Dancing Feather [2] 1853 by jond - 1:16 - RADIO - pilot schooner

[Jond]

posting  01  

 

the beginning

 

The beginning of this story started in 2001.    I was off to Newburyport, MA to buy plans for Bluenose and Gertrude Thebaud . While in the store I saw and bought a small kit of a beautiful little schooner named Dancing Feather.   I was still working for many more years but got some good quality time in Maine in between foreign assignments and on weekends while working in Boston.    I tell the story in my Bluenose building log where the first build of this schooner took place.  It was never completed. I used the kit plans and fortunately scanned them, as they have disappeared.   I built the RC hull in the winter of 2007-2008.    We all know what happened in 2008 and it I went traveling for the next 5 years. It was January 2014 when I finally retired.    That year was filled with other projects ending with the start of Charles Notman, a seven foot sailing Schooner.  In 2015 I built the 42 inch long pair of RC sailing sloops and restarted Dancing feather at the very end of the year. Again, I never completed it, but I made progress in the direction of an under detailed potential sailing model.

 

Everything I did was an experiment. I am glad I did that as I made many mistakes.  In 2016 I drifted into Bluenose, another 7 foot sailable schooner.  She was a great learning exercise. In that exercise I drifted into trying to do too much detail.  My son visited and said to me that when I build a model I need to decide. Am I going to sail it or tell a history story about it.   After two dioramas, I agree there is a lot of difference. Now that the Little Pinky from Boothbay [ phase one] is done I am working on the first ship of Boothbay, Aphrodite. It is very tedious at 1:96 scale and I love working on it , but I need something else to begin too.  

A week ago, I took out the old Dancing Feather kit. It is by A J Fisher and extremely basic.    The only real piece to use is the carved hull.   What I am now doing for this project is the following.  I will build the Kit out as a study for what I want to do on the big ¾ scale model. I will then rework much of the rigging on the big version. Keep it simple and see if I can get it to sail.  One of the issues will be how to cut down the sizing of the sails so at 1:16 it works.   Full size sails at scale do not work too well as they will over power the schooner. I did it on the two racing sloops and learned that cut down of the main sail to match the cut down of the jib was bad.  The main needs more power and in light air the sailing was touchy.   

 

I have a few photos of the original 2007 building of the hull and spars and will share them in a few posts to get us up to date with what was built.  And then we will look at what I must undo or fix so she can sail as i go through building the small 3/16 scale version.

 

Post 01

Early build 2007

 

In my Bluenose log we find the bluenose hull was planked and then hung from the ceiling of the shop.  In 2007 to 2008 I was able to follow the same process and build this hull.

01 here is the same method I learned at Wooden Boat school.  Bulkheads were 4 mm lauan plywood, planks were stripped cedar roughly 1/8 x 5/16.   There are thin strips of 1/31 soaked and then fit as ribs over the forms.  Then blue tape separates the rib from the form and the planks are glued to the ribs and toothpicks driven home into the lauan form.

02 the dagger board is a carryover from the Neskaeg Marblehead 50 design. I am experimenting on making it removable to allow display without the extended fitting

03 how about the strength of that keelson.   I would never do it that thick again.

04 since we are fiber glassing the hull there is no spiling required

05 here we see the hull is planked.   Behind us we see  a Marblehead 50  naskeag that i built at Wooden Boat school in 2001.  Note the permanent danger board keel with lead bulb.  

 

 

up next some history on who dancing Feather was and building the deck

 

Cheers

[ccoyle]

I wish you well on this project. Dancing Feather makes a beautiful model. And just in case anyone might be wondering, AJ Fisher is still in business, even though we don't hear much about them. There website is here.

[KeithAug]

The hull shape looks quite elegant Jon. I look forward to following the build.

[Jond]

Thanks Chris and Keith

 

I'll  really plan to enjoy this one as I get to do both a 1::64 model and a big hull @1:16 that shows of the lines well.  I wonder if she will sail

 

cheers 

 

 

 

[Jond]

Post 02

 

A little history

 

There are several references in some of our favorite books to Pilot schooners in general and Boston Pilot schooners specifically.  The most exciting book came out coincidentally in 2001 as I started this build.  In that period the European arm of Wooden Boat started to publish a magazine called le Chasse – Maritime. It lasted a few years with beautiful images and stories of European maritime history, ship building etc.   As part of the effort they also published Pilots, Vol 1 Pilot Schooners.  is was produced by a team and edited by Tom Cunliffe. A full chapter is dedicated to Boston.  Many pilot schooners built in the USA, including Boston, were sent to China to work the Shanghai-Yangtze/ Canton-Pearl and other treaty ports.  They were fast and rugged and popular racers too. most of the images below are from the book.

 

Back to the pilot schooners.  They evolved starting in the mid to late 18^th century.  There are several stories of their demise, capture and recapture during the revolution, especially in the Chesapeake where credit for most early schooner development resides. The book’s pages are filled with stories of the competition among competing pilots and variation of the schooner rig that seems persistent throughout. Each chapter moves up the coast, region by region with similar histories of mostly locally built schooners competing for market share. 

 

The New York schooners seem to get bigger than the others, and their names seem more familiar.  They also have the distinction to have progressed from the Schooner Mary Taylor to the yacht America built by George Steers. In this book she is classified in the same class. The replica came to Boothbay Harbor, Maine  a few years back and we had a great sail.

 

Now as we get to Boston, one might start looking at the artwork of Fitz Hugh Lane.  Many paintings include interesting companionship to the subject major ship. 

O6 The painting Northern Light in Boston Harbor gave us images of Pinky schooners, that I used in my last build, and here the cropped pilot schooner Coquette of 1846 in the same painting. Again and early version with Clipper bow.

 

Moving to the builders we quickly learn of Dennison J. Lawlor. The write up tells of his career, the several Pilot schooners he designed and built, followed by fast bigger fishing schooners, small steamers and his brigantine News Boy .  Several pilot schooners were built by Lawlor including, Florence, Dancing Feather, Phantom, Lillie, Edwin Forest and Hesper.  Looking at artwork one finds the more famous schooner was the Hesper.  Hesper built in  1884 was Lawlor’s final and crowning achievement in the pilot Schooner class [ as per the writers in the book}.   She was sleek and long and long living. There are several incredible images by Don Demer and other maritime artists that include her are easy to see online, so she was quite well thought of as a fine specimen.   The well-known Erik Ronnberg redrew her lines from the builder’s half model and it is all in the book. The full-page image of her in Dry dock also helps my decision of having copper on the bottom of the small-scale build depicting Dancing Feather’s real look.  Hesper was much bigger at 102 feet on deck. 

 

Dancing feather was one of the first pilot schooners of 1853. She carried from experience a clipper bow that died away over the next 30 years of design evolution.   She was 67’6” on deck .The image of her half model, which resides at the Smithsonian, and her lines are all there in the book.  Most interesting to me is the sail plan.

07 this sail plan is set up with three foresails [ note the club boom for self-tacking]  . We have much to think about about but basically, as also referenced elsewhere, this would have been only the summer light air rig, or perhaps limited to racing. I read elsewhere that top masts were often removed in winter.  Also, of note. the main topmast was used for large flags. also of interest is the exaggerated clipper bow.

08 looking here at Danial Webster, another Boston pilot schooner with a clipper bow  destined for Shanghai,China, We see the common view of just three sails and a large flag on the main topmast.

 

09 here is Edwin Forrest another Lawlor schooner in the book with four sails in a brisk breeze.

 

10 Here we have the famous Hesper cropped from a painting by Davis from the net. I note the large flag is on its own spar and not a normal topmast.  Not the square bow,

 

These pilot crews worked all year tacking and maneuvering within harbors and then racing out or back to pick up or deliver a pilot.   If one sees 20 images of pilot schooners, the full sail rig might be on two.  The flag is interesting but an important part of the look.    

 

There is much more to review and learn. I would assume all these schooners built for speed had copper bottoms.   Looking online at three models they all have copper so that decision for the small hull is made.  The RC hull is already painted green to represent tarnished copper. The A J Fisher model photo is also a green bottom.   

 All for now

[Jond]

Post 3  

 

build as of 2007

 

this post is a catch up on the work done in 2007. 

 

11 starting off we see the complete hull planking with rough sanding done. In the background one can see the frame for what became my 1:24 Bluenose build.  I built that frame and found myself a little over my head.  I switched to this build using what I learned experience wise on the other frame, this one came together Ok and includes a slot for the dagger board.  Bluenose will require some other means to bolt on a sailing keel.

 

12  here is a lesson learned. Someone suggested I use the water base filler for all the seams and things.  What I learned is that the cured white plaster is harder than the cedar.   It was the wrong material for modeling.

13 material did not mater in the end as here I have 4 oz glass with three coats of west system epoxy resin.   The bottom as was shared in the literature was green.  I chose this moss green as it represents patina on copper. It is not the darker green of Fitz Huge lane, 1850 painter of note.  As this is the simple sailing version, I see, some thirteen years later, no reason to change this color.  I will need to add the gold trim line, and the forward embellishment of the bow to some extent.

14 inside we clearly see the construction technique taught at Wooden Boat school.   The little 1/32 plywood strip ribs stand out nicely against the rich color of the resin covered cedar.  The dagger board truck will hopefully be watertight. There is no way to go back and to check.  If it turns out to leak, I will need to permanently install either the full dagger board or a stub. Either would take away from the display aspects of the model.

15 here we see the error of way ways happening on screen.  The bowsprit is clearly too big

16 now to start the deck.  The cabin is the access for the RC stuff. 

17 in the early days of my modeling there were several missed steps.  Since this scale is quite large, I might have nibbed the planks. The deck house will sit on beams as it needs to be watertight. The visible deck house will sit over this inside “neck”, and be removable for access to RC gear.

18 Mast stubs are in and the oversized bowsprit is starring at us.

19 clear resin goes on the deck for water proof. simple varnish goes over for UV protection

20 The spars are roughed out. They are made of Sitka Spruce

21 and here is how we sat from 2007 until 2015

 

All for now

[KeithAug]

Jon, at this tare you should finish it before the next millennium. do you have a target timescale?

[Jond]

Keith

 

as the story unfolds it is like a confession of a lost soldier.  I always have about three projects going and I am always reading about three different books at a time.   Some get done in a reasonable time and some don't.  If one drops in to my Bluenose log one will note I still have three sails to complete and I am committed to rebuild the mainsail.   There was a pre covid 19 rumor that Bluenose II will visit here in honor of Maine's 200th birthday. If she comes here, I should drop everything and go back to that build..  My long answer is a clue by itself...i have no real time table.  I hope they get done.  However the long hiatus means I learn more and get better skills or tools.    what was good enough in 2014 is rejected today/  so maybe i never get done.

 

cheers

[Jond]

Post 4

 

2014-2015  first rigging of sails

 

The pace of this build continued on a spotty basis. In the spring of 2014, I spent a little time as I got going after retirement to roughly rig the spars. It was not a great result, but I was cutting my teeth so to speak.    First, I needed to decide what were the sails going to look like.  I had two images to work with

• 22 this is a cropped view of the kit design giving intended dimensions.  I knew I needed to reduce the size of sails to about 85% and simplify them a bit for RC
• 23 this image I took from the book on Pilot Schooners and is what I tried to make.  Obviously, there would be too much sail but off I went thinking I could cut them down later
• 24 here we are at the entrance of the shop in the spring of 2014 with standing rigging
• 25 the view on deck shows the roughness of the work.  The full focus was learning process and the results were not great

 

Several months passed and I decided I needed to rough out paper patterns for the sails.

 

• 26 here we have the paper templates all cut out and this is how Dancing Feather sat for another several months as I worked on the BHOD racing sloops
•  27 part of the learning exercise was for a standard easy to use stand for RC sailing.  This strapped box goes with us to the shore and carries loose parts below and is steady to support the fully sailed model outside
•  28 here we are on the new stand and as a few more months went by
•  29 now in the fall of 2015 it got to decision time.   I removed everything as I knew it was no longer up to snuff. The little red wagon is to carry the schooner to the shore.  Other photos showed Charles Notman in the same wagon.
• 30 next up was to finalize the design of the added rudder and keel for sailing. This built was to achieve 50 inches on deck as that is a class of schooners in the Vintage Model yacht group. I had visions of travelling south to Maryland and joining a regatta if I ever finished the build.   The wood shaped bulb form is the 5-pound lead form from the same 50 inch Marblehead I built at wooden boat school.   They would give me 10 Lb of lead to hopefully keep us upright.

 

In late 2015, after having built both Charles Notman and BHOD racing sloops I realized the need to redo everything.  Next up is the rebuilding of the rigging the first time

 

Cheers

[KeithAug]

5 hours ago, Jond said:

However the long hiatus means I learn more and get better skills or tools.

Jon - yes we are all getting more  time to perfect our skills. Keep safe.

[Jond]

Keith

 

i use the would skill loosely.    i love it when i think I am rolling and then oops

 

 

cheers 

[Jond]

Post 5

 

Rebuilding rigging second time and starting sails

 

In the fall of 2015, I spent some time re-rigging the schooner using much newly acquired skills. They are truly basic bit to me they were new. 

31 to make strong hoops for sailing I took 1/64 plywood strips, soaked them to make them more pliable and bent them around a plastic electrical conduit that was the right size.    After drying they are glued and wrapped again.  Then sanding and varnishing and they look almost real.

32 I learned to cut out the big hole in plywood or bass sheets before sanding to the outside diameter of a ring. 

33 here we see the Sitka spruce mast with the ring table for the boom yokes. The ring on the mast in the photo are the first generation of electric conduit cut in slices.  The replacement wood rings are on the bench.

 34 the first-generation mast head broke.  Here again I drill the inside holes first and the cut and sand to shape the outside. I am obviously cheating as there is a slot and not a proper square hole.   

35 here we are replacing the mast head.   The crude attempt of seizing the shrouds looked good to me at the time, but now I need to think more about the right scale.

36 I needed to make up cabin and hatches for the deck housings. Here the hatch too big [ the pencil shows where it should be]and needed surgery.   

37 here I am gluing up outer coverings. They must be removable

 

Now to the sails

I spent some time and consideration to reduce the sail area so the sailing of the scale model would be more realistic.  From my reading there are many opinions out there, but a 15% reduction seemed to make sense

38  I laid out the sails on a template and the traced the marks to a plain muslin .

 

39 here is the first one made and sewn onto the loops

40 and here we set up the main and see the deck cabins 

 

More to come

[Jond]

Post 6

Completed 2015 rigging exercise

 

This posting completes the look back into the work done on the RC version of this build through 2015. Following the build, I went on the Bluenose Journey and built and sailed the BHOD sloops. As I went through each stage of those builds, I came to the conclusion that it will be a challenge to fit this schooner out for RC.  We will talk about the specific issues  later, as I try to figure out what to do to get her wet.  Now back to the build

41 here we see the foot of the sails laced onto the boom and the birch plywood hoops. This is pretty normal although many RCs like to to use wire jack stays to hank the sails close to the boom.

 

42 looking down the deck we must figure how we will use a single servo to let out and pull in both the large main and the small fore sail.  Also I is apparte3nt I need to solve how to control the rudder. The rudder shaft comes up on deck near the mainsail horce on the transom

43  I added scale figure cut outs and a helm for looks.  This is my first home made wheel. I have learned a lot since then.

44 here we are preparing the foresail. Topsails and jibs are on the table too.

45 as on my other builds I frequent our local supplier Bluejacket for most of my loose fittings.   Working in this large scale I like the metal fittings.  

 

46 here the foresail is sewn onto the mast hoops

 

47 we see the value of the stronger fittings. This process is where I got into trying hemp craft line for bolt roping. It is ok at this scale but I had to redo it on the 1:24 scale bluenose as it was just too big

48 here goes the foresail

 

49 here is the attempt I made then to control the rudder.  The brass square tube penetrates the housing to an elevated servo.  Who knows, it might even work. the sail servo is set up too run lines on deck.   that is not normally done but access below decks at this stage did not allow for a simple solutions to be hidden.

 

50 up on the foredeck, I made some anchors, trail boards and the windlass / winch. 

 

51  here she is as she sat for several years in the middle of the sail loft in my old shop.  She is still over there today as part of the “staging” one needs to do for the hopeful  sale of my past home.  

 

 

Here is a summary of the long sage followed by a look forward

I bought this plan and kit in 2001.   I started the hull for the larger boat in the winter of 2005.   I restarted the build in 2007, as covered in this catch up log.   As of today, I could say I have 15 years into this project.  That is nuts and why I have taken it off the shelf so to speak.    My plans for this upcoming build are to peck away at the small 3/16-inch version with a focus on setting up the sails and rigging design before getting back tot he large version.   Next winter, though I will get into a few other projects as well, I have intent that one project is to complete the sails and rigging, so next summer we might try to sail her.

 

All for this catch up.  Next will be a some  progress on the rigging design model

[Jond]

Post 7

 

Let’s start the study model….1:64

 

Before we cut down the rigging and make the big boy attempt a water venture, I thought it wise to do some research on how these schooners worked and work on a study model to accomplish that goal.   Then or maybe if things change, I can take the study model and either leave it as it is or do some more work to honor the historical research.  That means like my other builds, I do not know at this stage what will come of the effort.

 

My planned time on this project is proportional to its current progress.  That means I expect to do a few other projects at the same time. This project is one I mean to complete it just must accept I have other priorities.   I hope to have this study model well progressed by the fall and then over next winter rework the larger version.  

 

So, let us get started on the study.  As a note I will number the photos on the study starting at 201 so they sort in the files

 

201 here we have the hull. That is about all I plan to use from the kit other than their material that went to general supplies.

202 after cleaning up the hull, adding the keel and stems etc. I added a water way and stanchions.  

203 as this is a study only, I am taking a few shortcuts.  For the rail I took a 1/16” piece of scrap plywood and traced it out. I made offsets and cut it out.   Since it will be painted, I am not worried about the edge. 

204 for the deck I used up a bunch of bass wood planks.  I then started to cutout blocks to shape for deck furniture

 

 

 I have to share this goof

 

205 working away I clad the two cabins and shaped the two masts ….then

 

OH I can ‘t believe it

 

206 this view shows what happens when you don’t focus on what your doing.  Yes I have redone the aft cabin since this revelation.

 

Next up is copper bottom

 

Jon

[Jond]

post 8

 

That last post I did on this build was June 2020.  At that time I was introduced to the opportunity to model Ernestina Morrissey , as the real one was being totally rebuilt in Town.  After the schooner Ernestina, along came the three masted schooner Ada Cliff ,and we lost another year.  

 

This Dancing Feather build was put aside that summer.  Before leaving her, I did the copper bottom and fixed the hatch on the main cabin.  Here are photos of the coppering that I took in July 2020 as she was being put to bed for a while.  I still find that working with the copper tape is hard to do, so I am humbled by what I see in so many other builds.   I can never get the tape to stick on its own.

 

 

Photos 207 to 212. Copper tape for the bottom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• 213.    Finally, here we see her sitting on a shelf where she has been patiently waiting for a restart.  

I am completing Ada Cliff over the next month or so and have been advised by the admiral that the bigger version of Dancing Feather looks like a wreck and needs to be salvaged or removed…..I guess we know what comes next.   

Stand by   work is coming soon.   
 

Edited May 30, 2022 by Jond

[Roger Pellett]

Jond,

 

Quite a while ago, Rob Napier built three models of Dancing Feather, each a different interpretation of available information.  One of these might be the model that you saw as I believe that he lives in Newburyport.  An article was published in the Nautical Research Journal discussing the models.

 

Roger

[Jond]

Thank you Roger.  I will research them.    I have all those cds with old issues.  My new apple iMac has no cd drive but I’ll figure it out.   I believe all the indexes are on pdf so I can find the issue that way as well.   
 

I am researching a brig the Torrent that way as well as it is my d

build next winter

 

cheers

[Roger Pellett]

The article is in Issue #33 of the Journal

[Jond]

Thank you Roger.   

 

I found that by setting up the cds on my old windows machine I could eventually get them on my new apple hard drive.  The new  imac sees them just fine.    I also found right next to the Dancing Feather article part 5 of an incredible treatise on the fishing schooner Elsie by the master Ronnberg.    I will savor them all as I found and then saved them to my fishing schooner library for future reading.   

 

I will study the article on DF and add that to my thinking process of what i want to represent in the study model and then the potential RC version. In a quick glance it seems he found as I have that all those sails shown in the sail plan were just not practical for the work of piloting.   more to come

 

Thank you so much for giving me the heads up

 

cheers

[Roger Pellett]

You’re Welcome.

 

Can you identify any of the models in the article as the one that you saw in Newburyport?

[Jond]

Roger

 

the model I saw was in the store named Piel Crafstman.  It was 2001. 

 

This image from the piels Craftsman website .   I feel confident this is the  model, still on their site , that I  saw in the case in 2001.   It showed all the sails set.  Surely for a race.

 

 

if one goes to the site today and then switches to AJ Fisher.....it is the same store.  They have moved apparently from Newburyport.   

 

 

this image is from the AJ Fisher website .....They now show a new model that does not  include the top masts nor topsails.  it is set up as I am finding the consensus to show.  on their website today they credit the model to...... Al Blevins.

 

I am thinking this view is closer to what I am aiming for.   the NRJ 1988 article has a perfect image and I will get into that next month as this project truly begins again.

 

 

 

cheers 

 

c

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Hi Jond,

you did a great job there, the exchangeable rudder for RC and the extra keel for lateral balance. Can imagine her on the way over the lake or pond

 

Nils

[Jond]

thank you Nils. i have recently reviewed your recent build and loved it too

 

I have successfully used the add on keel and add on rudder for several RC models.  this one having been started before I had much idea of what I needed to do, may never make the sea.   there is no way now to get under the deck to run lines.  to run line on the deck is fine for a RC sloop  but for a schooner with a third servo to run the head sails , i am not sure it will work.  

 

thanks for your encouragement.

[Jond]

Post 9

 

Get the big old version fixed up and back on display or take her to the attic

 

Last winter, in January, I thought I had plenty of time before now to both complete the 3/16 in to ft scale version and the ¾ in to ft scale version.  Well too many other things were going, so to avoid taking the big one to the attic, I got it sort of done and back in the gallery.  I then set the small one back up on the shelf.  

One of my diversions is the research I am doing to give a lecture this summer on the shipyards of Boothbay.  With all that study now done, it is hard to focus on Massachusetts vessels….ha ha

Any way with a few photos below I show the updated status “ to look at” rigging is done and she is resting comfortably.   The “to make it sail” rigging was started but truthfully is laying on the deck for another day.   This build may indeed set a record for duration

 

Here below we see the spring effort

 

• 214    
• the starting point to just stand up the masts.

 

• 215.  
•  all rigged and set in new resting place.

 

• 216   
• a look at the bow rigging .

 

• 217     
• turning new belaying pins.

 

• 218   
• tapering belaying pins for setting

 

• 219.     
• Rail with new pins and line tied off.   Here I started to make coils, but then thought…if this is a RC sailable model, are the working lines to be working or made fast and coiled etc.  all for another time

 

• 220.   
• here she sits in front of old Charles Norton. My recent schooner   Ada Cliff just went downtown for the summer, so the gallery is a bit thin

I am off to a new build so this one must rest again

Cheers 
 

Edited May 31, 2022 by Jond