Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'fishing'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • The Captain's Cabin
    • How to use the MSW forum - **NO MODELING CONTENT** 
    • New member Introductions
  • Member's Build Logs
    • Build logs for SHIP MODEL KITS - by era - launch date
    • Build logs for SCRATCH projects - by era - launch date
  • Group Projects on MSW
    • Group Projects on Model Ship World
  • Shop Notes, Ship Modeling Tips, Techniques and Research
    • Nautical/Naval History
    • Discussions for Ships plans and Project Research. General research on specific vessels and ship types..
    • Building, Framing, Planking and plating a ships hull and deck
    • Discussion for a Ship's Deck Furniture, Guns, boats and other Fittings
    • Masting, rigging and sails
    • Model Tips and Tricks and Making Jigs
    • Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
    • Metal Work, Soldering and Metal Fittings
    • Wood discussion...Where to use it? Where to get it? What types are best? How to Finish it?
    • Painting, finishing and weathering products and techniques
    • CAD and 3D Modelling/Drafting Plans with Software
    • Photographing your work. How to do this.
  • Ship Modeling News And Reviews.....Traders and Dealers...Ship Model Clubs
    • General Ship Model Kit Discussions - NOT build logs
    • Reviews
    • Book, Monograph and Magazine reviews and Downloads. Questions and Discussions for Books and Pubs
    • Traders, Dealers, Buying or Selling anything? - Discuss New Products and Ship Model Goodies here as well!!
    • NAUTICAL RESEARCH GUILD - News & Information
    • Important Ship Model Club News, Links to ship modelling resources and museums
  • The Crew's Lounge
    • Non-ship/categorised builds
  • Medway Long Boat - 1742 - Public group project.'s Plans and Instructions/Downloads
  • Medway Long Boat - 1742 - Public group project.'s Medway Long Boat - 1742 - Public group project.
  • Medway Long Boat - 1742 - Public group project.'s General discussions/How to join
  • Rope Making/Ropewalks's Ropewalk Plans/Downloads
  • Rope Making/Ropewalks's Discussions about Rope Making
  • Rope Making/Ropewalks's Rope Materials and parts resources
  • Rope Making/Ropewalks's Commercial sources for ropewalk machines
  • Intro to carving - typical decorative relief carving for ship models's Build Logs for the Carving Group Project
  • Intro to carving - typical decorative relief carving for ship models's Tutorials and Discussion for the Carving Group
  • Intro to carving - typical decorative relief carving for ship models's How to join this Carving Group
  • HMS Triton - 28 gun frigate's Build Logs for the Full Hull Version of HMS TRITON
  • HMS Triton - 28 gun frigate's How to Join The HMS TRITON Group Build
  • HMS Triton - 28 gun frigate's Cross Section Build Logs for HMS TRITON
  • HMS Winchelsea 1764's How to join this group project???
  • HMS Winchelsea 1764's General project discussions on planking, fittings and monograph chapters
  • HMS Winchelsea 1764's Member Build logs for the HMS Winchelsea
  • Planking Techniques's Planking Downloads and Tutorials and Videos
  • Planking Techniques's Click Here for Topics dedicated to planking!!!!
  • HMS Granado 'Cross Section' - CAF Model's Questions and discussions about building the kit
  • HMS Granado 'Cross Section' - CAF Model's Build Logs for the CAF Granado Cross MID-Section

Calendars

There are no results to display.

There are no results to display.


Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


AIM


MSN


Website URL


ICQ


Yahoo


Jabber


Skype


Location


Interests

Found 20 results

  1. BE ADVISED: It will be several posts until I get to the actual build. Very sorry about that, but I want to be thorough about documenting all the research that’s going into this. Introduction Hi all, I had a lot of fun with the Model Shipways Lowell Grand Banks Dory kit, as well as scratch-building the Trajinera. I’m looking forward to my next kit, the Model Shipways Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack, which will undoubtedly teach me a lot about planking and rigging. But, it’s still in the mail. Given how much I enjoyed the trajinera, I thought I would try my hand with another scratch build of a classic Mexican vessel—this time something a bit more complicated, but still relatively simple in construction. Originally, following a visit to the port of Veracruz, I tried to find plans for a Veracruz coastal fishing boat, but I had no luck and decided that the vessels I could find in photos—small sloops and schooners—were a bit too complicated at my current skill level to try to scratch build, especially without plans. Instead, after randomly coming across some interesting photos, I’ve chosen something with a hull that is similar in some respects to the dory, and something with extremely simple rigging, but something that will still stretch my skills: a Canoa de Rancho from Lake Chapala in the late-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, used for fishing and cabotage on Mexico’s largest lake. Before I go further, here are a few representative photos of the type of boat in question that hopefully give some visual sense of why I was first struck by them. Source: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A139790 Source: http://ri.uacj.mx/vufind/Record/96906 Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nullboy/6386212027/in/album-72157628104176801/ Source: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A139791 Source: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A141742 As you can see, these are very distinctive vessels, with a wide variety in sizes united by similar hull forms (upturned sharp bow, generally boxy stern, a cabin of sorts) and a similar sail plan (a single mast with an odd sort of cross between a square, a lug, and a settee rig—I’ll be discussing the rigging’s peculiarities in a future post). Before getting too far into things, I should note: despite my best efforts, I have not found any hull plans. These vessels would not have been built according to plans, but rather based on the builder’s long experience and traditions (although I have found some evidence of traditions changing—tradition can be quite flexible!). Moreover, they fell out of use by the mid-twentieth century and apparently no examples survive, although some smaller fishing boats with similar hull construction do survive. Unless it turns out that Howard Chapelle took a vacation to Lake Chapala and recorded the canoa's lines or something--in which case I'd love to hear about it!--my build is therefore speculative, based as well as I can on photographic evidence, of which there is thankfully quite a bit. Fortunately I am building a model of a generic rather than a specific vessel, and as can be seen above, there was a great deal of variation in practice between vessels, so I think I should be able to make a decent representation of a generic vessel. (That said, I should really try making something that has plans for my next scratch-build!) I should also note that figuring out how to build these and how they were used required substantial research, given the limited sources available about them, so it’s going to take a few posts before I get into the actual build. So, here I’ll be talking a bit about sources and then the broader context and history of these vessels. In future posts, I’ll be discussing what I can tell of hull design and construction and the rigging/sail plan—all of which have some oddities compared to usual practice. But first, a note about the name, types of vessels on Lake Chapala, and the specific type of vessel I’m modeling. What’s In A Name? The Chapala Canoa (de Rancho) While some image captions label these vessels with generic words meaning “boat” or “sailboat” (lancha, embarcación, velero, etc.), most sources just call them “canoas.” Canoa is usually translated as “canoe,” but in Mexico, the word is often used as a generic term for a wide variety of small vessels. The trajineras of the central basin, for instance, are also termed canoas, despite being flat-bottomed barges. Given this variety, I have chosen to leave the word “canoa” untranslated, as “canoe” wouldn’t be quite accurate. On Lake Chapala, small dugouts seem to have been called either canoas or cayucos (according to information from the National Institute of Anthropology and History: https://lugares.inah.gob.mx/es/museos-inah/museo/museo-piezas/10858-10858-canoa-la-brisa.html?lugar_id=480 ) while larger vessels of a wide variety of sizes were often simply called canoas. José María Angulo Sepulveda generally calls them “sailing canoas” (canoas veleras). However, in his novel La canoa perdida (more about which below), Ramón Rubín distinguishes between the simple canoa, which he says is technically a type of chalupa (yet another word for a small vessel), and the canoa de rancho, which he says is technically a lanchón (a curious word: lancha means small boat, the -ón suffix means large, so a lanchón is a big small boat). Although both the canoa and the canoa de rancho share a number of construction and design characteristics, the canoa was smaller, used mostly for fishing, and could be propelled by sail, oar, and pole, while the canoa de rancho was larger—Angulo Sepulveda says up to 20 meters long and 30 tons displacement—used more often for cabotage rather than fishing, propelled only by sail or pole, and was distinguished by having a “rancho,” the term used for the thatched or wooden cabin structure at the stern. The rancho was used to protect passengers and cargo from the elements. Other sources confirm that the cabin was in fact called a rancho, and it’s a very distinctive part, so I have decided to follow Rubín’s terminology in order to title my build log. Below we can see, first, several smaller fishing canoas, and second, a large (~60 foot long) canoa de rancho. The similarities are evident, as are some differences in proportions. Notably, the fishing canoas survived much longer than the canoas de rancho did, so there are more color photos of them than of their larger cousins. Small fishing canoas. Source: https://www.museocjv.com/chapalapostaless.html Large canoa de rancho from a postcard. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nullboy/6386211855/in/album-72157628104176801/ I should note, though, that other evidence suggests that Rubín was wrong to draw such a sharp distinction between the fishing-oriented, row-able canoa and the cargo-hauling, non-row-able canoa de rancho. As I’ll discuss more later, it seems that small canoas de rancho (maybe around the 27-35 foot long range) were actually row-able and used for fishing as well. In fact, the photo at the beginning with the man standing at the bow, nearly silhouetted against the lake, very clearly shows a small canoa de rancho with thole pins for rowing. These mixed-use vessels may have been the exception, but I have chosen to model one of them. I am very interested in trying to model a thatched rancho (and if I mess up on the thatching, I can always just make it a simpler wooden one), but I am also interested in modeling some of the fishing gear, which requires modeling a vessel that both had a rancho and was used for fishing. This excludes the larger and smaller vessels. I did not want to model all the cargo they would haul—making dozens of scale watermelons or sacks or crates did not seem like my idea of a good time! I considered building it at 1:24 scale to be consistent with the dory, but this would require a model around 15 inches long, which would be a little large given my space limits, so I decided to go for 1:32 scale, at which the model will be around 12 inches or a little less. Sources As mentioned above, photos are the most useful sources I have. Lake Chapala and its surrounding towns became an important tourist destination in the late 1800s. Postcards with photos of these vessels were apparently popular, given how many survive, and a number of photographers took large numbers of photographs of the lake’s vessels. These photos are available online via a number of sources. Many are available through the digital Mediateca of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). Unfortunately, many of the Mediateca photos are rather grainy and low-res (at least in their digitized versions). Other photos are available from the website México en Fotos, often in higher-resolution versions (although the latter are heavily watermarked). Other sources include the online postcard collections of the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, the virtual Museo Claudia Jiménez Vizcarra, a flickr album of postcards from the lake, and a number of videos about local history uploaded to youtube. I will make sure to clearly source all of the photos that I show, and I should note that in many cases, I am showing relatively low-res screenshots that are zoomed in on specific parts of the photo. Written sources are rather more limited. La navegación de antaño en el Lago de Chapala, written by local chronicler José María Angulo Sepulveda (originally published in 1987, reprinted in 2004) is the most detailed and focused work. It includes a number of details on lake vessels and their history on the lake and appears to mostly be based on interviews with locals. Unfortunately, the book is currently out of print, and I was unable to find it for purchase online or after visiting a lot of used bookstores. Through my institutional library, I was able to get a scan of a 20-page section that I believed would be useful based on the tiny samples available on google books, but nothing more. The section includes useful information on the construction of the canoas, as well as a couple hand-drawn depictions of them, one with all the parts labeled which is quite helpful even if it’s not quite what one would need to make a scale model. Other secondary sources include a number of academic works about the fishing industry on Lake Chapala and the lake’s environmental history, which are useful for understanding fishing techniques and the social-environmental history of the lake and its sailors. However, they have few if any details on the vessels themselves. Published primary sources are more variable. Unsurprisingly, my search in major newspapers (which, prior to the Revolution, are readily available in digital form) turned up almost nothing—small fishing communities attracted little journalistic attention except in the case of notable accidents. Travel writing was somewhat more useful. As noted, Lake Chapala became a popular tourist destination, and a useful introduction to many of the lake’s prominent visitors can be found (in English) at the site: https://lakechapalaartists.com/ The lake’s distinctive canoas attracted a degree of attention. However, few discussed them in much detail. Thomas Philip Terry’s popular foreign guidebook Terry’s Mexico: Handbook for Travelers (Revised Second Edition, 1911) contains a surprising amount of detail on fishing in the lake, but mentions the canoas (which he calls “fishing-smacks”) in passing only as a picturesque backdrop: “Each tiny port has its stretch of white beach in lieu of a harbor and a main street; and each its fleet of time- and water-stained fishing-smacks, resting placidly on the sand” (157-158). William Carson English’s Mexico: The Wonderland of the South (Revised Edition, 1914) similarly emphasizes the picturesque aspects of the vessels, which he inaccurately calls “small fishing schooners” (352). In contrast, Eduardo A. Gibbon, a Mexican journalist, poet, and diplomat, discussed the lake and its canoas in some detail in his book Guadalajara (La Florencia Mexicana): vagancias y recuerdos (1893). Especially useful are his writings on the storm-shortened voyage he took on a decent-sized (he said it was 10 tons) canoa de rancho. Gibbon waxed rhapsodic about the lake’s great natural beauty and its proud history, evidently promoting it as a matter of natural pride. However, after riding aboard both a canoa and a modern steamboat, he ultimately seemed fine with committing the canoas to the past, writing that, “if the lancha-canoas with their lateen sails represented the past, and imperfect and dangerous navigation, the steamer, marvel of our century, represented the present with all its potent vitality and its conquests of progress” (352). I’ll be continuing to search through travel writings about Chapala to see if I can find much about the vessels in question. Perhaps the most useful work for understanding these vessels and their context (outside of Angulo Sepulveda’s book) is actually a novel, Ramón Rubín Rivas’s La canoa perdida: una novela mestiza (1951; my version is the 1996 reprint by the Fondo de Cultura Económica). Rubín (1912-1999) is an interesting figure. Many of his novels deal with indigenista themes (that is, they’re explicitly or implicitly about the question of the role of indigenous people and culture in the modern nation), but he also was himself an experienced sailor, apparently having worked aboard merchant ships for some time, and several of his works deal with life at sea. This experience makes his discussion of the canoa particularly convincing, although he also is a bit disparaging of how Chapala sailors took up maritime terminology in what he views as an extremely haphazard fashion. La canoa perdida follows the story of a poor fisherman, the ironically-named Ramiro Fortuna, who eventually attains a particularly nice canoa that is quickly stolen, sending him on a journey around the lake in search of his vessel (I mean, there’s more to it than that). The book is out of print, but I was eventually (through luck on Facebook marketplace) able to get a copy. I haven’t finished it yet, but the early chapters are extremely detailed on the lives and livelihoods of poor fishermen—Rubín clearly had a strong interest in social realism and his characters’ economic grounding (after all, he was a Marxist). His introduction also strikes a very elegiac tone about the fast-disappearing canoas de rancho, writing of “the high Phoenecian sails of their great lanchones or canoas de rancho” (12). La canoa perdida’s strong environmental themes critiqued Lake Chapala’s over-exploitation and desiccation, and made Rubín political enemies. It’s an interesting work, and I’ll continue to post useful details from it as I come across them. Finally, the Guadalajara Regional Museum (Museo Regional de Guadalajara) and the Anthropology and History Museum of Ocotlán (Museo de Antropología e Historia de Ocotlán) both have large models of canoas de rancho, seen below, that were built in the 1980s. Interestingly, they were built by one of the people Angulo Sepulveda interviewed for his own drawings of the canoa de rancho. A few images are available of them online. They’re useful for a few details, but they don’t seem to be quite to scale and have some details that seem either inaccurate, as I haven’t seen them in any photo of actual vessels, or atypical, as I’ve only seen them in a small portion of the vessels photographed. The museums also don’t seem to have necessarily rigged them correctly—in the image below of the Guadalajara model, the halyard seems to have been tied to the anchor chain. Source: https://lugares.inah.gob.mx/es/museos-inah/museo/museo-piezas/10858-10858-canoa-la-brisa.html?lugar_id=480 Anyway, this post is already huge, so I’m going to end it here. Next: a bit about Lake Chapala and the history of the canoa de rancho.
  2. Apparently I prefer to have multiple builds going at once, as I'm still working on the Lake Chapala Canoa build. But, this should be a relatively short and quick build, as it's a cross-section of a largely open boat. Obviously, this is an unusual choice for a cross-section--why make a cross-section of a boat that already has mostly visible framing?--and I think it will be the smallest vessel with a cross-section build log on the site. So, it's reasonable to ask why I'm doing it. Apologies for the long-winded explanation! Detail from the plans of the Juana y José. A cross-section of a barca catalana, a similar vessel. The Juana y José is actually a bit simpler than this in some aspects. Source: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barca_levantina#/media/Archivo:Parts_buc-català.jpg Why am I building a cross section of such a small boat? One thing that I'm grappling with is that, for the foreseeable future, I am going to be moving with some regularity and probably won't have much space. This makes modeling difficult. Unless I plan on giving most of my builds away, most everything will have to be readily transportable. So, much as I'd like to jump into even a relatively small model of a rigged sailing ship, like the Chilean Lancha Chilota coasting sloop that I have plans for to make a POB model, or the Model Shipways Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack, I'm struck by how difficult it will be to pack it up and lug it with me. So, I'm considering some more portable options. One option would be an unrigged half hull, and I do think I want to do the NRG half hull. Beyond being a good learning experience, it would be easy to store on a wall and much easier to transport than a rigged model. Another option would be to do some extremely small models or ships in a bottle, the latter of which would definitely take the prize for portability. There are some amazing and creative builds in both categories on the site, but I don't think my building skills are quite there yet. Another option is a cross-section (without a mast). The Triton and Echo cross sections both look fantastic, but both also seem like you really need more tools and skills than I have to build them. Finally, I was looking at a fourth option: a small model around 6 inches long, likely of a rowing vessel in a reasonable scale that wouldn't be too fiddly to make. I got started with modeling after going to the Barcelona Maritime Museum and being blown away by its small craft collection, and one of my goals is to build a POF model of a traditional lateen-rigged Spanish fishing vessel (of which there are a number of types--the barca catalana, the Mallorcan llaüt, the palangrera, the sardinal, the barquets and barches of Valencia that wefalck discusses in detail on his website: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/albufera/Boats-of-the-Albufera.html, etc). I found that a Spanish modeler, Alfonso del Valle, had drawn up plans--not just line plans, but also diagrams of all frames--and made them freely available for one such boat, the Juana y José. Although there are no builds of it on this site, the Spanish modeling forum Foro Modelismo Naval has a number of builds (such as this one: https://www.foromodelismonaval.es/viewtopic.php?t=15014), and the plans produce a very nice model. Javier Baron, who has a number of albums in the galleries of Model Ship World, even made a beautiful tiny model in 1:74 scale: https://barcosbaron.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/391/). The Juana y José is a small vessel, and the plans are originally in 1:15, but I was curious about what a 1:32 scale build would be like, as that would produce a model about 6 inches long (1:74 scale, in contrast, is well beyond my skills). Printing the plans off in that scale, I noted that the frames would be thin, but perhaps still manageable, and that all parts can be constructed from basswood in thicknesses I have access to. I decided to hold off on a full build for now, as I have no idea how to plank a curved hull form yet. But a small cross-section seemed like a way to test out whether I will want to eventually go ahead with a full build at 1:32, or if I'd prefer a larger scale. It also will give me some experience with POF construction, and will produce a readily portable model. Also, if I eventually do a full build, I can display it alongside the full model. The Juana y José There are a few particularities about the boat and the plans. As del Valle discussed both on his website, now sadly defunct but still viewable through the Internet Archive (https://web.archive.org/web/20160902024136/http://www.modelismonaval.com/magazine/almejera/juanayjose.html), and also on Foro Modelismo Naval, the Juana y José is a real vessel, an old fishing boat that he came across on the beach in Algeciras. The owner allowed him to take its lines and photograph it, and told him about its history. It was built in Málaga sometime in the early 1900s, and was later sold to an Algeciras fisherman. It was broken up in 2003, and was 4.75m/15.6ft long. However, the actual vessel is entirely open and oar-powered (while the owner said it used to have a sail, del Valle saw no mast step or other such evidence, although it conceivably was removed during repairs or renovations). While del Valle accurately depicts the Juana y José in its line plans, in the other sheets, he instead decided to depict it in the rest of the plans as a lateen-rigged, decked vessel, similar in form to a sardinal, and added a prominent windlass, turning it into a traditional clam dragger as he remembered from his youth. So, while the hull is accurate, other details are not. These additions are certainly similar to other vessels, though. So, I could either build the Juana y José accurately as a pure rowboat, follow the plans even if they're not totally accurate--as I've noticed, they make a gorgeous model, and I do really love the look of Spanish lateen-rigged fishing boats--or perhaps take a middle route, inspired by the owner's comment that it used to have a sail, and add a mast while leaving off the deck and windlass. Following the plans would certainly produce the most visually interesting option, even if it's still very simple for a cross-section. The Build, Part 1: The Keel I decided to make the cross-section long enough to include two thwarts, providing the build with some structural rigidity. I chose a six-frame section running from around amidships foreward. If I choose to follow the plans, this section will include the mast step and windlass. The section is just under 2 inches long. I started with the keel. As it turns out, at 1:32 scale, the keel is very close in thickness to 1/16 of an inch, so I was able to use some of my stock of that basswood for the keel. While this seems very thin to me, it's what the plans show and widening it would require reshaping all the frames a bit, so I'm keeping it for now at least. I marked and filed out the frame notches. My filing skills could use a little work, and the notch on the right in the photo below is too wide, but it will do. I then carefully carved out the rabbet, mostly using an exacto knife but also running a file edge along it to widen it a little. I was very concerned about the rabbet cutting through the keel--again, it's 1/16-inch thick--so it's probably not as deep as it should be, but I think it will work. After this photo, I added a coat of sealer-varnish to strengthen the wood a bit--I don't want it breaking along the rabbet or elsewhere, or chipping any more than it already has. Some of the notches may need to be slightly deepened, but I'm going to leave them as-is for now and adjust that once I test-fit the frames. This post is already long, so I'll leave the first frame for the next post.
  3. The build log reconstruction begins... It has been a long time since I’ve started a new sailing ship build, with my sailing ship model (Oneida) taking about 4 years to complete. Ever since building Smuggler, an 1870’s mackerel seiner from Gloucester, I’ve been smitten by 19th and 20th century American fishing schooners. There are a number builds, both in progress and completed, that have been inspiring to me – Bluenose builds, a couple of Ben Lathams, a scratch build of Columbia, and even a few of the “yachty” Americas. Jim Lefever, who’s impressive Benjamin Latham build was a great inspiration for me, provided me with a list of great reading references on American fishing schooners. After receiving a number of them as gifts, and reading through them, I knew my next build would have to be another fishing schooner. I have to admit right up front that Arethusa, an early 1900s fishing schooner and the topic of this build, was never called the “Goddess of Gloucester”. She was a goddess in Greek mythology. The schooner was named after one of Thomas McManus's daughters. I just thought that 'Goddess of Gloucester' fit to her will and made for a catchy name for this log. Arethusa, the schooner, was big, beautiful, and had a colorful history – sounds interesting to me. Enough about my motivations and ramblings….let’s get on with the ship. Arethusa was designed by Thomas F. McManus in 1907 and built by James and Tarr in Essex, Massachusetts, in 1909. She was what is termed a knockabout schooner. Unlike traditional schooners, with bowsprits (and jibbooms, and flying jibbooms), knockabout schooners had an extended bow and no bowsprit. The extended bow essentially placed the fore topmast stay at the same position as on a traditional schooner. With that configuration of stay location the crew wouldn’t be required to climb out on the typically poorly maintained footropes aside the bowsprit in order to perform tasks involving the sails and rigging. This was a Thomas McManus innovation, based on his observations and discussions with fisherman and owners, and was meant to reduce sailing crew injuries and deaths. I am using Howard I. Chapelle’s lines drawing and sail plan of Arethusa from his “American Fishing Schooners”, plate 120 and figure 30. “American Fishing Schooners” (AFS) has a great deal of detail in it’s appendix on most of the features of late 19th century and early 20th century schooners, and it is these I will use to build the details of the model. If anyone knows of more details about Arethusa I would be most grateful to learn of them. I have contacted Mystic Seaport Museum about their collection but found that while Arethusa is listed in their collection they don’t have any more information than that (little) which is shown in AFS. Following are some excerpts from “Thomas F. McManus and the American Fishing Schooners”, by W.M.P. Dunne, on Arethusa: James and Tarr “...completed her on 25 September 1907. Fifteen feet longer than the Pontiac, the Arethusa was, nevertheless, a deep, short ended knockabout, with the typically knuckled straight run of the keel (although with less drag), that Tom favored in this class, and more tumblehome. Once again he experimented with the rig. He stepped the foremast farther forward with the masts further apart. Right from the start, the big fisherman earned a reputation as a speedster. Captain Clayton Morrisey, the Arethusa’s first skipper waxed poetic: “She’s the slickest bit of wood that ever went down to Bay of Islands. Nothing can touch her and an eight-year-old girl’s little finger is stout enough to spin the wheel no matter how fresh it breezes.” “Can she sail?” exclaimed Captain Morrisey, opening his eyes as if he didn’t quite believe his ears. “Why, when we were coming up from the herring grounds she cut out her 13 knots an hour for six consecutive hours.” “We’d see a blotch of smoke away ahead on the horizon and in a little while would make out a tramp steamer bound our way. Pretty soon the Arethusa was kiting alongside the tramp and then we’d lose sight of her astern. She did that trick a number of times.” In fact, with Clayt Morrissey at the helm in 1912, the Arethusa would easily outrun the Canadian Dominion fisheries’ patrol steamer Fiona, “whose commander opined the Arethusa was violating the three-mile limit.” “At the beginning of 1921, soon after the new [prohibition] law was in place, Captain William F. “Bill” McCoy, a sometime Daytona Beach, Florida, boatbuilder, guided his fully-laden McManus schooner, the Henry L. Marshall, past the Tybee Lighthouse and up the river to Savannah, where, in the dark of the night, he discharged not fish, but 1,500 cases of illicit liquor. With the proceeds, McCoy replaced himself with a new skipper on board the Marshall and went to Gloucester in search of the boat of his dreams, Tom’s speedy Arethusa. Although McCoy had fished the Marshall legitimately until after the Eighteenth Amendment dried out the country, he had always thirsted for Arethusa. With Gloucester feeling the effect of postwar economic contraction, the owners of the fourteen-year-old schooner…..sold her to McCoy in April 1921. The Arethusa became a rum runner, a fast freighter of bootleg spirits. McCoy renamed her Tomoka, added a bowsprit so she could carry two jibs, jumbo and jib topsail-and a lot of liquor (she had the capacity of 6,000 cases of illegal alcohol). He brought the Tomoka to anchor just outside the then three mile limit of United States waters, but well within site of the beach. He soon began a thriving business with New York and New Jersey bootleggers…. “ [this is where the term ‘the real McCoy’ came from] Arethusa later returned to fishing, and was lost off Halifax in November 1929. Her particulars are: Designer Thomas F. McManus Builder Tarr and James Launch date 25 September 1907 Gross tonnage 157 tons Molded length at caprail of 127’ – 3” Molded beam 25’ – 0” Molded depth 13’ – 2” Registered dimensions 114.0’ x 25.6’ x 12.5’
  4. Hello there: This log will document my first attempt at a scratch built ship model. I've chosen to start with something more or less straightforward -- a 1:64 scale plank-on-bulkhead Bluenose based on Model Shipways' plans. I purchased the plans for the 1:64 MS Bluenose several years ago while I was working on the Amati 1:100 Bluenose. I wanted the plans as reference for the rigging, which on the smaller Amati kit had been quite radically simplified. Since then, the plans have been gathering dust in a drawer. But I always imagined that I might return to them once I felt ready to embark on a scratch build. The choice of Bluenose, then, was guided by the fact that I own the plans, which include reference drawings of all the laser cut parts, as well as by the fact that I've built the Bluenose before (though in a smaller scale). I also felt that, though clearly the principles are different, cutting my teeth on a p.o.b build would be a good way of getting into scratch building with an eye to a fully framed ship model. In any case, everyone knows the history of the Bluenose, so I won't repeat it here. This log will be more like a documentation of my clumsy entry into scratch building. Since I'm also working on the Mamoli America as a gift for a friend, the Bluenose build will no doubt be very slow. I also plan on continuing with kit builds alongside this project, which will also no doubt slow it down. The need to acquire some tools (and save some money in order to get them) will also slow things down a bit - currently, I'm equipped with a bandsaw, which I'll use to cut the centre keel pieces and bulkheads, but I can already see the utility of a disc sander and mini drill press.....I think for this build I can wait on other things like a mini table saw, but I'm going to assume that the priority of tool acquisition will become clearer as I work through the build.... I know that there are a lot of Bluenose logs here on MSW, but I hope that this log will add something to the mix. For starters, here are a couple of photos - my tracings of the centre keel pieces and a practice-run at the bow piece using 1/4 basswood - it's pretty rough, as you can see. This was made to help me get a feel for the bandsaw and is out of scale thickness in addition to being kind of ratty. I'll be using 3/16 birch ply for centre keel, bulkheads, rudder, and sternpost. I bought some of this today at a local hobby shop, but it is not very good (lots of warping). I'll use this to do more bandsaw testing and try another source for the ply. Well that is all for now....those who've looked in on my America (and perhaps other logs) will know that the frequency of my posting is quite idiosyncratic, so sorry about that....I'll try to be more diligent in the future!! hamilton
  5. A “dragger” is a fishing vessel that tows a trawl net. A trawl can be dragged along the bottom of the seafloor, just above the bottom, or in midwater depending on the target species. In the early 1920’s the Connecticut fishing industry began producing what is known today as the Western-rig dragger. These boats were not the first pilothouse forward fishing boats built in New England, but due to their small size, the design was affordable and perfectly suited to independent fisherman working the local inshore waters. These small fishing draggers were typically less than 60 feet in length. Built of steam bent oak frames and planked with yellow pine or white oak, they were both light and strong. The popularity of this Western-rig design quickly spread and by the 1930’s could be found in many ports of southern New England. The use of these boats for ground fishing was so prevalent in the port of Stonington, Connecticut, that the design commonly became known as “Stonington Draggers.” Western-Rig - Winthrop Warner Collection, Mystic Seaport Museum Western-Rig vs. Eastern-Rig The difference between a Western-rig and Eastern-rig boat is one of deck arrangement and not the gear used in catching fish. Western-rig boats have the pilothouse positioned in the bow with the working deck aft. On Eastern-rig boats the working deck is positioned mid-ship with the pilothouse in the stern. Eastern-Rig - Albert E. Condon Collection, Mystic Seaport Museum The Eastern-rig deck arrangement evolved from the New England fishing schooners and “auxiliary schooners” which required the helm to be over or near the rudder. But once fishing vessels became fully powered with a tiller system and rudder quadrant installed, the pilothouse could be positioned anywhere. Enter the Western-rig. Western-Rig - Winthrop Warner Collection, Mystic Seaport Museum The Western-rig has some advantages. With the pilothouse forward in the bow, there is easier access to the fo’c’sle and the engine room. It also provides better visibility for the captain, and the crew is somewhat safer in bad weather working behind the pilothouse rather than in front of it. One disadvantage to having the pilothouse in the bow is that the windows are more vulnerable to being smashed out in bad weather. In the early days, the Western-rig boats were small and only used for inshore fishing while the larger more powerful Eastern-rig boats fished offshore. In time however, the Western-rig boats grew in size and power to become today’s offshore stern trawlers and the dominant fishing vessel type. The Otter Trawl Even though the Western-rig Stonington boats had an open aft deck and a square stern, most continued to drag off the side. And like the Eastern-rig boats, the gear most commonly used was the “Otter Trawl.” Otter trawling was invented in England and came to America around 1910 – give or take. It derived its name from the “otter board” which was the name given to a sheering device that was being used for “hook and line” lake fishing in Ireland. Like a modern day planer board, this rectangular wood board would sheer on the water surface and course away from the direction it was being pulled. In commercial fishing, the otter boards are industrial scale and can weigh hundreds of pounds. Two such boards (commonly called doors) are used to hold open the mouth of the trawl net. Like underwater kites, the otter boards are setup to push outward, away from each other, as the hydrodynamic pressure of moving water acts upon them. This was a major advancement over the “beam” trawl, which as the name implies requires a beam of some sort to keep the mouth of the net spread open. Needing a beam also severely limited the size of the trawl being towed and was cumbersome and impractical for a smaller boat. Now with the otter trawl, a single small boat, like the Stonington dragger, could tow a net limited only by its engine power. The Otter Trawl - above & below Copyright Seafish The drawings, inspiration and photos for this build come from several sources and the model built from them will be a vessel typical of the design but not of a single example. The hull will be built from one source, while some detailing and features may come from elsewhere. All features and details will depict what would have been found on actual boats – nothing will be added for the sake of visual interest. This model will be weathered to show honest wear. It will not be a wreck, but I have never seen a pristine commercial fishing vessel. Hard working fisherman worked these boats hard. I hope to capture that feel without making a caricature out of it. Thanks for taking a look. Gary
  6. F.H. af Chapman (1721-1808) was a brilliant 18th-century shipbuilder working as a manager for the Swedish Karlskrona navy shipyard. He ended his study in England under Thomas Simpson with a tour around English, French and Dutch shipyards. There he draughted many ships on the stocks and in 1768 he published his Architectura Navalis Mercatoria, in which he presented his drawings, all accompanied by his calculations of draught, stability, center of gravity and more sort like scientific data. On plate LIX we find (amongst others) the lines of a 64½ feet long fish-hooker, a type that has been in use in Holland for several ages. If you don’t have the book, you can find it on the digitalmuseum site of the Sjohistorical Museet, right here: Digital Museum. You can download the drawing, which is the penultimate one on the page. I will tell more about the ship type later, first I will say some things about building in paper and card. For many years I have professionally build wooden ship models, as a method of research. Nowadays I have thrown off the burden of science and concentrate on models that look like real ships. I know we all have our own philosophy about what a model should look like and what it should stand for, but what I try to achieve is a certain degree of realism. Not by duplicating every nail or piece of rope that was there in the real thing, but by creating an impression of the vessel as it sailed in its days. It is more about atmosphere than accurateness. I won’t try to convince you that what I do is the only way to build here, on the contrary, I just tell you what I do for fun and who knows it may inspire you one day to give it a try. The fact that my son Emiel uses my models to create wonderful ‘photoshop-paintings’ has of course been a factor in the decisions I made. Not only did I leave strictly realistic constructions on scale behind, I also chose for a rather unusual material that makes building a lot easier and faster for the model maker than wood does: Paper and card. You might call what I do ‘model-building-light version’. Don’t think I consider my builds examples of how things should look or be done. I have spotted many members on this forum who are a lot better builders than I am, but hey, this is all about fun and not much else. Easy building with easy results. About paper One of the many advantages of building in paper is that it is incredibly cheap. I am Dutch, so I will not dwell on that too much. If you have purchased paper kits you know they are usually not the most expensive way to spend your money compared to wooden kits, but scratch-built paper models don’t cost you anything, except for some paper, glue and paint. Even my largest models never cost me more than a few Euros. So if half underway you think you failed your mission and you decide to abandon ship, make a run for the dustbin and start anew. All you wasted is time and as a model builder you have plenty of that, don’t you? Otherwise you would have spent your precious time on more useful things… Another advantage of paper is the speed you can work with. Some of my models were made within three weeks, although I must admit that the Lenox model took me 5 months. Still an incredible short time for such a complicated ship and in no relation to what it would have taken if executed in wood. A last positive point I would like to emphasize is the mess you make, or actually you don’t make. After working on the model you can simply clear the table and your wife is as happy as before. No wood-dust, no shavings, just some paper snippets to be moved into the dustbin. Everybody happy…. Plans Especially for people who are used to buying kits, it might be useful to explain how an original plan can be used. Looking at the Chapman drawing we see there are several ships on the sheet. We just need the upper part, where we see an elevation (or side view) of the hooker with a body plan and a section to the left. There is also a top view underneath which we will use later when some deck-details have to be filled in. 1. The first thing we have to establish is the scale. I work with a 1/77 scale because it fits me, but you can pick any scale you want. The length of the vessel is 65 ½ feet, which is 18.25 meters in Amsterdam feet (28.3 cm). On a 1/77 scale that is 23.7 cm for my model. Print the drawing, measure the length, calculate the percentage you need to get the size for your model and print again. 2. Now we can cut out the shape of the side view and paste it to a 1 mm thick piece of card. Lets call this longitudinal part the ‘spine’. Use so-called eskaboard or gray-board, a solid sort of card, used for making sturdy boxes. You can use old boxes, but your art supplier sells it in different sizes and it is not expensive. (in fact I use 1.3 mm thick card, but it depends on what you can find) Use glue from a spray-can, to make sure the paper sticks to the card at all places. Don’t take the top of the bulwarks as the upper side of your spine, choose the line of the deck instead, it is visible on the drawing. Draw your topline one millimeter lower than what the plan says, because your deck will have some thickness and you don’t want to end up with a deck that comes too high. Don’t forget to make cuts for the masts. 3. Next double your keel, stem and stern on both sides with the same type of card, so that you get a rabbet. 4. Now we need the body plan. What we see on the drawing is the shape of the ship seen from fore on the right side and from aft on the left side. Make three copies and cut one of them in halves over the centerline. Hold one half drawing upside down against a windowpane or lay it on a light box and take over the lines on the backside. Now paste the half body plan precisely next to its counterpart and you have the shape of the full frames. Check the width! Do the same for the other half. If you can manage a computer program to do the trick, even better, but in the end you will end up with this: Go back to your printer and print 6 copies of the front part and 8 of the aft part of the ship. Paste them on eskaboard. Now you will have to mark the height of the deck on the frames. The best way is to cut the whole frame as it is on the body plan and draw the height of the deck later. 5. Now you will have to bring the spine of the ship and your frames together by cutting slots. Decide how deep your slots will be. Cut them in the spine from the top downwards and in the frames from the bottom upwards. Most of the time the waterline is your best option. If all goes well your frames will butt against the doubled keel and all will be in line. Mark the height of the spine on each of your frames and remove them from the spine. Now you can draw the exact height of the deck on the frame. You can make a mold with deck-camber and transfer it to the frames. Cut slots in the sides of the frames to half the distance to the centerline and perforate the remaining center part with light pressure of your knife, so that the whole part can easily be removed later on. 6. Take two strips of card of the ship’s half breadth and mark the position of the frames on them. Make slots in them halfway from the inside outwards. Now carefully fit the strips into the frames, so that the two meet just on top of the spine. This will add strength to the construction. Take the shape from the outside of every frame and cut out the shape of the upper deck. Also cut the hole(s) for the mast(s). The afterdeck is made separately, as the picture shows. 7. The last thing to do is to double the parts of the frames below deck level. This is to ensure that you have a good landing once the skin will be applied. The frames fore will be doubled on the front side, the frames aft on the aft side. At the extremities you will have to slightly correct the shape with a knife. Finally we glue the whole thing together. PVA glue can be used, as well as any clear plastic glue, or whatever you prefer. Make sure not to apply glue to the part above deck, which will be removed in a later stage. What you have now is about what kits offers you, but all done by yourself in an afternoon’s job and at practically no costs. Next time we will apply the skin of the ship.
  7. Hello freinds and fellow members, today I would like to introduce my new project comprising a model of an traditional working- and fishing boat, as used in the German Baltic state Mecklenburg- Vorpommern in the region called "Darss" with extended national Parks, many decades and years ago. These beautiful wooden boats today are being much cherrished, restored by knowledgable boatbuilders with love and are mostly owned and sailed by enthusiasts for heritage wooden craft with red/brown gaff- und lugger sails. Some have been motorized. There are several regattas on the Bodden waters now an then, a most lovely sight.. Around easter time this year my wife and I decided to do something for our health and we experienced a 7 day "fast hiking week" in the Darss region at the seaside, together with a group of 26 persons and with a trainer. During the hiking tours we also came across little fishing boat ports, and here is where found my inspiration for building a model of one of these lovely boats. In actual they bear an FZ....... registration number on their main sail and they are determined the category "Zeesboat". They are planked either karweel or clinker type and have a swivible centerboard. Mostly they are ketch rigged or single masted with sloop rig. The lengths differ between 9- 12 meter Before beginning there will be a preparation phase, as I mostly do, for the model in scratch build, as I unfortunately to date have no experience wih clinker (lapstrake) building, and some of the idias spooking in my mind have to be tested first, in order to do a near to original lapstrake planking. I intend to plank over a mold / plug and to reinforce the hull later on with separatly added frames, after the hull is taken from the plug. The scale will be somewhere between 1:20 and 1:32. Planking will probably be pear 2 x 15 mm, held together with blackened brass pins and mini clench-discs on the lapstrake inside (resembling the riveted plank boatnails along the horizontal seams) I beleave that there is at this time no other Zeesboat model presented in the MSW forum yet. For doing this model I even decided to postpone the intended model of the seagoing "Hainan Junk" to a future project Nils Preparation Phase it may take some time from now to kick off the begin... pin diameter 0,6 mm, head 1,3 mm, The washer hole 0,6 mm, OD 1,4 mm, 0,3 mm thickness Typical open Zeesboot with open rudder stand and working cockpit and small deckhouse before the mainmast ... seen in the little port of Wiek old boat, new restored, cabin added to the cockpit Boat "Marie Luise" using some srap planks 2 x 12 mm and camfering the upper edges of the forelast plank for the landing surface dummy.... connecting the planks with flat head brass pins (slight countersink) interior side of lapstrake resembling (in lack of suitable clench washers) the clenching with small pieces of plastic tube.... have just received a sample of mini brass washers, that will do perfectly for "clenching" to the pins... clench washers size in relation to the pins here the planks are chisilled for fit and smooth flush transition to the dummy bowpost. The brass pins are here chemically blackend.... this will be my basic building plan... (out of a publication I recently bought from an antiquariat) Nils
  8. Just started a new boat project. After seeing a photo of a small Brazzera with two lateen masts on Veniceboats.com (http://www.veniceboats.com/brazzera.htm), I had to build one! I have not yet found much historical information about Brazerras rigged this way, but there are several plans for single masted boats available. My model will be fictional, based on the type. A ten meter boat was chosen based on the only photo I could find, from Veniceboats.com. The length of the boat was determined and scaled off the people in the photo, and a comparison to photos of a single masted, 9-meter Croatian boat, "Our Lady of the Sea". The "Our Lady of the Sea" is a modern replica of an 18th century boat. I place the photo of my model in the late 19th century, and plan to make it in Italian ownership (maybe a sponge fishing boat?)... Any info or feedback on Brazzeras, especially those rigged with two lateen masts, would be greatly appreciated!
  9. Started a new project: a "Galway Hooker." Evidently, these boats have been numerous in Ireland since the early 19th century, and are still being built today. In the past they were working boats, used for fishing and transporting cargo along the coasts of western Ireland. Today's boats are mostly used for pleasure and racing. The hookers range in size from around 20 to 44 feet (6 to 14 meters), and are broken into four classes, based on size or rigging. There are a lot of information on the internet about Galway Hookers, including plans, drawings, and photos. My model will be a fictional 26-foot (8-meter) boat from the late 19th century of the "gléoiteog" class. Gléoiteogs appear to have been the "real workhorses" of the era because their smaller size made them more affordable (Smylie, Mike. Traditional Fishing Boats of Britain & Ireland. Kindle ed., Amberley Publishing, 2012). Gléoiteogs generally appear to be "open" boats (i.e. no deck), although they sometimes appear with short partial decks (more like shelves) fore and/or aft. Even the larger classes only had half-decks, from the mast forward. I plan to have a short fore deck. The big construction challenge for me will be making a boat that is mostly "open." In 1/48 scale, that is only about 6.5 inches (165mm) long. Model construction began with the keel, made from 1/16 inch (1.6mm) basswood sheet. I added notches for placement of bulkheads later. The bulkheads were sawn from thin (2mm?) basswood plywood and attached in the notches with CA glue. Braces between the bulkheads were added later. Everything was aligned by the "eyeball" method, which relies on a lot of luck...
  10. I have been researching the famous Scottish Fifies, and am inspired to try building a model of a small to medium sized boat of 42-feet (12.8 meters). Detailed information about these boats is hard to find. Evidently, the real boats were mostly built by sight, without the help of plans or half-hull models, so there is not a lot of documentation to discover. Most of the sources I did find focus on the large Fifies (60 to 80 feet loa) of the early 1900s. However, from various historical photographs and writings, I am under the impression that smaller boats were more common-place during the late 1800s. In addition, there are very few surviving Fifies left in the world today. One smaller boat, the "Isabella Fortuna," survives as a Scottish National Historic Ship. She was built in 1890 and is 43 feet loa. By using written descriptions, historical photographs, and the plans of larger boats, I have developed my own paper line-plans of what I think would be a typical boat in existence, circa 1870 - 1880. Here are some of my sources:
  11. This will be a 1/48 scale model of a six meter (20 foot) Misainier fishing boat from the early 1900s. The Misainier was an important feature of the French Atlantic Coast in the early part of the 20th century. These little boats were usually 4 to 8 meters long, single masted, lug rigged, and built by individuals without formal plans. Hundreds plied the coastal fishing grounds of Brittany until the mid 1900s.
  12. I have been building a number of modern fishing vessels with pleasure, using different types of plastic, but I also wanted to build a wooden ship. It had to be a fishing ship and soon my eye fell on the Zeillogger (Saillugger). I also came in contact with someone who would like to have a logger's model and in the past two years we have searched for information, drawings and pictures. In the meanwhile I have enough material to start building. The Zeillogger in General Until the end of the 19th century people used Bomschuiten (flatbottom ships) in Holland for fishin herring. But in the latter half of the 19th a new fishing vessel came up, the logger. The design came from France but was soon taken to the Netherlands after which the design was adapted to the fishery. It resulted in light, fast ships that could quickly come to the fishing grounds and quickly returned to the port. As a result, more fishingtime was gained and the shipowners and shareholders made more money. The sailoggers were used to fish for herring with vleetnetten The Fleet Fishing The vleet-fishery is a herring fishing that was operated from the end of May to December in the southern parts of the North Sea. Only this fishery started until the end of May because the herring had only been sufficiently developed for consumption (maatjes-herring) and in winter the herring left the North Sea. The vleet- fishing was performed with so-called Bomschuiten (until the end of the 19th century) and then with steam or sailluggers. The driftnet for this fishery are called a Vleet. This is a vertical curtain in the water and consists of 100 to 150 interconnected nets (31 meters long and 16 meters high). These nets are connected to a long cable, called the Reep to which floats (Breels or Scottish blowing) are attached to keep the net floating. The "Reep" is attached to the ship at the end. The net has meshes that are slightly smaller than the herrings head. When the herring swims in the net, he stays stuck in the net through his gills and can not go away anymore. The Vleet is turned overboard in the afternoon, which takes about 1.5 hours. The Vleet will then remain in the water for a few hours until midnight and is then hauled in and the herring goes in bins on the deck. This takes 4 to 5 hours. After this the crew takes the herring for gutting, salting, putting in tubs and storage. After cleaning the ship, it is often time to turn off the vleet again. They worked for 6 or 7 days a week and trips lasted for 7 weeks. The KW140, Wilhelmina VII The Wilhelmina VII was a steel saillogger with the hull made of steel. The rest of the ship is made of various types of wood. Of the same type, several were built for different shipping companies. The logger was built in 1912 at the shipyard Gebr. Boot at Leiderdorp on behalf of the fishingcompany Gebr. The Dulk te Katwijk aan Zee. Cost was Fl. 15,200 (Dutch guilders) and presumably she got in line with the shipping company in 1914. The logger is rigged about 38 meters long. The length of the keel is 25 meters and the overall hull length is 28 meters. The height is about 25 meters. Width is 6.6 meters. Tragedy About the history of the Wilhelmina VII, an ink-black veil hangs for the family of the sailors with much uncertainty, sadness and misery. On 16-2-1918, Wilhelmina VII left under the command of Captain Arie den Hollander with 5 other crew members heading towards the Doggersbank for herring fishing. Since that date nothing is ever heard from the ship and its crew. It was assumed that the ship has hit a mine and perished. Later it became apparent that Wilhelmina VII was destroyed with all crew on 19-2-1918 by the U-Boote UB-64 under the leadership of Kapitänleutnant Woldemar Petri (1883-1951). Much is unknown about reason for the sinking of the Wilhelmina VII, as the captain's log clearly states that he recognized her as a Dutch fishing vessel and Wilhelmina VII had the words HOLLAND on SB and BB. Perhaps the steel hull caused the captain to be confused or there are other things that play along, but it will always remain unclear. The names of the killed crew are. Skipper Arie den Hollander (39), mate Willem van der Plas (33), sailor Jacob den Hollander (37), sailor Jan Zwanenburg (34), sailor Jeroen den Hollander (43) and oldest Arie den Hollander (16) One of the crewmembers is the grandfather of the man I will build this model for. The model The model is built in scale 1/25, giving a hull-length of 113cm and a total length of 152cm and a height of 100cm. This will give me a lot of space to get a high level in details and make things work. I will make the hull of fiberglass and polyester and the rest of the ship will be full of oak and brass. For building, I base myself on the original buildingplans I found and photos of other sailloggers from that time. Particularly I will use information and photos of the only remaining saillogger VL-92 de Balder that has been very precisely restored and brought back into old state.
  13. hello every body, this time I am so motivated to build a diaroma. and the first step; building the boat :-) model is based on a drawing of a boat which was reported to be about 4-5 m. by the drawer. due to scaling issues in my scale it is now around 7 m. I also did ome modifications on the deck.
  14. Hi Guys, since this small boat is covered, I hope to have a better chance of getting the model build than with an open top and an inner structure to be build. The plan comes from the Architectura Navalis Mercantoria and can be found on plate LX under number 4 with it's own scale ruler. My girlfriend builds, when she improves and sews on her beautiful little Tilda figures, I can work in the living room on her table on my cardboard pices with a cutter a steelruler and a glue. So I can work without too much machine tools and dirt vice versa to her. So it always goes ahead when we are sitting opposite each other and are creative in the same moment - a beloved time. So there is progress especially on weekends. The small vessel, which is not even 13 meters long, is referred to in the index as "life fish transporter with a well used around/at Stockholm". This also explains the holes in the aft hull, because in the well the caught fish swam in the fresh water. So they came to the customers and cooks fresh even in summer. It was the case that the fishermen knocked off the contents of their net at the catcher in front of Stockholm directly in his well alive and were paid on the spot. As a result, they did not have to face the risk of selling, but only that of the already uncertain catch. The dealer then sailed to Stockholm and sold the freshly caught fish on the quay or in the market. Like the fishing boats of the southern Baltic Sea (the German specialist for southern Baltic Sea's wooden boats Helmut Olszak wrote about it ), flat and very round shapes are predominant here. And from the same source I have been told there were very little of the boats not clinker in the Baltic Sea. (But I will try her fitst inva creveel planking.) This hull shape developed to be able to drive with the uneven Baltic thinning and the changing flow in this swallow waters. Unfortunately, I find no more specific date than "dated before 1768" before the first edition of Chapmans Arch. Nat. Merc. Dimensions: - Length: 42 - 2/3 Engl. foot - Width: 12 - 5/6 engl. foot The hull has only two frames with a real convex shape, otherwise everything is concave, which should make construction very easy. I find the clinker of the cabin roof and the supported iron bracket that leads the lower gaff tree interesting. The masts are completely specified and I like that very much, I don't have to reconstruct anything. The rigging is certainly rewarded in red and probably in two parts, since the boat may have driven a large gaff sail and a jib. So far I have not found anything that indicates a second foresail. The lower gaff tree is moved with a hook on the mast, the shorter upper one with a rope and a claw. I scaled the plans to 1/48 and then printed out a copy set in 1/24 and finished it ready to build; so I'll start in 1/48 as the scale is quite confortable to work in in cardboard... So now it is time to search for materials for the construction of the inner hull. So this is the start on this weekend. Bought some cardboard in "bookbinder quality" in 2mm, 1mm thickness and cardboard from 300g to get 0,5mm in brown (the DIN A4 sheet came 0,29 each and the DIN A2 sheet came 0,79...) I also got an 8×1000mm round beech stick for the mast. Now I have to deal with the construction of the inner hull. So let's start. Just cut off the frames to bulkheads. But I figured outone very aesthetic baroque feature on the bodyplan: In a hatching the S-curved bulwark. And my furst trial to get a three dimensional drawing of the hull it is not breadth enough - but does give a very first start to me for the superstructure. Here the S-shaped bulwak at the stern - my design trail filling the gap in the Chapman drawing aft. So I hope there are some ideas about the S-shaped feature, as I amnot really shure how to deal with it. And in particular what's to do with the dotted line under the gunwale's level? Hope you like it seeing me working on saturdays and sundays
  15. 1:64 Zulu Fishing Boat - KIT PREVIEW Vanguard Models **Coming soon** Vanguard Models are currently around 2 months (give or take) from releasing two new kits which are suitable for both beginner and expert alike, but of course engineered to help those who want to try their hand at modelling a ship/boat in timber. Both models are in 1:64 and both are working vessels; fishing boats. These are the Zulu and Fifie class of vessel which tended to operate around the south-eastern coast of Scotland, mainly as herring fishers. If you know Chris's style of design, then you'll see it here in this preview kit I have for the Zulu. This is a preview only and isn't designed to be a review. It's simply to show you the basic box contents before Chris finishes the kit. Firstly, it isn't a finished-boxed product, being sent to me in a regular shipper box. It also has no instructions and no plans at this stage, and rigging blocks/cord/sails will be with me later. My own build which Chris wants to use for a box-art photo, will be made using his prototype photos that I'm currently editing for his instruction manual. Sails will be provided as an extra, should the modeller want them. Many don't use sails, so you'll not pay for something you won't use when you buy the initial kit. Despite the model also being pitched at newcomers and novices, no poor quality materials have been used. You get pear in this kit, with an option to buy with a maple deck instead of lime. The Zulu contains: 2 x 3mm MDF sheets 3 x 1mm pear sheets 1 x 2mm pear sheet 1 x 3mm pear sheet 1 x 2mm acetate sheet 1 x 0.8mm ply (single part) 1 x 0.7mm maple or lime wood laser cut/engraved deck (lime is standard) 1 x 0.4mm PE sheet Timber strip Metal tubing Not seen in this photo are the rigging blocks and cord, and the optional sails. MDF Sheets One thing you'll note here is that Vanguard Models are now using laser engraving on their parts, so everything is pre-numbered and there are also bevelling lines so you can roughly shape bulkheads before assembly to the false keel. Final shaping can be done later. 1mm pear sheets These are very nice indeed. Timber quality is excellent, and I love the pink hues of this stuff. Note that the bulwarks (supplied in halves) have the positions engraved on them for the timberheads. The first two lower planks are also included to take the guesswork out of those shapes near the keel. A rabbet has also been cleverly engineered into the design, and you won't need to cut or chisel a single thing to create it! The rabbet will help those second planks sit snugly into position. 2mm pear sheet 3mm pear sheet 2mm acetate sheet All models from this company have clear acetate stands supplied with them, and this includes these two fishing boats. These just push together with no need for adhesive, although you could, if you wanted to, drop a little PVA into the slot as it will dry clear. The acetate is covered in a blue plastic film which you first peel off, as seen here. A benefit of a clear stand is that it won't hinder the view of the completed hull! 0.8mm ply (single part) and 0.7mm maple deck All kits, as standard, will be supplied with an engraved lime wood deck. The kit which I've been sent has the maple option. As you can see, it does look really neat, and the engraving is excellent, including proper trunnels instead of just dots. This deck will sit atop the ply one seen here, but only when the hull is built (and painted). Strip wood and tube Three bundles of materials are supplied with this kit, all of high quality. The alloy tubes are for the flues. Materials are 1x5mm limewood for first planking, 1x4mm pear for second planking, and walnut for the rest (dowels, half round strip and 1x1mm strip) Photo Etch & errata A reasonable size PE sheet is included, manufactured from 0.4mm brass. Brass nails are the excellent Amati ones with no malformed heads or points etc. Probably the best I've ever used. As I say, this isn't a complete kit. It needs the rig, blocks, optional sails, instructions, plans and a box, but it should give you a good idea about how the finished product will look. Here's a photo of the prototype, so far.
  16. 1:64 Fifie Fishing Boat, 'Lady Eleanor' - KIT PREVIEW Vanguard Models **Coming soon** To be released at the same time as the Vanguard Models' 1:64 Zulu fishing boat, reviewed HERE, will be the traditional sail version of the Fifie. Again, this kit is aimed at the beginner, but with materials and detail that will appeal to the more experienced modeller too. Having more or less built the Zulu, I can tell you that I had great fun doing so! The kit will be supplied with lime planking for the first layer, and pear planking for the second, as standard, plus pear for the keep and numerous other elements such as inner bulwark facings and superstructure parts. Timber quality is excellent throughout, as are the fittings etc. As with Zulu, this Fifie was shipped to me without the plan sets which are currently being worked on, and without the box or instructions. This kit I have here will be built for the instruction manual you will be provided with. The Fifie contains: 2 x 3mm MDF sheets 2 x 1mm pear sheets 1 x 2mm pear sheet 1 x 3mm pear sheet 1 x 2mm acetate sheet 1 x 0.8mm ply (single part) 1 x 0.7mm maple or lime wood laser cut/engraved deck (lime is standard) 1 x 0.4mm PE sheet Timber strip Rigging cord, parrel beads, rigging blocks MDF sheets Two 3mm sheets are supplied, and as you can see, these also include engraved bearding lines etc. All parts are laser engraved with numbers too. Cutting is clean and it won't take more than quick knife cut to release the various elements. You will also see parts for the winch, temporary clamps for the keel, and superstructure core parts. Note that the bulkheads have a recess into which the deck will click, meaning no pesky nailing down at the edges. 2 x 1mm Pear sheets These sheets contain superstructure external facings, inner bulwarks in two parts each, and also keel facing parts. After the main keel is fitted, these sit on top, with tabs to locate them. This creates a rebate into which the second layer of pear planking will set. It's a neat idea and worked great on my Zulu. Note the 'Lady Eleanor' plates that fit on the boat's bow. 1 x 1.5mm pear sheet This small sheet just contains the timberheads for the inner bulwarks. 1 x 3mm pear sheet Like Zulu, the Fifie has a single sheet of 3mm pear. Here you will find the keel parts, foremast step and crutch, rudder, and elements for mounting the boat's wheel etc. 1 x 2mm acetate sheet This model also comes with a clear acetate display stand. Just peel off the protective blue film and slot together! 1 x 0.8mm ply (single part) The deck is supplied in two layers with this ply deck being what you glue to the hull carcass. Like my Zulu, this will just click into place nicely. I even added glue after this was fitted! 1 x 0.7mm maple or lime wood laser cut/engraved deck My kit was supplied with a maple deck which is at a slight extra cost to the standard kit. A laser-engraved limewood deck is standard. 1 x 0.4mm PE sheet One sheet of PE is included. Here you will find parts for the winch (plates, mechanism box and whelps), rigging points, boat wheel and keel plate for the bow. Timber strip All timber is high quality. Here you will find both layers of planking and the rubbing strakes. Rigging cord, parrel beads, rigging blocks 0.25 and 0.5mm natural cord is included, as are the various blocks and fittings etc. Please excuse the inaccurate number of blocks in these photos are my Zulu blocks are also in there and not yet separated. Optional sails If you want to finish your fisher with sails, and they do look great on this type of model, then they will be available as an optional extra. These are cotton-based and pre-made with a bolt rope etc. Lastly, here's a photo of Chris's prototype Fifie. I'll be starting mine tomorrow.
  17. With Kurt's encouragement I am stepping into the Darkside of scratch building a boat and I might add much sooner than I thought. This build will run in tandem with my Constitution build. This build is a commission for the local Maritime Museum here in Morro Bay in which the building is in the process of starting to build with a targeted completion date of October to correspond with the Boat Festival. They have requested a 1 inch to the foot scale model with an overall size of 32" long. My first step was to laminate together 1/16" thick x 3" Basswood sheets to the plan size of the deck. The real boat was a local marine grade plywood build with a Cummings diesel engine. I did enough of the CAD drawings to get off to a good start and I use the CAD prints as patterns to cut out parts as seen in some of the following build pictures. I am not new to scratch building models and the interesting thing is that there are no instructions and plans unless you obtain them or draw them. I use CorelCAD to make the basic rough drawings and then print out what I need as I progress and often refer back to the CAD files as I build for dimensions. One thing about scratch building is that it is much like playing chess and one has to be two or three steps ahead so as not to build yourself into a bad situation. The other thing that happens is off hand building in space and building in structure as you go. Here are images of the build start on Saturday beginning with the sheet glue up and building in structure with rails and flanges to strengthen the deck sheet. To establish the deck curve I built up the transom and will progress building from the stern. The transom flange was cut to 87 degrees relative to the deck. The beauty of having the CAD file is exact degrees when measured in the computer file. Here the rails and flanges were added for strength and hull set back indexing edges with the flanges. Next I moved onto bulkhead #8 which is angled and forms the rear wall of the cabin. I also pre cut the hatch door and taped it back in place to maintain part geometry. The horizontal supports for the working deck has been added to #8 as well as the inside of the transom aligning with the supper holes. Next I made a 105 degree jig for the bulk head this will be used to develop the geometry for the false interior that will be blacked out. I will attempt to have a work hatch door with sliding access panel. Next I plan to move to the forward cabin for additional structure and strength before moving to the hull.
  18. Hello there First Post here and stepping on stage with great trepidation as I've already seen many scratch builds posted and by-and-large with a great more attention to detail than I'm prepared to devote! Having said that I'm still pretty pleased with this model and its recipient, a life long friend, is ecstatic ... so there!! OK, I've only been scratch building for about 15 years and have only ever built one kit ... a Billings Dragon, and mostly scratch build racing cars from the 50's. When I felt my skills were adequate I did a half-hull of our own sailboat then a series of half-hulls for friends then eventually my oldest pal said he'd prefer a FULL hull instead (greedy b*gger) of his "baby", a Trojan 36 Sport Fisherman. No plans were available so I developed my own from various suitable photos on the inter-web and supplemented them with MANY visits to the boat where I photographed every inch of it with a tape measure stretched out for scale. I usually build in a composite called Renshape which, if you haven't heard of it, is a product made for pattern-making. It is very expensive but wonderful to work with as it takes fine details with ease. However, my supply had diminished and I wanted to get started. I had a brainwave (brain-fart?) one day when my neighbour was having a set of stairs made for him that used a new synthetic wood that looked remarkably like Renshape ... a true composite and waterproof. A few off-cuts were "liberated" one night ... and so it began. I screwed/glued together enough pieces to give me the requisite hull ... then went at it with whatever grinding tools I had at hand ... it wasn't pretty. Much Bondo and fillers were applied and eventually it resembled his hull. A deck was added and ever more fillers applied. The superstructure was filled in with cardboard and the complex shaping of windows began using those little Arborite/Formica samples. One doesn't realize how complex a hull shape can be until you try to replicate it! Coaming around the stern cut from mahogany plank. White panelling from more Arborite samples Swim platform assembled from tiny strips of mahogany Steering wheel from scrap aluminum (no I didn't have a machine lathe at this time) Seats fabricated from Renshape and aluminum scraps I practised silver soldering when many of the stainless metalwork was made ... Hand made all the 90 and 120 degree fittings needed for the handrails Aft deck in finished state OK, I won't bore you with any more detail but fire away if there are any questions. The finished model ... Thanks for looking in. Frank
  19. So here is my first build log on my first scratch built wooden boat model. This is a 35" replica of the Orca boat from the movie Jaws. I started with a set of the Paul Tritle blueprints, They're a good starting point for this project......I get a little anal over details, so things are changing already from the prints. These blueprints can be purchased here: http://www.patscustom-models.com/boatplans.htm I got ahead of myself on the build before I started the build log but I'll keep it updated as I go along now.
  20. I've been reading Chappelle's "The American Fishing Schooners 1825 - 1935" and have come across something that has me confused, about how rudders were "hinged" before about 1880. In describing a particular ship built in 1887 "Her very sharp ends ... hollowed sternpost, and strap pintles and grudgeons were departures from contemporary fishing schooners." So if the strap pintles and grudgeons where not used previously, what method did they use before this to mount the rudders? One of my upcoming projects is the Flying Fish schooner, and I would like to put the proper hardware on her.
×
×
  • Create New...