£l0 For a Model Ship

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 34, 3 May 1927, Page 12

£lo For a Model Ship

“Old Ironsides” Competition Open to Lads Up to 16 Years Instructions to Builders In 1795 the original “Old Ironsides” sailed against Mediterranean pirates and her crew divided big prize money. In 1927 the winning model of “Old Ironsides” will also collect big prize money. By arrangement with Paramount Pictures, THE SUN offers prize money amounting to £ls for the best toy models of “Old Ironsides,” famous frigate which fought Tripolitan pirates. The maker of the winning model gets £lO and the runner-up £5. The competition is open to all boys up to 16 years of age.

FIFTY-FOUR GUN SHIP It must be remembered -th®t “Old Ironsides” was .a sailing frigate of the period of 1795. She carried a full plan of sails and 54" mounted guns on two decks. Any boy can make up a sailing hull from small pieces of timber or one solid piece. Midway between the water line and the main deck of the model should be known as the dummy lower deck for a row of 15 guns on each port and starboard side. Mark those lower gun ports about lin. apart in squares. In the centre of each square bore a Jin. hole Jin. deep carefully at right angles to the ship’s sides and slightly down from the horizontal so that the guns will point very slightly up. The aftermost ports are dummies and have windows painted instead of guns. A wooden railing around the main deck is put on by cutting a rabbet (recess) Jin. down and Jin. deep round the edge of the hull. From suitable wood make two pieces a full Jin. thick, ljin. wide and 20in. long. Shape the lower edge to the deck line and cut out 12 gun ports after marking them from the picture. Nowglue and nail these two pieces in the

rabbet after the bow ends have been steamed to make them bend easily. The two edges should be cut to fit together neatly at the bow. Cut the stern bulwark and fasten that end on similarly with neat joints at the corners. Now shave the top of the bulwarks, and cut away the gangways, so that the bulwarks there stand up only a bare Jin. above the main decks. Make the gangway boards of hardwood. Sink the lower edges into the deck and nail them to the edges of the bulwarks.

DETAILS OF CONSTRUCTION The rudder extends into the hull under the transom of the stern anu can be fastened with double-pointed nails. The plates for the pintles and gudgeons (hinges) may be simulated with cardboard strips, glued on. In making a model of “Old Ironsides” of the length measurements of 31in. or thereabouts, the catheads of any reasonably toLigh wood should be about Jin. square ,by ljin. long. Each projects through a hole in the bul-

wark. The outer end has three holes fore and aft for the boom guys and four vertical holes at the end for the cat fall; the inner end is bevelled to lie flat on the deck, to which it is glued or nailed. Note in the photograph how the cathead slants forward and upward. For the bowsprit of “Old Ironsides” bore a Jin. hole; an Jin. hole through the cutwater for the gammoning lashing, and two small holes for the bobstays.

The headboards may be made next. There should be scroll decoration for the bow. The stern decoration carrying the name, “Old Ironsides,” had better be painted on a thin piece of black cardboard and glued on. The stern windows may either be painted or cut out of cardboard and glued on. Then the hull of “Old Ironsides” is completed except the painting. The deck should be given two thin coats of clear varnish and the outside of the hull two coats of flat white paint, each coat rubbed with fine sandpaper. The hull can then be given two coats of copper-bronze paint up to the water line and two coats of black above, except on the gun port line, which is white between the ports and right up to the stem. The inside of the bulwarks and the edges of the upper (frigate) deck gun ports are white. A rough cradle to stand “Old Ironsides” in while working on it should be made of uprights nailed to a flat board and fitting the sides of the hull loosely. The next instalment of directions will be in detail about the deck fittings and spars. Remember that all entries must be in the hands of the “Old Ironsides” Contest Editor no later than June 30. Another article on the construction of the model will appear in THE SUN on Thursday.