Building a pair of 12’ Whitehall Tenders for the Doves.

A number of recent web threads on building ship’s boats and specifically small ships boats got me thinking. Just how small can we go with conventional plank on frame construction while staying true to scale?

Here’s an experiment:

I identified a likely set of plans. In this case, the Whitehall Tender published in “Watercraft” by Maynard Bray and Mystic Seaport Museum. I picked this design because I felt it was the right size and time frame for a ships boat on the Dove and because the plans were easily available and complete.

To start out, I scanned the plans to my computer and reduced them to scale. The boats were 12 footers and I wanted them for a 1:48 scale model. At 12 feet they worked out to be 3 inches. This seemed an appropriate challenge. Figuring on a few failures, and needing some duplicate parts, I composited multiple copies of the plan into a single plot and printed it out on bond paper.

My plan was to follow the techniques I used on the Latham’s seine boat (which was about 10 inches long at 1:48 scale and is published in the Latham log) and to make one tender for each Dove. This meant creating two formers for the planking. Obsolete business cards were pressed into service for form material. I cut up the plans and glued them to three cards.

The cards were in turn cut up and glued up onto a chunk of ½ inch plywood. The glued up forms were then sprayed with Testor’s gloss coat to minimize the risk of the form becoming a permanent part of the models. With another tiny set of plans I traced the keel, stem and stern posts and the transom. The keel was 1 ¼ inch thick or .025 scale inches. The transom, originally 1 inch thick became .02 inches. These parts were glued up and draped over the form with the extended portion of the transom glued to the plywood below.

Planking.

The Whitehall, had ½” planking. I started with 1/32” (.03 inch) stock and planed it down to .015 to .012 inches. Half an inch would be .01 inches. I had stopped planning at a scale ¾ inch to 5/8 inch, thinking I was close enough and that after a bit of sanding, I’d be pretty close to scale ½ inch. The planking went surprisingly easily. I cut four of each plank to apply to each side of both boats. At .015 inches thick, the planking was remarkably flexible and easily dry formed, although edge gluing was a bit tricky. The plans show six planks of varying widths on each side. I followed the plans, completing the planking in a couple days.

Interior

After adding the rub rail, I cut the models off the base. Since the form was made of paper a pair of scissors was the tool of the day. The form was then cut apart and the pieces easily twisted free from the hull using needle nose pliers. The interior ribs, and fittings were then laid out and made of ¾” material. It took me a couple hours per boat although, they’re shy a couple ribs. The braces at the seat and the bow hook were glued in as larger pieces and carved to shape in place with a sharp hobby knife.

Conclusions:

Given the fast build, the two boats are remarkably symmetrical and very strong. They measure out pretty accurately (a couple inches too long) and the material thicknesses are pretty much within ¼ scale inches of true. My gluing was a bit sloppy and the plank widths drifted off a bit as I went, so the models aren’t exactly pristine. My conclusion, I think I could build a bit smaller, say 2 to 1 and ½ inches long and a bit smaller in scale (1:64?). Below these ranges the material would be too small and too thin. I do wonder if you couldn’t go a bit smaller if quality paper were substituted for the wood.

Note: Step by step images and comments may be found in my album "building smaller".

Thanks for looking in.

Attached Images

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Great article! Although so far I have only done work at a much larger scale, I've been reading a lot lately about miniature work, and am impressed by what people are able to accomplish.

Mike

 

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Fascinating build, and beautifully detailed. I was thinking that if you were to attempt a smaller scale you could continue to use the same thickness planks and no one would be the wiser if you taper down just the visible edges to scale thickness.

 

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Charles

A good comment. Most of what we do in modeling is create an illusion. Few of our friends and neighbors, willing to take the time to look at our work, will appreciate the concealed bits. Even a sophisticated viewer is generally looking at how well the model represents the original and is usually not at all that concerned about the elements not seen.

Regards

Jim

 

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