Jnorton1946

We just returned from two weeks exploring southwestern England. We managed to visit many of the places suggested in replies to my original post, but the most interesting and moving site for me was the James Caird at Dulwich College. The setting is remarkable - a two story high atrium in a new building called the Laboratory - and I was able to take photos from the ground level and from above. I took many photos of the boat, focusing on the details of hull construction, rigging, blocks and tackle, sails, etc., so that I could make my current modeling project, the James Caird itself, as accurate as possible. When we visited the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth, I found, to my surprise, an image of my model of the Bounty’s launch in a display in the Museum’s boatshop. I had given the Museum permission to use images of the model in a previous major display about William Bligh in 2017-2018, and was happy and proud to see a picture of my own model in another display in the Museum when we visited. I still consider myself a novice ship modeler, but one who has been lucky with respect to his modeling choices. Thanks again to all for hour suggestions, which helped to make our trip very enjoyable!

Thanks to all for the travel tips, our itinerary for the trip is quite full now. Should be fun.

Thanks, another good tip. We will have to add a couple more days to our trip, at this rate!

Thanks to all of you for the suggestions! Much appreciated. I will stick pins in my map and try to connect all the dots. My current model is the James Caird, so I plan to visit Dulwich College and see the original in its new setting.

Thanks, Roger, I appreciate the suggestion. I have wanted to visit the NMMC and the Mount’s Bay area.

We will be in England for a couple of weeks in May, traveling between London and Cornwall. We have already identified a number of places to visit, but would welcome any suggestions from the group regarding sites along the southern English coast related to maritime history and shipbuilding. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

Chuck, Did you darken the edges of the planks to define the planking? In some of the closeup shots, it looks like the seams are a little darker than just a shadow. Beautiful planking, regardless. James Maine

I am planning a 1/24 scale diorama that will include part of a square-rigger mast and at least one spar, maybe two. Given my chosen scale, It is critical for the sizes of the rigging lines and pulleys to be as accurate as possible. Any suggestions about where to find information about the actual sizes of pulleys and the full-sized diameter of rigging lines on fully-rigged ship would be appreciated. Thanks.

This will be a log of my model of the 36' curragh that carried Saint Columba (Colmcille) from Northern Ireland to the island of Iona in 653 a.d. The model is based on plans obtained from Robin Ruddock and the Causeway Coast Maritime Heritage Group, who created a replica of the boat and retraced Saint Columba's path. The model will be built using the traditional methods of a double gunwale, hoops, and stringers, and will be covered with leather hides. I have been working on the model for about a month. The hull is essentially complete, except for a few internal details such as foot rests for the rowers, and I am beginning to plan the leather covering. Attached are four images. Two are oblique views of the hull from above, showing the outside and inside details, and two show the details of the stem and stern. The model so far is made of basswood. The hoops and stringers were tied together with artificial sinew, in an attempt to duplicate the original method of securing the parts of the frame together. The upper and lower gunwales were attached to one another by stanchions, and the gunwales were stained to resemble oak, which would have been the wood of choice. The hoops and stringers were most likely made of saplings; I made 1/16" diameter dowels by running strips of basswood through a draw plate, and cut them to a variety of scale lengths representing the variable lengths (8-12 feet) of sapling trunks. The 36'-long stringers (scale length, 18") were creating by splicing lengths of dowel together, and were tied to the hoops as described above with artificial sinew. I hope you enjoy this and subsequent posts describing my progress.

Looking forward to seeing your posts on MSW, as well as the real thing at the MVSMC meetings!