Elia

Thank you for your interest in "Newsboy",
 
Next steps continue the installation od deck / hull outfit components.  Key points include:
 
>>> At this point, hatch / house coamings have not been glued in place
>>> New nameboard installed on spray rails (to improve contrast against rails)
>>> Anchor billboard sheathed with tectured Bristol board (goor representation of wought iron)
>>> Lower deadeyes installed (previously fitted with temporary mast)
 
Pete Jaquith
Shipbuilder

I've spent the past few weeks preparing for, and painting, the rails and hull.  For the most part it was turned quite acceptable to me.  There is one glaring exception, and I'll focus on that later.
 
Once the Monkey Rails were completed I proceeded to apply a sealer/primer to the rails, perform a light sanding, and then apply two coats of my white mix.  The only masking done was to protect previously painted deck and bulwarks.
 
A while ago, when planking the hull, I built an inverted stand for Arethusa, one that located the hull by the two mast holes and a number of contact points on the deck.  The stand allowed the inverted hull to located such that the waterline as horizontal, parallel to the surface it was placed upon.  This stand, very crude compared to some of the tools and stand folks here build for their models, came in quite useful a number of times.
 
I used the stand to mark the waterline with a pencil, a light line, on the hull.  I then applied two coats of the anti-fouling red/brown lower hull paint.  I purposefully carried the red paint up above the waterline mark.
 
After painting all of the rails white and the hull red, and allowing a couple of days for full drying, I masked the edges of the rails where the hull black and rail white meet.  I also remarked the waterline with my handy dandy stand, and then masked the edge of the black paint at the waterline.
 
I had previously used a draw plate/template to form the very narrow cove along the edge of the waist plank.  In full scale the cove is something like 3/8” wide, so one can image how narrow it is for a 1/48 scale model.  I was able to carve a fairly narrow cove into the plank, but it wasn’t very even.  In the process of scraping it into the plank I felt it wander, almost catching on the wood grain as it went.  I’ve looked at this detail for quite some time and had mixed feelings about it.  I was proud of having made such a narrow cove, but unhappy that is wasn’t straight and perfectly parallel to the plank edge. Herein lies the problem I encountered.  I painted the yellow of the cove, two coats, extending the paint above and below the cove to ensure the cove was fully painted.  Once that paint had cured I applied masking tape to the cove.  I had found 1/64” wide masking tape from an on-line modeling supplier and purchased it.  This stuff is rather amazing in it’s narrowness.  When I tried to apply the tape to the cove I found it very difficult to get the tape to nest down into the cove - it wanted to wander about in the cove...reminiscent of when I scraped the cove some time ago.  
 
I applied tape edge sealing coats of each of the three paint colors - white along the edge of the rails, red/brown along waterline, and yellow at the cove.  This was done to seal the edge of the tape and not allow the over-coat color to bleed under the tape.
 
Once those had dried I was clear to apply the upper hull black paint.  Two coats were applied.  The white/black edge along the rails worked quite well, as did the red/black edge at the waterline.  There were one or two very minor bleed spots, but all in all I think a good success.
 
Now....back to that yellow cove.  Once the black paint had dried I peeled back that 1/64” tape...and....not good.  The thinness of the yellow was excellent.  But, the masked sections wandered along the wandering cove.  And there was appreciable black paint bleed beneath the tape.  I am very disappointed in this and am stewing over ways to correct it. 
 
Following are a few photos of the painted hull, without and with deck furniture.  The quarterdeck of these schooners had a unique deck planking run - the planks were set parallel to the cabin, as that was a large cutout in the deck (a strength issue), to provide as much continuous planking strength as possible.  Thus, there is some unique nibbing of the outboard planks along the margin plank/waterway.  
 
The fish pens and dory skids are shown also.  The bait gurry isn't located quite properly, either.
 

Cheers,

Shipwrights

 

I’ve been puttering along, stealing a minute here and there to do small modeling tasks.  I painted the deck the darker gray, per the color previous investigated, fabricated some fish pens and dory skids, to be located athwartship the fore hatch, have worked on the rails, and am now in the process of painting the hull.  

 

I used some plans and photos of Arethusa to arrive at the fish pen and dory skid details and geometry.  I don’t have any handy photos of these, but will include them in the near future, once I begin adding deck furniture to the model.

I started on the rails, or more precisely, near the rails at the transom.  The fashion pieces on Arethusa have a peculiar shape to them.  I resorted to gluing extra wood pieces on and sanding them to shape.  It took me a couple of tries before I found them acceptable.  They are small, subtle details and I wanted them to be reasonably representative of those on the real ship.  Not exact, but close enough...

 

The main rail is composed of three strips of basswood on each side.  I learned of doing this from Charlie Cook, the Blue Jacket Shipcrafter’s on-call modeler (for customers).  When building Smuggler years ago I had many questions on modeling and he was quite helpful.  The thin strips allow for a nice continuous curve of the rail.  One of the nice benefits of using the three strips to build up the main rail is that placement of the chainplate holes through the rail is fairly easy, and they can be aligned with the cant of the chainplates readily without having to resort to drilling through the rail after it was complete.  



The transom rail (or taftrail), and stem seat, was shaped from a single piece of 1/16” thick basswood sheet.  For both the stem and transom rail seats I transferred the uppermost bulwark or transom plank edge onto heavy paper stock, then offset the desired amount to provide a slight overhang of the main rail and seats over the waist planks of the bulwark.  I then transferred those templates onto the sheet stock and cut them out.  After gluing them to the bulwark stanchions and planks, and then installing the main rail stripwood, I sanded them all flush to each other and in smooth, continuous curves.  A single edge razor was ground with a Dremel tool into the profile for the main and monkey rail inboard and outboard edges and used to finish the main rail off.  I’ve mentioned this before - I just struggle with this, both the grinding of the profile and getting a good edge on the receiving wood strip.  I’m in awe of modelers here, too many to mention, who do this regularly and whose drawn planks look like they’ve been milled by some miniature woodshop.  At times mine look like an angry beaver has just used my strip stock as a toothpick.

 

I then moved on to the Monkey Rail and Monkey Board.  The Monkey board is the vertical plank or boards (still formed into compound curvature in a plan view)which sits atop the main rail along the quarterdeck.  The Monkey Board around the transom was a challenge.  Instead of piecing it together with  three or more pieces that run along the rail periphery, as was traditionally done in Essex, MA, I made a three layer lamination of 1/16” thick basswood sheet.  I did this so that I could then cut and sand it to a profile while retaining some strength of the piece during handling.  Once the wood lamination was glued and dry I transferred the outboard transom seat edge to it, the scroll saw cut it to it plan view profile, leaving a little extra all around.  I then sanded it to its final shape, checking it constantly to the installed transom seat outer edge.  When that looked satisfactory I offset inner monkey board thickness and repeated the scroll sawing, then sanding, and check-check-checking.  When the monkey board profile was complete I sanded the lower surface of it to the transom seat, which had a slight curvature to it, fore-aft, by putting sanding paper on the seat surface and gently sanding the monkey board to it.  This allowed for a reasonably tight fit, and when glued it didn’t require a great force or preload to get it to bond to the transom seat.



The monkey board forward ends were also challenging due to the way the main mast chainplates were installed through the monkey rail and board on Arethusa.  On other schooners the chain plates pass through the monkey rail, just outboard of the monkey board, and typically the main rail outer edge is cut away to allow the chain plate to pass it.  On Arethusa the chainplates pass through the monkey board, through the main rail, and then exit on the outboard side of the bulwarks.  Here is a picture of Arethusa where the sun reflection and angle of the boat in the photo clearly show the main mast chainplates and how they pass through the monkey board and rail.  Eric Ronnberg Jr.’s model built for Thomas Hoyne also exhibit this detail, as do other photos of the ship.



After a little thought and contemplation on this I decided I would try to install the main mast chainplates in the proper manner for Arethusa. For the monkey board I chose to fabricate it from two strips of wood.  The outer one is 1/16” thick, whereas the inner one is 1/32” thick.  The 1/32” thick stuff is swiss pear I had purchased from the Hobby Mill years ago.  It was perfect for the task - really beautiful wood.  I transferred the chainplate holes in the main rail to the 1/16” monkey rail piece and used a square cross section fine file to “cut” the hole depth.  By doing this I was able to follow the orientation of each of the chainplates (from the plans I used).  I then glued the 1/32” thick piece onto the 1/16” thick piece and voile’ - a monkey board with internal passages for the main mast chainplates.  This ended up thicker than scale Monkey Board, but I’m satisfied that the extra thickness isn’t obvious, and it allowed a sound method of creating the slots for the main mast chainplates.  I’m sure there are other ways to do this, maybe easier, too.  It ‘appears’ to have worked out fine (yeah for small victories).  Time will tell...with the rigging of those chainplates and main mast shrouds.  

 

Here is a photo of the outer of the Monkey Board planks being glued in place atop the main rail.  One can see the thinner, darker Swiss Pear strip on the forward inboard side of the Monkey Board adjacent to the main mast chainplate locations.  I had glued those in place, locally, prior to gluing the Monkey board onto the main rail.



At the forward end of the main rail I’ve added some buffalo chocks and rail fillers at the location of the anchors - additional wooden fillers which were used to strengthen and protect the buffalo chock and main rail, and the thinner waist planks, from the anchor when raised, lowered, and stowed for passage.



I’ve also added small amidship waist plank reinforcements.  These were placed along the thinner bulwark planks in the region where the dories were onloaded and offloaded from the schooner.



Similarly I added strips just below the main rail just aft of the main mast chainplates...I assume to protect the main rail from damage during hauling fish and equipment up from the dories.



Once all of the rails and things were shaped and installed I applied a white sealer/filler, sanded the roughness smooth, and applied the white rail finish paint.  As noted earlier I’m now painting the hull - bulwark white is complete, the anti-fouling red/brown is on, the thin yellow cove has been initially painted, and following some masking, the hull black goes on.  Then she’ll really resemble a proper Gloucester fishing schooner and I’ll post more photos.

 

[folks - this method of weaving in pictures is new to me...it doesn't look right in the editor/preview...so my fingers are crossed that it looks OK posted]...{I've tried Padeen's suggestion and it appears to have been just the ticket - thank you Padeen}

Cheers!

Bob,
 
I'm afraid that once this shipbuilding crew here gets their mind set on something - there is no stopping them.  Attached is a current picture of the progress.  The horror of it all!!  I had intended to take pictures in-process but became engrossed in seeing the remediation through.  The old cove section has been cut out of each waist/side.  A new un-coved strip of wood has been glued in its place.  The wood was taller (stood proud of the adjacent loft surface) than required and was subsequently chiseled and sanded near flush.  Putty/filler was applied to fill the inevitable gaps and gouged damage which resulted during the extraction/removal process (ham fisted shipwright in action).  Then it was all sanded flush.  A few touch-ups with the sand paper, a cleaning of the surface, and I'll apply some primer/sealer.  Then on with the yellow striping.
 
My decision to remove the cove, and not fill it with putty/filler, was due to a concern that the cove was so small that putty/filler wouldn't get a good bite or grip, and during the painting (and masking tape removal) process it would peel or break out.  With the new strip of wood the yellow strip will only be painted over solid wood.  I think the masking tape will be able to be burnished well on the wood, will seal well (fingers crossed), and a decent yellow stripe the result (again fingers crossed).  I haven't yet taken a photo of the little cutting tool I made but can do so if anyone is interested in seeing it.  It pretty much looks like the sketch.
 
With a little modeling time I think I'll be able to proceed ahead again soon.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Shipwrights - it has been a long time since I last posted progress on Arethusa.  I have been working away on her, in little snippets of time here and there.  Springtime turned to summer, when my modeling usually all but ceases, replaced by outdoor activities.  Autumn typically welcomes the shipwright (me!) back to his work shop.  This year my wife and I decided to embark on a large home improvement project and it has taken far more time and energy than initially estimated.  That resulted in less model time than I had hoped for.  I am now getting a little modeling time in and following are some progress photos.

 

The saga of the yellow cove stripe is almost over.  I had removed the offending strip of wood, per my previous postings, glued in the repair strip, and spackled, sanded and faired it.  I then painted the yellow stripe region.  After the painted dried for a couple of days I applied the 1/64” wide masking tape.  It was surprisingly difficult for me to get it to run straight and true along the new piece of wood.  ?!  Once in place I painted a light coat of the yellow over the masking tape to seal its edges for bleed under by the black topcoat, which followed.  The resulting stripe looks thin and yellow, as desired, though it wanders a wee bit. I think I’ll live with it.  As you can see if the accompanying photo I’ve added some white to the scuppers.  All of my remediation work had filled in the scuppers with spackle, sanding dust, primer, and paint.  I cleaned out the scuppers and applied some of my white paint as touch-up.  Once the chainplates are attached I’ll apply black topcoat and it should look tidy (at least that is the plan).



 

Speaking of chainplates - I have been working away on those details.  First off was making the deadeyes.  Ron (Oneida build) was very helpful in providing me a direction in which to proceed regarding making my deadeyes.  I followed his lead, similar to Harold Underhill, in making a jig to locate the lanyard holes and setting the height of the deadeye.  

 

I don’t know if you shipwrights ever see a detail on the full size ship that just sticks with you and you find you need to model it, but that happened to me on the deadeyes.  The large Gloucester schooners had deadeyes which were iron stropped to the chainplates.  That in itself isn’t unusual.  What is unique (in my mind at least) was that the strops were double wire loops.  Not one, but two iron strops restrain the deadeye to the chainplate.  I had purchased britannia deadeyes from Blue Jacket Shipcrafters for Arethusa but upon inspection I found I could not easily make the purchased deadeyes accept the double iron strop arrangement.  Thus I set off on making the lower deadeyes.  I used boxwood as it is hard, has little grain direction, and cuts and sands cleanly.

 

The larger deadeyes on the larger schooners were 7” to 7 1/2” in diameter and the width was about 5”.  On my model the ones I’ve made are 0.160” diameter (4mm) and 0.10” thick.  The smaller lower deadeyes were 5 1/5” in diameter, and my model ones are 0.115” diameter (3mm).  Interestingly these double stropped deadeyes are essentially flat faced, making fabrication a little easier.

 

My deadeye fabrication process was as follows:

 

Shape wooden rod from square stock using chisels to form first an octagon, chuck it in a hand drill, and use progressively fine grits of sandpaper to sand to the final deadeye diameter.



 

Using the little jig and a pin vise drill the three lanyard holes.



 

Chuck the dowel in my benchtop drill press.  Use the jig to mark the final width/cut of the deadeye with a fine kerf saw (on the drill press).



 

Use a triangular section file to create the strop grooves (on the drill press).  This was the most inconsistent part of my process as I didn’t have (or use/implement) some ‘tool rest’ with which to steady the file.  Remove the deadeye from the drill press and saw off the deadeye at the previously marked line.



 

Finish drilling through the lanyard holes.



 

I eased the holes with a micro “V” shaped gouge, followed by using the lanyard hole drill bit in the pin vise, rotated slowly, and angled to create a shallow groove.  All edges were then lightly sanded.



 

I have made the chainplates, both (16) longer ones for the lower shrouds and (4) shorter ones for the upper shrouds.  I used a jig to locate the chainplates for drilling the bolt holes.  The upper loops are soldered.  A few extras were made as I typically lose or mess up some when working through the fabrication steps.



 

I have fabricated the jumbo, jib, and flying jib stay ironwork from brass sheet stock.



 

I have made some cleats:



 

And some chocks:



 

And for the deadeyes I have begun making the double iron strops.  Here is a photo of my jig for forming the strop from 26 gauge brass wire.  I solder the one loop end, trim off the excess wire, and file it to resemble a hoop end.  I then use a larger drill bit shank to wrap the double strop around and straighten the hoop ends.





 

Once the strops are complete I'll proceed with assembling the deadeyes to the chainplates.  I intend to stain the deadeyes black and paint the strops (before attaching them to the deadeyes) dull silver (for they were galvanized).  I'm scheming now on how to solder the bolt and nut hardware, joining the iron strops to the chainplate.

 

Hopefully it won't been almost a year before I post further progress!

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

I've spent the past few weeks preparing for, and painting, the rails and hull.  For the most part it was turned quite acceptable to me.  There is one glaring exception, and I'll focus on that later.
 
Once the Monkey Rails were completed I proceeded to apply a sealer/primer to the rails, perform a light sanding, and then apply two coats of my white mix.  The only masking done was to protect previously painted deck and bulwarks.
 
A while ago, when planking the hull, I built an inverted stand for Arethusa, one that located the hull by the two mast holes and a number of contact points on the deck.  The stand allowed the inverted hull to located such that the waterline as horizontal, parallel to the surface it was placed upon.  This stand, very crude compared to some of the tools and stand folks here build for their models, came in quite useful a number of times.
 
I used the stand to mark the waterline with a pencil, a light line, on the hull.  I then applied two coats of the anti-fouling red/brown lower hull paint.  I purposefully carried the red paint up above the waterline mark.
 
After painting all of the rails white and the hull red, and allowing a couple of days for full drying, I masked the edges of the rails where the hull black and rail white meet.  I also remarked the waterline with my handy dandy stand, and then masked the edge of the black paint at the waterline.
 
I had previously used a draw plate/template to form the very narrow cove along the edge of the waist plank.  In full scale the cove is something like 3/8” wide, so one can image how narrow it is for a 1/48 scale model.  I was able to carve a fairly narrow cove into the plank, but it wasn’t very even.  In the process of scraping it into the plank I felt it wander, almost catching on the wood grain as it went.  I’ve looked at this detail for quite some time and had mixed feelings about it.  I was proud of having made such a narrow cove, but unhappy that is wasn’t straight and perfectly parallel to the plank edge. Herein lies the problem I encountered.  I painted the yellow of the cove, two coats, extending the paint above and below the cove to ensure the cove was fully painted.  Once that paint had cured I applied masking tape to the cove.  I had found 1/64” wide masking tape from an on-line modeling supplier and purchased it.  This stuff is rather amazing in it’s narrowness.  When I tried to apply the tape to the cove I found it very difficult to get the tape to nest down into the cove - it wanted to wander about in the cove...reminiscent of when I scraped the cove some time ago.  
 
I applied tape edge sealing coats of each of the three paint colors - white along the edge of the rails, red/brown along waterline, and yellow at the cove.  This was done to seal the edge of the tape and not allow the over-coat color to bleed under the tape.
 
Once those had dried I was clear to apply the upper hull black paint.  Two coats were applied.  The white/black edge along the rails worked quite well, as did the red/black edge at the waterline.  There were one or two very minor bleed spots, but all in all I think a good success.
 
Now....back to that yellow cove.  Once the black paint had dried I peeled back that 1/64” tape...and....not good.  The thinness of the yellow was excellent.  But, the masked sections wandered along the wandering cove.  And there was appreciable black paint bleed beneath the tape.  I am very disappointed in this and am stewing over ways to correct it. 
 
Following are a few photos of the painted hull, without and with deck furniture.  The quarterdeck of these schooners had a unique deck planking run - the planks were set parallel to the cabin, as that was a large cutout in the deck (a strength issue), to provide as much continuous planking strength as possible.  Thus, there is some unique nibbing of the outboard planks along the margin plank/waterway.  
 
The fish pens and dory skids are shown also.  The bait gurry isn't located quite properly, either.
 

Cheers,

Elia,
 
Thanks for showing how you assembled the chainplates and deadeyes.  It helped me with mine.
 
Bob

Rusty, Robert, Druxey, Mark,
 
Many thanks for popping in here and for the kind words.
 
Dick (rhcronan),
 
While I've been puttering along with my rails I took a little side excursion and snapped some pictures of (a) Eric Ronnberg Jr.'s Arethusa model photo reproductions he had provided to me, and (b )some of the sketches I had made early one in my Arethusa build.  Here are forum sized images of them.  I think they should help illustrate the stem ironwork on a knockabout...at least Arethusa.  I did the sketches based on H.I. Chapelle's book appendix of American Fishing Schooners, and much of those sketches agree with Eric Ronnberg Jr.'s model quite well.  I've included the sketches for both the standing and rugging rigging at the stem (along with the jumbo stay on a post forward of the Samson post).  I hope these help you on your Helen B. Thomas model.  If you are so interested PM me and we can arrange for my sending you higher resolution images.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Dimitris, Nils, Russ,
 
Thank you all for the sentiments and compliments. A good day it has been.
 
I hope to have an update soon. I'm on my third (or fourth?) attempt at making the ships wheel....and I 'think' this time is it. . Time will tell.
 
Russ, your are so fortunate to live in Mystic. I'm outside of Philadelphia and rarely travel up there. I've wanted to see Erik's models and Thom Hoyne's artwork but haven't had the opportunity yet. Your paintings are superb. Wow. I would love to see your take on Arethusa.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Hi Elia,
 
I have been commissioned to paint a substantial oil of ARETHUSA by an enthusiast, and your model of her and all the photos you have posted to date will be extremeely helpful. Thank you! Your work is magnificent.
 
I have the good fortune of living here in Mystic, CT and, being close to the staff at the Seaport collections, willl have good access to Ronnenberg's model as well. I specialize in yachting history, and always try to emphasize the human side of being on the water, and this historic fishing scene will be a first for me. Of course this subject has inspired many others before me, most notably Tom Hoyne who did such fine work, but I will strive to do something unique. You can see my paintings at www.russkramer.com if you are interedted.
 
Anyway, I will be following your progress eagerly and congratulations on such impressive work.
 
Best,
 
Russ Kramer

Elia,
 
first my birthay greetings, enjoy your Special day and have fun..
 
Coming to your build, it is stunning to watch this ship growing on your slipway. A dream of a gloucester schooner with its wonderful lines, your single planking, your workmanship, this all makes ones heart beat faster...,
Shall stay tuned
 
very, very well done !!!
 
Nils

Happy birthday Elia. Enjoy the day.

...more....

the saga continues...

continued...first with a size comparison to Blue Jacket Shipcrafter's Smuggler....

continued...

continued....

Dimitris,
 
Thank you. Though my work has slowed it has been an enjoyable and rewarding journey.
 
Elia

And the last once.
Thank you
Dimitris71

And some more...

Hello to all . This is my first wooden ship build. I started at 4th of march and i would like to show you the evolution of the construction. Here  are some photos.

Not much progress to show over the last few weeks.  Spring has finally arrived so the model does not get as much attention as it desires.
 
I decided to install the string at the waist and the forecastle and quarter deck clamps.  The string at the waist is a single row of planking with its lower surface forming the top of the gun port and its upper surface forming the top of the bulwark. It continues fore as the forecastle clamp and aft as the lower quarter deck clamp.  Hook scarves are used throughout. The apparent decorative element at the fore end of the quarter deck clamp will actually be used to help lock in the spirketing.   
 

 

 
The upper quarter deck clamp has simple butt joints.  In the pictures is appears that the lower edge of the string overhangs the gun port.  It actually is flush with the top of the port.
 

 
I encountered two problems.  First, I measured the height of the clamp at the stem incorrectly and had to replace it.  On the picture you can see a faint pencil line indicating where the clamp was originally positioned.  The second problem has the potential to be more serious.  I have two rows of planking with the top edge just coming up to the bottom of the aft port opening.  David's layout shows the planking runs above the level of the port with a chock connecting the planks fore and aft of the port.  At this point it is too late to change the port.  I think I measured the port height off David's mylar and the clamp height off the NMM plans.  Hopefully it will all work out OK.  The key is that the top of the opening is below the top of the deck beams.
 

 

 
 

Ah, the problems we create for ourselves in this joyous game we call ship modeling. 
 
Now I needed to make the chain plates and deadeye straps to go with the deadeyes I made last week.  That was the problem.  I tried to soft solder the wires for the deadeye straps, but as I bent the wire around the deadeye the solder joint broke.  I needed to silver solder.  I had not silver soldered since I was a teenager.  So I dug out a torch, some silver solder and some flux and melted a few inches of wire.  Finally, like riding a bicycle, the memories returned and I soldered the rings.  I bent the wire with the solder spot in the wrong place.  Placed the wire around the deadeyes and fastened them to the chain plates.  The more I looked at them the more I didn’t like them.  The solder spots were harder than the wire and did not bend the same and as I forced them around the deadeyes the deadeyes started to fall apart.  What a mess!  So, as I had told so many others, it was time to start over.
 
I went back to the start and made a new jig to drill the deadeye holes.  Rather than evenly spaced I placed the holes, two on the diameter and one at right angle to them.  I also made them out of harder wood.  This time when I soldered the wire I used less solder.  And when I bent the wires I was more careful as to where the solder spot was.  These were much better.  These I can use.  So I did.  I mounted them with only one pin at this time so they can pivit to the correct angle when I do the rigging.  Then I will put in the second pin.
 
The first two pictures are of the bad parts.
 
Bob
 

Solder spots in the wrong place.
 

You can see the flats on the wires crushing into the deadeyes.
 

Good parts
 

Jig for shaping straps
 

Good assemblies
 

Mounted

The brigantine Newsboy was designed by Dennison J. Lawlor of Chelsea, MA (designer of the very successful pilot schooners Dancing Feather, Hesper, and Phantom) for owners Dabney & Cunningham of Boston.  Newsboy was built at the Joshua C. Adams and Elisha Brown shipyard in Owl’s Head, ME where she was launched in June, 1854.  She had a length of 111 feet, beam of 27 feet, depth of 12 feet, and tonnage of 290 tons.  While described as a brigantine, the rig is more accurately described as a hermaphrodite brig because there were no square sails on the main mast.
 
The Newsboy was engaged in the triangular trade: carrying lumber and manufactured goods from New England to the Mediterranean; transporting wine, oil, and fruits to the West Indies; and returning to New England with rum, molasses, and sugar.  The Monthly Nautical Magazine said “having a reputation for speed, by wringing reluctant laurels from her competitors who have chanced to fall in company with her at sea….she does her designers no discredit…her log will speak for itself”.
 
The model is built to a scale of 3/16” to the foot (1:64) based on an old Model Shipways solid hull kit and plans by George F. Campbell.  The model is plank on solid construction, with built up bulwarks, planked decks and topsides, coppered bottom, and scratch built deck furniture/fittings.  Limited commercial fittings will be utilized where appropriate, and the rigging will be proportional linen line with Warner Woods’ blocks.  The Brigantine Newsboy is my 4th wooden ship model and the 2nd in my series of mid 1800’s American merchant sailing ship models.
 
As time permits, I will attempt to post the high points of my previous MSW Build Log.
 
Peter Jaquith
Shipbuilder

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 55 – More hold work
 
The plan has been to finish all of the work in the lower part of the hold so finish can be applied to this area before moving upward to work on the lower deck.  The first picture shows the main mast step and the water tank base.
 

 
The members to support the off-center beam pillars are being positioned in this picture using a straightedge.  In the next picture they have been glued down.
 

 
This picture also shows the addition of one last 6” wide strake of planking to bring the width of the limber channel down to the required 10”.  In this picture a few limber boards have just been glued over that final channel – hence the wet spot.  The pins on the opposite side are holding the last plank on that side.
 
The next picture shows some more limber boards in place plus a pile to one side.  The ceiling planking and other structures have just received one coat of beeswax-turpentine finish.
 

 
When dry, the shade of this finish will be about halfway between the two shades in this picture.  Surfaces that will receive glue later have not been coated.
 
The next picture shows some work on the Mizzen step.
 

 
The chunk of pear being marked will be cut to the shape of the knee and then slit into two to fashion the forward knees.  The aft knees are roughly fit at this stage.  In the next picture the mizzen step is almost finished.
 

 
Bolts have been installed down through the frames with epoxy.  These will have to be filed off and the assembly finish sanded.  The bolts will then be blackened to represent iron.
 
The last picture shows the current status.
 

 
With the ceiling planking darkened the contrast with the bilge strakes above is clearer.  This shows the convergence of the heavy bilge strakes forward to butt into the bottom of the lower deck clamp.  In this configuration the heavy band acts like a girder to reduce hogging strains.
 
It will soon be time to start work on the lower deck framing.
 
Ed