanía Latina.
Keep it up, you've got a good closeup capable camera and you don't get your hands between the camera and the viewer.
Best Regards
Bertyl Ramírez
Thanks for the interest. The video on the wooden blocks will be up in two weeks or less. It will also have details on serving a line and seizing the standing ends of a line. Make sure to check out my video on making scale splices. czcams.com/video/f_5QIYdwF4c/video.html
Hi Tom: From the guitar picture, I can deduct that you are also a luthier. I'm also into making classical guitars.
Also,I'm interested in learning how to make the shackle making tool and I haven't been able reach the site you mention.
Bertyl, So sorry I haven't responded sooner, but I was just reviewing the comments and saw yours from a month ago. I am not a luthier, but I did build that guitar from a kit available through Martin Guitars in Nazareth, PA. Until I injured my left hand in a table saw accident, I was a player.
Anyway, go to tjlauria.com/contact/ you can send me a note. Once I have your email address, I will send you a copy of the article that deals with making those pliers. It's really simple and takes about 15 minute.
Really nice plier trick. I've used a simple jig earlier with a pair of steel pins in a board to make the eyes of the shackles myself. But this was a realy nice tool (yes. Im a tool horder ans swear by my proxxon isb grinder) Looking forward to your take on the wooden blocks.
The book from the NRG is definitely worth the $41.00. It has a wealth of ideas and techniques. www.thenrg.org/the-nrg-store.php#!/NRG-Shop-Notes/c/2719585/offset=0&sort=normal
thank you your video was very informative I am a beginner in wood ship building and I was looking for info. on solid hull forming but all info. is apreciated
Thanks Michael. I took a quick look around on CZcams to see if there were any good videos on waterline lift hull construction. There don't seem to be any (Could be the next series of videos I make). I did find a couple that might be helpful to you, in the meantime.
One is from Malcolm Crosby, from the family that is credited with inventing what became known as the the Cape Cod catboat. He's a typical laconic Yankee-not much on long explanations, but you get to see his approach to making half hulls, which would be a good place to start, if you don't have a lot of experience building hulls from scratch. Here's the link to the first in his Series 2 videos: czcams.com/video/IzdeOo5Fwzo/video.html
This second guy is carving a simple skiff. The boat is about as simple as it gets and does make a rather handsome little half hull. czcams.com/video/1en2Iw2-BVE/video.html
Both examples are good for getting some experience under your fingers before trying a full hull. If you haven't subscribed yet, please do so and make sure to hit the notification icon. This way you'll know when the hull building videos start coming out.
Awesome work
Thank you
Great videos. Thanks.
Glad you like them!
Really informative
Nice information. How about how to attach sails to ropes?
Good suggestion. I'll consider it. Thanks and glad you're enjoying the content. Tom
Well done very good
Great video
Thanks!
Thank you for this! I am working on my first tall ship, Model Shipways Virginia Sloop, and rigging is some experience! I would love to see how you set up for and do seizing and some of the other chores involving ropes and lines. Thanks again!
Stay tuned! I will be doing a video on serving and seizing. But first I will be finishing up with the blocks (wooden). Make sure to subscribe so you get the automatic notifications of new videos. Thanks
Seizing what to what? Seizing a deadeye into a shroud, seizing a block into a pendant, seizing the standing end of a piece of running rigging around a thimble? If you can be specific, I can spend a bit more time on that aspect.
seizing a block to a pendant and eye splices for starters, I am too new to it to be overly specific. Every line seems to be a new adventure!
Here's a video on eye splices: czcams.com/video/f_5QIYdwF4c/video.html
The next video will deal (in part) with seizing a block into a pendant.
interesting video
Hi Tom, will Birchwood Casey Super Blue blacken Britannia metal castings from kits?
From the few tests I've made, it does not color Britannia consistently. It gives a dark mottled gray. Very uneven. Totally unusable. Best to soak the fittings in lacquer thinner for a while, make sure they're dry and airbrush with your favorite paint.
Thanks very much for quick answer! 🙏
I don't understand why you say the offset double block has been cast the wrong way around, it hasn't. Google traditional wooden blocks and click on images, plenty of doubles there, some with central beckets, some offset. My experience? I've been rigging square riggers and large traditional vessels for 45 years, so far! There's a reason for offset beckets. The sheave (you keep calling it a shiv) pin SHOULD be set nearer the becket so as to allow the rope to pass OVER the sheaves through the larger gap at the strap end of the block.
Jonathan,
Thanks for the comment. And, your statement makes a lot of sense. So I took your advice and went to Google images. I did find plenty of examples of what you describe. I also found just as many examples where the sheave pin is at the center or slightly above. I guess it all depends on who made the blocks. And just to be clear, I never had an issue about the becket being offset. It's only an issue if someone mistakes the becket for the strap and rigs the block upside down. Apparently, I've also annoyed you with my pronunciation of the word sheave. I know it's a sheave, but in my neck of the woods we tend to say shiv. Call it a provincial colloquialism.
The real point as it pertains to building ship models is that regardless of where the pin is on the body of the block, it should be removed because it is grossly out of scale. It should have never been included on the master plug. As you well know, those pins are flush to the side of the shell. My aim was just to make the less experienced builder aware of the possibility of going off the mark because of something he sees. Sadly over the years, I've seen a lot of ship models that are otherwise beautifully done with wonderful attention to detail except the builder didn't seem to know which end of the block was up.
I hope this hasn't soured you on my channel and that you continue to watch and of course, feel free to hold my feet to the fire if you find something doesn't match your experience. We're all here to learn from each other.
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