catopower

Hi Popeye,
 
Your build is looking great regardless of the whole caprail issue. And on that, there is one of the dangers of having photos of an actual ship or replica available. If you didn't have those photos, you might be perfectly happy!  And as far as kits and those "Oh, Sh**" moments, as Bob put it, I've been working on a scratch project and seem to have a lot more of those moments than ever before. You just can't escape them no matter what...
 
Clare

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 1 - Decisions 
I took most of the summer deciding whether I would undertake another ship model and if so, what the scope and subject would be.  I had a lot of time to think about this while catching up on neglected home maintenance and repair projects.  After deciding that I needed the challenge of another ambitious project, the decisions on scope and subject kept me busy through July.  I also had to decide whether I could commit to another Naiad-like build log.  We shall see.
 
I received a number of suggestions on subjects and that input is most appreciated.  Since I expect this project to span a number of years, the decision was a big one.  I have enjoyed wrestling through the process of deciding.  I had a number of criteria:  1) significant design/drafting content, 2) fully-framed construction to further explore my interest in structures, 3) a change from the well-trod path of fully-framed 18th Century Royal Navy subjects, 4) avoiding commonly modeled ships, and 5), I thought it was time to do an American ship. 
 
Before focusing on the extreme American clippers, I considered, among many other possibilities, a 19th Century American warship, perhaps steam-sail, and looked seriously at some of the ships by John Lenthall, built locally at the Philadelphia Navy Yard – examples: Germantown (sail), Princeton (screw/sail), Susquehanna (paddle/sail).  
 
In the end, the idea of the extreme clipper was too attractive to dismiss.  To me, this type represents an apex of achievement in wooden sailing ship design and construction – in terms of sleek hull lines, sailing performance, structural development and sheer beauty.  In the design of the extreme clippers, minimum tradeoffs were made to the one paramount design parameter  - achieving the shortest sailing times between far-flung ports.  Speed meant not only sleek hull lines and a spread of canvas, but also the strength to withstand continuous hard driving, day-in, day-out. 
 
After deciding on the clipper – and an American (meaning all wood) clipper - I chose the work of William H. Webb of New York.  It would have been easier to select something from his more popular competitor, Donald McKay, but McKay’s ships built at East Boston, have long been widely modeled – Staghound, Flying Cloud, Lightning and others. McKay’s papers do include substantial structural detail – very tempting.  Webb, too, has left papers, and these have been explored, with information published in the secondary sources I have used.  There are many gaps, but there is a family resemblance in details to all these ships and many practices and scantlings were commonly adopted.  Webb presented more of a challenge – in more ways than one – as I will describe later. 
 
Of Webb’s ships, I chose Young America, built in 1853, his last extreme clipper.  Less is known about her construction than some of his others, so the task of piecing her structure together is more interesting.  I will discuss this, the ship, and the extreme clipper era in the next posts.
 
Below is a photo of Young America, docked at San Francisco, a frequent port of call for her.  She was built mainly for the East Coast to California trade.  In the picture she is rigged with double topsails - a modification from her original single topsail rig.  There are also some paintings of her.  She was considered Webb’s masterpiece – one of his twelve clippers in a list that included renowned ships like Challenge, Comet, Invincible, Flying Dutchman – all of these examples being 200 to 240 feet in length. YA enjoyed a thirty-year career that included fifty passages around Cape Horn.  She set a number of sailing records and earned a ton of money for her various owners – and for those who made money betting on passage times.  In 1883 she left Philadelphia carrying 9200 barrels of Pennsylvania case oil, cleared Delaware Bay and was never heard from again.
 

 
The model may be fully rigged.  I will decide later.  With the hull length involved (240’) the scale is likely to be 1:72, but that is not yet cast in stone.
 
Structural drawings are well along and I expect to start construction later in September.
 
I hope these posts will be of interest and perhaps draw some attention to this somewhat neglected modeling genre.
 
Ed
 
 
 
 

Mark, you rock!
 
What was particularly interesting was an e-book link in the Civil War Talk forum you posted at the end there. Interesting discussion about handing pivot guns, but that e-book "Ordnance Instructions for the US Navy, 1866" that was an incredible find! 100+ pages of all the details about handling boat howitzers, the maneuvering of pivot guns, what everyone's job is at the guns, organization of boarding parties and small arms... everything.
 
I've got a ton of fascinating reading material now.
 
Thanks for the info!
Clare

Paddle Wheels

 

I decided to set aside the armament constructions while I get back to an assembly that's been holding everything up on this model as I was trying to use brass etching and improving that technique. So, I finally decided that enough was enough and it was time to just build the paddle wheels. 

 

I went back to an old fashioned method of metal working to make flat rings for the paddle wheels. I had use large gauge (relatively speaking) copper wire wound into a circle and then flattened with hammer and anvil making the wire into a flat ring. I used this method to make circular tracks for pivot guns on a few models in the past. It worked then and maybe my touch has improved a little. At least I can hope.

 

For the Saginaw's paddle wheels, I would need 2-1/2" diameter outer rings. The diameter of an inner set of rings depends on which drawings you look at. I chose to use the original sheer plan drawings of the Saginaw, which show a basic paddle wheel structure. There is another set of detailed drawings available, but it's not clear if these drawings are actually specific to the Saginaw since the name doesn't appear anywhere on them. In any case, the inner ring diameter I'm using is approximately 1-9/16" diameter.

 



 

I made up some template on my computer and used them to create a set of MDF formers for the ring sizes needed. The templates were glued to the MDF board and cut to shape. The formers were then glued to an MDF board base. 18 gauge copper wire was bent around formers to create rings of appropriate size.

 



 

The copper wire rings were then carefully set on an anvil and tapped carefully with a hammer, flattening out the wire little by little. The wire tends to straighten itself in the process and is regularly bent on the former back to shape. The wire also tends to twist, so the piece is turned over regularly to undo any twist. 

 



 

As the wire is tapped flat, the ring flattens and widens. At this scale, the ring should actually be only about 1/32" wide (just under 4" at full size), but that makes it too flimsy for me to work with, so my aim has been about 3/64" to 1/16". 

 



 

Once the rings were made, I had intended to silver solder them closed, but found it was easier for now just to CA the ends together. The effort here is to get these done so I can get work on the hull and deck structures going again.

 

I made another template for lining up the rings and the spokes, again printed off the computer. For the spokes, I used 1/32” thick by 3/64” wide boxwood I had on hand. For the time being, I just deal with the part of the spokes connecting the two rings. The longer spoke sections that reach out from the hub, do so at an angle, so I simply left room along the inner ring for these to seat.

 

The very first spoke was run across the whole assembly to hold the rings into place while all the short spokes were glued into place.

 



 

 

Clare

Interior Diversion
 
One of the features I’ve always enjoyed adding is having an open hatch or companionway, or being able to see down through a skylight. I often try to just cut open a little area under a hatch to allow a ladder and then I just blacken the interior so you can’t easily see that it’s just a hole. But, if I sit and stare at the model long enough, I start to think about doing more. And, since I have the interior deck details of the Saginaw, I figured I’d add just enough detail to make your mind’s eye imagine there is a whole world of details hidden away.
 
Unfortunately, I don’t usually get these ideas until AFTER the lifts are all glued together. It could be so much easier if I had thought of the idea sooner. But, it is what it is. So, using a chisel and gouges, I cut open two large areas. One of them is the crew space aft of the foremast, and the other is the officers wardroom and captain’s cabin aft of the mainmast. I wasn’t planning on doing anything extremely elaborate – just add enough detail to make the observer curious. 
 
Cutting out the areas on a lift model is actually not so bad. The wood tends to cut away  more easily along the layers of the lift boundaries, so it’s easy enough to get a flat floor, which helps if the lifts happen to be at the right depths. In this case they were, so that wasn’t so bad.
 
I cut pieces of 1/64” plywood that fit each of these spaces and planked them over with the same planks I was planning to use for the deck, which is 1/16” wide boxwood strips, 1/32” thick. At this scale, I decided to simply edge the planks with pencil. I didn’t worry about plank butts or treenails since this will be mostly hidden. However I did cut hatch outlines as needed and pencil marks were drawn in where interior partition were to be added.
 
 

 
 

 
 
After the openings were cut, I made covers of sheet basswood and fit them. Having chiseled out large sections of the old deck, I was actually able to use some of the removed pieces to fashion simple support beams that were already shaped to the deck camber. So, the sheet basswood covers took on the proper camber without much extra effort. It was only necessary to make sure that the covers seated properly and were perfectly flush with the deck. And, finally, I cut all the openings in the covers for the hatches and skylights.
 
I didn’t glue these down at this stage since there was still interior work to do.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
Clare

Shaping the Hull
 
 
With the lifts cut, getting the final shape was pretty easy, and a relatively small amount of wood had to be removed. 
 
It’s important to note that the lines on these plans are drawn to the inside of the planking. If I was going to make this a straight solid hull model, I would have had to redraw all the lines of the plans. Fortunately for me, I like the looks of planks and I plank my solid hull models. So, this worked out really well.
 
Using the profile templates I made earlier, I regularly checked my work and started on the hull by carving away most of the extra wood. Carving saved myself a lot of extra sanding, but required a bit of care so as not to cut away too much, which is very easy to do. Of course, that’s what wood filler is for, so a mistake here isn’t the end of the world.
 
The hardest areas to carve are the concave areas of the hull up under the stern. Since the hull lifts were held together with screws, it was possible to separate them, and this made it easier to access those hollows.
 
Also, if you look at my photos, you might note that the upper most lift has been omitted. I didn’t add this piece in until the rest of the hull was pretty much cut to shape. The main reason was to allow easier shaping of the hollow under the stern.
 
You may also notice from the photos that the ends of the hull look squared off. I’ve found that it’s much easier to keep lifts properly aligned, getting a good straight line for the keel and stern and stem posts, if I made all the lifts the same length. So, the shape of each lift was extended. Once all the other shaping was done, I used another profile template to shape the stern and stem posts.
 
The last thing I did was to measure the shear of the deck and mark the upper most lift to the height of the centerline of the deck, minus the planking – Since I planned to use 1/32” thick deck planks, I made sure to allow for that. 
 
A bench top belt sander made quick work of the deck shear, but it’s important to slow down when getting anywhere close to the shear line so as not to cut away too much. Once the deck shear is cut, the deck camber can be added. I added this by simply drawing the height of the deck at the edge on both sides of the hull. Then, I cut a curved piece of wood the shape of the camber as a guide and sanded the deck carefully to match the guide.
 
With that, the basic hull shape was essentially done and pretty much what you would get if you went out and purchased a solid hull ship model kit (minus all the plans and fittings, of course).
 
 
Clare
   
 

Some of the station profile templates I made

Starting the Hull
 
With the drawing done, I did some copy and paste work in Photoshop to make a full-hull waterlines plan. I made enough copies of this to cut patterns for each of the waterlines needed. I did the same thing with the body plan, making templates to check progress and accuracy when shaping the hull.
 
At 1/8” scale, the waterlines came out exactly 1/4” apart, so I bought some 1/4” basswood to use for the lifts that would make up the hull. 
 
From past experience, I found that it was handy to be able to pull the lifts apart when shaping the hull, so I drilled holes in the lifts before shaping them and held them together with wood screws. Another set of holes allowed my to screw the whole assembly down onto a building board marked with station lines.
 
The building board was extremely useful and allowed me to hold the hull very steady while carving and sanding, gave me a solid surface with clearly marked station lines for the proper alignment of the hull templates, and also made the whole thing easier to store. 
 
After the hull is shaped, drilling a couple holes in the bottom of the hull allows the hull to sit upright securely so I can more easily shape the deck.
 
 
 
Clare
 
One of my favorite aspects of solid hull modeling is to be able to sit outside and carve wood. Very relaxing.     Shaping the lifts
  More shaping of lifts
  Now attached right-side-up so I can shape the deck

Paddle Wheels

 

I decided to set aside the armament constructions while I get back to an assembly that's been holding everything up on this model as I was trying to use brass etching and improving that technique. So, I finally decided that enough was enough and it was time to just build the paddle wheels. 

 

I went back to an old fashioned method of metal working to make flat rings for the paddle wheels. I had use large gauge (relatively speaking) copper wire wound into a circle and then flattened with hammer and anvil making the wire into a flat ring. I used this method to make circular tracks for pivot guns on a few models in the past. It worked then and maybe my touch has improved a little. At least I can hope.

 

For the Saginaw's paddle wheels, I would need 2-1/2" diameter outer rings. The diameter of an inner set of rings depends on which drawings you look at. I chose to use the original sheer plan drawings of the Saginaw, which show a basic paddle wheel structure. There is another set of detailed drawings available, but it's not clear if these drawings are actually specific to the Saginaw since the name doesn't appear anywhere on them. In any case, the inner ring diameter I'm using is approximately 1-9/16" diameter.

 



 

I made up some template on my computer and used them to create a set of MDF formers for the ring sizes needed. The templates were glued to the MDF board and cut to shape. The formers were then glued to an MDF board base. 18 gauge copper wire was bent around formers to create rings of appropriate size.

 



 

The copper wire rings were then carefully set on an anvil and tapped carefully with a hammer, flattening out the wire little by little. The wire tends to straighten itself in the process and is regularly bent on the former back to shape. The wire also tends to twist, so the piece is turned over regularly to undo any twist. 

 



 

As the wire is tapped flat, the ring flattens and widens. At this scale, the ring should actually be only about 1/32" wide (just under 4" at full size), but that makes it too flimsy for me to work with, so my aim has been about 3/64" to 1/16". 

 



 

Once the rings were made, I had intended to silver solder them closed, but found it was easier for now just to CA the ends together. The effort here is to get these done so I can get work on the hull and deck structures going again.

 

I made another template for lining up the rings and the spokes, again printed off the computer. For the spokes, I used 1/32” thick by 3/64” wide boxwood I had on hand. For the time being, I just deal with the part of the spokes connecting the two rings. The longer spoke sections that reach out from the hub, do so at an angle, so I simply left room along the inner ring for these to seat.

 

The very first spoke was run across the whole assembly to hold the rings into place while all the short spokes were glued into place.

 



 

 

Clare

Paddle Wheels

 

I decided to set aside the armament constructions while I get back to an assembly that's been holding everything up on this model as I was trying to use brass etching and improving that technique. So, I finally decided that enough was enough and it was time to just build the paddle wheels. 

 

I went back to an old fashioned method of metal working to make flat rings for the paddle wheels. I had use large gauge (relatively speaking) copper wire wound into a circle and then flattened with hammer and anvil making the wire into a flat ring. I used this method to make circular tracks for pivot guns on a few models in the past. It worked then and maybe my touch has improved a little. At least I can hope.

 

For the Saginaw's paddle wheels, I would need 2-1/2" diameter outer rings. The diameter of an inner set of rings depends on which drawings you look at. I chose to use the original sheer plan drawings of the Saginaw, which show a basic paddle wheel structure. There is another set of detailed drawings available, but it's not clear if these drawings are actually specific to the Saginaw since the name doesn't appear anywhere on them. In any case, the inner ring diameter I'm using is approximately 1-9/16" diameter.

 



 

I made up some template on my computer and used them to create a set of MDF formers for the ring sizes needed. The templates were glued to the MDF board and cut to shape. The formers were then glued to an MDF board base. 18 gauge copper wire was bent around formers to create rings of appropriate size.

 



 

The copper wire rings were then carefully set on an anvil and tapped carefully with a hammer, flattening out the wire little by little. The wire tends to straighten itself in the process and is regularly bent on the former back to shape. The wire also tends to twist, so the piece is turned over regularly to undo any twist. 

 



 

As the wire is tapped flat, the ring flattens and widens. At this scale, the ring should actually be only about 1/32" wide (just under 4" at full size), but that makes it too flimsy for me to work with, so my aim has been about 3/64" to 1/16". 

 



 

Once the rings were made, I had intended to silver solder them closed, but found it was easier for now just to CA the ends together. The effort here is to get these done so I can get work on the hull and deck structures going again.

 

I made another template for lining up the rings and the spokes, again printed off the computer. For the spokes, I used 1/32” thick by 3/64” wide boxwood I had on hand. For the time being, I just deal with the part of the spokes connecting the two rings. The longer spoke sections that reach out from the hub, do so at an angle, so I simply left room along the inner ring for these to seat.

 

The very first spoke was run across the whole assembly to hold the rings into place while all the short spokes were glued into place.

 



 

 

Clare

Paddle Wheels

 

I decided to set aside the armament constructions while I get back to an assembly that's been holding everything up on this model as I was trying to use brass etching and improving that technique. So, I finally decided that enough was enough and it was time to just build the paddle wheels. 

 

I went back to an old fashioned method of metal working to make flat rings for the paddle wheels. I had use large gauge (relatively speaking) copper wire wound into a circle and then flattened with hammer and anvil making the wire into a flat ring. I used this method to make circular tracks for pivot guns on a few models in the past. It worked then and maybe my touch has improved a little. At least I can hope.

 

For the Saginaw's paddle wheels, I would need 2-1/2" diameter outer rings. The diameter of an inner set of rings depends on which drawings you look at. I chose to use the original sheer plan drawings of the Saginaw, which show a basic paddle wheel structure. There is another set of detailed drawings available, but it's not clear if these drawings are actually specific to the Saginaw since the name doesn't appear anywhere on them. In any case, the inner ring diameter I'm using is approximately 1-9/16" diameter.

 



 

I made up some template on my computer and used them to create a set of MDF formers for the ring sizes needed. The templates were glued to the MDF board and cut to shape. The formers were then glued to an MDF board base. 18 gauge copper wire was bent around formers to create rings of appropriate size.

 



 

The copper wire rings were then carefully set on an anvil and tapped carefully with a hammer, flattening out the wire little by little. The wire tends to straighten itself in the process and is regularly bent on the former back to shape. The wire also tends to twist, so the piece is turned over regularly to undo any twist. 

 



 

As the wire is tapped flat, the ring flattens and widens. At this scale, the ring should actually be only about 1/32" wide (just under 4" at full size), but that makes it too flimsy for me to work with, so my aim has been about 3/64" to 1/16". 

 



 

Once the rings were made, I had intended to silver solder them closed, but found it was easier for now just to CA the ends together. The effort here is to get these done so I can get work on the hull and deck structures going again.

 

I made another template for lining up the rings and the spokes, again printed off the computer. For the spokes, I used 1/32” thick by 3/64” wide boxwood I had on hand. For the time being, I just deal with the part of the spokes connecting the two rings. The longer spoke sections that reach out from the hub, do so at an angle, so I simply left room along the inner ring for these to seat.

 

The very first spoke was run across the whole assembly to hold the rings into place while all the short spokes were glued into place.

 



 

 

Clare

Paddle Wheels

 

I decided to set aside the armament constructions while I get back to an assembly that's been holding everything up on this model as I was trying to use brass etching and improving that technique. So, I finally decided that enough was enough and it was time to just build the paddle wheels. 

 

I went back to an old fashioned method of metal working to make flat rings for the paddle wheels. I had use large gauge (relatively speaking) copper wire wound into a circle and then flattened with hammer and anvil making the wire into a flat ring. I used this method to make circular tracks for pivot guns on a few models in the past. It worked then and maybe my touch has improved a little. At least I can hope.

 

For the Saginaw's paddle wheels, I would need 2-1/2" diameter outer rings. The diameter of an inner set of rings depends on which drawings you look at. I chose to use the original sheer plan drawings of the Saginaw, which show a basic paddle wheel structure. There is another set of detailed drawings available, but it's not clear if these drawings are actually specific to the Saginaw since the name doesn't appear anywhere on them. In any case, the inner ring diameter I'm using is approximately 1-9/16" diameter.

 



 

I made up some template on my computer and used them to create a set of MDF formers for the ring sizes needed. The templates were glued to the MDF board and cut to shape. The formers were then glued to an MDF board base. 18 gauge copper wire was bent around formers to create rings of appropriate size.

 



 

The copper wire rings were then carefully set on an anvil and tapped carefully with a hammer, flattening out the wire little by little. The wire tends to straighten itself in the process and is regularly bent on the former back to shape. The wire also tends to twist, so the piece is turned over regularly to undo any twist. 

 



 

As the wire is tapped flat, the ring flattens and widens. At this scale, the ring should actually be only about 1/32" wide (just under 4" at full size), but that makes it too flimsy for me to work with, so my aim has been about 3/64" to 1/16". 

 



 

Once the rings were made, I had intended to silver solder them closed, but found it was easier for now just to CA the ends together. The effort here is to get these done so I can get work on the hull and deck structures going again.

 

I made another template for lining up the rings and the spokes, again printed off the computer. For the spokes, I used 1/32” thick by 3/64” wide boxwood I had on hand. For the time being, I just deal with the part of the spokes connecting the two rings. The longer spoke sections that reach out from the hub, do so at an angle, so I simply left room along the inner ring for these to seat.

 

The very first spoke was run across the whole assembly to hold the rings into place while all the short spokes were glued into place.

 



 

 

Clare

I have the MicroLux thickness sander (it's MicroMark, by the way) and I'm perfectly happy with it. I've use it and I've used the Byrnes and both work about the same. As someone pointed out, you can't pre-set the thickness on the MicroLux, but I don't recall being able to do that with the Byrnes. For both the MicroLux and the Byrnes Machines sanders, I've had to take off a little bit of wood at a time and then measure the resulting piece.
 
The comment that the MicroLux sander only sands basswood is hogwash. I've never once thickess sanded basswood with it. As I've been milling most of my own wood these days, I use it regularly on Boxwood, Cherry, Pear, Holly and Beech. It works fine, is very heavy and feels very rugged, very sturdy.
 
The main difference between the two, in my experience, is in design. The MicroLux sander works. It's not super user friendly. The Byrnes Machines sander works. It's well designed, so it's more user friendly.
 
For instance, the Byrnes sander uses a screw to adjust the thickness and it has a large diameter thumb wheel. The Microlux model uses a hex bolt. It works, but it's not as nice and its location is a bit awkward. Plus, as I recall, on the Byrnes sander that adjustment screw is easy to reach and the fine threads on it give you more precise adjustment.
 
The vacuum hose attachment on the Byrnes sander is on top so it's out of the way. The Microlux sander put's it on the side where the wood comes out, so you have to do more to get it out of the way of your work.
 
The Byrnes sander uses standard sandpaper making it inexpensive to operate. The Microlux uses special sanding sleeves which cost a lot more, though they seem to last a long time. I haven't changed mine since I bought it, which is a good thing as the Microlux drum sander requires you to practically disassemble the whole machine to change it. The Byrnes sander is much simpler here - again a better design. Plus, on the Byrnes, you can use grits of your choice. On the Microlux, your choices are limited to the 3 available grits.
 
One thing I should add is that the Microlux thickness sander has a big heavy roller on the feed side that is designed to hold down your work as you feed it in. I found this was more of a hassle than an asset, so I removed mine. Every time a piece was almost through the sander, the think would drop with a thunk and jar the unit and the work piece so that the last bit of the work piece would come out uneven. I was much happier with the machine after I took this piece off.
 
 
Overall, the Microlux is less expensive but it's clearly not as well designed as the Byrnes product. It's still VERY useable and I have no sense that I've missed out by buying it. It's clearly not perfect, but it does its job and I use it about once a week or so. But, the Byrnes thickness sander is really not that much more money than the Microlux model unless you can get it at a good sale price from Micromark. So, you may want to pay a little more and spring for the Byrnes model.
 
 
Clare

Turning the Parrot Guns
 
The Saginaw gave me my first opportunity to really put my new Sherline lathe to work and to put me to the test. This is the first lathe I’ve ever used, though I did learn to use a vertical mill many long years ago in a physics department machine shop.
 
I first took a drawing that was published in a Ships in Scale article of a 30 pounder Parrot rifle (originally from the National Archives) – the exact gun I needed for the Saginaw – and scanned it into Adobe Illustrator. I have a very old version of the software on an old Mac. It won’t run on my newer system, so I signed up for the trial version of Adobe’s Creative Cloud version. At 30 days, it was plenty of time for my purposes.
 
I scaled the image down so that it matched the model size and then used Illustrator’s measuring tool to get exact measurements for the guns. 
 
I can’t really tell you much about the process of making cannon barrels on the lathe except to say that I haven’t done so much math in a long time. Basic stuff, simple addition, subtraction, occasional division, but lots of it.
 
As I mentioned in a previous post, I’d figured on making one successful cannon and then using that for casting. But, I ended up turning both the Parrot guns instead. For this reason, I wrote out a step-by-step description of each cut and each related measurement so that I could repeat it easily.
 
I made three barrels so I could take the best of the three, though the very first couple I did, I rejected pretty quickly and had to start up a couple more.
 
To keep them as uniform as possible, I decided to do a couple steps at a time on one barrel and then switch barrels and repeat those steps, keeping all three barrels taking shape at the same time. This seemed to help keep me from making silly mistakes and kept the barrels fairly uniform.
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
I know I should have cut the holes for the trunnions first, but I managed to add them later, though at great difficulty. I was just more concerned about getting the three barrels to look right, figuring I could deal with drilling them later.
 
 
 

 
 
To make a long story short, I managed to finish them and I’m happy with how they turned out. They aren't perfect, but I'm happy and when blackened, many of the flaws will be pretty well hidden from view. In the end, I learned a lot and really enjoyed the machine shop work.
 
As for the lathe itself, I originally wanted to get a vertical mill, but since I had more immediate need I went with the lathe. My funds are pretty tight, so I decided to simply accessorize and build up a mill over time. I know it’s more money in the long run, but it’s really easier to take smaller steps. I’ve since purchased a milling column that will fit in place of the lathe’s headstock and then the headstock mounts on the column. So, for $170, I have a basic mill. I’ve already tried it for some basic work and already I love it. Operation is so precise and so smooth.
 
Next on the Sherline, I’ll be turning the Dahlgren boat guns. They're simpler in shape so they should be easier to do. More on that later...
 
 
Clare

Nice looking guns, Clare.  One thought... if you're interested.  Get some ScotchBrite pads (the green ones) in fine grit.  You can then polish the brass on the lathe and get rid of any tooling marks. 
 
Funny thing about this hobby... we have to be masters at woodworking, metal work, machining, sail making, carving, and knot-tying.  The real shipyards had different people doing all this work. 

Brass Etching
 
The next issue I dealt with was the tracks for the pivot guns. Having recently purchased a brass etching kit from Micromark, this was one of two perfect opportunities for making use of it, the other item being the wheel house fan decoration (My first test was actually to make some trailboard decorations for the Yacht America, but that’s another subject...). The Micromark kit contains pretty much everything you need to get started right away. It is a chemical etching process that uses a photo resistive material to transfer your artwork onto the metal. 
 
 

 
 
You begin by creating your artwork as a negative image printed onto clear transparency using an inkjet printer. By negative image, I mean that the metal will remain where the page is blank. The areas to be etched away are the areas where ink is printed onto the page. Of course, you will have to have software to create the artwork on your computer. I used Adobe Illustrator for this - a very old education edition that still works well on an old computer.
 
 
 

Here, I made the fan pattern for the wheel houses
 
 
 
The next step is to clean the metal you are going to etch really well to get the photoresist film to stick well to it. This is a critical step as any dirt or oxidation may cause  bubbles in the photoresist film and the process will not be satisfactory. Note that the photoresist is light sensitive so all work with it must be done in very low light conditions.
 
The kit includes a laminator to get the photoresist to adhere to the metal. If all goes well, the next thing to do is to sandwich the artwork and the photoresist-coated metal between two pieces of included acrylic and clamp them together using provided clips.
 
Then one of the parts that takes some experimenting to get right. The photoresist must be exposed to a light source, like a 100watt lamp shining close to the work for about 10 minutes. When done, the metal is washed in a diluted solution of Sodium Hydroxide, otherwise known as Caustic Soda or Lye and it’s nasty stuff. It will burn your skin. Believe me, I know. 
Carefully, the unexposed parts of the photoresist are washed away, leaving bare metal exposed for the etchant to do its work.
 
Next step is to actually immerse the metal into the etchant. This is the easy part as it’s mostly a matter of waiting and periodically checking progress.
 
 

 
 
The kit uses Ferric Chloride as the etchant and includes a plastic tank for the etchant bath with an air pump used to keep the etchant circulating. The stuff is good for several uses, but takes longer with each use as the etchant is expended. The bad part of all of this is that the expended etchant has to be disposed of properly, and legally, taking it to a hazardous waste facility.
 
 

A close up of the “Witches Brew”
 
 
Rotating the work every 10 minutes, the metal will finally etch through
 
 

Checking the progress of a project
 
 
Once the etching is done, the piece is removed and the photoresist is removed using a full strength bath of Sodium Hydroxide solution, and it’s done.
 
 

The completed etched fan decoration for the Saginaw’s wheel houses
 
 
Next time, getting back to the pivot gun tracks.
 
Clare

Tomas----
I owned one once, but had to close. The wretched customers spilled glue on everything, often attaching themselves to the glassware permanently. They never had any money, always yammering about "saving for the Agamemnon", whatever THAT meant. Then,one night, I hired the Rolling Stones to play, and the customers walked out because the band refused to play "chanteys and hornpipes". They also had an unnerving tendency for self-mutilation, with one bizzare woman taking an xacto to her own hand....horrible. The last straw: Every time I served a nice tall mug of hot Irish coffee, the bastards would stick planking in it.
I don't need that kind of grief....
john

Turning the Parrot Guns
 
The Saginaw gave me my first opportunity to really put my new Sherline lathe to work and to put me to the test. This is the first lathe I’ve ever used, though I did learn to use a vertical mill many long years ago in a physics department machine shop.
 
I first took a drawing that was published in a Ships in Scale article of a 30 pounder Parrot rifle (originally from the National Archives) – the exact gun I needed for the Saginaw – and scanned it into Adobe Illustrator. I have a very old version of the software on an old Mac. It won’t run on my newer system, so I signed up for the trial version of Adobe’s Creative Cloud version. At 30 days, it was plenty of time for my purposes.
 
I scaled the image down so that it matched the model size and then used Illustrator’s measuring tool to get exact measurements for the guns. 
 
I can’t really tell you much about the process of making cannon barrels on the lathe except to say that I haven’t done so much math in a long time. Basic stuff, simple addition, subtraction, occasional division, but lots of it.
 
As I mentioned in a previous post, I’d figured on making one successful cannon and then using that for casting. But, I ended up turning both the Parrot guns instead. For this reason, I wrote out a step-by-step description of each cut and each related measurement so that I could repeat it easily.
 
I made three barrels so I could take the best of the three, though the very first couple I did, I rejected pretty quickly and had to start up a couple more.
 
To keep them as uniform as possible, I decided to do a couple steps at a time on one barrel and then switch barrels and repeat those steps, keeping all three barrels taking shape at the same time. This seemed to help keep me from making silly mistakes and kept the barrels fairly uniform.
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
I know I should have cut the holes for the trunnions first, but I managed to add them later, though at great difficulty. I was just more concerned about getting the three barrels to look right, figuring I could deal with drilling them later.
 
 
 

 
 
To make a long story short, I managed to finish them and I’m happy with how they turned out. They aren't perfect, but I'm happy and when blackened, many of the flaws will be pretty well hidden from view. In the end, I learned a lot and really enjoyed the machine shop work.
 
As for the lathe itself, I originally wanted to get a vertical mill, but since I had more immediate need I went with the lathe. My funds are pretty tight, so I decided to simply accessorize and build up a mill over time. I know it’s more money in the long run, but it’s really easier to take smaller steps. I’ve since purchased a milling column that will fit in place of the lathe’s headstock and then the headstock mounts on the column. So, for $170, I have a basic mill. I’ve already tried it for some basic work and already I love it. Operation is so precise and so smooth.
 
Next on the Sherline, I’ll be turning the Dahlgren boat guns. They're simpler in shape so they should be easier to do. More on that later...
 
 
Clare

Thanks for your comments Grant. I plan on writing about being successful with the brass etching very soon!  Just as soon as I succeed... 
 
 
 
Mark, thanks for the suggestion. I was figuring I'd eventually post there, but maybe I'll do it sooner rather than later. I'm going to give another shot to making the rings for the paddlewheels from etched brass. I just got my order in from Micromark on Friday, so I'll get back to that soon.
 
In the meantime, I got a bit distracted by starting work on the guns. The Saginaw carried two 30-pdr parrot rifles in 1870, along with four 24-pdr dahlgren boat guns. 
 
I bought myself a Sherline lathe a couple months ago and this will be the first attempt to make something significant with it. I've got very little lathe experience, so it's a slow learning process. I'll write a post about it, but I'll say now that I've been really enjoying the metal work. It was a bit intimidating at first, but I'm just now starting to get comfortable with it.
 
Initially, I figured I'd be lucky to make one of each type of gun and planned on using them as masters for casting. But, after I found that the initial silicone molds I made weren't very good, I decide with so few guns, I'd just turn them all. Anyway, I need the practice on the lathe.
 
More on that shortly.
 
 
Clare

Thanks for your comments Grant. I plan on writing about being successful with the brass etching very soon!  Just as soon as I succeed... 
 
 
 
Mark, thanks for the suggestion. I was figuring I'd eventually post there, but maybe I'll do it sooner rather than later. I'm going to give another shot to making the rings for the paddlewheels from etched brass. I just got my order in from Micromark on Friday, so I'll get back to that soon.
 
In the meantime, I got a bit distracted by starting work on the guns. The Saginaw carried two 30-pdr parrot rifles in 1870, along with four 24-pdr dahlgren boat guns. 
 
I bought myself a Sherline lathe a couple months ago and this will be the first attempt to make something significant with it. I've got very little lathe experience, so it's a slow learning process. I'll write a post about it, but I'll say now that I've been really enjoying the metal work. It was a bit intimidating at first, but I'm just now starting to get comfortable with it.
 
Initially, I figured I'd be lucky to make one of each type of gun and planned on using them as masters for casting. But, after I found that the initial silicone molds I made weren't very good, I decide with so few guns, I'd just turn them all. Anyway, I need the practice on the lathe.
 
More on that shortly.
 
 
Clare

Today, I just received my copy of Ancre's monograph of the cutter Le Cerf, 1779-1780.
 
 


   
It's a great product, but I really want to point out here is that if you live in the U.S., I strongly advise you to pay the extra money to order by a trackable express shipping service. I first place an order for this product on March of this year. Figuring it might take 4 or 5 weeks to get, I waited a couple months and nothing showed up, so I emailed them. 
 
I didn't hear anything back, so I posted on the Seaways mail list asking what other people's experiences were with ordering from Ancre. Next thing I know, I got an email from Ancre asking how they could help. He immediately shipped the product to me and all was looking well.
 
Then, 4 weeks went by and 6 weeks. As the 8th week was approaching, I wrote again. Mr. Didier Berti (Hubert Berti, his father, had passed away in the Spring) offered to reship it by express service if I wanted to pay the cost and I was very happy to spend the extra money this time. 
 
So, today, the book shows up at my home in California, a mere 4 days after it was shipped from France. I have the product, an excellent product by the way, and all is well.
 
Maybe shipping to other parts of the U.S. will have better luck, but for shipping to the west coast I STRONGLY advise you to pay the extra chunk of cash to order via trackable, express shipping. Anyway, you're going to want your Ancre orders quickly so you can enjoy the amazing quality of their products right away.
 
 
 
Ancre - Collection Archéologique Navale
 
 
 
At last, another happy Ancre book owner.
 
Clare

Pivot Gun Tracks

 

Back to catching up on the build log...

 

On the pivot gun tracks, I began by using Adobe Illustrator to create the artwork. The tracks for the pivot guns are based on the National Archives plans. The two are identical and simply consist of three overlapping arcs.

 

 



 

 

As I mentioned in the previous post, the trick in creating the artwork is to create the areas to be etched away. So, the black areas in the artwork will etch away, leaving the white areas as the brass parts. You don’t want to create unnecessary black areas as you end up wasting etchant on areas that don’t actually need to be etched. So, the bulk of the artwork is white.

 

 



 

 

The fine white lines are small brass bridges that will keep the etched part from falling off the sheet during the etching process. I included too many of these in my early work and realized it just made for more clean-up. So, my later artwork has only as many as seemed necessary and reasonable.

 

Once I had completed the art, I printed it out on regular paper and test fit it on deck. This was just an extra step to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

 

 



 

 



 

 

I was getting uneven thickness in the widths of the track and It took me a few attempts at etching to get the tracks to come out well. I started to realize at some point that some of the unevenness I was getting in the etching came from the exposure process, where some portions of the art were being struck at an angle by the light I was using. So, some areas were receiving stronger exposure than others. 

 

I adjusted this by turning the artwork at regular intervals during the exposure process and that helped. I’ve since purchased a cheap little display turntable that is powered by a solar cell. I haven’t tried it yet, but the idea is that I’ll put the metal and artwork on the turntable, switch on the exposure lamp and that will power the turntable to rotate slowly, but enough to keep the light expose the artwork more evenly.

 

Anyway, the etching process itself went well enough after that and the photo below shows the aft pivot track in place. Remember, this is back when the brass etching process was working okay for me...

 

 

Clare

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Pivot Gun Tracks

 

Back to catching up on the build log...

 

On the pivot gun tracks, I began by using Adobe Illustrator to create the artwork. The tracks for the pivot guns are based on the National Archives plans. The two are identical and simply consist of three overlapping arcs.

 

 



 

 

As I mentioned in the previous post, the trick in creating the artwork is to create the areas to be etched away. So, the black areas in the artwork will etch away, leaving the white areas as the brass parts. You don’t want to create unnecessary black areas as you end up wasting etchant on areas that don’t actually need to be etched. So, the bulk of the artwork is white.

 

 



 

 

The fine white lines are small brass bridges that will keep the etched part from falling off the sheet during the etching process. I included too many of these in my early work and realized it just made for more clean-up. So, my later artwork has only as many as seemed necessary and reasonable.

 

Once I had completed the art, I printed it out on regular paper and test fit it on deck. This was just an extra step to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

 

 



 

 



 

 

I was getting uneven thickness in the widths of the track and It took me a few attempts at etching to get the tracks to come out well. I started to realize at some point that some of the unevenness I was getting in the etching came from the exposure process, where some portions of the art were being struck at an angle by the light I was using. So, some areas were receiving stronger exposure than others. 

 

I adjusted this by turning the artwork at regular intervals during the exposure process and that helped. I’ve since purchased a cheap little display turntable that is powered by a solar cell. I haven’t tried it yet, but the idea is that I’ll put the metal and artwork on the turntable, switch on the exposure lamp and that will power the turntable to rotate slowly, but enough to keep the light expose the artwork more evenly.

 

Anyway, the etching process itself went well enough after that and the photo below shows the aft pivot track in place. Remember, this is back when the brass etching process was working okay for me...

 

 

Clare

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Brass Etching
 
The next issue I dealt with was the tracks for the pivot guns. Having recently purchased a brass etching kit from Micromark, this was one of two perfect opportunities for making use of it, the other item being the wheel house fan decoration (My first test was actually to make some trailboard decorations for the Yacht America, but that’s another subject...). The Micromark kit contains pretty much everything you need to get started right away. It is a chemical etching process that uses a photo resistive material to transfer your artwork onto the metal. 
 
 

 
 
You begin by creating your artwork as a negative image printed onto clear transparency using an inkjet printer. By negative image, I mean that the metal will remain where the page is blank. The areas to be etched away are the areas where ink is printed onto the page. Of course, you will have to have software to create the artwork on your computer. I used Adobe Illustrator for this - a very old education edition that still works well on an old computer.
 
 
 

Here, I made the fan pattern for the wheel houses
 
 
 
The next step is to clean the metal you are going to etch really well to get the photoresist film to stick well to it. This is a critical step as any dirt or oxidation may cause  bubbles in the photoresist film and the process will not be satisfactory. Note that the photoresist is light sensitive so all work with it must be done in very low light conditions.
 
The kit includes a laminator to get the photoresist to adhere to the metal. If all goes well, the next thing to do is to sandwich the artwork and the photoresist-coated metal between two pieces of included acrylic and clamp them together using provided clips.
 
Then one of the parts that takes some experimenting to get right. The photoresist must be exposed to a light source, like a 100watt lamp shining close to the work for about 10 minutes. When done, the metal is washed in a diluted solution of Sodium Hydroxide, otherwise known as Caustic Soda or Lye and it’s nasty stuff. It will burn your skin. Believe me, I know. 
Carefully, the unexposed parts of the photoresist are washed away, leaving bare metal exposed for the etchant to do its work.
 
Next step is to actually immerse the metal into the etchant. This is the easy part as it’s mostly a matter of waiting and periodically checking progress.
 
 

 
 
The kit uses Ferric Chloride as the etchant and includes a plastic tank for the etchant bath with an air pump used to keep the etchant circulating. The stuff is good for several uses, but takes longer with each use as the etchant is expended. The bad part of all of this is that the expended etchant has to be disposed of properly, and legally, taking it to a hazardous waste facility.
 
 

A close up of the “Witches Brew”
 
 
Rotating the work every 10 minutes, the metal will finally etch through
 
 

Checking the progress of a project
 
 
Once the etching is done, the piece is removed and the photoresist is removed using a full strength bath of Sodium Hydroxide solution, and it’s done.
 
 

The completed etched fan decoration for the Saginaw’s wheel houses
 
 
Next time, getting back to the pivot gun tracks.
 
Clare

Brass Etching
 
The next issue I dealt with was the tracks for the pivot guns. Having recently purchased a brass etching kit from Micromark, this was one of two perfect opportunities for making use of it, the other item being the wheel house fan decoration (My first test was actually to make some trailboard decorations for the Yacht America, but that’s another subject...). The Micromark kit contains pretty much everything you need to get started right away. It is a chemical etching process that uses a photo resistive material to transfer your artwork onto the metal. 
 
 

 
 
You begin by creating your artwork as a negative image printed onto clear transparency using an inkjet printer. By negative image, I mean that the metal will remain where the page is blank. The areas to be etched away are the areas where ink is printed onto the page. Of course, you will have to have software to create the artwork on your computer. I used Adobe Illustrator for this - a very old education edition that still works well on an old computer.
 
 
 

Here, I made the fan pattern for the wheel houses
 
 
 
The next step is to clean the metal you are going to etch really well to get the photoresist film to stick well to it. This is a critical step as any dirt or oxidation may cause  bubbles in the photoresist film and the process will not be satisfactory. Note that the photoresist is light sensitive so all work with it must be done in very low light conditions.
 
The kit includes a laminator to get the photoresist to adhere to the metal. If all goes well, the next thing to do is to sandwich the artwork and the photoresist-coated metal between two pieces of included acrylic and clamp them together using provided clips.
 
Then one of the parts that takes some experimenting to get right. The photoresist must be exposed to a light source, like a 100watt lamp shining close to the work for about 10 minutes. When done, the metal is washed in a diluted solution of Sodium Hydroxide, otherwise known as Caustic Soda or Lye and it’s nasty stuff. It will burn your skin. Believe me, I know. 
Carefully, the unexposed parts of the photoresist are washed away, leaving bare metal exposed for the etchant to do its work.
 
Next step is to actually immerse the metal into the etchant. This is the easy part as it’s mostly a matter of waiting and periodically checking progress.
 
 

 
 
The kit uses Ferric Chloride as the etchant and includes a plastic tank for the etchant bath with an air pump used to keep the etchant circulating. The stuff is good for several uses, but takes longer with each use as the etchant is expended. The bad part of all of this is that the expended etchant has to be disposed of properly, and legally, taking it to a hazardous waste facility.
 
 

A close up of the “Witches Brew”
 
 
Rotating the work every 10 minutes, the metal will finally etch through
 
 

Checking the progress of a project
 
 
Once the etching is done, the piece is removed and the photoresist is removed using a full strength bath of Sodium Hydroxide solution, and it’s done.
 
 

The completed etched fan decoration for the Saginaw’s wheel houses
 
 
Next time, getting back to the pivot gun tracks.
 
Clare

The Saginaw had a non-collapsing type of funnel that is quite tall. I think this is a feature that make the ship really stand out to me. Something about that look on a ship with sails I found very appealing to the eye.

 

Luck had it that I the dimensions of the needed tubing was very simple. At 1/2” diameter, I could just pick up the brass tubing from the K&S stand at the local Ace Hardware. And, as it turned out, I could also get tubing 15/16” in diameter there which made a perfect fit inside the 1/2” tubing, making for a sleeve that could help me a little in construction.

 

The funnel tubing was cut 3-5/8” long with a slight angle at the base to accommodate the rake of the funnel. The length was measured for the funnel to sit atop the deck house. I used a length of 15/16” tubing to serve as an inner sleeve that would extend up into the funnel part way and down through the deck house and seat into a shallow hole in the deck.

 

The stack itself is supported by a pair of eye bands, one at the very top and one 15/16” below that. The top band has four eyebolts in it for support guys, the lower one has only three and are offset from the ones above and are centered aft.

The diagram shows the two eyebands and the locations of the eyebolts. 

 



 

I went through two funnels trying to attach the eyebands nicely. The first attempt was done by soldering the eyebands into place. However, I did such a poor soldering job that I had to do a lot of filing, which just resulted in a bad looking funnel.

 

On the second attempt, I ended up just using CA glue and that made a very clean attachment. Once in place I drilled out the eyebolt locations and ran the eyebolts into place. By running the eyebolts through the bands and into the funnel, it seems to help  further secure the eyebands from pulling out of position.

 



 

Finally, I sprayed the whole thing with primer and painted using a few coats of Testor’s semi-gloss black acrylic paint.

 

Clare