catopower

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

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

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

WOW, I thought I was the only one that did that.
 
Bob

Having said the above about Hobby Mill, let me add another source for rough lumber to the list that was started.
http://macbeath.com/information/contact/contact.html
 
MacBeath is a large retailer in all sorts of wood and has locations in a few spots in the US. Check out the heading 'products/exotics'.
 
I have been to the store in Berkeley a couple times to buy wood for my furniture projects. But what I like is that they have a 'scrap bin' with all sorts of leftovers that is sold by the pound. I have some bloodwood, ebony and others. I don't know if other stores have the same thing. But you might contact the above if you want to find out more.

This area of the forum was a great resource for information on where to buy various types of wood. Let's rebuild that information using our collective knowledge and experience. I've given credit in parenthesis to those who have contributed the name of that source.

Sources of milled wood (Australia):
Modellers Shipyard (Shazmira) - A limited selection of sheet and strip stock. They also have kits, tools, and other supplies. Ships internationally.
 
Sources of milled wood (Germany):
Arkowood (TRJ) - A bit on the expensive side, but good for smaller quantities. All major wood varieties, including swiss pear, box, lime.
Massivholzwerkstätten Horschig (Redshirt) - Good assortment of wood, high accuracy and good price.
 
Sources of milled wood (UK):
Hobby's (AntonyUK)
JoTiKa (Marsares)
Cornwall Boat Models (Marsares)
The Model Dockyard (Marsares)
 
 
Sources of milled wood (USA):
Ocooch - Good source for milled sheetwood of all species but no Boxwood, swiss pear or holly.
Syren - sheets and strips of milled Boxwood, Alaskan Yellow Cedar and Swiss Pear.
Itasca - Mainly a source for basswood. Their "Half Price" wood is still of good quality and excellent value. $20 minimum order size. 20% military discount.
National Balsa - Another source for basswood, Maple, Cheerry. More expensive than Itasca, but they have a greater range of sizes and have lots of dowels.
tallships_model_builder (themadchemist) - An eBay store with several items targeted towards model ship builders (eg. Deck planking and sheet wood). May be willing to cut custom sizes for you.
http://www.northeasternscalelumber.com/shop/index.php?PHPSESSID=fbf4aea8bc5623641aa53ab405ec4c6a - Northeastern Scale Lumber
 
I'm adding my list of US suppliers of lumber.  Given the market they may or may not have the wood you want.  IF they do have it, order it, don't wait as they will run out.  
All Righteous Woods Bod Nosen Colonial Hardwoods, Inc. CookWoods Dyes Exotic Wood, Birdseye Maple, Curly Maple & Tiger Maple Bell Forest Products Gilmer Wood Company Griffin Exotic Wood--High Quality Exotic Woods Groffslumberr hearnehardwoods.com- Inlay Banding, Ebony and Holly Wood Products Kettle Moraine Hardwoods, Inc., Hartford, WI Midwest Products National Balsa Wood Co- Balsa wood, Basswood, Mahogany, Architectural Models, Model RC Aircraft, Savox Servos Ocooch Hardwoods - Supplier of Thin Wood for Scroll Sawing, Carving Blocks, Intarsia wood, Plywood for scroll sawing, and more. Rare and Exotic Lumber in Maine - Rare Woods USA Rare Woods USA Rockler.com S.H. Goode & Sons Workshop Specialty Wood Exotic Lumber Exotic Woods - Keim Lumber The Wood Database Tropical Exotic Hardwoods Welcome to the World of Hardwoods Wood Project Source - milled wood sheets and strips and wood carving blocks woodcraft.com- Woodfinder® Marketplace Woodworkers Source for Imported, Rare, Specialty, Exotic Woo    
Sources of rough lumber (Australia):
Trend Timbers (1492) - Local, imported and exotic timbers.
Anagote Timbers (Jim Lad) - Local and imported timbers. Named after a pet goat called Anna.
Australian Furniture Timbers (BANYAN) - A wide selection of timbers. Avilable in 1 meter lengths.
 
Sources of rough lumber (UK):
Workshop Heaven (AntonyUK) - Various sized chunks of exotic wood
Yandles (Kevin)
 
Sources of rough lumber (Spain)
Maderas Barber (ymperivm)

Sources of rough/billets lumber (USA):
Gilmer Wood Company - Mainly Exotic wood and much of it highly figured. The main species of interest for ship modelers will be boxwood, ebony, and holly. $100 USD minimum order for Internet purchases, no minimum for walk-in purchases. Ships internationally.
Cookwoods (mtaylor) - Exotic hardwoods. Ships internationally.
Righteous Woods (davec) - Domestic, imported and exotic timbers. $100 USD minimum order for Internet purchases. Ships internationally.
Tallgrass Custom Wood Productsfff382 (Thairinker) - Domestic hardwoods. Located in Kansas, does not appear to offer shipping.
Woodworkers Source (Sephirem) - Domestic and imported. Lumber is organized based on geographic region that it comes from.
Rare Woods USA (ChrisLBren) - Ships to Continental USA only for online orders, but is free for orders >$100 with conditions.

Sources of rough lumber (global):
A local hardwood store - Usually a great place to buy domestic wood and some exotics. I have seen ebony and purpleheart at Woodcraft.
A local hardwood flooring store (muzzleloader) - Mahogany, maple, cherry and other hard woods. Inquire about sales of remnants at bargain prices.


A note on Gilmer:
This is a local business for me so I am fortunate that I can visit. If you've purchased milled Castello Boxwood for your model then it probably came from here. They told me that they don't have a source for this wood anymore, but in addition to the large stack of wood towering over me they also had a bunch more in another warehouse. The Castello Boxwood starts out as rough 8/4 (2" thick) boards around 6" wide and 7' long. When the stock on their website gets low they pull down a board, clean it up in a planer, spray with shellac to bring out the color, then seal the ends with wax. They told me if I was to buy a board off the top of the stack it would be $30 a board foot (1"x12"x12") but that if I wanted to dig through the stack they'd up the price to $35 per board foot. Indeed, the chunks on their website were about $35 a board foot when I last ran the numbers. Ebony is tricky stuff as it all looks the same in pictures so ask them to select a board with straight grain, if you tell them it is for a ship model they will understand what you need. When I was there last they showed me how to hold the ebony to the light to check the grain for straightness. Also don't be too concerned if the description of Castello Boxwood on the website is "figured" as that is what they listed my piece of wood as and it was actually fairly straight. Not all wood can be sold to customers outside of the USA because of laws to protect endangered species.

Popeye, thanks for the ideas on the gun ports. 'Tis a puzzlement!
 
Cap'n' Bob, Bill, thanks for the nice comments on the stack. It sure beats the heck out of the first attempt at the stack, which I am too embarrassed to show. Anyway, I destroyed all copies of photos of the original for good measure 
 
As it is, I'm really happy with the second attempt. Now, if I can only get other parts of the model to come out as nicely...
 
Clare

Another viewpoint you may wish to consider...
 
At the the end of the day, a model manufacturer has to be able to turn a profit. So they need to produce a product for as little cost as possible, that will appeal to as wide as possible a customer base.
 
I see this all the time with model railroad manufacturers. They will offer a locomotive of other piece of rolling stock painted in as many different road names as possible, in order to appeal to a wider customer base, regardless of whether or not any particular prototype railroad actually operated that piece of equipment.
 
Yes, some model ship companies may produce ships that are complete fallacies, but, are they appealing to the purists (quite possibly far fewer in number), or someone just looking for something nice to occupy themselves with (much bigger target market)?
 
Do we need to fault an entire company because 50% (or whatever) of the product they produce is "not real"? I think not. They're not forcing anyone to buy anything, eventually market forces may dictate that a higher percentage of modellers are after super-detailed hyper-accurate kits (and are willing to foot the bill for them), then you may see a higher percentage of this style of kits.... But until there comes a day when any human being on earth can open a model ship kit and expertly assemble it on the first try, there are going to be some kits that are not 100% hyper-accurate.
 
On the flip side, there are some companies that do, after a fashion, cater to that market.
 
Andy

Popeye, thanks for the ideas on the gun ports. 'Tis a puzzlement!
 
Cap'n' Bob, Bill, thanks for the nice comments on the stack. It sure beats the heck out of the first attempt at the stack, which I am too embarrassed to show. Anyway, I destroyed all copies of photos of the original for good measure 
 
As it is, I'm really happy with the second attempt. Now, if I can only get other parts of the model to come out as nicely...
 
Clare

More Hull Work

At the time I was planking the deck, I took some time to build up the structure for the main deck house. When the Saginaw was originally built, this included a pilot house at the forward end. For some reason, this was removed at the time of the 1863 refit. Perhaps it wasn’t high enough to be useful. Without the pilot house, the design was pretty simple, just a long rectangle with a half-round forward end. 

 

I had shaped the structure from thin plywood and basswood and cut a 1/2” diameter opening for the funnel. The outside was planked with thin, narrow, vertical strips of boxwood. Six doors would be added at a later stage.

 

 

About the same time, I also made a basic funnel from 1/2” brass tubing, about 3-1/2” long and cut a shallow hole in the deck to seat it in. I also drilled holes in the deck for the masts and cut to length the dowels I would need for the masts and spars.

 



 

Something I forgot to mention in my last post relates to those last two photos of that post. You’ll note that I added the channels at the same time as the main rail. Since the channels are in line with the rail, I went ahead and built them into the rail itself for added strength. An upper rail or hammock rail will go on top of this, so the channels should be quite sturdy. I’ll post one of the photos again here to illustrate.

 



 

At this stage, I also added scuppers, which were drilled through the bulwarks and then lined with thin walled brass tubing. I also added started work on the two large bits at the foremast. The plans show them to have what I assume to be iron rods run through them as cross-bitts. These bits might have actually been iron sheathed, but I chose to treat mine as wooden with a metal band that the rods are run through.

 

The next photo shows the upper rail nearly complete. At the bow, notches were cut for the catheads and the rail is still in progress. Gunports were lined and I had started working on the hawse pipes which I made from brass tubing. A small piece of sheet brass was soldered onto the end of the tube and then was filed to shape for the lips. I did something similar for the inboard end of the hawse pipes, though they are completely separate pieces.

 



 



 

 

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

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

More Hull Work

At the time I was planking the deck, I took some time to build up the structure for the main deck house. When the Saginaw was originally built, this included a pilot house at the forward end. For some reason, this was removed at the time of the 1863 refit. Perhaps it wasn’t high enough to be useful. Without the pilot house, the design was pretty simple, just a long rectangle with a half-round forward end. 

 

I had shaped the structure from thin plywood and basswood and cut a 1/2” diameter opening for the funnel. The outside was planked with thin, narrow, vertical strips of boxwood. Six doors would be added at a later stage.

 

 

About the same time, I also made a basic funnel from 1/2” brass tubing, about 3-1/2” long and cut a shallow hole in the deck to seat it in. I also drilled holes in the deck for the masts and cut to length the dowels I would need for the masts and spars.

 



 

Something I forgot to mention in my last post relates to those last two photos of that post. You’ll note that I added the channels at the same time as the main rail. Since the channels are in line with the rail, I went ahead and built them into the rail itself for added strength. An upper rail or hammock rail will go on top of this, so the channels should be quite sturdy. I’ll post one of the photos again here to illustrate.

 



 

At this stage, I also added scuppers, which were drilled through the bulwarks and then lined with thin walled brass tubing. I also added started work on the two large bits at the foremast. The plans show them to have what I assume to be iron rods run through them as cross-bitts. These bits might have actually been iron sheathed, but I chose to treat mine as wooden with a metal band that the rods are run through.

 

The next photo shows the upper rail nearly complete. At the bow, notches were cut for the catheads and the rail is still in progress. Gunports were lined and I had started working on the hawse pipes which I made from brass tubing. A small piece of sheet brass was soldered onto the end of the tube and then was filed to shape for the lips. I did something similar for the inboard end of the hawse pipes, though they are completely separate pieces.

 



 



 

 

Clare

Hi Mark,
 
I agree the carriages were double-pinned and it seems pretty clear on the plans I have (the ones I posted here are pretty low-res) that those small circles are pivots as you pointed out. 
 
I gathered several reference photos including the one below which I got courtesy of Bill Emerson who wrote a couple great articles for Ships in Scale on his Civil War era gunboat models which are very similar to the Saginaw.
 

This is the USS Mississippi. Clearly, much larger than the Saginaw, but it does show the same double-pinned pivot carriage and also drop down panels for the forward gun ports.
 
 
The next thing I'm looking at is whether the forward gun port was one large panel that possibly drops down so it's horizontal or if it drops all the way down. In the only photo of the Saginaw, the gun port opening is apparent, but the configuration of the gun port cover/panel(s) is not. As far as I can tell, the insides of panels would have been painted white, like the inside of the bulwarks. If the port covers were panels that dropped down all the way, then there should be a light colored area under the gun port opening. If we're looking at a single panel that hinges down until it's horizontal, then we may be looking at it edge-on, which is what I'm assuming unless I can find some good info to the contrary.
 

From a photo I pulled off of Bluejacket's website some time ago. Bluejacket built this custom model for a client and went with the single hinged panel for the forward gun port. I'm considering going with this configuration, though the actual mechanics of hinging a slightly curved panel is a bit complicated and questionable.
 
As long as I'm studying photos here, I might as well mention the boat gun broadside mounts. There were four 24-pounders at this time. These will look pretty much like those in the following photo pulled from the web.
 

Porter shown aboard the USS Malvern next to the Dahlgren mount. The only issue I'll have is that the gun ports on the Saginaw are pretty low and I'm going to have to use a little creative modeling to make the guns fit. 
 
I'll also mention that I'm building the Saginaw with a Hurricane Deck, similar to that shown in the background of this photo. They are not shown on the plans, but I've found anecdotal references to one in George Reed's account of the loss of the Saginaw.
 
Clare

More Hull Work

At the time I was planking the deck, I took some time to build up the structure for the main deck house. When the Saginaw was originally built, this included a pilot house at the forward end. For some reason, this was removed at the time of the 1863 refit. Perhaps it wasn’t high enough to be useful. Without the pilot house, the design was pretty simple, just a long rectangle with a half-round forward end. 

 

I had shaped the structure from thin plywood and basswood and cut a 1/2” diameter opening for the funnel. The outside was planked with thin, narrow, vertical strips of boxwood. Six doors would be added at a later stage.

 

 

About the same time, I also made a basic funnel from 1/2” brass tubing, about 3-1/2” long and cut a shallow hole in the deck to seat it in. I also drilled holes in the deck for the masts and cut to length the dowels I would need for the masts and spars.

 



 

Something I forgot to mention in my last post relates to those last two photos of that post. You’ll note that I added the channels at the same time as the main rail. Since the channels are in line with the rail, I went ahead and built them into the rail itself for added strength. An upper rail or hammock rail will go on top of this, so the channels should be quite sturdy. I’ll post one of the photos again here to illustrate.

 



 

At this stage, I also added scuppers, which were drilled through the bulwarks and then lined with thin walled brass tubing. I also added started work on the two large bits at the foremast. The plans show them to have what I assume to be iron rods run through them as cross-bitts. These bits might have actually been iron sheathed, but I chose to treat mine as wooden with a metal band that the rods are run through.

 

The next photo shows the upper rail nearly complete. At the bow, notches were cut for the catheads and the rail is still in progress. Gunports were lined and I had started working on the hawse pipes which I made from brass tubing. A small piece of sheet brass was soldered onto the end of the tube and then was filed to shape for the lips. I did something similar for the inboard end of the hawse pipes, though they are completely separate pieces.

 



 



 

 

Clare

Mark,
 
You may very well be correct about those panels running all the way around the stern. One of the reasons I didn't was the configuration of the tracks in the plans. It appears that these support the rear wheels when pivoting the gun. Since there are no tracks to support the gun being trained directly astern, I figured that the panels wouldn't have extended all the way around. 
 

 
One of the more confusing aspects of researching a subject is when you hit things like this sketch done by the Saginaw's captain showing life of the castaways on Ocean Island after the ship ran aground.
 
Maybe he just wasn't out to detail the ship as it was just a sketch, but the drawing shows no sign of a gun or tracks, but what looks like one small gunport. Could be one drop down panel open and the gun might have been hastily cast overboard in an effort to save the ship. Or, maybe he was just more focussed on the crew working to salvage what they could and survive.
 

 
Clare

Hull Details

 

At this point, port holes were added. I wasn’t originally sure how these were built at this time, but since the detail is a small one, I decided to simply drill 1/8” holes for them and line them with thin-walled brass tubing. This was to make sure they were perfectly round.

 

In actuality, on the wooden hull of the Saginaw, the metal frame would have been fastened to the inboard side of the planking, so on the outside all you would see is a hole with glass behind it. So, when the hull is painted, I’ll be painting the brass sleeves as well, so they won’t stand out too much.

 

At this stage, I hadn’t decided on how to make the glass, but for the time being, all I needed to do was drill out the port holes.

 

In addition to the port holes, I also cut openings for the pivot guns. The forward pivot ports were an easy call as they appear on the plans and the only photo of the Saginaw clearly shows them. However, the aft pivot gun ports was a bit of an issue. 

 

The plans give no clear distinction of how the stern gun ports were configured. My best guess was that they were simply drop down panels that allowed the aft pivot gun to fire broadside. One question was whether or not this ship would have had drop down panels all the way around the stern like the double-ended gunboats of the Civil War. My thinking was probably less clear that it is now, but I figured that since she was built for service accoss the Pacific, she might need to have stronger stern bulwarks to resist the waves of following seas. So, I decided to limit the drop down panels to the sides of the ship.

 

The main rail was added next, made from boxwood, but a hammock rail would go on top of this later. Boxwood channels were attached and, finally, I fashioned trail boards, again out of boxwood, and drilled out the hawse pipes.

 

 

Clare

Hull Details

 

At this point, port holes were added. I wasn’t originally sure how these were built at this time, but since the detail is a small one, I decided to simply drill 1/8” holes for them and line them with thin-walled brass tubing. This was to make sure they were perfectly round.

 

In actuality, on the wooden hull of the Saginaw, the metal frame would have been fastened to the inboard side of the planking, so on the outside all you would see is a hole with glass behind it. So, when the hull is painted, I’ll be painting the brass sleeves as well, so they won’t stand out too much.

 

At this stage, I hadn’t decided on how to make the glass, but for the time being, all I needed to do was drill out the port holes.

 

In addition to the port holes, I also cut openings for the pivot guns. The forward pivot ports were an easy call as they appear on the plans and the only photo of the Saginaw clearly shows them. However, the aft pivot gun ports was a bit of an issue. 

 

The plans give no clear distinction of how the stern gun ports were configured. My best guess was that they were simply drop down panels that allowed the aft pivot gun to fire broadside. One question was whether or not this ship would have had drop down panels all the way around the stern like the double-ended gunboats of the Civil War. My thinking was probably less clear that it is now, but I figured that since she was built for service accoss the Pacific, she might need to have stronger stern bulwarks to resist the waves of following seas. So, I decided to limit the drop down panels to the sides of the ship.

 

The main rail was added next, made from boxwood, but a hammock rail would go on top of this later. Boxwood channels were attached and, finally, I fashioned trail boards, again out of boxwood, and drilled out the hawse pipes.

 

 

Clare

Hull Planking
 
 
The next step in the Saginaw’s construction was to plank the hull. The thing I like about building a solid hull first is that you can spend time getting the shape of the hull as accurate and as perfect as you can, before planking it. When planking, you don’t end up introducing flat spots or bumps since you have the fully supporting hull, you just focus and getting a nice smooth run to the planks.
 
Getting a smooth run of planking is extremely easy when you’re working with a hull like that of the Saginaw. It’s long and narrow and has a nice sharp bow. Planks require only a small amount of shaping. Anyway, the hull is going to be coppered below the water line and as long as the upper hull planking is good, the lower planks can bear the brunt of mistakes since they’ll be covered.
 
 

 
 

 
 
As I mentioned last time, for planking material, I used holly, most of which I milled myself from a board I bought from The Lumberyard a while back. I cut into sheets on my large table saw, thickness sanded them on my Micromark thickness sander, then cut strips off the boards on the an old Jarmac table saw. Since the Jarmac is pretty old and has a lot of vibration now, I had to then take the strips and run them through a thicknessing setup I made from an AcraMill (This was all during my pre-Byrnes Machines saw days). This is just to even out the thickness of the planks since some variation is introduced from cutting the old Jarmac saw.
 
Again, before gluing planks on, I would give each a light sanding to round the edges slightly to make them stand well when painted over.
 
 
Clare
 
 

Note that the inner bulwarks have been planked and the broadside gun ports have been cut.

Planking the Deck

 

Before laying the day down, I planned out the thickness of the bulwarks and how I was going to attach that to the hull. The plan was to notch the hull to add 1/16” thick basswood strips that would effectively act as “timber heads”. Inboard of the this, I’d need 1/32” for the inner bulwarks planking and another 1/32” for the waterways.

 

So, as a guide, I glued a 1/16” square basswood strip along the edge of the hull. Then, I laid down another 1/16” square piece as a temporary spacer. The nibbing strake was then cut and shaped to fit along the inner edge of this spacer and glued into place. Afterwards the spacer was removed.

 

 



 

 

In the meantime, I measured out the smoke stack and lower masts and drilled holes in the deck for their placement. For the smoke stack, in order to make installation simple, I figured on make an inner sleeve that will eventually be glued to the deck. The outer sleeve represents that actual smokestack. This inner sleeve is 15/16” in diameter and the temporary stack you see in some of these photos is actually this temporary sleeve, cut to the full height of the stack.

 

For the deck planking, I used 1/16” wide by 1/32” thick boxwood. I often add or simulate treenails, but at 1/8” scale, I decided not to do it this time. Planks were laid starting along the centerline. To simulate caulking, I simply edged the planks with pencil. The planks were nibbed at the bow and near the stern where appropriate.

 

 



 

 



 

 

Coaling Ports

 

There were six ringed circles on the main deck plan of the Saginaw that were unlabeled and it was at this time that I managed to get some help on MSW 1.0 to identify and understand the construction of what appeared to be coaling ports. 

 

These rings are 7/32” diameter in the plans and I decided to use a 3/16” diameter brass rod inserted in a 7/32” diameter brass tube. I’d cut some little buttons from the these to represent the port covers. The brass was straight off the shelf from the K & S metals stand at the hardware store. It turned out that these particular sizes were readily available and fit perfectly. The same was true of 1/2” brass tube and 15/32” brass tube that I would use for the smoke stack.

 

 



 

 

7/32” holes were then drilled into the deck for the six coaling ports. It wasn’t until a little later that I saw a photo of an actual coaling port and noticed the deck work around it. So, I ended up modifying the openings to allow for the deck work. In hindsight, I realize that adding this detail creates a certain inconsistency since I did not do the same for other features where it might have been appropriate.

 
 

 
 

 
 
Clare

Hull Planking
 
 
The next step in the Saginaw’s construction was to plank the hull. The thing I like about building a solid hull first is that you can spend time getting the shape of the hull as accurate and as perfect as you can, before planking it. When planking, you don’t end up introducing flat spots or bumps since you have the fully supporting hull, you just focus and getting a nice smooth run to the planks.
 
Getting a smooth run of planking is extremely easy when you’re working with a hull like that of the Saginaw. It’s long and narrow and has a nice sharp bow. Planks require only a small amount of shaping. Anyway, the hull is going to be coppered below the water line and as long as the upper hull planking is good, the lower planks can bear the brunt of mistakes since they’ll be covered.
 
 

 
 

 
 
As I mentioned last time, for planking material, I used holly, most of which I milled myself from a board I bought from The Lumberyard a while back. I cut into sheets on my large table saw, thickness sanded them on my Micromark thickness sander, then cut strips off the boards on the an old Jarmac table saw. Since the Jarmac is pretty old and has a lot of vibration now, I had to then take the strips and run them through a thicknessing setup I made from an AcraMill (This was all during my pre-Byrnes Machines saw days). This is just to even out the thickness of the planks since some variation is introduced from cutting the old Jarmac saw.
 
Again, before gluing planks on, I would give each a light sanding to round the edges slightly to make them stand well when painted over.
 
 
Clare
 
 

Note that the inner bulwarks have been planked and the broadside gun ports have been cut.

Interior Details
 
 
Since the model is only at 1/8” scale, a viewer would see very little of the interior when peeking through the hatches. After all the hatches are only 1/2” wide openings and they’re going to be partially blocked with ladders. So, I decided to keep actual interior details very simple. I would include no furniture, just some deck details, partition walls and a couple doors where appropriate.
 
The crew compartment was the simplest. I just basically built a box. On the floor, I added the hatch for the forward hold and chain locker and also the chain pipes. The aft wall was a little unusual. It separates the crew compartment from the coal bunkers and it has a recessed section in the center that leans away from the compartment at just the right angle to allow for a ladder. 
 
I built the aft partition, planked it with vertical strips and painted it and the other walls white. All except for the forward wall, which I painted black since is doesn’t represent an actual wall.
 

 
 
 

 
 
I don’t have any good pictures of them, but I made four beam support stanchions. In trying to figure out how to mount these, I found that it worked best to build them into the cover, cutting holes for the stanchions, which I made a little overly long, and then mounted in the holes. With the cover in place, the stanchions stuck out just a little, allowing me to glue them in place, filing off the excess that stuck up.
 
 
 

 
Here’s the most anyone will be able to see of the interior of this compartment.
 
 
The officer’s wardroom and the captain’s cabin were next. I don’t have much in the way of photos of that – even less than the crew compartment. But, this section was just a little more elaborate. I had to make two walls to divide this section up into the Captain’s cabin aft, the wardroom forward, and the ladder way that separates the two.
 

 
 
This section required the creation of a few doors. I made a pair of paneled doors that would be open to the weather and then made two slotted doors for the inside of the wardroom, though by the time the skylights are in place, no one will ever be able to see them. Still, I know they’re there. Also, half of the doors I left slightly ajar so that you could see or think you could that there was something beyond the door. 
 
For the Captain’s cabin, I didn’t have very much space and this area is quite small. So, I tried to use a little forced perspective on the aft wall of the cabin to try to make it look a little like it extended back farther than it actually does. I don’t know how well this will work or if it will actually matter since the only way to see in here will be through a small round skylight. Probably, you’ll see nothing more than the color of the walls and floor.
 
 

 
 
In any case, with these interiors done, I went ahead and glued down the covers and was ready to begin planking the deck. But first, I added the keel, stern and stem posts. Not too much to say about these. I’ve gotten into the habit of using beech wood since it’s very hard. I’ve dented too many keels, but haven’t had the problem since – or perhaps I’ve just learned to be more carful.
 
 

 
 
Clare