Great Republic 1853, 1/128 Extreme Clipper Barque by Rwiederrich [COMPLETED BUILD]

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I'm entering this log long after I have laid the keel....and am entering the sail install. I do apologize.
I will refer back to other build aspects as I progress.

This last week I set the mizzen mast. This build has taken me down another math of construction I have never traveled. I rigged each mast with yards and sails to the upper topsail...leaving off the lower topsail and main course to afford easier access to rig the main shrouds and ratlines.

I have much to do, but here is the state she is currently in.
And an image of a painting she will represent.

IMG_8824_JPG_ad484009eed31a13f4cc418d54225795.jpgIMG_8741_JPG_1a0dc85ec7e91c1c337776fb227f4406.jpgIMG_8736_JPG_04640666ff9381f90859656809e2e550.jpggreat republic3 (2).jpg
 
Many Thanks for sharing with us your built - not easy to make a good model in this small scale - looking very good
BTW: very interesting vessel :cool:
Thanks Uwek for the fine comments and compliment.
I am a clipper ship fan and in particular the vessels made by Donald McKay.
This was the largest clipper ever constructed. The average clipper was roughly 1600~2200 tons, where as the Great Republic was a staggering 4555 tons...twice as much displacement as any other clipper. She had the larges yards ever placed on a clipper, which the main course yard was 120ft long. Average was 80~90 ft.

This vessel was extremely unique in the she was a *giant*, employed a steam engine for deck and yard work, carried 100 able seamen and 30 boys, and was a extreme clipper Bark. Employing the Spanker or *McKay* mast.

Her uniqueness was never fully appreciated, for on the eve of her maiden voyage from New York to San Francisco, a fire broke out on the pier she was moored at and she caught fire and burned to the waterline. She was eventually raised and rebuilt, but not to her former glory. Her masting and sail area was greatly reduced and her fourth deck(Her weather deck) was removed and bulwarks were added. Reducing her tonnage to the 3050 range.

She was a one of a kind vessel and I greatly wanted to create her.
So I did my due diligence, and researched her for 2 years prior to her build. Found plans that needed much correction and began in 2016.

Here are some images of her POB hull being made.

Rob

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I was not going to spend hundreds of dollars on buying copper plates for the GR so I devised a machine, utilizing and old wash basin rolling ringer. I used wire mesh fencing, along with a strip of dry wall sanding mesh to create the nail impressions and pressed out 7 inch embossed strips of copper plates for the plating of GR.

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Hallo Rob,
Many thanks for taking us with you into your workshop, showing us the hull work and the history and background of this vessel..... very very interesting,
She had really very fine lines - and I can understand the reason to build this model.
Please sHow us more of your model and progress and work
 
And we arrive just about where I am currently with the build.. 2 1/2 years later.
I left out loads of images and steps so not to make this thread any longer then need be. I hope you all enjoyed the trip....now I can return to our normally scheduled programing.

Rob
 
Love this ship Rob. I'm a big fan of the Great Republic and found a huge amount of info on her in a book called "The American Built Clipper Ship" by William L Crothers. He covers every Clipper built in America from 1850 to 1856 including the GR. If you haven't seen this book it really deserves your attention if your into the Clippers and there're lots of details for the Great Republic. I'm enjoying your work here very much. It's beautiful. Pete
 
Love this ship Rob. I'm a big fan of the Great Republic and found a huge amount of info on her in a book called "The American Built Clipper Ship" by William L Crothers. He covers every Clipper built in America from 1850 to 1856 including the GR. If you haven't seen this book it really deserves your attention if your into the Clippers and there're lots of details for the Great Republic. I'm enjoying your work here very much. It's beautiful. Pete

Thank you Norgate for your fine compliments and reading suggestion.
Crothers fine book is in my library, along with his works on The Masting of American Merchant sailing ships of the 1850's. I possess an exhaustive library on the subject of the Great Republic (and clippers in general)...to include the home workshop series, the Great Republic published in the Popular Science Monthly of 1935.
I also have the complete construction plans based on the works of E Armitage McCann..

However, some discrepancies due exist with these plans..namely...McCann depicts his version with Forbes Rig, with the doublings of the tops with the top mast aft of the main mast. Though Forbes himself claimed his rig was used on the GR..it was modified to place the top mast forward of the main mast doubling.
Second glaring error is, many assume the GR was rigged with sky sails set on all masts... this is true after her rebuild after her fiery destruction, but she was originally rigged with nothing higher then royals on all masts.

In my build....I have attempted to depict her as Donald McKay originally built her. Many contemporary paintings show her with all manner of errors...such as Forbes rig with skysails set and her sporting bulwarks. She received Howes rigging after the fire and the weatherdeck was destroyed in the fire...so Palmer reduced her to a 3 decker, creating the bulwarks. Some paintings show her with Howes rig, skysails and with her original weather deck railing. Even Crothers shows her in drawings with skysails, with a modified Forbes rig and railings around her weather deck.

Research, research, research.......

First hand accounts describe her with only royals as the highest sail set on the mast. Forbes himself declared she was rigged with a modified version of his design, and historical lithographs depict her in this fashion.

I believe the painting I provided of her is the most accurate depiction of her....and is the depiction of her I,m attempting to model.

Sorry for the lengthy blovinating....of the subject, but I Love Donald McKay clippers and researching them is as much a passion of mine as is building scratch scale models of them.

Again...thanks for your fine comments and encouraging suggestion. I hope we can converse on the subject further if you have a mind too.

Rob
 
I did spend some time working on the GR..belaying and rerunning the lines that I had previously run for the sails and yards. Finishing with the rope coils before I proceed to the shrouds and ratlines. I made and added further eye bolts and rings to receive blocks about the model. here is where I left off. IMG_8830.JPGIMG_8832.JPGIMG_8835.JPGIMG_8838.JPGIMG_8841.JPGIMG_8842.JPGIMG_8846.JPGIMG_8845.JPGIMG_8834.JPG
 
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