georgeband

Cutting and gluing at last after a long break. I cut back the spine to match the Haddock drawing: the deck aft, the stern post, the curve of the bow, and the slot for the main mast. I glued in a couple of strips of 1mm x 5mm limewood into the slot, ready to cut back later to fit the mast. The raised deck above the commanders cabin will wait until a little later, as will other cutouts that weaken the spine. The slots for joining the bulkheads to the spine were too wide giving a sloppy fit. I glued a couple of layers of newspaper onto the spine and onto each bulkhead to thicken the parts and give a snug fit. I chose newsprint because it does not have the glazing of 'better' paper and should adhere well to the wood and also be less likely to delaminate. I have noticed this as a problem on previous models where ordinary paper splits into layers. Shaping the bulkheads continues to be a lesson in patience. I marked the parts by holding them over the profile drawings in Haddock (and Cuckoo) and then cut and sanded to shape. It became difficult to check the shape against the drawings so I drew a couple, cut them out and glued them to the bulkheads, and then had a line for cutting on the part itself. Much easier and I should have done that first. Then I checked my copied and reversed drawings and found that the maximum width on the fore sections did not match that on the rear profiles. The only way ahead was to redraw them all and make sure that they followed the profiles in the drawings properly. I did that, and then thought about what the Haddock drawings really show: the lines are the outer sides of the frames without the planking (the 'breadth as moulded'). The planking on Haddock is about 0.5mm thick (in scale) and I estimate that the double planking on the model will be about 1.5mm thick after sanding. I then drew new lines inset 1mm from the actual profiles as my cut lines. Next step is to print them, cut them out, glue them to the bulkheads and begin sanding or packing out the profiles. This time they will be right. George

I am trying to find one particular copy of Bowditch, and wonder if someone knows its whereabouts or even has it themselves. It is all part of a long research project to establish the history of HMS Whiting, the Royal Navy schooner which was captured twice in 1812. While browsing through the interweb I found an extract from Goodspeed's catalogue of second hand books for 1959. It is only 'snippet views' but I managed to put together enough to show that the copy was originally owned by 'Woode Langdon Captain of the Brig Drummond at Portsmouth in Virginia' who gave it to Lewis Maxey, commander of Whiting. Whiting was the first capture of the War of 1812. She was released from her capture, sailed away and was then captured by the French privateer Diligente. The copy of Bowditch was then possibly returned to Langdon. The book has hand written entries by Langdon and Maxey and annotations to a map opposite the title page. If anyone here knows where to find this copy, and can get me photos of the marked up pages, then I will be most grateful. I know that it is a very long shot to try to find one particular copy of a book, but it is probably sitting on a shelf somewhere. George Bandurek

Superb execution, but what really impresses me is the detail planning that precedes the constructional steps so that you pre-empt the problems. One question: what is 'Gesso'? It is not something I see in the shops in England. George

Another week goes by and I have still not cut wood or applied adhesive. But I have been busy interpreting and measuring and planning, which should make the build a lot smoother when I finally begin. Bulkheads I used the sectional drawings in Haddock ZAZ6116 and with some copy-paste, cropping and reflected images I created full sections instead of half sections, making it much easier to compare the kit bulkheads. The useful extra step was to mark the position of the top of each deck on the drawing so that it was easier to align the parts. The photo shows in red where I will have to trim back the kit parts, mostly above the waterline. Section 12 on the drawing, bulkhead 10 in the kit, is somewhat oversize compared to the drawing. Section D, bulkhead 3 in the kit, has two sets of lines on it. The inner set are a close match for the drawing, but the bulkhead is a couple of mm too far aft in the kit. I now intend to leave the mounting slot as it is in the kit which means that the bulkhead should be a little bigger than the drawn section: the outer set of red lines are my cutting guides. The horizontal pencil line about 5mm below the deck marks the edge of the main wale to make planking easier later. Deck camber The deck on the bulkheads has a much steeper camber than that shown on ZAZ6118 especially near the bulwarks. I will pack the deep gullies with some scrap wood and then sand to shape to make them a bit flatter. According to the drawing the centre should be about 1.5mm higher than the edges at the waterways. Entrance lobby Section 6, bulkhead 7 in the kit, requires major surgery because I want to leave the 'entrance lobby' visible through the cover over the hatch. There is a large asymmetric hole in it, the floor and ceiling are at different heights on either side, and it will be fragile for a while during modifications. I will cut a rectangular hole then build a couple of bridges/arches over it to represent the deck beams. (The height from floor to ceiling is about 20mm in the main hold where the crew live. This translates to 1.28m or a bit over 4 feet, and even lower under the deck beams. Hardly comfortable.) Ears on bulkheads The kit bulkheads have ears or tabs which are used to temporarily hold the bulwarks and then should be snapped off. The bulwarks have a curvature (tumble home) which is difficult to achieve with the supplied ply pieces and I am considering another approach: Finish the double planking of the hull Bend some 1x4mm planks and use them as frames, glued upright on the inside face of the hull planking Plank the outside faces of the uprights Plank around the gunports on the middle layer Plank the inside faces of the uprights The total thickness is 3mm if I use 1mm planks and is only slightly over the true thickness shown on ZAZ6118. The steps at the wales will, I think, effectively mask the fact that the hull is double planked but the bulwarks are single planked on the outside face. Has anyone tried something like this previously? Is there something that I have missed? (I still need to plan the positions for a couple of slots in the bottom edge of the spine for mounting rods, so not quite ready for building yet.) George

The evidence for mast tackles being used for catting and fishing the anchor is certainly there, and the picture from Luce that Juraj found sums it up nicely. I am not sure what would be done to haul in the main anchor cable though, and it could be deck tackle or the mast tackle. My own thoughts are that deck tackle would be used because it lines up naturally with a hawse hole. On a model it does not really matter unless you want to show the anchor being weighed so it is a question that we can duck quite easily. I still would like to know though. I have put some references to 'treatises' on the subject in another thread. http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/12399-schooner-haddock-cuckoo-ballahoo-drawings-windlass-and-catheads/#entry381752 Gregor, you mentioned above that the bower weighed 390kg. I have found on Google that a man can pull 75lb, or about 35kg. Factor in x4 mechanical advantage from a pair of blocks and you get 140kg before any losses from friction. A team of four men could lift that anchor with power to spare! Lovely looking models you are building. I wonder if someone will offer a laser cutting service, in the same way that photo-etching can be done for you. George

Thank you all for your comments. I had thought that this build would be well defined because of the abundant plans, but it is not so simple even when documents exist. The NMM drawings that I have downloaded are (all ZAZ numbers) 6110 Lines originally sent to Bermuda 6111 Early variant, side view 6112 A picture as much as a drawing, with a sailor and a boat and other bits. Not certain if it is a Fish class, but looks very similar. 6113 Lines sent to Bermuda, side view 6114 Yet another variant, side and plan 6116 Haddock side 6117 Haddock plan 6118 Haddock section 6320 Cuckoo and Wagtail side and sections My kit arrived from Model Dockyard last week (thank you to Nick Tonkin for quick delivery) and I have checked that all the pieces are there. I have also compared the central spine and the bulkheads and the stem and keel and rudder post with the Haddock and Cuckoo profiles and it is not all good news. The spine is mostly the right shape (!) and it lies well over the drawing if you align the fore mast, and the lower edge with the thick keel line, but it will need some changes and I have marked them below. The bow has to be cut back The stern has to be cut back The top edge is too high near the tiller and too low over the commander's cabin The counter and transom will need work later The angle of the main mast is wrong. I guess that Caldercraft made them parallel A couple of bulkhead slots have to be nudged along. In addition to the remedial work I will make cutouts below the hatches, and a big space for the main ladderway. I will also cut a couple of slots in the bottom for mounting points (brass tube to support the model and carry fibre optics for internal lighting). I would like to show the fore ladderway too but it is right over one of the bulkheads and I might leave it closed. The bulkheads are mostly OK compared to the sections on the drawings. A couple near the middle, 0 and 2, are too wide and most are too deep at the keel. Section 6 matches the drawing but is a little too far forward and will need to be made wider. It could be moved towards the rear, but is in the right place for its rear face to be the wall of the 'entrance lobby' so I will make it a little wider. Similarly, section D is the right shape but needs to be moved forward. The rearmost section, 12, is just wrong. (I have used the labels for the sections on the Haddock/Cuckoo drawings and not the kit numbers for the bulkheads.) The fit between the spine and the bulkheads is very loose and will need to be packed, probably a couple of layers of ordinary paper will do the trick. The walnut pieces for the stem, keel and stern post are well oversize. I will replace the keel with a piece of 4x4, cut down the stern post, and probably use the kit stem as the basis for a new one. The outside edge of the stem is not a smooth curve and you can see how it was approximated by four sections: sloppy design of the CNC cutting plan. The bulkhead at section 12 shows steps in its 'curve'. Bearding and rabbets to come. I will probably concentrate on the bearding and trim back the spine to allow for the thickness of the planking to achieve a finished thickness of 4mm. The stem, keel and stern post can then be glued on. Comments on this approach? Final point about the deck furniture. There is another thread about gunports where the discussion shows that they are not square. On Haddock there are lots of lines on the side view and it is easier to look at the plan view, and on the Cuckoo drawing, to decide which are the sides of the gunports. They are mostly perpendicular to the deck but not always. The drawing also shows hatches and the cover over the main ladderway (green on the photo) and these all follow the lines of the frames. So the carpenter building Cuckoo on the slips would have a horizontal keel, vertical frames, and according to the drawing the sides of the cover would also be vertical, while the roof slopes from rear to forward. Surely this cannot be right because when the schooner is afloat the sides of the cover would be sloping back, it would look a mess and the doors would be a right pain. Perhaps the cover (and hatches) are built after launching and the carpenters who work on a floating deck set their verticals with a plumb line, or with a set square perpendicular to the deck, and ignore the lines on the drawing. Building should start next weekend unless my wife has arranged some social engagements. I don't expect rapid progress on this log! George

Juraj, Thanks for the link about La Jacinthe which I have not seen previously. I find it reassuring when other drawings support my conclusions! There is another thread that is about windlasses and catheads, where I have given some calculations about how many men are needed to raise an anchor. I estimate that one man can pull about 200lb (call it 100kg) using a set of blocks that gives a x4 mechanical advantage. A one ton anchor is quite achievable. This link should take you there, or just search for 'windlass'. http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/12399-schooner-haddock-cuckoo-ballahoo-drawings-windlass-and-catheads/#entry380007 George

Juraj, I have not come across a windlass on the lower deck on other ships, so would suggest that this is unlikely. Larger vessels sometimes have two capstans, one above the other on the same shaft, so that more force can be applied to raise a heavy anchor, but I have not seen a single capstan below the deck. Part of the problem would be friction where the anchor cable is taken around a bend where it is fed down into the lower deck. The low ceiling height would also limit the length of the bars to turn the windlass, making it even harder to use. The other issue for Haddock is that the drawing shows no windlass above or below deck. I like your creative solution to the problem of 'no windlass', but unfortunately I don't think it would work. (Is this where someone finds a photo of a ship that has a buried windlass?) I have marked up a drawing of Haddock in red to show where the steps in the deck occur. They can be found fairly easily by looking for the cross sections of the deck beams. There is a NMM drawing for Cuckoo which shows the same features a little more clearly (it is meant to be a copy of the Haddock drawing sent to another builder in England). The photo also shows the various openings in the deck in green. The plan view of Haddock shows the deck beams, and the steps are where two beams are next to each other without a gap. If you want printed copies of the NMM drawings then copy the images from the NMM website and paste them into Word. You can then change the size of the drawings to get the scale you want. They do not quite fit onto A4 paper in 1/64 scale. George

It is very reassuring for me to see the Haddock drawing above from daves. I have been looking at this drawing for a long while and the varying sizes and shapes of the gunports did not look right, but I have to trust the shipwright who measured the schooner and drew the lines. Equally interesting is how the original build in Bermuda was altered by the people at Portsmouth - the fine dotted lines show the changes. George

Gregor, I have the same question about a windlass (and cathead) for the Ballahoo class schooners built in Bermuda. The drawings for Haddock at the National Maritime Museum do not show the windlass, but an earlier drawing does. I will have to go deeper into the references on seamanship to see if there are any clues there. George

Tony, Kester, Thanks for your comments. I think it is right that the anchor cables enter through the corners of the main hatch; that is what I intended to say but was probably not very clear. The reasons you (Kester) give are a good justification for what feels right to me. The plan drawing for the lower deck on Haddock does label 'cables' at the sides, midship. Christmas celebrations will keep me away from the laptop for a while. Enjoy your break. George

I will be using the Caldercraft/Jotika kit of the Ballahoo schooner (Fish class) to build a model of her sister schooner Whiting. Why Whiting? Because she has an interesting history that I have researched in depth and I continue to study log books and other records. We are blessed with several drawings of the Fish class and their fore-runners at the National Maritime Museum and the drawings of Haddock in particular are excellent (ZAZ6116 and ZAZ6117 are the best two). I am now trying to interpret some features on the drawings and already have several questions about aspects that confuse me. I hope that some of the experienced shipwrights here can help. Height of the deck This is a big issue where the Caldercraft kit seems to make a major simplification. The kit has a level deck from stem to stern, but the drawings show that the deck is higher over the commander's cabin and the 'entrance lobby'. The side profile is a bit fuzzy but the deck planking and the sections through the deck beams show where the deck is higher. The plan view shows where there are pairs of deck beams at the steps, one at the low level and one at the high level. Is this something that Caldercraft and other builders have missed, or am I misinterpreting the drawings? (There are a couple of photos below that show extracts from the drawings.) Windlass and catheads The drawings do not show a windlass which is plausible for the size of anchor that this vessel would have carried. I have read that a couple of blocks would be set up in place of a windlass to raise the anchor, and then more blocks for the final lift because there are no catheads either. It all seems reasonable, if hard work for the crew, but an alternative explanation is that the drawing does not show the windlass or catheads but they would be fitted anyway. The builders might be expected to know to add these items, in the same way that they know about masts and yards even though the drawings do not show them. (There is an old saying that 'absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.) Any thoughts? Holes in the deck for anchor cables There are various names for these holes (Navel pipes?) which were used to route the cables from above deck down to the cable tier. The Haddock drawings do not show any and I guess that this is correct, the alternative being to cut away the fore corners on the grating over the main hatch. I suspect that the holes in the deck are later practice but have no real evidence to support this assertion. Does anyone have information from contemporary models or paintings? More to come later... George Bandurek (Previous model is Sherbourne, completed 5 years ago)

'Billy Ruffian' by David Cordingly is an enjoyable history of the Bellerophon, find it on Amazon or other places. My memory served me badly about the heights of the crew: the average was 5 feet 5 inches and none was above 6 foot. One was under 5 foot tall. George

Jonny, Thanks for the info about Perry Miniatures, they are a new name to me. I have used the Amati 25mm figures which are nicely proportioned unlike some wargame figures that have big heads and big hands. One wargame supplier that I do recommend for dioramas is Newline Designs who have a 20mm range and a 28mm range (look under Napoleonics - Naval for each scale). I have a book about HMS Bellerophon which shows the heights of all the crew, as recorded by her captain. A few officers got to 6 feet tall but the sailors were much below that. A typical height for a crewman was 5 foot 4 inches, which scales down to one inch in 1/64. A 25mm tall figure is very close to the average and the spread would have been between about 23mm and 28mm.The nice figures in 1/72 scale that I have seen are too small and many of the '28mm' are too large unless you want to depict some big blokes. One other thing I learned about the wargames figures is that a stated height can be to the eyes, or to the top of the head, or to the top of the hat. Painting the figures is a pleasant change from tying ratlines. George

Another method for sails is to use plastic-backed cotton lawn. This is a fine weave cotton that comes in sheets for use with an inkjet printer, it is mostly used by quilters to print photographs onto material. I drew the sails on my pc and then printed them out after getting all the seam lines etc in the right places. The sails on my Sherbourne are a mix of furled and loose, but they show the cutter as being static since I think it is difficult to portray motion in a model. Full details for square sails are in a pdf in another part of MSW. (I am having problems copying and pasting the link, but it is about 'superdetailing the cutter Sherbourne') George Bandurek Sails MB.pdf

Tony, I have been distracted away from ship models (in fact, most model making) for a while but am now preparing to return. A look through the MSW files revealed your build log. I am most impressed! The quality of your research and then the execution sets a standard for the rest of us. And you even provide succinct descriptions of what you have done so that it is easy to follow. Superb. Do you have an expected date for completion, or is it just a case of keeping going until you finish? Best wishes George Bandurek

John, I found your build log after a bit of an absence from model making. Your Sherbourne with her yellow uppers looks quite different from my plain walnut and black and the colour sets of her elegant shape nicely. I think you made a good choice. One suggestion would be to consider toning down the white of the lower hull. To my eye it is a bit stark, and the 'white stuff' was some unpleasant mixture that included sulphur and tallow so the true colour is probably a bit more yellowy/creamy/muddy. But if you like the white then keep it, after all the purpose here is to enjoy making a model that you can leave on display and enjoy it again every time you see it. Best wishes George Bandurek

Hi Jonny, I have been away from modelling for a while and found your build log during a trawl through the files at MSW. The diorama concept you have here is a great idea and a world away from a ship in a box. Nice work. I have a question about the figures you used. I think I recognise some as Amati but can you let us know who makes them? It would be useful to know of a source of figures. I think a few figures even on a static display are essential to show the scale of a model. Best regards George Bandurek

Super detailing the cutter Sherbourne, a guide to building the Caldercraft kit, by George Bandurek. I published this book in 2011 and at the time there were several threads that showed photos of my build. These are not now easily accessible so I have resurrected some of the information. The attached pdf files are extracts from the book that show how I tackled some of the topics. I would welcome any comments on these extracts, or if you have bought a copy of the book (thank you!) then please post a review. More information on the book is available on my website www.grbsolutions.co.uk. Buy direct and you will get a signed copy! George Bandurek Shrouds.pdf Sails MB.pdf Cannon.pdf Anchors.pdf