bhermann

I've spent some time printing new dories for the Bluenose along with some crates and barrels to add to the deck.
 
The dories I had printed at my local library were a little on the large side and had a lot of supports added.  I found that, because of the relatively small size, they didn't need any supports therefore didn't need any cleaning up.  Of course they will still need to be painted and have some details added but it's a good start.
 

 
 

Bradley,
If you're one of the folks following our exhaustive research into the accurate structure of Donald McKay's final Medium Clipper "GLORY of the SEAS" you'll know we've been given access to some incredibly sharp pics of the ship herself. These amazing photos, shared by eminent author Michael Mjelde have given us some keen insight into these beautiful Clippers. I hope you don't mind my sharing some of these insights with you, in order to assist you in creating a more accurate "Flying Fish" model.
The first image is an actual tracing of McKay's own "Flying Fish" lines, believe it or not, residing in a museum in Norway!
 

Bradley, probably one of the more significant discoveries about the arrangement of the large rear 'Carriage' house is that, as the Stern of the ship narrows, so too does the shape of the house to configure with it. I've drawn a scale sketch of this area to highlight how the catwalks on both sides remain constant while the house gets narrower. This contradicts the MSW plans.

George who's also building the "Flying Fish" expressed disappointment with the kit supplied figurehead. Here's an alternate, far more realistic Flying Fish figurehead. It has always been a pet peeve of mine that every model I've seen of this vessel only features the bare Stem while omitting substantial Naval Hoods and Cutwater which she would have been equipped with too. Here's how these nautical devices would have mounted to the Stem. This sketch is just to illustrate how these devices would have interacted but isn't truly to scale. I'm printing out Bow close ups and will create a more accurate to scale version. Meanwhile, the highly detailed Bow of Glory, courtesy of Michael Mjelde shows how her prow actually appeared.

Bradley, another area of dispute I have with the kit plan is a quite plain front fascia of her Rear Carriage House with a sole horizontal port window. Compare it to the far more ornate front fascia with dual arched windows on either side of what appear to be dual doors of the same Carriage House of "Flying Fish" as depicted in the famous painting of her by James E Buttersworth. His stunning oil was commissioned by her owners Sampson & Tappan of Boston in a truly unique celebration. It was done to forever commemorate "Flying Fish" achieving a stunning First Place Finish in the 1853 "Great Deep Sea Derby" wherein she out raced 14 other 'crack' Extreme Clippers including two other McKay vessels! 
I've included a couple of Michael Mjelde images of the real front fascia of "GLORY of the SEAS" which confirms that these larger arched 2' × 1& 1/2' windows were indeed used on board. Michael Mjelde's own sketch of Glory's front fascia is included to give you an idea of how truly ornate these vessels actually were.
 

Okay, continuing with the deck furniture before tackling the cutwaters, naval hoods, and (yeek) trying to carve a figurehead. I've finished the water closet/storage/belowdeck entry structures forward (I'm sure there is a proper name and hopefully someone will be able to provide it). As with most of structures, I built them in place, using 1/8 square stock to make two of the corners defined by the coaming. I also mounted two small bits of scrap against the bulwarks to anchor the outer edges of the bulkheads. The bulkheads were built up, painted, and then trimmed to fit in the locations as required, and I built some corner fascia using 3/32 square stock that sanded to shape with my dremel.
 

 
The hatches were all premade, excising bits with an Exacto knife to make the panels. Each hatch used 1/32 square stock to make the jambs and the lintels, and then the whole hatch unit was installed. The capstan bars were made from 1/32 square stock, embedded into their racks, and the racks mounted on the forward side (although they are next to impossible to see). The ceilings were made from 1/16 square stock (the same stock I stained for the deck months ago), joined, shaped and then glued into place (I'm holding the starboard side one down to let the glue cure in the upper photo).
 
So, a couple of views of the completed units:


 
While I realize that this is probably inauthentic, I couldn't help myself make the following for the hatches to the water closets:
 

 
Childish, I know, but you need to have some fun in life.
 
So this is what the ship looks like overall now from the stern. I've also mounted the rear hatches to the carriage house (for some reason I hadn't done so yet).
 

 
So, I have one more hatch to make, and then I pretty much need to get this thing on its display board because it won't be much longer before I no longer want to set this upside down. I used wipe only poly for the cherry base board, which now looks fabulous, so that is done, however, a couple of questions to folks out there. I have three nice brass pedestals from BlueJacket, but they have very deep slots, so without some kind of change, there will be a gap between the keel and the bottom of the slot. Question, do people generally prefer to put some kind of spacer in the pedestal (i.e. a pice of wood the fills the gap, presumably painted brass) or do they try to cut the tops of the pedestals down so that the keel hits the bottom of the slot? If the latter, do you try to match the curve of the hull, or just cut off the top? If either of those, what is actually necessary to cut brass? I am not swimming in precision power tools (most of what I have is from the days when I was building play structures for my children (i.e. great for treated, dimensional lumber, not so great for precision miniature work); all four of the wooden ships I've built or are building were made with a single power tool - a dremel. Does Dremel make anything that can realistically cut brass?
 
Thanks for the help, for looking in, and for the likes!
 
Regards,
George K.
 

Well, the main cabin is in place. As I mentioned earlier, I built it in situ rather than building it separate and installing on the deck. You saw in the earlier post how I built up the cabin bulkheads. Before installing the bulkheads, I put the port frames with the sliding covers in place, then mounted the bulkheads on the frames, and then added the decorative elements using pre-painted or pre-cut wood. For the sliding doors, I cut wood of the correct size, incised the panel marks and then painted them. The knob is a nail cut off near the head, and the door frames are mad from pre-painted 1/32 square stock painted white. I generally built up an entire door and frame first (so door, left jamb, lintel and right jamb) and mounted them as a unit. A 1/16 x 3/32 piece of boxwood, prepainted white was used to make the upper level of the decorative trim (with the 1/16 facing out), and then a 1/16 by 1/8 frame was placed on top to mark where the ceiling would be installed. The ceiling is the same 1/16 square stock I stained for the deck months ago. The progression is shown below:
 

 

 

 
So, two images of the ship showing the situation as it currently stands in a slightly broader view. You will notice that I have also completed the forward cargo hatch, and mounted the water closet coaming and will start building those soon.
 


 
Because I am getting near to this point, I have a couple of issues that I want to bring up. As has been said a number of times, the castings for this kit are really awful. Fortunately the pump is not bad, but I have a suspicion that I'm going to replace a bunch of the castings, including the capstans, fife rails, and the figurehead. Just for reference, here are the capstans, water tank and the figure head. The capstans don't look too bad, but the tops are a mess. The water tank is genuinely horrible and the figure head is, I don't know ho to even say it. 
 

 
I was able to get some replacement capstans from Bluejacket (see below), but I'm afraid I'm going to have to try to carve a fish, and replace the water tank.

 
With regards to the water tank, does anyone know if the tank was iron or wood? I could see reasons for either, but just don't know - if it's wood I'll probably paint it buff or brown, if iron black, and mount it in the blue of the coamings either way, I just don't know. Also, there is a ladder on the after side of the deck house, does anyone know if they would have been wood or iron in 1854? I have some nice scale lumber from Midwest that would make a good wooden ladder but I guess I'll try to make it out of brass strip if it was iron. 
 
As always, thanks for looking in and for all of the likes!
 
Regards,
George K
 

A brief update to describe progress in the last several days. If you looked at some of the earlier pictures, I had started putting the covers on the main cargo hatch, and had recently realized that I hadn't built up the entry way enough from the coaming. So, I added the additional vertical supports, made the hatch covers and attached the lifting rings. The latter were made from some leftover split rings and small eyebolts from my Niagara. 
 

 
That complete, I started on additional deck furniture moving forward. As with the carriage house, I've decided to build it in situ rather than making a separate piece and mounting it on the deck (as I did with the booby hatch). For some reason, I like the latter better. As before, step 1 is to set up a set of internal frames that are going to support the bulkheads (some of them visible in the photo above, and then to build and prepaint the bulkheads themselves. 
 

 
As with the carriage house, the area under the ports is painted located, masked, and painted blue. The sliding port covers (a mix of wood and a Britannia casting) have received one coat of paint, they can be mounted over the painted regions seen below once they have a second. Here are the masked bulkheads, and with the port areas painted on:
 


 
In the latter, the sections are (clockwise from top) port, forward, starboard, aft (both the fore and aft have down facing right, whereas the P/S pair have "down" facing in. As with the carriage house, once the bulkheads are in place, I'll add pre-painted decorative trim, and then the overhead.
 
While that is going on, I've also started on the water closets, which will also be built in situ. In this long shot, you can see the cargo hold, the framed up cabin, and the coamings for the WC. Neither are yet glued into place, hence the port side one is a bit out of kilter.
 
 
 
Finally, I received a beautiful cherry baseboard from BlueJacket today. Once it is properly finished and the cabin and WC's are in place, it will be time to transfer from my building frame to the base board. I have three brass pedestals (also from BlueJacket) that should allow it to have a nice solid, stance on the board as it becomes time to put on the final rails and start the various spars.
 

 
The photo doesn't really do the base board justice, it's a really nice piece of cherry with lovely grain. When I do mount the ship I think I'm going to wrap it in saran so that it's protected from drips and the like.
 
As always, thanks for looking in and the likes.
 
Regards,
George K
 

Deck furniture continues. The booby hatch is built and mounted. A couple of quick views off the ship, with capstan bars in place:
 
and in situ on the ship.
 

 
I've ordered a baseboard, it's getting to the point where I want to get it on the board before I do too much else as I don't want to have to turn it over to drill the holes for the pedestals once anything truly fragile is on the deck.
 
As always, thanks for looking in and the likes.
 
Regards,
George K

Hi everyone,
 
I've gotten the deck planking finished. I am happy with the results being it was my first try. I have a little sanding to do, but not much. I will have to decide if I am going to stain or paint the deck. I was reading Howard Chapelle's book " The American Fishing Schooners" and in the section about fishing schooners of this time frame, they could be painted or stained.
 
Bill
 

 

Well, I completed the forward bulkhead of the carriage house. As you can see, I ultimately chose to go with the simpler version shown in the plans rather than the version seen in the Butterfield painting. More on that anon. The doors are 1/16" thick basswood that I incised to create a set of three raised panels to provide some surface interest, and I used 1/32" square plank to make the jambs and lintel. The vertical panels on the outer edges are joined to similar panels at right angles to cover the joints. The window (to the first mate's cabin according to the plans) is a brittania casting with three wooden slats to make a sliding shutter with the underlying area painted blue.
 

 
Another view, looking at the whole ship:
 

 
Again, more to do, on the ceiling (e.g. the railings, the pad around the mizzen mast, the skylight, etc.), the access hatch on the aft side, hinges and mounts for the two stores compartments, etc., etc., etc.
 
One could reasonably ask why I chose this option, rather than follow the Butterworth painting. Not that I feel like I need to justify the decision, but I thought I would at least explain the reasoning. I view the plans and the Butterworth painting as two bits of evidence in the broader question of "what exactly did the ship look like." Flying Fish had a short career, being lost after only 7 years, so probably didn't change (unlike, say Glory of the Seas) but there are no photos. The plans represent Ben Lankford's best assessment of what the ship looked like and (I suppose) that could be built by a moderately skilled modeler. He is an expert in this space and used the best information that he had available to him. With that said, the plans were updated at least once so he is certainly not infallible. Similarly, the Butterworth painting takes some license, for example, the shrouds and backstays do not have deadeyes in the painting, and if there is one thing that gets people worked up regarding paintings of ships, it's the location and number of windows (c.f. scads of arguments about the stern of the USS Constitution at various times).
 
At the end of the day, I decided to go with Ben Lankford's assessment, and my own nagging thought that large, seemingly unprotected glass windows on a sailing vessel of the 1850's didn't make a ton of sense. Glass was expensive, and fragile, ships go through storms, things get blown around, small windows need to be protected by bars, it just seemed like a recipe for disaster. From personal experience I've seen modern, round portholes get blown in by waves in relative minor storms (on the SS Rotterdam during a storm with 70 knot winds and 40 foot seas during my honeymoon). Tougher borosilicate glass wasn't even invented until the 1884. So - one smaller rather than two more elaborate windows. Others could well come to a different conclusion.
 
Regardless, I am grateful for everyone that has provided the input to make this choice, and I look forward to getting additional input as other decisions about the ship continue. So once again, thank you for your support, likes, and for looking in.

Also, I forgot to mention in my last posting - have you found this website: suburbanshipmodeler.com? You mentioned that you want to add sails and that Bob Hunt's practicum doesn't address the sails. The guy on this website built a Bluenose with sails and gives quite good instructions. You might find it helpful.
David

I solved my Dory problem.  I downloaded a file from Thingyverse, rescaled it, emailed it to my local library and had them 3D printed.  For the $3.50 it cost I would say well worth it.
 

 
I need 8 for the Bluenose but ended up with 10.  It gives me two to play around with.  There will be two stacks of 4 each.  Only the top of each stack will need to be detailed.  I'll work on that over the next bit.  First up is to remove all the flashing and clean them up a bit.

Progress has been made on the cabin and other parts of the ship. First, I constructed and mounted the catheads:
 
I did put a copper star on each cathead, made out of extra copper tape. It was unbelievable how long it took to cut out a star that small that I could manipulate, but it's done. I still have to make and mount the anchor release, a couple of eyebolts, and there is a drilled hole inboard for a bit of 'iron' wire, but I'll deal with that later. 
 
As of my last post I had bulkheads of the poop cabin, and was putting on window frames and bars. That was completed for both sides, and then mounted on the framework I erected on the coaming. I then cut pre-painted wood strips to represent the vertical planks on the bulkheads between the windows and mounted them on the bulkheads, and mounted a another plank that runs the length of the cabin and formed the outer edge of the cabin and the overhang. I took another section of pre-painted and used them to create the bottom of the overhang, which would then be used to mount one end of the deck planks over the poop cabin. I needed to be able to allow the mizzen mast to pass through the deck, while still having something for the deck planking to rest upon in the center section of the ship, so I put two beams in place to ensure that the planks had somewhere to sit. Finally, I put another set of planks around the outer edge to form the boundaries of the deck planks. You can see what I mean in the photo below. One thing I noticed after the fact is that the two beams that are there to provide something for the center planks to sit on are crooked in the horizontal plane. I was more concerned with their alignment in the vertical, and so it looks kind of odd, but didn't have any real impact in the end. The cutout in the stern is for the companionway, and the two small pieces on the deck are going to be the doors to the storage areas that will fit on the forward part, next to the cabin.
 

 
I then started putting in the deck planks, beginning from the center and working outward so that it would be as symmetrical as possible. I had a bunch of planks from the main deck that were stained at the same time and I resolved to use them. Planking went fairly smoothly:
 

 
One thing I had not realized was that the deck planks were thicker than I had recalled, so that they stuck out above the white painted edge more than I wanted, so I added another layer of pre-painted edge trim.
 

 
 
I have not yet closed out the cabin, as can be seen here:
 

 
I've built the base of the front of the cabin, but before I install it, I'm going to put the window, the doors and the decorative planks, and then just slide it into place. The two doors from earlier will go in the planked up area on either side of the cabin (as in the diagram below), and then I'll need to make the two knees that support the overhang (and the iron rail, and the skylights, and the companionway, and the rest of the deck furniture, and, and, and...)
 

 

 
This is what it looks like slid into place with out the 
 

 
So, here is what the Fish looks like now, with the cabin front slid into place, but without the decorations or being glued.
 

 
Much still to do. As always, thanks for the likes and looking in!
 
Regards,
George K

Been a bit, but it's been a crazy busy few weeks. I managed to get another round of filler and sanding done, and it's much better all around. I'm satisfied. 
 
I got to the hobby store this weekend and picked up some different widths of bass wood strips, and I think this is the ticket to extend the bulwarks up a bit. See what you think! I believe it matches the plans MUCH better with this amount of extra. So far, just clamped in place for mock up, no glue yet. If this looks good, ill lock it down, and CA glue it to the model, then add filler again if necessary. It will at least need some gentle sanding to finesse it to the same width as the kits bulwarks. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for this step! 
 
Edit: this height was measured to the bottom of the rail that will go on top, so it should fit that. Thanks HOF!

Thanks for the information Alan and Bob, it proved to be very helpful.
 
One thing I did to guide me along was to label the foremast with port/starboard/aft.  It helped me to ensure I had the correct orientation with the mast.  Also I found the tenon at the base of the mast very useful in aligning or indexing the mast as required.
 
I cut the mast to length then tapered as required along the port/starboard/aft side. I found that by cutting the length of the dowel down to size and tapering 3 sides I virtually removed all warpage I have.  I then cut out for the cheeks and trestle trees.  I again used my guide blocks to limit the depth of cut and to index the mast. After installing the cheeks and trestle trees I installed the halliards, making sure they were tapered per the drawing.

 
After that I installed the halliard bands.  I used brass strips that came in the kit and cut them to length (circumference).  I drilled a hole for the eyebolt, installed it with the band and secured it with glue.
 

 
I made a lot of progress this weekend and am relatively happy with the results.  I realize there are some areas where I wished I had taken a different approach.  One big regret I have is not darkening the eyebolts on the deck furniture and rails.  I have a darkening agent which would have made it simple.  I probably should have darkened the brass bands and eyebolts on the foremast as well.
 
I think I'll spend the next few days trying to understand the drawings better and get a better understanding of the components that goes into the masts, booms etc. I was feeling a little overwhelmed (information overload) this afternoon and need to take a step back to review.  I want to compare my Practicum with the drawings to understand where I'm going and the steps that need to be taken. 
 

I spent the last two days painting and finishing the deck details.  I also attached all the eye bolts and belaying pins.

 
I haven't installed the dory kids yet because I'm still undecided if I will have the dories or not.  Also, I didn't spend as much time as perhaps I should have on the windlass.  The plans show wooden wedges installed but I thought, for simplicity, I would simply paint the windlass.
 
One problem I encountered was with the cathead.  The cast piece was very fragile and broke apart.  Even if it hadn't it may have been too brittle to use anyway.  Perhaps the blackening process weakened the fitting.  I'll have to come up with some other way of duplicating it.
 
 
 
It's been a lot of tedious work and has been a long time in the making.  The next steps are onward and upward.  I'm looking forward to the masts and rigging although I tend to think that it will be quite tedious as well.  This is my first attempt at rigging a ship so I hope it goes well for me.

Just a bit of an update.  Tomorrow I'm hoping to start painting the deck furniture.  I spent time today finishing last minute details and getting acquainted with my airbrush.  I've never used an airbrush so spent time watching videos on use and care.  One (or two) things I did was make my own batch of air brush cleaner and acrylic paint thinner.  Very simple to make with easy to get, inexpensive ingredients.  I put the bottles in a larger plastic pail as I they contain liquid with isopropyl alcohol and I'm not sure if it will react with the plastic bottles I have them in. In case there is a leak the larger bucket will contain the liquid.


 
I also bought a package of alligator clips mounted on wires.  I'm hoping they will work well holding the objects as I airbrush them.  I then drilled holes in a 2 x 6 to hold the clips while the paint dries.
 

 
I painted the cap rail and am in the process of forming the monkey rail base.  I used the leftover after removing the monkey rail from the laser cut sheet in order to form the monkey rail base curve for the taffrail.  I soaked the strip wood for 15 minutes before forming it but it still crimped in spots around the tight curve.  
 

 

 
Hopefully, if everything goes as planned, I'll be reporting on a successful paint job tomorrow.

Finally finished the forward boom buffer.
 
I decided to simplify this build a bit using three pieces of 3/32 brass tubing, 1.5 mm bolt, nut and washers.
 
After flattening one side of a washed and grooving one side of the center piece of tubing with a triangle file, I soldered the washer to the tubing. The other washers acted as spacers and the wire as the “legs”. This was all held together by 1.5 mm brass bolt which fit nicely through the pieces of brass tubing.
 

 
This was all held together with the brass bolt and a brass nut threaded on the end and finished with Casey Black. Not extremely detailed but I’m happy with it as it looks much better than the white metal piece that came with the kit.
 

 
The “cover” for the boom buffer came from 3 laser cut pieces in the kit. I glued these together using Titebond Quick and Thick white glue. Once dry I hand painted the piece.
 

 
All that was left to do was to drill 2 holes in the deck for the boom buffer “legs”, mount the piece and then add the “cover”.
 

 
 

 
 
Now I have to install the cleats / chocks and the deck will be complete. Looks like the white metal ones that came with the kit will be usable, just need to be filed a bit, cleaned up and painted. Then its on to the chain plates.

Just a bit of an update. I've started constructing the after deck house. Rather than building it separately and mounting it on the coaming, I'm going to build the house in situ. There are two reasons for this. First, the house (and hence the coaming) is not straight, but rather narrows toward the stern in a curve that I bent into the coamings - so, putting it together separately would be difficult. The second issue is dealing with the overhang that I've mentioned before. So, build on site it is.
 
Step 1 is to install the main deck coaming and then to install a set of, for lack of a better term, stanchions that define the boundaries of the coaming and hence the house. 
 
In addition, I added 4 uprights between the main deck and the poop to provide a place to mount the planks that will define the bulkheads that run only from the main deck coaming to the poop deck. Two are mounted directly against the bulwarks, and two are just amidship of each fo the poop deck coamings, as the higher segment matches up with the coaming on the poop (photo of the uprights and then a segment of the plans that describe what I mean).
 


 
So, the planks were pre-painted white and then installed as below:
 

 
Now, the main part of the deckhouse (the part that will be mounted on the other uprights) is relatively low, and has a set of 6 windows with bars on the port and starboard sides:
 

 
This is about 3  1/16 planks wide, so I made a set 3 wide, and then overlaid them on the plans, marking them for the vertical details and the location of the windows:
 

 
Now mask away:
 

 
And paint blue where the windows will sit. I then used 1/32 square planking (pre-painted white) to make a window frame, and then embedded brass wire to make the window bars. Here's the first one:
 

 
 
And now three:
 
Once finished, I will mount on the coaming, add the vertical details, and then slice off any remaining upright with a dremel cutting blade. Then the deckhouse will be topped off with a 1/16 square plank that will be flush with the vertical detail planks, and we can move to the central section that runs from the main deck. 
 
In order to make it look right, I think I'm going to have to add another coaming section on the main deck so that the bulkhead planks have something to land on (there is no room going straight down, but that should not be a huge problem.
 
Thanks again for looking in and the likes!
 
Regards,
George K
 
 
 
 

Getting close to finishing the deck furniture.  The hoisting engine box is almost completed.  I just have to add the clutch cover box. I will build this bit out of a solid piece of wood.  I've glued up some wood and am waiting for it to dry prior to completing that part.
 

 

 
I glued up the arms of the jumbo boom crutch.  
 

 
Finally this afternoon I completed the samson post, bowsprit bits and platform
 

 
I'm hoping to be in position next week to break out the air brush.  I want to paint the deck furniture and the main rail.  Hopefully after that I will be in a position to finish the monkey rail and permanently install the deck furniture.

Adding rails.  You can also see how I fixed the poop deck with some basswood.  Hawse pipes attached with the embelishments.

Deckworks update.  Working on the windlass.  Haven't glued the axel yet as I'm thinking of adding a section between the right drum and the windlass housing to be a drum for the chain haul (to be more accurate?) In photos, looks like it's two drums, housing, main drum, housing, final drum.  AL left out the double drum setup on the port side 
 
Skylights ate built and painted. Both cabins are read for finish.  At the helm, I added a short tub behind the helm so it would stand off the steering gear cabinet a bit.
 
I have two challenges now.  First, the poop deck from AL is a poor fit.  Try to decide if I should modify or rebuild from scratch.
 
I also made my first big goof.  When I started building the skylight panels, I grabbed the wrong wood. Grabbed some walnut of similar size instead of the sapely.  Oops.  Fortunately, I plan on painting the rails anyways so I can use any wood as long as it's the right size. 

George K In case you can't see the additional close ups of the painting I described, here's a section and edited to focus on the Rear House. It appears that there's not two but one single door with two arched windows on either side, separated by ornate panelling. In addition there appears to be some gingerbread work that surrounds the entire lower level of the upper roofline. There's a wealth of modeling information. For instance, you can also see there's some neat panelling along the upper level of the bulwarks too. 

Just a brief update (it's been a crazy couple of weeks without much time to build). Rudder removed, shaped, sanded and coppered:
 

 
5 hinges made and rudder attached to hull:
 

 
The gap between the rudder and the hull is a bit more than I would prefer, but it was a tradeoff between having some detail in the hinges and having the rudder closer (I can't seem to make hinges that are much less thick). So, yes on the detail, let the chips fall where they may. 
 
Thanks for looking in!
 
Regards,
George K