I decided to finish my MS Phantom as my next project, and thought I would document it as I worked on it, rather than waiting until it was finished. I had intended to post here a couple days ago, but I couldn't figure out how to get the photos in my gallery to display in the proper order. I finally remedied the problem by reading and following the directions !

I started my Phantom 2 1/2 years ago with the certain knowledge that I would easily finish it in the six months allotted by Model Expo to allow me to get my purchase price back on my next MS kit. I was following Chuck Passaro's excellent practicum, and made good progress through the completion of the hull. I was pleased with my work, but as I began to fit out the hull, I began to get frustrated with the 1:96 scale, and eventually lost interest in the Phantom. I moved on to larger scales, and projects that interested me more, including my 1:16 scratchbuilt banks dory. I learned a lot on the dory project, including the patience to stick with a tedious, tiny job until it's finished, and to do it over if I found myself dissatisfied with the results.

I had been following John Reid's aviation diorama builds on the figure modeling forums, as well as his postings on his magnificent HMS Victory storyboard diorama. I began thinking about the Phantom along these lines-- showing some kind of story with the model. I had built a slipway to display her, but it didn't make sense to display her on a slipway, her spars rigged as if she was under sail, but without the sails. I began to think that either the ship was on the slipway because it had not yet been launched, or because it had been hauled out for repairs and refitting. From reading I had done, I learned that ships such as Phantom were launched without their spars, and were often rigged elsewhere than the shipyard that built the hull. I wanted to display the ship with the spars, so I decided to show her under repair/refit/repainting. Although a ship would generally be hauled out on a railway, I decided that I would go with the slipway I had. My plan is to show the Phantom with repairs made, and repainting and refitting in their final stages. I plan to make several figures involved in the final operations of getting Phantom seaworthy again, although I haven't yet decided just what operations I will show.

I will document the work from the point I am restarting the build (see pictures in my gallery (open in a blank window) ). To get to this point, I followed Chuck Passaro's practicum with a few changes. First, I lowered the cockpit deck 1 scale foot (1/8") as Chuck describes. Second, I cut out a space under the forward companionway so I could show the companionway open. Third, rather than go through the laborious process of carving and thinning the bulwarks, and then trying to fit the waterways and decking, I cut away the bulwarks, cambered the deck, laid the waterways and decking, and then built up the bulwarks with strip stock. I found this method to be far easier for me than trying to thin the bulwarks, fit the decks and waterways, and then cut the scuppers (I cut the scuppers into the bulwark strips before I laid them).

As the first steps in the new direction for Phantom, I weathered the coppering using a process found in McNarry's Shipbuilding in Miniature, then I removed a section and replaced it with new coppering to give the appearance of repairs to the coppering. I saved the removed weathered coppering for use later in the diorama.

The slipways didn't look right to me, and I identified the problem as the overhang of the slipway beyond the support at the bow. I cut this off, and added it to the slipway at the stern. The stern of the slipway will end at the edge of the base to give the impression that it continues to the water's edge. I also darkened the stain on the slipway to look more like tarred or creosoted timber. I plan to add some hardware details as well.

Anyway, the photos in the gallery (open in a blank window) show where I left off on Phantom, and where the build log will begin.

Mike

 

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I had originally intended to use the slipway I had already built, but the more I thought about what the diorama is intended to show, the more I kept asking myself, "How in the world did they get that ship out of the water and onto that ramp"? This part of the story wasn't being told.

So, I scrapped the slipway, and built a version of a marine railway. Modern marine railways use a cradle pulled over a track of rollers, but apparently, in the middle of the 19th century, the early marine railways used a cradle that was simply skidded or slipped over a plank track. Since the Phantom dates from 1868, I figured such a railway was feasible.

The photos below show the components of the railway, and then Phantom out of the water at the head of the track. The track is resting on the base which represents the sloping shoreline of the shipyard.


In the foreground is the track. The cradle is in the background. The ship is floated over the cradle at high tide, and settles into the cradle as the tide ebbs. Then the cradle is towed along the track until it's above the high water line. Then whatever scaffolding is required is erected around the ship.


Profile view of the ship in the cradle at the top of the track. Note taut tow chain at the bow, and slack tow chain at the stern. As I understand it, the tow chain was continuous, with one end attached to the bow of the cradle, and one end to the stern of the cradle.

From the bow of the cradle, the tow chain went around a capstan driven by whatever prime mover was being used for power. The sea end went under the track, and around a "pulley" or wheel, and back to the stern of the cradle. This way the ship could be towed up or down the track.

Mike

 

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Very interesting concept. Good luck to you with this whole thing. I, for one, will be following your story avidly.

I am also working on the Phantom, and it is also my first ship model. I've been at it for about 17 months now and am a bit further ahead than you (I'm working on the grating in the cockpit right now), but did not take your detour and you are obviously a better modeller than I, so I hope to learn from what you do.

 

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Well, after a week off for a brief vacation, I made a little progress, and then my hard drive suffered a catastrophic failure. I wasn't very regular about my backups, so I lost pretty much everything related to my Phantom build that I had not yet posted. Additionally, I ceased work on Phantom for about a month as I set about recovering from the hard drive failure. Things are finally back to "normal", so it's time to get going on the Phantom build again.

I wasn't happy with the way the chainplates were coming out when using the kit-supplied brass strip-- they just looked too crude. I finally decided to try using some of the leftover copper tape for the chainplates, and fashioned the deadeye strops out of fine brass wire. I carefully folded the copper tape over the pin of the strop, and soldered it in place. I was only able to recover a poor quality image of the finished chainplates prior to installation on the model.

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To install the chainplate assemblies, I drilled two tiny holes for each one in the caprail, ad then joined them to form a slot. I slipped the copper tape through the slot, removed the paper backing, and stuck the tape down to the model. This seems to be sturdy enough without nails, and the nail heads seemed overly large, so I opted not to risk trying to drill through the copper tape. Instead, I made a tiny punch out of brass tubing, and punched some disks out of sheet brass, and glued them to the chainplates to represent the nail heads. I don't know if this whole arrangement will prove sturdy enough when it comes time to rig the model, but I like the look better than the look of the heavier brass chainplates. After I painted the chainplates, I realized that I had used a different paint. I'll have to try to figure out what I used on the rest of the hull, or maybe just repaint the hull once I get the bowsprit rigging in place.



I've made a little progress on the diorama base as well. The base itself has been textured and painted, and I've been playing with Doc O'Brien's Weathering Powders on it. Since the base represents a "chunk" of ground cut out of its surroundings, I painted the sides black as I usually do for this type of display. The track of the marine railway has been stained, and some details added, and it is now permanently mounted to the base. The cradle, which will eventually support the ship, is stained and detailed, but not yet mounted to the track. I wanted to show the edge of the high-water line at the stern edge of the display base, so I've attached bits of lichen and roots to represent the debris that one usually sees at the high-water line. I'm not yet sure this is the look I want, but it's a start. The base will require a lot more work yet to get it looking like the photos of dockyards I've been using as reference.







Mike

 

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