Keith Simmons

Hi Piet,
 
Very cool, my fingers hurt just looking at the pictures, will be watching for the rest of the build....
 
Good luck,
 
Keith

Hi Piet,
 
Very cool, my fingers hurt just looking at the pictures, will be watching for the rest of the build....
 
Good luck,
 
Keith

Yay Piet
 
Pictures at last! Nice job on the hull. Talk about teeny tiny

Oooooh, all yuns are just too impatient   But thanks for the admonitions, I try.
Just too many things get in the way of having fun.  Like yesterday I spend most of the day repairing my neighbor's aluminum stepladder.  Had to run to the store to but material and hardware.  Besides, i had to do it outside in the sun at 90 degrees F or around 32 C.  The garage aka shipyard was 102 F or 38 C.  Not that keeps me out but after a shower I was not going back into the garage.
Day before yesterday I attempted to upgrade my old iMac to the latest Mac OS, ElCapitan.  That took most of the day.  When I wanted to drag a few pics of the Topsail schooner to the desktop I couldn't find the entire file of all my photos.  ElCapitan did not transfer all my folders over to the new photo thingy.  Now I was really afraid of having lost hundreds of pics, many irreplaceable.  Even my external hard drive , which I disconnected prior to, updated itself as soon as I plugged that hummer in.  After a lot of clicking here and there I found it and managed to drag it to the desktop pffffffffffhhhh - a sigh of relief 
 
Okay, so now for an update with pictures!!
 
The first order of business was to find an example of a topsail schooner I can use, with rigging.  No, I was not going to put sails on it because the idea was to show her on the slipway ready for launch.
I found a drawing that has no copyright on it and in public domain.
I rummaged through my small wood scrap wood pile and found a small block of cherry of about 5 mm square and 50 mm long.  This seemed to be enough to get at least one schooner out of it.  With a LOD of 90 feet I needed 14 mm and a width of 3 mm.
 
Carving the hull proceeded quite nicely and got a rather good looking hull shape.  I purposely left it a little wider and not quite finished till after I had mounted the bowsprit.  I could then shape the "clipper bow."  As it turned out I lost some through drilling the bowsprit hole but figured to cement a small piece of wood to the bow under the bowsprit.
 
All went rather quickly and I figured, well, why not making the deck housing.  One for the stern and one for the main deck and the forecastle.  At this stage of the project I only managed to make and cement the stern house and main deck house.  
 
I also marked and drilled the holes into the top for the two masts and the bowsprit.  That one I made and cemented into a hole I drilled for it, ruining the clipper bow in the process.  
 
As mentioned in my previous posts I tried making them from boxwood, the bowsprit worked fine, at least for now.   Yeah, there is more to the story to come later.
 
So far things started to look okay and was encouraging enough to proceed with the next step(s).
 
Here are a few pics yuns have been clamoring for 
 

This is the drawing I found to work with.  It includes the sail plan and a good enough profile shape the hull.  Yes, I also looked a few photos of topsail schooners but didn't find it necessary adding them to this post.  Besides, they might just be copyrighted.
 

This is the top view with the model well on the way even with the bowsprit cemented on.  I have crudely indicated where the stern cabin and the forecastle are to be located.  The mast holes have also been drilled with the proper rake for the masts.  The length from the stern to where the bowsprit enters the hull is 14 mm. 
 

This shows the profile with the stern cabin already cemented on.  In this attempt I had to cement an extra piece to the bow to make the clipper bow look.  The width the hull is here 4 mm
 

Here I have cemented the main cabin to the center deck area.
 
Cheers,
 
 

Hi Patrick
 
I appreciate your comment, was hoping the ketch would keep it's sleek lines with the addition of the cabin...I think the paint job is going to be critical, nothing to do but go on with fingers crossed....
 
Thanks again and have a G'day mate
 
Keith

Hi all,
        
          A quick progress report on the sloop and ketch.
 
     Just a little bit more work on the sloop such as figuring a way to wire the rails, making a wheel and setting the sails....
 
     Finally finished the maple decking and started the cabin structure on the ketch.( after 3 attempts I think this is the final design, will be sure once I paint it...
 
     Thanks for looking in, have a great day,   Keith
   

Hi Patrick
 
I appreciate your comment, was hoping the ketch would keep it's sleek lines with the addition of the cabin...I think the paint job is going to be critical, nothing to do but go on with fingers crossed....
 
Thanks again and have a G'day mate
 
Keith

Hi all,
        
          A quick progress report on the sloop and ketch.
 
     Just a little bit more work on the sloop such as figuring a way to wire the rails, making a wheel and setting the sails....
 
     Finally finished the maple decking and started the cabin structure on the ketch.( after 3 attempts I think this is the final design, will be sure once I paint it...
 
     Thanks for looking in, have a great day,   Keith
   

Finally have the ketch hull ready for decking....Yay.....Now that's a hull....

Hi all,
        
          A quick progress report on the sloop and ketch.
 
     Just a little bit more work on the sloop such as figuring a way to wire the rails, making a wheel and setting the sails....
 
     Finally finished the maple decking and started the cabin structure on the ketch.( after 3 attempts I think this is the final design, will be sure once I paint it...
 
     Thanks for looking in, have a great day,   Keith
   

Hi all,
        
          A quick progress report on the sloop and ketch.
 
     Just a little bit more work on the sloop such as figuring a way to wire the rails, making a wheel and setting the sails....
 
     Finally finished the maple decking and started the cabin structure on the ketch.( after 3 attempts I think this is the final design, will be sure once I paint it...
 
     Thanks for looking in, have a great day,   Keith
   

Folks,
 

 
This is a model that is not seen too frequently on this side of the pond: the famous and legendary Calypso of Jacques Cousteau. The model was produced by Billing Boats in the early 1980's and was offered with an ABS molded hull, lots of injected plastic parts, brass and some wood for the construction of the cabins and decks. The model was offered with all the parts and details (which was not the norm in the 80's) and could be radio-controlled. The model at a scale of 1/45 was close to 95 cm long, 33 cm high and 19 cm wide.
 
I purchased the Billing Boats model in 1985, spending my first monthly pay on the kit and two Mabushi motors. I was working for IBM on the French Riviera at that time. This was my first big kit and I was (and still are) in love with that vessel and its legend. The pictures you are seeing below show the model after 30 years of almost no activity. The model would have to be seriously cleaned up and re-painted. I have removed a lot of parts (the crane for instance) as well as all the radio control gears (battery, receiver, servos, motors, switches and speed controller).
 
That model, like his big sister, has sailed in a few places in the world: the Harbor of Cagnes Sur Mer (salt water) in the Alpes Maritimes in France, some lakes in the South of France near Toulouse, a couple of lakes in Massachusetts near Boston and Lake Lynn in Raleigh, NC. I built a sturdy box that was used to transport it and move it from Europe to the USA.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
As some of you may know, the Calypso was sunk in the Chinese harbor of Singapore, following a collision with a barge early 1986. One year later she was lifted from the bottom of the harbor and stored in a shipyard. Sadly, Jacques-Yves Cousteau died the same year.
 

 
In 2006, the wreck was given to the Cousteau Society and after many years of transaction (French administration is heavy and slow), the restoration of the ship started recently.
 

 

 
Calypso is considered as part of the French Patrimoine (like the castle of Versailles) and as such will receive governmental funding for its restoration and the assurance of a long and cared for life (hopefully...).
 
Yves
 
 
 

Finally have the ketch hull ready for decking....Yay.....Now that's a hull....

Yeah, What? no running water?   
 
 Nice work mate...

Finally have the ketch hull ready for decking....Yay.....Now that's a hull....

Thank you Patrick
 
      I took some liberties with the shape, was trying to make it as sleek as I could without changing the basic design. Now I want to do the same to the cabin and deck layout.  At least I got one of them to look like it should...lol
 
   Thanks again for the kind words, I do value your opinion.....Keith

Thank you Patrick
 
      I took some liberties with the shape, was trying to make it as sleek as I could without changing the basic design. Now I want to do the same to the cabin and deck layout.  At least I got one of them to look like it should...lol
 
   Thanks again for the kind words, I do value your opinion.....Keith

Finally have the ketch hull ready for decking....Yay.....Now that's a hull....

Can't argue with that, Keith. She's a beauty, for sure.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Finally have the ketch hull ready for decking....Yay.....Now that's a hull....

Finally have the ketch hull ready for decking....Yay.....Now that's a hull....

Finally have the ketch hull ready for decking....Yay.....Now that's a hull....

Thank you Jack,  I always liked Maple and Walnut together,  Have done many furniture pieces with that combination.  
 
   I think I like these type of ships......

Hi Patrick,
 
    Thank you for the comment, I'm happy with the deck overall, now if I can just keep from screwing it up with all the details left to do...lol.
 
     As for the ketch, I'm just about ready to finalize the hull, then I need to come up with a few design ideas within the Tempus style.
 
  Thanks again, Keith

Hi all,
          Just a little progress report on the 90. Finally finished installing the Maple decking and painting the hull. On to the mast, rigging and detail work.....
 
 
    Thanks for looking in,    Keith