reklein

On a very foggy August 11, 1897 night off the coast of Maine the Howard W. Middleton was searching for a protected cove inside Richmond Island.  GPS not being what it is today, it hit a rock off of Higgins Beach, Scarborough, Maine and has spent the rest of its days there.  Today the wreck is visible at low tide and often pieces of coal appear in the ever changing sands.  I have been modeling off and on for over 30 years and have always wanted to build the Middleton but a scratch model always seemed a bit out of reach.  During my research over the years I contacted the Philadelphia Maritime Museum (the Middleton was built at Coopers Point, NJ across the river from Philadelphia) and they put me in touch with an individual (Edward Brownlee) who was interested in coastal schooners of the 1800's.  After much correspondence, Edward drew up plans of the Middleton from the original Admeasurement dated April 23, 1883.  With actual plans in hand and semi-retirement "availability" I started the model several years ago.
 
Plans from Admeasurement
 



 
August 20, 1897 - Middleton off Higgins Beach, Maine
 
 

 
Middleton Today
 


 
Model Begins Nov 2013
 


 
She was a centerboard tern

 
Planking complete/ready for painting - March 2014
 


 
Hull Painted - April 2014
 


 
Building Deck Houses - July/Dec 2014
 




 
Middleton coal fills holds
 
This one's a bit too large...

Brought down to scale...

Holds filled with scale coal from Middleton cargo...


 
 
Masting and decking - March/Sept 2015
 







 
Rudder, Fife Rails/belay pins, capstan - Nov 2015/Feb 2016
 


 


 
Bowsprit and Jib Boom - March/April 2016
 



 
 

Aww Shucks  Jesse.  We're sorry . Tough break.  

Aww Shucks  Jesse.  We're sorry . Tough break.  

One can remove any finish before gluing and you can also perforate a sealed  surface with a pin, that is poke a whole bunch of little holes in the wood to allow whatever adhesive to penerate. Used to do that on oil soaked R/C model airplane wood to get a few more flights out of the plane.

Aww Shucks  Jesse.  We're sorry . Tough break.  

One can remove any finish before gluing and you can also perforate a sealed  surface with a pin, that is poke a whole bunch of little holes in the wood to allow whatever adhesive to penerate. Used to do that on oil soaked R/C model airplane wood to get a few more flights out of the plane.

One can remove any finish before gluing and you can also perforate a sealed  surface with a pin, that is poke a whole bunch of little holes in the wood to allow whatever adhesive to penerate. Used to do that on oil soaked R/C model airplane wood to get a few more flights out of the plane.

I disagree with Canute. One of the reasons for sealing is to prevent the wood from taking stain color unevenly. Secially in the case of porous woods such and oak and pine. Pine for instance if left unsealed will be blotchy od where theres knots will not take stain at all. Also you need to seal before any paint or lines are put on as your paint will run along the grain of the wood and lose its sharpness.

Aww Shucks  Jesse.  We're sorry . Tough break.  

Aww Shucks  Jesse.  We're sorry . Tough break.  

Very nice work Jesse. I enjoy seeing the detail you are putting into your Syren. Where did you find the information on tying down the binnacle?
 

Shaped and added timberheads. Used a strip of paper to space them out evenly.
 
Jesse
 

When fitting the stern davits they didn't fit as good as they should. found that I needed to add a strip under them made them sit at the right height much better. I didn't feel the pegs beneath the kit supplied cleats were deep enough to hold well when rigging is pulling on them so I snipped them off, drilled them out and glued wire pins in that will sit deeper and grab the wood better. Stern davits and cleats on and painted.
 
Jesse
 

Yep, same foreman I saw... 

Spent an hour or so finishing up the main backstays.
 
Rob

Dan,
I am Polish and I may try to help you with the instructions.
It seems to me that there are some misprints in the original instructions, because in the entire Polish language there is no such thing like "kolowrotycz". It looks to me that they are talking about windlasses (plural) = kolowroty, from the singular "kolowrot", and there should be a space afterwards and then an abbreviation "cz." from the word "czesc", or plural "czesci" = meaning "parts".
The entire quoted part of a sentence should therefore read (in English): "we glue the windlasses, parts 47/50, K1 and place them, following the assembly drawings".
A bit weird, but...
English is their second language, after all.  
 
Regards,
Thomas
PS: As far as the word "dalocelownik", I think that they abbreviated two of them into one. The first perhaps should be "dalmierz" = a rangefinder(?) and the second "celownik" = a sight, a viewfinder (?).
If you scan the entire page of the instructions and send it to me, perhaps I would be able to figure it out better.

I would have recommended  basswood as the outboard shapers need quite a bit of cutting back. Look ahead in the book to see how you get that nice rounded stern. Also be careful in your vertical alignment so you'll get that nice outward bulge that I missed.

I'm pretty sure the stern will stiffen up as you start to plank. There is also a diagonal that goes under the outside layer of planking to bolster the stern.

Thanks Slog and Pat. I think I've got the main part of the destructions sorted .
 
I've fitted the two decks. Everything lined up perfectly. The dip in the forecastle is supposed to be there :
 


 
  Danny

Be careful working on that stern...I know from hard experience. It is very fragile. Your project looks great!

Wow, you are moving right along.  I wonder if a person could use pieces of card stock on both sides of the stern to protect it from mishaps?  

I'm pretty sure the stern will stiffen up as you start to plank. There is also a diagonal that goes under the outside layer of planking to bolster the stern.

OK here are some poor photos of my stern framing. Chuck was right, very fragile. I'm just about ready to start a little planking.Lots and lots of small pieces of wood.Am using an exacto razor saw and miter box for most. For the gunnel blocks there are some 40 identical pieces for the gunport uprights those I cut on the scroll saw.

Was thinking about painting the small center strip on the cap rail the same "Buff" colour as the 1/4 round molding on my gun deck but after a few tries it became obvious that it wouldn't be very clean so ditched that idea. Perhaps I'll try a different paint sequence on the upper cap rail and do the lighter color first? This strip is yellow on the real paint scheme but I don't think I'll be using yellow. Will complete the finishing on the deck before add this cap rail detail.

Guns mounted on the lower deck. Need to find a more consistent means of getting a clean cut on lines attaching to eyebolts. Can see more tools coming in the future