Rick310

WOW. Beautiful metal work!!! Rick

rigging. I carved the fish figurehead over 5 years ago. I tried to make the length appropriate to the figurehead shown on the plans. Over time it just looked too long, so in a fit of insanity, I shortened the Fish. Now it looks short. Additionally, I could never figure out how the stem, hull and bowsprit came together and I’m sure mine is not correct. Now it’s time to face the music. Fortunately, since then, ClipprtFan , Rob and others have revised how a Donald Mc Kay bow should look, which more closely reflects the Buttersworth’s painting. Not wanting to do major surgery to the bow and stem, but still wanting to be more accurate, I decided to extend the stem, placing the figurehead more forward. This looks much better than the original plans and duplicates the graceful, curving arc of the stem/ cut water. It also places the figurehead in a more realistic position. The pictures show the figurehead in place, but not glued as I intend to place the bobstays first. I considered many different paint schemes, from all green to all gold, to a combination of green and gold. I ended up with a green body and gold wings and fins. The green paint is a mixture of Model Shipways bright green and ocean green. Don’t love it but I can live with it. The Buttersworth’s painting shows the fish solid green and the China Trade painting shows it gold.

The hull looks great!!! Your patience has paid off well!! I am also quite familiar with the’fear factor’, starting a new phase of the build with zero experience and not wanting to mess up previous work. Rick

Good luck and best wishes for a speedy recovery!! My wife had both eyes done and she is very happy with the results!! my stepdaughter shops for me for her mother which thrills my wife as she knows that she is going to like what ever Nicole buys for her, Thst somewhat gets me off the hook although I am responsible for at least 1gift on my own.🫤🫤🫤 Rick

Really nice job on the rails. They look great!! I know I had trouble bending mine on the Flying Fish, even when I laminated and soaked them. Rick

George, looks like an interesting build. Will be happy to follow along. Rick

Really well done!!! I admire your courage cutting into your beautiful hull! Rick

I made the boat skids from strips of basswood that I had. The ring bolts were made from 28 gauge copper wire bent around a small drill bit and blackened. I decided to mount the boats per the Flying Cloud model at the Boston Museum of Art, with the long boat aft and the cutter and gig forward. I used tan thread for the lashings which may be a bit light instead of heavier rope, still undecided. Except for a few items, including the figurehead, this about does it for the hull and on to masting and rigging. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Good luck and best wishes for a speedy recovery!! My wife had both eyes done and she is very happy with the results!! Rick

Now, on to the 5 boats. After much deliberation, I decided to go with the boats from EDT’s Young America. Model Shipways only supplies 3 boats in 2 different sizes, so to get all 5 requires obtaining or making an addition 2. The boats supplied appear to be equivalent in size to the boats shown on the plans, however, to me, they appear to be bulky and large. The boats for YA are slimmer and again, to me, look more appropriate. This would mean having to carve the boats myself as the fabrication process described by EDT is way above my skill level with a major difficulty being unable to reliably mill very small strips of wood, especially the ribs. I haven’t found a good way to mill strips of wood1/32 x 1/32 or smaller with any consistency. The 3 boats on the top of the fore cabin are mounted upside down so the interiors won’t be visible. The 2 lifeboats on the davits will have to have the interiors done as they will be visible. I’ll worry about that challenge down the road. I started by copying the plans for the boats from the CD supplied with the 3 volumes on YA. These were glued to blocks of cherry and shaped on the disc sander using the same technique that EDT used to fabricate the molds for his boats. Patterns for the stations were glued to basswood strips and cut out on a scroll saw. I used a small hand plane to initially shape the boats then used round files and 220 grit sand paper to finish to shape. Previously I cut a groove in the cherry block with a .030 blade on the table saw for the keel and stem post after shaping was done. I made 1 long boat scalled 28 ft long, 3 25 ft cutters, of which 2 will be for the life boats ( transom sterns), and 1 22ft cutter. I originally intended to attempt to plank the boats but decided against that as I am happy with the results as they are and fear making a mess of them trying to plank them. I finished the 3 boats on the fore cabin . These were painted white with a blue rubbing strake, again, per EdT and YA. Making the rubbing strakes was exasperating as I had to hand sand the strip down to size. They are not consistent but hopefully they are too small to tell. These were glued on after the boats were painted white. I used striping tape to keep paint off the strip for the rubbing strake. Cyano was used to glue the rubbing strake to the hull as wood glue was too messy and didn’t work well. The gudgeons were made from 28 ga copper wire and also glued on with cyan. Next up are the skids on the top of the fore cabin with the eyebolts and mounting the boats on the cabin.

I went ahead and made the lifeboat davits due to concerns that George (GAK) had about the placement of the davits on the mizzen channels on his model. I also had to face the fact that I have been avoiding dealing with the issue of the lifeboats. I don’t like the ones that came with the kit and I didn’t want to use plastic and size of the boats was crucial for placement of the davits and arrangement on the top of the fore cabin. The davits were made from 1/16 inch brass rod. It should have been 3/64 inch but I picked up the wrong rod and didn’t realize it until they were fabricated. Hopefully these will work, but if not, they were relatively easy to make. I used 3/32 inch double blocks from Syren and strapped them with 28 gauge copper wire. The hooks were also made from 28ga copper wire. They were rigged with line also from Syren. The cleats and fair leads were made from 30 ga copper wire and soldered to the davit. Cleats should be on the outside of the davit but it was easier to solder them to the back of the davit. The eye at the top was made from brass tube soldered on to the end . I found strapping the blocks this way to be difficult and frustrating. It was my plan to strap almost all the blocks this way but now have to rethink this. I attached the hooks on the lower blocks to the cleats to keep them from tangling and out of the way. The davits have not been cut to length yet. I also made the brackets for the forward davits. These were made from rectangular brass tube per EdT. Next up we’re the fire buckets and their racks. The fire buckets were turned on the lathe using some cherry I had. I needed 8 but ended up turning 20 to get 8 as there was a definite learn curve associated with making them. These were stained with Ipswich pine stain as both mahogany and walnut stained made the look black. The handles were made from 28 gauge brass wire. I was going to blacken them but like the brass look. The racks were made from boxwood and painted white. These were glued to the deck of the aft cabin per the plans. I have seen these buckets painted red or white but I liked the look of them stained bright. Call it artistic license.

Congratulations George on a job well done!!! Rick

George, I also have been debating where to place the aft davit. Right now I think I will place them between the 3rd and 4th mizzen shrouds also. Depending on the length of the boats, this will move the fore davit aft of the freeing port which seems to agree with the Buttersworth painting. Both Buttersworth and the China trade painting indicate the davits further aft than shown in the plans. I have not yet drilled the holes in the channels as I am waiting to to get to the rigging to see if there are any interference with the braces ect. I have made the davits and the mounting brackets which I will post soon. Currently I am trying to carve the ships boats.. we’ll see how that turns out. Congratulations on a beautiful model. I’ll miss checking on your progress. Rick

Coming along well!Rick

Nice!!! Rick

Great model, great result and great blog!!! I have really enjoyed following along. It’s been quite a journey. Congratulations on a job well done!!’ Rick

Beautiful George!!!! I reference your blog to see how you did things as I slowly progress. Rick

Well done Nic!!! what’s going to be your next project? Rick

Really looks grea Nic!!!! Rick

Beautiful!! Rick

Rob, I just came across the pictures of the Snow Squall.. The model is in tha Maine Maritime Museum in Bath Maine, right next to the forefoot of the actual Snow Squall. I have multiple pictures of the model and have used it as a reference for the Flying Fish. Interesting to see the model under construction. Where did you find the pictures? Rick

Thanks for the advice Nic and George. Will consider sanding if zi can find a way not to damage the wood Rick

I decided to finish some of the deck fittings before moving on to masting and rigging. The grating by the wheel was made from .04 inch boxwood and the holes were drilled on the milling machine using a .034 drill (which looked about right), spaced at .07 not inches. The holes look a bit to big, approximately 5 inches in scale. These were then marginally squared up the a square file. I decided not to redo the grating in the interest of moving along but I I would make them smaller if I ever do this again. The frame was made from some scrap cherry or mahogany, not sure which. This was sanded down to closer to .032 inches or about 3 scale inches and stained with Ipswich pine. The boxwood doesn’t take stain well, but I like the contrast with the frame. The next item was the water casks. I had already made the decision to make 2 and place them on the sides of the fore cabin per the model of the Snow Squall and the Flying Cloud. I started by shaping a piece of cherry and cutting 2 to length. Previously, I had experimented with some left over holly that I used for planking the decks. This was 1/16 x 1/32. I thinned this to .02 inches on the thickness sander and then reduced the width on the table saw to approximately 1/32 inches. To do this, I cut a slot in a piece of basswood that fit over the blade and kept the holly from breaking and going down the throat by the blade. I also used a piece of sacrificial wood to hold the holly down as it wanted to curl up as it passed through the blade. These stripes were then glued to the casks starting with the ends and then the sides. The chocks were made from boxwood, 4 were cut to length, glued together with Elmers glue, shaped, then immersed in water to separate them. Holes were drilled with a #75 drill bit for the eyebolts that were made from 30 gauge copper wire spun around a #75 drill bit. These were blackened. The straps were cut from copper tape on a paper cutter and glue with cyano by gluing them on the bottom. Once set, they were wrapped around the casks and again glued on the bottom. Unfortunately, these would not blacken and I was left trying to paint them. They also didn’t take the paint well and I’m not pleased with the results. Next time I‘ll paint them first and then cut them. The chocks were rigged first and then slipped over the casks and glue on. There was not enough room to rig the retaining straps with the chocks glued on first.

Great job Nic, Well done!!! Rick

Looking good !!! Rick