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I've recently acquired this book from SeaWatch books - basically because I love modelling books, but also because this looks like a beautiful model from a period a little earlier than most of the builds here at MSW. I don't see any build logs for this ship on MSW 2.0 and was wondering if anyone had actually built this, or was in the process of building it?

It's a lovely book, by the way, and the colour photo section is gorgeous.

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I have the book also. I'm considering a build but its a toss up between a couple of others also. You could be the first :)

Jeff

 

In progress:
Medway Longboat 1742 - Syren Ship Model Company -1/2" scale

USS Constitution - Model Shipways - Scale 1:76

HMS Granado - CAF Model - 1:48

HMS Sphinx - Vanguard

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I'd certainly like to build this one Jeff - one day......  It's on my "to-do"list, but not until I have developed a few more skills and experience through some other scratch builds first.

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I totally agree with you Grant. It's a beautyful model which needs a lot of experience, which I don't have. But perhaps in a few years ...

Regards Christian

 

Current build: HM Cutter Alert, 1777; HM Sloop Fly, 1776 - 1/36

On the drawing board: English Ship Sloops Fly, 1776, Comet, 1783 and Aetna, 1776; Naval Cutter Alert, 1777

Paused: HMS Triton, 1771 - 1/48

"Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it." Salvador Dali

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  • 2 months later...

I have also recently purchased this wonder book. I'm really new at this so I'm going to jump right in head first. When I get a better puter with a cam I'll show what I've done.

 When the book came in and the wife saw the price it was i thought she'd kill me for buying it. When I get some more spending money i'll hoping to buy a few more. Hats off to Gilbert McArdle for such a wonderful addition to all our libraries.

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  • 3 months later...

I perchased this book about a mounth ago, and I`m about to start the building board.

I`ve been building period ship now for many years and have a stock of timber i,e Holly, Cherry, Pear, Apple, Elm, Maple, Boxwood, Mahogny, Jelutong and my new addition Tulipwood, Its a wood I have not used before.

I made a frame with a piece and it works well, so this is what I shall use for the frames.

 

Regards

mij

xebec 1:60 scale, scratch build

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Hi Mij

I also have this excellent book and intend this to be my first full navy board style build.An interesting point is that the framing detail matches exactly the builder's model and not necessarily that of proper shipbuilding practice.I look forward with great interest to following your build.

Kind Regards Nigel

Currently working on Royal Caroline

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I too purchased the book for my next build  I am currently building HMS Prince 1670. I recently moved to a much smaller workshop and thought that Prince (my first POF in 30 yrs, scratch built) would be a good warm up for the Sussex. I am currently waiting for the pearwood I cut after Sandy to season and it will go into the Sussex. The plans seem to be very good and it will be a pleasure to work from a good set after the garbage that I bought for the Prince.

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Yes, I also have this beautiful book from Seawatch.  Dr. McArdle did a very nice job, thank you.  I started it  by getting copies made of the plans and frames, acquiring and making clamps and waiting for my dogwood to air dry (it's almost ready) when along comes another book by the good Doctor about building a POF model of the 'Utrecht".  This a companion book to the Hoving/Emke book which I already have.  I expect the new book this week. 

 

I have already started a Swan class sloop by Antscherl/Hebert.  It has the keel and stem on the construction board, all jigs are made, all clamps too, and the capstan is completed.  The aprons are nearly ready for installation, then the framing comes next.  Before I get back to this, I have to complete my 'Soleil Royale' by Heller.  This is nearly complete except for the case, some back stays, lanterns and ship's boats. 

 

There are so many great models to build and so little time----ahhh.

 

Duffer

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Interestingly, tulipwood is widely used by high quality picture framers in the UK for the framing works of art, particularly box-section frames.

 

I've 'played' with it and it's a lovely wood to work. Straight grained and little evidence of warping. It's almost like lime of sycamore, but easier to work, particularly in comparison to North American lime or basswood.

Michael
 
member of
United States Naval Institute

Royal United Services Institute

Society for Nautical Research
Navy Records Society
 
author of
The Art of Nautical lllustration - A Visual Tribute to the Classic Marine Painters, 1991, 2001 & 2002
United States Coast Guard barque Eagle, 2013 (Blurb Photobook)
 
former assistant editor of the quarterly journal and annual 
Model Shipwright and Shipwright 2010

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Brian, the plans I got are from an Italian firm Tecnomodels from Taubman plans. They are 1:60 scale and so wrong that in places 2 different sheets show the same area as completly different. Also they are in Italian which is not as big a problem as the fact they just stink. I have resorted to using 2 other sources for correct info, photos of the London Science Museum model and the magnificent model by Mile Bijelic. I have decided to move forward from where I stopped using the plans and do the best I can even though some of the measurements are out of whack and some fudging is needed. But I am learning to carve a lot better and I have learned a lot fixing mistakes.

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I can't tell you about any other plans except for the ones I have. I was going to do POF too , but the plans were so bad it was impossible. I really can't say enough about how poor they are. I  nearly canned the whole project, but decided to go on as an excercise to prepare me for the Sussex. The plans enclosed in the book seem to be right on the money. I am a scratch builder so I am going to try to do all the carvings as well as construction of hull. I just wish I could figure out how to carve a better human figure. No museum will ever hold my models but from 2 feet away they look pretty good LOL. Tony

Edited by Crowe
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi All

 

I have started to build HMS Sussex 1693 from the plans by Gilbert McArdle,

The frames will be cut from tulipwood.

 

post-838-0-19172400-1379925076_thumb.jpg

 

post-838-0-20518900-1379925105_thumb.jpg

 

These two pictures show how I fitted a removable keel by fitting a piece of brass tube into the base board and a smaller piece of brass tube to the keel. 

 

post-838-0-88858900-1379925821_thumb.jpg

 

The tulipwood being planed for the keel. 

 

mij

xebec 1:60 scale, scratch build

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mij,

 

If I may be so bold... how about starting a build log in the Scratch area, rather than here?  This area is for reviews of books and magazines which is what this thread started out to be.  

Mark
"The shipwright is slow, but the wood is patient." - me

Current Build:                                                                                             
Past Builds:
 La Belle Poule 1765 - French Frigate from ANCRE plans - ON HOLD           Triton Cross-Section   

 NRG Hallf Hull Planking Kit                                                                            HMS Sphinx 1775 - Vanguard Models - 1:64               

 

Non-Ship Model:                                                                                         On hold, maybe forever:           

CH-53 Sikorsky - 1:48 - Revell - Completed                                                   Licorne - 1755 from Hahn Plans (Scratch) Version 2.0 (Abandoned)         

         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

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  • 2 months later...

I have bought this book mainly because it contains the plans taken off of an original 17th century Navy Board model and apart from Lenox I don't know of any other plans of such a ship available.

 

At the first glance the book and plans made a good Impression, but after some closer looks I was rather disappointed.

Gilbert Mc Ardle's  craftsmanship is no doubt at a very high level, his model of Sussex looks very good and seems to be an exact (or very close) copy of the original model, at least the exterior. Regarding the decks the model is possibly better than the plans.

The first mistake on the model  which came to my attention is the dimension (up and down) of the ledges.The ledges of McArdles model have the same thickness as the carlings but should be much thinner - I don't kow if the original model has the same fault, but I doubt it. This would be the only original Navy Board Model I know which would not show the ledges in the correct thickness.

One of the first thing I look at when I get ships plans is if the different plans (side view, longitudinal and cross sections, line drawings) match each other. This is not the case in this set of plans.
It is certainly not easy to take off the lines of such a model (and the lot of decoration on the outside of the hull makes it even more difficult) and I suppose that McArdle did a fine job on this (I hope at least for evrybody building a model based on the plans that this is so) as far as the exterior is concerned. With the decks shown in the longitudinal section and in the stern view it is a different Story. In the longitudinal section it is not quite clear what the height of the decks is, the way they are shown looks quite strange to me and is not as decks are shown in ship plans of the 18th century (I have never seen an original plan of the 17th century). Sometimes the cross sections of timbers are drawn hashed, sometimes the spaces between them. The height of the decks in comparison to the gun ports is very dubious. This is where the model is presumably better than the plans. McArdle describes in the book, that the has marked the height of the decks clamps by means of a jig a certain distance below the lower sill of the gun ports, so whatever mistake is in the drawing was not transferred to the model. The decks are obvioulsy drawn to high in relation to the gun ports (I suppose that these are correct in the drawings. In midhips the gunports are 25 1/2" above the gun deck (which is 31/2" less then Deane specifies in his Doctrine), this might however be OK but at the aft end the distance is a little bit less then 21". According to the stern view the ports of the stern chasers are only 13" above the deck, which just can not be correct. If we transfer the height of the stern chaser ports to the longitudinal section then we find that the middle of the lower row of ports are at the height of the wing transom, the middle of the upper row of stern ports is exactly at the level of the upper deck!

 

I can only recommend everybody who wants to build a model based on these plans to make a lot of checking before making too much saw dust.

 

Klaus

Edited by Model Mariner
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Klaus, You propose some interesting issues with Dr Mc'Ardles publication on the construction of the HMS Sussex. Perhaps you could publish an Addendum to his book with all the corrections. I am sure any one wanting to construct this ship as a model would find this useful and would immensely add to the accuracy of ones construction!

 

I have seen the model and it is well done and seems very accurate, however I do not have the book yet and can not comment on the accuracy of his drawings. One would have to ask how accurate are they as compared to his one off measurements of the actual model.

Cheers, Guy
The Learner
Current Member NRG,SMA

 

Current Build: HMS Triton 1:48 on line

 

 

 

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Hi Klaus

 

Thanks for your information.

 

Yes there are floors in these plans, but I`ve had many plans that are not perfect.

A modeller has to use his or hers skill and experience to overcome these drawbacks.

On the plus side, it makes the project more of a challenge.

 

mij

xebec 1:60 scale, scratch build

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  • 1 month later...
  • 6 years later...
  • 2 years later...
7 minutes ago, KarenM said:

I'm thinking of opening a new topic and posting photos of the construction of this ship. I don't know if anyone will be interested.

I would be! It's beautiful.

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4 hours ago, KarenM said:

I'm thinking of opening a new topic and posting photos of the construction of this ship. I don't know if anyone will be interested.

I see you have and that's great.  Welcome to MSW.  May I also suggest you do an introduction in the "New Members Introduction" area?

Mark
"The shipwright is slow, but the wood is patient." - me

Current Build:                                                                                             
Past Builds:
 La Belle Poule 1765 - French Frigate from ANCRE plans - ON HOLD           Triton Cross-Section   

 NRG Hallf Hull Planking Kit                                                                            HMS Sphinx 1775 - Vanguard Models - 1:64               

 

Non-Ship Model:                                                                                         On hold, maybe forever:           

CH-53 Sikorsky - 1:48 - Revell - Completed                                                   Licorne - 1755 from Hahn Plans (Scratch) Version 2.0 (Abandoned)         

         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

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