Building a brig / corvette wood model ship from scratch

Today I worked on coming up with a bow and stern design to go with on the ship I don't know if these will be final but it gives me something to do while I wait to cut the frames out i was originally going to go with a pretty bland back but decided to add a bit of details to the design.

I'm pretty confident this will be the final design but it is subject to change

I also went ahead and designed the bow which I'm really liking the look so far

Anyways that's where I'm at today and hopefully I should start cutting the frames Tomorrow.  

Jamie, instead of drawing out a scratch built plan of a brig, why not use a plan of a historical brig that once sailed the Great Lakes, similar to the one your are drawing. It is the British brig ONTARIO, that sank in a storm on October, 1780. and whose remains was recently found.

The book," Legend of the Lake, ONTARIO" is available in some book store, or on Ebay, or Amazon. This book has plans of the ONTARIO, or plans of the ONTARIO can be found separetely.

Happy modeling   Crackers    

Howdy ! 

Wow ! Talk about "Diving in with both feet" !

I like what I see so far.

Welcome to The Finescale Forum !

Hey crackers 

I was thinking of that at first but decided to build a scratch ship because of the creative freedom it gives me as opposed to a replica but I do really like the Ontario and may one day build a version of it

Thanks littletimmy

Alot of great stuff is to come with this build and thanks for welcoming me to the community

Jamie, if you are still interested in the 22 gun brig ONTARIO, Vanguard Canadian Model Ship Plans,  are located at 6-33 Roydon Pl, Ottawa, Canada. Phone (613) 288-1299

Happy modeling   Crackers   

Maybe in a few years I will build the Ontario thanks for the plans crackers

One question. The bundle of planking. It's hard to tell the species. Basswood? Good.

Balsa? Bad.

When I bought it I was told it was bass wood but it could be balsa of so I'll have to head into town to buy new planks which shouldn't hurt consideing I got the bundle for around 10$

That's a nice drawing, Anthony. Where did you find it?

Jamie, be sure to include some sheer from bow to stern to the deck bulkheads. It's a little hard to tell if it's there on your layout of that center plank, which looks pretty good BTW.

Is the scale 1/48?

Jamie,

What scale are you going to use for this build or did you mention it and I missed it?

Mark

Hey GMorrison

I don't know what the scale is as the model isn't based off of any real ship And did you mean deck curvature by "shear"?

My decks will be flat as it would be a hassle to apply individual parts to the curvature but the ship does have curvature which is formed buy the bulkheads becoming shorter on the upper deck from the stern and bow which should create the illusion of a curved deck. And thank you for the comment on the frames

Mark

I haven't figured out an exact scale for the build as it isn't a real ship but if you can use barrel length on cannons to figure out scale then I'm going to use 3cm cannons hope this helps but I can't give you a actual scale because of the build being from my own design and not being based off any real ship but rather taking inspiration from other models 

Somewhere between 1/48 and 1/64 sounds right. 8 and 12 pounders were around 1.8 to 2 meters long, so 1/60 is reasonable.

Jamie, are you living in a metric system?

Welcome to this forum. It's good to have another builder on board.

Bill

Hey Bill 

Thanks for the welcome 

Yes I do use metric as I am Canadian. And the scales you mentioned sound about right. As always thanks for the insight on the scale 

It is essential to have some degree of scale. Buying cannons, blocks and deck furniture from model ship suppliers, it is necessary to have a scale to fit the proper size of the ship. The scale of 1/48 is rather large if space is not a consideration. Usually this is for small ships. For larger vessels, 1/64 is justified.

Happy modeling    Crackers

Jamie, down south of you, we do not do metrics. About 30 years ago, it was imposed on us, but rejected by the public in favor of the old English system of measurement. Only in scientific circles does metrics exist.

Here is some of the usual modeling scales. 1/48=6.35 mm, 1/64=4.76 mm, 1/96=3.17mm, 1/150-2.03mm. Heller plastic modeling kits are usually in 1/150 scale.

In 1/48 scale, the figure of an adult man would be 38mm. Hope this helps.

Happy modeling  

Thanks for the help guys I have parts from an older model that i built and am basing most of the scale of the parts off of the parts here as I am familiar with them I'll see if I cannot find the scale on that model and maybe you guys can get an idea from that the hull is around 2 ft and 2 inches long if that helps

Many scales derive from lovely old English units.

1/48 is 1/4" = 1'-0" (1" = 4'-0", or 1"=48")
1/64 is 3/16" = 1'-0"
1/72 is 1/6" = 1'-0" (1" = 6'-0") and really not an "architectural" scale)
1/96 is 1/8" = 1'-0" (1" = 8'-0")

and so on.

"Metric" scales of 1/50; 1/60; 1/75, and 1/100 will produce reasonably similar models in size, and allows some "cheating" in using similarly scaled items.

I will, though, strongly suggest selecting a scale and sticking to it.  Because proportions are important for perception.  You would not want to show a ladder with to-scale 60cm steps (actual steps are going to be 20-30cm apart).  Decks are between 1.75m and 2m apart vertically.  Making them a different dimension just "looks" off.

Also, the dimensions of wooden ships are almost always ratios.  Lavery et al have tabulated these values, which is very handy.  Overall length will tell you the rule-of-thumb mast diameters, which then inform yard dimensions.

All of this actually makes your life a little easier.  Knowing, by table, the size of a bower anchor prevents putting a 3m 2 tonne 1st rate anchor on a 25-30m corvette (bower will be 1.8-2m and around 875kg, so, you'd want, at 1:60, about a 25-30mm anchor).

The anchor cable, among other cordage, is also tabulated, so, you'd know you'd want about a 1m circumference line, so that's ±318mm diameter, about 5mm at 1/60. 

If, though, this is at 1/70, that 1m anchor line is only 4.5mm.

Scale matters, and is no limitation on artistic freedom.

CapnMac82

Thanks for the information on scale. I believe I've found a scale as Ive be basing size off of my completed model as I want to reuse some of the left over parts from that model which is in 1/50 scale so I believe my build is in a 1/50 scale. 

Jamie ;

 Gees ! I thought I was a glutton for Punishment/Pleasure . I showed your post to a friend of mine  . He has never been able to understand why it takes so long to Scratch - Build ANY kind or ship .

 The fact is he will take a couple of months Scratch - Building an H.O.Scale passenger car even with the toilets and sleeper berths . And Yet he Cuts at us . Hmm , I think he's in need of a wake up call . Right !  T.B.

 Hi Jamie .

I hope you don't mind .The Sheer is the curve of the deck from the bow to the stern . The Camber is the curve of deck from side to side .This all helps to shed water in a sea . T.B.

That's a very good place to start from. Doing the math will be easy.

There's a lot of stuff available in 1/48 scale, and frankly a 5% variation is well within the range of what is sold at 1/48 anyways.

As to your question before- the sheer of the deck can be produced by varying the height of the bulkheads as you go; high on the ends and lower in the middle. Sounds like you are doing that. It's a pretty essential feature, otherwise the hull will look "hogged", or barge-like.

Building in camber, the arch from side to side, is also not difficult just by shaping the top edges of your bulkheads in a gentle curve. 

None of this makes the planking any more difficult, it's still just an exercise in side-by-side, end-to-end.

Telling balsa from basswood (linden), or any other hardwood is a matter of hardness. If you can dent it with the fingernail, it's probably too soft.

Balsa also is fuzzy, and that just gets worse when it's sanded.

GMorrison

Thanks for the help. I am using my bulkheads to create sheer in the ship and the wood was balsa and hopefully I should be able to find some bass today if not Ive already found planks online to buy the curves in the hull actually curve upwards as well and that should be visible in my next update as I plan to glue the bulkheads together today.

T.B

Thanks for the info im using the bulkheads to create a curved shape on the ship as well as the curves in the bulkheads taper upwards from the middle 

Jamie, just happen to see on Facebook how a scratch build modeler, Andrea Ollio, made his J class ENDEAVOR sail boat. Here is the a sequence of his build in real time.

I hope these photos can give you some inspiration on your scratch build project. This endeavor takes practice with plenty of trial and error. It is a matter of being persistant until successful completion. Good luck.

Happy modeling   Crackers  

CapnMac82

Scale matters, and is no limitation on artistic freedom.

Thanks for the photos crackers

Started cutting out the bulkheads today managed to get 6 cut out today broke a few others while cutting them

Hopefully ill get some new wood soon and I can finish making my bulkheads