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

[EricWilliamMarshall]

On 12/3/2021 at 6:09 PM, Hubac's Historian said:

Are you inviting me to take you on a tour of Marc’s museum of wooden objects?

Yes! Where do I buy a ticket! 

 

On 12/3/2021 at 6:09 PM, Hubac's Historian said:

I kept a page on Fine Woodworking’s members’ gallery:

Very nice; beautiful work and I must say very nice selection of lumber. You mentioned your interest in Art Nouveau before. I’m glad to see to see them. Do your children skate board? We have some similar issues with unicycles in our house. 

 

I presume the forums at Fine WoodWorking are good. I left woodworking before I had access to the internet. I read every issue of the first 20+ years of the magazine. My father had a few feet of them he keep in a stack, that I’d go though as a youngster. 
 

I’m glad there are a few items that will be in your family. I look forward to seeing you try your hand a wooden ship model (but I’ll have to wait; you stay have a ways to go: finish building the current one, write the book, go on the book tour, possible movie of the book? And then the research for the next one. I might not last that long!)
 

@Keith Black, wow, I love your taste in small convertibles! Usually folk wench some muscle car or perhaps something from the ‘50s but you found a whole trove of nifty beasts. Well done. How did you get from cars to ship models? Is there an intermediate step with1:12 scale model cars with working windows and working steering?
 

 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

In preparation for the copper bottom, I painted the bottom of the ship a proper dark black as a base for the copper and then some copper paint. I must say, if you want a color to show every imperfection in one’s hull work, metallic copper is the bomb! I got remembered to seal the painter’s tape this time so that looks better.

Edited December 5, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[Keith Black]

35 minutes ago, EricWilliamMarshall said:

wow, I love your taste in small convertibles! Usually folk wench some muscle car or perhaps something from the ‘50s but you found a whole trove of nifty beasts. Well done. How did you get from cars to ship models? Is there an intermediate step with1:12 scale model cars with working windows and working steering?

 

 Eric, I retired. we were moving from Texas to Michigan, and cars had run their course. It takes a lot of money to pour down the drain when it comes to messing with old cars. Going from getting a paycheck every week to being on a fixed income, it was no longer a viable hobby. I never got into making car or airplane models, this wooden ship biz is my first foray into modeling. 

 

 Your hull is looking super but I hope you haven't caused a potential problem for yourself. When you start coppering the hull, if the tiles won't stick to the paint, you'll need to seal the hull bottom. I seal my paint with polyurethane and I'm able to use CA on the poly with good results.    

 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

6 hours ago, Keith Black said:

I seal my paint with polyurethane and I'm able to use CA on the poly with good results.    

Thanks for the heads-ups. I will do that!
 

Keith, you do get around! Texas, Michigan and if I recall from Marc’s blog, Alaska as well! 

[Hubac's Historian]

Great tip with the poly!

 

My son is the skateboarder, and he likes to convey himself from one room of the apartment to the next on his skateboard.  He stopped riding it outside because - I don’t know why, actually.

 

The funny thing that dawns on me about the Heirloom Furniture Project, as we presently are consolidating our Dad’s house-load of large (but very nice) furniture, is that I wonder whether my daughter will have the space or interest in taking the bookcase into her home, after we are gone.  I am only taking one small Hepplewhite table from my Dad, eventually.  I guess I could hardly blame her if she sent it off to the auctioneers.

Edited December 5, 2021 by Hubac's Historian

[EricWilliamMarshall]

14 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

He stopped riding it outside because

Just because! I one point I had to stop my son from making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while on the unicycle. 

 

Ok, one proud dad moment and I'll get back to a build log! This my daughter a couple of years ago. She is the one in the center.

Edited December 6, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I did put on poly as you suggested Keith - thanks again for the just in time suggestion! 

Here is my not-snazzy airbrush set-up. It is the cheapest rig I could put together and is a bit funky to use. If I tighten the hose to much then the air stops reaching the airbrush.  I, in fact, own a nicer airbrush. But I since I still don't really know how to use and maintain an airbrush I keep using this one. For a few years now. 

 

The copper paint is so shiny, you can see the glue joint on basswood block where they laminated it before machine-cutting the hull. There is also a picture of the copper plates that I ordered from the folks at Bluejacket.

Next up a bit of research about coppering the hull!

4B1C2CB2-3D06-4ACE-B55F-E899FECCE05A_1_201_a.heic

[sjanicki]

13 hours ago, EricWilliamMarshall said:

 

Next up a bit of research about coppering the hull!

 

 

 

 

There are a ton of different ways that people apply these copper plates. Personally, after applying the bluejacket plates to both the Revenue Cutter and USS Perry I found the following process to work the best:
 

1. Apply all the plates butting against another vs. layered.  My skill wasn't great enough to layer them without it looking horrible.
2. Form each plate to the shape of the hull before trying to glue
3. Cut the plates that need to be cut to shape before applying
4. Apply the plates to the keel starting with the base.  
5. Apply to the side of the keel a single row.
6. Apply a single row of plates along the waterline all the way around.
7. Start in the center of the ship starting at the keel and tiling your way out with an overlap.
8. The bow section and stern are the most difficult and require cutting each tile exactly to shape.

This post shows how I went about it fairly well.  Please let me know if you have any questions on my process!

 

I will note that many, many, on this forum are far more skilled at copper plating than I am and have done a better job but I found this method to make a reasonably high quality result for my skill level.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Thanks @sjanicki for sharing your hard-won wisdom! 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I received two items I ordered in the beginning of November. First is a set of plans for the USS Perry from the Taubman Plan Service. Their website is dense and sprawling. I ordered via the web form and received no feedback. I emailed them on November 10th asking if the order was received and received a short affirmation and a hope to ship by weeks end. It arrived today! Their plans are the set by now-long-gone Boucher company (and match the set I found earlier (see entry #60 if curious) I still haven’t heard back from the Smithsonian regarding their USS Perry plans. Oh well.

 

The second item is a print on demand version of Steel’s book on Naval Architecture, which has charts to figure out all the lengths for masts and spars, and other interesting tidbits. I’m not ready to part with $500 dollars for ‘real’ version but I was willing to risk twenty bucks plus shipping for a copy from the Harvard Book Store. The experiment was a success! I will also note this exists as a free copy from Google as well.if one wishes.

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Coppering the hull! Well, not just yet; more like just coppering! First look at this image of the Cutty Sark https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutty_Sark#/media/File%3ACutty_Sark_stern.jpg (CC, Wikipedia)

One does see much texture on the copper plates on that hull! I’ll return to the issue of texture in a bit.

 

I wanted to removed some of the shine and give some variation in color to the copper plates. I heated them on the stove, which worked too well! I used the open flame of my stove. I then cooled them in a pan of water and used a toothbrush to remove the soot.

I have liberated the 280+ copper plates in purchased from the two sheets they were attached to. I first used an #11 x-acto blade cutting the copper sheet on a wooden cutting board, which worked just fine but was slow. I then used a small sheer I bought last year for my I’ll-fated Dapper Tom project. That also worked and much faster. 
 

 

Edited December 12, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I experimented with sanding block and with rotary tool to remove the burrs left on each of the plates. Both worked  well but the rotary was much faster. After a bit of tedium, the plates could abut cleanly and longer look like I used toe-nail clippers blindfolded. Now you can see my weathering of the plates was too successful. 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I experimented with sanding block and with rotary tool to remove the burrs left on each of the plates. Both worked  well but the rotary was much faster. After a bit of tedium, the plates could abut cleanly and longer look like I used toe-nail clippers blindfolded. Now you can see my weathering of the plates was too successful. 
 

 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I now ask the assembled sages and scholars, should I use these plates? Should I buy more and try again (just go with shiny and let change on its own) or try something else?

 

Careful observers may note the second set of photos of lined-up plates look less weathered. I used a mixture of vinegar, table salt and hot water to clean them. (Then a rinse with baking soda w/ waterand then a rinse of water and then drying.)

 

I’m still thinking about what pattern the plates should go on the hull.

Edited December 12, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[Keith Black]

 Eric, IMHO you need to buy another set and start over. I don't think you need to be open flame aggressive in aging the tiles. Putting them on first and then chemical aging them is going to work out best for you. 

[Keith Black]

 I've never tiled a hull so my advise is based solely on observation. The best copper tiled hull I've seen is where the modeler tiled three rows down from the waterline and then tiled the keel and continued to tile up to meet the first three rows laid down. 

 

 As far a tile weathering, a heavily weathered copper hull looks a bit odd when no other weathering techniques are employed on the rest of the ship. If one is going to model the ship as new then the copper sheathing should only have a light patina IMHO. 

[alross2]

On 12/10/2021 at 1:24 AM, EricWilliamMarshall said:

I received two items I ordered in the beginning of November. First is a set of plans for the USS Perry from the Taubman Plan Service. Their website is dense and sprawling. I ordered via the web form and received no feedback. I emailed them on November 10th asking if the order was received and received a short affirmation and a hope to ship by weeks end. It arrived today! Their plans are the set by now-long-gone Boucher company (and match the set I found earlier (see entry #60 if curious) I still haven’t heard back from the Smithsonian regarding their USS Perry plans. Oh well.

 

 

Boucher became BlueJacket in the 1970s.  We still have that plan in the drawers out back.  When I developed the existing kit of PERRY, I looked at it and compared it to Chappelle's drawings and some other references.  The old kit's armament wasn't consistent with my references, so that was changed, as was most everything else in the original kit.

 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

1 hour ago, alross2 said:

When I developed the existing kit of PERRY, I looked at it and compared it to Chappelle's drawings and some other references.  The old kit's armament wasn't consistent with my references, so that was changed, as was most everything else in the original kit.

What a neat part of the history of the kit and the company!! I was wondering about the connection between the plans! I have the two plans side by side in my workshop and keep staring at them. They seemed related and I wondered if one draftsman had seen the other! Your set is much easier to work with by far! And rigging is much more clear.

 

Is the photo set of the kit your work? (I love having the photos and have them ‘open’ most days.)
 

How did you wind up as a kit designer? I assume it is a round-about path with a few interesting turns!

Edited December 12, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

8 hours ago, Keith Black said:

I don't think you need to be open flame aggressive

Haha, agreed! 
Sadly, I believe you are correct Keith and I should try again with fresh copper. I might try another shot at chemically cleaning cleaning the ones I have. I’ll also dig about and see if I have something to steal from the “backlog” to work with.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I did find this image in the Ship Modeler’s Shop Notes (rights reserved, Nautical Research Guild and The Mariners Museum). One is the image directly and the other is a closeup, where you can see the texture of the coppering.

[Keith Black]

 Once again, I've never tiled a hull so I'm talking out my hat more or less. In my mind I see gluing nice shinny new tile onto the hull being much easier than tile that's been messed about with. The more even/flat the edges and no chemical residue left on the tile's glue side sounds like the ticket. Reading what folks have gone through coppering a hull individual tile is a difficult and messy process.  

 

 Eric, have you thought about using copper tape and a pounce wheel? Attached is a good discussion regarding tape vs tile.

 

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by Keith Black

[alross2]

On 12/12/2021 at 9:08 AM, EricWilliamMarshall said:

What a neat part of the history of the kit and the company!! I was wondering about the connection between the plans! I have the two plans side by side in my workshop and keep staring at them. They seemed related and I wondered if one draftsman had seen the other! Your set is much easier to work with by far! And rigging is much more clear.

 

Is the photo set of the kit your work? (I love having the photos and have them ‘open’ most days.)
 

How did you wind up as a kit designer? I assume it is a round-about path with a few interesting turns!

Plans - keep in mind that the original kit plans were drawn decades ago when customers were closer to being scratch-builders than assemblers.  With today's kits having lots of preshaped laser parts, photo-etch, resin, etc., they much more assembly-oriented.  Consequently, the plans have to reflect the many preshaped parts to help the modeler succeed.

 

Photo sets - When building the display model of all our kits, I am also fitting the preshaped parts to validate them.  Because many of us (me included) are visual learners, I found it useful to take photos of as many steps as possible to get a feeling for how things were working out.  Making them available to the modeler seemed like a natural thing to do.

 

Kit designer - My Dad was a naval officer and the first model kit he bought me back in the early 1950s was a ship model.  Over the next few decades, I assembled a lot of plastic ship and aircraft kits and became very interested in how things were put together.  That's when I started to draw them.  Life happened and, like most of us, I had to work for a living to support a family.  While working on my PhD in the late 1970s, I started drawing plans for small naval combatants (PTs, MTBs, MGBs, etc.) based on the actual yard drawings and selling them to modelers.  After a number of years designing technical training for nuclear power and teaching technical writing in a college, I got tired of the corporate and academic worlds and started building custom ship models.  BlueJacket was just down the road, so I was a frequent customer.  I designed my first kit for them (80' ELCO PT) in the mid-1990s and soon was doing it on a regular basis.  Eventually, I was doing it full time.  So far, I've provided those services (as an independent contractor) to three different administrations (the Hammers, the Margers, and the Damucks) and plan on doing so until I am physically unable or have croaked...

[EricWilliamMarshall]

On 12/13/2021 at 1:37 PM, alross2 said:

Eventually, I was doing it full time.  So far, I've provided those services (as an independent contractor) to three different administrations (the Hammers, the Margers, and the Damucks) and plan on doing so until I am physically unable or have croaked...

Wow! Rock on! Thanks for taking a moment to share that. 

[MrBlueJacket]

I will add that working with Al is a real joy. He has a great sense of dry humor. Here's a photo of his workshop door.

 

 

[mtaylor]

On 12/16/2021 at 7:51 AM, MrBlueJacket said:

I will add that working with Al is a real joy. He has a great sense of dry humor. Here's a photo of his workshop door.

 

 

Love that door.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

That is a great door! Remember: "He who laughs, lasts!" –Mary Pettibone Poole

[EricWilliamMarshall]

It has been a week of trills and spills! And as result, we are shopping for another car. On the plus side, everyone involved was able to walk away with at most a few scrapes and cuts and a story to tell.

 

Regarding my humble project, I decided to clean the plates and give a go. As backup, I have copper tape if I lose faith in the plates. 
 

I wondered how I might make consistent bends in the plates for the keel.  I started to think about mini sheet metal brakes and such. Eventually, it occurred I already had the perfect tool on hand.  @Landlubber Mike kindly recommended the ‘Bug’ for photo-etch and the like for another project I’m flailing a way at.

 

With a little bit of tape, I converted the Bug into a jig for bending my little plates uniformly to fit the bottom of the keel. I added the blue tape to show the edge of the clamped area then removed the top and added the tan tape as an automatic ’depth-gauge’, so every piece would stop at the same point, resulting in the same bend for each piece (in theory). There is a little variation and later I added a second piece of tape to thicken my brake. The bent copper fit snugly on the keel. So far so good.

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

If it doesn’t  work out or looks awful, I just take them off, start again and have learned a bit about coppering a hull along the way.

[Hubac's Historian]

You know, Eric - you have done a fabulous job of fairing this hull.  I can really see your lines in that last pic, and it is a job well done!  I’m glad to hear that all are well, after recent events and mis-adventures. 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Hubac's Historian

[Landlubber Mike]

Looks great!  Glad you’re getting additional use out of the Bug - very clever!