Anchor Chain for 1:200 MISSOURI kit

[PATMAT]

OK, I've added a small quantity of 1:200 Iowa class chain stoppers on the ebay listing.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 1173646591

These are very delicate and tiny, so I can't offer any assurance that they'll be easy to assemble!
I suggest laying the hooks onto the chain links first, then drill 1mm holes for the padeye pins.

[Akula]

Pat

Stoppers arrived yesterday. Simply beautiful works of art!!

3 runs through the ultrasonic cleaner using Bestine and then the Baking powder blasting and these things actually can move around. At this size you need to be a neurosurgeon to assemble extra links as I need to do.

I am HAPPY!!!!!


Bob

[PATMAT]

Great! Thx for the feedback.

The parts are clean as delivered, but you can always do more. Even if they don't free up, they are already biased left & right to hook across the anchor chains like the real thing.

[BB62vet]

Re. painting the parts, etc. -

I'm wondering if possible an ebony or black dye might not work with this material. I have a small vial of ebony dye (can't recall the brand, but it may be RIT) and I'm going to cut a couple pieces of the waste sprue off and see what happens with immersing in this dye. Can't hurt, right I mean given the fact that enamels won't work and acrylics work only so-so?

Hank

[PATMAT]

Hank- Not sure what you mean by so-so for (water based) acrylics... they adhere and cure just fine on this material. But any time you paint chain (even metal chain), getting everything covered, and then excessive paint build up, become headaches.

Fine Art Models' proprietor told me his builders were using printer's ink instead of paint to minimize the thickness and preserve model details. So depending on your dye, it might work... I'll be watching!

[BB62vet]

Pat,

I think maybe I got the wrong impression re. acrylics from earlier comments. I agree w/what you said about paint build up, esp. on chains. I will test out the dye next week. I can tell you one thing - it is a D-Y-E - it takes forever to get off your fingers if you get it on them - I use gloves when working with it. I'll post the results once I've seen how it turns out.

Hank

[BB62vet]

Matthew�s Anchor Chain � Test with TransTint Black Dye

As promised (finally!) I tested a small strip of sprue from the Matthew�s Chain Stopper in a mixing cup using TransTint Black (#6023) at full strength (no dilution) with the following results:

With less than 30 secs tinting time, the strip was completely coated and dyed uniformly with a flat black finish. In less than 5 minutes it was dry to handle.

I am fully convinced that this will work with the entire Matthew�s anchor chain and chain stopper assembly and give a permanent flat dye to these products. I will use this on my model and when ready, I will post photos of the finished chains/stopper assemblies. When I do the dying of the chains/stoppers, I intend to leave the parts in the dye a bit longer, since there are various surfaces of each part to cover, and will move them around to ensure a complete coverage of the parts with the dye.

Whether or not this will work by diluting the TransTint dye, I can�t say � I don�t intend to do that since using it full strength gives me the results I was hoping to get. It is a bit pricey for the amount you will use, but you may have further uses for it on other projects.

This product is available online (Amazon.com) and Klingspor Woodworking Shop. (I bought mine at a local Klingspor shop). It may be available elsewhere, but these two vendors are known to me. The full info on this product is:

TransTint Black Wood Dye #6023 � 2 oz. bottle � retail price $17.95. Since this is a dye � USE WITH CARE � IT�S BLACK, IT�S HARD TO REMOVE FROM SURFACES � DON�T GET ANY ON YOU!!!

I tried uploading a picture of the dye sprue next to the stopper chain sprue it came from but without success.

[PATMAT]

I am pulling the plug on the 1:200 chain.

The quality of this chain, which has to be printed below Shapeway's minimum recommended dimension, is just too inconsistent. Sometimes (rarely), it's perfect... sometimes it comes in "welded" together, and I need to spend half an hour on a 45" length of chain breaking all the itty links free. No I won't let you do that, because sometimes they really break... and how will I handle that?
And sometimes the chain comes in with "flash", which occurs when the techs don't keep up with "print head hygiene", and which causes the chain to be a total loss. And for all of this, I have no recourse-- I have to accept the prints "as is" for them to print "undersize".

I will continue to offer the larger sizes for large scale models, that stuff works very well.

Thanks to everyone and their patience as I worked through this. Maybe we'll find another solution in the future...

[BB62vet]

Pat,

I'm sorry to hear about your 1:200 scale chain problems, but completely understand - product quality comes before anything else. At least, you've recognized the problem and are acting on it. Some manufacturer's would let it pass and care less.

Thanks for the GMP on your chain! Maybe you'll find a solution in the near future and be able to remarket it.

Hank

[BJohnson]

Pat,

Thanks for all you have done.

Bryan