russ

For kit plans, Model Expo, Bluejacket Shipcrafters, and Cornwall Model Boats sell a variety of plans. I think Cornwall sells several European kit model plans. Model Expo and Bluejacket will sell plans of kits they manufacture. You can also try Loyalhanna Dockyard for various kit and scratch built plans. For American ship plans, you can buy from the Smithsonian's National Watercraft Collection. For British plans, you can buy from the National Maritime Museum. There are also other museum plans collection from which you can obtain plans, both here in the US and abroad. Russ

Michael: Thanks. This will not be nearly as nice as the work you are doing on your cutter, but I hope it will be useful to someone. The grey color was actually an idea I got from looking at the caulking compounds that are used on local boats. Their caulking is, of course, not black like they used 200 years ago. I toyed with the idea of painting the deck or maybe giving it a grey wash, but I decided I just could not cover up the lines of the planking and the subtle shades of color from the wood. So, I just made the seams. Russ

This is a very nice looking model. Congratulations. I have been through your log and noted several good improvements you have made. It has been well worth the effort. Very impressive. Russ

Another important fitting was the ship's wheel. These schooners used an Edson brand wheel in the early 1900s. Earlier on they may have used an all wood wheel, but from the photos of the 1920s, we know that the Edson wheels were quite popular. Here is a nice example of an Edson wheel. Here is what I was able to create for the model. My wheel is not perfect, but it is a close approximation. It was created using several different materials. The basic rim is 1/16" plywood. The inner and outer bands of the rim are poster board. The spindles are bamboo. The handles are hand turned from cherry and have dowels formed on their ends to glue into holes in the rim. The hub is a piece of basswood and the sockets for the spindles on the outer part of the hub are brass tubing. Note the locator dowels at each corner of the bottom of the wheel box. This is now a standard method for me. I can drill corresponding holes in the deck to locate a piece of deck furniture and always be able to remove and replace the fitting during construction. In fact, I do not think I even glued the fittings to the deck permanently because the fit was so snug with the locator dowels. Russ

Although this is slightly out of sequence (I just found this photograph), here is an early photo of the model in my shop, after the stanchions were installed. Note the new bowsprit being fitted. This is much more in scale with the model, but it required filling in the area under the rail where the bowsprit passes through to the deck. The new bowsprit was much smaller than the out of scale replacement that had been added back in the 1960s. Of course, the bowsprit still needed a bit of work, bands added etc, but this was a big improvement over what was there earlier. Russ

Druxey: Thank you for those kind words. I should note that this project took place from January 2006 to May 2008. I am reposting the log because of the crash. Russ

The windlass was next. I made it out of wood and then painted it to look like worn or aged metal. It is bolted to the bowsprit bitts. Here is the unpainted version. And the painted version. And here it is dry fitted in place on deck, but before painting. Note also the scuttle, main hatch, and the cleats along the bulwarks. Russ

Once the deck planking was completed, I was able to begin work on deck fittings. The standard deck plan calls for a main hatch between the masts, another smaller hatch between the deck house and the main mast, and a smaller scuttle just forward of the foremast. We also needed the bitts and a windlass, a ship's wheel and wheel box, and the deck house, which takes the form of a trunk cabin. Here is the deck house and aft hatch. The deck house has already been painted and the hatch will also be painted. Note the cleat on the stanchions in the background. More later. Russ

Richard: Check out this thread. http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1894-glue-recommendations/?hl=glue Russ

John: Thanks. This was a good project and I learned a lot doing it. Russ

Alas, there are no Rockler's around me that I know of. I will see what I can find though. Russ

Thanks for looking in. I should mention that the basswood decking was created from a sheet of basswood that was as thick as the deck planks are wide. I painted one side of the basswood sheet with acrylic grey and then used my table saw to slab off the planks. This gave me uniform width planks that had one edge grey and the other edge plain. When laid grey edge to plain, it created a nice muted caulking seam. This is a tried and true method for maiking caulking seams in deck planking. Russ

Sounds like a winner. Where do you buy it here in the states? Russ

It really depends on what you are modeling and your space restrictions. If you have the room for a 74 gun ship at 1/24 scale, then that will work for you. However, most of us have room for a frigate at 1/64 scale perhaps. For smaller vessels one can build in much larger scales without taking up too much space. I can build a smaller coastal schooner at 1/24 scale and still have a model that is about 3 ft long. That is about the same modelsize as a 44 gun frigate at 1/96 scale. It just depends on what sort of vessel you are modeling. Russ

Check Bluejacket Shipcrafters for brass pedestals. They have a couple of different slot widths on theirs. Also, make sure that the keel is wide enough to accept the screws to begin with. If not, then you are better off making cradles and using small pins to scure the hull to the cradles. Russ

That is a tough call. I wouid definitely secure all your materials and tools etc. Maybe in a box or container. Any waterbased paints or glues should be okay. My workshop is also uninsulated space but it is under lock and key. I have a wall unit AC for the really bad days in the summer. You might want to consider a box fan or something similar to help cut the heat and humidity. Russ

One aspect of this restoration/rebuild was to strip plank the deck. I began by laying a waterway and adding faux bulwark stanchions. These gave the model a more authentic appearance, but they were also important because I needed to add cleats to the stanchions as belaying points for the rigging. Here is the model, cradled and with the stanchions and waterway installed and painted. I am strip planking the deck with basswood. Here is another shot of the deck planking in the bow. More to come. Russ

This is a nice looking model. Your planking is well done. Russ

Hello everyone. As some of you may recall, I restored a locally made fishing schooner model a few years back. Now that I have a few moments, I am reposting that log. The story begins in the 1940s. My friend Gabe Kasovich was given this model by his father in about 1948. The origins of the model are uncertain, but Gabe recalled that it was made by one of the Fountains, a local boatbuilding family. The model may have been made as early as the 1930s. It seems probable that the model was repainted at least once before Gabe got the model in 1948, so this would support the idea that the model being a few years older than 1948. Here is a photograph of the model in 1948 The hull is a single piece of wood, most likely red cypress. It was carved to shape on the outside of the hull and then hollowed out on the inside. It originally had a lead keel that was bolted to the hull. The deck was a single sheet of cypress laid over about 5-6 deck supports. The model was originally intended as a sailing model. These models were used by the local children back in the 1930s in model regattas along the beach front. The bow area of the model is a bit crude, but the midsection and the stern area are remarkably well formed and certainly look very much like a Biloxi schooner. Here is what the model looked like as the paint was stripped in the summer of 2005. As you can see, she needed "a new everything" on deck. We were able to salvage the two lower masts, but that was it. Actually, the main mast was the only original mast. The foemast was a smaller diameter replacement that was possibly made from a pool cue. The bowsprit was a hideously oversized hunk of wood that begged to be replaced with something more in scale. Gabe wanted the model restored as a static model, with as much accuracy as we could get without disturbing the outer hull's original construction. The decision was made to strip as much of that lead based paint as possible and repaint the hull white with a water based paint. Gabe agreed to do the stripping since he does some of his own furniture restoration. Not having to strip lead paint was fine by me. This project almost did not happen. Gabe brought me the model in mid August 2005. He had repainted the hull, but it was a bit too glossy for my taste, so I suggested he go for a more satin finish. He took the model back home and a couple of weeks later, Hurricane Katrina came plowing through and everyone was preoccupied for several months. In truth, I was not able to get hold of Gabe for several months and I did not know for certain if he or the model had survived the storm. Fortunately, when we spoke in late November, he said that while his house had been damaged in the storm, his old work shed out in the back yard where the model was kept had not even been touched. Go figure. So, he brought the model back to me in mid January 2006. Next time, the restoration begins. Russ

So far that looks very good. The waste bits in the bilges actually looks very authentic. That is how it looks a lot of the time in the shipyard. Russ

Aldo: These plans do not have every body section drawn. There would just too many lines too close together. Like Druxey said. I think that you would need to redraw the plan to get what you want out of it. Russ

You have rhe right idea. I think that plan will work well. Russ

Drill smaller pilot holes first. Then drill them out a little and then put the screws in. This would have been better done early on in the build, but it can be done now with some care. Russ

Thanks for those kind words. I am hoping to get some work done now that I will have some free time. Hopefully. Russ

Beautiful rigging so far. Everything looks taut and shipshape. Great work. Russ