7/24/2012: More Research

I found a bunch of photos from the Baltimore Sun newspaper posted on ebay. Not great images, but many had details I didn't have, or couldn't see as well before. Still no images with me visible in them, though there were a couple from when I was on board.

The boat was hauled at Smith and Sons Shipyards in 1979 after being damaged in a storm on Delaware Bay. She got a new rudder and her bottom caulked and painted. There were several photos of the boat from that time and in one I noticed an added strip of wood overlapping the wale and the hawse-piece and the the wale and hawse-piece also didn't fair into the stem as I had it, but stopped short at the end of the planking. The picture shows my alteration with an inset of the real boat.

Another image of work going on on deck during construction, includes yard forman Fred Hecklinger working on the pumps, and the best image of the pumps I've found yet. The 'V' shaped iron strap I though was part of the top straps on the pump boxes, apparently wasn't attached to the pumps at all, but fastened to the cabin front. The post the pump handle pivots on goes through a tube in the end of the 'V' and sits on deck, probable in a flange on a wood pad. So, I'll be remaking the pumps and they'll be attached to the cabin since, on the model, that's removable.

July 2013: It's been a while now and nothing you could call work has been done to the model. I moved and my workshop was dismantled and is yet to be set up again. The loss of my job put this sort of thing on a back burner, so the model was literally put on a shelf. All the models were moved to my new home in September, and put on a new shelf.

5/31/2014: Pride, along with Constellation, and Macedonian were taken down to St Michael's Maryland to be displayed at the Chesapeake Maritime Museum's Model Expo. I was surprise at the attention the models got, especially Macedonian, being the least finished - but people were very interested in how the model were made, and surprised by what they were made of; readily available materials from the local hardware/lumber store.

In prepping for CBMM, Constellation was set up with a test rig for handling the heads'l. It was comprised of two free swinging arms moved by the arm on the sail-arm servo to control the port and starboard sheets to the heads'ls. Hopefully, this set-up will handle Pride's rig, with the swing arms controlling the heads'ls AND the fores'l while the servo arm itself will control the mains'l sheet.

The mains'l sheet will be run in a way so as to look prototypical above deck

5/17/2015: Pride, along with Constellation went to the 2015 Baltimore Port Expo where Pride got wet for the first time since the bath tub float back in January 2011. With only a few pounds inside for ballast, I had to hold on to her or she'd have lay on her side, but she did float and flap in the wind.

10/15: I plan on using two of the Semophore Sheeters detailed above and trialed on Constellation to control the sheets and running stays on Pride. One sail-arm servo will control the heads'l sheets and brace the tops'l. The other will control the fore and main sheets as well as the running backstays and main stays. The picture shows the general routes the control lines will take below deck.

10/20: Made the semaphore arms for the sheeting system and devised how they'd be mounted in the model. Both sets are mounted on a 3/4" x 3/4" block about 3" long. A 1/4" thick bit block of Delrin hold the arms above the servo arm, while some sheet styrene goes between the arms. A brass tube bushing minimized play and allows the screw that holds them down through with it's threads damaging and enlarging the hole. The whole assembly will be mounted on the servo tray with two screws.

10/21: The second Servo-Stretcher arrived today and I fiddled with it's settings. Because of the interior arrangement, I'll be swapping what sails are controled by which servo because the arms of the port servo have left room for travel that the starboad ones. So here's a picture of the assembly disassembled so you can see the parts; and the arms painted red because I have a spray can of red paint anmd not much else to uise it for.

10/25: Arms mounted temporarily in the boat showing them at their full exteant of travel and where the servo arms are centered.

Previous Page | Next Page | Top