"Flying Cloud " by Mamoli - kit bash

ClipperFan said:
Pete,
Rob has told me that he's been familiar with miniature work both as a Denturist (if I remember the term correctly) and has over 48 years of ship modeling experience. In addition, he clearly has an incredible set of tools to go with it. As the time honored saying goes "practice makes perfect". I'm writing this to remind you not to be discouraged by comparing your work to another's. In comparison, I who haven't carved anything beyond neckerchiefs in my old Boy Scout days of the 60s, marvel at your ability to so precisely cut out that perfect circle ship's wheel.
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Full disclosure. That ship's wheel was the Mamoli laser cut part that came with the kit. The original laser part sheet is in one of the photos. :rolleyes:
 
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Peter,
Give yourself credit where credit's due. Yes, you began with a raw cut-out piece. But then you fashioned it into a lovely sculptured ship's wheel.
 
Fabricated forecastle deck safety rail from mahogany ply veneer, to achieve the curve of the deck, with cast white metal stanchions from BlueJacket.
White metal ladders dry fitted. Still a lot of cleanup and finishing. Everything takes time. A little patience goes a long way.20241015_150720.jpg 20241015_152428.jpg20241015_154506.jpg20241015_154454.jpg20241015_154516.jpg20241015_154513.jpg
 
Just checking back through your Wasa and Esping builds. You have plenty of patience. :rolleyes:
What line of medicine?
Thanks for your devoted interest in my humble offerings, BTW.
Pete
 
Peter Gutterman said:
Finish up ladders, stanchions and hand ropes.View attachment 478371View attachment 478372View attachment 478374View attachment 478375View attachment 478376View attachment 478377View attachment 478378View attachment 478379View attachment 478380View attachment 478382View attachment 478384View attachment 478385
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Peter,
That's really clean work. It's amazing how much larger your clipper Flying Cloud looks now. She really looks so much more authentic. I applaud your courage to install these many revisions literally as we uncovered them. Now we're learning that it's quite likely that Howard Chappelle relied on the deck layout of Scottish Tea Clipper Cutty Sark instead of using details from the Boston Daily Atlas articles. I can't speak to the research he did. I have his books and really appreciate his draftsmanship. However, his layouts for Stag Hound and now it seems the Webb clipper Challenge too do not match Duncan McLean's lengthy descriptions. Ben Lankford also seems to have disregarded McLean's specifics about the Flying Fish having her crew quarters below the forecastle deck. Finally the word is getting out and as as a result brave Pioneers like yourself are portraying McKay's wondrous clippers like they should have been all along.
 
At some future date (provided It's not in the land fill) some expert, familiar with all the details of "Flying Cloud" as she is currently understood will look at my model and say " Well, it's a pretty model but he's got the details ALL wrong!" ;)
Thanks for all the kind words BTW. Thumbs-Up
I'm going the modeler's version of "snow-blind". I really appreciate seeing her fresh through your eyes!
 
Peter Gutterman said:
At some future date (provided It's not in the land fill) some expert, familiar with all the details of "Flying Cloud" as she is currently understood will look at my model and say " Well, it's a pretty model but he's got the details ALL wrong!" ;)
Thanks for all the kind words BTW. Thumbs-Up
I'm going the modeler's version of "snow-blind". I really appreciate seeing her fresh through your eyes!
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Peter, beautifully handcrafted models should never be in a landfill. Yes, it's technically based on a Mamoli kit but you've now revised her so much as to constitute an entirely new interpretation of her.
 
To me wood kits (especially Mamoli) provide a box o' stuff to start with. Like a box of paints or pastels. For me it's always been about where I could take the model from there. Maybe my best examples are the "John W. Canon" which came out of a Scientific Models kit of the "Robt. E. Lee" The two ships only roughly resemble each other but are vastly different ships. And my Harriet Lane which came out of the Model Shipways box for the revenue cutter 1857 and ended up as the Harriet Lane, US Navy Cruiser of 1863 an entirely different animal from what came out of the box. I've used at least three M.S. "Dapper Tom" hulls and parts, but never built a "Dapper Tom". And used the M.S. plans for the "Pride II" to build the hull for the "Chasseur". So, departing from the plan is nothing new to me. Modifying "Flying Cloud" on the fly is the most challenging yet, but standard operating procedure, ultimately. ;)
 
Pete,
For inspiration to your ongoing build. Here's one of my favorite pieces of Flying Cloud done in 1926 by one of my most admired artists. Sailor turned arist Jack Spurling's Blue Peter Magazine covers were so popular that the company later published 3 individual volumes Sail, the Romance of the Clipper Ships. This painting comes from vol II, a limited production of 1,000 books. Why this is significant is because all of original gloriously illustrated Spurling prints were unfortunately destroyed in the London Blitz of World War II, which makes this print exceedingly rare. Later 1972 three volume compendiums with beautiful slip covers aren't quite as colorful in comparison. I found this on an older e-bay listing previously sold but the original listing was still available to see.

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