kayakerlarry

I guess this now makes it an "official" ship...

Quarter boards and transom lettering completed.  Modified the transom from my original design based on picture I had of a 3 masted schooner built in East Boston

Finished product.  Simple planking wood, painted, press on letters with a bit of carving at ends - scale came out just about exactly to 12' actual quarter board measurement.  Not what I set out to do but pleased with the final look.  End of this topic for now - other pics posted in scratch build log...  Thanks to all for your help and support!

Thanks all for your suggestions.  I took a break from carving and finished tying all my ratlines (1200 clove hitches to be exact...).  Given my lack of success (I did my best to use everyones suggestions) I will probably simply use the press on letters.  I'm sure there is a way to link this post to my build log post in the scratch build section but if anyone wants to follow you can simply search for name of ship - Howard W. Middleton.

A bit of a change to do some "accessorizing" today.  Lashed 1/16" x 1/16" x 1/2" (6"x6"x4') timbers to fore deck right behind coal hold.  Both coal and timbers are from the actual wreck of the Middleton - I cut timbers from a treenail.  One thing I did find out is that if you cut old wood that has been in the ocean for over 100 years and dried in furnace room for several years, you better clean up the sawdust otherwise you end up with rust on the metal saw table!  

Well after 10 long months, 394 ratlines and 1200 (exactly...) clove hitches I'm finally done with this phase.  Quarter board carving hasn't turned out so well so will now move onto finishing running rigging and then who knows.

Allan,

The wood is European boxwood (a fellow forum member was kind enough to send me a small supply of boxwood, pear and holly to try).  I'm sure it is the limitations of the carver rather than the limitations of the wood...

Larry

VERY frustrating!  Did second quarter board (one at bottom) this morning after getting a fair first one at top and this one was a total failure.  Pieces broke off from both ends.  May have to reconsider this process...

Any preferences on type of surgical blade or handle or supplier (Amazon, etc)???

Larry

OK, got two sides of prototype to look reasonably consistent (will forgo the cut out lines to give a cleaner look in this scale) so I guess there is no reason to delay.  Final piece is on top and a bit narrower.  Just did some measuring of space needed to fit all the letters after using 1/8" on either end for carving and that will be another challenge for another day...

Getting closer but still trying a few prototypes using boxwood.  Piece is a bit wider and thicker than final version but gives me a bit more latitude.  I have to admit this is not easy stuff.  Won't be quite as detailed as original quarter board but will be "artistically" close...My biggest problem so far is having the back of the piece break off as i cut down into the wood - you can see the impact on the top middle protrusion in second picture.  Any suggestions to help would be much appreciated.

Couldn't find any brass lettering small enough so tried the press on white lettering I have on a piece of boxwood.  Once the ends are carved and board is painted black, it shouldn't look that bad.  Caps are 3/32" and lower case letters are 1/16".  Curious to know if anyone has actually carved raised letters that size - seems impossible...

Larry

Mark,

Thanks for the tip on brass lettering.  That would look much better than the white lettering used in railroad modeling.

Cliff,

Actually the letters are raised on the real quarter board - it's difficult to tell in the picture.  I would absolutely be easier to gouge then do raised lettering.  But as I get into this a bit more, the actual capped letters (H, W, M) measure 6" and the smaller letters 5".  That means I would have to carve out a cap in 1/16" scale and the others smaller.  Not sure that is even feasible (for me at least) so may go to plan B and carve the two ends (they would only be 1/8" long) and use stick on letters that come in  1/16" and 3/32" for lettering.  That would also mean increasing the width of the board from 9" (3/32") to 12" (1/8") so I could fit the stick on lettering.  Certainly open to any input from any of you experts but I think that is my plan for now.

Larry

Well enough reading and enough delaying.  Made my first attempt at a "prototype" of the quarter board for my model of the Howard W. Middleton based on pictures and measurements of the actual board (12' x 9").  Used a piece of 5/32" holly before going to the "final" work on a 3/32" piece of boxwood just to see if this is at all doable. Here is my first VERY crude attempt at replicating the two pictures I took of the quarter board earlier this year.  At least it's a start...

This mornings walk on the beach shows the Howard W. Middleton ready to head out to sea - perhaps I'll finish my model of her before she makes it to deep water...

Other than tie off the stay sail sheets, I am DONE with the foremast rigging including 392 clove hitches on 129 ratlines (for those of you counting, yes, the starboard side has one less ratline...please don't tell my wife I made a mistake!).  Now I get some time off and heading for a 3 day kayak trip in Stonington, Maine - one of the most incredibly beautiful places to kayak - not to mention that the majority of lobsters in the US are pulled by the lobstermen in Stonington.

Here are a few pics...

Just ordered the Ellenwood book to help me kick start my basic quarter board project.  Will try Chuck's approach of #11 blades.  Thanks for the recommendation.

Larry

John - I'll check out my Underhill book when I get home.  As the letters are all raised I will need to do a bit of wood removal to get them to show so some sort of chisel work would seem appropriate. It appears the raised sections had a goldish color but not clear what color the contrasting background was - may have to "interpret"... 

Sailor123 - thanks for the comment.  I like the input on the impact of coal dust - that means I won't have to clean up all the marks on the rails from the blackened chainplates...

Larry

Before finding this topic I was originally going to use small stick on letters for the quarter board of my model of the Howard W. Middleton (see separate log -

However with the inspiration this topic brings I will see what I can do as a first-time carver using a #11 blade.  I took some pictures today of the original 12' x 9" quarter board (1.5" x 3/32" scale) that is mounted in our beach club house.  Looks pretty basic compared to what Moxis and others have done so I should be able to make a reasonable attempt.  Looks like boxwood is the wood of choice.  If anyone has any ideas on where I can get my hands on a small quanity of 3/32" wide strips that would be much appreciated.

Larry

Here are a few pictures I took yesterday of the Howard W. Middleton's quarter board preserved at our beach community club house.  I was originally going to simply use stick on letters on a piece of basswood to reproduce the quarter board but after reading a few posts in the carving section I am inclined to give my hand a try at carving.  If anyone has any suggestions on how to best proceed with this seeming daunting task, that would be much appreciated.

That sounds just like a lagavulin 16 to me.  Cheers.

Welcome Shane!  I had the good fortune to kayak Milford Sound a while back - wonderful country you have!

Time for a change of pace.  Several years ago I found a loose treenail in the HWM wreck and dried it out for "future use" after sitting in the ocean/sand for 115 years.  Decided to see if I could cut a few timbers to lash to the deck on her return voyage from Philly to Portland.  Working on cutting several 6"x6" (1/16"x1/16") pieces out of the incredibly hard wood (from my reading they would have used locust or oak - perhaps someone can figure out which from the cross section view below).  Think I'll put it behind the forward hatch filled with the coal from the HWM.  Now back to ratlines...

Port side foremast ratlines complete (all 198 clove hitches...) - only 5 more to go.