
GrandpaPhil
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Everything posted by GrandpaPhil
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Congratulations! Well done! Very impressive fleet!
- 321 replies
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- Finished
- Flower-class
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Congratulations! Well done!
- 42 replies
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- BlueJacket Shipcrafters
- Swampscott Dory
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Copper plates
GrandpaPhil replied to Barbara's topic in Building, Framing, Planking and plating a ships hull and deck
Gene Bodnar’s copper plating tutorial is in the Articles section of this forum. I have used that to great effect on two models now. -
I’m still drawing on my plans: The Main Deck Stack details Deckhouse and Helm support details Aft part of the ship The middle part of the ship The bow Side view of the helm. It’s coming along. I could actually start cutting now, but I want to wait until I finish the Solferino. It’s not good for me to have too many projects going at once.
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Working on the ship’s wheel: The plans of the actual ship call for a third wheel in the middle, but due to scale, I’m going to leave it as is.
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Been busy on Solferino this past weekend! The skylights and stack are glued down. The blockhouse is not yet finished, but I need to draw it for Magenta before I close it up. The gratings still need edge painted and sealed prior to installation. But she’s starting to look like a ship. The stanchions in the blockhouse are 1/32” basswood. I couldn’t get the paper ones to fold right.
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My plans are the original shipyard design plans from 1859. The platform, if it was included, was removed during the refit. I’m building Magenta as she would have appeared when designed and hopefully as she looked when launched. There are several of the deck fittings that show up on the plans, but not on the Paris model and vice versa. I’m trying to use an Orel Solferino in 1/200 scale as a study model (Magenta’s sister ship) to fill in the gaps because I only have the original shipyard builder’s plans (which have many gaps). However, the Orel Solferino is based on the Paris model, which is shown in the late 1860s configuration, after the refit. I’m taking that model, along with the 1859 shipyard plans and turning those plans into model plans. It’s loosely the same thing I did with the Prince de Neufchatel, which I built from Chapelle plans in “The History Of American Sailing Ships” and “The Search For Speed Under Sail”. Those plans were drawn by the British when they captured Prince de Neufchatel and took lines off her.
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The Magentas had three steering locations that I can see on the plans. There was the visible one, one inside the blockhouse by the stack and one three decks directly below the blockhouse helm, on the false deck. The aft part of the Magentas was not armored, and they were primarily wooden ships. That would account for the location of the binnacle. It would have isolated it from the iron part of the hull. On a related subject, this is a very interesting ship. I’m glad I found it and even more glad to have found the original plans and to receive all the information that has been provided here. It looks to me like they took a standard two-decker, put a steam engine in it and partially armor plated it. They may not have fully armor plated the Magentas because of weight. As it was, they displaced nearly 6800 tons. That’s a lot, especially for the relatively small size of the ships. Plus, the hulls on these ships were incredibly thick. The plating and planking measured around 18 in. thick (1/4” at 1/72 scale). The full thickness of the hull on this model will be around 1/2” thick at 1/72 scale. That adds a lot of weight. That would also account for why the Magentas only carried 52 guns when the hull was pierced for 96 guns.
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I have the original builders plans from 1859. The Orel kit and the Paris model are the post-1865 version. Moving it away from the hull would prevent interference from the ship’s magnetic field. Having a tarp there would definitely make sense. It would allow for open air navigation in good weather and be the equivalent of the quarterdeck on a conventional ship of the line. That platform with the binnacle could have been housed inside. And, having the observation platform there would have been really convenient for taking sextant measurements.
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I agree. It looks like there’s a skylight, where the plans show the Admiral’s ladderwell, on the Paris model. It looks like the officer’s ladderwell heading down behind the helm, where the skylight directly aft of the helm is shown on the plans. Looking at the Paris model, I believe that the binnacle is located where the aft platform was, along with a chart cabinet. Also, I initially misinterpreted the plans and updated my previous post with the correct location of the aft platform. Do you think the structure under the platform might have been a chart room, away from the bulk of the plating to avoid interfering with the compass and protected from the elements?
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I thought the same initially, but there’s no corresponding ladder shown on either the inboard profile or the upper gundeck plan. I thought about it possibly being a deck locker, too.
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Plan modification and drawing continues. The final stack drawings: Found another major variation. The Orel kit that I am referencing appears to reference the Paris model. The original plans have a raised stern observation platform with some kind of structure beneath it. The platform is where the ruler is. There is a structure below the observation platform that I would assume would be a skylight, grating or ladderwell, but there is no ladder on the Inboard Profile. According to the Upper Gundeck Plan, that structure is located directly over the Admiral’s Suite. And, according to the Inboard Profile, it’s a solid structure: And the Outboard Profile just shows the side view of the observation platform. Any thoughts?
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The main stack is done and glued down: Working on updating the plans for Magenta based off the model: Currently working on the blockhouse.
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Thank you very much! Thank you all very much for the likes and just for stopping by! First vent! I’m relearning how to draft, lol. I have not drafted anything in nearly 20 years. I’m doing better than I thought I would. Here soon I’ll have to figure out the walkway around the blockhouse. It’s shown on the original plans, but not the Paris model. On the Paris model, the walkway is only on the aft side of the blockhouse and does not go all the way around. However, Magenta underwent a major refit in 1865. She also had a barquentine rig prior to that. I would like to build her as originally built though, so I’ll figure out how to integrate it with the model.
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