The USS New York (ACR 2)

[taylormade]

Hello everyone. I'm a newbie to the site and thought I'd post the saga of a scratch building project I'm starting - a large scale model of the cruiser New York (1893). If I’m going over topics and methods that have been discussed before, I apologize; some of my brilliant solutions are probably old hat to many of you.

My main interest has always been turn of the century warships, especially American, British and French, and the New York seemed like a good first project as the sides of the hull are pretty straight and she doesn’t exhibit the pronounced tumblehome of some of the French ships of the period.

A word of caution to all purists out there: my models are about 90 percent paper. Because they are so large, I use some wood for framework and brass for gun barrels. I build them to look like they were constructed around the turn of the century, with slightly exaggerated features and graphics.

The model below was my first attempt. It represents no particular ship as I was going for a generic warship of the period just to see if I could actually build something worth looking at. I designed and printed all the ships parts on heavy Bristol board and glued everything together with contact cement and white glue.

I grabbed some design elements from photos and plans I had and called her Illinois, after my home state. She is 38 inches long.









I learned a lot making this model and now I plan to use the experience to make a similar, more detailed model of an actual ship - the New York. I have the deck and hull sides almost finished and I'll begin with pictures and descriptions of her construction in the next installment.
RT

[birder]

That looks cool, like a sculpture/artwork

[Stev0]

Originally Posted by birder

That looks cool, like a sculpture/artwork

It sure does! I love it. It's more artwork than a model. =)

[B-Manic]

Very nice. Its like a 'mo betta' version of the a paper model published as a supplement to the Pittsburg Dispatch in 1896. I really your version, very artistic. Attached are clips from that model. I have a scan of the model, if you are interested drop me a PM. I think it is safe to assume it is in the Public Domain after 112 years.

~ cheers

[taylormade]

Thanks Douglas - I have an original also that I bought on Ebay years ago. I was trained in graphic arts before I sold out to video production. Designing and drawing these boats is really relaxing and a lot of fun. I do have to do a lot of redesign and redrawing since I'm doing most of this in Photoshop. I usually design the part by cutting and fitting, then drawing in details, scanning that and redoing it in Photoshop.

[taylormade]

After an illness in the family and the Thanksgiving Day festivities, I'm back to work on the New York. The basic hull is finished and I'm working on the side gun turrets (sponsons?) - there are a lot of them! I just added the side armor and have the shape of the rear walkway roughed in. More details this weekend.
RT

[B-Manic]

Very nice. Really captures the feel of the period. Reminds me of some of the antique models at kartonmodell-forum.org.

Thanks for sharing.
~Douglas

BTW - love the waves so much I may have to steal the idea.

[John Bowden]

Now that is just too cool! What are the waves made from??......... they look like the things (wooden braces) you use to put up corrigated fiberglass panels on a roof.

This model reminds me of the "tin" boats that were a little before my time......... um.... "tin" robots and jet airplanes were my time.......... in case anyone was wondering....

john

[redhorse]

Yep, that is really cool. And what everyone else said here too! It does look like a tin toy, and I love those things!

Thanks for sharing you're photos.

[B-Manic]

I knew it reminded me of something, this Currier & Ives print. Most Excellent. I like the tin toy idea. I think you may have discovered a popular modelling niche.