Piet

Yes, Tom, when you start studying the two paintings, there are quite a few differences - especially when you consider that they're only a couple of years apart.  I'll be using the 1853 painting as my guide - as that's the year of the voyage I'm interested in.
 
John

John,
I love to see someone else work in 1:96 scale also...gives me comfort. Also, I see some differences in rigging and deck furniture from one painting to the next. Go with the latter?
Tom

John. It looks like an exciting project. Good Luck. 

Thanks for the support, Denis and Rob.
 
Denis - I 've looked at the hull lines of a couple of dozen ships of the period and found one with what appears to be the correct hull shape and with proportions very close to the 'Meteor'.  I've altered the proportions of that plan slightly on the computer to match the dimensions of the 'meteor' and am currently fiddling with them to produce drawings I can use to build frames.
 
John

How exciting.  It is an excellent way to sharpen your scratch building skills and interpretive ability when modeling a ship after a painting.
Probably the most exciting part is the historical implications of the vessel and personal family ties to it.
 
I'll look forward to this log.
 
Rob

is there a particular hull design that you can mirror her from?

Yes, Louie - I'll work from the modified hull lines and then take the rest from the paintings.
 
John

A very worthwhile project, John. There's a fair bit of detail in these paintings, which should be helpful.
 
I take it you're going to convert plans for other, similar ships to construct the model? 

My next model will be the immigrant ship ‘Meteor’.  Built at Bremerhaven as the ‘Admiral Brommy’ in 1851, she was purchased by the Hamburg ship owners T.E & C. Vidal in December 1852 and re-named ‘Meteor’.
 
She was not a large ship – her principal dimensions were; Length - 135.70 ft [41.36 m]; Breadth 29.17 ft [8.89 m] and depth of hold 20.54 ft [6.26 m].
 
She sailed from Southampton on the 17th March 1853 carrying 326 emigrants bound for Australia.  Amongst these were Robert and Rachel Laing – my great, great grandparents.  The ‘Meteor arrived in Sydney on 3rd July after a voyage of some 108 days.  The voyage was described by the Sydney newspapers as ‘excellent’ as only two children died during the passage!
 
The final fate of the ‘Meteor’ is unknown.
 
There are no plans for this ship, however the German Maritime Museum at Bremerhaven were able to provide me with high resolution copies of two excellent paintings of the ship – one as the ‘Admiral Brommy’ and the other (incidentally dated 1853 – the significant year for me) as the ‘Meteor’.  I will be using modified hull lines of a similar ship of the period and the two paintings to build a plank on frame model “in accordance with the best available historical information”.
 
It may be a while before anything happens on this build log, as I first have to sort out the very faint and difficult to read plans I have and convert them into something I can use to shape the frames.
 
In the meantime, here are the two paintings of the ship.
 
John
 
 

Glad to hear you are on the mend and back in the shipyard.
Tom

Thanks for the answer to my question Ed. I'm only slightly less in awe of you now.

Ed if you haven't already considered it, I have had some success passing/running my line over a very warm/hot incandescent light bulb (bought a cheap lamp stand and tried several types of globes/wattage - settled on 40W) - doesn't completely remove the attrition ratio but minimised it considerably
 
cheers
 
Pat

Well. thank you Druxey - for making my day.  When faced with a puzzle like finding the correct length of a ratline with intermediate knots and eyes at both ends, the answer is: don't try.  I made the first splice at the workbench as shown, then lashed it to the shroud, tied the clove hitches on the internal shrouds, lashed the loose end at the opposite outer shroud without an eye, then stitched and formed the second eye in place.  The third picture shows the last step in forming that in situ eye.  The process was much easier than I thought it would be.  However, getting uniform shape between shrouds takes some practice and I am not there yet.
 
I don't like that fuzz on the cotton thread.  Any suggestions?  Longridge passed his rope quickly thru an alcohol flame and I did that for many lines on my Victory - but there was occasional attrition on the small sizes.
 
Ed

Oh, my. I've not seen ratlines made in the prototypical way at this scale before. Both eye-spliced and with lashed ends. How do you figure out the correct eye-spliced length for each ratline before installing it? Wow! I'm in awe, Ed.

Scott, I believe you are correct that either iron or wood may have been used.  I assumed 1" diameter served iron for the sheer poles and staves of about one inch that could be either.  My use of stiffened rope is not definitive either way and could be interpreted as either.  Appearance would be similar, I assume.  1" or slightly larger diameter wood is not too practical at this scale.  I would tend to favor wood as the more common material in the early years, but do not have a reference.
 
Ed

Ed for clarification purposes, I had the understanding that staves were either wood or metal. Would you happen to know if metal was preferred over wood? 
 
Thank you.
 
Scott 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 213 – Ratlines
 
I decided to do at least the lower ratlines next, mainly so the height of the shroud fairleads can be set and those installed early on.  If I need relief from this repetitive work I can (and probably will) begin other things – like the bowsprit.
 
At 1½", the ratlines are among the smallest lines on the ship.  In diameter they measure about 1/2", converting to about .07" at 1:72 scale.  I am using No. 80 crocheting cotton for these, dyed black with dilute India ink.  The ends of the ratlines have spliced eyes that are lashed to the outer shrouds. Attachment to the inner shrouds is by means of clove hitches in the ratline itself.  The first picture shows eye splices being put into the ends of ratlines.
 

 
One end of the line is first passed through the line with a needle to form a loop, like the one on the left.  This is then pulled tight around a pin, looped over and glued with darkened PVA glue.  The two-faced carpet tape on the vise jaw holds the two legs until the glue has dried.  The splice on the right has been glued.  When dry, the short leg will be cut off flush leaving a simulated eye splice.  Two of these are shown in the next picture.
 

 
The next picture shows the first few foremast ratlines secured.
 

 
After lashing the eye to the aft shroud, clove hitches are used on the next three.  The forward end is then lashed and the eye formed in place as was done above.  In the picture the glue has dried and the excess rope is being sliced off.  Uniform tensioning of these ratlines may take some practice – as can be seen at the left.  The next picture is an ultra-close-up showing the forward lashed eyes and the intermediate clove hitches.
 

 
This picture also shows the lashings on the one of the staves across the shrouds after every five or so shrouds.  This was made by stiffening a larger thread size with glue.  The next picture shows the installation up to the first stave.
 

 
The staves extended forward to the first shroud.  Their purpose was to maintain shroud spacing.  The picture was taken before the ends of the various lashings were trimmed off.  In the last picture these ends have been trimmed.
 

 
The fairleads will be lashed on the inside of the shrouds, just above the lower stave.
 
Ed

Hi everyone and many thanks for all of your comments and Likes!
 
Lately, I've been working on Shadow's galley.  After a quick Google search of galleys on similar sized mega-yachts, I used as my inspiration a modern, minimalist galley with stainless steel surfaces/grey cabinetry.  Hence, for Shadow, her galley has been modelled out of a burnished Aluminium silver type card, which is a close approximation to the colour that I was after.
 
The only problem with this galley colour is that it is hard to photograph effectively, therefore, you may have some difficulty making out the cabinets and other details, but they're there...
 
I hope you're enjoying Shadow's progress so far.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick
 
EDIT:  Damn this close-up photography!  Please forgive all the dust and rough edges/finishes!  There's a bucket load of finishing off to do, especially to the major structures, such as the hull and superstructure. A lot of varnishing and sealing still needs to be done to the internal accommodation fixtures, as well...she's still 'under construction' of course😉, after all. 

Thanks for your compliment Keith,
 
Nils

Excellent Nils. I await the next one with interest.

Thanks very much Gerhard,
 
the glass case will be nothing fancy, but large glass areas for good viewing from all sides, minimum frame thickness, and rigid enough for the bonnet to be taken off upwards. As the 4 mm thick glass brings quite some weight, it takes 2 persons to safely handle the bonnet, when settling it down on the brass positioning pins of the baseplate.
 
Nils

Thank you very much B.E.,
for your very nice compliment, much appreciated, I`m very pleased you followed and liked this heritage liner.
Just finished a nameplate, that will go into the case that will probably begin in the coming week, when I get the glas panes
 
Nils
 

Hi Nils
 
Perfect work on the ship, stunning!
And I`m sure, the showcase will be the same quality.
 
Regards
Gerhard

This build has been a delight to follow Nils, and you have produced a model of outstanding interest and beauty.
You have my utmost admiration.
 
Regards,
 
B.E.

thanks for your catch up Martin,
 
yes, the amount of dust that can settle on a model is enormous, for that reason I work with preliminary plastic foil also during the building phase
 
Nils