JerseyCity Frankie

Roger,
 
His follow on book "Easy on the Helm" is also fun reading. I'm not sure of it's applicability to gaff cutter modeling, but it's interesting and insightful. I need to dig it out again.
 
Never sailed a gaffer? If you're ever in Seattle, drop me a line (I know a guy . . . .).
 
Seriously, one of the joys of sailing traditional rigs and building models of traditional rigs is the synergy it brings to both hobbies. I've had countless experiences on Amie that helped me build a better model, and countless times my (limited) ship model experience has helped me become a better sailor.
 
That's why I strongly recommend going aboard and (if possible) take a short sail on a traditional boat. I believe you can build and rig a better model because of it.
 
Thanks!
Harvey

I’m familiar with Keuffel and Esser, they used to have a manufacturing plant in the town adjacent to my home in Jersey City, Hoboken, N. J. The Hoboken historical Museum put on an exhibition of the history of K &E a few years ago, on display were hundreds of K&E instruments of every description. It was a great exhibit! http://hoboken.pastperfectonline.com/bysearchterm?keyword=Keuffel+%26+Esser+Co.
 
but I am fed up with proprietary lead-holder compasss, as I said. I find them to be too much trouble. You are right though, I should admit defeat and just live with the necessity of stocking a tiny transparent tube of rediculous short bits of lead.  But I feel it shouldn't be a daunting engineering challenge to fix a pencil to a compass frame, after placing men on the moon I think we can handle that much. 
Would LOVE a K&E proportional divider but they are very dear on eBay. A quick glance shows them at $95. to $200. , too expensive for a cheapo like me. 

I’m looking for “The Perfect Compass”. I’ve never found one that suited my specifications for “The Perfect Compass”. The world is encircled by inadequate compasses. If you drew a pie chart, using a disappointing compass, you could show that there’s only a tiny slice devoted to “serious compasses” and the rest of the pie is made up of cheap dollar store flimsy compasses, often made of plastic. 
the “serious compasses” are nearly as bad as the cheap flimsy ones in terms of performance. 
My requirements for a compass are simple. I need it to stay in the adjustment I set it to. Most compasses “open up” as you draw the circle and you only notice when the two ends fail to meet at the completion of the circle. 80% of the time I’m using my compass as a divider, for measuring, and this tendency for the tool to lose its adjustment mid-use means I’m treating the tool like a glass of nitroglycerin as I move it from the thing I’m measuring to the place I’m recording the measurement, I never trust the compass to remain fixed and unaltered. For this I guess you have to hav a Screw-adjusting Compass.
the other requirement is that I want the compass to allow me to use a pencil in it, not tiny awkward proprietary bits of naked lead I have to keep in stock and endlessly fuss with.
 
 You can certainly find compasses that accept an ordinary pencil.
and you can certainly find high-end compasses that are Screw-Adjusted. But apparently you can’t get both features in the same quality instrument. 
This one is my favorite, as you can see it’s ancient. Modern versions are available but the metal they use to make them is so malleable it’s FLOPPY.

I had high hopes for this one but the plastic sleeve that holds the pencil is elastic! The pencil isn’t really fixed and unmovable.

Same problem with this one. Everything is fine but for the means of attaching the pencil, the pencil flexes in the joint. Sigh.
 

You will have to imagine me shouting comically “One hundred and thirty seven dollars”?!?!  Lol, too expensive. I’m too cheap to spend $100 for nearly anything in my life! 

You will have to imagine me shouting comically “One hundred and thirty seven dollars”?!?!  Lol, too expensive. I’m too cheap to spend $100 for nearly anything in my life! 

We can all be very glad of an accident of history: the waist of most sailing ships has very few delicate protuberances. So it’s relatively easy to pass a securing strap or ribbon across the center of the deck and the bulwarks prevent it from squashing cannons or whatever. So many models can be snugged down via a single strap athwartships and this provides more security than relying entirely on the pedestal mounts or cradle the model sits on at home.

I’m looking for “The Perfect Compass”. I’ve never found one that suited my specifications for “The Perfect Compass”. The world is encircled by inadequate compasses. If you drew a pie chart, using a disappointing compass, you could show that there’s only a tiny slice devoted to “serious compasses” and the rest of the pie is made up of cheap dollar store flimsy compasses, often made of plastic. 
the “serious compasses” are nearly as bad as the cheap flimsy ones in terms of performance. 
My requirements for a compass are simple. I need it to stay in the adjustment I set it to. Most compasses “open up” as you draw the circle and you only notice when the two ends fail to meet at the completion of the circle. 80% of the time I’m using my compass as a divider, for measuring, and this tendency for the tool to lose its adjustment mid-use means I’m treating the tool like a glass of nitroglycerin as I move it from the thing I’m measuring to the place I’m recording the measurement, I never trust the compass to remain fixed and unaltered. For this I guess you have to hav a Screw-adjusting Compass.
the other requirement is that I want the compass to allow me to use a pencil in it, not tiny awkward proprietary bits of naked lead I have to keep in stock and endlessly fuss with.
 
 You can certainly find compasses that accept an ordinary pencil.
and you can certainly find high-end compasses that are Screw-Adjusted. But apparently you can’t get both features in the same quality instrument. 
This one is my favorite, as you can see it’s ancient. Modern versions are available but the metal they use to make them is so malleable it’s FLOPPY.

I had high hopes for this one but the plastic sleeve that holds the pencil is elastic! The pencil isn’t really fixed and unmovable.

Same problem with this one. Everything is fine but for the means of attaching the pencil, the pencil flexes in the joint. Sigh.
 

I’m looking for “The Perfect Compass”. I’ve never found one that suited my specifications for “The Perfect Compass”. The world is encircled by inadequate compasses. If you drew a pie chart, using a disappointing compass, you could show that there’s only a tiny slice devoted to “serious compasses” and the rest of the pie is made up of cheap dollar store flimsy compasses, often made of plastic. 
the “serious compasses” are nearly as bad as the cheap flimsy ones in terms of performance. 
My requirements for a compass are simple. I need it to stay in the adjustment I set it to. Most compasses “open up” as you draw the circle and you only notice when the two ends fail to meet at the completion of the circle. 80% of the time I’m using my compass as a divider, for measuring, and this tendency for the tool to lose its adjustment mid-use means I’m treating the tool like a glass of nitroglycerin as I move it from the thing I’m measuring to the place I’m recording the measurement, I never trust the compass to remain fixed and unaltered. For this I guess you have to hav a Screw-adjusting Compass.
the other requirement is that I want the compass to allow me to use a pencil in it, not tiny awkward proprietary bits of naked lead I have to keep in stock and endlessly fuss with.
 
 You can certainly find compasses that accept an ordinary pencil.
and you can certainly find high-end compasses that are Screw-Adjusted. But apparently you can’t get both features in the same quality instrument. 
This one is my favorite, as you can see it’s ancient. Modern versions are available but the metal they use to make them is so malleable it’s FLOPPY.

I had high hopes for this one but the plastic sleeve that holds the pencil is elastic! The pencil isn’t really fixed and unmovable.

Same problem with this one. Everything is fine but for the means of attaching the pencil, the pencil flexes in the joint. Sigh.
 

Maybe try ironing it flat with a steam iron? Steam bending is a thing.  As mentioned above, veneer is shaved off a spinning log so it’s “real” shape is the diameter of the log, it doesn’t want to get flat and stay that way. Lloyd McCaffery covers the issue in his book Ships in Miniature, here is his illustration. He points out that in th process of making veneer, the cutting blade is continuously forcing the wood fibers to shear as the veneer is bent back away from the log by the cutter. These tiny cracks are what keep catching the x-acto blade and making it wander.  McCaffery states he won’t use veneer on the model, only the case and the base. But his model timbers are typically incredibly tinny.

The bow view and the stem do, actually, kinda resemble William H Macy just a tad bit. 

I am now launched on my latest project - the Charles W. Morgan. I though long and hard about what model I would like to build this time and for several reasons settled on this one. I was ready again for a fairly involved build which I think this is going to be, as well as a change of pace. Being a commercial vessel rather than a naval vessel it presents a vastly different set of features, particularly the deck details, and there are no cannons to rig! In addition there are plenty of resources readily available including excellent build logs and many photos on line, and of course it's always possible to visit the actual ship. So, the Charles W. Morgan it is.
 
At the outset, for some reason, my wife could never seem to remember the name of this ship and at one point said, "So, have you settled on the William H. Macy, or whatever the heck it's called?" So, we now tend to refer to it as the William H. Macy!
 
Last night I assembled the keel pieces and today have been dry fitting the bulkheads and I am quite impressed at how well they line up with the rabbet - very little adjustment will be needed. So far, so good.
 
I'll post some pictures as soon as it starts to get a little more interesting.
 
David

Maybe try ironing it flat with a steam iron? Steam bending is a thing.  As mentioned above, veneer is shaved off a spinning log so it’s “real” shape is the diameter of the log, it doesn’t want to get flat and stay that way. Lloyd McCaffery covers the issue in his book Ships in Miniature, here is his illustration. He points out that in th process of making veneer, the cutting blade is continuously forcing the wood fibers to shear as the veneer is bent back away from the log by the cutter. These tiny cracks are what keep catching the x-acto blade and making it wander.  McCaffery states he won’t use veneer on the model, only the case and the base. But his model timbers are typically incredibly tinny.

Maybe try ironing it flat with a steam iron? Steam bending is a thing.  As mentioned above, veneer is shaved off a spinning log so it’s “real” shape is the diameter of the log, it doesn’t want to get flat and stay that way. Lloyd McCaffery covers the issue in his book Ships in Miniature, here is his illustration. He points out that in th process of making veneer, the cutting blade is continuously forcing the wood fibers to shear as the veneer is bent back away from the log by the cutter. These tiny cracks are what keep catching the x-acto blade and making it wander.  McCaffery states he won’t use veneer on the model, only the case and the base. But his model timbers are typically incredibly tinny.

Maybe try ironing it flat with a steam iron? Steam bending is a thing.  As mentioned above, veneer is shaved off a spinning log so it’s “real” shape is the diameter of the log, it doesn’t want to get flat and stay that way. Lloyd McCaffery covers the issue in his book Ships in Miniature, here is his illustration. He points out that in th process of making veneer, the cutting blade is continuously forcing the wood fibers to shear as the veneer is bent back away from the log by the cutter. These tiny cracks are what keep catching the x-acto blade and making it wander.  McCaffery states he won’t use veneer on the model, only the case and the base. But his model timbers are typically incredibly tinny.

Maybe try ironing it flat with a steam iron? Steam bending is a thing.  As mentioned above, veneer is shaved off a spinning log so it’s “real” shape is the diameter of the log, it doesn’t want to get flat and stay that way. Lloyd McCaffery covers the issue in his book Ships in Miniature, here is his illustration. He points out that in th process of making veneer, the cutting blade is continuously forcing the wood fibers to shear as the veneer is bent back away from the log by the cutter. These tiny cracks are what keep catching the x-acto blade and making it wander.  McCaffery states he won’t use veneer on the model, only the case and the base. But his model timbers are typically incredibly tinny.

After watching a program on Youtube about the disaster in 1934 where the White Star RMS Olympic cut in half and sank the Nantucket lightship, I started to look up the history of lightships. I then stumbled across someone's post of their model build of this same ship. I had never heard about these ships but I found the history and looks of them fascinating, and so I purchased this kit from Hobbylinc.
   On another site, I asked 'what year' did this kit represent?  A gentleman  by the name of Ron J, who is on the BOD for the Nantucket lightship, was kind enough to respond and said this was prior to it's retro-fit in 1960.  So that gave me a start to research what colors were used on this vessel at that time. As of 1939, the USCG took charge of all lightships and, by 1941, colors were pretty much standardized (except lightship Huron, who's hull was black). Colors were: red hull with white lettering, white superstructure and buff (also known as spar) color stack, mast, lantern galleries and ventilators. So I will try to work with this color scheme instead of color scheme shown on box lid. 
  I am planning to try to incorporate some lighting into this ship. By 'try', I mean to say that my electrical knowledge is Cro-Magnon basic! But again, a nice gentleman, who goes by the name of RCBoater, shared some valuable information about using a 360 LED sold by www.superbrightLEDs.com and a controller that simulates a lighthouse beacon, sold by  http://www.bakatronics.com. 
 
  
 
 

For the sake of trivia: Panama Leads are fully enclosed fairleads found on large modern oceangoing ships. They are an oval ring the dockline passes through, closed at the top. When ships enter the Panama locks and the water level drops, the ships are now well below the level at which they entered. The  docklines that were once leading over the fairleads and DOWN to the edge of the locks now lead UP to the edge of the locks. The closed oval prevents the docklines from lifting up and out of position.

I completed planking belts A and B but not without some drama. I accepted the plan's version of the belt locations as they looked pretty good when I laid them on the hull but I made a major error when actually laying them out for band A. I neglected to use the hull planking layout drawing instead relying on the profile drawing (won't make that mistake again!). The result was that the portion of Band A around bulkheads O, P and Q was much narrow than it should have been. I caught the error when laying out Band B and had to make the band B planks in the area wider than the would otherwise have been and added on stealer on each side. Anyway, I believe I have everything correct now for Bands C and D - where the "real work" begins. So far I have used planks of 1/16", 3/32" and 1/8" widths (some basswood, some boxwood - which accounts for the varying wood colors) depending on the maximum width of  each particular plank. I did follow the instructions for laying out the plank seams although my experience is that for a painted hull these are pretty much invisible. Here is a close-up of the stern area where I "corrected" the error in the Band A layout and two overall shots of the hull as it stands now. Blue tape is protecting the completed bulwarks from damage - hopefully.
Am going to Colorado for a wedding so there will be no progress for 5 days or so.

It just so happens that today (August 10th 2018) is the 204th anniversary of the Battle of Stonington, a battle in which HMS Terror participated.  Stonington CT is directly adjacent to Mystic Ct, home of the superb Mystic Seaport Museum. 



The sunken wreck of HMS Terror was recently located.

There are also Tides in this world where that happens, like in Alaska. Tying up to a piling supporting a dock, do it so the line will slip up and down with the tide, then stand watch over it, or go anchor with plenty of scope on the anchor line.,

I really just use what I can get, certainly not the really expensive stuf, same with the paints!.
jim

Recently visited the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic Connecticut and saw this superb model of Flying Fish. The cased model was excellent, great construction detail and rig. The unpainted model was aging very nicely, except for the anchors which were blooming with scale and deeply corroded. That old white metal corrosion again. In other cases I’ve seen painted anchor bursting like stuffed animals, white fuzz emerging from cracks in he paint caused by the expansion of the metal. In this case the corrosion looks like brownish orang bubles. The base under the Bow was discolored from material dripping off the anchors. Also two copper hull plates had come off. Oddly, the figure head appears fine, sugesting it’s made of stronger stuff. Real gold?

I agree, there is an unusual amount.
With the deck furniture left to build, there does seem to be quite a bit left.
More than enough for what I need.
 
My waste hasn't been too bad, I re-did a few deck planks but not too many.
 
Model Shipways really means it when they say they give you extra!
 

Recently visited the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic Connecticut and saw this superb model of Flying Fish. The cased model was excellent, great construction detail and rig. The unpainted model was aging very nicely, except for the anchors which were blooming with scale and deeply corroded. That old white metal corrosion again. In other cases I’ve seen painted anchor bursting like stuffed animals, white fuzz emerging from cracks in he paint caused by the expansion of the metal. In this case the corrosion looks like brownish orang bubles. The base under the Bow was discolored from material dripping off the anchors. Also two copper hull plates had come off. Oddly, the figure head appears fine, sugesting it’s made of stronger stuff. Real gold?

Do you find, looking into the Niagara box, that there is a tremendous amount of extra wood strips? I’m at a similar stage in my Niagara build, all the planking is done. True, there’s going to be a few feet of strip wood used in spar details, but nothing even close to the big bundle of unused strips that remains in my kit box.