Roger Pellett

Copper sheathing was nailed on with flat headed sheathing tacks, not bolted. The large wart like bumps shown above appear to be way over scale. I con't know exactly how large the heads of a sheathing tack were but a 1/2in diameter head at your scale would only be 1/128in. A more realistic representation would be a row of tiny impressions.
 
Roger

Kieth
 
I'm not doubting that it is a model of the Tennessee. I think that the builder had no idea what the hull actually looked like.
 
The book includes quite a bit of text regarding this class of high speed cruisers, their condemnation by the Navy and the rebirth of some of them as large, slower frigates. Specifically, the book includes a lines drawing and inboard profile of the Tennessee. It does not include refit by refit photos.
 
Roger

Copper sheathing was nailed on with flat headed sheathing tacks, not bolted. The large wart like bumps shown above appear to be way over scale. I con't know exactly how large the heads of a sheathing tack were but a 1/2in diameter head at your scale would only be 1/128in. A more realistic representation would be a row of tiny impressions.
 
Roger

Volume 1 of Canney's "Old Steam Navy" has material on Tennessee and her predessor Madawasca including a lines drawing. The hull of this model bears little resemblance to the hull of the actual ship. It would seem that the builder of the model had a distorted perspective of the actual vessel like some of the early paintings of Western warships by Japanese artists.
 
Roger

Volume 1 of Canney's "Old Steam Navy" has material on Tennessee and her predessor Madawasca including a lines drawing. The hull of this model bears little resemblance to the hull of the actual ship. It would seem that the builder of the model had a distorted perspective of the actual vessel like some of the early paintings of Western warships by Japanese artists.
 
Roger

Masts
 
The kit provides dowels, laser cut wood, crow's nest, blocks, vertical ladders and eyes to make up the masts.
 
Here’s what the Fore Mast looks like, minus the ladders which will be added later, and the eyes which I have replaced with scratch pad eyes:
 

 

 
I added additional details to include railings, the Forward Range Light, halyard blocks, pad eyes for the stays and shrouds, cargo blocks for routing the jumbo boom rigging, rings for stowing the 5-ton booms in the vertical position, and working lights (lenses for the lights will be added after the final painting). 
 


  Here’s the finished mast dry-fitted to its mast house:  

Very nice!
 
Roger

I have two sets of tweezers, surgical forcips, and sissiors from trips to the emergency room. One from a not so near miss table saw accident and one from a kitchen knife accident that my wife had Thanksgiving a year ago while visiting our son out-of-town. Each time, the surgeon asked if I was a fly fisherman. Apparently, some hospitals throw them out, others autoclave them for reuse.
 
I realize that I am the only accident prone ship model builder on this forum, but If you just happen to be in this situation, it never hurts to ask.
 
Roger

Maury,
 
If you have not already done so, Google "anchor hoy". You will find a photo of a model of the anchor hoy that you are building sold by American Marine Model Co. This model was built by Eric Ronnberg, an excellent model builder and maritime researcher. On this Model the spencer mast runs clear to the deck where it is secured into a hole in a block of wood. That is also the simplest solution and simple is usually better.
 
Roger

Very nice!
 
Roger

Assuming that this thread can be broadened to Western Rivers Steamboats, I would include the HO scale kits of upper Ohio River craft sold by ???. I can't remember the name of the vendor but he was at the Mystic NRG conference. I thought that these models were highly accurate especially the model of the small "pool boat." Similar but smaller than the W.P. Snyder preserved in Marietta, Ohio. Hopefully someone else can identify the vendor.
 
Roger

Assuming that this thread can be broadened to Western Rivers Steamboats, I would include the HO scale kits of upper Ohio River craft sold by ???. I can't remember the name of the vendor but he was at the Mystic NRG conference. I thought that these models were highly accurate especially the model of the small "pool boat." Similar but smaller than the W.P. Snyder preserved in Marietta, Ohio. Hopefully someone else can identify the vendor.
 
Roger

Very nice!
 
Roger

I have two sets of tweezers, surgical forcips, and sissiors from trips to the emergency room. One from a not so near miss table saw accident and one from a kitchen knife accident that my wife had Thanksgiving a year ago while visiting our son out-of-town. Each time, the surgeon asked if I was a fly fisherman. Apparently, some hospitals throw them out, others autoclave them for reuse.
 
I realize that I am the only accident prone ship model builder on this forum, but If you just happen to be in this situation, it never hurts to ask.
 
Roger

I have two sets of tweezers, surgical forcips, and sissiors from trips to the emergency room. One from a not so near miss table saw accident and one from a kitchen knife accident that my wife had Thanksgiving a year ago while visiting our son out-of-town. Each time, the surgeon asked if I was a fly fisherman. Apparently, some hospitals throw them out, others autoclave them for reuse.
 
I realize that I am the only accident prone ship model builder on this forum, but If you just happen to be in this situation, it never hurts to ask.
 
Roger

I have two sets of tweezers, surgical forcips, and sissiors from trips to the emergency room. One from a not so near miss table saw accident and one from a kitchen knife accident that my wife had Thanksgiving a year ago while visiting our son out-of-town. Each time, the surgeon asked if I was a fly fisherman. Apparently, some hospitals throw them out, others autoclave them for reuse.
 
I realize that I am the only accident prone ship model builder on this forum, but If you just happen to be in this situation, it never hurts to ask.
 
Roger

I have two sets of tweezers, surgical forcips, and sissiors from trips to the emergency room. One from a not so near miss table saw accident and one from a kitchen knife accident that my wife had Thanksgiving a year ago while visiting our son out-of-town. Each time, the surgeon asked if I was a fly fisherman. Apparently, some hospitals throw them out, others autoclave them for reuse.
 
I realize that I am the only accident prone ship model builder on this forum, but If you just happen to be in this situation, it never hurts to ask.
 
Roger

All the spars have been shaped to 8-sided.  I worked on the main some more, taking it to 16 sides, then down to round.  The cheeks blended in well.  They stick out only on the sides to catch the shrouds.   The doubling is square and will be tapered very slightly and the tenon at the heel will be cut later.  After planing, it was sanded with 150, then 220 grit.
 

 

 
Merry Christmas and  Happy Holidays to all.
 
Maury

Hi Steven,
 
Sure...I used 0,15 mm thick brass sheet (Albion Alloys).
To shape the bowl I drilled a 1 cm hole in a scrap piece of 2mm thick plywood.
Lay an oversized piece of brass sheet on it and pressed the bowl with a round tipped hammer.
I didn't hammer...just pushed and turned it around until I had a nice bowl in the sheet.
Pushed the edge next to the bowl flat...think I used therear end of an Xacto handle for that...not sure.
Cut out the shield with scissors and filed the edge until I was happy with the result.
A trident decal, painted the edge black, gloss varnish.
 
Since the brass sheet is very thin, it's easy to shape.
 
Hope this helps.
 
Or...your build is 1:50 scale, that's very close to 28mm wargaming scale.
Take a look at this...
 
http://www.victrixlimited.com/collections/greek-ancients/products/greek-unarmoured-hoplites-and-archers
 
Robin

I made a little more progress. i have decided that there doesn't appear to have been a real sternwheel "City of Monroe" I would deviate from the plans a little bit and take some of the features of the "Carneal Goldman" show on page 17 in the book "The Mississippi Steamboat Era".
 
Anyway here are some pictures of progress to date.
 

 

 

 
As you can see I am still calling it the "City of Monroe"
 
I need to touch up the paint. It is surprising what shows up it pictures that you never see when you look at it. 
 
Merry Christmas to All

Been a bit since the last update.  Thanks for following along on this journey of discovery and sawdust and for the likes and the comments.
 
A bit of a minor/major milestone... the ship is in the cradle... YIPPEE!!!!!
 
The next step is start removing the build board and trimming down the frames to the sheer strake(s).  
 
I considered pedestals versus a cradle as I didn't want to stress the keel, etc .nor did I want to attempt to put a large baseboard on at this point.  The cradle just seems (to me) to be steadier and stronger.  I noted that I do seem to get some wobble on my Constellation which is on pedestals.  It could be my method of mounting is faulty or just the way it is with them.
 
The cradle is 1/4" mahogany (see photo).  After finessing it into position, assembling it and re-finessing, I drilled a 3/32" hole through the cradle and inserted a brass tube of the appropriate diameter.  I mounted the cradle into position, and drilled (using the tubing as a drill guide) a 1/16" hole through the keel, frames and keelson.  A brass rod was inserted with a light coating of epoxy.  When set, the cradles were set into place with more epoxy on the brass rod and in two places on each end of the cradle.  The structure seems sound and steady. 
 
I tried to design the cradle so as not to hide the lines of her and I think I pretty much succeeded.   At some point, the hole where the crosspieces go through the cradle will be covered by a small carving on each.  I'm leaning towards a fleur de lis.
 
Anyway, here's the pictures.
 

 

 

 

jct,
 
I look forward to following your build.  My ​Brigantine Newsboy build log here on MSW illustrates my approach to carving and finishing a solid hull.  Note that I found a digital caliper useful in thinning the bulwarks.
 
​Regards,
Pete

Andrew I beg to differ on this point. some of us drool at pictures like that
Nice work on the kit model by the way.
And yes I to am looking forward to your getting into the scratch building of one of these beauties, I think you should build it to 1:8 scale that way it would be 28 1/2 inches long which would be stunning. I would also think that 1:12 would be nice too at 19 inches.
 
Michael

Mine is finally done! I'm not a master builder, but I'm happy with the results. Let's see yours.....

Roger,
They are available from Lee Valley.... http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=32681&cat=1,50230.  Now,  $36 CDN, though.  I have the set and they're very nice.  I bought these instead of LV's miniature spoke shave.