Scratchbuilt Mayflower Solid hull - 5/32 scale

By

Chuck Passaro

Introduction.
This article is the record of the ship build originally recorded in the Building Logs forum of Model Ship World. The original with associated discussion and comments can be viewed at http://modelshipworld.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=733 It was built to fulfill a commission for a model of the Mayflower This project will be an interesting one. Even though I had already started preparing the plans for the Syren I was lucky enough to get a commission. I have been asked to build a model of the Mayflower. It is to be 5/32 scale and plank over solid hull. I will be using the plans by Baker and also RC Anderson. It will hopefully look like the Mayflower II when finished. I do not like any of the kits for the Mayflower available on the market today. None have the level of detail and accuracy this client expects. Theres not much to show at this point but I figured I post this picture of my progress anyway. The hull is 15 1/2" long and I cheated a little bit. I am using an old Model Shipways solid hull for the Mayflower that I won on EBAY. I got the whole kit. Unfortunately the cast fittings were reduced to powder and had deteriorated significantly. All of the wood which was spruce was dried out and of poor quality. However the shape and size of the hull was incredibly close to that of the replica in Plymouth. I only needed to make some minor adjustments. The plans are there but drawn to the lines done by R. Anderson. That rendition is better than most but not close to how I want to model her, William Baker had to increase the height of each deck to accommodate the tourists but I have reduced them by 10". This is a more accurate representation of a vessel for this time period.

The decks are planked and I am ready to plank and detail the bulkheads at each break in the deck levels. There will be planked 1/32" thick bulwarks added after more details have been finished on deck. The half deck will be extended out over the upper deck with beams as seen on the Baker plans. I made slow progress on the Mayflower gang. Here I have planked the bulkheads as shown in the photos and created the wooden doors etc. This planking and detail work was done while it was off the model. I cut templates from 1/32" thick sheets and planked those. When they were done I glued them to the hull.

Next I will do the same for the bulwarks. I will plank the inboard side while off the model and glue them along the rabbet I cut into the hull after they are stained and completed. Some folks consider the Mayflower to be a boxy tub but I hope to show otherwise. It should really start coming together over the next two weeks. I am trying to go for a more "old-time-heavy wooden-look" for lack of a better way to explain it. I dont want it to look too clean and neat. Hopefully a lot of wood grain will show when its done along with a weathered appearance. I will be using MinWax stain like watercolors and blending darker shades into the lighter ones to show wear.

Moving right along...here is a picture of the model with one planked bulwark in place. You can see the other one yet to be glued. The windows are glued to the reverse side and show up nicely when viewed from outboard. You wont see the two windows at all when viewed from inboard

You can see the other bulwark on the table before I glued it into place. I created a template and cut it out of a 1/32" thick bass wood sheet and planked over it with thin 1/32" planking strips. I will plank the outside of the hull next after I install the bulwark stanchions (frames). Before I do that though I will sand the bulwarks even thinner. The finished thickness for the bulwarks should be about a 1/16" when I am done.

To make this build log more complete here is a photo of the stanchions, which were glued to the inside of the bulwarks before planking. They were cut extra long so I could create the areas above the open portions of the bulwarks. When the finished profile was established the stanchions were sanded to length and the tops rounded. Here you can see the port side is finished and the starboard remains to be done. Planking the exterior was done afterwards. The run of the planks was established following the bottom edge of the bulwark template, which represents the top edge of the upper wales.

The hull is partially planked now, at least on the port side. It looks like a lot of wood but this Mayflower will be painted. In fact a great deal of the hull exterior will be painted with many strips of molding running from bow to stern. I made some progress this weekend and hope to have all of the planking finished soon. The planking was glued to the hull in one long strip and the individual lengths scribed into them. The treenails (which are incomplete) were drilled and filled with Elmers wood filler.

I still have a lot of painting to do but the port side is just about complete. As some you may know, the traditional triangle design is no longer considered valid for the Mayflower. Most naval historians believe that pattern was used on much more important ships and not a simple merchant ship as the Mayflower. The design I chose was the same adopted by William Baker for his replica but I have toned it down a bit. A few green and white moldings were omitted and solid white was used instead. I antiqued and weathered the finished hull in order to tone it down even further

Having completed all of the painting I took two more pictures, of the bow and stern. I will now start working on the beakhead. The beakhead will give the model its finished shape which we have all instinctively known.

Most historians believe that if there was an actual flower decorating the stern it probably would have been painted and not carved. My client expects a sculpted Mayflower emblem. I wont be using the one on the replica currently Instead I will use the design by William Baker at the time it was launched. I figured I would move it up the list of tasks. Here is a picture. I decide to try my hand at making a mold also. I think it was somewhat successful but as with everything else practice makes perfect. You can see the unpainted original to the extreme right. The painted example is a molded copy. There are also several other molded copies in the picture along with the mold itself. It didnt take very long to cast them. Sculpey was used for the mold and original. It was also used for the copies. The original is what took the most time, about an hour and a half.

Sure, but I am by no means an expert. After sculpting the original using sculpey it was baked at 275 degrees and allowed to harden. Once cooled down I was able to push the original into a "virgin" block of sculpey, which created the mold. I had to soften the block of sculpey first by working it with my fingers. I used a lot of cornstarch on the original emblem before pressing it into the block to create the mold. Then I baked the mold as was done with the original. When the mold cooled off I pressed small pieces of sculpey into the mold to form the new copies. I use a lot of cornstarch here as well, both in the mold and on the soft piece of Sculpey before I pressed it firmly into the mold. They molded pieces were pulled free and baked. When they were cooled off I trimmed the excess away from the piece. You can see the others in that photo that havent had the excess sculpey trimmed yet.

The beakhead has been started. You can get a sense now for the overall shape of the hull. I have yet to place the frames on the inside of the beakhead planking. I figured it would be easier to put the sides on first so I can measure exactly how long to make the floor timbers and frames. The color scheme is also completed but I may tweak it a little bit. I havent decided. It is growing on me.

I was just wondering if I should add more color. I think its looks right the way it is but you know how it goes. It is really tough to fight those impulses to go overboard. So I figured I would just press ahead with other things and hope the feeling passes. (after dialogue) I am going to leave it as is. I hate it when I start second guessing myself. Thanks to Uwe and Russ for preventing me from making a terrible mistake. "Less is more" Less is more" "less is more" I have to beat it into my head and move on to something else.

The beak head is complete. The frames and gratings are in place. The belaying pins are only there temporarily. They were used to show that there is indeed a pin rail stretching across the beak head

The quarter deck was extended out over the upper deck. I did not frame it as the actual ship would have been. There was no need since the deck was entirely planked. The rudder is next followed by the deck details. Then its on to masting and rigging.

Rudder is completed. Made decent progress this weekend so far. I used the exact same techniques and materials described in my Sultana builder's guide. I think I will punch out tonight and continue tomorrow

I use acrylic paint from a tube and the bottled stuff. This way I can make it my own consistency based on the task at hand. In the case of the bolt heads I simply mixed the paints a little thicker and dabbed a droplet where I wanted to simulate a bolt head. The same was done on the gunport hinges. The gunport hinges by the way are just heavy paper. White glue is another acceptable alternative. The only thing is you will have to wait until it dries and paint over them. When the glue dries it will hold its shape and simulate nail heads quite well. I just completed all of the deck fittings. Kevels, Pin rails, Ladders, Pumps, Knights, and hand rails. I will continue after Christmas with the ship's boat and the channels and cat heads. Then its the home stretch. I will start the masts and rigging. The Pumps were made exactly as described for the Sultana. They get easier each time I make them considering that only two are made for each model. The practice needed to do a decent job is only acquired slowly over a period of building several models. This is a shame because depending on the subject matter it could be a year or two before you have the opportunity to build another pair. The Drum was a simple dowel sanded eight-sided. Then I wrapped some automotive pinstripe tape around it to simulate the iron bands. Drill a hole about a 1/16" deep into the top. The handle is shaped from a wood strip less than 1/32" thick. The bracket for the handle is 1/16" thick. All was made from basswood except the drum which is beech. I should have posted a coin with the photo to show scale but they are about 5/8" tall when finished.

Theres really not much to the bell. It is a length of beech dowel just like the pump drum. As I only needed one, it was shaped like a bell by hand. I just used some sand paper. Before shaping the outside I drilled the inside and made it hollow. An eye bolt was glued into a pre-drilled hole on top of the bell and this was used to mount it on the belfry. Finally it was painted gold which actually looks more like brass when its dry. I have been working hard today on the plans for ship's boat. Here is a picture of it. I created lifts using the waterlines on William Baker's plans. I modified quite a bit of his design using additional research. The end results are these CAD plans. They are drawn to 5/32" scale. I will post photos of this mini project as I progress. There is no scale bar in the photo but the finished boat will only be 2.5 inches long.

The boat will be clinker planked on the sides and smooth on its bottom. Because of its size I will only add the clinker planks to the solid hull lifts and paint the remainder of the hull beneath it. The boat will only be 2.5 inches long. Channels, chesstrees and catheads are finished. Deadeyes and chainplates are next. Then I will start building the ship's boat. Here is another photo.

Deadeyes were made from scratch using the slow process of cutting a beech dowel to the proper thickness. Then they were sanded to a pear shape as shown. I filed the groove for the wire strop on all three sides then drilled the three holes for the lanyards. An actual chain is used for the chain plates which is how they are shown on the replica. Its a slow but easy process

Started the ships boat today. I created 7 lifts as you can see below. Once glued together they were sanded to shape inside and out. The finished thickness is 1/32". Now I can start to add the details to the boat.

I still have to make the rudder and maybe add some small details but the majority of this boat is complete. I am not sure if I will pain any parts of it. It will be placed in cradles above the main grating on deck. I clinker planked the outside of the hull with thin (very thin) basswood strips. Only the top three were clinker planked.

I have finished the bowsprit, nothing much to see there. The fore and main masts are also completed. The wooldings have wood bands with .021 rigging line wrapped 8 times between. The wooden hoops were made from thin strips of manila folder as I have described using many times. The hounds have also been added. Next the cross trees and tops.

The manila folder has never gotten fizzy for me. Or I should say they keep their shape fine unless you paint them or stain them over and over again. As any paper product would start to get "pulpy". I try to limit my use of paint and stain and never sand them. I always stain the manila folder first and then cut my parts from it. The glue would change the porosity and not give you an even color or finish. The trick is a very very sharp blade. Automotive pinstripe tape would work just as well but would have to be painted afterwards. The cleats are commercial left overs from various model shipways kits. If I have them, I will use them. They are always modified so they dont look so thick and chunky Masts are finally finished and stepped. They took longer than I thought they would. The cross trees are very tiny. I didnt scratch the tops because I dont have a lathe. But I did modify the bare tops I had in my stash. They were the perfect diameter and shape when I finished them and closely resemble those used on the replica. I modified the heck out of them though as can be seen in these photos. I can now start the rigging.

The masts and spar dimensions were taken directly from Baker's plans. His plans are at 1/8" I had to make a few adjustments but nothing major. I am happy with how they turned out. The cross trees and caps were the most challenging. Once I shaped them to the size I needed I made them even smaller yet. This assured a proportioned look. It is far too easy to make things look to large and out of scale. Shaving that extra bit off makes a big difference

Started the actual rigging and I am making some slow but steady progress. One interesting feature I thought to share with you is the mouse. Creating a mouse can be challenging. In this case the mouse was made of Sculpey. The mouse was shaped on a wire to size. I small file was used to simulate the weave pattern. It is difficult to see in the photo but came out very well. It was cooked while still on the wire and slipped off when cooled down. I painted it black and glued it onto the stay. I rubbed a little black paint off of the mouse before it dried to accentuate the weaved pattern of the mouse. Hope you find this an interesting technique. Once again I believe that the mouse on the stay is backwards and this is becoming a trademark mistake on my part. I am not too concerned about it though. I am dyslexic when placing the mouse onto the stay. Go figure, but it still looks pretty good.

Here is another picture of my progress. Not much to speak of. I wanted to share some thoughts with you. Maybe everyone has such a problem. I find ratlines the worst ever part of the modeling experience. I consider it my Achilles heel. I just cant get motivated to do it. Not that its difficult. I just dont enjoy it. Do any of you have similar hurdles that stifle your enthusiasm? I would love to hear about them and how you overcome them. I dont want to steam roll through it because it wont look good and it will hurt the overall model. I will try and get some done tonight. This is all I have to do before I move ahead to the running rigging. The backstays I will leave until thats done because I find it gets in the way of the running rigging. Particularly the ties and such. I am so close to finishing this model but would now rather read a book or research my next project. ARGHHHHHH!

The ratlines are finally done and I am starting to rig the Garnet tackle from the Main Stay. I will have some pictures shortly but thought I would show the fifth and final Fiddle block. Because I didnt need many of them I could take my time with them. They were made from a scrap piece of wood (basswood as I am out of anything harder) 3/16" wide and 1/16" thick. I traced the shape of the block on the strip and cut it free. Then I sanded it to shape. I drilled the holes to simulate the sheaves by starting on one side of the block and only going half way through. Then I finished the hole from the other side. I believe this helps prevent such small pieces from splitting and ensures that the hole ends up in the right place on both sides. Then I took a sharpened nail and embossed a groove just below the holes to further simulate the sheaves. Last I filed the groove down the center of each side of the block for stropping and gently rounded all of the edges till I though it looked good.

I am working on the lateen yard now. I always work my way forward from the stern while rigging. The parrel with ribs and trucks is a little over scale but when I finished making them they looked so tiny. It just goes to show you how small these details should be at 5/32". This step went relatively quick and I see the other spars moving along smooth as well. Parrel beads are store bought. I have hundreds of them. Ribs for the parrel are boxwood. All of the single and double blocks are modified kit block. They are the crappy square ones that you see with every kit. I think only one manufacturer makes them but they can look pretty good with a little cleaning up. The parrel with ribs and trucks is a little over scale but when I finished making them they looked so tiny. It just goes to show you how small these details should be at 5/32". This step went relatively quick and I see the other spars moving along smooth as well. Parrel beads are store bought. I have hundreds of them. Ribs for the parrel are boxwood. All of the single and double blocks are modified kit block. They are the crappy square ones that you see with every kit. I think only one manufacturer makes them but they can look pretty good with a little cleaning up.

He is the main yard and main topsail yard for the Mayflower. This was one of the interesting features that intrigued me about ships from this period. The topsail yard is so small compared to the main yard.

Here is a picture of the ramhead block used on the ties on the main and fore yards. One photo shows the block on the replica. The other shows my tiny version for the model. Again, they were made of basswood which is not the best wood to use for such things

Here some more pics of the rigging as it progresses. Main and main topmast yard is completed.

Just finished building the anchors. I dont have problem with buying the anchors (or any other casting that is well done for that matter) and adding the stock. It is a much better job on the metalwork than I could have done. I will take a similar approach with the Syren. The anchor stock is just basswood strips that were shaped to match the plans I created. They were treenailed and the split ring was added. Drops of Cyano were used to simulate the rigging bands around the ring. The name for those escapes me at the moment. The iron straps are black pinstripe tape that you folks have seen me use before. A good paint job on any cast metal part will make a big difference. After I cleaned up the casting I primed and painted them with about 5 coats of acrylic paint. This gave them a nice smooth finish. I have read some topics where some people have had a rough time of it trying to paint the Brittania metal casting. Its important to keep it clean and use many thin coats of paint instead of one heavy one. Priming is usually not needed and I dont make it a point to do so for all metal parts. The acrylic will cover it well. I use Windsor and Newton acrylic paints from a tube. The same kind artists use

Here is what they look like on the model

I also made one of the flags and rigged it. I think it came out ok. I printed it off of my ink jet printer onto some Rolling Paper (fag paper UK). This stuff is really thin and simulates the flag material very well. It has a texture to it and looks good at scale. I printed the flag out on regular paper first to find out where it would be positioned. Then I taped the rolling paper over the flag and ran the paper through the printer again. It holds the ink just great. I did set the printer on its lightest ink setting though. What do you think? It has the weight of a tissue but is much stronger.

The rolling paper can be bought in any local deli or smoke shop. It is for rolling cigarettes and the like. By printing your flag on regular paper first you can find out where on the paper it will be positioned. Then you tape a blank piece of rolling paper over the printed flag and print the flag out again using the same piece of paper. Set your printer to the lowest ink setting and print it out. Its that simple. You can see in that photo of the printed flag that it is taped down on a regular piece of paper on all four sides. It will run through your printer just fine this way. I created the flag using Corel Draw and simply duplicated it and flipped it. You usually see them side to side for models but this time I placed them on top of each other. It fit better on the rolling paper. The two halves were glued together with my kids glue sticks from Elmers. Before the glue set you can shape the flag to get the wind blown effect. I used various wooden dowels to roll the flag into shape from the upper corner downward. It would have been no different for any other flag design as long as you have the software to create a mirror image. The paints thin with water just fine. Artists gauche paints are also very good out of the tube. You can thin them down on your pallet to any consistency. You dont have that option with paint from a jar. A little more water on your brush and the paint will be thinner. You dab your brush in the water and then thin the paint on your pallet until it ids the consistency you want it. Then paint away.

She's done. You have to know when to put down your tools. I could keep noodling with it for days but I think she's done. Hopefully the new owner will like it. I may keep it for a week or so before delivering it. This way I can enjoy the fruits of my labor. Here are a few parting shots of this project. I do hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Even though I can say without hesitation that I am ready to move on.