Chris Lemke’s HMS Bounty Community Build Project
When the S.i.B.B.A. Facebook and YahooGroup(s) decided on a community build of the HMS Bounty as a memorial to her sinking. I was very excited, she’s a lovely ship, and I decided to take this opportunity to build my first ‘large’ SiB.
My project would be scaled to fit into a 2 gallon jug, measuring twelve inches long, six inches around, with a one inch opening at the neck. This makes my waterline model of the HMS Bounty 7.5” long from stern to the tip of the Bowsprit, 1.25” wide, and 5.25” from the waterline to the tip of the Main mast. In this picture I’ve glued the blueprint to the sides of the hull block halves.
The hull blocks were drilled and had pins added to hold the halves together, then using a thin razor saw I cut across the hull down to the deck level.
With the lines cut you can then carefully break away the scrap wood leaving you with the blocks carved roughly down to deck level.
Then it’s just a matter of sanding the deck surface nice and smooth.
Next I cut even ½ inch sections from some very thin bass wood stock for the deck planks.
With a lot of planks cut I began laying and gluing the deck planks to the hull blocks, making sure to lay the planking in a staggered pattern.
One side of the hull planked. Also here you can see the pins that hold the hull halves together.
The deck is laid, I now let the glue dry for a full 24 hours before sanding the deck smooth.
Using a fine razor saw I then cut out the shape if the hull as viewed from the top, you must be very patient with this step to make sure you don’t splinter your deck planks. The Deck is the sanded smooth.
Using the schematics of the hull I then carved and sanded the lower hull into to proper contours.
The gun carriages were carved from small blocks of bass wood.
Painting the barrels.
Stowing the cannons in place on the deck.
