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ClipperFan

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  1. ClipperFan
    Vladimir, these bird's eye views of CS vs Glory are great. What I was really hoping for as comparison was to see the two vessels broadside at "sea" level. If it's not too much to ask. As for the NRJ article, I will pick up the pace on that, for sure.
  2. ClipperFan
    Pat, my next step in our Glory venture is to submit an article to Nautical Research Journal about the journey of discovery Rob has spearheaded in our shared goal of recreating Donald McKay's last, longest lived Clipper. I'm going to submit an email inquiry to the Editor for their specific publishing guidelines. Having the support and encouragement of Michael Mjelde is a big help. As for my other projects, I'm sure Rob would be the very first to agree that's for another board, not his and I absolutely respect that. Very soon look for a new board in Research for that ongoing topic.
  3. ClipperFan
    Rob, Vladimir inspired by our exhaustively detailed research of the hull form of "GLORY of the SEAS" which I refer to as the "Rosetta Stone" of McKay's Clippers, I finally sketched what I consider the most nautically accurate reconstruction of his most famous Extreme Clipper "Flying Cloud." Every other model of this magnificent vessel only depicts her Bow as the Stem. Yet from the very beginning "Flying Cloud" was described as having identical Naval Hoods and Cutwaters as Glory. In fact, the famous color woodcut of her East Boston launch and her NY loading scenes both woodcut and watercolor also depict these devices, albeit somewhat crudely. Similar to the Bjorn Landstrøm approach, I precisely traced the lines of "Flying Cloud" then overlayed the missing nautical devices to recreate her accurate profile. End result, in my humble observation, is a much sleeker, more ornate vessel. If anyone's interested, I'd love to collaborate on a similar project like what we endeavoured on magnificent Glory. FYI I'm also very close to completing a similar reconstruction of McKay's premier Extreme Clipper "Staghound." Ultimately my goal is to finally accurately realize as many of Donald McKay's spectacular Clippers as possible, based on historical resources and contemporary images. How about it, any takers?
  4. ClipperFan
    Rob, Vladimir, while sitting in a doctor's Waiting Room for my wife's routine appointment I borrowed her notebook to doodle. There I found this rough conceptual sketch I did of the carved work above the Stern of "GLORY of the SEAS." The approach is to model these carvings similar to those which were on her carved arch of her Bow cutwater. This is still very much a work in progress but I thought you might appreciate seeing the direction I'm going in.
  5. ClipperFan
    Vladimir, Happy, Healthy (non Omicron or Delta) Safe New Year! Let's all hope and pray 2022 is a year of recovery for our entire world..... Meanwhile Vlad, please share your comparison images of "Cutty Sark" and "GLORY of the SEAS". Of course, with Cutty being 1:96th and Glory at 1:72nd there's an obvious size discrepancy but the Hull comparison would still be informative.
  6. ClipperFan
    Jared This combination of beautiful varnished mahogany board and polished brass is very elegant. It definitely adds a touch of class to your project.
  7. ClipperFan
    Jared, Rob discovered that "GLORY of the SEAS" in fact did have iron safety railings running clear across the Stern edge of her Forecastle. If you enlarge this photo of the ship's boy standing on the roof of the Boy's House looking forward it's clearly visible. That leads me to believe that such a common sense safety feature would have been incorporated on all of McKay's Clipper Ships. On the other hand, there's also photographic evidence that the 5' ladders to the rear Poop Deck in fact did not have Guard Rails on them, while the steps up to the Carriage House roof which were 2' shorter, did. Go figure....
  8. ClipperFan
    Ach! Vladimir my European friend, you beat me to the draw. Merry Christmas, the safest and happiest New Year! Rob since this is on your board, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too. I wish the same to Arina "theAuthor'sDaughter" and her wonderful dad, Mike Mjelde!
  9. ClipperFan
    Jared, You're welcome. If it helps to envision these structures, both Rob Wiederrich and Vladimir have constructed these on their Glory builds. Merry Christmas to you & yours too!
  10. ClipperFan
    Jared, As I've repeatedly observed, the versatile talent you guys routinely display just blows me away. I see you already have a typical figurehead version of this Clipper's bow. This may come as a shock to you but the way the model is designed very likely doesn't reflect the actual vessel designed by McKay. There are 3 components that comprise a McKay Clipper Bow: Stem, Cutwater and Naval Hoods. For some reason only the Stem is present on this model. The way the flying fish figurehead is simply tacked on below the Bowsprit is awkward and is also inaccurate. Instead, I've depicted a more lifelike figurehead and how it would have appeared on the actual vessel. Included are a couple photos of a genuine McKay Clipper "GLORY of the SEAS". The other pics are a sketch and its reversed traced directly from the original ship's lines in Bergen, Norway utilized to create the model.
  11. ClipperFan
    George K nice work on the anchor stocks, they look very realistic. As far as pin rail holes, I suspect but have nothing to verify, that for stowage convenience, holes were probably provided across the entire length. I can say from personal observation on the USS Constitution at least, that the bright, varnished wood was much lighter than belaying pins, which appeared to be darker, dull finish, probably due to their tougher wood construction. I hope this helps.
  12. ClipperFan
    George K It's a marvel how much detail effort goes into the miniature recreation of these magnificent Clipper Ships. I appreciate your painstaking attention to detail, even if it's virtually impossible to see. When it comes to recreating the very thin Naval Hoods, I encourage you to talk with Rob Wiederrich (and Vladimir) both who have tackled this fascinating detail on their Glory builds. As for her fairly small figurehead, Doris who's a legend in paper Ship modeling does amazing figure work. She doesn't carve her models out of wood, choosing instead to use sculpey clay. One advantage to this approach is that the figures start a little larger, than shrink once heated to be cured. Good luck! It will be exciting to watch your project continue to develop.
  13. ClipperFan
    Rob, it's hard to believe this is just the Foremast, she's so tall. Beautiful, skillful work!
  14. ClipperFan
    Bill, another discovery Rob and I made in our months long journey to recreate "GLORY of the SEAS" has to do with the spar shapes of her bowsprit and inner Jibboom. If you look closely at the bow entrance where these two spars join the ship, you'll notice they're no longer round but instead are oblong. It makes sense, since this prevents any possibility of these massive spars rotating. In addition, the inner jibboom is scaled down somewhat so that the entrance is also narrower to fit into the 16" fancy rail.
  15. ClipperFan
    Bill, beautiful uniform planking work. The patience and skill it takes to accomplish such lovely results never fails to impress me.
  16. ClipperFan
    Bill, you're welcome. This is a direct trace of the lines plan from the BergenSjofort Museum, Bergen, Norway. The same lines were used to produce the plans of the Model Shipways kit you're building. I've also cross referenced the Buttersworth oil to keep the cutwater profile as faithful to the ship's appearance as possible. It will be a challenge to sculpt the more realistic flying fish as it's 6'. At 1:96 scale it's 3/4ths of an inch long. In his brief description of the figurehead, MacLean merely says it was burnished green and gold. Natural flying fish actually are more blue than green, darker on top, lighter below, while their wings are translucent with beautiful butterfly patterns in their veins. Their bodies are long, thin and aerodynamically shaped with large round eyes. If you want help with the front fascia of the large rear carriage house, let me know. The kit's plans do not do this area justice in comparison to the Buttersworth oil.
  17. ClipperFan
    Rob, the only reason I was wondering if this SF dock scene was possibly earlier than 1877 was due to the fact that she appears to still have her original rig completely intact. I too have no interest in exploring Glory's sad demise either.
  18. ClipperFan
    Rob, I remember reading in both of Michael's books about the height of all Glory's masts being reduced in height on more than one occasion. This was a natural progression for most sailing vessels during their lifetimes. Most likely it was done to relieve stress and combat keel hogging on their aging hulls. I wonder if we have the accurate date of the San Francisco dock scene. You keep referring to it as 1877, which would make her 8 years old. Her lofty rig doesn't appear to have been reduced yet. Is there any chance this scene could have been earlier, 1872 for instance?
  19. ClipperFan
    Rob, it's very exciting to see Glory's magnificent rigging coming together at last!
  20. ClipperFan
    Rob, that makes perfect sense. Of course, you could always paint those items bright red! 😉
  21. ClipperFan
    George, this sketch has been traced directly from the source in the BergenSjofort Museum, Bergen, Norway. I've also referred to the Buttersworth painting to keep the sweep of the Cutwater as similar as possible. In the case of "Glory of the Seas" a Medium Clipper 265' over all, her figurehead is exactly 7 & 1/2' (90"). Since "Flying Fish" an Extreme Clipper with 220' length, her figurehead would have been proportionally smaller. I estimated 6' which is how it's depicted. Since this is a full bodied sculpture, it's possible the fish might have had a wriggle to it, as well when viewed from above. In Duncan MacLean's simple description, he merely mentions the figurehead's paint scheme as being burnished with gold and green. Real flying fish are darker on top, lighter around the middle and the bottom. Their wings were really transparent with a lovely butterfly vein pattern. Of course, working to scale, this sculpture will be 6/8ths" or more accurately 3/4ths" so the amount of detail you can fit in will be negilgible. Some interesting discoveries Rob and I made with his Glory project would most likely translate to your ship as well. As Rob pointed out to me, the sheerline moldings were mounted to the top of the upper deck waterways, which were 12" square. While her internal bulkheads were 4 & 1/2' (54") to main molding, her exterior would have been 8 & 1/2" shorter (45 & 1/2") since waterways were inset below the 3 & 1/2" decking. How exactingly you want to treat this is up to you. The naval hoods on Glory were 3 & 1/2' in relation to a 4' exterior, this same relationship would follow for "Flying Fish" would be roughly 6 " shallower. That would be around 39 & 1/2" deep. In my sketch, it turns out that positioning the tip of the naval hoods under band #2 allows everything else to line up. I suggest doing paper mock ups first to see how it all fits together. A couple other insights from our project. The entrance of the bowsprit into the Hull isn't round, it's oblong so that this massive spar can't rotate. The entrance of the inner Jibboom is also oblong but it's also slightly narrowed at the top to fit neatly into the fancy rail entrance in the forecastle. I hope this helps you envision this more ornate bow easier.
  22. ClipperFan
    Rob, this looks real sharp. My one observation is that the black color scheme most likely would have included the lower section of the top gallant mast too. The appearance would be more uniform then.
  23. ClipperFan
    George, since your "Flying Fish" is 1:96 scale, Revell "Cutty Sark" or "Thermopylae" is the same scale. Wouldn't those life boats work just as easily?
  24. ClipperFan
    Rob, it's nice to see you back in action on Glory again. As usual, you do such a clean, professional job. I'm beginning to really appreciate those distinctive red bands, they really are different!
  25. ClipperFan
    Rob, Vladimir I just got this digital reprint from the UK of all places. It's printed as a 3" × 5" postcard. I'm sure the subject matter will be instantly recognizable to everyone.

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