catopower

"measure twice, cut once"

Laying out the gun ports
 
I’ve been spending a LOT of time measuring, marking, comparing, erasing, remeasuring, etc, etc, etc as I’ve tried to figure out where the gun ports are supposed to go. It’s no surprise to anyone on this site that one of the great things about working with wood is that there are few unrecoverable errors but getting the gun ports wrong on a model of this size might be one of them so that is why I have been doing all the ruminating.
 
In the process of figuring out where the gun ports go I also dry-fitted the PE transom and figured out I would need to raise the after part of the bulwarks a little so I added a 1/8” strip and then sanded it down to match the sheer of the quarterdeck.  Later on I’ll probably have to take off most of what remains.
 

 

The instruction call for laying out the gun ports using the station lines and the waterline. I did a little of the former and ignored the latter. I finally figured out that the key reference for the gun ports is the height/location of the gun deck at each port location. If the port is too high or too low it would be a real mess trying to fix it so the cannons will protrude properly.
 
Since all the station lines are probably a little off because of the difficulty bringing a line from the keel to the bulwarks I decided to just pick an amidship station line and then mark the fore and aft lines for each gun port from it, that way only the error of one station line is included rather than the compound errors of using all the lines. The only exception was for the forward most port on each side - the plan's side view can't account for the curve of the bow so I measured their location from the stem using the overhead plan.
 
To lay out the upper and lower limits for each port I used a trick from the instructions;
I put together the carriage and barrel for one of the cannons, glued it to a small piece of the decking that will cover the gun deck and then pushed the barrel up against the inside of the bulwark at the port’s approximate location (note for anyone building this kit - the instruction book and parts list both refer to 1/16" scribed decking, my kit has 1/32", which is fine with me since it will be easier to work with.) I made a pencil mark and then transferred that mark to the exterior of the bulwark and drilled a small hole. If the hole matched the interior pencil mark I knew I had the line for the center of the port, if not a made a correction and drilled another hole until I got it right. Then all I had to do was measure from the port’s center mark up and down to get the port’s vertical dimensions marked.
 
 
 
Once everything was marked and checked against the plans again I was ready to start cutting them out (or to put it more accurately drill and file them out). It is a little slow going, I can only do one port in a sitting or I’ll get careless. 3 down, 17 to go.
 

 
 

Just having started work on Atlantic's hull, I appreciate your detailed build log.  As being relatively inexperienced at the level the Atlantic kit requires, your CNS Alfred build log answers a lot of questions that have been coming to mind as I read the instruction book. The Admiral isn't going to like it but I'm going to need more tools. keep up the informative log Schooner. It's a big help to us newbies.

More Hull Work
 
The directions call for fabricating the rudder at this point, not sure why but I did it anyway. It is just 1/8” stock cut to a trace, forward end round, aft end tapered and the “planks” imparted by running a hobby knife along the pencil lines and then doing it once more with the back side of the blade tip to leave lines that should hopefully show up after it is primed and painted. The gudgeons (or pintles, I can never keep them straight) are britannia metal.
 

 
 
The instructions also call for adding the stem extension, small knee and test fitting the head grating at this point. This was a real head scratcher because the directions were referring to having the grating contact parts that will not be added for a long while yet. I think it was just a case of getting carried away with the copy and paste function while assembling the instruction book.
Note from later in the build: DO NOT fit the head grating yet - its' aft edge has to fit the PLANKED hull right at the level of the main deck (which you can't tell where that will be at this point) so wait until it is time to build the ship's head (much later than now).
 


 
Before I could mark out the bulwarks for thinning I had to remove some excess material from the aft ends so that the bulwark shear line is straight. The material to be removed is shown by the cross-hatched pencil marks.
 

 

I had to think a while about how to lay out the bulwarks for thinning. The aft 3/4 have noticeable tumble home (i.e. they curve inward) but up where the bow starts to curve they are vertical. By marking the centerline of the existing bulwarks all around the hull then laying out parallel lines on each side to show the final 3/32” width I was able to mark where the inboard and outboard lines began to curve and marked that as the end point for the tumble home. Where the outboard line touches the current outboard edge of the bulwark will be the point where the 3/32 width will be measured from the outside of the existing bulwark all the way around the bow and material in that area will only be removed from the inboard side.

For now I'm calling Walker tank #1 complete.  I decided to hold off on weathering and/or camouflage until I decide on how I want to display it and the Walker tank #2 kit build is completed. But both will have to wait a while until after I deal with a medical issue that just cropped up unexpectedly. 
 
Note to Moderators: This build log is NOT FINISHED YET, only part 1 of 2 is finished.  And there is a possibility of a diorama to be added to this build thread.  
 
The Walker tank model #1:
 

First coat of Vallejo Dark Green, airbrushed on.
 
⁸
 
Now to find where I stashed my Badger fine needles/tips from my previous years of modeling armor so I can do some shading, etc. I just hope I can remember how I used to do it  😉🤔🤫. Some parts will be hand painted and/or dry brushed. Still have the 3 figures that were included to do. 

Assembly complete.  Applied a coat of Tamiya Fine Scale grey primer.
 

Of the 3 or 4 armor kits in my stash I decided to start with the latest acquisition,  the Tamiya M41 Walker Bulldog which I picked up in Hobby Lobby for a ridiculously low price of $13.  This is a remarkably simple kit to assemble. Painting it will be fun. It come with decals for 3 variants, 1 WWII US and 2 Japanese Defense Forces. I'm going to do the US markings.
 
The obligatory box art and contents
 

 
And the beginning assembly progress.
 

I'm currently working on the model that my father purchased back in the seventies but never started.  I have the hull done and am beginning to work on deck fittings. The drawings are very good, but the instructions for building the model are very minimal.  There is a bit of the project that I am scratch building.  I have spent countless hours lying in bed trying to figure out "work-arounds."  I suppose, in the end, that is part of the enjoyment and reward.  I must say, however, her hull lines are beautiful.  I only build during the winter months because I have too many other hobbies and things to do during the summer months.  So it will be a while before I get back to it.  I'm hoping that I'll be done around this time next year.  

Here the Picture for it

Since my last post, I created spreadsheet to identify the various deck fittings that need to be modeled, and mapped out the attachment points for the standing and running rigging on the deck, masts, and spars. The original model kit included written instructions and diagrams to describe the assembly, and it simplified much of the rigging and fittings. Also, the instructions were not specific on the placement of many of the parts (such as where the yards attach to the masts), so I'm going back to my Eagle Seamanship book, other documents, and photos (both recent and especially those in the photo book my academy class put together after our 1972 cruise) to identify the actual rigging and fittings.
 
Things are quite small on this model, so I'll be making some decisions on what to include and what not to include, compared to the actual ship. For example, I'll probably limit the running rigging to the braces, sheets, and possibly the clew lines between the yards/sails and the pin rails. I'll likely show the buntlines and leach lines on the sails themselves, but not carry the lines down to the pin rails, mainly because of the complexity and density of those lines. After all, the Eagle has over 180 lines of running rigging (in the configuration I'm modeling...over 200 in its present configuration), and I don't have the confidence and skill in depicting all of them, along with their attachment points, blocks, metal cheek blocks, etc. The model kit only showed the braces and sheets, and in greatly simplified form (i.e, using only a few blocks here and there, and in some cases running lines directly to the deck where one or more blocks are used for mechanical advantage on the actual ship). I'll settle on something between what the kit showed and what's on the Eagle.
 
I started making a few of the many fittings and fixtures I plan to model.
 
First, I need eight "large" mooring bitts (four on the forecastle, and four in the waist). The model came with several smaller plastic bitts that I may make use of in other areas (if I can remove the molding seams), but they are too small for use as mooring bitts. I didn't find any sources among ship modeling company websites for bitts that were of the size I needed (and that resembled the bitts on the Eagle), so I decided to make my own. To create the bitts, I fashioned loops of 24 gauge wire, glued each loop to a 1/8" dowel cut to 5/16" in length, and glued two of these to a small piece of heavy card stock (to simulate the base). 
 
Next, there are four benches on the mizzen deck that are used underway to cover four of the mooring bitts. I thought it would look better to model the benches instead of showing those bitts. I used a small block of basswood notched in the corners for the body of the bench, and 1/16" basswood square dowels for the legs.
 
Below are the bitts (both my fabrication and the kit's plastic version) and bench before painting. I'll be painting the bitts in Coast Guard spar color (which I need to mix myself to match the fittings I had previously painted on the model), with a medium gray strip around the barrel of the bitts. The bench will be painted to resemble the mahogany wood on the actual ship.
 
                         
 
Regarding paint, most of the fittings on the Eagle are painted Coast Guard spar color, including the masts, yards, tops, and cross trees, so I'll wait until I have everything fabricated (including the numerous attachment points), before painting. There are a few items that will be painted white or "mahogany" (including repainting the white on the hull) that will also be deferred until all are fabricated.
 
The model came with all ten square sail yards and two mizzen spars, but I determined that the square sail yards were not to scale (too small), based on the actual lengths of the yards from the ship specs. What I found was that the main and fore course yards supplied with the kit were a very close match to the length of the lower topsail yards, the lower topsail yards a match to the upper topsail yard lengths, etc., through the top gallant yards a match for the royal yard lengths. So I created new course yards (the kit's royal yards were too small for anything except material for possible use in other fittings). I tapered a 1/4" dowel using a drill and sand paper, and cut to length. Below shows the five yards for the foremast (the mainmast is identical), the largest being the one I made.
 

 
 
The kit included a few plastic "tensors" for connecting some of the standing rigging to the deck. They are oversized compared to the actual ship's 
turnbuckles, and resemble the pairs of deadeyes and connecting ropes that are found on wooden sailing ships. Instead, I'll create over 80 turnbuckles that more closely resemble the metal turnbuckles on the actual Eagle. More on my plan for the turnbuckles, and other fittings, in future posts.
 

For the new bowsprit, I tapered a 3/16" dowel using a drill and sandpaper. Then I constructed the bobstay, martingale stay, and dolphin striker using 1/32" brass tube, soldered at the junction points. This assembly is glued to the bowsprit using CA, after creating small indentations in the bowsprit at the contact points. I'm hoping this will be strong enough, but I may decide later to reinforce these glue points with PVA or epoxy. 
 
At key attachment points (for the staysails), I hand-drilled holes partway through the bowsprit, and inserted eyes cut slightly shorter than the hole depths, and glued them in with CA. I did this first on a test piece, and they seemed to be very secure. I'm not worried about the discoloration on the wood, as it will be painted later with Coast Guard spar color. I still need to add attachment points on the sides of the bowsprit to anchor the stays.
 
  
 
   
 
While I had my soldering iron handy, I repaired the forward port-side bumpking, shown below. I'll paint it white when I repaint the hull.
 

 
 
 

Nice build, I will enjoy following your progress!
Rick

Introduction
 
US Coast Guard Cutter Eagle (WIX-327), originally the German training barque Horst Wessel. Length: 295 feet; beam: 39.1 feet; height of foremast and mainmast: 150.3 feet above the waterline (other specs are found on various Coast Guard websites).
 
I am a retired Coastie and as a cadet, I had the privilege of sailing on the Eagle several times, the most notable being in Operation Sail 1972, sailing from New London, CT, to Europe. During the ocean crossing, we competed in, and won, the Boston Teapot Trophy, awarded annually to the training ship that logs the greatest distance under sail in 124 hours (we covered 1,104 miles). After docking in Portsmouth, England, for several days, we competed in the main event of OpSail 1972 - the tall ships race -  that included three Class A ships: Eagle (United Stated), Gorch Fock II (Germany), and Dar Pomorza (Poland), along with hundreds of Class B and C sailing vessels. The five day race started off of Cowes, England, sailing north through the English Channel and the Skagerrak, and ending off the tip of Denmark. The race was highly eventful, with a great start for Eagle, many maneuvers and sail adjustments, parted sails and lines in stormy seas, and periods of unfavorable winds. To their credit, Dar Pomorza won the race, with Gorch Foch trailing by only a few minutes, and Eagle taking up third place. Following the race, Eagle made several port calls, ending in Lubeck, Germany, where thousands of visitors toured the ship, including several of Horst Wessel's original crew. The final event of OpSail was the Parade of Ships, with six square-riggers in one column, and smaller vessels in another column, sailing in to Kiel Bay, Germany, on display for the crowds attending the 1972 Summer Olympics. This was not the first, nor the last, transatlantic crossing for Eagle, and she continues to be both a rigorous training environment for the cadets, and an impressive ambassador for the Coast Guard and for the United States.
 
All of this is to say, I have fond memories of the Eagle, and always wanted to build a model of the Eagle.
 
In fact, I started this model in 1977, completing the hull, deck, and some of the fittings, until around 1979 when the project was boxed...until early 2024! Many military and post-military moves caused some damage to the model, but nothing that can't be fixed...and it's time to resume construction.
 
The Model
 
This is a model by Constructo, Barcelona, Spain. It is a wooden hull, with various wooden parts including bulwarks, cabins, shaped wooden tops and crosstrees, tapered wooden masts, spars, and bowsprit, and a few deck fixtures; plastic parts including windlass, winches, ship's wheels, chimneys, binnacles, life boats, blocks, pulleys, tensors, ladders, belaying pins (actually, fife rails), running lights, etc.; various metal parts such as eyebolts, pins, grommets, etc.; and stitched cloth sails.
 
The instructions and diagrams (in both English and Spanish) indicate a scale of 1:185, but this would equate to a model of about 19 inches, whereas the actual model (with bowsprit) is 34 5/8 inches. From this actual model dimension, I calculated a scale of 1:102.2 for the 295 foot ship, or 1" = 8.52'.
 
Early on, I decided that I wanted a more realistic model than would be possible with the provided plastic parts and off-scale components, so while generally following the assembly instructions, I started creating some of my own fittings, and adding details not in the instructions.
 
The Build
 
My goal is to complete this model to show the Eagle as it was in 1972. This means two significant variations from the Eagle's present configuration:
 
1. No racing stripe, as per 1972. I feel it's out of place on an historic ship such as the Eagle. There would have been better, more subtle ways to show the Coast Guard's name and colors.
2. Spanker and single gaff only. I understand why the gaff was split in later years (to match the ship's original configuration), but that's not how it was configured in 1972.
 
Other changes that have occurred since 1972 include relocated port and starboard running lights, a new pilot house in the aft part of the waist, different life boats, changes in ventilators and other deck fittings, new antennas for current electronic navigational aids, and most recently, a new figurehead. I'm sticking to the 1972 configuration as much as possible, guided by photos and publications around the same period, along with my personal photos and recollections.
 
My first task is to survey the damage, and develop a repair plan. I had boxed the model in its original box, but with a cut-out at one end for the bowsprit I had already finished and glued in place. Even with a large dowel protecting the bowsprit, it broke at the hull, and took with it the stays I had installed. This proved to be a blessing in disguise, because I determined that the bowsprit wasn't angled correctly (too low), so that gave me the opportunity to rebuild the stem and create a new bowsprit. Other damage included broken bumpkins (who bumped the bumpkins?), crushed wood around the bow pinrail, and a few broken fife rails. I had already painted the hull (red below, black along the waterline, white above), but the white paint was scuffed in a few spots, so it will need a new coat of paint.
 
In my next update, I'll provide photos of the current status, outline my plans, and begin work on the model.
 
Update#1
 
Below are photos of the box end and side for the Constructo model I purchased in 1977.
 

 

 
 
Next are photos of the model as it stands right now. I had previously constructed the decking with pieces of 1/16" square stock, sanded and lightly stained to resemble the Eagle's teak deck.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The below image shows the broken bowsprit. The dolphin striker, martingale stay, etc., are not correctly sized, which will be corrected when I rebuild the bowsprit.
 

 
Although several of the above pictures show a finished base, that was actually the first sub-project I did in this process. I started with a piece of bare oak board, cut to size, routed the edges, then sanded and stained with three coats of golden oak stain, followed by three coats of wipe-on satin polyurethane. I ordered the brass stanchions online, and had to modify them by drilling out the internal threads (for the bolts that came with them) so I could fasten the base through the stanchions into the ship's keel and hull.
 

 

 
Now to start repairs. Below shows where the bowsprit was broken off, with some of the stays dangling, and the edge of the bow chipped away. Also note the bumpkin on the right is missing the eye and bottom support.
 

 
I built up the stem using several layers of wood, so as to bring up the angle of the bowsprit, as shown below.
 

 
Repairs are mostly done, as shown below, although a few touch-ups will be needed after I remove the dangling stays and re-work their attachment points. I used wood filler to repair the edge of the bow. Still needs some filling and sanding. The forward pinrail will sit on top of this edge, which will hide any slight imperfections.
 

 
 

Beautiful work Greg! I'm just catching up on this project now.
 
Sorry to hear about your missing wreath and the thing about Ages of Sail and the cost of shipping. I do some work for them and apparently, they got tired of people ordering one or two parts and being told that the item that was mailed out in an envelope never arrived. So, they only use tracked shipping methods now. Sucks when you only want a 60 cent part, I know. 
 
I'll point out your comment to the staff, so they realize it's actually a problem.
 
Anyway, very inspirational model!

I worked in two different barge and river boat yards in Pennsylvania and Kentucky and in both we launched everything sideways.   We did have one disaster when one of the four restraining systems was not released to allow the vessel to slide down the ramp so it turned and went off the greased rails.   What a mess that was.   
Allan

The diorama and a beautiful painting are really nice examples, Allan.
 

I turned my chair 180 degrees and picked up the book.  The step by step illustrations are really impressive. Thanks for recommendations, Mark P.
 

I can't imagine how the Great Britain was launched sideways.

In areas with large tidal ranges there were special dry docks used for building ships.  
 
In 1940 Great Britain contracted with the now famous “7 Companies” that built Hoover Dam to build 60 badly needed, large for the time, merchant steamships in the USA.  Since American Yards were busy, the deal included building two new shipyards; one on San Francisco Bay and another on the East Coast in Maine.  Conditions in San Francisco Bay, including tidal range were such that conventional sloped launch ways were quickly constructed.
 
The large tidal range in Maine required construction of dry docks.  The need to blast these docks out of Maine’s granite delayed the construction of these East Coast  Ocean Class ships by several months.
 
Ships on the Great Lakes built prior to the 1000 footers were traditionally launched sideways.  The smaller Navy Combatants being built by Fincarii Marine in Wisconsin still are.  The 1000 footers were built in a dry dock.
 
Roger
 

Mark,
Your reference book recommendation is excellent and I was about to recommend it .

Good Evening Masa;
 
In the Eighteenth century most ships of any size were built or repaired in a dry dock. An existing ship would be floated in on a high tide, and as the water receded, the hull would be propped up with a large number of shores, whilst her keel would settle on a line of timber blocks. The base of the dock sloped towards the river, both to allow the water to drain away thoroughly, and to facilitate launching on a slipway. Once the dock was empty, a pair of gates would be shut across the entrance to keep the water out. In earlier periods, the dock would be closed with a bank of clay and stones. 
 
The floor of the dock was made of stout timbers, called the 'ways' which were set in like railway sleepers. The blocks to support the keel, and the shores, would be nailed to these ways to prevent them moving.
 
A new built ship could be launched by opening the gates and allowing the dock to fill with water; this was best done with extra high tides. On the other hand, if there was no high tide soon, the ship could be launched  down the ways; this was done by setting down timbers like a railway track, called a slipway, running into the water. The ship was fitted with launching cradles at the bow and stern, which sat on the slipway, and the blocks under the keel were knocked away. The ways were well-greased. Sometimes the ship would slide down the ways easily, other times she needed a good pull to get her moving. 
 
The book 'Building the Wooden Fighting Ship', by James Dodds and James Moore, describes the build process in detail, with a large number of hand-drawn, good quality illustrations, and also covers the launch. There are several models of ship on the ways ready to launch, including the well-known model of the Bellona, and the Victory of 1765. 
 
All the best,
 
Mark P

 
 

Google Buckler's Hard then go to images.   There are a number of photos where you see the slope on the area of the old slipways into the Beaulieu and even the main road through the village slopes down to the river.
 
Allan

Thank you for the detailed explanations, Andy. The launch procedure is more complex than I thought. It is really interesting that dock workers remove stable wooden logs and insert slipways one by one, like a jenga game. Also, the method of draining water using terrain is really clever.
 
Because of the special equipment, such as slipways and launch cradles, I'm not ready to build launching ceremony dioramas. I'll keep it on my bucket list and collect more data for future building... Thanks so much!

It’s important to distinguish the difference between a build ways and a drydock. A build way is typically sloped to the water’s edge, and while the ship is built, it doesn’t actually rest on the slipway until just before launching.
 
A drydock is constructed below the level of the water, and does have a flat bottom. It might have some sloped drainage towards the centerline, or to wherever the drain valves are located. Where pumps are not available, drydocks can make use of natural topography to fill and empty. For example, by locating the dock some ways up a river, after closing the gate, the water can be drained to sea level (helps also to do the draining when the sea is at low tide). There is a drydock in Port Weller, Ontario, that is located above the first lock in the Welland canal. It doesn’t use pumps at all. The water is allowed to drain down the 40’ drop into Lake Ontario. 
 
Things haven’t changed too drastically over time so some pre-modern ship launching techniques are similar. Prior to  launching, the slipways (usually a pair of flat beams laid astride the keel (you can see these in the picture of the shipyard model you posted), are well greased with tallow or other lubricants. A pair of special launch cradles are constructed fore and aft. These cradles will bear the weight and balance of the ship when it comes time for the launching. These will slide down the slipway, but are held static by a series of chocks and braces. Once the launch cradles are built and braced in position, the ship is then slowly lowered from its build staging (usually by knocking out the keel blocks) onto to the launch cradles. Any remaining staging is removed, and when the time comes for launching, the chocks are knocked out and the cradles (with the ship) slide down the ways into the water. Typically hawsers or anchor cables are used to arrest the movement of the ship once waterborne.
 
Hope that helps.
 
Andy

It makes sense, because drydocks in the 18th century didn't have electric water pumps.
However, the slopes are not sufficient for launching ships by gravity. Even roman roads had drainage slopes.

Even dry docks would need a slight slope for drainage, would they not?