September 8th 2019

This month's meeting was hosted by Lee Valley Tools in Niagara Falls, Ontario.  The theme was Resistance Soldering with a presentation by Ron.

Ron briefly reviewed the different types of soldering and then explained the concept of Resistance Soldering as used in modelling in some detail.  Following is a link to his notes for the presentation:
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                                  resistance_soldering_by_ron_c._sep_2019.pdf

He explained that it is the Amperage and not the voltage that is important in resistance soldering.  A good ground is a must!  Droplets of solder are applied via syringe an probes are located to touch the base material above and below the droplet to concentrate the heat at the solder.  Heat sinks can be used to draw heat away from areas you do not want heated as it might cause damage to that area (i.e. such as a low temperature surface coating)

Ron had also brought back his schooner the Scottish Maid (1839) that we had last seen at our May meeting.  He has since been adding items onto the deck and the anchors at the bow as can be seen in the photos below.  He pointed out that one noticeable feature is the way the bow sweeps forward above the waterline to increase the capacity in the forward hold, as ships were taxed according to their length on the waterline. 

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​David A. brought in his friend Greg's model of the 8 gun ketch rigged sloop HMS Speedwell of 1752 (1:48 scale).  David has been working on the carvings for Greg as can be seen below.  The wood is Costello and the pieces are mounted to soft backing pieces with white glue for handling while carving.  Once completed they will be removed from the backing boards by soaking them in Isopropyl Alcohol (rubbing alcohol) to dissolve the glue.

All David's carvings are by hand using a set of miniature chisels.  He does not use rotary powered tools.  David described how he glued sandpaper to the stern quarters so he could sand the backside of his carving stock to fit the specific shape of the hull before he started these particular carvings.

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Ray discussed his model of HMS Ontario and his contribution of a chapter about his model build to the book written by Jim Kennard about the discovery of the sunken wreck of the ship in Lake Ontario.   

Ray does not get a commission on the sale of this item.  If you are interested, the book can be ordered at:

​​https://nmglstore.org/collections/frontpage/products/pre-order-shipwrecks-of-lake-ontario-a-journey-of-discovery
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Ray also mentioned that a UK company is developing one of a series of the “Drain the Oceans” videos for National Geographic.  This will show how CGI will be used to “drain Lake Ontario” to reveal the wreck of “HMS Ontario” on the bottom.  Photographs of Ray’s model will be used as the basis for the computer modelling

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David R. brought in two new book discoveries with excellent images of ship and boat building details.

1) Wooden Ships - The Art, History and Revival of Wooden Boatbuilding by Peter Spectre and Douglas Larken
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​2) The Building of Boats by Douglas Phillips

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