The Model Yacht: Volume 14, Number 2 – Fall 2010

LINCOLN MEMORIAL POOL, WASHINGTON, DC NEWSLETTER OF THE U.S. VINTAGE MODEL YACHT GROUP VOLUME FOURTEEN, NUMBER TWO Fall 2010 Page 1 NEWSLETTER OF THE U.S. VINTAGE MODEL YACHT GROUP VOLUME FOURTEEN, NUMBER TWO Fall 2010 Editor’s Welcome sues of the newsletter. This move saves both the members and the Group money, and This issue is simplifies life very special, for Ye Olde in that Ken Editor, who Hall has grafeels even ciously promore Olde vided a comwhen he has plete descripto move tion of his boxes of paexperiences per around. in building a The first step gorgeous in this has model of the been taken by schooner making the Westward and Yankee III taking her to book availour National able only on Regatta at CD or by Mystic. It is download especially over the net. appropriate The material that this artion building cle is pre- Bill Huizing’s Charles W. Morgan attracts attention at Mystic. p l a n k e d Photo by Judy Bonanno ceded by models and Mark Steele’s the back isWindling World, given Mark’s well-known sues will follow shortly. Details should be love of schooners. In order to fit our page available at count, John Snow has graciously given up his http://www.usvmyg.org/store.php President’s column, and instead provided a complete report of the events at Mystic. by the time you read this. There is also news on the publishing front. We are shifting to electronic distribution of or archival material such as books and back is- Page 2 Earl Boebert A stunning Westward, a USN Somers, a Schooner out of Bark, Sindia Sails Downunder and a Flavio Footy ! `Oh to have a windle neath the tropic Summer sun, See the little boat respond as wind kisses make her run veryone pretty well knows by now of my love for schooners so it will come as no surprise to lead into this column with a photo that includes Kenneth Hall’s new model of Westward seen prominently at Mystic in this superb photograph by Judy Bonnano (thanks for allowing me to use it Judy !). Andrew Charters’ Columbia is in the shot along with two other schooners. This issue has Ken’s story on the building of the model so my only comments are `what a beautiful looking Herreshoff model Westward is, and why would anyone decide to scuttle a schooner as successful and as stunning as she was? With an overall length of just 3’2”, Phillip Artweger’s 1:51 scale scratchbuilt RC model of the naval brig USN Somers of 1842 sets a trend for those who like small models and consider their ease of handling and the carrying of them between home and car and sailing water easier at a smaller scale important. New micro RC gear available makes building them easier also. Phillip is a pilot of Short Skyvan aircraft and is an Austrian resident in and based at Klatovy in the Czech Republic. The original was one of two naval brigs of war built in 1842 specifically for the suppression of the slave trade, and was the only American warship to have a mutiny on board. `Where art thou tiny multi-masters, pocket-sized and hid away, Come out, yell out, your time has come, to hit the water for a play !’ You could say that I have been engrossed in my challenge to find `the smallest RC (and freesail) model schooners on Planet Earth’ and we are getting there with entries closing on 15th November. Dependent on when this Fall issue comes out, they may well have closed. I will reveal the winner in the next Windling World issue, but you will know it before that when the February 2011 issue of Marine Modelling International comes out, that is of course if you buy it or borrow it ! Westward at Mystic Page 3 I gave Auckland fellow Ancient Mariner, Ron Rule a curled piece of bark off a palm tree in our property as a joke, told him “Here’s a hull for you !”) and the clever bugger produced an RC schooner (the Palm-ir) out of it within a USS Somers, by Phillip Artweger couple of weeks. He is shown holding the model in the photograph. I hate smart ass people ! (Not really, he is a damn clever model shipbuilder and a good friend !) one day of a whale shark with a model yacht in its innards, hooked by a Costa Rican fisherman called Gregorio in waters off somewhere like El Salvador. It is a long and lonely way for a meter-long In Australia, Ian Hunt’s magnificent eightymodel yacht on a lonely ocean voyage, a long one inch long model of the Sindia was way to anywhere really, unless winds and launched on January 6th at Wentworth Falls tides resulted in a turnaround that brought lake, Sydney. I have shown photographs in the boat quickly back to home shores. past issues of her lengthy build, now here she Months have is after a launch passed since carried out by a Freedom was five man team. launched on a She is testimony shove and a to `biggishness’ prayer (with a (my word and a sealed note better choice of within her hull) word methinks from New Zeathan `biggery’), land waters by dedication, skill Ron Rule off the and absolutely Poor Knights immense paislands. Nothing tience of this has been seen or master craftsheard of the man. yellow-hulled New friend, Starlet since, but Flavio Faloci give her time. who lives in We could still Genoa, Italy dehear of an evensigns and builds tual landfall Ron Rule and Palm-ir. Shouldn’t he have made a beautiful little somewhere, alFooty boats, barque? ternatively read Page 4 Ian Hunt’s stunning Sindia, all seven feet of it. even has a deal going with The Wooden Boat Shop where his models are advertised and available. He also has an aptitude for taking some stunning photos of them `at sea’, an example being this one included in this issue. Flavio is the Registrar for Italy of Footy boats, sails his boats in various Footy events, and lives just fifty yards or so from where Christopher Columbus lived in that city (albeit a very long time ago !). That surely says a lot for Flavio’s skill at both building and sailing ! Page 5 Mark Steele Westward Building a Large Model Yacht Some Lessons Learned one of the common choices for modeling (e.g., Bluenose, America, Altair). Pre-build Fortunately a replica, Elenora, was recently built and is sailing in Europe. The owner donated a copy of the computergenerated lines so I didn’t need to try to loft from the offsets – Herreshoff didn’t do line drawings, having started with a carved model. With the help of the library staff, I identified the best candidate plans to use. For additional reference, I tracked down a copy of the Racing Schooner Westward and stumbled into a copy of Winning the Kings Cup about her near sistership, the 1911 Elena. The coffee-table size Classic Yachts with detailed photos of Elenora arrived after most of the tough decisions had been made. ell, to paraphrase the potato chip commercial, you can’t build just one pond yacht. Except this time, after visiting Andrew Charters and his fleet of large scale models (~60” length water line [LWL]) and seeing the large sailing model at Maine’s Maritime Museum, I discovered I had caught the bug to build “big.” After a tour of the Mystic Seaport web site, the Smithsonian collection catalog, several internet sites, and perusing classic yacht books filled with beautiful Beken and Rosenberg photographs, I ended up at MIT’s Hart Nautical collection that contains Capt. Nat Herreshoff’s plans. I focused on Herreshoff’s big schooners and picked 1910, 135’ length on deck (LOD) Westward because it was historical but not After determining the biggest size I could fit inside my cars (masts and bowsprit struck down), I settled on a 9/16” to the foot scale. This would result in a model 78” LOD with a 54” LWL. Since I was Page 6 scratch building a historical craft, I was not constrained by specific racing fleet rules. While Westward raced the J class late in her career, the model J class scale of ¾” to the foot would have required a 33% enlargement. Andrew Charters builds his schooners to a 60” waterline scale – a 10% difference. As long as I stay away from his yachts, I might be competitive with his fishing boats. In the end, racing was not a major factor in my design choice or scale. While I raced offshore in my youth, in my middle age I prefer daysailing in small craft and windling with my models. If you’re going to jazz up your nonsailing display with figurines and other accessories, a quick cross-check with model railroad scales may save you some aggravation later (my choice fell between two common scales). A further word of caution is required: Large roller scanners and plotter-type printers can combine to distort your copies in strange, inconsistent ways. Carefully check them before you leave the store – twice! Accuracy/authenticity is an individual decision. One man’s reasonable detail is another man’s insanity. I sought to make it close but repeatedly made compromises to make the boat more transportable. Another compromise factor is racing. If racing is not important, authentic but potentially sheet-snagging details can be tolerated. An additional factor on authenticity is your non-sailing display plans. If you are planning on having your model grace your mantle, more detail is appropriate. Note: your display plans should factor back into your scale decision. While my wall length was nominally long enough, when you factored in walk-around room, Westward ended up too big for the spot in the living room I had envisioned. A good woodshop is helpful. An attached heated woodshop would be even better. I have a well equipped shop in an outbuilding, but the slog to it in the midst of Midwest winters is not fun. I did most of my work in the “craft room.” My amazingly tolerant wife allowed me to take over the dining room table for most of three years. However, paint fumes were not appreciated. Key large power tools were a tablesaw and planer to make the planking and deck strips, a drill press to make the mast hoops, and a router table to make round mast blanks. Frames and deck houses were cut using a scroll saw. Handheld power tools included a drill and a Dremel tool. Hand tools included several small block planes; hack saw; small soldering torch; small taps, dies, and drills; and flexible sanding boards. Key supplies included WEST System epoxy, Titebond III waterproof wood glue, lots of sandpaper, and the Micro-Mark catalog. Building the Hull I decided to try a combination of techniques from Building Planked Models (BPM) and the “Building a Model Yacht Hull’ article in the Fall 2006 edition of the USVMYG Newsletter. I stacked up waterlines below my semi-arbitrary backbone line – I went as low as I could without interfering with the ballast line and keeping the rabbet on a waterline. Since I was building a scale model and would be fighting the scaling effect between sail area and righting moment, I chose to extend the keel by two waterline thick- Page 7 nesses to give me another 1½” of lever arm. Herreshoff had sketched a slightly deeper alternative keel profile for Westward so I had some inspiration to work from. I also extended the rudder slightly. The “J” model class rules allow an extra 2” of draft to keep them from being too tender so I think I’m still playing “fair.” An Introduction to Radio Controlled Scale Sailing Models from Traplet Publishing has an excellent discussion on scale factors and how to deal with them. I highly recommend it to anyone looking at building an actual scale model. As I’ll discuss later, while pleasing to the eye, extending the slope aft as I went down shifted the volume of the keel too far aft and required considerable corrective effort later. I built the backbone out of four sections using two layers, overlapping the joints. I splurged and used mahogany – much easier to shape than the oak I used last time – worth the expense. In addition to the glue line providing a natural centerline, you can arrange the grain so it slopes correctly for easy planing. Unfortunately, the relatively hard glue line will tend to throw your drill bit to the side when drilling the rudder shaft hole. I used flat pieces to build up the width of the backbone for the garboard strake. In hindsight, I should have made another layer of waterlines, cut the sides off at the backbone width from centerline, and glued them onto the backbone. lines reliably. Since then, I’ve acquired a locking flex curve that would have worked well. I built the frames/floor combinations out of ¼” marine plywood. On my Sea Gull1, I used model aircraft ply, but the Westward seemed too big to afford that luxury. Looking back, the added expense would have been small when compared to the whole (don’t ask, I didn’t add it up). BPM discourages the use of plywood but I haven’t had any trouble – the extra number of plys over construction grade may be the difference. I did use a trick of Andrew Charter’s and coated the frames with WEST epoxy. It stiffened them up, and I didn’t have any trouble getting my frame screws to hold. You do need to lightly sand the bevels to give the glue something to grip. I used spray adhesive to affix full-size copies of the lines. Since I was working from full plans, I had my choice of sections – 60 of them. I chose to use every fifth frame, giving me 15 frames total and a spacing of ~4 3/4”. Andrew chooses his frame spacing to permit laying battery packs along the bilges between the frames to keep his centerline clear. I thought I could save some time and didn’t subtract the plank thickness. I rationalized the added volume would help offset the scale factor. Big mistake. In addition to having to add the extra thickness to the upper keel waterlines, I had to I used thumbtacks stuck through the plans to make cardboard templates for the waterlines. I found the blue lead core drawing curves too flexible to transfer the 1 Sea Gull is a 1922 42” LOA free sail design by Boucher. Plans available through USVMYG. Page 8 lated the effects of extra planking thickness and overnotched the backbone for the belly frames. I planked with cedar, planed to 1/8” thickness. I attempted to make all the planks uniform in shape, tapering from add a little extra length and depth to the backbone. Any time savings from not subtracting the planking thickness I ended up spending repeatedly working out the adjustments (or not). After rough shaping the backbone, I performed a preliminary mounting of the backbone and frames on the building board to permit me to bevel the frames and then layout and carve the rabbets. I didn’t go to the extensive plotting exercise in BPM, preferring to draw them directly onto the backbone. I left extra material on the inside of the frames to provide extra strength while sanding the bevels with a flexible auto-body sanding file. After beveling and cutting the rabbet, I trimmed the extra material and notched them for the inwale. The transom I formed from a solid block extending from the last frame to the transom face. With my Sea Gull, I fastened the frames to the keel with small “L” brackets. With Westward, I notched the backbone for the frame/floor combinations. I miscalcu- midships in both directions as discussed in both references. I made a master template and made several pairs to shape. I immediately ran into problems. A fullbellied, long overhang design, with small, raked transom doesn’t fit BPM’s suggested 3/8” forward, 5/8”-3/4” middle, and 1/4” planking dimensions (3/4” in middle with 3/8” minimum in the newsletter article). The transom’s tight turn from vertical to horizontal in just a couple of planks doesn’t allow enough plank width. Even with aggressive beveling of both edges, the overall effect was more lapstrake than carvel. The tight bilge turn after about four planks and the twist at the ends were starting to buckle the planks. I used lots of shutter/cheater planks to complete the turn. The tight wineglass turns immediately above the garboard strake also gave me problems. I believe a maximum plank width of ½” might have been better than the book’s suggestion. I had similar problems with my Sea Gull, which was originally a carved design. I’m guessing that the book and article’s dimension advice is more applicable to fin-keeled, pond yacht designs than scaled-down classic designs that are trying to take advantage of rule loopholes with long overhangs. Bottomline: Thank goodness for putty and paint. Page 9 Decking Here’s the hull turned right side up with the frame extensions trimmed off and deck beam fitting in progress. Planking extends to the sheer line so the beam shelf gives an idea of the bulwark height. Don’t forget to account for deck thickness. At this point, after restudying the historical pictures, I decided to include the portholes. Thin (1/32”) airplane model plywood served as the deck substrate. Square 1/8” strips of poplar, with black construction paper glued on one edge to form the caulking seam, served as planks. I decided joggling plank ends into the king planks would be too extreme. There is a limit to my craziness. I used waterproof wood glue and “T” pins stuck through the substrate as clamps. Cyanoacrylate (Crazy Glue) would have been quicker, but I wasn’t comfortable with it at that point of construction. Deckhouses are mahogany. I had some trouble with the thin wood splitting while making the windows. Staining a finer grain wood might have worked better. I built the crew’s access with the curved ladder cover shown on the plans. I have never seen a picture with this configuration. It may have been an in portonly feature with a flat hatch when sailing. I modified the deck house plan slightly, omitting one house to permit placing a house over the rudder post as well as fitting an access hatch over the rudder servo arm. I later added a lazaret as the exit point for the mainsheet. Westward had relatively narrow deck houses so sections of the main decking needed to be able to lift out for maintenance access. I followed plank edges and disguised the cut fairly well initially; but with use, the seams are becoming more apparent. I also should have made a trial template out of cardboard to ensure sufficient access width. I was concerned with her being too tender from the scaling effects and wanted to maximize the sealed deck width so the opening ended up being about 3/8” too narrow for my hands. I was able to coach my wife through the needed operations. The bulwark cap needed a narrow groove to fit onto the top plank. I cut a dado into a 2”X4” to hold the cap. The wider board pro- Page 10 vided enough surface to use my Dremel router with a fence. I debated a long time regarding how to seal the deck edges. I wanted something removable. I settled on thickened lacquer. If need be, lots of alcohol (of both sorts) should soften its grip to allow me to lift the deck up. Casting the Keel After establishing the locations of the key internals, it was time to determine the required ballast amount and location. Using an old bathtub, I placed weights inside the hull until Westward came down to her waterline. My five 5-lb. lead ingots were not enough so I also used 3-lb. hand fitness weights. I recorded the locations of the weights with a picture and calculated their moment arms to determine the required fore/aft center of mass of the ballast. I weighed the deck assembly and guesstimated the weight of the rigging to determine my final ballast needs. I drew a grid on the forward area of the keel and used calipers to measure the thickness at each grid point. I interpolated the average thickness of the center of each square from each corner to determine the volume of each square and its moment fore and aft from the center of mass from the float test. Alas, when the calculations were done, there was not enough volume in the forward part of the keel. I needed to add a Dutchmen to build up the forward volume. Here it is glued in place and ready to shape the leading edge. The second calculation exercise was more successful, providing a shape within my casting ability. I cast a plaster of Paris mold in halves, using the keel piece as the plug. Butcher paper separated the halves with keel bolts placed in position. Casting followed the same process as with the big boats. Make sure you have the conditions to do it safely, respecting the environment. Page 11 My keel bolts ended up a bit out of parallel, forcing an oversized hole I filled with epoxy. After painting, I held my breath and floated her in our new trial basin (my wife’s new garden pond). a “winter” rig that looked too small. I ended up in between. I estimate I reduced the plan by about 20%, more if you consider that I couldn’t add spinnakers, bloopers, fishermen, etc. mid course. Things look perfect!! She’s right on her lines but – there’s no rigging yet! She should be floating a little high! I really wanted to fly a “queen’s staysail,” aka the maintopmast staysail, between the fore and main masts. But adapting radio control to the double sheets, double tacks, and brailing lines (as well as having no topmast men to help flip the foretopsail over the stay on tacking) proved too hard. I used a non-authentic forestay between heads of the fore and main topmasts to provide the forward pull for the mainmast. I also have a heavy-weather mainmast to foremast stay to setup when the foretopsail is not in use. Back to the calculations. Spars are now fairly complete. Looks like I need to remove another 2½ lbs. I threw in a fudge factor to permit some final trimming weight. A few painful minutes with a spade bit and the lead is removed. I had the option of repainting the waterline higher; but that had been so trying the first time, I wasn’t interested. A wood plug, putty, and more bottom paint finished the “repair.” Rigging and Sails Designing the sail plan was challenging. I needed to decide how much sail area to try to carry. I knew a strict scale racing rig would be way too powerful, even with the extra deep keel.2 I wanted the appearance of the jackyard main topsail and knew from my previous boat it would make for a quick reef. I spent several evenings penciling in outlines on the sail plan, taking a little bit of the bowsprit, lower masts, topmast, and booms until things looked powerful but might still be sailable. The plan included I looked at running backstays, but they also defeated me. I settled for display versions; but for sailing, I lead the upper parts to deck a few inches aft the chainplates to provide a backstay function. The loss of boom swing is minimal. Once I had the dimensions, it was time to start shaping the spars and making the standing rigging. I had drawings with dimensions but had not been exposed to the practice of running a continuous loop of wire shroud around the mast and back down with the loop resting on an “ear.” Chapelle’s American Fishing Schooner’s illustrations were invaluable. Still, it took an e-mail to Herreshoff Design to under- If the model is 1/10 scale, the sail area goes down by a factor of 100 (1/10Lx1/10W); but the displacement, and therefore the stability, goes down by a factor of 1000 (1/10HX1/10LX1/10W). 2 Page 12 stand how the shrouds came down on deck. and the local hardware store’s hobby brass collection to make do. All spars except the bowsprit are spruce. The bowsprit is ash for durability for uncontrolled landings. My solution was to bend and solder the thinnest (1/64”) brass strip around the desired tube size. The doubled thickness was compatible with my turnbuckles, and the corners could be ground into the correct profile. Standing rigging is made from wire fishing leaders. With 20 shrouds, I wanted a simplified means of setting up. Traplet’s Historical Sailing Ships provided the genesis of the idea of having removable chainplate sections. The brass plates are continuing to bend with the tension – some “knee” plates might be in order (picture later). Sheets and lines requiring frequent adjustment were obtained from a window blind repair site. The introduction of Spectra fiber has made thin round braided kite string hard to find. Blind strings come in colors so bright nontraditional-looking white lines are avoided – no staining required. I used heavy waxed twine for “fixed” running lines such as topping lifts. The micro bowies allowed for some adjustment but not enough for easy setup and tuning. The gammon iron and the bobstay chainplate were the result of trial and error shape fittings as I would fold shapes around the bowsprit or hull contour until I found the right fold angles. The decision on blocks was easy. Use the smallest size commercially available. I was not going to attempt to make ones to scale. I did use some thimbles as pseudo blocks for the running backstays and jib/ foresail sheets. Fittings were a challenge. I didn’t want to repeat my prior use of eyescrews through a tube for my topmast and bowsprit “wyes” or the gammon irons. The original fittings were large, custom, and cast in bronze; miniature equivalents are nonexistent. With minimal metal working experience, I had to use my imagination The fife rails fell on the far side of the insanity line. I had visions of terminating the halyards and topping lifts onto the belaying pins. The rail is assembled of threaded rods and small tubes passing through a horseshoe of sheet brass. With four- and six-part halyards, the amount of line that would need to be coiled on deck quickly proved this idea unrealistic once rigging started Spreaders/cross trees were the biggest challenge. Composite construction using brass tubes and plywood proved to be the solution. Short square tube sockets screwed/soldered onto the flexible mast Page 13 band allowed smaller tubes to serve as the spreaders with the plywood tips notched and glued in place. question seemed the most challenging. Since stay sag would add belly, and I was sure I would have some, I made the jibs flat. I added some curve along the foresail’s and mailsail’s feet. I made paper jibs to get their overall size and overlap. I drew full-size patterns for all the sails showing seams and reinforcement patches. I cut the cloth into 4” strips using a hot knife. I had to complete the heat sealing using the broadside of the knife. Scale panel width would have been about 1/2” but sewing them back together would have been crazy making. Double-sided tape was invaluable, but it requires frequent cleaning of the needle to remove the buildup. I started with the intention of making it possible to lower the topmasts using traditional techniques. While it’s possible with the end result, refitting the tiny braces is challenging. Since I found I was removing the entire mast with sails whenever I moved the boat, I fitted securing screws. Jib hanks are split loops from fishing tackle stores, small as possible but still able to slide over the turnbuckle body. Mast hoops were made by boring stacked airplane model plywood with hole saws. I broke about 50% of them. A WEST epoxy coating provides additional strength. Sails were made of Dacron “Egyptian cotton” from Duckworths. I originally thought the color was too rosy until I compared it to the beautiful pictures in Classic Yacht. I studied Sailmaker’s Apprentice and classic boat pictures to help with the design. The “how much belly” Sail area measured out as shown. Removing the topsails acts as quick reefs, reducing main and fore mast areas by 20%. Mechanicals Before I glued in the deck beams, I roughfitted the mechanicals. I wanted to ensure I could get things in and out once Page 14 the deck was down. I borrowed heavily from Andrew Charter’s ideas but made some changes – changes I usually found weren’t necessarily good ideas – Andrew having gotten it right. I used larger batteries and placed them in the centerline. This necessitated moving the winch from the center of the continuous loop and using turning blocks. Note: the winch drum is not fitted yet. The fore and main sheets are led via tubes to the aft end of the loop and pulled forward to sheet in. It took lots of experimentation to make the stop lines work properly. I ended up fitting limit switches as well. servo. Another two-throw switch provides on/off and charging positions. I used two 6V alarm system batteries in series. Twelve volts were needed for the car window motor being used as the main winch for the fore and main sheets. This also gave me the ability to fit a window washer pump as a bilge pump. I found directions on robot-making websites to “hack” a Hitech Mega servo to provide speed/direction control instead of position for the jib control loop that runs mostly on deck. I had purchased boat paint for the white topsides but never was successful in laying down a smooth coat, even after thinning. The real stuff dries very hard and is difficult to sand. Too late, I received a suggestion to use white appliance spray paint. A two-throw switch reverses the direction of the main winch. It takes a full throw of the control lever to activate the motor – no inadvertent changes in sail trim. Lack of knowledge of the bilge pump’s current draw led to fitting another large switch. Andrew makes do with a small limit switch and micro Several coats of bottom paint were applied by brush, sanded, and then recoated with the spray version of the color (claret wine). I wired one of the 6V batteries to supply the RC electronics. Using a separate battery pack for the controls would have greatly simplified the wiring. I slathered liquid plastic insulation on all the terminals after final assembly. Painting/Finishing After several rounds of applying putty (thickened epoxy), I sanded the hull lightly to remove any potential amine blush and to provide “tooth” for the paint. I used Rust-oleum brand “Painter’s Touch” line for my “anti-fouling” and bootstripe. Establishing the waterline was difficult. I had scribed the waterline at bow and stern so had reference points. I used a laser level. Leveling the hull side to side was critical piece since the laser “line” Page 15 feature could be adjusted to cross the bow and stern marks. Still, it took several tries before the taped lines appeared straight and symmetrical. Establishing the horizontal stripe width on the flat stern sections to keep a constant vertical height also took some trial and error. America’s Cup fame very successfully campaigned Westward in Europe in 1910. The steering wheel was built by sandwiching short dowel rods between thin plywood outers with a segmented core. The bootstripe was sprayed – twice. My first waterline was a darker blue that I felt didn’t show well enough (Navy blue changed to deep blue). Fortunately, the first stripe provided a taping guide. I flunked taping several [every?] times. Several areas had to be redone when paint leaked under the tape. I tried both blue and green “quality” varieties. The spars received two to three coats of brushed varnish, slightly sanded between coats. The deckhouses and deck were sprayed with varnish from an aerosol can. I should have stained the toerails before gluing. Accessories Here’s my one deckhand. I wasn’t up to making 30 more. Every ship needs a beautiful lady. Could this be T. B. Davis’s enchanting daughter, Majorie? Or is she the dashing Helen Bell from Westward’s sister ship Elena? Every ship needs a crew. I hoped I could find 20.3:1 scale railroad figures I could adapt. Alas, none seemed even close. Following how-to-build instructions from Garden Railways magazine, I tried my hand at making some. Capt. Charlie Barr at the helm is my third try. Capt. Barr of Transportation As discussed earlier, I scaled by boat to fit into my cars, a Jimmy SUV and a Vibe mini-wagon. In the Jimmy, it just pokes its nose into the front seat area. The Vibe requires folding down the front passenger seat down. It’s a little cluttered in Page 16 this picture, but I haven’t completely broken everything down. I incorporated some features into the design to facilitate ease of breakdown. The removable chainplate sections minimize the connect/ disconnect work. The main and foresails have full length jack lines to ease removal from the hoops. I designed the cart to break down. While I had always thought about a trailer-based box for the boat, the desire to attend the meet at Mystic drove the issue to the fore. I thought briefly of driving to Mystic but 1300 miles both ways didn’t make sense. A shipping container was needed. None of the roof rack boxes looked feasible. The nominal dimensions were encouraging, but they are oval in cross-section; and I needed the height across the full width. Other changes were made with experience. The booms and gaffs detach with the pins instead of tiny bolts. The boom topping lifts now terminate up the mast instead of leading them to the fife rails, and halyards attach with hooks. I knew the boat was too big to hand-carry it to the water. A cart would be required. It didn’t take too long during the design phase to realize stern-first kept the tongue from being extremely long to clear the bowsprit. The tires are heavy enough to keep the cart from floating while launching. After checking with UPS and FEDEX, there didn’t appear to be any critical size breaks with respect to designing a crate – it would be expensive regardless. Length on deck was the controlling factor – 78½”. Seven feet (84”) seemed a reasonable length. Beam 16” and keel-torailing height amidships about 15” led to a crate 19” high and 26” wide (while maximum draft is amidships, maximum freeboard is at the bow; and deckhouses are higher than the bulwarks – almost a critical mistake). Next question was “how to hold the boat in position?” I considered a crate version of my car cradle – hold the keel side to Page 17 side and have side rails at max beam. This idea was simple, just add bumpers at the bow and stern; but I felt the handling shocks and road bumps demanded a more even distribution of weight. I decided on some form of foam cradle. After a fruitless trip to the craft store and the big-box home suppliers for the right type of “springy foam,” a web search was in order. A “foam-inplace” link caught my eye and got me thinking. A rectangular block would take up a lot of space, but a wooden “funnel” that approximated the hull shape would provide room for foam as well as storage slots underneath. After several arguments with compound angles, the funnel was ready. Wire stitches held the seams together. The offcenter position provided room for the masts. Their fixed spreaders limited their breakdown ability. The hull served as the plug for foaming. Plastic sheeting prevented the sticky foam from gluing it in place. I used the low expanding “window” foam nearest the hull. It’s advertised as flexible and low expansion – wouldn’t crush the hull. Unfortunately, the low expansion didn’t press hard enough against plastic to fully push it against the hull and left a sloppy cradle. I created an extra-long insertion tube for a can of regular foam and poked it where I could. I learned the hard way that the warning is correct – the foam is extremely sticky – when my extra-long tube blew off. I had lots of space left in my funnel, even after five cans of foam. I added some rigid foam boards to take up volume and provide support at the bow, stern, and max beam; shot three more cans; and left some unsightly billows of foam. Here’s the completed crate. I’ve located the dolly wheels’ box in the opposite corner to the hull to help counterbalance things. I did recognize there would be no way to grip the hull to pull out of its foam bed so I ran straps under the hull inside the plastic before foaming. They worked so well, I’m keeping them as standard handling features. Page 18 Sea Trials No matter how many times you test your systems on the workbench, operations on the water will be required to tune your setup as well as uncover the unexpected. Weather and personal schedule limited me to two short test sails before USVMYG Nationals at Mystic Seaport. The first sail was in extremely light winds. Things went well but nothing was really proven. Second sail had better winds and quickly turned up the first issues. The jib winch drum threw its turns and the bilge pump froze up. I diagnosed the winch problem as my failure to ensure tension was setup but as a precaution, to ensure misalignment between the turning blocks and the drum wasn’t the problem, I moved the blocks down and crossed my fingers. There wasn’t time for another test. I replaced the bilge pump and crated the boat for shipment. The first sail at Mystic repeated both problems and added a new one with the rudder linkage. Westward would only turn in one direction. Once the chase boat brought her back (oh the embarrassment, the new kid on the block and being rescued right off the bat!), I found the rudder linkage inverted. I attributed the problem to failing to follow the “transmitter on first, off last” rule. Compounding the bilge pump problem was my undetected failure to ensure the pump was turned off. At some point, the switch was turned on with the pump jammed. During an extended post-sail troubleshooting period on the jib controls, a “hot” smell led me to a sizzling pump. A close enough replacement was found at NAPA and installed using piggyback wire splices instead of the flat connectors. The jib problem remained a mystery. First lesson learned. Label your transmitter controls with functions and directions. The off/on function of the “landing gear” switch wasn’t intuitive to me. A fair amount of water in the bilge brought me to the decision to use removable window sealing caulk (a product I didn’t know existed when I went to seal the decking down) along the waterways (note: one week post-regatta, this stuff pealed right off. Tube warns it may become more difficult after one year but this is my next deck sealant). Page 19 Second day – time to go racing. Winds were a little higher. The rudder problem popped up again – another short rescue boat run. Suspect rudder throw is excessive. Planning on adjusting gain to reduce throw. Second lesson learned. Recheck your functions immediately before putting the boat in the water. Mid first race, noticed I had lost jib control again. Boat was still sailable but slow on port tack with the jibs backed. Between races I discovered jib winch had thrown her turns again. No screwdriver. Ran back to the tent. Third lesson learned. Bring a screwdriver to the waterfront. Water in the boat. Cycling the bilge pump produced bubbles, not lowering levels – is the pump running/wired backwards? No manual bilge pump (turkey baster). Another run to the tent, another item on the “bring to pier” list.” Thoughtful analysis of jib problem produced recognition the jib loop tension device was only acting on the starboard side of the loop. Nothing was keeping the port side tight when close-hauled on starboard tack. Another issue from my deviation from Andrew’s tried and true. Adding a port side tension means and reversing the pump leads were added to the next morning’s work list as the rain moved in. Fortunately, I had left extra length on one section of the jib loop line so adding block and elastic was straight-forward. Shore tests were encouraging. Swapping bilge pump leads appeared straight-forward. Unfortunately, I lost track of which wire was going where and wired the pump to itself and positive straight to ground. Final damage, three of four servos non-functional, melted insulation – Westward’s out-of-commission. Page 20 No new electrical lessons learned. Tried and true wiring rules apply. Trace your wires before applying power. Fuses save circuits. A regatta lesson learned. Carry spares of everything, to include servos. They’re cheap insurance against spending the second day of the meet shore-bound after traveling 1300 miles. In the general – things not quite right category. The main boom dragged in the water more often than I liked. I had recut the foot once when I realized I had failed to account for the slight mast rake when I laid it out. More time on the water is needed before I decide to go to that effort again. Jib topsail clew tore. Have some emergency repair pressure tape. The main/foresail trimming speed was excessive. It was difficult to make minor adjustments and the sail jerked. Options included dropping the voltage from 12V to 6V or making the drum smaller. The ripple efforts of changing all the main loop stop line lengths, along with the need to overhaul the electrical system, makes the voltage change more attractive. Regatta conditions revealed an issue with jib control beyond the tension problem. It was difficult to keep track of where “off” was with respect to the slider adjustment. Distances were greater than I could see movement. Consequently, if the slider was just one click off, commanding “extra slow,” my hacked servo would still strain mightily and produce an extremely tight sheet/loop. While the “thumbs off” aspect of jib control has its advantages, I’m not sure the strain is desired. Unfortunately, the Hitec winch servo provides considerable less torque then my hacked Mega servo/quarter scale and probably won’t handle the extra-large drum required to provide sufficient travel. RMG brand is pricey but may be the solution. The hooks for the display-only running backstays were fouling the mainsheet and had to go. Corrosion can become a significant issue if sailing is sail water. Dissimilar metals can setup galvanic cells, leading to rapid corrosion. The turnbuckle seizing wires were brittle after two days and the “brass” pins showed themselves as brassplated with rust streaks on the chainplates. The bilge pumps have an extremely limited life when run dry – cycling the switch periodically while sailing without knowledge of actual water level almost guarantees eventual failure. WD 40 was suggested as a lubricant but it will only delay the inevitable. I’m thinking float switch. Moisture. Moisture absorption will result in your close fitting deck hatches in being either jammed shut or too “can’t get back into place” too big. Need to add some sealant (varnish or epoxy) to the bottom of the decks as well. Power switch access. Lifting the removable deck section was cumbersome (see moisture/jamming comment above). If I can separate one of the deck house roofs, I may tuck the switch just under the deck or I may just bring it through the deck between the houses where it won’t be too obvious. Post return shipping discovery. Don’t assume the shipper will honor your “this side up markings.” All my dolly wheels managed to “leap” out of their open topped box and traveled to the opposite end – through the mast/spreader rigging – I’ll be rebuilding my port main spreader. Bottom lines: Rome wasn’t built in a day and your pride and joy may require ad- Page 21 justments and rework before she’s the greyhound you dreamed of. Regattas and internet forums are invaluable for obtaining advice and suggestions. Many of your challenges have already been faced and solved in many ways. A good wide-ranging forum is “Model Boat Mayhem”: http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/ Many of the AMYA classes have forums with good information. Post-build Was it worth it? Yes!!! While I never added up the cost in dollars and time, there is no doubt it was worth it. The saying may be old and trite, but this was as much about the journey as the destination. This project provided me with hours of hands-on activities with visible accomplishments as well as hours of intellectual exercises as I worked through challenges and problems. I didn’t suffer from near-terminal cabin fever the last several winters since there was always a little something on the boat I could be working on. I never was at a loss for conversation with house guests as the project dominated the dining/ living room area. The people I have come into contact through this projected lead me to believe this could be an enjoyable hobby when I retire. All this, without even bringing up the fun of captaining your own luxury schooner! Will I build another one? Probably not. While the next one would go together more quickly, it wouldn’t have the same level of challenge. I like to keep moving forward, making myself grow. After catching up on my household project list – there’s a coffee table project waiting – I’m looking at a steam-powered RC boat – maybe Sabino or a tycoon’s commuter. You can’t scratch build a steam plant quite like sails and wooden hulls, but there are kits of varying complexity available. Or maybe, I’ll just go windling! Page 22 Our 2010 National Regatta Overview The 2010 US Vintage Model Yachting Days Regatta and Traditional Watercraft Regatta were combined into a four-day national championship event and held at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, for the first time. It was hosted by the US Vintage Model Yacht Group on July 22–25 in conjunction with Mystic Seaport’s annual Antique and Classic Boat Rendezvous for fullsize wooden, vintage power and sailing craft. The core regatta team consisted of Pat Butterworth, Jim Dolan, Jack Garbarino, Tod Johnstone, Bob Jones, Jim Linville, and John Snow. Through timely regatta director decisions by Ron Rhault and Jim Linville, regatta participants were fortunate to avoid much of the rain that fell on late Friday and Sunday afternoons. For the three different model classes, Ron and Jim still managed to maximize the number of racing heats, while accommodating sailing demonstrations for other models that were exhibited. Two fastmoving weather fronts from the Midwest generated especially hot and muggy storm conditions, with winds that provided skippers with a true test of sailing skills on the Mystic River. The three classes of model yachts were Vintage 36 (V36), 36-inch boats, on Thursday and Friday; 50-inch and larger traditional models Friday and Saturday; and traditional and high-flyer design Vintage Marblehead 50-inch boats Saturday and Sunday. The race course was laid out using four buoys: two for start/ finish line and two for windward and off-set marks, with the start/finish marks also serving as leeward and offset marks, as winds and tides dictated. These four marks kept race competitors sufficiently separate. Also, being able to accurately navigate in tidal currents became important to ensure adequate rounding room at the upwind mark, which was the position on the race course farthest from the sailors. Other featured activities were: 1) Formal display, with placards, of 47 R/C models (sail, power and steam) in a 24 by 44 foot tent, headlined by Bill Huizing’s museum- VMs at the start, in a great photo by Judy Bonanno Page 23 quality, 7-1/4-foot sailing model of Seaport’s 1841 Charles W. Morgan whaler; 2) R/C hands-on sailing for visitors in the Seaport’s 22 by 40 foot, in-ground, freshwater pool, with 15-inch noodle tugs, conducted by the Marine Modelers Club of New England; and 4) the Friday picnic, hosted by Tod and Lisa Johnstone at their seaside Mystic home. Of particular note was Andy Abrahamson’s colorful and detailed exhibit devoted to the Woodenboat School model yacht building courses, with actual course-built VM and V36 models and supporting course material, as well as a collage of neat sailing photos, by Jane Peterson, of VMs from this course. Thursday and Friday, July 22–23 Vintage 36 Class The V36 class models started the regatta early Thursday afternoon, under strong winds with seven skippers. Only five re-mained at day’s end, due to material and water-related failures. Herb Dreher and Harry Mote were then the clear leaders. Their positions held up in light air for a rain-shortened second day, with arrival of stormy weather at 4 p.m. As the top two finishers for award plaques, after fourteen races, Herb beat Harry by six points. Note that Earl Boebert traveled the longest distance of any regatta skipper, toting his Yankee III V36 model in a golf-bag carrying case from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Friday and Saturday, July 23–24 Traditional Class The traditional group had five competitors, with three in the 50-inch schooner group and two over-50-inch schooner designs. Wind conditions ranged from moderate to light over the two days of racing. Of note is fact that skippers with the largest traditional designs traveled the greatest distance to the event. Ken Hall came from Council Bluffs, Iowa, with his recently completed 8-1/2foot, 1910 Herreshoff-designed Westward racing schooner model. Andrew Charters travelled from Meggett, South Carolina, with his fleet of 8-foot traditional designs: Gloriana, an 1891 Herreshoff-designed racing yacht (a cutter); Elizabeth Silsbee, a 1905 W. Starling Burgess-designed fishing schooner; and Columbia, a 1923 Burgess and Paine fishing schooner. Gloriana and Elizabeth Silsbee were for display and sailing demos. Competitors raced as single fleet and were scored separately to determine the top two finishers in each group for award purposes. There was also a miniature vintage Stanley wood-plane award, made by Earl Boebert, for overall excellence in traditional model craftsmanship, which was presented to 85year-old Vincent DeRocher of Lakeville, Pennsylvania, for his excellent model of Iris, a 1930s Paine-designed yawl. In the 50-inch group, Alan Suydam won eight of the eleven races with his model version of Valmore, an early 1900s Lawley designed schooner, with Harry Mote winning five and placing second with his own Sharpie schooner design. Andrew Charters topped the Over-50 group, given Ken Hall’s electronics water problems. Andrew also took home the prestigious VMYG “Marshall Croft Cup” given to the regatta participant who best emulated true sportsmanship at the event. Saturday and Sunday, July 24– 25 VM Class The fleet of VMs continues to grow within New England, thanks to the efforts of VMYG member Thom McLaughlin and his summer VM model building courses at the WoodenBoat School in Brooklin, Maine. Given that this year’s course was the week of July 19, only ten VM skippers were able to race. Key lesson learned is that any significant VM regatta should not be scheduled at same time as Thom’s VM course, as turnout has been 15 boats at most VM New England events. Note that organizers chose this 2010 weekend date as it coincided with Seaport’s annual ACBR event in hopes of attracting additional visitors. Thus, we had a steady stream of visitors for our racing, exhibit, and R/C demos, with the noodle tugs four-hour demos having standing room only for kids to experience some hands-on R/C boating. The result was the VMYG being able to sign up four new members at our information tent, ably manned by Brenda Abrahamson, Judy Boebert, $Judy Bonanno, Alice Mote, and Nan Suydam. VM competitors from outside of New England were Alan Suydam from Maryland, $ Dominick Bonanno and Harry Mote from New Jersey, and Alden Whitehead from New York. The top two finishers in both the Traditional (1930–1945) and High Flyer (1946–1970) VM design categories received plaques. Wind conditions were variable, from light to moderate breezes, over the two days of VM racing. Page 24 Final Results of the 2010 USVMYG National Championships Skipper! V36 Class Herb Dreher$ Harry Mote$ Domenick Bonanno$ Alan Suydam$ Alden Whitehead$ Earl Boebert$ Peter Rosenberg$ VM Traditional Class Harry Mote$ Colin Mosgrove$ Alden Whitehead$ Domenick Bonanno$ Alan Suydam$ VM High Flyer Class Herb Dreher$ Andy Abrahamson$ Jim Linville$ John Snow $ Paul Boulay$ Traditional Craft Class Alan Suydam (50 inch)$ Harry Mote$ Dominick Bonanno$ Andrew Charters (Over 50)$ Ken Hall$ Home Port! Boat Design Sail# Points Natick, MA$ Barnegat, NJ$ Shrewsbury, NJ$ Lusby, MD$ E. Northport, NY$ Albuquerque, NM$ Winthrop, ME$ Comet$ Spring Lake 36$ Spring Lake 36$ Chico II$ Chico II$ Yankee III$ Chico II$ 42 $ 25 $ 79 $ 75 $ 67 $ 9$ 95/71$ 20 26 47 48 64 71 89 Barnegat, NJ$ Needham, MA$ E. Northport, NY$ Shrewsbury, NJ$ Lusby, MD$ Own Design$ Madcap$ Peony$ Spring Lake 50$ Sun Kiss$ 25 $ 106$ 602$ 79 $ 175$ 30 43 57 74 INC Natick, MA$ Plaistow, NH$ Hull, MA$ Marblehead, MA$ Salem, MA$ Sun Wind$ Naskeag$ Riptide II$ Broom IV Mod$ Naskeag$ 96 $ 91 $ 1$ 34 $ 78 $ 21 49 56 INC INC Lusby, MD! Barnegat, NY$ Shrewsbury, NJ! Meggett, SC! Council Bluffs, IA! Valmore$ 22 $ Sharpie schooner$25 $ Grenadier$ 507$ Columbia$ Brn 5 $ Westward$ Wht 5$ 16 19 38 12 INC Traditional VM Design Racing Harry Mote, sailing his own double-ended VM design, took first place by 13 points over Colin Mosgrove with his Madcap design. High Flyer VM DesignRacing Herb Dreher, with his I model, clearly had his way, out-distancing Andy Abrahamson and his WoodenBoat School Naskeag VM by 28 points. Herb and Andy also experienced a truly rare occurrence of a dead heat for first in one race. Jim Linville placed third with a recently upgraded Riptide model, built by Earl Boebert for free-sail racing in England in 2001. There was also an award for over-all excellence in VM model craftsmanship, with a miniature vintage Stanley wood plane being presented to Harry Mote. John Snow The Model Yacht is published three times a year by the U.S. Vintage Model Yacht Group. Copyright 1998 to 2010 U.S.V.M.Y.G. Reproduction for noncommercial purposes permitted; all other rights reserved. Other copyrights are maintained by the original holders and such material is used here under the fair use provisions of the relevant copyright acts for nonprofit research and educational purposes. Editorial Address: 9219 Flushing Meadows NE Albuquerque NM 87111 Email: boebert@swcp.com Phone: 505 823 1046 Officers of the U.S. Vintage Model Yacht Group: President: John Snow Eastern Vice-President: Ben Martin Western Vice-President: Dominic Meo, III Midwest Vice-President: Tom Pratt Southeastern Vice-President: Thom Mclaughlin Vintage M Class Coordinator: John Henson Vintage 36 Inch Coordinator: Al Suydam A Class Coordinator: Rod Carr U.K. Coordinator: Graham Reeves Canadian Representative: Doug McMain Historian: Earl Boebert Archivist: Jim Dolan Page 25