Roger Pellett

Ok, but instead of trying to plank the bulwarks, you could simulate metal by using very thin model aircraft plywood. Roger

Kieth, Another masterpiece. You write about planking the bulwarks. Are you sure that they are not metal? Roger

In the metal fabrication business bending a rectangular tube where the side to be bent is the widest of the two is called “bending the hard way” and this is an apt description here. I don’t understand how the kit manufacturer intended you to bend a 3/16” thick piece of wood with a width wide enough to accommodate cutting out the inside curve. Frank’s idea of cutting both sides of the curve from a sheet of 3/16” basswood is the practical solution. Roger

We could help you better if you could tell us more about what you are trying to do. Is your kit a solid hull or a plank on bulkhead, are you trying to carve the waterway from the solid hull or you cutting a strip of wood to use? As as posted above the waterway is a timber at the junction between the deck and the bulwark. In some solid hull models it is necessary to thin the bulwark. Did you mean to say that you are trying to thin the bulwark? like the old saying goes, "A look is worth a thousand tells." Post a photo of your situation. Roger

I visited our Menards store, our local big box Home Improvement/ Hardware store. While there I checked out their metals rack. They stock Aluminum Channel in small sizes, for example 1/2”x1/2”. Wall thickness looked sufficient to thread. Roger

Depending on where you live there are backwoods sawmills that will custom saw a log into planks. In Southern Ohio they are known as “pecker mills” as in woodpecker. Two problems. First of all, you have to get the log to the mill and second many of these guys will refuse to saw up a log if they know that it came from a surburban location due to the possibility that there is a nail embedded in it. A better choice would to advertise in the paper for someone with a portable bandsaw or chainsaw mill to saw up the log on site, the sawing cost to be paid as a share of the lumber. Our local paper has a free swap column that would accept such an advertisement. Keep in mind that basswood lumber is not expensive so the log may not have as much commercial value as you might expect. Actually, for modelers shorter pieces that can be split are easier to use as a quartered piece can be cut into blocks with a table saw or bandsaw. Roger

Most big box home improvement stores have a rack of handyman steel. If you can find some small channel (u shaped stock) it would be perfect for your purposes. Making sharp bends in Aluminum can be iffy. Aluminum and it’s alloys is subject to age hardening. As Aluminum sits around at room temperature it hardens over time and loses ductility. It can, therefore, crack during bending. Roger

I see no reason not to use “mild steel” from a big box store. I believe that the previous discussions about tool steels had to do with making edge tools where heat treating to maintain an edge was required. This is not your situation. You only need sufficient strength to withstand clamping forces. Another source of small sized square steel bar is “key stock,” used in keyways of rotating shafts. You should be able to find this at any industrial supply business. One such company that has retail outlets, at least here in the Midwest is Grangier Supply. You can also find them online. Roger

Try Online Metals.

Hang in there! My hands shake from neuropathy but I find that if I keep working my brain seems to rewire itself. My doctors agree that it is good to keep doing this kind of work to maintain dexterity. I hope that you can continue doing something that you obviously like. Roger

Michael, In the 1920’s The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company Built a 30ft Tender for J. P. Morgan’s yacht Corsair III. You can find information by googling Corsair HMC Co. #381. This will take you to information held by the Herreshoff Museum. The Hart Museum at MIT owns Herreshoff’s Drawings and their holdings have supposedly been digitized. I also have a SNAME paper about the boat’s recent restoration that includes a drawing with a body plan. If this interests you send me a PM. I realize that this is not the model that you are trying to build but it is a well documented example of a small, well appointed, motor boat from the early 20th Century. Roger

Michael, Another nice project by you. I don’t know if you are copying an actual set of lines but if you are not you may wish to “harden” the bilges to improve initial stability. Roger

Jay’s technique nicely solves the problem as his spectacular results show. Roger

The problem with carving solid kit hulls is establishing and maintaining a datum that templates can be registered against. Like Pete, I enjoy carving hulls but I usually carve two half hulls, port and starboard so that there is always a flat datum, in this case the hull’s centerline to lay against a flat surface when checking progress with templates. In in your case you will need to accurately establish the centerline on the roughly carved hull and you will have to be very careful that the templates do not get rotated as you progress down the length of the hull. Roger

I thought that I was the only one that did that! Roger

For many of us building ship/boat models is an evolutionary process. My advice- build the model! Don’t worry about the poor instructions. You’ll learn by doing. Roger

Very nice! Roger

I don’t believe that anyone has mentioned it but Ed Tosti is building what should be the definitive model of Young America on this site. Look for his posts under the scratch built models section. Roger

Strictly my opinion, worth what you paid for it, but I believe that you could build a successful model from the NRG plans by “lofting with a xerox machine.” You have selected a model where the full sized prototype was not lofted. The flat bottom was built then the frames were erected. The frames were shaped using moulds many of which were the same shape. If it were me, I would get the NRG plans and try to use them first. Roger

Complete plans of the Philadelphia were published many years ago in the Nautical Research Journal. The plans were drawn by the Smithsonian staff that researched the real thing. Try the index on their website or call the office. A download of a Journal Article costs less than one of the designer coffee drinks that some Admirals buy. Roger

I have volunteered for many years for a local very low budget museum that seeks to preserve the world’s only example of a steamship of “whaleback” design. The hold of the ship is used for exhibit space. The ship has been a museum since 1972 and for much time since then people who had maritime artifacts that they did’nt want gave them to the museum. As a result the vessel’s hold was filled with “stuff” much of which had no relationship to the whaleback type ship. Over time the museum has come under the management of more professional curators who increasingly realize that this accumulation of non-related stuff detracts from the overall experience of the visiting public. For years I have been encouraging them to hold a garage sale but a lot of things are surprisingly hard to get rid of. To be responsible they feel that they need to see if there were any strings attached to the gift before it can be disposed of. Museums today are therefore unwilling to accept artifacts unrelated to the story that they are trying to tell. If you want to donate the model you will have to find a museum that is specifically looking for a vessel built by William H. Webb. Try contacting Webb Institute. They are in Glen Cove. Roger

I agree with the comments above. The value in a model like yours is to keep your great grandfather’s memory alive with future generations. I have two such models that my father built and although their commercial value is $0 they hold pride of place in my collection. Hopefully one of my grandchildren will someday ask “who was the guy who built this?” Storage is a problem. You need to protect the model from three enemies: physical damage, dust, and dampness. I therefore do not recommend a cardboard box. A custom made plywood storage case would be best. If the model is small enough you might be able to find a molded plastic storage tub with a tight fitting lid. Make sure that the base of the model is securely fastened to the base of the storage case. Roger

Welcome back Frank! Roger

Hi Dale, Good to hear from you. We’ll see what happens. I am one of four finalists in the non fiction category and it appears that I am the only amateur author. Any how, I appreciate being recognized and knowing that I have a cheering section! Roger

If our discussion has discouraged others from attempting to scratch build plank on frame models, I am sorry. Lofting is nothing more than the technical term for creating full sized patterns for irregularly shaped structural members. The original question involved building an “Admiralty Model.” Most Admiralty Models were built with styilized framing that was a simplified version of the real thing. The excellent books referenced above by David Antscherl and Ed Tosti (which are in my library) discuss building models with the more complicated Admiralty framing systems exactly like the “real thing.” I suggested Harold Hahn’s books above for three reasons: 1. He explains lofting in a clear and nontechnical way. 2. His method utilizes a simple jig to ensure alignment of frames. 3. His simplified frames are easier to construct and will produce an accurate, attractive Admiralty style model like the one shown above. An explanation of his method and lofted frame shapes for one of his Colonial Schooners can be found in Volume I of Ship Modelers Shop Notes recently republished by the Nautical Research Guild. The frame shapes provided are ar a scale of 1:96, smaller than you may want. Before you head for the copy machine or scanner you should realize that distortions may be a problem; the reason for lofting in the first place. Larger scale plans with lofted frame shapes for a number of his models are apparently available from his estate. There is an extensive thread about him and his drawings here on MSW. Roger