el cid

Thanks for all the likes again.
Next is the gaff and boom addition. One of the instructions was to seize a length of line to the 1/8" double block under the main top. As I didn't allow for this when I put the block in place there wasn't anything to seize the line onto (maybe I am still missing something...) So I decided to cut the block off and re-install it with the additional line attached. I also realized (after a while scratching my head....) that I had forgotten the 2 blocks for the boom topping lifts. So they had to be fitted under the main top as well. Not the neatest job, but I do now fully appreciate the reason for adding all these blocks when the masts are build...lol. Hand drilling upwards under the top with the rigging in place was a bit of a challenge.
Here are a few photo's...
Cheers, Peter

Yeah, I know what you mean.  The bar has been set pretty high.  Still fun to learn new techniques from the masters here and attempt to emulate.

I think I'm gonna' throw my Syren kit in the river , box and all !

Hi,
I've managed to make a bit more progress......
I did a dry run with the skid beam assembly fitted to the quarter deck to check the height the supports needed to be trimmed to. This turned out to be a couple of mm shorter than the drawing on the plan. I came up with this aid to help remove the correct amount from each end and then sand the ends square.

 
The companionway guard rails could now be completed. I opened out the holes in the end stanchions so two threads could pass through, using one to 'serve' the other.

 

 
With the steam trunk fitted, plus the galley chimney (shown on the plan but not mentioned in the instructions!!!) it was time to fit the quarter deck.
 
The rear third of the deck glued in place, the weights used to hold things together while the glue dried giving the appearance of an 18th Century container ship.........

 
The skid beam assembly has been painted as have the various brace bitts.
 
The front of the deck, including these, was then glued onto place.

 

 

 

 
Next task - assembling the beakhead bulkhead prior to fitting....
 
Cheers,
 
Graham

With the majority of the small parts made, it was time to start mounting them along with the mast. Holes were pre drilled and brass brads were cut off short to be used as both physical and decorative fastners.
　

　

　
The mast had been pre fit and all that was left to do was to glue it into place. The boat was adjusted on the stand so that the water line was level. A brad was inserted into the bottom end of the mast, trimmed to a 1/4" and then sharpened. Glue (PVA) was applied to the inside of the mast hole and the mast wedges. Once again using the level, the rake of the mast was set so that the top of it fell directly over the center of the hold. With some force, the mast was pushed downward so that the sharpened brad sunk into the keelson and held it firmly. After the glue had dried, the boom was dropped over the mast. A block that rested on the lazy board of the Yawl davits was used to hold the boom at the correct height. Both were then temperately tied in place.
　

　
Rigging for the boom lift and fore stay were added to aid in holding the mast from flexing. At this point a pattern could be made for the sails.
　
Construction paper was used to make the patterns.
　

　
The next challenge was to learn how to sew. Although I had spent many hours watching my mother sew when I was (much) younger, I had never actually done it myself. Fortunately I have some life long friends that live a few miles away. Scott is a friend I have known since third grade. His wife Barb is a friend I have known since high school. They both became high school sweethearts and eventually married. I had the honor of being a groomsman in their wedding. Over the years we enjoyed our shared interest of boating, fishing and crabbing while dreaming of living in a waterfront home on the Chesapeake Bay. Seven years ago, Scott retired early and he and Barb finally made the dream come true when they purchased a home in Cambridge. My wife Jan and I followed four years later when she retired from the school system. But I digress.
　
I gave Barb a call and she was more than willing to show me the basics of sewing and lend me her machine. After practicing on some scrap material, I jumped right in and produced the sails. The instructions told me to sew lines an 1 1/2" apart in the sail. They should follow the top edge of the sail and be sewn with a darker thread. This is supposed to simulate the seams that would be in a sail that is as large as the ones Skipjacks have. The mast hoops would then be sewn at the intersections of those lines and the side of the sail that abuts the mast. In hind sight, I wish that I would have sew the lines closer together because they only created 10 intersections. That only allowed me to use 10 mast hoops. All the pictures I have seen of the mast hoops on Skipjacks shows at least 14 or 15 of them.....OH WELL, what's done is done.
　

　

　
Reef points were sewn in and trimmed as well.
　

 
Reed
　
　
　
　
　
　

Although the kit supplied me with a hardware pack, not everything was included. It would be up to me to make a number of metal parts. I also decided not to use most of the parts supplied because they were intended to be painted and I wanted them in bright brass. The first thing I attempted was the roller assembly. Per the instructions, I used a 1/4" brass tube to make the main roller. a 3/16" dowel was inserted into it and then it was cut to lenght. The dowel gave a place for a couple of brads to be inserted into the ends of the roller and act as attachment points. Cutting sheet brass, bending, drilling and soldering it was a challenge as I have never worked in this medium before. Let alone making very small things out of it. Several attemps were made before reasonable success was achieved.
　
Here are some of the parts before assembly.
　

　
Final assembly after the painting was finished.
　

　
The list of small parts that needed to be made is long. Not choosing to use the parts from the kit made it even longer. Here's a list of most of them.
Bowsprit fitting, bowsprit gammon, mast fitting, bobstay and deadeye chain plates, rudder horns, steering rods, davits for the yawl, the winders "A" frame, turnbuckels, boom fittings for attaching blocks, jib and main sheet travelers, dredges, deadeyes and blocks.
　
Some of but not all of the many parts.
　

　
This is how I made the turnbuckels. They turned out "OK". I think I can do better now that I've seen some of the techniques used on this site. One of these days I may choose to remake them.......maybe.
　

　
After gaining some confidence building the smaller parts, I moved on to the davits. They are seen with the bowsprit fitting and bobstay chain plates. I made a simple jig to bend the davits. I will probably need to adjust the bend to get them to sit correctly on the transom.
　

　
Next was the dredges. There is generally a bit more bracing on them but I think that these are a fair representation. I may try to add some teeth to the bottom bar. The soldering iron I have isn't very good. It takes a long time to get the metal hot enough to melt the solder. These larger pieces seem to wick the heat away. I switched over to a small torch but then I ended up melting the other joints lose. Eventually I figured out that wrapping a wet piece of paper towel around them would keep them cool.
 
The kit gave me wedding vail to act as the chain netting on the back of the dredges. I have to paint it black and then figure out how to attach it. The tiny split rings they gave me are going to be very difficult to use. I'll be looking for an alternative method. Suggestions are always welcome.
　

　
The "A" frame has been the most frustrating part for me to build.The first one turned out so bad I just threw it away. The second one has turned out better but I'm still not happy with it. For some reason they don't have brass in 1/8" angle at either of the hobby stores I shop at and I don't really have a good way to make it. I decided to use 1/8" square tube even though that's not what the winder is made of. This time I made a jig to make the cuts. I used a piece of 1/16" rod that was bent and inserted it into the brass tube. This made holding the joint together much easier as it was soldered. It's also very strong.
　

 

 

 

 

 

 

　
Besides not haveing the correct material for the legs, I couldn't get a piece narrow enough for the top bar. Another problem was previously stated. I think the winder is a little bit to big. Even though I built the frame to the size stipulated in the plans, I think it's to short. When I look at the picture of Lady Katies frame, it appears to be higher than the engine box. For now I've set it aside in order to address other issues.
 
Reed.
　
　
　
　

Is time to install the shrouds but am not going to follow the kits instructions. It suggests to fix the deadeyes on the chainplates with a copper wire which will be at the inserted into a 1mm hole on the hull. Its not practical... its not easy... it doesnt look nice.... and it isnt strong enough. (see instr. picture)
 
And mainly its not the way is done on the real ship! (See picture underneath)
Am going to do it as the real ship.

Progress made.... rigging is slow... but I enjoy it.

Time to put some photo's over here. I made a careful start on this beast. Like i said before, i'm used to build bigger scale, 1/32 airplane models, so this will be my first ship building in plastic medium, i hope everything will turn the way i like it.
 
There's enough instructions to get lost on this one.
 

 
The hull is separated into two half's, which both are nicely moulded, some seam lines need to be removed, but it's no difficult job to do.. The fit of the two half's is fairly good.
 

 
I just wanted to know for sure how this kit would fit, so i did a dry-fit of both half's and the upper deck.
 

 

 

 
Also the two inner (i don't know how to call them ) walls gave a very good fit into the hull.
 

 
Dry-fit of the upper deck gave a good alignment, so for this i was happy.
 

 

 

 

 
Time to glue the two half's together.
 

 
When the gued is dry, i will glue two nuts into the hull, for later connection on a base plate. Also i will use epoxy glue into the separation seam for a secure connection.
 

 
Indeed, yes, i put in all my models my signature and starting date of the project, let's say it's for good luck...........
 
Ok guy's so far so good, it's not much, but it's a start.
 
Regards
 
Danny

I don’t know if I’ve posted this before.
A bit of American Heritage 
Ships of John Paul Jones's squadron pass the river Forth estuary. Later, they were involved in the battle of Flamburgh Head.
L to R Le Cerf , Pallas, Bonhomme Richard and Vengeance, September 1779
Jim
PS the ships are my own interpretation.
 

I was asked if I could put up a 'How I do it' series 
here it is hope it helps
jim

Mark,
 
Thanks.
 
The 3D model is about a gigabyte (for comparison, the 3D CAD file for my house is only about 20 megabytes). I have included details down to 3/16 inch (1:1 scale) - primarily fasteners such as screws and rivets. But there were a few places where I omitted some of the tiny details (screw threads and some very small rivets) in order to keep the file sizes smaller.
 
I put in all the details with the hope of someday generating walk around videos.
 
I have started generating 2D files. The forward superstructure file took several days to generate and the resulting file is 345 megabytes. After cleaning it up to remove unwanted lines and duplicate line segments it should be quite a bit smaller. But it is going to take a long time to generate all of the files.
 
Right now I am taking a break from CAD and I am building a 1:48 scale model of a Baltimore clipper revenue cutter.
 
Phil

I can't tell from this angle, but if a gun were set there wouldn't the barrel need to be elevated a fair amount for the gun to clear everything forward of it?   Even so, ports like that probably wouldn't have had guns permanently installed there but the forward most would be moved.  It's a pretty tight fit up there as it is without adding guns.  In many ways, it's like the stern chase ports on some ships.  Not filled normally.
 
As for the seats of ease in use when firing the guns... nope.   If it's in the middle of battle or a chase, the men would have been at their stations.

So many bits and pieces to make.
The mast was planed down from a 3/4' x 3/4" piece of stock into a shaft that was approx. a 1/2" on one end and a 1/4" on the other. The base of it was inserted into the hole in the deck that it will reside and the top of the deck marked on it. Eight flats were then planed on the bottom three inches. Mast wedges were glued in place so that the tops of them would be above the deck when installed. They would be trimmed to a final fit at a later date. It's hard to see them but if you look close, you can.
　

　

　
Mast hoops were next.
Long thin strips were soaked in ammonia, wrapped around a half inch dowel, clamped and left until they were dry. I had a lot of fails just to get the ones I did. So many of the strips just cracked before I could wrap them. Others didn't get wrapped tight enough. The ones that worked the best were like the one in the lower right part of the picture.
　

　

　

　
The coils were separated into pieces that made more than a full turn around the dowel. They were held tightly around the dowel again and an angle cut was made across both pieces where they overlapped. Next, they were held down on a flat surface so that the cut ends would come together. CA was used to glue the ends.....and my fingers. After they were sanded, they were dowsed in CA. again to insure they would stay together and be strong. These are what I ended up with. They are not all perfect but the imperfections shouldn't be as visible when they're in place on the mast.....I hope.
　

　
The boom was also made. I used the 3/8" dowel that was supplied in the kit. A flat was planed on two opposing sides of the dowel on one end. Boom jaws were shaped and then glued to the flats. A final sanding blended them into the boom nicely. A number of fittings were attached to the boom. Fairleads on the underside for the boom hoists, a cleat on the side, near the end to tie off the boom lift line and a couple "n" shaped wires that will be used to attach the sail.
I don't have a picture of it as It was being produced.
　
I moved on to building the winder based on the plans provided. I was given two sewing machine bobbins. They were to be cannibalized and used as part of the reels. The picture shows most of the parts before assembly.
　

　
Now comes the first time I would need to make something out of metal. I had to make three "clamps" to hold down the reel and drive shafts to the frame.
　
The kit came with an assortment of different metal supplies. A 5" x 6" piece of aluminum sheet, a 3/32 steel rod, a couple of very soft aluminum rods and a few other odds and ends. Based on a decision I had made earlier as to how I wanted the boat finished, it was all replaced with brass. And besides, the learning curve was going to burn up a lot more material than the kit gave me.
　
To make the clamps, I cut a strip of sheet brass with a heavy duty pair of scissors. Then it was wrapped around a piece of the brass rod that was going to be used for the shafts. It was then bent with a pair of pliers to form wings. Holes were drilled in each wing. The ends were filed and they were attached to the frames with brass brads and CA.
　
Here's my winder.
　

　
Here's a picture of Lady Katie's winder, frame and one of her dredges.
　

　
They don't really look that much alike. It will be along time (maybe never) until I can make things like that look realistic.
　
This is one of the things I decided to try and make better after seeing some of the work on this site. Just recently, I added control handles to the winder. They are a little wide for the scale. I also think that the whole winder is a little on the big side. It probably should have been a 1/4" smaller in all directions. This is going to have an effect later in the build.
　

　
Two more pieces of rub rail needed to be added. One goes against the existing rub rail in the area of the rollers and the other goes just below it at the water line. They are meant to protect the hull from being damaged when the dredge is hauled in. I made a simple jig to set a bend in them so they would be easier to attach.
　

　
While waiting for the rub rails to dry, I mounted the bowsprit, the knight heads and the Sampson post.
　
With all the woodworking done, it was time to paint the hull.
　
Reed.
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

As I said at the beginning of the log, I'm almost done with the build. The model is complete with sails and most of the rigging. A few more things like hanging the Yawl and permanently mounting deck fixtures still need to be done. Discovering this site and seeing the amazing work of others has inspired me to want to make some changes that will improve the quality of my build. In the up coming posts I will address some of those changes.
 
With that said, I'll add another post today in order to keep this log moving along.
 
Here are a few more pictures of the progress. They give a little better view of the rails, roller location and some dry fit parts.
　

　

　

　
The aft section of the railing was added. Once again brads were used to act as stanchions.
　

　
Once again, dry fit parts were put in place for the benefit of the pictures.
　

　

　
There was still a number of small bits and pieces to build. The Yawl boat and it's engine was a couple of them. The same building process as the Skipjack was used to make the Yawl. A keelson with a bow stem, strong back and a transom was produced. Sides were bent around around it. The chine logs and frames were glued in place. Then the bottom and the deck was planked.
　

　

　

　

　
As with any model, ones skill level and/or personal desire allows you to make things as real looking as you want....or not. This is were things start to get tricky for me. Even though I have a shop full of tools and machinery, I don't have all the miniaturized equipment necessary to build exact replicas of various items. At this point in my foray into model building, I am not willing to spend the thousands of dollars to procure them. If I were to buy something, I think that the most usefull tool I could get would be a small drill press with a milling attachment. Any suggestions?
 
During the build, I ran across another model Skipjack. It was in a seafood store and was built by the father of the owner. It was also the same "Why River Model" as I was building. This builder used a "V8" engine from a plastic car model kit in his Yawl boat. In my opinion, it looked out of place. I contemplated my options. A plastic engine was out. A box that cover the engine (this is how most Yawl boats are) was also rejected. I chose to follow the lead in the guide book. A "mock up" of an engine would be built.
　
All the parts before assembly.
　

　
Assembled.
　

　
And painted. I'm happy with it.
　

　
Dry fit into the Yawl.
　

　
The completed Yawl.
　

　

　
As cool looking as it is, that rudder and tiller is going to have to come off. I have yet to see a real Yawl that has them. I would like this model to be as close to historically accurate as possible. Steering was accomplished a couple of ways. Use of the Skipjacks rudder was one. Another was to adjust the angle of the Yawl on the transom.
　
Lady Katie's Yawl.
　

　
Nathan's Yawl.
　

　
Neither one of them have rudders. They both have boxes that cover the engine. And yes, both their engines are bigger than the four cylinder I built. I think that not having the box adds a little more interest..... Anyway..... they might have been doing maintenance and forgot to put it back on. Or maybe the engine was running hot so they took it off to help with cooling.....LOL.
　
I'll need to add some padding to the bow as well as attachment points for the blocks.
 
Now I'll get back to producing the next post. I have a lot of pictures to sort through and up load to Imgur.com. Imgur and Tinypic are the hosts I use. Tinypic was the first one I used. It's a part of Photobucket. When Photobucket tried to change their site to a pay to use site a couple years ago, I went looking and found Imgur. I like it a little better. Since then, Photobucket has gone back to it's original format and restored access to my pictures.  A lot of these build pictures were already there. That's why I'm posting from both sites.
 
reed
　
　
.
　
　
　
　
　

The hull was now completed and ready for things like the Log rails, railings, cutwater, head rails, bowsprit, and a few others to be added.
　
First the cutwater was produced from the template supplied with the kit. Some modifications were made because of inconsistencies. It was then glued into place. The log rail was cut to length and scuppers were sanded into them with a dowel that was wrapped in sandpaper. The height was doubled for a short distance both fore and aft to support the railing. A rubbing strake was applied from the cutwater to the stern. It was held on with glue and pins that were cut short. The pins were left in place to simulate nails. Supports for the head rails were notched into the cutwater and then the head rails were fastened.
　

　
Supports for the dredge rollers were cut into the log rail at approximately amidships. The log rails height was once again increased, both fore and aft of the roller location. The first row of rails were added using temporary blocks as spacers and brads for stanchions. CA was used to lock them in place. All of this work can be seen in the following pictures.
　

　

　

　

　
Along the way other items were made.
　
The barn door rudder.

　
The steering box.

　
Hold covers.

　
Forward hatch cover.

　
Winch engine box.

　
Bowsprit with walking boards.

　
And the cabin.

　
More to follow.
　
Reed
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

Its happening all over....They are pretty much stopping production all around for the smooth all-cotton Corrodonant threads.  Most people are buying the acrylic and poly stuff now for crochet.  Its a shame.  Its too expensive to make and fewer and fewer people are enjoying that hobby now.  The remaining companies who do sell it have a poor quality product as well.   Lizbeths and Aunt Lidias are a fuzzy lumpy mess.   Valadini is very fuzzy with limited sizes etc.  The remaining stuff from DMC is too soft and loosely laid up.  The most promising 100% cotton product I found was Aurifil.  If you insist on an all natural product give this a try.  
 
Use the size 50 wt, 40wt, and 28 wt.   Stay away from the 12wt thread.  Its expensive and is too fuzzy.  But the other smaller sizes are pretty good.
 
Over the last few months I have bought and tried every commercial source because my current supplier has raised their prices by 40%.  So the market at least in the US is getting tough.  Import taxes have killed this cotton/linen non-synthetic product.  Its mostly made in Europe.  You can buy Anchor crochet thread in Europe however.   It used to be very good.   Dont know if they also stopped making some sizes.  Its put out by DMC as well, but not available in the US.
 
I have contracted with another custom MFG of threads, this time in Upsate NY.  You tell them what you want and they make it.   Core spun..Mercerized.....what percentage of cotton.....what percentage of poly ....what color pantone swatch to dye it, etc.
 
Unfortunately you must order a ton of it as usual.   They said their straight up cotton or linen will be fuzzy too!!!  Samples proved this was the case.  So I have ordered a cotton/poly test run in four sizes.  So far the results are excellent.  Here is an example of my first test with the stuff where I developed the recipes to make all the rope sizes I need to offer.  No fuzz.....it feels more natural than pure POLY like Gutterman.  It doesnt unravel at all.   So I may switch to using this "Syren" Brand thread or at least offer both in the near future.   I sent Rusty some to test on his Longboat project.  We shall see.
 

So for the time being I am sticking with my current supplier.
 
 
 

'Over There'

The first deck beams were installed and created the opening for the hold. I found cutting the beams to be quite difficult. They all needed to have compound miters on both ends as well as on the end of the notch that sat over the shelf. I came up short on a number of beams, even after several attempts. The only saving grace was that the beams made good contact with the shelf. This allowed them to be solidly glued into place. I was banking on the hopes that the decking would span the problem areas. The beams also needed to have a slight curve on the top of them. A block plane was used to fair the curve and then they were cleaned up with a sanding block. A bulkhead was added forward of the hold planking.

　
More beams were added as well as framing for the hold, cabin and accesses.
　

The directions asked for another bulk head to be added. I don't know why because no decking was to be installed inside the cabin and it wouldn't be seen. I did it anyway.

　
With the beaming completed, it was time to move on to the deck planking. I realized that a block would need to be added for support at the transom.

This is where there was an issue with the kit. There wasn't enough/any material for the decking. I double checked the materials list and then the model to make sure I hadn't inadvertently used the wrong material somewhere. I hadn't. A nice piece of clear White Pine was found in my stock pile of random materials. It was ripped down to the appropriate size and planking commenced.
　
I started just to port of center on the forward part of the deck. I wanted a full piece along the starboard side of the hatch. Working to starboard and then aft, the planking was cut to fit around the various openings. As mentioned earlier, some of the beams didn't fit tightly to the sides. A small wedge was needed to close the gap in several of those locations so the decking would have good suport. A very important detail was indicated on the decking with a red sharpie. That is the location that the center of the mast will be placed. Soild blocking was added between the beams in that area to insure a tight solid fit. Losing track of that was not something I wanted to happen.
　

　
Straight pins were cut off short and used as nails in order to hold the planking in place while the glue (Carpenters yellow) dried. I wasn't concerned with the holes they made because the deck was to eventually be filled, sanded and painted.
　

　
Trimed, filled and sanded.
　

　

Planking the hull was fairly straight forward. Only a small amount of prep was required before the planking could begin.
The first step was to sand a slight bevel on both sides of the keelson. I scribed a line down the center and then used a long sanding block to produce the bevels. The block was about 8" long with paper glued to one end. I let the end that was paper free ride along the chine as I sanded the keelson. When the bevels were complete, I turned the sander around and sanded the chine until it had a slight angle as well.
 
Here's a picture of some of the sanding blocks I used during the built. One of my favorite is an old finger nail file of my wifes.
 

 
After finishing the sanding, I used a sliding T bevel to transfer the angle of the transom and the keelson to a small home made miter box. From there on it was cut, slide to the stop and cut again....repeatedly. Since I was letting the planking run long, it was not neccesary to square the ends between cuts. This way either end would work and I was able to pick the best cut for the joint. The cut for the joint should actually have been a compound miter but since the pieces were so thin, it didn't really matter. In the end, the joint would be covered by the keel anyway.
　
My home made miter box. Quick and easy to make from scraps.
 

　
In addition to the planking, a "chunk" needed to be glued to the keelson at the bow. It will eventually be faired into the stem and keel as well as forming part of the hull.
 

 

　
After triming the planks, sanding them and fairing the chunk a bit, the rudder post, stem and the keel were attached.
 

 

　
The rudder box opening and the rest of the keel were added.
 

　
A stand was made for further construction.
 

　
The rudder box was constucted and installed along with the sister keelson and some ceiling beams for the hold.
 

　
Planking the hold.  I planked the hold because the hatch covers will be removable and the inside visible.
 

　
The deck beams and framing for the holds will be next.
　
Reed
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

"When I opened the box I found a jumble of sticks. They were not separated or packed by size."
 
LOL...I have a faint recollection of a Mad Magazine (or similar) cartoon of a kid opening a model kit and finding the same.  And funny you mention Ben Franklin, a favorite five and dime when I was growing up in Northern Virginia.  Was telling my wife about it the other day (she from Texas had never heard of it).  Hadn't thought of that store for years and actually believed it long defunct.
 
Looking forward to following your build.
 
Cheers,
 
Keith

"When I opened the box I found a jumble of sticks. They were not separated or packed by size."
 
LOL...I have a faint recollection of a Mad Magazine (or similar) cartoon of a kid opening a model kit and finding the same.  And funny you mention Ben Franklin, a favorite five and dime when I was growing up in Northern Virginia.  Was telling my wife about it the other day (she from Texas had never heard of it).  Hadn't thought of that store for years and actually believed it long defunct.
 
Looking forward to following your build.
 
Cheers,
 
Keith

very nice job on the yards Jesse........more times than not,  I use Ca on the brass too.

Hello all, I'm Reed and this is my first wooden ship build and log.
Let me start by telling you the story of how I ended up building this model. My wife and I retired in 2016 and moved to a new home in Cambridge Md. We decided to decorate our home in a nautical/nature theme. We wanted to use decorations that reflected the history and lifestyle of the eastern shore. It was decided that a model sailboat would look good sitting on the mantel. Naturaly, a Skipjack was the model of choice. We spent a good bit of time perusing many of the antique and novelty stores that are so prevelant in our area. There were always a few models for sale but rarely were they Skipjacks. The Skipjacks that we did find were usually folk art/abstract rendisions of the vessel and were very expensive. We wanted a model that was as close to an actual working Skipjack as possible. After seeing a very nicely done model of a Skipjack in a restaurant window, it occured to me that I could build my own. After all, I'm a retired cabinetmaker with over half a century of experience under my belt. "How hard can it be?" , I thought to myself. Well, I was soon to find out.
　
A short time later, I stumbled across a model Skipjack kit at the local Ben Franklin. I bought it for $125.00. It's rated at a "intermediat to advanced" skill level. Since I don't have any experience with other kits, I didn't know what to expect. I will give you a quick review of what I found upon opening the box. First, the kit is made by "Wye River Models" which is a local company located on Kent Island. When I opened the box I found a jumble of sticks. They were not separated or packed by size. There was a materials list that said what each size of wood was to be used for. There was also several sheets of patterns, a bag of pot metal and plastic hardware, two coils of cordage, some aluminum rods, a square of sheet metal, some sail cloth and a few other odds and ends. A nicely done book "The Skipjack" by Steve Rodgers & Patricia Staby-Rodgers was also included to act as instructions. I feel that the book is more of a guide than step by step directions. There were no pre-cut or laser eched anything. Thats when I started to realize that it might be a little harder than I thought. I will add additional commentary regarding the kit along the way.
　
I have put this build log in the SHIP MODEL KITS section because it says "KIT"on the box. After looking through both build sections, I feel that this may be more of a "SCRATCH BUILD" than a kit. I'll let the moderators make the final decision if one is needed.
　

　
This model isn't one particular boat, rather a rendition of a Skipjack that is built as one of the many would have been built, by ratio. Concidering that there were approximately a thousand of these boats built by differant builders and over the course of sixty years or more, they were not all identical. They varied in length by anything from a foot to over ten. The layout of holds, hatches, rails and rudders (amoungst other things) also varied considerably as well as the construction techneques used to build them. One of the advantages of living in Cambridge is that there are a number of Skipjacks in the area. The Nathan and the Lady Katie are both afloat and docked in town. There are two more that are on land and being restored but I don't know their names. Most recently, the Martha lewis (sister ship of the Lady Katie and the Rosie Parks) was brought to town for what I believe to be repairs and restoration.Two more are just down the road in Woolford. The maritime museam in St. Michaels is a short drive away. They have the fully restored Rosie Parks and at least one other as well as a wonderful exhibit that tells the history of these vessels. It has been a great advantage as I have gone to see these boats on multiple occasions in order to study the fine points of their builds.
　

 

 

　
I actually started building this model in the early months of 2017. I spent many hours working on it as the winter dragged on. When spring came, I put the model aside in favor of outdoor activities. My intent was to start again the following winter (2018) but my wife had other plans for my time. Constructing the cabinets for and remodeling the kitchen took up that time. Once again warm weather arrived and the model remained on a shelf collecting dust. Shortly after last Christmas, I found myself with free time and started back on the build. I have, up until this point, completely built this model on my own and am currently almost done building it. However, after recently discovering this site, I have now decided that some things need to be done better. Using my newly developed skills and some of the techniques exhibited here, I hope to bring the quality of the model "up a notch"....or two. I'm looking forward to the opinions and help I know I can get here.
  
　
　

They aren't "bulkheads" or frames. They are station lines. The stations are depicted in a standard draft at each station line on the baseline. (The lines pictured were drawn for the purpose of modeling and have some modeling-specific information in them, however.) These station lines, together with the other lines in the draft, define the shape of the vessel. The table of offsets, correspondingly, defines the dimensions of the lines. While, in smaller craft particularly, frames may coincide with station lines, that is more a matter of coincidence than anything else. In a larger, heavier vessel, such as the one above, were every frame to be represented with a station line, the drawing would be so full of lines as to be unreadable and for the purposes of defining the shape of the hull, unnecessary.
 
Station lines have nothing to do with the construction details of the vessel.  The construction of a vessel is addressed by the construction drawings, if there are any. (And in period vessels, there rarely are, as such details were left to be worked out by the master shipwright.)  If you want to build a model using bulkheads, stations may be used to define your bulkheads.  If you wish to build a model with frames the way the vessel was actually built, as with an Admiralty model, you will have to research the methods of construction at the time the vessel was built and apply that research to determine how the parts were fashioned to build it.  The Admiralty had detailed rules for construction, sometimes called "scantlings," which you can look up in resource materials.  These scantling rules dictate, based on the overall size of a vessel, the size of framing timbers and frame spacing, the thickness of planking, and on and on.
 
The task of translating "lines," as above, to patterns for the actual parts of a vessel is called "lofting," because it was usually done on a wooden floor in a loft at the shipyards. Using the scale lines drawings and the scantling rules, the loftsman draws all the parts of the vessel full-scale and "takes up" (transfers) these "loftings" to create full-sized patterns which are then used to define the shape of all the parts that go into the vessel. If one wishes to build a model of the vessel with the lines above, they will have to "loft" the construction drawings at the desired scale and work from those in constructing the model "Admiralty style" in the same way the full-sized vessel was built. (Which, without the actual prototype available, will always be an educated approximation, since the form of the parts was often dictated by the size and shape of the raw wood available to the builders at the time.) 
 
A command of lofting is essential to using lines drawings to create scale models.  With it, one has a huge selection of vessels from which they might select a subject to model. Without it, they are left to those relatively few subjects for which plans for modelers have been drawn up and offered for sale. (This is one reason why so many models of the same few ships keep getting built from commercially produced kits. Therein lies the distinction between "kit building" and "model making.") A good basic explanation of lofting is contained in Howard I. Chapelle's book, Boatbuilding. A far more comprehensive treatment of all aspects of lofting, including, for example, the methods for determining the degree of bevel on each frame of a hull, are contained in Alan Vaites' book, Lofting. (Both are readily available.)
 
The common use of lines drawings is relatively recent, coming into use sometime in the Seventeenth Century, IIRC. Like all drafting, naval architectural drafting is a "language" which must be learned. The Lords of the Admiralty and the other bureaucrats who decided which vessel would be built were often, like most laymen, completely incapable of "reading" a set of lines on a sheet of paper. This why the Admiralty models came into being... to provide a readily understandable three-dimensional representation of the vessel proposed to be built to people who were unable to translate a two-dimensional set of lines to three-dimensions in their heads.