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February 2023 Volume 13 number 2

ShipShape

News, Tips and Happenings
MARK YOUR CALENDAR

This past fall we were visited by the TV crew of the Discovery channel's show "RV There Yet?" It's a travelogue show that highlights places to visit in your RV all over the country. I just found out that our interview will air at 8.00 AM on Saturday February 18th on Discovery.

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
Rigging Class May 22-26, 2023
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 $475. 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
Pin Vise
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 below.  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 BlueJacket corporate rate if you choose to stay there. They are holding rooms at $99 for us. There is a pool and Jacuzzi, exercise room, a decent breakfast bar, and 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.
Nautical terms and origins
Abeam - At right angles to the fore-and-aft, or centerline, of a vessel. It is from Anglo-Saxon. (see beam)

Beam - (1) The measure of breadth of a craft. (2) A structural unit, particularly a deck beam. The wird is derived from the Anglo-Saxon beam, tree.

Davy Jone's Locker - (also Davy Jones ...) The bottom of the sea. Davy is the legendary evil spirit of the sea. He was conjured up in the XVII or XVIII century, but where his name came from is uncertain. A good guess is that West Indies sailors invented him, and that it could be a corruption of Devil Jonah, or possibly Duffy Jonah, duffy being a British West Indies word for devil.

Hatch - Any of a variety of shipboard openings, for personnel, gear, stores, and cargo. The origin is uncertain, but it appears to be from Early English, hacche, which comes from Old English, haec, a gate, door, or grating.

Smelling - A vessel's "feeling the bottom," to loose speed and good steering because of shallow water. The word in this sense comes from early Middle English, smellen, to sense or feel.

Information is from the book "Origins of Sea Terms" by John G. Rogers
copyright 1985 Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc. and available from BlueJacket. 
Model of the month
This is from Pat C. of GA. He writes:

"Hi Nic, here is my version of the Delta Queen. The wife and I honeymooned on her 40 years ago, steaming down the Ohio from Cincinnati we turned north on the Mississippi where we disembarked under the St Louis arch. She still exists today but is in need of a full restoration. I had looked for a model of it ever since to no avail. So I built this one in 1/32 scale, all scratch built with the exception of a few Britannia fittings from Blue Jacket. It came out to just over 26" long. I built it using the "bread and butter" method with 1/16 plywood in between each deck level. Thanks, Patrick"
Real Boat Names
Let's see YOUR workbench
This is from professional modeler Stephen W of MD - quite the shop, he's got 10 models in progress at this time.
What's on the workbench?
Nic's bench - Just starting on a model of the Newsboy for a client. Scale 1/8" = 1' Al built the model, but gave it to me to do the rigging.
Al's bench - Al is starting on a Coast Guard 82' point class WPB, to become a new kit in 3/16"=1' scale, fourth in our "Great American Workboats" series.
Something Fun
After being married for 30 years, a wife asked her husband to describe her. He looked at her and then said, "You're an alphabet wife... A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K"

She asks..."What does that mean?"

He said, "Adorable, beautiful, cute, delightful, elegant, fabulous, gorgeous and hot."

She smiled happily and said..."Oh, that's so lovely, but what about I, J, K?"

He said, "I'm just kidding!"
Memorial service will be held this Tuesday afternoon

Tip of the Month - 7 ways to motivate your modeling
This is from the Rocky Mountain Shipwrights newsletter:

And here’s another archived article I found helpful a while ago. I’m finding it helpful again, and I hope it can be for you. I often find, specially now that I am beyond 70, my motivation to get going needs a good kick start to turn on the flow of my modeling juices.

It's frustrating, isn't it? You define tasks that you need to accomplish, you gather the resources needed , and set the time and place to get it done. Yet it still isn't getting done. What you need is: Motivational Help

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 railroading 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 layouts I am emulating provide an inducement to get to work. Also, of the project will bring in money, it will take precedence.

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. Share Your Successes and your problems Be an active participant in Internet forums (Rocky Mountain Shipwrights!) which focus on your modeling subject. I currently have a dozen of them bookmarked in my favorites and check in with each weekly.
Blatant Publicity
A Final Thought...
My New Year's resolution was to loose 10 pounds. So far I only have 14 more to go.

We have just added 3 new kits:
Half Hull Yacht America scale 3/16"=1' available now.
6-masted schooner Wyoming scale 1/8"=1' available in March
USS Oregon, scale 3/32"=1' also in March
Nic Damuck
BlueJacket Shipcrafters