Roger Pellett

Exactly what landing craft are you building? American? British? And designation (LCX)? Roger

Ken, I too am interested in Civil War Cavalry operations because my great grandfather James H. Speer served in the 7th Ohio Cavalry from September 1862 when the regiment was formed until he was discharged as disabled in January 1865. The Unit was nicknamed “The River Regiment” as the men came from the Southern Ohio counties bordering the Ohio River. The regiment fought exclusively in the Western Theatre. A detachment from the 7th Ohio captured Morgan and his men when they raided Southern Ohio. Later it served in the siege of Atlanta. In December 1864 it fought in the campaign to turn back Hood’s invasion of Western Tennessee. Dismounted, they were part of the Union right flank assigned to turn Hood’s left, and mounted pursued Hood’s defeated columns after the battle. As he was discharged with a disability approximately a month after the battle, I have wondered if he was wounded. He died in 1893 and is buried at the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home in Sandusky, Ohio. Roger

Here in the US lumberyards and Home Improvement stores sell dimensioned construction lumber described as SPF which stands for Spruce, Pine, Fir. The store where I shop also has 5 quarter pine (1-1/2 in) that believe it or not comes from New Zeeland. There are several varieties of pine but the stuff sold by these stores as planed boards works fine for carving hulls so would work for the blocks that you need. It is easy to carve but harder than basswood. Unfortunately I don’t know what is available in Great Britain. Roger

There were a number of battles in American History that began as Meeting Engagements where one or both sides did not have time to scope out the terrain; Braddock at the Monongahela, Lee and Washington at Monmouth, Grant in the Wilderness, Lee at Gettysburg. In many of these cases a lack of maps and difficulty of American wilderness terrain was a contributing factor. Contrast with European experience. During the Blenheim Campaign, military engineers on both sides were assigned the task of surveying the terrain to decide where battles could be fought to advantage. Roger

Allen, The Book is Fatal Sunday by Mark Lender and Garry Stone. There are are plenty of other battles where “someone didn’t get the word. I also recently read an account of the Battle of Blenheim. At one point in the battle the English commander John Churchill was badly pressed by the French and requested help from a neighboring Imperial unit. It’s Commander refused because he had no orders from Prince Eugene, the commander of his wing. Valuable time was wasted trying to find the Prince who was leading an attack over broken ground on the other side of the battlefield. Roger

I’d bandsaw it into 1in thick planks in whatever lengths you find to be convenient, and stack it up indoors. Put spacers between each board and it’s neighbor in the stack to let air circulate. I would saw it into ship model sized pieces on an as needed basis. Roger

I recently read an excellent account of the American Revolutionary War battle of Monmouth Court House. This was a complicated battle fought over difficult terrain with overall command the responsibility of two Generals; first Charles Lee and later George Washington. The author does an excellent job of illustrating the difficulty that the generals had delivering orders to unit commanders as aides could often not find them. Unit flags could be used to mark the location of the Unit Commanders. By the Civil War, the Union Army had a system of unit commander flags specifically used to mark his location. In modern jargon these flags were early command and control devices. Roger

Bob, I’ll mention you in my will!🤣

Craig, I have no experience doing what you want to do. Your first problem would seem to be finding an adhesive that will stick to both the fiberglass hull and the planking. Epoxy comes to mind, but it’s slippery, messy stuff and trying to secure planks on curved surfaces would seem to be a problem. Wooden ships built on the Lakes during the second half of the Nineteenth Century would have been built to rules published by the Society of Lake Underwriters. I have not seen these documents but they should provide rules for planking. You are fortunate living in Green Bay to be within easy traveling distance to museums in either Sturgeon Bay or Manitowoc. If they don’t have a copy, see if the University of Wisconsin Green Bay can find one within their system. The Jim Dan Hill Library at UW Superior has a large collection of Great Lakes Shipping documents. Roger

The following information is from “ Standard Designs For Boats of The United States Navy” by Philip Hitchborn, U.S.N. AKA “The U.S. Navy 1900 Boat Book. Although published 45 years after your model other than development of ironclads and steam propulsion, the U.S. Navy was very resistant to change in the second half of the Nineteenth Century. The Book lists a 28ft Cutter. With breadth of 7ft-5in and depth of 2ft-8in. The boat could be steered either with a short tiller passing through a mortise in the rudder head or a yoke secured by a tenyon atop the rudder head. The boat was rowed double banked with 10 oars; 8, 14’-0” Long and two 13’-0” Long. Position of the leather was 2’-7” and 2’-4” respectively.

Just signed up. Roger

It looks like a Spitfiresky!

Since you’re already paying shipping from California to the UK, I would suggest extra T Nuts and 1 or 2 of the socket head set screws with the point on the end although your mill might not use them. My milling column does and one broke. I recently bought a slitting saw arbor for a non ship model use but can think of several ship modeling uses. I second Wefalck’ recommendation for a milling vice. Roger

Many years ago the original Model Shipways, the Yellow Box Era, sold a light very tightly woven fabric called Balloon Cloth for sails. I made some sails from it using Markus’s glued panel method. The sails turned out well. I recently tried to find some on the internet but could only find ads for balloons. No longer made? Roger

Very nice work, Re: Paper sails. Two years ago I completed a scratch built Royal Navy Longboat with rigged silkspan sails and rice paper flags. As you say, both of these are delicate easily damaged materials. I made a simple “picture frame” and taped the paper or silkspan to it. I then lightly sprayed it with water and it dried drum tight. It could then be sprayed with thinned acrylic paint. The sails and flags were cut from the prepainted material. I am currently using paper to simulate plating on a steel hulled ship. Before cutting the plates I have been spraying the paper with shellac from a spray can. It makes the paper much more durable and doesn’t seem to have any effect on subsequent painting. There are a couple of areas where the plating curves in two directions, like a sail. I found that I can wet the untreated paper and form it over the curved area of the hull. When dry, I then spray it with shellac. Roger

Pat, I agree 100%. Writing and getting my book about whaleback ships published was my first introduction to copyright procedures. Fortunately I had the expert help of a retired librarian . The book itself is copyrighted and if anyone wants to own it they have to buy a copy. The majority of illustrations in the book though are in the public domain so anyone should be able to use them. We were, however, advised to get permission to publish them from the library that held them in their collection. Very confusing. Roger

For a delicate model like this, I that slender simple brass rods wood look good. Roger

Yes but, If a private company is doing and paying for the excavation and studying I agree the information belongs to them. On the other hand, projects of this type are often done by Universities and other “non profit” entities that rely on grants. These grants often come directly or indirectly from from State and Federal Governments. In these cases the public has already paid for the information. For example, Texas A&M University’s Nautical Archeology Department publishes high end and expensive books for those who want to buy them but also makes much of their research available free in digital form. Roger Pellett

Ok, I looked things up in the book, “Ships’ Fastenings, From Sewn Boats to Steamships” and found several explanations of the practice of caulking treenails. French, Blaise Oliver 1737: “Once the treenail has been driven in as far as it will go, it is cut off flush with the planking at either end and a small piece of wood called a treenail wedge or spile is hammered into both ends. To realign the treenail with the sides of the hole. (sic) A thread of oakum is also inserted in a cross-shape or triangle in the head of each treenail for the same reason, and this is what is called crossing the treenails.” English, Nautical Dictionary, Arthur Young, 1846 ” Treenail plugs....a four cornered pin of hardwood with a sharp point driven into the “outer end” of the treenail to perform the the same purpose as a wedge driven from the inner end.” A Thor Borresen describing an old shipwreck explored in 1939 described this as “an old English method of caulking.” American, William Corruthers, American Built Clipper Ship, 1997 The term “spiles” is also used to refer to the wooden “plug” covering bolt heads and deck fastenings. This is fixed over them and caulked in order to avoid water collecting where the head of a fastening is countersunk below the timbers. As usual, is would seem to depend on who, when, and where. Roger

This is a “worth what you paid for it comment” as I claim no expertise in this matter. Could the word “caulked” in the specifications that Allen quotes somehow relate to requiring that the treenails be wedged? Roger

You should be able to make your own internal planking expansion drawing from information that you already have.

In a real wooden boat the seams would be payed with seam compound on top of the caulking, just like your filler. I’d keep moving on and not worry about it. Roger

My father once had a friend who lived in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio who had made a lot of money in days gone by inventing mechanisms for controllable pitch airplane propellers. I was treated to a tour of his workshop in the basement of his beautiful home. His shop featured a heavy duty elevator with direct outside access and he commented that he was negotiating with the local power company to bring in three phase power to run a new machine tool! For many of us, buying and setting up full sized machine tools is as realistic as my father’s friend’s three phase power. When I was shopping for a metal lathe a Taiwanese built Jet lathe, a clone of the old 4in Atlas, was about equal in price to a Sherline. The Jet weighed about 500lbs and all in all was a more capable metal lathe. Getting it home, hauling it into my shop and building or buying the necessary stand and foundation would have been a major additional cost and/or project. A full sized milling machine would be an order of magnitude more in cost and work to set up. I bought a an extended bed Sherline and later added a milling column. This has been more than adequate for my needs. For drilling, my bench mounted drill press with its 1/2in chuck handles routine drilling jobs. For very small drills I have the sensitive drilling attachment that fits my Sherline. It works fine. I have also seen generic sensitive drilling attachments offered that would fit other small mills. Roger

Beautiful work on an interesting subject. The engineering to produce a lightweight hull capable of absorbing the power from the engine while taking the pounding from the water must have been difficult. Is Lou, Lou Fageol? Roger

Jigs and fixtures used in ship modeling are not highly stressed and not subject to much wear. They can, therefore, be made from easily machined materials that are within the capability of tabletop machine tools. I use aluminum. I have a Sherline milling column that attaches to my Sherline lathe bed and uses the Sherline lathe headstock and motor. Roger