allanyed

A warm welcome to the fray BZ. Your choice for the Shipwright series is very wise. You will learn good techniques that will carry on as you get into more detailed projects. A magnifying visor is great advice. The downside is you will see things that you thought were perfect may not be.😀 Allan

Sorry if I missed this in an earlier post, but I could not find anything.. For the beakhead bulkhead frieze work, did you do this as you did in earlier frieze work that you posted May 18, 2021, that is, did you paint directly on the bulkhead? Beautiful work!!!! Allan

For future, if you wish, I can PM you or anyone interested in the below plans for the 23 foot launch in high res PDF at whatever scale you want. It is based on RMG plans and info based on contemporary sources. Allan

K, If you have not already seen these, check out https://store.mysticseaport.org/ships-plans/morgan.html for a set of 8 pages of plans. Not cheap, but they look to be highly detailed. Allan

Clare makes an important point about the top timbers. AIRCRAFT plywood is the best solution, albeit very expensive. The moulded dimension of the top timbers (extensions) is sometimes much too large on , but with aircraft play it really is no issue at all to have them to scale. Good birch veneer plywood works well and costs a lot less but as with most things, you get what you pay for. If the scale is in the 1:64 or 1:96 range I would bite the bullet and get the aircraft plywood. Do your plans have the bulkhead drawings? If not, you can use the station lines on the body plan for the Charles Morgan. As you probably know there are 8 drawings of the Charles Morgan, including body plans, inboard profiles, deck plans &c. available from Mystic. https://store.mysticseaport.org/ships-plans/morgan.html Allan

PMing you re: the boat drawings. Allan

Welcome to MSW. So you served over the seas and under the seas, good for you!! Thank you very much for your service. Allan

Chief, I spoke with Mike on several things and one of these was doing another printing of volume I of Euryalus. It is one of the many things he has on his plate but he could not give me a timing on this happening. Allan

WA Look at the many models at the Royal Museums Greenwich website. Most do not show cannons at all, let alone the rigging. As one example do a search of 3rd rate models. I counted over 40 models and only 3 of them had cannons, the rest did not. Of the three with cannons, none had the cannons rigged. https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-66415 is one example. For others go to https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/search/3rd rate model I checked photos of models in the Rogers Collection and quite a few, not all, of the fully rigged models had cannon, several of which had the cannon rigged. No matter your choice, there is a precedence. Allan

I have noticed more and more uses of two different species or the same species but from different billets to give a contrast when next to its adjacent piece. One example of this is in the construction of the partners. This really shows of your very fine workmanship and I plan to use this on occasion in the future. Allan

I have no idea what the metal is for your castings but be careful as it may be a very low melt point alloy. Would hate to see you melt one. Maybe ask the kit maker what the metal is and the melt point as they should have or be able to get this information even if they are outsourcing. Allan

I cannot wait to dock in La Spezia in September and hopefully meet you in person and see this model up close and personal. I will PM you as we get closer to see if we can meet. Ciao Allan

Bill's post just came up as I posted this. I am anxious to read responses on what to use as some aluminum alloys are very hard to weld. There seem to be some solutions on the 'net, but I hope someone here has done it with success and can share what they used and what they did. Dave, why not order a pack of brass or copper tubing and rods? Copper is easy to soft solder and clean up for blackening with liver of sulfur. Hope to see a new solution to add to my tool kit! Allan

I would go with files and/or chisels, but very slow and easy but hopefully some member has a full proof method to be sure every face is exactly the same and concentric.

Start with square stock the taper to each end them mark out edges of each face of the octagon then plane or chisel or otherwise remove the material until you have 8 faces that are concentric. I like to use a machined vee block for this kind of thing. If you do not have one you can make one of wood or find a local machine shop and ask them to machine one. The local shop owners years back did it in scrap aluminum bar they had laying around for donuts and coffee. Allan

Have fun, that is the number one priority!!!

Dave, There is a 25% difference in the diameter of 24 and 26 gage. The difference with 28 gage or 29 gage, which you also need for the eyebolts, and 24 gage would be 100% too large. The rings and eyebolts were made of materials of a size that was somewhat matched to the gun sizes. A long 32 pounder needed something more stout than a 9 pounder for example. If the LN had 3 and 4 pounders, for the rings the diameter of the material would be 1 inch with an inside diameter of the ring of 3 1/2 ". The eyebolts in the bulwark would be made of 3/4" diameter material with an inside diameter of 1.5". Just as an FYI, the rings for guns of 12 pounds and above used 1.5" diameter material and the ID ran from 4.5" to 6" These stats are from The Construction and Fitting of the British Man of War, p217, by Peter Goodwin and which he references the Shipbuilder's Repository of 1788. Again assuming 3 or 4 pounders in your case, for the rings, the diameter of the material would be 0.0152" so 26 gage is right for the rings. The ID is easily made correctly using appropriate size drill bits. In your case a 26 gage wire and a number a #54 drill bit for the rings and 28 or 29 gage wire and a #77 drill bit for the eye bolts. I would consider copper wire for both as it is easy to find, can be soft soldered, and easily blackened with diluted liver of sulfur even AFTER it is installed, without staining the wood or rigging. When I first saw these ring diameters I thought the ID was a bit small for the breeching rope. In researching a little further, Caruana shows the breech rope for 3 and 4 pounders at 3.5" circumference, so a little over 1 inch in diameter thus no problem securing to the rings. (The History of English Sea Ordnance, page 385) Hope this helps and was not too long winded. Allan

Also, a bit closer for you is the Musee National de la Marine in Paris. I understand it is temporarily closed to the public, but hopefully you can gain access as an independent researcher. I have not had the opportunity to visit yet so not sure what you will find as it has been closed for various reasons whenever we have been there or we ran out of time. We will likely be there next spring so I hope to see a report from you before then. 😀 Allan

Peter Many thanks for sharing your first hand honest observations. It will be interesting to see how the issues you have pointed out will be fixed. Allan

Hi Sam and welcome to MSW. I assume you are in communications with the ship model curator at Preble Hall who I believe is currently Don Pruel. Their Rogers collection is stunning and on display to the public. If you are not already speaking with them, they may have what you are looking for. Allan

Loving your build and thank you for sharing! I know this is well in advance, but what plans are you going to use for the 23 foot launch which has become as famous as the Bounty itself? If you are not yet decided I did a detailed drawing of a 23 foot launch based on NMM drawings and scantlings from the plans as well as the scantlings in W.E. May's book on ships' boats that I can scale to 1:48 if you are interested. I look forward to your next progress post. Allan

Regarding your timberheads, it may be easier to cut the openings in the cap rail before permanently gluing it in place as the timberheads come through the rail similar to how you show the timberheads in the beakhead bulkhead rail. One other thing for the future, the hatch coamings, the head ledges are cambered and rest on top of the coaming pieces, rather than the 45 degree joint. (Sketch below) These are seemingly little things that probably do not matter for some, but do matter for others. In the end, always your own choice as to what makes you happy. Cheers Allan

A lot of the things we do on our models are frustrating to say the least. You are a member of an extraordinarily large club when it comes to frustration😀. Regarding the tapering and shaping of the planking, have you studied the planking tutorials by Antscherl and the edge bending methods by Passaro? These apply even for boats, not just ships' hulls. Allan

Kevin, For the future, you might want to consider either softening the brass or using copper. Copper is softer and far easier to blacken with liver of sulfur than brass is with BW Casey or other blackening agents. Allan

Hi Gregory The name on the replica ship is above the stern lights instead of down on the counter. Has anyone ever seen the ship name above the lights on any contemporary drawings or models? This seems like a very basic practice for the short ten years the ships were mandated by the Admiralty to have their names on the stern. I realize there were a few exceptions regarding the years, but I have not seen exceptions on the allowable size of the lettering or location. Allan