Pete Jaquith

With the cheek knees complete; attention turned to fabrication and installation of head framing and the remaining exterior outfit planned for installation prior paint:
Head rails were fabricated/dry fitted.  Head rails were fabricated from 3/32” laminated stock (3 layers of 1/32” sheet stock). Middle rails were fabricated/dry fitted from 1/16” sheet stock.  Wire pins were used to reinforce the middle rail hull attachment. With the head and middle rails temporally pinned in place, the head rail knees were fabricated/installed in two pieces (to simplify fitting) from 1/16” sheet stock. Fore tack boomkins were fabricated/dry fitted from 1/8” sheet stock.  Wire pins were used to reinforce the boomkin hull and head rail attachments. With the head framing defined, the hawse holes were located and drilled out. At his point, the transom trim was installed (photo etch from Lauck Street Shipyard).  
The head framing is one of the more complex portions of the build.  Artistic license and patience were required for its construction.  After hull paint, gold paint pens will be used to highlight its many intricate features.
 
Final installation of the head rails, middle rails, and figurehead will follow hull painting.  Final installation of the fore tack boomkins will await the rigging phase.  Next step, exterior hull painting.
 
Regards from the shipyard,
Pete Jaquith

With bowsprit fabrication complete; attention turned to the cheek knees and head framing.  As this is a complex area, additional care was placed on its fabrication:
Templates for the stem, head rails, and middle rails were prepared to assist in visualizing the arrangement. Figurehead was dry fitted to the stem (casting from the kit). Cheek knees were fabricated/installed from 1/16” and 1/8” sheet stock.  Cheek knees were fabricated in 3 pieces with final shaping done in position.  
Next step, fabrication and initial installation of head framing and the remaining exterior outfit planned prior paint.
 
Regards from the shipyard,
Pete Jaquith
 
 

 

Continuing the upper hull outfit, attention turned to fabrication and dry fitting of the bowsprit, bowsprit bitts, fore bitts, and the jibboom:
Bowsprit assembly was completed.  This is an interesting assembly with lots of fine period details. Jibboom fabrication was completed. Bowsprit bitts were fabricated from 3/32” sheet stock and 1/8” sq. stock.  Bowsprit bitts were doweled to the inboard end of the bowsprit. Fore bitts were fabricated from 1/16” x 1/8” and 3/32” x 1/8” strip wood. Bowsprit and fore bitt deck attachments were reinforced with 3/64” dowel pins. The bowsprit notch was cut in the forward bulwark and the bowsprit, bowsprit bitts, and fore bitts were dry fitted to the hull.  This step included a 3/32” extension to the stem to conform with the 3/32” added to the bulwark height to suit the cannon ports. After completing the above tasks, the knightheads and timberheads were installed on the forward bulwarks.  
To facilitate hull painting and inner bulwark attachments the catheads will be installed after hull painting; and, the bowsprit, bowsprit bitts, and fore bitts will be installed after fitting inner bulwark attachments and the cannons.  The jibboom will be installed later during the rigging phase.  Next steps will continue with construction of the cheek knees and head framing.
 

With the Brig Fair American hull planking complete, construction continued with fabrication and dry fitting of the bowsprit and jibboom:
Bowsprit was fabricated from 5/16” dowel stock.  The bowsprit was turned on my mini-lathe using fine standing sticks.  The eight sided square inner foot and the square outer end were shaped with a disk sander. Jibboom was fabricated from 1/8” dowel stock.  The jibboom was turned on my mini-lathe using fine standing sticks.  The outer tip was shaped with a sharp razor blade and fine sanding sticks. Next steps will continue with detailing the bowsprit and jibboom, fabricating the bowsprit bitts, and dry fitting the completed assemblies to the hull.
 

With the Brig Fair American hull planking complete, construction continued with fabrication and installation of upper hull outfit.  This work continues outfit of the bow zone:
Knightheads were fabricated/dry fitted from 3/32” x 3/16” strip wood.  Knighthead installations were reinforced with .025 brass pins. Timberheads were fabricated/dry fitted from 3/32” sq. stock.  Timberhead installations were reinforced with .020 brass pins.  
Because of their delicate nature, knightheads and timberheads will be installed after cutting the bowsprit notch.  Catheads and their attached timberheads will be installed after hull paint. 
 
Many fiddly little pieces here but it is starting to look like a real ship.  Next steps will continue with fabrication and dry fitting of the bowsprit, bowsprit bitts, and the jibboom.
 
 

With the Brig Fair American hull planking complete, construction continued with fabrication and installation of upper hull outfit. The next zone to be addressed was the bow zone.  Note that cheek knees, head rails, and head rail knees will be addressed later in the build:
P/S hull attachments were laid out in the bow zone (due to plan inaccuracies, I chose to lay out and check all bow attachments at this point). Catheads were fabricated/dry fitted from 3/16” x ¼” strip wood.  The catheads are pinned in place with 3/64” dowels.  The catheads will be installed after hull paint. Fore tack fairlead holes were drilled thru the forward bulwarks.  
A few small steps in completing upper hull outfit.  Next steps will continue with the knightheads and timberheads.
 

With the Brig Fair American hull planking complete, construction shifted to fabrication and installation of upper hull outfit.  The first zone handled was the P/S hull sides:
P/S hull attachments were laid out. Channels were fabricated/installed from 3/32” sheet stock.  A spindle sander was used to shape the inner surfaces.  Deadeyes and chain plates will be installed after hull paint.  Channel caps were fabricated from 3/64” x 3/32” strip stock.  The channel caps will be installed after hull paint.   Chess trees were fabricated/installed from 3/32” x 3/32” strip stock.  Main tack fairlead holes were then drilled thru the P/S bulwarks. Gangway steps were fabricated/installed from 1/32” x 3/32” and 3/64” x 1/16” strip stock.  They were assembled with the aid of double sided scotch tape.  The remaining steps will be installed after hull paint Quarter badges were dry fitted to the hull.  Note that the windows still require framing out and the quarter badges will be installed after hull paint.  
There will be many additional details added in this zone after paint: i.e. deadeyes & chain plates, channel caps, gangway steps, quarter badges & windows, and gunport hinges for the closed aft gunport.  Next steps will continue with upper hull outfit.

With the Brig Fair American garboard and broad strakes, and lower “A”, “B”, and “D” Belt planking complete; a major construction milestone was completed:
“C” Belt Strakes #9-12 – The third four strakes below wales (#9-12) were the last strakes installed.  Note that lower “C” Belt strake #12 was the closing strake.  These planks were ~9” wide amidships tapering to ~6” wide at the stem and 13-15” wide at the stern post. Fair Planking – After completion of planking (a major milestone), limited wood filler was used to fill a few open seams and the hull was lightly sanded using fine sanding sticks.  
Lessons learned from hull planking include:
Layout of planking belts and strakes is key Proportional dividers are great for dividing up planking belts Shaped planks were cut from sheet stock using ships curves (I may try Chuck’s heat bending technique on my next project) Fine sanding sticks from the beauty supply shop are great for fine tuning planks Filling the forward/after hull bays with basswood blocks provided need planking support Planks were edge glued with white glue – to date despite 7 years of storage and significant temperature and humidity swings from southern NH to the CA desert (60-100 degrees F and 15-90% humidity) I have not had any cracking or open seams.   Next steps include: (a) confirming pedestal fit.
Regards from the shipyard,
Pete Jaquith
 
 
 
 
 

With the Brig Fair American lower hull planking belts "A" and "B" Port, and "D" Port/Stbd. complete, work continued on lower hull planking:
"A" and “B” Belt Strakes #1-8 Stbd. – Completed the first eight strakes below wales (#1-8).  These planks were ~9” wide amidships tapering to ~4.5” at the stem and ~7.5” wide at the counter.  Due to their shape, the fwd/aft planks were fabricated from sheet stock.
Due to high temperatures in the shop (garage) during the afternoon and evening, I am currently only completing 1-2 plank strakes per day, however the end is in sight. 

 
Next steps include: (a) install “C” Belt P/S, the middle four strakes.  Note that lower “C” Belt strake (#12) will be the closing strake.

Regards from the shipyard,

Pete Jaquith

 

After completing the painting of the upper section of the hull, I began the long and arduous journey of coppering the Hull.  Some images of the finished coppering were posted on my second log entry above.   I marked off the lengths of several copper sheets at a time using a marked scrap sheet of wood as shown in the first photo below and scoring the cut location along an edge using an hobby knife.    To achieve 90 degree cuts I cut the sheets on a Chopper II.  Using a set of geometry dividers,  I then marked the lines for the coppering upwards and towards the bow to achieve the correct overlapping pattern of the copper plates.  I used a smooth scrap of wood to help me press each copper plate into place.   Images of several of these steps are shown in the photos below, along with some of the intermediate  and finished results.  Early in the coppering I drilled holes in the keel for the future mounting pedestal brass rods (photo 5).
 

Shipbuilders,
My ship modeling has been limited in recent months due to:
Preparation of a major Technical Paper on "Warship Design and Acquisition" to be published in the Naval Engineers Journal Sept. `21 issue, an American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) publication. Incredibly hot weather which prevents work in my garage shop. With the paper complete and weather improving, I look forward to getting back to the shop.
 
Regards, Pete 

Shipbuilders,
My ship modeling has been limited in recent months due to:
Preparation of a major Technical Paper on "Warship Design and Acquisition" to be published in the Naval Engineers Journal Sept. `21 issue, an American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) publication. Incredibly hot weather which prevents work in my garage shop. With the paper complete and weather improving, I look forward to getting back to the shop.
 
Regards, Pete 

Shipbuilders,
My ship modeling has been limited in recent months due to:
Preparation of a major Technical Paper on "Warship Design and Acquisition" to be published in the Naval Engineers Journal Sept. `21 issue, an American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) publication. Incredibly hot weather which prevents work in my garage shop. With the paper complete and weather improving, I look forward to getting back to the shop.
 
Regards, Pete 

With the Brig Fair American hull painting complete, construction continued with installation of hull outfit:
Transom trim and carvings were highlighted/painted with Deco Color Prime-Premio gold metallic paint pens Transom windows were previously formed to follow the curve of the transom trim and planking Transom windows were painted, glazed, and installed (Micro Kristal Klear was used for window glazing) Ship’s name was installed (prepared and printed with MS Word) Rudder chains were blackened and installed  Next steps will continue with installation of the quarter deck rails.
 
Regards from the shipyard,
Pete Jaquith

I recently purchased the CAF Model 130mm ships boat kit.  With some additions as recommended by Allan, this builds into an interesting 18' lap strake cutter.  I plan to display it stowed on the gallows in traditional fashion.
 
Next step is on to the quarterdeck rails.
 
Regards, Pete

The barrels are mini-kits sold separately. They are made of a center plywood piece planked with two layers of cherry veneer. These barrels take quite a long time to build because every barrel needs 24 veneer parts to complete. The center plywood piece is assembled first and a piece of cherry veneer with some laser engraving is glued at top and bottom. 
 

 
Then the first layer of planking is glued on the center piece. There are only 24 pieces supplied so be careful while you bend them. I selected the best ones for the outer layer and used the rest for the inner layer.
 

 
Then I gave the first layer a good sanding.  Be careful - these layers are only .5 mm thick and are easily damaged. After that I glued the second layer - one part at once - and used several rubber bands to fix the part until glue had dried. As I made all barrels at once this took several hours to complete. 
 

 
I gave the second layer another good sanding and applied some WOP, now they have to dry first. I will attach the iron belts in the next day, these are made of photoetched brass parts that have to be soldered to shape. A snapshot of all barrels - my crew prefer old bordeaux, keeps good mood. 
 

 
Stay save. 
 
 
 

jct,
 
I look forward to following your build.  My ​Brigantine Newsboy build log here on MSW illustrates my approach to carving and finishing a solid hull.  Note that I found a digital caliper useful in thinning the bulwarks.
 
​Regards,
Pete

Well I is also a pity to cover all that nice frame structure. I thought some time about different options to leave areas unplanked to show the structure. But I discarded most of them because these options would leave the finished ship look very much unfinished. This would have been an option if I was to build a dockyard model without masting. So I decided to leave only a small center area unplanked located at the port side to light the inner structure and to show some frames (like done on the MS Confederacy) To enable looking into the ship I will leave some deck planking off. 

Thank you all for the likes, you give me much credit. Better don’t bring up high expectations until the planking is finished. To check the upper bow planking I started to plank the upper front frames. These pre-cut planks fit much better - but some of them are too short.
 

 
About 3 mm missing to fit them into the brackets between the keel and the first two frames. Well I did my best to fix them anyway. This area won‘t be seen later but it is still a pity (my OCD keep telling me that). The sides are painted with black acrylic paint to simulate chaulking as done on the gallery. 
 

 
I consider finishing the bow area first, then starting with the lower planks and finish the stern area at last, So I will be able to make a custom plank to fit the unplanked area between lower planking and upper stern. Stay tuned ..
 
Andreas 
 
 

Very interesting and informative build.  We are all watching.
 
Pete

jfinan,
Very nice build.  I like your approach to planking a solid hull (POS).  This is my approach as illustrated in my Topsail Schooner "Eagle" and Brigantine "Newsboy" builds.
 

Jfinan,
 
Once you have removed the bulk of the bulwark material, flexible sanding sticks (from the beauty salon) are very helpful in finishing the inner surface.
 
Pete

Jfinan,
 
I have attached pictures of this stage in my Newsboy build here in MSW.  I used sharp gouges to carve vertically and remove excessive bulwark material.  A dial caliper was used to monitor thickness.
 
Pete

Various techniques including copper paint, individual copper plates, photo etched plates, and self adhesive copper tape have been used by ship modelers to simulate the copper sheathing used for under water hull protection on both naval and merchant ships from the late 1700’s thru the late 1800’s. The following notes describe the technique selected for my Topsail Schooner "Eagle" of 1847 build.
 
Test Pieces – Test pieces were prepared to evaluate the installation process and appearance of various methods including individual plates, individual plates cut from self adhesive tape, strips of copper tape, and both plain and embossed plates. The selected approach was individual plates cut from self adhesive copper tape with embossed nail heads on the exposed plate edges only.
 
Copper Material – The material used for copper sheathing was .0015” x ¼” wide self adhesive copper tape purchased from Blue Jacket Ship Crafters.
Plate Fabrication – The individual copper plates were cut from self adhesive copper tape using a Carl Rotary Trimmer from Staples Office Supply. The plates were ¼” x ¾” (16” x 48” full size at 1:64 scale). The individual plates were then embossed from the back side using a fine pounce wheel.
 
Hull Preparation – After filling and sanding any minor dings, holes, etc. on the lower hull and completion of topside painting (acrylic paints); the topside and bare lower hull were sealed with three coats of Minwax Wipe-On-Poly (oil based wiping varnish). A hard smooth surface is necessary for tape adhesion, and a smooth surface is important as any defects will show through the thin copper foil.
 
Hull Layout – With the model resting in its building cradle, the waterline was laid out using a surface gauge. The gore line was then located using the copper sheathing layout taken from a similar size merchant hull plans (whaler "Kate Cory"). The plate layout consists of upper and lower gore strakes with no dressing belt. The individual copper plate strakes were laid out using a tick strip working up from the keel. The water line, gore line, and individual plate strakes were then marked on the model hull using narrow strips of blue masking tape. Note that properly locating the waterline and gore line are critical as I have seen models where they dip down badly in the stern area.
 
Plate Installation – Individual copper plates were applied using the masking tape strips as a guide and working from the keel up and the stern post forward. The plates were overlapped approximately 1/32” and butts were staggered like brick work. A fair amount of fitting was required in the upper stern area due to the hull shape, and the upper corners of the plates were cut off for those plates that crossed the gore line and waterline. After installation, all copper foil plates were rubbed down with a soft rag.
 
Protective Finish – After installation, I cleaned the copper plates with denatured alcohol and applied three coats of Minwax Wipe-On-Poly to seal and protect the copper surface. After approximately 10 months, the copper sheathing is beginning to show some tarnish under the varnish finish. On future builds, I may just choose to clean the copper plates and let them tarnish naturally.
 
While the above technique is only an approximation of full size practice as the nail pattern would have covered the complete plate and would hardly be visible at this scale, I was pleased with the overall effect. As noted; critical items in the application include having a smooth hard surface, layout of the waterline/gore line, and holding the plate strakes straight.
 
Brigantine "Newsboy" 1854 Installation – Following completion of the Topsail Schooner "Eagle", my next ship model was the Brigantine "Newsboy" of 1854 (also in 1:64 scale). The copper sheathing installation on "Newsboy" was similar to "Eagle" with the following exceptions:
1. Due to her finer hull lines, I chose to model the copper sheathing layout after the clipper ship "Flying Fish" of 1851. The copper sheathing layout consisted of an upper and lower gore with a single dressing strake at the water line.
2. The copper plate fabrication and installation was similar to "Eagle". Based on the recommendation of friends at the USS Constitution Model Shipwrights Guild, I elected not to emboss the copper plates with simulated nails. I was pleased with the result, and plan to follow this practice on future models of American Merchant Sail from the mid 1800’s.
 
The following pictures illustrate copper sheathing installation on the Maine Topsail Schooner "Eagle" 1847 and Brigantine "Newsboy" of 1854.
 
Pete Jaquith
Shipbuilder

Various techniques including copper paint, individual copper plates, photo etched plates, and self adhesive copper tape have been used by ship modelers to simulate the copper sheathing used for under water hull protection on both naval and merchant ships from the late 1700’s thru the late 1800’s. The following notes describe the technique selected for my Topsail Schooner "Eagle" of 1847 build.
 
Test Pieces – Test pieces were prepared to evaluate the installation process and appearance of various methods including individual plates, individual plates cut from self adhesive tape, strips of copper tape, and both plain and embossed plates. The selected approach was individual plates cut from self adhesive copper tape with embossed nail heads on the exposed plate edges only.
 
Copper Material – The material used for copper sheathing was .0015” x ¼” wide self adhesive copper tape purchased from Blue Jacket Ship Crafters.
Plate Fabrication – The individual copper plates were cut from self adhesive copper tape using a Carl Rotary Trimmer from Staples Office Supply. The plates were ¼” x ¾” (16” x 48” full size at 1:64 scale). The individual plates were then embossed from the back side using a fine pounce wheel.
 
Hull Preparation – After filling and sanding any minor dings, holes, etc. on the lower hull and completion of topside painting (acrylic paints); the topside and bare lower hull were sealed with three coats of Minwax Wipe-On-Poly (oil based wiping varnish). A hard smooth surface is necessary for tape adhesion, and a smooth surface is important as any defects will show through the thin copper foil.
 
Hull Layout – With the model resting in its building cradle, the waterline was laid out using a surface gauge. The gore line was then located using the copper sheathing layout taken from a similar size merchant hull plans (whaler "Kate Cory"). The plate layout consists of upper and lower gore strakes with no dressing belt. The individual copper plate strakes were laid out using a tick strip working up from the keel. The water line, gore line, and individual plate strakes were then marked on the model hull using narrow strips of blue masking tape. Note that properly locating the waterline and gore line are critical as I have seen models where they dip down badly in the stern area.
 
Plate Installation – Individual copper plates were applied using the masking tape strips as a guide and working from the keel up and the stern post forward. The plates were overlapped approximately 1/32” and butts were staggered like brick work. A fair amount of fitting was required in the upper stern area due to the hull shape, and the upper corners of the plates were cut off for those plates that crossed the gore line and waterline. After installation, all copper foil plates were rubbed down with a soft rag.
 
Protective Finish – After installation, I cleaned the copper plates with denatured alcohol and applied three coats of Minwax Wipe-On-Poly to seal and protect the copper surface. After approximately 10 months, the copper sheathing is beginning to show some tarnish under the varnish finish. On future builds, I may just choose to clean the copper plates and let them tarnish naturally.
 
While the above technique is only an approximation of full size practice as the nail pattern would have covered the complete plate and would hardly be visible at this scale, I was pleased with the overall effect. As noted; critical items in the application include having a smooth hard surface, layout of the waterline/gore line, and holding the plate strakes straight.
 
Brigantine "Newsboy" 1854 Installation – Following completion of the Topsail Schooner "Eagle", my next ship model was the Brigantine "Newsboy" of 1854 (also in 1:64 scale). The copper sheathing installation on "Newsboy" was similar to "Eagle" with the following exceptions:
1. Due to her finer hull lines, I chose to model the copper sheathing layout after the clipper ship "Flying Fish" of 1851. The copper sheathing layout consisted of an upper and lower gore with a single dressing strake at the water line.
2. The copper plate fabrication and installation was similar to "Eagle". Based on the recommendation of friends at the USS Constitution Model Shipwrights Guild, I elected not to emboss the copper plates with simulated nails. I was pleased with the result, and plan to follow this practice on future models of American Merchant Sail from the mid 1800’s.
 
The following pictures illustrate copper sheathing installation on the Maine Topsail Schooner "Eagle" 1847 and Brigantine "Newsboy" of 1854.
 
Pete Jaquith
Shipbuilder