i`ve just recently completed my second Scratchbuilt Ship :) Again it had to be a square rigger, but this time not so easy as a Brigantine it had to be something a bit more challenging and scale looking as Brooks Aldebaran Topsailschooner and later brig but still more a pondsailer that allows good transportability and good handling, sacrificing a bit of scale detail.
A ship described in Howard I Chapelles "History of American Sailing Ships" caught my eye. the Ship described was the late Man'o war Brig Somers of 12 Guns.
The Specs of th original:
Length between perpendiculars 100ft
Length on Deck 102ft
Beam moulded 25ft
Max Draft 13.5ft
Burthen 259 Tons
A very handsome vessel :) So i set out and started with reconstructing Somers lines plan in Delftship.
The Linesplan was then adjusted so as to get a buttock line every 9mm and these buttock lines were used as templates for a bread and butter build of the hull from balsa.
The Model would be:
Scale 1:51
Length between perpendiculars 588mm
Length on deck 600mm
Beam 147mm
Displacement 2.2kg
lots of cutting
even more sanding and swamping out the hull later
Next up bullwarks, and transom
The head
RC installation:
There is 1 Servo each for each mast. The Fore Mast brace servo also has teh headsail sheet and there is a seperate servo for teh spanker sheet and one for rudder.
and then painting and rigging :)
The Sails are made from Tyvek "paper" a Polyamid foil that is waterproof, chemical proofe and very tear resistant. It`s best known in the form of overseas envelopes.
I ballasted her to the calculated displacement of 2,2kgs and she floated surprise surprise
on here scale waterline :) The ballast is in a PVC tube at the end of a 25cm 8mm plexiglas keel. The keel is removeable and also repositionable in an Aluminum U profile epoxiedto teh bottom of the hull. Ballast is 1,2kgs of lead shot.
And last weekend i had my first cahnce to sail her... on a trip to the Austrian Alps (my home town is there) we came past one of teh biggest Lakes in Austria and i used the chance of liquid water for a maiden voyage with Somers!
We had to sail in teh lee of a floatng pier which gave us some sheltered water in regard of waves but also produced some interesting winds, but nevertheless Somers sailed near perfectly :) tacking was no problem and also wearing ship wasn`t taking much radius du to the big clear fin extension :) i`m very very happy with her sailing qualities.
a short video here:
http://www.vimeo.com/9306990cheers
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