Young America by EdT - FINISHED - extreme clipper 1853

[EdT]

Thank you all for these comments - an for the "likes". I wish progress were a bit faster.

 

Sherry, I can take little credit for the adjustable supports. Many on the forum have used them - Gary, Keith to name just a couple. I think they will be worth a try for you. On YA it will be a challnge - with her long hull - to keep her square.

 

John, I hope I can do her justice. the more I read about these ships, the more impressive they become. YA is quite different from Naiad - offering new challenges and alot of different details. I spent a good part of yesterday lofting the sweeping knightheads and stempieces - fun.

 

Rob, whenever you post, with that profile picture of McKay, I feel that the old master is looking over my shoulder. Perhaps he is thinking, "Webb! He's building another one!"

 

Ed

[Maury S]

Ed,

It's great that the challenges are different.  Keeps your mind sharp.  Thanks for the log!

Maury

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 10 – Stem – apron and rabbet

 

In an early post, I observed that interest by modelers in American clipper ships seems limited – at least judging by topics on the forum – being hugely eclipsed by interest in 18C RN subjects.  I am finding the history of the building, sailing and commercial exploits of these ships extremely fascinating.  To throw some light on the subject, I believe I will start inserting some interesting facts in these posts – starting with this one.

 

American Clipper Fact:  In December 1850, the extreme clipper John Bertram, 190 feet/1050 tons, was launched at the yard of Ewell and Jackson, East Boston, just 61 days after laying of the keel.  She went on to sail for 30 years. (Cutler, Crothers)

 

Back to business.

 

On these ships the apron reinforced the stem and supported the bowsprit.  Construction of this member varied, leaving me with another design decision to make.  On some ships the apron was cut from a single log.  On others it was sided to match the stem and reinforcing “stem pieces” were bolted to either side to make the breadth at the top equal the size of the bowsprit.  Young America had a large, 36” diameter bowsprit, so it seemed likely to me that the apron would be of the latter type, so that is the design I used.  It is a subtle difference on the model – perhaps not even visible.  This allowed me to proceed with the apron – sided 16”.

 

The first picture shows the three pieces of the apron during fitting.

 

 

The next picture shows the central piece being glued on.  This was done after the lower section had been installed – working up from the bottom.

 

 

The next picture shows the top piece – fit-up, but not yet glued.

 

 

In the next picture the apron is secured.  The filler piece behind it on the keel is also installed. 

 

 

Mirrored patterns of the assembly have been pasted to both sides in this picture so the stem rabbet can be accurately marked out.  In the next picture the rabbeted area has been removed from the starboard pattern and the line of the inside of the rabbet is being deepened with a hobby knife.

 

 

The rabbet widens toward the bottom.  Technically, it extends from its forward line to the bearding line – the line defined by the top cut on the pattern.  Both these lines were constructed on the drawings from the intersection of the waterlines with the inner rabbet and the side of the apron respectively.  The forward rabbet line was constructed from the intersections at the forward end of the planks.  The rabbet is very wide at the bottom because of the extremely sharp entry of the forward hull lines.

 

In the next picture the rabbet is being enlarged with a full-sized V-gouge after the center line was cut with a smaller tool of the same type.

 

 

The smaller gouge is to the right in the next picture, which shows the wide part of the rabbet being pared back with a straight chisel.

 

 

The front part of the pattern was removed to better see the forward edge of the groove.  This paring is only partially done at this stage.  Further shaping will be done after the stem pieces and knightheads are installed.  The last picture shows the assembly set up on the board after rabbets were cut on both sides.

 

 

I believe the next step will be the fitting of the stem pieces and knightheads – after some lofting of these highly curved and beveled pieces.

 

Ed

[rwiederrich]

I'm sure Webb and McKay were vast friends and competitors too.......and as you have suggested...probably said to themselves(If not out loud)...*He's(Webb or McKay), building another one*.  

 

As I too finish up my *Glory of the Seas* and prepare to finalize the plans for my *Donald McKay* on her open ocean display....I'm watching your build with great anticipation.  IMV Clippers are the pinnacle of fast ship design(under sail)...and remain my dearest favorite.

 

Here is a very nice picture of the Young America

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Oh...my Donald McKay will be modeled similar to this image of the Flying Cloud....probably a bit rougher seas..but similarly short sailed and heeled over, breaking wave crests..etc.

 

Rob

[riverboat]

Hi Ed.... just catching up on your build log, this is such excellent work ,and presented in such a professional manner,   I'll be checking in from time to time on your progress ...... there's a lot to learn here!!!

Frank

[Maury S]

Ed, From the order of photos, I see the pattern is removed for gluing up, then a new pattern attached for cutting the rabbet...correct?  Is there a good way of insuring the second pattern (and mirror image) fit properly?

Maury

[EdT]

Hi Maury,

 

You are correct.  In order for the second pattern to fit accurately the curve of the false stem must be correct.  I then have mirrored patterns (thank you CAD) for the forward assembly.  I carefully cut along the forward line with a knife and cut horizontally along the keel bottom.  The cut patterns are then matched to the forward edge of the false stem.  This method is pretty accurate.  If the line of the false stem cannot be relied upon, reference lines need to be drawn on the wood to locate the pattern, but I find drawing accurate lines on wood to be a problem, so I avoid it wherever possible - except for rough lines.  The one-pixel pattern lines are much more accurate.

 

Ed

[clipper]

Hi Ed it's great to see you building a clipper  , forgive me asking this if you have already covered the subject, but will you be fully rigging the YA. If so I cant wait to see you tackle all the iron work attached to the masts. I have the Billings Cutty Sark on the shelf and have decided to heavily bash the detailing if I can. If Niaid is anything to go by your build will be instructional to say the least.  

Tony

[EdT]

HI Tony.  Thanks.  I am currently thinking it will be rigged, but have not finally decided.  Long way to go before that decision needs to be made.

 

Ed

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 11 – Stem Pieces, Knightheads, Hawse Timbers

 

 

American Clipper Note:  The record sailing times logged by American clippers did not result from hull design and huge sail plans alone.  The transatlantic packet service, begun in 1818, in which ships advertised - and ran - to a published schedule, placed extreme performance demands on captains and crews.  Captains in this trade - many in their 20’s - learned to drive their ships relentlessly, at the expense of ships and men.  When the sleek clippers began to come down American shipways, there were captains, well prepared – and still young enough - to make them run.

 

 

In the last part I mentioned the stem piece fillers on either side of the stem.  These pieces, the knightheads, and the first hawse timbers were lofted, cut out and installed as shown below.

 

The first picture shows the stem pieces and knightheads placed in position on the port side,  Their starboard counterparts are to the right.  These have been pared back almost to the bevel lines on the patterns. (This picture was taken before cutting out the rabbeted area of the pattern as shown in the last part.)

 

 

 

In the next picture the stem piece on the starboard side is being pinned in place prior to gluing.  The square clamped against the keel in this picture assures that the back face of the stem piece is vertical.  It has been beveled on that face to match the first cant frame that will eventually be bolted against it.

 

 

In the next picture, the last piece – the port hawse piece – is being glued on, completing this stage of the assembly.

 

 

The next step is to fair these timbers into the stem rabbet.  The picture below shows just the preliminary pre-assembly beveling.  There is some work to do.

 

 

Much of the fairing work was done using the curved, flat-faced riffler shown in the next picture.  It is a coarse #0 cut Grobet.  The smaller riffler in the picture was used in the rabbet corners,  Curved scraper blades were also used. 

 

 

The small ruler in the upper right corner of the above picture was used to check the line.  The waterlines into the rabbet at this point are almost straight – very slightly convex.  Because the initial pieces were cut right to the forward profile, once the glue line is reached the work is finished, except for sanding and leveling out ridges – especially near the rabbet line.

 

The next picture shows the faired assembly.

 

 

The first cant frame will rest on the beveled back faces of these pieces.  The bevels are visible in the next picture.  The two vertical pencil lines in the apron show the location of the cant frame pair.

 

 

The remaining pattern piece in the above photo can be removed.  Another hawse timber or two will be bolted to this surface.  These will be cut by eye after the cant frames are installed.

 

 

Ed

[dgbot]

Nice work.  I can't wait to see your cant frames.

David B

[rwiederrich]

Looking awesome Ed.........Awesome.

 

Rob

[the learner]

EdT,

 

As usual you build is off to a fantastic start. good job!

 

Guy

[gjdale]

Masterful as always Ed, and a joy to watch this emerge.

[druxey]

Exemplary is the only adjective that hasn't yet been used to describe your work, Ed!

[EdT]

What can I say, guys - except thanks for your generous coments. Progress seems slow - a lot of other things on the docket. "Just-in-time" lofting of patterns also slows progress - especially when I make mistakes.

 

Thanks, again.

 

Ed

[rwiederrich]

Building in the fashion that you do...a simple coat of paint will not cover up any mistakes....

 

Watching with great anticipation. 

 

Rob(so is Donald)

[catopower]

Hello Ed,

 

I'm watching you build with a great deal of fascination. The Young America is one of the subjects I have considered for a future build, but certainly nothing remotely close in detail to what you are doing here. I'd figured on sticking to plank on solid hull at a smaller scale and using the Crothers plans or the Chapelle plans (for the hull) and using some high resolution scans of photos I'd gotten of the Young America. Some of the poop deck detail, like the small cabin at the forward end is a bit confusing since the various sources don't agree. I'll definitely be watching your progress to see what you come up with.

 

I'm not sure if I'm ready to handle the POF work that you're illustrating in this build. It's just fantastic work. However, I have been considering getting your books and taking on the Naiad build. 

 

Thanks for posting here in such great detail!

 

Clare

[rwiederrich]

Clare...you have high resolution images of Young America.....?

 

Care to share them with a fellow admirer?

 

Rob

[EdT]

Clare, I'm fascinated and delighted that clipper fans keep popping up out of the woodwork - and equally happy if others find what I am doing interesting or useful.  Many of the processes I am using on this build are identical to work done on Naiad - but many will be different - as you will see soon when framing begins. 

 

I am always glad to hear of interest others have in building Naiad.  To my knowledge, mine is the only model of her - though at least two others are in progress.  I am also happy to hear about interest in the books.  Although they deal with the Naiad construction processes in depth, those processes can be applied to other models.  I also tried to describe them in a way to be helpful to modelers at all levels.  There is some very fundemental stuff in both books.

 

Good luck,

 

Ed

[realworkingsailor]

Out of curiosity, will this one also become a book/series of books?

 

Among many others, it seems, I am fascinated by your new endeavour, and I look forward to following your build.

 

Andy

[EdT]

Hello, Andy, and thanks for your comment.  At present I have made no commitment on another book or books.  I expect Young America to take several years to complete, especially if she is to be rigged - another decision not yet made.  Considering that, a decision on another book will be sometime off - if the opportunity arises.  I thoroughly enjoyed writing the Naiad books, but I can tell you it was a ton of work and commitment - not only to writing but also in taking the thousands of pictures needed, to say nothing of preparing the drawing package.  I am taking enough pictures - a major chore in itself - because without them there will be no decision to make.  That is about as much as I can tell you at this point.

 

Ed

[lagrayjr]

We all hope that you will do another book and set of plans. I've just received volume 2 of the Naiad here and it is outstanding. Laman

[allanyed]

Love it! 

 

Allan

[the learner]

Edt, enjoyed talking with you this last weekend in Charleston.

 

Guy

[EdT]

Thanks, Guy and Allan. Good to see you both at the conference.

 

Cheers,

 

Ed

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 12 –Frame Assembly 1

 

 

American Clipper Note: Rated tonnage rules based on length, breadth and depth of ships, used to assess tax on cargoes, retarded the development of fast merchant ships for a hundred years, perhaps longer.  Shippers, wanting hulls that could carry more than their rated tonnage - to reduce taxes on actual tonnage - created demand for the slow, “floating bathtub” designs that prevailed to mid-19^th Century.  High profit margins, the result of two gold rushes and the lucrative China trade flipped the coin – enter the fast sailing clipper.  Extreme clippers, with their long sleek hulls, stiffened with massive internal structures, were often incapable of carrying even their rated tonnage.  The higher profit margins and the faster voyage times made the ships profitable in spite of the tax disadvantages.  Tonnage laws were eventually revised.

 

With the keel assembly constructed and set up on the shipway, the next major task will be framing.  There are many frames and I expect this will take months.  Earlier I described a frame assembly process trial and decided to proceed based on that.  In this part, assembly of one of the first frames is described.

 

The first picture shows the pattern being cut up into the segments to be pasted on to 14” thick pear stock.  This is the siding of the floors – the thickest pieces.  I intend to make all the frame timbers this size then machine off the upper futtocks (and the patterns) to the correct sidings after assembly and initial beveling.

 

 

The patterns include accurately placed bolt holes.  These are indexed on both the fore and aft frames in the pair to be used to align the parts.  All the frame pairs on the ship are bolted together on the respective frame line.

 

After cutting out all the pieces for the pair – in this case the fore and aft frames at line A – the outside profiles were sanded back closer to the line on the disk sander as shown below.

 

 

The ends of each timber were also sanded back square to the cut line on the pattern segment as shown in the next picture.

 

 

This sanding needs to be precise so the timbers butt neatly.  At this stage they are left slightly oversize.

 

In the next picture, bolt holes in one of the timbers is being drilled.  These holes need to be precisely located so the parts will fit accurately.  The holes are, of course, first center marked as accurately as possible.

 

 

In the next picture the floor of the forward face is being pinned to the pattern with the pattern side down. 

 

 

The pins are centered as shown on the bolt hole centers on the pattern.  The pins and holes are sized for a sliding fit.

 

After fitting and pinning all the forward frame timbers to the pattern,  the aft frame timbers are pinned through the holes with the pattern side up as shown below.

 

 

After all the aft timbers have been fitted and pinned on top of the forward frame, final assembly can begin.  The next picture shows the second of the two lower futtocks to be glued down.

 

 

The lower futtock to the right has been glued and nailed down tight with the pins.  Small blocks of soft wood were used to allow the pins to be removed more easily and without damage to the frame. The futtock to the left = being glued - was set with its pins in the holes before the dark glue was applied.  In the picture it is ready to be nailed down into place.

 

In the next picture all of the aft frame timbers have been progressively glued into place.

 

 

When the glue has dried the frame will be removed for some clean-up, beveling, machining to the correct sidings at each level and bolting.  I will show this in the next part(s?)

 

There will be 50 full square frame pairs like this one to be made.  This excludes the 19 pairs of half frames and the 11 pairs of cant frames at the ends of the ship.

 

Ed

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Lovely work and excellent explanation again, Ed!

 

John

[harvey1847]

And here is me buying clamps and more clamps to put together my pair frames…

 

What a Clever idea! And those drills will be filled with the treenails, I guess, so you don´t have to drill them again. Is the iron pin the same diameter of the treenail-bolt?

 

Always a pleasure to read your post Ed.

 

Best wishes.

 

 

Daniel.