Seaways' Ships in Scale

Hello Again, Fellow Modelers,

Welcome to the latest issue of Seaways' Ships in Scale. Let me share with you a summary of the articles in this issue.

The cover story concerns the building of a model of the Water Witch. The Water Witch was built in the North and later captured by the Confederates during the American Civil War in a masterful boat attack. This is the first of three parts in the series. Part 1 focuses on some of the research required to build an accurate model. In the article author Bill Emerson discusses the variety of sources available to those interested in modeling vessels from the Civil War period. Even if building the Water Witch is not in your plans, you will surely benefit from reading this article.

We continue a series by Dr. Clay Feldman on the Continental Navy Brigantine Lexington. Dr. Feldman has done extensive research on the Lexington, which was recently published in the Nautical Research Journal. Based on his research, he created a scratch-building guide and semi-scratch building practicum that we are presenting. In this issue, Dr Feldman covers in detail finishing the hull and laying the decks. Once these are completed, he describes construction of the transom and quarter badges. He finishes this part with thoughts on painting the hull and bulwarks.

If you are on a budget or just looking to be prudent with your cash, we have Part 2 of an article by Harold Payson on “Good Used Tools and Where To Buy Them.” In Part 2, Harold covers how to buy power tools such as skilsaws, electric planes, belt sanders, and routers. 

In our section on shop hints and techniques, Richard Gallagher provides excellent ideas on how to handle eight common problems:

·        What’s the simplest way to cut off a plank?

·        How do you get glue out of the bottom of the bottle?

·        How do you keep the glue bottle from falling over?

·        How do you eliminate that sandpaper mess?

·        How do you keep your Dremel attachments organized?

·        How to make a clean waterline?

·        How to realistically curve sails?

·        How to create the look of motion to your completed model?

In Part 2 of building of a model of the Kathleen, a small cruising cutter, the author completes the model. Areas covered in this article include construction of the interior, deck beams, decking, spars, hardware, rigging, interior furnishings, wood trim, paint, and stand. The article is extensively illustrated with photographs of the actual vessel and the model plus numerous full-page drawings and sketches, complete with useful notes.

For those interested in R/C tug models, we have a Part 1 of our series on the Dumas kit of the Jersey City by Kurt Van Dahm. Jersey City was built in 1960 at Neville Island, Pennsylvania, for the Pennsylvania Central Railroad. She was a 243 gross ton, 96’ x 26’ x 13.5’, tug powered by a GM 12-645 diesel engine. The model is done at 3/8”  = 1’ foot scale and features a hand-laid fiberglass hull. The deck and superstructure are die cut from 1/8” thick expanded PCV plastic. Kurt takes you through the building and mounting of the motor tray, installing the stuffing tube and rudder tube, fabricating and attaching the deck, and constructing the bulwarks. He also points out an omission in the directions that if not fixed could result in water flooding into the hull.

There are few people who have not heard of Lewis and Clark. The keelboat they used to travel up the Missouri is, undoubtedly, one the great historical vessels in the U.S. history. It was truly an odd boat, a one of a kind. Our next article covers the construction of this strange craft. While no definitive plans for the vessel still exist, the model is based on research done by Richard Boss for the Nautical Research Guild. At a scale of ¼” = 1’, the model (14” long by 2” wide) makes a very nice display but won’t take up too much room.

We have a very informative article by William Romero on making a ship’s wheel. It is based on the construction of a double wheel he created for his well-known masterpiece, HMS Warrior. While the wheel may not be exactly the same on your model, the techniques involved and the sequence of construction can be applied to any wheel. If you follow his systematic step-by-step method, you will be able to create a wheel that is a mini-masterpiece of your own.

If all of the above is not enough, there is more. We have a fun piece on building a pleasure launch from matchsticks. There is a short article on building a small fishing vessel called a dragger. Mike Graff provides a thorough review of the Midwest Products the Chesapeake Bay Flattie (Kit #965). As always, Scottie Dayton provides an overview of what happening in the hobby with coverage of new products, events, books, CDs, etc. in her regular column, Soundings.

Another great issue!.
Take care,
Michael
P. Michael Kosten President
Seaways Publishing, Inc.
mailto:pmk@seaways.com

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