reilly

Hello Lawrence, Ken, and Bob -
 
Thank you for your kind words.
 
The standing and most of the running rigging are done.  I still need to add some finishing touches like rope coils.  I need to decide how I want to stow the anchors.  Those that were supplied with the kit are the large "bank" anchors.  According to Chapelle, these were taken apart and stowed on deck forward of the windlass.  The stock was lashed alongside the anchor, which was secured with flukes aft.  Anchors were sometimes lashed to the windlass bits, outboard of bitts, on the warping head.  The smaller iron anchors used in harbors (not supplied) were usually stowed on the rail abaft of the anchor davits.
 
Here are some pictures:

Thanks to everyone for your kind words, support, and encouragement.  And for the "likes".
 
I have completed most, but not all of the standing rigging.  Here are some pictures to show progress.  Again, the instructions accompanying this model are very good, but the information provided by Chapelle (The American Fishing Schooners 1825 - 1935) REALLY is helpful.  Chapelle gives dimensions for SO many things - the turnbuckles, the crosstrees, etc that a modeler needs to know to make things in correct proportion (not that I always did...).
 
These build logs are intended in part to give help to future modelers.  Two pieces of advice.  First, for splicing line, get large needles called "yarn darners" (ask the Admiral).  These come in a packet with a variety of sizes with eyes that will accept most rigging diameters.    Second, to make turnbuckles at 1/48 scale, use the 1/16" square wooden strips.  Drill a hole longitudinally through a piece 3/8" long.  Make an eye is steel wire, run the wire through the wood, and make an second eye.  Smooth the ends of the wood to the shape of a turnbuckle, paint it grey to look like galvanized steel, and put a black stripe down opposite sides to create the appearance of the open center.  
 
 

The masts are complete !
 
Make all the platforms, painted, rope around it, blocks on it, deadeyes in place,and more of that funny stuff.
Bowsprit also complete and on it.
And of course everything is dry fit as far that it is possible.
Also make the catheads ( forget that totally !!   )
Next thing to do a few things that I forget on the hull and stern .
The I will start making the shrouds.
I know, I have to put the hammock braces and netting on it.
I will do that later because I let the netting white.
And I'm afraid that they are dirty when i put them on at this moment.
And I make the hammock netting on the table and will place them in one piece.......
 
So Piet, you see that I have done a little bit more.
I have to work for a living and not retired yet !
That will take 7 years and 9 months from now......    
 
Sjors
 
 
 

Lovely work, Sjors.   She has her teeth and now gets her sails.  

Here is a fun little kit to build. It is the ships boat by Dusek, the kit as you can see comes complete with pre-cut planks and frames. This kit is amazing as to how it all fits so well, I had no problems assembling, the instructions were clear and the wood was extremely good. Total build time including stand was approximately 22 hours. I would easily give this kit a two thumbs up and would recommend it to all. It is priced at 5 euros, making it even more attractive. After building this I defiantly am putting a full sized Dusek kit on my list.
 
Enjoy

A new build for the S-100 torpedo boat.  Enjoy the pictures so far.  Here are the sprue and photo etch pictures.  This is using the Griffin Models PE.  The first picture is of the torpedoes

This past spring, ussfrolic reached out to me about collaborating on a project with the US frigate John Adams. He got me access to a copy of a design draught for her and I duly reconstructed it from there. I’ve been sitting on it for a couple months since then and hadn’t started the proper thread for it. At frolic’s prompting I’m finally getting it started. He’ll fill in more of the background in following posts.
 
I intend to do more with the drawings, including an attempt to illustrate later versions of the ship, including the sloop and jackass frigate years. I also found spar dimensions for her as of the Barbary Wars, so I’ll be drawing a sail plan as well. The bare hull isn't entirely finished yet either, there’s still a few bits here and there missing, but it’s overall complete. I suppose “fitted out” would be a better term…
 
I reconstructed the steps, side lights from a deckplan that showed them, the bridle ports, and the head and waist rails. I’m going to fiddle with a couple different designs for the rails as far as waist and forecastle, but this is a start.

looks awesome, i cant wait to see the rest of it built

I have now completed the lower planking on the port side. This involved the same process used on the starboard side -- planking, tree nailing, final sanding and repainting of the wale. Although the two sides didn't come out exactly identical, they are very close. The hull is now fully planked.
 
With the completion of this work, it is time to turn my attention inboard and thin down the bulkheads in preparation for the bulwark planking.
 
Bob

Lower hull planking on the starboard side is now finished. This involved drilling and filling over 1300 holes for the simulated treenails, final sanding with multiple grades of sandpaper and a coat of Wipe-on Poly to seal and protect the work. Although my hand seems to be permanently cramped into the position of gripping the pin vise drill  , I am generally pleased with the result.
 
Now, it's on to the port side to do it all over again by adding and finishing the lower planking there.
 
Bob

Guys
 
All I can say is that I am careful and slow to a fault.  Its tough to get stuff done this way.   But I do agree everyone should just slow down.  Its what I recommend  a lot of folks to do...
 
Anyway...back to Cheerful.
 
I was able after two attempts to shape the boom crutch and create a procedure for doing so.  The key was starting with a much thicker piece and making the boom crutch a bit over-sized to start.  I cut out the boom crutch on a piece of 1/4" thick boxwood and carefully adjusted for three angles.   When completed it will be just 1/8" wide to match the width of the fashion piece.  Now that the starboard side is complete I can do the other and take pictures at every step.  This is certainly one piece that needs slow and attentive care to the angles involved.  The boon crutch must be turned inboard slightly so the boom can actually sit in it.  This is tough because the fashion piece and the side of the hull goes in the opposite direction!!!   This one piece took me over four hours to produce, shape and paint to a finish I found acceptable.
 
A few careful reference marks and filing...then turn the piece inward and you are good to go!!!   I will have a step by step soon.  You can see the second boom crutch over-sized and ready to shape in one of the photos.  Note the tail is left long so the proper angles can be created while sanding it shorter.
 
Because the boom crutch was painted black it might be hard to see in these photos but essentially the boom crutch must match the angle of the fashion piece when viewed from the side and from astern in two planes while being turned to line up with the path of the boom (or the main mast).  All while hiding the seam between the two pieces...thank God it is supposed to be painted black.  
 

 

 

 

 

And finally....the deck is planked.  This is a big milestone for me because it is the last really big  messy job to be done.  The remainder of the project will be small fittings and less sanding.  There will be less dust and less paint touch up.
 
The planking was pretty straight forward after having lined off the deck.  I just following the plan I drew on the false deck.  Each plank was tapered to match.  The scarphed planks were handles much the same way the drop plank was on the outside of the hull.  If I thought it was needed, I made a card stock template.  The scarphed planks were cut from wider stock (7/32" or even 1/4" wide planks). 
 
Next I will create the rudder port because it will be the last time I can turn the hull upside down without too much trouble.  Once that is done I will return outboard and finish off all of the details.  The boom crutches, boarding ladders, scuppers and channels etc.
 

 

 

At the August SMSNJ meeting I had the opportunity to compare my Cheerful with Chuck's. It was obvious that I had made a few mistakes making it difficult to achieve the overall look at the stern that I was striving for. 
 
This is what the square tuck was going to look like if I continued on. There is only enough room for four 3/16" filler pieces when there should be room for five. This was caused by my over fairing the last two bulkheads by a considerable amount. The black lines indicate what the correct shape should have been as pointed out by Chuck.
 

 
I thought about leaving things the way they were and I might have, if it were not for the fact that the fashion pieces were misshapen as well. I made three attempts at these but never got the consistent width that I was hoping for. Bothered by all of this I decided to try and fix these mistakes if possible.
 
This photo shows most of the planks and the two fashion pieces removed. I could have left a few more planks in place but I wanted to correct for some gaps left during the first attempt.
 

 
1/16" shims were added to the last two bulkheads and faired.
 

 
The planking has been completed for the second time. After gluing and clamping, I used a flashlight shining from inside the hull in order to show the tiniest gap that might have existed between the planks.  Any gaps were corrected by tightening the clamps a bit more.
 

 
In order to get the proper shape for the fashion pieces, I had to cut back the upper half of the wales about a 1/16". This allowed the fashion pieces to rise up slightly thus giving more width to the middle section. The process was tedious as I didn't want to damage any of the surrounding planking.
 

 
After all the fixes were completed I was able to complete the square tuck. The five filler pieces are actually .196" wide instead of 3/16".
 

Basically the model makers from what I can tell don't like marketing their kits as "generic Baltimore clipper" so they give it a name and some of the European companies even give a fake history, like "it sailed from 1815-1825 and noted for it's speed." Pure garbage, the reality is no one in this time in history was ever really cataloging the Baltimore clipper's since they were locally built by contract, not by the federal government so no official plans were ever drawn and documented. One of the only few actual plans of a clipper vessel is the Mosquidobit which is the Lynx and Mantua has a model of it which is reasonably accurate. She was captured by the royal navy who took down it's lines in great detail. The Chapelle book gives a very good idea as to what these ships looked like and includes the draught of the Lynx after capture. The rest of the kits out there are all based to some degree off of plans from this book.  Of them I would say Model Shipways Dapper Tom and the aforementioned Lynx would be the most accurate. Also I would suggest Geoffrey Footner's Tidewater Triumph: The Development and Worldwide Success of the Chesapeake Bay Pilot Schooner, which is the true name of this type of vessel.  Baltimore clipper is a term used by historians.  Hope this helps and good luck.

The Display Stand
Before building the Pinnace I decided to build the display stand, I very much liked the one Mobbsie built for his Aggy so I take no credit for the ideas or the design, so its my version of Mobbsies stand.

Beautiful detail, Chuck.
 
John

Yes it will be....Probably not for a week or so however.

Thank You...
 
In preparation for planking the deck,  I added the waterway/margin planks.   For my purposes here I talk about them as two separate pieces.  First the wider margin plank was created with scarf joints next to the bulwarks.  I used card stock to make templates first.  There are three lengths as shown below.  This required a lot of tweaking until I got it right. Then the templates were traced onto a 1/16" thick sheet of boxwood and cut out.  The deck planking will be 1/16" thick.   
 

 
I spent a lot of time carefully shaping the scarf joints with a #11 blade and some needle files until they were a nice clean and tight fit.  Then they were glued onto the deck area.  The back edge needed to be beveled so I could get a tight fit against the bulwarks in many areas.  Particularly at the bow.  A pencil darkened the seam of scarf joint just like the hull planking.  Eventually the deck planking will be nibbed into these margin planks.   
 

 

 

 
When finished, I added the waterway on top of the margin plank.  It was a 1/32" strip that was slowly sanded to become a 1/4 round.  I basically sanded off one corner edge and rounded it off.  It was glued on top and the seams between the pieces were carefully lined up with the scarf joints.  So again three lengths were used.  This way they look like they were done as one piece.   These thin strips also needed to be beveled to fit tight against the bulwarks.  The bulwarks are unfortunately not at a nice 90 degree angle to the deck so the bevel was an absolute necessity. 
 

 

 
Now its time to start building the hatches, coamings and gratings and skylight.   Then I can plank the deck around them.  I cant wait until thats done,.  After this step its just about the small details...and that is a lot of fun.
 
Chuck

Hi Chuck
 
Great job,you would have made a great Toolmaker back when I started back in 1971. Now days they use Wire EDM's for this kind of work on steel. Back when I started it was a band saw, band file and files. All layout,cut to the line and fit.
We had one customer pacific Saw,who made large circular and band saw blades for the lumber industry around the Pacfic Northwest. We made punches and die's that were the shape of the curf cutout of the blade tooth-where the chip is formed and curled. We would get just a tracing of the out line on onin skin paper,and have to match it with a punch 3" high and a die section-bottom 2" thick out of D2 tool steel. Then we made up the set with only .002 clearance between them all around.
By band sawing first,band filling,hand filling to finish with. These teeth cut out's were on average 3" across-not small at all. Good way to really learn a trade.I did them every week for years. Too many to count except that I know how mant there were-11.
 
Keep up leading us to the near perfect ship model Chuck.
 
Now back to my cannon making for the Mary Rose.And this damn hot weather here in Troutdale,Oregon 101 today!
 
Keith

This is so great to watch, beautifully executed. You could have fooled me if you said its was made out of one piece.
 
Remco

A few more images showing the build at present.

Ken -
Thank you for your suggestion and your kind offer.  The seine boat was 40 feet long, or ten inches for the 1:48 model, and Model Expo does not offer a Ship's Boat of that size.  In addition, the seine boat was double ended.  I did give some thought to trying to modify my seine boat kit, but I'm not sure how well it would turn out.  The seine boat is intended to be displayed right side up and as if it was floating behind BW Latham as shown in this picture:
http://www.modelexpo-online.com/images/prod/p2633b.jpg
so I would want the boat's interior to look pretty good.  I need to give this some more thought.  Thanks again for your help.  I appreciate it.
 
<<Gary>>

Thank you Carl.  So sorry to hear about you father.  My prayers are with you and your family.
 
Bob

Bob,
 
That first set is increadible, the second ... I wouldn't be able to do that either ... I have to admit that the finess and sharpness does diminish when age increases ... however, isn't it the joy and pleasure we find in building models which are the motivation to do so. To strive to do as best we can... I've seen my father drawing all his life, even in his last lucid moments, untill his death last Sunday morning ... he continued drawing because he loved to do it, even if that sharpness faded ...

Gunwales
 
I cut the gunwales from a single piece each side after first tracing around the upper hull. A compass was used to get the inner edge parallel. It is 2.5mm wide :
 

 
It's a bit hard to see in these pics, but I've scribed a small moulding into the outer edge :
 

 

 
Masking tape was used to hold the gunwale down while the glue dried :
 

 
The completed gunwales :
 

 
 Danny