September 2020

Due to the ongoing pandemic this was yet another newsletter meeting!  There may be a few more of these before things get back to normal.

1) Ray has been working on a special project for a client who had contacted us via this website before the summer just past.  The project cannot be spoken about in any detail here as yet because it is meant to be a gift, and although the likelihood of the recipient reading news of it here before the gifting... we do not want to take a chance of ruining the surprise!  I hope we can reveal the details soon.

2) Alan brought to our attention  the following interesting article about the 60th Anniversary of the launch of the “Bounty” replica in Lunenburg, N.S.  https://flip.it/b4h8md

3) Alan has been working on the deck beam templates for “Bellerophon” in his free hobby version of the 3D program Fusion 360.  These drawings will be printed locally to assist in his making the deck beams... that is if he ever finishes the framing timbers!
 
4) Phil reports that after 5 years of construction he needs a break before deciding whether to rig his model of “San Juan de Pasajes”, the Basque whaler which was wrecked in December 1565 during a storm at Red Bay, Labrador.  From time to time Phil has brought the model to meetings and described its development.  The Red Bay Archeological site, and background on whaling in the 16th Century, is described here:  https://www.thecanadanencyclopedia.ca/en/article/red-bay-archaeological-site 

5) Alan sent this story from The Welland News about a remote controlled sail boat at on the old Welland canal.
https://www.wellandtribune.ca/news/niagara-region/2020/08/07/fair-winds-on-wellands-recreational-canal.html 
That model is considerably more detailed than most sail boat models, and is so good I would be more than a little concerned at letting water near such a lovely model!
 
6) Mark sent details of a model of a “Spanish Armada era” ship he bought at a garage sale. Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/cWcaDd6BxKa7M5kb8 .
An interesting project, Mark, and a nice finished model.
Mark reports as follows:
   I bought this ship model a few years ago at a garage sale.  Yes they do sometimes come up if you really look for them. It was made,  I would guess back in the 70's or 80's by someone who had only basic knowledge of ship building.  I would call it an arts and crafts / fantasy style model.  I bought it with the idea of improving it's accuracy to details as far as practicality goes, ie, I'm not going to rebuild the entire hull. It is a Spanish Armada era ship, of the 1580's.  From stem to stern it is about 12 inches, estimate of the original, 80 plus feet. This would make it about. 1/80th scale. The ship is definitely smaller than the Golden Hind which had a deck length of 102 feet, built 1577.  Incidentally the Golden Hind never sank or was broken up.  They attempted to save it for display but due to the lack of preserving methods it gradually rotted away.  I believe some furniture may have been made from her timbers. I'll start at the bow and work back. The bows were oddly made, being too short. The base of the foremast would have come through about half way up the cutwater.  I extended it as far as I could. The beakhead was way too short, this I extended and painted in white and red stripes, typical
for the time period. The anchor was far from correct, a new one was made.No holes were on either side of the cutwater for the anchor cables, I added these. There were no catheads, these were added. The mast tops were square, at this time they were all round. I also tapered the mast tops, they were too thick. Five awkward looking cannons protruded from each side. These I pulled out and glued gunport covers over the openings. The inside of the hull was partly hollow. Then I applied two lengthwise hull bands or strakes, black near the waterline and  white just under the deck. The hull was painted brown mainly to cover up the work to extend the bows. Below the waterline the hull was painted white as
per models of the time. The rudder was of the wrong design, a new one was made. The stern windows were just two openings. I made a new complete stern window section complete with plastic windows. The window panes should be smaller. Most ships at the time had a sort of catwalk surrounding the stern area below the windows, coming around the sides a little. I couldn't find a name for this feature. One thing I might change is that the main yard is as thick as the main mast. I would need to remove the main sail and replace the yard. You could say the original builder specialized in painting sails, see photo. The rigging is incomplete, missing the stays etc., but I had to end the restoration somewhere.  Lastly I added the 1580 date to the base which came with it. I wish now I had taken "before" photos, but the descriptions of the original as found condition are listed above. Enclosed please find 3 photos, please feel free to edit if you wish.
                                                     Happy model ship building,  Mark,  11 August

7)      Following on progress on making the bowsprit for HMS Bellerophon, 74 guns (1786) at 1:64 scale, which is detailed in the April website Blog, Alan’s continuing account, of making the spritsail topsail yard and parrel,        Downloadable PDF here:

making_the_spritsail_yard_spritsail_topsail_yard_and_parrel..pdf
File Size:	908 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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8) Ray and his darling wife have some very good neighbours who made sure that they were kept well supplied with “vittles” during the early stages of the COVID restrictions.  As a “Thank you” gift for them he made a couple of models of the Model Seaways kits of the  “Grand Banks Dory”, designed by our own David Antscherl.  https://modelexpo-online.com/Lowell-Grand-Banks-Dory-Model-Wooden-Model-Ship-Kit-124-Scale-MS1470_p_3957.html  Each of them took him a couple of weeks of part time work to complete, and he recommends this kit to all – it makes up into an attractive model, and comes as a complete kit with well-written instructions etc..  It was then on sale for US$25.00, and now US$29.99.  David has now developed  a new kit of a “Norwegian Sailing Pram” in the progressive ship modelling range for Model Seaways, which Ray is certain will be equally attractive. https://modelexpo-online.com/NEW-RELEASE-Norwegian-Sailing-Pram-112-Scale_p_4239.html
 
10)   Although we will not be able to meet physically until some time I the future we should not allow these restrictions to cause us to lose touch.  Alan and I joined a “ZOOM”-type meeting with the Rochester Club in May, actually using a similar video conferencing program called “GOTO Meeting” .   For those not familiar with these programs they really are quite simple – download the program onto your computer, (wherever you are geographically!), click on the appropriate link and schedule provided by the coordinator, type in the access code provided by the coordinator, and Bingo! – there you are, on screen!  Join and leave at any time!  How about having such a meeting?  We could schedule it to run as in the same way we do at our normal meetings – Housekeeping items, Show and Tell, a modelling Theme.  Let me know,  if you would join us if we were to set one up. 
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