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Questions about Model Shipways "Essex"

Thanks Ken. Agreed that this is a wonderful party.
I did read the manual start to finish, twice, and still couldn't find a reason for the former cut-outs. Neither did anything show on the large printed plans, which now adorn the wall of my garage/build-shop/man cave. Perhaps something will emerge on the Nth review of the material.
 
The USS Essex was an American Frigate with an armament of 46 and designed by William Hackett. She was built by Enos Briggs in Salem, Massachusetts and launched in 1799 with a complement of 319.

I am guessing this is the ship you are building?

You can get the original plans….

Another confusing Essex is a ship converted and sunk by a whale, another questions number of guns…

American ship building was different to English.
There are plenty of books on the subject.

By the photo it looks like a kit ship? Kits are notoriously bad on reality….

Is it a museum standard or for home build ?

Please remember the rigging too … sails are often incorrect on kits. But looks nice at home.

Sorry I cannot tell you the exact details - I mainly make English but have research 2 US ships.

US builders used white oak, putty and tar to seal, again depending on location.

Suggest an email to Massachusetts museum and nautical research … they are extremely helpful!

Good luck
 
Thanks for the museum reminder. As a little boy visiting my grandmother in Salem, I would spend days upon days at the Peabody Museum, which displayed all sorts of things from Salem's sailing past. The Museum's library is now on-line in part (https://www.pem.org/visit/library) and I will check it out for material on the Essex.
Best of all, your prompt refreshed my memory of the Peabody Museum will drive me to cross the USA and visit there again.
 
Aaaaand whilst reading them through, highlight those steps in your native language. Already found step 13 missing with the Flying Cloud instructions. Enjoy yor build!
 
Seems like the open spaces between the bulkheads are for showing a small portion of the orlop deck at the companionways and give the ships ladder a base to rest on. My suspicion anyway.

I understand that your kit is for the Essex of 1799? The Essex went thru a rebuilding in 1807-1809 where the waist was a little further closed up and other revisions made. The mast and spar dimensions after the rebuild differ and the 1799 dimensions can be found in C.S. Smith’s book, “The Frigate Essex Papers”. I think this is what Jim Roberts used for his booklet and plans of the original MS solid hull kit (which is a good basic guide for building). Same with Charles Davis and his “Ship Model Builders Assistant”.

Portia Takakjian models the 1809 revised version of the ship and I think has different dimensions for masts and spars.

Howard Chapelle has some good drawings of 1799 Essex in his “History of the American Sailing Navy” and “History of American Sailing Ships”. Good reads both of them.

To help you with rigging you may consider “Rigging Period Ship Models” by Lennarth Petersson. Yes, expensive but worth it. Or borrow it from the library. It rigs an English frigate.

Other books of more detail are available but will easily overwhelm you. Relax and enjoy building your ship model. You’ll find it addicting.

Bruce
 
Hermies said:
The USS Essex was an American Frigate with an armament of 46 and designed by William Hackett. She was built by Enos Briggs in Salem, Massachusetts and launched in 1799 with a complement of 319.

I am guessing this is the ship you are building?

You can get the original plans….

Another confusing Essex is a ship converted and sunk by a whale, another questions number of guns…

American ship building was different to English.
There are plenty of books on the subject.

By the photo it looks like a kit ship? Kits are notoriously bad on reality….

Is it a museum standard or for home build ?

Please remember the rigging too … sails are often incorrect on kits. But looks nice at home.

Sorry I cannot tell you the exact details - I mainly make English but have research 2 US ships.

US builders used white oak, putty and tar to seal, again depending on location.

Suggest an email to Massachusetts museum and nautical research … they are extremely helpful!

Good luck
Click to expand...
 
An excellent book on the Essex is the Anatomy of the Ship series "the 32 gun Frigate Essex" by Portia Takakjian but may be hard to find. The entire ship series is great and I have 6 of them. The drawings are stellar and the Essex has full info on the masts.
 
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