Topic: 1:72 scale model Danish train ferry, the Freia (Read 29113 times)

Edmund · « **on:** August 26, 2015, 08:14:21 pm »

A little late for a build log as I've already started but I suppose there is quite a way still to go! I've always been interested in good looking but unusual ships, so a train ferry makes a good choice. This model is a small roll-on-roll off rail ferry with a nice open rear deck to model and a bow door that opens. I've rigged it up with a sail winch to open and close the visor as the real thing. I believe the original ship, the Freia, which was built in Denmark, was one of the first ferries to be built with a bow door, very unusual in 1936. By the way the original ship existed until very recently though much altered as a ship known as the Ischia Express in Turkey. It may still exist as far as I know.

The hull is plank on frame on 3mm ply bulkheads. The planks are 1/8th inch balsa which is fantastic to plank with - very forgiving as it sands smoothly into shape, holes filled with car filler sanded and glassed. Upper hull is 1/32nd ply. Two 540 motors powered by 6v battery will be the power plant which is all neatly fitted beneath the main vehicle deck. It should be possible, if one should wish to drive a 00 Hornby train through the ship! The train already on the deck is an old continental Marklin sleeper carriage for authenticity.

I realise behind in the photos is another of my creations, the Icelandic motor vessel Gullfoss of the Eimskip shipping line, another Danish built ship from 1947. I have happy memories of sailing to Reykjavik on her regularly as a child. I drew up plans for her from old photos that I found. She regularly sails our local pond these days, a very solid heavy and reliable model able to sail in any weather!

I've included photos of the plans I've drawn up for the Freia - you can get an idea of what I'm aiming to achieve!

hama · « **Reply #1 on:** August 26, 2015, 09:22:33 pm »

That's indeed an interesting subject, really looking forward to watch your progress. She looks beautiful as does the "Gullfoss". If you haven't shown her before please do!
All the best!
Hama

carlmt · « **Reply #2 on:** August 26, 2015, 11:00:57 pm »

I echo Hama's sentiments........this is a wonderful model

Look forward to seeing more details of this one as she progresses

Edmund · « **Reply #3 on:** August 27, 2015, 05:19:04 pm »

As requested a few photos of the MV Gullfoss - it should be entitled 1:72 Danish passenger/cargo ship - this one is bread and butter construction - very cheap materials - carved floorboards with plywood decks and plastic card superstructure. Plans and lines were drawn from photos but it's a good likeness I believe. She likes a good Atlantic storm as you can see from the last photo, just like the original. The QE2 in the background is nothing to do with me - she just happened to be at anchor as we sailed past!

Since these photos were taken I've added passengers to the decks and a few cars sitting on the hatch covers and she looks much better.

hama · « **Reply #4 on:** August 27, 2015, 06:52:22 pm »

Thanks! She really is a beautiful vessel and on the last photo even the sea looks real!
Hama

Capt Podge · « **Reply #5 on:** August 28, 2015, 03:12:55 pm »

Hi Edmund,

Thanks for sharing - unusual AND interesting AND made from your own plans !

Regards,

Ray.

Edmund · « **Reply #6 on:** August 28, 2015, 05:01:41 pm »

Hi Ray,

I've always loved drawing up ship plans since I was at Primary school. They were a bit basic then. Sometimes I copied lines drawings I found changing scales and so on and then I progressed to designing my own plans usually from photographs of ships in books and which I had taken myself. One eventually gets to know what should be where in a ship! I love imagining the three dimensionally curves of a lines plan. Occasionally I get round to building the interesting ones!

derekwarner · « **Reply #7 on:** August 29, 2015, 12:44:41 am »

Yes Edmund.......understanding and drawing invisible waterlines from projections is very satisfying and a near lost art.........today's CAD packages don't really help without the basic knowledge

I was very fortunate to have a then retired Loftsman from the BHP Whyalla Shipyard extoll a little of his knowledge to me some 50 years ago

One of his favourite terms was ...'close your eyes and imagine how those lines blended'

After all, Noah didn't have a CAD package locked into his abacus did he!

... Derek

Edmund · « **Reply #8 on:** August 29, 2015, 07:54:48 am »

I've never got on with CAD drawing. I need the feel of the paper and a pencil or pen. But lucky you to have an expert professional teach you how to do it. Fantastic!

Edmund · « **Reply #9 on:** August 30, 2015, 04:59:55 pm »

That last post was meant to say lucky you to have had someone to teach you to draw the lines of ships properly with paper and pen - it didn't come out quite right now I look at it.

Here's the next stage of the Freia. Filling in the holes - for anchors and the doors by which passengers entered and creating the (pretend) doors by which the car deck was accessed, which was from the sides of the ship. Only the railway ran through the centre and the bow-door, cars, placed either side of the trains accessed the ships through doors at the sides of the front and on the open stern deck - think of the potential dangers the ship was in every time it sailed! And the main boat deck, which will lift off to gain access to the interior. There is a nice docking bridge to model on the next deck up between the lifeboats.

Access to the interior is by lifting off the superstructure from boat deck up and then also removing the main floor of the vehicle deck. Separate access for rudder and radio gear is by another hatch over the stern deck. Next to model is the main saloon and the bridge deck. This stage doesn't take so long! It's always the hull that takes an age.

Capt Podge · « **Reply #10 on:** August 31, 2015, 10:15:27 am »

It would appear that you have thought out the access points carefully - good to see that

Is there some sort of catch or other device, on the model, to hold the bow door in the closed position ?

Regards,

Ray.

Edmund · « **Reply #11 on:** August 31, 2015, 05:29:24 pm »

Two quick sketches to show how the bow door operates. No catches or locks - simply weight holds it closed. The visor itself is soldered from brass sheet, the shape worked out by shaping cardboard into the place for the door and tracing to the brass. The deck is also brass, and not shown is an inner sheet like a buffer across the end of the rail track which will I hope keep water off the vehicle deck from the bow wave etc.

To power the door I initially tried a geared motor which was very effective but I would have had to put in stop switches for the end of its range , and all potentially complex electronically. Instead , much simpler a small sail winch which I acquired cheaply, has a hole drilled in the edge of its drum, and the thread goes through that. Now the sail winch instead of reeling in about 30cm of line, draws in 4cm, and then lets out 4cm. As long as the travel of the lever attached to the bow door is also 4cm the door will open and close. I'm using a cheap 6 channel radio set that has some knobs that can be turned to operate two of the channels. The movement is steady and relatively slow, and the speed appears to be able to be adjusted as well. Over turn the knob and the bow visor will chomp up and down like a crocodile coming to get you, but I think one will get used to it - the upper and lower limits can be marked, but at least no danger of over opening and breaking the thread because the visor will just raise and lower as the winch goes round.

I am thinking that I could model a short pier with link span to float on our pond and the Freia could then approach it forwards and astern and dock to the link span. Docking forwards would of course require opening the bow visor....

Capt Podge · « **Reply #12 on:** September 01, 2015, 01:34:09 am »

Yep, that all makes sense to me - thanks Edmund

Regards,

Ray.

Edmund · « **Reply #13 on:** September 02, 2015, 07:42:14 pm »

Interior shots!

With the vehicle deck removed you can see the frames of the rudder compartment under the open rear deck. Rudder servo will fit between bulkheads two bulkheads back from the rudder arm. The radio gear, speed controllers etc will then go in the next compartment. Second photo shows the engine room. The flat bottom of the ship is created out of plywood so that motors and SLA batteries and ballast will be as low down as possible creating a good stable ship.

You can see the oiling tubes on the prop shafts behind the bulkhead. Because the tubes were slotted through the bulkheads I added these afterwards. A hole drilled through the propellor shaft tube and a brass tube soldered into it with a powerful soldering iron - to ensure the solder flowed properly...

Edmund · « **Reply #14 on:** September 02, 2015, 07:56:56 pm »

Well the day job does get in the way a little!

A little work has added another deck. Browny red squares will be where the boats will go - more paint needed on these and more varnish on decks. The deck houses are not complete obviously. A trim will go around the deck edges tidying them and creating a tiny flange that will hold the superstructure in place over the hatch. Will I make the railings? I'm not sure yet. I have the brass wire and must see if I can make a tidy job. Otherwise it will be the expense of about 120 stanchions. I would like the rails to be capped in wood and that would mean I have to make them.

We're at top deck level now, so the wheel house and docking bridges fore and aft will be the next stage and then I will begin to think about the fitting out. The passengers are already on a flight from Hong Kong......

carlmt · « **Reply #15 on:** September 02, 2015, 09:51:15 pm »

Lovely work here

Nice to see more passenger SHIPS being modelled as opposed to just tugs and fishing boats (not that I have anything against tugs and fishing boats - I have a few myself!!!).

Edmund · « **Reply #16 on:** September 02, 2015, 10:31:04 pm »

I've built a couple of tugs as well, but passenger ships are my passion. Attached are photos of another one of my scratch built creations, the Isle of Wight paddlesteamer Ryde, 1/48th scale.

ballastanksian · « **Reply #17 on:** September 02, 2015, 10:37:30 pm »

I have always been intrigued by train ferries and this captures the look perfectly. I can't wait to see this ship on the water. Your Gillfoss is lovely too.

I shall be following this topic with interest.

carlmt · « **Reply #18 on:** September 03, 2015, 12:12:52 am »

DAMN!!! That Ryde looks good............

Ardnave · « **Reply #19 on:** September 03, 2015, 11:37:02 am »

Enjoying your build very much, Freia is a interesting subject, and as a paddler fan I must say that the Ryde looks fantastic too

Clark

TailUK · « **Reply #20 on:** September 03, 2015, 12:04:03 pm »

I thought about a train ferry but an American one as I have an interest in American railroads. I found this and wondered how long it would take me.

Edmund · « **Reply #21 on:** September 03, 2015, 12:36:36 pm »

Wow, she's a big beast! The original was 129metres long and 35m wide. At 00 scale that would make a model just under 6 feet long and 18 inches wide.

Much of the work in building a boat is planning how it will be constructed, and being a paddle steamer one of the issues you will have is the amount of power that those paddle wheels will give to the boat to power it through the water. A friend has a model of one of the Dundee paddle ferries, and it is disappointingly slow on the water. Also things to think about are steering. I notice your picture is showing four rudders and as it is double ended that will be repeated at the other end. If you are doing a scale model, then that's 8 rudders - fun to model but takes some thinking how it all operates. I would probably use separate drives for each paddle and steer it like a tank and the rudders are then pretty irrelevant.

Other issue with a rail ferry is hatches through the deck, as they clearly cut through the rails - you need to think if that's a problem if you are going to run actual trains on the boat, or if they are just carried as a cargo.

As for length of time to build, how long's a length of string???

Edmund · « **Reply #22 on:** September 03, 2015, 12:40:23 pm »

Hi Clark, The Ryde was of course built on the Clyde, at Denny Brothers of Dumbarton... down your way....

TailUK · « **Reply #23 on:** September 03, 2015, 01:26:45 pm »

My railroad is in Z gauge so the boat would be a little under 600 mm. I hadn't thought about intergrating it into a layout. I've been thinking about a paddler for a while and have acquired some Heng Long tank gearboxes which should be perfect for independent paddle steering. The 8 rudders could be a challenge though.

Edmund · « **Reply #24 on:** September 03, 2015, 03:02:17 pm »

Z gauge makes it tiny in model ship building terms which creates a whole load of new problems. I would guess a displacement of 15kg at 00 gauge but only just over 1kg in Z gauge. Also very small spaces for motors, and servos though if you use a Heng Long gear box then you won't need to worry so much about rudders. But your biggest problem (or smallest depending on how you look at it!) is the size of the paddle wheels. In 00 gauge they might have been at most 15cm across, but in Z gauge only 5cm and that might just be too small to make functional. Also your freeboard would be very small, may be only a centimetre or so - but a very interesting build if you can work out the build issues!

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Author Topic: 1:72 scale model Danish train ferry, the Freia (Read 29113 times)