Introduction / Planning a rebuild

[BobMcM]

Good Evening- This ship model was on the fireplace mantle while I was growing up until it was sadly damaged and the rigging lost. I still have the solid wood hull and some of the attaching parts pictured.
 
This model does not appear to have a high level of finish and most components appeared to have been nailed to the hull.  The base has some writing (hard to read) penciled underneath:
 
KAMIHS (?)
Thompson Me
1874
Capt Meil (?)
 
I have been planning a rebuild for years and now looking to Model Ship World for information on a sail plan that may be close enough to use as a guide. To my eye, the size and scale of 1:96 Flying Fish looks close but I will defer to more experienced modelers.

I have tools, some patience and experience building model kits since I was a kid,  so looking for your insights and experience before I muck the whole thing up.   
 Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
 
Bob

 

[Jim Lad]

Hello Bob, and a warm welcome to the forum from 'Down Under'.

 

That looks a really interesting old model and well worth restoring.  Information on rigging of the period is pretty easily available, so you should be able to do a good job on her.

 

John

[Keithbrad80]

Welcome to MSW Bob!

 

Im actually building a 1:96 flying fish right now, the hull of your model does look similar to mine, although the location of some of the deck furniture seems off, . Unfortunately I don't know a lot about models from the 1870s, if thats the year this was built. There are a lot of models on the market that don't represent any actual ship, they were just built to look good and people love buying them, IMO I’m not sure this is one of those ships, due to your model having some details like a capstan and deck houses. You do have a nice model, and if it is a 1:96 Flying Fish I have a lot of available information for you!

 

Bradley

[BobMcM]

Thanks for the welcome. The position of the deck houses was simply a guess and have not been glued (or nailed) down. Thx again.

Bob

[Louie da fly]

Welcome the MSW, Bob!

 

That's a really nice model, and well worth fixing up.

 

First word of advice - go slowly, don't hurry into anything. There are a few decisions to make - do you want to clean her, or leave her with that (rather beautiful) patina?

 

Next word of advice - do a search (top right hand corner of this page) for the words restoration, restoring etc. You should find some very good build logs of models other people have restored (I'm doing one myself) and pick up some valuable information that should help you in your own project.

 

Third word - start a build log. It's a wonderful way to get help and advice from the friendly crew here. And I'm sure a lot of people will be fascinated by the model and your work on her. Yours is really a "scratch-build", even though you're repairing an existing model - the instructions for starting a build log are here: 

 

 

And look at other builds of similar ship models, check out the "masts and rigging" section of this forum, and look for photos and representations of similar ships as a guide (Google is your friend in this regard, as is Pinterest).

 

And above all, have fun with it! That's what it's all about, after all.

 

Good to have you aboard.

 

Steven

[BobMcM]

Thank you Steven- your words of advice are just the type of guidance needed. I will dive in and likely come back with more questions! 

Bob

[Jaager]

If you do a deep search into the vessel name, location and captain - you have a high probability of discovering that the vessel is not a clipper.

The time of the clippers was 20 years earlier.

The hull looks a bit short and small to be rigged as a clipper.

A combination of schooner and ship rig had become popular because a smaller crew was needed.

I would bet, the fore was square rigged and the mizzen was schooner rigged.  The main? Flip a coin, but I bet schooner.

Rather than directly use a commercial kit rigging plan, go to the same sources that they used.  There are several books on rigging that were published about that time.  There are books for modelers that extracted and made systematic the information from those original sources.  

For the large and cutthroat sailing ships, an age of ugliness in rigging was coming into use around 1874 = steel lines, chain, turnbuckles.  An actual clipper in 1874 probably was rigged using the new tech.   I am betting that the model that you have is a bit more prosaic.  The rigging was probably still natural fiber. Any further information is likely to provide an identification for the actual rig. 

A barque is easier to rig.

[BobMcM]

Thanks for the challenge Jaager- After some additional internet research I now believe the base says Thomaston (vs. Thompson) Maine. History is a wormhole and it is amazing how much time goes by when searching.