Krick “Alert” U.S. Cutter, 1/25 scale

Hello Jan. I was wondering why you were so quiet. Just take it easy with those vaccination shots and don't rush tings. I agree with your solution. Unless you are a skilled woodworker and very au fait with the use of a plane, it will spell = kindling wood. I believe a lathe is the only way to go. I am beginning to understand more and more why there are so many mentions of Proxxon lathes and milling machines, Dremel tools, Byrnes saws and the like.
 
Hi Jan!

Most often, the wood is used from the construction kit. First, check whether the round timber is straight, especially beech wood, it is sometimes bend. Taper the mast upwards with a file or small plane.

SANY1101.JPGKeep the tool at an angle so as not to grind in any hollows. Turn the mast a little at a time and gradually start sanding a little further up. Check the thickness of the mast again and again and finally grind it finely with sandpaper.

Yards can also be clamped in a drill with excess length and thinned with a roll of sandpaper rolled around the wood from the center outward. The clamped end from the drill press is sawed off later. This is manual work, of course, but carefully applied and by constantly remeasuring, you can get good results. It is very easy to take a mistake with the material removal and the masts or yards are quickly too thin.

Best regards
Thomas
 
Heinrich said:
Hello Jan. I was wondering why you were so quiet. Just take it easy with those vaccination shots and don't rush tings. I agree with your solution. Unless you are a skilled woodworker and very au fait with the use of a plane, it will spell = kindling wood. I believe a lathe is the only way to go. I am beginning to understand more and more why there are so many mentions of Proxxon lathes and milling machines, Dremel tools, Byrnes saws and the like.
Click to expand...
Hi Heinrich,

Indeed the vaccinations were an initial concern, lots of horror stories being bandied about for after vaccination symptoms. Fortunately I only had a sore arm, some odd muscle aches and lethargy.

I think my biggest problem with the masts is their sheer size. The scale of the Alert is 1/25. The main portion of the Foremast (terminology?) is 505mm long and the Mainmast is 515mm. The taper is from 9.7mm to 6 mm. So there is quite a bit of material to remove. My tapering effort constantly produced scalloped areas which led to more uneven areas which by more sanding = kindling.

A lathe sounds like a great idea, but I after I plugged it in, watched a few how-to-do-it videos I would definitely be on a first name basis with the clerk at my local hardware store. :D:D

Jan
 
Thomas Marocke said:
Hi Jan!

Most often, the wood is used from the construction kit. First, check whether the round timber is straight, especially beech wood, it is sometimes bend. Taper the mast upwards with a file or small plane.

View attachment 218802Keep the tool at an angle so as not to grind in any hollows. Turn the mast a little at a time and gradually start sanding a little further up. Check the thickness of the mast again and again and finally grind it finely with sandpaper.

Yards can also be clamped in a drill with excess length and thinned with a roll of sandpaper rolled around the wood from the center outward. The clamped end from the drill press is sawed off later. This is manual work, of course, but carefully applied and by constantly remeasuring, you can get good results. It is very easy to take a mistake with the material removal and the masts or yards are quickly too thin.

Best regards
Thomas
Click to expand...
Hi Thomas,

Thank you for your reply. I will give your method a try. I’ve come to the conclusion that chucking those long mast pieces into my Drill press adds to the unevenness of the taper. There is quite a bit of “wobble” while the piece is turning because the end that is not in the chuck has no support. Oh it’s off to the hardware store again, I don’t have any large files in my tool assortment. I’m going to convince the Admiral to go in the store to buy them. I think they have picture of me as the customer of the month hanging next to picture of the employee of the month:p:p

Jan
 
A small experiment:

A little fiddling around to get my mind off mast tapering.

Found these on line and thought I‘d give them a try.

C46E2FCE-AB75-4B31-AD6C-0E1E0D9979A3.jpeg

DYI Blocks. About 7mm. (Syren Ship Models)


C97B4399-D80C-4CE2-A829-73B77328C56E.jpeg

The macro image makes them look odd, but with a bit of sanding I think they will work out.

Jan
CED6931F-E42F-4A2E-ABE4-580C9F732D44.jpeg
 
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Innovation and midnight ideas:

Sometimes the brain seems to go on overdrive and odd ideas pop up.

How can all those DIY blocks be sanded, rounded and be finished.

1) A plastic pill bottle
2) Glue a piece of 150 grit sandpaper to the sides and bottom
3) Add a shaft from an old Dremel cut off disk to the pill bottle cap
4) Add DIY Blocks
5) Chuck it into a Drill Press
6) Spin it at 700 rpm (lowest pulley combination on drill press)
7) Cross fingers and see what happens

5CCAE112-94B4-4097-9ED5-518C57BD9895.jpeg

Jan
 
Thomas Marocke said:
Hi Jan!

Most often, the wood is used from the construction kit. First, check whether the round timber is straight, especially beech wood, it is sometimes bend. Taper the mast upwards with a file or small plane.

View attachment 218802Keep the tool at an angle so as not to grind in any hollows. Turn the mast a little at a time and gradually start sanding a little further up. Check the thickness of the mast again and again and finally grind it finely with sandpaper.

Yards can also be clamped in a drill with excess length and thinned with a roll of sandpaper rolled around the wood from the center outward. The clamped end from the drill press is sawed off later. This is manual work, of course, but carefully applied and by constantly remeasuring, you can get good results. It is very easy to take a mistake with the material removal and the masts or yards are quickly too thin.

Best regards
Thomas
Click to expand...

Hi Thomas,

I tried your method of finishing a mast.

The result.

DF0494F8-0B43-408E-933C-DF88376B799B.jpeg

Jan
 
Thomas Marocke said:
Hi Jan!

The mast can not be judged accurately in the photo, but it looks good. If the measurement result of the circumference are correct and there are no hollows, everything is good.

Best regards
thomas
Click to expand...
Oops, My mistake, I meant to post this photo also. I used a straight edge to check for “hollows”. The first photo was to show the my points of measurement for the mast taper.

8CF69E42-83E4-45C1-8ED9-8552D2C0B1C2.jpeg
The tip looks odd, but if you look a photo #1 which shows the plan. You can see that there are two flat spots required at the end of the 7mm taper and then the next forward portion is shaped into a 6mm square followed by the tip being 5mm round.
Jan
 
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Thomas Marocke said:
Hi Jan!

View attachment 219897
You live in a very beautiful part of the earth. When visiting relatives, I brought home this T-Shirt as a souvenir after a lobster dinner.

Best regards
Thomas
Click to expand...

That is a great “T”.

We do like where we live. The Admiral and I enjoy being able to get sea food at its source. We’ve spent many a happy hour on the ocean and walking on the many local beaches. We also enjoy the four seasons. There are many choices for seasonal activities. The nearest ski slope is little over an hour and half away in the Southwest, the second largest lake in the state is about forty five minutes away, and we’re about four miles from the ocean.

Jan
 
Hi Heinrich,

The results of the spinning experiment.

50D15B3B-7583-49A4-8EC3-26DFDA769B3C.jpeg

It took a LOOOOOOONG time. I think together a better result I'll have to add some sort of sandpaper paddle inside the pill bottle. With the present set up the pieces were not tossed up against the sandpaper liner inside the pill bottle enough together a good finish. It was worth a try but now will be a project for later.

Jan
 
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