Justin P.

Thanks for feedback everyone! Southstreet and the Intrepid are definitely on my list. As a rare book professional, Ive also have some book related stops to build in but darn if I don't feel a bit guilty for not making it Boston. I have done work for the Admiralty Library and visited the Victory many times. It seems a shame not to balance that out and finally see Constitution! Alas, another trip!

Hi All... Im headed to New York City for 5 days in December and Im looking for the best kept Maritime secrets in and around the city. Ive never been, and truthfully, not travelled extensively on the East Coast. This is a first big trip and I don't want to miss the good stuff. If you have suggestions please send them. My interests are primarily with Maritime art, models and museums/archives/libraries. Thanks!

Hey thanks. Ive had a rough go at finding a few hours to rub together on this project but it is still ongoing. Kids, the beginning of the school year, my own teaching load starting up... it all adds up!

This is fantastic!

And so goes the 4th weekend without an opportunity to return to my model. The end of summer is always a busy time, and Im seriously missing making headway. I head out to the shop and visit my model almost overnight wishing I had an hour setup and lay a plank. October looks more promising.

On the contrary, thank you for making what started as a mere piece of curiosity into a larger conversation! In fact, a conversation that rarely occurs among the professionals involved in such work. In my experience, particularly in cultural heritage conservation, "art" and "other" have always been at odds, those in the "art" often being the artibiter of what is the "other." Being a book and paper conservator and not an "art on paper" conservator I am keenly aware of the line drawn between the archival and art worlds; the museum and the library worlds. But I will say that I disagree as to whether a ship model can be art or not. Expression or emotion, Im not sure... when I see bone models Im often moved in different ways then I am when I see yet another boxwood. When I see bow carvings on models (which are almost NEVER truly a model of something that existed) I can appreciate the expression. It is a style of expression bound by rules, but it is still expression. The time, the research, and intensity.... when I walk into a modelers house and see the devotion, the care - I am moved by that. How can this NOT be art? Ship models, to me, can be at home in both contexts. They are artifacts to be studied and are examples of rich craft tradition (some elaborately embellished - creatively) that goes back hundreds of years. Craft in my mind, is not so separate from art. Books and bookbinding are, in a way, very similar. They are made often within a complex set of rules at play and are intended for only one purpose. There are of course, as there are in the ship modeling circles, avenues for creative expression - so long as the context of the piece is wholly understood by both the creator and the viewer. These contexts can get confused, which is where I think much of the later curatorial conflict occurs. There are plenty of ship models, historic or otherwise, that are not strictly representations of an actual ship in complete detail. As well, there are numerous books, historic or otherwise, which are/were intended as creative expression through the tight rules of bookbinding more than they were as a vessel for some authors pontificating. I think value - as much as beauty - is in the eye of beholder. One mans boring old ship model is anothers entire chapter on 17th century modeling technique. One mans .25c garage sale book, is another mans 1st Edition. Make of it what you want.

Ab, did you know Davina at all? I met her at AIC a few years ago when she gave a talk on ship model conservation at the Rijks. I myself am a European trained rare book and medieval manuscript conservator in Seattle. Cheers!

Thought you all might enjoy... Behind the Scenes - Rijksmuseum (Cleaning a 17th Century Ship Model)

Ha.. yes, no offense taken! It was a very important detail to bring up! I did change my username, it seemed silly to me now as Ive met a few other members in person not to use my real name. I also noticed there is another member using a similar moniker and I didn't want to get confused myself. As I thought about it, "Maturin" and/or variations on the name might be quite popular in a ship-modeling community! Ive gone 5 years as a member and it only occurred to me recently, ha.

Thanks. Yes, definitely. I work with various adhesives in my day job, so Im quite aware of reactivation. Ive been wiping them down quite a bit before fitting and that has helped. There have a been a couple spots where the drying plank has lightly adhered at the frames where there was a touch of excess glue from putting down the plank before it but no other big problems related to this.

Yes, I came to this conclusion myself as well. I decide to head out and go ahead and remove the transom now rather than wait. I decided to remove it and thin it down rather than try to remove material from the stern post. To gain additional cushion I also cut a slot into the transom for the stern post to fit into. I did not have to reduce the overall dimensions of the transom as the existing planks seems to fit nicely. Ill remove a bit more material from that final frame forward of the transom to better ease that transition but not so much that Im getting an unsightly bend and try to be mindful of the need to narrow the planks some at the stern as I move along with planking. Thanks for the advice.

Yes, I think you are right overall. Looking at this pic it may be easier to see that I did remove some material from plank #3 and the subsequent planks in order to get a better fit: I think at this point Im going to leave the transom in place to help shape the planks but not glue them down. After planking overall, I think Ill do as usedtosail did where he ended up needing to remove the transom and cut a new one after planking. I think Ill then do as you suggest and remove the transom and shave a bit off the keel support to bring it forward a "tiny" bit. Hopefully this doesn't throw everything else out of wack.

Ok... so first thanks for encouragement. I took a deep breath and started the painstaking process of pulling the sheer and neighboring planks. I left the garboard and 2nd planks as I though those were going well enough. Using Acetone I was able to run a bead of solvent and the planks immediately released. I had to do some picking and scraping but otherwise they came off and the frames seemed none the worse for wear. I decide to set those aside and just start running planks from the keel. I decided to follow the advice from the above discussions and soaked the planks, bend them on an iron and then clamped them in place to dry. This worked extremely well when I came back to start shaping the fitting the plank. The plank gave very little resistance and fit so much more happily. Following this procedure I managed to four planks bent, sit and glued and am thus far quite happy with the results. Ive got a third set drying as I type this. There are some obvious issues that I think Ill chalk up as lessons, but otherwise its going well. Next session Ill turn my attention to resetting the sheer planks and work my way towards the shutter. Moving forward...

Looks great to me. Cant believe its your first!

Yes, and that's what Crazy mentioned too. I think bending them dry may have been problematic, as well I should start shaping them and letting them dry BEFORE glueing them. When I bent them dry though, they did take and hold a shape but it was far less gradual than what was observed bending the frames. I think some measure of redoing will be required for sure. Im using Gorilla Bond wood glue, do you think just isopropyl would be sufficient to release the planks? I think I may redo the sheer planks completely, but as the kit only provides so much Ill have to be VERY careful with removal. This is very good advice. Im writing that on my wall! I think if I can get the two sets of sheer planks off, then I will try this. It is a hard bend and I can tell looking at the thing that I maybe should have removed a bit more. I was a over-zealous with the bulkheads and now too conservative with the frames. Just running battens across the fairing just doesn't provide enough information... Thanks. This is encouraging.