Shipbuilder

I started this today, 17th June.    It is 2.8 inches long on the waterline, and is a 79 ton two-masted topsail schooner.    Length 84.2 feet and beam of 21.3 feet, completed at Peterhead in  1878.     Scale 32 feet to 1 inch.      It has taken me 1.5 (1 1/2) hours to get so far.     It will not be going in a bottle, but I suppose this size is very suitable if you have the necessary skills to do it (which I don't ).        It is just a "quickie" because I haven't done anything for ages.     The hull is completed, and I have just started "fitting out"  with deck details etc.   
Bob

I started this today, 17th June.    It is 2.8 inches long on the waterline, and is a 79 ton two-masted topsail schooner.    Length 84.2 feet and beam of 21.3 feet, completed at Peterhead in  1878.     Scale 32 feet to 1 inch.      It has taken me 1.5 (1 1/2) hours to get so far.     It will not be going in a bottle, but I suppose this size is very suitable if you have the necessary skills to do it (which I don't ).        It is just a "quickie" because I haven't done anything for ages.     The hull is completed, and I have just started "fitting out"  with deck details etc.   
Bob

I started this today, 17th June.    It is 2.8 inches long on the waterline, and is a 79 ton two-masted topsail schooner.    Length 84.2 feet and beam of 21.3 feet, completed at Peterhead in  1878.     Scale 32 feet to 1 inch.      It has taken me 1.5 (1 1/2) hours to get so far.     It will not be going in a bottle, but I suppose this size is very suitable if you have the necessary skills to do it (which I don't ).        It is just a "quickie" because I haven't done anything for ages.     The hull is completed, and I have just started "fitting out"  with deck details etc.   
Bob

I started this today, 17th June.    It is 2.8 inches long on the waterline, and is a 79 ton two-masted topsail schooner.    Length 84.2 feet and beam of 21.3 feet, completed at Peterhead in  1878.     Scale 32 feet to 1 inch.      It has taken me 1.5 (1 1/2) hours to get so far.     It will not be going in a bottle, but I suppose this size is very suitable if you have the necessary skills to do it (which I don't ).        It is just a "quickie" because I haven't done anything for ages.     The hull is completed, and I have just started "fitting out"  with deck details etc.   
Bob

My home-made miniature vacuum box and a tiny lifeboat.
Bob
 

Vacuum-formed lifeboats for RMS Carmania.
Bob
 

Vacuum-formed lifeboats for RMS Carmania.
Bob
 

Vacuum-formed lifeboats for RMS Carmania.
Bob
 

Vacuum-formed lifeboats for RMS Carmania.
Bob
 

Gwyl,
I described a miniature vacuum box and vacuum forming in my book Miniature Shipbuilding 2015 that you purchased recently.   The relevant pages are 71 and 72.
Bob

My home-made miniature vacuum box and a tiny lifeboat.
Bob
 

It is something that I never got hooked on!      I am OK with making miniatures in conventional cases, but the thought of the added work and patience that is required to make them fold down and up again really puts me off!     For many years, I have been committed 100% to rigging in wire, and that could never be made to fold down and up again, so I am just an admirer of the work others do in the SIB field.
Bob

Hi Jersey City Frankie,
I saw your post on Model Ship World about the Wavertree.     Glad to hear she is being restored properly.     I agree that it is very sad that hardly anyone builds models of this type of ship.    I have built Wavertree from the plans you posted, but can't lay my hands on a photograph of it at the moment.   But here is the sister ship Fulwood that I built some years ago.  
Bob
 

I went aboard the City of Adelaide some years ago in Scotland.     The Irvine Museum had a plan posted on their board.   I wrote asking if they could supply me with a copy, but they never replied.    Eventually, I built this model from photographs and data from Lloyds Register.    
Bob
 

I have now found the photograph.   I completed this model in 1995.
Bob
 

Hi Jersey City Frankie,
I saw your post on Model Ship World about the Wavertree.     Glad to hear she is being restored properly.     I agree that it is very sad that hardly anyone builds models of this type of ship.    I have built Wavertree from the plans you posted, but can't lay my hands on a photograph of it at the moment.   But here is the sister ship Fulwood that I built some years ago.  
Bob
 

CAD wouldn't make any difference to me.   So many of the plans I use are old and indistinct.     Having a fuzzy plan does not mean I will make a fuzzy model!        If the topsail yard looks blurred on the plan, it doesn't matter to me, as long as I can see its length.    From what I have seen and heard of CAD, it is quite magnificent, but takes a  long time to learn, and I have never had much patience for that sort of thing!       Building the model is (or was) my main concern and pleasure, but I haven't built any for several months now, after getting Tennis Elbow last summer.    That is completely cured now, but  I haven't summoned up much enthusiasm to start again, although I probably will eventually!    Surprising how something like that can make you lose the habit!
Bob
 

The sea is just a piece of clear acrylic.    I rubbed the underneath down with fine carborundum paper and sprayed it with Java Blue automobile spray paint.    The ice is modelling clay with pieces of sytrene sheet cut into random shapes and pushed into the surface.    It was then painted with white wood glue and covered thickly with "scenic snow!"      After it dried, I blew the excess away and fitted the ship.     The ship is the steam whaling barque Esquimaux. 
Bob

I went aboard the City of Adelaide some years ago in Scotland.     The Irvine Museum had a plan posted on their board.   I wrote asking if they could supply me with a copy, but they never replied.    Eventually, I built this model from photographs and data from Lloyds Register.    
Bob
 

I went aboard the City of Adelaide some years ago in Scotland.     The Irvine Museum had a plan posted on their board.   I wrote asking if they could supply me with a copy, but they never replied.    Eventually, I built this model from photographs and data from Lloyds Register.    
Bob
 

Thanks, I use a similar method, but the horizontal insert is made from brass shim at the level of the knuckle.  That enables me to carve the slope down to it without losing the sharpness.    Attached is a good view of a typical steel counter, showing the complex shape.
I still cannot imagine how Jeff is going to make five masts, sails and rigging fold down and go in the bottle.     It is something I would never even attempt.    I am particulary interested in this build because I am one of the few who prefers the big iron and steel square-riggers to the ever-popular tea clippers or Napoleonic warships.
Bob
 

I always find the hulls much more difficult and time-consuming than the rigging, but I don't have to make the rigging fold down, so that is a huge problem that I don't have to contend with.   Here are two shots of my Preussen.     One is low angle, showing the shape of the counter stern - it took me ages to develop a good method of making counters.    The other image is complete, and all ready for the sea.
Bob
 

I always find the hulls much more difficult and time-consuming than the rigging, but I don't have to make the rigging fold down, so that is a huge problem that I don't have to contend with.   Here are two shots of my Preussen.     One is low angle, showing the shape of the counter stern - it took me ages to develop a good method of making counters.    The other image is complete, and all ready for the sea.
Bob
 

Gwyl,
Glad it arrived safely.    It is now sold out, but more arriving on the 29th of this month.     Accepting reservations for it now!
Bob

This is me, 50 years ago!
Bob