by mike lonnecker - thenrg.org nrj building fair american 1789.pdf · by mike lonnecker figure 1....

NAUTICAL RESEARCH JOURNAL 187

information concerning Fair Americanand little about the ship’s actual looks. A1:32 scale model in the Rodgers collec-tion at Annapolis defines what it lookedlike and provides the most definitiveinformation. I started looking around formore information and, possibly, for a kitto build. I found two kits. The first was

After finishing my first model Istarted looking for a new project. I hadseen many photographs of Fair Americanmodels and found it a very attractiveship, or in this case, model. I liked theoverall shape, and the oversized rig andhighly curved sheer gave it a very bal-anced look to me. There is speculative

Building Fair American 1789. . . . .

by Mike Lonnecker

Figure 1. Fair American starboard side. All photographs by the author.

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Getting Started

To get started I ordered the FeldmanCD, the Lauck Street Shipyard kit anddownloaded the Ronnberg drawings. Thekeel, fore and aft deadwoods and framingof the basic hull structure were built upsidedown Hahn-style following the kit instruc-tions. The cherry wood in the kit was ofhigh quality, so it was used. The gun portswere CNC-routed blocks. They wereinstalled and faired on the outside alongwith the outside of the hull. The waleswere added to stabilize the framing. Thestern framing was added in accordancewith the instructions. The lower counterwas also planked at this time.

Fairing of the inside of the hull wasa real challenge. I tried every sanding toolin my box, finally settling on a small sand-ing disc with self-adhesive discs of about180 grit in a motor tool with a right-anglehead. This combination had to be used at amoderate speed with very light pressure.Work proceeded with strokes from the keelparallel with the frame, a very slow processwith lots of measuring to ensure consistentframe taper and thickness. The topsideswere planked and the gun ports cut out. Atthis point I sawed the hull from the buildboard and trimmed the timberheads to thesheer line. To this point everything hadbeen done following the kit instructionsand with an eye to the Ronnberg drawings.

Assembly, Painting and Finishing

I wanted to assemble my model so itwould last. I had read much discussion onthe use of super glues (cyanoacrylate) andthe attendant pros and cons. I decided notto use any super glue. All wood to woodjoints were glued with Elmer’s Carpenter ’swhite glue. Wood to metal joints wereepoxied and metal to metal (brass) jointswere silver soldered.

from Model Shipways. It was a plank-on-bulkhead fully-rigged model at 1:48 scale.The plans, by Erik Ronnberg, Jr., alsowere posted on the internet and providedlots of detail. The second kit was byLauck Street Shipyard. This kit wasplank-on-frame, but only provided thebasic hull, deck framing and some basicdeck furniture. My first model was 1:48scale and I wanted to stick with this scaleand size model. I also wanted to expandmy skills and try a plank on frame model.Another consideration was whether toscratch build or kit build. The LauckStreet Shipyard kit offered a little of each,as I felt that in order to get the bestimpression of the ship it had to be fullyrigged.

During the search for a kit, I founda CD of a book, Progressive ScratchBuilding in Ship Modeling, written byClay Feldman, describing his scratchbuild of a 1:32 scale plank on framemodel of Fair American. He undertook anexhaustive search for information aboutthe full size ship, so the reader may wantto consult his book to learn more aboutFair American. The information aboutthe model also was quite complete,including sparing and rigging.

While searching for the new projectI was reading a couple of volumes byDavid Antscherl, The Fully FramedModel, HMN Swan Class Sloops 1767-1780, which contain detailed informationon how almost every part of the realSwan class was built and assembled.These books inspired me to want toinclude as much interior detail in mymodel as I could. Consulting books byLavery, Goodwin, Chapelle, and Petrejusconvinced me I could do this.Proportioning of the interior proved to bean interesting task and made me feel likea real master shipwright. As I describethe construction of the interior I willrelate how these sources were used.

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spars were painted black with Floquil paintwhere required and oversprayed with thelacquer.

The Interior

Deciding on the interior layoutrequired some research. First I determinedthe attributes of Fair American that Ibelieved would most influence the interiordesign. They were, in no particular order:the number of guns and their location;rigged as a brig; depth of hold; the lowquarter deck; the flush deck forward; loca-tion of the capstan; the lack of permanentcooking facilities; location of the steeringgear. Other requirements that had to bemet were minimum heights and the abilityof men to move about the ship. Chapter 28of The Arming and Fitting of English Shipsof War 1600-1815, by Brian Lavery, provedto be most helpful. The illustration of the14-gun sloop of 1740 on page 153 was very

The hull framing was finished withtung oil. The oil was wiped on and thensanded. Several coats were applied. Thefinal coat was rubbed with fine steel woolto give a satin finish. All decorative paint-ing was applied with a brush using artistsacrylics. These paints are very translucentand, therefore, require many coats. Oncedry, the decorative painting was over-sprayed with Deft satin lacquer. All the

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

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close to our Fair American in layout. Thehanging cabin in the stern, an area for astern magazine, room for a well and shotlocker, and stowage forward were particu-larly significant. I made sketches of a lay-out with these items shown. Usingmeasurements from the model, space wasallocated to each deck.

Forward, a single platform could beincorporated with plenty of overhead room.The forward platform would end at the for-ward edge of the forward hatch. Severalstorerooms were constructed on each sideof a central aisle. The port side was com-pletely finished out while the starboardside was only framed. This was done,hopefully, to aid viewing of the interior. Ascan be seen from the photograph (Figure 2),

the framing was rabbeted for the wallplanking. All planking was done board byboard. The doors were built up of individ-ual planks with proper cross bracing.Cherry was used for the vertical walls andholly with graphite edging for the deckplanking.

An aft platform would act as thebase for the magazine, bread room andsmall storage areas. David Antscherl’sSwan series had floor plans of a small aftplatform supporting a magazine and stor-age areas. I resized this layout to fit mymodel. The magazine area included a lightroom, double door entry and filling room.The height of this area was set at 4-½ feet.The forward end of the aft platform endedat the well. The well housed the pumps

Figure 4.


rail construction, were built in just thatmanner. The door thickness was 0.045-inch (2-¼ inches at 1:48 scale). Using a0.020-inch end mill, the styles and railswere slotted and tenons were cut on theends. Panels were cut of 0.032-inch thickmaterial and machined down to 0.020-inchon all edges. The doors were then assem-bled exactly like a real door. (Figure 4)

Access to the magazine from abovewas provided by a ladder way runningathwartships, just forward of the magazineentry. Short ladders behind each door ofthe quarterdeck bulkhead were installed foregress from the officers’ quarters to themain deck.

The interior was constructed ofcherry, with holly used for the smallamount of deck planking that wasinstalled.

The tiller was fully rigged. Blockswith real sheaves were located to route thelines to the wheel.

and mainmast. A shot locker was mountedon the forward side of the well. The wellwas planked half way up and then louverswere constructed for ventilation. A doorwas installed for access to the ends of thepumps. (Figure 3)

The next level up would house thecaptain and officers’ quarters. As seen inthe drawing from Lavery’s book, this was ahanging area, the deck of which ended atthe bulkhead at the forward end of thequarterdeck. The minimum height wasjust over five feet. Because of the rise of thequarterdeck followed the sheer, the interiorheight increased significantly as onemoved aft. This allowed room for the tillerunder the quarterdeck without infringingon the captain’s headroom. The aft sectionwas dedicated to the captain’s cabin.Officer quarters were forward of the cap-tain’s and to either side of the deck. Thebulkheads were built board by board. Thedoors, which I envisioned being of stile and

Figure 5.

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Stern and Deck Furniture

The kit supplied a piece of plywoodfor the stern. The plywood, in order to con-form to the shape of the stern, would haveto be formed in two directions. I replacedthe plywood with planking of cherry.Openings were left for the windows andstrips added on the inside edges of the win-dows to form a rabbet. The frames wereconstructed of six pieces of holly with halflap joints at each intersection. The glazingis 0.010-inch thick artist acetate. Thismaterial is used for overlays of art forpreservation, and cartoons were painted onit when they were produced one cell at atime. The material does not yellow orbecome brittle with time. The stern waspainted a dark blue. A drapery scene, assuggested by the Ronnberg drawings, wasadded to the lower counter. The uppercounter was framed in holly. The nameand upper decoration are photo- etchedparts from the kit with a little shadingadded to give them some depth. (Figure 5)

Main Hatch Grating

There have been many articles writ-ten about various ways to make a hatchgrating. My method is similar to several ofthem with perhaps a few differences. Themain hatch grating was made of holly. Theledges, the athwartships pieces, are three

inches thick by approximately 2-1/2 incheswide (0.062-inch by 0.052 at 1:48 scale).The approximation is because I used awidth of 0.054-inch, which is the kerf ofmy table saw blade. The battens, the foreand aft pieces, are 2-1/2 inches wide by ¾-inch thick (0.052-inch by 0.015-inch). Icut a piece in the direction of the grain forthe ledges that was slightly wider thanneeded and at least a half-inch longer thanneeded. Using my table saw with a fencethat can be adjusted by micrometer, I cutgrooves 0.015-inch deep spaced 0.054inchapart across the grain. The piece was thenturned ninety degrees and saw cuts madethrough the piece, leaving the oversizedend uncut. (Figure 6) By not sawing theledges off the blank the spacing betweenledges is held until assembly is complete.The battens were then cut to size andglued in place. (Figure 7) When dry thehatch was trimmed to size. This yielded ahatch with 2-1/2-inch holes with 2-1/2inches between holes. The hatch coamingswere cut to fit the hatch with half lap jointsat the corners. The assembly was thenmounted to the deck beams.

A 6-Pounder Cannon (Figure 8)

The cannons on Fair American were6-pounders. I wanted to minimize theamount of deck planking that wasinstalled, so I chose to install only one can-non. The Lumberyard for Ship Modelers

Figure 6. Figure 7.


which looked much better, and I probablyshould have replaced these. I used WarnerWoods blocks for the rigging. The lineswere of Morope that I had on hand. I laterdecided to use cotton line for rigging themasts, but the Morope looks good for rig-ging in these small sizes and its stretchi-ness had no effect in this application.

The Steering Wheel

I thought that the steering wheelwould be a focal point on the deck and,therefore, I should present one that lookedvery much to scale. I reviewed what I couldfind that was available commercially butfound nothing that was acceptable. Makingone seemed a daunting task, but figured Ihad nothing to lose, so I jumped into theproject. The steering wheel was construct-ed using holly for the rim and center. Thespokes were made of 3/64-inch square box-

has a nice line of pewter cast cannon bar-rels that are pre-blackened. The barrels asreceived are too black but a little polishingby hand removes just enough of the finishto give an antique look. The Lumberyardalso has laser-cut carriage kits in swiss pearin sizes to match the barrels.

The wooden carriage parts werecleaned up and assembled. Details wereadded using drawings of a 6-pounder byDavid Antscherl from Volume II of hisSwan class series. All of the bolts, eyeboltsand hooks were made of brass nails or wireand pre-blackened before installation. Thecapsquares were of 0.005-inch brass sheet.The capsquare joint bolt, eyebolt and keyare very small and it took a couple ofattempts to achieve the right appearance.The joint bolt and eyebolt were made ofbrass wire and the key was of 0.005-inchbrass sheet. The hooks, however, looked fatand not very good. Later, I had lots of prac-tice making similar hooks for the rigging,

Figure 8.

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wood strip. The first wheel I made (I endedup making two) was a ten-spoke wheelwith the rim four feet in diameter. (Figure9) When it was finished I showed it to afriend who was familiar with the model Iwas building. He immediately said it wastoo big. He was right, of course. Deflated, itwas back to the drawing board.

The second wheel was easier tomake, so not all was lost. To reduce thediameter I also reduced the number ofspokes to eight. To make the rim and cen-ter I glued up eight 45-degree pie sectionsof three-inch (0.060-inch to scale) thickholly to form a circle. A cover plate, alsoof holly, was made at the same time in the

Figure 11.

Figure 10.Figure 9.


same way but only ¾-inch (0.015-inch)thick. A six- inch (0.125-inch) diameterhole was drilled in the center. The blankwas centered on a rotary table on the milland mounted on a sacrificial wood platewith double stick tape. Eight slots 2-1/4inches (0.045-inch) square were milledradially on 45 degree centers from thecenter. The slots were centered in the piepiece with joints equally spaced betweenthem. The center was machined to adiameter of twelve inches (0.250-inch)and the rim was cut to a diameter of threefeet (0.750-inch). The waste material wasremoved, leaving the center and rim inalignment.

The spokes were turned using afour-jaw Dremel chuck in the mill. A cut-ter was made from a razor blade, using acut-off wheel to machine a point, andmounted in a mill vice. The spoke materi-al was moved vertically and four grooveswere machined in the spoke; one to locatethe outside end, one on each side of therim, and one just outside of the center. Byusing the vertical motion of the mill, allthe grooves were the same distance aparton each of the spokes. This operationcould just as easily have been done on alathe. The spokes were hand filed andsanded to create the handles on the endsand the beads and bulges in the center.The spokes were then glued into the radi-al grooves. The ¾-inch thick cover piecewas trimmed to size and glued over thespokes, aligning the pie sections to leavethem centered in the rim. A drum wasturned with six-inch diameter axles oneach end. (Figure 10) The second wheellooked much more to scale. (Figure 11)

Stern Lantern

The window section of the sternlantern was a photo-etched part fromAdmiralty Models. It has six sides; fivewith windows and one with a door. The

part must be scored and folded into atapered shape that incorporates the correctangle so that the finished lantern will sitcorrectly when mounted at the stern of themodel. The instructions call for filinggrooves at each fold line to facilitate fold-ing. I did not have a file with what Ithought was a sharp enough edge so Iscribed the line with a new scalpel bladeand multiple light cuts. The photo-etchedpart then folded very easily into the desiredshape. One edge had be joined to completethe window section, using either soft solderor epoxy. I choose to epoxy the joint.

Once the window section was com-plete, I measured the angle at which itwould sit. This angle gave the lantern theproper slant when mounted. I made all theother parts with their vertical axis at thisangle. These were a mounting disc, a base,base disc, upper disc, upper section, ventsection, vent top, and finial. All except thefinial were six sided.

All the parts were of boxwood apartfrom the vent and its top, which were ofholly. The discs were simple to make. Ahole was drilled in the center and the sixsides laid out. The part was cut to the fin-ished size and the edges sanded round. Thetop, bottom and vent top pieces were a lit-tle harder. A blank of the chosen thicknesswas cut and the central hole drilled at theangle determined from the window section.This gave the proper offset to the top andbottom surfaces. Six evenly spaced radiallines were drawn on the top and bottom,using the drilled hole as the center. Thelines were lined up top to bottom. Theradii were then sanded to shape using thelines as a guide. The vent section wasmade from an over-length, properly-sized,six-sided section of holly with a hole drilledin the center. The vent slots were cut usingthe mill. The part was then cut to length atthe same angle as the other parts. (Figure12)

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The lower sections were thenassembled on a drill bit to maintain align-ment. The window section was epoxied inplace. The outside was then painted awood color that closely matched the cherryof the rest of the model. The inside of thelantern was painted a dull red. A simulated

Figure 12.

Figure 13.

Figure 14.


candle was made of dowel with the tipturned to make a wick. This was paintedand installed in the central hole. Whiteglue was dripped down the candle to simu-late melted wax. The windows again weremade from acetate cut to fit and held inplace with very small dots of epoxy. Theupper sections were assembled into a unit,using a drill bit to align them. The assem-bly was then painted and epoxied to thewindow section. (Figure 13) A finial wasturned with the lower end to fit the hole inthe vent top. A mounting iron was cutfrom brass stock and painted. The lanternwas epoxied to the iron and the assemblyinstalled in the stern of the model alongwith the upper support rods. (Figure 14)

Spars

Fair American’s rig is quite over-sized when compared to other brigs of thetime. This manifests itself particularly inthe overall height. From a design stand-point, the ability to carry a larger spread ofsail allowed the vessel to take advantage ofthe light coastal winds that were its home.The proportions of the rig to the hull lend

great aesthetic beauty to the model. Ibelieve this beauty is why so many modelsof Fair American have been made, and itcertainly attracted me.

Information for constructing thespars came from the Model ShipwaysRonnberg drawings and Feldman’s book.The drawings gave me the general configu-ration and a chart in Feldman’s book gaveme exact dimensions that he calculatedfrom information in Steel, saving me thattask. His dimensions, however, were for a1:32 scale model, so a simple conversion to1:48 scale had to be made. Multiplying thecharted dimension by 0.667 gave me thecorrect dimension for 1:48 scale. I alsoused drawings from Petrejus to confirmdetails of the spars and their fittings.

The choices for suitable material forspar construction are large. Really finemodel spars have been made from birch,boxwood, beech, walnut, spruce, anddegame, to name but a few. Fellow model-ers that I consulted suggested degame. Mylocal exotic wood supplier suggested yew,which he said was either a very closecousin or the same as degame. What hehad for sale was a blank for the construc-tion of an archery bow. It was six feet long

Figure 15.

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and approximately two inches by four inch-es deep and wide. This wood has very fineand straight grain. When worked it is verysimilar to boxwood. The only characteristicthat I noticed was different was that itseemed much more flexible.

I made my spars on a large woodturning lathe out of blanks that usuallywere cut a quarter-inch square and at leasttwo inches longer than the finished spar.Any square or hexagonal sections were cutto size using a miniature low angle planeand a holding fixture with a 90 degree bedfor the blank to lie in. To start the turning,I mounted the blank in a four- jaw chuckwith only a ½-inch or so protruding. Ahole approximately 0.080-inch in diameterwas drilled about ½-inch deep. The blankwas reversed and the other end drilled sim-ilarly. To mount the blank, one end wasclamped in the chuck. In the tail stock Imounted a drill bit backwards. The diame-ter was two drill number sizes smaller thanthe drilled hole. The butt of the drill waswaxed a little and the tailstock moved toinsert the drill into the previously drilledhole. This method provides good supportand the built in slop prevents binding ofthe non-driven end of the blank and causesno problem when turning. In the past, if Ibroke a spar while turning it, it almostalways fractured in torsion rather thanfrom too much side pressure. Hence, amethod that practically eliminates frictionat the non-driven end prevents these tor-sion fractures.

The blank was turned round using aspindle roughing tool. Once round, Imarked the ends and the quarters. I use aMicroplane type of Sureform tool to turn tofinished size. This tool is a flat or roundedpiece of sheet steel with multiple squareedged teeth punched in its surface. By lay-ing it on the spinning part with very lightpressure, it makes a very controlled cut.Extremely small diameters can be madethis way.

The spars were turned to size usingthe dimensions at each quarter to controlthe taper. Details such as built in chocks orsheave housings were turned in as thediameter was reduced. The holes drilled ineach end allowed reversal of the part sothat work could be performed at thestronger chuck end. The spar was then fin-ish sanded, the ends cut off, and finishshaped by hand. Slots required for sheaveswere milled and sheaves made of ebonyglued in place. The studding boom sup-ports were made of round and square brasstubing and sheet, silver soldering together,and epoxied in place. (Figure 15)

The trees, caps and tops were madeof boxwood. The trees and tops were easilymade following the Ronnberg plan. Thetops were made of individual parts like thefull sized ones. Information for this con-struction came from the Ronnberg draw-ings and the description in the Feldmanbook.

Information from Petrejus’sModeling the Brig of War Irene was used forthe details of construction. The bases ofthe tops were constructed from four sets ofplanking half lapped at each corner. Theplanking forms a central rectangle withplanking running fore and aft at the sidesand athwartships at the sides. A rim wasmade of several parts to keep the grainlengthwise along the part. It was installedto enclose the top and project slightlybeyond the edge. The fan like ribs that runfrom the central hole to the outer edgewere made and installed. Slots for the top-mast dead eye chains were milled on eachside.

The railing at the after edge of thetop was made of brass tubing and rod. Therail itself was of square tubing cut tolength, with the ends angled off. A holewas drilled through the top and bottomsurface for each round rod stanchion. A rodwas inserted through the hole and silversoldered on the top. The top surface was


Figure 16.

Figure 17.

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filed smooth. Soldering on the top left aclean joint on the lower surface with nosolder to clean up. The rails were epoxiedin place, and netting from Model Shipwayslashed in place after painting. (Figures 16and 17)

Finally the main and fore masts,main and fore topmasts, main and foretopgallant masts and bowsprit and jibboom were assembled as individual units.

Rigging

I followed Feldman’s description,which was very detailed, for rigging themodel. Additional details of location andmethods of termination came fromPetrejus. I went through the entire riggingplan one line at a time to determine whereblocks, eyebolts or other fittings could beadded before stepping the masts or mount-ing the yards. With this complete I wasready to start the actual rigging.

I had sat in on a roundtable at the2011 Western Ship Modelers Conferencewith a very good discussion on longevity ofmodels. Part of the discussion was aboutthe preservation of rigging. The consensusof the restoration and modeling expertswas that most museums no longer used

bees wax on rigging. If anything was used,it was a preservative called RenaissanceWax. When questioned directly, one expertand well known modeler said he usednothing on his cotton rigging. This was thecourse I followed.

For rigging line I used DMCCordonnet cotton thread. This is a six-strand thread available in eight sizes, fromapproximately 0.008-inch up to about0.021-inch in diameter, and two colors,white and ecru. Diameters larger than0.021-inch had to be made up on a ropewalk; I used the excellent Byrnes ModelMachines product. Through experimenta-tion with different sizes of the cottonthread, I could make almost any size line I

Figure 19.

Figure 18.


Figure 20.

Figure 21.

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Figure 22.

Figure 23.


needed on the rope walk. Sometimes I hadto make a line and then use three of themto make the final size needed. This is anadvantage as it lets one make the sizeneeded but also allows one to end up withthe correct right or left hand lay. Neithercolor is dark enough, so dying was in order.I used an organic dye, actually a woodstain, called Transtint, a very concentratedstain that can be diluted with either wateror alcohol. I diluted mine with alcohol.The line was soaked in the solution for acouple of minutes and then hung to dry,which, because of the quick evaporation ofthe alcohol, made it ready for use in five orten minutes. I used Dark Walnut stainwith a little black added to get the darkbrown needed for standing rigging andGolden Oak with a little Dark Walnut tocolor the standing rigging. I did not makeup lots of line for stock but, instead, madeeach line as required. (Figure 18)

Blocks were from Warner Woods.Those not available from Warner Woodswere hand carved from boxwood. Theseincluded fiddle blocks used for rigging thebowsprit and the shoe blocks for the foresail bunt lines. I thought the blocks weretoo light in color so I dyed them in thesame solution as the running rigging.Because they were of wood instead of cot-ton they came out a little darker than theline. Deadeyes of boxwood were fromModel Shipways.

A lot of hooks were required. I usedsmall eyebolts with the straight portionbent and trimmed to form the hook end.The eye portion was silver soldered to pre-vent it opening. They were then blackenedusing Blacken-it. (Figure 19)

I followed standard full size riggingpractice, starting with the standing riggingof the bowsprit. (Figure 20) Each section ofmast was added as the standing rigging onthe one below was completed. (Figure 21)The sections of mast were not glued inplace but held in place by the fid, as in real

practice. All lines were served as required. Ipurchased a cotton sewing thread, about0.005-inch diameter, in a matching colorfor all the serving and seizings. All lineswere secured in place by a seizing or knotas appropriate. A drop of diluted acrylicmatt medium was used to secure each one.I made a mouse drilling a hole in a piece ofboxwood that would allow it to be threadedonto the stay. I then turned it to size, leav-ing it with turn marks to simulate thewrapping line. The piece was parted off anddyed with the dark brown solution. The

Figure 24.

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mouse could then be slid and glued inplace on the stay. (Figure 22)

Ratlines were tied with a half hitchon the outer shrouds. The knot portionwas pulled to the inside of the shroud setto simulate the eye splice hitched to theshroud. The line was clove hitched to theinner shrouds and finished off with anoth-er half hitch on the outer shroud. (Figures23 and 24) To keep trimmed ends of thelines as short as possible they were cut offwith a scalpel instead of scissors.

Mounting the Model

The model itself was mounted to amahogany board using threaded rodscrewed into nuts embedded in the keel.Stanchions were turned to the properlength and slotted to fit the keel. Themounting board sits on an acrylic mirror. Ithought the mirror would help light thelower half of the model, help view theunderside, and show off the drapery scenepainted on the lower counter. Trim wasadded to hide the edge of the mirror.

A name plate was made from a pieceof boxwood cut to size. Three of the edgesof the plate were routed to give a finishedlook. A local trophy shop laser etched thelettering. I then filled the lettering withebony dust. The dust was piled high, com-pletely covering each letter. Thin superglue then was dripped into the ebony dust

binding, it in place. Once cured, the facewas sanded smooth, leaving very sharp let-tering in a contrasting color. The final fin-ish was Deft clear lacquer. (Figure 25)

A case was constructed of cherryand acrylic sheet. The base was made fromcherry veneered plywood with cherry quar-ter round trim. The case was finished intung oil. Screws through the base into theverticals allow removal. (Figure 26)

The case was completed early so theunfinished model could be displayed at theWestern Ship Model Conference in 2011.Once the model was completed andinstalled in the case, I realized I had noplace to display it. It was too large to fit onany table we had in the house. I searchedlocal furniture stores for a suitable standwith no success. A search of the internetled to a company that sold table kits. Oneof their offerings is a custom base kit. Thebuyer can order any leg, any length, andstretchers in several trims and lengths tosuit. Several choices of wood are alsooffered. I sketched up what I needed andplaced an order. After finishing the partswith tung oil, I assembled the base. The kitincluded corner bracing and all hardware,so the finished base is very sturdy. Themodel of Fair American now resides in ourliving room entryway.

Figure 25.

Figure 26.

by mike lonnecker - thenrg.org nrj building fair american 1789.pdf · by mike lonnecker figure 1....

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