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November 2021 Volume 11 number 11

ShipShape

News, Tips and Happenings
On October 2nd we attended the 38th annual Joint Clubs meeting. It is composed of the clubs of Philadelphia, New York, Long island, Connecticut and Massachusetts.It was held at the Port & Starboard convention center in New London CT. There were over 100 modelers in attendance ages from 10 to 95. This year's host club was the USS Constitution Model Shipwright Guild, next year the Philadelphia club will be the host. Olha Batchvarov has put together a wonderful 10-minute YouTube presentation, well worth watching. See it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNw1nvBCDmM&list=RDCMUC0uxi-EL5b0XjOrDTwdSJnA
Here's a photo of the 10 and 95 year olds.
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!

www.modelshipworld.com
Halloween hijinks
As usual, we dressed up for Halloween. L-R: Marine marauder Chris, Pastry chef Nic, Where's Waldo Finn, Pippi Longstocking Trisha, Invisible man Al, wicked Priscilla (look for the tiny red horns) and Honda enthusiast Shane.
Nautical terms and origins
Bear - 1) A term denoting the direction of an object from a vessel. 2) To sail (or steam) in an indicated direction. The word came from the Old Norse beran, possibly in both senses.

Down Easter (also Downeaster) - Any large wooden sailing ship built in Maine, from about the end of the civil war the the early XX century. The latter-day vessels were mostly coasting schooners, but the earlier ones were square-riggers: ships, barks, and barkentines

Panama Chock - A strong closed chock, or a chock the could be closed, usually on larger ships. It very probably got its name from its use, to keep a hawser of a towline in its chock with the changes of lead when a vessel is lowered in a lock, as in the Panama Canal.

Step - The base of a mast; also the verb to place a mast in position. The term came from Old English, staepen, mast base.

Information is from the book "Origins of Sea Terms" by John G. Rogers
copyright 1985 Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc. and available from BlueJacket. 
We get emails...
...a note in the kit Lincolnville Wherry talked about a 10% discount, maybe, if the model builder were to present a thread. I have a little box with several spools of it. I have no idea what a thread is in this case - maybe a log or a journal, from the context. Please clarify. WR

My answer: A thread is a build log. Go to www.modelshipworld.com and register (it's free) and that's where you would document your build.
Model of the Month - Pirate Brig
"Nic,
Greetings from warm and toasty Arizona,
Enclosed are a few photos of my latest BlueJacket project – the Pirate Brig.
This was an enjoyable and light-hearted kit to build. I did add a few additional fittings to enhance the model, but overall, it was a rather quick build. (about 3 months).
I do have my eyes set on the Constitution kit for the future, along with a few others, but first I need to whittle down the honey-do list!
Thanks again for your great kits. I’ve been a long-time customer a=d look forward to many more ship projects.
 Tom S"

Tom, I just love the color scheme. Looks like it came right out of a Disney movie!
Real Boat Names
Let's see YOUR workbench
From Dick B of MI & ME

"(This) is my "work bench" in response to your solicitation of same. My "work bench" is a piece of plywood which I set on the living room game table/puzzle table, with a couple totes of tools and materials spread around. I don't build new models, but rather repair and re-rig existing models. The model on the table is a half scale model of an NM (Northern Michigan), a fleet of 32' wood sailboats unique to Little Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan. The original model maker was the late Jim Gamble. I have probably repaired and re-rigged a dozen of Jim's models, plus a few others. As a work bench mine is small potatoes but it works.
Enjoy your publications, and enjoy stopping at your shop in Searsport during the summer
Dick B"
What's on the workbench?
Nic's bench - Working on a new Wendameen model to replace the worn out one in our gallery.
Al's bench - Working on our new model "Ellie Mara" coastal schooner.
Something Fun - Twisted engineering conversions
Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter: Eskimo Pi
2000 pounds of Chinese soup: Won ton
1 millionth of a mouthwash: 1 microscope
Time between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement:
1bananosecond
Weight an evangelist carries with God: 1 billigram
Time it takes to sail 220 yards at 1 nautical mile per hour: Knot-furlong
365.25 days of drinking low-calorie beer because it's less filling: 1 lite year
16.5 feet in the Twilight Zone: 1 Rod Serling
Half of a large intestine: 1 semicolon
1000 aches: 1 kilohurtz
Basic unit of laryngitis: 1 hoarsepower
Shortest distance between two jokes: A straight line
(think about it for a moment)
453.6 graham crackers: 1 pound cake
1 million microphones: 1 megaphone
1 million bicycles: 2 megacycles
2000 mockingbirds: two kilomockingbirds (work on it....)
10 cards: 1 decacards
1 kilogram of falling figs: 1 Fig Newton
1000 cubic centimeters of wet socks: 1 literhosen
1 millionth of a fish: 1 microfiche
1 trillion pins: 1 terrapin
10 rations: 1 decoration
100 rations: 1 C-ration
2 monograms: 1 diagram
8 nickels: 2 paradigms
3 statute miles of intravenous surgical tubing at Yale University Hospital:
1 I.V. League
Tip of the Month - Stupid (but brilliant) saw trick
This was posted on www.ModelShipWorld.com by Eric M. of NJ about his build of the USS Perry:

Stupid saw trick: you can judge if the saw is 90 degree from the wood, looking at the reflection. If the reflected surface is (in) line (and matches the line on) the blade then the saw blade is perpendicular to the wood.
Blatant Publicity
A Final Thought...
We are starting to see supply backups and increasing prices, sometimes double of what we were paying. Unfortunately, that means we will be raising our prices, which we haven't done since 2014 (with a few exceptions.)

If you're planning on buying something from us for a holiday gift I suggest doing so early. Some of our tool suppliers are quoting 8-10 week delivery.
Nic Damuck
BlueJacket Shipcrafters