Omega1234

Thanks and as a fellow stone sufferer (LOL), you have my sympathies!!!!  I’m glad that you are over them. 
 
Cheers
 
Patrick. 

Hehehehe Pat
 
All puns are gratefully accepted!  
 
Many thanks and have a great weekend 😀
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Hehehehe Pat
 
All puns are gratefully accepted!  
 
Many thanks and have a great weekend 😀
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

A 'splendid' job (sorry couldn't help myself) Patrick, another wonderful miniature you are creating.
 
cheers
 
Pat

HI folks
 
Allow me to introduce you to my latest miniature mega-yacht model, “Splendid” (1:500).  Splendid is based upon an actual mega-yacht named Nirvana https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter-yacht-25086/nirvana-layout.htm and as is customary with all of my models, I will attempt to include as much internal detail as I can; with all of the decks made removable in order to view the interior.
 
The following photos show that the general layout of the superstructure has been mocked up in order to give me an idea of how everything will fit together.  It’s all still very rough and there’s lots of work to go.
 
I hope that you can continue to join me on Splendid’s construction journey.
 
Thanks
 
Patrick  

Hi folks!
 
I haven’t been able to do much on Splendid lately as I’ve had some ruddy kidney stones removed. All good now, so far (fingers crossed).
 
Anyhow, here’s the latest. I’ve cut out all of Splendid’s five decks and started to add the cabin walls, etc. There’s still a long way to go, but some progress is better than no progress at all, I guess. 
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Hi folks!
 
I haven’t been able to do much on Splendid lately as I’ve had some ruddy kidney stones removed. All good now, so far (fingers crossed).
 
Anyhow, here’s the latest. I’ve cut out all of Splendid’s five decks and started to add the cabin walls, etc. There’s still a long way to go, but some progress is better than no progress at all, I guess. 
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Thanks and as a fellow stone sufferer (LOL), you have my sympathies!!!!  I’m glad that you are over them. 
 
Cheers
 
Patrick. 

Hi folks!
 
I haven’t been able to do much on Splendid lately as I’ve had some ruddy kidney stones removed. All good now, so far (fingers crossed).
 
Anyhow, here’s the latest. I’ve cut out all of Splendid’s five decks and started to add the cabin walls, etc. There’s still a long way to go, but some progress is better than no progress at all, I guess. 
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

HI folks
 
Allow me to introduce you to my latest miniature mega-yacht model, “Splendid” (1:500).  Splendid is based upon an actual mega-yacht named Nirvana https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter-yacht-25086/nirvana-layout.htm and as is customary with all of my models, I will attempt to include as much internal detail as I can; with all of the decks made removable in order to view the interior.
 
The following photos show that the general layout of the superstructure has been mocked up in order to give me an idea of how everything will fit together.  It’s all still very rough and there’s lots of work to go.
 
I hope that you can continue to join me on Splendid’s construction journey.
 
Thanks
 
Patrick  

Revision to the beginning and name of build
 
I need to change the direction of the hull started in the first post and alter it to make the schooner the Ada Cliff. 
 
There were two similar schooners built in Boothbay in 1917. One in Boothbay Harbor and one in East Boothbay. Ada Cliff has been recorded to be 149 feet and the Priscilla Alden is apparently recorded at two different lengths.   The local records all show 142, but a Boston based reference suggests 154.  The Ada Cliff was a more standard schooner as per her pictures, built to spec for coal. She became the design basis of several four masted schooners built in the boom years that followed.  There is no remaining half model or drawings for Ada Cliff  that the late Jim Hunt was able to find in his research, but several photos for reference. More on that later
 
I started off using a generic hull form described in the first post below.  I then was able to find more references to the Priscilla Alden. Those references including surviving drawings showed a much sleeker hull.  I have decided to use the framing I made in the first post to build the Ada Cliff and will hold back and start a total new hull later on for Priscilla. That will also give me the opportunity to study more about the disparity in the length.
The following first post will lead  into Priscilla and the next post will bring us back to Ada
 
cheers
 
 
 
 
 
 
Post 1
 
The beginning
 
The beginning to a new project can often be a bit risky.   For me at least I am typically a little tentative.  Will this be small or large scale, plank on frames or bulkhead model or a diorama?  In this case, I want to build a three masted Boothbay built coasting Schooner.   What is interesting is that I rushed into it and started making sawdust before fully sorting out my research.    First of all, I wanted to explore this design because after studying the bigger schooners, and learning firsthand the poor sailing aspects of the “too long” form, I wanted to get to what seems to have been the most reasonable solution.  That is 3 may have been better than 4.
 
Three masted Schooners a quick summary
•       The first 3-masted schooners evolved in the Chesapeake region around 1790
•       The three masts were adjusted to be the same height around 1850
•       1840-1865 full rigged ships looking for speed evolved into clipperships 
•       As steamships took over for long hauls, coasting schooners, with less labor costs, took on coastal routes
•       1865-1880 coastal trade blossomed as the US government required US flag vessels for inter-city trade
•       The coastline favored long narrow fore and aft rigs (like clipper) with small crews
•       Coastal schooner construction grew quickly, and the 3-masted fleet competed with steam ships along the coast 
 
These beauties became prolific in the decades after the civil War.  Then, as human nature and business models dictated, they grew until the sails became too big.   Then the plans changed, and a fourth mast was added to improve the sail handling and keep the sizes growing.  As we know that cycle repeated itself across Maine until we ended up with nearly ten 6-masted schooners and one steel hulled 7-masted schooner by around 1910. Then, except for the World War I short termed boom, steam took over  .
 
 
01a   Looking at the local Boothbay market, we learned that through this period schooners built here were prolific in the two masted fishing arenas. From 1873 to 1903, nine bigger schooners built. In East Boothbay, four masted Schooners were launched from the Adam’s yard in 1890 and 1903.  Jim Stevens, one of the area gurus, put together a story listing 21 3 and 4 masted schooners built on the peninsula. There was a complete void until in 1917, when  it all came back in a roar.
'
01b  In the main harbor in the year 1917 the Ada Cliff was being built at the I R Reed yard.  That year the Mayor of Sommerville, Mr Cliff himself, and lots of investors came, bought that yard, and built four 4-masted schooners over the next few years.   They took the partially built Schooner Ida Cliff lines and simply stretched them 40 feet in the middle and then added a fourth mast.  Anyway, someday I hope to build a diorama of all that stuff. It is not for this build.  What is of interest is that in 1917 the IDA Cliff was a 149 foot long three masted schooner and that was pretty much as big as they got. Just beyond the big roof in the phot, on the other side of the harbor, the Atlantic Company was set up and they built 6 more 4-masted schooners before then end of the era in about 1921.   More on that when I get back my next 4-masted build. 
 
I am now focused on East Boothbay.  I have selected a 1918 Schooner, the Priscilla Alden.  I chose after searching all the names on the list I had and found at Maine Maritime Museum an authentic copy of her sail plan to use as a basis. Their list advised the schooner to be.... Length 142.8’. Traced from Charles Sayle original by George S. Parker, 1982.
 
In that late year she was built at the end of the era of three masted schooners.   Those built later would have been an exception.  Fishing schooners continued to be launched into the 1930’s but three and four masted pretty much stopped in the early 1920’s in the post war era of steam.  The Priscilla Alden comes up in a few publications.  The late Jim Stevens of Boothbay wrote an informative article, Boothbay Schooners in Downeast Magazine published in Sept 1968.  At the end he listed Priscilla to be 142 feet.   I suspect with his working often with the Maine Maritime Museum that they shared sources and that is why they agreed.  It is the length I plan to build. 
 
A challenge was to find a hull plan big enough to use in cad to match up with the sail plan.   Here some artistic license in needed.  I found in the Maine Maritime Archive the hull lines for several three masted schooners.  One, the Kate Hilton  was built in Bath and had remarkably similar characteristics. She was 140 feet, so I chose her and down loaded the drawing.  
 
Maybe a False Start I thought that this data was enough information to go go go
 
 A month in and the local Historical Society has reopened for us hobbyist to come in and do research.  I signed up right away and this week went down to spend time going through several files.  Most important however was photocopied pages out of a book.   The book John Alden and His Yacht Designs written by Robert Carrick and Richard Henderson.  On pages 86-88 there is a set of plans that include, sail plan, lines, deck arrangement, cross section bow to stern as well as an amid ship cross section.    There is enough information here to build anything.   Unfortunately to scan the line drawings, approximately one inch square, and to blow them up in cad got a bit fuzzy mess.  I found the book on Amazon and await a better original for scanning. The problem I discovered however is they declare the schooner to have been much bigger.  WHAT???   We’ll see
 
So let’s start off with the steps I took to rough out and make bulkheads for a good start.
 
Design
 
02a here is the sail plan published by the Maine Maritime Museum.   There are dimensions on all the sails. There is a little variance[ between 1-2%] between vertical and horizontal found while measuring the image with CAD.   
02b   here is the source as printed on the drawing. Key word for me is blueprint.  
03   here is the selected hull plan for Maine built schooner in the same size.   I made offsets from both the sail plan and the bull plan and in scale the difference was the sail plan forward shear line rises about 1/8th inch higher than the hull plan.  That is close enough for me.  Maybe when I get there, I add that 1/8 inch in…we’ll see  
04   here is the source of the kate hilton hull lines  
05   here is the Jim Stevens chart from the 1968 article in Down East magazine.  It clearly shows Priscilla to be 142 feet.  Of more interest is the low tonnage.   IDA Cliff at 149 feet built the same year in the main Harbor was 25% heavier [ volume that is] as she was made for maximum coal transport.  Priscilla was lighter and most likely a faster sailor.       More on this argument later  
06   here I have laid out the cross sections the rectangle that will be used to support the bulkheads to the building board, making the waterline 4.4 inches above the board.   That will come in handy at the time of marking the water line.  
07   here all the layers are turned on for the forward sections.   
08   here is what the pattern looks like for one of the bulkheads.  The keel/keelson slot is important to the assembly. I did not sit for a while and add the extra cut line for the planking thickness. It takes me much longer that striking a line by eye .    
09   the patterns are all glued to a simple Luan plywood from Lowe’s.  They are ready for cutting out . I will adjust later for the thickness of the planks.    
All for now
 [jd1]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Many thanks Gary!
 
Welcome aboard. 
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Many thanks Gary!
 
Welcome aboard. 
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

HI folks
 
Allow me to introduce you to my latest miniature mega-yacht model, “Splendid” (1:500).  Splendid is based upon an actual mega-yacht named Nirvana https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter-yacht-25086/nirvana-layout.htm and as is customary with all of my models, I will attempt to include as much internal detail as I can; with all of the decks made removable in order to view the interior.
 
The following photos show that the general layout of the superstructure has been mocked up in order to give me an idea of how everything will fit together.  It’s all still very rough and there’s lots of work to go.
 
I hope that you can continue to join me on Splendid’s construction journey.
 
Thanks
 
Patrick  

Thanks and welcome aboard!  I just scrounge around the Net using Mega Yacht Deck Plans as the search criteria. It’s always lots of fun!
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

HI folks
 
Allow me to introduce you to my latest miniature mega-yacht model, “Splendid” (1:500).  Splendid is based upon an actual mega-yacht named Nirvana https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter-yacht-25086/nirvana-layout.htm and as is customary with all of my models, I will attempt to include as much internal detail as I can; with all of the decks made removable in order to view the interior.
 
The following photos show that the general layout of the superstructure has been mocked up in order to give me an idea of how everything will fit together.  It’s all still very rough and there’s lots of work to go.
 
I hope that you can continue to join me on Splendid’s construction journey.
 
Thanks
 
Patrick  

Many thanks, Frank!!!  
 
No pun intended, of course.  Heheheheh. 

Thanks Patrick!  I agree with your view  and I do like how it looks offset like that. 
but truth be told, due to my miscalculation of the mast heights vs the bottle height,  that position was as close to the center of the bottle as I could get her!!! 🤫🤣🤫🤣

Hi Patrick.  Looking forward to watching you create another one of your splendid models.

Nice job, Bill!  
 
I always have an extra dose of respect for SIB builders. The magic just never seems to wear off. 
 
well done. 
 
Cheers 
 
Patrick 

Hi Keith
 
Just catching up at long last.  Oh..My..Gawd!!!!  No words, Keith.  Simply no words can sufficiently describe your work.  It’s THAT good.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick 

I built this in 1954 soon after getting discharged from the Navy.  This was my first attempt at ship modeling.
the ship was rigged before installing into the bottle then once set in the clay the masts and sails were raised by using the rigging. I built a special  tool for reaching inside the bottle from scrap. It is a little bit ugly but did the job. 
 
Bill

Part III: The Launch and Repairs
 
 I thought I was smart by measuring the height of the bottle with a stick. It's always hard to tell from the outside.  I don't want too much space, but I certainly don't want the masts too tall.
 
Once I was assured, I laid down a layer of sil-poxy atop the dry silicone base inside; It dries quickly
 
 The ship folds down easily, with no snaps or pops.
 
 The superstructure attached on well with the magnets.
But, despite my stick measurement (!), the main mast is too tall (!!!). Still not sure how that happened.
 
This error led to all my problems.  
 
 By now the epoxy was curing, and I was trying desperately to move the ship back in the bottle where there was a bit more clearance for the main mast.
 
Meanwhile, the sil-poxy under the ship is strecching out all over the place as I try to maneuver the ship aftward in the bottle.  I tried getting more silicone-poxy where I needed it further back; but the more I put in, the sloppier things got.
 
I still need the ship to be fixed on the base, so that I could pull the masts into position and straighten the sails.
 
Out of desperation, I dripped in a thin second layer of clear silicone, to hopefullt set around the ship; it hardens very firm.
 
Unfortuantely, as i saw with the Caroline, when I pour the Encapso-K into a non-pristine environment, eg with a boat and epoxy tainting it, I run the risk of silicone not curing.   I was lucky that it eventually did cure, but it took several days instead of 24 hours. By then the new silicone base was covered in grit and particles, looking rather shabby. 
 
Eventually, I got her fixed in place in the back of the bottle.
 
 A 12" Hemostat clamp with a blade up top helped to cut the rigging in place.
 
 Looking much better after I cleaned the huge mess off the bottle.
 
 Cobbling together a base.
 
 Kind of oblong shaped, but totatally custom built for this SIB.
 
 Possibly my favorite decision in this entire process: Lining the bottom with dark blue felt.
 
 The blue gets pulled into the bottle,
 
 She sits nice and snug,
 
 in her cozy base.
 
 Both Mother in law and wife are very pleased! So am I!
 
Thanks for reading!
 

Thanks Mike! Everything was going great until the launch - as usual.  I'll post the disaster and hopeful salvation in a few days once, the silicone dries and I clean up the mess.     
 
Re the sander, of course.  the sander was a gift from my brother Harry.  It has no names or brands or labels.  I searched for it on the web and appears to be a no-name product from Hong Kong.  If you look up 'mini belt sander' or 'mini polisher' you will see it.

Part II: Masts and Rigging
 
Main and Mizzen masts. I used sail cloth and painted it white with acrylic.  Made it very stiff, but it think this workes to my advantage. I like cord ends atop my masts.
Super structure - the fore is painted inlieu of glass, and the aft is truly aired out.
 simple hinge for the main mast - no way I could hide it.
All three sails up. The mizzen mast is hinged a level below, athwart the hull.
I had to figure out how to get the supr structure around the masts. I decided to drill a hole, and cut the roof across, then fit then on after the masts were up (in the bottle).
 
I figured using the tiny magnets would be perfect here.
Secured with Bondic plastic welding and CA.
Here lies the Main Mast Magnet's Mate: A flat peice of metal on the underside. But this was the easy part. What about the aft part of the superstructure? This would fall apart after the cuting across.
So I used Bondic on the port side - not the display side - to keep the top and bottom together after the cutting.
Same as above.
Successful drilling and cutting. The top and bottom did stay together.
Again with the magnet, but this time I needed to secure it on the under side of the superstructure.
Its mate: a small peice of metal on the mizzen mast.  
This is the idea; let's see how it goes inside the bottle.
 
The masts and rigging are really rather simple, which is great!  Practically fool proof.
The Bottle was stripped and cleaned of its labels; then I put in about 5mm of Encapso-K silicone to create a flat base.
The ship will be attached to the silicone with Sil-poxy, and even that I expect to go smoothly. 
But, it will be the attachment of the two superstructure pieces using magnets that will be the challenge, and all though a narrow  and long bottle!
 
Next: The Launch!