Hi all,

I am looking to scratchbuild a model of the Mayflower. I would like the model to be sizable without being too big, i.e. 12-25 inches. In my research, I've read a lot about the "William Baker plans" used to construct the Mayflower II that were downsized for modelers. I've found them for sale HERE, but it says that the scale is 1/8". I'm assuming this means that the model will be approx. 8in long if the real ship was 80 feet? Also, I found a free set of plans online in German HERE, however I have a suspicion that these are the same plans. If they are, I don't want to pay for something that I can get for free, even if they're in German.

If anyone has built a Mayflower using these plans or can offer any advice, I would appreciate any help. I have never built a wooden ship before, much less a tall ship, so I'm in deep water. In fact, this is my first post on MSW.

Thanks,
Samuel

Samuel,

Welcome to MSW. As far as building a Mayflower from scratch, I am afraid I cannot offer much help. But the 1/8 plans should give you a ship in the 120” range. 1/80 will give you a 12” ship. I hope I did that math right.

There should be some members who can help you out. Please keep us informed through out your build.

G'day sweaver!
I used to work on the replica Mayflower II at Plimoth Plantation (the full size boat built from William Baker's plans).

She's the best conjecture of a late 16th century vessel.

Scale: I would pick a common wooden ship/sailing vessel scale, and then change the plans. That's EASY! (Photocopy store, plan printer, a few bucks).

You need the exertise of Professor J Tilley, who frequents a different forum. He is a MASTER and KNOWS ALL about square rigged vessels from yestercentury. (see Finescale models forum). There are actually several threads there already, so do a search before asking.

As for scaling, ask away, I can help. I even have some stuff that might be helpful.

Thanks for the help, guys. Like I said, I'm new to this, so your advice is invaluable.

Jim: When I read your reply saying that the 1/8 scale plans would give me a 10 foot ship, I about fell out of my chair! So I contacted the Plimoth museum shop and asked them for an estimated length. This is the answer I got:

A few of us have done the math and we all concur that the finished ship should be 13.25 inches.

We came to that conclusion because every 1/8 inch = 1 foot. So every 8 feet of the actual ship would be 1 inch. The ship is 106 feet long. 106 divided be 8 = 13.25inches.

Thanks for your reply.

Wink: It looks like you're just the man I need! I have visited the Mayflower II, and it was the inspiration for this project, if I can call it that given that I haven't even decided to do it yet.

Thanks for the tip on resizing plans. That will probably come in handy. However, this being my second model ship, besides Revell's Titanic, I am not familiar with the common ship scales. Besides for 1/350, what are they?

I checked out Finescale's forums, and yes Professor Tilley does seem to be quite the expert! It seem I'll have to sign up over there too.

Thanks again for all your help. Any tips or info you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
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Now, for another question. I assume that it is going to be very difficult/impossible to scratchbuild items like the cannons, deadeyes, etc. Is there a company that sells these items, and if so, in what scale? This will probably determine what scale I build in, if at all.

Thanks,
sweaver

Hi Samuel i am glad to hear you are doing a scratch build of this ship first good luck, i have built and finished 2 wood ship models and both are from kits one was a solid hull and the other a plank on bulkhead kit and i am working on 2 more now, i also suggest you try and pick a scale most common to wood ships this way if you do have to buy some of the fittings they will all be in scale or at least very close, to check for different scale sizes you can check this site they have tons of kits and fittings http://www.modelexpo-online.com/ common sizes for wood ship model are not like the plastic kits they are never 1/700 of 1/350 they are more like 1/64, 1/96, or 1/76 just to name a few. What style of model are you doing solid hull, bulkhead or frames, solid wood be the easy way to go if you are new to this stuff. Good luck and ask all the question you want.

Robert's right, good advice.

You plans are in 1:96 scale, a common ship scale, good because there are heaps of fittings (106' = 1272"/96 = 13.25"). Many places, Robert suggests good, here's another:

http://www.towerhobbies.com/modelships/listings/main_accesswood.html

I hope you do running rigging, so much more work but so much more exciting! Keep us posted, happy to help and ove to see the progress!

Thanks for the replies.

Robert: Thanks for your input. When I first read your post, I didn't know that there were different ways to build the hull. So, after a little research, I guess plank on frame would be close to what I was going to do. That seems to be way too difficult for a first ship, though. Guess I'll have to pick another method or buy a kit. Thanks for enlightening me.

Thanks for your tips on scale as well. :_

Wink: Thanks for the link. In addition to Robert's and your links, I found that Blue Jacket sells them as well. They seem to be cheaper at Tower Hobbies, though. Thanks.

Well, after looking up running rigging , it looks so complex, that I'm not sure if I'll do that or not. If I do, do I have to put the sails on as well?
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I guess I should get a book on shipbuilding before I tackle this. Every time I turn around, there's another thing that I didn't know existed! I'm also thinking that maybe I should build a simpler kit, such as Model Shipways' Phantom or Bluenose, before trying to scratchbuild a three masted ship.

Thanks for your help,
sweaver