May 2021

This was our third successful Zoom meeting with seven local club members and nine guests.
We had two presentations from members of the Society of Model Shipwrights (SMS) located in England.

John from the Society of Model Shipwrights (UK) gave a very informative presentation explaining the Harold Hahn method of building framed model ships upside down, and enhancements to this well known method.  Basically the base is notched to accept extend top timbers and hold them securely in location.  Then John adds removable end plates to which copies of body plans can be adhered with spray adhesive.  The end plates are notched along the centreline down to the elevation of the keel so a black cotton thread may be inserted to aid in aligning the frames on centre.

John's entire slide show presentation can be viewed on the SMS club website at: ​https://www.modelshipwrights.org/pages/masterclass
If you cannot find his presentation, it is likely that it hadn't been uploaded as yet
Please try back at again at later date

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Ian from Society of Model Shipwrights (UK) gave a captivating presentation on three American Schooners.  Their designs, shapes, rigs, and sail plans.  These were models he had made some time ago of three American schooners: the armed schooner Sir Edward Hawke 1776, The racing yacht America 1851 and the Gloucester fishing schooner Elsie 1906. All three were built at a scale of 1:144 or 1/12” to the foot. The America and Elsie were made in Kenya back in 1963-4 using very basic materials and tools but Sir Edward Hawke was constructed in 2000 using the bulkhead system.

The America was his second departure into very small-scale models, the first was a Thames barge! This celebrated yacht was designed by George Steers, a well-known designer of New York pilot boats. America was a development of these but with a rockered keel and with the maximum beam drawn well aft to a point beside the mainmast shrouds; an unusual feature at this time and a complete opposite to the yachts which she was going to race against around the Isle of Wight off England’s South Coast, who favoured the “cod’s head, mackerel tail” form of hull. She had well raked masts of the ‘Virginia’ model as exemplified in the Baltimore clippers and indeed the pilot boats.

The next was Elsie. For her size she was a remarkably fast schooner and represented Gloucester in the first of the International Fishermans’ Races in the 1920s. She lost to the big Nova Scotian Bluenose but the latter was almost one and a half times as long as Elsie. So, a hollow victory! These sailors did not believe in handicapping.

Both America and Elsie were built out of rough target wood with ammunition box liner material as the centre line and keel. Decks have individual planks and equipment was made out of fuze wire, paper card, dowel and shavings.

Sir Edward Hawke was built in America but was bought into the Royal Navy shortly after her completion together with a similar vessel: The Earl of Egmont. Both were destined for Revenue duties around Jamaica. This model is just over 5” long on deck. She is planked with cherry and the strakes are attached to the bulkheads using dyed and sharpened cocktail sticks. She has a very thin ply deck on which individual sycamore planks have been laid. Her gun barrels are 3/16” long and have their full handling tackle laid out.

There is some sign of a relationship between the design of Sir Edward Hawke and America, and not just because of the raked masts, but there is little obvious similarity between the America and the Elsie, perhaps because Elsie had to carry a cargo and cope with really frightful sea conditions.

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Alan from the local club showed a video of basic knots.  The presentation did not go quite as planned as he didn't know the secret to ZOOM video and sound presentations.  He has since discovered there are two check boxes that need to be picked prior to sharing screen, and then the volume needs to be adjusted to about 80%.

A PDF of the presentation can be downloaded here...

basic_ropework_-_part_1_of_3_-_model_shipwrights_of_niagara_-_aon.pdf
File Size:	3901 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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​Alan has prepared two other videos (1- whipping and 2- splicing) for future meetings.  Hopefully he will remember the Zoom check boxes!