Leon by Doug McKenzie - FINISHED - a beautiful little brigantine

[Doug McKenzie]

With this post, I'm beginning a build log for Leon.  302 tons, built in 1880 in Norway, traded until 1915.  Model is 1:48, about 2 1/2 ft on deck.  Structure is all Swiss Pear,  planking - internal and external is Pau Marfin, rail and wale is Indian Rosewood.  Much planking and decking will be left off so that the internals will be visible.  I just ordered 6 little oil latterns with LEDs that will eventually light up the interior of the hold.  Most helpful resources so far are Underhill's Plank-On-Frame Models, Crother's American-Built Packets and Freighters of the 1850s, Tosti's Young America and various forums on this website.  Heading to San Francisco shortly to review Ron Cleveland's research material for his model of Leon in the 1970s.  Suggestions from anyone who has ideas about how to research the internal construction are more than just welcome, they will be warmly appreciated!

 

For now the bilge ceiling (meaning the common planks between the keelson and the bilge stringer).  Next, I'll be planking the exterior to match the interior.  I'm planking  inside and out, in sections so that I can best judge what to leave out for maximum visibility.  I haven't decided yet if I'll be cutting out some of the frames.  Until next time.

[Mahuna]

Great start, Doug.  I'll definitely be following along.

 

I found the Crothers book to be a great help when I worked on my Dunbrody sectional model.  Another very helpful book is "Wooden Ship-Building" by Charles Desmond - I found it on Alibris, and they currently have a few copies available.

[Doug McKenzie]

Frank,

 

Thanks and thanks for the recommendation - while ordering Desmond's book comments on it have also led me to Van Gaasbeck's A practical course in wooden boat & ship building and Estep's How wooden ships are built.  When I get a chance to read them I'll report back.

 

Doug

[Sailor1234567890]

I love a small brig. Looking forward to following along and seeing your progress on her. 

Cheers,

Daniel

[tabycz]

Great job! I have the book Plank-On-Frame Models. And several times I am thinking about this ship too. So, I am looking forward to your progress!

[Doug McKenzie]

3 Micro Book Reports -

Wooden Ship-Building, Charles Desmond - 1919, published for need of wooden ships circa WW I.  Useful scantling tables, great diagrams and photos.

A Practical Course in Wooden Boat and Ship Building, Richard M. Van Gaasbeek - 1918, published for need of wooden ships circa WW I.  1/2 boats (for methods) and 1/2 ships (Standard Wooden Steamship, LOD=282' Beam=45', Draft=24').  Lots of photos not much quantitative info.

How Wooden Ships Are Built, H. Cole Estep - 1918, published for need of wooden ships circa WW I.  Lots of photos not much quantitative info.

 

Progress - Not much change visually but lots of little mistakes are fixed particularly in the areas of the ceiling, bulwark stanchions and main rail.  What happened is that I have gone to 2 meetings of the Ship Modeling Society of New Jersey and the quality of work there is a lot higher than what I have been doing.  Therefore, I decided to pause on progress and improve on quality. I also fitted the garboard strake and the next two strakes with a stealer in the second that I think may be enough.  The garboard strake is made up of two pieces of wood that were edge glued before being cut and fitted.  Continuing improvement in quality of fitting is my name!  I'm using Underhill's method of setting out the planking hopefully ensuring that smooth, fair curves will be evident everywhere and from every point of view - the reference points can be seen marked on the frames about 3 plank widths above the 3rd plank.  I'll bring the bottom planking up to where the ceiling has been planked.  Then I'll be in a better position to decide what planks to leave out for visibility of the interior. 

Edited July 12, 2018 by Doug McKenzie
To mention how high I'm going to bring the bottom planking. And to get the name of the Ship Modeling Society of New Jersey right.

[tarbrush]

Hi Doug,

your Leon is looking great!  did you make the trip to San Francisco yet?   You mentioned ordering some LED lanterns, could you show what they look like and where you ordered them from?  

 

am looking forward to your build, Leon is a beautiful little ship.

[Doug McKenzie]

John,

 

Thanks for reminding me to photo the oil lantern.  It's by GLX Scale Models.  They use 3D printing.  This one is 1:48 which apparently is O scale for railroads.  It's 1/4" tall so 12" full scale.  It comes with a very tiny white LED about the size of 2 periods next to each other.  I'm investigating ways of making it yellow - 1st try is to use yellow glue to glue the LED in the lantern - any ideas?

 

Thank you for asking me to photo this because you may have noticed that I used the ceiling planks as the background and I saw something in the zoomed version that is below that I never saw before - the little glue circles around the treenails. I have been undersizing the dowels by 0.002" (1/32" drill 0.031" and 0.029" dowel) because it is so much quicker to get the dowels in the holes along with a lot less breakage.  I did not realize that these rings were being left behind!  As irresponsible as it may sound I'm not at all sure that I am willing to forego the ease for the more correct look (isn't that terrible).  I've already done strength tests and the undersizing even up to 0.003" (as large as I tested) does not effect strength at all (I use thick CA for virtually every gluing task).

 

As far as San Francisco goes, it was a very useful trip.  Cleveland's was moderately useful.  Cleveland does make an interesting comment on Leon in a speech that he gave several times about building her.  He says that one reason that he choose to build Leon was that "There was so much material available about her".  He does not give a single example of that material nor does he give any references!  Needless to say I was a bit disappointed.

 

But visiting a 3 masted lumber schooner C.A. Thayer was very helpful and I'm waiting to hear from the captain of the ALMA, a scow schooner.  My issue here is the spacing between Leon's frames.  The % wood (i.e. full frame siding / center to center of frames) is 40% in Underhill's plans.  On larger ships it's always > 80% typically between 85% and 93%.   Here's the thing - By large I mean > 600 tons (ton=LOD x Beam x Draft x ().75/100).  This tonnage formula allows me to make the calc for any ship AND the always quoted 302 for Leon comes from this formula.  Below 600 the % wood starts dropping for many ships.  CA Thayer (480 tons) is 69%.  The Galilee (416) is 54% +/- 5%.  the Coronet (337) is 43% +/- 10%.  My grandfather sailed this beautiful schooner yacht around the world and my father was born on her.  The reason I'm waiting for info on the Alma is because she is only 49 tons but from the outside she looks like a traditional wooden ship (The companion way was locked so I couldn't get below to make the measurements myself).  This is important to me because I do not know if Leon's 40% is real (or perhaps I should say reasonable) or, as one guy said, "It's a stylized plank on frame model" with maybe a touch of disdain. 

 

The last point on SF is for human interest that I tripped on the first day on cement and got sores on 4 toes  (wearing opened toed sandals, you see) 3 weeks later I'm going to a podiatrist because my big toe is still sore!

 

That's a wrap!

 

Doug

 

 

[mtaylor]

Doug,

For the yellow, go to an auto parts store.  They do (or did) sell the colors for front running lights that need to be yellow.

[john_wilmer]

I remember Tamiya having a clear (translucent) yellow paint color for auto model turn signals.  Check that out.

[Jim Lad]

'Leon' was my first plank on frame build.  I enjoyed it immensely.  When using 'Plank on Frame Models', remember that although Underhill was a great craftsman and a very clear writer, his books were first published 60 years ago, so some of his methods have been superseded by modern materials.

 

John

[Doug McKenzie]

John,

 

Could you give me some examples.  It could be a big help to me!

 

Thanks,

 

Doug

[Jim Lad]

Doug, Underhill didn't have the plastics and fibre materials that we have now, nor did he have our modern epoxy adhesives or modern paints.  His insistence on everything being pinned was partly due to his distrust of the adhesives available at the time.

 

We also have the advantage of having a myriad of small and very accurate hand held power tools plus access to first class ready made parts if we desire to use them rather than make our own.

 

John

[rtwpsom2]

The Leon was a beautiful boat, I had considered making a model of her myself.  Doug, are you using the Underhill blueprints to make your model?  If so how are you finding them? I had thought about getting some plans from Brown, Son & Ferguson but wasn't sure about the quality.

Edited July 24, 2018 by rtwpsom2

[Doug McKenzie]

rtwpson2,

 

I got the Brown, Son & Ferguson plans and used modern technology to double their size.  That brought them up to 1:48.  I used the plans direcly for my work but if I did it again I would modify them slightly to make sure that the body plan, sheer plan and deck plan were consistent.  The quality of the plans is excellent. at the 1:96 scale that Underhill used for his model.

 

Good luck,

 

Dog

[Tim Curtis]

Doug,

Saw this very fine model of the Leon in a maritime model shop called Float a Boat in Melbourne. Took some photos...not great quality. But thought they might be a helpful reference perhaps.

Tim

 

[Doug McKenzie]

Tim,

 

Thanks veru much for the fne photos.  The detail on the houses and rigging is going to be helpful.  Also, her pale appearance convinces me that I'm going to stain her hull!

[Doug McKenzie]

To those who have been following this story of Leon, I apologise for the long absence of any posts.  The reason is that I've only done a little on her (more bottom planking and some bulwark planking - pictures attached) as I've been spending my time on research.  It is not complete yet but we are closing in so I thought folks might be interested in some of the results. 

 

Lloyd's never classed Leon so they have no information on her except for a few sightings in their Register.  Lloyd's has kept their surveys back to 1757 and they are now being digitized which may be completed in January 2019.  Leon rather was classed by Det Norske Veritas, the Norwegian classification society.  Unfortunately, DNV has not saved its surveys.  That's all the bad news. 

 

The good news starts with the Laurvik (now Larvik) Museum - this is the city where Leon was built.  We learn that Leon's designer/builder is no longer 'unknown' -  It is Colin Archer, a well known and well respected Norwegian designer/builder.  I should say here that a number of people have helped the unraveling of Leon's story and I will credit these folks in the future when I write-up the research effort.  For now, just some of the results,  miscellaneous information that has emerged - Her shrouds were rope and her stays were wire,  Her hanging knees were iron and her lodging knees were wood.  Original lines plans have been located and there are noticeable differences from Underhill's plans.  I'm currently developing  a comparison exhibit to show these differences.  The original lines plans are a little difficult to read.  They are given in a book by Tor Borsch Sanns, Colin Archer's Ships, however, this book has not been translated into English. 

 

The last item is that in the Norwegian Maritime Museum an 1880 DNV survey of Leon has been found.  Some folks are now trying to translate it from the Old Norwegian that it is written in to English but the task is difficult.  The survey is basically a long list of printed nautical terminology with handwritten measurements and notes.  Translating the nautical terminology is challenging.

 

So that's where we stand and I certainly hope that translating the survey is fruitful as that will supply us with a wealth of construction details,

[tarbrush]

Hi Doug,

Leon is looking great!  I am impressed with all the research you've been doing, and look forward to hearing what you come up with, and seeing the differences in the lines drawings.  Leon was my first scratch built model years ago, I have always been meaning to build another one this time at  1:48 as you are doing.  You are doing really good work!

[mtaylor]

I've found research, even while frustrating at times, is half the fun.  You're doing some impressive work on researching and building.  

[Doug McKenzie]

Folks,

 

2 hooks have been fitted in the bow and 1 in the stern.  2 more hook needs to be fitted in the bow and 1 in the stern after I finish the ceiling planking.  Jeppe Jul Nielsen is gradually translating the 1880 DNV survey.  I am so grateful to Jeppe for his research and translation skills (and his willingness to use them!).  He has found that Leon had 4 hooks in the bow and 2 in the stern with the lowest one in both places being made of iron.  I am putting the 4 wooden hooks in and will do the iron hooks when I receive some brass strips that I've ordered. The survey says they are both 2.5" x 3.5" which I believe means that they are made out of 2.5" x 3.5" iron bar (roughly 1/16" x 1/16" on the model).

 

Jeppe has also found that there were 25 deck beams 10" x 11.5",  The hold pillars (4" x 10" pine) were fitted to every other deck beam.  We are surprised that the pillars do not have a square cross section since a number of other ships of similar size as Leon have 9" x 9" cross section.  

 

I've also cut out quite a few frames on the right side to make the inside clearly visible - this, of course, is why all the research has been done, i.e. to determine what the inside actually looked like!.  I'll apologize for right rather than starboard but small boat sailing with a lot of folks unfamiliar with ship jargon made the switch necessary and permanent.  I've included a photo of the left side also because the raw bulwark planking is done and for some reason I think it is just plain beautiful.

 

'Till next time

 

Doug

[Doug McKenzie]

Two strakes to go both inside and outside and the (rough) planking will be done - lots of fairing in my future.  The iron breast hooks are in and the foremast step is nearly done but not actually installed yet.  The next significant project (beyond fairing) is going to be the fo'c'sle which kind of hangs below the deck.  I'll outfit it to some extent ( 2 bunks with lockers below, 2 folding pipe berths, a mess table and a stove) and somehow make it all visible.  Underhill has no vent for a stove but Leon being built in Norway just had to of had some heat for the crew.  The reason I'm not going to tackle the deck beams, diagonal hanging knees and rider knees yet is because I want as much access to the bow as possible.  I'll have to put in a few deck beams up forward but that won't be the focus of the effort.

 

Jeppe Jul Nielsen is going to be posting all of the information that we have found about Leon on his website.  When he decides what the URL will be I'll post it 

 

[Doug McKenzie]

With the fo'c'sle on the horizon, it's time to revise Underhill's Deck Plan using our new information.  The immediate object is to locate the fore-aft position of the after bulkhead for the fo'c'sle and to do this with confidence I want to make sure that the whole Deck Plan makes sense.  I tried a couple of technique and they all bogged down and then I hit on this one. 

 

The first (top) drawing is the original Sheer Plan.  It is pretty faint but on it Jeppe identified the 3 hatches, the two houses, both masts and the location of most of the deck beams.  This drawing has been blown up to match the actual model.

 

The second drawing is Underhill's Deck Plan .  It is already at the model's scale.

 

The third drawing is a copy of the second drawing with all the information of the deck layout cut out and replaced with plain white paper.  The 'innards' of this drawing, having been cut out, was available to provide standalone pieces for deck items that can be positioned on the third drawing as indicated by the first drawing.  Shown are the three hatches.  Note the after hatch is smaller than Underhill's while the midship hatch is larger.  The forward hatch is about the same size.  All three hatchs had to be shifted forward about 3/4" (3').  The deck beams need to be added along with the partners.  When all these items are sized and shifted I'll have a pretty good idea of where the companionway to the fo'c'sle is located hence where the after bulkhead of the fo'c'sle should be.

 

I'm impressed by how closely Underhill's Deck Plan matches the original.  I remember reading some time ago that in the same way running rigging was largely standardized so that different ships were very similar, that the deck plans evolved towards a kind of standard variations that did not affect the functionality.  Underhill's closeness seems to support that observation. 

[Doug McKenzie]

The planking is now done (except for one transom plank) and the first pass at fairing is complete.  I am reminded of my grandfather who watched ships being built in Maitland, Nova Scotia (also serving in the saw pits).  He told me once that his favorite activity was watching the adzmen swarm over the hull after the planking was done.  I personally don't find the fairing of the planking to be particularly interesting (the inside planking specifically) and even wondered if I could pay someone to do it!  In any event, the lowest transom plank still awaits.  The ends of the hull planking need to be cleaned up at the correct angle so that the last transom plank seals the ends of the hull planks.  Underhill recommends using 1/4" wide plank (the rest of the transom planks ares 1/8" wide) so that the lowest transom plank will extend past the outer surface of the hull planks.  Then, that lowest transom plank can be brought down flush with the outer surface of the hull planks.

 

On the research side, Jeppe continues to locate useful documents.  A newspaper article written about the last days of Leon reveals that "She was taking on too much water even though she had a windmill pump."  We have to decide whether to model it or not.  This depends on whether we are modelling a relatively new Leon or one with lots of years behind her and so more likely to have significant leaking.

 

The original Sheer Plan (discussed in the previous posting) also has a curious rectangle in the bow just above the waterline.  Jeppe realized that this is a lumber hatch which gives us certainty that she carried lumber - only a possibility before that.  This also helps us define the position of the sole of the fo'c'sle since we know that the lumber passed through the fo'c'sle on it's way to the hold

!

Edited November 20, 2018 by Doug McKenzie

[Beckmann]

Hi Doug, I am building LEON at 1:48 myself. So I am very interested in your build log. On the website digitaltmuseum.no there is a very good photo of LEON and a drawing, you might know that already. Are you planning to build a fully rigged model with sails? I am looking forward to your next post.

Matthias

[Doug McKenzie]

Matthias,

 

I am not able to see a photo or a drawing when I go to Digital Museum website.  All I see is the list of data items for Leon.  Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?  I'm guessing that the photo is the one in Underhill's frontispiece because that is the only photo that I have ever seen of Leon - I would love to see another!  I am definitely interested in the drawing since it may well be a new one to me.

 

Also I hope your going to create a scratch-build blog for your project and I will follow your progress also.

 

Thanks,

 

Doug

 

[Doug McKenzie]

Oops - sorry I didn't answer all of your questions.  I'm planning to make a fully sparred model (without sails) but my main interest is in the interior of the hull so who knows if I'll ever get to the rigging.

[Chuck]

I believe its just this famous photo......no copyright isues so its OK to post.

 

 

 

[russ]

That photo was in Plank on Frame Models and I recall Underhill writing that it was taken very late in her life and that she had spars that were too long in the photo. 

 

Russ

[Doug McKenzie]

Russ,

 

I think there must be at least three phases of Leon's history the first would be as a Brigantine in presumably pretty good financial straits then as a Brigantine in not such good financial straits and then as a schooner in presumably pretty poor financial straits.  The picture comes from the middle phase, of course. I have three questions about these phases:  When was she cut down to a schooner?  And was she a fore-after or did she have any square sails?  Also when did she acquire her windmill pump, was it during the second phase or after she became a schooner? Im learning to just toss these questions out because sometimes there are interesting and useful responses!  I would love to model the windmill pump if she had it as a brigantine because it is such an unusual piece of equipment!8

 

Doug