Roger Pellett

Heinrich,
 
I have seen no evidence that red/brown sails were common on American sailing craft.  Americans in the Nineteenth Century had access to cotton canvas which is slightly off white.  The red/brown color associated with European small craft sails results from the “tanning” of sails made from flax to prevent rot.
 
Roger

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 323 – Wrapping Up
 
Finally, 99.999% means complete.  Since the last post it has been a lot of little chores: snipping rope ends, the last few rope coils, touching up with paint, waxing standing rigging lines, clean up, etc.  Some of the "major" chores are described below.
 
The first picture shows the final disposition of the crojack sheets and tacks.  These were simply allowed to hang free from the clue garnet blocks with their full lengths coiled on deck.  They were tied down to one of the beams under the pile of rope coils to keep them vertical and straight..
 

 
The main braces could finally be run, since access was no longer needed to the deck area between the main and mizzen masts.  The next picture shows the starboard brace pendant shackled to the outer boomkin eye.
 

 
The fall of the brace runs from the yard pendant through the lead block on the rail in the center of the picture, then to a deck cleat.  The other blocks on the boomkin are the upper and lower main topsail braces.  Two missing eyebolts still need to be fitted on the rail. The picture also shows the completion of another chore left over from the volume II work, fitting chains to support the boomkins.  The next picture shows both of these.
 

 
The next picture shows the starboard swinging boom, the lower studding sail boom,  being lashed to the fore channel brackets. 
 
 
The alternative would be to store these on the skid beams over the cabin, but this seemed more appropriate, since in port these were often used to moor ships' boats.
 
The next picture shows the model with the dust case removed in the relatively cleaned-up workshop.
 

 
Finally, launch.
 

Please excuse the amateur artwork.  Couldn't resist.
 
Ed

I got to fly a Stearman at an airfield north of Charlottesville where you could rent various biplanes and aerobatic planes. You had to take an instructor with you, but if you were certified for tail draggers you could take the entire flight. Really a wonderful airplane to fly, controls very responsive without being too much and control forces are not huge, although I never approached the Vne (don't go this fast) speed, so they might get heavier at high speed. But on a nice summer evening in Charlottesville with the sun setting over the mountains, it's a really fun experience being in a sweet biplane with an open cockpit and a giant radial in front of you, you end up flying big arcs back and forth because it feels like you can point the nose anywhere you want so you get to pointing the nose around. And easy in a loop, don't have to dive much for the needed speed and it just has the to be expected significant rudder input up and across the top and back down as the p-factor of the big prop tries to yank the nose around. People tend to think of gyroscopic forces from the prop would be a problem, but in reality the vast majority of the time the p-factor that varies continuously with your angle of attack is what the pilot is fighting. It basically causes asymmetric thrust that yaws the nose one direction the higher you point the nose, and in the opposite direction the lower you point the nose.
 
Jack, that one was in USAAC blue and yellow also, your colors look good, I recall the yellow being on the green side. You've also done very well with the assembly, nice and clean and the decals are well done so they'll look very good once they get their final flat coat. It's a nice model to put up on the shelf and if you want to get rid of it for some reason I'll find room for it on my shelf
 

Remember, it’s just a ship model!  You are not trying to plumb up a new toilet on a Saturday night with the water shut off and your wife expecting company on Sunday.  Now that’s stressful!  If you have to rebuild something several times to meet your standards that’s ok.  Back in the good old days model kits were furnished with rough carved solid hulls.  These can be built into beautiful models and with your woodworking skills might a good choice.  Check Model Shipways and Bluejacket.  And remember, Bondo and Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty are important model shipbuilding materials.
 
Jump in, make some sawdust and have fun.
 
Roger

Wonderful!
 
One of my favorites.
 
Roger

If you like the Stearman bi-plane you will enjoy “Cannibal Queen” by Stephen Coonts.  The book relates Coonts’ travels around the USA in his Stearman, The Cannibal Queen; so named because she’d bite you in the *** if you weren’t careful. I found it amusing that Coonts, who flew A6 Intruders, kind of had to learn to fly all over again with a tail dragging bi-plane. Ron Gove

In the context of building full-sized boats and yachts, the late, great, naval architect and part-time philosopher, "Pete" Culler, answered similar questions with the sage wisdom: "Experience starts when you begin."
 
 

Hi all - 
 
Just a quick post to finish up the foredeck well area.  The only things left were the Carley float life rafts.  They have appeared in some of the earlier photographs of the troop ship.  Although there is a record of a plan for their distribution, I have not been able to get a copy from the National Archives.  However, I don’t think its absence will make much of a difference. 
 
The photos show some floats hanging against mis-matched areas of the camouflage, so they must have moved around a bit. 
The basic principle seems to have been to put as many as would fit in as many areas as would not interfere with the working of the ship.  I guess they figured that if the ship was torpedoed in a combat zone it might be a long time before rescue.  And since they knew that most of the casualties from the Titanic were from hypothermia, they tried to get as many life rafts into the water as possible.

In keeping with the semi-scratch nature of the model, I found acceptable units already in production at Shapeways.  They come in sets of multiple numbers, so the cost was not prohibitive.  [I tried to import an image from their website, but couldn’t get it to work.] I trimmed them from their sprues and gave them a coat of grey primer.  This also worked for the dark sections of the camouflage.  Where the floats sat over other colors they were hand painted using a dry brush technique on the mesh floors.

On the face of the superstructure the floats were initially attached with tacky white glue.  When this was dry they were further secured with cyano.

Looking back, I should have installed them before the cargo cranes went on.  The lower floats were quite hard to position in the cramped space.  I decided to leave them a little crooked.  I think it reinforces the impression that they are temporary.

I leaned two small ones against the entryway house.  Two larger ones stand up near a stack of three. 

I also installed the twenty nine sit on the roof of the main hall.  There will be many more all around the ship.
 
More soon.
 
Dan
 
 

Eisenglass or Isenglass is  famous from the 1950’s Broadway song “Surrey With the Fringe on Top”- “With Eisenglass curtains you can roll right down in case there’s a change in the weather.”  It is apparently  is a chemical made from fish bladders used to do many things including preservation of “goldbeaters fabric.”  Goldbeaters fabric was made from abdominal membranes of cattle and was used for the gas cells in rigid airships.  It therefore makes sense that before the age of mass produced plastics an Eisenglass treated animal skin covering might have been used.
 
Roger

I am no expert but as an engineer, strongly believe that for good engineering design form is driven by function.
 
If these alerion pulleys were not enclosed by some sort of cover fastened to the wing top they could become inoperative from chinks of dirt, sand, etc. kicked up by prop wash during takeoff.  Therefore, an “eisenglass” transparent screen would make sense.
 
I love these old aircraft and built balsa/tissue models of them in my teen aged years.  Many years before I was born my father and mother attempted to supplement their income by manufacturing and selling model airplane kits designed by my father.  Growing up there was a beautiful large scale 1930 era Curtiss P8 Hawk hanging up in my closet, all that was left from my father’s Viking Model Aircraft Company. Unfortunately it did not survive.
 
I am tempted to try to build another one but I know that I cannot duplicate the craftsmanship of the original or that you guys show so I will try to stick to boat models.
 
Somewhere along the way my father obtained an original propeller from a WW I Thomas Morse Scout.  It’s now hanging up in my basement.  I have no idea what I will eventually do with it.
 
Roger
 
 
 

Eisenglass or Isenglass is  famous from the 1950’s Broadway song “Surrey With the Fringe on Top”- “With Eisenglass curtains you can roll right down in case there’s a change in the weather.”  It is apparently  is a chemical made from fish bladders used to do many things including preservation of “goldbeaters fabric.”  Goldbeaters fabric was made from abdominal membranes of cattle and was used for the gas cells in rigid airships.  It therefore makes sense that before the age of mass produced plastics an Eisenglass treated animal skin covering might have been used.
 
Roger

Eisenglass or Isenglass is  famous from the 1950’s Broadway song “Surrey With the Fringe on Top”- “With Eisenglass curtains you can roll right down in case there’s a change in the weather.”  It is apparently  is a chemical made from fish bladders used to do many things including preservation of “goldbeaters fabric.”  Goldbeaters fabric was made from abdominal membranes of cattle and was used for the gas cells in rigid airships.  It therefore makes sense that before the age of mass produced plastics an Eisenglass treated animal skin covering might have been used.
 
Roger

Eisenglass or Isenglass is  famous from the 1950’s Broadway song “Surrey With the Fringe on Top”- “With Eisenglass curtains you can roll right down in case there’s a change in the weather.”  It is apparently  is a chemical made from fish bladders used to do many things including preservation of “goldbeaters fabric.”  Goldbeaters fabric was made from abdominal membranes of cattle and was used for the gas cells in rigid airships.  It therefore makes sense that before the age of mass produced plastics an Eisenglass treated animal skin covering might have been used.
 
Roger

Eisenglass or Isenglass is  famous from the 1950’s Broadway song “Surrey With the Fringe on Top”- “With Eisenglass curtains you can roll right down in case there’s a change in the weather.”  It is apparently  is a chemical made from fish bladders used to do many things including preservation of “goldbeaters fabric.”  Goldbeaters fabric was made from abdominal membranes of cattle and was used for the gas cells in rigid airships.  It therefore makes sense that before the age of mass produced plastics an Eisenglass treated animal skin covering might have been used.
 
Roger

The directions for the epoxy that I often use say to mix the two parts for a full 60 seconds.
 
Roger

Eisenglass or Isenglass is  famous from the 1950’s Broadway song “Surrey With the Fringe on Top”- “With Eisenglass curtains you can roll right down in case there’s a change in the weather.”  It is apparently  is a chemical made from fish bladders used to do many things including preservation of “goldbeaters fabric.”  Goldbeaters fabric was made from abdominal membranes of cattle and was used for the gas cells in rigid airships.  It therefore makes sense that before the age of mass produced plastics an Eisenglass treated animal skin covering might have been used.
 
Roger

The directions for the epoxy that I often use say to mix the two parts for a full 60 seconds.
 
Roger

I had an internet access problem for most of the week but finally it seems to be in the past. It was 8 days ago that I last posted and the new airbrush arrived a week ago today. Over Sunday trough Tuesday I applied 7 coats of white matt Humbrol enamel paint, - oil based and diluted to the consistency of skimmed milk.

The barely visible effect that I was trying to achieve on the scupper doors turned out how I wanted.

I took a lot of care to press down the edges of the masking tape. Fortunately this paid off as I got no bleed at all. The tape came off cleanly and fortunately didn't pull of any of the poly layers. Given the interest previously shown in the paint scheme i have included a number of photos.

 
 

Roger,
 
I think the reasoning I posted when you first shared that image still stands:
 
I don't think it'd be wrong to do as you say, either, as Arabia does fall into that grey zone of development (early in the period when designs really stabilized for the next few decades). But overall I seem to be modelling her as a relatively modern vessel incorporating most of the new design ideas of the 1850s onward rather than as a throwback to rapidly evolving 1840s designs, so in that sense I think I'm comfortable keeping the transverse chains below the boiler deck.
 
I really appreciate your input, though, it's helpful to be challenged to think through and justify the choices I'm making (if only to myself).

Eric,
 
The Car of Commerce photo shows four vertical white stanchions protruding thru the deck in way of the paddle boxes.  If you wished I believe that it would be accurate to show the same arrangement on your model with the transverse chains supporting the paddleboxes running above the deck.
 
Roger

I am no expert but as an engineer, strongly believe that for good engineering design form is driven by function.
 
If these alerion pulleys were not enclosed by some sort of cover fastened to the wing top they could become inoperative from chinks of dirt, sand, etc. kicked up by prop wash during takeoff.  Therefore, an “eisenglass” transparent screen would make sense.
 
I love these old aircraft and built balsa/tissue models of them in my teen aged years.  Many years before I was born my father and mother attempted to supplement their income by manufacturing and selling model airplane kits designed by my father.  Growing up there was a beautiful large scale 1930 era Curtiss P8 Hawk hanging up in my closet, all that was left from my father’s Viking Model Aircraft Company. Unfortunately it did not survive.
 
I am tempted to try to build another one but I know that I cannot duplicate the craftsmanship of the original or that you guys show so I will try to stick to boat models.
 
Somewhere along the way my father obtained an original propeller from a WW I Thomas Morse Scout.  It’s now hanging up in my basement.  I have no idea what I will eventually do with it.
 
Roger
 
 
 

Eric,
 
The Car of Commerce photo shows four vertical white stanchions protruding thru the deck in way of the paddle boxes.  If you wished I believe that it would be accurate to show the same arrangement on your model with the transverse chains supporting the paddleboxes running above the deck.
 
Roger

The longitudinal  load distribution on the hull of a ship is determined by subtracting the upward forces of buoyancy from the downward forces of weight at each point along its longitudinal axis.  For sternwheel vessels, the paddle wheel represented a heavy weight at a point where there was little or no displacement and therefore buoyant force to support it.  This would produce a large hogging moment required to be offset by the chains.  
 
You are modeling a sidewheel vessel.  The heavy side wheels and engines are located at a point along the hull where the shape of the hull provides a full upward buoyancy force to offset their weight which is probably why the steamer in the photo that I sent you does not show longitudinal chains.
 
Transverse chains are a different matter, as they would have been necessary to support the paddle wheel’s outboard bearing.
 
Chains were only effective in limiting hogging forces as compression forces caused by sagging would cause them to buckle.  Sagging forces in the calm water environment of the River could be limited by hull shape.
 
Roger
 
 

I am no expert but as an engineer, strongly believe that for good engineering design form is driven by function.
 
If these alerion pulleys were not enclosed by some sort of cover fastened to the wing top they could become inoperative from chinks of dirt, sand, etc. kicked up by prop wash during takeoff.  Therefore, an “eisenglass” transparent screen would make sense.
 
I love these old aircraft and built balsa/tissue models of them in my teen aged years.  Many years before I was born my father and mother attempted to supplement their income by manufacturing and selling model airplane kits designed by my father.  Growing up there was a beautiful large scale 1930 era Curtiss P8 Hawk hanging up in my closet, all that was left from my father’s Viking Model Aircraft Company. Unfortunately it did not survive.
 
I am tempted to try to build another one but I know that I cannot duplicate the craftsmanship of the original or that you guys show so I will try to stick to boat models.
 
Somewhere along the way my father obtained an original propeller from a WW I Thomas Morse Scout.  It’s now hanging up in my basement.  I have no idea what I will eventually do with it.
 
Roger
 
 
 

The longitudinal  load distribution on the hull of a ship is determined by subtracting the upward forces of buoyancy from the downward forces of weight at each point along its longitudinal axis.  For sternwheel vessels, the paddle wheel represented a heavy weight at a point where there was little or no displacement and therefore buoyant force to support it.  This would produce a large hogging moment required to be offset by the chains.  
 
You are modeling a sidewheel vessel.  The heavy side wheels and engines are located at a point along the hull where the shape of the hull provides a full upward buoyancy force to offset their weight which is probably why the steamer in the photo that I sent you does not show longitudinal chains.
 
Transverse chains are a different matter, as they would have been necessary to support the paddle wheel’s outboard bearing.
 
Chains were only effective in limiting hogging forces as compression forces caused by sagging would cause them to buckle.  Sagging forces in the calm water environment of the River could be limited by hull shape.
 
Roger