THE SCUTTLEBUTT The Scuttlebutt is the official newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Shipwrights – Denver, CO. Its objective is to promote, develop and further scale model shipbuilding and the study of maritime subjects, art, history and traditions. VOLUME 12, NUMBER 3                                                        MARCH, 2003

MARCH MEETING THE MARCH MEETING OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHIPWRIGHTS WILL BE HELD ON SATURDAY, MARCH 15, AT 0930 HOURS, ROCKLER WOOD-WORKING & HARDWARE, 2553 SOUTH COLORADO BLVD., DENVER, CO. Visitors are always Welcome PROGRAM: "Round-Robin - Participation Rope Making" - Terry Godwin Duplicating" - Bob Conover Corwith Cramer Construction"-Bob Wilson There will be three tables set up with a demonstration on each table. You can move from table to table or spend as much time as you like at whatever table catches your interest. Questions and discussion are expected. NOW HEAR THIS - SKIPPER'S NOTES Once again we had a great meeting thanks to John McGann for an outstanding presentation. You will also want to read "meet your Commodore" in this issue by John. This is a feature that we want to include in each Scuttlebutt to help new members get to know those that have much to share and much to teach. We are on track for a great year, membership seems to be increasing, and programs are getting great reviews. Remember that dues are due in March, if they are not in by then you will be dropped from the roster. Next month will be the first of the Round Robin workshops where three tables will be set up with demonstrations. You are invited to rotate by each table and participate as much or as little as you wish. I think it will be very interesting. Your Skipper, Ed Quam GET TO KNOW YOUR COMODORE John R. McGann I began building models at the age of ten years old. This was 1038. There was a hobby shop in Galesberg, Illinois the town that I grew up in. The Illinois Camera Shop! Comet airplane kits were the medium. They were rubber band models, the parts printed on balsa wood sheets. There were no Exacto knives in those days, the parts were cut out with single edge razor blades. I still find the razor blade to be a great tool. The kits cost ten cents each but this did not count the glue and dope. There was a hobby shop in Chicago near Fields on Wabash street. I bought my first train model there. It was by Mantua. I also made wooden trains by Strombecker, they were all wood, one was the Tom Thumb. I graduated to gliders, on was the Condor by Cleveland Model company (great kits) a six foot wing span. It flew too good. I launched it from the roof of our house and it took off east and went out of sight. My mother and I chased it in our 1941 Pontiac Chief but could not keep it in sight. I believe it was 1944 that I bought the ship "Bounty" a kit by Marine Models. I still have it and proudly display it. It isn't half bad for a kid 14 years old. I attended the first meeting of the ship model club at Bob Robert's home. The second was at Terry Godwin's the third at my house in the Burlington Route caboose that was in my back yard. I am interested in modeling ships that I have personally visited. They range all the way from the 5,000 year old Royal garque of Khufu to Parson's "Turbinia" of 1894. I have visited both, one in Cairo, the other at Newcastle on Tyne. There are a number of vessels that I have visited that interest me and that would make interesting models. "Trincomalee" a Lida class frigate 1817. "Olympia" C6 armored cruiser 1892. The flagship of Commodore Dewey. "You may fire when ready Gridley" at Manila in 1898. The Navy's first all steel ship. She carried the body of the unknown soldier form France to Washington D.C. escorted by six French destroyers. "Falls of Clyde" a four masted square rigged ship, a tanker 1878. "Gokstad" a Viking knor of 850. "Star of India" a barque of 1863, formally "Euterpe", iron hull the oldest merchant ship afloat. "Warrior" the first iron clad of 1860, full rigged ship screw steam ship. The first "modern" passenger liner of iron construction, 1843. "Branksome" a beautiful steam launch of 1896 in original condition and in use on Lake Windermere, Cumbria, England. I have completed four models of Khufu's Royal Barge and given three away. The "Wasa" Swedish 64 gun warship of 1627. "Mary Rose" Henry VIII flagship of 1509. "Beatrice" a French canal boat. "Gallia" Swiss paddle steamer of 1913 and in use on Lake Lucerne. Queen Hatshepsuit's Oblisk Barge 1453 B.C. "Strathconia" a 600' ore boat. A fish tug. And "meteor" a whaleback freighter.

SHOP NOTES By Richard Painter OBJECTIVE: to cut an octagonal cross- section piece from one with square cross-section: (For the last model I completed, the bowsprit and the masts below deck, were to be octagonal. Cutting 8 equal faces on round dowel wasn't so bad, but cutting the bowsprit from a square was a problem. The kit instructions for this were laughable, and my free-hand attempts were unacceptable. So I did a little geometric doodling and devised the method described below.) Step 1: Mark each longitudinal face (all 4 of them) of the piece with two parallel line drawn as follows: Where 3/10 W just means 3/10ths of the dimension of the square cross-section. So the marked piece looks like Step 2: Then trim off using the guide lines on adjacent faces. To give a specific example, the stock piece supplied for the bowsprit had a 3/8" square cross section. My little calculator gives (.3)(3/8)=.1125. This is a smidge less than .125=1/8, so I marked each face as And when cut and lightly sanded - it really looks octagonal! Footnote: How close to true regular octagon is the cross-section obtained in this manner? The answer is REAL CLOSE. Specifically, the marked lines should not be marked 3/10 but rather (2-V2/2=.292893…. which is real close to 3/10. If the piece were 1" square, the error in the face width would be less than .02" and on my bowsprit mentioned above the face width error is less than .006". That is non-detectable even with our modelers' magnifiers. Anyone interested in the geometric foundation for this method may contact me at my email address: painter@math.colostate.edu NAME BADGES All Rocky Mountain Shipwright members are encouraged to purchase a name badge and wear it to all meetings. This can save a lot of embarrassment to the older guys like the editor that can never remember names. Name badges can be purchased through Sun Signs, Inc at 4420 Tennyson St, Denver Co. 80212. You can visit the shop or call 303-477-1594 and have the badge mailed to you. ANNUAL DUES Annual dues of $12.00 are due. You must pay by the close of the meeting on March 15 or you will be dropped from the membership roles and will no longer receive this outstanding publication. This may be your last issue. UPCOMING 2003 RMS MEETING DATES Meetings are held on the third Saturday monthly at 0930 hours. Location: Rockler Woodworking & Hardware, 2553 S. Colorado Blvd., Denver. Program Schedule: April 19 Shop Visits - John McGann & Jon Sorensen May 17 Sail Making - Jon Sorensen June 21 Round-Robin - To be announced July 19 Air Brushing - Mark Pankratz August 16 Research - Ted Ulrich Sept. 20 Shop Visits - Terry Godwin & Ed Quam Oct 18 Annual Show Nov. 15 Jigs - RMS members Dec. 20 Scaling from Photos - Roger Hanson Contributions to the Scuttlebutt This publication is dependent on contributions from the members for its content. If you have a "how to" article, tool review, book review, kit review, or any information regarding our hobby, please share it with the membership. Send material to Terry Godwin, preferably in Word .doc format

A copy of a page from the book "The Art of Ship Modeling" by Bernard Frolich.