Hey everyone. We'll I've taken the plunge into the deep end of this hobby and ordered SC&H's Cruiser class brig kit. I learned a lot working on my 1:36 scratch-built HMS Beagle, but I'm ready for something larger and more reliably designed.

The Theresa Marie will be a generic brig of the Napoleonic era in 1:24 scale. The plan is to follow the SC&H specs and not attempt all the modifications that pop into my head. This model will be big: 7 feet long, 6 feet tall and weigh in at 72 pounds, big enough for the lakes around Indianapolis while still fitting inside our SUV.

She'll be crewed by a large group of 3 inch action figures (aka the Theresa Maries). Maybe one will be named after you.

Drive pod. After placing the order for the brig kit I hooked up with Rick at scalemodelcastings.com to come up with a propeller drive to attach to the rudder. My intention is to get her operating first as a powered boat that can sail in places with no wind or on crowded water, including our local rc club (Indy Admirals) boat shows.

Crew. My vision is to have a large, colorful crew onboard, so after some searching I bought over a dozen 3 inch figures from Papo and re-painted and disarmed them to conceal their piratical pasts. I also found a future figurehead, a Japanese-style Netsuke carving of a mermaid from boxwood.

Transom windows. The SC&H brig kit comes with a very simple looking transom, so to spice it up I made some windows using 1 1/2 inch mirrors for the glass.



The Delivery. After a two and a half month wait the kit finally arrived. The heavy keel and parts for the launching cart came in a wooden crate, and all the rest of the kit came in a five foot long box marked "FRAGILE". The packing list has around 275 items on it and so far everything looks good.

Shipyard. For now I'll be using the same sewing machine stand for the shipyard that I used for the Beagle, which can be easily wheeled around to get at all sides.

Launching Cart. To get things started I assembled the launching cart. One step down, a couple of hundred to go.

As a side note, I used to own a 55 gallon aquarium. At first it seemed really big, but after having it for awhile it seemed normal. Then I bought a 125 gallon tank. Even after 18 years I still think, wow that's a big tank. My Beagle seemed large while I was working on it, but after sailing her a few times she just looked normal. I expect the Theresa Marie will always make me say, wow that's a big model ship.

You can also follow the build at my website: Theresa Marie Model Ship Project.

Welcome to the big boat club.

Hoorah!
You will have a blast building and sailing her.

Note - you will likely need twin motors/props to drive her. Even without sails, windage of the rigging and current are powerful forces.

Thanks Jerry and Dan.

I'm trying to re-read the build logs from the other SC&H threads as I go. After sanding the hull the next steps are (1a) to glue the ABS mast steps and servo blocks with their servo bolt inserts in place. Then drill a hole for the rudder's stern tube and glue it in place.

Any advice from our veterans?

Hi Andrew

Congratulations.

Looking forward to following your build. Saw your crate and box the day I picked mine up and was hoping the new owner might post the build. Very glad you are.

Kind regards
Tim

Hey Tim. I was very happy to see that someone else was going to do their build at the same time. I loved reading through those older threads to see how Ray, Don, Dan and the others were tackling the many challengers of these complex kits and swapping ideas, and the enormous amount of helpful advice and encouragement from so many members of this forum.

I just wish that the C032 and C033 shipyards were a bit closer so we could do a future fleet sail together. (TBowman - Registered User - 1925 miles from you.)

Originally Posted by Jpop Andrew

I just wish that the C032 and C033 shipyards were a bit closer so we could do a future fleet sail together.

Agreed!

What a neat kit. I love their ships.

That drive unit coupled with rudder mounted steering will keep him out of trouble. Its got some serious tugboat type thrust. That sailing ship will be rolling a bone with the drive unit at full bore

I'll be keeping an eye on your build I was/am very tempted but to get this to the UK with our import tax makes the already expensive ship even more

Servo and mast mounting blocks. I drilled holes in the three different sized wooden blocks and screwed in the servo bolt inserts. Not entirely straight, but should work ok for securing the servos later. Had to sand one of the blocks slightly to get them to all fit together on the servo deck. The mounting block for the main mast also needed some sanding inside to get it to slide down snug with the servo deck. After checking and re-checking the placement order, I glued them down using a light application of marine epoxy.

Stern tube. You're given a three inch pvc pipe and a paper pattern. I cut out and taped the pattern onto the pipe, drilled a dozen holes along the pattern's edge, cut through with a knife and sanded the edges smooth with my Dremel. Walla, one stern tube.

The stand. I finally found a use for the wooden light box that had been sitting in our attic for the last 15 years. I took it apart and after some fun time with my jigsaw and hand drill it became the Theresa Marie's building stand. Once she's closer to completion I might spiff it up a bit.

Meanwhile I got Rick's awesome looking drive pod in the mail. Love the Captain Nemo propeller look. Not entirely sure how I'll be attaching it, but lots of time to figure that out.

After three weeks I'm still on page one of the 20 page assembly instructions lol. Forward ho!

Gunwale scoring. Next up was to give some more detail to the inside of the gunwales. Using a ruler and pencil I drew lines and carefully cut them with my trusty X-acto knife to score simulated planks. Worked pretty well but took a couple of hours to finish.

Stern tubing. After finalizing the stern tube's shape I summoned the courage to take drill in hand and drill the big hole where the rudder will connect up into the hull. It seemed to go pretty well using small drill bits at first, then larger ones and then finishing off with some careful filing with an emery board.

After measuring the location with the rudder in place I glued down the stern tube with marine epoxy. After it had dried I filed out the rest of the hole. So far so good. Guess I'll find out later if I screwed something up.

Gun Port Lids?! I haven't decided for sure, but I'm learning in the directly of being the only member of the SC&H fleet to put gun port lids on my model and NOT cut out the gun ports. I really love the black and white checkerboard look of these sailing ships and you really lose that with open ports. I did some experimenting with brass paint over copper tape to add some nice color for the simulated hinges. Still debating though.

Too bad this bug didn't bite a couple of years ago--you cudda been a contender on a fleet sail.

You are going to like this ship. The design is really well thought out and engineered and these ships sail so prototypically it is mesmerizing.

If you ever decide to put in working carronades you will need the open ports but the idea of closed ports is interesting.

We have attended a bunch of O scale railroad conventions and shows in Indianapolis and now we are planning to take our 1-1/2 inch scale locomotive and cars up to the Indianapolis Live Steamers track south of Indy. Lovely area.

It is great you are posting your build so folk's can watch and learn.

Airborne!

Thanks Ray. Yeah I was mega bummed when I read that your HMS Surprise had been redeployed to the Pacific. Being between KY and Minneapolis is ideal for an annual fleet sail.

I made the decision not to mess with firing guns until I've sailed her for at least a year so that would be a long way down the road.

Tow line attachment point. So what's been the consensus on how best to tow these boats? I think Dan mentioned on his thread that he drilled a bolt in his hull under the waterline for attaching a tow line. I'm guessing that's best done before gluing down the deck.

Any advice?

Now this is timely.

Hello Jpop, I am just looking at this myself. I did not know DanL had already done this. I am reluctant to make a hole below water line. I was rigging a rope system from deck that wraped around in from of hull. I have looking at many photos of old ships where the use small boats to tow ship to where the wind is. I hope your question comes up with a short discussion.

Great job on posting your progress.

Good luck

Gary