CharlieZardoz

I have not posted in this thread in a while, I started my master's degree program in the spring, and it has been eating up a lot of my free time.
 
I have mentioned the brig Burrows several times before, and it still stands out to me. A beautiful, never-built brig of larger than average size and armed with around 14 guns, either 32-pounder carronades or 27 hundredweight 32-pounder cannons. It was designed by Richard Powell, assistant to John Lenthall. I was struck by the resemblance to Lenthall’s ship-sloop Germantown, so I stuck the two together, and it is very apparent. Above the waterline, the two ships are very similar. Similar bows, stern is the same shape, fore- and mainmasts are in almost the same locations, even the boarding ladder. I know US brigs normally didn’t have quarter galleries, but this one was huge, just slightly smaller than the Boston-class ship-sloops. I copied Germantown’s onto Burrows, and they fit perfectly like they meant to be there. All I had to do to tweak it was shorten the top part of the quarter gallery a bit to fit Burrows’ smaller hammock rails. I also included a drawing with her rig. I have a comparison of lines too, but I need to go back and work on it more so I will post it another time.
 
Burrows
LBP: 126'0"
Beam (Molded): 30'0"
Depth in Hold: 14'0"
 
Germantown
LBP: 150'0"
Beam (Molded): 36'0"
Depth in Hold: 16'8"
 


 
 
This is another drawing I did for a prompt over on Civil War Talk. The sloop Plymouth was captured at Gosport Naval Yard by advancing Confederate forces (along with Germantown). There was a proposal to convert her into an ironclad, which fell through. I combined a proposed Confederate ironclad casemate design with Plymouth’s hull. I also included the armament, two 7-inch Brooke Rifles, two 6.4-inch Brooke Rifles, four IX-inch Dahlgren smoothbores, and a pair of boat howitzers.


 
I did up several gun drawings as well, including the top view of Plymouth’s 7-inch rifles on pivot carriages, a new Marsilly carriage for the old IX-inch Dahlgren I drew. I also drew a British 64-pounder MLR of 64cwt and a British truck carriage for it.
 


I did a drawing of Plymouth’s gundeck based on a combination of a plan In Canney’s Sailing Warships book, and a Library of Congress plan of Plymouth’s great cabin. I plan to use this on another forum to illustrate some armament and layout concepts, but right now it is armed with a mix of 32-pounders and 8” shell guns. I’m also including a larger copy of the two guns and their truck carriages.

Hi Charlie - 
 
Looking better and better.  I like the new gratings and coamings.  You might just round the corners a bit.  Sharp corners and edges on a ship tossing in rough seas would be an invitation to serious injuries.
 
Excellent progress overall.
 
Dan

Thank you John! So yeah I am never one to leave well enough alone when something doesn't feel right. So atm Ive started working on some minor corrections to parts I though hmm could I do better? First and foremost are the gratings, the holes were simply too big. I realized the grating set is likely for a 1/48 model so I scaled it down and scratch made my own using the laser .75% to 1/64 scale. The new grating goes much better with the plans Ive seen and aside from some minor corrections of the hatch coaming, it fit in perfect. Now just have to make the smaller hatch but what do you think?

Happy autumn to you All! 😄 Been quite busy with the model so figured I'd offer a new update. First, the hull planking is all finished and treenailed.  The first side took me months while the second side took me only a few weeks! While both sides look relatively identical I did make sure they had some suttle differences and secretly I do prefer one to the other.
 
My plan is to finish all of the underside stuff so that I no longer need to flip the boat and potentially damage any deck fittings. So with that as my approach, next up is the wale which is getting metal nails giving that metallic look. And last is building the transom and counter. I must have tried this 20+ times before I got one I liked. For now it's unfinished and will be attached later with extra detailing but overall I'm quite happy with it. I was at a loss trying to understand the plans and what the stern actually looked like. Any models out there of the Doughty cutters are all simply horribly wrong. They all show a flat stern piece tacked on with no counter at all which would in real life fall off once it hit a harsh wave...  Look at the images of the 3 Doughty cutter stern transoms all lined up you can see how they are distinct.
 
Since I'm trying to keep to the historical plans as best I can this was my best interpretation and looks pretty much like a Baltimore clipper stern. The moulding around the stern attach to the wale and I will add some connecting decoration later. It looks simple but really there were so many subtle challenges like cutting the counter to match the curve of the stern (all the parts are curved and bent in certain ways). The stern piece is raised almost above the deck!  I spent probably a good week just plotting it out in my mind lol. 
 
For my inspiration I used a few models I found online. One is of the Achilles and the other of a scratch model of the 51 ton cutter Alabama. You can see how they managed to build their stern with the proper incline and transom/counter so it helped me alot. Next up the decking finally! 😎






 


 

Good morning! Decided to do a mini-update today I added all the treenails to the finished side of the hull. Basically I the process was poking them out with an awl then filling the hole with colored putty (which I darkened with paint) then used the colored pencil to define the area a bit more and here is how it looks!  I know some of my steelers are a bit off location but that will be colored with copper anyways. I realize now that the nails are effectively showing where the ships frames are (an obvious concept but I now I see the logic behind it). Next step now will be doing the other side hopefully won't take me nearly as long

Hi all! Sorry its been so long been toiling away on planking and just finished the left side. Since the shape is so wedge shaped on this boat alot of planks needed to be spiled. That said it taught me alot and I think I did a reasonably good job for a first timer. Now starting the treenails using an awl, colored putty to fill the holes then a color pencil to add some detailing. Got more to go but thought I'd share

Hi all! I totally forgot I put this one together and thought I'd share. It's a Talos style size comparison chart of various small ships schooners etc. I was going to wait and add the HMS Swift as well but figured ah let me put it up now and see what you all think (Swift would be just a bit larger than Berbice). Look at how small the 31 Doughty cutter actually is!

Happy autumn to you All! 😄 Been quite busy with the model so figured I'd offer a new update. First, the hull planking is all finished and treenailed.  The first side took me months while the second side took me only a few weeks! While both sides look relatively identical I did make sure they had some suttle differences and secretly I do prefer one to the other.
 
My plan is to finish all of the underside stuff so that I no longer need to flip the boat and potentially damage any deck fittings. So with that as my approach, next up is the wale which is getting metal nails giving that metallic look. And last is building the transom and counter. I must have tried this 20+ times before I got one I liked. For now it's unfinished and will be attached later with extra detailing but overall I'm quite happy with it. I was at a loss trying to understand the plans and what the stern actually looked like. Any models out there of the Doughty cutters are all simply horribly wrong. They all show a flat stern piece tacked on with no counter at all which would in real life fall off once it hit a harsh wave...  Look at the images of the 3 Doughty cutter stern transoms all lined up you can see how they are distinct.
 
Since I'm trying to keep to the historical plans as best I can this was my best interpretation and looks pretty much like a Baltimore clipper stern. The moulding around the stern attach to the wale and I will add some connecting decoration later. It looks simple but really there were so many subtle challenges like cutting the counter to match the curve of the stern (all the parts are curved and bent in certain ways). The stern piece is raised almost above the deck!  I spent probably a good week just plotting it out in my mind lol. 
 
For my inspiration I used a few models I found online. One is of the Achilles and the other of a scratch model of the 51 ton cutter Alabama. You can see how they managed to build their stern with the proper incline and transom/counter so it helped me alot. Next up the decking finally! 😎






 


 

Good morning! Decided to do a mini-update today I added all the treenails to the finished side of the hull. Basically I the process was poking them out with an awl then filling the hole with colored putty (which I darkened with paint) then used the colored pencil to define the area a bit more and here is how it looks!  I know some of my steelers are a bit off location but that will be colored with copper anyways. I realize now that the nails are effectively showing where the ships frames are (an obvious concept but I now I see the logic behind it). Next step now will be doing the other side hopefully won't take me nearly as long

Thank you John! So yeah I am never one to leave well enough alone when something doesn't feel right. So atm Ive started working on some minor corrections to parts I though hmm could I do better? First and foremost are the gratings, the holes were simply too big. I realized the grating set is likely for a 1/48 model so I scaled it down and scratch made my own using the laser .75% to 1/64 scale. The new grating goes much better with the plans Ive seen and aside from some minor corrections of the hatch coaming, it fit in perfect. Now just have to make the smaller hatch but what do you think?

I take the point about the similarity to the cruiser class brigs of the early 1800s. Interestingly enough my first reaction on looking at Davis' plan was that it did look a bit British! However there is a considerable difference in profile. That said the body plan looks similar. I will do some comparisons. The idea of Davis using a British brig as an example is interesting, but I am doubtful that he would go to our National Maritime Museum rather than use a USN authority. I will be having a closer look at Vixen and Salvini Plan A. I did note that there was a considerable difference in LBR between that plan and the Davis draft. I am afraid that Davis' book made me angry in that giving the name of Lexington was utter speculation totally unsupported by research. As a result there are kit manufacturers and a mass of model makers, including Donald McNarry who have been fooled into building a model that is not what it says it is. I think that all that can be said of his model is that it is a USN armed schooner c. 1800 very similar in form and dimensions to the armed schooner Enterprise before she was rebuilt and lengthened. Funnily enough you mentioned HM Sloop Wolf. I am building an earlier incarnation of her launched in 1754. Keep going, I am enjoying this stream!

Thank you John! So yeah I am never one to leave well enough alone when something doesn't feel right. So atm Ive started working on some minor corrections to parts I though hmm could I do better? First and foremost are the gratings, the holes were simply too big. I realized the grating set is likely for a 1/48 model so I scaled it down and scratch made my own using the laser .75% to 1/64 scale. The new grating goes much better with the plans Ive seen and aside from some minor corrections of the hatch coaming, it fit in perfect. Now just have to make the smaller hatch but what do you think?

Thanks so much Mike! I am very excited for the next bunch of steps. As you can see I've already added some decking material and glued the hatches down once and for all. I added some extra parts on deck just to get a look at it all together. So now it's a question of what comes next... 
 
The plan is to finish planking but that means adding those waterways and edge planks and also means adding a toe rail. But  alsoI plan on painting the too and bottom of the wale black. So it'll have a nice strip across. Then I also need to copper. As you can see the little sailor guys are exhausted just thinking about it all.

Now gun port lids. Read the instructions after making and it suggested two square sections. I made the outer section out of three pieces of plank. Each lid had to be made to suit the gun port as they are not square. The sides are parallel to the ships frames with top and bottom parallel to the waterline. Each then has three planks that are fixed to the internal layer in such a way as to match the hull planking in that location.
 
The effect of the lids being this shape means they do look a little strange when in the open position as they do not stick out square from the hull. However, looking at photographs of other, contemporary, cutter models this does seem correct.
 



Each gun port was fitted into place and then sanded flush with the hull.
 

They were then fitted with the hinges taken from the etched sheet I had brought many years ago and tiny eyelets left over from a Caldercraft kit. Holes drilled in the hull to insert the ends of the hinges and rigged with ropes over the bulwark rai to the cleats fitted previously inside the hull.

 
 
 

In a discussion a while back, it was surmised that the Corel Resolution is based on HMS Ferrett of 1711
 

The next step on this kit was to form the bearding line which was done in a more unusual way but saves cutting it in. Very fine 1mm 3 ply sheets were provided to cut out sections to simulate the keel and fixed to the keel section as shown below:
 
 

Thanks so much Mike! I am very excited for the next bunch of steps. As you can see I've already added some decking material and glued the hatches down once and for all. I added some extra parts on deck just to get a look at it all together. So now it's a question of what comes next... 
 
The plan is to finish planking but that means adding those waterways and edge planks and also means adding a toe rail. But  alsoI plan on painting the too and bottom of the wale black. So it'll have a nice strip across. Then I also need to copper. As you can see the little sailor guys are exhausted just thinking about it all.

Charlie,
 
Very, very, nice super clean and pristine so far. Kudos

Good morning! Decided to do a mini-update today I added all the treenails to the finished side of the hull. Basically I the process was poking them out with an awl then filling the hole with colored putty (which I darkened with paint) then used the colored pencil to define the area a bit more and here is how it looks!  I know some of my steelers are a bit off location but that will be colored with copper anyways. I realize now that the nails are effectively showing where the ships frames are (an obvious concept but I now I see the logic behind it). Next step now will be doing the other side hopefully won't take me nearly as long

Good morning! Decided to do a mini-update today I added all the treenails to the finished side of the hull. Basically I the process was poking them out with an awl then filling the hole with colored putty (which I darkened with paint) then used the colored pencil to define the area a bit more and here is how it looks!  I know some of my steelers are a bit off location but that will be colored with copper anyways. I realize now that the nails are effectively showing where the ships frames are (an obvious concept but I now I see the logic behind it). Next step now will be doing the other side hopefully won't take me nearly as long

Thanks Mark! Thats only because you dont see the pile of rejects I made could make a whole other boat with them

Hi all! Sorry its been so long been toiling away on planking and just finished the left side. Since the shape is so wedge shaped on this boat alot of planks needed to be spiled. That said it taught me alot and I think I did a reasonably good job for a first timer. Now starting the treenails using an awl, colored putty to fill the holes then a color pencil to add some detailing. Got more to go but thought I'd share

Thanks so much Mike! I am very excited for the next bunch of steps. As you can see I've already added some decking material and glued the hatches down once and for all. I added some extra parts on deck just to get a look at it all together. So now it's a question of what comes next... 
 
The plan is to finish planking but that means adding those waterways and edge planks and also means adding a toe rail. But  alsoI plan on painting the too and bottom of the wale black. So it'll have a nice strip across. Then I also need to copper. As you can see the little sailor guys are exhausted just thinking about it all.

Happy autumn to you All! 😄 Been quite busy with the model so figured I'd offer a new update. First, the hull planking is all finished and treenailed.  The first side took me months while the second side took me only a few weeks! While both sides look relatively identical I did make sure they had some suttle differences and secretly I do prefer one to the other.
 
My plan is to finish all of the underside stuff so that I no longer need to flip the boat and potentially damage any deck fittings. So with that as my approach, next up is the wale which is getting metal nails giving that metallic look. And last is building the transom and counter. I must have tried this 20+ times before I got one I liked. For now it's unfinished and will be attached later with extra detailing but overall I'm quite happy with it. I was at a loss trying to understand the plans and what the stern actually looked like. Any models out there of the Doughty cutters are all simply horribly wrong. They all show a flat stern piece tacked on with no counter at all which would in real life fall off once it hit a harsh wave...  Look at the images of the 3 Doughty cutter stern transoms all lined up you can see how they are distinct.
 
Since I'm trying to keep to the historical plans as best I can this was my best interpretation and looks pretty much like a Baltimore clipper stern. The moulding around the stern attach to the wale and I will add some connecting decoration later. It looks simple but really there were so many subtle challenges like cutting the counter to match the curve of the stern (all the parts are curved and bent in certain ways). The stern piece is raised almost above the deck!  I spent probably a good week just plotting it out in my mind lol. 
 
For my inspiration I used a few models I found online. One is of the Achilles and the other of a scratch model of the 51 ton cutter Alabama. You can see how they managed to build their stern with the proper incline and transom/counter so it helped me alot. Next up the decking finally! 😎






 


 

Good morning! Decided to do a mini-update today I added all the treenails to the finished side of the hull. Basically I the process was poking them out with an awl then filling the hole with colored putty (which I darkened with paint) then used the colored pencil to define the area a bit more and here is how it looks!  I know some of my steelers are a bit off location but that will be colored with copper anyways. I realize now that the nails are effectively showing where the ships frames are (an obvious concept but I now I see the logic behind it). Next step now will be doing the other side hopefully won't take me nearly as long