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Kearsarge build photos

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  • Member since
    July 2009
Posted by Publius on Sunday, August 22, 2010 7:03 AM

Rob, Create a photobucket account with your photos. It's easy and free. Then cut and paste the URL into your post. Don't know how to show the pictures themselves on the forum yet but the link puts up a big image. I'm dying to see your stuff. Thanks, Paul

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  • Member since
    August 2006
  • From: Sydney, Australia
Posted by Robert on Sunday, August 22, 2010 4:08 AM

That is a mgnificent build of one of my favourite models of all time. I love the deck colour and the shroud/ratline assemblies you have done. As soon as I work out how, I shall post some pictures of my latest efforts on the Pyro Harriet Lane and the Revell Kearsarge.    

  • Member since
    July 2009
Posted by Publius on Saturday, August 21, 2010 10:40 PM

I have a second hand CSS Alabama I am working on but it is in the US at the moment and I am in Thailand. I am combining rigging from both sets of plans. May rerig later. Display cases and dust control are current problems. Thanks, Paul

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  • Member since
    July 2009
Posted by Publius on Saturday, August 21, 2010 10:38 PM

     Geoff, I don't know exactly what PM is, but my email is vennepaul@gmail.com. I'm eager to publish photos on the forum of the detail changes I have made to model the 1874 Marin County photos of USS Kearsarge. Eager to see more of your work too. Thanks, Paul/Bangkok         PS Dust is a current problem so I'm looking for a thin plastic cover to use until I have a display case.

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  • Member since
    January 2007
  • From: Richmond, Va.
Posted by Pavlvs on Saturday, August 21, 2010 8:08 PM

Paul, 

Beautiful job.  Naturally, as a Virginian I would rather see a model of the Alabama.Wink  The two ships were quite similar to each other.  I have the kit of the Shark of the Confederacy and intend to build it after my 1/200 Titanic and my future arriving 1/200 Arizona both of which will be R/C.Big Smile

Mr Tilley, the use of the name topgallant (typically pronounced, "to'gallant) started when nobility would put their coat of arms or other identifying symbol on the  top sail on the mainmast which was the only mast to have one when they first came into use.  The royal was the same thing when a king wanted his mark on the sail.  BTW, clippers and windjammers frequently used skysails.  Their masts usually had from bottom up, course, lower topsail, upper topsail, topgallant, royal, skysail.  Ships rarely split both the topsail and the topgallant on the same mast.  The steam/sail warships like the Alabama and the Kearsarge usually had no courses at all which explains the long lower yardarm and you are correct, the course on a yardarm that long would be enormous indeed.  The steam plant removed a need for them.  The battle sail configuration was usually the topsail the staysails and the spanker.  If there was a topgallant mast, it was usually removed prior to joining battle to preserve it from damage, to protect the crew from it falling to the deck and to reduce the number of crewmen needed aloft in order to free them up for manning the guns.2 cents

Again, beautiful job.  Please keep updating us with more pics.

Fr. PaulAlien

Deus in minutiae est. Fr. Pavlvs

On the Bench: 1:200 Titanic; 1:16 CSA Parrott rifle and Limber

On Deck: 1/200 Arizona.

Recently Completed: 1/72 Gato (as USS Silversides)

  • Member since
    June 2010
  • From: Cocoa, Florida
Posted by GeoffWilkinson on Saturday, August 21, 2010 6:38 PM

Publius

Now I'm still trying to figure out how to post pictures and get various thread sizes over here in Thailand. Thanks, Paul

Paul,

PM me and I will email you a simple document which explains how to do it.

Geoff

  • Member since
    July 2009
Posted by Publius on Saturday, August 21, 2010 9:29 AM

<a href="http://s744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/PaulVenne/?action=view&current=August20downloadKearsargeandLopburi007.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/PaulVenne/August20downloadKearsargeandLopburi007.jpg" border="0" alt="Kearsarge stern"></a>  Is this another "oops?" I'm trying to get the picture on the forum and not just the link although the link is to a large clear image, thankfully. Paul

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  • Member since
    July 2009
Posted by Publius on Saturday, August 21, 2010 9:07 AM

http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/PaulVenne/August20downloadKearsargeandLopburi002.jpg

http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/PaulVenne/August20downloadKearsargeandLopburi003.jpg

http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/PaulVenne/August20downloadKearsargeandLopburi005.jpg

http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/PaulVenne/August20downloadKearsargeandLopburi007.jpg

Forum, It's been a long time since I posted on my Kearsarge so there are a couple of items to show. I modified the Dalgrens by adding details that I found in pictures of these guns online. This included a square beam in the back and an angle cut beam in the front to stop forward and rearward movement. On the sides I simulated  beams that achor the the tackle for moving the gun and I cut away the pin and socket that fixed the gun to the carriage. Under the jack screw that adjusts the aim of the gun I ran a plank across the lower carriage to give the screw something to push on.

    As far as the ratlines go I carefully studied the mess I was dealing with and decided to put thin plastic rods across the bottoms of the assemblies and glue these to the deadeyes with the help of the tabs on the end deadeyes. I spent a long time studying the lack of allignment and placement of the lines and in the end moved a number of deadeyes to alllign with the shrouds.

   Now I'm still trying to figure out how to post pictures and get various thread sizes over here in Thailand. Thanks, Paul

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  • Member since
    September 2005
  • From: Groton, CT
Posted by warshipguy on Tuesday, December 22, 2009 1:10 PM

Well, Publius is making a nice job of it!  Excellent build!

Bill Morrison

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: Greenville, NC
Posted by jtilley on Monday, December 21, 2009 8:03 PM

Well, I can't recall having heard that one before - but it makes as much sense as anything. 

The bottom line, frustrating point (from the standpoint of any newcomer trying to make sense of the whole mess) is that the topsail is the one next to the bottom.  Unless, of course, the ship has double topsails - in which case the lower topsail is the second one from the bottom, and the upper topsail is the next one up.  As I frequently tell my students - "hey, don't blame me; it wasn't my idea."

Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.

  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: Formerly Bryan, now Arlington, Texas
Posted by CapnMac82 on Monday, December 21, 2009 5:22 PM

Then came a third sail, which, for some reason or other, was named the topgallant.

I want to remember the usaged comes from the MF/OF sense of Gallant as in shining/exemplary/on-display, which, being the first sails over the horizon when the tradition began, might be though to emmulate the pennons of knights gallant (is that chevalliers gallant?)

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: Greenville, NC
Posted by jtilley on Saturday, December 19, 2009 10:15 AM

If I'm not mistaken, this ship's original rig accommodated three square sails each on the fore and mainmasts.  (I'm not sure about her rig after the refit Publius mentioned.)  From the bottom, they're called the course, the topsail, and the topgallant.  Photos suggest that the courses were rarely, if ever, actually set.  (They would have been enormous and cumbersome to handle.)   Most pictures - photos and engravings alike - of the Alabama and the Kearsarge that I've encountered show them under topsails and topgallants. - and, of course, the various fore-and-aft sails.

Maritime vocabulary (at least in English) is a strange thing, full of traditions and anachronisms that, logically, don't make sense.  The earliest square-rigged ships had one sail per mast.  Then a second sail was added above the original one; calling that new sail a "topsail" made perfect sense.  Then came a third sail, which, for some reason or other, was named the topgallant.  Eventually (i.e., by the late nineteenth century) the typical sequence, from bottom to top, was course - lower topsail - upper topsail - lower topgallant - upper topgallant - royal.  Some ships set sails above their royals; the terms for those little sails were, generally, skysail - moonraker - skyscraper.  (I don't think I've ever seen a picture of a ship with three sails above the royals, but I've seen those terms in print.)

Revell's original version of the Alabama came with vac-formed sails, including the topsails and topgallants (no courses).  A few months ago I took a look at the online instructions, courtesy of the Revell Germany website.  (Can't do that any more; the kit apparently has been taken off the market.)  The rigging diagrams, such as they were, showed the sails set as the original designers intended - i.e., secured to the topsail and topgallant yards.  But in the photo of the finished model on the first page of the instruction book, somebody had mounted the square sails on the lower and topsail yards, leaving the topgallant yards bare.  The thing looked utterly ridiculous.

Regarding block sizes (which Publius mentioned in another thread, but it seems appropriat to mention here) - a ship of that period would have a vast variety of blocks in its complement, ranging from enormous ones (bigger than a man's head) to tiny (smaller than a man's fist).  The latter would be used for light lines that came under little or no strain, such as signal halyards.  Bluejacket's smallest size is a nominal 3/32".  I've never been able to figure out just how they make those measurements, but on 1/96 scale, 3/32" is the equivalent of 9".  That's a good-sized block - probably about right for such lines as sheets, braces, and gun tackles.  The next size up is 1/8" - the equivalent, of course, of 1' in 1/96 scale.  A block that's a foot long is huge.

Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.

  • Member since
    July 2009
Posted by Publius on Saturday, December 19, 2009 9:54 AM

I'm building the 1874 Marin Califorinia refit so the trim is more subdued. Booms are shorter too and there are no topsails if I have the term right. Only 2 square sales per mast. I had to notch the base fitting of the foremast to get proper rake. (masts not glued in yet) I had moved the main deck back a few mm's in trying to get  a perfect fit so that threw off the mast some. I filled all the portholes with clear sprue. Alabama has no such portholes. Have a nice day, Paul

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  • Member since
    July 2009
Posted by Publius on Saturday, December 19, 2009 9:45 AM

I used a ctrl key with C key to copy this and ctrl key with V key to paste it. from Photobucket.com. The ship does not have the masts glued in at this time but you can see the modified rig on the mizzenmast as per the Marin California refit. I simply made extra booms and resized the exhisting ones off the photo I found on the net. Also visible is the modified cook stove smokestack. Model is in Thailand now and I'm in California so no further photos coming but I will show the CSS Alabama, partially built, I got off Ebay that is taking over about where I left off with Kearsarge. I need to turn a gun around on Alabama as I did on Kearsarge. Thanks, Paul

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  • Member since
    July 2009
Posted by Publius on Saturday, December 19, 2009 9:28 AM

Here is Photobucket URL with IMG tags to protect it from Finescale software (?). I just did a copy and paste. Now I'll post this and see what happens. OOoooooo. Is rigging this hard??? Thanks, Paul

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  • Member since
    July 2009
Posted by Publius on Saturday, December 19, 2009 9:13 AM

Patience please. I have 3 images at Photobucket.com but am debugging the posting process. Model is in Bangkok, but I'm in Long Beach California now with an Alabama in similar condition. I'll post that as soon as I figure it out. Thanks, Paul V

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  • Member since
    July 2009
Kearsarge build photos
Posted by Publius on Saturday, December 19, 2009 9:05 AM

http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/PaulVenne/Bangkok2009002.jpg

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