The production of bench models of ships requires their authors to diversify their development. They must understand engineering graphics, have the skills to use many turning, carpentry and even jewelry tools, know the technology of using veneers, be able to putty and paint with high quality. Creating models of ships with their own hands, the modeller will certainly be interested in the history of the fleet, both Russian and other countries. Without a doubt, such a passion indicates high intelligence and versatile development.
A bit of history
The Russian brig Mercury and its crew distinguished themselves during the Turkish War. The commander of the ship, Captain-Lieutenant A.I. Kazarsky, seeing that an enemy squadron was going against him, accepted the battle without hesitation. Acting bravely and skillfully, as befits a Russian sailor, the team hit two enemy battleships with well-aimed shots, damaging them so much that they lost speed and drifted. Our brig successfully left the chase. Stern George flag was the award to the brave sons of the Fatherland. The model of the Mercury ship is a worthy embodiment of "aerobatics" of model skill. In addition to historical facts, purely technical details emphasize the courage of Russian sailors. Mercury’s naval armament consisted of eighteen guns, nine on each side. For comparison, the Turkish battleships Real Bay and Selimiye, which received significant damage, had 74 and 110 guns on their decks, respectively. Impressive!
Body modeling
The model of the ship consists of a hull, the largest element, masts, gear and rigging. For the manufacture of frames, stringers and keels, sheet plywood is required. You can ease your task by purchasing a ready-made kit, but this approach seriously increases the cost of the model. The initial stage of fitting the elements of the supporting frame is a “dry” assembly, which eliminates all the flaws made when cutting profile parts, especially in the places of their articulation. Then follows the fixation. After drying, you can proceed to pasting the sheathing with a flexible veneer. It is many times more expensive than ordinary plywood, but it is this technology that allows you to achieve maximum realism. Beginners can start with solid-wood hulls, the model of the Mercury ship fully admits such technology, since all the guns are located on the upper deck. The difficulty in this case will consist in observing the correct geometry of the contours.
Rigging and Sails
How is Marseille different from mizzen? Where is the grotto? What are gitov and sheaves? Everyone who is going to build a model of a sailing ship should know the answers to all these questions. Moreover, marine knots need to learn how to knit. And the basics of sailing navigation need to be grasped. Otherwise, it’s not a ship’s layout, but at best a toy. The tackle of a sailboat at first glance seems very complicated, but our ancestors understood how to manage them. Naval officers, of course, were highly educated people, but sailors had no diplomas, and nothing, they were somehow controlled. Nowadays, there are no barriers to an inquiring mind; all literature is at hand — there are books and the Internet. And materials are also available, and tools. And the subtleties of technology, mockers have been studying for years, comprehending the wisdom from the experience of their predecessors and inventing their own technologies along the way.
Happy sailing and fair wind!