Gunboat Philadelphia (Model Shipways; 1:24)

[JohnR]

So...After using my home-made templates to place the knees I found the actual templates that came with the kit (dropped them behind the workbench awhile back; moved a box looking for something and there they were). Have them now back in the kit box.

Knees are all in as well as the storage chests in the aft part of the ship (pictures). Through hull holes for eyebolts and ring bolts are drilled and the holes for the hawse pipes are drilled. First cannon (12-pounder) is filed and with the supplied brass eyebolts, rings, etc. has been painted matte black.

 

[JohnR]

Have been working fairly steadily for the past 10 days - and forgetting to post at the same time. Always 'just do a bit more' first.

Lower deadeyes, hawse hole, 2 stern eyebolts, mast partner, the knees on the bow side of the mast partner (on the plans but not mentioned anywhere in the instruction booklet), the 2 bow shot racks, 2 mid-gunboat 9-pounders and the 12-pounder bow gun are now complete. The 12-pounder isn't all that well balanced (muzzle heavy) so it is glued down to the quoin; 9-pounders are balanced OK but glued down also so I don't knock them about too much during the rest of the build.

I had to pull apart the first of the lower deadeyes after I had it installed. Didn't realize that the 3 holes were canted about 30-deg off to the right until I looked at the photo I took. Small 'oops' but recoverable. Used some thin CA to stiffen the ropes that are around the deadeyes and hold them in position. (And, thankfully, avoided gluing my fingers or hand to the hull.)

Next step is to rig the guns.

 

[JohnR]

Have the 9-pounder cannons in the waist rigged; the 12-pounder in the bow is next.

The blocks needed some shaping; my attempts aren't the best but they at least look a bit more like they should. The holes in them also needed drilling out to 1.6 mm so the rope used for the side tackles could be threaded through them.The instruction book said to use wire for the stroping of the blocks; the drawings show both wire and rope. I opted for wire for the 9-pounders; am thinking I may use rope for the 12-pounder as that would be more in keeping with the period. Will make that decision another day.

The pictures show the work on the blocks and the preparation of one of the side tackles. I was going to dye the rope black (using a permanent marker) but after looking at some photos of cannons on the USS Constitution (OK, constructed 20+ years later but still a near contemporary) I decided to use the uncolored rope. (However, the picture of the prepared side tackle is with the dyed rope. I changed course after making this one.)

Along the way I ran out of the eye bolts that came with the kit; not sure if there weren't enough supplied or if I dropped some along the way. Anyways, to make up the 8 I was missing, I formed them from straight pins (after cutting off the heads). The result was as close to the kit supplied ones as I could get them; pleased with the result.

After attaching the side tackles I decided to wrap the falls around the tackles instead of creating a coil on the deck. From looking at photos of the Constitution, and from doing a bit of research reading, this was probably more the way the tackles would have been stored before preparing for action. I like the look (even if no 2 wrappings are exactly alike!).

 

[JohnR]

Was looking around in some boxes from my move back to the US about 18 months ago and found a couple of plastic containers with left over parts from other kits - including more eye bolts. Have put them where I can find them the next time I need them.

12-pounder bow gun is mounted on the slide and rigged. Before doing this I needed to construct and install the forestay spreader. This allows the bow cannon to fire unimpeded by rigging. The spreader is tied to what will be the forestay which is held in place by a temporary mast. Instead of using wire to strop the blocks for the gun's rigging, I used cordage and homemade hooks made from the 19-gauge wire in the kit (a bit more work than using wire but closer to actual practice; enjoyed the small work - and only glued fingers together once!).

Rail caps, stern railings, cat heads, mooring bits (either side of the bow), additional bitts on each side, thole pins, cleats & swivel gun brackets all installed. I added nails to the swivel gun brackets (they have holes in them) and ran out of the supplied nails. Had a supply of brass pins (left overs from a previous model; found in the container previously mentioned) of the right gauge but too long; snip, snip and more nails. Finished the swivel guns and added them onto the starboard side (they can be moved around if I decide to do so). Like the bow cannon they are a bit heavy in the breach but the paint adds just enough friction so they stay where tilted.

The fireplace/stove was entertaining to build. Doing masonry work at this scale took some patience (and a re-do after the first course was in place as I forgot the bricks that form the base of the stove - missed that in my first look at the plan detail; sort of like measure twice; cut once, there is a lesson here - read at least twice before starting work (hope I remember it ). I didn't have any brick red paint available so the paint job on the stove is a mix of earth tones (kind of muddy looking) that I had laying around.

Started work on the rudder assembly. Have the rudder and tiller dry fit; will glue on the tiller later. Pintles are bent and pins have been prepped for soldering (may use thick CA instead; not sure yet). To darken the lines of the individual rudder planks I used a thin Sharpie permanent marker; added nail heads to the rudder battens (battens are only on the starboard side.

Plan for tomorrow is to finish the rudder then start planning the mast, spars and rigging.

 

[darnold]

This is looking great, John. This build is in the box and in line to be built next (or eventually). I'll bookmark this log so to refer to it when I finally get to it. I'm looking forward to this one. Also, thanks for the book references - I'll be sure to read up on this boat before I start working on her.

 

[JohnR]

One more post before heading out on vacation for a bit. Ship will sit on the worktable waiting for a mast and rigging.

Finished the rudder. Used thick CA to fasten the pintle pins instead of soldering. Easier at this stage as I'd already painted the brass pieces black so they look like ironwork. Managed to get the gudgeons in the correct locations so that the rudder hangs properly. Decided to add the hole for the stopper rope and the rope (perhaps a size to large for the scale but I had a length laying around so it was used).

After getting the pintles glued to the rudder I decided that the holes in the pintles needed to have nails added. I could have filled each with a blob of paint or cut heads off nails and glued them in. I decided paint wasn't the way to go and I didn't have a stash of nails I could cut the heads off of (and I decided not to cut heads off of pins but that would have worked). Instead I made my own small pins (used 23 gauge wire) to simulate nails, drilled the holes through the rudder, inserted the pins and bent the ends over to secure them (could have used straight pins since they have heads but I decided not to as the holes in the pintles are small [0.5 mm] and the pins really need 0.8 mm holes to go through smoothly). I couldn't make flat heads on the simulated nails so they are just bent back to create a small eye that can't go through the holes. I think it looks good even if not accurate.

While looking around the net this week I cam across the picture of the explosion on the Gunboat New York (one of Philadelphia's sisters). I think the original is in the museum on Lake Champlain; I copied it from an on-line history of the Northern Campaign during the American Revolution. It gives a good look at how the gunboats were rigged.

 

[AndyA]

Brother John:
Nicely done! Reminded me of a model I made some time ago of a somewhat later American gunboat in a somewhat smaller scale. This is a galley gunboat of 1806 at a scale of approximately 1:400. It was my first ship in a bottle. Plan is from The American Sailing Navy: The Ships and Their Development by Howard Chapelle. Fair winds!

 

[Roger Pellett]

Nice work as usual!

 

[JohnR]

Back from one trip and heading out on another.... Was able to get the main mast, top mast and main top assembled and in place on the boat. Forming the mast ring was interesting as I'd already painted it black along with all of the other brass parts and it needed annealing before twisting in. Scrapped off the paint, annealed it, formed it and repainted it (pretty simple work; nothing onerous). Once again, not enough brass nails came with the kit so it was into my leftovers to find some that would work (if I need any more I'll be using dress maker's pins). The masts are a bit oval in cross-section instead of perfectly round but I'm happy with how they've turned out.

When I get back from this trip in a couple of weeks I'll prepare the spars and then start work on the rigging. I am aiming to have the model completed around the 3rd week of April.

 

[JohnR]

Back from some vacation and getting ready to go on a spot of work travel. Had several days in-between so was able to get the spars done and the rigging started.

Just before heading out on vacation, I tried to carve the topmast spar into shape. Had one side down to octagon and was starting to sand to round when a portion snapped off. Put everything aside and figured I'd put the remaining stock (luckily there was enough left for the spar) on my Proxxon mini-lathe when I returned. While on vacation I came across a thread (one of several) on tapering spars (or masts). Interesting reading that confirmed my decision to use the lathe.

The Proxxon has a headstock that the workpiece can be inserted through and held using collets; useful for turning long round pieces. I marked off the topmast spar (center, start of taper, desired end diameter), placed it in the lathe and did the turning using various grades of sandpaper. For the mainmast spar I used one of my carbide turning tools and then sandpaper. I didn't get as thin at the spar ends as the drawings show but I'm pleased with the result. (I bought the Proxxon DB250 a couple of years ago but other than doing a test piece hadn't used it yet. When I decided to get into lathe work last year after taking a couple of classes, I bought a large one [not suitable for small model work]. The DB250 fills the need for a small lathe for turning masts and spars. Will need to do more experimental work with it.)

I used cut off straight pins to hold the spars on the masts while rigging (this was in the instruction book). First was stepping the main mast and fastening the halyard in place; then fastening the downhaul to a cleat at the base of the mast. Fastening the halyard involved forming a block-and-tackle arrangement with the halyard at the upper end of the tackle and the lower block hooked into an eyebolt just behind the base of the mast (the first of many small knots). This is when I decided to not use the small line that was supplied (a full synthetic) as it didn't hold the knots very well. Dug through my leftover box and found some small line that is a mix (polyester/cotton I suspect) and holds small knots better than the full synthetic.

For the mainmast backstays I fashioned the hooks at the bottoms of the two block-and-tackle set-ups from straight pins (not enough brass eye-bolts in the kit). They are reasonable but if I need any more I'll form them from long brass nails (have some in the leftover box). I puzzled for a bit over the attachment points for these hooks; it seemed that there were not enough eyebolts (or ringbolts) available. Finally figured out from a couple of the drawings that one of the eyebolts for the port 9-pounder cannon is also used as the attachment point for the port main mast backstay block-and-tackle. (The point here is that the instructions often leave out some clarifying information so one has to be able to read the drawings and figure things out. Definitely good practice for future endeavors.)

The starboard shrouds are done, the pin rack is installed and the ladder rungs are glued on. The bottom 3 (pin rack and bottom 2 rungs) are also tied on. (32 more small knots to go; will tackle them when I return from the work trip.) I used a jig (piece of scrap wood and 4 straight pins) to get the deadeye spacing right.

(Just a couple of notes. (1) I've used black permanent marker to stain fixed rigging [that which supports masts and spars] and left the running rigging [everything else] in the natural color supplied with the kit. (2) I have made a liberal use of PVA, CA and nail polish to hold rigging to deadeyes & blocks while tying them off; to secure rungs to shrouds; and to finish off knots.)

Next will be the port shrouds (no ladder rungs on the port side) and then the forestay. Then the rigging for the main spar followed by the rigging for the topmast and spar. Then there are the sweeps, awning structure and awning. Probably another 2-3 weeks before I get it finished.