Chuck

Thank You!!!

Thank you very much guys... Moving right along I added the syren figures at the stern. You can see how I dont have the acanthus leaves carved for the port side yet. Not enough time in teh day !!! I am gonna try and get the bust of queen Anne done next which goes on the outside of the tombstone transom. These two Syren figures were the smallest I have made to date. I could only merely suggest the details and hopefully your imagination will fill in the blanks. At least that is what I hear is supposed to happen. Almost forgot...these are once again resin castings. I will keep my sculpted originals as masters. Chuck

Slowly moving aft and getting more carvings completed. Actually I am concentrating on the sculpted parts now and I will finish the carvings once they are all completed. Rather than use my master boxwood carvings for the model, I am using resin castings instead. So all of the carving details you see below are resin. I will keep the original carvings as masters for when the molds wear out. Chuck

Unlike brigs and frigates in other countries, you would not likely find any lanterns on American vessels. Not like you know from other English ships like Bounty or Victory. For example, If you were to look at any contemporary info.....paintings and models, you wont see any that show a lantern on Constitution or similar vessels. Its just not something you will see.

I continue to carve and sculpt the remaining decorations. This will take some time. I know you guys have seen these three carvings I did for the port side before. But while carving the new ones I have been pouring molds of the ones I already made and making resin castings. I will never paint a casting again. One of the photos shows the boxwood carved masters and another shows the resin castings colored with weathering powders as described earlier

Wonderful work!!! Beautiful!!!

I got them at Micromark years ago. They were the earth tones set. There is no writing on each container so that is teh best I can do. Railroad guys use this set. Chuck

Yes...the resin is already tan but very light. The weathering powders really finishes and its a darn close match and much cleaner than painting. Its also very quick.

...Back to the barge. I completed the sculpting for the two bow pieces. Then I made a mold and some resin castings. Resin castings will come with the kit. In the photo below you can see two rows of resin castings. The bottom row is the raw resin casting. Rather than paint them as I typically do, trying to make them look like wood, I thought I would try something new. Rather than paint, I used weathering powders. I applied them directly to the resin castings with a brush. The three colors are shown. I continuously used differnt layers of the three colors and eventually it came out really well. The color matches wonderfully Its better than paint in my opinion as the powders dont build up and the detail remains crisp. You cant really chip or scratch the paint ruining your piece. Once done I sprayed with matte fixative. Below are the pictures showing the castings test fit on the model. I notched out the molding to accept them. You can also see the laser cut iron strap that runs on the forward face of the stem. It goes all the way under to the keel stopping just ahead of the scarf joint. There are holes pre-drilled along the top of the strip which were later filled with 22 gauge black wire. I pre-drilled the holes using the laser cut holes as a guide with a #71 bit. Then I stuck the wire into each hole with no glue. After snipping off the excess, they were filed down but allowed to stand proud. This creates the nice decorative detail you see on these barges. The strip was put on the stem in three sections. The top and aft side of the stem first as they were short pieces, then the long strip down the front. The seams are almost noticeable. You can get a tight fit between pieces and the laser board sands well. I think it simulates a piece of metal quite nicely.

Many of them are here.... http://modelshipworldforum.com/ship-model-furniture-and-deck-fittings.php Look for the plans by Rex.

Like this...does this help.

That is just wonderful. I cant wait to see more.

And just to let everyone know I am still working on models.....not just a hippie activist. Today the step was built. It has a laser etched slot to aid in its assembly. Then at the bow there is what I would call a "standard" of sorts. It has a hole in it to help secure the pole for the flag. Another will be drilled through the platform below it but I figured it would be damn near impossible to laser cut the hole on the platform and then line them up so the pole is straight. So I will be drilling with the bit running through the hole in the standard making sure that afterwards the pole will sit upward and straight. Except for a very few details inboard, the inboard part of the project is complete. NNow I will move outboard and begin to finish up the carvings. Then after that its the home stretch. Happy modeling everyone!!!!

Not really any out there. Basically there is little demand but, in order to design them there needs to be hundreds if not thousands of hours of work. There are plenty of plans which have already been researched by renowned modelers and naval historians. They include the drawn frames and frame parts etc. But they never had the desire to go into the kit business. It would be very easy for a legit kit maker to reach out to these authors and pay them a royalty for their work. But it would push up the cost for the eventual kits which are already expensive. The Chinese, unlike the companies with ethics never reach out to these authors and that is why you see versions of Ancre Kits on the market from them but nowhere else. Just because there was never a kit doesnt mean the company can use the plans and research from an individual without paying them or even asking for permission. I couldnt afford to pay Ancre a royalty would love to produce a kit of their projects....or possibly one of AlexM's designs or even Admiralty models or even Harold Hahn's son. I would love to make a kit of EdT's clipper project. But its too expensive if you do it on the up and up and recognize the author's contribution and creation. What cost $1000 in China would cost $2500 made anywhere else. Those Hahn kits are verbatim copies of of the plans he created. I suspect you will see all of the aforementioned projects at some point available from China. That being said, I am hopeful Greg and David at Admiralty and Syren will reach some sort of agreement in the near future to produce an actual legitimate square rigged POF model kit. I will talk to them very soon about it. Speedwell look like a wonderful project. All they could say is no....it doesnt hurt to ask.

Try vectorcut. http://www.vectorcut.com/letters.htm

Zoly, I wish you hadnt posted that. Shaking my head in disbelief. Within five minutes of your post, it was reported to the staff and I received a few PM's as well. you do know that book is copyright and the author is actually still alive and kicking. Many of our members know him personally. You should really buy that book to support him rather than download and steal PDF versions and also offer them to anyone who asks. It is my understanding that you have quite a collection of bootlegged Anatomy of the ship books, and others ..... often sharing and exchanging them through this site digitally. We cant allow such behavior at MSW. It is a violation of our rules and unethical no matter how you slice it. You have been a member for so long it baffles the mind how you could post that....still shaking my head in bewilderment. Chuck

That is correct. It is a very faithful representation of the tiller horse arrangement but just a little later than the contemporary model I used as inspiration. Both are correct. I guess at some point they said to themselves...."this arrangement with the sheet and tiller is stupid. Why do we insist on using it when all we have to do it make it go over the tiller" One can only speculate why they used it in the first place and why for so long when it seems pretty clear it was in fact not a smart thing to do.

Gregory...because that was the way it was done. Guys, my final word on this for those who are interested ....its just my opinion. The horse above the tiller is also correct as I mentioned. But having it below the tiller is very historically accurate for the period. if you read Lavery in the same book Page 228, and this is very important. ... It becomes clear that this arrangement as well as the alternative I drew based on the same illustration in May's book are both correct. You cannot dismiss the primary contemporary models. Even if the rigging isnt original...the horses were. Here is the quote from Lavery. I posted it once before when folks insisted the illogical arrangement was somehow fabricated by uninformed restorations. Or that I just made a horrible error based on lack of knowledge. But if you are building a mid eighteenth century longboat that is rigged, inspired by a contemporary example....the sheet arrangement is correct for the period. To alter it would mean you are correcting the problem, but this was a later development. Lavery said "The sheet, which controlled the outer corner of the sail, presented a problem, for it had a tendency to get in the way of the tiller. After the mid-eighteenth century this was solved by putting the horse across the transom to lift it clear, and allow the sheet to move from one side to the other without interruption." Lavery clearly agrees that this arrangement I used on the longboat kit ....however illogical....was used, and corrected later. Just as I do. But hey, its your model and you can always use a 20th century solution like the ones posted by Frank....or any others but that would just be a fanciful error based not on research but something else. I dont know what that is....but I prefer to stick to the period as faithfully as possible and always use primary sources along with the opinions of noteworthy folks who have spent their lives studying this stuff. You can always argue the dates....when did they make this switch-over? Were both configurations used and for how long before the earlier was abandoned. Lets examine the hard contemporary primary evidence.....or we could just make stuff up instead. When Frank writes, "What it suggests ( if these are not artifacts arising from folow-on restorations) is that contemporary models can't reliably be used as 100%faithful examples of actual contemporary practice." This might be true in a one-off incident but when you see something over and over again and then dismiss it readily, I think it might be more about cherry picking the facts to support ones own false theory. This is a dangerous road to go down in my opinion. For example, I am currently researching my next project (Chebacco Lion) and there are very few contemprary models of this early type of American fishing schooner. The windlass on the three models known to exist and several half hulls of the period is placed on the fore side of the foremast. There are also some drawings and paintings that show this detail. This was later changed to abaft the fore mast as can be seen on schooners like Hannah and Sultana. Rather than just dismiss this fact because as Howard Chapelle stated "the windlass would be very difficult to work and it isnt the best place for it".....I am going to place it where the contemporary evidence says it should be. Chapelle came to the same conclusion as did william Baker. Two very prominent naval architects and historians. Or I could just say that all of those contemporary examples are somehow just wrong and instead make something up that sounds good. Baker writes in his book about Colonial vessels and I find this particularly suitable for our conversation here "I sometimes wonder about these early designs, many of the fittings, including those that serve the functionality of the rig seem to be contrary to effective and efficient sailing practices. This can be seen in both the locations and materials used for them. There ineffectiveness can certainly be determined by comparison to modern-day fishing schooners throughout New England. The factual contemporary evidence however supports there widespread use despite the availability of better choices for material and examples of more effective designs predominant along the southern shores at the same time. One can only conclude that these practices were used because of local shipbuilder traditions and the willingness of these fisherman to faithfully follow regional customs and practice despite advancements elsewhere." Chuck

Roger There are exactly two contemporary models that show the horse over the tiller and that would certainly work. I mention in the instructions that a model builder could always show it that way. The horse is bent in a bell shape so it rises above the tiller and is a perfectly viable option as I mentioned above. I have never said that configuration isnt viable. You can see a wonderful drawing of that configuration in Lavery's Arming and Fitting on page 226 I believe. I have also attached a drawing of that contemporary alternative below. The other more widely seen contemporary option is shown on the contemporary model examples I posted in the previous post. Their are dozens of examples shown that way including contemporary paintings and drawings and is more prevalent however. Yes to all of us today it may seem illogical but there is so much proof available that it was indeed set up that way. It is absolutely NOT wrong. But even more problematic are the examples posted by Frank. There is ZERO contemporary evidence that any of the modern configurations shown were ever used in the eighteenth century. It is just plain wrong for the period. However ... Based on all of the contemporary evidence the two other configurations are good to go. The later is absolutely more prevalent although to us today very illogical. But just because we dont understand it.....doesnt mean that using 19th or 20th century practices on an 18th century longboat is a better idea. It is just all-together wrong and as mention there is ZERO evidence to support it..

I know it sounds impossible and by most modern standards and practice it is. But that doesnt negate the fact that 90% of contemporary long boat models (some with original rigging like this one) show the sheet configured this way below. There are fewer examples showing the horse over the tiller......but as far as historical accuracy, this is not incorrect as it is a primary source. I dont pretend to disagree for arguments sake but I have seen folks understandably realize the difficulty that Frank brings up. BUT, the contraptions and configurations the model builders then place on their 18th century long boats as a logical fix have no basis in historical fact. In fact they are just plain wrong for the period. To rig an 18th century long boat as described in the photos above would not at all be correct. This may not make sense to us as pictured below but it is very clear that this is indeed the way it was configured on many if not most occasions.

Thanks guys....this last iteration will do fine. It takes a long time to create these friezes. I am very happy with the latest results and dont wish to paint another set. But for those who are thinking about buying the kit.....the possibilities are endless. I am looking forward to finishing up the inboard details real soon. Then its the home stretch.....for the hull anyway.

Right there with you Greg. I guess I couldnt fight my Italian urge to be extra bright and gaudy. But yes, after a day or so I re-did the friezes making them a more subdued blue gray. This is more in keeping with the contemporary model I used as a reference. Comments are welcomed !!! Any thoughts ???

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Thank you very much for the likes and comment. The panels were completed and glued into position. You could leave them like that with just the empty panels which has been seen on many contemporary models. In this case I chose to insert printed friezes into them like the contemporary model shown above. I actually patterned the same same frieze design from that contemporary model and used it on my prototype. What do you guys think. I will be working on the step into the stern sheets next and then started on the outboard details again shortly after. Chuck

Sure thing....I am pretty sure someone will recognize it.