Dr PR

Steve, When in doubt go with Lever. He wrote the book in the period that the Prince was sailing, so it is a good source. Unfortunately, he doesn't say much about fore-and-aft rigs. Lennarth Petersson's "Rigging Period Fore-and Aft Craft" has a good section on topsail schooner rigging a lot like the Prince. Unlike most books he does show where the lines were belayed. I also found the instructions on the Internet for several topsail schooner kits. The full plans are not available, but the instructions often show how to rig the bowsprit, yards and other things.

I had problems with planks swelling and shrinking on my first two plank on bulkhead models, causing cracks to open up. Since then I have coated the inside of the hull planking with thin epoxy. It flows into the cracks between planks, and between the planks and bulkheads, sealing the hull. After the epoxy cures the hulls are really solid. After 35-40 years the first hull I built this way still has no cracks between planks. I plank the hull and seal it before installing the deck.

The jib boom inhauls and outhauls were rigged only when needed. I put the necessary hardware (eye bolts and sheaves) in place but left off the rigging. Serving is just a matter of choice for a model. I think most people do not add it on smaller scale models. If you are anal retentive I suppose you must do it. However, if you are making this build to learn about rigging details, adding the serving will educate you! The gammoning for the jib boom is called a crupper. That's a bit of trivia I'll bet you didn't know! I guess it sort of serves the same purpose as the crupper on a saddle. Rigging is complicated and takes a lot of planning. Even so you will occasionally find two lines crossed and chafing and need to reroute one or both. But the really trying part is when you have a moment's distraction and you bump something with your hand or catch a shirt sleeve on a spar and break something. Two steps forward and one step back. Plan on it! If you rig the model without sails it will be a relatively simple (but slow) task. Add the sails and the work doubles or triples. If you are in doubt about how to rig a line ask. There are many folks here who are happy to help.

But does it really work better than plain water? It is very easy to get gentle bends across the narrowest dimension like you show with water and heat. The real test would be to compare bending planks across the width with water and vinegar. This has always been the biggest problem for me, even with adequate heat.

Gary, That True Metal Iron "paint" really looks like steel! And your "weathering" technique simulates the slight color differences seen in large steel sheets. Very nice. For other readers Gary does mention my MSI build. The MSI blueprints show the sacrificial oak sheathing but do not say much about how it was applied to the hull. I had never seen this sacrificial sheathing and was at a loss how to proceed until Gary explained that it was common on fishing boats and showed how he was doing it. This is an example of how important this Forum is for sharing information. Thanks, Gary!

What are the lines you have coming down to cleats on both sides of the boom and then forward to blocks? The standing parts of the tackles are attached to a ring bolt on deck, pass between the bitts to the blocks, with the running parts belayed to pins on the mast ring. If the boom is swung outboard the tackles will foul the bitts. It was common for the standing parts of tackles on lines from the boom to belay to ring bolts under the boom jaws, and the running parts to cleats on the boom. This way the lines move with the boom and do not foul anything.

Kirby, You said planking was a slow process. Are you in a hurry? For what it is worth my last two completed models took about 15 years each, and I have one on hold that was started in 2004. If and when I finish a workshop I will resume that build. Who knows how long it will take to finish the MSI build? But I am not in a hurry (obviously) because these models give me something to do when everything else that is going on around me becomes too hectic. Sometimes slow is good! “Maybe I'm lucky to be going so slowly, because I may be going in the wrong direction” ― Ashleigh Brilliant

SS, You have an interesting background! It fits the polymath description. Your mention of Mariner 9 photos caught my attention. I have several in-laws that work at JPL. About 30 years ago my brother-in-law was showing me through their library. It had shelf after shelf of ring binders with photos from various space missions. I remember opening up a volume of Ranger pictures, each one closer and closer to the surface of the moon. The last was taken just a few yards before it crashed into the surface. He commented that I was possibly the only person who had viewed those images after that mission was over. They were busy trying to copy the digital images from magnetic tape to DVDs before the data was lost. I hope you develop a keen interest in ship modelling. It will be interesting to see what projects you choose.

Gary, Would the raffee have been furled at all? On some topsail schooners with the square topsail the topsail yard and sail were rigged on deck, and hoisted into position with the halliard. Then the clews were hooked to the ends of the spreader yard. This sometimes was done with the royal on large full rigged ships. The raffee could just be hoisted when it was needed and dropped when not. Since these sails were used only when running with the wind most of the rigging used on the square sails of larger ships wasn't used.

Thanks. I know some people "pickle" brass with Sodium Bisulfate (SPAREX NO. 2) to clean the surface and provide a bit of roughness. It is an acidic solution. This is usually done before using a blackening solution. Caustic soda (Sodium Hydroxide) is a strong base and has been a component of soaps for a long time. Concentrated sodium hydroxide will cause chemical burns on the skin.

Valeriy, Nice work. I notice that you brush the metal. I usually do this with a motor tool and wire brush to remove excess solder. But does it also give enough "tooth" or roughness for paint to adhere? Or do you etch the brass before painting?

Paul, I have used ordinary rub-ons from Staples/Office Max, model railroading lettering and who knows what else. You just have to search around until you find the right font and size. Fortunately, the color of the rub-ons doesn't matter. I should also add that I get the best results with light layers of paint from an airbrush. Heavy layers may build up a ridge of paint around the letters. But this can be removed by CAREFULLY scraping with a knife or rubbing with very fine sand paper. If you do not burnish the lettering to press it into any surface details you may get paint bleeding under the lettering. A safe way to avoid this problem is to first paint over the rub-ons with the lettering color. If it bleeds under the letters it isn't a problem. This will seal around the letters so the background hull color can't bleed under them.

Still waiting to see that new sheathing on the hull.

I have had problems finding the right size and color decals for various types of markings. This prompted me to find another way to make the markings. I found rub-on letters and numbers in the correct font (that can be a challenge in itself). To get the final markings: 1. Paint the hull with the desired number color (white) around where you want the markings. Let the paint dry thoroughly. 2. Place the individual rub-on numbers where you want them. 3. Paint over the letters with the background hull color. Let the paint dry thoroughly. 4. Use masking tape to lift the rub-on numbers. Viola! White numbers on the hull-colored background! This has many advantages. Decals can yellow over time. Rub-on letters are too thick. The painted letters are as thin as the layer of paint, and paint doesn't yellow (at least not as fast as decals).

There is a lot of hype and quite a bit of BS about the small "coolers" or "air conditioners." These things are useless unless there is a way to remove the heat from inside the room (blow warm air outside). Without that they are no more useful than an ordinary fan - but way more expensive. The Admiral's father wanted a "portable" air conditioner for his bedroom. It sat on the floor and had a flexible duct running to a window. Baffles in the window sealed around the duct so it could vent to the outside. It was only marginally useful for cooling the room, and could not prevent the temperature inside from rising as it got hotter outside. There are two significant problems with this arrangement. First, the warm exhaust air heats the flexible duct, and it in turn serves as a heater to return the heat to the room. The longer the duct the more it heated the room. The second problem is if the house is sealed and has few air leaks. For every bit of air blown out of the house more air has to come in somewhere (otherwise interior pressure would drop and a window might implode). This really reduces the cooling effectiveness because warm air is being sucked in somewhere else. Window mounted air conditioners do not have these problems. They recirculate interior air, so there is no problem with trying to force air out of the house. And they have heat exchangers on the outside that lose heat to the outside air. There is a new type of heat pump air conditioner and heater coming on the market. It is being developed for high rise apartment buildings that typically have low efficiency heating and cooling systems (if anything at all). It fits in a window like a window air conditioner. But unlike most of these units the new device is built like an inverted "U" with a narrow part that fits over the window sill and the parts on the inside and outside hanging down. These operate off ordinary 15 amp 125 VAC wall sockets and are very efficient. One estimate said that if all the apartments in New York City had these installed and older heating/cooling equipment was turned off, one entire large electricity generating power plant could be shut down! I have a friend who installs solar systems and other energy saving equipment and he has one of these prototype units in his house as part of a nation wide test program. The one small unit can heat and cool his house (he also has an air circulating system to move the heat around)!

This is developing into a very pretty model! I like the green bulwarks. Chapelle (The Baltimore Clipper) does say green was one of the colors used on these vessels in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

Ammonia! Hope you had good ventilation for that!! I have unpleasant memories of working with reagent grade concentrated ammonia. It stinks a lot worse that cyanoacrylate glue (CA)! Dows it really work better than warm water?

John, Tom and Gary, Thanks. The plans are pretty good, but a large number of dimensions are not given and have to be determined by careful measurements from printed drawings and scaling compared to dimensions shown on the drawings. But that's a LOT better than "photoguestimatiion" using measurements from photos! But I did run into a problem. One blueprint shows the winch control stand at the forward port corner of the winch. Another shows it on the fore side of the winch between the left two brake wheels (white in the images). These images show the two different positions for the control stand. The three white brake wheels are on the forward side of the winch, and the cables from the winch streamed out from the aft side. If the control stand was at the port corner it would be directly in line with the port gypsy head, and that would interfere with using the gypsy to pull on ropes and cables. None of the photos I have show the control stand clearly, but one that I took while we were streaming minesweep gear does show the white knob on the control stand handle to the right of the port side white brake wheel. So it appears the stand was in front of the winch and not at the port forward corner. But I am not certain where it was. And the photo may show the stand rotated around the vertical 180 degrees from the position shown here, with the handle on the inboard side. But that would put the stand right in front of the brake wheel, making it hard to reach! I will probably put it in the front, with the final position determined by what looks best. The control stand regulated the motor speed. The motor drove a series of step down gears in the long gear box with the rounded corners. The gear box turned the main shaft with the two gypsy heads on the ends for winching ropes and cables, etc. Each cable reel had a brake band around the outside of one side of the spool (inside a protective cover). The brake wheels (white) tightened and loosened the brake bands. Each reel also had a clutch that rotated with the main shaft. To engage the reel the long horizontal handle beside the brake wheel was pulled to the side, pressing the rotating clutch disk against a clutch plate on the side of the reel. The vertical "pawl handle" below the brake wheel was pushed forward to engage a locking pawl against teeth on one side of the reel to lock it in place.

Bruce, Good luck. I just did a patent search for the winches on the MSI with no luck. The new "advanced" search page is totally screwed up, with a bunch of overlapping windows that hide the search text entry box. Ad the simple search page won't let you look for things with more than one word in the name - like company names! Patent searches have always been a tedious process because you really don't know what the title may be. But if you find anything be sure to look at the previous patents listed in the newer patent application. This can lead you to other related patents.

A good source of plans for winches is the US Patent Office. When I was making my CLG-5 CAD model I started searching through patents and found an amazing number of patents for things on the ship, including a couple of the winches. The patents have drawings that helped me figure out how to model the parts. If you know the manufacturer you can limit the search. Of course if you know the patent number - often molded into cast parts or on an attached label - you are home free. There are patents and drawings for things you would never expect. I found the patents for the Talos guided missile (101 pages) and missile launcher! The Tarter and Terrier missiles and launchers are also there. I would have thought these would be classified!

I am about ready to start planking the deck. But before starting that I have been making drawings of the deck fittings (deck furniture in the olden days) to determine what parts I need to have made from 0.005 inch (0.13 mm) brass with photo etching. Here are some examples. This is part of the blueprint for the stern roller chock. All of the minesweeping cables pass through the rollers or blocks attached to the "arms" of the top piece. This is just a small part of a large blueprint that gives the dimensions of all individual parts and a complete parts list. From this I made a CAD drawing of the assembly, and from it I can make 2D scale drawings of all the parts. I will make the pieces from 0.010 and 0.015 inch (0.25 mm and 0.4 mm) brass and solder them together. Some of the assemblies are more challenging. Here is a side drawing of the minesweeping winch (for towed sweeps to clear moored mines). I have top and end drawings as well. However, these drawings only give dimensions for the entire assembly, to be used for planning the mounting arrangement on the deck. No detailed and dimensioned drawings of individual parts are given, and there is no parts list. So I have to do a lot of measuring and calculating to guess the dimensions of all the parts not shown. I do have some photos, but they don't show many parts of the assembly. Here are pictures of how far I have gotten so far. The light brown parts are the wooden mounting base that sits on the deck. The red parts are work in progress for the metal base of the winch. The gray parts are finished. And the rollers on top are close to the natural colors of the reddish-brown polyester coating on the nonmagnetic metal rollers. This assembly sits forward of the stern roller chock and aft of the much larger winches and reels for the magtail (magnetic mine sweep cable) and the acoustic mine sweep cable (another very complex assembly!). The magnetic and acoustic sweep cables ride on the two large rollers at the top of the frame. The three large reels below are for the two long cables (left and right) to the pigs (floats) for the towed sweeps for cutting the cables of moored mines. The narrower center reel is for a shorter cable that tows a "kite" close behind the ship that pulls the moored sweep cables down deep just aft of the stern so the cables carrying the mine cable cutters will run under the mines to cut their mooring cables. All of these cables run through the stern roller chocks shown above. I do have separate detailed dimensioned drawings of the winch motor, and it is perhaps the most complex part of the assembly. But I have simplified it greatly, leaving off details of bolts and screws. On the model the motor will be about 0.73 inch (18.5 mm) long so the tiny details are too small to make. The whole winch assembly will be 1.7 inch (43 mm) high, 2.2 inch (56 mm) wide and 1.5 inch (37 mm) long. Most of the parts will be made of brass, but I may 3D print the gypsy heads (if I had a lathe I could turn them out of brass). It will be a nice little model in itself. There are about 30 separate deck fittings on the model, so I am just getting started!

I found these discussions about seniority and rank in the early U.S. navy very interesting. Today in the U.S. Navy (well, at least in the 1970s) seniority within a rank was determined by the date of an officer's commissioning. And that leads to a sea story. The USS Oklahoma City CLG-5 (my ship) was operating in the Gulf of Tonkin at Yankee Station off North Vietnam where the aircraft carriers hung out. The OK City was 7th Fleet flagship, and the current COMSEVENTH Admiral was an airdale (aviator) and liked to hang out with his flyboy buddies. So we sometimes drove the admiral over to the carriers and hung around while he visited. One morning I went up on deck for Officer's Call at 0800. As I poked my head up through the scuttle I was looking at the bow of an aircraft carrier bearing down on us on our starboard side! Constant bearing and decreasing range - collision course. That is NOT a place any OOD would put his ship! Any vessel crossing on your starboard bow has the right of way (Rules of the Road). I remembered that we lost a destroyer just a couple years earlier because the OOD turned the wrong way and crossed the carrier's bow. The front of the destroyer forward of the bridge was sliced off and immediately sank, taking all hands (Officer's Quarters) in the bow with it. The stern was saved but was towed to Portland, Oregon, and scrapped. I remember seeing it there in the scrapping yard a few years later. The carrier would have sliced the Okie Boat in half like a knife through butter. Afterward I asked the fellow on watch as OOD what happened. Our Captain was greatly impressed with his personal importance (sound familiar?). However, his command of the 7th Fleet flagship was only the second time he had been at sea. Most of his career had been the command of an LMD (Large Mahogany Desk) in Washington, DC. He never drove the ship, and I'm not sure he really knew the pointed end from the blunt end (bow and stern). Even the senior officers in the crew were unimpressed. When the carrier came along crossing our bow the OOD wanted to turn astern and allow the carrier to pass ahead, which is the normal thing to do. But the Captain stopped him, and told the Quartermaster on watch to get the Seniority List for Captains in the U.S. Navy. All this time the carrier was approaching on a collision course. The Captain told the Quartermaster to determine the carrier Captain's date of rank. Old LMD had the earliest date of rank, so he ordered the signalmen to send a message telling the carrier to give way because he was the senior officer! The carrier did make a turn to pass behind us and passed dangerously close! We could have all been killed because of that megalomaniac's conceit!

I am always leery of small parts cut out of thin wood sheets. All woods have a grain, and break easily along the grain. The smaller the part the more likely it will break when handling. Well, maybe European boxwood is an exception, but I have no experience with it. Castello/Costello boxwood is really nice for carving but I haven't pressed my luck with thin pieces. I always use thin "aircraft" plywood for pieces like these hearts. The alternating grain on each layer makes it MUCH stronger and less prone to breaking. I guess you got 3D printed resin parts from Syren by the look of the picture. My experience with 3D printed resin parts is that they are very brittle and break easily. But Chuck has done a lot of research and maybe he is using a better resin than I have used. I have used Syren's older wooden "kits" and they are excellent! They are made up of three thin layers of Castello boxwood. After gluing them together they are very strong, like plywood. And they have the nice groove around the edge for the rope to fit into. If Chuck is still making these wooden kits the next time I need hearts I will buy them instead of the resin parts.

I bought some 1/64 x 5/32 boxwood made by Mt Albert Scale Lumber in Canada. They have a good selection of small "lumber." 0.0156" x 0.03125" (1/64 x 1/32), 0.03125" x 0.03125" (1/32 x 1/32), etc. I bought about 175 pieces of 1/64" x 5/32" basswood and the dimensions were very consistent in all pieces. They threw in a few extra pieces too. I actually purchased it from Fast Tracks Hobbyworks, Inc. https://handlaidtrack.com/shop/?v=0b3b97fa6688&wpf_filter_cat_list_1=2902

I use a quilting iron - made for ironing narrow "tabbing" around the edges of quilting pieces. It works great for taking the wrinkles out of silkspan - they recommend the lowest heat setting for the silkspan. The quilting iron is also excellent for bending wooden planking. https://modelshipworld.com/topic/19611-albatros-by-dr-pr-finished-mantua-scale-148-revenue-cutter-kitbash-about-1815/?do=findComment&comment=1039363 https://modelshipworld.com/topic/37060-uss-cape-msi-2-by-dr-pr-148-inshore-minesweeper/?do=findComment&comment=1075263