"Flying Cloud " by Mamoli - kit bash

Searching for mini lathes, I found this on Amazon. Don't know the company name, but it actually works the way I want it to for wood. Ideally, I'd have a metal lathe but too much $ and learning curve for as often as I'd use it. So I turned some1:96 patent vents and a galley stack (which I will re-do). The lathe ain't perfect, but then neither am I. So good enough will have to suffice. cost all in about$70.0020241219_132738.jpg20241219_132755.jpg20241219_135356.jpg20241219_140855.jpg20241219_143513.jpg
 
I found this Chinese set of four ship's boats on Ebay. Last one. Includes Jolly boat, Launch, Pinnace and Cutter. About $82.00 (or less, prices vary) further searching has turned up nothing.
Very fussy and fiddley. So tiny but well executed. Instructions: pictures only. I used liquid hide glue for the building jig and to fix the keel to it. Easily reversed with a little water on a brush. I'm using thin CA with a tined applicator, or quick dry Aileen's Tacky Glue.
Part of my search for nice ships boats for the Flying Cloud. Originally for the HMS Surprise, The Jolly, Pinnace and Cutter, look universal enough to work. A shame to mount them upside down, with all the detail.
So far so good. No room for error. We'll see how the planking goes. The tiniest offset, that would otherwise go unnoticed, gets magnified into unworkability very quickly. So,20241220_144154.jpg we'll see if it ends up in the bin. Can't work at this scale f20241217_143521.jpgor too long a stretch.20241217_150008.jpg20241217_143643.jpg20241217_151619.jpg20241217_152859.jpg20241217_152527.jpg20241217_152510.jpg20241218_143410.jpg20241218_140326.jpg20241218_144935.jpg20241218_150227.jpg20241219_171806.jpg20241219_172600.jpg20241219_175542.jpg20241220_134241.jpg20241220_134203.jpg20241220_134717 (1).jpg20241220_141857.jpg20241220_140848.jpg20241220_141448.jpg20241220_141503.jpg
 
The manufacturer of the lathe that I got on Amazon is Winbomgo. Good value. Lots of parts and adaptors included. Good little instruction booklet. Relatively cheap
 
Thanks, Jim. the one I'm working on, the jolly boat, and the others are, indeed, stiff paper and a thicker stock for the more structural parts. It is very fussy and delicate going with no (or almost no) room for error. Any mistakes get magnified in proportion to the scale of the tiny model. Being very delicate it is very easy to break one bit while working on another (as indicated by the glob of glue on one of the thwarts in one of the pictures). I've been using Aileen's Quick Dry Tacky Glue
because of the high tack that also allows time for adjustments. I used a pair of nippers to trim the little overage of the strake at the transom. You have to be careful to get it just right, so using a tool that gets it in one cut in a tight space is what is required. As with planking any model fit one plank at a time, make all the necessary adjustments, glue it down and let it sit to dry thoroughly (and then some). Then do the opposite side. On a model this small the strakes are not divided into planks. I still have no idea how the inevitable error creep is going to affect completing the project. As always with planking it is slow going. One at a time. Then walk away. Let it dry and in this case to let your eyes recover.20241222_124658.jpg20241222_124741.jpg20241222_124704.jpg20241222_141440.jpg20241222_141627.jpg20241222_141519.jpg20241222_141618.jpg20241222_141635.jpg20241222_141618.jpg20241222_141608.jpg20241222_143504.jpg
 
Peter Gutterman said:
It ain't perfect, but it works.
Click to expand...
I know that's right! Pete! The boat looks great! The level of detail is a wonderful compliment to the detail you've put into your ship. Thanks for the tip about the lathe. Using my stone-age methods, like Barry, turning masts and spars for me seems like climbing a mountain. I'll make the modest investment and, I hope, have less hesitation when it comes to shaping parts out of dowels. Thank you for your work, Pete! There is always something wonderous to see and useful to learn.

Many blessings for 2025 and beyond!
Chuck
 
I have a couple of tips for setting up the lathe to turn tiny stuff. I'll post pics on the setup. The tiny ZHL kit is coming along, will finish it up soon and maybe start the launch. These are crazy hard to build at that tiny scale with fragile, imprecise materials, and no wiggle room. :eek: products of my obsessive search for the better1:96 Clippership's boats.

Oh yeah. And happy and healthy, productive new year. I had already expressed the hope that we'd all be surprised, and that peace would break out. Not one day in and that got all blown to hell. :oops:
 
Pete! I look forward to your tutorial on the lathe!

I think you should remain hopeful. Indeed, I believe you are hopeful by nature. The best evidence is the act you have chosen for you avocation. Something that takes hours and days and months and years to make. Something that takes equally long to master (excluding our shipmate Paul ROTF ). Something that calls forth creativity in solving problems. All in hope. In hope that the object of your labor will be as excellent as it is in your gift to make it. On top of that, you spread hope with your sharing. Thank you for that.

I hope for you, for all of us, that we continue to be hopeful, that we continue to share the experience of hopefulness. As you know, I spend a lot of time studying history, of the USA's founding in particular. I know you too enjoy history, so I'm not trying to preach here. It seems that human nature involves comparing and the comparison leads to what I call "othering." Once someone's "otherness" is fixed then comes the fear and a host of negative emotions and reactions. The great and inscrutable Thomas Jefferson was subject to this condition. When he wrote his Notes on the State of Virginia in Paris in the late 1780's he made a profound statement about the fear he felt because of the "otherness" of the slaves. He was not alone in his fear. On the other hand, hope abided among others of the founding generation. His Excellency, George Washington, I believe, was chief among the hopeful group. What he learned, what he was willing to learn and unlearn about his relationship to slavery because of his majestic service as Commander of the Continental Army is a vision of hope. Unlike Jefferson, Washington did not give way to the "othering" of his slaves. He learned from service leading black patriots. He did not fear or despise them. He made it his last act after death to free his slaves. Hope.

In the end, the hopeful ones, like yourself, coexist at all times with the hopeless ones. It is a shame that hopelessness gets the headlines. It make the world look bleak and dangerous. The reality is, well, much more hopeful. The reality is that hopefulness and the gifts it gives are abundant and outweigh hopelessness by magnitudes. It would be lovely for the world if the headlines and those who write them gave expressions of hopefulness proportionate space.

The lesson, if there is one, is to remain hopeful and all that hopefulness conveys to the person who hopes and those to whom providence has placed in his or her path. And with that, I can't wait to see the finished ship's boats, my friend.

Blessings. Peace. Gratitude.
Chuck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top