February 2024 Volume 14 number 2

MORE EXCITING NEWS - We are now carrying the line of Model Craft tools from England.

WE WANT YOUR INPUT

It's time to be thinking about the next new kit(s) from Bluejacket and we would like to know in what subjects you folks would be interested. If you's like to make a suggestion, please list the vessel's name, type, time period, and desired scale. Email your suggestions to [email protected] within the next two weeks.

Thanks.

STRANGE CREDIT CARD CHARGES

The actual name of the company that bought BlueJacket is Prometheus Technology Group DBA Blue Jacket Shipcrafters. Credit card statements truncate the name so you may not recognize that it's us. We have contacted the Authorization company and have changed how it reads correctly on your statement.

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

Hi, it's Josh,

I think you all know that I'm now the General Manager for BlueJacket. I have been here doing casting for 25 years, and have worked for Bob Hammer and Sue Crow, then Jeff and Suzi Marger, and of course, Nic and Trisha Damuck. All three administrations had their own style of management and operations. I think this gives me a wide range of experience to move this company forward in the future.

If you have comments or suggestions, please contact me by phone 207-548-9970 or email [email protected]. I look forward to what you have to say.

Josh

Beetle - A large mallet, believed to have been originally a shipbuilder's and shipboard carpenter's tool. Earlier sometimes spelled beatle, the term comes from the Anglo-Saxon word betel, mallet.(See Commander)

Commander - (1) An officer's rank in the Navy and Coast guard (the lowest ranking "brass hat"). (2) A title sometimes used in the British merchant service for the captain, particularly of larger ships in which several officers had master's papers. (3) A large, heavy mallet; a tool believed to have originated with shipbuilding. The derivation, via Old French is is Latin, commandare, command. One translation of the Old French word is to make move, which appears to apply in all senses.

Hermaphrodite Brig - A two-masted sailing vessel, one definition of which was that the foremast was square-rigged, the mainmast having a fore-and-aft mainsail, the topsail and all above being square. The origin of the word in this sense has not been determined, but the inference is clear.

Scotchman - Chafing gear of leather or wood, in the standing rigging of a sailing ship. Also still used for certain chafing gear; it probably was a forecastle nickname, as a gear saver.

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 Kirk B of NS

"Hi Nic and crew. Attached is my Campbell class revenue cutter from Bluejacket completed last year. A few "artistic" additions, including midships carronade and a breakwater forward. Keeping it in admiralty style. Next up is the cutter HMS Alert...

Keep up the good work!!!

Kirk B"

From Chris W of FL

"Hi Nic and Josh,

I have always looked with envy at the beautiful workbenches that so many of the modelers work on. I do not have that kind of space, but have negotiated a spot in the second bedroom for this card table. The catboat was built here before the walls existed, but now that we have a new cat the project needed to be protected and this is working out better than expected. I am doing the Yankee Hero after discovering that it is a Passamaquoddy boat and my parents lived in North Perry for thirty years. BJS is pure joy. Thank you."

Nic's bench - The rigging of the Harriet Lane progresses, Now doing the mainmast shrouds.

Al's bench - Al has tackled a custom project to build a fire hose drying tower roof for a customer. Looks like something from Geometry class, very interesting, to say the least!

From the Rocky Mountain Shipwrights of CO newsletter: