Rick310

Sorry this happened. I’ve really enjoyed your build, you are doing a great job!! Looks like you’ve made a nice recovery! Hang in there, you are so close to the finish line.

I went ahead and made the aft storage hatch since I had the coamings already made. The walls were made of 3/64 boxwood that were drilled with a #75 drill bit spaced .1 inches apart. This allows a 26 ga brass wire to be used as the bar. I somehow ended with 4 bars fore and aft and 5 bars port and starboard. So much for careful measurement. The hinges and latch were made from 28 ga brass wire hammered flat and filed to shape. I am currently working on the aft cabin. I decided to model this after the Benjamin Packard. I don’t like the plans for the Flying Fish which show the windows not evenly spaced. From what I can determine of the Packard and the the Henry Hyde ( check out the book, Henry Hyde, Downeaster, byRK Brandon, full of good information), these cabin windows are evenly space, which is more aesthetically appealing. The sides were again made from 1/16 basswood (as much as I don’t like it) which were sealed with sanding sealer twice and sanded smooth. The paneling was made from 1/64 boxwood which I ran through a Byrnes thickness sander . After it was all glued up, I continued to sand it down until it ‘looks about right.’ The quarter round moulding was made from 3/64 square boxwood, shaped with round diamond files. The small step in the waterways was made on the table saw. I also added 2 windows to the aft end. I can’t imagine that the captan would have to leave his cabin to communicate with the helm when he was he was down below., thus the window on the starboard side. The port window is debatable. I just finished making the brass railing that spans the forward edge of the aft cabin. I miscounted the number of posts and originally drilled for7 across the front. When I went back and checked the Buttersworth’s painting,he shows5 posts. I re-drilled for 5 posts and filled the other holes with Bondo. I copied EdT’s brass rail except I made the post from 1/32 brass rod per Young America. The brass ball I made from 1 mm brass tube that I bought with the idea of using it for thimbles if I could find a way to cut it. The rail is .02 brass rod which fits through the tube. The ball was soldered to the brass rod. The .02 tube for the ball was cut on the Byrnes table saw. I reversed the blade which someone on Model Ship World recommended and I wrapped the end of the tube with painter’s tape. This was then taped to a strip of 1/16 basswood and run through the saw. The fence was set at approximately 3/64 width.this worked really well and the tape and the basswood kept the brass ball from flying off. After the ball and rod were soldered together, the ball was filed with a metal file and polished in the lathe. I am waiting for the 1/16 brass tube that will be used for the sockets/ flanges. Hope to start painting tomorrow and putting the pieces together.

Nice!!!

Incredible!! I really like the stand👍👍👍

Beautiful work!!

Nice!!!

Really looks good George! I like your idea of using the overhand knot and it looks really good on your model. Can’t wait to get to the stage you’re at. Keep up the great work Rick

Looks good Nic. Are you going to add the top on the foremast?

I made the ladder and the Galley stack next. The ladder was made from 3/64 boxwood which was eventually sanded down to approx 1/32. I glued the rails together with Elmer’s glue so that when I shaped the ends to fit around the coamings and the mouldings under the roof, and cut the slots for he treads, I would have matched pairs. I also made a jig to cut out the steps. The slots in the rails were cut on the Byrnes table saw using a .02 kerf (width) blade barely protruding above the base of the table saw. Unfortunately the slot was thinner than the treads which caused problems when assembling them. I have a .03 blade but was afraid to use it as it has fewer teeth and is more aggressive. After the slots were cut, the rails were soaked in water to separate them. I also made a jig to assemble the ladder. I had to sand the ends of the treads down to fit in the slots which introduced more error. I am really convinced when I see a really good ship model such as EDT and Keith Aug, Rob, that one of the things that makes a really good ship model stand out is the joinery work. It seems that no matter how careful I am when I’m making the pieces, when I go to assemble them the joinery is never nearly as good as I had hoped. I seem to really struggle with this. The really good ship models have just beautiful joinery cabins hatches lifeboats etc. The ladder was painted white and glued to the back of the fore cabin, the handhold-was made from 28 gauge copper wire. The galley stack was made from telescoping brass tubing and rod. These were cut out on the table saw including the flange. I had read some time ago that when cutting copper or brass tubing and rod to first wrap the ends in blue painters tape which I did and this was very successful. The flanges are only .02 inches in thickness. After I made the first two I decided they were too wide and remade them smaller. The aft stack is higher than the one on the fore cabin. These were blackened and the stack on the fore cabin set in place. I won’t glue either the stack or the cabin in place until figure out the boats and the boat skids. Working on the aft hatch now with the brass bars.

Rob, Glory looks right at home on your study! Truly magnificent clipperfan, hope you and your family get back into your home soon and wishing you a better 2023

George, I think it would be great fun to compare Flying Fish models when we are all finished.

Thanks George, your model really looks great! One thing I did you may have noticed is that I changed the configuration on the house from two windows to three based on the Buttersworth painting which shows three windows. This involved remeasuring spaces between the doors and windows in the ends of the house with no sense that it was necessarily correct. Again, I think it’s very possible that buttersworth took some artistic license when painting 3 windows. The fore cabin in the Buttersworth painting looks much longer than what is shown on the plans for the flying fish. The cabin dimensions were based on the Duncan McLean article so we know those are correct. Again I often wonder how much artistic license Buttersworth took when I view his painting and I see stay sail halyards on the main stays and have to wonder if they would really have been there given that the fore and main masts both have spencers. Just kind of interesting to think about. Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to all. Just about done with the fore deck house, need to add the ladder, the galley stack and touch up the paint. I made the house by laminating 1/32 planking to1/16 basswood. I used 1/16 basswood because when I previously used 1/32, it warped when I painted it. I really don’t like using basswood as I find it very hard to get smooth when I sand it, and it seems to fuzz even after sanding and using sanding sealer when painted. In the future I’ll use boxwood although harder to chisel out the doors and the windows. I used boxwood for all the window and door frames and for the doors and the window shutters. In The picture you will notice the blue tape which I placed on the sides when I rounded off the edges of the windows and the door frames. I decided to leave the doors open so I placed interior walls and doors, very crudely done. The only detail was the sliding door for the galley.

Merry Christmas to you and your family as well!! I too will be sad when this build is over as I have learned so much . You have set the bar high and given all of us something to aspire too!!

Looks great!!! I really like the serving on the stays!!

Ding a great job!! She really looks great. When I get to the rigging, I’m going to take your advice and start from the mizzen

I forgot to add pictures of the lazaret

Well, it’s been two months since my last post but I have made some progress. I finally finished the hatches . I thought they would be relatively easy and quick to do, but like everything else, they took much longer. The fore and main hatches are build up around a central wood cord. I had previously made the hatch coamings on my Byrnes table saw and so it was just a matter of fitting the combings to the block of wood. The shape of the foaming was copied from pictures of the coamings on the Benjamin Packard. I find that I am not very good at joinery work and I struggle to get a good paint job. It seems like I’m constantly marring the paint and having to re-sand and repaint. All of the coamings had been spray painted pearl gray but when I went back to repaint them I tried to brush on the paint and more often than not I t came out badly. I made the hatch covers out of the boxwood and decided to leave them bright or unpainted. I experimented with applying a wax finish which didn’t seem to do much and left the basement smelling like turpentine, much to my wife’s displeasure. I still have not applied any kind of finish to the deck or the hatch covers and I am unsure whether to leave them as they are or try to apply some kind of finish. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I made the ringbolts per Nic at Bluejacket by twisting some 30 gauge copper wire and then bending the loop at 90°. This was then blackened. I had made a jig to drill the holes in the hatch covers on the milling machine for consistency which did not come out as well as I had hoped. Still learning how to use this as well as everything else. The aft hatch has the lazaret on it for access to the cargo hold. This was also build up on a wood core using boxwood trim and some 1/32 inch decking for the sides. This was painted white but I left the rails for the hatch cover bright which were made out of boxwood and stained with Ipswitch pine Minwax stain as were the brackets for the capstan bars. These were probably painted white also but I liked the contrast. The capstan bars are made out of 1/32 square boxwood that I rounded by hand. They did not come out very consistent and hopefully nobody will look too closely. Boxwood does not take stain well as I discovered on the deadeyes. I also made the ring bolts out of 30ga copper wire, 4 for each hatch. This is not on the plans but clearly shows in pictures of the Benjamin Packard. I chose not to include the brackets for securing the canvas covers over the hatches as I was unsure if the Flying Fish had these or if this was a later practice. I also doubt that at this scale, I could fabricate something well.

Keith, Just so happens that I live in Belfast Maine which is on Penobscot bay. Cangarda is owned by someone who has a house on Islesboro island In Penobscot bay and has Cangarda hauled out and stored at Front Street ship yard in Belfast. I have walked past and admired her for years. She was on blocks and jacks this past summer, sitting outside. She was not put over and I understand that she is for sale. I used to have pictures of her when tied up at the dock. She is currently back in the shed for the winter. I have some access via our son in law who captan’s 2 yachts stored there If you decide to build a model of her, I might be able to get some pictures. Rick

Extraordinary Rob!! Incredibly well done!!! It’s an absolute masterpiece!!!

Incredible Rob! I am particularly impressed with how great a job you did painting the deck houses and other structures. I seem to be struggling to get my painting clean and crisp as you have. What is your technique? And how did you make the sails? Again, thanks for a great journey. I’m sure you have inspired all of us to keep moving forward and getting better Rick

Incredible Rob!!

All of our models have errors. My frustration was that when I attempted to correct those errors, I often made them worse requiring more time to correct errors with little expertise to do so. I eventually became frustrated and hesitant to move forward. What I have learned is to slow down and constantly check my measurements. I also find that writing things down really helps. Most of all I think is just accepting the fact that this is not perfect and realizing when good enough is good enough. I constantly have to remind myself that while striving to do my best, that the worst enemy of good is better.

Welcome to the club, those of us building the Flying Fish and other McKay vessels! I certainly sympathize with the frustration of building the Flying Fish and being unhappy with my results. This led me to abandon the project for several decades until I was able to come to terms with the fact that this was not going to be a “museum quality” model and the only way to get better was to go back and correct what mistakes I could and then move on, hopefully getting better as I gained more experience. I still see all my mistakes and wish I could have done better. Fortunately, most people can’t see them and almost no one cares like we do. I also told myself that when I finished this model, I would build it again and correct all my mistakes. So I purchased the plank on bulkhead version ( mine is the old solid hull version). Now I just hope to get this one finished before I pass away or my wife and family murder me as they are sick and tired of me obsessing on it. LOL.

I forgot to add photos of the Star of India last night. I made the shackles and eyebolts as described by EdT. I slipped the eyebolt onto the horseshoe of the shackle and then soldered the bolt. I had difficulty moving the eyebolt around the solder joint onto the bolt, and when I made the eyebolt larger to more easily slip on to the bolt, it wouldn’t stay on the bolt. I found, however that if I kept the eyebolt larger, after I slipped it onto the bolt, I could hold the horseshoe with a pair of parallel pliers and tighten the eyebolt without deforming the shackles bolt. Note on the Star of India, the standing end of the jib sheets are are held to the eyebolts with sister hooks. next up are the hatches.