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Fair American by figuerres - Model Shipways - 1:48


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Very good looking build. I too am building (going to) the F.A.. I just got the hit about a week ago. I have been looking over the instructions and the plans and have found a couple thinks. The keel and the keel stem are both short (I'll work with them). The other thing I am finding is the instructions always say go to page # of the plans but none of the plans are numbered, again a nusiance but livable. I say the rudder that Rafine built a just loved it but when I look at the plans and instructions I can't find any thing of detail about it. Does anyone have any details of the rudder or is it just guess work? I will be starting a build log a little later (when I get something done). Thanks all, I love this site.

 

Brad

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  • 6 months later...

Hello All, well I had a job change and a move and some other stuff happen and now I am getting back to my ships....

will be back soon.

Holding at Rigging stage :

MS Bluenose 1:64, rigging and finish work

 

Building Hull :

MS Fair American 1:48

 

In the yard:  18th Century Longboat, Model Shipways Kit

Done: AL Bounty Jolly Boat

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  • 2 weeks later...

well I will be re-starting next month, after much evaluation and searching I think my hull was not what I wanted in terms of quality.

I have a fresh kit coming to re-start the hull and get it right.

Holding at Rigging stage :

MS Bluenose 1:64, rigging and finish work

 

Building Hull :

MS Fair American 1:48

 

In the yard:  18th Century Longboat, Model Shipways Kit

Done: AL Bounty Jolly Boat

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minor update:   I have the new FA Kit in Box and I also got the stern lantern kit from Syren to replace the cast metal from MS.

I also did some bashing the old hull I had to get my led light s and wires out of the hull for the new model.

will have to order a new jack for the power adapter unless I get creative with a way to rig the wires ....

 

when I get the stern lantern made it will be interesting with the 1.8 MM LED that I have.

Holding at Rigging stage :

MS Bluenose 1:64, rigging and finish work

 

Building Hull :

MS Fair American 1:48

 

In the yard:  18th Century Longboat, Model Shipways Kit

Done: AL Bounty Jolly Boat

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  • 2 weeks later...

I recently got the Stern Lantern kit from Chuck's store and will post some photos in the next few days, this will I think make the new Fair American build look much better when I am done.

I got the 1/4" kit as that is the same scale as the ship kit.

Chucks lantern it much larger than the cast metal glob that comes with the model shipways kit but I think it will look just fine as it is a real lantern with windows and not just a chunk of metal.

I am using a bit of small brass tubing for the mounting base and that will hide my LED wires that go in the lamp.

the small LED ( 1.8MM) fit's inside and will look good when hooked up and on, they are yellow and change from almost off to a low level light so it's like an old candle or oil lamp in how it looks.

 

the kit is small and you have to be careful but it's not to hard to make, just take time. for me it's about a week on the calendar but mostly an hour at night so possibly 10 or 12 hours max build time.

Holding at Rigging stage :

MS Bluenose 1:64, rigging and finish work

 

Building Hull :

MS Fair American 1:48

 

In the yard:  18th Century Longboat, Model Shipways Kit

Done: AL Bounty Jolly Boat

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Siren 1:48 scale lantern kit with added LED light first try, I like how most of it came out.

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Edited by figuerres

Holding at Rigging stage :

MS Bluenose 1:64, rigging and finish work

 

Building Hull :

MS Fair American 1:48

 

In the yard:  18th Century Longboat, Model Shipways Kit

Done: AL Bounty Jolly Boat

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Just a follow up, the small top parts did not stay lined up right, I thought I had them but later when I looked at a close up they are not all to each side!

not a flaw of the kit, just hard with the small six sided bits to keep them in line.

 

the only other thing was keeping the six side panels in the right order was something at first I did not realize was key to building it. had to check them a few times as I went from card stock to paint and getting the windows on and then building the base.

 

I do think this looks 1000% better than the lump of metal that the kit has!

Holding at Rigging stage :

MS Bluenose 1:64, rigging and finish work

 

Building Hull :

MS Fair American 1:48

 

In the yard:  18th Century Longboat, Model Shipways Kit

Done: AL Bounty Jolly Boat

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  • 2 weeks later...

when I finish the bluenose around x-mas I have the upgraded rope and blocks ready along with the stern lantern for this build.

 

the first time I did the hull I did not get some of the planking right and when I tried to make up the gun ports it was a real mess.

this time I will be more careful to layout the main strake and whales and the gun port framing.  that should give me a better looking hull and better model.

Holding at Rigging stage :

MS Bluenose 1:64, rigging and finish work

 

Building Hull :

MS Fair American 1:48

 

In the yard:  18th Century Longboat, Model Shipways Kit

Done: AL Bounty Jolly Boat

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As I finish my bluenose I have also been reviewing the plans for the fair American to make this build better.

I had long known the plans had some kind of issue with the scale with it being a model of a model.

but today I saw two things that really got me.

 

the cabin doors and the scale bar on the printed plans.

 

first the scale bar is off by about 1/8th of an inch at 2 inches on a metal ruler!  the printed plans I have are "SHort"

 

but the cabin door would be only about 3 foot tall at the MOST it would be shy of 4 foot.

 

so the "Great Cabin"  needs to be taller by at least a foot before it would work, even allowing a step down inside to get a decent height.

 

unless the ship was manned by hobbits or dwarves !!!

 

I am not going to try and re-build her into a real working scale and I will just ignore the detail here and use a few of the adjustments I have seen to make it closer to a working model.

 

but really I think someone at model shipways should re-check the plans they have and see if they want to make a new kit that is better in scale.

Holding at Rigging stage :

MS Bluenose 1:64, rigging and finish work

 

Building Hull :

MS Fair American 1:48

 

In the yard:  18th Century Longboat, Model Shipways Kit

Done: AL Bounty Jolly Boat

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  • 1 month later...

OK as I am finishing bluenose and reading other logs for the FA I have come to a couple of "Kit Bash" changes I will make to this build:

 

hull length will be extended by about 8 feet or 2 inches at 1:48 to make more room for the cabin, ships wheel and cannons.

great cabin will have one door and one ladder. with more room aft the main mast and by not trying to fit in two doors and ladders the ships wheel should have more room for the crew to work and the cannons will not be in the way of the ladders, doors and wheel.

 

second is the height of the great cabin roof / q-deck and the transom and the rails, others have noted that the gun ports and the tops of the side rails seem wrong and some have added a plank to give more room, to work out the issues I think the main rail will go up about 1/4 to 1/2 inch

at 1/2 inch that would give the great cabin 2 feet - it currently seems to be about 3 or 4 feet tall from the main deck to the top of the cabin door when you check the plans.

if the q-deck and related structure is raised about another 1/2 an inch then the door height  could be about 6 or 7 foot tall and the cabin could have a six foot inside height. I am guessing at how much to allow for structure / beams so that the sailors don't crash thru the q-deck into the cabin :-)

 

both changes will only make the ship slightly longer and taller and should look very much the same overall.

the transom profile will have to change to be taller.

the boom from the main mast to the q-deck will need to be mounted higher up by a bit.

in theory the changes would allow the rudder to ships wheel rigging to fit under the main deck and great cabin more cleanly.

 

I think this will make my version closer to what they would have built when they looked at the plans and tried to make a real working ship from the modal and plan.

Holding at Rigging stage :

MS Bluenose 1:64, rigging and finish work

 

Building Hull :

MS Fair American 1:48

 

In the yard:  18th Century Longboat, Model Shipways Kit

Done: AL Bounty Jolly Boat

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  • 1 year later...

Hello Folks,  I am back .... been quite a while, chnaging jobs, buying a house and moving, i think in a few weeks i will finally be back on track with my ship making !!!

Holding at Rigging stage :

MS Bluenose 1:64, rigging and finish work

 

Building Hull :

MS Fair American 1:48

 

In the yard:  18th Century Longboat, Model Shipways Kit

Done: AL Bounty Jolly Boat

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  • The title was changed to Fair American by figuerres - Model Shipways - 1:48

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