CDW

No worries...my idea of weathering and stain is minimal at best. Remember, I worked as the operations chief for a major general and I know first hand the expectations of maintaining a high standard. Been there, done that, and got the tee shirt. Not on a ship, but nevertheless under a general officer. If that gentleman saw anything out of sorts, there was hell to pay...guaranteed.

Come to think of it, certain areas on the deck of the ship, and it's probably safe to say around all the coal chutes, there would be coal dust/staining where the frequent resupply of coal would have taken place; regardless of how much combat the ship had been in. So I need to dirty up those areas a bit before everything is all said and done. I'll have to check the model railroad section at the hobby shop for some black ballast that might be a reasonable representation for coal in this scale. 

Thanks, Jack.
I just found these 1:200 scale sailors at Shapeways, and ordered a set. I think I can make these work for me.

Thank you, Sam. So glad to have you aboard.

Thanks Popeye.
In the particular paint scheme I am doing, I don't think the ship would have ever seen any combat yet, and not too much time at sea, either. So I don't intend to add much in the way of severe weathering or battle damage. 
I want to begin looking for some 1:200 sailors, maybe from Shapeways? Want to give it a somewhat busy look by adding some action figures. Maybe could add some guys shoveling coal into a few of those "coal chute covers" on deck. Gonna look to see what I can find that's close to being period correct. 

I would say that if a modeler used a 3D CAD program to design his/her model, then printed it on their 3D printer, most definitely that would be scratch building. Hands down.

Keep whittlin' away at this thing...

Thanks, Jack.
I just found these 1:200 scale sailors at Shapeways, and ordered a set. I think I can make these work for me.

Thank you, Sam. So glad to have you aboard.

I would say that if a modeler used a 3D CAD program to design his/her model, then printed it on their 3D printer, most definitely that would be scratch building. Hands down.

I would say that if a modeler used a 3D CAD program to design his/her model, then printed it on their 3D printer, most definitely that would be scratch building. Hands down.

No worries...my idea of weathering and stain is minimal at best. Remember, I worked as the operations chief for a major general and I know first hand the expectations of maintaining a high standard. Been there, done that, and got the tee shirt. Not on a ship, but nevertheless under a general officer. If that gentleman saw anything out of sorts, there was hell to pay...guaranteed.

Come to think of it, certain areas on the deck of the ship, and it's probably safe to say around all the coal chutes, there would be coal dust/staining where the frequent resupply of coal would have taken place; regardless of how much combat the ship had been in. So I need to dirty up those areas a bit before everything is all said and done. I'll have to check the model railroad section at the hobby shop for some black ballast that might be a reasonable representation for coal in this scale. 

Thanks, Jack.
I just found these 1:200 scale sailors at Shapeways, and ordered a set. I think I can make these work for me.

Thanks Popeye.
In the particular paint scheme I am doing, I don't think the ship would have ever seen any combat yet, and not too much time at sea, either. So I don't intend to add much in the way of severe weathering or battle damage. 
I want to begin looking for some 1:200 sailors, maybe from Shapeways? Want to give it a somewhat busy look by adding some action figures. Maybe could add some guys shoveling coal into a few of those "coal chute covers" on deck. Gonna look to see what I can find that's close to being period correct. 

Thank you, Sam. So glad to have you aboard.

Keep whittlin' away at this thing...

No worries...my idea of weathering and stain is minimal at best. Remember, I worked as the operations chief for a major general and I know first hand the expectations of maintaining a high standard. Been there, done that, and got the tee shirt. Not on a ship, but nevertheless under a general officer. If that gentleman saw anything out of sorts, there was hell to pay...guaranteed.

Deck vents, so many deck vents

Not quite a year ago I returned to modeling after a long hiatus. Work, life and an incredibly long post-retirement “honey -do” list had kept me from this hobby.


 
In the past, everything was about clipper ships.  I had kit bashed models of Cutty Sark (one still uncompleted and may never get done), Thermopylae, Flying Cloud and hull sections. The prospect of returning to spars, masts and rigging no longer intrigues me as it once did.


 
Over that sabbatical I was able to visit museums and museum ships as part of business trips or vacations.  On a trip in 1995 what really caught my eye was the Klondike Gold Rush steamboats.  I was able to visit the Klondike, Keno and Nenana, along with the remains of the Tutshi and the Dawson City steamboat graveyard. The Institute of Nautical Archeology, John Pollard et al., has had a wonderful series of surveys done on these and other Klondike steamboats.


 
I loved the steamboats but really wanted to research and scratch build a sternwheeler with local interest.  I chose the Thistle (1894) of Oshkosh, Wisconsin partially because of its unusual octagonal pilothouse. As a sternwheeler with a 21-year life, although no hull plans exist (no surprise there) there are numerous photos, similar sternwheelers and newspaper articles to draw from. And lots of general publications as Bates, Hunter, Kane and others.  And of course, the MSW feeds on Bertrand, Arabia, Herione and Eric’s excellent forum on steamboats. What amazes me is the quality of the models, but also the willingness of all to answer questions non-judgmentally.  While I may never rise to that level of mastership and it will take much longer than most, I really appreciate the wonderful interaction with like minded people, regardless of their skill levels or where they live. Thanks, LJP

No worries...my idea of weathering and stain is minimal at best. Remember, I worked as the operations chief for a major general and I know first hand the expectations of maintaining a high standard. Been there, done that, and got the tee shirt. Not on a ship, but nevertheless under a general officer. If that gentleman saw anything out of sorts, there was hell to pay...guaranteed.

You still may want to be a little careful even there CDW.
 
The Japanese were, (and are) noted for keeping very clean ships. As you intend to add people actually working at loading coal you could probably get away with it. But as soon as coaling was done I am almost certain that here would be crewmen with high pressure steam hoses and brooms cleaning everything in sight! Holy stoning the decks was also still quite common on these ships and would eliminate much of the staining that would otherwise possibly be present.
 
Super great Looking build!

Sorry John
It's a little late for that now!
 
I spent the last couple of nights hacken and whackin and in general making splinters just in case I need kindling for that Viking funeral. I stripped the two lower wale planks and after cleaning up the residue laid new new 5 mm planks. As I don't have planks this size that are as thick as i needed I double planked them to bring them up to the same thickness as the first wale I had left in place. I now have wales that are 18" wide instead of something like 24" when I was supposed to have 16"! I can live with two scale inches off. (About 1 mm) the planking is not as tight as the original but I will need to add additional thickness later anyway so i can deal with that then. It was only after I did all this that I realized that I could have just left it all alone and just added the proper sized wales over what I already had and been done with it! No need to do all the stripping! Sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees!
 
In addition I have not been happy with the entire quarterdeck look since I installed the wales. It just didn't look right. I was also concerned that I had raised it too far. While standing on the main deck, the quarter deck was about shoulder high to a 6' man. Not quite high enough to walk directly in without ducking or having a raised entry. I could have kept this, After Millar had designed the present day Replica with a full height quarter cabin. But almost all the admittedly small information I have about the Providence is against this kind of cabin. So in order to make a somewhat long story a little shorter. I ripped up the entire quarterdeck roof and returned it to it's original height. This makes the height of the quarterdeck above the main deck only about 3.5 feet and to me it looks much more proper. I also left the Poop deck about 12" higher so now there is a raised poop section where the helmsman will work. That arrangement makes me feel much better about the entire rear half of the ship, and the two stage quarterdeck with the raised tiller platform was really quite common in 1767.
 
So now that the chips have settled down a little i am pretty much back to where i was  a few weeks ago! I need to visit the hobby shop as I don't think i have a large enough piece of thin ply to make a new sub-quarterdeck. When I get that done I will start planking for real and make it all start looking more like a real ship. At least that is the intent. We will have to see if the skill is there to make it happen.
 
I should have some pictures next time. Until then thanks for stopping in and looking.    

Lou, 
 
My 2 cents from a nobody (still an apprentice). Lay the one on 1 side lay 2 on the other see which one is more pleasing to your eye. Just a light tack can be readily removed. (if you need more wood tear up one of the bosses wooden utensils.)

I was afraid of that. If I had used two of the 5 mm kit planks like I originally looked at I would have been pretty much right on. By going to the thicker planks I also had to use the 7 mm wide planks so now I am at about 24" instead of 16"! Too great of a difference to stay. That means I will either have to cut off 1/2 of the lower strake plank or remove it and replace it with a narrower plank. That's what I get for building first and asking later. Hopefully that won't happen too often, but knowing me it almost surly will!
 
I have the MS book on planking along with Lord knows how many other sources if instruction. I am relatively sure I can do it, in fact I KNOW I can do it by just cutting and fitting. I have done that method of planking even though it was over twenty something years ago, but a hull is a hull. It is just the doing it in the approved manner that is an unknown approach for me. If I was planing on making it a double planked hull I could still do it the "old" way. Why would it matter at this stage? But i am still hoping my efforts will be adequate.
 
Looks like another one step forward and two back time.