January 2024 Volume 14 number 1

EXCITING NEWS - We are now offering model kits from Amati, Caldercraft and Vanguard. See our website www.bluejacketinc.com for details. Some really nice subjects, and some non-ship models as well.

LOOKING FOR HELP - We need to find a woodworker to do the wood parts for our cases. Interested? Call Nic or Trisha at 207-548-9970

NRG'S MODEL SHIP WORLD

Model Ship World is an on-line forum of over 40,000 ship modelers. Topics range from kits to scratch builds, in-process continuing stories, tips, manufacturer information, technical topics. Too many to list here. Go take a look! And yes, BlueJacket is one of the sponsors.

www.modelshipworld.com

Bail - To dip out water. The word is derived from Late Latin, bacula, pail, and came to us from Old French, bail, bucket.

Deadeye (also Dead Eye, and earlier, Dead man's eye) - A rounded piece of hardwood with three holes in a triangular pattern, spliced into0 the lower ends of the shrouds and by which they were fastened to the chain plates with lanyards. The origin is uncertain, it could be a nickname, due to the similarity of a man's face. Another guess is that it had no moving parts.

Fiddler's Green - Is the old name for a seaman's heaven, where the grass is green, fiddlers play, wine flows, and "mates are not permitted"

Jolly Roger - The traditional decorative and identifying flag of pirates and buccaneers; usually black, with a design of macabre nature such as the well-known skull-and-crossbones. At that time rogues were called rogers. Jolly is a paradox, as they were anything but. Black was thee traditional color, in the West Indies and the Mediterranean, of the renegade.

Spritsail - (1) A square sail carried forward, on the bowsprit. It became obsolete in the early XVIII century.Another name for this sail was blind, an apt one as the sail obscured visibility ahead. (2) A quadrilateral fore-and-aft sail with its peak supported by a sprit. A fore-and-aft spritsail can be traced back to the second century B.C.

Information is from the book "Origins of Sea Terms" by John G. Rogers

copyright 1985 Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc. and available from BlueJacket.

Our rigging class is a popular event. We run it from 9 to 3 for 5 days (although some people leave early on Friday.) IT IS A CLASS FOR NOVICES. We don't assume you know anything about rigging a ship model. All tools and materials are provided with the class fee of $500. You get a hull to work on, all the sticks and dowels, glue, blocks, deadeyes, threads, wire, beeswax, sandpaper and the following tools:

Excel hobby knife and blades

2 Pin Vises

Assortment of drill bits

Tweezers

needle nose pliers

flush cutters

clamps

cuticle scissors (best for clipping rigging)

and probably some other things I forgot

If you use magnifiers for your modeling work, you should bring them. By the end of the class you will have learned how to use the tools, tie a multitude of various knots, and will have completed what you see in the picture above.  You can see shrouds, backstays, bobstays, gammoning, vangs, topping lift, ratlines, hearts, throat halyard, peak halyard, sheet tackle on a traveler, lifts, braces, forestays, etc.

Obviously, we don't waste a lot of time to make the model look pretty! We want to concentrate on the rigging. At the end of the class, BlueJacket will ship your model and materials to your home, again all part of the tuition cost.

Monday will include a pizza party for lunch and a behind the scenes tour of the BlueJacket facility. In addition, all students will receive a 10% discount on anything they buy during that week. Kits, tools, books, gift items, you name it!

The hours of 9-3 are flexible, we have the hotel conference room available 24 hours a day for the week. If you bring a family member, the 3:00 PM cutoff lets you do some sightseeing around the area. But if you need to catch up a bit, the room is yours!

Classes will be at the Fireside Inn in Belfast, 4 miles from BlueJacket on Route 1, tel# 207-338-2090. You can ask for the promotional code BEL if you choose to stay there. They are holding rooms at $160.49 for us. There is a pool,sauna and Jacuzzi, plus all rooms have an excellent view of Penobscot Bay. If you are the camping type, Searsport Shores is nearby.

Class is limited to 12 people with payment in advance. Full refund up to 2 weeks before, 50% refund up to 1 week before. Unfortunately, cancellation less than a week in advance cannot be refunded except by extreme circumstances, which we reserve the right to determine.

From Denis M. of MD

"Will this do? It is a model of one of the ships I served in. It is based on a kit from BAD Shipmodels with modifications based on photos of my ship.

Regards, 

Denis "

Thanks to all who sent in workbench pictures. Could still use a few more...

This one is from John B. of ME:

"Hi Nic

Here is the latest build on my bench. A “1921 Bluenose” from Model Shipways ready to start Rigging and Sails. 

Also starting to work on a Vintage Marine Model Company “Red Jacket”. 

I’m enjoying your news letter, keep them coming. Love seeing what you and Al are working on. 

John"

Nic's bench - The rigging of the Harriet Lane is progressing. At this scale, tying ratlines is unrealistic, so I am gluing them.

Al's bench - Al is still working on a special project, Hopefully it will be complete soon and he can get back to modeling

Paraprosdokians are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence is unexpected.    

 1. Where there's a will, I want to be in it.

2. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.  

3. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

4. War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

5 Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

6. They begin the evening news with 'Good Evening,' then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

7. To steal ideas from someone is plagiarism. To steal from many is called research.

8. In filling in an application, where it says, 'In case of emergency, notify:' I put 'DOCTOR.'

9. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

10. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they look sexy.

11. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

12. A clear conscience is the sign of a bad memory.

13. I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.

14. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be. Nor is there any future in it.

15. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

16. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.

17.   I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it’s getting harder and harder for me to find one now.  

18. I am not arguing with you, I am explaining why you are wrong

From the Rocky Mountain Shipwrights of CO newsletter:

1. Develop your own plan in outline form so you go through the same steps with each model you begin. Do it on your computer or PDA so changes and updates are easily executed.

2. Don’t model in silence. Provide your modeling area with music, a good source is the Cable TV music channel.

3. Movies, Photographs, Drawings -- What the eye takes in can be a stimulus to your motivation to pick up the knife, the brush or the tweezers. In addition they bring to life the detail you are trying to emulate. Do not get bogged down in research but knowing the history of your subject helps in its recreation. Google Images and model ship forums are valuable resources I couldn’t be without.

4. Talk to get motivated. I know once I tell my wife about a phase of the layout I am going to build, I feel a sense of commitment to carry it out.

5. Seeing the finished project stimulates my desire. I imagine it finished. Here again, pictures of models I am emulating provide an inducement to get to work.

6. How do you eat an elephant—One bite at a time. You will get more done more quickly by breaking your modeling project into modules. Then take any small step; you’ll want another

7. Find your niche. You will be much more motivated if what you are modeling is something in which you have a sincere interest.

When the storm went through two weeks ago, it left us without phone or internet for a week. We forwarded the phone to Trisha's cell, and got web orders from our home computer. I hope nothing fell through the cracks. According to Spectrum, the delay was because they couldn't touch their lines until Central Maine Power fixed the power lines. What a Royal pain...