Foreword
It is probable that many officers in the navy have, while in London lately, seen the races, on Sunday, of model yachts in Hyde Park and investigated the subject sufficiently to discover the wide interest and enjoyment which is taken in this sport by large numbers of people in England. It is not improbable that the greater interest in boating and water sports and pursuits, as compared to this country, which is found in all classes of society in England, has been fostered and encouraged, by model yacht building and racing.
At the present time there are many officers and men of the naval reserve who have returned, or are about to return to civil life. Many of these have acquired a certain knowledge and interest in the sea, which they would like to retain.
In the navy, to obtain the name of a "smart ship," the crew must be instilled with a ship's spirit based on common hopes, experiences and traditions. With the frequent changes that have been necessary, of late, in personnel especial efforts are required and should be made to obtain such a spirit. A "smart ship" used to be identified by the smartness of her boats, and ship's spirit was encouraged by sailing and pulling races. While, under present service conditions, it is not possible to devote as much time as formerly to boat drills and boat racing, it is possible on ships of every class to build and race models. Thus races may be held between divisions as well as between ships, and by requiring all model yachts to be home-made an interest in the sport is afforded and much useful knowledge acquired.
With the thought that this subject might be of interest to those who have seen something of the navy and acquired some of the spirit of the sea, and have now gone back to civil life, as well as to those who remain in the service, a few notes on model making have been written up at my suggestion by Ensign Lewis F. Herreshoff, U.S.N.R.F., of the well-known firm of yacht builders.
History
Model making as far as is known dates back to the Egyptians, and the art was practiced throughout the ages in all nations, as may be seen by the wonderful examples of model making in various museums. In our own country, such museums as the East India Society in Salem, Mass., and the Historical Society Museum in New Bedford display models, some of which were made at sea. One of the best of them all is a little bone model made by Yankee sailors, while prisoners-of-war in an English prison during the Revolution. It is said to be made from beef bones saved from the food, and is certainly a very fine piece of work. Evidently there were many sailors in the years gone by who could make exact duplicates of the ships they had manned, and it is believed that there are also men to-day who could do the same if they were properly encouraged. It certainly would make them take a keener interest in their own ship, and give them a higher regard for material and a greater pride in their ships than is now the case in our navy. A model of one of the old sailing ships is shown in Fig. 1.
Types of Models
Generally speaking, models can be divided at the present time into four classes, which may be described separately as:
(1) Exhibition;
(2) Sailing;
(3) Power; and
(4) Experimental and Designers' Models.
Exhibition models are, of course, small reproductions and should be built to scale since nearly as much depends upon the exact proportion of parts as upon the workmanship, for, no matter how fine the work, the effect can be entirely spoiled by some part that is not to scale. There is no limit to the amount of fine work that can be put in on an exhibition model; and in making one it should first be decided how much detail the amount of time to be spent, will allow, and what the tools and skill of the builder will be capable of accomplishing. The best material for the larger parts such as the hull, deck houses, etc., is well-seasoned pattern makers' soft pine. The smaller parts, such as rails, hatches, spars, etc., can be made of some hard fine-grained wood such as mahogany or boxwood, or, if desired, ivory. The very small pieces should be made of metal and can be painted to represent any material. The kind of glue used is very important, for it often happens that glues of the fish variety are not reliable. For most work, however, "Amberord" will be found satisfactory. Pins are useful for small fastenings, and especially very small ones, called ribbon pins. The tools for this class of work luckily are all small, and requiring little room, they can be conveniently stowed.
For those who are interested in engineering perhaps there is the largest field of all, for there is nothing more attractive than a model steam engine.
There are no small fittings or parts for model work now made in this country, although there are several firms in England who can supply nicely proportioned and perfectly practical fittings of all sorts, engine parts made to several scales and every sort of deck fittings.
Sailing Models
Sailing models afford much the most fun, for they are nearly as good for racing as full-sized boats. They must, however, be of quite different proportions from large boats, as they have much greater speed in ratio to their length. The wind would be almost a hurricane as it is not reduced with the size of the model. Consequently, sailing models must have as straight lines as possible, much reduced sails, and deeper keels. They also should be of certain proportions as to depth and width of hull, so that the curve of the lines that run under the bottom may be of about the same radius as the ones along the sides, because when the boat keels over a change in her lines is apt to make her try to turn to one side. For example, a wide, shallow-hulled boat will head up when she keels over, while one of the deep, narrow or cutter type will invariably swing off. A good example of a sailing model is shown in Fig. 2.
Concerning rules for measurement, probably the simplest is that limiting the sail area; for all other rules are apt to produce types that are exaggerated in some dimensions which are not measured. White pine is the material generally used for the hull, and the most satisfactory construction seems to be the so-called "bread and butter" system, which consists of layers of boards cut out to shape, corresponding to the different water line elevations and glued up in correct order. The interior of the upper and larger layers can be cut out and used for the lower layers, thereby saving much labor in hollowing out. The gluing up of the different layers must be carefully done, and a good glue for this purpose is made by dissolving gelatine with hot water until about the consistency of cream and then adding a tablespoon of acetic acid to pint of this solution.
Note.—Ready-cut blocks for making models of .several scales can be bought from William Richards. 1836 Park Avenue, New York City. For the latest practical ways of laying decks, making spars, sails and steering gears, one may refer to the handbook "Model Sailing Yachts" published by Percival Marshall & Co., London, and sold in this country by Spon & Chamberlain, 1235 Liberty Street, New York City. Small fittings for sailing models can be bought from Bassett Loke, Ltd., Kinuswcll Street, Northampton, England.
A good, properly designed model of any size over thirty inches will sail in the roughest water nearly as well as in a smooth pond. Thus it is practical to sail them almost anywhere so long as they can be launched and picked up without damage. Figs. 3 and 4 show model yachts racing in New York City parks.
There are several model yacht clubs in this country, the most active of these being near New York City, and including the "Prospect Park Model Yacht Club," the "Yankee Model Yacht Club" and the Club at Central Park.
Power Models
Power-driven models have been very popular in the last few years. The electric driven ones have been developed considerably and are fairly fast, there being now on the market very small, large capacity, dry cells and very good small motors for those who wish to make fully equipped battleships, destroyers, etc. There have also been built some well designed gasoline-driven models, but these present many difficulties in their construction. For instance, the spark plug has to be quite out of proportion in order to make the insulator thick enough so that the spark will not jump across. Also, the small carburetor must be of different construction than is the practice with full-sized engines. A power driven model boat is shown in Fig. 5.
For those who are looking for speed the steam-driven boats have been fairly in the lead during the last few years. Most of these boats are of the extreme hydroplane type, are about 40 inches long, weigh less than eight pounds, and are driven by a two-cylinder, single-acting engine of f of an inch bore and stroke. These have a flash type boiler which consists of a coil of five sixteenths of an inch seamless steel tubing of about 20 feet length, so coiled that it goes inside of a boiler casing about four inches diameter by 8 inches long. The heat is generated by a powerful gasoline blow-torch and these boilers generally carry a pressure of over one hundred pounds of highly superheated steam. It is possible with some of these models to make the amazing speed of 25 miles an hour. There is at present very keen competition over the speed record of boats of this type.
Note.—Photographs and accounts of some of the fast American boats of this type have been published in the Every Day Engineering Magazine. The English boats have been described in the magazine Model Engineering, which is sold by Spon & Chamberlain, 120 Liberty Street, New York City.
Experimental Models
Models for experimental work have been used by all of the best naval architects in the world, and through their use new types of ships have been developed at little expense. Nearly as accurate comparisons of resistance can be made by any one in a power boat as those arrived at in the model basins, by simply making models of exactly the same weight and towing them in pairs from a carefully balanced yoke held out from the side of a power boat on a pole.
Designers' models are generally made half breadth and are used for obtaining measurements for calculation, laying off plating, etc., and most of the best shaped ships have had their building measurements taken directly from a model.