February 15th 2019

The February meeting was host by Tijs at his home in St. Catharines.
​
The theme of the meeting was "my favourite tools, gadgets, jigs or fixtures". and all in attendance had brought in an item.

Tijs' cutter build is on hold as he is presently restoring and completing a kit build of the Bluenose II for a client.
​
He did show us, and explained the method of making, Viking shields for his Viking ship build.  He had one jig ( a simple block of wood with a locating pin) to hold the shield on its centre as he spun it around against his sander to get it perfectly round, and yet another angled jig to rotate and sand a bevel.

He then showed us a little tool, a Balsa Stripper, he uses to cut strips out of thin stock to be used as planks or such.  The device has a blade clamped to it and an adjustment wheel/screw assembly to adjust the width of the cut by sliding the blade in and out via a dove tail assembly.

Tijs had his remote controlled Chris-Cross motor boat on display for us.  He had taken it up to the cottage this summer and successfully ran it about the lake!

Also on display was his steam warping tug Alligator paddle wheel logging boat "Traveller" mounted in an illuminated case he had built.  In the case next to it was a smaller "pointer boat" used by loggers while working amongst the logs in the rivers.  These models are being donated to the Port Loring community local museum.

Hugh showed us his fixture used to build patterns for the various Holland Boats, the first submarines ever built.

The patterns were made of solid styrene disks, rotated and shaped in situ.  The pattern brought into the meeting was of the Holland III at a scale of 1:72.

Originally  Mr. Holland was commissioned by the US Navy to design the boat but they determined it to be not practical, so the project was then funded by the Fenian Brothers for the purpose of sinking Royal Navy Ships.  The first, the Fenian Ram, was launched in 1881.

Holland I – A prototype (small unarmed submersible) on display at the Paterson Museum in Paterson, NJ, USA.
Holland II (named Fenian Ram) – Built for Irish revolutionaries; now on display at the Paterson Museum in Paterson, NJ, USA.
Holland III – Scaled down version of Fenian Ram used for navigation tests.
Holland IV (known as the Zalinski Boat) – experimental submarine financed by US Army Lieutenant Edmund Zalinski.
Holland V (named Plunger) – Prototype used to demonstrate potential of submarines for naval warfare.  She was launched in 1897, used as an experimental submarine by the US Navy and then returned to the Holland Company in 1903 to be scrapped in 1917.

The model Hugh showed us was of the 3rd boat (Holland III).

---

John brought in his PRB (Patrol Boat River from the Vietnam War era) kit to show us his progress. He had just finished the base coat of paint.  He described how this would look realistically battered and worn when the painting process is completed.

Lawry brought in photos of his HMS Victory kit build.  The actual build is too large for him to transport.  He also had some photos of his HMS Unicorn build to share (see above)

He also brought in a model of his present modelling passion, a scratch build locomotive at "O" scale (7mm = 1 foot) made from nickel, silver and brass.  He estimates it took 80 hours including painting.  One reason he likes building these is that he gets quicker results scratch building locomotives.  Ships take forever!

Yes the locomotive was off topic as it is not very nautical... but everyone had their nose up to it!

---

Phil brought in his home built band saw fence.  It is a simple construct of right angle pieces of wood with a very strong magnet. This magnet can be powered OFF to adjust the position easily and then powered ON with the simple turn of a switch to lock it securely in place.  He finds this simple device a valuable addition to his shop.

He also described the problem he has cleaning saw dust and scrapings out of the hold of his ship model and so had devised a method of inserting a small round tube/hose into a vacuum crevice tool to reach in between the deck beams.  Lately he has been laying wax paper down inside the hull to catch the debris that falls inside.  He folds the paper accordion style and slips it in between the beam into the hold and unfolds it with tweezers. 
​

​Phil also brought in his home made screw clamp device that he uses as a vise to hold items on his drill press.  Quite a simple and very useful device with two hard wood blocks, carriage bolts, flat washers and wing nuts.  The heads of the carriage bolts seemed to be epoxied to the blocks to keep them from pulling out.
​

---

Ron brought in a couple of his Exacto knife blades that he reshapes the cutting edge with his Dremel to create new tools as jobs demand.   One was made into a gouge whereas the other had the point flattened and reshaped.

He also brought in a centre punch that he found to be a very useful tool locating hole centres to properly mount a piano hinge.
​
The last item Ron showed us is how he mounts his small number drills into small dowel like tooth picks or skewers so he has a larger diameter his drill chuck can manage to grab.  The drill bit does not extend further out of the skewer then necessary as they tend to break off. As these are permanent he writes the size of the drill on the skewer to help readily identify them.

​

Alan brought in his adjustable protractor and his home made mounting/holding block that he uses to set the adjustable bed of his sander.  He found he needed three hands to adjust the bed.  The block locks into the way or slot of the bed with a wooden slider key and the protractor fits into a groove on the top face of the block.  He has tried various protractors of which one was magnetic but he found his bed was non-magnetic!  The one he has settled on is easily read, adjusted and locked.

He also brought in his home made oak cutting block.  The back fence is offset to use a saw and as it has a very hard face he can chisel parts while they rest on it.

Alan brought in his 3D printed 9 Pound naval cannon barrel (1:12 scale). The material is plastic (PLA) and, as printed, is quite shiny which hides the details of a cast barrel from the viewer.  It is very difficult to sand so he had applied three light spray coats of flat black enamel as John had recommended to reduce the glare and make it more realistic looking.  Although it looks much better to Alan, John recommends a few more coats of paint with 12 to 24 hours drying time in between.

​Alan also brought in his HMS Bellerophon build to show the progress making and installing the aft cant frames... two fell off in transport!  These will all be chocked at the heads (top) of the frames and treenailed (pinned) at the foot of the lowest futtock to the deadwood within the next week.  This will stiffen them considerably for fairing (sanding).  He will then start on the forward cant frames.

That ends another successful monthly meeting.  Hope to see both old and some new faces in March!