The Ship Model Forum

Excellent job so-far. What scale is?, it looks about 1:64th

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I was depressed last night, so I rang lifeline. Got a call centre in
Afghanistan and told them I was suicidal.

They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.

It is 1/72. I am currently taking carving classes so I can get the decoration on the back right. The Pennsylvania had by far the most decorative stern of all American ships of the line. I hope I am up to the task. I noticed you are posting from Australia. Queensland is in Australia right? Anyway, I do business with an on line modeling store there. They put out a monthly news letter and I am the modeler of the month in their up coming December issue. Good people! Always did like the down under crowd!

I take it you mean the Modeler's Shipyard. Good people, I've bought quite a lot of accessories from them over the years and probably a lot more when I get back into wooden ships. I have 13 kits sitting on the 'to-do' pile and most of the are Ships of the Line.
I get their newsletter so I'll keep an eye out for your article.

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I was depressed last night, so I rang lifeline. Got a call centre in
Afghanistan and told them I was suicidal.

They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.

Fine looking modelship--I love the ships of the line in the era when the stripes were straight!

excellent job!


JIM B

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....I buy them at three times the speed I build 'em.... will I live long enough to empty my stash...?
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

IPMS UK SIG (special interest group) www.finewaterline.com

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My Pennsylvania is a scratch build, double plank on bulkhead in 1/72 scale. basswood first planking and walnut 2nd planking. I will post a few more pictures when I have the spar deck planked, and the head rails complete. This should take about 3 or 4 days. I will also try to post a decent photo of my first carving attempt. an eagle holding a laurel branch, and biting a snake with a shield to one side. Thanks for all the encouragement and kind comments. I got a set of plans from the Smithsonian Institute. They are the plans drawn by Howard Chapelle. The plans can be seen in his book "The American Sailing Navy". I got the plans for the Franklin, Delaware(North Carolina), Columbus, heck, I got all of the 74's the SI had. You can go on line to their site to order the catalog. It has all kinds of plans. Steel Navy too!

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Bob: Thanks for the heads up on Chapelle's plans. Even though there are several notations on the plans of the Pennsylvania with regard to having been "copied" from drafts of when she was launched in 1837, I am going to look into the book you suggested. The deck features are are somewhat sketchy, and there are no plans showing what can be seen of the main gun deck through the large hatch opening on the spar deck. Maybe Mr. Channey's book will give me more info. This is why I put the Please reply with any info in my post title. Thanks so much.

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I have stopped construction on the bow until I get Canney's book. I hope the size and shape of the knee are not to far off (if at all). I will make changes as I can if I need to. I have posted a few close ups of the knee. I hope they are not to far off. I too have noticed the gun port stripe going all the way around. I am going to paint the changes when the head rails are done. I was installing the main head rail when I noticed that the gun port was to far to the stern. The gun port door would not be able to open the way it was. I looked at the plans more closely and found I had placed the port on the hull as it would transfer to the SPAR deck. The main gun deck, being shorter and less wide at the bow had a completely different placement. I am redoing the gun port now. I am assuming that this gun port was the main access to the head, else the crew would have to use a rope ladder to get to it from the spar deck? The carving is my first attempt. I could not get the arrows it hold in it's claw. I am thinking of thin brass rods with a drop of solder on the ends and shaped into small arrow heads.

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Here you can see the head I came up with, looking at photos of the North Carolina posted on this website, and drawings of that ship and the Delaware. You can sort of see that the gun port doesn't line up right for access to the head. once the main head rail is in place, it cuts right across the port and has only 18 inches (1/4"n scale) between the rail and the hull. I am moving it around 5/8" toward the beak head. This is more in line with where the plan sys it should be. I wonder if it would be pushing the envelope to far to just cut a small door somewhere near where the bowsprit enters the hull? It makes sense that there had to be some better access to the head than a little 30"X30" gun port? Murphy's law says that long after I have finished this ship, some info will show up putting paid to whatever I do! I got notification from amazon that Canney's book shipped. I should get it by the middle of the week. I have seen photos as well that show the head "planked in". I always thought this was a condition only done when spending long periods of time anchored in port to allow some privacy for the crew. I would feel uncomfortable sitting at the head for all the world to see. At sea, I imagine you would need to have the planking removed to allow the forward guns to fire.

Good work on the carving!!!

This is a great thread, a great subject and away from the norm!

Jim Baumann

_________________
....I buy them at three times the speed I build 'em.... will I live long enough to empty my stash...?
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

IPMS UK SIG (special interest group) www.finewaterline.com

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If any of you noticed an unusual short strong gust of wind at about noon mountain time, that was the sigh of relief I gave when I got Canny's book and did some comparison measurements. The knee is the same size in both books. The Canney Pennsylvania only shows three head rails, where as Chapelle's drawing shows a fourth. Perhaps this is one of those liberties he took. Although, the fourth rail looks like it should be there is only as a safety rail. I was right to move the gun port, and the cat head needed to move farther forward. I will post a photo in a couple of days, and you can compare it to my earlier one. I believe I will use the deck layout as shown for the unspecified SOTH. It is so close to several other drawings of the 74's and the later large frigates as to be negligible. My carvings are proceeding apace, I should have three of four more done in a couple of days. I am enjoying Canney's book. It goes a little farther than Chapelle and is easier to reference. I do not have to jump all over the book to find what I need to know about the 74's.

I have began construction on the bow again. I was making the bumpkins and when I was trial fitting them I noticed the latrines would not work as I had originally constructed them. I had to cut them down. I should finish the bow tomorrow and post a photo tomorrow night. I will start carving the figure head tomorrow too. It will be about one inch high and 3/4 inch thick. I can now think about planking the spar deck and adding the ladders, grating, pumps, capstan, ships wheel, (that is going to be an interesting build!), sky light, and galley stack. Oh, fun!!

Finished the bow! There is more work to be done on the bowsprit, but, that should be easy. HOPE YOU LIKE WHAT i HAVE DONE SO FAR!

threebs, the bow area has come up very nicely.

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I was depressed last night, so I rang lifeline. Got a call centre in
Afghanistan and told them I was suicidal.

They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.

..