Roger Pellett

IMHO this is more than just a model. It is really experimental archeology.  Basil Greenhill’s book The Evolution Of The Wooden Ship includes a series of drawings by illustrator Sam Manning showing the construction sequence of a hypothetical Hulc.  Your model compares very favorably to his 2-D one.

These vessel’s must have been particularly dangerous to sail.  The near circular underwater hull section imposed by the construction sequence would have provided very little initial stability. And the low freeboard would have limited the angle of heel that could be tolerated.  A broach driven by that big square sail, and it would be all over.

Your model illustrates the features of this design better than any picture.  Well done!!

Roger

Edward,

You answered my question.  She is clinker (lapstrake), not diagonal planked.

Roger

Now that Bruce has generously disposed of his drawings I can Let The Cat Out Of The Bag.  If you missed out on his deal, many of the Smithsonian  drawings were  published in the Nautical Research Journal 35? years ago.

Roger

A metalworkers trick to form a round head:  With a pair of pliers hold a straight piece of brass wire vertically in a flame.  Just before the wire melts it will form a spherical knob on the heated end.  The wire can then be inserted into a hole in a block of metal and lightly hammered to cold form the knob into a nail head.

Roger 

That’s a nice offer!  Having seen the Smithsonian’s model many times, this makes a handsome model and the vessel is small enough to build it at a scale that can be well detailed.  This is also a good choice for modelers of the Natural Wood School as it can be convincingly argued that these gunboats were never painted.  This would be an excellent choice for a kit builder wishing to stick their toe in scratch building waters.

Roger

I just stumbled onto information about SS Freshspring, a vessel built in 1947 to carry water to Royal Navy warships.  Fitted with a triple expansion engine/ scotch marine boiler steam plant she worked into the mid 1970’s. After being laid up and semi abandoned she has been taken in hand by a North Devon restoration group.  She was recently drydocked at Appledore where surveyors were impressed by the restoration work that had been done.

Modeling steel hulled vessel’s presents it own challenges and as these ships are usually large small scale modeling techniques are usually required.  Freshspring is only 128ft long so a 1:64 scale model would be only 24in long.  This would be an interesting choice for builders wanting to build a unique model while maintaining a connection to the Royal Navy.

Google:  SS Freshspring.co.uk

Roger

Oil canning is affected by craftsmanship.  Some of the old World War II era American welded ships were heavily oil canned.  Heat control and weld bead sequence are important.

Roger

You should be happy! Nice work!

Roger

For those interested, the book Ships’ Fasteners by Michael McCarthy and published by Texas A&M Press includes a chapter on Muntz Metal and its relationship to composite ship construction.

According to the book, Muntz Metal is a 60-40 copper zinc alloy.  It was patented by Birmingham England metal founder George Muntz In 1832.  By 1840, it was available in quantity.  It’s ease in rolling  into thin sheets and reduced copper content gave it a cost advantage over copper.

In 1847, Muntz lost his patent protection and needed to look for new products.  He discovered that by further reducing the copper strength of his alloy to 56% it gained considerable strength, comparable to wrought iron.  He then developed a line of Muntz Metal bolts.  When composite ship construction  began, treenails could no longer be used to secure wooden planking to iron framing.  Iron bolts in contact with tannic acid bearing oak planking were subject to corrosion.  The solution was Muntz Metal bolts.

Cutty Sark, beloved by thousands of ship modelers is a composite hull ship.

Roger

Gene,

Welcome to MSW.  Glad to see another ship model enthusiast from Minnesota.

Roger

IMHO,  It depends on the “story” that you are trying to tell with your model.  

While there is considerable debate on this point, Dockyard model’s were probably built to demonstrate design features and as decorative gifts to officials who had some influence over shipbuilding.  In either case, everyone already knew what the rigging looked like so it was left off the model’s.   I personally find these unrigged models to be very appealing.  

There is currently a series of posts posts in the scratch built model area about a model of the French Solile (sp?) Royal.  The model maker came close to finishing the hull with its elaborate carvings before he died.  The post says that it is hoped that one of hid descendants will eventually finish it.  If the model were mine, I would put it in a glass case unfinished as a monument to its present builder.

On the other hand, models of Mid-Late Nineteenth Century Sailing Ships look like hulks without their powerful rigs. 

As modelers venture farther afield from the usual Victory, Bounty, Cutty Sark the options for presentation become more varied.

Roger

Were these boats diagonally planked?

Looks good Keith.  When my son was in high school, my wife had a poem posted in the refrigerator.  I don’t remember it exactly but it had to do with persistence being the key to success.  He hated it but it’s true.  Your persistence has produced good dividends.  Keep it up!

Roger

A random thought.  What about using heat shrink tubing in place of seizing.  At the scale that you are working to nobody is going to count the turns.

It looks like it would have been unstable on anything but level ground.  An advantage of limiting large guns to railroad transport was that they always moved on tracks level with limited grades.  Furthermore, unlike internal combustion engines, diesel or gasoline, steam engines do not stall, they just keep pushing.

The gun would have also required a jacking system to disconnect it from the tank bodies when set up to fire.  The recoil loads would have been tremendous. 

Roger

A wonderful job at a challenging scale, and the picture of the ship’s cat is priceless.

I see that you live in Wageningen.  Are you involved with the Hydrodynamics Lab (Towing Tank) there?

Corticine:  Someday, I intend to build a 1:32 scale model of a Royal Navy steam picket boat similar to those carried by Hood.  I have been aboard and photographed the boat operated by the Royal Navy Museum. As I expected, her deck is entirely exposed wood planking.  

Describing these boats, late Norman Ough has written, “The decks were usually covered with Corticine.”  There are, of course numerous photos of these boats on the web.  At least one shows lines running perpendicular from the steel deckhouse outboard to the rail.  This is where the crew’s feet would land when sitting on the wooden benches along the deckhouse top.

I would be interested in your thoughts and research concerning this.

Roger

Here are my bagpipers.  The guy on the far left is commercially painted; bought in Herrod’s Toy department in London while on a business trip in 1980.

The eight pipers next to him are the exact same castings that I painted. These were given to me by a friend two years ago. They are 28mm.

The guy on the right is a 54mm Fusilier that I painted back in the 1980’s, don’t remember the brand.

Roger

Gorgeous Model.  If you made any mistakes, I don’t see them.  A Steamship at this scale is a real challenge.

Roger

I have a 28mm Phoenix bagpipe band.  I believe this would scale approx 1:64.  I have painted the pipers and posted the results on the Shore Leave section of the forum about 1-1/2 years ago.  I still have the other members of the band in my stash to paint. These are quite nicely proportioned. Phoenix is another brand that seems to be unavailable today.

Roger

I enjoy painting military figures.  I am currently finishing a series of Union Civil War Cavalry figures.  I like 54 mm metal figures produced by Imrie Risley, now sadly out of business.

A question?  Why are War game figures misproportioned?  The only reason that I can think of is that by making them intentionally too short they are more stable.  The better proportioned 54mm figures are easily knocked over.

Roger

Two very fine nails with the heads filed off in a block of wood work fine too!

My experience sailing with a spinnaker involved two Boats, a 34ft Peterson 34 with a masthead rig and a 40ft fractional rig “Screamer 12 Meter” light displacement sport boat.  In neither case did we use the double sheet/ guy arrangement shown in the picture.  On different tacks, the sheet simply became the guy and vice versa.  

When dropping the chute by releasing the guy the chute lost its energy, floated back to the lee of the mainsail, and was pulled down by hauling on the sheet.  Once under full control by those in the cockpit it was bundled up and taken below to be repacked.

Roger

I don’t remember but I agree with Tom.  When drawing, the spinnaker floats upward. If the jaws face up, when gybing or taking down the chute opening the fitting  releases the guy.  If it faced down the upward force of the chute would require the foredeck crew to manually dislodge the guy; difficult as the end of the pole is outboard.

By the way my comment above is incorrect.  When taking down the chute in the lee of the mainsail or foresail the only line available to the crewman hauling it down is the sheet

Roger

Keith,

Great job!  

That looks exactly like the spinnaker pole fitting on boats that I have raced on.  To douse the spinnaker, the foredeck crew trips the fitting by pulling on a line secured to the fitting’s eye.  The spinnaker then floats back into the lee of the mainsail, or in this case the foresail.  The foredeck crew then lowers the sail while a crewman aft pulls it in and gathers it, controlling it with the sheet and guy.  It is then taken below and repacked for the next downwind leg.  Meanwhile the jib is being set.  If all goes according to plan, the spinnaker stays out of the water!

On the boats where I was a crew member the owner was casual about maintenance.  On a particularly memorable occasion, approaching the downwind mark in a brisk wind the spinnaker refused to come down.  The sheave at the masthead had jammed.  The owner started yelling about what had happened until being reminded that the same thing had happened the week before.

Spinnakers always added excitement to racing.

Roger

Siggi,

Wonderful as usual for you!   That looks like me painting!😀 As much paint on the painter as on the project.

This might be a case where you should  visualize a story and then put items on the deck to support it.  This would also affect your decisions regarding sails, anchors, etc.  The idea being that everything “hangs together.”

A couple of ideas:

The Schooner at sea, processing a catch.

Alongside a pier.

It might be difficult to find and get delivered to Estonia but an author with the  name of Albert Cook Church wrote a book titled  American Fishermen back in the 1950’s That is loaded with excellent photographs taken aboard working fishing Schooners.  Look for used copies on online used book sites.

Roger