Last week I visited my local branch of Hobbycraft (in Crayford, Kent) in the hope of being able to buy some more wooden spools (for model ship funnels/smoke stacks) and some wooden cotton reels (for model ship turrets). Unfortunately they did not have any on sale, so today I travelled a bit farther afield, and visited the branch in Maidstone. After a very thorough search of the store, I could not find either of these items on sale, and a member of staff confirmed that the branch no longer carried them in stock.
I can just about cope with making funnels/smoke stacks for my model ships from wooden dowel, but the turrets are a different matter. I was faced with the prospect of either having to cut, carve, and shape them from blocks of wood or find thick enough dowel that I could trim to length. In the end I opted for the latter, and bought an expensive three-foot long piece of 1-inch diameter wooden dowel. I hope that this will be the answer to my problems ... but if it is not, I have wasted quite a lot of money on something for which I do not have another use.
Hey, ho! Halcyon days!
I can just about cope with making funnels/smoke stacks for my model ships from wooden dowel, but the turrets are a different matter. I was faced with the prospect of either having to cut, carve, and shape them from blocks of wood or find thick enough dowel that I could trim to length. In the end I opted for the latter, and bought an expensive three-foot long piece of 1-inch diameter wooden dowel. I hope that this will be the answer to my problems ... but if it is not, I have wasted quite a lot of money on something for which I do not have another use.
Hey, ho! Halcyon days!
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Necessity be the mother of invention for all scratchbuilds
ReplyDeleteI don't know if an equivalent exists but some of our DIY/hardware stores have craft sections with various odd little wooden shapes intended, some as fiddly bits for decorations, discs and stars and so forth, others as parts for toys, wheels etc.
ReplyDeleteGeordie an Exiled FoG,
ReplyDeleteHow very true!
I hope to see if the dowel is the answer to my problem later this week, and if it is, the results will soon be on display in a blog entry.
All the best,
Bob
Ross Mac,
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly what I was looking for ... but I have yet to find a DIY/hardware shop in the UK that sells them, which is why I have had to use Hobbycraft.
My next avenue is to trawl through the Internet, but first I will try using the dowel; after all, now I have bought it, I might as well use it!
All the best,
Bob