THE MATTHEW / Lumberyard

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CONWAY SPRINGS, KS
THE MATTHEW was a type of ship called a caravel which was popular in medieval times due to its speed and maneuverability. She is described as a ‘little ship’ of 50-tons burden, which meant she was capable of carrying 50 tuns of Bordeaux wine beneath her decks. On 24 June 1497 Cabot landed in North America, most probably on the island of Newfoundland.

Therefore, I wish to start my build log of "The Matthew".
 
Don and I talked about his build log about allowing me to post some back round information I designed and built a model for a kit but never did anything more with it.
so actually Don is building the first prototype of this semi-kit.

I started with the reproduction built in Canada and I believer another one was built in England.

here is the Canadian version of the Matthew


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Let me explain, what this SEMI-KIT is as Dave is showing you how he did this, I got this SEMI-KIT some time ago, here are the details THE BUILD is based on PLANS DONE BY JEFF STAUDT and I think they are still available in a much reduced size from THE MSB SITE you can ask Winston about them, THERE IS A 102 page PRATORIUM DONE BY DAVE STEVENS, I can not find the small size plans to show but when I asked Dave to give me a price on a timbering set he had cutting files for a kit and I RECEIEVED THE SEMI-KIT which is in a much, much LARGER SCALE, so I took the false keel to a GOOD PRINT SHOP along with the smaller set and they increased the size to fit the false keel I THINK THE SCALE OF THE LARGER SIZE IS 3/8 SCALE DAVE CAN CONFIRM THIS, the semi-kit is a GREAT BUILD FOR THE INTERMEDIATE BUILDER AND PROBALLY A NOVICE CAN ALSO BUILD IT, AND THE MORE ADVANCED BUILDERS CAN ADD THE RIGGING AND MUCH MORE DETAILS, will post pictures of plans and THE PRACTORIUM, witch I DOWNLOADED FROM THE MSB SITE, and it shuld be a really GREAT BUILD HOPE I CAN DO HER JUSTICE
 
No the 17 sheets of plans are the ones by Jeff Staudt, this is the set Dave used, I do not think the 47 sheets will not be of help for the MODEL, only as MAYBE as a reference guide, I will post pictures TOMORROW, of both the practorium and the plans, Dave has used some very unique methods of CONSTRUCTION the practorium is excellent, if you are thinking of doing this get the practorium from the MSB site it is in color with Daves use of colored arrows to show the details, hope you do decide to do this. Don
 
here are some pictures of what you get as a semi-kit, the only Items that are lasser cut for you are the FALSE KEEL, BULKHEADS, TOP TIMBERS, AND THE KEEL STEM AND STERN POST, one PICTURE IN PARTICULAR THAT I LIKE SHOWS WHAT DAVE CAME UP WITH FOR DOING THE TOP TIMBER, it is the picture with the pencil pointing at the notch as he describes in the practorium for both strength and finish you can see them in the lasser cut sheet you attach the top timbers to the exposed bulkheads, the semi kit has a GREAT AMOUNT OF STRIP WOOD AND timber materials, another picture shows the FALSE KEEL, being clamped to a table because I took a long time in starting this it went through the temperture changes from the summer to the winter and it warped a little, being the false keel is plywood I was afraid to use to much hot water to it afraid the PLYWOOD WOULD HAVE SEPERATION, SO I USED A CLOTH DAMPENING WITH HOT WATER applying it to the FALSE KEEL AND THEN CLAMPING IT TO THE TABLE seems like it worked also in the back ground you can see that I am working on a building board, again all coments and sugestions are welcome also there are 23 BULKHEADS WHICH IS GOOD FOR THE HULL PLANKING

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That looks great, Don! I assume the semi-kit is 1:48 scale?

I have 2 questions for you:
1) How thick are the bulkheads and the plywood false keel? Are they exactly 1/4", or are they less?
2) It looks like you were able to trace a bearding line on the false keel. Where did you get the template for that, or did you simply use the bottom edge of each bulkhead and "connect the dots"?
 
Hi Dave, Both the Bulheads and False Keel according to micrometer are 15/64 or.2405 inches, the bearding line that I did according to the practorium is 1/8 inch not cutting the rabbit just beveling and using the keel(not the false keel) to make the rabbit, I used this method sugested by Clay Feldman on my Lexington build, if I used the regular method og cisel to form the Rabbit it woul have wandered all over the place because of the plywood, by the way I used anew type compas that I purchased at Menards it was something like $10.00 used it on the Gunboat to spile my planking works quite well, will post a picture of it. Don
 
Hello guys,I am confused now Lol,is this a kit or scratch?

Zoltan

well that is a good question


it really is not a kit because a kit has everything you need in a box, this does not.

plans are separate those you can download from MSB and size them to whatever scale you want

you can purchase plywood and cut out your own bulkhead set OR order a laser cut bulkhead set your choice

you can use what ever wood you have in your shop OR order rough stock and mill your own OR order pre milled wood of what ever type of wood you want.

there are no fittings or material for rigging you will have to either make it all yourself OR source it out to companies that supply such stuff.

as far as instruction, kits provide some sort of instructions this does not you rely on articles and build logs and your own research.

so is it a kit? by definition it is NOT a semi-kit maybe semi- scratch another maybe, a scratch project yes depending I guess on how much you purchase and what you do yourself.

I think this concept is the new wave in model building YOU as the builder design your project and decide how much you want ready made and what you want to do yourself.
 
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