Model Boat Mayhem

The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Working Vessels => Topic started by: Eddy Matthews on January 22, 2009, 10:37:38 am

Title: Cigar ship
Post by: Eddy Matthews on January 22, 2009, 10:37:38 am
I have to admit I have no idea where to post this, so I hope I'm in the right area?

This is my latest project undergoing on the water tests yesterday - Based on a real boat called the Ross Winans, built at Millwall in 1866, it was an experimental luxury steam yacht.

It's proved to be a real challenge to build as at 1:43 scale, the model is 72" long with a beam of 4.5". Twin 6.25" 9 bladed props drive the vessel using two MFA motors geared at 50:1 - I expected it to roll over and sink, especially as it was too big for the test tank, so it was made purely from mathematical calculations to estimate the weight and get the correct waterline. Surprisingly enough, my calculations were correct and it sits within 0.25" of it's designed waterline.

It certainly won't appeal to everyone, and there's a lot of work still to do before it's completed, but I thought a few people may be interested....

Regards
Eddy
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: barryfoote on January 22, 2009, 12:21:31 pm
Eddy,

She is brilliant. Now we need more pictures and information about her..

Barry
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: Eddy Matthews on January 22, 2009, 12:50:41 pm
The cigar ships were designed and built by the Winans family, successful railway engineers from Baltimore, Maryland who moved into marine engineering with enthusiasm and great expenditures of their family wealth, but less success.  Their radical marine design concept included an ultra-streamlined spindle-shaped hull with minimum superstructure.
 
The Winans constructed at least four ships between 1858 and 1866.  Two of these attracted considerable public attention as well as skepticism and outright criticism from the technical establishment.  Ross Winans and his sons were, first and foremost, engineers experimenting with innovative concepts.  The innovative technology would certainly have attracted Jules Verne's attention.  He may well have seen one of the boats sailing or berthed in England.  Some of their innovations were adopted for surface ships in the twentieth century, and many of the pioneer submarines built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century resembled them.  Later in the twentieth century, aerodynamicists rediscovered the benefits of the spindle.

The Winans launched their final effort in 1866 in London.  The Ross Winans was 256 feet long with the same 16-foot diameter as their first boat and displaced about 400 tons.  It did have a nearly conventional superstructure atop the hull amidships, 130 feet long and ten feet wide, tapering to a point at each end.  Inverting the first design, it was driven by a 22-foot diameter propeller at each end.  These nine-bladed props were powered by an engine room amidships.  The Ross Winans underwent trials in the Solent channel but made no more than one or two coastal voyages, never going to sea in earnest.

The Ross Winans remained moored near Southampton until the end of the 19th century when it was sold for scrap1.  In 1897 the New York Times reported both vessels for sale after William L. Winans' death earlier in the year.  The very short piece says the yachts had been "moored in Southampton waters for twenty-five years", that  "enormous sums of money have been spent in experiments upon them, and in their maintenance, but very few people have ever seen them under way."

Regards
Eddy
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: Colin Bishop on January 22, 2009, 01:02:13 pm
I seem to remember that Colin Gross built a model of one of these ships back in the early 70's. It attracted quite a bit of attention. It's good to see people building models of unusual prototypes like this. Excellent job Eddy, thanks for posting details. Keep us up to date with progress.

Colin
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: oldiron on January 22, 2009, 01:24:05 pm
An interesting vessel and great model. I assume the props must have been contra rotating, but how does the vessel steer?

John
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: tigertiger on January 22, 2009, 01:28:16 pm
It does look like a sub doesn't it.

A bit like the early 'U' Boats, surface runners.

The props are also a bit sub-like.
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: The long Build on January 22, 2009, 01:31:55 pm
Interesting ship , just googled it and have come across a few sites one with an actual photo , but on this the prop appears to be in the middle rather than the bow and stern , or is this another type.



Here is the link I found , the picture I refer is about half way down.

http://home.att.net/~karen.crisafulli/steamer.html
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: furball on January 22, 2009, 01:41:15 pm
Different boat isn't it? The one on the web site was built in 1858, and this one's 1866.

Lance
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: dreadnought72 on January 22, 2009, 02:17:59 pm
Full marks, furball, for going for something different. And while we're on the subject of "bizarre experiments from the 19th century", can I provide a heads'-up to

The Roller Ship (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/news_events/futuristics/maritime/5.html)

 %%

A copy of the original article is here. (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/news_events/futuristics/maritime/mar_rollerboat.pdf)

Wow.

Andy
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: furball on January 22, 2009, 04:23:22 pm
Here's the yacht...

http://home.att.net/~JVNautilus/Winans/RossWinans.html (http://home.att.net/~JVNautilus/Winans/RossWinans.html)


Lance
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: oldiron on January 22, 2009, 04:52:06 pm
For unusual boats try the Knapp Roller boat but in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Wasn't successful, however, it was unique.

http://www.ripnet.com/sites/colonel_edward_jessup/UEL_Col_J/knapp_roller_boat.html

John
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: andyn on January 22, 2009, 06:09:20 pm
What an incredible looking boat, I certainly wouldn't have wanted to fall off, would be the worlds biggest blender :o
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: Garabaldy on January 22, 2009, 06:15:41 pm
I really like it.  Where did you get the props from?  Did you design it yourself from pictures or did you get hold of plans from somewhere?

Any pictures of inside the hull?  Must be tight in there!

Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: Eddy Matthews on January 22, 2009, 06:24:09 pm
I really like it.  Where did you get the props from?  Did you design it yourself from pictures or did you get hold of plans from somewhere?

Any pictures of inside the hull?  Must be tight in there!



Thanks Gary,

The props were made by a couple of my clubmates, and a superb job they did of them!

It's basically built from a few known dimensions and a couple of etchings that were published around the time of the vessels launch....

No interior photos yet as it's too untidy!! ;) But yes the space is VERY tight!!

Regards
Eddy
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: Garabaldy on January 22, 2009, 07:24:04 pm
Thats impressive.  They look excellent.  I would imagine comercialy bought ones that size would be quite a price...  What did you construct the hull with?

Im guessing you have seen this already but im sure others would like to see too.

(http://www.waldenfont.com/papermodels/images/rossWinansLarge.jpg)
(http://www.waldenfont.com/papermodels/images/large/rossWinans03.jpg)

I'm always on the look out for something new to try.  This one is defiantly an inspiration.

G
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: Eddy Matthews on January 22, 2009, 07:39:37 pm
The hull is a series of truncated cones - I made plywood disks of the various diameters I needed, and then rolled 1/32" plywood sheet around them. The plywood disks were then bored out to take the propshafts... At that point they were just slid together onto the shafts and glued using epoxy.

Getting the plywood to bend around the smallest diameter (It's only 1.375" diameter at the props) was a challenge - But brute force and ignorance (and LOTS of clamps) got the job done in the end....

I hope that makes sense?

Regards
Eddy
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: Garabaldy on January 22, 2009, 07:58:47 pm
yup that makes sense.  Looks good.  I look forward to seeing her progress :-)
Title: Re: Cigar ship
Post by: Tester on January 22, 2009, 08:35:23 pm
Here's a 1/250 paper version....

http://www.waldenfont.com/papermodels/productPage.asp?productID=10 (http://www.waldenfont.com/papermodels/productPage.asp?productID=10)

With a brief write up