Hannah by Mike_In_RI - 1:48 scale - Plans by Randle Biddle published by Nautical Research Journal

[lmagna]

Looking very nice Mike. Good to see you are still having time for your build.

[Mike_In_RI]

Thanks you all for the likes. I appreciate them.

 

Lou, "time" ... yes, that's the question. Spring has sprung and our neighborhood is sorely lacking teenagers looking for yard work!

 

Mike

 

 

[lmagna]

57 minutes ago, Mike_In_RI said:

Spring has sprung and our neighborhood is sorely lacking teenagers looking for yard work!

We have much the same here........... including my live-at-home ones! Instead I have had to add to my retirement chores by driving my older teen back and forth to his first job several times a week now. We are also looking at sponsoring a Ukrainian single mother who is trying to get out with her son.................... (A childhood friend of a neighbor who came to the US a few years ago) Maybe he mows lawns!  We are getting so much rain this year that watching the lawn grow is an action sport! 

Edited June 13, 2022 by lmagna

[Mike_In_RI]

Here I am in the basement where it is nice and cool, avoiding the high temperature and dew point outside.

'Just a short update. Today's shots show the Randy Biddle Hannah with the cabin completed sans a rocking chair which I though might make the area look too busy. I had a lot of fun making the cabin but it sure took a while to get it done.

 

The quarterdeck beams are now fixed in place along with the connecting timbers. A rudder trunk rises from the inside counter to the aft-most beam and a sectioned shelf runs along the top of the storage wall... the idea coming from the Charles Morgan. The smaller 2 sections will hold lanterns.

 

The margin planks are also finished with the trickiest being the aft most plank with the 3D curves involved.

So, now on to the main parts of the deck area.

 

Thank-you for looking in and keep cool!

 

Mike

[lmagna]

Lucky you didn't put the rocker in Mike. I would have been tempted to grab it up and get a front row seat! Looking very clean and nicely done.

[Windships]

Mike,

 

Sorry for the delayed response.

The interior is authentic based on all we know about the small vessels of this period, and your superb craftsmanship has presented it beautifully.

Yes that quarterdeck margin plank is a challenge, as I learned on my 1:64 model based on the 1768 Chaleur draught.

Excellent, clean work on those quarterdeck scuppers and those on the main deck. Uniformity is very difficult to achieve but you nailed it.

 

I need to get out of my "rocking chair" and back to my bench. Thanks for the inspiration.

But, it's 104 outside at 8:00pm and 86 in my shop! So, I've been inside--doing research and writing on other subjects/vessels.

 

Catch up with you soon.

 

Randy

[Mike_In_RI]

Another way overdue update... no really believable excuses. I continue to enjoy working on this Hannah (designed by Randy Biddle, below) and am putting time in on the scale details as much as I can, either researching them them or sensibly imagining them for the period. The next several shots show the deck furniture where boxwood is used for all the pieces needing fine detail and AYC used for thicker pieces.

 

The binnacle is stick built with one center lamp between two compasses and the lamp and stack are soldered brass. The companionway is also stick built with doors opening inwards to allow closer placement of the binnacle. 

I want to allow the most open view of the main cabin as possible so the quarterdeck has a very minimal amount of decking... Just enough to support the binnacle, companionway and some rigging eyebolts.  Barely visible faux treenails are made by mixing a drop of acrylic paint with thinned wood filler and dabbing that into scale sized holes. I found that too dark or too light filler made the treenails visible from too far away. The compasses are simply two thin brass rings with a barely visible rose.

Here is an interesting patent from 1755 on Hathi Trust describing a windlass using a central steel spindle. #62 pg 22. I felt more comfortable making the octagon shape from individual parts than carving them from a "log". Similar to the stick built barrels I made for the whaleboat project, each plank is tapered and then the edges are chiseled to 45 degrees.  The pawl shown is not the final version .. it has fewer detents.

The steam vent is built following the TFFM where only the grating ledges are notched. A Proxxon MF70 was used to make the notches. The stack is .005" blackened copper. The ledges were bent and assembled over a cut out piece of PVC. The scuffed up look on the deck are small sanded  pieces of 1/64" ply that I'm using to round up the deck in those areas before planking.

This is how she sits today. The furniture, hatches, masts and bowsprit are just dry fit in place for now. The pump parts are made up following the TFFM and are yet to be assembled.

I'm looking forward to finishing the remaining deck pieces then it's a toss up of installing the planking or railing. (???) Thank you for looking in on my Hannah project and please pass along any critiques or comments. They are always appreciated.

Mike

 

Randy Biddle's plans for this Hannah are available at NRG online > Journal >> Extended Journal Content > Articles

Colonel John Glover’s Marblehead Schooner Hannah (1765 - 1775): Fishing for the Truth

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by Mike_In_RI

[Windships]

Mike

 

just now saw this

more soon

 

i am humbled by what you have done my Friend 

 

randy

[knightyo]

This is gorgeous work.

 

Alan

[KenW]

Excellent work on the furniture.  The entire project looks fantastic.

Cheers.

[Mike_In_RI]

Thank you all for the likes and comments. I appreciate your input.

 

The break pumps are almost finished. At just the right viewing angle down the companionway, the mid-trunks can be seen. The TFFM is a great source for the break pump detail.

 

Thank you again,

Mike

[cardensb]

Mike - amazing build.  I just picked back up where I stopped in 2016 on the Harold Hahn version and am referencing your log for some details I cannot figure out.  I know build logs can be tedious so thanks for the extra effort.

[dvm27]

This is a splendid effort Mike! Are you planning on rigging her? I copied my rigging directly from Harold's model in the Washington Navy Yard. But I believe there were a series of articles By Dana McCalip on rigging her that were more accurate.

[Windships]

Hello Mates - Happy Fourth of July!!

 

A few thoughts on your post Greg (some of this may be a repeat from earlier posts...)

 

If you haven't read my study (2020-2021) on Hannah, you can get it from the NRG web site if you are a member (it's on the Extended... pages).

If you're not a member, and would like to read it (about 270 pages, printed out) I can send it to you in PDF as email attachments. Highly illustrated.

 

I didn't provide a masting and rigging plan, but did provide guidance that I would use, were I to build the model to my drawings as Mike is doing.

 

Dana McCalip was a student of the schooner rig for that period, but I don't recall him speaking to Hannah, only about Sultana (?).

 

The masting and rigging Chapelle did for Model Shipways' SULTANA is about as close as we'll get I think, with allowances for the differences in size of the two schooners.

 

Re: the Hahn model you mention. The "Navy" helped me a lot with my research. In fact, they mentioned his model was on indefinite loan, and they thought it should be returned to the Hahn family after he passed.  Because I was in touch with Chris Hahn, I passed his contact info along, but have no idea whether Chris asked that it be returned.

 

If you read my study, you will learn that Harold's interpretation (as are every other one we found in prominent institutions) is in error in several ways.

How and why we got to Harold's version is quite fascinating, and an intriguing detective story if I may say so:

 

• Hannah was 45 tons burthen, not 78.
• The lines Hahn used were based on a "Banks fishing schooner" of some years later than Hannah, the plan for which by Chapelle, was given to Victor Grimwood for his book.
• Chap never intended this to represent Hannah. He told me so, himself.
• The c. 1970 model in The Smithsonian was based on Merritt A. Edson, Jr.'s interpretation from the draught called "Marble . Head" from which Sir Edward Hawke and Earl of Egmont came.
• Those two were built in New York for British Navy service on the Jamaica Station. The model in the Peabody Essex Museum has the same basis, and hence the same faults.

 

My report speaks to other details (armament, bulwarks - I do not believe Hannah had raised bulwarks, boats, pumps, windlass, and other minor things).

 

I do not claim my interpretation to be exact as to her appearance. No thoughtful person would. But I will stand by my claim that it is based on the best primary source material available.

I encouraged readers to come to their own conclusions from that evidence, and if they would, produce their own drawings and descriptions.

 

Regrettably, very few people found their way to the report on the NRG web site, and so the incorrect models, paintings and other narratives about Hannah persist, no matter my efforts.

This seems to be true for the Navy, and even displays in the towns of Marblehead and Beverly.

 

Tradition dies hard, even when presented with new evidence.

 

Thanks for indulging my comments.

Happy to help anyone who has an interest.

 

Later

 

KEEP GOING MIKE!!

[Mike_In_RI]

Quote

But I believe there were a series of articles By Dana McCalip on rigging her that were more accurate.

The article ... SOME THOUGHTS ON THE RIGGING OF COLONIAL SCHOONERS by McCalip (NRG 32:30-36) is the best single reference I have found. Next to that, William Avery Baker has some thoughts in "Seafaring in Colonial Massachusetts" (online, I think) regarding the Ashley Bowen painting of the BALTICK.

 

Randy's Hannah (45t) is much closer in size to the MS Sultana (53t) and therefore has better scalability for me than the Hahn Hannah (78t). Also, the spar sizes for the Sultana have really good sourcing. It looks like the newest MS Sultana plans include the Harold Puls update of the mast/spar information from the Public Records Office, London. 

 

I haven't started rigging yet but I've finally got my head around the nomenclature of the lines. 'Still weak on the contemporary use/position the running rigging so more homework for me.

 

Thank you for checking in, Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Windships]

Yup, that's the McCalip article I had in mind.