Q and A Part 1 

Thanks for taking the time to write. It's very gratifying to know that people are getting usable information from these videos. I do enjoy making them. more to follow soon.

I'm so glad!

Have you seen Gary Brinker's RU-vid channel on his build of the MS Bluenose. He can be a bit long winded but there are some great tips and tricks he goes through and is very detailed.

Keep up the good fight.

That's nice to hear.

Glad you are enjoying the videos and thanks from half a world away.

Thanks, Floyd. It's great to be found!!

I checked out two of his videos and his models are impressive, to say the least. Thanks for the lead.

Usually, I like to paint both sides. So, I paint one side, hang it up to dry and flip it over and repeat. Both coats are thin. You don't want to slather paint on-nice thin, even coats. Thanks for watching. Tom

Ray, If you are talking about the green patina we've seen develop on copper that's been left outside (think Statue of Liberty), that only develops on ships when the copper is exposed to the air-like when a ship is hauled out for repairs and left for a while. If you just want it to oxidize a little bit try, Patina It from Micro Mark. This assumes that the copper you're using has no coating of any kind on it. If it's got anything on it the chemicals won't work. Also for just dulling it down a bit, the best thing I recommend is patience. It will oxidize all on its own-probably in about 2 years, depending on your climate.

Tom Lauria thank you.

It's okay for flying airplane models because of its light weight. But, it's pretty much useless as a ship modeling wood. Basswood is one the better woods for general ship model building and it is readily available almost anywhere.

thank you Tom. your work is inspiring.

Thanks!

I can't believe I didn't see this until now. If it's not too late, I'll try to answer your question. The best stuff to use is linen line. The stuff that was made for fishing line up until the 50s is the best. It is now very rare, but you can still come across it every once in a while. Bluejacket Shipcrafters does sell some linen, but the examples I've seen aren't very good or consistent in size. You might try leather working suppliers. I've tried some their stuff and it's a bit on the stiff side, but it looks nice. The examples I got were about .020" Try ebay and search for linen fishing line first. Then go to amazon and search linen line there. You should come up with the leather working stuff. If linen is too hard to find in the sizes you need, try Egyptian cotton or suture silk may be easier to find. Sorry to take so long in answering.

My first choice is linen, especially the kind that was popular as fishing line before the advent of synthetics. Second choice is Chinese twisted silk, or suture silk. It's beautiful, but it does have a lot of stretch to it. So you have to be careful not to rig you lines to tightly or you could be in for a rude surprise. Third choice is cotton, Egyptian cotton, if you can find it in the size you need. You can get good looking linen line from Syren Models in Connecticut (www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com/). It ain't cheap, but it's pretty nice looking stuff. The Chinese silk you may find on eBay, but that won't be cheap, either . I'm not particularly snobby about the type of line I use. I will use whatever looks the best on the model, if it's the right size. The only thing I shy away from are the synthetics (nylon, dacron, monofiliment, etc.). These really shouldn't be used in ship modeling, at all. Beware of the European kits. They love using that stuff. It's horrible! Hope this helps. T

My son printed it up for me. I'll let him know you liked it.

I've had some tubes for years. If the cap is on tight, they last forever-scale forever

@@shipmodelguy That is great to know. This has been the one thing holding back. I didn't want to waste so much paint. I have seen so many times how Chuck P. uses the same paint. I will give it a try. But I must tell you I doubt I will ever paint 40 coats like he does.

I've been using the stuff since the mid 70s and haven't found anything that has the versatility and scale appearance. The only thing that come marginally close is architect's linen and I'm not sure if they even make that stuff anymore. What's your objection to using silkspan?

@@shipmodelguy Thank you. I have no objection to silkspan! I’m just starting out and somewhat on a budget, it can be hard to come by. I’ve heard people name substitutes like lens paper or even Newsprint paper. For smaller scales, mostly.

@@dynd Stay away from news print, it's closer to wood than it is to paper. Lens cleaning tissue is actually silkspan, but you can't get it in large enough sheets. Bluejacket Shipcrafters sells the stuff under the name "Modelspan" (why they felt the need to rename it is beyond me), but they do not carry the lightest weight. Having said that, the weight they sell would probably fit the need of all but the smallest of scales.

Gratifying to hear. Thanks for taking the time to write. Good luck and keep me in the loop. Tom

I kinda like it, but what does that tell you about me? Maybe I'll just mute the soundtrack, at those points.

No don't mute. I put the speed to half and i can hear​ what you're saying