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Pride in the Pacific 1982 In late 1976 I got a job as a laborer on a construction site in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. At the site they were building a Baltimore Clipper schooner named Pride of Baltimore. Pride under construction in November 1976, just about when I started there. Five years later, on my 21st birthday, I reported on board as Pride's newest crew member. I spent two months aboard the boat in charge of her guns as she took part in the bicentennial reenactment of the battle of Yorktown. Yours truly is at the top right, in the cocked hat. A summary history of the boat is available at my site, as is an album of the few photos taken during my time aboard. In 1982 I acquired a copy of her plans from Thomas Gilmer with the intent to build a sailing model, but I was young, moved around a lot and it just never happened. In November of 2011 I got to seriously thinking about actually building a model of Pride and figuring out what size to make her. The upper limit was as large, overall, as Constellation, but there was a lower limit also. I tried scaling her the same as Constellation (1:36), but looking at what she would need in terms of batteries, winches, servos, etc; I didn't see how I could fit the equipment needed to control so complicated a rig. I decided to make her 1:20 scale, as large as I could and still stuff her into a van or SUV. With her lines scanned and scaled up I printed her stations on paper. There were glued to 3/8" CDX plywood, cut out, sanded, etc, and stood up on the old building board Constellation was built on. A work in progress: every item I draw in scale gets added to this plan. There they stood for nearly a year. On November 19, 2011 I cut out the keel, mounted it on the forms and began planking. I learned my lesson on Constellation and fully planked the hull, but I taped the edges of the forms so the planking wouldn't be glued to them, and they could be removed - leaving me with full access to the very limited space. The hull was planked in pine strips 1/8 thick and 1/4" wide. They were glued to each other, but only pinned to the forms. The pins were akin to half-length straight pins and bent at the slightest look, making planking extremely tedious and hard on the fingers. I wasn't doing the next one that way. I also didn't spiel the planks, but just laid them on from the keel up, and the sheer down, leaving that football shaped hole to fill. The hull being glassed and painted, it wasn't an issue visually, except that it bother's me constantly. I'm not doing that again either. By Halloween, the hull was planked. The hull was filled, sanded, filled, and sanded some more. The aft-most form with the counter and transom forms was given a tap with the handle of a screw-driver and came right out. Soon the other forms followed, leaving the hull open. The inside was sanded and then painted with diluted Tightbond III to get into the nooks and crannies of the planking and glue everything up. It was then given two coats of poly resin. The stern post was too tall, a sign of advanced planning. I cut it down with a rotary tool - you'll see why later. The stern and then the sides were fiberglassed with 4 oz cloth. Pride's plan compared to Macedonian's The concept I restarted the build logs for Constellation and Macedonian that were lost in the crash. There never was a build log for this model on MSW, but, what the heck, there is now.
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Good morning everyone! This log is the evolution of what was a kit build, that out of frustration and disappointment, is now a full campaign into scratch building. I bought Model Shipways "Pride of Baltimore II", 1:64th scale what now must be a couple years ago. I was beyond excited when it arrived. My wife and I spread the contents across the counter, separating, grouping every strip as we checked off the material list. We counted cannons, pulleys and deadeyes...This is where my initial frustration was seeded. The cannons where so small, with little detail to enjoy. Nonetheless, I jumped in with enthusiasm. I built the bulkhead frame and fared it out for planking. I had planned all along to build this model as an embellished version replacing decking and planking with Redheart, Yellowheart, and Holly. I had also planned on eliminating some of the "modern" features on deck and making it more/less true to the original schooner. I have to admit, at the time of purchase, I settled for this kit. The budget was not there for me to purchase the ship I wanted, "HMS Surprise", 1:48 scale by A L. I was concerned with the scale of 1:64th from the beginning in that it wouldn't give me the room to be creative with exotic woods, building a "jewelry box" display piece. So it sat, staring at me. I found myself avoiding this forum, not wanting to answer to having no updates..silly, I know. Over time the "Pride" found it's way back into the box preached on a high shelf. The shipyard was silent, tools hung motionless and frustration became loss. Finally, life took back over, as it always does. I wondered in and out of MSW for some time there after. I logged back in this past March I think, only to find I had loss a good friend, Augie Bruno. Augie's passing hit me hard. I had planned on telling him I retired from healthcare. I had mentioned how I hate how time and the busy-ness of life steals from us the things we love most. We spent the last winter and spring renovating our new property. I turned a cabin next to house into my cabinet/furniture shop. I made a separate space within for the shipyard. Business took off with a bang but lately, my benches are idle without any work on the books. So what life has afforded me is time to be here with good friends and a shared passion. Winter will reach Wisconsin soon enough. Now to the build; I'm resizing the plans from 1:64 to 1:48 scale. Materials featured: Hard Maple and Basswood for frame and structure. Redheart for planking, Yellowheart for decking, Holly, Ebony and brass and copper for details. treenails will be copper and brass pins. I look forward to any input or thoughts as this project moves along! I'll be spending time this weekend readying the shipyard for this build and start resizing my materials list with an online scale calculator. Sincere Regards to All, Bill
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Kit arrived Friday, almost a week before I expected it. Didn't get to it till today. Organized tools again and took inventory, labeling all the wood bundles after measuring then with a caliper. I can't identify some of the castings but the count seems right. Will have to cross that Sea when I come to it. I'm pretty intimidated by some of the blocks and dead eyes. Will have to get a new magnifying visor or microscope to rig them. May get started on they keel today and may not. Have to find a copy place to copy the plans as they are printed double sided. I like to post them on the wall but don't want to have to stop and turn them over all the time. The Glad Tidings is a good inspiration that I can do this. It's sitting atop the piano right next to my work table.
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