MEDDO

After listening to the Mariners mirror podcast about three weeks ago about the search for this ship I began reading a little bit more about it. Now it’s found! I guess they started a little PR tour a bit early haha

After listening to the Mariners mirror podcast about three weeks ago about the search for this ship I began reading a little bit more about it. Now it’s found! I guess they started a little PR tour a bit early haha

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60662541

found

Outstanding work Ryland!  Well deserved award

This past Saturday, the Richmond Chapter of the IPMS held their annual Old Dominion Open Model Contest and Show.  I entered my Medway Longboat in the Wooden Ship Model category and was awarded the first place gold medal.  I was surprised at taking the gold medal.  This shows how well this kit is designed and how it builds into a very fine model.  I also want to thank those that post their builds on MSW as I am still learning techniques and getting ideas that help improve my modeling skills.  Also, a special thank you goes out to the manufacturers that are turning out some fantastic kits that allow us to build these beautiful models.
 
Here is a picture of my medal.  I hope to build a display case for my Medway and it will definitely be displayed alongside my model.

 

 
Here is a photo of the second place model by Stewart Winn.  It is a scratch built bomb ketch:

 
Third place went to Lou Husser of the Washington Ship Model Society with his Midwest kit of a Muscungus Bay Lobster Smack:

 
Below are photos of the Hampton Roads Ship Model Society and the Washington Ship Model Society displays at the show.  In the forefront of the first photo is the Destroyer Escort Kendall C. Campbell that was recently completed by Gene Berger.
 
The Hampton Roads Ship Model Society:

 
The Washington Ship Model Society:

 
It was a fun day for all that attended and I am looking forward to next year's show.

Hello Everyone, I hope you are all well. Thanks very much to All for your comments and Likes.  For a couple of weeks now I have been knee deep in rigging.  It was going good until I got to the standing rigging and decided to use the brown Griffin rigging line that I had. Going to put it on hold and see about getting some better rope. Griffin line is kind of mushy and just doesn't look good when you seize it. Very disappointing. Other people's mileage may vary but that's just my opinion. When I built my Bluenose, I had bought a book that had lots of photographs  of the gaff being lashed to the boom when she was in port. Can't remember the title of the book. The only pictures I have of her were taken just before she left for a new home. Lots of reflections from the glass case.
 

 

 
So that is the way I want to rig Cheerful.
 
 

 
Not sure how it was done back in the day so I made a loop on each end of a piece of rope. Slipped one loop over the end of the gaff, wrapped the rope around the boom a couple of times and slipped the other loop onto the end of the gaff. If anyone has any thoughts on how this may have been done I would be more than happy to hear them. 
 

 
The block for the flag halliard was slid onto the gaff and the rope will probably be coiled on the deck.
 

 
I picked up some Falconet 11mm belaying pins because the 9mm Falconet wood pins that I had were very small. Wanted to use wooden pins instead of the brass 9mm pins made by Technell even though the brass pins are very nice.
 

 
The 9mm Falconet pin measures more like 8.5mm and the handle of the 11mm Falconet pin is very close to being the same size as the 9mm Technell. The 11mm pins look bigger in the photo than in real life.
 

 
While the rigging is on hold I will probably work on the timberheads.
See you next time.   Paul

The next items to be make are the cisterns and winches.  I decided to show the starboard cistern with its hood and the port cistern open, showing the sprocket wheel and chain.  The cisterns are straight forward in their construction.  They are simply a box with openings in the bottom for the pumps, and a slide on the outboard side to allow insertion of the pump dale.  The inboard legs rest on the mast step and the outboard ones are on the deck.
I was lucky enough to have a sheet of photo etch from Admiralty Models developed for the Swan class.  They are no longer available.  I used this for the sprocket wheel.  The photoetch sheet has the rim of the wheel; short lengths of brass wire were silver soldered to them.  I also made a segment of chain from pieces of the same photoetch sheet.

The next photo shows my tipsy cisterns.  The drainage plugs are in place.  A rope handle in the plug will be added later.  The chain was lifted up to illustrate the detail in the photoetch.  

The winch assembly is supported by rhodings on the cistern hood, bitt pins and end support pillars.  The hood and pillar rhodings are repesented by brass tubing.  Those on the bitt pins are inset into a spacer block, as seen in the last photo.  These will all be blackened.

Just a tip if you haven't tried it as yet: You can practice technique using water as a medium on absorbent paper, perhaps with a touch of watercolor or food coloring mixed in if your paper doesn't show much wet/dry contrast. Often, just plain water will show up quite well. Brown paper bag paper works well because it gets dark when wet. In this way, There's really no clean-up after practicing that needs to be done unless you've run some colored water through your gun and even then, all that's required is to just rinse it out. 

It's been a while and I've been slowly making progress.  I am almost finished the running rigging.  Does that mean I'm finished if I'm not doing sails or do I need to rig the sail tackle?  It seems to me of the sails are not on the ship that the rigging for the sails would also be off.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Post 72: Final Touches
 
The Stanchions were turned using a hand drill, small chisels and needle files;
 

 
The flag was printed on tissue paper.  At first I tried printing on both sides using registration marks but exact alignment was still this difficult as the tissue paper moves slightly in the printer.  So in the end I used Chuck’s method of printing on one side only and spraying with matt fixative.  The flag was then folded over a short length of 0.2 mm thread and attached to the flag halyard:
 

 
Now , a few photos of the completed model
 
 
 
John

It's only been 3 1/2 years since my last posting!  Swallow is on the shelf until Spring.  I have decided to return to Echo, hopefully taking it almost to completion in the next few months.  
 
I have now finished the lower deck.  The port side will remain in frame and the starboard will be planked.  The gratings are made in two pieces using the same technique I showed in the capstan construction.  The key is to have the grating made first and then fit the hatch coaming to the grating.  Everything is made from castelo unless otherwise stated.  The coamings are made from cherry.  The lower mast partners are in place.  The square and octagonal holes are for the pump tubes.  The deck is planked with holly and the treenails are bamboo.  In this cross section, the hatch abaft the mast partner is just visible, along with a bit of grating.


The upper deck framing has been completed.  The mast partner are much more complicated on the upper deck.  Compare the pictures above and below.  The two missing starboard ledges have been installed since the picture was taken.  The beauty of a cross-section is that I can slide out the entire deck to work on it away from the model.  Finish has been applied to the completed lower deck and the port hull exterior.  The Watco's really gives the castelo a warm look without any shine.  Next up are the upper deck hatches.

The Mastini, Roth and zu Mondfeld books are a great start.  I really like "The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships" by C Nepean Longridge.  It was one of my first books and does a great job of detailing that build and it includes a bunch of fold out plans which is nice.
 
 
 
edit: The Art of Ship Modeling can be found along with many other great books at ANCRE some available in multiple languages.

Best yet as most of these are available for free on Project Gutenberg.

Metal work and Blackening
I decided to “cheat” when it came to the bolts and have used two different sizes of brass nails left over from kits various to represent all of the bolt heads. Similarly, left over eye bolts were used for the bar retaining pins, and I found some chain sculling around in the spare parts box as well. The only thing I did make were the eyebolts that secure the bar pin chains to the centre of the drumhead.
 
There have been many discussions on this forum regarding blackening and I have tried various of them over the years. For blackening brass, my go-to product has become Jax Pewter Black, which claims to work with pewter, lead, brass, bronze, copper, tin-lead alloys, and solders. The key to success with this product (for me) has been to NOT dip or soak the parts to be blackened in the solution. Rather, by using a small bristle paint brush, the solution is “rubbed” onto the surface of the part, and then rinsed in distilled water. By using this method, I have found that the blackening does not flake or rub off. Here are all of the metal parts blackened and ready for installation. For the nails/bolts, only the heads needed blackening as the rest won’t be seen.
 

 
Final Assembly (P/N 1000)
All of the wooden parts received two coats of Kunos Oil, wiped on and buffed off immediately. This has left a smooth to the touch finish without too much sheen (more coats = more sheen). With all the metal work blackened, final assembly was a pretty straight forward process. I opted to use 5-min epoxy to secure all of the bolts etc, rather than CA (which I really hate using).
 
So here are some final shots of the completed project:
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
This has been a fun little project that presents more than a few challenges for modellers of all capabilities. I’d like to thank Toni for all her work in making this project available. I'd also like to make a special thanks to Tom (Used to Sail), whose log was a great source of additional information, as well for the occasional PM conversation along the way. Thanks also to all who have stopped by, offered kind comments and/or hit the like button.
 

Here are some new options.
 
https://thenrgstore.org/collections/model-figurines

Yup I was so looking forward to the Swan/not-Swan analysis and a look at the other frigates.  I know lots of people love the big ones but I definitely like the 5th and 6th rates the best

Planking of the hull is now over. Phew !!! That was a major task !
 

 
An enormous amount of sanding needs to take place but that will be for later.
 
Let's take a look at the instructions from CAF Model: 
 

 
The above steps have all be completed, although in a different order:
- Step 5
- Step 6 verification.
- Step 4 (minus part 24 which will be glued much later on).
- Step 9 (wales)
- Step 3 (planking of the hull)
 
 Hull has been planked and coated internally, with epoxy resin. The stern has been built (it was actually built before the planking) and the Part #25 has been glued. On the other hand, I am not placing part #24 yet, as it includes eight windows and would be automatically broken at this stage (not sure why the instructions only shows 6 windows...go figure....).
 

 
To coat the inside of the hull and protect the wood in the long term, I use an epoxy resin: easy to mix, odorless and fluid enough to be brushed inside the hull: 
 

 

 

 
Planking the hull was done in a very conservative way and I would recommend this approach. The wood strips provided in the kit are not of great quality. Quite a few strips did split, providing me with two nice triangular shapes, that can come handy occasionally. Technically, the planking would require a set of 25 planks from keel to wales and three sets of planks per side (Bow, stern and side), or the equivalent of 75 planks. CAF model provides exactly 150 strips of 3x8 mm wood. Some of the planks (a small number fortunately) were 10 mm wide, some were made of a very soft wood, some made of very hard poplar or white wood. Basically a lot of disparities in the strips.
 

 
Because of that, I went with a very conservative route and tried to use as much as possible the left overs and cuts. I managed to plank the entire hull with exactly 103 strips and have 47 left of various qualities.
 

 
The next set of instructions calls for the following: 
 

 
Although I have glued the rear decks, I disagree with the approach of gluing all decks at this stage and prefer to wait until the hull is completely done. After a thorough sanding of the hull, the flotation line should be marked and coppering (tiling - A) as well as a light second planking (0.4 mm thick) in the visible wood sections, should be made.
 
Step #9 has been done in part, as the wales (B) were glued before the start of the planking. Upper hull and channels (C) will come later (see below): 
 

 
I am going to take a break on this hull, in order to try to finish the 3D printed Corvette that I have neglected for a few months. In the meantime a few pictures of where we stand: 
 

 

 

 

 
Hope you are enjoying this massive build log.
 
Yves
 
 
 

I estimate that I am halfway through planking as of January 5 of 2022. (Happy New Year!) I am hoping to be finished planking the hull by the time of an upcoming trip to Maine, during which I will get to do some more research and measuring. I have piled up my available lumber next to the model as a reference point to see how far this number of strips will take me.
 

 

 
As I think I have mentioned, I am leaving a portion of the port side unplanked in order to show the interior structure. The unplanked area will be a relatively oval area centered on the midships.
 

 
Once planking is finished, I plan on removing most of the wood that constitutes the multiple bulkheads, essentially turning them into dimensionally accurate frames. Not quite sure yet what tool I will use to do that, although I think I have seen a relatively small version of an oscillating cutting tool that probably would work well for scoring the wood so that it comes out easily. Suggestions welcome.
 

 
In some areas, my tape strips have come off entirely. In other areas, they have shifted position. I am going to finish the lowest and highest belts, and then I will remark things. The string also needs readjustment.
 

 
Planking band 4 has a low spot that will have to be addressed.
 

 
Very hard getting the planks to twist adequately in order to accommodate the deadwood planking.
 

 
And cutting the ends of some of these planks in order to meet the sternpost and the transom planking will be tricky.
 

 
The higher planks on the deadwood are twisted as they meet the sternpost. That will need to be carved or sanded away to make things flat and smooth.

Thank you Bob, Glenn and Mike for your kind comments and thank you to all the 'Likes'.
 
I finished the assembly of the electric  Evans Designs leds. I will then be able to prepare and glue the false deck of the ship.

 
A small test once the assembly is completed. It works 😃. A big thank you to scrubbyj427 who made me discover these great little leds from Evan Designs in his beautiful build log of the Winchelsea frigate.
 

 
The last details have been added: the open door between the 2 rooms and the small ladder that gives access to the door to the bread room.

 
Next step: installation of the false deck.
 

Thank you Glenn, Ron and Allan for your great advice and thanks to everyone who is following this build.
 


I will definitely be testing for hull treenailing. I've already prepared a reproduction of the planking and I'm still waiting for my order for the drill bits (Covid has slowed down package deliveries again...)
 

In the meantime, I am making progress on the preparation of the cutter deck.
I glued a copy of the deck plan onto card stock and cut out the elements that will allow the two rooms I detailed to be seen.
I still need to add tape around the edge to get the final shape of my false deck so I can cut it out of a 1/16" cherry sheet.
 

 

I continued the assembly of the various fittings that will be on the deck. The gratings come from Syren and it is again a pleasure to assemble them.
 

And finally, I started the assembly of the companionway. Since I'm going to leave the doors open, I have to be quite precise in the assembly.
I quickly realized that it's not a simple cube that needs to be assembled, because I have to take into account the slope ('tonture' in French) of the deck.
Reading the excellent log of glbarlow confirmed me on this question.
 

So I quickly developed a jig to facilitate the assembly and especially to have precise angular cuts. A photocopy of the plan was made on a clear self-adhesive film.
 

 

The two side pieces were mounted at right angles. They are made of 6 planks of 1/32" but are higher than the plan.
I can use my jig to make the various cuts.
 

For the height, I simply added again 2 pieces of wood at the top of the companionway that follow the slope of the deck.
 

The result respects the plans quite well. I am trying to work cleanly because I am thinking of not painting the companionway and leaving it in natural wood.
 

I still have to finalize the companionway by adding the open doors.
 

A little update on my current situation, as a lot of you know I have finally found a new place to live and it is about 800 metres from the largest salt water lake in Aus. 
 
My modelling progress has been slow but the "Miss Caroline" model suffered a little damage in transit with the turnbuckles for the stay and stb shroud letting go. This has now been repaired and she is as good as new. No pics because you've seen it.
 
The full size "Miss Caroline also suffered a little damage during transit in the form of a rope fender which is secured between the mast and stern sheets in transit somehow bailed on its duty allowing the mast and wire rope ends to damage the stern sheet planks. I have since sanded that out and re-oiled the affected timber, again no pics because it's not unlike what you've already seen.
 
Now onto the new stuff, I joined the Lake Macquarie Classic Boat Association and along with a weekly rowing session in an Oughtred designed "St Ayles Skiff" I am taking part in the restoration of an old wooden speed boat, lapstrake hull, copper nailed and roved and an old Ford V8 to go into her. I've been working on the laid deck consisting of Australian Cedar with Yellow Cedar inlay strips and it's something I've wanted to do for years so I'm really enjoying this little group. I'll make some progress on Royal Caroline in due course.
 

My name is Michael Scarborough. I started building models with my dad in the late 50s and am still a passionate builder in a wide range of media and subjects. At present, my main area of concentration is 1/32 scale WWI aircraft models, as well as box dioramas, many of which are inspired by Japanese block prints. 
 
In terms of my life's work, I spent 25 years singing Opera internationally. I have always enjoyed working with my hands and, in 2000, having had enough of German food, living out of suitcases and dealing with pushy sopranos, I moved from the performing arts into the decorative arts. I began working in antique furniture conservation but that quickly lead to the realization that I wanted to design and create furniture for clients. Eventually, I added Japanese style lacquerware to the mix and have spent the past 10 years making pieces for collectors and galleries. Looking back as I write this, it all sounds rather easy, but, trust me, every facet of the past 25 years required a helluva lot of work and unwavering support from the world's greatest wife. That said, I have been very, very blessed to have had two successful careers in the the art world.
 
I retired from all work for clients in August, sold off most of my machinery, but kept and improved my model building area. I've also recently completed two years of intense training and am a docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art here in NYC.  I now spilt my time between the Met and working on models, and writing about them, and making sure dinner is ready from Mrs. S. when she gets home from work. 
 
My dad was a career Naval officer and one major benefit of that was our living on the coast of rural Japan in the late 1950s and early 60s having spent 16 days on the Pacific getting there.  We had a beautiful, 24 ft. wooden sloop built and spent many amazing weekends sailing the Inland Sea. By the time I was 7 years old, I could tell you the difference between a backstay, a halyard and a sheet, and I could tie a bowline with my eyes closed. I then spent my high school summers working at a marina on the North Shore of Long Island. But, somehow, between all that time spent around salt water, and 60 years of building models, I have yet to make a serious build of a sailing ship, something I consider to be the highest form of fine model building. That important part of my model building oeuvre is about to end and, taking a long look at some of the truly amazing models on this website, it is clear I am in the right place and among the right artisans. 
 
Cheers from NYC,
Michael
 

I always go back to the first book that started my collection The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships.  I found it in the sale rack brand new for 15$ at a Barnes and Noble.

Hey Everyone, hope that you are all well today.  Thank you very much for all of your likes.
 
This week I decided to do what I think is the last rough job before doing all of the detail work.  The pin rail at the stem had to be removed to give the bowsprit the proper clearance.  Just kept running a wet toothpick along the joint while attacking it with a #11 blade.  It put up a little fight but nothing was destroyed.  
 
 

 
 
Made the bowsprit using a mini block plane and lots of sand paper.  The next few hours were spent measuring and filing and sanding the hole.
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
Finally the bowsprit was able to be positioned correctly and I could lay out the position of the bowsprit step.  Now just waiting for paint to dry on the bowsprit and step before finishing.  Last week I forgot to say that the waterways and scuppers were completed along with one of the pinrails.  I picked up some brass belaying pins from The Crafty Sailor.  These Technell parts are more nicely proportioned than most.
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 If I don't see you before next week have a great Christmas.
 
Paul