THE SCUTTLEBUTT

The Scuttlebutt is the official newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Shipwrights – Denver, CO.

Its objective is to promote, develop and further scale model shipbuilding

and the study of maritime subjects, art, history and traditions.

 

VOLUME 11, NUMBER 2                                                                       MAY, 2002

 

MAY MEETING

THE MAY MEETING OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHIPWRIGHTS WILL BE HELD ON SATURDAY, MAY 18, AT 0930 HOURS, ROCKLER WOODWORKING & HARDWARE, 2553 SOUTH COLORADO BLVD., DENVER, CO.

 

SPEAKER: ED QUAM

TOPIC: “TURNING”

 

JUNE MEETING

The June Meeting will be held on Saturday, June 15, at 0930 hours, at Rockler Woodworking & Hardware, 2553 South Colorado Blvd., Denver.  Speaker: Ed Quam & Jon Sorenson Topic: “Wood of the World”. 

 

UPCOMING 2002 RMS MEETING DATES

Meetings are held on the third Saturday monthly at 0930 hours.  Location: Rockler Woodworking & Hardware, 2553 South Colorado Blvd., Denver, CO.

July 20             Terry Godwin, Mark Pankratz                          Hahn Method

August 17         Ed Quam, Mark Pankratz                                             Lumber Mill

September 21   Jon Sorensen, John McGann                                         Planking

October 19      Annual Model Exhibition

November 16   Kit Review

December 21   Ed Quam, Jon Sorenson

                        Rigging

 

NOW HEAR THIS - SKIPPER’S NOTES

Wow! Can’t believe it but another month is closing in and our meeting will be as usual, 9:30 AM on

Saturday, May 18th at Rockler.  It is important that we welcome back Ed Quam from his treatment program.  He insists on doing the program for us which is “Turning”.  What a guy!!!

The Belt Sander Races were something to behold.  I saw a number of our members there.  All our hats are off to Jon Sorenson for the hard work and the design of the RMS entry, which by the way won “Best of Show” in originality and 2nd in the actual speed competition.  Mark Prankratz was there with camera in hand and has a series of pictures.  It is my understanding that the club was given a check for $50 and told to keep the brand new Porter Cable Sander.  We’ll hear more about it from Jon and Mark.

Speaking of Jon Sorenson, he had a fantastic write-up with picture in the Sunday Denver Post on May 5th.  This covered the fine work he is doing for the Brown Palace Hotel in the renovation of ships in the “Ship Tavern”.  Hope you saw it.

And finally, I’ve had a number of phone calls and emails from members who have ship models they would like to sell.  If you are one of those pleas detail what you have (hip, length, name and pictures).  Also please include a ballpark price you would like.  We will do our best to find it a home.  The final decision, with the customer, will be yours.

We all hope that Fred Tournier is back on the “good health” list and out of “sick bay”.

See you there or sooner…THE SKIPPER      

 

 

MAKING YOUR OWN TAPERED REAMERS,

By Bob Gunnerson

Obtain your preferred diameter plano or drill stock wire, 3/32” to 3/16” (0.0938 – 0.1875).  This will come in 3 ft lengths at your local hardware store.

 

 

 

 

BE SURE TO USE EYE PROTECTION WHEN WORKING WITH POWER TOOLS AND MAKING REAMERS.

 

Cut the 3/32” stock to 3-1/2” lengths and cut the 3/16” stock to 5” lengths for the number of reamers to be made.  (If you get carried away you can make 10 reamers from the 3/32” stock and 7 reamers from the 3/16” stock.

Grind off any rough edges on the pieces of rod.  Chuck the rod in an electric drill.  With the drill running, hold the rod against the face of a rotating abrasive disc.  The right side of a rotating disc or wheel will give better results.  Hold the electric drill at about a 5° angle to the grinding surface.

This will give the rod about a 2” to 2-1/2” taper.  The rod should be quenched frequently as the pointed end will heat rapidly.  After grinding the taper to the needle-like shape, you may want to polish the rod to a smooth finish while it is still chucked in the drill.  If so, use a fine grit emery cloth to accomplish this.

 

A WORD OF CAUTION; BE VERY CAREFUL OF GETTING CARELESS AND JABBING YOURSELF WITH THE POINTED END.  I am speaking from experience.  I learned the hard way.

 

Unplug the drill.  Insert a 6” length of rod into any one of the 3 holes in the chuck.  This should be a snug fit (in the chuck keyholes).   You are now ready to grind the flat on the tapered rod with the abrasive grinding disc or wheel turned on, and the taper rod still in the chuck.

 

The purpose of the rod in the chuck keyhole and at right angles to the flat on the tapered rod you are grinding will be to hold the chuck in a vertical position and parallel to the rotating disc or wheel as possible.  I have found this helped me in grinding the flat with frequent grindings and returning to further grinding the disc without changing the angle of the flat.  This flat surface will be your cutting surface of the reamer.

 

Grind the flat on the tapered rod to just above where the taper ends.  (This is so you will be able to ream a hole to the full diameter of the rod.)

After the grinding is completed, it will be desirable to retemper your reamer or reamers by heating them to a cherry red and quenching them in light oil.  (Use as small amount of oil as possible to lessen the chances of creating a fire hazard.)

 

Wooden Handles - If the reamers were made by the production method then the author would recommend making the handles the same way.  I used a length or 3/8” dowel, cutting them off in 2-1/2” lengths.  Drill the hole in the dowel for a press fit to about 3/4” depth.  This can be done in a lathe or with a setup on a drill press.

Hollow grinding the taper will give a sharper cutting edge.  This requires another jig and operation, but you will find that without the hollow grind the reamer will work quite satisfactorily in most reaming operations.  Under reasonable conditions they will outlast the reamers you purchase.  I have been using some that I made 30 years ago!

 

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF AMELIA EARHART’S DISAPPEARANCE: RESEARCH RESULTS TO DATE, by Thomas F. King, Presented to the Society for American Archaeology, March 24, 2002, Denver, CO

Lecture Report by Bob Rushforth

The mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart in 1937 on her around the world flight has captured the imagination. The book, Amelia Earhart’s Shoes: Is the Mystery Solved? (2001, Altimira Press) is a fascinating look at discoveries by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) between 1988 and 2001. The project archaeologist, Thomas F. King, made a presentation at the 2002 SAA Conference in Denver, which focused on the results of the 2001 expedition to Nikumaroro Island (aka Gardner Island).

Amelia Earhart disappeared on a flight from Lae, New Guinea to Howland Island. Amelia’s last message reported she could not find Howland Island and was flying on a bearing of 157° - 337°.

This was the navigation “line of position” through her destination, Howland Island. This apparently was an attempt to find Howland Island once the required distance to Howland Island had been reached. Earhart likely turned south along this line of position, because there were no other islands to the north of Howland Island, in case she wrongly guessed her actual position.

South along this “line of position” is Nikumaroro Island. TIGHAR theorizes Earhart’s plane landed safely on the reef and that she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, survived for awhile on the island and then died. TIGHAR concentrated its efforts on searching Nikumaroro in the hope of finding artifacts from the aircraft.

Although uninhabited at the time of Amelia Earhart’s disappearance, Nikumaroro was colonized in 1938 by people from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands as part of the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme.  This colony was later abandoned in 1963, but it “contaminated” the island with artifacts, making the identification of any genuine Earhart artifacts questionable.  In addition, there was a small US Coast Guard post on the island during WWII.  There also was an earlier, pre-1937 shipwreck, Norwich City, on the reef, from which the survivors had been rescued. The archaeological waters of Nikumaroro were “muddied” to say the least.

The evidence is tantalizing, but so far is not conclusive.  Airplane fragments have turned up, but at least some are from a B-24, possibly traded by the islanders from the British-American base on Kanton Island, about 200 miles NE of Nikumaroro.  Other fragments more closely match Earhart’s Lockheed Electra.  The islanders used the metal to make handicrafts and jewelry.  Perhaps the most intriguing artifacts are a pair of women’s blucher oxfords dating to the 1930’s.  Amelia Earhart is shown in photographs wearing similar shoes on her ill-fated flight, but there appear to be size differences.  The airplane fragments and shoes yield nothing conclusive.

When the colonists first arrived on Nikumaroro, a skeleton was discovered (mid-1940). The colonists buried the skull. In September 1940 the newly

arrived British Administrator examined the site and found human long bones and a partial pelvis, along with remains of a fire plus bird and turtle bones.  Apparently, any missing human bones had been scattered by the coconut (robber) crabs, which infest the island.  The bones were sent to Fiji, and were examined by a medical doctor. He identified the bones as being those of a European male.  Using modern analytic methods, and the medical doctor’s notes, however, two TIGHAR doctors concluded that the bones were those of a European female about 5-7” to 5’-9” in height. This was a good match for Amelia Earhart.  So far, however, the bones have not been rediscovered. They were last seen in 1941.  Again, the evidence is not conclusive.

One piece of evidence is especially interesting.  Along with the bones, the British Administrator reported finding a sextant box. Two numbers were on it (3500 and 1542). Could it have belonged to Amelia Earhart’s navigator, Fred Noonan?  In the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, FL is a Ludolph sextant box, which is documented to have belonged to Fred Noonan.  (He loaned it to a student.) It has the number 3547 written on it by Noonan. This number is similar to the number series on the Nikumaroro sextant box.  Noonan carried a nautical sextant with him on flights during his days at Pan Am as a backup. He also may have done so on Earhart’s flight.

The 2001 expedition concentrated on the apparent site where the skull and bones had been found.  (The British Administrator didn't leave a map of the site location.)  This site was called the “Seven Site”.  Artifacts were discovered, but at least some of them were identified as of US Coast Guard origin.  Among the artifacts, there was a knurled knob and two latches, which are similar to fittings on navigational instruments.

Where does this leave us?  A pre-1938 skeleton of a European and a sextant box like Noonan’s were found on Nikumaroro. A pair of shoes, like Amelia Earhart’s, also were found.  Someone had lived for a short while and died on Nikumaroro before the arrival of the colonists in 1938. Was it Earhart?  Was it Noonan?  Was it someone else? 

 

 

The evidence is tantalizing, but not yet conclusive. Only the bones will tell (DNA), if they are ever rediscovered.

 

NEW MEMBERS

Please welcome the following new members to RMS.

Robert Luckwitz

luckwitz@compuserve.com

 

Richard J. Painter

painter@math.colostate.edu

 

Scott Patton

aspatton@prodigy.net

 

Fred Tournier

 

RMS members are encouraged to wear their name badges to monthly meetings.  New members can order name badges at Sun Signs, 4420 Tennyson St., Denver, CO 80212 (303-477-1594)

KITS FOR SALE

Robert Garcia (303-316-2702), who is working on a Bluejacket Constitution and has expressed an interest in RMS, has a few kits for sale.

Bluenose (Artesania Latina)                        $45

Swift (Artesania Latina)                              $28

Whaleboat (Model Shipways)                           $38

Taurus Tug (Model Shipways)                    $20

Mayflower (Constructo)                             $70

Lynx Schooner (Panart)                              $68

 

MEMBER NEWS

RMS member, Bob Rushforth, will work as a volunteer on the Ft. Phil Kearny Archaeological Project for 1 week in June.  Bob will be involved in a remote sensing survey of the Quartermaster Corral using magnetic gradient equipment.  The project involves both class work and fieldwork.  Ft. Phil Kearny State Park is located on the Bozeman Trail in northern Wyoming, between Buffalo and Sheridan on I-90.  Soldiers from Ft. Phil Kearny were involved in the Fetterman Massacre and the Wagon Box Fight (1867/8).  A show and tell program is promised at a future RMS meeting.

It is hoped that Member News will become a regular section in the Scuttlebutt.  RMS members are encouraged to submit items of interest for inclusion in the Scuttlebutt.

 

CABOOSE HOBBIES SALE

Caboose Hobbies (500 South Broadway, Denver) is having a sale of its ship modeling books.  RMS members are encouraged to check it out.  The location of the books has been moved to a spot under the archway between the two main sections of the store.

LIBRARY

The RMS library needs books on specific chips.  Most of the books are on general categories.  Donations of books are especially welcome.  The library is located in the cabinet near the RMS meeting room at Rockler Woodworking and Hardware.  Members are requested to return any books that have been outstanding for a long time so that other members may enjoy them too.