JosephHuntley

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 222 – Bowsprit Standing Rigging 1
 
Much of the bowsprit standing rigging is/was chain.  In the mid-19th century chain was used not so much for sheer strength but primarily for its durability in situations where physical abuse could be expected.  Later, iron or steel wire would displace chain and rope.  The bow of the ship was exposed to buffeting by the sea and objects that might be floating in it, as well potential damage in collisions with docks, etc., however slight, hence the amount of chain in its structural rigging.  Chain sheets and halyards that also suffered considerable wear will be discussed later.
 
Chain specifications have been hard to uncover in primary sources, so where Bill Crothers specified sizes on his drawings I have used those.  His sources for these (and other questions) were on my list to discuss with him but that last meeting never occurred.  However, knowing the intensity of his research, I am confident in his sizing.  For lines he omitted from his drawings, I plan to calculate  rope/chain equivalents from contemporary data in Luce, Seamanship, 1868.  Chain has been a puzzle
 
Bobstays continued
 
In the last part, fabrication of one of the chain bobstays was described.  In the first picture the two bobstays have been rigged.
 

 
The forward ends are secured to eyebolts in the bowsprit using wood hearts with lanyards.  These allowed tensioning of the stays.  The fine thread seen in the picture are ends of the seizings that secure the lanyards to their adjacent parts and will be clipped off.  A simpler, but less authentic, method of securing the ends was adopted later to eliminate the visible ends that are difficult to completely remove at this scale.
 
Bowsprit Shrouds
 
The next picture shows one of the bowsprit shroud fabrications before installation. 
 

 
The shrouds and bobstays are all chain of ~30 links per fathom (lpf), i.e. 30 links per inch at 1:72.  The connection to the heart is similar to that shown above and in the last part.  At the other end, an iron plate with an eyebolt is used.  This will bolt to the outer hull above the hawse holes as shown in the next picture.
 

 
This picture also shows one of the martingale backstays rigged to the cathead that will be discussed later.  The next picture shows the forward fastenings of the bobstays and shrouds.
 

 
 
Martingale Stays
 
The next picture shows the inner and outer martingale stays. 
 

 
The inner, unblackened, stay was chain of 54 llpf and is modeled using the smallest chain I could find.  At 40 links per inch it is somewhat heavier than specified, but representative.  The outer stay was lighter at 74 lpf.  This fine chain was simulated by twisting up two strands of 28 gauge copper wire under fairly low tension.  This method produces a very reasonable small-sized chain substitute.  Unfortunately, small chain is not very photogenic.  These two stays were sized with the martingale held vertical by the temporary thread "backstay" in the picture.  The next picture shows these two forward chain stays after blackening.
 

 
The martingale will be held vertical by two backstays that run back to hearts and lanyards on the cathead.  When added, these attachments will allow fine adjustments to the position of the martingale.  Next time.
 
Ed

Work continues with the fabrication of the lower rail.  Compared to the main rail, this is duck soup.  Only one size of profile cutter is necessary.  The shape is determined by the same expansion drawing that was done with the main rail.  In the pictures you can see pin holes for securing it in place.  The head beam and cross piece were removed to facilitate fitting.
 

 

 

 

 
The first photo shows the mortices marked on the various structures.  I started with the fan-shaped grating behind the head beam.  As Atalanta had four seats of ease, only six ledges were required.  If there were only two seats of ease, then eight ledges were installed.  Each piece was marked since they would be stored away until the entire head was completed (or for photos).  This provides, along with the pins, a lot of structural stability for the head assembly.  At this point, the rest of the ledges and the small carlings for the seats of ease were constructed.
 

 

 

 

 

 
The false rail is a decorative board located on top of the main rail.  It screens the aft seats of ease, so it must have been the preferred location for doing one's duty.  The pictures show it set on top of the mail rail but it has not been finish sanded at this point.
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

Quarter deck breastwork with hammock cranes and netting. I spend the next few days at the lathe - I have to make swivel guns and carronades.

I have finally had some time to devote to the workshop.  Construction has resumed on the head structures.  There is a grating on top of the main rail.  This is supported posteriorly by the head beam and anteriorly by the cross-piece.  The head beam has two knees on its posterior face, connecting to the main rail.  In front of the head beam, the grating mortices into the lining of the main rain.  Behind the head beam, the grating connects to the hull with the use of a morticed bolster.  There are openings in the grating to accomodate the fore seats of ease.  I forgot to take pictures during the process so what is shown are the deconstructed structures after it had been partially completed.  You can see that everything is pinned together.  If only one thing shifts, the rest of the construction will be wrong.  In the first two pictures the battens, cross-piece and head beam assembly are in place and the carling and liner are marked for the grating.
 

 

 
The next two pictures show the curvature of the carling of the head and how it mortices into the cross-piece.  The third photo shows all of these structures in place.
 

 

 
 
 

 
 

Preparation of the frames for the KIT.


 
I have to draw the other half of the plans.

Drawing is made by hand, it is easier to draw a circle than a straight line and all the frames are only curves


 
About 2/3 of the blanks are cut, a lot of wood is use and a lot of wood is thrown in the garbage, up to now 1 ½  trash can.


 

Hi Bill, 
 
Building the Constitution at 1/24 is surely a nice project. You know that it is easier to build at 1/24 scale simply because each part are easier to hold. I guess that is the reason why we 5 fingers in each hand instead of only 2.
 
This is my third build  here on MSW at that scale : 74 guns in MSW 1.0, Le Fleuron, finished at the beginning of this year and now this one.
 
 
Hi Joe, thank you very much
 
I tried  the free E-viewer (Mac or Windows) and I guess this is probably the kind of program which would be perfect to manipulate a 3D plans by an amateur like me. Who knows, may be a guy will sell a 3D plans one day! I surely would like to buy a copy. Being in the scratbuild category, the ideal SET OF PLANS for me would be data I could put on a key and go to the printer for 2D plans and study  the 3D  plans on screen. I suppose it would be easy for someone drawing 3D to also incorporate a 2D version for printing.
 
 
Enough dreaming, one last picture to show how to  cheat the distance on a 1/76 build. This time another kind of lens; the wide angle. In this category, there is also the fisheye but this is more for an artisitic point of view, this lens take a line and turn it in a curve.
 
I like to use a wide angle lens to give the illusion of a greater distance. Here is an example at 11 and 22 mm. So, camera is our friend,  but it is not an human eye. Knowing the possibilities, sometimes it is interesting to try some photos with our model ship under construction.
 

Well.. I'm hoping to get things moving faster this week as it'll be too darn hot to even go outside (100-115 F) for the highs and in the low to mid 70's F at night.   

I try not to think about things like that Joseph.
A statement made in an interview I just saw last night on TV about "How to eat an elephant" really struck me.... "You  eat an elephant one piece at a time."
I think that should be a scratch modeler's motto.
Thanks for your visit.
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 1 - Decisions 
I took most of the summer deciding whether I would undertake another ship model and if so, what the scope and subject would be.  I had a lot of time to think about this while catching up on neglected home maintenance and repair projects.  After deciding that I needed the challenge of another ambitious project, the decisions on scope and subject kept me busy through July.  I also had to decide whether I could commit to another Naiad-like build log.  We shall see.
 
I received a number of suggestions on subjects and that input is most appreciated.  Since I expect this project to span a number of years, the decision was a big one.  I have enjoyed wrestling through the process of deciding.  I had a number of criteria:  1) significant design/drafting content, 2) fully-framed construction to further explore my interest in structures, 3) a change from the well-trod path of fully-framed 18th Century Royal Navy subjects, 4) avoiding commonly modeled ships, and 5), I thought it was time to do an American ship. 
 
Before focusing on the extreme American clippers, I considered, among many other possibilities, a 19th Century American warship, perhaps steam-sail, and looked seriously at some of the ships by John Lenthall, built locally at the Philadelphia Navy Yard – examples: Germantown (sail), Princeton (screw/sail), Susquehanna (paddle/sail).  
 
In the end, the idea of the extreme clipper was too attractive to dismiss.  To me, this type represents an apex of achievement in wooden sailing ship design and construction – in terms of sleek hull lines, sailing performance, structural development and sheer beauty.  In the design of the extreme clippers, minimum tradeoffs were made to the one paramount design parameter  - achieving the shortest sailing times between far-flung ports.  Speed meant not only sleek hull lines and a spread of canvas, but also the strength to withstand continuous hard driving, day-in, day-out. 
 
After deciding on the clipper – and an American (meaning all wood) clipper - I chose the work of William H. Webb of New York.  It would have been easier to select something from his more popular competitor, Donald McKay, but McKay’s ships built at East Boston, have long been widely modeled – Staghound, Flying Cloud, Lightning and others. McKay’s papers do include substantial structural detail – very tempting.  Webb, too, has left papers, and these have been explored, with information published in the secondary sources I have used.  There are many gaps, but there is a family resemblance in details to all these ships and many practices and scantlings were commonly adopted.  Webb presented more of a challenge – in more ways than one – as I will describe later. 
 
Of Webb’s ships, I chose Young America, built in 1853, his last extreme clipper.  Less is known about her construction than some of his others, so the task of piecing her structure together is more interesting.  I will discuss this, the ship, and the extreme clipper era in the next posts.
 
Below is a photo of Young America, docked at San Francisco, a frequent port of call for her.  She was built mainly for the East Coast to California trade.  In the picture she is rigged with double topsails - a modification from her original single topsail rig.  There are also some paintings of her.  She was considered Webb’s masterpiece – one of his twelve clippers in a list that included renowned ships like Challenge, Comet, Invincible, Flying Dutchman – all of these examples being 200 to 240 feet in length. YA enjoyed a thirty-year career that included fifty passages around Cape Horn.  She set a number of sailing records and earned a ton of money for her various owners – and for those who made money betting on passage times.  In 1883 she left Philadelphia carrying 9200 barrels of Pennsylvania case oil, cleared Delaware Bay and was never heard from again.
 

 
The model may be fully rigged.  I will decide later.  With the hull length involved (240’) the scale is likely to be 1:72, but that is not yet cast in stone.
 
Structural drawings are well along and I expect to start construction later in September.
 
I hope these posts will be of interest and perhaps draw some attention to this somewhat neglected modeling genre.
 
Ed
 
 
 
 

Here are the last of my maritime models and, in keeping with my different style of building, they're all half hulls.    I like this format as it can be hung on a wall so I don't have to answer that awkward question from my wife ... "And where do you intend to put THAT".   Well, it's an easier discussion! 
  First up is a model of our own boat, an Alberg 37, which we've since sold.   Ever since I took up scratch building I had intended to build this once I developed enough skills to reproduce it and, more importantly, all the metalwork.   The hull is carved out of a block of Renshape and is at a 3/4" scale.      
Here are a few of the details I scratch built from salvaged metals.              I've had some questions asked earlier about tools so I'll digress here for a moment.   My "lathe" at the time  was a hobbyist wood lathe with a 3 jaw chuck, a tool rest and I used cheap Chinese carving chisels which I would grind to custom shapes as needed.      In the picture above I've got a chuck that I salvaged from a hand drill mounted into the 3 jaw chuck.   This is my preferred setup when making tiny pieces as it gets your fingers away from the deadly, hard, spinning 3 jaws.         Even though I now have a "proper" metal lathe I miss the flexibility offered by hand held tools.   Anyone considering a metal lathe might want to keep in mind that all the turned metal pieces you can see  e.g.steering binnacles and winches, were made by a hand held tool and are considerably more difficult (for me) to make with a metal lathe.      OK ... moving on.   Next up is up is our previous boat ... a Thunderbird 26. These are plywood hulls built to a Canadian design. On the real boat I removed the cabin and cockpit when I bought it and built a totally new cabin so if anyone thinks it doesn't look like a T-Bird ... that's why. I made this simple, smaller model (13") for one of our sons who was very fond of the boat as a child.   Carved from Renshape.     Cockpit details mostly fabricated using Arborite/Formica samples.  My wife can be very indecisive when we go to a hardware store to pick out a colour for the new kitchen so the salesman is always happy to load us up with lots of samples!    These are great for flat surfaces because of their perfect flatness, square and strong. CONTESSA 26's ... Two of them.   Our friends who owned it had split up and they both wanted one.    Both are 12" (maybe 13") models. The original is shaped as usual from Renshape I made a fiberglass mould from the first hull to save same time.   then used auto-body repair paste (Bondo) to make the duplicate.   Both friends are happy with their souvenir ... but still apart.   BENETEAU 51 IDYLLE   This yacht was owned by friends who have it in the charter business in the Caribbean.       The real one ... The hull was fashioned from Renshape (mostly) and generous applications of fiberglass paste and Bondo ... needs must.    My stash was getting very low so I was cobbling together all the biggest bits to create the mass I needed.   She wasn't a pretty baby. But with generous dollops of Bondo and my power sanders I soon had a suitable shape ... It is "close" to 1/2":1' scale but definitely built to scale.   I'll just put in couple of shots of the build ... I won't bore you with all the fabrication that was required but if anyone wants to see how pieces were made ... let me know.    LOTS of pictures available. Thanks for looking in ...   Frank    
 
 

I had a long break on my model (because other things took precedent) and I was beginning to feel guilty because I have said many times I will finish it.  Then I read others who are far more accomplished than I can ever dream to be had taken long sabbaticals on a model they started, some for many years.  But they always go back to finish.  You never fail until you stop trying.    

Very nice find!  Here is the link (note it is the 1812 edition)
 
Steel, David. 1812. The Elements and Practice of Naval Architecture; Or: A Treatise on Ship-Building, Theoretical and Practical, on the Best Principles Established in Great Britain. With Copious Tables of Dimensions, &c. Illustrated with a Series of Thirty-Nine Large Draughts, ... Steel and Company. https://books.google.com/books?id=TWsmw-QqvmAC    

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 7 – Hawse Timbers
Posted MSW 10/20/10
 
Once the basic centerline backbone of the ship was in place, I elected to tackle the forward timbers that fill the space between the stem and the first cant frames. I then planned to do the stern transoms, then the stern cant frames, then the fore cant frames, then the fore square frames and finally the aft square frames in that order working toward midship. I did not appreciate at the time that this plan started with the most difficult work then proceeded with steadily decreasing difficulty to the easiest work last. So, right into the deep end. . . .
 
The forward timbers sent me directly back to the computer to draft profiles and to loft the patterns from which they could be cut. Since the hawse timbers are butted together with the vertical joints essentially parallel to the keel, profiles for the outside edge of these joints could be constructed by transferring points from longitudinal body curves (waterlines, heights of breadth, etc.) on the plan view, down to their corresponding lines on the vertical, or sheer plane, view, then joining these points with curves. There are five of these joint lines on the outboard faces of these timbers. The first describes the outboard inside edge of the first timber, the second the outboard outside edge. The second also describes the inside edge of the second, the third its outside edge, and so on. Below is a picture of the patterns for these timbers showing how the numbered profiles form outside and inside edges of each outboard face.
 

 
The inboard edges presented a more difficult problem, and frankly, a more complex drafting solution, which I decided to skip. Instead, I conservatively estimated the shape of the inside edge, and decided to finalize these inside shapes during construction. The dotted lines in the above drawing represent these estimated lines.
 
The hawse timber profiles were cut out on the scroll saw and their forward outside edges roughly beveled. Inboard faces were even more roughly beveled leaving most of the work until after assembly. The 34.5 degree bevels at the foot of the timbers were done on the disk sander with the table set to that angle. This left a very accurate, flat, glass-smooth surface. I normally use 220 grit on the disk.
 
Before the first hawse pieces could be installed, it was necessary to make and erect the forward fashion pieces and the first cant frame, which the hawse timber feet butt against. The port assembly of these three timbers is shown below.
 

 
This part of the Admiralty framing draft was not well drawn and it is somewhat unclear how these pieces were to be arranged. With some help from the White book on Diana and some interpretation, I concluded that the bollards and first two hawse timers butt against the first fashion piece, the third against the second, and the fourth against the first cant frame. The fifth is really just a small triangular filling piece. This arrangement can be seen in some of the later pictures.
 

 
I will go into some detail on the drafting and making of cant frames later in the story, but these were the first to be made. Note in the above picture that the large clamped square at the left has its corner set at the corner of the first cant frame on the drawing and the top of that frame set at the same point on the corner of the square. This is one way that cant frames were positioned.
 
The vertical beveled faces of the two fashion pieces needed to be carefully surfaced and set up parallel to the keel so that they would match up to their correct hawse timber faces.
 
Unfortunately, I did not take pictures of each step of this construction, but below are some pictures taken after all were installed and rough faired, inside and out.
 

 
In the above picture and the next few, all the hawse timbers, the fashion pieces and the first cant frames have been installed and rough faired inside and out using some of the tools lying about in these pictures and also a rotary tool. The outside profile was faired first. Then based on the scantlings at each height, measured with the calipers lying on the board just off the starboard bow, the inside surface was shaped back.
 

 
This picture shows how these timbers fit together against their respective fashion pieces and the first cant frame. Before attaching each one to its neighbor, the air gap of about 2” was created by paring back each adjoining face from the foot up to a point somewhat below where the hawse holes will eventually be bored. When gluing adjoining pieces together and at their feet, temporary 2” spacers were inserted to maintain this gap.
 

 
The picture below is a closer view, showing a few things worth mentioning. The forward extension of the keelson is shown pinned in place temporarily, mainly to help bring the forward fairing to a neat closure with it. Also shown is the sturdy pine support, which will keep the fore part of the hull vertical throughout construction. A few little faults are also apparent. The burn marks from the rotary tool on the starboard side will eventually be covered with internal planking, after which they will no longer irritate me. There are a few exposed holes drilled for locating pins that can be seen, reflecting the difficulty I had in visualizing the final limits of these timbers. All in all, I was pretty happy when I reached this point.
 

 
The last picture shows the whole assembly on the starboard side after the addition of the second cant frame, which was directly bolted to the first to reinforce this whole front structure. The joints between futtocks in both these frames can be seen clearly here. They are chocked on the inboard side and will be strengthened with copper bolts.
 

 
It would be untrue to say all this went smoothly, and my box of scrapped parts will confirm this, but now that I’ve done it once, I think I understand the structure and it will be a lot easier next time.
 
This stage was reached in the middle of March 2010.
 
Ed
2013 Copyright Edward J. Tosti

Welcome back. We have a lot of work to do. Fortunately I have all the Naiad posts saved as Word files and all the associated images, so I will be putting up the entire 176 parts as soon as I can. The model is approaching completion, so I do not expect more perhaps 10-12 new posts, but there has been enough interest in the old posts to make the effort worthwhile. We will all need to be showing a lot of patience for awhile.
 
I will also opening a topic in the book section for "The Naiad Frigate - Volume I. There are some content updates I want to share there.
 
I will also be reposting the 1:96 Victory Build log, but that will be taking a back seat to Naiad for awahile.
 
Cheers,
 
Ed

Probably every modeller wants to build a model in the Navy Board style. In 2004 I started to model the American privateer Oliver Cromwell in 1/48 ( original built in 1776). Model is built on drawing from Harold Hahn's book "Ships of the American Revolution and their models". The model is not completed at this time.

I with its model of Oliver Cromwell at the Cup of Kiev in 2013

Thanks Danny.  I can barely see the laminations, even when I am looking for them.  My thoughts were that even if it looked badly I would have a perfect template to work from for the redo.  Thank god, that was not necessary.

Work in progres.

more screenshots from UE4...
 
 

made some modifications as per druxey's suggestions. indeed, shot locker hatches look better this way. only, now they're bigger. now that I look at it, how did one open them and reach into it for canon balls? (if that's what shot locker stands for?). the hatches are now almost as big as regular doors.
 
fore hold deck beams done as well. need to do those breasthooks (is it called that?) and fore mast step before planking...
 
cheers!
Denis
 

 
 
 

more progress. well with pump holes, some pillars, some lower deck beams for determining hold walls height, main mast and mizen mast steps.... now I saw that I need bolts on doors, duh! also, need to do lantern in magazine, and then I can go onto fore hold deck... feel free to point out any mistakes/omissions you see. 
 
cheers!
Denis
 

making progress in hold area... 
 
 

 
 
and some more screenshots from Unreal Engine 4.... starts to feel like walking through the ship ... ;-))

cheers!
Denis
 
 
 

stern frames done. next is the keelson and I guess I can start with inner planking... 
 

 
cheers!
Denis

frames finished, yay! well, almost. stern frames run away before the photoshoot :-))))
 
 

 
 
and some more screenshots from UE4 showing how big it is in full scale.  I've read somewhere how sailors back then were pretty short, like 1.6m, so I adjusted camera height accordingly. it must've been really impressive to see in person such a beast being built, let alone something bigger, like HMS Victory.... hope you like it!
 
 

 
cheers
Denis

thank you Don, that book is huge. I'm sure I'll find something there. although I can't do much regarding frame thicknesses anymore without getting everything out of alignment. but, I laid out deck plans on the model and frame thicknesses seem OK (more or less). it's some differences in hull breadth at some places that worry me. I'm pretty sure I did the drafting OK, but now deck width varies a bit along the length. should I deform my frames to be aligned to deck plans or should I stick with my drafting and adjust decks according to faired hull shape? I can easily manipulate that deck plan to fit perfectly inside the modeled frames. and that should be the correct approach, right? considering I haven't done complete drafting, where the decks would be adjusted as well...
 
here are the pics with decks laid out...
 
oh, and thank you all for the likes and comments. ;-)
 
cheers!
Denis