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Well here we go! I have been reading many logs over the past few years and now am ready to jump in. I have several previous builds, but not many ready for the gallery. we can talk about a few of them later. They were meant to prepare me to build a series of Maine Schooners, some of which hopefully can sail in the local harbor during windjammer days festival. We are coming up to the centennial of the final and best built schooners, many which supported the World War I effort. There were 10 each 4 masted Schooners built here in Boothbay Harbor. Unfortunately there are no known plans, so much research is under way to achieve that goal. In the mean time I need a proto type, so this build is my proto type for the process. I chose 1/48 scale as it produces roughly a 5 foot hull length. [ normally a bit small to sail!] There will be a fight between accurate detail and making it function as a sailor. All this is to be a learning process. I started this build late last year and to date am almost through the hull building. I start this post with a catch up on the process in mind. stage 1: Research and Plans: Maine Maritime provides several different plans of Schooners built either in their facility, Percy and Small or others in Bath Me. There is a great book A Shipyard in Maine by Ralph Linwood Snow and Capt. Douglas Lee. Douglas Lee also produced plans for several Maine ships including this one. He also developed great details for all big Schooners based on his research of the Cora Cressy [ a five master also from Bath]. Another valuable book is The Schooner Berth L Downs by Basil Greenhill and Sam Manning. This book is labeled " Anatomy of the Ship" and shows what you need to fill in the gaps. Station templates: I took Photos of the Plans, as they were in 1/96 scale, and pasted them into Turbo CAD Deluxe 20. I then improved the grid lines and scaled up to the full size ship. I then traced each station on a separate layer. I set my viewports to 1/48 fixed scale and wiggled to get them all to fit on a portrait view @ 11x17. After printing them out , I had a view of every station. I glued them to a sheet of 3/16 luan plywood and cut them out on the band saw. A little sanding on the edges cleaned them up. I then set them in a vise and cleaned up the slots to fit over the laminated keelson and did a little pre fairing. When I drew the stations, I included a common extension leg, so that when they were set upside done on the building board they would all be at the right height. [ easier to see in the photos] I also predrilled holes all around the stations to simplify the cutting out of the stations after fiber glassing the hull. My plan is to leave roughly 1/2 inch ribs at each bulkhead for permanent reinforcing of the hull. The Keelson: This is my name for the whole assembly [ shoe , keel, keelson and riders as well as stems.] it consists of three pieces of 1/4" plywood laminated. this adds strength but helps in straightening and is very easy to work with. I took 4 photos of the line plan and again pasted it into the Turbo CAD. I set up the water lines and used offset to control correct positioning of all the stations. I then stretched and tweaked the photos and they came out OK. I created 4 each 11x17 landscape printouts and pasted them to the plywood. After cutting out the "Keelson" assemble center piece, I trimmed more plywood to form the two outer strips and was ready for laminating. Building board: I had some building boards left over from some Vintage Marblehead pond yachts built 10 years ago. I recovered the blocks and screws from two boats and had enough to lay out the stations. I prepared the blocks, pre drilling them for attachment to the stations [ horizontal screws] and then ready for installing. end of stage 1

Bowdoin in ice display build post 1 This build will be my first attempt at a diorama I wanted to start this log to record both the research and the effort to replicate an expedition scene. It is going to more about studying the ship from 1924-to say 1930, its expeditions and the making of the overall display rather than only the model itself. I know I am going to need help. More than 15 years ago, I either bought or was given the Bluejacket model of the Bowdoin. When I stared modeling schooners in about 2012, my first thought was to use the 1:48 kit information as a study and then to build a 1:24 sailing model. [ that is the scale of my Bluenose and it is fun!] I still may do that, I just have too many possible projects. I want to use this opportunity to explore more of a diorama display of a type of ship to better learn how it was used. The Kate Cory build that is now on hold will come back, and I will try to have a whale on the side being treated. For the Bowdoin I am not sure, but think I want to show her in the ice or afloat next to the ice set up for winter in the arctic. I hope to have this display ready for next summer as a local family store owner wants to make Boothbay Built schooners a feature of their new venue. I have offered this model up as a backup, as other Bowdoin models may come available. My thought is an icy diorama with the model in it. As I have tried on my other models, I am more about trying to find out how things worked and what they were like in old photos and then try to adjust the model in that direction. I hope I can carry that off. This log is also for the purpose of documenting those items. The local historical society has tons of visuals to review, and the Donald Macmillan material is all available at Bowdoin College that is only 45 minutes away. [ in the winter light traffic anyway]. My love of this boat started in 1962. I was a junior sailing instructor in a summer program in Massachusetts and Donald Macmillan came to talk to us and sell his book. I fortuitously bought an autographed copy that is still in my library. I have read it both years ago and then again more recently as part of my extensive reading about the arctic. So many items will fill in as we go, but to start off …where are we with the actual build? There are just a few old photos that show that in 2012 ish, as I was starting to play with 1:48 scale builds, so I could down size my scale experience to be able build the four masted Schooner Charles Notman. All I did at that time was to rough out the hull and set up the deck. I noted that the kit did not require nor include any line drawings. A few years later as I was researching the Boothbay Harbor One Design at the Boothbay Region Historical society, I found they have a copy of the William Hand design of Bowdoin….I got a copy of the section lines so in the future I could rough out a scaled hull in RC friendly larger scale . I am told the original drawings of all of Hand’s work is in the Hart Museum at MIT. In a casual search of their site, I was unable to find them in their data base. If anyone seriously wants them that is a place to go. So to the build…these photos are about about 5 years ago... . · Here I was using the famous bondo glazing putty to smooth out the hull. Looking at the results 6 years later, I would likely send it back for another few coats. Three days more maybe then would have been great…..oh well. · Here we got some base coats painted and deck stained. · Here we added the bulkhead strips · Here we have the cap rails on and I notice more putty fixing the sides. It seems that for some of us, we can only see those defects after the first base coats of paint. That is why I stared the filler prime process. …. just spilled milk as they say · Finally, here is furniture partially built or as supplied in the kit in place and we are resting waiting for any action. This roughly represents the amount of deck detail I would include for an RC model. I have taken what I can find of the unused kit material. Obviously after this much time, it is scattered, so I am sure I will make or reorder what I need. The bell by example is nowhere to be found. What big new thing do I want to learn? ……The most urgent modeling method study for this build is to find out where to buy and how to work with textured and tinted Acrylic sheets. I want to cut out a hole for the boat and maybe a dory. Then one looks from the side and sees the underwater hull, maybe a fish or two, or even the anchor. There are several of these in Lunenburg museum and they are stunning. So far, I only found one source and they need about $50 for one sheet about the right size. That’s fine if it is right, but I need to practice. I looked all over MSW and was unsuccessful finding any articles or logs that jumped out at me. Anyway that study and experiments will be part of this build…..also how to make ice? then if i get brave or find some help make people and dogs. all in time. Cheers jon

Hello everybody, Some time ago I started building Master Korabel Schooner Polotsk kit but I was too lazy/busy to start a build log here. Finally I decided to go ahead and do it. I'll be posting more often until this build log catches up with the build's current state. I have been precisely following the instructions during the process so far and it has been a smooth ride. 1. I started with assembly of the ship's frame. The desing of this kit's frame is very interesting, it has a HDF plate that splits the frame horizontally. This ensures that all bulkheads and the center keel are perfectly straight and perpendicular to each other: 2. All parts have laser cut notches so it was really easy to bevel them: 3. This is how the frame looks like with all lower bulkheads installed: 4. Finally upper bulkheads and the false deck are installed. Note how the deck overhangs in the stern and how thick the timbers are (these will be cut off later):

The first images of my build. I have just about completed the initial hull planking, just need to add the rubbing strakes but first need to fit the second lining to the hull. I had considered rigging up a kit that would allow me to both support the hull and keep the planking in place while the glue dried. This was the reason I ended up here yesterday. I got some input but any ideas would be most welcome.

Greetings all, For my first wooden ship build I chose Caldercraft’s 1:64 Ballahoo due to the good reviews of the company and guidance on MSW to choose something not to complex as a first foray into the hobby. Although I am no beginner when it comes to plastic models (usually 1:72 and 1:48 aircraft), as I explained here in my introductory post, I would like to learn these skills so i can one day help my Dad finish his HMS Diana which has been languishing for some 4 decades or more. Secondly and more recently, my wife asked for something nice to put in the windowsill aside from the usual Spitfires! Since its my first model I’ve tried to manage my own expectations in order not to fall in the trap of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good and becoming disillusioned too early on. If I can get a result which looks halfway decent to the untrained eye then I’ll be happy! I plan to double plank the hull and then paint her later, probably with a Nelsonian checkerboard but we will see. I received the kit from my brother as a Christmas gift in December 2017. Tools I also acquired included a razor saw; 2 x forceps; square and measuring gauge. other tools were from my plastic modelling workshop. --- Although there is a set of instructions and parts list the planking instructions are not really suitable for a beginner (being just a couple of paragraphs). in any respect, as one of the objectives was to learn about planking from the ground up, I researched as much as I could on this here and via other sources such as Mastini and other books. --- Optimistically, I saw that there were fewer instruction steps than in an Eduard 1:72 scale plastic Spitfire… --- On a more philosophical note, this was indicative of interesting initial observation between the two hobbies. Constructing plastic scale models is more of an engineering type of activity, with art thrown in (usually at the beginning, painting the cockpit interior and at the end, painting the exterior). there is less ‘craft’ in the actual construction phase apart from cleaning up the parts and sanding to fit. With making model wooden ships, on the other hand implies less instructions but more application of craft during the construction. or something...perhaps I’m just babbling. In addition to browsing the forum I have got much inspiration from reading the Ballahoo build logs of @ekgb and @jim_smits of this kit. Over the last twelve months I’ve made rather fitful progress, as illustrated by my post here with questions on the bearding line etc from Feb 2017. After cutting out the main pieces (false keel, rudder post; stem keelson) i discovered very little distortion in the ply & mahogany pieces. I tried to test the symmetry of each bulkhead using paper cut outs (after Mastini’s advice) but in the end it seemed that the differences were largely v marginal (less than 1mm) so decided that rather than get into a situation of losing what the reference should be by filing one side, I left them as they were. I also imagined this would be sorted sooner or later during the hull fairing. ---- The bulkheads were quite easy to fit and seemed to square up without too much trouble. --- I constructed a quick baseboard off a disused bookcase and used metal right angle shelf brackets clamped to the false keel and b/h to ensure they were at right angles, checking with a square. --- Bulkhead 11 (below) caused me some trouble to get flat and square since the slot is a bit loose. here you can see the top is faired to lie flat with the false deck. ---- As I reported here in my previous post, I initially was too quick to glue on the keelson, sternpost and stem, so I removed these using IPA, cut the bearding line (thanks Joe) and then re-assembled them. Since the bottom of the false keel, when sanded for the rabbet, was quite thin (1mm wide) I pre-drilled some holes for pins and inserted them in to keep the mahogany parts in place. After I have completed the planking I’ll remove the pins. After installing the B/Hs I then created some bow fillers out of balsa. I used these instead of the supplied ply that the kit asks to be installed between BH1 and BH2. This is because there was a discrepancy between the height of these parts and the plans, in that they were too short and gave rise to confusion as to where I should have cut the bearding line. Making these blocks took me a while and was quite frustrating as it was difficult to get the right shape. After I prepared the bow blocks, these were reinforced with spare bits of ply as they were found to be too narrow in beam when faired (and even now, later on, I think the port side is not quite right). --- I then spent a few happy hours fairing the hull. I think I did an OK job with this, apart from having trouble rounding off the fwd and after edges. At the bow the BH fairing worked out ok but I think I went overboard on the fairing on the last two BHs. We will see how it goes. I then installed the false deck. Next came the gunport patterns made out of 3mm plywood. These were very difficult to fit and get right, despite being soaked and bent around a mug. I split one above one of the gunports and had to reglue & clamp it. In the end, as shown by @ekgb they did not meet all the tops of the bulkhead horns. --- The placement of where they should go at the bow was also a bit ambiguous so I ended up, after pinning them, ensuring that they were level with the top of B/H 11 and the 6mm hole for the bowsprit. --- Upon final inspection i see that they are not quite level. Hopefully it won't be too noticeable and I can adjust with the planking... --- After a hiatus of some months and after reading a lot on MSW and the various books and guides on the online library here (especially useful was the planking primer and the videos and tutorial by David Antscherl) I recovered some momentum, bought a plank crimper and bit the bullet to begin planking. After measuring the parametric length of each BH and using a planking fan to identify the width of each plank, I marked the width of each plank on each BH. Later, after having read some more and pontificated for a few days, I redid this and rubbed out (mostly successfully) each pencil mark and instead established four planking bands using black cotton thread, checked they were fair and then marked each band with a felt-tip pen. I bought several boxes of bulldog clips to cannibalise for planking clamps, after trying drawing pins and various other techniques to hold the planks flat against the BHs. I tried a few methods to measure and install the planks before settling on an approach that works (at least for me, presently). As has been pointed out previously by @ekgb, the bow on Ballahoo requires quite a bit of spiling in addition to tapering. I estimated that at the bow, the curve would need a plank three times as wide as that supplied by the kit to accommodate the correct curve. As I didn’t want to buy a whole new set of wood wide enough to allow me to spile each plank, I resorted to lateral bending. To establish the right curve for the plank to follow the wale, my first approach was using airbrush masking film, taped over the wale (making sure to get it to lay flat) and then, by running the side of a pencil along, marking the run of the bottom edge of the gunport pattern. I found that the curve was generally between the stem and BH 4. As per the planking primer available on the library here, once I had the curve, and the width of each plank at each BH, i was able to create, on the masking film, the outline of the spiled and tapered plank. This could be used as a template to be placed over the kit supplied limewood planks (1mm x 4mm). --- It was of course necessary to figure out a way to bend the plank laterally (i.e. across its width) and for the first three planks I employed a simple jig I built after some inspiration from others who had constructed jigs using MDF and bits of scrap to act as formers for the end of the plank. --- However, I found that this was rather too brutal and I ended up snapping a few planks so in the end I resorted to a quicker and simpler method. Instead of scribing the curve for the lateral bend on a piece of masking film and then cutting the taper out from underneath it (requiring 1 piece of masking film per plank), I found a quicker approach was to use a card template (port and stbd side) and draw the curve on the wood baseboard. The width of each plank at each BH position was calculated by dividing the width of each planking band by the width of each kit plank. I used four small plastic clamps to get the right curve aligned to the template and this was quicker and easier and so far has resulted in less breakages of the planks (or it could be my skill level is improving, who knows?). --- First plank - this was tapered and spiled using the masking film and jig method thus resulting in a bit of a ragged appearance imho (luckily this is only the first layer). However, I was pleased with how it bit into the rabbet and it didnt need too much coaxing to lay flat against the BH and filler blocks. --- First band of planking done on the port side. To get to this required about four or five attempts of planks with the wrong curve (usually not enough), which, because I’d already tapered them, had to be discarded. Lots of spare bits of planks in the model shipyard. Other issues were me cutting through the plank with the crimping tool, or the plank splitting when I tried to hammer a pin in (I resulted in pre-drilling holes). It looks quite rough and ready, I’ll admit that. These were tapered and spiled using the masking film / pencil and jig method, which probably accounts for their rather rough appearance. In the flesh is not so bad and although it seems on the photo to have a discernible clinker effect in reality is that much. There are gaps between some of the planks, especially around BH2 but nothing that filler won’t be able to fix. You can also see the pen marks of the planking bands. --- On the starboard side its much cleaner (so far). This was spiled and tapered using the card template and pencil line bending method. The cotton thread to mark the planking bands is still attached. --- I also tested many different approaches to steaming / heating the planks. After the lightbulb went on that its the heat, not the water that has the effect, I adopted a successful approach of dunking the plank in a just boiled kettle for 30 mins, taking it out, forming it to the pencil line template on the base board and clamping, then heating it with a hairdryer. within an hour or so its cooled and dry and retains the shape. I can do a couple of planks per night this way … accounting for the important use of the kettle to brew tea, of course! I’ve not done anything to the planks to bend and taper them at the stern yet, I think that for the first strake at least 1 stealer will be required. That brings things up to date (Jan 2019). My plan is to do both bands below the wale (not forgetting the stern of course), install the garboard plank (I bought a specially wide piece of stock of 8mm for that) and then do the first band above the garbord.

Ahoy there! This is the beginning of my build log of the Model Shipways Benjamin Latham POB kit. DISCLAIMER: This is my first POB kit, so this is not the place to come to learn best practices, but maybe I can offer a little insight between my stumbling through like a blindfolded elephant in a china shop! It's been a while since I have been active on this forum, but now I have my degree, have a job, have an extra bedroom to set up my workshop, and have a little extra time to do some modelling. Many many big life events ago, I had a build log for the Model Shipways Pilot Boat Phantom, which you can find in my signature, but about 5 moves later, she is in rough shape and I would like to start with something fresh and get back to her sometime in the future. Anyway, I have had the Banjamin Latham kit since I started my Phantom all those years ago and have always been drawn to her lines. I finally mustered up the courage to crack open that kit and try to tackle my first plank on bulkhead kit. This first post will just be a quick catch up to show the little progress I made before starting this log. I am looking forward to this build and excited to be an active member of MSW again, please feel free to pull up a chair and get comfortable, because I am sure I will need your help along the way and it is sure to be a long endeavor. Here are the obligatory photos of the box and its contents: <Placeholder> I broke out my trusty Stanley no. 12-101 and Veritas chisel to carve the simulated rabbet in the marked up false keel. Here is a picture showing the false keel and a few shavings. Oh, did I mention that this was take two? I accidentally carved the wrong taper in the first keel/stem assembly and Model Shipways was kind enough to send me replacements, as always. I love the support they offer for their kits! You can see the old false keel in the bottom right of this photo. Next, I completed the construction of the keel/stem assembly which consists of two pairs of two parts all glued together, carved the tapers near the bow, and glued her to the false keel. All in all, it came out okay, but I can definitely tell that I am a little rusty. As you can see in the second photo below, the glue joint for the keel/stem assembly is a bit off, but I made sure to make it as flush as possible on both sides, so hopefully it will not be noticed once the hull is painted. I think the rabbet came out pretty well! If I can find the old photo, I will post it, but I used tracing paper to transfer the profile of each bulkhead to some manila folder material to use as a template for shaping them and making sure that they are symmetrical. In the meantime, here is a photo of all the bulkheads shaped and ready for fitting to the false keel. I drew the WL-6 line on both sides of each bulkhead as well as the appropriate letter designations. Following the lead of others, I decided to trim off the bulkhead stanchions from each bulkhead so that they can all be installed at once later in the build and this should make them all match better since they will all have the same fabrication and installation method. Well, that is it for now, just wanted to get this build log started and quickly up to date so that I can post progress as I go. I remember getting a lot of helpful tips, insight, and knowledge from everyone who stopped by my Phantom log, so I would like to say thank you in advance to everyone for the great ideas and encouragement along the way. I am very much looking forward to taking this journey with you all. Cheers, Max

It was in summer 2014 when I had the idea to build the French light Schooner “La Jacinthe” after the plans of Jean Boudriot. Together with five sisters she was launched in 1823, and in the following year five more ships were built, among them “La Mutine” (“The Rebel”). As my cutter HMC Sherbourne she should be in 1:64 scale, so I scanned the plans and traced bulkheads and false keel in a way so I could build everything with plywood of 3mm. For that I used Adobe Illustrator, so I could laser cut the pieces in the FabLab of the local technical university. “Printed out” in late summer, you can see here the bulkheads, false keel and deck, a few small parts and a piece for a jig that will help me to build a cutter. When I wanted to start building, alas, I saw that the false keel was totally warped. So I had to go to the university again, and cut everything again, but this time in MDF. And while I was at it, I did everything twice. Just for testing purpose I cut keel, stem etc., I will user these parts as templates when working with pear wood. In the upper left corner you can see a jig that will act as a bulkhead former. But why do everything twice? I simply couldn’t decide: build the “Jacinthe” or the “Mutine”? The latter is shown in Boudriot’s book, after a refit in 1835. The main differences are closed and elevated bulkheads, new deck layout, iron pumps and anchor chains, a steering wheel, new chains and a new bowsprit, set in a different angle – in general, the “Mutine” appears much more seaworthy than the very lightly built “Jacinthe”. So the plan is to build both: a fully rigged “Jacinthe” in natural pear wood, and a hull model of a black-painted, coppered “Mutine”. The twin build should not be boring or repetitive. Well, have to build two identical hulls, but all the other details mentioned promise to be sufficiently different from each other to make this a very interesting project. Here a look of the two schooners, “La Jacinthe” (1823) ans “La Mutine” (1835): The foundation is already laid: the two sisters can hardly be told apart yet. This will be a slow build, and quite an adventure; my only experience in building wooden models is the Sherbourne kit, which I modified to my liking and where I learned the pleasure of working from scratch. And as I have to do the heavy sanding outside, progress is dependent of the weather (yes, the with stuff is snow, for those having the privilege of living in a moderate climate). Cheers, Gregor

Can somebody give me an idea of the type of dimension that I would expect for the 'room and space' for the frames of an English schooner of the 18C. Reason for asking is that I would like to add trennals/ treenails to the hull of a 1:80 model and therefore am looking for a reasonable frame centre to frame centre measurement that is not too wildly exaggerated. Pete

Here's the kit contents of the BlueJacket Mary Taylor pilot boat. The kit comes with copper tape, but I will be using individual plates on this model.

hello everybody, I've just joined this forum and have two newbie questions in regard to building the keel of the Caldercraft 1:64 HM Schooner Ballahoo. I've read one or two build logs on here where people have left these parts off the false keel until after the bearding line and rabbet has been made. Being a beginner, I haven't done this on mine and gamely followed Caldercraft's instructions and glued the 5mm walnut keel, stem, sternpost together then onto the false ply keel (I plan to paint the keel white so avert your eyes from the glue stains) without a bearding line or rabbet. So, what follows is probably fairly naïve / basic question, should I try to: a. establish the bearding line and attempt to carve the rabbet with these pieces in place; b. remove the walnut pieces and start again ( likely difficult as they seem quite solid with the glue and potentially causing other problems); c. carry on regardless (the instructions suggest to plank from the bulwarks down and dont mention the garboard plank) given it will be planked again and have a coat of white paint in the end. Presently the keel is quite straight without any warping so I'm loathe to undo everything (the bulwarks are not glued in yet). Would welcome your thoughts given this is my first wooden kit, it is double planked and I plan to paint it. The picture below shows the slight rabbet caused by the walnut keel being 1mm thicker than the ply keel - If I understand correctly the bearding line will follow the line of the bottom of each bulwark? My second question is in regard to the bow, where the plank templates (part 13 and 14 p and s) are misaligned with no. 1 and 2 b/hs. The photo below illustrates(again the bulkheads are not yet glued in and have been roughly faired). I am guessing the best thing is to glue this aligned along the bulkhead bottom (where the bearding line would be...if I had it...haha...) and sand the top flat with the deck level, but would welcome thoughts from others if I am setting myself up for trouble later on with something. thanks for reading and any tips in advance! neillydone

Company: Dusek Ship Kits Kit No: D021 Retail Price: EUR 369.- Available here: Dusek Ship Kits History The Belle Poule is school schooner of French navy. The Belle Poule together with her sister ship Etoile was launched at shipyard Féchamp at Normandy on 8 February 1932. The Belle Poule is 37,5m long and has displacement 225tons. The ship is able to sail up to 12.5 knots with using of sails and up to 9 knots if she is powered by diesel engine. Technical data Scale: 1:50, Length: 755 mm Width: 255mm Height: 655mm The kit 13 x sheets of small plans 1 x sheet of model size plan 1 x Instructions (online available in english, french and czech) 16 sheets of lasercut wood (plywood, veneer and pear) Various dowels for masts and yards Various High Quality Resin Parts 1 x Photoetched brass parts 1 x Fine-meshed sail cloth 1 x Copper Foil Various Rope and all needed small parts (blocks, Pole, Chains, Fittings etc.) 1 x French Flag All parts of the kit are stored safely and tidily in the box. Let's look deeper at this kit and start with the high quality resin parts. We also get enough Copper foil for the hull. For the masts and yards we get very nice dowels. There are also some pear strips for the build. The quality of the wood is excellent! You may ask why there are not more strips? All planks are pre-spiled lasered as we will see soon 🙂 Let's check out the wood sheets. And here are the lasered on thin veneer. The deck has it's planks allready lasered. And its is lasered perfectly. Let's check more of the veneer sheets with the pre-spiled planks. And more. The 4mm plywood sheets with keel and frames. The photoetched parts. Let's see the smaller parts of this nice kit. And for everybody who love sails here we go. Paperwork. Essential for ever good kit are the instructions and plans. As usually for Dusek you get the instruction in different languages. In this kit they are french but online you can download english and czech as well. The instructions are well done and an intermediate Modeller should have no problem at all. There are 13 smaller sheets showing all details of this nice schooner. Or to check the parts of the kit. Last but not least there is one big of sheet showing the modell in 1:1. Conclusion A really nice kit designed by Daniel Dusek. The lasered pre-spiled planks make it much easier to plank a more complex hull like that of the "La Belle Poule". All parts are made of high-quality materials and you can see the attention to detail in this Dusek kit as well. The instructions leave few to no questions unanswered, the plans are drawn in detail and printed in a great way. Dusek Ship Kits currently lists this model for €369, and I think that represents really good value for money for this nice kit. Some impressions of the build model. My sincere thanks go to Daniel Dusek for sending this kit for review here on Model Ship World. To buy, go to your favorite Dusek dealer or directly to http://www.dusekshipkits.com

Hello from a newbie and second year NRG member. This is a log of the Bowdoin arctic explorer schooner kit by Bluejacket Shipcrafters. I started model building many, many years ago, mostly with plastic cars, at a time when it was more fun to rush through the build than to paint. But I always admired wooden ship models, and when I decided it was time for the plunge I looked for a kit where I could learn the skills of planking and rigging on a more modest scale. The Bowdoin seemed a good fit, being about 24 inches long and with two masts. And I liked that the kit is manufactured in Maine. The Bowdoin was constructed for Donald MacMillan in 1921 by Hodgdon Brothers in East Boothbay, Maine. A good history is available in The Arctic Schooner Bowdoin A Biography, by Virginia Thorndike, 1995 published by North Country Press, Unity, Maine. The Bowdoin was eventually transferred to the Maine Maritime Academy and is used for student training. The Academy has a wonderful series of ship photos from various student voyages and from the ship restoration in the 20-teens. The log is retrospective and condensed, based on 90 pages of notes and photos gathered from the keel laying in June 2017 to completion in May 2018. Part of the reason for holding off was abject fear that my work would fall far short of the very high bar you have all demonstrated. You have been my teachers this past year and I would never have gotten through the build without your tips, techniques, articles and enthusiasm for ship building. So I have decided to throw caution to the wind and put the Bowdoin out there for all to see. If my execution has misinterpreted what I have seen and read please jump in. I welcome your comments on what I have done to help prepare me for my second build. My work area is my old professional drafting table from my former architectural practice, which I squeezed into our combination laundry room, pantry coat closet. It’s a great table with hydraulic lift, tilting top and a laminated rubber cover (Borco) over the wood surface. The lamps are great since they can be positioned wherever you need over the work. The building base is two pieces of pine anchored at one end to an old saw vice which is mounted on the table and with C-clamps at either end of the keel. The bulkheads went in without incident although a few laser cut slots needed sanding. The subdeck consists of two pieces that must be glued along the edge. The instruction manual, which is well written, makes some assumptions regarding knowledge of nautical terminology - lazy jacks were a stumper. But the manual also includes helpful tips, such as adding drops of CA mixed with sawdust on the underside of the subdeck to strengthen the joint line. I made ample use of rubber bands, clothes pins (full and sawed off) and binder clips for the deck and plank work.

Welcome back everyone! I will get this restarted in a couple of days when I am back in town. In the meantime please PM me if you have a copy of any part of my log from before. The name change is due to my fat fingers when trying to register. Thanks to Chucks fine work, I was able to retrieve my old name! Now I can move forward without getting confused about who I am! There are three main goals in doing a build log for me. 1) it helps keep me motivated from time to time when the doldrums strike. 2) It is a great place to bounce ideas off people and get some great advice. I may not always go that way, but I consider everything very carefully even when I don't follow it. 3) It is my hope that sharing my issues and pitfalls may help someone else along the way. So here goes: Bluenose log 2.0 Thanks, Bob

This new building log is meant to tell a long and broken tale of model building. The serious work began a few months ago when I decided to try to rescue this model and take it further along. Perhaps to stop it with a deck only completion since it would be so big to include rigging, or to breeze through and design removable rigging to allow sailing. Before we get in to that dialogue I thought it best to tell the saga of the 15 years to get it here. Fortunately that will only take a few posts. so here we go again I started to learn the trade, and truly I still am really only learning, by setting up a small shop in the early 1990's, at a former summer home here in Maine and building a wooden kit of a Dark Harbor 17 at 1:12 scale sometime in the later 90's. Like many I was working away and had dreams to be relaxing in a shop but realty kept us away. I never worked closer than 3 hours from this summer home and usually further. During these years I thought about wanting to build models that would sail. I had roughly ten years to go before retirement and thought that was time to try a few things and figure it out. My first venture was to buy an Antique Marblehead Pond yacht, vintage 1936. I restored it partially and then copied it building a new replica. In august 2001 I went to the wooden boat school in Brooklin Maine with my son for a fun vacation and learned to build a 50 inch new Marblehead class pond yacht. They were called Naskeags. They are pretty but built purely for the challenge of sailing. Then looking at the half built dark harbor hull, at 17 inches, and the half built Marblehead Naskeag at 50 inches I decided on a goal. I would continue to build kits or scratch of classic boats to develop some skill. I would continue to read and read some more about the maritime history as well as model building, and thirdly i would continue to build sailable pond yachts to get some to sail. Ultimately I would learn to scratch build classic boats at a large enough scale that would respect the design but also try their luck in the sea....harbor or pond at least. Gloucester Schooners were also first on my mind for a challenge. When did we start this build??? Some of you have followed my earlier attempts with a four masted schooner the Charles Notman and the classic 1938 Boothbay Harbor One design racing sloops . Well here we have a boat construction that spans the whole period of 2001 until now. Here we see the 1992 to 2004 shop. I got to spend a few weeks a year there prior to 2000 and then weekends. You can see the two Marblehead pond yachts that filled much of my time . Hidden just out of the picture on the right is the partially built Dark harbor model. Most important on the back left is the building board and stations for a scratch build Gloucester fishing schooner that will become the basis of this build. This photo is dated 2002 At the time I built this frame, my memory tells me incorrectly as I recently figured out, that is built it up form Gertrude's lines. With the outgrowth of windows 98 and Auto CAD lt 97 it is not surprising that I no longer have any of the cad I did for this build. Here you can see the roughness of the build. I was clearly over my head at the time and fortunately stopped. The keelson assembly is made of three laminated 1/2 sheets of plywood so it is strong and true. [ It includes keel, stem, keelson and made up structure up to the the transom based on pond yacht construction methods... See my other log for detail] This method is Good for sailing but the forward stem is a problem [ you will see later]. Is she Gertrude Thebaud, Columbia or Bluenose??? I could write for pages but the short version is as follows. I read that Columbia was the same size as Bluenose and considered to be the fastest ever built. Unfortunately she died young. Here is the text from Ship Wiki ...remember length on deck 141 feet · Columbia is a Gloucester Fishing Schooner. It was built by Arthur Dana Story from the design of Starling Burgess, at Essex, MA, 1923. The Columbia represents the final development of the Gloucester fishing schooner, famous for speed and seaworthiness. It participated a number of international races, including the one against Bluenose in Halifax. In August 1927 when it was hit by the two Gales, the well-known "Graveyard of the Atlantic", Columbia was lost with all hands off Sable Island. · For years my memory was I had decided to build Gertrude. All my files said it etc. anyway part of the reason is in the following text from wikipedi....remember length on deck 135 feet · \Gertrude L. Thebaud was an American fishing and racing schooner built and launched in Essex, Massachusetts in 1930. A celebrated racing competitor of the Bluenose,[1] it was designed by Frank Paine and built by Arthur D. Story for Louis A. Thebaud, and named for his wife, Gertrude Thebaud.[2] In their first meeting at Gloucester, Massachusetts, in October 1930, the Gertrude L. Thebaud bested the Bluenose 2-0 to win the Sir Thomas Lipton International Fishing Challenge Cup.[3] However, in 1931, two races to none, and again in 1938, three races to two, the Bluenose defeated the Gertrude L. Thebaud to remain the undefeated holder of the International Fisherman's Trophy.[4] I further learned that she went to the arctic in 1934 with MacMillan one year as Bowdoin stayed home. I continued to think I was going to build her and I remembered incorrectly that I had taken measurements from her scanned set of prints when I built the frame.......you'll see Bluenose. Here is intro from wiki pedia ....and again please remember length on deck 143 feet · Bluenose was designed by William Roué and built by Smith and Rhuland in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. She was launched on 26 March 1921, and christened by Audrey Marie Smith.[citation needed] She was built to be a racing ship and fishing vessel, in response to the defeat of the Nova Scotian fishing schooner Delawana by the Gloucester, Massachusetts fishing schooner Esperanto in 1920, in a race sponsored by the Halifax Herald newspaper.[citation needed] Bluenose vs. Gertrude L. Thebaud, International Fishermen's Trophy, 1938, final race ·After a season fishing on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland under the command of Angus Walters, Bluenose defeated Elsie (out of Gloucester), returning the International Fishermen's Trophy to Nova Scotia. In 1930, off Gloucester, Massachusetts, she was defeated 2–0 in the inaugural Sir Thomas Lipton International Fishing Challenge Cup by perhaps her most celebrated competitor, the Gertrude L. Thebaud.[2] However, over the next seven years of racing, no challenger, American or Canadian, could take the title from her.[3] The question again...which to build There are so many Bluenose models I thought for a long time about making an American boat. The designers Starling Burgess and Frank Paine come up again and again. The 1937 Ranger for us here in Maine is a big deal. The fact a new replica of Columbia sails and all who see her say she is a marvel. [ Images of the replica is easy to find on the net]. Well to be honest there is a funny story here on me how in the end the model became Bluenose. To make the original frame in 2001-2002 I obtained the 3/16 scale rough model plans from Piel Craftman in Newburyport, MA for both models BN and GT. While I was in his shop however I fell in love with another boat named Dancing feather. My rear admiral feels the feather is one of prettiest schooners she has seen so guess what took priority. On again off again working on vacations and moving houses to our current home [ means rebuild a shop] only it took from 2004 to 2012 to get this one far along and it was a real rough job much of which may be redone. Here she is a year ago moving away to live in the new sail loft and thus make room for Charles Notman to hold the shop entrance way display area. I had made her 3/4 scale to size at 50 inches on deck. I will never work in that odd scale again. In the mean time, I was assigned to work in Canada for 3 plus years and while I was there came across a set of really nice 1/4 scale drawings of Bluenose. These I now see are easy to get on line as are similar plans for Columbia. They are both drawing by Philip Eisnor and available though a sister site modleshipbuilder. Finally...we start again It is summer 2012. I am assigned to travel overseas but spend several weeks through the summer here in Maine. What to do...... Please look at my other two builds [ Charles Notman and Boothbay Harbor one design] for detailed discussions on the sailable hull build method. The plans were scanned, plumbed and inserted to CAD. The white paper inside on aft stations was printed off and attached to luan plywood. Blue tape separated a 1/32 birch plywood strip rib. The cedar is rough milled from 1"/6" stock to be 5/32 [ which only means 1/8 - 0 +1/16 tolerance] by 5/16 . We want to start faring the hull with no less than 1/8th wood thickness. Planks soaked in ammonia water then wood glue and toothpick pinning to the sstations through the ribs.. Here the laminations for the Keelson assembly are clear [see Notman build] . Notice there is no transom at this point. almost finished. See the roughness of the bow. As I said i was way over my head when I started this hull. Here we have all planking on and sanded. And here she goes back up to the ceiling for storage....it's 2012. and I am still thinking we are building Gertrude Thebaud. They sent me away for work again and it was another year before I could really focus on my modeling goals. This was the year I found forums like this one and started reading articles , sites like models of dummies, practicums and building logs. I was getting ready cheers

I started this project in January 2017 and worked on it steadily for about three months but have not worked on it since. This is my first model of any kind. In retrospect, it was probably a bit advanced for a first model. I thought my experience as a fairly advanced woodworker and having engraved scrimshaw for several years gave me some of the skills (and most of the tools) I would need. The one thing that kept me going was the Bluejacket helpline that is manned by a very experienced modeler. In fact, Charlie has built models not only for himself but under contract to Bluejacket for those individuals that are willing to pay a great deal of money for a model. He has built the Smuggler more than once. The hull and major structures have been completed and painted. Next, I plan to finish everything except for the masts and rigging. I have also nearly completed two dories and a seine boat. The woodworking tools that I have found most useful are a Lie-Nielsen small brass block plane and some very sharp chisels. This is a solid hull construction. I thought that was a good place to start for a first model. I made templates by getting several photocopies and using spray adhesive to mount them on separate pieces of 1/16” plywood. Each was cut out with a coping saw and finished with sandpaper and a curved sanding block to get just up to the line. The fore-aft templates were reinforced to make sure they remained straight. Once I got the hull shaped as perfectly as possible using the templates to confirm the shape I made a major deviation from the kit plans based on a recommendation from Charlie. The machine-shaped hull has the bulwarks and transom incorporated. Rather than trying to chisel the inside of the bulwarks and transom to get to the proper thickness and attempting to sand the decks to shape, I cut everything off at the level of each deck. At this point, I was able to sand the decks exactly to the shape I wanted as everything was open. I installed the scribed decking supplied in the kit on the foredeck as the original Smuggler has straight planking. However, rather than taking the same approach on the main deck, I purchased wood strips so that I could install curved decking in the same way it was on Smuggler. I then installed the waterboards and built up the bulwarks and transom using 1/16” v 1/16” strips. This method allows one to get accurate wall thickness and real scuppers.

The build log reconstruction begins... It has been a long time since I’ve started a new sailing ship build, with my sailing ship model (Oneida) taking about 4 years to complete. Ever since building Smuggler, an 1870’s mackerel seiner from Gloucester, I’ve been smitten by 19th and 20th century American fishing schooners. There are a number builds, both in progress and completed, that have been inspiring to me – Bluenose builds, a couple of Ben Lathams, a scratch build of Columbia, and even a few of the “yachty” Americas. Jim Lefever, who’s impressive Benjamin Latham build was a great inspiration for me, provided me with a list of great reading references on American fishing schooners. After receiving a number of them as gifts, and reading through them, I knew my next build would have to be another fishing schooner. I have to admit right up front that Arethusa, an early 1900s fishing schooner and the topic of this build, was never called the “Goddess of Gloucester”. She was a goddess in Greek mythology. The schooner was named after one of Thomas McManus's daughters. I just thought that 'Goddess of Gloucester' fit to her will and made for a catchy name for this log. Arethusa, the schooner, was big, beautiful, and had a colorful history – sounds interesting to me. Enough about my motivations and ramblings….let’s get on with the ship. Arethusa was designed by Thomas F. McManus in 1907 and built by James and Tarr in Essex, Massachusetts, in 1909. She was what is termed a knockabout schooner. Unlike traditional schooners, with bowsprits (and jibbooms, and flying jibbooms), knockabout schooners had an extended bow and no bowsprit. The extended bow essentially placed the fore topmast stay at the same position as on a traditional schooner. With that configuration of stay location the crew wouldn’t be required to climb out on the typically poorly maintained footropes aside the bowsprit in order to perform tasks involving the sails and rigging. This was a Thomas McManus innovation, based on his observations and discussions with fisherman and owners, and was meant to reduce sailing crew injuries and deaths. I am using Howard I. Chapelle’s lines drawing and sail plan of Arethusa from his “American Fishing Schooners”, plate 120 and figure 30. “American Fishing Schooners” (AFS) has a great deal of detail in it’s appendix on most of the features of late 19th century and early 20th century schooners, and it is these I will use to build the details of the model. If anyone knows of more details about Arethusa I would be most grateful to learn of them. I have contacted Mystic Seaport Museum about their collection but found that while Arethusa is listed in their collection they don’t have any more information than that (little) which is shown in AFS. Following are some excerpts from “Thomas F. McManus and the American Fishing Schooners”, by W.M.P. Dunne, on Arethusa: James and Tarr “...completed her on 25 September 1907. Fifteen feet longer than the Pontiac, the Arethusa was, nevertheless, a deep, short ended knockabout, with the typically knuckled straight run of the keel (although with less drag), that Tom favored in this class, and more tumblehome. Once again he experimented with the rig. He stepped the foremast farther forward with the masts further apart. Right from the start, the big fisherman earned a reputation as a speedster. Captain Clayton Morrisey, the Arethusa’s first skipper waxed poetic: “She’s the slickest bit of wood that ever went down to Bay of Islands. Nothing can touch her and an eight-year-old girl’s little finger is stout enough to spin the wheel no matter how fresh it breezes.” “Can she sail?” exclaimed Captain Morrisey, opening his eyes as if he didn’t quite believe his ears. “Why, when we were coming up from the herring grounds she cut out her 13 knots an hour for six consecutive hours.” “We’d see a blotch of smoke away ahead on the horizon and in a little while would make out a tramp steamer bound our way. Pretty soon the Arethusa was kiting alongside the tramp and then we’d lose sight of her astern. She did that trick a number of times.” In fact, with Clayt Morrissey at the helm in 1912, the Arethusa would easily outrun the Canadian Dominion fisheries’ patrol steamer Fiona, “whose commander opined the Arethusa was violating the three-mile limit.” “At the beginning of 1921, soon after the new [prohibition] law was in place, Captain William F. “Bill” McCoy, a sometime Daytona Beach, Florida, boatbuilder, guided his fully-laden McManus schooner, the Henry L. Marshall, past the Tybee Lighthouse and up the river to Savannah, where, in the dark of the night, he discharged not fish, but 1,500 cases of illicit liquor. With the proceeds, McCoy replaced himself with a new skipper on board the Marshall and went to Gloucester in search of the boat of his dreams, Tom’s speedy Arethusa. Although McCoy had fished the Marshall legitimately until after the Eighteenth Amendment dried out the country, he had always thirsted for Arethusa. With Gloucester feeling the effect of postwar economic contraction, the owners of the fourteen-year-old schooner…..sold her to McCoy in April 1921. The Arethusa became a rum runner, a fast freighter of bootleg spirits. McCoy renamed her Tomoka, added a bowsprit so she could carry two jibs, jumbo and jib topsail-and a lot of liquor (she had the capacity of 6,000 cases of illegal alcohol). He brought the Tomoka to anchor just outside the then three mile limit of United States waters, but well within site of the beach. He soon began a thriving business with New York and New Jersey bootleggers…. “ [this is where the term ‘the real McCoy’ came from] Arethusa later returned to fishing, and was lost off Halifax in November 1929. Her particulars are: Designer Thomas F. McManus Builder Tarr and James Launch date 25 September 1907 Gross tonnage 157 tons Molded length at caprail of 127’ – 3” Molded beam 25’ – 0” Molded depth 13’ – 2” Registered dimensions 114.0’ x 25.6’ x 12.5’

I just got a used 1/4=1 MS Katy of Norfolk schooner off of ebay the other day and I need some advice on it. The kit is MISSING the following items: rings for the sails, the boom/gaff yokes, parrel beads, an anchor the belaying pins they say should be in the kit, the rudder, rudder hinge, rudder bar, keel stem and stern post instructions that make a modicum of sense. (what's in included is rubbish), blocks and deadeyes that are not 1/8" in size, mastcaps. What IS in the kit: hull (partly carved), rigging, a packed of itty bitty deadeyes, a packet of really tiny nails, a packet of blocks that a spider couldn't fit a web through the hole, wood for the masts, bowsprit, blocks to carve for the hatch/cabin, two pieces of wood I am guessing I am suppose to make the sternpost, rudder bar and keel stem from, really useless instructions, a packet of itsy bitsy teeny weenie eye pins. I will use the instructions to make sail templates and then make them from silkspan So what i need is advice on where to buy the blocks (in bulk), deadeyes (in bulk), anchor, bit heads or belaying pins (in bulk), mast caps (I will probably make these). The other thing is SIZE of the items needed. Most everything is in MM out there and I don't know what MM is close to scale for 1/4 inch = 1 foot. thanks, Keith BUILDS : AL Scottish Maid (complete) AL Virginia Schooner (under construction)

Welcome to my newest build log my friends. I picked the Benjamin W Latham because it's the largest model I have. It a 1:48 scale so I should have ample room for details. With my Ranger bash there was virtually nothing left of the original model. With this bash I'm going to build most of everything, but leave it the same ship. I'm also going to take this one as far as I can with the details, adding any/everything that was on this fishing schooner. I like the look of real wood so I'll be staining, not painting, this model. Launched on Oct 30, 1902, she was designed by Thomas F McManus(Boston) and built in the shipyard of Tarr & James(Essex, Massachusetts) for Captain Henry Langworth(Noank, Connecticut). She was built as a sailship and fitted with a 48-horsepower engine sometime during her 2nd or 3rd season. A 72 ton mackerel seiner, she had in tow one seine boat and accommodations for a crew of 15. As with most fishing vessels, most of her career was undocumented, finally lost off San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1943. So take a seat and buckle up, we're going on a journey. I will attempt to make this build an intriguing one. Thank to everyone for all the help and encouragement I received on my previous builds, I welcome you all back again.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think i would ever be posting in this forum. But I am an avid fan of the America's Cup and its long history. I have read most of the books on this boat. And I have not found a kit that did her justice. So I decided to go to the dark side. I would not even consider this if we did not have such a wonderful group here willing to provide support. I will be asking lots of questions. And this will be a slow project while I work on my kits. And while I figure out what I am doing. So let me begin. At the suggestion of a member of our local club. I ordered the plans from the Smithsonian. What arrived you will see below. I currently have access to a shop with 3D printing, CNC and laser cutting abilities. This also adds some to my confidence that this is a project I can complete. I am also told that my new workshop has the ability to mold in Pewter. All I need is a model of the Trophy. Please don't hesitate to comment. I am going to be leaning hard on my betters in this forum. So questions - 1. Any idea how I can get several photos of the trophy that I can stitch together into a 3D rendering? 2. Suggestions how I take the lines from the plans to create a 2D drawing that I can laser cut? What you see below is a Jpeg. but I also have it in PDF format.

Hi Folks, I just checked in on the forum today to find, as I'm sure you all did, that all of the content has been lost. I don't think I can recreate my whole build log but I still have the photos on my laptop so I'll repost them here in chronological order. I made several small tutorials within my original build log and I will recreate those in the appropriate section when I can. This is a terrific forum and though much has been lost, I know the members here will dive in and rebuild it. It's late and I'm tired so I'll get going on this over the next few days. Jamie

Hello friends of the little wooden ships, after reading the intersting reprint of Lobbocks “The,Arctic Whaler“ I started some research on Whaling Ships. But I wasn't able to find a more detailled plan as the one of the “Kate Cory of Westport“. Built as a Whaling Schooner some years later she was, rerigged as a brig. And I figured out hat the nine sheets of plans of her were availible here: https://store.whalingmuseum.org/products/brig-kate-cory at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The plan has got nine sheets and I additivly ordered the hulldetails and the beetle whaleboat as there were no boat details at all to find on the plan. There are interesting details as cuts of the hull - giving interesting information - also for the panking,too Alltogether with p&p I have had to pay 110,-US$. Hoping she is worth this pile of money. Here the nice view of an also possible hull model: It is known to me that there is a kit but I think it is too expensive for me. So I'm awaiting my plans in the next days and making a little start in here for the questions I have collected. In a first start I want to build her as a schooner to get some feeling for the wood - later I may be able to build the installed brig rigging. I think about building the pats as in the seperatly bought plan shown (upper right corner) - but the plan seems ot to show a double ender boat hanging in the davits or are they painted in this strange way - as the British black sailed Wheery? So these are the first impressions of her. I guessed a lot - as the inwasted/invested money in whaling boats.. so did I guess right? Hope you like it. Yours, Moony

Hello friends of the little wooden ships, after reading the intersting reprint of Lobbocks “The,Arctic Whaler“ I started some research on Whaling Ships. But I wasn't able to find a more detailled plan as the one of the “Kate Cory of Westport“. Built as a Whaling Schooner some years later she was, rerigged as a brig. And I figured out hat the nine sheets of plans of her were availible here: https://store.whalingmuseum.org/products/brig-kate-cory at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The plan has got nine sheets and I additivly ordered the hulldetails and the beetle whaleboat as there were no boat details at all to find on the plan foreview. There are interesting details as cuts of the hull - giving interesting information - also for the panking,too Alltogether with p&p I have had to pay 110,-US$. Hoping she is worth this pile of money. Here the nice view of an also possible hull model: It is known to me that there is a kit but I think it is too expensive for me to pay three times more than more the plans. So I'm awaiting my plans in the next days and making a little start in here for the questions I have collected. In a first start I want to build her as a schooner to get some feeling for the wood - later I may be able to build the installed brig rigging. I think about building the boarts as in the seperatly bought plan shown (upper right corner) - but the plan seems not to show a double ender boat hanging in the davits or are they painted in this strange way - as the British black sailed Norfolk Wheery? So these are the first impressions of her. I guessed a lot - as the inwasted/invested money in whaling boats.. so did I guess right? Hope you like it. Yours, Moony

Hello friends, here my project of the Dove... A beauty by her lines and rigging, ...and a ship well documented and of a good size for a scale 1/2=ft Lpp: 42' - 11'' = 1' 9.6'' B moulded: 13' - 0'' = 6.6' D.: 6' - 2'' So I'll get a model about some 900 mm Loa and without stand nearly as high as long - at a beam of some 170 mm. A big model but a flate-able one in "The American Fishing Schooner" of Howard I. Chapelle you can find three very good plates of the Canadian pilot schooner "Dove". Biult in 1875 by Sylvester S. Baltzer in Preaux. Nova Scotia. She was owened by Cptn. James George a pilot. She was Canadian - proofed by the text in the index of H.I. Chapelle's book ( p.686). "Dove, Canadian pinky". But what is the right flag to her? So my question is the to the flag - blue or red canadian ensign? But this article confusede my completly: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb-pilot.html#pilot Or does this article deals with the flag used on a ship to show they are under pilots order on the bridge? My english is not good enough for this... Thanks for your help, Chris

An Eight Dollar Model The footy model I've been puttering around with has been put on the shelf for a little while. I've just lost enthusiasm for the project. I'll probably get back to it at some point, though. In September, I took the kids to a model and toy show at the DuPage County Fairgrounds (near Chicago). This event happens twice a year and the kids always find things there: action figures, models, other assorted plastic stuff... There are almost never wooden ship models at this show. It's all about plastic, and mostly cars and aircraft. So I was walking down an aisle just browsing, trying to keep the kids in sight and saw this... The guy in the booth, before I could say anything, said, "Give me eight bucks and it's yours." I looked in the box. Everything appeared to be there, including some tools and a book. The wood alone was worth eight bucks. I bought it. When I got home, I found that, indeed, everything was there and the plans looked really good. I decided to try to build the model instead of just scavenge model wood out of it. Although I'd never considered building a model of the America, this kit has piqued my interest. Dan

Greetings everyone, This is my very first build, but I can tell I am hooked. I'm sure this will be the first of many. As of this posting, we are well underway: false keel and bulkhead framing first layer hull planking in boxwood second layer hull planking in walnut deck planking with tanganyka--a few flaws here, but I think these will be hidden by the inside wale planking It's time to cut the canon portholes--which makes me pretty nervous. I also have some questions about the inside wale planking that I will post to the group. So far, Im pleased with the kit and my work, and the images of the walnut on the hull make it look even better, I think.