Elia

Finished the display stand this afternoon.  It does have the desired look I wanted.
 
When the Admiral saw it she remarked, “It looks like what we saw in San Diego where they’re building that ship.”  She was referring to the San Salvador that the San Diego Maritime Museum is building.  So even she thinks it looks like a dry dock.  That’s praise enough for me.
 
What I discovered in building this was that I managed to get both sides of the hull very close in contour.  All the support pieces on the stand are identical Port and Starboard.  That pleased me.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 10 – Stem – apron and rabbet
 
In an early post, I observed that interest by modelers in American clipper ships seems limited – at least judging by topics on the forum – being hugely eclipsed by interest in 18C RN subjects.  I am finding the history of the building, sailing and commercial exploits of these ships extremely fascinating.  To throw some light on the subject, I believe I will start inserting some interesting facts in these posts – starting with this one.
 
American Clipper Fact:  In December 1850, the extreme clipper John Bertram, 190 feet/1050 tons, was launched at the yard of Ewell and Jackson, East Boston, just 61 days after laying of the keel.  She went on to sail for 30 years. (Cutler, Crothers)
 
Back to business.
 
On these ships the apron reinforced the stem and supported the bowsprit.  Construction of this member varied, leaving me with another design decision to make.  On some ships the apron was cut from a single log.  On others it was sided to match the stem and reinforcing “stem pieces” were bolted to either side to make the breadth at the top equal the size of the bowsprit.  Young America had a large, 36” diameter bowsprit, so it seemed likely to me that the apron would be of the latter type, so that is the design I used.  It is a subtle difference on the model – perhaps not even visible.  This allowed me to proceed with the apron – sided 16”.
 
The first picture shows the three pieces of the apron during fitting.
 

 
The next picture shows the central piece being glued on.  This was done after the lower section had been installed – working up from the bottom.
 

 
The next picture shows the top piece – fit-up, but not yet glued.
 

 
In the next picture the apron is secured.  The filler piece behind it on the keel is also installed. 
 

 
Mirrored patterns of the assembly have been pasted to both sides in this picture so the stem rabbet can be accurately marked out.  In the next picture the rabbeted area has been removed from the starboard pattern and the line of the inside of the rabbet is being deepened with a hobby knife.
 

 
The rabbet widens toward the bottom.  Technically, it extends from its forward line to the bearding line – the line defined by the top cut on the pattern.  Both these lines were constructed on the drawings from the intersection of the waterlines with the inner rabbet and the side of the apron respectively.  The forward rabbet line was constructed from the intersections at the forward end of the planks.  The rabbet is very wide at the bottom because of the extremely sharp entry of the forward hull lines.
 
In the next picture the rabbet is being enlarged with a full-sized V-gouge after the center line was cut with a smaller tool of the same type.
 

 
The smaller gouge is to the right in the next picture, which shows the wide part of the rabbet being pared back with a straight chisel.
 

 
The front part of the pattern was removed to better see the forward edge of the groove.  This paring is only partially done at this stage.  Further shaping will be done after the stem pieces and knightheads are installed.  The last picture shows the assembly set up on the board after rabbets were cut on both sides.
 

 
I believe the next step will be the fitting of the stem pieces and knightheads – after some lofting of these highly curved and beveled pieces.
 
Ed

The deck beams are coming along.  The pattern on the plans is odd in at least one place.  The photo 9-13-13B of the deck beam locations has a black arrow showing  what I mean.  This may be a result of one of the refurbishments made since she was originally launched.  There are also more typical uses of heavy beams, narrow beams, carlings and ledges, lodging knees and hanging knees.  The mast partners are relatively simple designs.  The hanging knees are in fact hanging standards as they fay to the bottom of the beams, not the sides of the beams.
 
I added a few of the knees where I plan to leave a bit of the deck uncovered.  I am also installing the after cabin bulkheads and deck as I may leave the sliding cover open.  There will also be a ladder going from the weather deck down  to the cabin deck.  
 
Allan
 
 

Okay Floyd, your wish is . . .
Photos courtesy of Mike Graff.
 
End-iron chain block on jumbo jib boom

 

 

 

 

 
Easy turnbuckles

 

Restarting my Bluenose log.
Since this is my first build, I am writing to share the many things I learn along the way and perhaps some of the solutions I have found. I started about four years ago and am getting closer to stepping the masts and starting rigging. I used Bob Hunt’s practicum, which was invaluable while getting started. This is how she looks today.
 

 
I originally planned to display bluenose with sails furled. The photo shows two attempts at the sails. The fore sail was made form kit fabric cut down to ½ the full sail size. It is still too heavy and far out of scale. The main sail is sillkspan, which looks better to scale. This sail was a quick fit for comparison. The silkspan looked good but it helped me change my mind and build her under full sail. After all, massive sail area is one thing that makes these fishing schooners so lovely. So I got to hone my sewing skills making a second set of sails. This is all part of the fun, we get to use so many different skills.
 

 
Some photos from the original log.
June 2009, completed planking. Photo shows frame bracing, not in the plan but I was afraid of damaging frames when fairing the hull. A little stiffness never hurts.
 

 
December 2010, pintles and gudgeons. The plans show forming the gudgeon out of brass strip. I could not make it work well so I soldered some brass tubing instead. Much easier.
 

 
January 2011, most of the deck furniture is installed.
 

 

 
December 2011, masts and spars made while learning how to solder.
 

 

Thanks !  Trail boards are built -  need to finish the rails with their grooves/moldings

After a bit of delay: trip to San Diego, the July 4th celebrations, and our grandson’s 2nd birthday, I am back at the workbench.
 
I’ve moved building into the house and set up a card table in the library.  At least I’m out of the 110 degree temperatures we’ve been experiencing of late.  From this point on there shouldn’t be much dust from sawing, drilling, sanding, etc.
 
Now that all the major painting is complete and I am ready to begin construction of the deck furniture.  Maybe now it will look like I’m actually making progress as the little bits and pieces go onto the deck.

Old boy,
 
There is a PDF file, which is downloadable, in the MSW Articles and Downloads section:
 
http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Rigging_and_Sails/ScaleSails.pdf
 
I used this as a guide when making furled sails for my Oneida model, which can be found in the completed model gallery.
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/gallery/album/94-us-brig-oneida/
 
Regarding sail 'cloth' materials silkspan is, as far as I'm aware, still manufactured and available. That is what I used on my Oneida sails. It is available in three different weights. I used the lightest weight version as it is thinnest, and thus rolls into the tightest furled sail.
 
I happen to really like furled sails on a model as a way to present the model as a 'sailing ship' without obscuring too much of the rigging details.
 
All the best,
 
Elia

Old boy,
 
There is a PDF file, which is downloadable, in the MSW Articles and Downloads section:
 
http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Rigging_and_Sails/ScaleSails.pdf
 
I used this as a guide when making furled sails for my Oneida model, which can be found in the completed model gallery.
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/gallery/album/94-us-brig-oneida/
 
Regarding sail 'cloth' materials silkspan is, as far as I'm aware, still manufactured and available. That is what I used on my Oneida sails. It is available in three different weights. I used the lightest weight version as it is thinnest, and thus rolls into the tightest furled sail.
 
I happen to really like furled sails on a model as a way to present the model as a 'sailing ship' without obscuring too much of the rigging details.
 
All the best,
 
Elia

Old boy,
 
There is a PDF file, which is downloadable, in the MSW Articles and Downloads section:
 
http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Rigging_and_Sails/ScaleSails.pdf
 
I used this as a guide when making furled sails for my Oneida model, which can be found in the completed model gallery.
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/gallery/album/94-us-brig-oneida/
 
Regarding sail 'cloth' materials silkspan is, as far as I'm aware, still manufactured and available. That is what I used on my Oneida sails. It is available in three different weights. I used the lightest weight version as it is thinnest, and thus rolls into the tightest furled sail.
 
I happen to really like furled sails on a model as a way to present the model as a 'sailing ship' without obscuring too much of the rigging details.
 
All the best,
 
Elia

Old boy,
 
There is a PDF file, which is downloadable, in the MSW Articles and Downloads section:
 
http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Rigging_and_Sails/ScaleSails.pdf
 
I used this as a guide when making furled sails for my Oneida model, which can be found in the completed model gallery.
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/gallery/album/94-us-brig-oneida/
 
Regarding sail 'cloth' materials silkspan is, as far as I'm aware, still manufactured and available. That is what I used on my Oneida sails. It is available in three different weights. I used the lightest weight version as it is thinnest, and thus rolls into the tightest furled sail.
 
I happen to really like furled sails on a model as a way to present the model as a 'sailing ship' without obscuring too much of the rigging details.
 
All the best,
 
Elia

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 7 – Stem and False Stem
I decided to do the stem next because I still have some checking to do on the drawings of the sternpost.

The first picture shows the four pieces involved.  They are all sided 16" - same as the keel.



In this picture the gripe and the false stem have already been assembled. Once the pieces were cut out and trimmed to their final shapes, the patterns were removed to permit close fitting of the joint. The two stem pieces in this picture have been cut to “almost” final shape and still have their patterns attached. Once the assembled forward assembly is fit and attached to the keel the stem pieces will be added – lower stem first then upper stem.

The next picture shows the connection to the keel assembly – not yet fit up.



The desired result in fitting this joint is that the false stem adheres to the line on the underlying drawing, and of course, that the joint gripe/keel assembly seams are tight.  The unfinished end of the keel rabbet can be seen in this picture.

The CAD patterns are extremely accurate. On these pieces I cut up to the 1-pixel line before final fitting. I use a disk sander where possible to keep the edges square. The final adjustment of the joint faces was done with a #0 barrette file with many test fitting. Some adjustment is being made in the next picture.

.



In the next picture the back face (port side) of the joint is being checked for fit. The joint will be visible from both sides.



In the next picture the assembly is being glued to the keel while aligned on the drawing. Waxed paper is being used under the glue joints to protect the drawing..



Once the glue has dried and the assembly has been cleaned up, the lower stem is fit into place on the drawing to assure final alignment - as shown below.




The next picture shows the lower stem permanently attached and the upper stem being fitted. Again, patterns have been removed to be able to see the final joint line.




The last picture shows the finished assembly.







The forward edge of the rabbet runs along the joint between the stem and the false stem. Forward of the rabbet the false stem and the gripe taper to a smaller thickness forward – roughly in line with the planking. The rabbet should probably be at least partially cut at this stage.

It is also time to start thinking about bolts.


Ed

Thanks all for the ideas or suggestions!
 
Jay, Frank,
 
That is what I originally had had in mind, and will try.  I think I need to make and finish one of the masts to get an idea of the colors, tones, and graining patterns. 
 
Russ,
 
What is that toner by Floquil for britannia?  Does it act as a primer?  I've used and like their gray enamel primer.  Or does it somehow alter the appearance (color, texture) of the britannia?
 
wefalck,
 
Thank you for the suggestions.  I don't have an airbrush and my experience with Floquil enamel spray cans was less than desired.  I could never get a nice, thin even coating.  It always yielded thick, almost orange peeled surfaces.  So I think I'm limited to just brush application.  I have a couple of cans of dullcote and could use that to protect any acrylic 'topcoat' over the base coloring.  As noted just before I think I need to finish a mast so as to get a basis for a proper block color.  I've been using Liquitex acrylics for the hull color and have burnt umber tubes around.
 
Brian,
 
The internally iron stropped blocks look visibly different than older era wooden blocks with external iron or rope stropping.  I may have made more trouble for myself with having to paint the blocks, but the shape/configuration of the blocks is right for Arethusa's age.  I had considered for some time making wooden blocks, but when I saw how many of the 3/32" long and 1/8" long blocks there were, and they would have had internal iron strops (think narrow, thin brash strips)....it hurt my head.  Without high precision machining capability I couldn't see how I would make the block elements.  There are quite a few excellent mass produced wooden blocks down to the 3/32" long size but they just aren't the right configuration for my ship. 
 
Barehook,
 
Interestingly - by Arethusa's time the iron components were galvanized - so that all of the 'ironwork' on the ship, save for the anchors, the deck pumps, and a few odds and ends, where a dull silver.  You'll see when I post update pictures the galvanized ironwork.  It appears quite different than black ironwork.  It has taken me a little time to warm up to the silver as I innately expect the ironwork to be black.  So blackening won't help this cause.  Thank you for the suggestion none the less.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 6 – Keel Rabbet and Waterstops
The keel rabbet provided a seat for the garboard strakes – the strakes of bottom planking next to the keel.  These strakes were 9” thick and were bolted through the outside edge into the keel as well as into the frames.  The v-notch of the rabbet on these ships was slightly different than the 60 degree triangle of 18C RN ships.  It was less sharp and deep. 
 
(Note:  Having just finished an 18th Century Royal Navy vessel and knowing there is a large following for these types on the forum, I will try to point out differences in structural design that may be of interest.  To do this I will use the abbreviation "18C RN" for the earlier types.)
 
To form the rabbet,  I used a scraper cut from a piece of stainless plate.  I have a lot of these small pieces lying around and they have been useful for this.  The first picture shows the scraper being roughed out with a jeweler’s saw.
 

 
The picture below shows the final filed out shape of the scraper.  The cutting edge is left square - but with sharp cutting corners on both faces.
 
 
 

 
The scraper is dimensioned to ride along the bottom of the keel.  The cut is finished when the scraper bottoms on the side.  Both these rubbing surfaces were rounded over and smoothed to avoid marring the sides and bottom of the keel.
 
The next picture shows one of the first passes on the keel
 

 
The next picture shows the keel with the finished rabbet.  Actually, I did not go all the way to the sharp edge at this stage.  I can use this cutter later, after the frames are set to finish the rabbet – when that sharp upper corner is more protected.
 
 
 

 
I may have mentioned earlier, that these ships had no rising wood (or hogg) over the keel.  Generally the frames were bolted directly to the keel with long through bolts.  Because of this, waterstops were needed to prevent leakage through the joints in the keel into the hull.  The rising wood effectively blocked this path in the earlier ships.   Although the garboard strakes would be caulked along the rabbet, this did not seal off the keel itself.  To eliminate this leakage, holes were bored through the keel at the inside of the rabbet and plugged with long fir dowels, effectively sealing off the top lip of the scarph.  I decide to install these.
 
The first picture shows the keel being drilled through the rabbet to accept a three inch waterstop cylinder.
 

 
The next picture shows a drawn 3" dowel being test fit.
 

 
These were actually driven in with a touch of wood glue.  The excess was then clipped off and the V of the rabbet formed at the ends with a razor blade.
 
The last picture is one of those close-ups that make me cringe, showing a scarph joint,  the central wedge and the waterstop under the upper lip.  This picture also shows the joint line left using the dark glue.
 

 
 
The slightly flat edge, left – for now - at the top of the rabbet can be seen in this picture.  The picture also gives a pretty good idea of the finish left by the scraper.  The rabbet has not been sanded – nor should it be – to avoid rounding over the corners.
 
These waterstops are a nice little detail.  Of course no one will ever see them without having very good eyesight and knowing where to look.  they went rather quickly, however, so the cost was small.
 
I guess the next work will be either the stem or the stern post.
 
Ed

I finished the deck, and bulwarks this weekend. I lightened up the deck, so it isn't as dark as it was. I had done some extreme weathering to the bulwarks, but at this scale it didn't look good at all. So I painted the bulwarks, and waterways a medium cream color, then added a grungy gray weathering powder.......much better than the first attempt. I also added the powder to specific areas of the deck. The hull is painted with a lighter color of black called Graphite, I prefered this over straight black.
 
Now I have a lot of copper plates to cut, so I can copper the bottom.
Plus I want to build the launching ways.
 

 

 

Well.......since MSW suffered this catastrophic crash (terrible thing to happen). With everyones permission, I would like to use this event as a chance to start fresh.
 
I'm going to start with building the New York Pilot Boat “Phantom”. I will be using Chucks practicum as a guide to building the Phantom, as it is much more explanatory than the manual that came with the kit. I do plan on weathering this model, as that is what I enjoy doing. I just think it adds a bit of life, and character to the model. This will be my first solid hull model, I am use to building P.O.B models.
 
I got through the first step of shaping the hull. At first it was a bit intimidating, but after I got a little way into it, I found it wasn't all that bad. I've added the keel, stem, and sternpost to the hull. I do still have some work to do to the deck before I plank it. I plan on planking the deck with individual strips.
 

 

 

 
 

Here is some progress on my Phantom. I know some are cutting the plates at 1/8" x 1/4", but I wanted longer looking plates, so I cut mine at 1/8" x 1/2". I have the first stage of coppering done, and have the second stage started.
 

 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 5 – Keel Structure
So, finally some real work and some pictures.
 
Young America’s keel was sided 16” by 31 inches deep.  The main body of the keel was two tiered.  The upper tier was 15” deep and the lower was 12” deep.  In all of these posts I will use the word “was” rather freely, since original scantlings lists do not exist.  “Was” will mean based on the best data and/or reasonable assumptions.  In general, I relied heavily on the more complete data for Challenge.  I think that extrapolation is a reasonable approach.  One builders sidings were not all that different from one ship to the next – unless the first was not successful.  Under the two main members is a 4” shoe – a sacrificial protective covering of the main members and boltheads..  This was installed just before launch by removing blocks under the keel slipping it in and fastening it.
 
I will not dwell on my sawmill operations.  These were well covered in the opening parts of the Naiad posts.  The first picture shows some blanks for the keel members and a piece of the swiss pear material from a few steps upstream in the process.
 

 
The pear was cut into the piece shown at the top from a roughly 2” thick by 12” wide by x feet long piece.  The planks were then cut to rough size on a bandsaw and reduced to final thickness (16”) on a thickness sander.  One edge was then planed straight using the small modeling plane at the top – so the final pieces could be accurately ripped to size.  The next picture showns all of the pieces needed to make the keel – cut to final width and depth.
 

 
The members were then cut to final length based on the drawing shown above.  Because of the large number of bolts through the actual keel, placement of joints relative to each other, masts, etc., the lengths had to be laid out carefully beforehand to avoid interferences.  I did this on the drawing for the model, even though many of the invisible bolts will not be installed.  The next picture shows a typical joint of the type used in the top two tiers.
 

 
The joints are hook scarphs with wedge driven into the center.  They are identical except for size to the larger keelson scarph shown on the drawing.  That view shows the typical bolting for one of these joints.  It also shows one large bolt through the keel for each floor and another longer bolt through the entire keel/keelson centered on the frame timbers aft of the floors.  The next picture shows one of the lower tier joints being glued.
 

 
Darkened Titebond wood glue is used to give a subtle highlighting to the joints.  The two parts were clamped with light pressure, the wedge shown was driven through to make the ends butt, and finally the clamps were fully tightend.  Excess glue was washed off with clean water – hence the darkened area.
 
With the lower tier fully assembled, the upper tier was added on piece at a time as shown in the next picture.
 

 
To keep the final two-tier assembly straight, a straightedge and the flat top of the shipway was used to clamp the pieces.  Waxed paper was used underneath to prevent gluing to the shipway.  The next picture shows some joints in the final three layer structure.
 
 

 
The final picture shows the assembled keel lying on the shipway drawing.  It is an actual 37” long.  Full length keels make for pretty boring photos, but here it is.
 

 
The next step will be to form the rabbet on either side of the top – at least partially.  The top corners of the final rabbets are quite sharp and fragile and will be subject to damage during erection of the frames.  However, I want to cut at least some of the rabbet now so water stops can be inserted before framing,  but after the bulk of the rabbet has been scraped out.  This will be discussed further in the next parts.
 

Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 4 - Webb’s Young America

Well, they say that every good plan eventually degenerates into hard work. The research and planning for the model has been fun, but now it is time to get down to business. That does not necessarily mean getting right into the workshop, although apart from the frame process tests discussed in Part 3, I do hope to start forming the keel in a week or two. Right now there is a ton of frame lofting to do and sometimes that can get tedious. With 80 frame pairs, totaling 160 frames, there are a lot of patterns to create. Please be patient.

In Part 3 I had intended to discuss Young America, and my choice of her as a subject, but I inserted the framing process work instead. So, I will discuss YA here while I take a break from lofting frames.

Webb
William H. Webb was widely regarded as the premier American shipbuilder of the mid-19th century period. His father Isaac Webb took over the New York shipyard of Henry Eckford in 1825 and operated it under the name of Webb and Allen until his death in 1840. During that time, 23 ships – from cutters to packets were built. In 1840 William Webb took over the yard. Over the next 30 years, 135 ships were built – packets, clippers, steamers, barks, ironclads, and of course, extreme clippers – 9 of them. Following Celestial and Gazelle, the third.of these was Challenge, launched in 1851. The purchasers single requirement was that Challenge should be the finest and fastest merchant ship in the world, regardless of cost. At 252’ feet she was the largest extreme clipper to be launched to that date. Comet at 241’ was launched two months later. There were four more before Young America in 1853 – the ship that Webb considered his masterpiece. He knew the extreme clipper era was ending and that YA was the last he would build. He went on to build many more ships through 1869. In later life Webb turned to philanthropy, starting a school of marine architecture for boys of limited means. To this day, tuition at Webb Institute is free to qualifying applicants.

Young America

Young America was named after a broad, popular cultural-political movement that flourished in pre Civil War America. The movement advocated democratic reform, free trade, expansion and similar themes. It was a largely urban, middle class movement that became associated with the Democratic party and Stephen Douglas. It paralleled similar movements in Europe.

Some design particulars:
~243’ long od, 43’2” extreme breadth, ~26’ depth of hold
1961 tons – old measure
20” floor deadrise (9 deg)
deadflat forward of midpoint 25’
swell of the sides (tumblehome) 20”
3 decks
circular stern
cost $140,000

Excuse the approximate numbers on her size. There seems to be a variety of measurements reported and due to lack of standardization, it is not always clear what they are. Fortunately the original offsets (see below) ensures that the model will be correct. Other features will be described and compared to other similar ships as they occur later in construction.

I include deadrise in this list because it was considered a key variable in improving speed. Of course as the angle of the floors increased, hold capacity decreased, so the pronounced deadrise of up to 20+ degrees that was employed on the early extreme clippers clearly emphasized speed over capacity in these ships. As the period advanced, bottom shapes became more flat, without an attendant loss of speed. At 9 degrees YA is a good example of the evolved design.

The key structural issue in these ships was the prevention of hogging – the downward deformation of the hull at the ends – sometimes to the point of failure. The problem occurred in wooden ships because of reduced buoyancy at the ends due to less hull volume at the bow and stern. The long length and the sharp entry and run aft in these ships severely aggravated the problem. The obvious solution was to increase hull strength by various means – huge keelsons, heavy inboard planking (called bilge keelsons), various forms of triangular bracing, anti-hogging chocks, diagonal iron lattice-work bolted to the frames, kneed pillars, and generally heavy construction - to the point of reducing hold capacity. Relative to the competition, Webb employed these features with a lighter touch, generally keeping scantlings smaller. He also employed some innovation in going to variable frame spacing with frames spaced further apart toward the ends of the hull where the smaller sections required less structure. This is said to have reduced the dead weight of the structure at each end by up to 25 tons – a substantial relief of the hogging strain effect. The long life of Young America (and others) is a testament to this good engineering.

Availability of data on Webb’s ships is limited to books of plans from his papers for some of his ships. Data for Challenge is fairly complete, since at her launch detailed descriptions were printed. For Young America, less original data is available.

Building a fully framed Young America would not be possible for me without the work of William L. Crothers, specifically his recently published (1997) The American Clipper Ship, Characteristics, Construction, Details. The book is a thoroughly researched tour de force on clipper ship construction. In it he has reproduced Webb’s original table of offsets for both Young America and Comet – essential for producing hull drawings. He has also included substantial basic scantling information for a variety of ships. Based on the assumption that Challenge, Comet and YA would all be similar in structural design, I believe an accurate framed model design can be made forYoung America. Having reached this conclusion, I made my choice to proceed. Crothers also published model plans for a number of ships under the name Sea Gull Plans. The plans for YA (1:96) do not include framing or structure, but will be useful for deck arrangements and rigging. I have also used his similar plans for Challenge and McKay’s Lightning for reference. I have acquired and studied a variety of other sources, but in the main, Crothers has nicely collected most of the useful data – and has usefully referenced his sources in detail.

Below is an image of the CAD body plan from Webb’s original table of offsets. This provides a good description of the hull shape. It is very different from my previous model of Naiad and ships of her type. The method of creating the body plan was also much different. Gone are the heights and breadths of rising, the circular sweeps and points plotted on diagonals. It is possible that a half hull model was made first and the waterline/butt line offsets taken from that to loft the ship. This was a common practice.



This body plan is a starting point for the frame lofting. It shows only profiles at primary station lines. To this drawing I have added all of the intermediate frame profiles as well as profiles between these to permit beveled frame patterns to be lofted. The intermediate profiles were plotted from points measured on a half breadth plan constructed from the original table. That body plan is shown below.



The cant frame profiles are not shown in this plan. The square frame lines are extremely close together, especially near midship. Fortunately, only the computer has to see them.  The diagonals on this plan were added only to set the height of the frame joints in fair lines. I do not believe the American builders paid too much attention to this, but it will make a neater model.

In addition, a table of scantlings is being progressively constructed from various sources.
 
As proof that there will really be a model starting soon, I have included the following photo of the old Naiad building board sporting the framing plan for YA. The shipway is just long enough.




Ed

Ed
 
I just signed up to follow along on this build.  Your work on Naiad was fabulous and I am sure this will be as well.  Not to mention that the Clippers were the first ships that caught my eye many years ago.  Your curiosity and details help our community understand the possibilities in a build and give us insight into how things were done on the real thing.  Thanks you for your commitment to deepening our understanding!
 
Bob

John,
 
Stag looks tremendous. She looks close to complete, too. Have you thought about how you'll display the completed Stag?
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Tim,
 
The lifts assembly is looking good. I can't wait for you to start shaping the rough hull.
 
That is a gorgeous scene. Do you know when it was taken? Beautiful ships...
 
Elia

At last the ship's boats have been completed. Believe me, it was a real challenge.
 
First of all the boat's resin hulls should have been sanded. Otherwise you can have big problems when glueing the cartridge paper for the ribs into the hull. My big awareness...
 

 
But the rest was quite easy.
 

 

 

 
Well, the lauch is very tall and I'll don't fit it until the rigging has been completed.
 

 

 

 

Little by little she looks like a ship.
 

 

 

 
 

BassicBill, sorry about the slow response, my internet has been out since yesterday.  I just went and snapped a couple of pictures of the old girl, she got knocked around pretty good on my cross country move and I have repaired her yet.  shame on me.  but here a couple of pics.