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History
A number of
these little ships remained in commission in the Royal Navy well into the
20th century as sea going training ships e.g. Nautilus...Liberty....Seaflower
etc. etc. My model will be named M.S. Killingworth after the local
sailing lake.
To be a fully
working sailing model, the scale has to be practical & as large as
possible ..... so I chose to a make model as big as my little car trailer
could carry! This worked out by picking a 1840 12 gun Brig of War. The
plans are of a 'class', not any particular ship. I doubled the plans from
1/4" to Foot to 1/2" i.e. 1/24th Scale. This works out as a hull of length
63" long (84" L.O.A. including booms, spits etc.) x 15˝" wide & 72" high -
the masts above the ‘fighting tops’ fold forward for transport ! I am now
busy with the masts, yards and sails, then will have to work out how to
control them.
The hull is
a scratch build fibre glass shell ...... with a planked deck with corked
joints. The torpedo you can see is a 3" dia. removable ballast tube
containing 40lb of lead. A sail winch drives a mini toothed belt, driving
the steering wheel through pulleys to the tiller. The anchor winch is a
battery screw driver. The anchors themselves and the guns are cast in
phosphor bronze & gun blackened..... only three guns are fitted as yet, 8
more are to follow ...... but all cannon trucks are wired for electrical
firing of the guns, using Pyrodex for powder but this makes no smoke!
(will have to overcome that !) Each gun can be fired individually. All
other metalwork is made of brass & also gun blackened.
I suppose you can guess by now I am
really enjoying myself
as each stage and little problem gets solved. I hope to
get her sailing by late next year.
“We hang oot in Geordie Land......
Ye nar in
Nuwcasule on Tyne..... wer wu bild ships ye nar !”
Regards, Brian
Clarke |
