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[vchiu]

Hello everyone
When I  introduced myself here, I said I would introduce my Garnock. However, I believe this model should take priority as it has a strong link with UK.


in 1990, as I barely graduated from high school, I bought the first "Serious" kit that started my dedication to the 1/50 or 1/48 scale.
This was the Billing Boats plank on frame kit of the St Canute.
The overall lines of this fine tug appealed to me, and its peculiar history between Denmark and England brought some additional twist.
That the real ship was preserved in an operating condition - according to the building instructions - added the final nail to my decision into making the move.

This was the first plank on frame model for me, as previous models were easier Robbe or Graupner kits  with vac-formed hulls and superstructures.
I started building the model with electric power in mind.  Regretfully I did not have any camera handy so I don't have any picture of the model yet.
The building progressed slowly, until it got into a halt, as my student life and other priorities took over.
Fast forward to 1998. I signed up for a 6 month internship with an American company based in Hemel Hempstead (Herts).  Moving to the UK, I decided to take my model of the St Canute with me, with the intent of finishing it during my stay.  As my free time is dedicated to ship modelling and real ship research, I discovered the wealth of Marine related publications in the UK, among thos ships monthly which quickly became my regular read.
To my shattering dismay, I discovered the closing down of the Exeter Maritime museum. There goes my plans to visit the St Canute! 
Regulary following preservation news, I was heartbroken to learn the dismantling of the ST Sea Alarm in Cardiff.  I do not remember how, but I learned about the endeavors of a swedish man who was trying to save a steam tug. Finding such a project awesome, I decided to write a letter to this man, Mr Strandell , to express my support and willingness to help however I could.  Frankly speaking,  I wrote without hoping much. To my great surprise, I received a phone call of  Mr Strandell inviting me to come over to Exeter : He just bought the St Canute with plans to save it (not her , right?)  from the scrapyard and to bring it back to Sweden.
He did not need to invite me twice. As soon as I got discharged from work, I litteraly hopped on my motorbike to go to Exeter over the week-end.

I managed to find my way to the former Maritime museum.  Here how the St Canute looked like when I arrived





To be continued

[vchiu]

The St canute was in very bad shape indeed



     



The wooden deck was so dilapidated that, at some point, it was covered with tar in order to reduce rainwater ingress.
The master's cabin's wood paneling had rotten away, which made it impossible to access normally.  many wood fixtures had simply disappeared, letting rain go inside the boat.

   


Lifeboats were decaying wood objects ready to sink when lowered into the water.


        


while I concentrated on putting the steam windlass back into operation, fire was put into the boiler to raise  pressure overnight
A very kind gentleman living on a nearby  boat offered me accomodation for the night.  He told us the tug had suffered neglect and lack of maintenance for much earlier than the closure of the Maritime museum.
The following morning, steam pressure was high enough to test the whistle which produced a beautiful 2-tone sound.


  The following morning, there was enough pressure to test the beautiful 2-tone whistle.

Regretfully, despite many attempts, the main 500 HP triple expansion engine would not turn.

  Corrosion due to stagnant water  made a  sliding seat swell so much that the Piston would not budge.
This issue needed a lot of time to correct. It was one of the many hurdles Mr Strandell faced during his endeavour to bring this tug back home.


Reluctantly plowing my way back through a heavy downpour, I decided to convert my model of the St Canute into a working steam model.
I bought a boiler, a burner, a gas tank and an oscilating two cylinder steam engine from a manufacturer met during a modelling show at Beale Park.
The make was Stour Valley Steam (SVS), built  by a very kind gentleman.   
Switching from electric power to steam raised many challenges that I was unaccustomed to.  One of those was ballasting and weight distribution.  I decided to put lead shots on the bottom of the hull,
all trapped in a layer of resin.

Apologies for the lack of pictures. I had no camera at that time. 
My internship ended in september 1998 and I quickly got a job in Dublin. Despite being a port and Ireland being an Island, there was much less to see in terms of maritime interests.
Back to my model, I realized  the plastic funnel delivered with the kit would melt with the high temperatures of the flue.  I decided to rebuilt one in brass

    This allowed me to reproduce the oval shape of the real funnel


Model was finished in 1999 and made its first test runs in a pond close to my workplace.

 


I forgot to mention that the SWA kindly accepted me as a member during my stay in the UK.   They offered me a display spot on their booth during the 1998 International Festival of the Seas and another one at the London Model Engineering show of  2001. 

 

I could even test the model on the basin for a short run.


To be continued 

[JimG]

Sad to see the state she was in when rescued. I visited the museum in 1986 and she was well looked after then, the whole museum was thriving at this stage with a rebuild of a pilot cutter underway. I have a number of photos of the Canute but unfortunately on slides, must get them scanned some day.

Jim

[ballastanksian]

Welcome to the Mayhem Forum! It is always a shame when a vintage machine suffers in this way. It might be a salutary lesson on why preserving battleships would be such a costly pastime. Your funnel looks great!

[vchiu]

Thank you for your input Jim.
I would be delighted to see your pictures.

Hello Ballastanksian. I was privileged enough to visit 2 museum Battleships on the US NE coast  a few years ago, happy to report that the caretakers did an excellent job of keeping those mighty beasts in good conditions. Fore sure, this is an expensive affair.

Regarding the St Canute, the good thing is that after a 2-year odyssey back to Sweden, very important  works were carefully made in order to help this tug last the next decades
Those interested to know more on the outstanding job done may  join the S/S Stockvik group on facebook
More pictures, including mines,  can also be seen on  shipspotting.

My own model of the Stockvik sat in  a cupboard for nearly twenty years  until last year.
After I joined a ship modelling club with a few steam enthusiasts, I decided to take my model for an outing. Regretfully, a fire due to a badly set burner damaged my model enough to cancel my sailing.
I had to partially rebuild my model in order to prevent this from happening again.


        


  [size=78%][/size][size=78%][/size]

      Sorry for the poor picture arrangement. I struggle to put them correctly.


To sum-up work done :
1) I removed everything in the hull and painted with 600°C heat resistant paint
2) Two new water resistant servos took the place of the older and cheaper ones.
3) Istallation of a new receiver case designed to protect it from fire (at least for a few minutes)
4) The old 3mm Billing Boats  propeller shaft was replaced with a 4 mm made by Propshop with oiler.
4) The old wooden rudder was replaced by one in brass
5) Rigging was made with sewing thread. I replaced it with thin stainless steel wire.



     

[vchiu]

And a few pictures of the model underway

on the test pond
   

and during an outing
 
   
    

Here are 2 videos kindly made by Raphaël Havranek, a steamboat enthusiast ( sorry, commentary is in French)

Underway

Steam machinery


Cheers
Valery

[JimG]

Hi Valery, after a bit of work digitising many of my old slides I have here some of the photos of the St Canute. (They are actualy reversed as I put the slides on the scanner upside down)

Jim

[JimG]

And a few more, I have more photos but less interesting. (The photos have been reduced in size from the originals although they original scans are not as good as a modern digital photo.)

Jim

[vchiu]

Hi Jim, these are outstanding pictures !

Thank you very much indeed.

As you said, the St Canute was in a much better state during those days.

Here are some pics taken durin summer 1999  in Terneuzen (NL) where she had to stop in order to fix boiler troubles.


    

   

   

   




I see that the mast was already removed when you took the pictures.
As it couldn't be found, a new one had to be made from scratch.


Warm regards
Valery