ClipperFan
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Kevin, Rob has greatly enlarged a plan from one of author Michael Mjelde's book appendices. While the deck layout is mainly accurate, the deck's outline no longer is. That's because we discovered that Glory's bow profile is much slimmer at the entrance than previously thought. Vladimir might be able to produce one since he created the revised bulkheads with his computer. I mainly focused on her broadside profile. I can add too that from a never seen before Stern above shot of Glory docked in Alaska, graciously supplied to us by Michael Mjelde, we now know for a fact that her Rear Carriage House narrows to match the outer contours of her hull, with 5' passages on both sides which remain consistent Bow to Stern. -
Vladimir, you work quickly! The last I knew you had just a few yards done. I see too that the Mainmast now towers over the others. If you seriously want to "tease" how about a nice broadside. However with the size of your model, you may have to take those pictures clear across the room!
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Rob, according to her description in Boston Daily Atlas Champion as originally designed by McKay carried four sails per mast. It's most likely the daguerrotype was taken before the royal mast could be mounted. Still, four yardarms is a throwback to the old Ships of the Line for sure, as his earlier cargo Extreme Clippers all had five. Perhaps it's due to their intentional Passenger Ship designation that until "Donald McKay" all three of the Black Ball vessels built for the James Baines line had similar rigs, with exception that Champion was the sole ship without at least a Main Skysail. A big advantage of Howe's modification of Forbes design, it that it did away with the need to stitch upper and lower topsails together. Howe's rig also required less men to trim a vessel's sails. Looking at it that way, it may be McKay's way of lowering the actual number of sailors necessary to serve on board. Either way, all contemporary paintings of these magnificent Clippers depict them with sky sails mounted on all masts. So sometime in their service, they must have been re-signed to include them. As a connoisseur of Clipper Ships, I prefer them to have a full suit of five sails on each mast, four for some reason just looks.... awkward.
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Vladimir, A few years ago, my family was treated to a few cruises on Royal Caribbean vessels. Twice we embarked on "Majesty of the Seas" and once on "Liberty of the Seas." Ironically Majesty was a twin to the appropriately name twin sister Ship "Sovereign of the Seas" which was the largest Cruise Ship in the World at the time of her launch, which was way back in 1987. What I particularly enjoyed about both vessels was the romantic feeling derived from a sense of being on an elaborate movie stage setting. Everything was magnificent multi level views and especially on Majesty there were enormous but tasteful amounts of highly polished brass and gold metals. She was definitely a Ship of the 80s too. I agree about modern shipping vessels, they're just enormous but nothing beautiful to look at.
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Rob, Donald McKay was constantly experimenting with both Hull shapes and sailing rigs. Apparently both "James Baines" and "Champion of the Seas" like his first "Sovereign of the Seas" as well as "Lightning" all had Royals on Fore & Mizzen with only the Main sporting a Skysail. These ships were all launched before Howe's innovative split Topsail rig was introduced. However it appears McKay "went wide" instead. The Main Yardarm on Champion stretched 95' while her counterpart on the James was a staggering 100'! Topsails on both vessels were similarly immense.
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Vladimir, when you consider exactly what Lifeboat Davits are there for, it wouldn't make sense to dismantle them while at sea. It's one thing to mount boats on roofs but can you just imagine the utter chaos trying to desperately remount and re-rig your Boat Davits as the ship founders around you? However it also makes total sense that they need to be in a sensible position where they don't interfere with the operation of the ship. Rob pointed out to me the exact placement of the Davits on the outside of Glory's hull but I'm still unsure as to that exact placement so I would ask him for precise placement. While I agree it would be awesome to have been able to see a McKay Clipper in real life, I suspect it would be a huge shock to actually experience the demands of being a member of the crew on any American American Clipper Ship. The men as well as their Ships were all driven hard, "twenty four-seven." There's a reason that for a decade at least, American Clipper Ships dominated the Nautical World for record shattering journeys. But I too share a romantic affinity for these magnificent, impressive vessels. What I didn't fully comprehend until we did Glory's reconstruction, is how truly massive McKay's Clippers truly were. Even his first "Staghound" was the largest ship in the world when launched.
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Rob, I was attempting to show Vlad that mounting points for the Boat Davits were on the outside of the Hull, since he gave me the impression that he wasn't sure exactly where those Davits mount. In no way did I indicate the exact locations, only a general position. I chose Champion since the Boat Davits are so clearly visible.
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Vladimir, that's really nice work on those yardarm corrals. They look very realistic.
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https://www.google.com/amp/s/batgurrl.net/2021/07/03/demise-of-a-clipper-ship-on-endolyne-beach/amp/ Rob, Vladimir while looking for more images of Glory's bilge pump, I came across Michael Mjelde's deck plan illustration. It's also inaccurate as it shows the flywheels inside the main fire rail, while photos clearly show they were mounted outside. This is a somewhat poignant article and indicates her final resting place as well. Scroll through the images and you'll also see a magazine excerpt showing her beautiful figurehead described as being 90" tall.
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Vladimir, beautiful work on the Mainmast fire rail and bilge pump. The sole concern that I have is the gaps on your 2 pump flywheels. I've attached a link to the Baclutha website with specific focus on her Bilge pump. While Rob's correct that Glory's pump wheels mount outside the rail, Balclutha's mount inside. There are handles which attach to the wrought iron crankshaft, which similar to how an old Model T Ford's engine would be turned over is how the flywheel crankshaft would be turned over.
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Vladimir, when you share images, please don't overlap them. It's not possible to see all examples you show this way. Depicting a working ship in the process of being towed out would add more interest and realism to your vessel. I'm not sure if this would lower the amount of blocks used, since all running rigging would still be necessary, maybe Rob can share more insight into your concern. I would think that the six lower & upper topsails would be the first set. Main courses would probably be getting readied to be lowered and the rest would still probably be tightly fueled. Good luck!
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Rob, I sort of followed your description but these process images are much more illustrative. I admire your creative inventiveness. The finished product is amazing in its authentic fealty to the real thing.
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Rob, Glory's main yardarm looks larger in this image due to the fact that it's the sole remaining spar. When she was fully rigged, these massive spars actually look smaller in proportion to each other. A hallmark of McKay's wonderful Clippers were his aggressive yardarm specifications.
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Vladimir, it's nice to see the great progress you've made on mating your large "GLORY of the SEAS" replica. All I can think is how truly imposing she must be in person. I'm sure the beautiful images you share don't fully do her justice. It may be perspective distortion from the photos but in case not, I'm just going to let you know my observations. Please understand in no way is this intended to be critical, only to aid in your goal of achieving the most accurate replica. At 94', the lower mainmast is 3' taller than the 91' lower foremast, yet the photo makes it appear as if the foremast is slightly taller. Both topmasts are 54' (more precisely fore topmost is 53' 6&5/8", main topmost is 53' per McKay's corrections). For some reason, the main topmost again looks shorter. Combined dimensions above main topmast are 70' a full 14' taller than the 56' high foremast components. Meanwhile at 85' the mizzenmast is just 6' shorter than the foremast. However, since the foremast has a 17' masthead and the mizzen's is just 14' the actual height difference is just 3'. It looks much shorter than that on your replica. I've included 2 appendices which list all of Glory's mast and yard dimensions taken from Michael Mjelde's sources.
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Vladimir this is a clever alternative approach to replicating composite masts. Well done!
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George, I just want to add in that the most impressive feat you professional level modelers display is your willingness to scratch build practically anything. More amazing, is how you make it look so easy too. Great work!
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Vladimir that's beautiful metallurgical work on your yardarms.
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Rob, thanks for sharing all these scratch build construction procedures. I'm so used to having all pre built, plastic pieces ready to assemble (even with their gross inaccuracies) that to consider scratch building in wood no less is sheer intimidation. But you never know. Seeing your and Vlad's progress is just so inspiring, you never can tell for sure if someday I might not be tempted too.....
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Rob, as the popular saying goes "it's the devil in the details". Having said that, I absolutely love your detail work. Nicely done on Glory's fiferail.
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Rob, you must have Tom Thumb on your Shipyard's payroll.....
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Rob, Vladimir, Pat, here's a close up of USS Constitution's Foretop. The Shrouds are arranged in dual loops from Bow to Stern. While you can't see what they're arranged through it appears they all go through a single long source.
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Banyan, Pat thanks for this explanation with associated images. Since all Shrouds align to a similar location, this simple solution makes eminent sense. It would be interesting to see if American counterparts utilized the same approach.
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Rob, beautiful mast, perfect symmetry. You consistently do such impressive, professional work!
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Rob, it'll be fascinating to see your step by step rigging procedure. Thanks for continuing to share this painstaking process.
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