All Activity

Thanks! There will be some much more substantial modifications to come, but I'm still figuring them out. For example, Chapelle's plans don't specify how far below deck the floors or seats should be, to my eyes the kit design looks a little short so I'm considering deepening the cockpit a bit (which Dee Dee, in his build log, seems to have done, but most of the photos don't load for me). So I'll need to work that out before I glue anything into place.

I understand. 1/96 can get a bit challenging on the details. However, I can fit more clippers in my library that way. The admiral has known for over 41 years that my clipper models are far more attractive and acceptable then say...my telescopes. I couldn't imagine where I would display a 1/75 scale model in its case. My last creation, the 1/96 clipper Glory of the Seas, just fit in this pass through from the living room to the dining room. Rob

Jacques, it’s nice the way that you’re refining your modifications on the fly. Fun to watch.

Given that the backbone is slightly wider, proportionally, than in the kit design, I needed to do some reshaping to get the bulkheads to properly fit. This was actually a very straightforward process. I used sanding sticks and mini files to slightly widen the slots. Bulkhead five, which has a narrowed slot at the top for the centerboard, especially needed shaping. In order to avoid removing too much material from the bulkheads, which would screw up the bottom edge where bulkhead meets keel, I also thinned the backbone at each slot. Thankfully my square mini-file is 1/8-inch square, the same thickness as my bulkheads, so this was simple to do. They aren't the straightest file lines, as the file sometimes skated across the surface rather than registering properly, but everything will be covered. Bulkhead 4, which is built in two parts around the centerboard, was a little tricky to properly fit due to its complex design. I had to trim the supports back a bit. For whatever reason, it didn't seem to need a groove filed in the backbone to fit properly--I filed more of a groove on the port side, but the bulkhead half just kind of hovers above it. It may need a little more fairing compared with the other bulkheads, but it should be fine and seems to line up pretty well with the other bulkheads. I also accidentally widened the slots for bulkhead 10, the transom, a little too much, making a very loose fit. I think the transom itself, which I still need to make, should hold it in place well, though. In any case, here is the backbone with all slots prepared: And here, the bulkheads dry-fit in place.

Such a neat looking old ship. Nice work. I always enjoy watching builders with this one. Mike

Enjoying the photos showing the work with your Carrack. I wish I could provide some tips for the sails, but I lack such experience. Will be watching to see how you solve the problem. Mike

MikeR...Are you still working on the Flying Fish...Haven't seen any updates for quite some time. Rob

The first and most essential routine daily-maintenance task on a sailing ship was (and is) to polish the brass of the binnacle. If you want realism, it should shine like gold! An example on a Cutty Sark -lookalike: Trevor

Keith - what a great looking piece of history. It really looks the part (color, textures, "patina")! Very cool!

Hi Rob. I find this scale manageable but 1:96 scale would be too challenging for me. I also have a frigate in 1:75 scale which I would love to display next to CS but I’m getting ALOT of pushback from a certain someone about the so called clutter of ship models around the house. Girls….😉

Lovely work mate and don't worry about the speed of your build. It will get done when its gets done

Some fantastic work. Very good metal work on the binnacle. Exceptional all around. Rob

Thank you to everyone for the comments and likes. Page #3, post #68 helps to clarify my work in the below photos. The wheels are now permanently attached. What tedious work it was trying to replicate the piping used to keep the wheel shaft from moving side to side. I used 24 GA annealed wire to imitate the piping. The white thingies on top of the post are both working lights and stern lights. They're supposed to represent bare lightbulbs. Being fresh out of 1:120 scale lightbulbs I had to use belaying pins and paint accordingly. They are not glued in so I can change them out if I can come up with something that better resembles lightbulbs. It may require a trip to the basement and dig through Maggie's tubs of beads. Work can now start moving forward in earnest. They used a design to try and prevent hogging. It took me looking at the photos another hundred times () to realize what I was seeing. More on this in the next post. Thank you so much to everyone for your support. Keith

Wonderful job...she is coming along nicely. The attention to detailing the yards out with *ALL* their blocks, stirrups foot ropes , flemishhorses, and sheet blocks can be daunting. Not to mention the jackstays. Many modelers tend to forego many of these and keep the yard furniture to a minimum. If you plan on adding leach and buntlines...you'll need these blocks as well. Not failing to mention those pesky jewel blocks for the reef tackle. It can get pretty busy for sure. Good luck. Will you be adding sails...furled or otherwise? Rob

Hello everyone, I'm back after a break from modeling for other projects. To be honest, I also kept procrastinating this step, as I knew that planking would be a challenge. I'm twelve planks in and it seems to be going fairly well so far. I've roughly followed the planking method that Jase presented in his Sherbourne video series; starting from the centre, marking the spot where the plank starts to overlap the previous one, then beveling the plank from that point onward. Chuck Passaro's planking videos and GlennUK's very detailed Sherbourne build log have also been very helpful. I've beveled the first two planks by 2.5 mm and the next two by 2.0 mm. Everything has been glued with PVA with CA only for the last bulkhead (no. 17). There is more clinker effect in the bow than I had hoped for. I need to step up my edge-bending game for the second planking.

Moving along with the cannons, gunports, and outer hull and deck work. Cannons, curtains, and lower gunport doors were easy to work with, although it felt somewhat time consuming because you are working with 30 gunports. The pain really is dealing with the upper gunports because you have to create a micro miniature rope-like object connecting the upper gunport after you drill 2 holes using a #77 drill bit which is super tiny in itself and very easy to break. I'm on my fourth one now. My kit came with black annealed wire to simulate what would have been rope connected to the upper gun port to its respective top curtain. You definitely want to make sure that hole in the curtain is free and clear because that is one of three areas connecting the door. The two holes you drilled in the gunport door are the other two areas. As much as I enjoy seeing how nicely this is created in the practicum, creating something this tiny and trying to bend the wire into the holes is not so easy and certainly not as perfect in the pictures. In fact, it is so small that you never really see it unless you're right up staring at the gunports near your face. I finished slightly over half of them on the port side and touched up the white paint on the gun port doors as well.

Overall weight is probably 10 pounds or so? As for the air det, those are mostly for display. The decals are on and will end up with a couple layers of overall clear coat spray applied to seal them in. The only ways that the aircraft would be certain to stay on the flight deck 'at sea' on the model would be to glue them in place, or to inset magnets into the landing gear and underneath the flight deck to hold them. Intent is not to sail with the 'actual' air det - I'm going to end up making some 'sailing' airplanes that I don't bother to decal up - they'll look good from afar though. When the ship is on display at a show or whatever I'll swap on the 'good' airplanes. The rudder being considerably overscale makes her perform quite well in turns, but, if I do a 'hard over' she'll really slow down as it ends up acting as a brake as well.

This is exactly what I am saying when it comes to artist interpretation of other ships as well...such as the Great Republic...which has been poorly represented with incurring features from her original configuration and those of her rebuilt state. A whole lot of Mixin and matchin...has taken place...and if you are not a student of her history, you can easily be fooled by what the artist has painted. This is evidence that even Buttersworth, had either bias or ignorance.....or is just being an ARTIST. Since Buttersworth has a proven history of making small errors. One must, as it has been pointed out......skillfully use all data points...preferably first hand accounts. Rob

Great video and incredible models, in that scale. Thank you for the link. Yves

Those are beautiful. typically...those were removed when at sea and preparing for battle. Some modelers retain the boarding ladders on their clippers...such as Flying Fish and Flying Cloud. However, these egress ladders were quickly removed when the ship set sail....and they surely were not present when the ship was encountering foul weather.....such as I will be depicting Staghound..(Mimicing Buttersworth's painting). Someday I wish to visit Mystic and then go see the Constitution myself. Rob

Thanks Peter...I must have read right past that..... I couldn't find it in the body of the conversation....and it was right in front of my face....all the time. After looking through your log, I quickly gathered it was larger than 1/96. The scale all my clippers are built in.....so I can manage the room they will take and scaling them together, for size comparison. Good job...bringing back an old classic. Indeed it must have been a lot more crafting.... Rob

There's no easy way to make the gun-carriages at this scale except piece by piece. this shows the concave cutouts for the sides. Each pair of sides are held together by double sided tape during these steps and drilling. Drilling for the axles. I do not have the skills to mill the axles so I chose a less accurate method. a jig for aligning the front and back crossmembers during gluing. the carriage assembled and pinned Now for the cannon. Cheers Dick

Planking the Gun Deck The tricky centre section between hatches is finished. I’m using mainly 3.5 and 4.0 x 1mm boxwood strip. I’ve already run out of 4mm strip so now I’m cutting down 5 and 6mm strip. I have also had to use some 5mm strip along the edges of the after hatches to make a fair run. The planks are all straight but I have begun to taper the last planks fitted at the stern. I used the etched deck as a pattern to mark the cut-outs and eye-bolt points. There are still some cut-outs to work on but this section is substantially finished. I now move on to the bow and stern sections before finishing with the runs up to the bulwarks, I will leave as much of the lower deck exposed as is feasible.

Before moving on to making and adding the boomkins I decided I should add both the jibboom and flying jibboom so the fore topsail and fore topgallant stays could be rigged. The first two photos show the jibboom and flying jibboom in place. The dolphin striker was also added. As you will note, when looking at the photo, I made an error with where the fore topsail sail stay should be reeved. I used the upper hole rather than the middle hole. I only realised this error after I had added the thimble to the stay end. I concluded that I could accept this mistake rather than running in a new stay. Both stays are belayed using thimbles, with the reciprocal thimbles for each stay hooked to eyebolts on the bow, as can be seen in the next photo. The next photo shows the foremast with the all the various mast stays in place. The final photo of this post shows the current status of the Harpy rigging.

A pristine looking deck Frank! Very neat, great work.