Fair American by JLong - Model Shipways - 1:48

[dvm27]

Nice job on those deadeyes. I use a similar jig but cut the wire on the side about halfway down. This is a good time to learn silver soldering if you are not already doing this. It makes for a very tidy deadeye.

[JLong]

Continuing to progress on the Fair American Model Ship:

 

I set to work on the Foremast next.  The first attempt at shaping this went well to start, then got worse and worse.

The rod of 1/4" basswood was slightly warped to begin with.  I tried to compensate by roll-sanding the high spots, in an attempt to round it out. This did NOT work.  The end tapered too short and too narrow, and it created an oval cross section, instead of circular. Irrevocable! So I tried again with a new piece. However, I only had so much in stock, and what was left, was warped too - Badly. I needed to save the rest for the Main Mast.

I spent 2 weeks trying to straighten it. I soaked it and weighted it - nope. I hung it off the edge of the workbench, and hung weights to counteract the bend - nope. I soaked it and clamped it in the high spots - nope. It...would...not...straighten.

If I couldn't get this warp out, I'd have the same issue as before - a wobble as I sanded the mast down, creating an oval shape.  I gave it one last attempt.  I soaked and triple clamped it to the bench, and had one end suspended off the bench. Then I hung some weights until all the daylight I could see underneath disappeared. Left it there for 2days.  This was as straight as I could get it. It isn't close to perfect, but manageable. There's still a 'stitch' at ~10in mark.  Has anyone else experienced this with the masts, and if so, how did you rectify the warp?

After setting that straight, I finished shaping it as close to the plans as I could. I messed up the square end near the top. I thought it was square, but under close inspection of the plans, it's rectangular. I need to slow down and take my time again, and not hurry to make up lost time.

Next was the top. I've seen other models with the tops having slats and a rim, and not just a flat board. I also completed the cross and trestle trees.

I measured each of the slats and spaced them as evenly as I could. Then I traced the pattern onto a piece of detacked duct tape, and placed them each where they belong, for staining. 

I stained the slats and the rim with golden oak stain, then CAREFULLY panted the top flat black. I wanted the rim to stand out, so I used a fine tip black sharpie to 'paint' the edge without ruining the stain. It worked!

I left the slats long on the inside so I can sand them flush later. I know its not in the plans, but I love the look.

One cool little Christmas gift I got from my aunt was a ''small tool rolodex'' - it spins! Love this thing.

So that's where I'm at now. I need to glue the top, and start on the next piece.  

I feel I'm back in the swing of things of modeling again - I'm having fun.

 

More progress soon

 

- Jason -

[CiscoH]

Jason i dont think you can reliably straighten a warped dowel.  it implies the grain is crooked snd evdn if you straightened it out i would assume next big humidity change it would re-warp.  probly right after you got your attached righing balaced .

i have a herd of dowels i got from michaels, and i’m replacing the ones that came with my AVS with maple,, so feel free to take some this weekend

[JLong]

You're probably right about the re-warp potential - I hadn't considered that. Being that this is my first model, I'm not familiar enough with different woods and how/when to use them. I hear Boxwood is a good material. 
I may take you up on the offer to steal dowels when I come visit - looking forward to meeting up again.

[JLong]

Long overdue progress on the Fair American Model Ship:

 

January was another busy month for me, so not a ton of progress this time.  I got the Foremast completed, though I'm not 100% happy with it.  The square cross section at the top was undersized, so there wasn't much flattening to do for the Bibbs. I also filed a flat for the bottom of the mast to seat into the square hole in the deck - this will keep it straight and aligned.

 

I was finally ready to stain it, before any painting. I used 800, then 1500 grit sanding pads to get it smooth as I could, rubbing in the direction of the grain. I blotted and wiped MinWax Golden Oak stain, just one coat.  The knot in the mast was pretty dark - I should have used the pre-stain first. But hey, it's character!  The camera on my phone wouldn't focus on the mast, so it's blurry.

After constructing and gluing the cross and trestle trees, they got painted. Along with the fore end of the Bowsprit.  Painters tape worked nicely to get a clean line for painting.

The Bowsprit stained really nicely.  After all the flat black paint was dry, the result so far looks sharp!

For the eyebolts surrounding the fore mast hole, they're way too close. I made them to scale as per the plans - I should have spaced them farther apart. Not sure why the plans don't show it, but I've seen most modelers put some round, black mast ''seat'' on the deck - what is that called? Anyways, There's no room for it on my model. 

I thought I'd get clever, and make a really thin one out of glued planks of 1/32" Walnut. I thought I could slip it in there - it's not going to fit. It's too flimsy and keeps splitting. I'm not sure what to do.

What I tried, was to rip out the eyebolts and move them out - bad idea.  I had a grip on one with needle nose pliers, and it let go and I dropped the point on the deck - now there's a dent. I'm lucky nothing else broke too, but I can't erase it. It isn't visible unless you're looking for it - but I know its there (no picture).  I'm going to leave the eyebolts where they are - its safer that way.

 

I had the chance a few weeks back to visit Cisco at his home - he's got a ton of modeling books and sundries and Legos!  I had the pleasure of seeing his work space, along with a gorgeous cabinet he made himself to hold all the fine chisels - really beautiful work! I hope to get back again soon.

Thanks for the pack of dowels too, already picking through them for the Main Mast.

 

Hope to have more progress soon.

 

Thanks for reading

- Jason -

[JoeMacD]

Jason thank you for posting your build of the Fair American, your build will be of great help to me when I begin building mine. I have 3 more boat models to do before I feel ready to tackle the Fair American.

KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!

 

[allanyed]

On 2/5/2023 at 10:06 PM, JLong said:

black mast ''seat'' on the deck - what is that called

It seems like you are referring to the wedges.  It is not a ring, but individual wedges that are inserted into the partners and will stand proud of the deck by several inches.  This ring of wedges is often covered with tarred canvas or other means.   Assuming you are not exposing any framing you can fake the top of the ring of covered wedges with a solid ring that would stick up above the deck about 0.08 inches more or less at your scale.

Photos of the partners and a sketch of faked wedges follow that may make more sense than words.

Allan

Partners

Wedges  

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by allanyed

[allanyed]

1 hour ago, JoeMacD said:

Jason thank you for posting your build of the Fair American, your build will be of great help to me when I begin building mine. I have 3 more boat models to do before I feel ready to tackle the Fair American.

KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!

Welcome to MSW Joe.   Please do post a little introduction about yourself in the new member forum. 

Again, welcome to MSW!!!

Allan

[JLong]

Finally making more headway on the Fair American model ship.

 

After so much time sitting waiting for the masts to be finished, the model has been gathering dust like crazy.  I've been blowing it around as I'm working - that didn't help. I bought a keyboard duster can, and got what dust I could off the model, then covered it with a cloth until I'm ready to progress.

Working on the main mast now, I think I've come up with a pretty good method of shaping it. I start with filing the flats on the bottom of the mast, to sit in the deck. I keep that section long. Then I can clamp it in the vice, and I now have a way to orient the spar as I'm shaping it. I can tilt the vice 90deg to form the square sections, and rotate my flats 180deg to get all sides.

Now that it's oriented, I support the end with my fingers and file the flats to shape. It's slow going, but I want it to be even and symmetrical, so it's worth the time. However, my hand cramps after a short while, so I take breaks.   I was lucky I had a week off on vacation, I could dedicate blocks of time to finish the whole mast and top in a week.

The main top was larger than the fore top, so for the ''trim'' I had to use several 1/32" pieces to make the shape. It would have been better to have a sheet to work from, but I'm doing things the hard way, apparently. This isn't what is shown on the plans, but I like the look, so I'm doing it. The upside down duct tape works nice to hold things in position for tracing.

Hard to see, but the finished product looks good. Lot of sanding to get the blended curve just right. After staining, it'll look like I knew what I was doing! Almost.

Next came the cross and trestle trees. These were fun. I made sure they didn't overhang the top, like it had on the fore top. I drew a little F on the front so I knew which way was which.  I made that mistake once, I wasn't about to do it again.

I got the Bibbs glued on next. You can see on the end of the mast I drew an F --> to indicate which was front facing. That was the mistake I mentioned from the fore mast.

The ribs for the top came next. Again, the tape worked well for orienting and locating everything.  I stained the top, mast and ribs all at once. You can see the individual 1/32" pieces used to build the trim on the top - tricky little pieces, but turned out nice.

Once I got a few coats of flat black paint on there, it's looking pretty sweet!  Again, I've left the ribs long on the inside of the top. I'll sand them flush later. 

I'm starting on the top masts next. Its much of the same process of flatting, and sanding I've done so far. We'll see how long that takes me.

 

Hope you find this FAIR'ly interesting to read ;-)

 

- Jason -

[Oldsalt1950]

Looking really nice Jason. 

 

Jim

[CiscoH]

movin right along Jason!  looks great

[JLong]

Thanks guys for the kind words.

 

My plan is to finish the model this year. It's already been 4yrs - I'd like to move onto another model; likely one for my mother.

[chuckthedragon]

Glad to see your post!  After asking about the deadeye problem last summer, I got frustrated and let my Fair American sit for a bit.  Thank you for the reply you sent.  I apologize for ghosting.  I solved the problem by using 24-gauge dark annealed steel wire and my best effort to make the chains a unform length.  I was trying to make something that didn't look too clunky.  I need to take some pictures on my phone and migrate them to the computer so that I can post them.  To make a long story short, I picked back up this winter and recently completed the build.  She's been rechristened the Lovely Renee, for my wife.  That way I get house room😉.  I'm excited to see your progress - really like the contrasting wood on your tops.  Since you are about to start the rigging phase soon (fingers crossed) you might get yourself some needle threaders - they work wonders getting the line through the blocks.

[JLong]

Happy to hear you picked it back up!  The deadeye chains are only half completed so far- I moved to the masts since I got frustrated with them. Getting the lengths consistent is a challenge.
I'd love to see pictures of your completed build.

How does your wife feel about the christening in her honor?

[chuckthedragon]

Good morning!

 

I hear you about the frustration on the chains!  Mine came out a bit uneven, but I could live with it.  I'm working on moving pictures from my phone to my computer.  I thought I would be able to post some and hour ago, but I sent myself full sized images which my computer refused to download.  I have since gone back and sent usable reduced sized images.  Which look like they finally made it through the interweb!

 

She absolutely loved it!  Her sisters are all jealous!

[chuckthedragon]

I meant to say that I admire your efforts to make replacements for the cast parts that come with the kit.  That inspired me to do the same thing.  It also inspired me to check for mini-kits of things my "workshop" is not equipped to fabricate.  I learned about Chuck Passaro Syren Ship Model Company from the forum and got the ships wheel and stern lantern kit for 1:48 scale.  Great kits and excellent instructions.

[JoeMacD]

Looking forward to seeing more of your building of the Fair American 🇺🇸 !

I will be looking in on it as a guide for when I start mine 😊👍😎

[JoeMacD]

On 8/26/2021 at 6:50 PM, dvm27 said:

My method of fairing is to apply pencil marks to the edges of the bulkheads and use flexible sanding sticks across them until the pencil marks disappear. The low spots will retain pencil marks so keep reapplying lead until all the marks are gone. I start with 80 grit and work up to 150 for planking.

Hello Greg, the technique you described, is there a YouTube video of it! Just that I comprehend easier when I see it done!

Thanks! 

[chuckthedragon]

Jason!  Hope all's moving ahead (flank speed preferably) on your Fair American build.  Please post some news!😉

[JLong]

On 3/9/2023 at 8:51 AM, chuckthedragon said:

Good morning!

 

I hear you about the frustration on the chains!  Mine came out a bit uneven, but I could live with it.  I'm working on moving pictures from my phone to my computer.  I thought I would be able to post some and hour ago, but I sent myself full sized images which my computer refused to download.  I have since gone back and sent usable reduced sized images.  Which look like they finally made it through the interweb!

 

She absolutely loved it!  Her sisters are all jealous!

 

 

 

Chuck, that's a beautiful model. I like that you used white on a section below the whales, and left the remainder stained wood. Looks sharp!

 

I'm currently working on the tops. (AKA picking at, as time allows).  Trying to determine if the Fid rests on the chocks, or the bottom of the top mast rests on the chock(s) - the instructions are not super clear.

Hope to have another update and pics soon.

 

Thanks for sharing the pictures of your FA - its gorgeous

[chuckthedragon]

Thanks for the compliments, Jason!  I finally go to a point where I thought my planking could tolerate the naked light of day.   As to your masting problem, the bottom of the mast passes through and rests on nothing.  The fid passes through the fid hole and the fid rests on the trestletrees.

[JLong]

Overdue progress on the Fair American Model Ship:

 

As always, my progress is slow, but steady. I'm determined to finish this year.

 

Most of the work has been on the masts, both Main and Fore. I'm committed to shaping the spars as close to the plans as I can manage. It's slow going, of course to shape the masts: tapering down, then blending to 8-sided, then square tapered towards the top, etc.  Using the vice and clamping a sacrificial end, filing, then rotating 90deg to index the sides has been working well. This is the Main Topmast, in progress.

As you can see, I use the calipers to measure the feature sizes, then do my best to make the mast to shape, accordingly.  You won't see the detail as much once the ship is fully rigged, but I like the detail. I was pretty proud of this work.

The upper end of the top mast, again I make lots of measurements. I wasn't going to attempt to put a small wheel in there for the sheave, so I just drilled 2 holes to simulate it, and carve out rounded edges.

Once everything is finely sanded to 1500grit, it gets stained with MinWax Golden Oak and painted flat black. I try to do everything in batches, while the paint brush is out. According to the instructions, most everything is supposed to be black. The color scheme I'm using is from other modelers like Rafine, who's craftsmanship is incredible. 

Another thing I was able to do, was move the Bitts farther away from the main mast hole. If you remember a while back, I mounted the Bitts too close, and the mast was basically going to be touching. I took my time to work the glue loose, and re-drilled the pin holes on the deck. If you look closely you can see the previous holes just peeking out. Very happy I was able to move this without incident. 

The Main Top turned out really nice. You can see all the jigsaw pieces of trim I had to use to build the rounded end.

The Bibbs on the Main Mast weren't perfectly perpendicular to the square bottom that goes in the deck. So in order to glue it straight, I temporarily wedged the Mast in the deck, and looked down from the top to align it. A little of the top/port Bibb can be seen under the trestle tree. I'll live with it. I have yet to put the chock in, I need to stare at the plans some more to get it right.

Both Fore and Main tops look pretty straight to each other, looking from the bow.

So this is where I'm at now. No masts are glued in, only placed for appearances. Its really starting to look good

I still need to mount this on its final base board, instead of clamped in my ''dry dock''. I have been putting off this part, because I don't want to mess it up.

 

The ship is really coming together well now. I'm excited to start rigging this thing.

 

Hope you enjoy reading my progress

 

- Jason -

[chuckthedragon]

Jason!  She's looking great!  I'm excited for you!  Depending on how much rigging you'll do, consider adding the shroud cleats suggested in the rigging plans.  Given all of the lines that you have to belay, having the extra belaying points greatly helps avoid belaying more than one line to a pin.  Keep up the very excellent work!

[JLong]

Thanks for the kind words, Chuck.  I plan on doing full rigging, with sails. Its ambitious for a first build, but I like a challenge. 

The rigging ''plans'' are already a challenge to understand. I like your suggestion of the shroud cleats; its also why I added pins to the bitts, to provide appropriate belaying points.

I'll keep rigging along....

[chuckthedragon]

Good for you on the sails!  As my Admiral always says, go big or go home!  I forgot to mention the pin racks you added to the main gallows and the bits - they will be very handy indeed.  I really wish I had thought to add them.  Great idea!

[JLong]

Progress on the Fair American model ship:

 

Yet again, long time blogging progress. This month (May) has been sluggish. Primarily because the new Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom video game came out, and I've been playing non-stop for weeks.

 

But anyhow, I found out I was 2 cleats short in my kit, and I needed them for the masts. First I tried shaping them from scrap wood, and because they're so small, they basically shredded in my hands. Fortunately I had some leftover casting, that I never used, since I made my deck furniture in wood pieces. So I cut a piece from the binnacle, and used my jewelers files to shape it.

The top cleat is the real cast one, and the bottom two are the ones I made by hand. They were fun, and I'm proud they turned out even close to shape!

They got painted black then installed on the masts. Masts are not glued yet.

I decided it was time to mount the model (extremely late, I know). With all the progress I've made, I had nowhere to grab, except like this. I'd hold in one hand, and flip the entire model over. Then use pin vise to drill the holes, smallest to largest, hoping they were straight.

I'd made pencil marks on either side of the stand-off so I'd know where to drill. Keeping the drill straight was really difficult, obviously. 

I didn't want the screw to split the keel, so I went with a 6-32x2in machine screw. After the tap drill was used, I took the screw and drove it into the keel a little ways, to pre-start the threads.

I also counterbored the hole in the bottom so the head would be just a little under-flush.

Marked the front of the stand-off with a pencil ''F'' to indicate the orientation.  I had already pre-chamfered the corners so it wouldn't gouge the wood when it finally mounted. The screw is just a little proud, so it won't bury in the keel too far.

I carefully placed the model in the stand-offs and hung one end of the baseboard over the edge of the bench. Then I could reach the screw from underneath. I got both screws in with little problem. Then I got into trouble, BIG trouble. The model was WAY WAY tilted. I was careful with drilling everything. But it wasn't enough. I think any small off axis drilling, causes larger effects when you mount it. I did everything I could think off to counteract the tilt, to no avail. I stepped away for 2 days for Zelda to cool my nerves, and not wreck my ship in frustration.

 

The only idea I had was to shim under the stand-offs with scrap wood. I didn't have any washers thin enough to use. This is not what I wanted to do, but I needed to move on, and I felt good about the sturdiness of the screws to the baseboard and keel. You can see the little shim underneath.

Fortunately it worked. As close as I am willing to accept. I don't want to ruin the model, or worse risk dropping it to try more fixes. Its ''within'' level, and I can sleep again.

Again, I'm using the Capstan as the middle reference point. It may not be dead level to the model, but it's what I can use as a check.  It's about mid-ship anyway.

 

So there she is - mounted! Finally. 

 

I'll be working on the deadeyes for the tops next, getting them installed with other block before finally mounting the masts. What a month for me. Zelda and near-miss shipwrecks. 

 

Probably more progress next month!

 

- Jason -

[JLong]

Making slow headway on the Fair American Model Ship

 

The summer has been full of activity, and my progress has been on/off. I wish I had posted a little sooner. I did, however have a great time making beer and hanging out at Cisco's house, recently. Trying not to drown in the pool by his kids was tough - I could have brought the Fair American and rigged up a few mini-cannons to fire, but I'm not sure it would actually float, which wouldn't have fought any kid-armada off at all.

 

'Kidding'' aside, I was able to stain the base with MinWax Puritan Pine. It almost looks professional - almost!

I went back to work on all the chain plates and futtock plates for the deadeyes. As with a much earlier post, I made a jig to hold the deadeye in place, then used fine tip needle nose pliers to pinch the wire-plate to shape, and wrapped around the pin. Afterwards I could trim the excess to leave a satisfactory chain/futtock plate.

This was similar to the method described in the instructions, but I'm still deciding whether to solder and file the flat. I might just leave it.

I had to file the cutouts for the deadeyes in the tops to make the plates fit. That was tedious, but I got it done.

In between that work, I would intermittently work on the yards. The lathe I have is really small, so i couldn't chuck both sides the way I wanted to. I resorted to the hand drill. It took a lot of chuck-centering, but it wasn't too bad.  Using files takes a really long time before the battery goes. Coarse sand paper sometimes turns faster, but burns my fingers just as fast. It also doesn't help that I'm a perfectionist, trying to get within 0.005in diameters. I wonder why it takes so long?!?!

I got the Fore Topsail Yard and Fore Topgallant Yards done this way.

I also worked on the Fore and Main Topgallant trestletrees and cross trees. These were simply sawn to shape, to get the curves.

Notches cut in both Trestletrees and Crosstrees done on the vice, which provided a nice edge to file down to.

Nothing perfect, but they're done.  Upside down painters tape works really nice for lining things up for sanding/filing/gluing. 

 

I continue to work on the rest of the yards, as time allows. Hopefully I won't burn out the drill, trying to turn them all down, but we'll see.

Have a great week!

 

- Jason -

[JLong]

Time for an update on Fair American Model ship.

 

Back in July, I ordered a selection of rope from Syrenshipmodelcompany.com, as well as the Serv-o-matic. I'm excited to start serving ropes soon.

One first bit of rigging I did, was the tiny gammoning wrap for the Spritsail. Neither the plans nor instructions describe HOW to do this, just a picture of it having been done. So I wrapped some .012in black rope around the Bowsprit and tacked with glue, I guess...

Then taped one end with painters tape, and made a few more loops. I hadn't left much Spritsail overhanging the saddle, so I really had to wedge it in there. Then made a few wraps, as you can see...

Added one clove hitch tucked inside, then trimmed the edges tight. Dab of CA glue here and there to secure it. I didn't want it ever unraveling... Looks pretty 'neat' to me.

After battling with the hand drill for 5min at a time to shape the yards, I went back to the lathe. I know I don't have a spindle on the opposite end to keep the yard straight, but I minimize the wobbling as best I can during chucking and using low speeds.  Most of the time I'm using low grit sand paper to shape it, which is taking a while. I'm reluctant to use the turning tools, because I don't want to go too deep and ruin it. So, slow and steady as she goes....

I've managed to complete a few yards now, such as the Main Topgallant Yard below, and Main Topsail Yards

 

Working on the Fore Lower Yard, the instructions say to add blocks to the middle, then shape to 8-sided geometry from there. This was because the diameter in the middle is just under spec. So I started with filing flats for the blocks to go in:

Then glue the blocks as per the instructions...

But I didn't file the center down far enough, and so the blocks have a small gap. Right where the 8-side corners are going. Not good.

When I tried to file it down, the blocks shredded, since they're so close to size and the notches weren't deep enough. Really not good.

So, I decided not to remake the entire spar, and I simply filed the middle 8-sided section a little undersized. I'll live with it.  The ends turned out a little short, but the overall length was correct. I think I was too conservative during the shaping, not wanting to cut off too much too soon, and risk the whole shaft wobbling in the lathe.

 

I'm now moving on to the Main Lower Yard, and I won't attempt the same 8-sided build up again.  I'll just make it a little undersized. I should be done the rest of the yards soon too. The lathe surprising goes much faster than 5min spurts on the hand drill. Who knew?

 

I also had a week off last week, so I was able to dedicate more time to the build

 

Have a good week, all!

 

- Jason - 

[JLong]

Fair American progress update:

 

Lot has happened in September - turned 40, got Covid, missed the Admiralty workshop, brother's bachelor party and still had time to do some work on the ship!

 

For the mast tops, started adding eyebolts in place. Also started making plans/drawings for where various blocks will go to (not shown).

Had to bend the eyes out slightly, so they could be accessed near the mast.

Almost done all the yards too. I like the fine details of the yard shapes - they've been fun to turn on the lathe.

The yards are supposed to be black, via the plans. I'm debating whether I want to stain them instead. I think that black will hide all the great detail, but I'm still not decided.

I'm moving onto setting the rake angle for the chain plates/deadeyes next. Before that, I need the rake of the masts to be correct.  I needed to add little shims in the deck hole to offset the heel of the mast correctly. You can see the little piece on the left side.

According to the plans, I can use taut string to approximate the angle needed for the chain plates. I'm drilling a hole at the bottom of the black strake where the plate will be pinned. 

After the pin hole, I can place the deadeye in. About as aligned as I can do.

I made mine a little differently, as you can see.  The instructions call for a metal strip that isn't available anymore. I pre-measured dimensions from the channel to the black strake, to come up with my hook and loop design for the chain plates. I did have to make some adjustments, but they fit pretty darn nice. I'm really happy with how they turned out!

I also got the top mast and tops glued to the masts. I needed a reverse grip tweezer to hold it straight while the glue dried. The fit was just a little loose.

Of course nothing is perfect - especially for me. The Fore and Main tops are NOT the same size. And obviously I grabbed the black one, instead of the black one and now the Fore top is glued to the Main mast. The one in my fingers is the Main Mast top, its just slightly wider than the Fore.  I'm going to live with it, but now everyone knows - always label things - like I did for the yards in blue painters tape. Another learning moment.

So that's all for now. I'm going to keep chugging away at the chain plates and maybe I'll have the masts glued/stepped next time!!!!

 

Have a great week,

 

- Jason -

[JLong]

Very long overdue update on Fair American

 

Few months ago, fellow model ship buddy CiscoH and I  went to the Annapolis Naval Ship Museum. The Fair American from the Rogers collection was supposedly located there.  First 40min looking around, no Fair American.  After asking one of the workers there, she mentioned it was not on display, but up in the Restoration Room. She kindly took us up the private elevator to see it.  It was an amazing model. Fully rigged with sails, including studding sails.  The only draw back was that it was in a poorly lit area, and inside a glass case - reflections prevented good shots with my phone. This was a 1:32 scale model, so much larger than the kit I'm building from Model Shipways

 

My primary goal was to document the rigging, to use on my own model. I didn't take many overall pictures, sorry.

 

The folllowing pictures are NOT my model. They are of the Rogers Collection Model only

 

The detail on the sails was incredible with amazing stitch work. There was a lot of black on the model - hard to see exactly where things were rigged, especially with the glare. I wish I had taken more wider pictures, but this is what I got with Cisco and her waiting patiently for me to snap pictures. I didn't want to impose too long. There were several other pictures I took, but not included here.

 

I won't be putting studding sails on my model, but seeing how/where some things were rigged and attached gave me a lot of insight for my own model.

 

I'll be updating my own Fair American tomorrow, hopefully.  I have made progress, but with holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and weddings, it was hard to find time to do much.

 

Thanks for reading

 

- Jason -