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[mogogear]

In league with Tony's wonderful "Pointy Thing" ...I have been captivated my late 19th century warships. The raked bows are a favorite as the cut the water. I started this build a while ago and going slowly. I will skip some of the history for the moment but  I love live steam and I do own 7 live steam boats and launches. I have never built a boat actually and was scared of plank and frame for my first build.

 Past experience with sculpting led me to use construction foam board to carve and sand my hull from. For good or for bad- that is what I have moved forward on. I sawed out the rough shape of what I wanted, laminated two 3" thick layers of foam 50" x 8" and started shaping it with a sanding block and80 grit paper



She is pretty blocky but was easy to whittle down bit by bit



losing weight a little at a time



A small conning tower in front helps me get the feel for details ( a yogurt cup actually!)



So as it is getting smaller, I start to wonder about stability. I mean I am doing this completely free-hand and I would hate to build it- and then have it keel over first time out right?? So I filed up the bath tub and loaded it with 14pounds of canned fruit and veggies and lead and she seems to have very good displacement skills 



Here is her water line at this stage...So I have a ways to go but not bad for shooting from the hip. Other than I need to change the aft-underside contour of the hull 

[mogogear]

So this is the intended power plant..The ubiquitous Graham twin and a copy of a old style Stuart Horizontal boiler. I wanted dual propellers and so made a dula output single input transmission for it  ( contra rotating of course!!!)







This transmission was a mock up- I milled a new bracket  and added sealed ball bearing on all the new precision ground shafts. It turns very nicely!

So I will save you many progress shots  and her is a pose with power plant and hull  just prior to the epoxy coating layers





I have her quite a bit wider than scale would be for stability sake -The steam plant is quite large and I want to keep it low and have side clearance for COG concerns  and also have room to use boiler pumps and general "checking under the hood" work.. Heat management is a good thing to be kind to the hull and super structure above.

With a little gray primer






After many coats of epoxy over fiber glass mesh I will melt out the foam with Acetone-- then add support frame work for the power plant , r/c gear, stuffing boxes and rudder tubes etc.

One or two shots during the " Ugly duckling stages" of epoxy coatings and sanding







The next post will have a few pictures and details of what I am trying to build...I hope I am not making you all shake your heads too much. There is nothing like a person who has never built a boat before- And That is me ...but not for long!! and I love live steam...could it be worse?

[mogogear]

So this is the boat I am trying to build..I guess I should have started with this post..
 

As she was launched during her trials off the coast of Rhode Island- 1890



Ready to go!!



And on the GO!!



Very Turbinia in my mind...another ship I love and have the plans for

Then in navy colors and armament







138' Length
15'10" Beam
106Tons
1720 hp ( 2 quadruple expansion engines)
4110" draft

This is a rough drawing of my build- I am shooting for a 1:35 scale model



This was America's first effort at actually putting a Torpedo Boat destroyer in service. The Cushing saw action during the Spanish American War...

Wish me luck!!

[DickyD]

Excellent build. Very clear and concise. Keep it coming. 

[mogogear]

I also neglected to mention the Fine builds of the Vosper and Avispa in addition to the Arquebuse.  I started this hull last June..painfully slow...but work and a family keep me busy. I  am also building a historical sternwheeler(catamaran style hull ) based of the SS Dispatch  the first sternwheeler on the the Upper Columbia River in Canada around 1888 She supplied the gold rush miners of that period.
 
-Same foam shaped method..I am a glutton for punishment I guess
More on the Cushing soon

Thanks

[tonyH]

A lovely job Mo, her lines just flow gently as they should. I'm sure that you'll find, as I did, that the whole ship becomes more and more elegant as you get further into the build.

Tony

[AndrewB]

Fantastic build  I will be keeping an eye or two on this one

[mogogear]

Well enough has taken place it is time to bring this thread up to speed.

* 9 coats of epoxy on the hull

* Melted out the foam core with Acetone

* Primered

* made up the power plant mounting tray

* started adding the frame work inside the now hollow hull ( Hollow except I left foam in the last 5" or so of the fore and aft ends of the hull.

Before melting :




There it goes



All Gone - almost



Testing Power plant fit





On ward!!

[Dave13]

Hi Mogogear
Very nice looking build
Thanks Dave:)

[mogogear]

Soldered up some prop guards... they look pretty wide but they will have grated deck extending out almost half way over them top. Looks like I will have 2 contra rotating 70mm  4 blade props which is bigger than I thought I would use .

I actually just checked the resource photos I have  and I see that I checked another TBD for placing these guards ( I have these on upside down ) The support struts should be below the guards...so off to file the solder joints, paint them, invert and reverse them side to side. Jeez - not too much wrong---





A new arrangement shortly