Flying Fish by gak1965 - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:96

[Jared]

Nice progress.  Don’t know the answer about the boats. 

[ClipperFan]

 

20 hours ago, Jared said:

George K that's beautiful work on the chain plates. I especially appreciate your clever mounting jig enabling you to keep mounting points consistent. Since you're working on these, I thought it might be helpful to see how these items appeared on the vessel herself. Courtesy of author Michael Mjelde, here's a 1907 image series of McKay Clipper "Glory of the Seas" docked at San Pedro. Besides clearly showing chain plates, these pics show all of her boats mounted right side up. However in earlier photos, ship's boats on the forward house were typically stored face down. 

Edited March 15, 2022 by ClipperFan
additional information

[rwiederrich]

Interesting Rich......I never noticed this before, or if I did, I dismissed it....but I see some type of bracket beneath the lower channel, between the first and second, fourth and fifth and the tenth and eleventh chain plates?   Interesting......Seams to be on all three masts plates.......

 

Can you confirm this on any other images of her?

 

Rob

[Rick310]

I believe that these are brackets supporting the lower channel. These are shown on the plans for the flying fish.

[Rick310]

Note brackets under the chain plates

[rwiederrich]

Sweet job for sure Rick310.

 

Beautiful finish....clean and precise.

 

Rob

[Rick310]

Thanks Rob. I started this model 40 years ago when it was a solid hull model

[gak1965]

52 minutes ago, Rick310 said:

Note brackets under the chain plates

Concur with @rwiederrich that is nice looking.

[gak1965]

59 minutes ago, Rick310 said:

I believe that these are brackets supporting the lower channel. These are shown on the plans for the flying fish.

 

As you say, they are on the plans for the lower channel. I'm going to put them in once the rest of the plates are on. Am I seeing correctly that you switched to smaller brass strip for the last three stays? I may need to buy some intermediate size strip for those as I don't think I can readily drill a holes a hole in the narrow strip from the kit

[Rick310]

Those are actually copper strips .02 at 1/32 width that I cut on the Byrnes table saw .  I used a center punch and hand drilled the holes with a #75 drill bit per EdT modified  to my limited ability and lack of experience.  The other chain plates are3/64 wide

[rwiederrich]

3 hours ago, Rick310 said:

Thanks Rob. I started this model 40 years ago when it was a solid hull model

Rick…..do you have a build log?

 

Rob

[Rick310]

I am still trying to figure out how to do that I am a technological dinosaur

[ClipperFan]

5 hours ago, rwiederrich said:

Interesting Rich......I never noticed this before, or if I did, I dismissed it....but I see some type of bracket beneath the lower channel, between the first and second, fourth and fifth and the tenth and eleventh chain plates?   Interesting......Seams to be on all three masts plates.......

 

Can you confirm this on any other images of her?

 

Rob

Rob,

Not only can I confirm these few shorter iron mounts on Glory, there's another McKay Clipper "Sovereign of the Seas" (most likely II) that's equipped with them too.

[ClipperFan]

3 hours ago, rwiederrich said:

Rick…..do you have a build log?

 

Rob

Rick310 I agree with Rob. If you have a build log, do please share it with us.

[gak1965]

9 hours ago, Rick310 said:

Those are actually copper strips .02 at 1/32 width that I cut on the Byrnes table saw .  I used a center punch and hand drilled the holes with a #75 drill bit per EdT modified  to my limited ability and lack of experience.  The other chain plates are3/64 wide

The plates on my Fish are 0.03 x 1/16. I will see about some 3/64 strip for the smaller ones. 

[gak1965]

It's been about 3 weeks since I've done an update. A combination of things has slowed everything down, ranging from some extra efforts needed with work to training for the Cherry Blossom 10 mile race that was last weekend. As I age, the miles take longer and cost more. Plus, for some reason making the chain plates has been something of a blocker for me. 

 

As I mentioned in previous posts, there are three sizes of deadeyes attached to the chain plates for all three masts. The largest deadeyes use 1/16" wide brass strip which is wide enough to drill for the nails that are representing the bolts. They are 6 inches at scale and that seems about right for the size of the deadeyes. I'm using 1/32" wide brass (so 3" at scale) for the smallest of the deadeyes (these are for the backstays in the upper works). They seem right but I don't have either a drill press or other obvious means of cutting holes in the strip to push the nails through. I've worked out a method for dealing with those (more anon). There seemed to be no intermediate size of brass strip available for the lower backstays. However, @MrBlueJacket from sent me a small test strip of 1/16 by 1/64 Britannia strip. Even though it's the same width as the brass, it just looks different and somehow right for the intermediate size chain plates. Once my order arrives I'll start on those.

 

 

The pic above shows the chainplates on the port mizzen. The four large ones are in place, and the three smallest. What I wound up doing was stropping the deadeyes with some 34 gauge steel wire and then bending the 1/32 brass strip through the strop, covering the area where I wound the strop with the bend of the brass (if that makes sense). Then I put bent the brass, installed it in the channels, and cut it off where I wanted the top "bolt" (i.e. the nail) to sit. I used a bit of CA glue to attach the bottom of the plate to the hull. I then took a 5 mm strip of blackened 1/32" brass that represented the preventer and glued it to the hull about 1 mm from the bottom of the plate, and in line with the direction that the plate was facing. I could then drill two small holes, one between the plate and one below the "preventer", and glue nails into the holes. It's not perfect, but I think it works.

 

Where I am now with the plates is that I've done all of the shroud plates on the port side of the ship and the first three of the upper backstays. There are 6 lower backstay plates and another 6 of the upper backstay plates, but having worked out how to make them all, I feel more confident about moving forward. I expect to display the starboard side, so this was the "practice" side, and I've learned some good lessons for when I move to the other side of the ship. Below is a (terrible) photo of where she stands now. I couldn't get the light right, the point is that the chainplates are coming along, if slowly.

 

 

I've been doing some other steps as well. I've been adding the mast hoops to the fore mast, and will move to the main once that is done. I've also started fabricating the mast tops, that will be coming soon. I added the ladder from the main to forecastle, which I am oddly, and perhaps strangely proud. The ladder is a bit chunky (that's what happens when you don't use the fittings, I suppose), but what I'm proud of you can see in the photo below. I made the railing out of chain and 4 jackstay eyebolts. I don't know if the real ship had chain railings, but somehow I thought that they might, so I took some of the rigging chain and attached it to blackened eyebolts. As an aside, you can see the lowest of the mast hoops in the photo as well (all the paintings show the masts as painted white (including the hoops) so they are going on prior to painting.

 

 

As always, thanks for looking in!

 

Regards,

George K

 

 

[BrianK]

Looks gret George!

 

Neat trick for hiding wire strop twists. I will file that tidbit away (along with the many others you have supplied !)

 

BrianK

[mbp521]

George, she is coming along very nicely. I love the description of “practice side” as being the non-display side. I’ll have to keep that term in mind. 😀

 

-Brian

[ClipperFan]

21 hours ago, gak1965 said:

It's been about 3 weeks since I've done an update. A combination of things has slowed everything down, ranging from some extra efforts needed with work to training for the Cherry Blossom 10 mile race that was last weekend. As I age, the miles take longer and cost more. Plus, for some reason making the chain plates has been something of a blocker for me. 

 

As I mentioned in previous posts, there are three sizes of deadeyes attached to the chain plates for all three masts. The largest deadeyes use 1/16" wide brass strip which is wide enough to drill for the nails that are representing the bolts. They are 6 inches at scale and that seems about right for the size of the deadeyes. I'm using 1/32" wide brass (so 3" at scale) for the smallest of the deadeyes (these are for the backstays in the upper works). They seem right but I don't have either a drill press or other obvious means of cutting holes in the strip to push the nails through. I've worked out a method for dealing with those (more anon). There seemed to be no intermediate size of brass strip available for the lower backstays. However, @MrBlueJacket from sent me a small test strip of 1/16 by 1/64 Britannia strip. Even though it's the same width as the brass, it just looks different and somehow right for the intermediate size chain plates. Once my order arrives I'll start on those.

 

 

The pic above shows the chainplates on the port mizzen. The four large ones are in place, and the three smallest. What I wound up doing was stropping the deadeyes with some 34 gauge steel wire and then bending the 1/32 brass strip through the strop, covering the area where I wound the strop with the bend of the brass (if that makes sense). Then I put bent the brass, installed it in the channels, and cut it off where I wanted the top "bolt" (i.e. the nail) to sit. I used a bit of CA glue to attach the bottom of the plate to the hull. I then took a 5 mm strip of blackened 1/32" brass that represented the preventer and glued it to the hull about 1 mm from the bottom of the plate, and in line with the direction that the plate was facing. I could then drill two small holes, one between the plate and one below the "preventer", and glue nails into the holes. It's not perfect, but I think it works.

 

Where I am now with the plates is that I've done all of the shroud plates on the port side of the ship and the first three of the upper backstays. There are 6 lower backstay plates and another 6 of the upper backstay plates, but having worked out how to make them all, I feel more confident about moving forward. I expect to display the starboard side, so this was the "practice" side, and I've learned some good lessons for when I move to the other side of the ship. Below is a (terrible) photo of where she stands now. I couldn't get the light right, the point is that the chainplates are coming along, if slowly.

 

 

I've been doing some other steps as well. I've been adding the mast hoops to the fore mast, and will move to the main once that is done. I've also started fabricating the mast tops, that will be coming soon. I added the ladder from the main to forecastle, which I am oddly, and perhaps strangely proud. The ladder is a bit chunky (that's what happens when you don't use the fittings, I suppose), but what I'm proud of you can see in the photo below. I made the railing out of chain and 4 jackstay eyebolts. I don't know if the real ship had chain railings, but somehow I thought that they might, so I took some of the rigging chain and attached it to blackened eyebolts. As an aside, you can see the lowest of the mast hoops in the photo as well (all the paintings show the masts as painted white (including the hoops) so they are going on prior to painting.

 

 

As always, thanks for looking in!

 

Regards,

George K

 

 

George K, nice descriptions of the complex work necessary to create scale chain plates. It gives me a greater appreciation for the work done behind the scenes. The chains on the ladder make total sense. Rob discovered that Glory also had metal rails that went clear across the rear of the forecastle deck too an item which hardly ever gets depicted. . 

[gak1965]

Another update coming soon. In the interim, a question and a palate cleanser.

 

The question - has anyone used Model Expo's replacement parts line before? I seem to be short on some of the brass - don't know whether I've just used it wrong or if there wasn't enough. I sent an inquiry via the 'missing parts' page. Recognizing that I'm not sure why I'm short, I let them know that I'd pay for the brass, but the strip is not available as a separate, purchasable item from their catalog. I haven't heard anything since - do they usually respond, just send the parts, ignore everything? I've vaguely heard good things about this, so the radio silence is a surprise.

 

The palate cleanser. Over the weekend I was fortunate enough to spend a day doing restoration/maintenance on the Thomas Point Shoal lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay off of Annapolis, MD. Built in 1875, accessible only by boat, it was the last manned lighthouse on the bay, not being automated until 1986 (!). Just a couple of snaps of the lighthouse and the gray haired rogues gallery that went out to work on it. The boat is a wooden Chesapeake Deadrise that started life as a crabber.

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend,

George K

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by gak1965

[mbp521]

33 minutes ago, gak1965 said:

has anyone used Model Expo's replacement parts line before? I seem to be short on some of the brass - whether I've just used it wrong or not. I sent an inquiry via the 'missing parts' page

George,

 

I've used their replacement line on a couple of occasions and I have to say that it is quick and painless. I have dealt with Ed each time and he is very good at getting the parts out to you, for the most part, within a week. Nothing but good things to say about it.

 

Thanks for sharing the pictures of your trip, Looks like a good time. Looking forward to your updates.

 

-Brian

[ClipperFan]

George, I can't answer your question about Model Expo's replacement service, since I've never dealt with them. However, if your kit was new when purchased, I would let them know that. Reputable companies will supply some parts free of charge as long as they know you're not trying to rip them off.

Thanks for the fun pics of your maintenance trip. That 1875 lighthouse structure is really neat. If you have more scenes of that, I'd like to see them. Out of pure curiosity, any idea how much of the original building is left?

[gak1965]

6 hours ago, ClipperFan said:

Out of pure curiosity, any idea how much of the original building is left?

Uh oh, I think we are heading into Ship of Theseus territory here, and that is not the ship I'm modeling 😀.

 

Short answer is I don't know.

 

Longer answer is that the light was renovated and repaired/updated over the 111 years it was occupied. So, for example, the Fresnel lens is obviously no longer in place, and it is lighted and rotated by a set of large batteries, the weight system that used to run it are gone, the furniture is period correct if not original, etc. And, well, it's a wooden structure in the middle of the bay.

 

     In fact, we were there that day to remove and replace the shutters, scrape the paint under the shutters and paint the underlying wood so it wouldn't get damaged while the new shutters were being cut to size (they are apparently all slightly different). We identified at least 3 or 4 pieces that would have to be replaced due to water damage when the shutters came off, so you get the picture.

 

    So the medium answer is probably the screw piles, some of the structural elements, and a decent amount of the interior (you can see where someone plugged the hole in the floors where the weights used to descend, for example), but I doubt much of the external cladding is original.

[gak1965]

Some more photos. Not that this will surprise anyone, but the protuberance on the left is a privy. All water comes from cisterns fed from the roof which I can tell you is not free of gull excreta. it's possible that it used to be less of an issue, but they lived rough back in the day.

[ClipperFan]

George K, thanks for the additional pics. Kudos to you and your group for continuing a fine history of maintaining such an interesting historical structure. It looks like from the outset, the designers wanted to provide their Lighthouse Keepers with an ability to view 360 degrees around their vicinity. That must be why those fascinating cupolas are in every wall of the building. Cool building overall.

[BobG]

19 hours ago, gak1965 said:

Not that this will surprise anyone, but the protuberance on the left is a privy. All water comes from cisterns fed from the roof which I can tell you is not free of gull excreta. it's possible that it used to be less of an issue, but they lived rough back in the day.

Yuck! I'm sure the privy got plenty of use after drinking that water!!

[gak1965]

A short update on the progress of the Fish. For some reason, the chain plates and deadeyes were turning into a bit of a blocker for me. However, I received the material for making the plates for the lower backstays from BlueJacket and so no excuse. I have finished channels and plates on the port (or as I called it earlier the non-display or "practice") side of the ship - 16 for the shrouds, 6 for lower backstays and 9 for the upper backstays. The starboard side should now follow pretty shortly. The photos below show them reasonably well. I started with the main, moved to the mizzen and then finished with the fore, and you can see that the practice helped. The mounts on the hull are a lot straighter by the time I got to the fore, so hopefully that will continue on the 'display side.

 

 

While that has been going on I've been continuing to work on the masts. As you can see in the image below I've added the cheeks to both the fore and main, and have begun putting on the mast bands prior to painting. I had thought about having the mast bands be black iron, but the available evidence (the Butterworth and Chinese painting) all suggest that the bands were painted with the lower masts, so white they will be. The main isn't fully banded yet because I ran out of brass of the right size - however, I got an email about an hour ago from Model Shipways indicating that they are shipping me some additional brass in response to my request, so that should be resolved pretty soon. I had earlier asked about people's experiences with their part replacement policy and it appears that I am another satisfied customer. 

 

 

Finally - as hinted in the above, I've been building the mast tops. The photo below shows the fore and main, more or less ready to mount on the cheeks. The mizzen just has the two laser cut pieces, I'll get it soon enough. The holes for the fairleads and the futtock shrouds are already in place. The real ship has an iron band on the outer edge of the upper side of the top, which I will add once it is painted. I'm debating using pre-bent 1/32 square stock or some 24 gauge black steel wire. The steel wire is about 1.5" at scale, the wood stock is 3" at scale. I'll probably try both and glue the one that looks best.

 

 

You can also see that I am working on the jibboom. It's drilled, it just needs another "iron" band and 3 eyebolts and it will be ready to mount.

 

So, the plan moving forward has three things going on at once - doing the chain plates on the starboard side, finishing the lower masts and tops, and starting to rig the bowsprit. I've chosen to conclude that this allows me to make progress in several areas while things are drying rather than suggesting that I have a disorganized mind and un-diagnosed ADHD. That is my story and I am sticking with it, plus I find that adding line tends to get me motivated to do more. Actually make that 4 - there are a few things left to do on the hull (a couple of ladders, lashing down the 3 ships boats, maybe emplacing the myriad belaying pins).

 

Anyway - thanks for looking in and for the encouragement and likes.

 

Regards,

George K

 

 

 

[rwiederrich]

Fantastic job…..she is clean and looking swell.  I’m glad the chain plate issue has been resolved successfully.   
 

Rob

[ClipperFan]

George K, thanks for giving us your insight into the challenges you face and how you're successfully resolving them. Like Rob, you're consistently doing a masterful job in your build.

[Rick310]

Really well done!  I especially like the way the masts and tops came out.  Great technique,  something I’m looking forward to and somewhat dreading.