ClipperFan

@rwiederrich Rob, when it comes to reproducing a vessel in scale, while admittedly it's a challenge to keep items scale accurate, the benefit is a far more believable replica. Footropes and stirrups as discussed, serve a very specific function. That's to supply crew a useful perch to work equipment on yards. Having too long stirrups defeats the purpose of even having them. In this case, utilizing 1:96th scale figures would facilitate instillation of these important lines. A carefully thought out model, especially in reproducing these meticulous details really elevates the overall quality of the whole.

@rwiederrich Rob, another ultra rare scene shared with us by Michael Mjelde. To me, this is definitive proof that on McKay's clippers, his large after-house walls gradually narrow to match a ship's outward Bulwarks. This gives crew consistent working area to handle the ship. Anyone working on a Flying Fish model who hasn't yet built their large Coach House now has the benefit of incontrovertible photographic evidence to rely on. Another aspect of this impressive scene is the elegantly slim lower Stern hull, which is clearly evident by the beautiful waterline. Once again, your lovely miniature captures this aspect beautifully.

@rwiederrich Rob, it never ceases to amaze me how your recreation shows so much fealty to the actual Glory of the Seas vessel herself! I remember how much we originally struggled to overcome bias of previously published documentation. This is where your fortuitous meeting with Michael Mjelde arranged by @TheAuthorsDaughter Arina was the turning point in our investigation. You couldn't have asked for a more comprehensive, knowledgable resource than the world's most authoritative author on every iota of Glory of the Seas. His remarkably clear historic photos were the key to unlocking her true Hull configuration. I recall how thrilling it was to finally see an uncropped image of Glory's underwater Hull as revealed in the Spokane Grain dockside scene. Your remarkable entirely scratch-built model along with @Vladimir_Wairoa Vlad's painstakenly recreated model are two of the finest I've ever seen!

@BANYAN rest assured @rwiederrich isn't done building his fantastic models. He's just taking a Summer break to handle other projects, vacations, etc. His Donald McKay project is just on hold, probably 'til Fall. He's also mentioned future plans to build the only Pacific built Extreme Clipper Western Shore.

Rob @rwiederrich the amazing accuracy of your miniature replica to the actual subject matter is truly a testament to the intensive, months long research we all invested into assuring fealty to Donald McKay's magnificent last, longest-lived clipper ship! What an exhilarating experience to take this journey with you, Vlad, @druxey et all this has been. Special thanks are owed to @TheAuthorsDaughter Arina who's critical introduction of Rob to her famous author dad Michael Mjelde literally brought our reconstruction efforts to a whole new level. Mike's immensely generous contributions with seemingly never ending treasure trove of rare photos and accompanying documents were priceless. His involvement ensured meticulous accuracy in this, dare I say, unique project. I personally know of no other effort which has so accurately resurrected the true appearance of a McKay clipper ship like this group has done. Resulting in not one but two large highly accurate miniatures of Glory of the Seas!

@Jared you'll be relieved to know that unlike Glory of the Seas which was equipped with Howes Rigs for upper and lower topsails, your earlier Flying Fish wasn't rigged with such advanced equipment, which hadn't been invented yet. All yards on your vessel have identical relatively simple shackles.

@PvG Aussie for another look at Vlad's talented work, he's currently in process of building the 1799 French frigate L'Égyptienne using boxwood which he considers a very workable substance. His ability to meticulously translate 2D blueprints to exacting 3D nautical components is remarkable!

Rob, Now having seen how tall Athene really is truly drives home how massive this vessel really was! I love how you masterfully captured the loveliness of her bow!

Rob, With proper outdoor environment it would be quite hard to tell your miniature from the real ship!

Rob, Beautiful comparisons!

Rob, It's like Carl Evers could have used your replica as a model reference for his exciting artwork!

@Jared Vladimir & @rwiederrichboth give detailed descriptions of their metal work for connecting yards to masts in their Glory of the Seas builds. Vlad's 1:72nd scale build even articulates left, right and even diagonally just like on the actual ship. I'm sure either one would be happy to discuss their techniques with you.

@BANYAN Pat, Vlad @Vladimir_Wairoa took all the pictures. I simply shared his images and then cropped them to subtly increase the model size. I agree, the monochrome image is quite distinctive.

Vlad, I will enjoy following your L'Égyptienne build immensely. No implied pressure to work on her. As a fellow creative (only with art and words, not yet getting back into modeling, yet never say never on that) I can relate as to how life can give you unexpected detours. I expect you won't mind but I shared your completed McKay clipper Glory of the Seas model pics on your Glory build for everyone to see. I'm already even more impressed with your authentic scratch-building skills on your current project. Finally, by now you should have received all 68 pics from my fascinating, all too short visit to Hyland Granby Antiques to see (and actually touch) "The Lady" the largest surviving relic of McKay's lost last clipper.

For those like myself who really appreciate large images of the models themselves, here are edited versions of Vlad's pictures, which bring the ship just a little closer to viewers. To give you an idea how large these miniatures are, by my estimate, Vlad's 1:72nd scale ship is 4 feet, 7 inches while Rob Wiederrich's 1:96th scale vessel is 3 feet, 5 inches. While each is an exacting replica of Donald McKay's magnificent final, longest lived Medium Clipper (she was afloat from 1869 until 1923, an astounding 54 year career) they are vastly different versions of the same vessel. That's because Vlad's model is of her as originally launched in 1869 while Rob chose to recreate her appearance a mere 8 years later in 1877. Attentive viewers will notice a missing Bowsprit Spreader, less Backstays, no Boy's Cabin, nor Catwalk to it nor an extended, fully enclosed Rear Wheelhouse. All of those innovative additions were later add-ons which I personally suspect McKay himself would have approved of. Here, at long-last in Glory of the Seas we actually have an opportunity to see an evolution of a ship which was a sole living environment for captains and crew for months or even years at a time. It's an intriguing opportunity to study these developments in great detail now that these two versions of the same ship have been completed. I encourage everyone to have a detailed look at both modeler's build logs to see each of their inventive approaches to constructing the same ship.

Here finally are some glorious beauty shots of @Vladimir_Wairoa finished model. And to think, he was originally thinking of only building her hull! To fully appreciate his painstaking attention to detail, consider these amazing specifics. Every line is seized just like on a real vessel, solid tops are constructed in exacting detail, crosstrees with metal spreaders are beautifully replicated and all 3 upper topsail yards are fully articulated, being able to move left, right and even diagonally! That's due to the fact that Vlad ingeniously constructed miniature brass Howes Rigs replicating those on the real ship. Throughout his rigging process, Harold Underhill's "Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier" has been Vlad's judiciously followed Bible.

@Vladimir_Wairoa Hi! It's Rich @ClipperFan my apologies for the long absence. Life has been a frustrating series of challenging detours. I agree whole heartedly with Rob's @rwiederrich observation about your impressive woodworking craftsmanship on your current L'Egyptienne project. I have exciting news and need you to message me your email address. May 31st I finally visited Hyland Granby Antiques, Hyannis Port, Cape Cod, MA. There, my wife and I were invited to see and photo the Athene figurehead from Glory of the Seas. I have 68 photos to share with you. Originally, I wanted to post them but haven't been able to get permission from the owner to do that. I sent them by email to Rob and Michael Mjelde and feel you deserve to get them too. Meanwhile, if you have any more images of your finished model, I'd really like to include them in the second NRJ article which I'm determined to finish and submit soon.

John, It's truly disturbing to read about your health challenges. I can seriously sympathize, experiencing somewhat similar setbacks myself. Years ago, I used to shovel snow all day long, even helping out my neighbors. That changed recently. Due to an old back injury in the 80s I now have a weak back. Strength is still there but I can no longer shovel since it results in severe back pain so restrictive that initially I can't stand up straight. Challenges of old mistakes.... As for taking on simpler projects to fine hone your skills, I agree completely with other far more skilled modelers on these forums. Finishing the Golden Hind sounds like a worthwile objective as does the modified Phantom build. Not only will you please The Admiral who will approve of your completing those works, it will doubtless improve your self-confidence too. Whatever direction you choose, I'm sure you'll find plenty of support from your friends who all wish you well. On a side note, some symptoms you briefly mention are sometimes associated with Lime Disease. It's a tricky malady to diagnose but I've talked to more than one person who've tested positive and have described losing ability to walk as a result. Once proper meds have done their job, they report full recoveries.

Pat, thanks for the encouraging words. I too hope our hall of broken mirrors experience is behind us.

Rick, From your lips to God's ears... Thanks for your concern. I'm doing my level best to avoid any other problems.

Rob, that's exactly what I intend the focus on this second article to be. Wouldn't it be wonderful if some museum expressed an interest in displaying both finished models along with a cache of Michael Mjelde's wonderful documents?

@Vladimir_Wairoa You may have noticed my participation in your build has been somewhat absent of late. I will explain. But before that, I want to say Vlad, you have done a jaw dropping, exacting recreation of Donald McKay's last, magnificent clipper ship Glory of the Seas as she was originally launched! I think perhaps in the annals of ship modeling, this is a first, where two distinct and vastly different versions of the same vessel have been historically, meticulously recreated in precise, exacting details. More than anything, this also emphasizes the living, breathing nature of these massive vessels which were continuously modified by each ship's captain as they adjusted her appearance to suit their own particular preferences. For months, possibly years at a time, these lovely ships were home to everyone on board. Comparing and contrasting these two replicas will demonstrate how dramatically different Glory of the Seas' appearance became over a relatively few short years. I now have a clear direction on how to complete the long delayed second Nautical Research Journal article. Actually, credit our great friend and mentor, the inimitable author Michael Mjelde who suggested emphasizing the dramatic alterations of McKay's longest lived vessel as a fascinating focal point. As promised, I'll now explain my lack of participation. Ironically, if it hadn't been for the myriad set-backs my family's experienced over the past two years, the article would have been finished with nary a mention of Vladimir's version! It's almost felt like my efforts to complete it were somehow being intentionally delayed by forces beyond my control. A few years ago, purely by accident my son sat on my laptop which I foolishly left on the front seat of the car, when I picked him up from work. Initially, it seemed like I dodged a bullet, as everything worked fine. Spring of 2022, it slowly stopped charging and then worse yet it suddenly would shut off. Since everything I had from work and personal was on this sole laptop, I bought what originally appeared to be a newer laptop and paid good money to a local computer guru to move all files to this supposedly newer, more advanced version. After he was done, he informed me that he had to shoehorn everything in, since the computer I bought was actually older with about half the storage capacity! I tried to avert more problems by buying online storage. At first it worked and I thought the issue was resolved. Until a few months later problems getting on line developed. Finally, I broke down and bought a brand new laptop with tons of storage. So now I was able to go back to finishing the article. Then on November 1st, 2022 our son was rear ended in our 05 Camry and it was a total loss. So now, I'm focused on trying to find a replacement as our sole remaining car was a 99 Camry. Very reliable but a stick shift. AKA a Millenial anti-theft device. Meanwhile my wife was ill with a seasonal virus, not Covid-19 but still trying and it eventually went through our whole family. No sooner had we recovered from that, than on December 23rd, in an icy, violently windy cold snap, a stately 100' tall 3' diameter wide Eastern Pine tree cracked about 10' above the ground. Resulting fall blew a transformer. Our home with six others lost power. Fortunately we rented a local hotel room before they were all taken. Power was restored around 5:00pm Christmas Day. But while we had lights, there was no heat. Eventually heat was restored but not before the home was flooded in our kitchen, with water in our son's bedroom and water leaking into the garage. So now another distraction was added to that of finding a replacement car. Oh yeah, the same day we were able to return home, our entire family tested positive for Covid-19 too! More healthy delays. So, while searching for a newer car, I stumbled onto an ultra rare '97 30th Anniversary Cougar with relatively low miles. We had owned one years before and our family loved her. March 20th, 2023 this car was registered. My family thought finally something's gone right. Then July 1st an irresopnsible jackass in an Accord did an illegal right lane pass, violated a right turn lane, ran a red light and traveling near 70mph went out of his way to hit and total our car! We owned that car for exactly 101 days... A day after the accident, which thankfully neither my son nor I were hurt in, the clutch on our remaining 99 Toyota failed. So I caught a taxi to get a rental car. Now we finally have a decent 2013 Avalon and life is sort of returning to normal. I can finally focus on getting the article done. Which I will definitely do, giving full equal coverage to both builds..

@Luis Felipe Where you lead, I will follow. I recently acquired a book on the vessels of William Webb. In it I discovered that Howard I Chappelle used the description of the extreme clipper Challenge taken from Lars Bruzelius' website to reconstruct her appearance. In a similar way we can accurately reconstruct Donald McKay's premiere extreme clipper Stag Hound. I've attached a link to Duncan McLean's in-depth article on her build. Building on knowledge acquired while pouring over dozens of detailed contemporary pictures of Glory of the Seas I belive we can arrive at the most accurate miniature of Stag Hound ever produced. Just send me the link to your new post when you have it ready. http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1850-12-21).html

Luis, I'm the sole source of this reconstruction. Overlaying the hull depicted by Webb, I added her "carved and gilded stag hound, represented panting in the chase" figurehead, naval hoods and her gracefully curving cutwater. All which are precisely described by Duncan McLean, publicist of the Boston Daily Atlas, December 21, 1850, in his exactingly detailed description of Stag Hound. Lars Bruzelius's excellent website "The Maritime History Virtual Archives" is an excellent source for these wondefully detailed articles. Quite likely, since this was McKays inaugural extreme clipper more detail about her construction was supplied by the shipyard. I also referred to this contemporary unknown artist's work which clearly depicts a greyhound like dog springing forward. A stag hound is a Scottish breed, close in appearance to a greyhound but with thick fur. Figurehead, naval hoods and cutwater all would have been embellished with gold-leaf, similar to the bow on Glory of the Seas. Her sail plan looks accurate but I wouldn't know for sure until I plotted out her spars. Hull looks fairly accurate but the turned rail wouldn't extend anywhere near as far forward. Her stern poop was 44'. Based on what appears to be a 1929 date, this looks like it could be the work of Charles Davis. He's approximated the naval hood but the cutwater's missing. The lovely painting with sails isn't accurate. The port stern view looks more accurate.

@Luis Felipe after I posted the Webb lines, I realized they were reversed. Here's the correct one.