Mayflower Ship Colors.....
Craig
to what colors were used to paint her. I figure lots of browns, tans,
blacks and greys for weathering will do the trick.
Question though that can be resolved. How about the cannons? Was the
exterior always maintained to make the brass shine or did the salt water
make that impossible...And the wheeled mounts (name?) were those
discolored by the powder? weathered black at least? though I doubt
the Mayflower fired any cannons....
and the vacuform sails. without an airbrush, any methods to weather
those things? Bright white will not look to good. I was thinking of some
kind of dip to soak them in the hopes that the plastic would take on
some color.
In any event it looks like a a great practice kit before I consider the
Constitution and the Victory...
comments? Ideas???
thx - Craig
Bill Banaszak
>
> a trip thru google shows a consensus that there is no real info as
> to what colors were used to paint her. I figure lots of browns, tans,
> blacks and greys for weathering will do the trick.
From what I've seen of reconstructed and replica ships there was a bit
more colour to sailing ships than we think. You might use some medium
blues to trim her out plus some buff yellows.
> Question though that can be resolved. How about the cannons? Was the
> exterior always maintained to make the brass shine or did the salt water
> make that impossible..
One of the chores for the crew was to keep things shiny. It cut down on
people lounging about, getting into trouble.
.And the wheeled mounts (name?) were those
> discolored by the powder? weathered black at least? though I doubt
> the Mayflower fired any cannons....
Carriages, probably left natural wood. Wheel treads would be dirty.
Some of the carriage would look newer than the rest from repairs.
> and the vacuform sails. without an airbrush, any methods to weather
> those things? Bright white will not look to good. I was thinking of some
> kind of dip to soak them in the hopes that the plastic would take on
> some color.
Paint them buff then try brushing over them with a Rit dye solution.
I'd use a dark brown.
> In any event it looks like a a great practice kit before I consider the
> Constitution and the Victory...
>
> comments? Ideas???
>
> thx - Craig
Bill Banaszak, MFE
snh9728
compound to prevent rust, and, because you had plenty of manpower, the
brass guns would be polished. On a merchant ship (manpower costs
money), I'm guessing that the brass and iron guns alike would be
blackened.
Steve H
AMPSOne
-- as it was an elderly ship, that's one of the reasons the Pilgrims got it
cheap.
Cookie Sewell
AMPS
John Magne Stubsveen
> Guess again. The Mayflower actually fought against the Spanish Armada in 1588
> -- as it was an elderly ship, that's one of the reasons the Pilgrims got it
> cheap.
One little question: That old plastic model made by Airfix, (which is
quite similar to most of the other Mayflowers I've seen,) isn't that
actually modeled after the Mayflower II, a slightly bigger ship built
some years later?
--
John Magne Stubsveen
"They say a snake bit her once ... and died."
John Magne Stubsveen
> One little question: That old plastic model made by Airfix, (which is
> quite similar to most of the other Mayflowers I've seen,) isn't that
> actually modeled after the Mayflower II, a slightly bigger ship built
> some years later?
Built some years after it landed those pilgrims in Plymouth and had
been chopped up for firewood, that is ...
John Magne Stubsveen
> Built some years after it landed those pilgrims in Plymouth and had
> been chopped up for firewood, that is ...
Argh! I meant to write "after the _original ship_ landed those pilgrim
in Plymouth" ... :-P
AMPSOne
south coast where the main beam is purportedly the keel of the Mayflower and
some of the major beams in it came from the ship. '
I recall my daughter had a Girl Scout project called "Old World New Dreams"
where she had to vist 5 out of 13 places in England with direct US connections
and that was one of them (as were Flamborough Head, Selby Abbey, a church in
Pickering, Portsmouth and this barn).
We found it then but can't recall where it was.
Cookie Sewell
AMPS
Cliff Jones
info they might have.
Cliff. Jones
"Craig" <cr...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:435a953f.03082...@posting.google.com...
John Magne Stubsveen
> Apparently they didn't do that either. There is a barn in England near the
> south coast where the main beam is purportedly the keel of the Mayflower and
> some of the major beams in it came from the ship. '
[snip]
> We found it then but can't recall where it was.
A barn in Buckinghamshire? Overcome by a sudden facination I did a
search for "Mayflower" on Google and found the sites linked to below.
Lots of interesting reading about the "May-Floure" and her passengers.
Oh, and I also found that the Mayflower II was built between 1955 and
1957 ...
http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/
http://www.plimoth.org/Museum/Mayflower/mayflowe.htm
http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/
snh9728
interesting), but by the time the Pilgrims got it, it was definitely a
merchant ship, with the lesser crew that entails. (Besides, can you
imagine those ancestors of the legendarily tight-fisted New Englanders
paying for any more crew than they had to?)
Steve H
Don Stauffer
brown or a green. Look at bronze statues in your parks and monuments.
Most ships in those days were not painted. They were oiled or coated
with various substances. Below waterline it would likely have had a
mixture of tallow and lime applied, which is a semi-matt light cream
color.
Above waterline, various oils including fish oil would be used, which
weathers wood to a dark brown. Mayflower was not a fancy ship with a
very wealthy owner, so would probably have had a minimum of painted
decorations. And, what there were, would have been low saturation
colors, usually primary colors. Umbers were popular for reds.
Sails, if you include them, would have been cream, not white, as they
would be unbleached linen. Or at least, not bleached to a washday white.
Standing rigging was coated with a wood tar, which is BROWN, not black.
Running rigging would be tannish grey.
--
Don Stauffer in Minnesota
stau...@usfamily.net
webpage- http://www.usfamily.net/web/stauffer
Don Stauffer
lot more paint than ones in early centuries. In sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries paint was very expensive and not very good.
I also think people doing some of these replicas jazz them up a little
to attract more visitors - personal opinion only.
--
William H. Shuey
series on the Mayflower?? U.S.Naval Institute publications in the U.S.
and Conway Maritime press in the U.K. Or am I confusing this with their
volume on Christopher Columbus' ships? Memory ain't what it used to be.
Bill Shuey
Craig wrote:
>
> a trip thru google shows a consensus that there is no real info as
> to what colors were used to paint her. I figure lots of browns, tans,
> blacks and greys for weathering will do the trick.
This was way before the days of copper plating the hull to resist marine
growth so I would bet that her bottom was tarred to above the water
line. Above that, browns and greys are probably correct. Basically, the
color of the wood.
Bill Shuey
> Question though that can be resolved. How about the cannons? Was the
> exterior always maintained to make the brass shine or did the salt water
> make that impossible...And the wheeled mounts (name?) were those
> discolored by the powder? weathered black at least? though I doubt
> the Mayflower fired any cannons....
>
> and the vacuform sails. without an airbrush, any methods to weather
> those things? Bright white will not look to good. I was thinking of some
> kind of dip to soak them in the hopes that the plastic would take on
> some color.
We used to soak cloth sails in tea to give them some color. Made the
sails from draftsmen's linen with the sizing soaked out. Great stuff,
probably don't make it any more. That roll I have upstairs might belong
in a museum. :-)
Grandpa
they give the books available. No Mayflower mentioned, but then the
book lists on the 2 flaps are not identical either.