wq3296
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Everything posted by wq3296
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Greetings Gary, Transom looks proper - nice job. Relative to waterway: Yes, stanchions are irregular. I fit mine directly to the ship and trimmed each stanchion somewhat so that the waterway would fit properly with a fair run. Per the drawings, there should be 1/2" clear from the top of the waterway (exclusive of cover board) to the top of the stanchion. To achieve this, I had to shim up the waterway at some of the bulkheads with scrap wood. I extended the shims all the way to the keel/former and will sand them to final shape to ensure that the deck fits correctly. wq3296
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Greetings Gary, Yes, that would do nicely. On the other hand, I was thinking of a flat top version similar to the one on the Surprise in the movie Master and Commander. The beauty part about model ship building is that, so long as it is generally in scale and period correct, practically anything you build will be acceptable. It should be pointed out that wooden ships changed even from year to year. I expect battle damage, or deterioration, was never rebuilt to original specs. Ships were even modified at sea to correct sailing characteristics. So, within a short period of time no ship looked like it did when launched. This gives the model builder great latitude in making a kit unique to the builder's tastes. wq3296
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Greetings Ken, I guess it would depend on how far along you are, but you may not have to do much to add the companionway. You could build it out over the door you have already - it doesn't have to be centered. wq3296
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Greetings Gary and Bob, I don't believe in absolutes when it comes to building anything. In my racket (professional engineer) nothing ever gets built entirely to plan for a variety of reasons. To me, the plan is obviously wrong even though the plans may have been lifted from the original model. Accordingly, I will attempt to build what I believe is more practical in terms of what works, and what the actual ship probably looked like. To Bob's point the helm setup is probably not right either. I will build the helm to stand alone and build the companion way in the center of the QD as on my Enterprise. 4:00 PM here - grog time. wq3296
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Greetings Gary, The plans show a door on both sides of the quarter deck bulkhead to provide access to the cabin area. Typically, there would be steps from these doors to provide access to the cabin deck which would have been constructed several feet lower than the main deck. According to the plan scale, these doors would have been less than 3' high. I doubt the plans are correct in this regard, since three feet is really tight, even for colonial times. I think a companion way should be built over the doors to provide more headroom. I built a model of the Enterprise, which is a similar ship, circa 1800, to the Fair American. It has the same quarter deck layout except with a companion way for the door. Companion ways are quite typical on sail boats and other vessels. In addition to the companion way, I will be adding a sky light to the quarter deck which would have provided light and ventilation to the officer's cabins. Thoughts?
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Greeting Gary, As a heads up, you may have to trim the top of frame 16 by about an 1/8 of an inch. Otherwise, the deck won't fit per the plans. Note that the plans show the distance from the top of the keel/former to the top of frame 16 to be 7/8". However, when you install 16 it can't be seated deeply enough to take up the 1/8" because the factory slot won't permit it. Before you cut the frame down, check for yourself in case our kits are different.
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Gary, I have just about completed the transom/stern framing. Assuming your kit is the same, you will need to add 3/32" square stock to the aft end of stern frames 3,4,5, and 6 as indicated on the drawings. However, the drawings are not as clear regarding the addition of 3/16" square stock to the aft edges of frames 1 and 2. The objective is to achieve a flat, or mildly convex, aft face to the transom, ready for planking. Install said square stock on the frame aft faces followed by the transom edges detailed on the drawings. Shape these edges to match the drawings since they will be used to help establish the arc of the transom top. Fair in the entire assembly face to achieve a flat, or slightly convex shape, if desired. The final shape of the transom top will be determined by the height of the transom edge pieces at the sides and the lengths of the square stock frame extensions. You can measure off the drawings for these heights. WQ3296
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Greetings Gary, I have this kit and am about where you are in the build. I see that you have pieced in the keel which is a perfectly fine solution. I ran into the same issue, as the laser cut keel is about 3/8" shy. However, is you check in the bag containing the wood strips you should find a 24" length of 1/4"x 3/16" basswood that could be used for the keel instead of the laser cut piece. According to page 3 of the Parts List, this is part number WP3641-24 and is called out to be used for Q deck beams. After cutting off the piece for the keel, there is approximately 111/2" remaining for the deck beams, which should just about be enough. If not, I will cut a piece of the laser cut keel for one of the beams. Just another way of skinning the cat instead of waiting for MS to send another center keel. It may be that MS intended for WP3641-24 to be used for both purposes, but didn't note it in the parts list. In addition, you can use the laser cut wing transom piece instead of cutting it out of supplied strip wood as indicated in the instruction book. Finally, (you probably know this by now) the stern frames are not as shown in the instruction manual. You have to study the drawings and read all the notes to figure out how the stern is to be constructed - do not rely on the manual. WQ3296
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