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Fiberglass

3/7/2012: Winter has passed so it's out to the shop and fiberglass the transom. It got cool again and it wasn't till the 14th that I could get the sides glassed.

3/15: Another coat of resin after sanding.

The Wales

4/6: The main wale will be "top-and-butt" planked. The planks are 6" long, 3/8" wide, 3/16" at the ends, with the widest part 2" (1/3rd) from one end, and made from the same pine the other planking was cut from. These planks are "super glued" (CA) to the hull.

This and "anchor stock" planking; which is a similar shaped plank only the wide part is centered; is meant to lock the strakes togather so they can't slide past each other as the ship works - stiffening the ship. On the real ships, the wales were thicker planking, not added on top as I am doing. My wales are being added because I fiberglassed the hull first as getting the glass cloth to lay into the edges of this hump would have been impossible. This wale is a modeled detail of the real ship, but isn't really a structual part of the model, though I suppose it does strengthen the hull where it'll most likely bump into things.

Editor's note: After the wale was applied, I learned that the lowest wale would have been done in "anchor-stock" planking, and any wales above it would be "top-and-butt."

4/8: Two strakes of the starboard wale are nearly done and a couple of pieces of the third and forth strakes started. CAing them to the hull seems to be working pretty well. I'm using Tite-bond to glue them to each other. With the CA I just have to hold them till the glue sets without worrying about clamping or fastening.

4/10: Made it to the stern, just ten more pieces on this side.

4/10: Working on two models at once, I managed a few more wale planks. Now the planks need to be bent to fit the curve of the bow so I employed the SBJ (Sophisticated Bending Jig). The planks are wetted in hot water and I have to wait for them to dry before affixing them to the hull - so I've been working on Pride while I wait for them to dry.

4/15: Finally completed the starboard wale. Using "super glue" there has to be good contact or the thing won't stick, and getting that while bending around the bow was difficult. I'm gonna try something else on the port side, and start at the bow so at least the job will get easier as I go.

The Stern's Appearance

7/9: The model's been on the shelf for a while as I work on Pride of Baltimore, but I did do some research, specifically on how Macedonian's transom should look. In Gardiner's Frigates of the Napoleonic Wars I found the images, left, of two Lively class frigates built and completed literally only weeks before Macedonian. The picture is the proposed decoration of the bow, quarter galleries, and transom of the frigates Nisus and Menelaus. To me it seems logical to conclude that Macedonian would have had the same level of decoration. Based on this premis, I tried to figure out what that decoration would be.

The Macedonian was, in fact, Alexander the Great, who's figurehead, which still exists, was on the bow; so the stern would have followed that theme. The two frigates mentioned above seem to have had a thematic symbol at the top center of the transom. I tried several ideas; a cameo based on a bust of Alexander; a profile based on a coin; the Vergina Sun symbol of Macedonian royalty, all where good choices, but not what I though some British fellow in 1809 would have come up with. The reverse of the coin with the profile had Alexander on his throne and that was my favorite, but looking at it I realized it was actually Zeus, and not Alexander, so it was back to the drawing board. I eventually went with an image of Alexander on his horse, Bucephalus. Alexander came up in the cavalry, was known as a great horseman, and I have a thing for cavalry. The vine work on either side is based on the vine-like bands on the breastplate of the figurehead. Below I placed the Macedonian sunburst with laurel leaves to either side of it. There's rising suns over the quarter gallery lights as well - just like shown for Nisus and Menelaus. So, there it is; this is obviously not what she actually had, but unless I come up with information on what was actually on Macedonian's transom, this keeps with the style of what was probably back there.