GLAD TIDINGS 1937 by shipphotographer.com - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:24 - Pinky Schooner - just a christmas present

[Bob Cleek]

On 11/2/2020 at 4:42 PM, shipphotographer.com said:

Thank you! 

At the expense of insects, I can not say anything - all my models have display-cases. So they are protected from accidents, dust, especially from cats and including insects ...

I would be concerned that using vegetable starches might promote and occasion for mold to develop in environments having high humidity.

 

[shipphotographer.com]

On 11/8/2020 at 5:12 PM, Bob Cleek said:

I would be concerned that using vegetable starches might promote and occasion for mold to develop in environments having high humidity.

 

There were no such problems on my models! Even on the one standing in the sauna - there the mast began to deform from humidity but the sails do not react (probably because they are painted with bitumen varnish).

[Matt D]

I'm late to this build, but I'm going to follow so I don't miss your final video.  Outstanding work and fantastic videos!  

[Bob Cleek]

40 minutes ago, shipphotographer.com said:

There were no such problems on my models! Even on the one standing in the sauna - there the mast began to deform from humidity but the sails do not react (probably because they are painted with bitumen varnish).

Yes, I'd expect that the varnish would prevent any moisture problems, but keeping a model in the sauna? What were you thinking? :D  (I'm sure we've all had similar learning experiences!)

 

[shipphotographer.com]

On 11/10/2020 at 1:53 PM, Matt D said:

I'm late to this build, but I'm going to follow so I don't miss your final video.  Outstanding work and fantastic videos!  

Thank you!
It's never too late to join!

[shipphotographer.com]

On 11/10/2020 at 2:01 PM, Bob Cleek said:

Yes, I'd expect that the varnish would prevent any moisture problems, but keeping a model in the sauna? What were you thinking? (I'm sure we've all had similar learning experiences!)

 

I sold the model. The new owner put it in the sauna and even without a display case! Six months later, he invited me for a restoration and agreed to make a case. Then she was transported to the Czech Republic - I hope not to the sauna ...

 

[Bob Cleek]

4 hours ago, shipphotographer.com said:

I sold the model. The new owner put it in the sauna and even without a display case! Six months later, he invited me for a restoration and agreed to make a case. Then she was transported to the Czech Republic - I hope not to the sauna ...

 

My God! What a story. What was he thinking, then? You must have wanted to kill him.  

[shipphotographer.com]

11 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

My God! What a story. What was he thinking, then? You must have wanted to kill him.  

Oh yes - my heart was bleeding ...

[shipphotographer.com]

[shipphotographer.com]

 

[Bob Cleek]

I realize that the anchors are those provided by the kit manufacturer, but, although I am quite familiar with many boats of this relatively modern boat's era, I've never seen a wooden stocked anchor with the stock passing through a square hole or band through the shank as these Model Shipways anchors do. (Not to mention that wooden stocks on anchors of any size were long obsolete by the time Glad Tidings was built.) That isn't to say there never was such a thing, but this is the first I've ever seen of one in more years than I'd like to admit at this point in my life. It would seem that the manufacturing of such an anchor would be a lot of trouble for not much, if any, benefit and add unnecessary weight. Generally, a late 1930's boat of this size would, contemporary with her launching, carry a standard folding "fisherman" anchor with a metal stock that slid through the shank such that the stock could be positioned to lay alongside the shank when the anchor was stowed flat on the deck, rather than slung on the rail. This was a big improvement over fixed stock anchors and became near universally employed when they became available. In my experience, wooden stocks, when employed, were fitted in pieces over the shank of the anchor and never through the shank.  

 

I want to stress that this is no criticism of the model, which is beautifully done. Just a question about a note of historical accuracy. If anybody knows of this unusual stock design, I'd be interested in hearing more about it. Howard I. Chapelle designed Glad Tidings as his own personal yacht and he knew what he was doing. Perhaps he wanted anchors that looked "old fashioned," but that's just a guess, and, if so, why didn't just make them to fit around the shank as usual?

 

Standard galvanized folding stock "fisherman" anchor as assembled for use:

 

 

Folding stock "fisherman" anchor folded:

 

http://www.herreshoffregistry.org/forum/images/Anchor_1.JPG

 

Folding stock "fisherman" anchor stowed as read for deployment:

 

 

Folding stock "fisherman's" anchor as stowed long-term on deck pads made of wood, or, as here, of cast metal:

 

(Note, the picture merely shows how the pads were commonly placed, but the anchor and pads are here obviously just laying on a hardwood floor, not a boat deck, for photographing. Pad eyes,  were usually set into the deck. Lashings would be rove through the pad eyes and around the shank and/or fluke arms to secure the anchor to the deck.)

 

 

Or stowed below, here in a lazarette locker:

 

 

Herreshoff patent three-piece anchor:

 

Note unique features: Stock runs through the shank and the shackle eyes with cotter pins holding stock in place outside of shackle eyes on each side and the flukes at the crown in this example. (Other examples used a key rather than a pin.) 

 

 

 

 

Herreshoff three-piece patent anchor parts disassembled:

 

Note flared lower end of the shank against which the flukes fetch up. One distinctive advantage of the Herreshoff patent anchors was that because they could be broken down into their component parts, the design was particularly well suited for use as heavy, and (hopefully) infrequently used storm anchors which could be stored, disassembled, in the bilges, keeping the weight low in the vessel and being more easily capable of getting from the bilge to the deck in parts before assembly. In this fashion, a 150 pound storm anchor could pretty easily be brought on deck in fifty pound increments that were easily moved about below, unlike a 150 pound anchor with fixed flukes, shank, and stock.

 

 

Chapelle was an accomplished yachtsman and at the time he designed and had Glad Tidings built, it would have been quite possible he equipped her with Herreshoff patent anchors as they were, for their time, the most efficient and reliable anchors available, pound for pound, due to their scientific engineering.  Here's an extensive article on the Herreshoff patent anchors, if anyone wishes more information on them:  https://www.woodenboat.com/herreshoff-three-piece-stock-anchor

 

Obviously, the fixed stock anchors supplied with the kit leave no other practical option for stowage but slung over the rails port and starboard, as shown in the plans. Were folding stock anchors actually carried on the prototype, they would never have been stowed over the rails in fixed-stock fashion when under sail, except on short trips between anchorages as such a stowage arrangement invites chafe and topside gouges and presents the risk of sheet fouling when tacking, which is less of a consideration in vessels sheeting the jib on a traveler, as does this one.

 

Anchor rodes should, at a minimum, be eight times the depth of the deepest water in which the vessel is expected to anchor. If, for example, the greatest anchorage depth expected is thirty feet, 240 feet of anchor rode would be required. While it's difficult to know for sure from the photos, it appears the rodes attached to the anchors are nowhere close to 240 scale feet. One might carry the total rode required in separate lengths, for ease of stowage. However, in any event, the rodes would never be carried on deck "flemished" (coiled flat) as depicted when under sail. The rodes would not run free from the outside of the coil, as depicted and one flush of green water over the foredeck would instantly turn those flemished mats into a tangled mess strewn up and down the waterways. (Normally, they would be run through a chain pipe on deck to a rode locker below, or stowed below separate from the anchor when not in use.)  Flemishing was an affectation employed on naval ships when dressed for inspection, frequently seen on the falls of the gun tackles, but never done during operations. A fouled gun tackle fall, e.g. a hockle jammed in a block, can put a gun out of commission for as long as it takes to remedy, thereby reducing it's rate of fire.

 

So, I offer these thoughts not as any gratuitous criticism of what is a masterfully built model and a beautifully presented build log, but out of genuine intellectual curiosity and in the possible event that the kit plans, even from a manufacturer as highly regarded as Model Shipways, may contain an historical error. I readily acknowledge that it's entirely possible that I may be "whistling into the wind." I gave it some thought and figured that I might have something to share on the subject and because I believe it is more collegially helpful to question apparent errors gracefully to say nothing. This may be a topic for a separate thread sometime, but I'll mention in closing that my own "rule of thumb" is that if I think that an apparent minor issue with a model is one which could mean the difference between a win and an "also ran" in a competition, I'll say something because if I were in the modeler's shoes, I'd appreciate someone bringing it to my attention. Little is to be learned by the large number of congratulatory posts so often seen in other modeling forums. They generate a lot of warmth, but little light.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ryland Craze]

Beautiful and highly crafted model.  I have enjoyed this build log and the videos and have learned so much from your techniques.

[shipphotographer.com]

1 hour ago, Bob Cleek said:

Just a question about a note of historical accuracy.

I also had my doubts of these anchors! But then I found proof in the book:

 

[shipphotographer.com]

1 hour ago, Ryland Craze said:

Beautiful and highly crafted model.  I have enjoyed this build log and the videos and have learned so much from your techniques.

Thank you very much!

 

[Bob Cleek]

5 hours ago, shipphotographer.com said:

I also had my doubts of these anchors! But then I found proof in the book:

 

 

Well, your doubts show you were thinking!  

 

I have that book in my research library, but it's been years since I've opened it. The anchor pictured didn't register on my mind when I read the book. That anchor would be a tricky bit of ship smithing to craft. Note, however, that the anchor in the book, above, is nearly ten feet long from top to bottom! That's a seriously large anchor as might be found on an early Grand Banks fishing schooner three times as long as Glad Tidings. The working anchors on the 39' Glad Tidings probably wouldn't be any longer top to bottom than about four feet and wouldn't warrant the sort of forging sophistication that a ten foot tall anchor would, particularly not in 1937 when Glad Tidings was built and folding stock anchors of the proper size could be bought "off the shelf" in any chandlery in the country. 

 

So, I did a bit of internet sleuthing and ... 

 

Model Shipways "busted !"

 

The Model Shipways model of the fishing schooner Benjamin W. Latham (http://site.nature-crafts.com/MS2109-Benjamin_Latham-Instructions.pdf) at the scale of 1/4" to the foot apparently uses the same anchor casting part (illustrated at figure 31 in the instructions) for the anchor on their Glad Tidings model at the scale of 1/2" to the foot.  The Latham was 84 feet long, about half the size of Glad Tidings, so the 84' Latham's 10 foot tall anchor at 1/4" to the foot would be about 5 foot tall at 1/2" to the foot scale, close enough to pass off as the right size for their '39 Glad Tidings model scaled at 1/2" to the foot!  The instructions for Model Shipways' model of the 143' Grand Banks schooner Bluenose at 3/16" to the foot (https://modelexpo-online.com/assets/images/MS2130_Bluenose NEW 7-15-20.pdf) comments at note 14, "Model Shipways' Grand Bank's anchors have Britannia shanks, but make their stocks from stripwood."

 

The Model Shipways Glad Tidings parts list lists two "Anchor Shanks" as parts WP8150. 

 

Sure enough! Here's the Model Shipways Glad Tidings anchor as part number WP5801, "Anchor Shanks," on their Bluenose model (https://suburbanshipmodeler.com/2017/04/09/anchors/) :

 

 

 

 

See: http://modelshipbuilder.com/e107_files/public/1554385959_5618_FT33665_img_0454a.jpg

 

 

And here it is again as part number WP7124 on Model Shipways' Grand Banks schooner Benjamin W. Latham model:

 

 

 

 

The casting of a folding stock anchor, particularly one with a stock that actually worked, would be a daunting, and, to the manufacturer's thinking, unnecessarily expensive detail. Kit manufacturers frequently use the same small parts in different kits, a practice that often results in gross errors of scale, although I've never seen an error in the type of a part, as here. It looks like all Model Shipways did was use an anchor which was style and period correct for their Grand Banks fishing schooners at twice the prototype size of Glad Tidings which was twice the scale of the Grand Banks schooner models. The size of the anchors Model Shipways provides for Glad Tidings is correct, or close to it, but the type and period of the anchors aren't correct at all.

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2020 by Bob Cleek

[shipphotographer.com]

7 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

Model Shipways "busted !"

Smashed to pieces)))

[Bob Cleek]

5 hours ago, shipphotographer.com said:

Smashed to pieces)))

 

In American English, "busted" not only means "broken," but also, in slang, "arrested by  the police" or "caught in the commission of a crime."   

 

I enjoyed doing the detective work!

 

Several model part companies make suitably sized sliding stock metal anchors, so they're readily available. See: https://www.castyouranchorhobby.com/Category/KedgeAnchor; https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/amati_anchors.html

Edited November 14, 2020 by Bob Cleek

[shipphotographer.com]

Final photo session:

[Keith Black]

Olha, Glad Tidings really turned out swell, job well done! Do you have a model in mind for your next project? 

[ccoyle]

Beautiful! Your ship modeling skills are matched by your photography skills.

[shipphotographer.com]

49 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

Olha, Glad Tidings really turned out swell, job well done! Do you have a model in mind for your next project? 

Thank you! Right now I'm thinking about which to choose the next project ...

[shipphotographer.com]

20 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

Beautiful! Your ship modeling skills are matched by your photography skills.

Thank you very much!

[Ryland Craze]

Your Glad Tidings turned out beautiful.  I have enjoyed following your build and your videos. Be sure to post these pictures in the Gallery for all to see.

[shipphotographer.com]

14 hours ago, Ryland Craze said:

Your Glad Tidings turned out beautiful.  I have enjoyed following your build and your videos. Be sure to post these pictures in the Gallery for all to see.

Thank you very much!
Okay, I'll try to deal with the gallery ...)))

 

[BobG]

Stunningly beautiful! I'm looking forward to your next ship model.

[pwog]

I don't know how I missed this log. You are a true craftswoman! Exquisite!

[JpR62]

Wonderful ship model and the photos are superb. 

I really appreciated being able to visualize your techniques and tricks in your videos.

Thank you ! I look forward to following your next build.

[jwvolz]

That finished up beautifully. Those sails are just exquisite works of art on their own!

[Ryland Craze]

Olha, I was just looking at your pictures in the Gallery and thought that I would share the link to your album.  Your pictures are really crisp and clear and bring out the many details in your Glad Tidings.

 

 

[Jeffb]

Olha, your builds are masterpieces and your posts and videos are very instructive.

 

Thanks for sharing.