Shenandoah 1864 by SGraham - FINISHED - Corel - Scale 1:50 - American Civil War-era Cutter

[captainbob]

Beautiful details.

 

Bob

[jct]

Hey Steve,

She is really coming together, the contrasts between your wood chooses and painted details look good.  Any luck with your glass as yet?

J

[SGraham]

Jesse, Sam, Nils, J, and Bob, thanks for the kind words. No attempts on the glass yet. I've got a gaff to make and some running rigging left to do, then comes an attempt at glass cutting.

 

Steve

[janet bode]

Hi SGraham

 

         I am watching your build with great interest as i too have the Shenandoah kit i think your workmanship is really great and hope when i get round to building her i can do as well as you have although i am not looking to cutting all those scuppers.

 

                                            Happy times Janet B

[janet bode]

                   Hi   Steve

                                 My thoughts are with you.

                                                  Kindest regards to you both.

 

                                                        JanetB

[SGraham]

Hi Janet,

 

Thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate it. I'm happy to see that you are going to build the Shenandoah. I've had a very good time building the kit. I think it was a good reintroduction to the hobby for me. When you start, please be sure to start a build log as well. 

 

Steve

[jct]

Hi Steve,

Just checking in, haven't seen any posts on your Shenandoah for awhile, hope all is well.

J

[TurkSailor]

Excellent details and fittings.

 

Pulling up my chair!

 

Cheers!

[SGraham]

Thanks, TurkSailor. Welcome aboard!

 

Hi J. You're right—I haven't been in the shipyard for a long time. It's been a mixture of family stuff (6 birthdays, 3 anniversaries, and Mothers Day all in the month of May—we call it Mayhem), music gigs, and seeing my senior literature students off into the wide world. School is out tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to get back to building soon. I'm doing fine—just busy. Thanks for checking in.

 

Steve

[SGraham]

Hello everybody. My schedule has finally cleared up a bit, and I was able to get out into my very hot shop today. I did some more work on the display case for Shenandoah. I added the uprights for the frame. They're mahogany from the big box store. I cut the miters and grooves for the glass on the table saw. The uprights are screwed onto the lower part of the frame. I've also got the top part of the case glued up but haven't yet decided if I want to put glass up there too. Probably not, as the case is pretty tall and you can get a nice aerial view of the deck from the side. The whole case will lift right off the maple board that serves as the base. It all has a coat of tung oil on it that still needs to be rubbed out.

 

Steve

[jct]

Very Nice

[src]

Nice work like always Steve

Sam

[Blue Pilot]

Very nice work!

[jct]

Hey Steve...seems you've about finished her, any thoughts on what your next build might be?

[SGraham]

Hey J. Well, I finally finished the case--before I finished the ship, of course. I have the gaff left to go and that's about it besides some running rigging. I've already made the gaff but still have to make the jaws.

 

The case worked out well except that I made it too tall. I may cut the glass down 2 or three inches. I made the top of the case from some thin poplar. I like the contrast in colors. The case lifts right off the base, but it's really heavy with the glass in it. This makes it pretty exciting to put on and take off--if you're the kind of person that enjoys watching accidents. 

 

Steve

[SGraham]

As to your question about what I'll build next, J, I've been giving it some thought. I want to try scratch building a water boat, maybe the Aqua Pura that's in one of Chapelle's books. I think I'd like to try building it in lifts. So, I messed around with a sample hull built from lifts. It's a skipjack from Grimm's American Ship Models book. I lofted the lifts, cut them out on the band saw, doweled and glued them together and carved them with a Stanley #63 curved-sole spokeshave. I was surprised at how easy the mahogany and poplar was to carve this way. I didn't get the hull exactly right, but I think I got it close enough to learn what I wanted to learn. So, I'll start a build log on the Aqua Pura soon, I hope.

 

Anyways, as far as finishing Shenandoah goes, I seem to have run out of steam. Next week is my last week of summer school, and I hope to get some good time in at the bench. It's funny, but I almost seem reluctant to finish the boat.

 

Steve

 

Here's the practice hull I carved.

[jct]

Hey Steve...the case turned out great, I know what you mean, I felt the same way when I was closing in on the end of my HM build, don't understand it but I sure felt it.  Maybe because there is so much time vested in them??  Your scratch looks like its off to a good start, I'm toying with a scratch idea myself, a single masted sloop...(free plans here http://modelshipbuilder.com/page.php?192 )

In fact I may put my Niagara aside for a bit to start the scratch. I'm struggling to interpret some aspects of the Niagara plans and she will be huge (by my standards) when complete, total length in excess of 40 inches, so I'll need to find a spot where she can be displayed...space is pretty tight here!  Still mulling it over...be sure to post a link to your new build log, I'd love to follow along.

J

[2milimetra]

Very nice working.  I like the color combination, great looks.

[src]

Steve, whats happening in the build yard?? very quiet here. Have you finished her yet?

Sam

[SGraham]

Hi Sam,

 

Thanks for the ping. Suzie's Huntington's Disease is progressing. She's had several close calls with pneumonia and sepsis. She's still in isolation from her last bout. She has almost no control over her swallowing and she aspirates liquids and the pneumonia kicks in. It gets really bad really fast and takes a long time to recover from since her condition is so compromised. We've been living with this disease for a long time, but this is a new phase for us. 

 

So, it's been a rough year. When things get rough I kind of withdraw. I've wanted to get out to the shipyard and start building, but somehow I keep turning to easier things. I've built a few musical instruments just to make some sawdust, but they don't take anywhere near the amount of research and dedication that ship modeling does. Soon I really do want to get back to it. A set of furled sails and some rigging is all I need to finish Shenandoah. I'm sure I'll finish her up and start another boat. In the meantime, thanks for checking in with me, Sam. I really appreciate it.

 

Steve

[dgbot]

May God go with you and your loved one Steve. There are many here who can relate and feel the pain and heartache you have endured for so long and wish that things could be better. I think your Shenandoah will look great fully rigged.

David B

[src]

Wow Steve really sorry to hear that.

Give her my best and take care, we will be here when your ready.

Sam

[jct]

Steve,

Very Sorry to hear of Suzie's health problems, cant imagine what you're going through...as Sam said we'll be here

J

[SGraham]

Thanks David, Sam, and J.

 

Steve

[SGraham]

Hello again to all. I'll start with a little update on the home situation and then move along to the Shenandoah. As many of you may be aware, my wife Suzie is suffering from Huntington's Disease. Because of this, she has lost the ability to swallow. As a result, she has been on a feeding tube for the past 3 years. A year ago, after a series of 4 serious pneumonia infections that developed into sepsis, I made the decision to put her on hospice. It really looked like we were gong to lose her any day. Well, the first thing the hospice doctor did was to see if Suzie was getting too much food through her feeding tube, causing her to aspirate the extra food, leading to the pneumonia infections. To make a long story short, after the doctor cut back on the food amount, Suzie's infections stopped. It's been almost a year, and she hasn't had one more infection. Whew!

 

As you may well imagine, I'm feeling a lot better too! Anyways, I thought I'd reopen my Shenandoah build log since it has been my intention to fit her with a suit of sails.

 

So, today I tried making a furled jib which wasn't a great success. Let me begin by stating that I have absolutely zero skill with needle and thread, or with cloth in general, for that matter. (I can hardly dress myself). Following a suggestion I read somewhere, I made a shortened version of the sail, as you can see below...

 

The short version of the sail is so that the furled sail won't look too bulky and out-of-scale.

 

This sail making thing is really hard, and it has a definite learning curve. So, here's what ended up happening...

 

I ended up with something resembling a canvas tornado attacking the bow. I didn't have enough sail to work with, I cut the sail clips way too big, etc., etc. I also learned that when you attempt to attach a sail, the standing rigging goes slack. So, I cut off the sorry-looking monstrosity and re-rove the forestay so that it was nice and tight again.

 

I'm going to do some thinking. Maybe a full suit of sails, or two jibs and the mainsail would look good. I may try a full one tomorrow, using cloth. I also saw on someone else's build log how they used paper and came up with some very nice looking sails. We'll see. 

 

Thanks for reading! It's good to be back.

 

 

 

[jct]

Hey Steve,

Welcome back, so glad to hear Suzie is doing better, all my best to her...your jib looks good, much better then my first attempt, the sails will definitely add more to an already great model

J

[SGraham]

Thanks J. I'm going to try again today.

 

Steve

[SGraham]

I decided to try my hand at making a full sail instead of a furled one. It hangs on the forestay, and I'm not sure what it's called. I think it could be the foresail. I used the lightest weight material I could find and stained it in a mixture of tea and coffee. Not having a suitable sewing machine, and not knowing how to use one anyway, I drew in the seams with pencil and glued on extra material for the hems and reinforcements. 

 

I decided to add a line of reef points but being as this is a fore-and-aft sail, I didn't know which side of the sail to put them on. There's a lot to know in ship modeling, and I think at least as much time is spent in research as is spent in actual building. So, I'm going to share what I learned about adding reef points in hopes that another beginning sailmaker might find it useful. Sorry if all this is too obvious!

 

1. Make holes by poking a sharp object through the sail, but be sure the sail is lying on cardboard or styrofoam while you are doing so. If you try to hold the sail in your hand while you are making the hole, seams will start to fray.

 

2. Don't make pencil marks on both sides of the sail for reef point holes. I have no idea why I did this, but I did. On this side of the sail, every reef point will have a nice dark dot next to it. They don't erase. Trying to erase them causes fraying. Next time, I won't put in a pencil mark on either side. The hole goes through the center of the reinforcing band, right between the seam lines. It should be easy enough to center it by eye...

 

3. There are reinforcing bands with reef points on both sides of the sail, which explains why I found many photographs showing them on first on one side and then on the other. Duh!

 

4. Here's how I attached the reef lines. I started with a longish piece of line and put a simple overhand half-granny knot in the middle. I dipped one end of the line in CA glue to make it stiff so that it would easily pass through the hole in the reinforcing band.

 

After putting the line through the hole and pulling it until the knot is all the way up against the sail, turn the sail over and make another overhand half-granny knot on the other side. Don't pull it tight yet.

 

You'll need a pair of sharp jeweler's tweezers for the next step.

 

The photo isn't too good, but you need to grab the part of the line that is coming through the hole. If you grab part of the loop you'll get a loose knot. Firmly gripping this part of the line with the tweezers, start pulling the line tight with your free hand. Keep the tweezers on the line firmly against the sail.

 

When the knot is tightened as far as it will go slide the tweezers out of the knot and reposition them on the other side of the knot. While holding the line taut with one hand, push down on the knot with the tweezers, tightening the knot against the face of the sail. Look at those dumb pencil dots next to the holes! 

 

If you look at this photo of a Colin Archer yawl, you can see that the reef points are pretty short, maybe 2 feet long.

 

So, my reef lines got a nice trim on the port...

 

And a little on the starboard side as well. I glued down a little bit of the lines next to the knots so that they would look like they are hanging down. This isn't one of those fancy cutters with the newfangled anti-gravity reefing lines.

 

I'm pretty happy so far with how this one is coming out.

 

Next come the bolt ropes...

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

[jct]

Hey Steve,

Nice write up my man...sails are looking sweet

J

[SGraham]

Thanks, J! I'm almost ready to bend this sail onto the stay. Should take me the rest of the day...

 

Steve