A Guide to Scratch-building the Tryworks for Model Shipways Charles W.

Morgan kit

Written by Gerald Spargo

Introduction:
When I started building the Charles W. Morgan !y original plan was to build it "ust the way the plans instructed. Well that didn#t happen. The first deck furnishing I built was the tryworks. I started building it by the instructions gi$en. Then decided that it shouldn#t be to difficult to build it brick-by-brick "ust like the original. %igured I#d gi$e it a try. Well....it turned out &uite well so thought I would draw-up so!e plans along with instructions and let others ha$e a try at it. So therefore that is what this '(% is about how I built the tryworks for the Charles W. Morgan. These instructions can also be applied to any whaling ship. )ne will "ust ha$e to scale the plans to fit.

Building the Base

To begin with you get two thin sheets of basswood in the kit. Mostly I used the s!allest sheet *+,-./0 ./0 .1/2 for !ost of the building that I did in this kit and I ha$e run out. %or this reason I ha$e !ade a slight change in the plan to help sa$e you so!e of this sheet stock. I used the +,-./ *.34 !!2 thick sheet for the entire base structure. The change I !ade is instead of using this s!all sheet for the %loor 5ase6 use the +,+7/ *+.4 !!2 thick sheet instead. %irst of all cut all four sides and four corner braces. Glue the four sides and the corner braces together being sure to keep it s&uare while it dries. After this is dry cut the floor base to fit and install it .4 !! below the top edge of the base. The reason is that this is half the thickness of the bricks and we want the bricklaying to start below the surface. The total si8e of the base should be a 14 0 14 !! s&uare. 9ou can either butt the "oints together as in the diagra! or !iter the!6 the choice is up to you. :ow that you ha$e that finished it;s ti!e to cut the bricks. If I figured correctly it took appro0i!ately 14< brick to build this. )= this is the tricky part. The bricks are + 0 . 0 1 !!6 you do not get strips this si8e in the kit. So what you need to do is take +,+7/0 -,-./ strips and sand the! down to the correct si8e. If you ha$e built ships before then you !ay ha$e so!e e0tra strips that are already the correct si8e. To cut the! to the length of *1 !! long2 I used a chopper you !ay not ha$e one of these. So you will need to set up so!e way of cutting these to length and you ha$e to !ake sure the edges are cut s&uare. I;$e included a s!all indication of how to do this on the diagra!. )nce you ha$e so!ething in place then do not !ake any ad"ust!ents to it until the bricklaying is finished.

Card stock is to be used for spacing in-between the bricks. >a$e plenty on hand because it doesn;t take long for the piece of card to get glue clogged up on it. The !ore glue that gets on the card the wider the spaces beco!e we don;t want that to happen. )nce the bricks are cut the first ones to be laid in place are the bricks for the front row. :ow the bricks will rise abo$e the top edge of the base. %or this front row you will need to sand the bricks down flush with this edge. :ow re!e!ber the front row has a space between the baseboard and the brick. )nce the front row is finished you can lay the first layer of brick around the inside of the base right up against the baseboard. (o not sand these bricks flush. The back part of the base where it rises in height does not get any bricks it is left open for now.

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Brick-by-Brick
:ow that the base is co!plete you can start laying the brick. %or now we;ll only go up 3 brick high. The bricks are .!! wide so in order to get the spacing between the bricks card-stock cut into + !! strips will be glued to the back half of the rows of brick as shown in diagra! ?. lea$ing a +!! gap in front of it. These strips are only glued to the top surface there is no need to lea$e the strips in the end spaces. Make sure the rows run straight up and down. Work on one row at a ti!e cause you !ay need to do so!e light sanding to !ake the brick flush on top but they do not necessarily need to be flush on the outer surface. If it;s to perfect then it won;t look realistic. Caution@ 9ou will find that as you build these walls they beco!e $ery weak so be $ery $ery careful. 'ay attention to diagra! ?- as you lay the front rows. %ro! corner to door opening should be +-!!. The door openings should be 1 !!. 5ecause of the oddness of si8e I did not continue with the sa!e bricklaying arrange!ent in-between the openings as I did on the outer sides. The diagra! shows how I did this. )nce you get row 3 finished hopefully you;ll be $ery close to A !! high. Bse a strip of +,71/0+,+7/ brass that is supplied with the kit and for! the! to fit in the doorway top and sides only. The top of the strip should be flush with the 3th row of brick. After the brass strips are in place then lay another row of brick. :ow things begin to change slightly. As you can see in diagra! ?. the ne0t - rows of brick in the front are - !! wide instead of . !!. The reason for this is that the top four rows of brick step back + !! each successi$e row. We still need that + !! space in front so we need to !ake these wider to acco!!odate for the stepping. 9ou will also ha$e to acco!!odate for this on the sides as well. The $ery top row will be nor!al. :ow we ha$e to prepare for the top plate. )n the inside of the walls there is to be a +0. !! strip glued to the second row of brick fro! the top. Make a !ark fro! the inside surface of the back wall inward !!. 'lace a .0. !! support brace at this !ark. This is to support . different sections on the top.

9ou should be able to lay a brick fro! the back wall to the !iddle of the support brace and still ha$e enough roo! left o$er to support the top plate. )nce the braces are in place use an old paintbrush and apply a coat of carpenters glue on the inside surface of the walls !ake sure you don;t close up the outside gaps. After this dries paint the inside lower half black. 5elie$e !e you;ll be glad you did this ahead of ti!e. :ow lay that top row of brick on the support braces being sure to space the!. If done correctly the holes for the s!oke stacks will auto!atically be in place. Cut the top plate to fit inside the re!aining opening in the top. Bse the +,+7/ thick sheet of basswood for this but don;t glue it in place yet. :e0t glue the cauldrons together glue the 1 hal$es together and then glue both cauldrons to each other. Turn the cauldrons upside down and center the! on the top plate. Trace around the! to get the cutout line. :ow when you cut the opening in the top plate try to cut it at an angle. So when the cauldrons are set inside the cutout they won;t fall through. )nce you get the! to set together good and then glue the cauldrons to the plate. If it will !ake you feel !ore secure you can glue footpads to the floor base for the cauldrons to rest on when put in place !ake sure you paint these black. When you;re ready then glue the top plate in place. :ow you add the tri! pieces to the top. +0+ !! tri! sets on top of the brick around the top plate and the back edge of the plate and +0. !! tri! on the back and sides of the back row of brick as shown in the top $iew in diagra! ?-.

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Finishing it up:
:ow you get to fill-in the gaps between the bricks. 5ut before you can do that stain the baseboards walnut and you need to paint the brick. I suggest using ena!el paint for this. I used acrylic what a !istake that wasC 5ut after you get the brick painted and it is dry use sparkling to fill-in the gaps wipe off the e0cess and let it thoroughly dry. After the Spackle is dry paint the +0. !! tri! around the top row of brick black. Add the lid to the back duck pen and either paint it or stain it. S!oke stacks. 9ou can either use the kit-supplied chi!neys or !ake the! but the choice is yours. The way that I !ade !ine was to use .<<4 thick -7-gauge copper. Cut strips 1. !! long and at least .< !! wide. These should go all the way to the floor base and still ha$e about .+ !! sticking out the top. Wrap the copper around a strip of wood +,D/0 -,+7/ *-04 !!2. :ow this is not the best way to do this but I glued this together with CA glue. The ne0t thing is to cut 1 thin narrow 1 !! strips. )ne of these is wrapped around the stacks "ust abo$e the bricks and another one half way up. A note about the upper strip6 if you want to !ake and include the basket that hangs in between the stacks then you need to lea$e a gap big enough for the copper

to fit between the stack and the tri!. (o this to each stack. :ow for the reason why CA glues is not the best way to go. The copper stacks are cleaned of any fingerprints and thin heated o$er a fla!e to turn the! a worn out black. The CA glue pops apart when it is heated but if bent good enough the stack will be fine the tri! pieces on the other hand will need to be re-glued. After you !ake the s!okestacks set the! aside for now. :ow lets do the fire doors. There;s not !uch to this "ust drill holes in the door tabs for s!all wire to fit though. Cut a thin piece of wire long enough to be bent at the ends and fitted through the holes on the front of the Try-works shown in diagra! ?-. 'ut the doors on the wire before bending both ends. Glue the wire into the holes allowing it to stick out far enough for the doors to hang naturally. 9ou can either ha$e the doors open or closed. Top 'late. 9ou can either paint this area black copper or actually use copper as I did. If you chose to !ake you own chi!neys then I suggest applying real copper to the top plate. All you need to do is cut a piece of copper to lay on top of the plate with the hole cutout for the cauldrons. 9ou should also !ake copper co$ers for the tri! around the top plate. After you !ake these blacken the! the sa!e as you did the chi!neys then glue the! along with the chi!neys in place. Also add the corner strips to the baseboards. There is a s!all basket that hangs between the s!oke stacks. This is !ade up of little strips of + !! copper. The best I can describe it is. Take a strip and bend it into a 101 !! s&uare this is the ri!. :ow !ake - pieces that will hang down fro! the ri! 1 !! deep !ake the! so they hook on to the s&uare ri! that you "ust !ade spot glue the! in place. :ow take a strip about -< !! long run it through the inside of the ri! under the - basket pieces then back up the other side. Get the! ad"usted then glue. The long strip is then hooked into the gaps that were left in the tri! of the chi!neys.

Build Photos: