wq3296

Greetings Ship...

Great looking model. As you may know, the Connie was built by Chris Craft. The hulls were planked mahogany over oak frames, and the decks were teak. Typically, they were powered by Chris Craft Marine engines which were marinized auto or truck engines. Depending on year built and size of boat, you could get single or twin 6 cylinder Hercules, small block or big block Chevys, GMC diesels, Lincolns, Ford, among others. These were beautiful, well built, boats that were reasonably affordable in their day. Because they were all wood they required a lot of maintenance. I believe Chris Craft built the wooden Constellations, which were their top of the line boat, well into the 1970's. Not only did they build the double cabin jobs like yours, but sport fisherman and cabin cruisers as well. Glad to see someone is still making models of these boats.

wq3296

Greetings Kier,

If painting, you can use ready to use wood filler in a tube or can - tried and true standard. Recently, I tried drywall compound and it worked beautifully. This stuff dries fast, has the same dry texture as the wood, sands easily and fast, and takes paint well. The only drawback is that it dries white, so you can't use it for natural finish. For natural finish, use tinted wood filler, which comes in many colors. You can get all this stuff at your local home improvement store or hobby shop.

wq3296

Greetings Budad,

What ship are you building? I don't know how anyone answers your question without this information. You said you wanted to show framing as the original ship was built. Are you aware of how close the frames are in 18th-19th century naval ships? On the other hand, merchant vessels of the same period were not built as heavily as the naval ships. I am sure someone on this forum can point you in the right direction once the type of ship is known.

wq3296 

Greetings Cap'n Jim,

I am an advocate of painting the guns as others have mentioned. I have tried the chemical route but was not satisfied at all. Others on the forum have done exhaustive testing, but ended up spraying the chemically treated guns with clear coat, anyway. Why bother? One caveat: some guns were cast in bronze/brass and some were cast in iron. Before you do anything, check to find out which guns your ship may have had when she was built. There are guys on this forum that can tell you this information if you provide them with the ship name, year she was built, country of origin, etc. If originally cast iron, paint them gunmetal. If brass, a light wash with dark brown paint will simulate weathered brass. What are guns made of that came with the kit? 

wq3296

Understood, but the knee, tiller, hatches, etc. still in the way. I'll bet that on the real ship those aft guns were never installed. Assuming everything is to scale, how would you ever be able to work those guns as you show them laid out?

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Greetings Mark,

My goal is a little more ambitious - the Constitution.

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Greetings All,

If you wrap sandpaper around a wine bottle cork, it makes a good sander for tight areas typically found at the junction between the keel and garboard strake and at the point where the plank ends tie into the stern post. The new synthetic corks should last longer than real cork. I'm not worried though - if I stopped drinking today I would still have a lifetime supply,

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Daniel, 

As a follow up to my previous post: I have a picture (yes, from Longridge's book) showing where windows had been installed in some of the aft most gun ports on Victory. I doubt this was original outfit, but I expect it was done on ships. A temporary window could easily be fitted for quick removal as necessary. This picture goes to my point that some gun ports in living/work spaces were for convenience and not for permanent gun installation.

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Greetings Jerry...

Nice try at picking a fight. You can't possibly be serious. This is a statement, not a question since there can be no meaningful debate on this subject.

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Greetings Daniel,

It looks like you are trying to fit 10 pounds of stuff into a 5 pound bag. I imagine it would be very difficult to work those guns in such a tight area. Assuming the partitions are removable for battle, the proximity of the tiller, the structural knee, the hatches in the deck, etc. would seem to hamper gun recoil as well as function during battle. I know you have plans that show the hull pierced for those guns, but it may be that the piercings were there for convenience and not necessarily permanent gun placement. I have read that guns would be moved from place to place to allow for a shot at the enemy. I expect the same applies in your case. Realistically, war ships were probably in action for a small portion of their service life, so why have the guns occupy needed living and working space? I think a more realistic approach would be to show the rigged gun port lids and the fittings in the deck and bulwarks to accommodate the all guns, but omit the two aft most guns.

wq3296

Greetings Grumpy,

Logically, I would think that lumber availability, size of vessel, typical planking practice for a specific time and place, and practicality would have an effect on plank dimensions. For instance, the time required to put a plank in place after steaming, with available work crew, would dictate maximum plank length. In addition, spacing of frames, proposed use of vessel, accepted ship building standards, etc. would also come into play. In other words, I doubt there is one hard and fast universal set of rules.

wq3296

Greetings Ken,

She looks very nice. The rigging can be tedious, but it looks like you are on the bell lap now. I just completed the planking on my FA after taking the summer off. Looking forward to moving on now that the modeling season is upon us. Good work.

wq3296

Greetings dafi,

Longridge's book on Victory has a section drawing through the ship center line from stem to stern. This drawing shows the four pumps, located on the Gun Deck, situated fore and aft around the main mast - 2 on each side. Note that the Gun Deck is the next deck up from the Orlop. The crank handles run through each set of pumps and extend about 20' fore and aft respectively from each pump, for a total crank length of over 50' for each set of pumps. According to Longridge, the cranks were long enough to accommodate six men per side. The pump discharges were on the Gun Deck as part of the pump housings. Longridge states that the pump mechanisms were the endless chain type with sprockets for each pump located in the pump well at the bottom (bilge) and in the semi circular casing on top of the pump housing. Pumped water discharged from the well up to the Gun Deck via a cast iron pipe. There were also port and starboard elm tree pumps adjacent to the main mast.

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Adam,

Someone said "no good deed goes unpunished". As you compile all this information, I think you will be taking on a degree of responsibility if you make a mistake. Some folks may buy a kit based on the information you provide, and if its wrong... Further, why go through all that trouble duplicating the information supplied by the manufacturer? Why not just prepare a simply list of all the manufactures of which you are aware, a general description of the type of kits they offer, and web address? Manufacturers pay for web sites that provide all the information you would be compiling, so why bother? Let them market their own stuff. I think your idea is good if kept very simple. Beyond that, you are just duplicating the manufacturer's effort and you could be exposed to some responsibility if you mistakenly misrepresent a product. Just sayin'.

wq3296

Greetings TonyUK,

I use polyurethane in a spray can. I usually use the satin. If you can't spray the model, get water based clear satin sealer and brush it on. This sealer is the same stuff you would use on natural wood decks.

wq3296

Greetings Michael,

You said the scale was 1:100? I wouldn't bother with the brass and soldering and all that fuss at this small scale. You can use some heavy black paper or card stock to fashion some very serviceable rudder hinges, unless you want the rudder to be movable. Otherwise, use some metal pins embedded in the rudder to fasten it to the stern post. The rudder should stand off the stern post about .5mm or so. Space the pins at the hinge locations so they will be hidden by the hinges. The hinges can easily be formed from the paper or card stock and glued to the hull and rudder as appropriate. Most rudder hinges (called pintels and gudgens) supplied with model kits are way out scale. The card stock is about right for small scale ships.

WQ3296  

Greetings Just...

Do not modify the keel/former. Just build it as called for. As was pointed out, plans shrink, the laser cutter could be off slightly, etc. I don't think it matters at all if the parts do not exactly match the drawings. The drawings are a guide to show what goes where and what the assembly should like at various stages.

wq3296 

Greetings Buck,

I built this ship a few years back, and it is one of my favorites. Mamoli makes a fine product. The keel on this model is veneered with thin walnut, so you can do pretty much what you want. I agree that the drawings are a little funky as to how the keel joints are represented. I have book entitled "The Pepper Wreck - A Portuguese Indiaman at the Mouth of the Tagus River". This book is about a spice ship circa 1600 that went down in the Tagus River which runs through Lisbon, Portugal. Portions of the ship were recovered between 1997 and 2000, including keel sections. According to diagrams in the book, the keel had horizontal scarves in it such as you would expect to see on later ships. The lengths between scarves on this particular ship ranged between 160 and 190 cm. 

It should be pointed out that Portugal was recognized as the world's first super power owing to its trade with India, Japan, China, and colonization of Brazil and parts of Africa. They pretty much pioneered blue water sailing and ship building, and wrote the book on navigation.

wq3296

Greetings Graham,

You would be surprised at how much you have learned just from doing the first planking job. Tutorials are fine and I would agree that you would learn from studying one or two. However, you learn by doing - not by reading about how someone else thinks it should be done. Use them as a guide to learn some of the finer points, but don't get bogged down.

Relative to your present model, she's not bad at all for a first go. I think she can be saved and I would not strip off the planks and start over. You might consider planking her over with thin stock but, in my opinion, I don't think it is necessary. Assuming the existing planks are glued on as well as nailed, I would remove the nails which will allow you to sand the hull to achieve a smoother finish. The nail holes will fill in automatically with sanding, or you can fill them with putty. I would simply fill the hole on the port bow with a shaped sliver of wood that you can glue in. After repairs are made, a good overall sanding will do wonders to fair the hull. If still not satisfied, paint the hull. Good luck.

wq3296

Greetings Tom,

Single or double plank, I use nails to hold a wet plank in place while it dries and/or to hold it in place as the wood glue sets. Generally, the nails do not need to be driven in all the way. I leave them sticking up about 1/8" above the plank surface so they are easier to remove. I think the best nail remover is a pair of small needle nose pliers. Some pliers are magnetic so they hold the nail after you pull it. Don't worry about the remaining holes left after you pull the nails - they fill in automatically when you finish sand the hull. I have tried plank holders,but nails are the best clamping method in my opinion.

wq3296 

Greetings Redshirt,

I prefer basswood to the plywood since it is much easier to cut, sand, etc. 3/16" basswood should provide all the strength you need.

wq3296

Greetings Cabrillo, 

She looks fine. I made my Ajax into the HMS Juno, 32 gun frigate. 

wq3296

Greetings jdiven,

I agree that you can glue scrap wood to fragile parts for strength. In my opinion, I don't see how coating the surface of a fragile part with thinned glue provides any strength benefit. On the other hand, if you coated the raw edge of a piece of plywood, such as on a frame, the plywood core may absorb the glue. When the glue dries, it seems as though it would provide some additional strength to the part.

wq3296

Greetings Frankie,

Your comments make perfect sense to me. I suspect the lines would fetch up in the blocks when the guns were fired creating an even more dangerous situation. Recoil is way too fast and much too violent to think the tackles would used to help arrest it.

wq3296

Greetings JohnB,
 
One guess is as good as another, but I expect that the guns were trained on the enemy ship as soon as she (they) came into range. Accordingly, this would have resulted in practically any gun orientation as appropriate from a forward bias to and aft bias and all points in between. As someone pointed out, the gun positions probably changed incrementally as the relative locations of the ships changed. The battle scenes in Master and Commander seem to give a pretty good representation of what goes on before the order to fire is given. Of course, after the first shot, it was probable ever gun crew for itself. The upshot is, you can't be wrong regardless of how you set your guns up.

wq3296