Artesania Latina 1:50 Dallas 1815 Revenue Cutter

[Capt Mongo]

I started this kit many years ago in my ill-spent youth.  Fast forward 35 years or so and I came across the box with all the remaining parts and thought to resume the build.  It appears that the hull that I started has gone missing in the many intervening moves.   I'd like to try to start over if I can replace the missing hull parts.

 

I thought to replace the parts from the manufacturer.  I contacted Artesania Latina; they no longer produce, stock or support the kit. 

 

I think I can replicate the keelson and the deck fairly well using the kit plans.  However, the bulkheads will not be possible to reproduce since only a couple are partially represented in the plans.

 

If anyone has this kit in unstarted condition and you have the bulkheads available that you could trace them onto paper and send them to me that I might be able to reproduce those the parts?  I will, of course, reimburse any associated costs.

Also, the parts call for 4mm and 2mm plywood.  I have searched unsuccessfully all over the internet for such material.  Is there a producer or supplier in the US for thin plywood in metric dimensions?

TIA to anyone that might be able to help me!

[Rik Thistle]

Capt,

 

I finished this ship a little while ago. IIRC, the plans 'might' give the bulhead shapes to scale. I think I still have the plans, somewhere. I'll have a look and get back to you, hopefully within a couple of days.

 

Richard

[Rik Thistle]

Capt,

 

I do have the plans, as I believe you do also.

 

I also have most of the wood that surrounded the bulkheads before they were pressed/cut out. The wood is missing Bulkhead 9 towards the far right of the picture below., but it might be enough to get the show on the road.

 

 

Regards,

 

Richard

 

PS: The pic looks like it has some barrel distortion but is actually like that in reality. I seem to remember the wood and shapes were fairly roughly marked out and nowhere near as accurate as modern kits.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Rik Thistle

[grsjax]

I believe the Dallas kit is based on the standard 51ton revenue cutter design.  Howard Chapelle shows this design in one of this books.

Edited March 2, 2022 by grsjax

[mtaylor]

I  can't help with the plans but maybe with the wood.   I looked through my bookmarks and found this one... https://www.woodcraft.com/categories/plywood    They don't have the sizes you need but do have some that are "close".   You can source ply from a lot of places that are not metric and those might work with some "adjustment" such as ply being a bit thicker than what the kit supplied.  Sometimes "close" is as good as we can do....

[Capt Mongo]

Richard,

Thanks very much for the suggestion and the image to make the bulkheads from the cutouts from the backing sheet.  Oddly, I still have that piece with the remains of my kit!  I thought of that as well, but am afraid that it would induce some serious errors to the finished product.

 

Jeff

Capt Mongo

[Capt Mongo]

grsjax,

 

YESSSSSS...!!!  On your suggestion, I went to my library and found my copy of "The History Of American Sailing Ships" and the plans you mention.  They are published at  approx. 1/133 scale which will require some creative copying to get them up to the kit's 1/50 scale.  The frames don't quite correspond to the kit frames; the drawing has more frames so will provide better support and contours for the planking.

Thanks for the suggestion.  I had no idea that Chapelle is the likely origin of the kit plans.  It's amazing the information buried in one's library that we don't know is there...

 

Jeff

Capt Mongo

[Capt Mongo]

mtaylor,

 

Thanks for the steer to Woodcraft.  On occasion I'm a 1:1 scale woodworker and have used Woodcraft as a source for items for those projects.  I never thought of them as a source for model shipbuilding materials!  Live and learn... 

 

I found  some suitable plywood for the project:  5/32" Finnish birch for the hull parts and 1/16" Finnish birch for the false deck.  The false deck material is a little thinner than the kit part, but should lend itself to camber and sweep easier than thicker stock.

 

Thank you!

 

Jeff

Capt Mongo

[Capt Mongo]

In the continuing saga...

I went out today and copied the Chapelle drawing of the subject revenue cutter in my book and brought them up to 1/50 scale.  They looked kinda small when they got spit out of the copier at Kinko's.  I brought them home and indeed they are much smaller than the plans in the Artesenia Latina Dallas kit.  I checked the dimensions provided by Chapelle against his drawings and the kit plans.  Come to discover that the kit is about 1/38.5 scale.  So now I gotta go back to Kinko's and copy the diagrams again to bring them up to 1/38.5 scale...