Staghound 1850 by rwiederrich - 1/96 - Extreme Clipper

[rwiederrich]

Great job Rich.  Love the drawing.   Super 

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Cutting in the cat heads. 
 

Rob

[ClipperFan]

2 hours ago, rwiederrich said:

Thanks Rick. 
Finished up the bumpkins and their bits. Blocks and hardware will come later.  
 

Rob

Rob, those safety chains are such a brilliant touch. They really drive home that this was a real vessel on a human level. Nicely done!

[uscharin]

Some nice symmetrical wire bending on the step railings.  That isn't so easy to do as I recently found out.  Looking great.

[rwiederrich]

10 hours ago, ClipperFan said:

Rob, those safety chains are such a brilliant touch. They really drive home that this was a real vessel on a human level. Nicely done!

Thanks Rich.  Those little boogers were quite challenging to fix in place....without damaging the existing spindly wooden railing.

The splash rail will go atop the catheads in  the near future.  I will add the iron fairleads shortly after.  

Noticing the Cheppelle drawing a bit closer.  I noticed he set the forecastle deck at nearly the monkey rail height.  NOT at the main rail height as McLean describes.   Probably trying to reconcile the limited height under the deck for real men to do work.  More evidence, the inner forecastle decking was 3ft below....providing that *AMPLE, well lit work space....we see described in McLean's first hand description.

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

39 minutes ago, uscharin said:

Some nice symmetrical wire bending on the step railings.  That isn't so easy to do as I recently found out.  Looking great.

Thanks.  Not only did it have to be cleanly executed ...it had to be mirrored.  Both fore and aft.  I'm humbled.

 

Rob

[ClipperFan]

1 minute ago, rwiederrich said:

Thanks Rich.  Those little boogers were quite challenging to fix in place....without damaging the existing spindly wooden railing.

The splash rail will go atop the catheads in  the near future.  I will add the iron fairleads shortly after.  

Noticing the Cheppelle drawing a bit closer.  I noticed he set the forecastle deck at nearly the monkey rail height.  NOT at the main rail height as McLean describes.   Probably trying to reconcile the limited height under the deck for real men to do work.  More evidence, the inner forecastle decking was 3ft below....providing that *AMPLE, well lit work space....we see described in McLean's first hand description.

 

Rob

Rob,

No surprise that I agree with our prior assessment. Instead of trying to jam things in without thought as to how people would actually function in such cramped spaces, we're taking an opposite tack and using common sense to sort out how a space would have been laid out in a real world environment.

[rwiederrich]

18 hours ago, ClipperFan said:

Rob, those safety chains are such a brilliant touch. They really drive home that this was a real vessel on a human level. Nicely done!

Thanks Rich.  I thought they would add some continuity to the practicalities we uncovered.  
 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

7 hours ago, ClipperFan said:

Rob,

No surprise that I agree with our prior assessment. Instead of trying to jam things in without thought as to how people would actually function in such cramped spaces, we're taking an opposite tack and using common sense to sort out how a space would have been laid out in a real world environment.

It escapes me others have not concluded the same thing.  “Just glue it together and stick it on the mantle”.   Really?

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Worked a bit on the cat head structures.  Haven’t decided what release mechanism I want to use.  Here, I’m working out the twist and release design.    I haven’t added the release pin yet……just the long bar with the cupped head that holds the release pin and retaining chain.   The other design uses a rope and release clip that holds the release pin from falling away releasing the retaining chain. 
 

Rob

[ClipperFan]

@rwiederrich **** Eureka!!!! **** I FOUND THE 1850 CORNELIUS McKAY CLIPPER SHIP STAGHOUND LINES PLAN!!!! This is the real deal!!!!! Elias Trout, MIT Museum Collections at first replied that they had no records but then another colleague found the plans. They have McKay's handwritten signature in multiple locations too. There's a 13" ruler in the lower left corner. Based on its size, it looks like the drawing matches the carved model in size. Plans include a starboard sheer, fore and aft body and lower hull profile. There's also a neat sailplan in the lower right corner. I have a watermarked low-rez copy. I have signed a confidentiality form and paid the nominal $15.00 release fee to get a high-rez watermark free version. If given permission, I will share the low-rez version. From my digital merge I can tell that Chappelle and Crothers have her stern too round. She's more similar to that on the Flying Fish.

 

[rwiederrich]

12 hours ago, ClipperFan said:

@rwiederrich **** Eureka!!!! **** I FOUND THE 1850 CORNELIUS McKAY CLIPPER SHIP STAGHOUND LINES PLAN!!!! This is the real deal!!!!! Elias Trout, MIT Museum Collections at first replied that they had no records but then another colleague found the plans. They have McKay's handwritten signature in multiple locations too. There's a 13" ruler in the lower left corner. Based on its size, it looks like the drawing matches the carved model in size. Plans include a starboard sheer, fore and aft body and lower hull profile. There's also a neat sailplan in the lower right corner. I have a watermarked low-rez copy. I have signed a confidentiality form and paid the nominal $15.00 release fee to get a high-rez watermark free version. If given permission, I will share the low-rez version. From my digital merge I can tell that Chappelle and Crothers have her stern too round. She's more similar to that on the Flying Fish.

 

I hope to see them soon if possible.

 

Rob

[ClipperFan]

2 hours ago, rwiederrich said:

I hope to see them soon if possible.

 

Rob

@rwiederrich check your messages!

[Luis Felipe]

Hi, great news, can you share this exciting Staghound plans finding with me?

[rwiederrich]

2 hours ago, ClipperFan said:

@rwiederrich check your messages!

Get em
 

Rob

Edited Tuesday at 05:40 PM by rwiederrich

[ClipperFan]

6 hours ago, Luis Felipe said:

Hi, great news, can you share this exciting Staghound plans finding with me?

Just honor the fact that they can't be shared (published) online. I sent you a message. 

[ClipperFan]

4 hours ago, rwiederrich said:

Get em
 

Rob

Rob,

I already made color enhanced copies to make the lines easier to trace. A surprising discovery, there are actually red and black lines which I only discovered by increasing the color. 

[BANYAN]

Great find guys, they will be extremely useful to your work

 

cheers

 

Pat

[rwiederrich]

Worked on the anchor release mechanisms

Rob 

[rwiederrich]

First coat of paint. I’ll add the painted cat facings a bit later. 
 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Remember..that cathead is no longer then 9/16" and the release mechanism is very tiny.   I will finish off the gilded cat face on the end next.   I won't be adding the anchors until I have finished installing the splash rail

 

Rob

[Rick310]

Nice job on the anchor release mechanism!

I went with a more simple version, just a bar that could be pulled back to release the chainRick

[Wawona59]

Well Rob, it's time for me to fess up.  I've been a lurker following this build since almost day one.  I am simply awestruck with the quality and crispness of your workmanship.  I really like your representation of the Muntz metal bottom sheathing, it's spectacular.

 By the way, I recently acquired a copy of "Clipper Ship Captain by Michael Mjelde.  Lo and behold, it's signed by Michael to his brother, dated December, 1997.  Do you think Michael would like this back?  I could send it to him as soon as I get a replenishment of my retirement modeling/slush fund and Michael's mailing address.

I'm so glad to see that you are doing better.

 

  

[ClipperFan]

12 hours ago, BANYAN said:

Great find guys, they will be extremely useful to your work

 

cheers

 

PatS

Pat, I learned about existence of these rare drawings from seeing this single page in Richard McKay's encyclopedic book "Some Famous Sailing Sailing Ships and Their Builder Donald McKay." That was at least 20 years or more ago. I found the original 1850 model and shared dozens of images of her about a year ago. The good folks at MIT turned out to have the original 1850 plans in their Captain Arthur H Clark collection. Now that I see them, it's clear that our three main sources: Hall, Chappelle and even Crothers never had access to these plans. That fact astounds me, since Cornelius McKay clearly stated that he drew these plans and crafted his gorgeous model directly from the lines off the molding loft floor as Stag Hound herself was under construction! There are no more highly accurate plans than these. FYI: do yourself a favor, if you don't already have Richard McKay's book in your library, get the earlier version. It is far more beautiful with about a dozen full color paintings that are all monotone in the 1967 reprints.

[Wawona59]

On 7/23/2024 at 1:59 PM, Bill Morrison said:

I strongly recommend watching The Bounty with Anthony Hopkins and Mel Brooks to really get an idea of life at sea trying to round the Horn.  It wasn't an easy endeavor. I'm surprised more sailors weren't lost.  Also, Gordon Lightfoot released a son called Ghosts of Cape Horn and Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald that stressed the dangers of a life at sea.  These are worth a watch and a listen.

 

Bill

Hi all,

Here's a link to the YouTube 1980 video called "Ghosts of Cape Horn" narrated by the late Jason Robards.  I understand that Gordon Lightfoot wrote his song "Ghosts of Cape Horn" for this video.  Towards the end of this video is the song "Song of the Sea" by Eliza Gilkeson.  I believe "Song of the Sea" is hauntingly beautiful and well worth a listen in my opinion.

 

 

Enjoy

 

 

[rwiederrich]

5 hours ago, Rick310 said:

Nice job on the anchor release mechanism!

I went with a more simple version, just a bar that could be pulled back to release the chainRick

Rick, I wondered how you did your release.  I went back and forth....from the latch, like device on the Flying fish to EDT's Young America twist release.  I went with the latter.  It had to  drill an exact hole through the Rail, aligning exactly with the release bar.  It was a booger to install and then paint.

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

5 hours ago, Wawona59 said:

Well Rob, it's time for me to fess up.  I've been a lurker following this build since almost day one.  I am simply awestruck with the quality and crispness of your workmanship.  I really like your representation of the Muntz metal bottom sheathing, it's spectacular.

 By the way, I recently acquired a copy of "Clipper Ship Captain by Michael Mjelde.  Lo and behold, it's signed by Michael to his brother, dated December, 1997.  Do you think Michael would like this back?  I could send it to him as soon as I get a replenishment of my retirement modeling/slush fund and Michael's mailing address.

I'm so glad to see that you are doing better.

 

  

I appreciate your support and fine compliments.  I hope you stick with me till the end...it'll been a hoot.  I'll talk to Mike and see what he wants to do....  It might be possible I can arrange for him to sign a copy for you...possibly in exchange.

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

4 hours ago, ClipperFan said:

FYI: do yourself a favor, if you don't already have Richard McKay's book in your library, get the earlier version. It is far more beautiful with about a dozen full color paintings that are all monotone in the 1967 reprints.

THAT book is surely in MY collection.

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Bill, I watched both videos.  It was truly amazing what these men accomplished, with what they had. ...... Freezing rain, dangerous pitching heights, cruel *Bully boys*, scurvy, sleep depravation, and the cruel list goes on.

 

All we can do now, is, enjoy a romanticized version....of *Wooden ships and Iron men*.

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Spent some time finishing up the starboard cathead and splash rail. 
 

Rob