USS Perry by EricWilliamMarshall - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - Scale 1/96

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I took the plunge: I’ve glued the gunwales to the hull. I removed about a half an inch from the front the inner gulwales piece otherwise the curve of the bent wood was uneven and didn’t fit. I still have to trim and mate the bow. 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

While I’m not sure if I’ll use them, but I have impressed a crew. Nor am I sure how impressive they may turn out.

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[Keith Black]

 I see skirts and I don't think they're Scots. Pretty forward thinking for 1843. The male crew members will surely be impressed whether you are or not. 

[Hubac's Historian]

Well, alright - here we go!

Edited November 7, 2021 by Hubac's Historian

[Landlubber Mike]

Nicely done Eric - getting the pre-formed gunwales on is always a stressful part of the build, and you've done a great job with it.  I have to say though, in the end, the pre-formed gunwales are much easier to do than planking the hull and cutting out gunports!  I had to do that on my La Renommee build and it took forever.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Stupid sanding trick: For my current task I wish to sand top of the bulwarks nice and flat. (I called them gunwales earlier but the instructions call bulwarks - my bad.) The problem is - it easy to be a bit off and not sand perpendicular to the deck or waterline or just horizontal.. 
 

Stupid trick: use an overly long sanding stick. Use only one tenth of the stick for sanding, letting the rest stick out away from the hull like in the photo. Now when sanding, alternate watching both ends. One, to see what you are sanding. The other to see a dip or rise. If you sees dip or rise you are no longer perpendicular! The longer the sanding stick, the more amplified the effect and the easier to see when you stay from the horizontal. All of this is more accurate if the sanding takes place at eye level.
 

In one photo, I’m good and the other I’m off and sanding too much from only one side.

 

Does all this make sense?

 

(My hand position is not my usual but tweaked for the photo.)

[Keith Black]

 Eric, good tip but how do you keep the cap rails the same height from stem to stern when sanding the cap rails individually?

 

 Maybe another way would be to span the two cap rails with a smooth 10 inch flat file and work back and forth while gently exerting force in the middle of the file. This way you don't have to worry about pitch and the two cap rails are the same. Of course this method would require the hull to be rock steady. 

 

[mtaylor]

26 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

 Eric, good tip but how do you keep the cap rails the same height from stem to stern when sanding the cap rails individually?

 

 Maybe another way would be to span the two cap rails with a smooth 10 inch flat file and work back and forth while gently exerting force in the middle of the file. This way you don't have to worry about pitch and the two cap rails are the same. Of course this method would require the hull to be rock steady. 

 

I was thinking the same thing, Keith., but using a 10" long or so piece of ply with some sandpaper glued to it.

[Keith Black]

18 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

using a 10" long or so piece of ply with some sandpaper glued to it

 

 Mark, I think that would work as well as long as there wasn't any bow in the ply, in fact it might work better.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

On 11/7/2021 at 5:58 PM, Landlubber Mike said:

getting the pre-formed gunwales on is always a stressful part of the build, and you've done a great job with it.

Thanks for the kind words, Mike. Definitely stressful! As for a great job, ahh, it could better! If you zoom in on the photo, you can put see small shadows where the two piece don’t mate cleanly. I think it will clean up well enough but it could have been cleaner. I did think about going the long way around and making my own and cutting gun ports, etc. I keep thinking if there is an way the lessen the “size of the leap”. Perhaps paper patterns to pre-fit the curves. I don’t know but I’m still thinking about it. The hull is to be painted and that will hide some of my sins.
 

There is a definition of an expert that goes like this: an expert is someone who has made all possible mistakes in a small domain. Well, I’m trying to become expert by that path!

Edited November 14, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

3 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Eric, good tip but how do you keep the cap rails the same height from stem to stern when sanding the cap rails individually?

Sorry, this is the prep for the yet-to-come rails. I’m just removing char for the plywood. No cap rails were harmed!

 

3 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Maybe another way would be to span the two cap rails with a smooth 10 inch flat file and work back and forth

A great idea - you are obviously a greater craftsman than I since your bulwarks are the same height from the deck, same angles,, etc. Mine less so.  
 

The stupid sanding trick works in a number scenarios but perhaps this isn’t the best application.  Did mention it was labeled ‘stupid’? Whereas your suggestion is clever!

 

Thanks!

[Keith Black]

19 minutes ago, EricWilliamMarshall said:

you are obviously a greater craftsman than I

 

19 minutes ago, EricWilliamMarshall said:

Did mention it was labeled ‘stupid’? Whereas your suggestion is clever!

 Eric, I'm not greater at anything above you or anyone, I am the lesser cog on the big wheel. The only advantage I may have is experience.

 

 Your idea is not stupid, I've tucked it away in my 'experience bag' and will undoubtedly someday pull it out and use it, thank you. 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

It’s all good, my tongue is often planted in cheek. And I am new to the model ship game - I started in October of 2019 with small plastic sailing ship model and I’m working my way up to my 1/48 scale dream diorama of the HMS Victory towing the Wasa towing the Soleil Royal!! I did do a ton of 1:1 scale woodworking in my mis-spent youth but as you may know, it doesn’t quite transfer to the smaller scales!

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I should also mention - I appreciate any and all advice and encouragement! As I said before, they are so may wondrous things and unbelievable craftfolk here to follow on this site, I’m frankly surprised any of you stop by!! So thank you!

 

[VTHokiEE]

You're doing a great job so far! I'm always impressed with solid wood hulls - for whatever reason trying to shape it seems quite daunting but you've done an excellent job. I had to laugh about the sanding tips, solely because so often someone else mentions an improvement on my technique and I can only go "Hmm, I can't believe I didn't think of that simple change that makes this so much easier/better/etc - I'm an [fill in the blank]." At least your experience with 1:1 woodworking hopefully means you know how to use your tools unlike myself 😂. Keep up the good work and have fun!

[EricWilliamMarshall]

2 hours ago, VTHokiEE said:

I had to laugh about the sanding tips, solely because so often someone else mentions an improvement on my technique and I can only go "Hmm, I can't believe I didn't think of that simple change that makes this so much easier/better/etc - I'm an [fill in the blank]."

To me that is the "value-add" of MSW literally! You are poster-child for the the growth that is possible with a bit support from the community here (at least to me). We both built Chesapeake Bay Flatties about the same time and now you're scratch building!! Boom! (Not all of us can be like Marc who hit the accelerator so hard as to leave a dent in the floorboards!) 

 

2 hours ago, VTHokiEE said:

At least your experience with 1:1 woodworking hopefully means you know how to use your tools unlike myself 😂.

Thanks, occasionally it works against me since the tools and responses of the wood don't always scale as well as I would like. But is does mean I have all the hand tools someone might use and I mean ALL! (I'm light on machine tools though!)

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I 'upgraded' my copy of Capelle's The History of the American Sailing Navy. I noticed someone posted a picture of the book with a fold out - my version did have fold-outs. So for eleven bucks and shipping, I have a first edition with fold-out and nicer photos (on old-school coated paper)! I have shared the same part of the book for comparison. All rights reserved by Chapelle and W.W. Norton & Co. 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

In the great rasp bake off, I missed chatting about planemaker's floats. In my opinion (i.e. take with a dose of salt) they are hard to use well but cut quickly and leave a smooth surface. They are designed to finish the throats (insides) of wooden hand planes. They are hard to find but Lee Valley and Lie-Nielsen still sell them. 

Edited November 10, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[Hubac's Historian]

Interesting - that’s a tool I had no awareness of.  Is it the case that the teeth will produce a chattered cut, if you don’t file in the right direction?

Edited November 10, 2021 by Hubac's Historian

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I did work on the model. In the photos of the finished model I see wood added to front and rear of the ship to create consistent thickness for the bulwarks. I didn’t find this listed in the manual but this seemed like good time to do that.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

3 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

 Is it the case that the teeth will produce a chattered cut, if you don’t file in the right direction?

It is hard to get to cut the wood. If you don't have the right force it bounces away. While it can chatter, mostly if used incorrectly it doesn't do anything. Note: this may be a side effect of this unskilled/untrained/idiot user not knowing the proper technique.

I lightly stained the pine and then used the floats 'poorly' so you can see the effects yourself. 

Edited November 10, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[TomShipModel]

An FYI, that all of those plans in the Chappelle books are available from the Smithsonian History Museum.   The book with the fold outs plans is the edition to have.  That said, if you want a plan, usually in 1:48, it will take some time, but I think tha they are still available.

 

Tom

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Errata for the Building Manual (for pages 1-17).  For anyone else who is working with this set of the instructions, I have the found the following:
 

This is for the 05/05/20 version of the USS Perry (kit no. 1112) in 1/8 scale.

Typos:

p.8 near top of page - “Cut the hull and deck templates from sheet px-x” should be “from py5-5”
p.8 bottom of page - “mark the location of the hull templates (0-T)” should be “templates (0-8)”
p.10 top of page - “work slowly and check each hull station (0-T)” should be “hull station (0-8)”
p.12 top of page - “Remove the forecastle deck waterways (LPY01G)” should be “waterways (LPY1G)”
p.17 near top of page – “Remove the transom moulding (LPY02E)” should be “moulding (LPY2E)”

 

Not typos but ambiguous.

p.11 middle of page – “Align the long edge of one of the main deck halves (LPY1AP or S)”. Neither LPY1AP or LPY1AS are shown on the ship plans, but as a single unit marked LPY1A

p.13 top of page - “CAUTION: The outer bulwarks (LPY2AP, LPY2AS)” are not on the ships plans. However, LPY2A is shown as a single item. There are two. Each one is combined with LPY2AP and LPY2AS. I believe the S and P stand for Starboard and Port.p.16 bottom of page - “Remove the fore cap rail caps (LPY2F)”. LPY2F isn’t shown on the plans.
p.17 near top of page – “Remove ladder rails (LPY31A) and treads (LPY31B)”. On the ship plans, these two parts are shown as a single unit LPY31.

 

 

None will cause great heartache. But since there is enough head-scratching in ship modeling as is, I thought this might help.

 

Edited November 12, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[Keith Black]

20 hours ago, EricWilliamMarshall said:

Not typos but ambiguous

 

Say what! And I thought building from photographs was hard

 

 

Edited November 13, 2021 by Keith Black

[EricWilliamMarshall]

8 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Say what! And I thought building from photographs was bad

Haha! I get the impression that this is a new kit and is still being debugged/refined. None of them are show stoppers and unlike some other kits, they show where parts from the kit should be on the ship plans which is a plus. It’s not a bug, it is a feature!!

 

I also applaud having a date in the manual, allowing the tracking of different versions as well as updating of versions.

Edited November 13, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[mtaylor]

Eric, PM MrBlueJacket  and let him know what you're finding.  He's very responsive.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

5 hours ago, mtaylor said:

PM MrBlueJacket  and let him know

Tis done!

[EricWilliamMarshall]

On a similar tangent, the stupid saw trick made the BlueJacket Shipcrafters’ newletter as the Tip of the Month! My kind thanks for a wee bit of fame and fun. And if it proves useful, so much the better!

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I wrestled with adding wood to the curved part of the bulwark in the bow. I tried bending a piece of solid wood which bent a bit and broke. Then I tried a bit of plywood and broke the bulwarks off the front of the boat! So I repaired the damage, not making any progress at all (other than experience and wisdom gained). The model is no worse for wear after the repair.

I also cleaned up the resin figures I received; the will need some reshaping as well.

 

Following up on @TomShipModel’s suggestion, I have reached out to the Smithsonian regarding plans for the Perry. I also found a set of plans at http://www.taubmansonline.com/ and have inquired as well.

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[MrBlueJacket]

5 hours ago, EricWilliamMarshall said:

So I repaired the damage, not making any progress at all (other than experience and wisdom gained). The model is no worse for wear after the repair.

#1-Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.

#2- Experience is what you get right after you needed it.