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That offset centerline just won't work for me. It would drive me batty! This is what I'm going to do to repair it and make things right. I think I can blend in the 'scabbed' filler pieces well enough that they won't be readily noticed. *Fingers are crossed* It's a good thing that I save small scraps and sawdust!

Here's a flight into 'fantasy'. I dedicate this cleaver idea to Chuck Seiler for giving me this novel inspiration and a 'great' alternative solution with acceptable historic purpose via a 'pinch' of believable and sound reasoning! Should the Smithsonian ever contact me about this, "I'll deny every word of it!" In 1776, a small collection of 'gunboats' were ordered to be built. There was no time to waste! The first of these 'gunboats' was to be named 'Spitfire'. Seven other gunboats of the exact same class were to follow and be built upon Spitfires original design, however. There were problems encountered with the Spitfire's build. After all of the flooring timbers were effectively fastened to the bottom planking, it was discovered that the shape of the boats bottom hull would not properly fit within the designed parameters of the bottom strakes due to the irregular widths of the strakes themselves. The irregular widths of the strakes were not by actual design, but rather dictated by necessity via the true dimensions of the local lumber that was actually available at the time. While not of normal practice, and for the sake of immediate 'urgency', it was decided to continue with the build of Spitfire by simply offsetting the centerline of the boat from the true center of its center plank. Notes of this gross error were taken, and the remaining seven gunboats, including the Philidelphia were all more carefully laid out prior to hastily fastening the flooring timbers and cutting out the bottom shapes of their hulls. This boat was never located nor recovered for examination. You'll just have to believe Chuck and myself! 😋

Howdy Chuck, I like the way you think! 😉 After the Tung Oil 'fully' cures on this bottom, and I'm able to sand the 'bottom' of the bottom and see the actual color/tone after sanding, I'll decide which way I want to go with this. There are currently quite a few options. My current desires are to display the model over a slightly angled, LED illuminated 'mirror' base that will reflect the actual bottom construction, something that would normally go unseen on a flat-bottomed model like this. The purpose for my wanting to do 'that' is simply to display accurate details, underneath, without the model ever needing to be physically touched, lifted up and eventually/possibly dropped, damaged, etc.

Okay... The plug has been cut, tarred, hammered into the bottom and caulked. Now this boat's bottom is going back in front of the ol' fan to further cure the Tung Oil before sanding.

Hello Paul! I've considered that. It would be the most logical and also the 'simplest' solution. The only thing that it would affect would be the location of the two butt joints of those two strakes. Nobody would ever know that those joints weren't exactly in their proper locations other than 'me', however. I keep rejecting that idea for some curious reason. I'm wondering if it's something phycological. Something subconscious that deep down I don't really like about what I've done, something that I think could be done better. The wood tone 'is' a bit richer and darker than I'd like, but that's my only 'other' gripe at this time. I also know that I'll be making more mistakes as I go. Maybe I need to use this current bottom as a prototyping platform/sacrificial Guinea pig for discovery and getting things correct on the 'real' gun-boat model. I don't have a lot of time, nor money invested at this stage. I could go either way. I'll be giving this some thought while I continue to work on this piece, before cutting out the shape.

I may need to rename this gunboat to that of one of Philidelphia's sisters, one of the other boats without documentation and drawings. Reason being, I made a mistake that is really bothering me. If you notice my previous photo, you will see that the centerline of the boat is not on the center line of the center strake. It's offset to the port side of center (the above view is of the 'bottom' of the bottom, flip it over for proper orientation). This is not correct for the Philidelphia, and probably not for the other boats either. I could try to chock things up to these gunboats being built in haste and in 'fantasy' this is how one of them 'could have possibly' turned out... or I could just start over and do it properly next time. I'm scratching my head. Maybe I'll build two gunboats. One to make mistakes on and another with 'fewer' mistakes. This is what went wrong. I glued all the strakes up using a centerline separating the bow half from the stern half. I found the center of each strake and lined them all up on those centers. What I 'should have' done was to shift the two outboard strakes, on the starboard side, a bit forward, towards the bow. I Remember running into that on my design but forgot all about it when I glued things up. This is because of the irregular widths of the individual strakes. Port side was fine. Only the starboard side needed adjustments. Due to my failure to offset those starboard strakes, the only way to fit the bottom shape onto the strakes, without gaps, was to offset the bottom. I didn't catch this until it was too late, when I placed my pattern atop the bottom to trace out the shape. I too was in a rush to get building, just like Arnold was back in 1776. I wonder how many mistakes were made, due to haste, in the construction of those 8 gunboats...? So here I am, making a decision. "Live with this major discrepancy, or start over?" This photo shows why I had to offset the pattern of the boat's bottom.

It's time to add the drain hole and make a plug for the bottom. I can't have my gunboat filling up with rainwater while it's being built!

... and can be turned into wooden 'toothpicks' too! 😮

Nothing much to see right now. This is just me being bored and wishing that I could do some work on the Philidelphia's bottom. I was wanting to lay out the outline shape of the bottom, for cutting, of which I could do, however. I was 'also' wanting to start laying out the locations of the numerous flooring timbers on the top side of the bottom, but I need to do some sanding first. I can't sand right now. The Tung Oil is still a bit too tacky and I don't want to risk sanding dust getting stuck to uncured Oil inside my caulking channels. That would ruin the effect. High humidity is the culprit, and it is seriously hampering the Tung Oil curing process! Tung oil hates high humidity but 'loves' a lot of air circulation. I've moved the slow curing bottom into a less humid environment and also put a computer fan on it to move a lot more air over its surface. If the curing still seems 'stalled', I'll put it into my oven with the oven light on (good for 90 degrees in temp) and add the fan too. That's how I cure/dry Biltong. I hang it in the oven with the light on, the fan blowing, and the oven door cracked open to let moisture escape. That works well for drying Biltong... it should work well for curing Tung Oil too, maybe. Not sure. All I know is that if this bottom has not satisfactorily cured, come noon tomorrow, I'm turning it into Biltong!

Greetings Mike! I'm building this in 1:24 scale. I'm using Cherry for the bottom and for what few planks that I'll add to the sides. A lot of my build will be open, somewhat Navy-Board style, so there will be a 'LOT' of air and light moving through the insides of this model. As for the internal flooring timbers, frames, etc., they will be easily seen. I'll be using lighter colored Boxwood for those interior components to achieve a nice contrast in colors within the darker hull and atop the bottom planking. I'll likely stain the boxwood components to tone them down just a wee bit, still leaving them brighter than the darker cherry exterior. I've so far only purchased wood for the hull and interior framing. What I use for the decking, etc. has yet to be decided. I'll choose the rest of the woods as I go, depending on how things actually look as the build progresses. I don't like paint; I like to choose woods whose colors closely resemble the finished colors and tones that I desire in the finished product.

Thanks Cisco! I still have a bit to go before successfully achieving the full effect. I'm working on it. Waiting for pure Tung Oil to cure is a real pain, but so far, it's the best medium I've found for doing this sort of thing. The oil is drying a bit slower than I hoped, likely due to high humidity here. I'll be able to move on once the oil finally cures. Are 'you' by chance building a Philidelphia model yourself?

Hello Max, welcome aboard. You will find a wealth of information on this forum. Feel free to ask away. Are you sure that you truly want to pursue a model, such as this, for your first model? That will definitely prove to be a 'very bold endeavor'! Best of luck to you!

Very nice, indeed!

It's going to be a slow weekend. I'm waiting on Tung Oil to dry which is a bit slow. What I've done is to put a light coat of Tung Oil on the entire bottom to somewhat seal the wood. I've also filled the caulked seams with a thick layer of Tung Oil to represent a 'pitch' cap/layer atop the simulated oakum. I chose Tung Oil because it has a rich, dark, somewhat copperish color to it if applied thick. The thick Tung Oil atop my black thread Oakum should produce a nice looking and well blended color for my caulking seams. Once the thick tunnels filled with Tung Oil have finally cured within my caulking seams, I'll sand the bottom to lighten up the color of the planks and strakes. This should produce a very nice contrast between the lighter colored surface of my planks and the darker, multi-colored caulking seams. You'll also note how covering the 'Tuff-Cord' Oakum with Tung Oil 'pitch' produces a 'rippled' surface within the caulking seams. This is another effect that I am desiring. I've made pitch before, back in my flintknapping and primitive archery days. It's hard to get hot, tacky and gummy pitch smoothed out to a slick, smooth finish. I'm sure that shipbuilders once had the same problem. This is where the 'Tuff-Cord' comes in handy. The Tung Oil will soak in and take on the same surface shape of the cord. After a couple of thick applications, the ripples will smooth out a little, but not entirely. The caulking channels will always have a slight ripple effect to them, unlike the end result should plain glue be used as a filler. Yes, it's a lot of extra work, but I feel as though the end result/effect will be well worth the additional effort. Here's the bottom... Tung Oil drying until tomorrow afternoon. To apply a thick layer of Tung Oil into the caulking seams, I used a small syringe purchased from Amazon. These are real needles used for injecting drugs. I was surprised that they could be so easily bought from Amazon! I purchased a box of 50 syringes for $17 bucks. I also had to advise the Mrs. that if she sees these things in the trash to not think I've suddenly become a 'junkie'! 😐 Below you will see that 'ripple' effect in the caulking seams as compared to one of my old arrow points hafted to a primitive wooden shaft using true 'pitch' as a primary glue. The darker rim separating the obsidian point from the wooden shaft is the pitch. It is not smooth, even though applied hot and attempted to smooth out. Pitch is a very gooey, thick, sticky mess! The ripples in my caulking channels will smooth out a bit after one or two more soakings with thick layers of Tung Oil, while still showing a 'not so pristine' and perfectly smooth surface once all is said and done. This should make for a really nice and somewhat realistic effect. This will pretty much do it for the next couple of days. I'll be bored and mostly waiting for Tung Oil to dry.

Something just caught my eye on the Philidelphia. This post 'does' concern that boat! Looking at the Smithsonian's online 3D scan of the Philidelphia's sides... those nails are 'not' square headed nails! They are flat 'Cut' nails! Take a look at the Smithsonian's 3D model. The nail heads are elongated/rectangular running in a fore/aft direction, with the grain of the wood. That is exactly the proper orientation of a correctly placed 'Cut' nail! "Hmm? I can't believe that I missed this up until now, but I did! This new observation may have just made my "Make it or Fake it" job a whole lot easier!

Hi Chuck! This thread isn't targeting the Philidelphia. It's a general question. While poking around 'somewhere', I stumbled upon something (can't remember what/where) that made brief mention of iron nails being dipped in tar, or pitch to better seal things up. I'm just trying to find out if such a thing was ever truly done, or maybe just done on a particular vessel or few. Sounds like a lot of extra messy work to me, with little benefit. Learning a bit more about ships fastenings is something that I need to do, in general. As for the Philidelphia, I'm currently trying to figure out a way to either make, or 'fake' square headed nails at proper scale dimensions. At 1:24 scale, the square heads will be noticeable. I have a couple of ideas but haven't tried any of them yet.

I was actually raised in Midland (Texas), hot and dry as a bone. Didn't feel bad at all. I left Midland for the Navy in 1979. I've now been living in Dallas for 14 years. Dallas is nothing like Midland, Texas. It's so hot and humid here in Dallas... Michigan sounds pretty darned good to me too!

I decided to purchase the 'Kindle' version. While I typically prefer hard copies of books, my bookshelves are now all overloaded because of that desire. I have books lying flat atop of 'other' books that are properly standing upright in my bookcases. Old age and a lifetime of collecting has finally caught up with me. I'm now forced to join the 'digital' age in order to keep collecting books *sigh*. That's okay, I guess, as information is just that no matter what form it comes in... but I'm having a hard time accepting it. A hard copy book has tangible physical characteristics, a nice-looking cover, pages that one can slip a bookmark in between... and also a distinct 'smell' that I find to grow more and more pleasant as a book continues to age. Computer books have none of that kind of character. They are nothing but electron blips on a plastic screen! 😔 I'll give it a review, of sorts, once I've gone over its content.

That's the way that I read it also, however. I'm also really interested in reading what is mentioned on all those missing pages.

Got it Keith! The missing pages trap was well baited... and I think I'll bite. Should be very informative in its entirety.

There are pages skipped in the link that you gave me. Is there a reason for that? I've added this book to my Amazon shopping cart and will pull the trigger on it if it is a 'complete' and worthy read.

Greetings and enjoy this forum!

Bottom planks/strakes have now been glued up and the 'Oakum' caulking has been hammered into the caulking seams. Next up... I need to better seal those oakum caulking seams with a proper topcoat 'bead' of 'pitch'.... stay tuned!

Has anyone ever heard of 18th century iron nails being dipped into tar, or pitch prior to being 'driven-in' for purposes of corrosion/rust control... as well as additional water-tight integrity of a ship's hull?

It's been a slow go this week. I was hoping to have made more progress but have only managed to get this far. "Best laid plans", you know... Anyway. The Strakes are all cut to length, and I still need to add the 'butt-joints', glue the strakes together and add the caulking to the bottom side of this 'bottom' planking. I'm really anxious to get this bottom completed and the shape cut out so I can move on to more interesting things in this build. Fingers are crossed in hopes of a more productive weekend... ** Notice the varying widths of all of the bottom strakes. No two strakes are the same. This is not me screwing up. This is per dimensions taken off of the actual vessel. There's no consistency in the width(s) of the materials that were used to construct the bottom of this boat. **