rwiederrich

Michael..fantastic job for sure..do you have the replacement port holes as well?

Looking at you railing again...I'm thinkin it's almost too perfect......   Hats off.

Rob

Dang Nils...looking good.  Love how you utilize wood, metal together.  Very clean.

Rob

I love these *exploded* assembly view models...definitely demonstrates the builders skill...and the vessels construction.

My oh my.

Rob

Amazing!

You solder the railing off ship...then mount when finished then paint?

Wonderful.

Rob

Absolutely amazing.  All the carvings are out of real wood!  Which museum's in Paris are fighting for this model for their collections?  I just want to know.

Almost makes me want to put all my model stuff away in a box and stick to telescope building.........Almost.

Stunning work!

Rob

Man.....    

I too checked out your site and am fully impressed.  The tooling is exquisite.  I do have a question.....are you building this model for personal satisfaction or is the build for a wealthy client?  Cuz...if all this effort is merely for self satisfaction...then I'm doubly impressed.

Permit me to stand in awe.......

Rob 

Very clever use of a device designed for a completely different purpose, it takes a particularly observant person to be able to see these sorts of opportunities.

 

The winches look really good.

 

Michael

Thanks Michael....

It is my nature to adapt or otherwise redesign another's engineering to suite my needs.  This habit saves me time and energy...mostly saves me effort to have to fabricate items totally from scratch.  I employ this habit in all my builds.

Thanks again for noticing.

Rob

No Roger...the smaller diameter is the portion of the mainmast that is within the doubling.  These masts were of the Forbes design topsail..so the extra long doubling was hooped as was the lower mast portion.  I have not added the cheeks or any parts of the trestle tree yet.

Not sure if I am going to first mount the mast then add the tops or build the mast entire then secure it to the deck.  I have to go through the fife rail and if the mast is not completed I can fix it to the deck and make sure the rake is correct...then I can slip the foot.boot over the mast and then slip the fife rail down and secure it in place.  This cannot be done if the top is installed first.

I'm planning out my next move.

Thanks for posting.

Rob

masts look really good.......the tape banding works very well.   I believe they call them woolings.

I just thought they were iron hoops, .....Interesting.

Rob

Fantastic work....

Yeah..this tape is so sticky and I put the roll on the lathe and cut a nice even strip...so all the bands would be exactly alike.

It paints well too...no one would know unless I told you.  Which I did.

Rob(thanks)

Then finished up with white paint.  I have to finish the (McKay mast...as it was dubbed at the time) next...it will be varnished not painted..

I still have to fashion the mast boots to finish off the deck and then add the fife rails.  this all has to happen before I afix the tops to the masts.

Rob

I sealed the tape and wood with a coat of epoxy paint.....let dry.

I further reduced the masts in length bringing them into scale.  I then cut and applied nuclear grade cloth tape(extremely sticky duct tape not available to the public) to simulate the banding and then applied the chafing band.

Worked on the masts today..

After turning them I tried several media for the bands with no good results.  here are the banded(pencil thus far) mast resting in place.

Extremely done.......fantastic work.

Rob

Was the question ever asked....when/how/who made the tooling for this particular build?  Looks like the tooling was designed for multiple replications of the build or similar builds.

Rob

Tarping the external boats adds depth, interest and detail to your build...and is a quick way to remedy the issue.  Or you can go the other direction and gut the interiors and scratch build their interiors to correct representations.

It's all about what makes the captain happy.

Rob

Thanks Mark. I appreciate that.

I tend to work outside the box.  My default descriptor is; I will use anything or any material to achieve my goals.  I build scale ship models and in doing so, there is no prerequisite demanding one only use a particular material...ie(wood). That further delineation would be a purist....and I ain't no purist.  I fully appreciate purists and those who are building to demonstrate actual building practices or historical construction techniques, however, even they have to compromise based on wood selection and metal choice(No one is using white oak, black iron or hemp).

I use the phrase, *Paint covers a multitude of sins*.  And it does... on  real ships it protects against the elements and seals the wood and its seams...that is why you never see(or rarely) unpainted full scale ships. Some Smaller vessels are varnished but that is another subject.

Rob

This model is getting better and better every update. I like the evolution of the model and your buildingskills. They both amaze me. Cheers

Thanks greatly Kees.  I do the best I can with whatever I find.

Rob

 

Background

 

I am a retired Professional Civil Engineer. I live with my beautiful wife in Ypsilanti Michigan. I am so glad to have access to this site.  I wanted to create a log of this particular build because it should be the culmination of the last 10 years of ship building. I am 71 and this might be my last ship and I would like to pass on the few things I've learned in the process.

 

I built all of my other ships as "legacy presents" for any of my children that wanted one. So far I've built the 1805 Swift  (I kept that one, I'll give it away after I finish the clipper), the Albatross (I gave that one to my 3rd oldest daughter and husband), the Mayflower  for my oldest son. I converted the Mayflower  into the Golden Hind  and then re-engineered it into Captain Hook's pirate ship the Jolly Roger for my 4th oldest son. I included hand painted sails and flags, hand painted exterior, and cabin and stern lighting with a battery pack in the display mount.

 

The one I am finishing up now is re-"back storied" version of the first Americas Cup Racer. That Billings Boat kit was given to me by a friend who found it in the trash.  I'm including a complete set of working navigational lights.  I am giving this to my fifth oldest son. I am going to keep the Clipper and my heirs can work out who gets it after I am dead.

 

Captains Log Flying Fish build-Preliminary Notes 

 

I am super stoked about this set of plans. I have to say though that this is the first set of instructions, unlike the 5 that I've previously done, that actually scared me when I first looked at them.

 

I really love the fact that everything is in nautical terms. I had to acquire a nautical dictionary to interpret them.They are completely dimensioned for the full size ship as researched and contain a lot of details I've never seen before except on board real square riggers.

 

I plan on rigging it with sails which is a level up in terms of the challenge, because I have to create the patterns to scale for each of those I plan to install. I am probably going to have some partially furled and some fully furled.  I have to do a little more research to learn what would have been a realistic sail arrangement so as to retain some semblance of what would have been done in a particular weather condition. I also think I am going to construct the fished fore and main lower masts.  That detail should look really cool.

 

The other thing is that the full cross section provides lower deck position and structural details which I am going to include with open companion ways and hatches to provide visual access to these lower areas of the ship.  I've already laid out the cutouts of the various bulkheads  where I plan to create those lower deck portions. I also think i am going to add ballast so it has a more realistic heft.

 

I haven't decided if I am going to build the ships boats from scratch yet.  I've done it before (hand carved oars, etc.) and completely outfitted them on the other models where appropriate. Done correctly they should be awesome. I'll wait and see. They are a long way off.

 

I've already started accumulating jewelry making tools to make the 1:96 scale iron work pieces. Because I am so slow, I figure that will add at least 3 months to the build time.

 

I plan on doing all of the spars, masts, crosstrees and mastheads, iron work, etc. installing all of the footropes and jackstays etc. first and set it all aside until they are ready for installation. This will give me a good way to check the dimensions of the sails I will be making. I plan to do the same with all of the other deck houses, and "on deck" equipment.  I should learn a lot through that process.The figurehead that comes with the kit is pretty wonky.  I have already redesigned one that I like better

 

Fantastic Hugh...I love Donald McKay clippers..He's my favorite builder of these magnificent ships .  I will be watching your log with anticipation.  Good luck and fair winds.

Rob

Thanks guys.  After establishing the width(1/4")...cutting out the middle to produce the 4 external legs/arms...it looked like the familiar triangle legged...or *A* frame legged crab winch.  See...that was the construction issue.  Making the legs all uniform.  This method provided me with a repeatable process and one that also left convincing results.

I also attempted to cast the leg frames , using light cured acrylic.  It worked, but the assembly was far more tedious and at this scale proved to complex and down right exhausting.

I thought my way out of a mess....I think.

I've concluded I will attempt to replicate the masts by casting them as well...if not for an experiment to see if it is possible.  If failure is my reward...then I will do it the hard way.  We'll see.

Rob

Well..here is a drawing of the original part and drawn on it are the portions cut away(In yellow) and the resulting shape of the part needed.

I had to cut using a hard cutting disc because the metal is hardened spring steel.

Clamp the part cut off the excess and then grind out the center....then clean up the edges with a fine grinding stone bur in my hand piece.

I didn't take any images of the actual process.

I then fashioned the drums from wood stock and some left over stanchions froma Revell 1/96 Cutty Sark....trimmed to fit and fashioned to mimic the control rod .

The gear reduction gear is fashioned from HO train accessory break kits for boxcars(the break wheels)

Then painted black to hide a multitude of sins.

Rob