Newsletter. Work in Progress December 19, 2012 Reporter: Dave Yotter. Contacts. Volume 40, Number 1, Jan. 2013

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1 Newsletter Volume 40, Number 1, Jan Contacts President: John Simmons (626) Vice President: Larry Van Nes (714) Secretary: Paul Payne (310) Treasurer: Mike DiCerbo (714) Ocaso Ave, #DD204, La Mirada, CA Editor, Don Dressel (909) W. 22 nd Street Upland, CA Web Manager: Doug Tolbert: (949) Web Site Work in Progress December 19, 2012 Reporter: Dave Yotter We had our typical Christmas meeting, which included lots of Christmas oriented snacks such as cookies, brownies, fudge and other delectable tidbits. These were supplied mostly by and with thanks to our tireless leadership committee. I also noticed that there were a number of very excellent mele kalikimaka shirts sported by more than a few members of the crew. Meeting Wed., Jan 16, 7 PM, Red Cross Building, 1207 N. Lemon, Fullerton, CA Officers meeting Wed., Feb. 6, 2012, 7 PM, Bob Beech s house, 130 Clove Pl., Brea, CA (714) Our outgoing President, Bill Schultheis, opened the meeting with a few announcements, a wish for everyone to have a wonderful New Year, and an introduction to the new Vice President who was just elected, Larry Van Nes. The Vice President for 2012, John Simmons, will take the helm as President of the SMA for

2 Randy Biddle has delved further into research of H. M. Sloop Chaleur, particularly in reference to whether she was rigged as a sloop or a schooner. Typically shown in plans as a schooner there is evidence that she was actually rigged as a sloop. He is planning to document his research into this subject in a book, which is estimated to be about 2 years old. Chaleur was purchased by the Royal Navy as one of a group of six Marblehead sloops and schooners somewhere between 1761 and 1764, was 116 tons and about 70 feet on deck. Continental Gondola Philadelphia Dave Yotter Your reporter brought in his STILL unfinished Philadelphia. He reported nearly no progress since it was last shown at sometime in the distant past. He offered a brief history of the building of the gunboat and its participation in the battle of Valcor Island on October 11, As an added note, the editor would like to add the following comments: In the spring of 1776 an interesting shipbuilding race took place on the shores of Lake Champlain in New York. Benedict Arnold needed to construct additional vessels to supplement his existing fleet of a sloop and two small schooners for use in defending the lake. The General s plan was to frustrate the British effort to isolate New England through occupation of the lake and the Hudson River. This need resulted in the building of among other watercraft, the gondola Philadelphia, along with seven more nearly identical gunboats. The battle that took place in October of that year resulted in a delaying action that was significant a year later with the capture of Burgoyne s army at Saratoga. In action, the Philadelphia was holed by a British 24-pound shot and sunk. In 1935 Colonel Lorenzo Hagglund of New York, raised and then preserved and displayed her locally until his death in Since then, the Smithsonian Institution has assumed custody and she can be viewed today in Washington, D.C. 2

The monitor s parts were salvaged and assembled at San Francisco and she went into commission in May 1865. The Passaic class monitors all survived until the 1890 s.

3 USS Comanche Steve Lund USS Camanche, a 1335-ton Passaic class monitor, was prefabricated in Jersey City, New Jersey. Her materials were then sent around Cape Horn in the sailing ship Aquila to San Francisco, California, where Aquila sank in November The monitor s parts were salvaged and assembled at San Francisco and she went into commission in May The Passaic class monitors all survived until the 1890 s. They were 200 feet long made from ½ inch iron plate and distinguished from the earlier USS Monitor in having the pilothouse on the turret and better ventilation. Camanche was armed with two 15 Dahlgren smoothbore guns. Steve s 1:72 R/C model of Camanche features a working turret and is built in peacetime configuration with a hurricane deck which houses an external helm, binnacle and steering chains along with davits for the ships boats. He is working with Navy photos among other references. Several of these photos can be seen on the Naval Historical Center s web page of the ship at Mare Island and other locations in the Bay area. San Felipe Don Dressel Don Dressel brought in his scratch built model of the 1:112 scale ship San Felipe. The Spanish ship-of-the-line is progressing slowly with a number of additions since it was brought in last month. The gunports on the port and starboard sides of the ship were installed (116 gunports) and 232 gunport hinges were made for the gunports, which were also installed. The gunport hinges were photo-etched brass with very small, hollow tubing silver soldered to the ends of the hinges, which were then blackened with Birchwood Casey brass black metal finish and installed on the gunports. The port 3

and starboard admirals walk and door were also installed, but the channels and cover/deck for the admirals door were left un-installed due to potential breakage while additional work is being done on

4 and starboard admirals walk and door were also installed, but the channels and cover/deck for the admirals door were left un-installed due to potential breakage while additional work is being done on the bow. The next project is the beak head railings, cheeks, beak head deck, and related carvings that have to be completed along with the installation of the figurehead at the bow. This will be followed by the deck furniture, gratings, and other related items. The eventual plan is to mount the model in as tight a case a possible, omitting the launching flagpoles and flags, stern lights, and possible bow sprit in order to be able to hand carry the model to Japan this coming April for the ROPE exhibit. Once the model is on display in Japan, the missing items will be installed, then again removed for transport back home. Upon arrival back home, a permanent case will be made for the model, fully assembled and completed. HMS Victory Henry Bikhazi HMS Victory is a 104-gun firstrate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, laid down in 1759 and launched in She is most famous as Lord Nelson s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in She was also Keppel s flagship at Ushant, Howe s flagship at Cape Spartel and Jervis s flagship at Cape St. Vincent. After 1824 she served as a harbor ship. In 1922 she was moved to a dry dock at Portsmouth, England, and preserved as a museum ship. She is the flagship of the First Sea Lord and is the oldest naval ship still in commission. Henry Bikhazi is continuing work on his scratch built 1:300 model of HMS Victory. The hull is made from orange wood, scaled down from plans. Hand carved and then sanded using an oscillating sander. The quarter galleries are made from milled to size boxwood and are complete as are the stern windows. Next are the masts, tops and rigging. The plans are from the book by Alan McGowan, reduced to size. It will be mounted on a stand containing a clock and fabricated of North Carolina cherry burl. Heavy Duty Cargo Ship/Heavy Load carrier Aura Burt Goldstein Burt Goldstein brought in a model he has been working on for about a month at around 3 to 4 hours per day. The model was purchased as a 1:400 card stock kit from 4

JSC Models. The actual ship was built in 2008 in Gdansk Poland and is designed to operate on any ocean/any weather and on many rivers with a seven-meter maximum draft.

One configuration, the one that Burt completed and brought to the meeting last month is as a LNG/LPN carrier with two large cryogenic tanks on deck.

5 JSC Models. The actual ship was built in 2008 in Gdansk Poland and is designed to operate on any ocean/any weather and on many rivers with a seven-meter maximum draft. The model is available to be built in any of three configurations. One configuration, the one that Burt completed and brought to the meeting last month is as a LNG/LPN carrier with two large cryogenic tanks on deck. Other configurations possible are as a bulk carrier or as a container ship. This month Burt brought the model back converted to a container ship. Burt s second presentation is of the Aura in 1:250 scale, a ship designed to carry very heavy loads. As built, the Aura is shown carrying the bridge section of the largest ship ever built, an oil tanker. Initially this ship was built to transport large sections of modern cruise or other ships from several different shipyards to a common yard for final assembly. HMS Fly Mike Lonnecker Mike Lonnecker reports: HMS Fly was a sixth rate ship rigged sloop of the 25-ship Swan class. She was launched 14 September The Swan class was of 14 to 16 guns, the Fly carrying 14 X 6-pounders and 16 swivel guns. The Swan class of sloops was unusually attractive for a sixth rate both for her hull lines and the amount of decoration. They were built just before the Admiralty issued orders for the reduction of decoration to save cost because of the continuing wars. The Swan class measured 97 7 on deck, displaced 300 tons and carried 125 officers and men. 5

The Fly s career was short as she foundered of Newfoundland in 1802. She performed primarily convoy escort duty and dispatch duty. She captured two French privateers.

6 The Fly s career was short as she foundered of Newfoundland in She performed primarily convoy escort duty and dispatch duty. She captured two French privateers. The model is being built following plans from David Antscherl and the four-volume set of books by David Antscherl and Greg Herbert, to a scale of 1:48 using boxwood. I have shown the model several times in the past. Since the last showing I have completed the framing of the hull, gun ports and stern. The stern work was a good challenge. I followed the dimensions in the books for locating the outer counter timbers, but there was no easy way to clamp them in place as they just sit on top of the wing transom. Greg Herbert in Volume 3 showed them clamped to the cross spalls, but I was unable to duplicate this with any accuracy ( I think I could have if I had 3 more hands). After building the counter timbers and the quarter deck transom which holds the upper ends of all the counter timbers 3 times (the quarter deck transom is a difficult piece itself curved in the horizontal and vertical planes, rabbit on one edge, ends angled in two planes and 4 mortises angled vertically and then each at a different angle athwart ship) I decided that I must build a fixture. The one I came up with was attached to the stern support of the building base. A piece of ply was attached at the correct vertical angle of the counter timbers and the proper distance from the wing transom with a copy of the drawing of the athwart ship location of the timbers from the book glued to the face of the ply. This gave the exact location for the outer counter timbers and a nice flat surface on which to clamp them. From there the construction of the stern frame continued without a problem. From here I intend to finish framing the sweep ports and complete faring the outside of the hull and stern timbers. I will plank both sides to provide anchor points for all the chain plates. I intend to fully rig the model. USS Constitution Paul Payne Paul Payne is continuing work on his scratch built 1:96 scale model of USS Constitution, built in her as-launched configuration. He reports having finally produced an acceptable set of head rails. He tried constructing these from a box-ebony-box laminate but had little luck gluing these together and, in addition the 6

curves didn t come out right. Paul said he isn t aware of plans for this version of the USS Constitution and so has been inferring dimensions from the Hercules figurehead.

7 curves didn t come out right. Paul said he isn t aware of plans for this version of the USS Constitution and so has been inferring dimensions from the Hercules figurehead. One problem he found was that the haws holes were 18 too high and so rectifying this problem helped. The final solution was to laminate the head rails with beech, which glued well and then scraping in the proper profile using an old Exacto blade ground to shape. He used fabric softener and water to shape the rails. He also said that he found that Titebond (aliphatic resin) and superglue don t mix. Next on the agenda are the head rail timbers, trail boards, gammoning, heads & etc. Cape Cod Cat Jelly Bean John Simmons Horace S. Crosby developed the Cape Cod style catboat in the 1860 s in the region of Oysterville MA on the southern shore of Cape Cod. His boats were so successful that copies soon displaced all other types in the region. The Cape Cod shore has always been regarded as a dangerous place for small craft. To be successful, the Cape Cod catboat had to be shoal draft, fast, seaworthy, handy, weatherly and cheap. It should be no surprise that catboats are quite popular with yachtsmen. The 15 catboat Jelly Bean is a modern rendering of this classic, national boat type. John Simmons built Jelly Bean as a 1:16 model from a kit produces by Freedom Boatworks. The model represents a 15 4 prototype designed by Edward Stimson. This design was developed with a hard chine hull that could be home built using plywood for hull construction. The model shows some of the distinguishing characteristics of cat boat design including a single mainsail with no jib on a mast placed well forward, a barn door rudder and a hull width equal to nearly half it s length. It took John about a week to complete the model s construction. Continental Frigate Confederacy John Simmons John Simmons has completed construction of his 1:64 plank-on-bulkhead kit designed by Chuck Passaro from Model Shipways of the Confederacy. The kit comes 7

with laser cut parts (with extras) cast figures, 13 sets of drawings, photo etch brass and is done in admiralty style with some exposed framing and decking left off to show the gun deck and great

A long boat and pinnace are supplied, which are fully framed and planked.

8 with laser cut parts (with extras) cast figures, 13 sets of drawings, photo etch brass and is done in admiralty style with some exposed framing and decking left off to show the gun deck and great cabin. It is complete with a parquet floor in the great cabin. The galley stove is bricked and comes with a drip pan and spit. John added a boom and bowsprit ;and hammock netting. A long boat and pinnace are supplied, which are fully framed and planked. The coppering was done using a pounce wheel for nail detail in a jig, which allows adding the nail detail, and then using a chisel to cut off each plate. Treenail detail was done using a #70 drill and then filling the holes with a wax based repair (putty) pencil. He used India ink for staining the wales and upper works. John likes to stain parts first before installing; he uses Minwax stains, as this way any glue squeeze-out won t show. The hull is finished in light oak. He likes to use Gorilla brand super glue. 8

9 Dave Yotter s Continental Gondola Philadelphia Steve Lund s USS Camanche John Simmons Cape Cod Cat Jelly Bean Don Dressel s San Felipe 9

10 Henry Bikhazi s HMS Prince Burt Goldstein s Heavy Load Carrier Aura Burt Goldstein s Heavy Duty Cargo Ship Mike Lonnecker s HMS Fly Paul Payne s USS Constitution John Simmon s Continental Frigate Confederacy 10

11 SMA happenings The regular SMA DUES are DUE. The SMA treasury has to be refreshed. Please pay your dues as soon as possible the deadline is April 2013 when your newsletter will be cancelled if dues are not in. The SMA club dues are $25.00 for regular members within 100 miles of the club meeting location and $20.00 for those beyond that point. We still have to pay our rent for the meeting location, mailing of snail mail newsletters, etc. Upcoming SMA Major Event The special construction workshop with David and Greg (Admiralty Models) has currently been cancelled due to lack of participation. The minimum requirement for the workshop was 20 individuals at $ each and we only reached 15 members within the SMA and 3 additional members from the San Francisco area. If there is still interest, perhaps we can try again for next year. Again, contact Don Dressel if interested. Treasurer s Report Our esteemed SMA Treasurer, Mike DiCerbo, indicates that the current balance in the SMA treasury is $ as of December 1, Mike missed the officers meeting this month, so the exact amount in the SMA account is unknown; however, an additional $ has been spent for the meeting location and other things. Again, please pay your dues. Web Manager s Report Doug Tolbert reports that the CD shown of Kevin s Lathe for Model Makers procedure at the July SMA meeting is placed on the SMA web for members only. Doug keeps on adding things to the web site, so check it out. The web site also has additional items on the HMS AJAX for SMA members only check with Doug or an officer to determine how to gain access to this information. Past SMA newsletters from the beginning are also being posted. 11

12 Mike Lonnecker s HMS Fly on the building board with all frames installed. Donald C. Dressel 908 W. 22 nd Street, Upland, CA Next meeting Wednesday, January 16, 7:30 PM, Hillcrest Park Red Cross Building 12

Building the Corel Endeavour

SPECIAL ISSUE # 7 DECEMBER 2017 All photographs and articles published remain the copyright property of the contributor and SMSC unless released. Building the Corel Endeavour Photos and commentary by Leon