Donald McKay 1855 by rwiederrich - medium clipper

[rwiederrich]

12 hours ago, SigEp Ziggy said:

Awesome waves Rob, I missed this thread before, have you worked on it lately?

Zigg…..I've set her aside till I finish the Great Republic.  I really wanted to see how I could tackle open sea water...I had already done the Ferreira on a still backwater.  I have done further research on the McKay and I need to redo some windows on the main cabin.  Like the GR the McKay had a forward and aft weatherdeck with a gangway that passed over the mid deck with her bulwarks so sailors could easily pass from one deck to the next without going up and down access ladders.  I really want to finish her because she will rigged with only heavy weather sails. A powerful impression.

Being lured by the dramatic, I wanted viewers to see what big waves might have looked like with a clipper being tossed in them.  Not your average model mounting. 

 

Here she is on the shelf behind the Great Republic.

[rwiederrich]

10 hours ago, BANYAN said:

Just found this log Rob; very nice work - I really like the way you are taking this diorama.  Hope you will be adding some storm lines/rails for the crew

 

cheers

 

Pat

Thanks Pat.  She'll be rigged for foul weather for sure.  Like many of the my other builds....ie: Cutty Sark Rudder repair, Ferreira backwater, and the Donald McKay around the Horn...I like to mount my models in actual life events they actually experienced.  Not just to mount them on a nicely crafted pedestal mount.  I want the viewer to be lured into the history of the ship...not just her beauty.  I feel it causes the viewer to be engaged...not only in the fine craftsmanship of the model, but in an historical event associated with the vessel.  To bring history alive.

 

I opted to highlight the unique piece of wood I used for the Great Republics mounting....then say the mooring she was scuttled at after she burned to her waterline. 

 

I will be returning to the Donald McKay and the Gory of the Seas shortly after I finish the GR.     I found it far easier to finish one ship..then to have to set aside all the tooling and parts for the specific ship in leu of the other.  Just too much shuffling...since I have only a small portion of the bench in my shop to do work, I'd have to remove the GR entirely from the shop.

 

Thanks for your encouragement.

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

A bit better image to show the raging sea.

[Landlubber Mike]

Nice work!

 

[BANYAN]

Nice job on the sea 'colour' - looks like a Force 6-7 on the Beaufort scale.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[rwiederrich]

15 hours ago, BANYAN said:

Nice job on the sea 'colour' - looks like a Force 6-7 on the Beaufort scale.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Thanks Pat..I experimented quite a bit to get the lighter green seen below the white caps and then the darker water as the froth and foam clears.  Its a plethora of depth and color that I struggled with.

 

Thanks for the fine comment and compliment.

 

I've been so busy with house projects(finishing up the front porch(7X30)), and making chicken coops and farm stuff...that I just don't have enough hours in the day to work on my ships.  Not to mention that my ship modeling hobby has to compete with my telescope/astronomy hobby.  I'm currently building a mount for my extremely large binoculars to ride on an old converted dental chair....for real good astro viewing.

 

Anyway...again, thanks for your encouragement and comments.

 

Rob(spread thinner than jam on day old bread)

[Bob Cleek]

1 hour ago, rwiederrich said:

"spread thinner than jam on day old bread"

Good one! I've never heard that one before and I've heard a lot of them.

 

[JREwing]

Absolutely stunning to watch your build. Great work Rob....!

[rwiederrich]

7 hours ago, JREwing said:

Absolutely stunning to watch your build. Great work Rob....!

Thanks JREwing.  I began the Donald McKay, just about the time I started the Glory of the Seas.  I wanted to develop my water making skills and depict a vessel out in the raging open sea...climbing out of the trough of a huge wave.   I admit, after accomplishing that...I put the McKay on hold to work on the Glory of the Seas(and a couple of other ideas).  Hopefully, I will return to her when I finish the Glory....she deserves to be completed.  I've developed some additional skills since then and I want to make some changes to her deck house and elevated walk way.    Time aids one in fully realizing ones potential and desire.

 

Thanks for pulling this build thread up and for your fine comments.

 

Rob

[druxey]

Water looks great, but perhaps even better with a bigger area of sea around the model?

[rwiederrich]

3 hours ago, druxey said:

Water looks great, but perhaps even better with a bigger area of sea around the model?

 

It was to be a *Hint* of open ocean.... since the model footprint is also a critical aspect of the build.  The inclination and attitude of the vessel within the sea was part of the goal...not so much the scale of the ship to the enormous ocean it was tossed around upon.

 

Thanks Druxey for the observation and fine comment.

 

Rob

[Vladimir_Wairoa]

Rob , what you are doing for McKays legacy is mafnificent! puts to shame entire Boston sleeping population when they let Glory to get burned instead of preserving her . howgh 

[rwiederrich]

On ‎6‎/‎28‎/‎2020 at 7:37 AM, Vladimir_Wairoa said:

Rob , what you are doing for McKays legacy is mafnificent! puts to shame entire Boston sleeping population when they let Glory to get burned instead of preserving her . howgh 

 

Not only Boston, but the historical societies of Seattle and San Francisco refused to stay her demise as well.  Since there are no modeled replications of these McKay vessels...I sought to create them myself.  Kits of the Flying Fish and Flying Cloud are all the manufacturers are willing to invest in.  Far too many other McKay vessels have impactful exciting histories that need to be told.

 

I will complete the Donald McKay in her watery display once I finish up the Glory of the Seas.

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

We’ll now that GloryOf the seas is now complete I am ready to start a new on the Donald McKay. Here is my old glory of the seas mounted in the Donald McKay waterbase I am going to convert this model into the Donald McKay.

First I had to make some home modifications corrections in the base to accept the glory of the seas hull. Typically  the hulls were very similar above the waterline but below the waterline , quite different. I am not worried because that is completely covered by the water base.

The conversation will be an extensive one,  since the McKay had. Flush weather deck forward(forecastle) …..atop the main deck house and a gangway that ran down port center to the flush weather deck of the poop.
 

All of this will need to be build and added.  
 

But first a great deal of demolition will need to take place on the old Glory of the Seas decks

 

This model will be more to the scale of 1/128.
Not sure exactly …..at the time of this writing.
 

Here are a few starter pic to let you know what I’m starting out with

 

Rob  

[Rick310]

Glad to see you’re back!!  Looking forward to the build.

Rick

[BANYAN]

Looking forward to it Rob.  That base is looking good.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[rwiederrich]

11 hours ago, Rick310 said:

Glad to see you’re back!!  Looking forward to the build.

Rick

Thanks Rick.  It's  something a bit different.

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

21 hours ago, BANYAN said:

Looking forward to it Rob.  That base is looking good.

 

cheers

 

Pat

I’m gonna re clad the wood with rich maple and beef up the base a bit.  
 

Not to mention I’m going to lay down another coat of high gloss on the water when I add the spray and foam.  That of course will be after I remodel the deck and when the hull is ready to be glued in. 

Rob

[gak1965]

Looking forward to your build. Just so I understand, you aren't restarting the old Donald McKay model, but rather you are converting an old Glory of the Seas model and using the base from the the prior Donald McKay model (suitably adjusted)?

 

George K

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Saw a nice photo of a clipper under good sailing conditions ... and the sails are angled as they should appear for models under sail, with a breeze coming from the stern quarter.  Since she's riding high in the water, there's no cargo.

 

[KeithAug]

Rob - the waves look very sharp (small wave length and high amplitude). I wouldn't fancy the trip.

[rwiederrich]

On 5/14/2023 at 9:53 AM, KeithAug said:

Rob - the waves look very sharp (small wave length and high amplitude). I wouldn't fancy the trip.

Thanks Keith.  After base mods and painting leather brown....I will be applying high gloss to the waves and hull....and when I finally rest the hull in place...I will then add the foam and sea spray to the water.

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Worked on the water base.    Beefed it up and painted it leather, and I glossed the sea.  

No spray or foam yet.  
 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Now it’s time to tear the ship apart and create it into the Donald McKay.  
 

Rob

[BANYAN]

Looking forward to this Rob.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[rwiederrich]

My biggest trepidatious move will come when I begin removing all the old deck furniture and houses.  I have a general idea of what McKay's deck plan was (thanks Crothers), but no images exist...except for a few paintings and a very descriptive outline of her features written at the time of her launching and subsequent loading for her first voyage.

 

I'll need to glean from what I know of clipper Lightning's deck plan for internal venting and lighting of her lower decks to aid me.

Her forecastle and poo decks were joined by a long gangway that connected them along side her main mast.  Again reflective of her sister Lightning.

She also had 7ft gunwales...so I might need to add some to her monkey rail to heighten this discrepancy.

 

I'll make more descriptions as I go along.

 

Rob

Edited May 19, 2023 by rwiederrich

[rwiederrich]

This will be one of the first things I will correct.  That is, replacing the stanchions with scale ones carved in the correct pattern.

The poorly executed stern rail has always bothered me.  So I'm going to tear it all down.

 

I hope to get to some demo tonight.

 

Rob

 

 

[BANYAN]

This will be interesting; I will be interested to see how you go about this Rob.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[rwiederrich]

We’ll here we go.  
I first removed all the ladders, skylights and the aft helm house. 
 

Then I removed the rail.  I will be retaining the rail to use it as a template for the new one.  
I then used the high speed dental hand piece with a sharp pit and cut the carriage house in half at where the mizzenmast passes through. 
It made its removal much easier. 
 

Some pics. 
 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Next…….I removed the aft hatch on the main deck.  
 

Space is cleaned up and ready for Measurement taking. 
 

Rob