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Showing results for tags 'Pilot boat'.
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I’ve decided to try something different for my next model. I acquired a book called, “Pilots: Volume 1. Pilot Schooners of North America and Great Britain”, editor and principal author Tom Cunliffe. For some reason, I grew attached to these boats; and specifically, the boat, Mary of Norfolk, that is pictured on the dust jacket. There is evidence of Pilot Boats operating on the East Coast from the early 18th century. In Virginia, pilots were independent and competed with each other for customers. Therefore, the boats had to be fast enough to get to incoming ships and thus be first in offering their services. They also needed a low draft in order to navigate the various river inlets flowing into the Chesapeake Bay. The boats lacked shrouds and bulwarks. In fact there are no lines ‘holding up’ the masts. The problem is that there are no plans for Mary of Norfolk. But the book does have plans from the late 1700s and early 1800s that have these same characteristics. So I’m going to commit the ‘sin’ of making a model based on an artist’s painting. The watercolor below is from the dust jacket and was done by George Tobin in 1794.
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I`m starting a new project on this forum. I fell in love with a two masted pilot schoner, that operated on the Elbe river, Elbe-mouth and german bay. The period about 1890. I`m adding some pictures I researched on the web, and information from marine paintings. The enclosed print of an wonderful oil painting, was created by the marine painter Carl Becker, who died in1926. The picture, adopted from one of my own books shows the pilot schoner "Elbe 5" before the elbe Estuary. The small pilot transfer boat brings the pilot back, now that the steamer in the background has presumably completed its journey down the Elbe river and is just about enter the Elbe mouth and onwards to the open sea. The model will be scratch built and POF, equiped with gaff sails and appropriate rigging The chosen scale will be 1:50 and the estimated build time 12 months from today. The displaying shall be on brass pedestals in a glass casing ....... the models rating will be: length over all 725 mm hull length 524 mm breadth over frame 117 mm Hight main mast from decks railing 504 mm copper cladding below the waterline The original schoner has already changed it`s owners many times in life since the 1890 days, has been lovefully cherrished an equipped with up to date nautical- and safety equipment. After sinking to the river bed some years ago after an accidential crash wih a trader motorship it has been raised, restored and is now being operated by much enthusiated members of an association of maritime oldtimer ships and live museum craft. in Hamburg. They are also offering tourns on the Elbe river when the weather is suitable again. Nils print of an oil painting by Carl Becker (died 1926) Elbe 5 in moderate breeze on Elbe river below is showing the template of one of the 13 frames for the model. The frames will be cut out of 2,5mm thick multiply with 5 layers
- 180 replies
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- pilot boat
- Elbe 5
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Hello shipmates! Last year i started this new build. I decided to give the old Artesania Latina's Swift Pilot boat, a different look. I find this little schooner a very beautiful ship. When i started on shipmodeling, i did't have the opportunity to start with kits, so this kit it would have been the perfect kick start, but it didn't happened. So, 20 years later, i gave my self a second chance, and with the plans, i decided to give it a try, giving it a different look, as the manufacturers gave it. Unfortunatly we are not talking about a ship that it existed in the real life, so what you will see here is just a mix from differents ship of the era and the time, there is not a theorical basis to follow, i hope to reach a good port. But, enough talking, lets make same sawdust!! I'm posting some pictures from the first steps, up to today, and i'll keep reports from now on.
- 21 replies
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- Swift
- Artesania Latina
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I finished my Pilot boat. It took 11 years. I had built many plastic plane models and felt it was time to try something new. My wife bought me this kit for Christmas 2007. I dug right in. I followed the practicum as best as my ability allowed me to. I made small errors from the start. Small errors compound over time. If the templates are cut a little off the hull will be a little off and from there everything else is a little off til a point is reached where I said uh oh this is not going to fit there as it should. I progressed well enough through coppering of the hull, etc. When the time came to craft the cap rail I had an extremely hard time of it for whatever reason. Nothing I did worked. Frustration set it. I don't understand this. I had no desire to continue. I packed up the ship and put it in the closet. It sat for a couple years. Then, I needed closet space so the ship went to the garage attic where all things go to die. Over the next 5 years I saw it on occasion while looking for something else. On occasion my wife asked about the boat and I told her the truth....My skill level sucks, I have no desire, I can't understand the next step, etc. I don't lie to myself or my wife. In early December 2017 I needed something to do. I was only working per diem and very near retirement. I rescued the Pilot boat. The cap rail was still a conundrum. I spent some time looking over what needing doing and figured a way. Balsa USA is in my town so I went over and got a couple sheets then traced and cut it out as one entire piece. I did that 4 times before I got one that worked to my satisfaction. I glued it down and didn't like it at all. I ended up removing it and trying again...finally ! I worked on the ship almost daily for four months. The good weather arrived and I put it away til December 2018. Since then I worked on it sporadically. Today I hung the last flag. Rigging taught me that super glue is my friend. I learned that later then I would have liked. The rigging that came with the kit is not good. I would have bought aftermarket had I known it exists. There is a lot more I could write and I may
- 4 replies
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- pilot boat
- finished
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Hello friends at the very end I start my building log now as the project is ready and shipped towards my brother as his birthday present. And as he is not a member in here I can write without killing the surprise for him. I startet the project also as a testingsuite for a using of the vertical lines for the first time. These ships have a beautyfull appearance under full sail. As I firstly planned to build three level of sails I had to realize that this isn't possible as the boat was planed to be shiped. The plan is from the pilotsbook in French and a set of plans by Gehard Schmitt for some further detailling. I resized to match into a pair of Ikea frames called Ribba. So the scale is something about 1/72 and the model had to fit to the Showcase build from to frames and an inner frame from heavy rubber floor imitating some stone and balsa wood layout painted in Tamiya Sky Blue. As the model has only four weeks to be build I avoided too much detailing on the other hand. So the Schmitt plans were a temptation to overdo it and a obstacle to get ready in time. So here the first steps and my sources:
- 3 replies
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- finished
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Here's the kit contents of the BlueJacket Mary Taylor pilot boat. The kit comes with copper tape, but I will be using individual plates on this model.
- 77 replies
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- schooner
- solid hull
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First build here, i read somewhere that the first kits have detailed instructions that build your knowledge base to know how to fill in the blanks when it comes to the less detailed instructions on the larger / more complex kits.. if that's the case I sure am glad i started with this little guy because i'm really struggling with the instructions! The miniature furniture kits / scratch-build tutorials i've worked off of have been drowning in detail. The build was going reasonably smoothly until I got the planking, where the instructions call for installing the sheeting, after rummaging through the kit a few times looking for a sheet of planks I decided it must be another name for strip wood. I didn't question this until i was securing the deck and the spacing between planks grew out of scale that I started second guessing and, digging through the kit one more time, found a pile of veneer strips - at this point i'm not sure if i've used my hull materials as planking or not! The images all appear to be strip wood, so i'm going to carry on and assume everything is fine. It's incredibly difficult to tell from any of the images online which wood was used, i seem to be the only one having this existential crisis. Yesterday was spent sanding / sealing the decks and today I will tackle filing down the ribs so I can start working on the hull.
- 9 replies
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- first build
- swift
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Hey everyone, I just got to the rigging on my first ship model, the MS Phantom, and had a question about the rigging. Is the rigging shown on the plans the complete rigging, or is it missing some of the rigging for the sails. I would like to, if possible display her with sails but am unsure on whether or not it makes sense with the rigging plan supplied with the kit. Also, I would appreciate any input on what state the rigging would look good in, i.e. full sail, half sail, furled sails etc. Thanks in advance for any and all input you guys are willing to share with a young deck hand. On a side note, if it is recommended to display with unfurled sails, I plan to use a method I found a while back that uses dyed thread pulled through to the undyed cloth to simulate the stitching in a closer to scale way. Preliminary tests have shown promise but canbea quite frustrating process because if a thread breaks, that could be all she wrote for that sail. Thanks again,
- 4 replies
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- Phantom rigging
- Pilot boat
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Hello friends, here my project of the Dove... A beauty by her lines and rigging, ...and a ship well documented and of a good size for a scale 1/2=ft Lpp: 42' - 11'' = 1' 9.6'' B moulded: 13' - 0'' = 6.6' D.: 6' - 2'' So I'll get a model about some 900 mm Loa and without stand nearly as high as long - at a beam of some 170 mm. A big model but a flate-able one in "The American Fishing Schooner" of Howard I. Chapelle you can find three very good plates of the Canadian pilot schooner "Dove". Biult in 1875 by Sylvester S. Baltzer in Preaux. Nova Scotia. She was owened by Cptn. James George a pilot. She was Canadian - proofed by the text in the index of H.I. Chapelle's book ( p.686). "Dove, Canadian pinky". But what is the right flag to her? So my question is the to the flag - blue or red canadian ensign? But this article confusede my completly: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb-pilot.html#pilot Or does this article deals with the flag used on a ship to show they are under pilots order on the bridge? My english is not good enough for this... Thanks for your help, Chris
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