Flying Fish by Rick310 - Model Shipways - 1/96

[Rick310]

Wow!!! 
I have spent some time looking at her at the museum.  They only have the forefoot, l’m not sure where the rest of her is, I think I heard that the museum wasn’t able to take all that was recovered.

[BANYAN]

Hi Rick, I am sorry that I have not looked into your build before this - my loss as you are producing a very nice model.  I have had a quick look through but will go back and read-in more carefully.  Quite the task you have set yourself for a first model.  That said, you appear to be well and truly up to the challenge.

 

If you had not mentioned your issues with hull symmetry I would have never known, it looks fine in most photographs.  I too like your shackles, they are very effective especially at scale 1/96.  The deck furniture is coming along very well and looks great.   For someone who claims they are not very good at joinery, you seem to be doing a very creditable job of it.

 

You asked about sealing your deck?  Once I have completed my deck planking, I mask/tape off the known deck furniture areas (outer boundary to allow glue to take) and give it as coat of Testors 'Dull Cote' which is a flat/matt varnish.  I find this helps to protect the deck planking (especially as they are much lighter coloured planks), and should I accidently mark the planks doing other work, I can simply give it a light scrape to remove the marking and recoat the area.  I use small scrapers made from old scalpel or similar blades for this.  Being matt finish small touch-pups do not show.

 

I am very much looking forward to your further updates.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited May 23, 2023 by BANYAN

[Rick310]

Pat,

thank you for your kind words and encouragement, it’s greatly appreciated.

When I decided, after a long absence, to start working on the model again I told myself to either finish the model and use it as a learning experience to make wood ship models or get rid of it and stop torturing myself because it wasn’t going to be “museum quality “.  I even went so far as to purchase the POB  version so I could build one that I was satisfied with.  
Since then, apparently 12 years ago, and especially in the last 3 years when I have been able to spend much more time , being partially retired, I have come to appreciate this build and I am really happy with it.

With that said, here is the latest update:

I secured the anchor windlass handles to the Sampson post per a picture I saw of the Cutty Sark and the port anchor to the mooring bit.

I made the 4 air vents out of telescoping brass tube and rod.  I attempted to taper the vents on the disc sander and with files but the results are not very good.  I’m sure this could have been done much better on the lathe but I don’t know how to do that. I’m not very happy with the results but decided to move on as I don’t think they are particularly noticeable.  
I also made the wheel box and tried my hand at turning the legs on the lathe.  Again, not great and certainly not consistent, but the best I could do.  I made 8 and used the best 4.  Certainly a learning curve with the lathe.  I changed the dimensions of the wheel box to better fit the available space.  
I finally took the plunge and attempted to make the wheel.  I thinned some cherry to about .03 inches thick and cut squares which were epoxied together.  I made 3 discs (squares) which were then epoxied together.  A hole was drilled in the middle with a#75 drill bit and this was partially rounded on the disc sander.  Bad idea.  I then chuckled the disc in the milling machine and drilled the holes for the spokes.  I then glued this to some scrap basswood with wood glue mounted it on the lathe and turned the outside and inside diameters. I was too afraid of breaking the rim so I left it a little thick.  I had previously sanded down the thickness of the rim before mounting on the lathe.  After the inside diameter had been cut, I separated the rim and the basswood and placed the rim in water to separate the rim from remaining basswood.  I made the hub out of boxwood because I forgot to use cherry.  The spokes are brass rod.02 inch in diameter.  These were placed through the rim and into the hub. All wood was stained with Ipswich pine . They are secured with a drop of super glue place on the inside of the rim and the hub.  It is temporarily placed on the wheel box to protect it for the time being.

This was my second attempt at making the wheel and while certainly not correct with the brass spokes, I am happy that it at least looks like a ships wheel.

[MrBlueJacket]

Nice work!

[Rick310]

The rudder with the preventer chain were finally finished.  This required fitting the rudder head with a band and the emergency tiller.  The band is brass strip, soldered together and drilled for the tiller which was made from brass rod and wire for the ring.  These were blackened and the top of the rudder post painted black.  The height was trimmed to fit under the wheel box and then glued to the top of the rudder down through the hole for the rudder.  

The preventer chains were tricky due to the small size.  I used chain 36 links to an inch. The one picture shows this compared to the anchor chain which is 16 links to the inch.  I wanted to place the shackles through the links but could only do that in the middle of the chain with 30 ga copper wire which was too fragile and kept breaking.  I could get 28 ga wire through the ends and ended up using 28 ga wire around the links in the middle.  I realized the the ring on the end of the rod coming off the rudder should have been horizontal so I end up redoing the connection to the rod in the rudder.

I then made the capstans.  These were made from mahogany and are similar to the capstans made by EdT on his Young America.  Not having the tools to follow Ed’s technique, I turned the head, spindle and base in one piece.  The rings were cut from 13/32 brass tube at .02 inches on the  Byrnes table saw.  I used a .02 inch blade for the spacing.

The brass caps were made from brass rod a good friend gave me.  This was the most extensive metal turning I’ve done to date.

The whelps were made using Harold Hahn’s technique of shaping a block and the cutting slices off the block, approximately.04 inches thick.

I wanted to attempt to make the bases from brass or copper, but couldn’t find a source large enough, including using telescoping tube.  I ended up making the bases from cherry including my first attempt at boring with the lathe.

The holes for the capstan bars were drilled on the milling machine.  I made a jig to hold the capstan while drilling which also allowed me to rotate the head.  I debated whether or not to make these slots as I was afraid that they would look bad if not done correctly.  I also didn’t like the look without the slots.  The results are far from perfect but are so small they don’t really show very much.  I used a #70 drill bit and squared the slots with a file. 

The brass rings were glued on with cyano under the bottom edge and the capstans were stained with Ipswich pine and a semigloss coat. The bases were painted flat black.

 

 

 

 

Mounted 

[Rick310]

Thinking I was getting closer to masting  and rigging, I realized that I had multiple small items to make first. I decided to start with the studding sail booms and brackets.  

The booms were made from Costello boxwood that I shaped by hand.  I didn’t do a very good job on these, making 4 to get 2.  Good experience at shaping yards; but I’ve got to find a way of making them better.  These were stained with Ipswich pine stain which did not change the color much.  All in all I think these will work alright, not great.  The first problem I encountered was that there are 2 different sizes for the booms given on the plans.  Both the sail plan and the hull plan show the booms longer than the masting and spar plan.  These are significantly longer than EdT’s YA..  I ended up using the shorter boom which I shortened further by 1/8 in for a total length of 6 inches or 48 scale feet. The center band with 4 eyes was made from brass tube cut to 1/16 in wide and drilled for the 4 eyebolts with a #75 drill bit.  The metal eyes were made from 30 ga copper wire which the shanks fit in the drilled holes. These were then soldered together.  These came out well except that the 30 ga copper wire is so fragile that the eyes broke off several times while manipulating the bands to polish, cut off the shanks inside the bands (I used a small chisel as I found it almost impossible to file without bending/breaking the eyes) and fit them to the booms.  This required redrilling and soldering on new eyes which was easily done although frustrating.

The bands at the end which takes the gooseneck fitting was made from brass tube that I tapered and reamed out to fit the end of the boom.  The hook was made from.02 brass wire bent to shape.  All were blackened.  The center band were glued  first with cyano 1/3 of the way in from the outer end as shown in the plans and described by Underhill in his Masting and Rigging book.

The “V” shaped brackets that take the gooseneck were cut and filled from brass sheet.  As always the first one came out well, but it took 3 try’s to get the second one.

The legs were embossed to represent bolts as I was afraid to drill them for real bolts due to their small size.

I realized that these couldn’t be attached to the fore channels before the rear brackets were made and fitted.  I deviated from the plans in that I used brass rod for the struts per Underhill.  The main horizontal strut is 1/32 rod as is the hinge and the supporting strut is .02 in rod soldered to the band.  The brass tube was cut at 1/16 in width

I made flanges for the struts which are extremely small and probably not worth the effort.

The V brackets were cemented with cyano, while the rear brackets are place but not get permanently attached so they can be removed for safe keeping.

I also made the cap for the water tank.  This was turned from brass rodnote , one is soldered and the other to be soldered

 

 

[Jared]

Very nice, skillful work!

[Rick310]

Thanks Jared,

Each piece has taken multiple attempts to get something acceptable as I am learning as I go.  Nothing is ever as good as l hoped but better than I expected.  Pretty steep learning curve which is why it has taken so long.

I really enjoy seeing what parts I can make myself.

[Jared]

We are all in the same boat on this for sure.  Every piece presents challenges and more than 1 try to get right.   

[Mirabell61]

very nice build Rick

 

Nils

[Rick310]

Thanks for the compliment Nils.  I’ve been following your build also beautiful !!!

George, Jared,

I was looking over the rigging plans last night and I believe that the plans have missed labeled the head (jib) sails. Per Underhill in Masting and Rigging, I believe that the most forward head sail is the flying jib, then the outer jib, the (inner) jib and finally the fore top mast staysail.  If true, this changes the belaying points for the downhauls, the sheets and the halyards or at least the labels.

Am I missing something?

Thouhts?

Rick

[gak1965]

Rick,

My 1994 revision of the plans label the sails as you describe (see photo, sails labelled 1-4), and the belaying plan uses the same terms (although it annoyingly uses sts'l for staysail which I originally interpreted as stuns'l). The belaying plan uses those terms and I belayed the downhauls to the 4 pin rail in the stem, and the halyards to the fore fife rail. No sails, so no sheets. Not sure what your older version of the plans show. If they disagree I'll DM you the pin locations on the '94 plans

 

Regards,

George 

 

 

belayed the jib 

[Rick310]

Thanks George, 

I have the revised plans from 1982 ( ?)when it was discovered that the yard length were miscalculated and were too long.  However,  the sail plan is still the same as the original and they don’t have the little diagram naming all the sails.

I have the plank on bulkhead version still in the box so I’ll have to go check those plans.  I never heard that the sail plan was corrected for the POB version but it apparently was.  Thanks again for info!

Rick

[Rick310]

Also George, I also thought that sts’l referred to the stuns’l , not the staysails and it took me awhile to figure that out as it didn’t make any sense.

Rick

[gak1965]

10 hours ago, Rick310 said:

Also George, I also thought that sts’l referred to the stuns’l , not the staysails and it took me awhile to figure that out as it didn’t make any sense.

Rick

It is defined in the general notes in sheet 4 of the '94 plans, but sheesh; add the extra 2 letters and be clear.

[ClipperFan]

http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1851-11-04).html

 

Rick310,

This may seem redundant but have you read the description of Flying Fish in Lars Bruzelius' website? Included in this highly descriptive publication, there's a list of precise specs on all masts, yardarms and even the bowsprit for McKay's clipper Flying Fish. In other article, the publicist Donald McLean refers to getting these quite accurate specifics from the shipyards themselves. Therefore, I would feel very confident in relying on the dimensions provided by this highly detailed Boston Daily Atlas, Nov 4th, 1851 article. 

[Rick310]

ClipperFan

Good to hear from you.  I have the Duncan McLean article and Ben Langford, who revised the original FF plans from the 1930’s(?) for Model Shipways used those dimensions in the plans. 
I think the error that was made was combining the lengths of the yards plus the length of the yardarms for the length of the yards.  This error was corrected in the 1982 (?) revision.

Rick

[gak1965]

BTW, this clears something up for me. There are 6 sheets of plans in the POB kit, and I was kinda baffled as to why they were labelled sheets 1-4 of 4 and 1 - 2 of 2. It makes sense now, as the 4 sheet segment has the framing, overall views, belaying plan, and the running rigging on the yards, and it's what must have been the plans for the solid hull ship (says 1979, revised 1982 and copyright 1994). The 2 sheet set are the additions for the POB model (bulkheads, false keel, planking pattern, counter, etc.) Labelled 1993 and copyright 1994, both sets by Ben Lankford.

 

Historical research and design never stop moving do they.

 

Regards,

George

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by gak1965

[ClipperFan]

@Rick310 Jumping ahead to the solid tops on clipper Flying Fish. I hope to save you from repeating the same mistake that other modelers have struggled with. Again, I will refer to the priceless, authentic rare Glory of the Seas images that author Michael Mjelde has shared with us from his sixty-plus years collection. However, this time there are contemporary images as well that support this structural accuracy. Here's photographic evidence on how to precisely build your tops. You definitely want to disregard any plans that look like the last "Mastini" illustration which is wrong. Two major errors in the "Mastini" plan: lubber holes are bisected by crosstree structural members and the trestle tree juts beyond the semi-circular top which rests above them. Glory of the Seas is proof that the trestle tree blends harmoniously with the solid top above and the generous lubber hole extends uninterrupted, clear across the entire solid top. It's hard to see but the close up seems to show a part of the crosstree cut off to form the lubber hole. Next I'll share images of "Old Ironsides" USS Constitution fighting top as well as the Whaler Charles W Morgan which has a similar solid top.

[ClipperFan]

@Rick310 additional images of solid tops. First two are of "Old Ironsides" and the last is of the Whaler. That's three ships which have substanttial lubber holes, enough for all shrouds to easily be rigged through while leaving sufficient room for crew to climb through. I realize you haven't proceeded to this point in your build but my hope is this guides you in the right direction when you do.

[Rick310]

ClipperFan, 

Good to hear from you.  I’ve been following your posts with George and Jared, good information .  I have yet to take a close look at the tops as I’m still trying to finish the hull, but will definitely keep your information in mind.

Thanks, Rick

[ClipperFan]

2 hours ago, Rick310 said:

ClipperFan, 

Good to hear from you.  I’ve been following your posts with George and Jared, good information .  I have yet to take a close look at the tops as I’m still trying to finish the hull, but will definitely keep your information in mind.

Thanks, Rick

@Rick310 I wish I had 1/4th the raw talent you magnificent craftsmen have. I just want you to know that it's never my intent to criticize, it's only to help. The lubber's holes being longer and wider than those portrayed on the Bluejacket plans make a lot more sense. Besides making it easier to run rigging through them, it also leaves more space for the sailors to get through. Other issues I've been trying to get addressed include a curving wedge shape of the rear coach house. The Alaskan stern Glory of the Seas picture proves this beyond any doubt. Then there's the very plain rear coach house front fascia on those same plans. Again, the highly ornate molded front on Glory of the Seas' rear coach house front fascia with 4 large arched verticle windows is much more in keeping with the central double door, dual carved arch windows portrayed in JE Buttersworth's magnificent Flying Fish painting commissioned by her owners. We also learned during Rob and Vladimir's build, again from one of Michael Mjelde's images was that the front forecastle height was not at the height of the main rail as incorrectly described but actually at the top of the monkey rail above it. There's an article Mike shared with us that stated the measured height on was 5 feet 9 inches from main deck to the inner roof of the forecastle. That same image shows the deck remains level with a gracefully rising bulwark ending with a curved section most likely for belaying pins about 4 feet deep at the very forefront. Another scene of the ship's boy looking towards the fore reveals molded forecastle bulkhead walls. Everything I do, I share the historic images sourced for these determinations. 

Edited September 24, 2023 by ClipperFan
additional information

[Rick310]

Thanks for the info Clipperfan.   Very helpful!  I tried to bend the sides of the aft cabin to follow the curve of the stern

with little success as the sides were built up and too stif to bend adequately without breaking or cracking them.

After 6 straight weeks of out of town guests, finally got back to the Fish.

Finished the topsail bits, fife rails and bilge pumps.  The topsail bits, fife rails and stanchions were made from boxwood.  The stanchions were turned on the lathe.  The cross piece (bolster?) on the fore topsail bitts is larger than the one on the main bitts as the fore takes the strain on the main stay. 
I made the straps and shackles from copper sheet and wire per the chain plates for the deadeyes.  These were secured to the cross piece with cyan and functional copper bolts.  This was the first time I tried them and it worked well I hope.

The bilge pumps were made per EdT and YA.  I used his plans for them.  I wanted to make the fly wheels but ended up using ones from Bluejacket to save time and have something acceptable. The pistons were too short but still difficult to put all together.

[Roger Pellett]

Since I don’t built models from kits, I haven’t been following this, but WOW everything about this model is exceptional!  In my opinion, this belongs in the scratch built category since you are making every.thing yourself.  IMHO 1:96 is a difficult scale to provide your level of detail.  Well done!

 

I too have read the Snow Squall book.  My recollection is that once she was salvaged, there was some squabbling over the pieces vs who really was equipped to properly conserve and display them.  The result was a King Solomon decision to send different parts to different organizations.  Rather sad.

 

Roger

[ClipperFan]

@Rick310 this level of pure craftsman detail is just jaw dropping! 

[Roger Pellett]

I dug out my Snow Squall Book and found that I was wrong.  No single museum wanted the entire piece that was salvaged so the bow section was cut into two pieces; one going to the Maine Maritime Museum, the other to the museum in San Francisco.  The waterway piece went to NYC South Street Seaport.

 

Roger

[Rick310]

Roger and ClipperFan,

Thanks for your very kind words!!!  Every thing seems to take much longer than I expected, and it seems that I have to constantly remake items because I either don’t like the first result or I break something trying to correct it or I just plain loose it when I drop it or it flys out of my fingers/cotton pliers.

None of this would be possible if not for EdT’s remarkable books on building the Young America.  I have attempted to use the processes he describes in the 3 volume set.  I have found them to be invaluable.  Without them I would be lost.

Roger, your own model is amazing!!!  You are truly a master at metal work, which when done well, takes a model to a whole other level.  I am learning a lot from your build as well and can only hope to come close to your level at some point.

I really like Great Lakes ore carriers, being from Ohio and having lived outside of Cleveland for 36 years.  My grandfather was a helmsman on a whale back freighter for a while after WW1.
Again, thankyou both for the encouragement.

Rick

 

[Wawona59]

Snow Squall was briefly mentioned in a 1980's documentary called "Ghosts of Cape Horn" at 42:40.  Keep watching for Lisa Gylkison's "Song of the sea". and Gordon Lightfoot's "Ghosts of Cape Horn".  I heard that he wrote this song for this documentary.

 

 

[Rick310]

 I 
decided to finish some of the deck fittings before moving on to masting and rigging.

The grating by the wheel was made from .04 inch boxwood and the  holes were drilled on the milling machine using a .034 drill (which looked about right), spaced at .07 not inches.  The holes look a bit to big, approximately 5 inches in scale.  These were then marginally squared up the a square file.  I decided not to redo the grating in the interest of moving along but I I would make them smaller if I ever do this again.  The frame was made from some scrap cherry or mahogany,  not sure which.  This was sanded down to closer to .032 inches or about 3 scale inches and stained with Ipswich pine.  The boxwood doesn’t take stain well, but I like the contrast with the frame.

The next item was the water casks.  I had already made the decision to make 2 and place them on the sides of the fore cabin per the model of the Snow Squall and the Flying Cloud.

I started by shaping a piece of cherry and cutting 2 to length.  Previously, I had experimented with some left over holly that I used for planking the decks.  This was 1/16 x 1/32.  I thinned this to .02 inches on the thickness sander and then reduced the width on the table saw to approximately 1/32 inches.  To do this, I cut a slot in a piece of basswood that fit over the blade and kept the holly from breaking and going down the throat by the blade.  I also used a piece of sacrificial wood to hold the holly down as it wanted to curl up as it passed through the blade.

These stripes were then glued to the casks starting with the ends and then the sides.

The chocks were made from boxwood, 4 were cut to length, glued together with Elmers glue, shaped, then immersed in water to separate them.  Holes were drilled with a #75 drill bit for the eyebolts that were made from 30 gauge copper wire spun around a #75 drill bit.  These were blackened.  The straps were cut from copper tape on a paper cutter and glue with cyano by gluing them on the bottom.  Once set, they were wrapped around the casks and again glued on the bottom. 

Unfortunately, these would not blacken and I was left trying to paint them.  They also didn’t take the paint well and I’m not pleased with the results.   Next time I‘ll paint them first and then cut them.  The chocks were rigged first and then slipped over the casks and glue on.  There was not enough room to rig the retaining straps with the chocks glued on first.

[gak1965]

Very nice casks! I tossed the kit one as well, as it was very poorly cast, even compared to the one you have.

 

FWIW, I once accidentally bought brass jewelry wire that was apparently coated to resist tarnish, and as a result it wouldn't blacken. Maybe that's what you have going on there.

 

Regards,

George