Pride of Baltimore by JerryTodd - 1:20 scale - RADIO - as she appeared in Fall 1981

[luc]

very nice done ,Jerry

[JerryTodd]

So here's a rough idea of how the sails will be controlled.  Two "Mega-sail-arm" servos will be used with the Semaphore Sheeter as described above to control the sheets of the heads'ls, fores'l, mains'l, the running stays, and the tops'l yard braces.

[JerryTodd]

Let's hope this works....

I cut 4 sticks 6-1/2" long, 3/4" wide, and 3/16" thick from pine.


I tapered and sanded them.  They stacked, two each, on a bit of brass tubing as a bushing to keep the pivot holes from wearing larger.  A pan-head screw  serves as a pivot pin and holds them to a common block so it's all one assembly.


There's a thin styrene "washer" between them and on top, and they sit on a 1/4" Delrin block to lift them over the servo arm.


The block will be screwed to the servo-tray between the two sail-arm servos, one pair facing port, the other starboard.

 

[JerryTodd]

I painted the sheeter arms red, 'cause I still have a can of red spray paint and not much else to do with it. The set-up is mounted between the servos
 

This shows the arms at their full extent with the servo arms centered.
 

 

The amount of sheet the arms have to haul on either side for each sail is:

 

Starboard servo:
  Fore sheet: 17.5" / 44cm
  Main sheet: not measured yet

Port servo:
  Fore stays'l: 4" / 10cm
  Flying jib: 11" / 28cm
  Jib sheet: 13.5" / 34cm
  Tops'l yard brace: 15.5" / 39cm

For those of you only familiar with Pride II, here's the sail plan of both Prides at the same scale to show the difference in size between the two.

Edited October 31, 2015 by JerryTodd

[JerryTodd]

I've been trying to figure out the steering so I can get this one in the water.  I thought I had a plan; the tiller lines would run through blocks in the waterways into tubes in the lazerette hatch coaming and then on to a servo mounted in the main cabin.

 

but that part of the plan wasn't going to work out. The problem is, there isn't enough room below decks for the servo to move a large enough arm to get the tiller to move as far as I need it to go. A quadrant or drum set-up wasn't getting it, and there's no way to set-up a direct linkage with push-rods and such.

 So, I placed the servo for the steering forward of the battery and routed the tiller lines up to it.  I epoxied in a couple of blocks just forward of the battery to mount the rudder servo deck on, and jury-rigged an arm on the servo to try to nail down this rudder control thing.

 

[mtaylor]

I hope you get it sorted, Jerry.  No way to do a direct linkage to the rudder itself, maybe a quadrant gear setup?

[JerryTodd]

The rudder head comes through the counter and there's no place to run linkage through that wouldn't be obvious and clunky looking.  Pride had relieving tackle rigged most of the time and rigging the steering this way approximates that somewhat.

[mtaylor]

Ok.. I think I understand it.  I was just thinking if the linkage could be done under the deck, let the rigging above deck just be a dummy.   I do hope you can get it sorted.  I want to see a video of her sailing.

[JerryTodd]

There is no "under deck" back there, at least none that I'll be able to access or run gear through.  I originally though to run the steering lines to the waterways and then into the cabin sides to the servo, but then the idea of routing it through the lazerette hatch struck me as doing the job more subtlety and actually using otherwise unusable space.  The main hatch forward is 13" x 5-1/2" - a lot easier for me to get into and the main reason I move the rudder servo forward.

 

I have a different idea at that end I'm working on which I'll post when I get it set-up.

 

Counter's frames installed, these are maybe 1/8" thick.

 

Under the counter.

 

Counter decked with 1/16" bass.

 

The prop shaft tube installed, showing the tight space behind the cabin that will be inaccessible once the deck is on. (those twin beams are gone, unneeded.)

[JerryTodd]

I settled on a way to handle the steering that's pretty much the same way I did it on Constellation.

 

 

The arm on the rudder servo has cleats so I can adjust the lines if needed.  I mounted oak blocks in the hull to lead the steering cables to either side of the servo.

 

 

The arm and the cleats are made of very thin luan plywood called doorskin which is literally what they sheath interior doors with.  I'll paint it red eventually because I have a can of red spray paint I have no use for otherwise.

 

[JerryTodd]

A little paint...

 

A look at everything...

 

Threaded the gaff haliard hooks on the masts and put nuts on them....

 

And a little video of the steering in operation.  Once the working blocks are installed on deck and on the pillow blocks P&S of the rudder servo - it'll be smoother - it's rubbing in a lot of places at the moment.

 

[Omega1234]

HI Jerry

 

Nice progress and thanks for the video.  She's getting closer to launch day!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[mtaylor]

Looks like you've got it, Jerry.

[JerryTodd]

I've been pecking at the sheeting for the fores'l and not having much luck.  In the mean-time I ordered some cable extensions for the rudder servo and some shaft collars which came in yesterday.  The shaft collars are for making a 1-1/8" propeller since I couldn't find a metal 2-blade prop that size online.  I just gave it a little pitch until I can test it in water.

 

 

 

Edited June 17, 2016 by JerryTodd

[JerryTodd]

Still working on the fores'l sheeting. My problem is too much friction - it binds too much for the arm to pull the sail across. With a single fair-lead I can pull the sail over with the sheet just laid over my finger, but the port sheet has to be routed across to the starboard side, and both are doubled onto the arms to increase the arm's pull length.

But for now, it's time to procrastinate...

 

I mounted the master switch in the front of the cabin trunk...



...installed blocking in the mast partners that hold the masts at the correct rake angle and help against twisting...

 

Installed a "beam" aft to catch the end of the sub-deck there...



...and got to making some quickie blocks to use on the fair-leads down below decks. They don't have working sheaves, but the line glides through the wider hardwood dowel than it does around narrow screw-eyes. Some of these will no-doubt get replaced with ones that have working sheaves (probably from some Delrin rod I have), but these help me get the system in order.



On the subject of working sheaves; these lovely blocks, sent to me some time ago by Victor Yancovitch, will be modified (like the one front-center) with working sheaves for use on the tiller ropes above deck.



Another bit of procrastination was framing up the new "engine room hatch" between the main mast and the cabin trunk.

I thinking I may need to widen the main hatch from 5.5" to maybe 8". The last fair-lead for the sheeting arms are mounted near their tips, inside the hull, up under the deck, and will be a real pain to access. That's down the road. Once I get the sheets working, then I'll revisit the idea and determine if it's really necessary to get into that level of surgery.

I went ahead and painted the inner cabin trunk black. The lid has slit windows on the sides and I colored the inner part with black marker where you could see through them. It just seemed cleaner to paint the whole thing.

 

[JerryTodd]

Pride got out of the house and put on display at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum on Saturday, and at Baltimore's National Maritime Day Port Expo on Sunday.

Both events were slow, so I decided to get some pics of the model in the pool, when she started sailing along...

    

[mtaylor]

Sweet.   She looks right at home in the water.

[JerryTodd]

For those following my other logs, you're aware I got a 3D printer and have made a couple of items for those models, and I'm working on further 3D model parts to print.  This model too, will get something from the resin vat, though I can't think of many things at the moment.  Her swivel guns come to mind right-off, maybe drums for the windlass, and crew figures, and her 4 carriage guns, of course.

[Brewerpaul]

That's amazing Jerry. I'd love to see her in full sail.

I'm doing the kit of the POBII at the moment, but I'm not building it entirely as the ship is today. I will leave off all modern stuff like radar, props,etc. and try to give her a less cluttered deck as probably would have been the case in the 1812 vintage ships.  Your Pride is more along the lines of the older ships and I hope to include details like rudder instead of wheel, etc. Your pictures will be a big help.

[JerryTodd]

What you see set is all the sail the model's getting.   The real boat might set stuns'ls, a fisherman, and a ringtail (never set during my time aboard), beyond that, but controlling that stuff remotely is more than I could manage to figure out.

 

[Remington550]

Can you tell me where to locate the plans you built pride from?

thanks

[JerryTodd]

I bought a copy from the designer, Tom Gilmer, back when I was on the crew in 1981, and redrew them to 1:20 scale for the model.  The plans were also very different than the actual boat in a lot of places; number of gunports, some deck details, etc.  The drawing is actually a work in progress and in some places I mad something from photos, and added it to the drawing-after-the-fact.

 

The designer is no longer alive and I don't know if the original drawings are available except possibly from the Maryland Historical Society

 

Edited March 25, 2021 by JerryTodd

[Remington550]

Thanks. I will try the historical society.

[JerryTodd]

My friend Mark sailed his 46 inch schooner Cliodhna (Clee-na) for the first time in the pool at National Maritime (May 2022). He controls the sails with a sort of close-line system driven by a winch. It's actually a common system in RC sailing models, especially schooners, and what I originally intended to use in Pride. The winch drives a closed loop and the sails' sheets are attached at points so the loop's travel pulls the sheets the requisite length for each sail.  Mark used one loop to control the over-lapping jibs (there's gonna be a jib-tops'l), and the other loop controls all the rest of the sails (the ones with booms basically).

Watching this work so well in the pool, especially with the over-lapping jib, I started rethinking Pride's set-up - again.

 

I could finish this model if I could work out the controls, and what I was working on I don't think was going to work.  Sometimes the first idea winds up being the best idea, with some adjustment,

First off; I already plan to remove the motor.  There's no way that that 1 inch prop is going to move all that sail in even against the slightest breeze.  The motor will go to the upgrade of my rope-walk.

With the motor gone, the Rudder servo can be moved aft to where the motor was, closer to the rudder and the receiver, so I won't need an extension cable.

Two winch servos with be re-mounted just forward of the rudder servo, and the other end of their loops with be at the forward end of the main hatch, just behind the foremast. This should get me enough length to control everything, even, I hope, the square tops'l.

Another step towards getting this girl in the water is the arrival of 50 pounds of lead shot.  Now to gather the materials and courage to cast a 25 pd lead bulb.

[ccoyle]

6 hours ago, JerryTodd said:

Cliodhna (Clee-na)

 

That has to be an Irish name. No other language on Earth has such an abundance of silent letters.

[NavyShooter]

Gaelic perhaps?  

 

Looks like a great build!
 

A suggestion for your prop (I see you hammered one out on your own) there's a guy in the UK that is able to make custom props- the Prop Shop - his name is Simon.  https://www.prop-shop.co.uk/

 

I've bought a bunch of props from him - kort nozzle ones for a tugboat, WW2 style ones for my aircraft carrier and my Liberty Ship.  (Note, I had to sand off the tail-cone of the prop here to fit with my rudder.)

 

 

Edited June 23, 2022 by NavyShooter

[JerryTodd]

Yeah, Mark's into his Irishness, (which spellcheck wants to change to Garishness).  When they opened a Guinness brewery here in Maryland, you would have thought it was the second coming.  As a Scotts-Jew, I have completely different stereotypes to live up too. 

 

As for the prop, I'm afraid even a pretty, 1 inch (25mm) prop wouldn't be up to the job.  I considered putting a motor on the end of Constellation's the ballast tube with a nice big nylon prop from a Sequin steam tug kit, but someone tried towing her once, with a dedicated 1:24 scale tug boat model in a 4-5 knot breeze and could hardly make any headway against all that sail.  Instead, I'm looking at building a 6 or 7 foot pram that I can car-top by myself, and chase these things around with a trolling motor.

 

Here's a couple more pics of Cliodhna.  She's a yachtified fishing schooner.  Her lines are based on a hull he liked in a 1930's magazine of boat designs.  When the hull was built, he thought she looked "stubby" so he lengthened it about 4 inches.  All her hardware details are based on Chapelle's The American Fishing Schooners.  Mark made all her hardware except for the turnbuckles and deadeyes.  I modeled and printed the stern-boards, wheel, and windlass for him.  She's clean and neat, and the brass is all polished and varnished because the wife didn't want a stinky old fishing boat on display in the living-room.  If I had done that hardware, I wouldn't have hidden it under blackening or paint either. 

The model is one of those that's beautiful at any distance.

Edited June 23, 2022 by JerryTodd

[JerryTodd]

I pulled everything out except the prop shaft and stuffing box (which is just a tube).  My smallest allen-wrenches seem to have wandered off so I can't take off the prop and bushings yet.  Once that's out of the way, I'll look at mounting the rudder servo and making new fairleads for the steering gear.  The wood blocks forward are epoxied in, as are the block where the rudder servo was mounted, I'm leaving them in place unless they get in the way, since it'll be a chore taking them out with damaging the hull.  The aircraft plywood servo tray just forward of the mainmast will come out as well.

 

I edited in a new diagram that ought to be a little clearer to see the controls, hatch outlines, and steering lines.

I'm thinking instead of running the control loops side-by-side, I'll put one winch aft, and the other forward so the control-loops work within each other.  This should make dealing with the connections through the hatches easier, since the whole system will be narrower.
I also got 50 pounds (22.7kg) of lead shot a few days ago, so I have to determine the size and shape of the bulb I need to cast.  That will get bolted onto her removable fin and I think will be in the neighborhood of 20 pounds (9kg).  Some shot in baggies will go in the hull for trim, I figure one in the bow and the other in the stern, each about a pound.

 

Pride was on display at National Maritime Day on May 22nd.  Here she is on the table with Cliodhna.  Mark's schooner isn't a particular scale, but it's very close to Pride's 1:20.

Edited June 26, 2022 by JerryTodd
changed an image

[JerryTodd]

I pulled out the prop-shaft, cut back the stuffing box, and plugged it with epoxy.  With that clear I made fitted a couple of beams where the rudder servo will go, made them into a frame, and epoxied it into the hull.  I used a slow-set epoxy, so I couldn't do any more till it set-up.  The steering will need a couple of turning blocks and fairleads to become functional.
 

I placed some servos where the winches will go to do some measuring and it looks like I should get at least 22 inches (56cm) length of pull from each loop.  That ought to be plenty to handle all these over-lapping sails.

 

 

[JerryTodd]

Pulled out the old servo-tray that sat on the centerboard-trunk, and reset the main-mast step.  The step was raised about 1/8" as the main sat a little too low.  I didn't know that the tray would be in the way, but it's neater and cleaner with it out, and may fool someone into thinking I know what I'm doing.

 

 

The old motor bulkhead got extensions and some paint, and an old knee was reused to catch the forward end of the new aft servo tray.

I won't have access to this bit that pokes out forward once the deck is on, so instead of screwing it to a knee I installed to catch it, there's a block above the knee that holds it down.
Two screws into the bulkhead at the back holds it in the boat.  If I need to remove the tray, I take out the two screws I can access through the hatch, and the front slips out.

The little blocks on the wings will hold the idler-pulleys up at the right level to the other winch drum.
Then there's that lovely yellow paint.  I don't even remember getting yellow spray paint, but I can't paint everything red.

 

The forward winch tray is mostly made, I have to figure out it's mounting, which will involve the old rudder servo-tray blocks the thing is sitting on in the pic, but it needs raising up and the angle corrected.  It will also have some fore-and-aft movement to it so I can adjust the tension on the loops.

 

 

Edited July 2, 2022 by JerryTodd