HMY Fubbs (1724)

Mike41

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The model is based on the drawings by Portia Takakjian and the practicum developed by master model builder Gene Bodnar.

The Plans:
This is a set of the plans by Portia Takakjian consisting of a set of frames, inboard profile, outboard profile, deck plans, details and rigging drawing with sails
The model will show the standing rigging only without sails.
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The Keel Assemble:
The Keel and all framing is European Beachwood, it is easy to work and looks like a close grain oak. The false keel is rosewood for a little contrast. The first photo shows the keel laying on the frame distribution profile drawing. The next shows the keel on the board held in place by six blocks glued to the building board.IMG_4499.JPGIMG_4500.JPG
 
I will follow your log with big interest.....great work.
I know and have the plan set of the USS Essex (See plan review i did in SOS) from her, Portia, how is the quality of the plans for the Fubbs?
 
I can tell you that Portia's frame drawings are terrible and you will not be able to frame it if you use her drawings. I built this model from scratch about 20 years ago when Father Romero was building it and writing a practicum for the model. After 3 attempts to frame it using her drawings, I called Father Romero and asked him what I was doing wrong. That's when he told me the frame drawings were not correct. I had to manually create them my self as I knew nothing about CAD at that time. Bottom line, I finally built the model and will post some photos tomorrow.

Several years ago when i was producing kits, I developed a kit if the model as a Navy Board model and created all of the frames in CAD. The kit was a huge success but when the economy failed in 2008, I got out of the kit business. However, I still have all of my CAD drawings for the Fubbs which includes all of the frames, keel, decks, and other details. If you or anyone else is interested in getting a copy, send me a private message. They're in 1/4" scale.

Take care,

Bob Hunt
 
Hi Uwe,
Thanks for your comments. Considering the drawings by Portia Takakjian were hand drawn back in the 80’s I consider them adequate to build a respectable model. I suppose by todays cad standards they would be considered worthless by professional model builders, but I have built models from drawings that were inferior to hers. I also have a copy of Romero’s practicum and one written by Gene Bodnar.
I traced Portia’s drawings in AutoCAD and made minor corrections and additions as necessary along with details from my other sources. I like to use the AOS series of books for model subjects and have found errors in all of them but usually you can work around them.
I am sorry Bob had a problem with Portia’s drawings, fortunately he had another source of information and his endeavors turned out well.
Mike
 
Hi Uwe,
Thanks for your comments. Considering the drawings by Portia Takakjian were hand drawn back in the 80’s I consider them adequate to build a respectable model. I suppose by todays cad standards they would be considered worthless by professional model builders, but I have built models from drawings that were inferior to hers. I also have a copy of Romero’s practicum and one written by Gene Bodnar.
I traced Portia’s drawings in AutoCAD and made minor corrections and additions as necessary along with details from my other sources. I like to use the AOS series of books for model subjects and have found errors in all of them but usually you can work around them.
I am sorry Bob had a problem with Portia’s drawings, fortunately he had another source of information and his endeavors turned out well.
Mike

No problem Mike, to each his own. I was simply trying to save you a lot of heartache and waste of wood but if you want to use her frame drawings and you think you have fixed the problems with them, then more power to you. I look forward to seeing your model. Here is a picture of my kit version of the model.

DSC00725s.jpg

And here is a picture of my scratch built version.
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Take care,

Bob
 
Hi Bob,
I appreciate your advice, you have a lot more experience with ship modeling than I have, the two finely crafted models you posted are magnificent. I will be happy if I can get close to your excellent workmanship.
I am using a modified version of Portia’s drawings, I have never been good at following directions, but I am working on the problem.
 
Bob: Fubbs was a masterpiece, and the only model you created that I don’t own. I’d give my right arm for that kit!

Mike: I’ll be watching your build with great interest. Bob has kindly provided his Fubbs plans for our use, and Mike Shanks and I have toyed with an epic project: Fubbs in 1:24 scale. Dream big!
 
Bob: Fubbs was a masterpiece, and the only model you created that I don’t own. I’d give my right arm for that kit!

Mike: I’ll be watching your build with great interest. Bob has kindly provided his Fubbs plans for our use, and Mike Shanks and I have toyed with an epic project: Fubbs in 1:24 scale. Dream big!

Hi Dave,
Why not save your right arm and scratch build the Fubbs, with Bob’s plans and a little spare time you could build the model? My wife would kill me if I started a 1:24 scale model, she complains when they go over three feet long lol.
Mike
 
Mike: The more I see of the European beech the more I like it. Looks like the oak that would have been used for framing, but with fine enough grain to be in scale. A scratch built Fubbs is still a viable option. I’m already thinking about wood choices!

BTW: How are you planning on handling the carvings on Fubbs?
 
Hi Dave,
That is the reason I use it for most of my framing, it also cost less than most hardwoods and ages well.
Mike
 
Hi Dave,
For the carvings I was planning on using a nerdish crude style with a lot of paint lol. I did do a bit of whittling when I was younger, but it was much larger than carvings on ship models. I have read several articles on carving and will give it a go, if all else fails there is always Sculpey.
Mike
 
The Frames:
The bow looks like a good place to start the framing, the frame drawing just shows one half of each frame. I scanned the drawing and traced the frames in AutoCAD mirrored the images and printed two copies of the fore frame and one of the aft. One copy of the fore frame is used for the master assembly sheet and the other for patterns. By gluing the patterns to aft to the frame beveling the frame is very straightforward. By clamping each frame to the two adjacent frames and sanding the edges flush assures the correct alignment during the final assembling.
The foothook style of frames consist of six pieces and are double frames. This set of photos shows the bow frames being prepared for assemble.IMG_4529.JPGIMG_4530.JPGIMG_4531.JPG
 
I knew Portia personally met her several times at NRG conferences and talked with her via phone. She was a customer of mine and I supplied her wood. At one time I was doing her Essex model back when she did a series of articles for Model Ship Builder magazine. Her set of drawings like bob said "frame drawings are terrible" I talked to her about it back then. Her approach to framing a model when she explained it made sense. she said the frame drawings did not have to be spot on. She cut the frames oversized and once the hull was built she sanded and shaped the hull as one unit. I tried this method and it does work.
 
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The more I see of the European beech the more I like it. Looks like the oak that would have been used for framing, but with fine enough grain to be in scale. A scratch built Fubbs is still a viable option. I’m already thinking about wood choices!

Dave you might want to look into American Beech it is exactly the same as European Beech except way cheaper. I can find it around here for as low as .80 cents a foot sometime free as firewood it is so plentiful. Beech is a huge tree and some trees are so big you can get 1,000 board feet out of one tree.

your just a hop skip and jump from me so shipping would not be that much I can send you a sample of North American Beech so you can check it out.
 
The Frames cont.
This is a few more photos of the rough frames and the keel assembly I am using two 3/32” brass pins in the bottom of the keel to hold it in place on the building board. The next photos show the sanded frames being dry fitted to the keel.
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The Frames continued:
I installed Frame 16 to have a fixed point to work from and continued dry fitting the frames. I left the stern frames a little long at the bottom and used a template to trim them with.
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