Albatros by Dr PR - Mantua - Scale 1:48 - Revenue Cutter kitbash about 1815

[Dr PR]

One of the problems I have been thinking about is whether or not ships fitted with a pivot gun also carried carriage mount broadside guns.

 

Chapelle's "The Baltimore Clipper" lists the armament of numerous schooners and privateers. Most carried one long gun and from one to a dozen smaller cannons. The guns in the Mantua kit are a reasonable battery for the Baltimore clipper.

 

He describes (pages 72-74) the armament of the HMS Dominica (200 tons) as having a short 32 pounder pivot gun and fifteen carriage guns - twelve short 12 pounders, two long 6 pounders, and a brass 4 pounder. The Dominica may have been a three masted schooner, but the plans show a two-masted ship. Chapelle comments that it was unusual for a three masted ship to carry a pivot gun.

 

The Decatur was an American two masted schooner armed with a long 18 pounder pivot gun and six 12 pounder carriage guns. The Decatur and Dominica fought a running battle where the Decatur used it's pivot gun with devastating effect. The ships were about the same size and speed but the American gunnery was superior. The Decatur eventually boarded and captured the Dominica.

 

Both of these 200 ton ships were quite a bit larger than the revenue cutter I am building, but the Decatur's battery was similar in number. My 12 pounder pivot gun and six 6 pounder carriage guns seem reasonable for the 80 ton ship.

Edited February 24, 2019 by Dr PR

[Dr PR]

I have been working on the larger deck details. I  want to get all of these fittings ready for when it warms up enough to go outside and paint.

 

 

 

 

The knightheads and bitts were fairly simple, after I decided how to build them. The parts supplied with the kit seemed pretty grotesque and oversized. I took the dimensions from drawings of schooners and revenue cutters of about 80 tons.

 

The pumps were an interesting small project. I used eight pieces of HO scale railroad ties for the wooden barrel and cut the metal pieces from thin brass. I will paint the metalwork black.

 

 

 

 

 

I built up the support under the circular pivot gun rail and shaped it to fit the camber of the deck. A couple of scuppers were cut into the support to allow the rail circle to drain.

 

 

 

The photo on the right shows one possible configuration for the 6 pounder gun battery. The guns are spaced every third opening between frames. I have also experimented with spacing at every fourth opening. In either case the number of ports will be more than the number of guns. I plan to place dummy gun ports along the hull outboard of the deck house. There will be two stern gun ports.

 

I will paint the bottom of the hull white. Between the waterline and the wale will be black, and the rail will be black.  The stripe on the bulwark between the wale and rail will be white, with black gun port covers. The dummy gun ports will also be black. The inside of the bulwark will be brown or yellow. Most of the deck fittings will be white.

 

I have started working on the catheads for the bow and boat davits for the stern. Again, the parts in the kit are pretty crude. They have only one sheave and an open slot in the end that the sheave fit into. Every drawing I have seen shows two sheaves.

 

 

 

I made the sheaves by soldering together two 1-72 brass washers. I chucked them in a drill and used a small triangular file to carve the groove.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Dr PR

[cog]

Beautiful details, Phil. Very ingenious way of making the sheaves. Instead of a triangular file you could have used a round one, as sheaves tend to be hollow shaped. Still very crisp work

[Dr PR]

Carl,

 

Thanks.

 

I used the triangular file because it centered nicely in the groove between the two soldered washers.

 

The soldered pair is about 0.040" wide (1 mm) and the smallest round file I have is about 0.032" wide (0.81 mm) at the extreme tip - and that is a small file only 3 inches (76 mm) long! Only a short portion near the tip is small enough diameter to work making the groove. I don't know if it would have centered as well as the triangular file.

 

I suppose I could use the triangular file to start the groove and switch to the round file to finish it.

 

Once the rigging is in place you won't be able to see the sheaves anyway.

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by Dr PR

[cog]

I understand, it was just an observation

[Gregory]

Hey Phil,

 

Nice build you have going here.

 

Just curious how you fabricate your wood parts, such as your gun carriages?

 

[Dr PR]

Gregory,

 

This was my first attempt to "mass produce" parts, so it probably isn't the most efficient method - but it worked.

 

1. I designed the gun carriages in a CAD program I have been using since 1988 - DesignCAD 3D MAX. I had to fiddle with the dimensions for reasons explained in an earlier post. Then I printed a dimensioned drawing to work from.

 

****

 

2. For the carriage cheeks (sides) I cut rectangular "blanks" of boxwood sized to the largest dimensions of the parts. I made several extra pieces in case I screwed up some of them.

 

3. I placed all of the pieces together side by side in a small vise and trued up the ends with a file so they were exactly the same length.

 

4. Then I glued strips of wood across the ends. This made one single "cheek assembly" to work on.

 

5. I have a very old and pathetic Dremel drill press, but I have learned to make it work for most jobs (a milling machine would have been MUCH nicer!). I set up a guide that I could slide the cheek assembly along. An end mill bit was chucked in the Dremel and it was carefully positioned for each cut. I adjusted the height and bit position by cutting into scrap wood until the cut was correct (very tedious and time consuming - Oh, for a milling machine!). Then I slid the cheek assembly along to make the same cut in all the pieces.

 

6. This setup adjustment was repeated for each successive cut.

 

7. The grooves for the cannon trunnions were carved with a small round file, and the large concave cut on the bottom was cut with a larger file. I suppose I could have done these cuts with the Dremel using ball end mills, but I didn't have the right sizes.

 

8. After all the cuts were made I used the end mill in the Dremel to carve away the strips that were glued along the ends of the parts to free up the individual cheeks.

 

9. I put a small (0.020") drill bit in the Dremel and set up stops to position individual cheeks. This allowed me to drill the holes for the wire loops in the same place in each part. I didn't show the loops for the gun tackle in the pictures, but they will be there.

 

****

 

10. The carriage axles were done in a similar manner. Front and rear axles were the same size. I needed rectangular cross section beams to tie the carriage cheeks together, with axles for the wheels protruding from the ends.

 

The wood was 1/16" thick boxwood cut into equal length strips about 3/16" longer than the axle beams should be. After gluing a strip along the ends of the bunched pieces to hold them all together (as above) I used the end mill in the Dremel to carve notches in each end top and bottom leaving the proper length beam with a 1/16" square bit of wood protruding from the ends for the axles for the wheels.

 

11. Then the strips glued across the ends were removed as described above.

 

12. I needed a way to turn the square axles into cylinders. I made a cutting tool from a 1/16" inside diameter short brass tube. I cut notches in one end of the tube on opposite sides of the tube diameter. These were angled to create cutting teeth.

 

13. This tool was pressed over the ends of the square axles and rotated to cut away the corners and leave round axles. It worked!

 

I have also used this tool to make 1/16" diameter dowels to serve as pins for the sheaves in the catheads and boat davits.

 

14. The holes through the axles for the axle pins were drilled with a 0.020" diameter drill bit in a pin vise.

 

****

 

15. The other parts were fairly simple and were just cut from wood strips using a small saw and miter box and shaped with a file if necessary. I hope you could follow all of this. If something isn't clear just ask and I will try to explain it better.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Dr PR

[Gregory]

Thanks for sharing..   I was really impressed by  by the precision of your parts, and was waiting for you to tell me you have a laser cutter..

 

Now I'm even more impressed!

 

P.S.

 

Regarding rounding off small square stock.  You have made a very nice tool, however, I have found that a Dremel keyless chuck does a pretty good job, and gives you a fairly wide range on a small scale.. It's also good for further reducing round stock.

 

Edited March 9, 2019 by Gregory

[Dr PR]

Gregory,

 

That's an interesting idea. Do you first close it down to the desired diameter - by chucking the proper size drill bit?

 

The jaws do not have cutting edges, but I can see how they might "worry" wood into the desired cylindrical shape.

 

****

 

I am doing everything with hand tools, and some things are quite a challenge. I am retired now, but when I was working I had access to a full machine shop. I really miss all those great tools! I can see that before I take on a really big project, like the 1: 96 USS Oklahoma City CLG-5, I will need a lathe and milling machine, and a place to put them!

Edited March 14, 2019 by Dr PR
spelling correction

[Dr PR]

I am continuing work on the anchor handling rig.

 

The kit plans called for just gluing the two pieces of the catheads together at the angle. That didn't sound very sturdy to me so I decided to use a bridal joint with a mortise cut on the horizontal piece and a tenon on the vertical part. I made a 1/16 inch dowel of the same wood to pin the two pieces together. The result is a very strong joint! I also used a similar dowel to pin the two sheaves into the slots in the cathead.

 

The left image shows the "eyes" of the ship. The catheads have been mounted on the rails and bolsters fitted around the hawse for the anchor cable. The boat davits have also been mounted on the stern.

 

 

The next picture shows the anchor cable routing.  The cable was normally stowed in the cable tiers below the midships hatch.  The anchor was stowed on the rail just aft of the catheads, suspended from the cathead and railing without the anchor cable attached. When the anchor was needed the cable was brought up, lead through the hawse and attached to the anchor. A short fishing boom was attached to a sturdy deck fixture and used to lower the anchor so it hung from the cathead. The cathead tackle was detached to drop the anchor, with the cable feeding out of the cable tiers, or perhaps the cable was first faked down on deck to ensure clean running.

 

The anchor was raised using block and tackle attached to the fore mast or on the lower spar on the mast. A messenger line attached to the running block was lashed to the cable and the messenger hauled in. When necessary the anchor cable could be secured to the bits while the messenger was repositioned on the cable. When raised to the side the cathead tackle was attached and the anchor was hauled up. The fishing boom was used to haul the anchor flukes up to the rail. Then the anchor cable was detached and stowed below.

 

EDIT: For details of anchor handling on small ships that did not have a capstan or windlass see this link:

 

 

A heavy wooden piece was attached inside the bulwark to make the inboard part of the bolster. A book on wooden ship building said the hawse opening should be 2 1/2 times the diameter of the anchor cable. The hawse opening was shaped to minimize the curvature of the cable as it passed through, with a radius two to three times the diameter of the cable.

The outboard part of the bolster has rounded edges to the hawse opening. The opening curves around from the inboard side and down to lead the cable out with a gentle bend. Some ships had metal inserts in the hawse opening to reduce wear on the bolster.

 

This configuration is a blend of several drawings of period ships and photos of real ships.

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Dr PR

[Gregory]

On 3/9/2019 at 11:08 PM, Dr PR said:

Gregory,

 

That's an interesting idea. Do you first close it down to the desired diameter - by chucking the roper size drill bit?

 

The jaws do not have cutting edges, but I can see how they might "worry" wood into the desired cylindrical shape.

 

I just eyeball the opening and go from there.  The drill bit idea sounds good for getting a little more precision.

 

I burred up the edges of the chuck teeth a little bit with a cut off wheel.  It doesn't take much to turn it into a rough cutting tool.

 

I used to do this with various size colletts  before I discovered the chuck.

[Dr PR]

I have been working on the hull details to get it ready for painting. We have had some nice days lately, but I have spent most of them bike riding, hiking and picnicking. February was unusually rainy and cold so I had a bad case of cabin fever! However, I did get a chance to paint some of the deck fittings.

 

The new work included cutting gun ports, adding the waterways and placing scuppers. The picture above shows the gun placements I decided upon. These positions allow for ample recoil without striking deck fittings, and there is no carriage gun aligned with the pivot gun. There are four ports along the sides and two stern ports. When I paint the hull the band below the top rail will be white and gun ports will be black. In addition to the four actual ports there will be another six false ports - just painted black rectangles the size of the real gun port lids.

 

These photos show details of the gun port framing and scupper placement. The ports are lined to form a rebate for the port lids and the lower cill serves as the bumper for the gun carriage. There is no upper cill because the bulwarks are so low the top rail just clears the gun barrels when the guns are run out, as explained in an earlier post.

 

The scuppers were a source of frustration. I screwed up royally. First, placing the cart before the horse, I glued the trim strip onto the hull at a distance below the top rail that "looked right" according to the kit plans. But when I drilled the holes for the scuppers the trim strip was higher than the edge of the deck, causing the scuppers to angle upward from inboard to outboard. That was bass-ackwards! Furthermore, I drilled 1/8" holes - 6 inches at 1:48 scale, and then realized that this looked too large (4 inch would have been better).

 

The solution was to place a short piece of 1/8 inch diameter brass tube in the openings to get smaller diameter holes. But before doing that I pried the trim strip away from the hull and cut the scupper openings to angle downward through the waterways and overboard. All this required some careful drilling, filing and trimming with a 1/8 inch end mill bit to countersink the brass tubing so the bottom of the opening was at deck level. A 0.040 inch thick 1/4 inch square backing plate fit around the outer end of the tube. Fortunately, after the holes were elongated this piece covered the entire hole on the outside of the hull. On the inside the elongated hole above the brass tube was filled with Squadron white putty. You can see quite a few white putty patches in the pictures. Anywhere the fit between pieces is not perfect I rub in some putty.

 

 

Finally, the 1/4 inch square backing plate was trimmed tangent to the bottom side of the brass tubing, and the trim strip was glued back in place below the scupper tubes. Well, this build was intended to be a learning exercise, so I guess I am learning things not to do next time!

 

This picture shows the 6 pounder carriage guns and gun ports, and also shows how the pivot gun is mounted high to clear the bulwarks. When the pivot gun is run out port or starboard to the full limit of the slide, the end of the barrel is about 1 1/2 scale feet inboard the cap rail and about 1 1/2 feet above it. The blast from the gun would clear the rail without damaging it.

 

Here are some pictures showing the deck details.

 

 

 

The stern pictures show possible locations for the 6 pounder guns at the side and stern ports. The arrangement shown here would never have been used, but a gun could be hauled aft and fired outboard to get a four gun broadside. Or guns could be fired through the stern ports during a chase. In either case the quarter deck would be a bit crowded, especially with the rigging for the tiller and the main boom.

 

The next step is to add the channels for standing rigging (The pinrails should be installed before the channels. See post #166). I saved that for last so they wouldn't be damaged with all the handling necessary to cut the gun ports and scuppers. Then everything will be painted with sanding sealer and any gaps sealed with putty. After that paint colors will be applied. I still haven't made up my mind what color the inside of the bulwarks will be. The gun carriages will be brown. I might even paint the area on the exterior between the cap rail and trim strip yellow, but I think that may have gone out of fashion by 1815, in favor of white.

 

Edited July 19, 2023 by Dr PR

[Dr PR]

I have been working on the channels and chain plates, and the gun port lids/doors.

 

Note: The pinrails should be installed before the channels. See post #166.

 

The channels were fairly straight forward. They were fitted to the curvature of the hull and pinned with short brass nails into the bulwark supports.

 

I examined drawings for 19 Baltimore schooners and revenue cutters and determined the spacings for shrouds at the deadeyes relative to length between perpendiculars. Deadeye spacing is related to mast height, and that is related to hull length. I had no data for mast heights so I used the hull length as a reference. For a 68 foot between perps ship the forward deadeyes were about 2 feet apart and the rear deadeyes averaged about 2 feet 2 inches. At 1:48 this is 0.5 inch for the four forward shrouds. For the three aft shrouds I placed the forward two at 0.5 inch and the spacing between the aft two at 0.6 inches. There will be ratlines between three of the forward shrouds and two of the aft shrouds, all spaced at two scale feet at the bottom.

 

The blue painter's tape marks the waterline. Chainplate length was determined by the channel placement and the distance to the waterline.

 

The deadeyes supplied with the kit were pretty good.  I used the CAD program to work out the spacing and lengths of parts. I used 0.0185" brass wire to create the chain plates. Mondfeld's Historic Ship Models was my guide for the design of the chain plates. The only problem I had making them is that very small parts like these have an annoying habit of being someplace else other than where you expect them to be. I spent a fair amount of time retrieving them from the floor below my work table. I will attach them to the hull after it has been painted, The chain plates and deadeyes will be painted black - whenever the rains stop and we get some sunny dry weather!!!

 

 

 

The gun port lids/doors were made of two pieces. The outer door was cut and shaped to fit in the port opening, resting against the rebate inside the port opening. Then the lids were sanded down to contour with the hull sides.

 

A separate 0.040 inch piece was cut to fit into the port opening and then glued  to the inside surface of the door lid. The doors fit snugly  into the openings.

 

 

 

 

 

The hinges for the gun port doors were a bit of a problem. Because the ports were open up to the top rail there was nothing on the hull planking to attach the hinges to. I had to attach them to the top rail - but how? I could have faked it and just glued the doors in the open or closed position, but I wanted working hinges. Eventually I came up with a plan.

 

The hinges were made of three pieces of 1/16 inch OD brass tubing and a piece of 1/32 inch brass wire. Two 1/10 inch pieces of brass tube were soldered to the ends of a 0.525 inch long piece of brass wire, with a 0.225 inch piece of tubing in the middle. Two 0.050 inch wide pieces of 0.005 inch thick brass strip made the hinge straps. These were formed around a 1/32 inch drill bit and then the short end of the strip was tinned with solder. After these were placed around the hinge pins the short tinned end was reheated to solder it to the longer end of the strap.

 

 

The cap rail is 1/16 inch thick. The 1/16inch diameter hinge tube is fitted into a recess carved into the edge of the rail, with the hinge straps glued to the gun port doors. For now the hinges are just fitted and not glued into place. First I need to paint the stripe between the top rail and the rub rail below the gun ports. I will fill the gaps around the hinges with Squadron white putty and sand everything smooth. Then the top rail, hinges and port doors will be painted black.

 

I suppose the hinge straps should have bolts fastening them to the doors, but the smallest nails (7 mm) in my stock have 0.055 inch diameter heads - a  bit wider than the 0.050 inch straps. I don't want to have to file down dozens of these tiny pieces. I'll look around to see if I can find pins/nails with 0.032 inch diameter heads, but I may have to be satisfied with no bolts in the straps.

 

Personally, I think this hinge arrangement is a bit hokey, but it works. Unfortunately, 35 years ago when I built the hull I didn't plan ahead for the heights of the guns in carriages, size of the gun port openings and method of hinging the gun port lids. But, as I have said, this is a learning experience to prepare for building more accurate models. I am having fun learning about revenue cutters and solving problems building the model.

 

EDIT: After gluing the hinges into cuts in the top rail I think it would be easier to install the hinges and fill the gaps with putty before gluing the hinge straps to the gun port covers. After the hinge glue was firmly set it would be easy to glue the straps to the port covers. Then the cover could be swung out and painted.

 

EDIT: I have been studying how gun ports were arranged and operated on different ships in the early 1800s. I doubt that any real ship had gun port lids like I have modeled here. More likely the port lids would have been two parts. The top half would have been latched in place when the port was closed, and then lifted out and brought inboard when the port was opened. The lower half might have been hinged to swing down.

The lids may or may not have had a circular opening in the center of the port to allow the gun barrel to stick out, with the lids closed around it.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Dr PR

[tkay11]

Lovely work, Phil.

 

Tony

[Dr PR]

Tony,

 

Thank you very much!

 

Phil

[Sea Hoss]

Very well planned and meticulous work Phil. You've shown me some ideas to incorporate into my next build.

[Dr PR]

Glad I can help. I certainly am getting a lot of good ideas from others on this forum!

 

 

Edited April 12, 2019 by Dr PR

[Dr PR]

The aft gun port doors/lids posed a different challenge. The top rail curved upward to center so the top edge of the gun port was not tight against the rail as on the side ports. I thought the type of hinges I used on the side would be a bit too crude, so I came up with a different plan.

 

The hinge straps are the same as for the side hinges. But instead of using brass tube for the fixed part I fashioned the hinge from the same 0.005 inch thick brass sheet as the hinge straps. First I cut a strip 0.150 inch wide, and bent about 0.030 inch of the end at a right angle. Next I "tinned" this end angle with solder. I am using a solid core tin-lead solder and a separate liquid flux.

 

The 0.150 inch wide strip was wrapped around a 0.034 inch drill bit to bring the angled tinned end around against the strap. Then I reheated the solder to complete the hinge loop.

 

I placed the strip in a vise with the loop just above the vise jaws and used a small file to cut a 0.050 inch gap in the center for the hinge strap. Then a piece of 0.03125 diameter brass rod was soldered into the loops to make the hinge pin. After this the hinge straps were located on the hinge pin and the soldered ends were reheated to close the loop around the brass rod. For this to work correctly you have to be very sparing of the solder and flux, reheating the tinned ends quickly and removing the heat before the solder can flow and solder the hinge strap to the hinge pin.

 

The 0.150 inch wide brass strips were cut off about 0.085 inch from the hinge loops and then the remaining strip was bent around a 0.0625 inch thick piece of metal. This formed a "L" piece that would fit around the 0.0625 inch thick planking around the gun port opening.

 

Two very shallow 0.150 inch wide notches for the "L" part of the hinge assemblies were filed into the top edge of the gun port opening, spaced equally to either side of the port opening. A pair of hinges were glued into these notches. Then the port door was inserted into the opening and the hinge straps were glued to the door.

 

This worked nicely and made a fairly good looking set of hinges, although the macro photo shows I could have been a bit more careful in aligning the hinges at the top of the opening. But these things are tiny and precise positioning is difficult!

 

Because these brass parts are just glued to a pretty small part of the wood I wouldn't bet on how strong the join is. With the doors closed the hinges are locked between the wooden parts. Even though the hinges might work properly I won't be tempting fate by opening these port doors.

 

Edit: Actually these hinges do work OK. we finally got good weather and I am painting the hull with clear lacquer to seal the wood grain prior to applying the colors. I opened the doors a bit so the paint wouldn't glue the doors shut.

Edited April 18, 2019 by Dr PR

[Dr PR]

I have been painting the hull, and it was an unpleasant experience! I used acrylic paints from a local hobby store because I wanted to paint indoors during cool wet weather. After a week they are still very soft and do not adhere well. First I sealed the wood with a lacquer based sanding sealer. It dried for weeks before I painted with the acrylics. This might be part of the problem. I certainly won't use this combination again!

I decided to use the black hull with yellow band described in Chapelle's books. It is similar to the image on the kit box, but with black above the waterline. The bottom of the hull will be white, like the rudder. Some of these ships were coated with white lead mixed with tallow. When (if) the yellow dries good I will paint a black dummy gun port midway between the aft two actual ports. I am afraid to use masking tape on the black paint because it scratches and lifts off very easily.

All of the gun port covers open. I don't know now if I will rig them open or closed. Chapelle says they used a bright yellow for the stripe. At first I used a bright lemon yellow, but it was a bit garish. I painted over the stripe with a more modest "bright" yellow. Of course the actual colors used on ships was up to the Captain until about the 1840s, so any color is as good as another from a factual standpoint.

 

Because masking tape lifts the paint, I had to paint the trim with a brush, and there were occasional irregularities at the boundary between black and yellow. The yellow paint did not cover well over the black (no surprise), but straight out of the bottle undiluted it took four or five coats to cover even a tiny bit of the black paint. Even the black required two or three coats to cover brush streaks. It took two weeks to correct all the minor mistakes.

The interior of the bulwarks and gun port covers and the gun carriages are brown. This is supposed to be a medium brown, but it looks too dark to me. This color scheme is said to have been used in the American Navy up to about 1825. After that the stripe was white instead of yellow.

Here is a closer look, with the six 6 pounder carriage guns run out and the pivot gun swung out to the side. I'll paint the carriage wheels brown eventually, and the cannons will be a flat black. Some of the ships had brass cannons, but I have read they were painted to prevent corrosion.

 

I am having second thoughts about the white deck structures. From what I have read this didn't come into use until the 1830s or later. However, if you have ever served on a ship and had to walk the decks at night without much light while the ship was pitching and rolling you will appreciate how sensible it was to paint the structures white! Most models have deck fittings the same color as the bulwark interiors, but I don't like that dark brown color!

 

To be continued ...

Edited May 11, 2019 by Dr PR

[bruce d]

Hello Phil,

Very nice work. I discovered your build log when looking for accounts of deck planking and will be duplicating your experiments with different methods of caulking. I will be watching from now on. 

 

Bruce

[Dr PR]

Bruce,

 

Thanks. I hope you will post the results of your planking experiments. I am planning a 1:96 model that will have 4 inch deck planks - about 0.040 inch or 1 mm at 1:96 scale. The black paper method I used on the current 1:48 build would be far out of scale and I will need to use a different method for the 1:96 model.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Dr PR

[Dr PR]

MAST DIMENSIONS

 

Not much progress to report. I am working on installing the chain plates and deadeyes in the channels. To do this I need to have some idea of the angles the shrouds and stays will make at the channels. For this I need to know the heights of the masts. I have been studying Chapelle's "The Baltimore Clipper" and "The History of the American Sailing Navy," Underhill's "Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship & Ocean Carrier," and Mondfeld's "Historic Ship Models."

 

One thing is clear, the dowels supplied with the Albatros kit for the masts are too short by at least 4 inches. The kit seems to be for a British schooner, and the Royal Navy apparently rigged shorter masts and less sail area than the Americans. There are several examples in Chapelle's books of Baltimore clippers with extreme rigging, while Underhill and Mondfeld show much shorter rigs.

 

One interesting outcome of the very large sail plans of the American, and later British, Baltimore clippers is that they could be very unstable under some weather conditions. Because of the topsails on the fore mast the rigs were heavy forward. The ships usually were broadest forward near the fore mast instead of midships like most other ships. If the ships were running with a strong wind and also plowed into high seas, the ship could cartwheel end over end. One account told of a Baltimore clipper running alongside a larger ship when it suddenly dove down bow first, flipped upside down, and sank immediately with no survivors!

The length of the main mast (foot to top) is based upon the extreme breadth of the hull. Rankine's version of Fincham's rules (Fincham was a British naval architect) gives a main mast length (heel to hounds - the "hound" is where the trestle trees of the top rest on the mast) 2.6 to 2.8 times the extreme breadth. Mondfeld (European) shows a shorter total mast length of about 2.3 for British warships in the early 1800s, but this is probably for larger three masted square riggers. The kit masts are closer to Mondfeld's dimensions.

 

I am using Marister's data taken from actual ships starting on page 112 of "The Baltimore Clipper." In addition, I'll use Rankine's modifications to Fincham's rules for dimensions and formulas on pages 159 to 162 plus Fincham's tables in the Appendix. These should give me some realistic dimensions for the masts and spars.

 

The hull is 75' 8" length overall (bow to transom), with a length between perpendiculars of 66' 5" and a 64' Line of Flotation (the distance between rabbits fore and aft on the load water line). The extreme beam is 19' 11" (19.916').

 

Using Fincham's rules maximum values:

 

Main mast heel to hound = 2.8 x 19.916' = 55.77'

 

The fore mast is 0.9 to 0.97 times the length of the main mast.

 

Fore mast heel to hound = 0.97 x 55.77' = 54.1'

 

The "head" of the lower mast extends above the hound to the cap. The head = 0.25 to 0.4 x extreme breadth. This gives a head for the main and fore masts of about 4.8' to 8'.

 

Assuming a head length of 6' the resulting mast lengths are:

 

Main mast = 56' + 6' = 62'

 

Fore mast = 54' + 6' = 60'

 

Marister's data for American schooners 60 and 62 feet between perps shows mast lengths of 58' for the main mast and 56' for the fore mast. A 57' long pilot boat had a 60' main mast.

 

For the 66' model I will use a total main mast length of 62' and a fore mast of 60'.

 

Main mast = 62' x 12"/48 = 15.5" on the model.

 

Fore mast = 60' x 12"/48 = 15" on the model

 

These dimensions assume that the foot of the mast rests on the keelson. However, in the Albatros kit the mast feet are actually much higher, so I will have to correct for this difference when cutting the actual masts.

 

The model distance from keelson to main deck is 2.2". So the main mast will extend 15.5" - 2.2" = 13.3" above the main deck to the top. The mast foot is 0.91" below the deck, giving a total length of the model's main mast = 13.3" + 0.91" = 14.21".

 

The fore mast will be 15" - 2.2" = 12.8" above the main deck, plus 1.14" below the deck to the foot, or 12.8" + 1.14" = 13.94" total.

 

Both masts will have a top = 1.5".

 

The top mast lengths are often the same for both masts. Drawings of Baltimore clippers show the top masts to be about half the length of the lower masts. Fincham says the length of top masts is 0.83 to 1.0 times the extreme breadth, with a pole head equal to 0.5 x the topmast length. I am not sure what the "pole head" is, but Mondfeld shows it as an extension of the top mast. Most Baltimore clipper drawings just show a longer top mast without a distinct pole head.

 

The total length of the top mast and pole head would be about 1.5 times the extreme breadth, or about 30 feet for this model (7.5" at 1:48 scale).

 

The sail plans of many schooners and Baltimore clippers show the total main mast height above the deck to be about the same as the length of the hull or a bit longer. The hull length of the model is about 19". With the main mast 13.3" above the main deck the top mast should extend about another 6". Including the 1.5" heel (the bottom part between the cross trees and cap), the top masts should be about 7.5" in length. Total mainmast height above deck = 13.3" + 6" = 19.3". With the more extreme rigs it would be a bit longer.

 

I'll use 7.5" topmasts on both masts.

 

Both Underhill and Mondfeld have tables and formulas for mast diameters and tapers that agree closely. The 62 foot main mast diameter at the deck would be 20 3/4", tapering to 15 9/16" at the hounds, with a 13" diameter head. The 60 foot fore mast diameter at the deck is 20", tapering to 15" at the hounds, and a 12 9/16" diameter head. The 30 foot top masts would be 10" diameter at the cap and tapering to about 5 1/2" at the head.

 

On the model the mast dimensions will be (corrected for the shorter heels):

 

Main mast: 14.21" long, 0.43" diameter at the deck, 0.32" diameter at the hounds, with a 0.27" diameter head.

 

Fore mast: 13.94" long, 0.410" diameter at the deck, 0.313" diameter at the hounds, with a 0.26" diameter head.

 

Top masts: 7.5" long, 0.21" diameter at the cap, 0.114" diameter at the head.

 

Note: On topsail schooners and Baltimore clippers the fore mast was often larger diameter than the main mast because of the greater weight of the topsails and spars. I'll have to research this a bit more.

 

All other spars are based upon the length of the masts, extreme beam or Line of Flotation.

 

EDIT: I think the lower mast diameters given here are a bit too large. They are based upon rules for larger square rigged ships. Schooners carried a lighter load aloft, and most texts say schooner masts were smaller diameter than square riggers. To be continued ...

 

EDIT: In "Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier" Harold Underhill says that schooner masts are only about 4/5 the diameter of masts for full square rigged ships.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Dr PR

[Dr PR]

Painting has been a tedious chore. The acrylic paints I used are very slow drying, and even after dry they are very fragile. I can scrape the paint off with my fingernail! Should have used lacquers or enamels!! But I have added the channels, deadeyes and chain plates and finished the basic painting. I also painted the dummy gun ports outboard the deck house. Here you see the six pounder carriage guns positioned for a four gun broadside.

The channels and chainplates came out pretty good. I need to touch up the flat black enamel on the metal parts. The chainplates are exposed to handling and are easily bent. I need to do a bit of straightening. On the other hand, maybe they are just "weathered" like might have happened on the real ships.

I still do not like the dark brown paint on the bulwarks and cannon carriages, but I don't look forward to trying to paint over it with a lighter shade of brown. I also think the deck house and other deck "furniture" probably should also be brown. From what I have read white deck fixtures didn't come into use until the 1830s.

 

Edited June 8, 2019 by Dr PR

[cog]

What shade of white are you using? So far I have been enjoying your build tremendously

[Dr PR]

Carl,

 

I have been using "craftsmart multi surface premium satin acrylic" paint that I got at a local craft store. The color is "White/Blanc/Blanco."

 

Just plain white.

 

It is pretty thick, but after thinning a bit with water it worked well with my airbrush.

 

Again, I would not recommend using this paint for modeling. It is very soft after it dries - even after a month or more. It scratches easily.

 

Note: After several months it dried pretty hard.

 

I have even considered stripping all of the paint and starting over with lacquer. Ug! Another option would be to spray over the acrylic with another coat of clear satin lacquer or enamel. But this would probably be asking for trouble - I would have to experiment first. The acrylic undercoat would still be soft.

 

I suspect the problem is that I used a lacquer based sanding sealer on the wood (except the deck) and after the sealer I sprayed the entire ship (including the deck) with clear lacquer. These were model airplane paints (dope). I guess the acrylic just doesn't cover well over the lacquer.

Edited June 2, 2023 by Dr PR

[cog]

It should still harden/cure, which it doesn't seem to do. That has nothing to do with the varnish, it's the paint itself

[Dr PR]

The acrylic paints did eventually harden a bit, but I would have been happier using lacquers.

 

I finally got tired of looking at the very dark brown bulwarks and decided to repaint with a lighter shade of brown. I couldn't find a suitable color so I mixed the dark "true brown" with a much lighter "beige." The result is something like a chocolate color, which will do.

 

 

After reading several sources about ship colors I decided the white deck fittings were not used until a few decades after the period I am modeling. Most models have some shade of brown or red. I used the same light brown that I painted the bulwarks with. I also repainted the waterline to be a bit lower at the bow. The cannons and other metalwork were painted flat black.

 

 

I didn't care much for the original skylight. The flat window would become a fish tank in heavy seas, and was certain to leak. It also needed some protection for the windows. I decided to replace it with a style that had sloping windows that could also open to allow air circulation to the cabin. Brass rods provide protection from falling objects.

 

 

I  have been puzzling over the sequence of the build beyond this point. Now that the color problem is behind me I can continue the assembly of the guns and their tackle, and add the fastenings to the bulwarks. I also have cleats for the gun port door ropes. I could work on the anchors and the ship's boats. But I hesitate to place too much detail while there is still a lot of work - and handling - for the masts and rigging.

 

I will at least need to know where everything fits on deck before I can plan the attachments for the standing rigging, and consider where the running rigging will be fastened. In addition to the kit's rigging plans, I have the following books to guide me:

 

Historic Ship Models, Wolfram zu Mondfeld, 1989

Masting & Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier, Harold Underhill, 1972

The Art of Rigging, George Biddlecombe, 1925

The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor, George Blunt, 1858

 

I also have Chapelle's books with some rigging detail for Baltimore clippers and revenue cutters, and a few ship modelling books. I think the research for the model is as much fun as the actual construction.

 

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Dr PR

[Dr PR]

Next on the agenda are the 6 pounder cannons. I have been making the little fiddly bits for the carriages and attaching the cannons. I used 0.019" brass wire for the ring bolts to attach the gun tackle and training tackle and the larger rings that the breaching line will pass through. The trunnion straps were cut from 0.008" brass sheet and attached with 7 mm brass nails.

 

 

After the cannons were attached the quoins were added to set the elevation of the barrels.

 

 

When all pieces were in place I painted the metal parts with flat black enamel.

 

 

Now I need to place the ring bolts on the bulwarks for the gun tackle and breaching lines. I have been thinking about placing the guns in the run out battery position or in an inboard stowage position, or maybe run out on one side and stowed on the other.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Dr PR

[Dr PR]

I have been working on the breaching lines for the cannons. I wanted to use a cut splice around the cascobel at the rear of the cannons, but I found that I could not glue together pieces of the rope supplied with the Mantua kit.

 

 

This is a photo of what I was trying to do. But none of the glues (wood glue, cyanoacrylate, white glue, etc.) would stick to the rope. Even acetone based model cement didn't penetrate the fibers! However, it did eventually create a coating around the threads that held the pieces together. But this wasn't a satisfactory solution!

 

There was no way I was going to try to implement an actual splice by pushing fuzzy ends of threads between the windings of the 0.026 inch diameter rope.

 

 

 

I found a drawing in Biddlecombe's "The Art of Rigging" showing serving over the splices in a cont splice. I decided to try this.

 

 

 

1. I unraveled a short section (1/16 inch or 1.5 mm) of the ends of two pieces of the rope.

 

 

 

2. Using a thin thread (red) I placed a simple overhand knot near the short end (S) without pulling it tight. Then I looped the long end (L) of the thread back through the first knot and created a second overhand knot loop without tightening it.

 

 

 

 

 

3. The two thread loops were pulled over the two pieces of rope without tightening the loops as shown in drawing 3..

 

 

 

 

4. The two thread loops were pulled to within about 1/16 inch of the end of the unraveled end of one piece of rope. Then I pulled both knots tight. This attached the thread to both pieces of the rope and pulled them together tightly. The short end (S) of the thread was pulled along the standing part of the rope along with the unraveled strands of the other piece as shown in drawing 4. The serving will wrap around the short end and prevent the knot from becoming untied.

 

I placed a small drop of glue on the thread knots and rope where the raveled ends of the first piece of rope were, and pulled these ends around the standing part of the second piece of rope. I used Duco Cement, but just about any glue will do if it soaks into the thread. You want a cement that takes a few minutes to set up.

 

5. Working quickly I wrapped the long end of the thread around the two pieces of rope, working along the unraveled ends. I pulled the thread tight around the unraveled ends and down into the glue. Occasionally I used tweezers to push the thread loops together into a tight winding.  When I had wound the thread past the unraveled ends of the rope I tied it off with a half hitch knot around the standing part of the rope.

 

6. Then I applied cement over the turns of the thread and worked it into the thread with my fingers (super glue wouldn't be a good choice).

 

7. After the glue set the loose ends of the thread were cut off and a bit more glue applied to hold the fibers in place.

 

That finished the first half of the splice.

 

8. I pulled the rope "Y" tight around a drill bit that was slightly smaller than the diameter of the neck of the cannon's cascobel.

 

9. The open ends of the rope "Y" were pulled together tightly and I repeated steps 2 and 3 to make overhand knots around the two pieces of rope, pulling the knots tight.

 

10. I pulled the assembly off the drill bit and placed a small drop of glue at the join.

 

11. I repeated steps 4 and 5 to fasten the two ropes together. Before I had progressed very far - several turns - I clipped the short end of the rope to the proper length and unraveled the ends.

 

12. Then I finished wrapping the thread past the raveled ends and tied it off as before.

 

13. Finally, I clipped the loose ends of the thread and rubbed glue into the turns of thread and let it set.

 

I used a "fid" to open the loop in the splice - a muscle separator dissecting tool works very well, but any wood or metal rod that tapers to a point will do. Then the loop was forced over the cascobel. It was a tight fit and the cut splice stays in place on the cannon without having to use glue to hold it.

 

Here is a photo of a 1:48 scale 6 pounder cannon sitting on a US penny for size reference. The breeching line is 1 1/2 scale inches diameter.

 

 

This scheme has the advantage that the thread is attached to the rope pieces with knots, preventing the rope from pulling out of the serving. The glue holds the serving in place. What you see in the photo was my first attempt, and it came out acceptable.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Dr PR
To correct a typo.

[Dr PR]

I am working on the cannon gun tackle. I am using Syren Ship Model 3/32" single and double blocks - the smallest that Chuck makes. Even these tiny blocks may be a bit oversized, but they look pretty nice.  They are about 4-5/8 scale inch long. The line is 0.013 inch diameter thread which is about 5/8" scale. The 1-1/2 scale inch breech line is about right for a 6 pounder cannon. The "iron" straps around the blocks and hooks are made of  0.015 inch blackened brass wire, and the ring bolts are 0.019 inch brass with the loops soldered closed.

 

 

I had two problems trying to create the gun tackle. At first I was going to have rings on the blocks - one on the double block and one on each end of the single block. Separate hooks would attach to the ring bolts on the bulwark and gun carriage. The line would attach to one of the rings on the single block. But the space between the ring bolts was less than 0.5 inch when the gun was run out, and all of the rings and hooks came out to be about 0.65 inches-that wouldn't do!

 

The solution was to have only one ring on each block, and to open it into a hook to attach to the ring bolts on the bulwark and gun carriage. The line attached to the single block with a knot around the wire strop. That made the tackle short enough to fit the space.

 

The other problem was the tendency of the thread to bulge out in an unnatural loop between the blocks. The solution was to paint the thread with white glue and stretch the tackle until the glue dried. I cobbled together this tool from scrap wood and brass nails.

 

 

The tool held the strands taut while the glue dried, producing a tackle with the correct length that appeared to have some strain on it.

 

 

The Syren 3/32 inch blocks are very nice - and very small! Wrapping the wire around them to form the strops was tedious. I created a metal tool with the cross section of the blocks to wrap the wire around and form the loop/hook. The wire fit tightly around the blocks and was held in place with white glue just to be sure.

 

At first it took me about an hour for each block, with several failed attempts. But after the first few I figured it out and it probably took only 10-15 minutes each. I'd guess it took about the same amount of time to rig the tackle, and I let the glue dry for at least half an hour on each. I have been working about three weeks off and on with the 12 sets of gun tackle and breech lines. I am glad I have only six cannons to rig!

Edited February 15, 2023 by Dr PR