Missing instuctions

I can't help with the instructions - though I do remember the kit.

It's pretty obscure nowadays; I'm afraid you may have trouble locating a set of instructions for it.  If you aren't able to find anything else, you might look up the ship in Howard I. Chapelle's History of American Sailing Ships.  I believe it contains a set of plans for the Dos Amigos that would, at least, give you a good idea of what the finished model is supposed to look like.

As I remember the kit (and my memory may well be incorrect; I haven't seen the thing for decades), the text on the box was careful to describe the ship only as a "Baltimore clipper."  That description is, of course, correct, but it says nothing about the vessel's function.  She was a slaver.

Thank you jtilley. I was aware the ship was a slaver from reading in the past.This is my first wood ship and things look quite simple but the square block on the front of the hull. I understand I must carve it to shape and was looking for a litte detail. The kit included 6 nice photos of the model completed.I guess I will have to figure out where to mount the bow spirit and work from there.

Thanks

Jim

Jim,

all I can do to help is show you pictures of a Dos Amigos model by John Luberti.

Though, this is the Constructo - Golden kit model, not the Scientific one.

http://gallery.drydockmodels.com/album72

Michel

Michel

Thanks for the link. They have some nice photos of the bow section.My hull is a 1 piece solid wood and I need to do some research on how to shape the bow. Thanks for the input.

Jim

Runkel - I think the chunk of wood on the bow is the spindle that was left over from the manufacturing process.  I'm pretty sure that Scientific, like the other solid-hull wood kit companies, farmed out the making of its hulls to a furniture manufacturer, which turned the hulls on the same lathe it used for making table legs. 

Back in the Goode Olde Dayes I made several visits to the old Model Shipways "factory," which consisted of a tiny storefront on a deadend street in Bogota, New Jersey.  On at least one of those occasions a very nice lady (the wife of one of the two owners, I think) was sitting at a desk just inside the front door shaving the spindles off hulls that had just arrived from the furniture firm.  The lower-priced kits, like those from Scientific, made the modeler do the job himself.

Carving off the spindle is one of the trickier parts of working with a solid hull kit.  The photos may show you enough; if not, the plans in the Chapelle book certainly contain enough detail for that purpose.  If you're within driving distance of a decent library, it may have a copy of the book.  If not, hundreds of used copies are available on the Web - many of them for extremely reasonable prices.

Good luck.  Despite their awful history, slavers make handsome models.

jtilley

You are 100% correct. Now that you said this I can see hole dead center from the being on the lathe. I guess now my work begins.

Jim