USS Onondaga - Part Deux -1/96th scale

[Roscoe]

Thanks Michael.

Between work and the flu, Onondaga time has been scarce, but the deck is finally split up and ready to make cut files and drawings. Even with 1/4" thick material, there is still a good number of parts, but like I mentioned earlier, I think at this scale (1/72nd, not 1/96th like the title says) using a router with more table area might be a better way to go.
I was thinking of adding some detail parts to the sheet layout's since there will be extra space, so if there's any suggestions, I'd like to hear them.

Take care,
Dean

[Devin]

Looking good. How much of the hull is that, down to the waterline?

[Roscoe]

Hey Devin,

That's actually the whole deck half, but now that you mentioned it, it kinda does look like it's just to the waterline.

And here's the two halves with all the parts exploded. Maybe a little high on the parts count, but once I lay them out I'll have a better idea of the total cutting area.

-Dean

[mcg]

Dean -- just came across a photo of USS Onondaga under construction.

http://images.marinersmuseum.org/#/page/home/

At this site, enter a search on MS390 and the photo should come up. I had never seen it before. Michael

[tea monster]

Wow, that's a find, not seen that one before.

The other ship might be the Catskill, it's difficult to make out the name plate. I'd have said it was the Passaic, just from the time frame.

Owen

[Roscoe]

Nice find Michael, thanks!


Well, it's been quite some time since my last update on this project, but my real job has had me quite busy since the end of last year, and a little burnt out, leaving me with little time for any hobbies. It is basically finished, I just have to make some free time to finish laying out the parts on paper, and also finish up the cut-files, just not sure when that will be yet.
Anyway, thanks for the posts guys, and I hope to have something to show sometime soon, hopefully.

Take care,
Dean

[mcg]

Good to hear your voice, Dean.

Having some downtime on the Monitor, also. The third illustration in that MS390 series from the mariner's museum is a digitized, full sized drawing of the steam and safety valves for the Monitor. They just finished scanning it. I hope to use it to get going again -- the version printed in Peterkin is way too small. After squinting and squinting and squinting, I finally realized that I simply could not make out the penciled-in dimensions. So I queried the museum. In addition, the new archivist at Stevens was kind enough to shoot the original drawing with a Nikon. This raw photo file is super legible and useful but I cannot CAD from it, as the paper is naturally curled. MacCord did the drawing in multiple colors, which helps make clear how the valves worked. Michael

[Devin]

Michael,

Who is the archivist at Stevens? I worked with Adam on the Monitor drawings last year, before he took another job.

-Devin

[mcg]

Hello Devin,

Adam moved to a university library in Utah. The archivist at Stevens is now:

Leah Loscutoff
Archivist and Special Collections Librarian
S.C. Williams Library
Stevens Institute of Technology

She is excellent.

From Jay Moore in Virginia I learned that in the 1970s, photographic images of the Charles MacCord collection at Stevens were made for the Smithsonian. Some of these photographic reproductions have been digitized since by the Mariners' Museum but some have not. I don't know if they work from negs or prints. The results are quite good but digitized material is necessarily a generation or two down from the resolution level of the amazing originals.

[Devin]

Michael,

Thanks for the information. Since Adam left last year I haven't had any contact at all with Stevens. It's a shame he had to leave, he really had a hand on that collection (they have things there you wouldn't believe, like originial Leonardo DaVinci books and full suits of 16th century Samuri armor), and he was going to try to get me on staff there this year.

I'll drop Leah an email and see if I can get back in the mix over there. We'd cataloged all of the Monitor drawings last summer and were in the process of transferring them to the Mariner's Museum for scanning. There are also a couple of Dictator drawings in the collection, with Ericsson's signature on them, and one 3D drawing of an engine that I've never seen anywhere before.

Thanks again.

-Devin

[mcg]

Sounds like a truly fascinating project. It is especially intriguing that there are some USS Dictator drawings -- these are scarce. Did that engine look like it was intended for a twin screw Monitor? Come to think of it, are there any drawings, US or French, of the engine room of the USS Onondaga?

[Roscoe]

Michael,

Too bad that valve pic isn't CAD'able, it would've been a great help. At least you won't have to strain your eyes anymore trying to make out the Peterkin pic dimensions.
And thanks for the Stevens info, I'll have to shoot them an email to see what other goodies they may have.

Devin,

I'd say I would be interested in those Dictator drawings too, but that would only distract me even more than I am now.


Even though I've been ubber busy and a little burnt out on the whole CAD thing, the past few months I have started to detail out the original Onondaga CAD model, but that will most likely end up being a winter project. After I get the cut files and drawings done, I'll take a break from ships and jump back to the air, finishing up a project I started over a year ago.
This early pic of what will be an RC version of the Republic XF-91 V-tail prototype shows my preliminary ducting, battery and servo layout, which as you can see will be a very tight squeeze. And that little cylinder below the exhaust is a model rocket motor for that little extra boost, after all, it was a high altitude, rocket assisted interceptor.

Take care guys,
Dean

[Devin]

Dean and Michael,

The Dictator drawings are definitely nice. I'd have to refresh my memory as to what we actually saw. Somewhere I have a disk of photos that we took while cataloging the drawings, so I can check that and see if there are any full profiles or plans. You can tell from the drawings that Dictator was Ericsson's baby; very well drawn, real pieces of art.

No French or otherwise photos/drawings of anything Onandonga related. A few sketches, some in color, of Swedish monitor proposals, which are very cool.

I sent an introductory email over to Leah today to get things rolling, see if I can get back in there and work with the plans and resources again.

-Devin

[mcg]

The Thunderceptor is a great subject for rc -- especially admire the rocket motor idea and the curious cocker spaniel wings.

[Roscoe]

Devin,

Let me know how it goes with Leah, it would be great if you can get back in there and dig around some more. For me, that would be worth paying for.


Michael,

Thanks, those wings are what piqued my interest in the XF-91, very unconventional. But from the wind-tunnel tests I've seen, they performed very well, they were also adjustable for high and low speed flight, rotating up or down something like 4 or 5 degrees each way.

Later guys,
Dean

[delph]

Dean, what a beauty she is!

Some years ago my dad and I built a freesailing model using the bread and butter method. It was a model of the National Geographic's far ranging brigantine, Irving Johnson's Yankee. We cut out the interior of each panel with a coping saw. The bottom (keel) layer is solid lead. We painted the hull but used no fiberglass. Worked fine, no leaks. I still have it. The only negative was that we ran through a lot of material. Michael

Hello Michael,
I am novice in shipmodels building, and I am looking for the lines plan of the brigantine Yankee. Did you use plans to build your model? If yes, could you tell me where and how I can get them?
Thank you for your help,
Delph

[mcg]

Hello Delph,

The steel hull version of the Yankee was originally built in Germany in the early 1900s. I don't think plans are available. We worked from published and personal photos. My Dad simply good-eyed the lines and the rig from these photos. We had sailed aboard the Yankee on a week long Windjammer vacation cruise around the Bras d'or Lake in Nova Scotia, so we had a sense of where things were. Here a two links that might be helpful. The first shows the Yankee on her side, beached. It gives a good sense of the hull shape. If you click repeatedly on the photo, it will take you through an album of photos of the ship.

http://ngscollectors.ning.com/photo/the ... -july-1964

The other link is a listing from Amazon of the many books and National Geographic articles published by Irving Johnson, the Captain, and his wife.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp ... evancerank

The Johnsons' collected papers are archived at Mystic seaport, but I don't think any plans are included.

I just ran a quick search, so there may be other resources, perhaps even including a source for plans. Good luck with this project. A beautiful classic boat.

Regards, Michael

[tea monster]

Good to see you back Dean!

Devin - Good luck with the Museum, that would be a dream job!

Owen

[delph]

Thank you Michael
Wow, what sounds like a great adventure! sailing aboard the Yankee, and then building your own small version of this ship!
The pictures are very nice and offer good views of the hull, but I don�t think I can build without plan because I am still a beginner ... maybe later
D.

[ModelMonkey]

Following with keen interest. Brilliant tutorial!