Jond

Step 3 get the rigging back together and finish Much of this stage involved repairs, then resetting rigging where it went before and finally adjusting for the raised balustrade taking the forward running rigging. Another final step involved the transom. In the following cropped image, we can see that when launched, our schooner had what I assume to be a mahogany transom. 01. Several years ago, I bought some mahogany veneer. I was happy to find my second use in many years. At first, I cut out the shape, but alas there was no way to get it to flatten over the shape of the transom. Obviously if I sliced it into say 1/8-inch strips it would have gone on nicely. I don’t find mahogany veneer likes that type treatment. In the four views we see the fist “no fit” followed by a mid-section cut away and multiple bands to hold it. Then two views of the final, unfinished. I have ordered letting in vinyl. And will apply it. 02-05 Here I have several views of the focused area of alteration. I also added a little more detail to the aft cabin. Please remember this is a RC boat to begin with, and there are too many areas that could use more and more detailing. The photos did not show the little bars on the cabin features meant to avoid fowling lines. Perhaps these sailors were confident. 06-09. So yesterday I moved her back to here resting place. {Please see her now in the gallery with her older sister ADA Cliff, the three masted schooner built in the yard in 1917. Starting with the completion of ADA in 1917, Zebedee E Cliff, mayor of Somerville Mass took over the yard and they built 4 each four masted schooners based on the ADA Cliff design concluding in 1921 with our altered vessel named after the good mayor himself. 10-11 I am sorry about the scale difficulty but here we are with two rather large bookends. I will share a photo of the naming when it hopefully occurs in a week or so. Cheers

Step 2. Get the deck house, balustrade and other deck work done This second step was basic. There is continuous humor however, as my forced dimension compromise is needed to achieve the goal of switching schooners. Declaring the scale different to make the length of the vessel close [ changing from 1:48 to 1:40 does not increase cabin height and all the other work. I hope the audience will forgive me. Here are a series of progress images showing the fore cabin coming together. The sides went on, then the roof deck, then the stove pipes, the boiler hatch, doors, portlights etc. The main mast fife rail hand to be replaced as well and then the balustrades brought forward. So here we are with the deck work basically complete. Other than a few things like the stove pipe supports, angle braces put on the aft cabin, figuring how to rig the jumbo sail with the high roofed forecabin, we need to get the rigging back in place. Ultimately the naming will be a little challenge, possible experiment and I frea another needed compromise. That will include another story. All for now

Keith It's great to see your build up and running. Just yesterday I was looking back at your old build of HMS Terror, trying to nail down where to put bitts. I am happy to see this lesson spread out at just the right time. thank you our railway in town is not as exciting as yours. it is part of the 24 inch series that was popular here in Maine, especially in the lumber industry. There never was a train down here at the end our peninsula, but some years ago an enthusiast bought and relocated one here. It is a loop and fun with North pole express etc. cheers jon

3 decking Decking is an interesting project. It really includes other things that we hopefully think about before we lay the deck and go darn, I wish I had painted that waterway before I glued the decking plank next to it. Notwithstanding a few of those oops’s here we are. I share a few photos of the progress and few showing the crew on board after finishing the deck and thinking about the fore cabin and raising the foresail. I used a little hand rubbed poly over a combination of three stains to try to match the old decking , and it seemed to come out reasonably close. By light washing some of the stain and poly over the old decking it all looks close enough for folk music. The white paint on the old girl however looks tough, but I remind all this vessel was pond sailed over two summers and has sat idle for years. It will take several more attempts to get things close enough, but I doubt she’ll ever be ship shape. Also, painting around completed rigging is a tough order. The point here is that if one had all the time in the world, one would remove much more rigging that I have done, then sanded and painted everything before re rigged it all. I admit here that is not the current plan. The rebuild of this pond sailor is just to have it represent a Boothbay Schooner to accompany the research I did years ago to tell the story of the 12 four-masted schooners built here. Finally, as an old, retired engineer I just have a problem with Charles Notman’s extended poop design. I am now very happy that is no longer the case on the only four masted schooner I have. Progress 1 here is a cropped image of the real Zebedee Cliff fore cabin. This image is what I will try to emulate. 2-4. progress planking. 5-6 last planks are in, and the hatch combing and waterways are in and painted 7-8 the crew arrived and the deck house under roofing is ready. 9-11. the decking is stained and two light coats of hand rub poly. The stain is this sequence….. first cheery, second special walnut[ medium], third golden sunset. Then I did a light wash of the walnut stain over the old decking and two more light coats of poly. So, Step 1 is done now for step two. Cheers

thank you John She isn't up to your museum work but she is definitely a lot of fun to do and I look forward to more local celebration of years gone by in our past shipyards. cheers

Keith I thank you for your continued interest and willingness to encourage all who share enough interest in this incredible history to build this model. I also enjoyed reading all of your posts and hope someday to see more on your build of HMS Erebus. Now that we have learned that Parks Canada is diving on the [ now Canadian] Erebus first as it is some danger for underwater losses, I can't wait to see their update. Also to note I finally saw the fictional monster involved story called The Terror based on the fantasy book describing the demise of the crew. The Prop built with Matthew Betts input was fantastic. I'll leave off my opinion of the story as presented. Perhaps someone might use that prop to tell of McClure, and all the others who also were stuck in the North and survived. Finally there is an older fictional book by Clive Cussler, Artic Drift. I highly recommend it. Clive guessed as his heros found the two vessels, on in 1,000 feet of water and and the other up on an Island...... thanks again Jon

04 My transit of the NW Passage I won’t try to tell the whole story but will at least include a few images of my tracing the route of the Franklin Expedition through the NW Passage this August/September. 1. here is copy of the total route we took. The trip is managed extremely well by Adventure Canada... Greenland We started from the airport 100 miles up the fiord at Kangerlussuak. Ports of call included the towns of Sisimiut and Ilulissat. We also had a stop on Disko Island. We know that the two vessels HMS Erebus and HMS Terror took on supplies from a supply vessel at Disko Island, a common port of call for whalers and other explorers before heading either north to Melville Sound or straight across Davis Strait. 2 On shore at Disko Island, we were with our geologist, as he explained another episode in the evolution of the arctic. He turned out to be a critical part of this story. Baffin and Devon Islands 3 We crossed the Davis straight and landed at Pond Inlet. This town is there for a former airbase, now an airport, at the north end of Baffin Island, as well as the large Iron mine in the region. This view is the Pond Inlet overview looking north toward Bylot Island. 4 here is the NE corner of Baffin Island. This location is often mentioned as a rendezvous site for the Franklin follow up exploration fleets, whaling fleets etc. 5 We rounded Bylot island to enter Lancaster sound and reached Dundas Harbour. Dundas Harbour is where in the 1920’s RCMP officers were stationed, so that Devon Island would be considered occupied. They did not do well as two were dead when the replacement vessel returned three years later. 6 Running to the west, we stopped at Beechey Island. Beechey Island is the known last winter encampment of the Franklin expedition. Here are the graves of three of their members and one for a rescue party sailor who died years later. 7 As one of our team leaders suggested, only a British admiral would have considered that this nice, protected harbor would be a great place to winter. One would be frozen in for 9-10 months where there was no vegetation nor food of any kind. There were polar bears that were hunting seals out on the ice, and that was it. 8 Several years later, a wrecked schooner at the north end of Beechey Island was demolished and used to build a Cache by Hudson Bay Company and called Northumberland house. It was intended both for any Franklin rescue/ searchers or others in need. Franklin’s route 9 we ran into sea ice traveling west from Beechey Island. We enjoyed a wonderful sunset zodiac outing with great photo ops. 10 here is the map showing the mystery of the southern route taken by Franklin from Beechey Island . The Peel sound was often full of Ice as was the Bellot strait. The mystery is how to get to the point NW of King Williams Island, the point of Franklin’s final capture by old sea ice. There are many theories of what route was taken after leaving Beechey Island. One thing I learned is a study now underway by Parks Canada and the geological institute in Ottawa. The annual diving now taking place on HMS Erebus is focused on the damaged side of the hull that is slowly being crushed and is slowly collapsing. It is the naval officer's cabins being searched now, because the scientific officer's cabins are in good shape, and will be explored in later years. There are only about two weeks of diving each summer, so time is of the essence. What was found in these naval officer cabins is a surprise; it is a collection of 16 rock samples. These samples are being analyzed. Let’s wait for the actual scientists to publish their findings, but the short version is this tale. The geologist on our cruise is the geologist doing this study. He can take a rock sample and identify which coastline of which island is the source. Thus if the sailors collected souvenirs along the way that is a way to trace the route….hold that thought. The ice this year was different than the last few years. The tour normally travels south down Prince Regent Inlet and through the Bellot Strait. This year we went up around the sea ice we encountered and sailed down the Peel Sound into the Franklin Strait. 11. On the way, we landed at Prescott Island just off the east coast of Prince of Wales Island. It as a first time ever landing by Adventure Canada, our Expedition team. 12. Not only were there hundreds of Beluga whales there, but we also found a distinct red rock. Our geologist cut out samples for the study. [ obviously he is allowed to do so…smile] He also predicted that this new sample will match one of the 16 samples that he knows well…….wow. we were there when he found it! I can’t wait for the next Parks Canada publication on their progress. The tour then made two transits of the Bellot strait. 13. Here is the monument showing the northernmost point of continental North America, halfway through Bellot Strait. Yes it is further north than Alaska! The finding of Franklin’s route 14 Later that afternoon we were cruising along headed for Cambridge Bay on the south shore of Victoria Island and we crossed the straight where HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were [pinched] stuck. We saw no ice whatsoever! What was great was in mid afternoon, we saw a fogbow….how appropriate. The tour ended in Coppermine, now Kugluktuk. A place of much history, but for another day. I look forward to getting back into this build. More house guests just left, so maybe next week. Cheers Jon

2 get started with step one Looking Back first to the Charles Notman build there are a few images to tell her story of the past few years. 1 here she was sailing in the local West Harbor Pond 2 here she was during the winter after retiring from the sea, getting all the rigging added that could not be in place if RC sailing. 3 here is the image of my finding that the painted figures I had bought placed against the clear Shapeway 1:48 printed figures. It is easy to see the painted figures were too tall for 1:48. Now however they will be perfect as they return to the smaller schooner at a recalculated 1:40 scale. I just need to find them and sign them up. Now to work 4-5 here I laid her out on the shop bench as I was leaving for Canada. 6-9 here my daughter and friends painted the hull as I ventured through the Northwest Passage. Now that I am really committed, I set her up on the bench and looked to what had to be done. It was now that I made the decision as to which vessel to emulate. 10-11 here we see Charles Notman’s unorthodox design, where the poop deck carried forward of the main mast, was interrupted till the fore mast and then resumed as a raised foredeck. It was not very strong to say the least. 12-14 shows today where step one is partially complete. I have demolished and rebuilt the fore cabin structure and added deck framing for the raised deck. I also extended the base for the balustrade. Next up is the decking. When the material comes, I will work on how best to remove strips and nest the new planks in. Hopefully I can pull it off. I will also use the photos I have to make the outside cladding of the fore cabin and add the roof deck. All for now

Re-Build for Zebedee F Cliff The beginning This build is a retrofit of a previous model. The story follows: Back in 2001 I built my first ship model of this end of my career. As a teenager, I built several plastic models of the typical range, HMS Bounty etc. The first model in this century was a pair of 50-inch Marblehead RC sailboats started at the Wooden Boat School in Brooklin, Maine. My son and I did the basic hulls in school that summer, and I finished them as a pair and we both sailed them a few years back. I decided to build historic vessels in the future and to make them sail. Most of this story comes out in my Charles Notman, BHYC One design and Bluenose 1:24 build logs that spanned up through 2015. Since then, my focus has been on the local scene, as I continue to study and find the maritime history of our peninsula more than enough for my lifetime. While preparing to build Charles Notman, I was working with the late Jim Hunt. He taught me that there were no surviving plans of any of the WW I era Boothbay schooners. He also noted after his study that the high shear in some of the Boothbay Schooners was unique. He too opted for a Bath designed schooner for his model. At the time I thought it was better just to copy the plans and build Charles Notman, a Bath Schooner of similar size. 1 Jim Hunt published NJR article on the ten Boothbay Harbor Schooners of the WWI era. Note: there were two others built in East Boothbay 15 and 20 years earlier. This summer while my daughter was visiting, she agreed with me that I should re task the schooner to be a Boothbay Schooner. I went north to travel through the Northwest passage so she house sat, kept the dog and took the first step. She painted the hull of Charles Notman white, as the two potential Boothbay schooners built in 1917 -1920 were both white. So, when I came back, I was committed. Choose which schooner to build. There were two yards in town. One was called the East Coast Ship Company on the east side of the harbor and the other was Atlantic Coast Company on the west side of the harbor. One of my recent builds was the Ada Cliff built by the East Coast Ship Co. So I started off favoring the Atlantic company. The vessels were the Bradford F Jones built 1919 by Atlantic at 221 feet 1600 tons and the Zebedee F Cliff built 1920 by East Coast at 206 feet 1361 tons. The current hull of Charles Notman is supposed to be 219 feet and 1518 tons. Therefore, she sits between. The deciding issue though was not the size but the deck profile. 2 -3 here is a deck completed on Mary Bradford Piece built right after Bradford Jones by Atlantic and a view of Bradford Jones mid deck area framing while under construction. It seems on this deck profile the mid deck section is about 3 feet lower than the fore deck. The balustrade is only on the aft section behind the mizzen/spanker mast 4 here is a thumb nail of the great photo of Bradford Jones nearing completion. There are several more of her after launching. She had a normal life until many of the local schooners were retired in about 1930 and she was sold to Portuguese interests in 1931. 6-7 here we see a view of Zebedee F Cliff from land side nearing completion and a second view of her at the wharf sometime after launching. Note the Balustrade going forward past the foremast shrouds. This profile means a flat deck throughout. I have similar views of other East Coat schooners, and they are the same. The Zebedee Cliff life was more interesting. Like others she retired and sat in Boothbay starting in 1930. There are many surviving images. She was laid up for a while in Eastport and then sold to a firm in Portland, Me in 1938. In 1942 she was sold to the navy, broken up and sunk as submarine protection at Portland harbor. I will share photos in the next posting to show the unusual and unorthodox deck profile of Charles Notman. The Poop deck was brought forward all the way to the main mast. The upper deck was then omitted til forward of the foremast where the fore deck continued forward. Understanding the broken truss design one quickly sees why this unorthodox design was not carried forward after 1894 when Charles was built. · To emulate the Bradford Jones design……This task would require depressing the main deck roughly ¾ inches and removing the balustrade back to the mizzen. A major undertaking · To emulate the Zebedee F Cliff design… This task means demolishing the fore cabin then filling the main deck and rebuilding the fore cabin. There are minor alterations to raise the foresail. Then the balustrade needs to be extended forward past the fore shrouds. A more manageable undertaking For some reason that I cannot image at this time, the length on deck of the model I built 10 years ago is 60 inches. Using 1:48 or ¼” to foot that means my model represents a 240-foot schooner. OOOPS! So, I must declare that when I do my model of Zebedee F Cliff, it will have a few dimensional flaws. One solution is saying the scale of the model is 1:40 or close to 5/16 to a foot. Despite that clarification, the effort shall be to represent the largest and final schooner built by East Coast Ship Company. Humorously I have figures that were sold to me on line from Europe that fit that bill. They showed up in many images of the Notman build before I realized these guys were 7 feet tall in 1:48. They now have a new home. There won’t be many updates to this build. I reference the original build of the RC schooner Charles Notman for all the previous work. There are three grouped tasks: · Complete demo, deck and cabin structure [sort of done now], and complete the new decking[ on order]. · Complete new fore deck house and complete detailed hull painting/ transom work. · Complete new balustrade, raise foresail and reconnect rigging. Off we go again. My two other current builds are comfortable on the shelf for a little while, let’s see if I can get this one done before heavy leaf blowing. all the photos 2-7 here are owned by Boothbay Region Historical Society. Happy first day of fall

03 Finish the hull My goal has been to get the hull basically complete before heading north. I completed the kit photo instructions for pages A-E , so here she will rest for a while. In the update photos we see a little of the process and then how she is today, as I have put her on a shelf. 1 -3 getting the ice channels sanded and shaping the cap rails by soaking and then clamping them to one side of bulwarks to dry to shape. 4 -6 the rails are on and a coat or two of poly rubbed in. In this photo I thought I was done. The kit masts are just loose in the “holes”. I am also sitting with all natural wood. Not sure yet how far that will go. I checked the kit instructions and found one more item to complete sheet E and that was the simulating mast boots. Before adding them, I recalled much discussion on earlier logs that the kit supplied masts were too small, so I and went back to those logs to check. Using USA numbers, I switched to get close to the 7MM bow sprit and foremast, 8 MM for the main mast and 6 MM as supplied for the mizzen. I reduced the stepped section to fit the existing boots and “mast hole”. I am sure there is a more elegant name for it than mast hole! 7-10 here are 4 views with upscaled mast blanks using a white back drop to see if I can get a better feel for the dark colors and how they will play versus the black and white paint option. As I’m an amateur photographer, I suggest…no I can’t. I suppose some side lighting would have helped. Anyway, I hope to have a great adventure in the Canadian Arctic. I see online that the ice is not yet out, so not sure what will happen and how far into the passage we'll get. At least I will have a fun memory with HMS Terror sitting on a shelf. Happy summer

10 oops rework the deck based on review of photos I mentioned above a dumb move / oops. I was in a hurry and somehow laid out both masts incorrectly. Based on that layout, I shaped the rails and included the pin rails. I took the model to the garage, so I could peck away each day a bit while summer guests made working in the shop not convenient. I posted the installed decking. I should have just waited. Here is the sequence….. 01 returning to the shop, I proceeded to carry on and installed all the chain plates. Dumb! Back at my shop computer, which coincidentally I replaced my long-gone computer at this same time. We all know that resetting a new computer means another week that I should have waited. I finally resumed studying all the available images to figure out how the deck was laid out. As I mentioned earlier through the net I found the several collections in both Gloucester and Boston Library collections. I “borrowed thumbnails” and blew them up, scaled spars etc. I had previously shared the sail plan that I did in cad months ago based on a broadside racing image. Why did I not use that drawing when I located the Mast? Who knows 02-05 In these photos one can see the relocated masts and re-laid decking. The foremast wrong hole is amazingly close enough to the round fish loading hatch with which I will plug the hole. The main mast hole was plugged and covered in new decking. The pin rails and chain plates were all relocated and are back together. At some point I need to do more remedial work, especially the outer hull where the chain plates were removed. The pin rails will be mostly covered with coiled lines so they will work out. Going forward Photos 6-8 To plan the deck work, here are two cropped images that come from different internet images and sites. When blown up, they give a reasonable sense of what was on deck and where. I also have one of our Historical Society photos of the sister schooner Louise Howard. The similarities carry through after scaling and measuring the sail plan. So they both confirmed the error made and after the fix I am ready to move forward. cheers

Thank you Rick and Keith for you comments. I just had a set back as I was reminded that haste may cause waste. I had hurried up to get to a point to move the model to the garage while summer quests were here so I could continue and install the decking . In that rush I made a big oops. I had mis located both masts. I am part way through the fix and I must say it is an ouch. I will post in a few days when I figure where I went wrong. My not having drawings did not help but I do have enough pictures , so it was me in a hurray cheers

2 trying to get the hull done There are a few steps here as I follow all the folks who have gone before me on this build. I find it interesting that different approaches prevail. I have done a few things that got me where I am, but I see others were smarter. The outer planking is longer than the hull in my kit. I therefore chose to wrap the second planking all the way forward, tapering to make it work. Others stopped the visible planking at the border with the bow plating…..I conclude that they were better off. I followed the Kit’s guide photos and installed all the second planks everywhere before working on the ice bumpers. I see now that I have started the ice bumpers that my choice was not great. Those that run the top four outer planks = 20 MM, and then run the ice bumpers and do all that sanding with only inner planking in place, win the prize for smarts. I have chosen to try to work in darker stains since the outer planking is nicer than say bass wood, maple, or other typical planking. I can always paint black over it if it does not come out right…. One can see below my first go So, there is more to do but for a mid-point hull update, but it is the end of July so here are a few pictures 1,2,3 I found to install the thin outer planking a combination of pins, rubber bands and bent sticks all come into play. I show mid-way through, then the last plank opening and finally all planks in place Next up is the refinishing since believe it would be more than difficult to finish after installing the ice bumpers. 4, 5here we see the set up with the first 4 ice bumper planks. I taped off the area where I will glue the ice bumpers and metal plating on the bow. The pre-bending of ice bumpers is a parallel task. I believe 18 planks are needed. For the stain I compared an old can of what is labeled Jacoby with one labeled dark walnut. They are very similar, and I chose Jacoby. 6,7 Two coats applied: after the first coat the tape all came off. Then after the second coat it came off again. I chose to leave more stain on and not to rub it in either coat than I normally would as I am trying to get the darkest finish I can get. 8 I just bought a can of hand rub poly as I fear the tung oil will not like the handling during the next phase. I have about three coats on at this stage. Here it is drying and one can see the unabsorbed pigment came off in that rubbing. The jury is still out on the stained wood look as it has absolutely no relation to any scale and may take the eye away. we'll see. 9 here I have started to glue on the ice bumpers. I will remove the pins in the outer layers, but they are handy. It is easy to see the issues I will have next when I try to sand the bumpers. It is already August , so only a few more weeks before I travel north to the passage. Cheers

Keith thank you for dropping in. I must say following your build[s] has been wonderful. the back and forth of a few years back too between about 4 of you guys was great to read through as well. I was thrilled yu jumped in again and have opened the box for Erebus as I was curious what they would do. Your idea of fixing the bulbous hull was well thought out as well. best wishes as you can carry on. Jon

9 the deck As I move forward into the deck work, I am fully dependent on just a few photos to understand the layout. Fortunately, a couple of photos showed me the lay of the decking followed the waterway inward. As to the furniture we will get to those assumptions later. Before I share a progress update, I would like to revisit the history of the two sisters. Elizabeth and Louise Howard were both built one after the other. As discussed, Elizabeth was extended about 6 feet in the bow for that little push of speed. Louise apparently retained the McManus 1908 Oriel design length of 126 feet. 1 this view is one of the better views of the Adams shipyard. It was taken in 1903 with the four masted schooner Eleanor Bartram in the shipways. 2-3 Here are two views of Louise sitting on the shipway with the harbor frozen in 4 here we see Louise just after launching. In the background we see The Rice brothers’ yard with their 1918 steel hull dragger Alden Mills. That dragger was one of 6 that they built. Last year I built a model of the 6th one Harvard. Back to progress 6,7 I like to share my oops moments. In these two progress images we see that the predrilling of the main mast hole needed relocation. An advantage to running the planking inward from the waterways is one finds the real center. I stretched a thread bow to stern as the center became more evident, and that guided me in confirming the king planks location and the need to relocate the Mast hole. I dowelled the wrong hole and redrilled in the center. The benefit of 3/16” plywood under deck covered with about 1/8” poplar made this an easy fix. 7,8 here the decking is complete, and the sanding partly done. I progressively advanced in grits up through 320. There really isn’t grain to bring out in Alaska Cedar, but a rich color and shine that is hard to see in the photo. It is all amusing as the real decks of fishing schooners were really a mess. Also the summer invaders have gone and I am back to the model shop. 8-11 here are four images of the decking with two coats of hand rub Poly. I chose the poly because I find it more resilient to the abuse than the tung oil of my recent builds, which will occur while building out the deck. I also have started playing with the masts. all for now

1 The Beginning I join a group of recent builders of this model kit with enthusiasm. Not as to the model and building of it but to the story that it represents. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to move to Canada in 2009-2012 and fell into reading Pierre Berton, a prolific writer and former TV guy. Reading all about the Klondike and then his book Arctic Grail sent me on a long adventure. My current library of Arctic oriented past, present, and future reading has grown extensively. I think to try to hit a few high points of those books and stories may take us too far adrift. This log is to be about HMS Terror, why I am building it and ultimately, with some pictures, how will it come out. So, to keep it brief…. Why the build? • After 15 years of on and off again study, reading well over 40 related books, I have decided to take a trip north later this summer and pass through the Northwest passage. I will include a summary of that trip after it happens in August to September. • Adventure Canada gave me an Essential Reading list that I have devoured, and hopefully one well known historian will join us on the cruise. • On a recent, May 2024, three-week road trip across the Canadian prairie to the Glacier Park and back home through Dakota Buffalo county, I read MSW logs each night of everyone who has listed the HMS Terror or HMS Erebus. It took that many nights as the logs are incredible. I learned something from every one of them and that is the value MSW. • Several of the more complete logs, by great builders, referred to the recent book on HMS Terror by the Museum Curator Mathew Betts. Combined with his log of partially built HMS Erebus, it’s great reading for both modelers and those with interest in the Antarctic and Arctic sailing. • The Idea that HMS Terror as a new vessel bombed Baltimore in 1815, sailed three complete circuits of the Antarctic and then went off to the Northwest passage is embellished, as Betts explains she was technologically the best of the best at each stage. • The Stephen King style book, HMS Terror by Dan Simmons is great summer reading. It was made into a mini-series but alas one must subscribe to another TV channel to watch more than the first episode. I recommend the first episode, which is free on Amazon Prime. The studio recreated a life size set of both on deck and below, with Matthew Betts advising them. It was great to watch. • Michael Palen’s book HMS Erebus is also a fascinating read on the “bomb vessel” or bark’s history up to her disappearance. • In recent years, Canada Parks and others have found both vessels where they sank near the King William Island. There are many books written of those findings and as one might say, the beat goes on. How to build • Over the past 10 years I have focused my study and building to the local mid-coast of Maine shipbuilding in our Boothbay Region. There are more than enough examples to build. There were 14 barks or ships to choose from in our little town. A fully rigged bark is on my list to try soon. That effort will involve more upfront investigation to get, or I should say adapt useable plans, as the records here are wanting to say the least. • I could have taken the HMS Terror plans that are available in the Mathew Bett's book and done CAD bulkhead thing and moved on step by step. I chose to take advantage of all the work done by others. I found the kit as an open box on eBay with a little discount. I was not concerned about any missing parts. I also have had fun buying other stuff that I will share as I get to them, the wheel, the small boats, possible walnut to replace hull planking etc. • My version will not likely come up anywhere near the great work by others already having gone down this path. I shall leverage their lessons learned and point out when I don’t follow their wisdom and get my oops. • I record my current thoughts at the beginning of the build, and we shall see how they evolve. I think I will leave wood more in a natural way than to simply paint it black. I am debating between diorama of ice bound or more complete pedestal display as others have done. If I use the sails in the kit, it is more likely to be as patterns for silk span replacement. If a diorama I ask should they be furled or stored below. • I have no idea where I will go with ships boats. The records say there were 12….wow one image shows one swinging from the yardarm while icebound. So not knowing really where this project may end it is time to get started. I am now actively doing two builds at a time. My idea is to have two different types of builds going so I can go back and forth. I also plan to take on the challenge to build more small ships boats and the like, something I really need to develop especially if I want to do a diorama. Start to build I just want to mention that for some of us Yanks, a 1:75 scale model causes a few inconveniences. If I were to scratch build, I would likely go with 1:64 or 1:48 to allow side by side comparison with say my diorama of Bowdoin. I also cannot seem to find 1:75 figures yet… I am still looking. First up was to take all parts out of the box and assemble the deck. I followed advice from others and took first the drawings that I thought were correct for the deck. After more review the Matthew Bett's book, I scanned the deck drawing from his book, which shows the deck furniture layout and more importantly the “lights” that need to be drilled based on his research. I took the little provided rivets and filled them with clear silicon to simulate the glass. I am amazed that one builder added lights to shine up through. That is well over my pay grade. So as I close this introduction I have the deck done and the first layer of planking in place. I am mid-way through the second planking and will share that soon. 01. The first picture shows the deck planked and the plan scaled from the British museum. My source was another log. 02 the second view shows the gray copy of the scaled scan from the Mathew Betts book. 03. here we see the two plans laid off to the side of the completed deck 04-05 here are two views of the underlay planking in place. I also have some filling and more sanding to do. The keel and stem are loosely dry fit. I note that the kit recommends they get installed after. I do not know how pinning the light planking will go, so I started the outer planking without them in place. All for now

Andrew. thank you for dropping in and sharing your helpful thoughts. I had learned that trick of tape on, paint on and tape off in as short a time as possible the hard way. Unfortunately on this build, due to the need to move from my indoor shop to garage [ for summer visitors , a hazard for us Mainers], I had not done enough dental work on the inside of bulwarks. That clean up added time and as I had no proper stand for the hull, I had to do one side, wait, rotate, do the other side , and then the top etc. The tape on the bottom stayed in place for several days. I did one final light coat of white with the hull upside down and removed the tape before it set up. the line seemed to be fine, but as soon as I pulled it, oops. the bottom of the keel had many nicks that probably occurred earlier in the process. I had to do a quick tape off of the white [ i uses tape sparingly and news paper] and redo the red spray. It was all done very quickly and lucky to say I had no issues. Now will the hardened enamel stand up to the constant handling as I carry on. I have never achieved that goal before and always seem to be repainting later without the ability to spray. Let's see if I can do better this time. cheers

8 continue views of hull painting here the tape is removed the bottom retouched and off to show next up more cleanup and prep for decking

8 time to get some white paint on her. As we are in the peak of summer, I am moving the work from my shop to the garage. Before moving, I was under a time crunch to get the bulwarks done with as much detail as time would allow, so that after painting there would be less disturbance. I also want the move to follow a change in activity, so I am taking only one box of stuff with me and not my whole shop or worse running back and forth. First up is that preparation. Then after the move yesterday out came the low-tech spray paint cans, “rattle cans” as I have heard them called. One coat of primer outside them three light coats of white. Inside just the white. I am studying the old photos to see if I need to repaint the waterways gray. Things that I would have liked to have done first include the chain plates, lips on the hawse pipe, perhaps forward cavils and more dental work to get all the fuzzy edges all gone. I added a trim strip as found in the launch photo. I will let it all sit for a day to harden up. Hopefully the enamel will last. My previous builds all needed much touch up. I want to learn how best to avoid that added process. While outside I will add the cedar deck and build a working cradle to hold her during that process. I am not sure how to mount her ultimately. She is not heavy but with the masts she will be over three feet tall. Brass pins drilled into the keel and then into a base I think is not wise for this build. I would love to figure out how to use acrylic to hold her as to me it is all about the ghost image. I don’t want a stained wooden cradle and I do not plan a diorama approach as i did on the Schooner Bowdoin. I will add some shots after removing all the tape. All for now…enjoy this brief summer.

Thank you Keith. we all appreciate encouragement as we toil away. some of us definitely into the unknown. I am about to be invaded by family...they always like to visit Maine in the summer, so I am heading for brief change. I need to move out to the garage. something about the smell of glue.

7 Bulwarks progress Occasionally, something serendipity happens. One of my many projects continues as we are digitizing our local historical society documents and photographs. I am overlooking the photos. We are up to finding 16,000 so far. What I mean finding is that as one opens a storage sleeve marked with a label, we find just one or several prints negatives etc. As views are different, the index grows accordingly. At the beginning of this build I shared the image of the EH as she hit the water during, her 1916 launch. Some details are in the photo, but not with a lot of clarity. Last week I found the following image that I have annotated for this build. The print was sitting in sleeve marked East Boothbay waterfront. I was thrilled to find it. I am not sure how to make the little trim strips, but I will try. Here are some progress images. I first secured a plank outside the raised deck, inserted the stanchions on one side at a time. I secured them with clamps on future plank stock. This process repeated four times and then the water ways went in. I filled in cut pieces between stanchions and then marked, drilled and set the scupper planks in place. Finally, I added the upper bulwark planks. I end this progress piece showing I have now cut the stanchions back to the underside of the future rails. Just for fun I share the image of the new cedar deck planking that just came from the Sawmill. I love their material. There quite a bit of work before I get that that stage, but it is fun to look ahead. The first of our crew has shown up too. Lots to clean up and then I need to complete the rails. The transom and bow need attention. I also want to lay out basic rigging so the side pin rails, cavits etc. can all be done before painting the topsides and the bullwarks. All for now

6 launch the hull and install under decking I am doing a few new things in this build. Some steps may help, and some may not. We just must wait and see. First up there were about three more cycles of touch up putty, some more primer and sanding. Eventually at 800 grit, I called uncle. I took her back outside and gave her a new view of the water, before leaving on my second Canada adventure this summer. Next was to paint the bottom and launch her. I followed some advice and bought some “frog tape” that says it gives a sharp line. Here we see my low tech set up for marking the water line. I also decided to build and add the rudder now. I think the waterline is better than previous…yeh for Frog tape. To launch, I found an old RC sailboat sling in the shop to use. Before cutting off the bulkhead stands, I measured and marked a line 1 inch below the future rail at each bulkhead. There will be 4 stanchions between each mark. Then off with the stands. I then cut up the soft Luan plywood stand material to fill in for a complete under deck. A few extra hours here instead of figuring out where blocking will be needed for rigging eyes etc. The Holes for the stanchions are in as well. Finally, I am now in the process of the smooth under decking. This process means instead of perhaps 1/16 decking over many more hours off effort to get the under deck really nice, I use, 1/32 plywood and I ordered precut 3/64” cedar from the sawmill website. So, expecting a little sanding I am close to the 1/16th inch scale for the decking material. For the raised after deck I am adding 5/32 poplar. It will get sanded as well before decking. The cross beam at the step is cut down Alaskan Cedar. It is high now but i will sand it closer before decking. We’ll have to see how this under deck and stanchions comes out. Once all is in place and sanded to clean up. I will install all the stanchions and bulwarks. Then I hope to paint all before moving on to the decking. All for now

Keith and Jerome Thank you both for dropping in and adding your kind comments. I have been away travelling again around Gaspe, Canada and it is good to be back home and back to work.

5. Planking done up to the deck level Thank you everyone for their likes. I worked straight through to get this phase done before another Canada trip. Here we can see the planking to the shear plank is done, with its first sanding and prime coat. The primer lets me see all the dings and things that need fixing. So here we go 1,2 mid-way done and final stage 3,4 last planks are in place and glued. The new saw blades came, and it was again a joy to get straight and true unblemished planks. 5,6. first rough sanding done. 100 and 150 7,9 first glazing putty on and fine sanded 220 grit ready for first prime. 10,11 first filler prime on.. wow lots of dongs to fix this step will be repeated a few times before marking the waterline. Finally, two fun shots. 12 I aimed the bow toward the shore land rocks to keep her calm. Doesn’t she look just like a dolphin. The keel projects more on this design and that must have helper her hold the line going up wind. That must be why she was so fast. Surely, she wants to get wet. 13 In this final bow view we see the ocean behind beckoning her to go for a swim. I need to keep her calm for a while longer so back inside we’ll go once the primer is dry. We now start the tedious fill. sand , fill sand. progressively finer paper. until we cry uncle. Cheers

Thank you Nils. I also enjoy looking through your work. I keep learning....unfortunately like my lesson on dull saw blades I also continue to forget cheers Jon.