Bluejacket Jefferson Davis, My first attempt at a wooden ship model
 

Hello all. Just a quick recap: I am an experienced modeler, but never built a wooden ship. I obtained this model at a rummage sale. For better or worse, this thread will follow my attempts. I posted previously about a warped keel piece and received advise. I considered using a piece of birch for the keel, but think it might be too hard to cut the rabbet. So I started with the slightly warped basswood and will follow the advise gained from the members who offered their help. The first two pictures are out of order, but I will do better from now on. The stern piece is cut and I will cut the rudder next. The instructions say "If you want a movable rudder...".
QUESTION:Since this is a static model, why would someone want a movable rudder? Are there any opinions on whether a movable rudder is better or worse?

Re: Bluejacket Jefferson Davis, My first attempt at a wooden ship model
 

Interesting question Jeff -- the kit you are building allows for the option of a "movable rudder . the choice is your's . In some cases , movable parts ( accurate and in scale), can add a new demansion to the modeling experience such as diaoramas -- just one step towards that devil we all call "DETAILS"

Re: Bluejacket Jefferson Davis, My first attempt at a wooden ship model
 

Any rigged ship should really be in an enclosed case as they are a nightmare to keep clean of dust. Since its encased a movable rubber is moot.
As for me the more parts that are "action oriented" invites the uninitiated to try various parts and pieces for "movement" increasing the broken quotient exponentially. Hatches are a great one. I finally gave up wrote off a prior version of the Cutty Sark from visitors attempting to open the hatches. Hence the now enclosed and no moving parts.

Just my thoughts.

Re: Bluejacket Jefferson Davis, My first attempt at a wooden ship model
 

If you make the rudder movable you must also make all the running rigging, yard arms, hatches, wheel, cannons, cannon balls, buckets, compass needle, windlass, all anchor tackle, belaying pins, life boats, all eating utensils on the captains table, and anything else I forgot movable too. If not, you must apologize to every member on this board and you can never post anything again.

Re: Bluejacket Jefferson Davis, My first attempt at a wooden ship model
 

It's settled. I will make the rudder semi-movable. The piece is cut, I just need to give it the proper taper.

Re: Bluejacket Jefferson Davis, My first attempt at a wooden ship model
 

Semi -movable? It moves or it doesn't. Is semi-movable limited travel port and starboard? :=)

Re: Bluejacket Jefferson Davis, My first attempt at a wooden ship model
 

Semi movable was just a lighthearted joke. There don't seem to be any compelling arguments for or against. I've tapered the rudder and will decide the movability issue later in the construction. Time to move on.

Re: Bluejacket Jefferson Davis, My first attempt at a wooden ship model
 

Well there hasn;t been too much progress. I have been traveling. But I have a question about the rudder. I have fitted the gudgeons & Pintles. I may have made the mortise (for the brackets) a little too deep. I thought that I could just sand down the face of the rudder, to make the mortise shallower. However, I don;t know how thick the rudder should be. It was cut from the same material as the keel. I then tapered the trailing edge and rounded the leading edge, so it is a little thinner than the keel stock. But none of the drawings give me any idea of the prototype thickness. Does anyone happen to know?

Re: Bluejacket Jefferson Davis, My first attempt at a wooden ship model
 

Well I achieved some progress. I have added pictures of the finished rudder. Pintles & Gudgeons have been fit. There is a nice close fit between the rudder and stern post. I have begun the trial fitting of the frames. It looks like they will take some adjustment to make them straight. In real life, they don;t look bad. But when you take a picture, all the inaccuracies seem to be magnified. I think I will fit all 30 frames, then make the adjustments.

Re: Bluejacket Jefferson Davis, My first attempt at a wooden ship model
 

It is now December 30 and I have fit all 30 frames. From 8 feet away they look great. I decided to fit the frames "by eye", because I really had no idea how this was going to work out. The frames are all sanded and looking nice, they just don't line up very well. I have decided to call this my "Trial" Trial Fit. I will refit each frame again, using the alignment jig I made. It fits over the keel and the graph paper makes it much easier to see if the frames are level and centered. See the new pictures.