Glory of the Seas by Rwiederrich - Medium clipper 1869 (discontinued in lieu of new log)

[rwiederrich]

Being new to these pages i thought if fitting to begin my own build log of the medium clipper I'm building of the Glory of the Seas...Donald McKay's last clipper.

 

I chose this fine vessel because she was not only Donald McKay's last but she spent much of her later years in the Tacoma/Seattle area....where I live and she ended her days just miles from here south of Seattle as a burnt out hulk.

 

I drew much of her documented history from many sources, namely from Richard McKay's book, *Donald McKay and his Famous sailing ships*, local historian, Jay Mjelde, author of several books, *Clipper ship Captains, Daniel McLaughlin and the Glory of the Seas* , and  *Glory of the Seas*, by same.

 

Note to the reader:  I also utilized other resources, such as Crothers fine book, *The American build Clipper Ship*, and a nearly un-numberable library of resources.

 

Unlike many here...I work in multi mediums to achieve my goals...and am not ashamed to admit...I will re-engineer anything and everything to achieve these goals.

 

First it must be known...I am a lazy model builder....wanting expeditious results......means I forgo much in the way of frame construction(I figure I'm covering it up and painting it...why bother).  I do. however....scratch build everything above the weather deck and masts/yards and rigging.

 

I currently use the 1/96 scale hull from the Revell Cutty Sark kit as the beginning of my build...knowing full well much is needed to correct design issues......however..once cutwater rake issues are corrected for said model and stern corrections are also made....I then proceed to  tackle the deck and its houses and furniture.

 

Much of this *Modification* will be eliminated for times sake.

 

Here is an image of the hull after it has been correctly modified.

[rwiederrich]

Another just after modifications from the CS Revell hull.

[rwiederrich]

Nearly everything had to be removed or relocated on the CS hull to accommodate the new location on the Glory hull. Howes holes needed relocating...cheek plates and figurhead.

 

I used maple veneer for the decks and oak , mahogany  and redwood for structures.

[rwiederrich]

The Gory had several refits and modifications done to her during her career...I'm modeling her prior to her 1872 refit when she still possessed  her topmast cross trees and before she was fitted with her cabin boy cabin, just aft of her mainmast and when her boats were removed from the main cabin roof and re positioned over that cabin and the forward portion of the poop cabin. Plus I will be modeling her when her helm cabin did not extend into the aft poop cabin.

 

During her life her original composite lower masts were replaced by single stick masts...but again...I'll be modeling the composite masts..which were comprised of four main tongue and groove sections all strapped together with iron bands.

[michael20]

Hey Rwiederrich ,

 

I believe that you use whatever medium you can to achieve the end result also, I have scratchbuilt several parts for my HMS Hunter model which I have yet to post on MSW. I will be watching for future updates to your build...

 

Happy Modeling,

Marty G.

[rwiederrich]

Adding the forecastle...it is scribed and ready for its furnishings.  I will be applying cerium oxide dust to weather the model as I go.

[rwiederrich]

The Glory's figurehead is a carved woman with her right arm back behind her head and her left arm between her breasts.  I had to carve mine from wood and the Glory pedestal needed  to bet from the bow and the figurehead became part of the contour.

[rwiederrich]

And my carved figure.

[rwiederrich]

Lots more work is needing to be done...but I'm getting there.

[michael20]

Awesome job man

[rwiederrich]

Thanks Michael....I'm working at it.  Here are some more images of the forecastle construction

[rwiederrich]

And another...I wanted to hand paint the name board......so it was not a decal.

[rwiederrich]

Next we move to the poop deck.....and rail.....I opted to build this first and not the poop cabin..so I had more room to align the rail and stanchions.

[rwiederrich]

Then I decided to move to the forward cabin and then back down the deck.  I had to make each of the sliding windows and the flush wall doors...more detail will follow as I go..this is the basic structure...not the dummy mast for placement and scale references.

[rwiederrich]

Foremast fife rail was added next and the mid decks hatch.  I build and added the forward hatch as well...the boat on the skids is temporary so I can get scale and location measurements done.

[rwiederrich]

One note to readers...I add weathering as I go...I use black, brown, red India ink suspended in Absolute methyl alcohol.  Then I apply dustings of cerium oxide for bleach effect and for general dirt effect.  quite convincing. 

[rwiederrich]

A bit closer of the rail and the belay pins are weathered brass.

 

[rwiederrich]

Further aft I built the main rail and the pumps.  A generous coat of alcohol ink and cerium and things are looking good.

[rwiederrich]

Now some serious work needs to be done to build up the poop cabin.  Again I used maple for the roof decking and redwood some basswood for the structure.  Railing to include stanchions and rail.  I built the access companion way of stirene.

[rwiederrich]

Enough for today....I'll post more tomorrow as i continue the build of my scratch/bashed Glory of the Seas.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Well picking up on the poop cabin...I painted and weathered it in my usual manner. Here are some before painting and after.

[rwiederrich]

Next I moved forward again and added pins in the pinrail and worked aft.

[rwiederrich]

During this time I was building the composite masts over on the bench...after i had mounted the mast on the mill and milled out the section of the mast that had been created by the 5 sections being tongue and grooved...then iron banded.  Fillets were pressed under the bands between the outer sections to form a secure surface for the banding.  Here is a pic of one of the masts.

[rwiederrich]

Moving aft again I finished up the helm cabin and deck details before adding the fore and main masts.

[rwiederrich]

during this time I was working on the gunnels and chain plates as I was adding the masts...

[NenadM]

Hey, 

 

Really amazing work, and very interesting method to combine kit from other model and scratch building

 

I follow with great interest

 

Nenad

[NenadM]

Little question : When you made CS, do you use same technique ?

[rwiederrich]

Thanks Nenad.  I figured that an engineered hull could more easily be re-engineered to my models specs then could be achieved from beginning from scratch. The desire to expedite my build and my ability to modify existing kit hulls to my purpose fuels my enjoyment and saves me loads of scratch building hours.  I think the labor has been quite convincing.

 

I plan on doing the exact same thing(converting the Revell CS hull) into my next build the clipper Donald McKay..after I'm finish with the Glory of the Seas.

 

 

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Actually Nenad...I build the Revell 1/96 CS ship from the kit..apart from adding extra details and corrections...like not using string for railing and actually rigging the shrouds and dedeye lanyards and using scale chain.  I super detailed it....like I will do with the scratch built glory of the Seas.

 

Rob

[NenadM]

In Belgrade you can bye only

 

Revell models of sailing ships clipper Cutty Sark RV05401/150

Plastic model sailing ships of the nineteenth century

Skill level: 5

Scale: 1:220

Length of model: 406 mm

Height models: 260 mm

Number of parts of models: 164

The package does not include the colors needed to color this model

Revell colors required for this model: 8 55 93 301 363 381 382

Age: 12 years + (12 + years)

 

And my CS is over doubled size, and combining is impossible, but ... there are plans and details to see ... and even that worth something ( My original plans are very very very poor and undetailed)