Model Boat Mayhem
Masterclasses => General Havelock => Topic started by: Bryan Young on August 31, 2007, 11:08:58 pm
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Well, some of you asked for a diary of this build: so against my better judgement , here goes.
Part one of heaven knows how many.
Thought I would begin with a sort of drawing of what it should eventually look like.
If you can get hold of a copy of a book entitled "Coastal & Short Sea Liners" by C.V.Waine (your local library can probably borrow a copy for you) you will be astounded by the wealth of information this author has put together. There are plans by the hundreds. The downside is that all (or the vast majority) are printed at around 7" x 5". Having been smitten by the odd-ball aspects of "Leona" (as she was originally) it became a steep learning curve to enlarge this little drawing from 7" to the 51" I wanted. I could have taken the drawing to a pro. copying shop, but as I had never done anything like this before I decided to have a go myself. (With permission from Mr. Waine).
I struggled with the sizing and everything and eventually managed to produce a correctly scaled drawing on a gazillion sheets of A4 paper that I had to put together like a jigsaw. About a week I guess from start to completion. I never realised how much Selotape costs nowadays!
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This is all getting very complicated.
Mr.Waines book does not always do hull drawings. So I had to do my own. Utilising a similar, if larger, vessel I "computerised" the lines to fit the size of "Havelock". Time consuming but also an education in scaling and proportioning. Although counter sterns are beautiful to look at they are a real pain in the tripes to model. Should have been banned before they were invented!
The bow is easy. But as Balsa is so expensive these days I have come to use the very high density foam that double-glazing window units use as a protection. For Balsa, read Foam. Same job, same result.
"Frames" and backbone for the plug are standard procedure with (possibly) the difference being that I make everything the same height. That is, from building board to keel...I am an upside-down builder. The "frames" are marked and slotted to take a length of 2mm ply. This gives an accurate sheer line and a good flange for the mould...trimming thereafter is easy.
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Showing how "gappy" the plug planking can be if it is to be plated...as long as the hull is smooth, that is.
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Plating completed with the exception of the 2 half round rubbing strakes. The stern is not "bent" by the way..just the camera angle!The "notch" in the keel will eventyally take the bottom part of the removable alluminium stern-frame.
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The plug waxed and ready for the gel-coat. This will be grey to give a contrast with the white plating and also, later, to give a contrast to the black gel I will use for the final hull. The rubbing strakes are visible here as are the large cargo/animal doors. The barrier between the 2 halves is primarily a length of 1" aluminium angle with 2mm ply attached to it (double sided tape again) around the fiddly bits. The odd gaps being filled/sealed with plasticene. No.17 is the final split mould..warts and all. The top part shows the mould after the remnants of some of the plates have been peeled off exposing a couple of faults that will need filling while the bottom part shows how it looked when separated from the plug. It looks a mess, but the plates peel off very easily leaving (hopefully) a nice finish.
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This is the "uncleaned-up" hull as pulled from the mould with the exception of the ports (can't get used to calling them scuttles..them is what coal comes in). There is also a slight mis-alignment with the deck edge in the area between the 2 widely spaced ports. This can be file down to fine up the sheer line. No.27 looks messier than it really is with the light grossly over emphasizing things. But I'm afraid I will have to live with my awful plating error...2 plates with the same butt line! ( for those interested I seem to recall that plate butts should be no less than 2 frame widths apart...frames were fitted about 22" apart). I did'nt noyice this glitch until I actually printed out this photo. Rats!!! But as most of the lower plate will be red oxide perhaps the error will not be so noticable!
Colin. Thanks for your query.
I make the plates out of "catering grade" card offcuts (the heavier stuff they box wediing cakes in) but it depends on the scale you are building at. I think it come in 2 or 3 "weights". Mine suits a 3/4" plate thickness at 1:48. The card has a "glazed" side and an "unglazed" side. The double-sided tape acts like superglue on speed when attached to the "rough" side. Careful placement!
Generally speaking I manage to get hold of a proper shell-expansion drawing but there seems to be nothing readily available for this ship.
Some of the drawings in Mr.Waines book give an indication of plating patterns, and this with my imagining what size of iron plate (not steel) could reasonably be handled in 1895 led me to the sizes you see. I think I have the forward stealer plates a bit wrong though.
In truth, if you want to build a really accurate hull with plating it is vital to have some sort of expansion plan. It is possible to draw up your own but will be very difficult.
The rivetting is really very simple. You and I both know that rivets are done in lines of 1,2,3,4,5 or even 6 rows, and given that a rivet head is not much more than 1" in diameter doing this accurately for a working model would be horrendous. Life is too short! (OK for a "static" though). Also, in the real world the plates are also rivetted to the frames. At 22" apart. You must be joking! The model would just be a collection of rivet heads.
So I just use single an double rows around the plate edges. No matter what material you use for plating it (to me) seems impossible to get a nice clean rivet mark when impressed on the back of a plate (to eventually give a raised rivet on the final hull. I have discussed this before. I use a suitably modified clock gear wheel on a stick. Eventually on the final hull, the rivets are actually "indents" rather than raised items. This has 2 big "plus points". 1) The human eye sees shadow and light and does not readily know what is a positive and what is a negative. A good example of this is to look at a negative picture of a human face mould. Can you tell which bits are "in" and which are "out"? Bet you can't. But the big plus point comes when you have to rub down the final hull to remove blemishes before painting etc. If the rivets are left "proud" you will obliterate them with the rubbing down. Cannot happen if they are indented, so you save all that tedious work instead of dashing off to the pub in tears.
Thanks for you comments DickyD. You got me started on this and I haven't got to the end of the hull build yet! Cheers. BY.
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I cannot apologize enough for the quality of the next 4 pictures. The nights are drwing in and I had forgotten to take some pics. of internal access and the fitting of the decks. As the decks are a fairly important part of the ship I think this post may be longer than the average. So go to bed now.
The little hole at the back will take the top of the stern frame and the rudder post. There will be a 3rd bulkhead about 8" from aft.
Pics 1969 and 1970 are meant to show how much I value easy access into the hull. Fairly standard so far, the little blocks of unpainted wood are the bearers for the "main" deck. Set just 1/8th of an inch down from the deck edge they will ensure that the 1/8" thick main deck will sit ok when cut and chamfered to suit.Except, of course, that it won't because of the sheer of the deck.
Pic 1972 shows 2 longitudinal bearers cut to the sheer and the deck is screwed to them. The pics don't show it up, but there is 1/2" of sheer in perhaps 4' of length.The large blocks are to prevent the top falling off. Works up to at least 90 degrees, and if it heels any more than that other problems will arise! The 2 smaller chocks are cut to the angle of the masts. More on that MUCH later.
Apart from the oddball ships have a cambered deck. Many modellers ignore this and leave the decks flat. I worked this one out to be 3/16ths" over the full beam. Quite obvious when you see it. If you have never done a cambered deck before then please remember that the full camber is only evident at the ships max. beam. It flattens off as the hull narrows, but still has the same curvature...the top part of the curve cut to suit the beam at that point. Image 1971 shows the obvious placement points for this particular ship, but the principle applies to all. Also, in way of hatches etc. a little bit of packing may be needed to prevent sagging.
I don't like doing the next bit. Fitting and gluing the 2mm ply "false" deck to the main flat one. It is the only time on a model that I use the slow setting sort of Araldite. The sheet of 2mm ply was cut roughly to shape with perhaps a 1/2" overhang and severely clagged down using every clamp and clothes peg I could lay my hands on. The edges are important. Also, it is easier to clean off the "squidgies" before it sets...as I have discovered to the detriment of nearly a full week lost getting the set stuff off again! Not this time! Leave it alone, enjoy a bottle of red and resist the temptation to "nip out and see how its doing". You are committed now!. Next post tomorrow.
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Now that the araldite has finally cured a bit of deck edge trimming was required. I used one of those great little "Davids Bullnose Planes" (the ones with a razor blade).Planed down to the edge of the upper rubbing strake and then took off another millimeter.
The only way I have found to show the slight (3" or so) upstand at the outer edge of the waterway is to superglue a "T" bar section upside down to the underside of the deck edge. 2 advantages here (apart from providing the required upstand. The "top" of the "T" is now outboard and gives the impression of a full depth "fashion plate", the second is that the slight extra thickness under the deck will give a better housing for the eventual fitting of the stanchions. Difficult to see on the earlier pics, but it is there and blends in with the top of the rubbing strake.
Now that the main-deck was "fitted" and all the required "cut-outs" were done the planking was given 3 or 4 coats of "Flair" matt laquer. Sorry. Forgot to mention the planking! Other posts describe this, and as you can see the Insulation tape is quite visible. One of our more respected club members does not like this as he reckons the plank abbutments will not be totally waterproof...after 3 or 4 coats of laquer, they are! All of the above is trial and fit.
The next stage was to complete the "sunken" forward "well-deck", although it is not reall a "well-deck" as the true main deck continues at this level for most of the length of the ship. Not that that matters for a model. Pics of this deck accompany this post.
The bulwarks and bulkheads enclosing this deck are probably in the region of 7' high. As the bulwarks are moulded into the hull I had the "rough" side of the glass hull inboard and visible. Not nice. A false interior was maade up from thinnish plasticard and double sided taped to the inboard. The for'd and after bulheads were given the same treatment. Much to my disgust, I realised just after I had fitted the door hinges and so on that it was obvious that the doors had to open outwards. The locking bars were Ok, but if the doors opened inwards they would a) limit cargo handling and stowage and b) they would be vulnerable to breaching in bad weather.
Silly me. So now I have hinges on both sides if the doors!
The wood access doors are of teak veneer with a thin frame of veneer around them.
All of the ports (scuttles, whatever) are of brass tubing sliced to about 3/16ths " and filled with Bondaglass casting resin. I do this by simply placing all of the empty bits of tube on a gash bit of perspex and dribble in a bit of the resin. Some of it seeps out from underneath but that is OK, when the resin is set (or nearly) then the little tubes can be topped up to the required level. The resin does not stick to the perspex (or lexan or whatever) and the final result can be simply tapped off with a light tap . Trim off the excess with a Stanley knife an push fit into the pre-drilled holes, leaving a mere smidgeon of the brass rim protruding.
The main hatch is (for the moment) removeable. I may need to put some ballast into it later. Also, with a large boat to be fitted on top of this hatch it will be easier to do.
The gangway is pretty straightforwad but quite impressive (and different)..I do not believe that the ship-owners were that much fussed about the welfare of the crew, but if there were 20 or 30 cows down there then they were important.
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Just a simple picture to show how it is coming together.
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Now I come to the part of modelling that I enjoy the most. Superstructure.
This one is a composite structure. At the forward end there are (internally) the fresh and salt water tanks. Just aft of them is the boiler room, then the engine room and then (thank goodness I did'nt have to live there) was a cabin for 2 other Officers. If living above the Engine Room was'nt enough. immediately aft of them is the steam steering gear! Poor sods!
The "stable doors" were quite usual on older ships. Prevents unwanted access and also provides a bit of fresh air. Even modern ships can have these in the way of the galley (for instance).
This is a basic 2mm ply structure covered with 15 though plasticard. Do I really need to tell you how I stuck it on? The top is not fastened down as I do not know as yet where all the "bits and bobs" are going to go.
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forgot the picture!
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Today was "a bad hair day"..as the jargon goes. Everything I wanted to do interfered with future fitting. More McEwans required.
Finally thought that permanently fitting the passenger saloon would not cause problems. Could be wrong.
Again, the structure is a simple box of 2mm ply. While it was still in "bits" (4 walls) I cut out the window and door openings. Just realised that almost everything I have done on the "top half" of this model has been done with no more that a Stanley knife and a scalpel! No lathe or fancy machining as yet, but coming along. With the 4 walls fitting the deck "cut-out" neatly and the deck-line marked a layer of d-s tape (I will use d-s as I am getting fed up with writing it in full) was placed over the ply and the "cut-outs" cut out. A nice layer of veneer was then stuck on to the ply and, again, the "cut-outs" were cut out. A quick sanding down and I have 4 veneered walls. Very bland. Lay the "wall" (bulkheads is far to tiersome to write all the time) on a nice flat surface and then spend ages fitting window frames. Actually, it is quite easy if your local model shop or Dolls House shop sells these very thin strips of wood already cut. Window frames done, then you decide how you want to panel the doors etc. I use superglue to stick on the fiddly bits..but beware. Leave for a couple of days before laquering. More info soon.
Windows. Some little while ago there was a dicussion on making the windows semi-opaque. All sorts of ideas were mooted but I suggested that as acetate sheet comes with a protective film on both sides, then why not just leave one side (the inner) intact with the coating film still attached. This stuff comes with a variety of backing colours. I choose blue. Longevity? Well, "Gold Ranger" has been around a few years now and the windows still have the "blue tinge". Needless to say, the acetate is stuck to the interior with d-s tape! The pic of the saloon is larger than "life-size", but it was still the best my old fingers could do.
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I have been pondering the methods of bridge to engine room communications in circa 1895. I wondered about the use of voice pipes ( one of my earlier ships had them), but looking through a book called "Victorian and Edwardian Merchant Ships" I saw a pic of a huge E/R telegraph that was basically the same as those used now. Except that more "modern" ones were a bit smaller. So that is OK then...except that some telegraphs were of the big handwheel on the side variety (like rev. telegraphs are today...or yesterday).
This period of transition from sail to steam I find both fascinating and frustrating. So much of the 1890's technology seems to have lasted well into the 1990's (surprising, but true) before electronics took over.
OK, so now I am more or less happy with engine control.
Now for the steering, I am happy enough about the layout of chains, but there is a huge chasm between the bridge wheel and the steering gear I mentioned earlier. This would have to be a rod with bevelled gears at each end. Again, I sailed on a couple of old ships that had a similar arrangement. New arrivals would use this rod running through their cabins as a handy place to tie on their washing line. Result..ships steering locked. True!
The rest of the day was spent glueing and cutting the planking for the bridge front weathershield....and doing the preliminary for the buoyant seats (as per the old Tyne ferries) as I could not envisage the amount of passengers carried all getting into the 4 lifeboats in the event of a disaster. I am beginning to live in this ship! How sad is that. No pics today.
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Getting ready to fit some stanchions. Not permanently, but to allow me space to fit the various vent pipes without fouling a stanchion. I have always used Jim Lanes items because he is a friend of mine and a certain amount of loyalty is called for! There are others on the market and I suggest you look at <www.rbmodel.com> for a new range of fittings you might like to try.
I have never been totally happy with Jims little tube method of fitting, so I make up my own jigs (thick plasticard for me, but anything will do) and insert short lengths of wire at suitable points. This gives a standard height and (to me) is infallible.
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Another problem I have been struggling with has been the making and fitting of the pillars that go from one deck to the next.
In the past I have been happy to use the "thicker" grade of plastic coated piano wire. My local model shops seem to have a supply problem here. I really only liked it because I did'nt have to paint it, but the big disadvantage was that it could'nt be drilled through.
Necessity being the mother of invention etc. I bought a few lengths of sliding fit alluminium tubing..the larger tube is perfect for the pillars and (serendipity) the smaller is ideal for the base of stanchions. So for once I can have pillars going through the wood rail and have the next (upper row) of stanchions in a straight (vertical) line. The reason I am using 2 tubes is because I can cut the larger one to the required height between the decks but use the smaller one (slightly longer) to anchor the pillar into both the deck and the deckhead. I can also drill through the alluminium to allow the rails to pass through. This is a first for me, but I am sure it will work.
I am also working on the lifeboat davits. 6" or so in real life diameter at the widest but tapering off at the top to perhaps 4" or less. Anyone making radial davits? My solution was to trawl the charity shops and collect as many alluminium knitting needles as I could find. Reject the "modern" ones with squarish heads and try to find the round-head sort. Radial davits have a "ball" on the end to take the various bits of rigging. The "round-heads" are easier to fashion into a ball than the newer flat headed things. But more on that later. BY.
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Another and so far insurmountable problem is that of the very large wooden steering wheel that were always a feature on older ships. These things were huge. I know because I sailed on one so fitted! At least 6' or 7' in diameter and beautifully made.
How do you make a miniature? I can do most of the woodwork, but inlaying the brass has defeated me. Any ideas? Please..
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Just spent a couple of days fitting stanchions, gluing down the Bridge deck, fitting numerous eye-bolts and temporarily placing the weird looking structure that will eventually be the lifeboat platform. No rails fitted as yet, but they have been tried out. I've left the rails off for the moment as a lot of other fittings are very close to the rails and they are easier to fit before the rails are put in.
The large "house" is fitted permanently, but the top is loose. Many items are to go on this deck..not least the funnel. I intend the funnel to go all the way through to the main deck for stiffness and to get the funnel rake approaching correct. The little "gooseneck" vents are simply bent bits of plastic coated wire with 1/16" of the plastic trimmed off to give a fairly regular height.
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No pics today..tomorrow, perhaps.
Most of the day has been spent cogitating. The new fittings are the "cruciform" bitts used to lower the lifeboats. Modern ones...if there are any still left afloat...are(were) only about 18" tall. "Havelock" being built in the mid 1890's probably had more robust units. Primarily because they had to use "all hands and the cook" to heave the things up again. Also, the positioning of the reels for the rope falls would have to be "odd", to avoid passengers being strangled by loopy ropes draped all over the place. This train of thought went on to wonder how lifeboat embarkation would be carried out. Ships plans for model makers never seem to consider this...but truth to be said, few "real" plans do either. So first of all the ship needs to have an opening "gate" at each lifeboat station to let personnel embark into the lifeboat. But then the boat is too heavy, so the passengers etc. have to climb down a version of a pilots ladder. Ever seen these marked on your plans? So ladders have to be made. On these older ships the lifeboat falls were invariably of the 3 sheave variety, which in turn means that the length of rope needed to lower a boat to the water must at the very minimum be 6 times the height of the drop height. So the rope reels must be pretty large, and placed so as to not inconvenience the passengers.
Not many plans (in my experience) show normal gangway areas. Or methods used to raise and lower the things. OK, I know you can use a "gangplank", but not when a ship is at anchor and so on, so all ships have a "proper" gangway whether they use it much or not. Funny things, gangways: but at least the older ships gangways had fixed treads and not the auto. levelling ones they have now. Take up less room for a start. But (horrors), at the top and bottom there would be a grating. I know HOW to make a grating at this scale...and have done it, but life is too short, so now I am looking at sieves and tea-strainers (! sad). The bottom of the gangway is attached to a bridle....and a block'n'tackle to lift and lower it. Space has to be found on a relatively flat part of the hull.
And there are 2 of them. Yeuch. But that is for a future post.
"Havelock" was also rigged as a schooner. No real problems there, but the wheelhouse to the funnel had a huge space between the 2 which was covered by the mainsail boom. In which case, how on earth did the Master blow the steam whistle?
Hence the navel gazing. But no little genie is going to do it for me so I'd better get on with it. Somehow. BY.
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Pics 1991 and 1994 show the bridge deck under construction. The planked front (and eventually a bit of the side) is of seperate planks glued to a pre-cut plasticard "base" unit. I always use a glue such as Bostick for this as it gives a bit of "wriggle" room. Take no notice of the very roughly plonked down stanchions. They will line up eventually, but I needed to site them to see how they would line up with 2 access ladders and the not yet done area for the sidelights. It all looks a little garish with a flash but in real-life it is all quite muted. Bits of the paintwork need to be cleaned up a bit as well.
Pic 1992: Lifeboat bearer structure coming on and a 2 (of 8) of the davit support pillars temporarily placed. When aluminium items can be spray painted with a good white I have found Halfords "Radiator" paint absolutely superb. And the gangway/embarkation gates need a bit of trimming.
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As autumn is now with us and natural light is pretty poor I will have to revert to indoor "flash". Too garish but thats the way it is. Sorry.
My original idea of drilling the wooden top rails surrounding the main uprights proved to be a non-starter. Doing a top rail in "bits" looked too "bitty" and not in a nice general curve as you would expect. Bin that idea. The only other way that I can see is to grind out slots to fit around the uprights.The teak top rails are 1/8" x 1/16". To allow for the wastage when cutting the curves around the stern I had to buy a sheet of the stuff. The "backboards" at the back of the sidelight screens should have been left square...now I have to devise a method of disguising a stupid mistake. On older ships the open ends of the top rails had a brass capping...yet to be done. The fitting of the wood capping is really quite easy, if a little fiddly and time consuming. I use a "pin-vice" to drill a slightly oversize hole 1/2 way through the 1/16" thick rail. It then just clicks into place. The wood cappings are (or should be) rounded off on the upper edges...really posh, round the bottoms as well.
Since I was asked to do a "blow by blow" account of this build I became more aware of the fact that many modellers do not have a "full" workshop. To this end I have tried to use the minimum amount of tools possible.
All of the superstructure so far has been built with only a couple of knives, a few files, a razor saw and a pin-vice. Kitchen table work.
I also do not buy any commercial fittings that I have not previously made from scratch. This is particularly true of cowl ventilators. To this end I made a simple and yet efficient vacuum forming machine. Produced very good results but at a far higher cost than "buying them in". I still use it when commercial parts are just not available.
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Time to bite another bullet. I am getting fed up to my non-existent back teeth with stanchions and "taff" rails. I wonder where that expression came from? Welsh stokers sitting on them hoping to fall off? Yet another odd-ball question to do with model making!
I guess it is now time for me to at least think about the lifeboat davits and the boats. The boats alone could be worthy of a new topic. The davits (as previously mentioned) will be made from aluminium knitting needles. The boats...ah, well. As they are again clinker built and quite "old" should I make them out of plasticard and fake the timber with "Sanolin" (or something), or attempt to use "real wood". Plasticard is easier as the end joints can be squeezed in to give a smoother look. But wood looks better. Don't know yet. Edging towards the plasticard answer as there are 4 large ones (6" or so) and 2 smaller "cutter" types to fit. I foresee many pictures and numerous words on this subject, especially as I like modelling the boats "open" without covers. It took 3 months of purgatory to build the 8 boats for "Baroda" so I can look forward to another winter of discontent. End result is satisfying though!
The boats really should be built before the davits so the line of the falls can be "true", and I can't fit the taffrails before the davits are in. Such is life!. BY.
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Just spent a couple of days doing a rough finish on the wheelhouse and fitting the awning spars. The "uprights" for the awning posts are the smaller of the 2 sizes of plastic covered piano wire (normally found on the "Plastruct" stand). If a little bit of the plastic coating is trimmed off and a short length of the inner wire is left exposed then the thickness of the plastic makes a good "stop-point" when fitted into a suitably sized hole. The same applies to the top. The awning spars are 1/8" x 1'16". To fit the uprights into them I use a 1mm drill in a pin vice and drill into the 1/16" section just enough to plug in the top of the cut-down upright. The cutter I use tends to leave a little "hook" on the wire which prevents the wire fitting into its socket...this "hookie" can be easily sanded off with a a small mini-drill (mine is a Proxxon).The timber for the awning spars is (for this model) cut from close grained hardwood. May be teak, but I doubt it. Careful cutting and fitting is then up to you. The ends of the spars project a little and have rounded ends...drilled through to take (in real life) the wires used to fasten the awnings. I use solid wire...why not. In the pics I have shown the spars to be varnished. I am still unsure if they would be white or not, but as I cannot find any true information about this ship apart from basic structure it is a 50/50 chance. But if I do not like it then I can always paint them white..difficult if it was the other way round!
I have'nt touched the hull since it came out of the mould. The scuttles need to be reamed out a little. This will clean up the somewhat raggy edges and allow the brass tube "ports" to be a neat sliding fit....which will not happen until the hull if finally painted..a long time in the future. I think the next step will have to be the radial davits. This is supposed to be fun!
I keep coming up with conundrums with this ship. I can find a crew galley (under the fo'c'sle) and a "pantry" just under and aft of the deck saloon. Where did the ships Officers get their food from? Did the passengers have to bring their own food for the 24 hour trip from Sunderland to London? Getting rid of boiler ash. I am aware of certain "patent" ash-hoists" but the positioning of it is problematical...I think port side forward of the funnel with an ash chute hanging over the stern in "thunderbox" style. What a rotten life compared to nowadays! No doubt there will be more "niggles" with this model. Hope I can solve them. BY.
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A change of scene. Gangways...the old fashioned sort with fixed treads. Bluebirds way of making ladders (and gangways?) seems to work pretty well but a think his treads are "butt" glued to the side pieces, or am I wrong. I made the jig in the pic from a bit of aluminium bar and rebated the centre section to take the width of the side pieces. The "cross-cuts" are that way so I can do both side pieces from the same jig. The gratings are about 1" x 0.75". Thin veneer strips jammed together and cross cut with a saw blade the same width as the thickness of the veneer, then just slotted together. The total length of the gangway is 5".
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It's been a few days since the last posting, but the "state of play" up to today is :-
Pic.2020 shows the odd positioning of the "standard compass". Got to put it somewhere I suppose, but with the eventual placing of the large iron crane not too far away I guess it would play merry hell with the deviation card. This particular model compass will eventually be sited just forward of the emergency steering wheel...hence its height.
2021:- Just started the emergency steering gear housing. The surrounding gratings etc. have yet to be made and fitted. For the gratings I am experimenting with a close weave copper mesh with a "square" mesh pattern. Looks OK at the moment but it's a "xxxxx" to paint/match to the teak framework. More on this in the fullness of time!
2022:- A general view from the stbd. quarter. The wooden planked area was quite common on vessels of this era ( a throwback to the sail days I think). Eventually this are would be plated over to become what we now know as the "boat deck". All the davits are still loose and will not be properly aligned until I find out where the falls will drop.
The bridge ladders are also loose and need the top rails fitted.
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The "secondary" steering position now completed, compass fitted and skylight to 2nd class (male) accomodation placed but not yet glazed. (Too much glare on a photo from the glazing). The items are shown "oversize" as the steering housing is less than 3" long. Construction was straightforward if a bit fiddly. For the steering gear a simple 1/16" ply box is covered with teak veneer (I will not mention what it is stuck down with!) and thin strip veneer overlaid for the relief. The lettering is 1/8" "Slaters" product set on to a length of DS tape, trimmed and fitted into the "frame", the whole inside panel painted with a "teak" type paint and when dry the tops of the letters scraped until the white came up again. The wheel is a commercial cast white metal item carefully "de-burred" and equally carefully painted. A bit of an eye-boggler to do. The compass is a length of slightly tapered wallnut dowel with a turned brass top with a slightly milled slot to simulate the lamp housing. Flinders Bar is a simple bit of turned brass and the soft iron spheres are small imitation pearls. (I HOPE they are imitation!). The skylight was actually more difficult to make than the steering gear. The basis for this is a (black) plasticard box veneered, but putting in the opening widow frames was a hassle as my smallest tweezers kept slipping off. Nothing complicated, but care needed. The black patch is to take the steam capstan, but I won't show this until 2 sets of bitts and a pair of 3-roller fairleads are added.
I am still wondering how the "rod and chain" steering gear got from the wheelhouse to the steam steering engine hidden within the aft end of the main deckhouse.
Hope you all enjoyed the Rugby...but now I'm off to watch the Brazzy Grand Prix.
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Apart from the awning spars and a bit of tidying up I think I have had enough of the "back-end" for awhile. I think I shall move on to the fiddley-top next. For some reason I always start at the front, but finish up building from the back-end forwards.
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The weather up here in Northumberland is so benign that I decided to continue with the hull. The lifeboats can wait until the big chill comes in. Done some of the bits on the fiddley-top, but nothing firmly fixed yet (Making my own Kit!). I keep fretting about the masts. The plan I have for this ship shows the masts as being in one piece. Tapered from 1/2" to 1/8". I don't have the means to do this so I will have to "farm it out".
The scuttles are now fitted, but I am a bit unsure whether or not to blacken the outer rims...they look a little dominant.
Underwater paint (iron oxide, matt) has only one coat but shrinks to show the rivets. I have another tin that dries out as a semi-gloss that I will eventually use as a "boot-topping" coat (about 1" wide, to show the gap between wind and water.
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2044
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Before I start on the lifeboat making just a thought on the old 3 sheave purchase arrangement. Before the days of wire purchases and "non-toppling" blocks the falls were of rope. To prevent the top block toppling it was imperative for the hauling part to exit through the centre sheave of the upper block. To avoid the falls getting fouled up with each other and to prevent chafing there is really only one way to reeve these falls. The "big tip" here is that the upper and lower blocks are fitted at 90 degrees to each other.
The upper block has the sheaves athwartships and the lower block has the sheaves fore and aft. Another problem (fault ?) that is often seen is the length of the hauling part. Remember that the boats may have to be launched from a ship "flying light", and that length is muliplied by 6x (plus a bit). Even museums seem to think that just tying off a short end is enough. It is'nt. No need to be exact on the length for a model but showing the reels etc. makes a difference. I hope the attached pics are clear enough to show the method of rigging.
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Thank goodness for a little respite from the need to be "hearty". Bloody awful cold (as have millions of others) and not really wanting to be all that sociable. (Whats new).
With the glaring absence of the Engine/Boiler room cowl vents I think that this part of the ship is now about done. In the past I used to make up my own twisted wire stays and so on, but they always seemed to get broken or bent out of shape. Now I use hard drawn brass wire that always stays straight. At first I found that getting the length of any stay etc. very difficult until I decided to make all the stays in two parts. The 2 parts being connected with a short length of ally tube to simulate a rigging (bottle) screw.
Fiddly, but not too difficult.
The lifeboat boarding ladders are also now fitted. The rungs (treads) are 1/8 x 1/2" thin ply strips with a hole near each end and a cord fed through. I only used 12 steps per ladder as doing the correct ammount looked "messy".
The line down the funnel is one of 3 gantlines. Don't ask me the origin of the name, but their presence on a ship is invaluable. A "gantline" is a light line reeved through a block in an area that is hard to get to ( in this case, the top of the funnel), and when, say, the funnel needs to be painted a heavier line can be hauled up and a bosuns chair can be rigged. Older ships couldn't do without them.
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Its been a while since I mentioned "Havelock", but work has been slowly progressing. Xmas and New Year holidays and the wifely idea of getting me "out and about" is just a plain encumberance. Not to mention the "novovirus" which puts the mockers on any sort of celebration.
The only new details (fitted) are the life-floats that double up as passenger seats and the lifebuoys. The lifebuoys I have done in pale grey as I do not think that the multi-coloured jobs came until later in the 20th century. (Could be wrong here).
The masting and rigging is not too much of a problem as long as it looks OK and the various ropes and halyards have a place to go. For that reason I have put 8 "fastening" points around each mast about 3' above the deck. The entire ship has a very odd layout which was the inspiration (originally) to build it. I now find that getting information on steam powered windlasses and steam powered deck cranes is a major problem. I will get there eventually, but at the moment I am at a loss.
Anyway, for what it is worth, here is how "Havelock" is getting on:-
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Spent most of the winter trying to isolate myself from the snuffling, coughing and sneezing fraternity. To no avail.
Even without the "lergy" doing 500 clove hitches would have been a pain in the tripes. But no-one else is going to do it so on we go. Apart from the rigging the Nav lights are fitted. Although the ship was built in 1895 she persevered until 1948. By which time I assume she had electrics. That is my "cop-out". Query, How do you blow the steam whistle when sails are rigged? Or did they just use the "Norwegian Fog Horn"? So I have gone for the 1920's configuration. Who is to say I am wrong?
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Another point that caused some laughter and disbelief in the clubhouse last Sunday was my statement that the last things I put into a model are the motors and batteries etc. Howls of derision! But these howls calmed down a tad when I asked why "they" put the motors etc. into the hull first. Without exception the answer was because otherwise access would be impossible. So what if things go wrong I ask? Blank faces. I have always gone for maximum access to the internals unless (like my trawler) the model is designed for rough weather. So I build to lift the whole "top" off and have access to a clear and empty hull. It works, and its up to you how to seal it in.
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Bryan, I have done as Martin asked. I opened them with Paint Shop Pro, then saved them as JPEG files, and they are now visible on Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. I hope this helps. They are attached below.
Peter.
PS: YES it works, I just checked and they are visible O0 Bryan, my bill is in the mail {-) {-)
Topic cleaned up. Bryan's original text here:
Finally got started on the windlass. Many things about the ship would have changed during her long life (1895-1948) but I doubt if the windlass was one of the changes. So I am attepting to build the "Emerson-Walker" item that was steam driven but also capable of hand operation.
Compared to the modern behemoths it is surprisingly small. Only about 12' in total width and a tad over 4' high. This makes my model of it only 3" wide and 1.2" tall. (Gulp). I guess I know how a "normal" steam wndlass works, but I have never seen a one that can also be hand operated. Has to be on a ratchet system though. The side view of the pic. I found very confusing as I couldn't see the relevance of the large secondary wheel. Think I have it sussed now though.
References to pictures will come later.
The 1st job was to make the bedplate.(pic 2). Sounds as if it should be an easy cut job, but the bed plates used to be in 2 layers. A thick (timber) underlayer with a steel plate bolted through the steel, the timber, the deck planks and also whatever was underneath. The thick wooden plate would overlap by about 1" from the steel. So I cut the wood base out of 1/16" sheet and the "steel" (30 thou plasticard) 1mm less all round. Stuck the 2 together with d/s tape and painted black. Gives a nice "contoured" look to the result.
Now that I had the size of the whole machine I could look at the side elevation (pic 3) and scale (via computer) the drawing. There are 4 main frames. The 2 outer ones are thicker (wider) than the 2 centre ones. The 2 centre ones are larger. On the drawing the 2 inner ones have a shaded section at the front.
Scaling a drawing on a computer is a matter of choice. My method is as follows:-
1. Bring up the pic you want to full screen size.
2. Using the "crop" tool, crop the entire image to the edges of the drawing and save.
3. On the printer select "custom" and tell the printer what size you want. Print out at least 4 using different positions on the paper for each. (I print mine out on the sort of sticky paper made for CD labels etc.) . Once that is done just stick the paper prints to whatever material you are using. (Plasticard in my case).
Drill out the shaft holes first! It may not be too important for the rest, but get the holes more or less right.
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Thank you, thank you ,thank you Peter. So sorry Dickie that I didn't come up to your expectations but had to rely upon one of our Antipodian friends. Sorry to you also Martin, for lumbering you with a problem. Thanks Colin for hints and tips.
Enough of the "Oscar" speech.
Today was spent making the barrel ends and the 3 main gear wheels. (apart from a non productive trip trying to buy the new Cecilia Bartolli album). No pics yet but for small gear wheels I have a couple of duff motors with epicyclic gear boxes attached. (Graupner?) Pricey ones anyway. The gears are ideal for my scale. Another source of "mock" gears that I have used are "throwaway" cigarette lighters. Quite useful for all sorts of things. Sorry for the hiccup. BY.
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Thought I would give an update on the "state of play". However, I am more than a little nervous about posting the pics as a sort of lergy seems to have affected some of my more recent ones. So I will split this post into 2 sections. One with my scribblings and the other for the pics.That way I don't lose the lot.
The rigging is now complete. (600 clove-hitches on the ratlines....never again). With the exception of the cord rigging to the booms all the other standing rigging is of solid brass wire of different diameters. Rigging the model as "fitted for but not "with" running rigging solves many problems. For instance, a vessel under sail does not have mast lights, but if it is a sailing vessel that is also under power mast lights must be shown. I could'nt figure out how oil lamps would have been fitted as the running rigging would prevent the lamps being hoisted/lowered. As the real ship went on until the late 1940s I guess she would have been converted to "electric" sometime, so I am assuming my model to be perhaps in the 1920s rather than the 1890s when she was built. As the suprestructure from the bridge to the back end lifts off in one piece the standing rigging between the mainmast and the foremast has to be easily removed/fitted. Both wires are fastened to a common eye that has a long tail, this tail is bent to be a sliding fit into a small tube fastened to the foremast, tension on the wires adjusted by the 2 bottle-screws on the fo'c'sle. Alas, I was forced into buying commercial bottle screws. Even though they are a bit oversize. I the past I have made my own but whereas buying replacement (very small) right-handed taps is relatively painless the left handed ones have become prohibitively expensive. I'm talking 16-18 BA here (or the metric equivelant).
As most of the remaining work will require the use of my temporarily broken lathe (fairlead barrels, windlass, cranes, telegraph etc) I decided now was a good time to fit the awning spars to the after deck. If and when I get the pics sorted you will think they look a bit weak....they are much stronger than they look. The spars are cut from spruce sheet to 1'8 x 1/16". The uprights are of the plastic coated wire produced by Plastruct. I trim off some of the plastic which gives a ready made depth gauge that allows the bare wire to be plugged into the timber, the inner ends similarly, but fitted over a short length of wire fitted through the main f&a spar.
Still have the main boiler/engine room vents to do though. Don't know if my home-made vac-former will manage the job!
Photos as and when I'm afraid. Sorry. BY.
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Now to try the pictures! Fingers crossed.
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The rudder. A single plate old fashioned type thing. But it still has to look reasonably correct. I believe....and please correct me if am wrong....that most modellers over-estimate the pressure put on a rudder. You hust have to look at some of the flimsy arrrangements some models have, especially the rudders that are only "suspended" at the top. But a single plate rudder although simple in design has "pintles" all the way along its length (depth?).
The one I have made for "Havelock" is of brass, alluminium and perspex. The alloy came off alength of 1/2" x 1/4" strip from "Metal Supermarkets" ..but for a lot of other sizes I find the offerings from B&Q quite satisfactory. Apart from desiring access to the "internals" I also like to have the "mechanical" parts removable "just in case".
The main rudder tube (brass) is slotted in a few places to accept "tabs" on the forward edge of the rudder. My soldering technique is non existent. And as for silver soldering; forget it. So please, you engineers out there don't howl too loudly at me...what I do has served me well for the last 20 years so it works for me. I first thread and stuff a wire type solder down the rudder tube. Next the rudder blade itself is gently tapped into place into the pre-cut slots. Then, horrors, I just lay a length of solder "wire" along the long edge and heat the whole thing up until the solder has flowed into all the joints. Takes ages to cool down though!
The "hook" at the bottom of the vertical bit (rudder post) is drilled and tapped to take the bottom pintle. The base plate (the bent one) and the rudder post are screwed into the hull . The bit with the square hole in it is very boring to make and it sits inside the hull and is bolted to the rudder post. The round hole is sleeved with a tight fitting short length of brass tube that is a goog sliding fit over the rudder tube (rudder stock).This also acts as the upper pintle.
2135.
Shows the basic set-up. The hole in the hull will be filled in a way that will allow the rudder to turn and still keep the hull watertight. The "flat" part of the hull in the "oxter" regions will be similarly faired in.
2136.
This really just shows the servo mount and and how it will attach to the tiller arm (not shown) and the area of the hull that needs to be filled.
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Please post your questions and comments here:
Q & A - General Havelock by Bryan Young (http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=9786.0)
(Please don't post here, they will be moved.)
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:-\ Sorry for lack of recent posts on this build. The windlass is coming along slowly....which is the main reason for this post....I know I have mentioned small gear wheels in the past, and have used redundant small gears and bits from cigarette lighters, but I forgot the best one. Servo "repair kits". OK, they may need a bit of hacking about but can look great in the right place. But my big bugbear is still the steam deck cranes. Thanks to all of you who have tried to help....including the guy who posted a pic of a 200 ton crane on a barge! Nice to laugh at oneself now and again. But still no joy.They are such an important part of the ship that I don't really want to fudge them (much). But the project is still ticking over. Cheers. BY.
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Apart from a little cleaning up and so on (and perhaps laying out a couple of ropes) the fo'c'sle head is basically complete. The windlass has 74 seperate components. I only counted them to see where my time had gone! Still a lot to do though. The model may (repeat "may") go to Harrogate as just part of the TMBC stand, as a model under construction. Nowhere near ready for launching yet. August perhaps.
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I have now got around to making the (4) large cowl ventilators (Boiler and Engine Rooms). I haven't put any idea of scale on the pic because the same principle and method can be use for any scale. (the cowls on the ones shown are about 1.25" dia). I start off with wooden balls....which caused much hilarity in B&Q when I asked (a carefully chosen) young lady assistant if she knew where I may get some wooden balls. Never saw her again. Slot the ball to take the trunk (dowel) and simply fill in the gaps and fair in the join between the trunk and the cowl with Isopon. The cowls tended not to be vertical but sort of sloped backwards from top to bottom. Not much, but very noticeable. Sliced this bit off on the bandsaw. (Before I could afford a bandsaw I used a metal cuttting Hacksaw..results were just as good, just took longer). Next, carefully cut the whole thing in half from front to back. The width of the saw cut makes the whole thing assymetric so a bit of thin ply about the same width as the saw cut is glued on to one of the halves. Doesn't matter which half. All this takes longer to write than it takes to do! Rub down to a nice smooth finish and you have your "plug". Many are the articles, methods and photos re. cowl vents. But seldom do you see "hollow" ones. These are, and can be used as functional ones if so desired. I then made my own little vacuum forming machine. Have I mentioned this before? If not I will describe it again in detail, but really it is only a sealed box with a hole in one side to take a "Hoover" nozzle and a clamping arrangement on the top to take a sheet of plasticard which then forms the top of the box. Stick the thing under the oven grill...preferably when SWMBO is out. When the plasticard starts to get a bit "runny" turn on the "hoover" and remove from grill..leaving the "hoover" on for a few moments. Hey Presto! Vac formed halves of vents. Takes a lot of trial and error to judge what thickness of plasticard to use, but the results are worth it. To prevent nasty curved edges the plugs have to be raised a little to give an "undercut" that will be trimmed off later. In the pic from bottom to top... a complete plug from the back showing the "undercut" raisings. The middle one is of the plug shaped as a vent, and the top one the same thing from the back. The bits with the blue background from left to right: a moulded vent roughly glued (bostik) to its dowel. The next 3 are similar but from different viewponts. These are just the beginnings of the construction and will be followed up in later posts.
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As Richard was kind enough to search out and send me a pic of a steam powered deck crane that filled -in a lot of "missing parts" from my own research, I have decided to treat the building of the 2 cranes as a pair of little models in their own right. Although still part of "Havelock". So I will go through the build process bit by bit. The 4 side "cheeks" are of black plasticard, and the various flanges (in white) are of a thinner grade. Fiddly to do, but the result is worth the effort. Where the shafts pierce the cheeks a doubling plate is attached. To get all 4 of the cheeks the same I just re-scaled on the printer and printed them out on sticky backed decal paper. Driled the holes first and then cut them out. The main gear wheel and the brake band are made out of 1/4" perspex. The winding drum will be made later. Until near completion all the parts except the side cheeks are removable. So here I go with "Dicky" and "Duke".
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With the assistance of others on the forum (thanks again Dicky) I put together all the info I have on steam powered deck cranes and came up with the cobbled together item shown in the 2 pics. I really found this difficult, but interesting, and am still basically unsure about some of the "workings". One of the pics shows how the crane fits into the scheme of things (still another to build) and how it enhances the appeal of the ship. To me, at least.
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And thats about it. A year and a bit of enjoyable hard slog. A couple of bits'n'bobs to do before I post any "afloat" pics, but what you see here is basically "it". As I mentioned earlier, my main reason for building this thing was because I was a bit fed-up with the standard derrick layout, and the 2 steam cranes made for a welcome change....and what a change! I must (again) thank those who tried to help, particularly Richard, whose last post coalesced all the other info I had gleaned. Little etched plates with "Dicky" and "Duke" will be affixed to the cranes eventually. The motive power is a car heater motor and a pair of 12v 7a.h batteries. By the way, can someone tell me what the difference is between a heater motor and a "Barracuda"? They look the same.
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Martin, I know this is in the "wrong box"...can you put it where it belongs?
Maiden voyage (June 8th). Ok in benign waters and quite stable. Not a "winter boat"though. Pics are not as good as I would have wanted, but then; I was somewhat nervous. Thanks to "Tommy Tug" for driving it for me at the time.
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Please post your questions and comments here: General Havelock by Bryan Young (http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=9786.0)
(Please don't post here, they will be moved.)
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That is absolutely beautiful, Brian. Well done. I enjoyed your write up on the build and followed it with great interest.
An inspiration to us all.
Cheers...ken
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Ken. Thanks for the kind words. I'm now scratching around for another project that will keep my interest for another couple of years. By which time I'll be pushing my 71st year! Yikes. Where did it all go?Although browsing through the "edited" bits of my life at sea I think I have a fair idea. Been toying with the idea of re-building "Hunan" (the one that was stolen), but maybe she is too close to "Baroda". But at least I still have the hull mould and the "yard" drawings, so I would'nt have to spend ages making a new hull....with all the messy resin and stuff. Perhaps,perhaps. Nice to do another "biggie" though. Thanks again. Bryan.
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Seconded! Beautiful boat Bryan :)
regards
Gary
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Please post your questions and comments here: General Havelock by Bryan Young (http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=9786.0)
(Please don't post here, they will be moved.)