May 2024 Volume 14 number 5

The big news last month was the total solar eclipse that went across the USA and Maine. Trisha and I went to Houlton to view it, the last place in the US before the eclipse moved into Canada. Totality lasted an incredible 3 minutes and was magnificent. Here is a great news story from the Weather channel on location in Houlton:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mwTIHQ_Wvc&t=3s

Also last month we attended the 41st annual joint clubs meeting of the Northeast. there were about 110 attendees and 86 models on display Olha Batchvarov has been filming these lately, and will do this one as well. Here is a link to her last year's show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaIoyUKVBKg

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

One box of misc wood from John Gardner is still available for sale, $150 plus shipping. If you are interested, get a hold of me, Nic or Trisha. 207-548-9970

Josh

Bitt - A strong vertical structural timber or metal post, used to make fast heavy lines; usually in pairs, ergo bitts. the term came from Dutch, beting, and this from Old Norse, biti, crossbeam. It is related to the Late Latin word bitus, whipping post.

Ebb - Outgoing tidal flow. The word came from Anglo-Saxon, ebba, coming to us via old English, French, and Middle English.

Helm - The simplest definition is "tiller," but the term could be said to refer to the steering apparatus of any craft.There are several words from which the term could have been derived, one of which is the old Norse hjalmvoh, meaning rudder-handle.

Sheet Anchor - The heaviest anchor on board older ships, for use in heavy weather. the books say the derivation is sheten, Middle English for shoot,intimating handling quickly. this hardly makes sense, it being the heaviest and largest. the term more likely came from the old English skeat, a platform, as this anchor was usually stowed abaft the forecastle deck, and often secured to it.

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

refunded except by extreme circumstances, which we reserve the right to determine.

From Gary S. of VT:

"I have attached a photo of my model of  USCG 52302, a 52 foot Buoy Tender. I scratch-built the model at 1/2"=1'-0 with the lift method, using USCG drawings, my personal photos and recollections. Many of the fittings are from BlueJacket Shipcrafters. I crewed aboard 52302 during 1972 & 73 while on active duty in the USCG. The 52302 spent its entire career working Aids to Navigation on Lake Champlain. It was decommissioned by the USCG in the late 1980's, and spent the remainder of its life on static display, on the hard, at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. It was demolished after it deteriorated to the point where it was no longer safe to display. I donated my model of 52302 to the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, where it is currently on display. Gary S."

From Cliff E. of MD

"Hi Nic,

I always enjoy getting the Bluejacket newsletter. In your last edition it sounded like you were running out of pictures of workbenches so here's mine from Annapolis,MD. The bench was a bit cluttered as I was getting ready for a small nautical flea market. Left to right; Virginia round stern (still in building mode), scratch built skipjack, a restoration of Billy Joel's "Half Shell", (my second restoration for Billy) and a scratch built Eastern rig dragger.

Cliff"

Nic's bench - The Santa Maria is finished, so I'm working on our Swampscott Dory to replace the one we sold from the gallery. I'm also back to rigging the Harriet lane for a customer.

Al's bench - Al is finishing up a custom half-hull of the sailboat Laissez Faire for a client. This is the gloss dark blue hull color just being applied. Nice and shiny!

This is from Redwood Empire Model Shipwrights newsletter...

The lathe is a wonderful tool, in fact without it the Industrial Revolution would never have happened. It does however need a bit of familiarity and practice in order to get some decent results out of it. It has to be said that most texts on lathe work relate to larger items of turning and are not applicable to our craft; hopefully these notes might be of use in addressing this.

Newcomers to the lathe might be a bit intimidated by it and by the fact you have to get up close and personal with an item which has unguarded chunks of metal flying round at many thousand RPM. But fear not, compared to other items of workshop machinery which can bite, get your hand too close to the chuck and it will knock your hand away without much damage. There are however basic safety rules which must be observed so please:

1) Never ever leave the chuck key in the chuck (the lathe operators golden rule). After using the key immediately put it back on the bench outside the work area, don’t take your hand off the key while it is still in the chuck.

2) Wear close fitting clothing, no ties, scarves etc.

3) Take off any jewelry, especially necklaces, chains, bracelets and oversize rings.

4) Long hair? Tie it back well out of the way.

5) If you buy a second hand lathe check the cord and switch condition.

6) Buy a pair of large inexpensive reading glasses 2.5-3x magnification. These will allow you to keep a bit further away from the work piece and provide eye protection. Do not purchase anything stronger since the focal length is too short and the image becomes distorted at the periphery.

7) Keep your mind on what you are doing and if someone interrupts you stop

A note about the other kit manufacturers on our website. We already offer tools, glue and paint like a hobby store, so why not expand kit offerings? We have gotten a few questions about diluting the BlueJacket name, but rest assured our printed catalog will only have BlueJacket kits.