Building from scratch my 1/280 Clipper Great Republic

not yet rob , I'll let you as soon as it does mate .

steve

Rob,

I continue to be amazed by your ideas annnd the quality of your work!  Your technique for the copper plating is brilliant!

Bill

Here is an image of the freshly pressed tape plates with a sample of the mesh used to imprint the nail impressions" target="">

And one with the mesh in place on the wire grid in the roller....." target="">

I truly appreciate the kind words.  Yeah, I think out of the box, a lot...because...well...I'm just not a purist.  I can't imagine hand laying 1600 5mmx9mm plates one by one.  Like I have made known openly on many occasions.  I will use whateve technique and whatever material to achieve my goals.  And in most cases, I'll re-engineer other peoples manufactured stuff for my own purposes.  Cuz once there is paint applied you will never know if its wood, plastic, metal, paper, or wax.

Again...thanks for the kind compliment.

Rob

I tinkered on the GR yesterday and I finished up the rudder.

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this is a really nice build rob , did you make those hinge's or buy them ? . love your work station too mate ,

steve

Thanks Steve.  I made all the parts and the rivets are drops of hard dental wax.

Working on the deck houses...five to make.

Rob

Finally finished the bathroom remodel...now I can get to spending time on the Great Republic..AGAIN.

I spent some time making the two forward deck houses.  the hard part was the windows and the raised panneling.  I experimented with many approaches and after many trials and redo's.......I finally settled on a process.  Here are some images and a penny for scale.  At this scale..detail can be straining.  The GR had a steam engine used for cargo and yard work...this was housed in the second house...you can see the pullies extending outside the house on the aft section.  forward cabin has 4 doors and windows and the aft has 6 doors 6 windows and a large 3 pannel acces door to the rear." target="">" target="">" target="">" target="">" target="">

The houses will not be glued down yet....I still need to install the perimeter rail and I will need as much room and flexability to do so.

Rob

really nice work rob , can't wait for the next installment .

Rob

Beautiful work!

Bill

Thanks.

I worked on the GR last night for a bit and am getting close to finishing up the anchors.

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Rob,

I was wondering about you yesterday!  Your Great Republic looks marvelous!

Bill

Thanks for thinkin of me.   I still have the knightsheads to finish and the forward fife rail.

Once the anchors are lashed down and one is hung from the cathead....I'll finish up the deck houses.  I stopped that process to finish things up forward and work aft.

Stem to stern is a good working method....keeps me on track.  Instead of skipping around the deck.

Rob

I'm sicker then a skunk today so I will be brief.  I finished up the knightshead.

Going to bed..see everyone later.

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beautiful as ususal rob , hope you better soon , just getting over the flu myself .

Rob, your scale and accuracy is looking fantastic.  

Rob,

Get well soon!

Bill

Well I spent some time on the forward fife rail today.

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Beautiful!  I would love to learn to scratchbuild ship models.

Bill

Im like bill . Would love to learn how . Really enjoying this build rob

Rob,

Not only am I enjoying seeing you do something I know I can't do, I derive inspiration just from looking at your work!

I recall how much you helped me when I was struggling to build my Cutty Sark. You, I believe, were on your umteenth buld of Revel's CS at the time. Believe it or not, it was your building of your CS at that time that kept me going in this delightful hobby. I'll always be grateful to you for that.

Back to your Great Republic, it's coming along nicely - to say the least. I am a little confused about the length of your model. If, as you've said, it's 1/280 scale, then it should be 14 5/16" in length (The Great Republic was 334' in length which is 4008" which divided by 280 = 14.31"). Somehow the pictures you're posting make it seem larger. But, I guess, that's just because I don't really have a reference in your images to really perceive it's dimensions. How long is your model?

Thanks Mike for the very fine comments, and I'm so glad I was some inspiration to you....that is any modelers true intent.  To influence others in a possitive way.

I'm sorry..the model is 3/32"=1ft...  It was expalined to me that was 1/280th.  could I be incorrect in this?

Thanks again for your fine comments.

And yes those are extra 1/96 CS parts.

Rob

Well Bill and Steve..just keep following this log and from beginning to end you can see the process.  The biggest hurdel is getting over the notion of begining...and the notion you can.  Most scale modelers already have most of the tools required.  You may need to buy or build a table saw to cut your miniature lumber...or even buy from model expo or other outfits the scale lumber precut.  Get a set of plans and begin.  You could use a band saw or sacrole saw to aid in cutting out the bulkheads or ribs and other small woodworking items.

I use scale parts to use use as models to make my metal parts...or I use premade metal parts that are in scale if at all possible.

Many here on these pages rig their scale models as a scratch builder would..forgoing the plastic deadeyes and such.  So...see....much of what plastic scale modelers already do is performed on scratch built models.

Good luck and if I can be of any assistance..just let me know.

Rob

Rob,

Here's my probably way off base guess as to the scale of your scratch built Great Republic:

A) You show a Black & Decker workmate hobbycrafter in one of your pictures holding up the model. The B & D devise has an 8" work space on top (based on what I could find online). Measuring on my monitor - which is not the most accurate way of doing things but for this purpose it'll do - it looks like your model is a little more than three times the 8" on which it's resting. That would make it about 28" (+/-) from stem to stern. If that is at all accurate, then your scale is not 1/280 but much closer to 1/140.

Would you indulge my curiousity and measure the length of your model? Again, my guess is a little over 2 feet and possibly as much as 30".

From work....

There are 10.75 scale feet per inch and the Great Republic was 325 ft long.  Divide that by 10.75= 30.95"model length.  Still not sure of the ratiod scale.

So let me quess....30 divided by 12=2.5.  Divide 325 by 2.5=130.  So the GR is in a scale of 1/130th?

Rob

Rob,

When you get home from work please measure the overall length of your model as she sits.

From Wikipedia the overall length of the Great Republic was 334'. The length "on deck" was 325' - see here:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/90716149/.

Her overall length (presumably including bow sprit and whatever may have extended abaft the stern) was 400'. See here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Republic

Not that any of this matters in viewing your wonderful work on this project, I just thought that the scale you mentioned earlier must have been off based on what I was seeing in your posts.

My guess on the length of your model as it now stands is around 30" which would make it, based only on the measurement from stem to stern (which is, of course, longer than the deck measurement) a scale of around 1/135 (+/-). In any case it's going to be a very impressive model indeed. It'll also be big enough to allow you to rig her without using ultra powerful magnifying lenses

Ooops...I made an error after revisiting my dimentions.  GR was 335ft not 325 as I  previously erroniously entered.  Making my hull roughly 31" in length(I'm not home but I am building her to a scale plan and it is 3/32"=1ft.

I now see I will have to amend my post to reflect the actual scale.

Thanks for pointing out the error.

Rob

Workied on a few hatches and the bell today.

I'm working aft.  the main cabin is next.  Here are a few images of my progress.

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Rob,

Beautiful work, as always!

Bill