CDR_Ret

This is my first build log on MSW , and second scratch built boat, both lockdown projects.
 
Why Orca? It’s arguably the most iconic movie boat of all time, with all the associated romance of being a star in a huge film. It’s also a huge challenge, and a good test of the many modelling skills I have to learn to enable me to move on to more complex builds.
 
Talking of romance, January 1st 1976 was the first date I had with my wife of 38 years – we went to the cinema – guess what we watched? So that’s why it has a special memories for me!
 
The research for Orca has not been easy, despite there being a number of previous models built, with some excellent reference material available, and a fanatical fan base posting pictures. Her secrets are well hidden. As far as I can see there are no available plans of the original boat, Warlock, a Novi lobster boat typical of the Maine and Nova Scotia coasts, and only three photographs of her. Orca herself was sadly allowed to rot away, with only fragments remaining in the collection of fans, and in the memory of Joe Alves, the master production designer who transformed Warlock into Orca.
 
The plans I’ve seen online for Orca are for an RC model, and whilst they are representative of Orca, they are not of  the type of keel or hull nor accurate in the detail of the pilot house or foredeck when measured against stills of Orca from the film. I can find no images of Warlock or Orca’s keel, or shape below the waterline. The film images of Orca listing or sinking are of Orca II, a GRP copy, which had no keel, but a metal frame and barrels used to change the ballast as part of the effects. There are some differences between Orca I and II which can confuse, not least that Orca II’s mast is off-centre.
 
So there is some detective work and guesssork involved. I have studied the plans of other lobster boats available, and there are some You Tube clips and galleries online of lobster boat construction.
 
Orca has distinctive stem, straight to the waterline, unlike many lobster boats which have a continuously curved stem. These images of Warlock show what I mean:

The first decision therefore is whether the hull is built-down or skeg-built. The latter is found in traditional wooden lobster boats, creating a shallower flatter hull section. However this usually required the engine to be higher necessitating a box or step up platform in the pilot house. Warlock had (surprisingly) a 4-cylinder petrol (gas) engine, but no box – the pilot house floor was the same level as the aft deck, suggesting a built down hull…
 
As lobster boats moved from sail to power the hull design changed from a true displacement to a longer wider semi-displacement shape. They had a flatter aft but retained the keel and skeg to protect the prop and rudder and allow them to come right up on a ledge at slow speed, for example:

 
It’s unlikely that Warlock had the horsepower to get the hull beyond displacement speed, and certainly she did not have a flared bow, but a softer chine suggesting she did not cruise that fast, and the flatter after section will have kept her prop deeper in the water, helpful in a following sea.
 
I have chosen therefore to make her as a semi displacement hull, with a skeg built after section. The engine is assumed to be small enough to be enclosed below the pilot house decking.
 
I will attempt to use the same method of build as the real boat, that is to assemble the stem, keel, keelson, prop shaft and hook, then attach temporary frames and ribbands before fitting steam bent ribs, then carvel planking up from the keel before removing the frames and ribbands. The whole process being illustrated beautifully here:
https://wlb3.smugmug.com/Maine/JBBC  
I will credit and draw on the large volume of research already available though other model builders logs, and also from the upcoming series of You Tube postings of Master Shipwright Louis Sauzedde who is planning to rebuild Orca in his workshop on Rhode Island see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-myybwQLeM&ab_channel=TipsfromaShipwright 
 
Of course much of this work will be hidden in the finished model, but authenticity is clearly important. I may well stand corrected, but I think If I manage this , it will be the first model of Orca built in this way. I would be very pleased to hear from makers of previous models on this methology.
 
After the hull is planked, and deck fitted, the challenge is to reproduce the film prop complete with all the artifacts and weathering. Don’t expect to see much at first, I still have lots to research before I start.
 
I hope this build will help others contemplating this build, and I encourage criticism from the many experts on this forum whose work is so inspiring!
I have a small Delta band saw, scroll saw and hand power drills. Other than that this will be done by hand tools. All materials will be from wood and other stuff I have in my store, most of which is recyled. Finally no sharks will be harmed in the making of this Orca.

Well - what a great response! Thank you Terry for the time you have taken with this - I'm emboldened to give it another go, and see what I can do. I think the terminology used in DS is a considerable barrier to new users, and can't see the logic of the developer here. Now I see what they are after I can make some progress. 
I'll also try the second methodology you advise; although I had no drawings at all (the boat is Orca from Jaws, build log just started), so one reason for using DS is to fair the hull and adjust the station frames before cutting out. 
A steep learning curve indeed, but I don't mind that at all, and your tutorial is most helpful.
Thanks too for the offer to advise with problems!

I might be able to assist you. What kind of vessel are you working with? Sorry, had to reread your post again.
 
The DELFTship offset import function is very buggy. If you do a search on the D/S website using "offset import" key words, you will find there is a long history of problems with the function in at least the Free version.
 
To begin with, I would not try to create offsets of the entire hull and keel assembly. I recommend modeling just the hull between the sheer rail and inner rabbets of the stem, keel, and sternpost, as applicable. If the lobster boat has a propeller skeg or other complicated arrangement around the propeller/rudder, I'd leave that off until the hull form is set.
 
The import offsets function also doesn't deal well with tumblehome. The hull shape should more or less flare outward from the keel to the rail for the best success. Otherwise, the program tries to connect the rail to the lower parts of the hull inside the widest parts of the hull. It gets really confusing that way!
 
The DELFTship manual uses a number of terms that may not make sense. I have communicated with the developers about this but nothing has been done. Here are the definitions as I understand them:
Contour line at each station—This refers to the sheer rail line (top of moulded rail, if applicable) or the outboard deck sheer line if no rail is included. Forward contour line—The line described by the x-coordinates of the inner rabbet of the stem at each waterline. Basically, the profile shape of the bow. Aft contour line—The line described by the x-coordinates of the inner rabbet of the sternpost (or the centerline, in the absence of an inner rabbet at the sternpost) at each waterline at the aft end of the vessel. Basically, the profile shape of the stern. Origin—The origin is the point in 3D space that establishes the zero coordinates of the x-, y-, and z- axes for your model. Normally, the origin is placed at the baseline for the hull at the aft face of the sternpost. For a lobster boat, you may have to choose whether the origin will be at the extreme stern/transom, the extreme bow, or somewhere else that makes sense. The longitudinal coordinate "x" is positive forward of the origin, the lateral coordinate "y" is positive from the centerline outboard; the vertical coordinate "z" is positive upward from the baseline. So, depending on where you place the origin in the setup of your file, you may end up having to deal with negative values (especially x-values). I would make the baseline the bottom edge of the inner rabbet along the keel. If the keel is raked, then place the baseline at the lowest extent of the inner rabbet of the keel. This permits all moulded hull z-coordinates to be positive.
 
After you are finished with the moulded surface of the hull, then add the rabbet, keel, stem, and other parts of the backbone.
 
If I were you, for a relatively straight-forward hull that probably has a hard chine, I'd simply build the stations one at a time from scratch, setting the control points at each station against the boat's deadflat view in the plans. Alternatively, you could import all three views of your hull plan as "Background" views, then use one of the example hull models that comes with the program and move the control points around until you create what you want.
 
Each method has its pros and cons. And if you haven't worked with the program before, it's got a steep learning curve.
 
For encouragement, here is my DELFTship model of a "naphtha launch" (c. 1905) that I created from scratch to produce plans for a ship's boat carried by a vessel that my grandfather sailed in back in 1906.
 

 
Please feel free to PM me to walk you through any problems you run up against. You may also want to skim through a mini-tutorial on using DELFTship that I made up in my Galilee topic, starting on page 5. That thread as a whole includes lots of photos of my work in DELFTship developing Galilee's hull form.
 
Terry

It has been a busy Christmas season, which has been fortunate in some ways and unfortunate in others.  One of the unfortunates is that I haven't been able to get to work on my model much, so the progress has slowed considerably.  Now that we're in a new year, (and Happy New Year to you all), I'm looking forward to making a little more sawdust, but also releasing some paint fumes as well.
 
The progress I have made to the model from the last pictures I have amounts to finish sanding the rudders and the sail.  I glued the bottom rudder back onto the hull and successfully managed a fairly decent approximation of an airfoil shape to both rudders. (Not sure if the term hydrofoil applies here, but being a helicopter meat servo, I go with what I know.)  I will include pictures next opportunity I get.  Overall, I'm pleased with how its turning out so far.  I showed it to my dad over Christmas and, in his way, he was tickled pink.
 
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season and hope to see you around more in the future.
 
Tom

Spanish translation for Bob - 
 
Good evening, on December 5th I bought you 3 books, Rigging a Sloop of the Sixth Category of War 1767-1780, Frigates of the Royal Navy HMS EURYALUS (36) 1803 A Plank on Frame Model, Volume I by Allan Yedlinsky and Wayne Kempson and the Frigates of the Royal Navy HMS EURYALUS (36) 1803 A Plank on Frame Model, Volume II by Allan Yedlinsky and Wayne Kempson. Please tell me when you send it to me, by what means of transport and the tracking code, the tracking code is very important. I look forward to hearing from you.
 

Rik, if your main drafting interest is 2D, you may want to check out Coreldraw Suite 2020 for about $500 US or CorelCAD (2D and 3D) for around $700 US. Corel is also now offering month-to-month subscriptions.
 
I have used Coreldraw Suites since v 3.0 back in the early '90s and have found them to be very intuitive compared to the Adobe products. Currently using Coreldraw X7 for drafting ship plans. Haven't tried CorelCAD. All of these programs permit free download trials to check them out.
 
Terry

Rik, if your main drafting interest is 2D, you may want to check out Coreldraw Suite 2020 for about $500 US or CorelCAD (2D and 3D) for around $700 US. Corel is also now offering month-to-month subscriptions.
 
I have used Coreldraw Suites since v 3.0 back in the early '90s and have found them to be very intuitive compared to the Adobe products. Currently using Coreldraw X7 for drafting ship plans. Haven't tried CorelCAD. All of these programs permit free download trials to check them out.
 
Terry

So, it’s been a few days since I posted about trying to keep the thread active. Go figure.  Anyway, it’s been a busy week with work and family so not a lot for accomplishment.  I managed another hour more of sanding and I’m pleased with the result. I borrowed a table mounted belt sander which helped me get the main part of the hull into a more or less cylindrical shape.  Using an orbital sander, I’ve managed to get the bow and stern... let’s say better. 
 
Unfortunately, I had a mishap while sanding. I dropped my project onto the garage floor, and managed a couple dings as well as broke off the lower rudder. Nothing to worry about as there is always glue.  Once the hull is ship shape, then I will begin forming the fairwater (sail) and the rudders and planes. 





 
Thanks for the reply’s and the likes. 
 

Might I suggest that, for a scale model, stitching is not the best or easiest option? However, fine the stitching, it will always be way over scale. Also, as you've discovered, stitching a straight line is very tricky. Let me suggest another possibility:
 
First, gently stretch the uncut material over plastic wrap. Give it a dilute coat of acrylic matt medium to slightly stiffen it. Also, when you cut the material, it will not fray. When it is dry, mark out the shape of the sail in pencil, then another set of lines outside this to give the 'hem'. Draw pencil lines the width of the sail cloths apart or, if this is at a large scale, a double set of lines. Using a straightedge this should be easy!
 
Cut the sail out to the outer lines. Turn over the edges and either glue them down with white glue or matt medium. Detail the sail to taste and you are done.

matte medium

Bob, I have found that to be true about a lot of things. I was 50 years old before I realized what an interesting character my grandfather was. He died two years before I was born, but I failed to sit down with my mother and try to understand who he was before she, too, passed. I'm trying to instill in my grandchildren an interest in their own parents' backgrounds and their family histories, and begin journaling at a young age. Their parents are all for that.

Found this article from 1901 on the carvings used on ships. It was in 'The Connoisseur' magazine.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob, I have found that to be true about a lot of things. I was 50 years old before I realized what an interesting character my grandfather was. He died two years before I was born, but I failed to sit down with my mother and try to understand who he was before she, too, passed. I'm trying to instill in my grandchildren an interest in their own parents' backgrounds and their family histories, and begin journaling at a young age. Their parents are all for that.

Ah, this explanation makes more sense. I was viewing the term "triangular sail" in a much narrower way than necessary. And I probably gave the spreader/batten or whatever we can call it more significance than needed.
 
Appreciate the clear and complete clarification, Bob.
 
Terry

Thanks for the link, Thanasis. If the two types of mainsails were contemporaneous, this might be a good solution. However, the differences of the sailing eras, their shapes, and construction suggest that another term might be appropriate.
 
Even Bob's suggestion is problematic, though appreciated. The definition of "jib-headed," according to several contemporary dictionaries, is essentially "a point at the top of the sail, like a jib." The short spar at the head of Galilee's mainsail (as well as Matthew Turner's) doesn't leave a point with a single attachment fitting, like an eye or thimble. The short spar evidently spreads out the significant local stresses. The mainsail generated huge stresses, demonstrated in the fact that her main boom broke during her first charter cruise.
So, lacking any authoritative reference from Matthew Turner's time, I'm inclined to describe it as a "spar-headed mainsail."
 
Thanks for your input, guys!
 
Terry
 

Ah, this explanation makes more sense. I was viewing the term "triangular sail" in a much narrower way than necessary. And I probably gave the spreader/batten or whatever we can call it more significance than needed.
 
Appreciate the clear and complete clarification, Bob.
 
Terry

Thanks for the link, Thanasis. If the two types of mainsails were contemporaneous, this might be a good solution. However, the differences of the sailing eras, their shapes, and construction suggest that another term might be appropriate.
 
Even Bob's suggestion is problematic, though appreciated. The definition of "jib-headed," according to several contemporary dictionaries, is essentially "a point at the top of the sail, like a jib." The short spar at the head of Galilee's mainsail (as well as Matthew Turner's) doesn't leave a point with a single attachment fitting, like an eye or thimble. The short spar evidently spreads out the significant local stresses. The mainsail generated huge stresses, demonstrated in the fact that her main boom broke during her first charter cruise.
So, lacking any authoritative reference from Matthew Turner's time, I'm inclined to describe it as a "spar-headed mainsail."
 
Thanks for your input, guys!
 
Terry
 

Ah, this explanation makes more sense. I was viewing the term "triangular sail" in a much narrower way than necessary. And I probably gave the spreader/batten or whatever we can call it more significance than needed.
 
Appreciate the clear and complete clarification, Bob.
 
Terry

Thanks for the link, Thanasis. If the two types of mainsails were contemporaneous, this might be a good solution. However, the differences of the sailing eras, their shapes, and construction suggest that another term might be appropriate.
 
Even Bob's suggestion is problematic, though appreciated. The definition of "jib-headed," according to several contemporary dictionaries, is essentially "a point at the top of the sail, like a jib." The short spar at the head of Galilee's mainsail (as well as Matthew Turner's) doesn't leave a point with a single attachment fitting, like an eye or thimble. The short spar evidently spreads out the significant local stresses. The mainsail generated huge stresses, demonstrated in the fact that her main boom broke during her first charter cruise.
So, lacking any authoritative reference from Matthew Turner's time, I'm inclined to describe it as a "spar-headed mainsail."
 
Thanks for your input, guys!
 
Terry
 

This Fall has been busy with many birthday and Christmas projects, and the resumption of homeschool with my grandchildren. So not much time has been available for work on Galilee's plans.
 
However, a recent topic regarding gaff-rigged sails in this forum reminded me that I haven't been able to identify Galilee's mainsail type. Basically, it is a leg-of-mutton sail headed by a short spar. The not-so-all-knowing Internet claims that brigantines and hermaphrodite brigs all carry/carried a gaff-headed mainsail.
 
Here is Galilee in all her glory, courtesy of the Carnegie Science Library:
 

 
So, what is this kind of mainsail called?
 
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
 
Terry
 
 

Thanks for the link, Thanasis. If the two types of mainsails were contemporaneous, this might be a good solution. However, the differences of the sailing eras, their shapes, and construction suggest that another term might be appropriate.
 
Even Bob's suggestion is problematic, though appreciated. The definition of "jib-headed," according to several contemporary dictionaries, is essentially "a point at the top of the sail, like a jib." The short spar at the head of Galilee's mainsail (as well as Matthew Turner's) doesn't leave a point with a single attachment fitting, like an eye or thimble. The short spar evidently spreads out the significant local stresses. The mainsail generated huge stresses, demonstrated in the fact that her main boom broke during her first charter cruise.
So, lacking any authoritative reference from Matthew Turner's time, I'm inclined to describe it as a "spar-headed mainsail."
 
Thanks for your input, guys!
 
Terry
 

Hopefully these updates aren’t coming too quickly.  I like keeping the thread active, if nothing else. Nothing else new other than continuing to hone in on the cylindrical and curvilinear shapes. I’ve been focusing mostly on the bow lately and using those lines then to inform the rest of the hull. 

 
You can see the shape is coming in, but the light and shadows still reveal some ridges that need to be worked in. 
 

 
All in all, I’m pleased.  I took it to the park yesterday when I took my kids there to play. I had a few quizzical looks from others as I’m sitting there with a sanding stick of my own making, a wood rasp, and of course, the model itself.  Made a great conversation piece as a couple of the older boys came up and thought it looked great, and it actually looked like a submarine. 
 

 
Tom

Hi. It could be also called as "square-top, or fat-head, mainsail"
https://www.sailmagazine.com/diy/know-how-all-about-mainsails
Thx

Sometimes unusual arrangements get called whatever the master wants to call them. On the Thomas W. Lawson, the only seven-masted schooner ever built, they never could make up their minds what the names of the seven sails were. Somewhere on the internet there's a chart of all the names they were called at different times under different masters. (Nautical trivia quiz answer: fore, main, mizzen, spanker, jigger, driver, and pusher.)
 
I'd call that sail a jib-headed mainsail.  The head isn't cut far enough down the leech to make it a leg-o-mutton, I'd think. It's an interesting sail. Note that the leech is cut away from the mast at the head and there's a short yard at the head that's on a bridle to the block on the crane, which prevents the fouling of the halyard block against the mast. 
 
Above the jib-headed main, was flown a main topsail with its clew led to the end of the main boom, a once-common sail now rarely encountered.  Danged If I know if it had a particular name besides a main topsail. Turner employed main topsails clewed to the boom in many of his brigantines. A picture or two is worth a thousand words:
 

 
A contemporary painting of Matson's Turner-built Lurline flying a boom-clewed main topsail.
 

 
Photo of Lurline with main topsail brailed aloft as shown in the photo in the original post.
 

 

 

 
Photos of Matthew W. Turner, a recently-built sail-training vessel designed to meet current USCG passenger regulations, but designed based on Turner-built brigantines and flying her main topsail.
 
Interestingly, it appears vessels with this arrangement flew their ensigns from the mainmast truck.

This Fall has been busy with many birthday and Christmas projects, and the resumption of homeschool with my grandchildren. So not much time has been available for work on Galilee's plans.
 
However, a recent topic regarding gaff-rigged sails in this forum reminded me that I haven't been able to identify Galilee's mainsail type. Basically, it is a leg-of-mutton sail headed by a short spar. The not-so-all-knowing Internet claims that brigantines and hermaphrodite brigs all carry/carried a gaff-headed mainsail.
 
Here is Galilee in all her glory, courtesy of the Carnegie Science Library:
 

 
So, what is this kind of mainsail called?
 
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
 
Terry