10thumbs

Hello Ray, $150 for a motorcycle boot was a good investment. Protection was needed.

OK. Now I know some of you are going to think, WTF? Well, I like good shoes and I can't see anymore paying more than $700 for shoes that last a lifetime, since I'm in the meantime 67 yrs. old. Seems stupid. I have English shoes I bought in this category from 40 years ago, and wore them every day, but not the same pair daily, during my working years. I walked a lot. Still have them, they're still very good! Occasionally I have opportunity to still wear them. Today, I received these, a new pair of casual shoes; Hand made in Italy, ordered to size, with full leather soft lining and a soft leather cushioned insole, all leather sole and nailed heel with a rubber heel insert and Blake stitched construction. I didn't want this color suede, too dark for spring and summer evenings, but chose another color from 16 (!!) other choices. They arrived today, and fit like a glove, super soft even without socks. Just slide in and a puff of air rushes out and WOW! These shoes fit. The soft leather lining is super smooth, even on the top of the inside shoe. Great quality for $175, hand made. Business shoes are of course a matter of choice. I like good shoes and still have good American shoes from older days. Several years ago I ordered a pair of Johnston & Murphy Chelsea boots and they are for the price a real good deal, I like them and wear them while riding my Vespa (except in the hot summer days). Consider this, a young man enters the working world and black plain business shoes are a MUST. Buy a $700 hand made shoe (this was back in the 70's, today 3 times), and you won't ever have to buy another, especially if you choose to buy two! This makes out to about some $50 a year. Not much. Just a thought, plus I like to sometimes be different. So, maybe the 1st shoe freak on our forum?

Great to finally see one of these Henry J's finally completed. Wonderful motor choice too, love it! Really a great model. You know, we see occasionally a 41 Willys, even a '33 is a great one. I can't remember seeing such a cool Henry J, or even seeing one at all that was finished. Excellent that you open up a new way to go for Gasser fans. I kind of wonder if anyone else has a Henry J to show, maybe even one that was never finished. Like maybe a junk yard deal, or a rusty one too, maybe even one that was ready to be crushed, or that was wrecked. Cool theme for sure. Rusty steel, then showing a crushed result, then the resurrection. Wonderful model!

Great post Bill, thanks for showing. I'm sure we can all relate to those great shots, some look right out of existing family albums. Wonderful.

Guys, I think often, gotta love, and appreciate Daddyfink and iBorg for their helpful input. Excellent!

Cheers Lee! I read about the egg deal, so I looked here too. Again, this stuff is right along the lines of what the wife's family, and most other Europeans have done as well for centuries. Conserving foodstuffs before the days of electricity. Reap the fruits of nature, and preserve these for the winter months and beyond. Meantime, after living many decades in Old Europe, there are still great ways to preserve the good things nature brings us, and marvel these in the deep winter. Cheap, and fun too. I always wondered why lots of older type houses here have cellars that are not hermetically sealed from moisture. The cellars are moist, yep. Make a pile of sand in a blocked off corner, cover up your glass jars of preserves with sand and occasionally some water spread over the top of the heap to keep the sand moist, keeps stuff really cool and the goods last for years. Lee, just my question about the method you show is why the fruits are not kept out of daylight? My experience, the fruits go into a glazed ceramic jar, being protected from light. Please keep the stuff cool.

....OK, I just asked the wife (she's a German gal) how "sole-eggs" are done. Sole, not soul....sole is the heavy salt solution. Boil the eggs. Let them cool. Make a heavily salted water solution, add seasonings, in your case the chilies....and heat until boil (to defeat germs). Let the solution cool down. Either crack the eggshells in several places, or peel completely. Dump them in the solution and 2 -5 days later....enjoy.

What about salt in there? No? I used to pickle just the peppers, and the recipes called for lots of salt, then poured over the peppers and the glass was sealed and cooked in water. The old German beer bars used to have big jars of eggs in a salty solution. Made for great farts later on....

Excellent Ludwig, great attention to detail and as usual a stunning paint job with a great color choice.

Well done. Looks like a real wooden boat....hey, it is a real wooden boat. I'm happy to see your new direction.

Ray, the boat looks REAL! Forget the apprehension, forget the new techniques involved, it's a wooden hobby world now. How good does real wood look, compared to plastic? Indescribable. Now if the look of this boat doesn't overwhelm you, you must be numb. I love it!

Looks good Ray. Usually even the smaller boats (from kits) are double planked. It's standard procedure after the 1st plank application, to putty and fill in the dents and voids that result from planking over the voids between the bulkheads. Everyone does it, there is no other way to get the hull smooth enough otherwise. No cheating involved, not to worry. Hope you don't mind me posting an example of 'extensive' filling. Here a hull done recently, all the white stuff is an acrylic based wood putty (dries in 20 min. and easy to clean tools). The 2nd planking is otherwise visible, already in progress. Man I apply the soft and easily applied stuff from the tube direct to the hull and spread it out as evenly as possible with a butter knife. After drying, it sands easily and quick with 180 grit; When the hull is smooth, the 2nd planking is a breeze. No more dents to worry about. Everything is going well with your boat and it looks good. Michael

Excellent scratch build, I've never seen one like this. Question: What was the thinking back then about the ride height? I assume this was one of the beginning Match Race cars of the era, just after the '65 A/FX beginning. Did the guys first do the radical motor, then saw they could do big frame and wheelbase mods? Thanks again for showing a piece of your outstanding collection.

Excellent model, great attention to detail.

Dan, excellent pics and thank you for posting. Moreover, even though you're recovering from a really dangerous infliction, it's good you get off your butt and let that good dog go about his ways. He deserves as good as life can give him, and by golly he looks like he's loving it. Yes, if you avoid it, no city is a good thing. There is nothing I can think of at this time that could draw me to a big city. I'm a small town type. Your wilder outlook, where you live, is probably the best choice if you know to survive. Respect.

Hello Ray, I like the way you're going about the wooden shipbuilding endeavor. Your first kit let you get the feel of things, now this one is looking like a real ship model kit. Probably the wood offered in the kit is not any different from models that are a lot larger and complicated. All in all, a great way to get going. Nice looking model too.

Looks good Ray. No need in selling yourself short here, first wooden ship endeavor, no instructions and no explanations. I'd say well done.

Here, a single cannon on a swivel mount. Common armament from the day. Another, the red lines are from the instructions, not my doings; Here a look at the bilge pump I mentioned; This is an Occre model ship of the same classification as yours, a brig rigged clipper from the late 1700's. Still, I don't understand the two holes on your deck.

Ray, check out closer about any cannons in this kit. Small boats like this had also a single, big cannon, like a carronade. A big, short range gun that packed a real nasty punch. This gun needed a good foundation, but these smaller vessels probably didn't have "two" side by side. Let me look at some plans I have for some insight. I have some that have a single gun, swivel mounted...maybe?

I'm saddened of this news as well. What a real character! He always made me grin.

Hi Ray, I haven't a clue as to what the two holes are supposed to be used for. Now there were holes in the decks for the levered pumps used to drain the bilges and to empty the hull of sea water from leakage, storms and war damages. These holes could be feasible for this application, being the area the largest and most voluminous area of the hull. Just it doesn't make sense to me them being there, plus the holes are too large for pump-type hardware. Also there were no derricks or cranes on these boats, the yards and winches were used as cranes to lift cargo and cannons. I'm stumped about the holes as of now. Anyway, the bilge pumps were not located so openly on the main deck, but more out of the way of the cargo area. The rest is taking shape, that's a nice looking deck in my opinion. I also agree this is a wonderful kit to get the feel of things, and for 15 bucks it looks pretty darned good. Rigging, and mast support and sail attachment is something for the next time around, especially when the kit has decent instructions available. Not to worry, you're on your way. Michael

Man that Cushman is a rarity! Fantastic. Back in the mid 50's, a ride on cousin's Cushman scooter was my 1st taste of scooter fun....still at it today as a matter of fact. New carb installed and running fine.

@Scott, great! I love N scale, H0 too. Model trains are just fantastic.

Looking good Ray, she looks like great one for a first endeavor and can be built up to look excellent on the shelf! Great choice. A boat with this type of rigging is called a schooner-brigg, also a brigantine. The foremast is for square rigged sails while the main mast is for schooner sails, the triangular types. This was a great handling boat, needed a few more hands on board to handle the square sails, but a lot less than a brig, which had both masts set up for square sails on yardarms. This was a popular type vessel around 1770's and further on throughout the 19th, and a very successful design, and very common along the Chesapeake Bay....read Baltimore Clipper, the original clipper ships, later to become the big 3 masted fully rigged tea clippers. These boats didn't hold a lot of cargo as the hulls were sleek and built for speed and handling, they look really radical with hull sitting deep in the water and a huge amount of cloth in the wind....magnificent. Also, these boats greatly enabled the Revolution to become a success.

Yep, the fun starts. I never had one of those plank benders.