Model Boat Mayhem

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Author Topic: SL Branksome - HELP!  (Read 11161 times)

Oliver_Gerrard

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Re: SL Branksome - HELP!
« Reply #25 on: January 16, 2021, 12:35:37 pm »

Good Morning Don Scott & John Haynes.

I have just spoken to my father who informs me that:

The plans came from Harold Underhill's, he apparently bought the rights to the model boat plans, scaled them down and sold them to my grandfather.

Mr Haynes, does this sound correct to you?


Regards,


Oliver
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spearfish99

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Re: SL Branksome - HELP!
« Reply #26 on: January 16, 2021, 01:10:20 pm »

In a recent tidy up of the 3rd bedroom pending redecoration  , I came across the set of plans that I bought many moons ago from the Museum.  These are for the Esperance steam yacht that for many years sat afloat along side the original Museum building.  On one visit to the museum, while looking at her from the jetty, one of the staff came along and opened her up for us and gave us a guided tour.


 I understand that the years haven't been kind to her and she isn't on display at the Jetty.    While I haven't had a chance to visit the new Jetty museum ( except for the steamer we were on last time calling there) , I have been in touch with Elaine Middleton who works "front of house" there.  Her father produced and sold the 575 yacht that many of us may remember. I sent her a kit for one of these following an appeal in "Model Boats" magazine as she wanted one as a momento of her father, to be sailed in the model boat pool in the forecourt of the museum.


While discussing the new Jetty museum with her, I mentioned that when our steamer called there, that their Osprey steamlaunch was in steam at the pier and that some years ago, my wife and I had subscribed to a fund when they were retubing the boiler. As a result we ended up with our names on a brass plaque that was installed on the wall of the old museum and an invite to a trip on one of the steam launches, which we took on our next visit. It was an memorable trip around the lake on a lovely sunny afternoon and included tea and cakes, with the tea made with boiling water from the "Windermere kettle" fitted to the launch. Be interesting to see when we get a chance to return whether the plaque found its way back into the new museum, though I doubt it!


Esperance - 1869 - Lakeland Arts



 
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John R Haynes

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Re: SL Branksome - HELP!
« Reply #27 on: January 16, 2021, 03:37:28 pm »

I've no idea if Underhill bought the copyright from Jill Townsend . Seems unlikely to me  but what do I know.  I still retain all my sketches  with dims for these vessels  that I took on site to take home and put them on my drawing board. All this was 40 odd years ago,
When copying on a plan printer  errors do occur . Its only recently when digital copying  can an accurate plan be produced
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Liverbudgie2

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Re: SL Branksome - HELP!
« Reply #28 on: January 16, 2021, 08:17:36 pm »

To clarify matters a little.

Jill Townsend lives with me at present and we have, in my loft, all the remaining drawings, formers etc Keith used for building the models of the steam and motor lunches at the museum; she also retains the copyright.
The model of “Branksome” which was exhibited at the Model Engineering exhibition and won the gold medal, which later was on display at the museum, was built to a larger scale of 1/10 and powered by a Stuart Double 10 engine. The later models were built to a scale of 1/12, the engines in those where exact replicas as was possible of the actual engine in the boat. See my article in Model Boats.
As for which drawings Keith used to build the first model, we are unable to give a definitive answer on this because Jill is unable to remember however, it is possible though that he used John Haynes drawings to begin with and then scaled them up. He did though spend a lot of time measuring her up to ensure all was as correct as possible for that time. This was all done under the patronage of George Pattinson. Keith then went on to maintain the steam launches as well as drive them in the summer months. (Jill has now told me that he never used the drawing in the blue tubes)

All the models which were on display at the museum are owned by the Pattinson family and cannot be viewed.

Unfortunately, before he died Keith destroyed the former and associated drawings together information to prevent copying.
                                     
Apparently, Keith only purchased them to protect his own business from copying, though many people did of course use them to build their own one-off projects.
The models of Branksome or any other of his models were never sold as kit’s, they were supplied as complete working models, many of which now reside in private homes and museums around the World.

Harold Underhill never bought the rights to these drawings and as far as am aware never supplied copies either, if so, they were illegal copies; in any case I’m sure Harold Underhill had died my years before drawings of these vessels had become available.
The current staff at the museum now maintain and restore the boats, the last time I was there in the summer of 2019, the Esperance was under restoration and from what I could see they were making a fine job of it. I have also given my 575 to Elaine for re-building. Quite what the situation is now I have no idea, however, should we have a fair wind it might, hopefully be possible to have a regatta of some sort later in the summer.
In conclusion, we are willing to sell all the information drawings, formers etc, that we have, including all rights, to a suitable buyer the price of course, would be substantial.
Interested parties should PM me for further details.


LB
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Seacommander

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Re: SL Branksome - HELP!
« Reply #29 on: January 17, 2021, 04:24:07 pm »

As an aside,
I was a young lad, just leaving school and staring out, when Keith was building his fine models
His models and the museum all that time ago, where one of the biggest inspirations in my life time, and still are.
Great museum, wonderful boats and great part of the world. I took my young wife there 35 years ago and we still talk about it,
We also had tea and refreshments steaming on the lake, I think we went on the Swallow, and I'm sure it was Keith who was in command
One of our great memories, to all those involved , if you read this thanks for great time and memories, that's Englishness. You did a grand job !
I wish the new museum all the best and a most successful future, I should visit as soon as I can, I'll bring a steamer to sail as well
Cheers all
Mark   
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Billr

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Re: SL Branksome - HELP!
« Reply #30 on: May 10, 2021, 06:33:02 am »

An unfinished boat is a sad thing and they made a good job of the woodwork so far it would be a shame not to complete it.
I saw Branksome in 1977 and bought plans from the museum and returned to NZ determined to build the model using the Stuart Turner Double 10 I had already built.
I scaled the plans up to be 1:7,  ie 2 metres long to best suit the engine size and to make the engineering easier.
I started in 1980 and soon had the hull in the water but I could not make the boiler and ancillary parts (all concealed of course) to operate well.
Life, family, career and kids all combined to put a hold on the project up to 2004 when I started another boiler but again it was plain it is very difficult to fit effective working engineering into the restrictive spaces available.   I did not want any burners etc visible and really wanted a 'real' back-head.

Then in 2012 I decided to make it electrically driven but leaving the steam engine in place and using my boiler fittings to make a dummy back-head for the side-fired boiler. (A battery replaced the boiler)
In 1977 I had taken a lot of photos of the real boat and used these to flesh out[/size] [/size]a lot of detail in addition to the basic layout shown on the plans. Consequently I have tried to reproduce the original boat as best i can.   I even made a replica prop and rudder. However even though it is a good copy of the images I found, the model goes a better in reverse than in forward and I wonder if the real boat did that?  Probably my copy is not that good!This is essentially an open boat so must have crew and passengers and I have 5 characters aboard. The 'Captain' at the helm, the 'man' at the throttle and Mrs Edna Howarth standing  in the bow wearing the widow's weeds she wore in a photo. Her friend is organising the morning tea on the forward dropleaf table. The fifth character is a dog.  Static characters at this scale look strange so Edna can turn, raise her parasol and wave while the dog wriggles.  In addition, by the magic of Bluetooth, she can talk to the spectators so I can engage kids and adults alike as well as greet tourists (when we had them) in 50 different languages - and the dog barks!   At present she also warns people to be careful to scan the Covid codes to avoid another lockdown!

The boat was finally launched late in 2014 and has been sailed most weekends since then.[/font]
At the lakeside I tell everyone the origin of the boat and what makes her special and I am surprised how many people have seen her in their travels.

The point of this long story is that a model like yours will be worth the effort if you stay faithful to the real boat and to operate as you intend to use her.  Making her into a working steamer is not easy and will demand skill to sail her reliably so what you do with the boat should take into account the intentions of the owner.  I am  not sorry I made my model electrically driven as it means I spend more time on the water showing her beautiful lines and timber and sharing her story and the story of times now gone and I can enjoy this beautiful boat all the more.  She is a boat that amply rewards the extra effort to present all the details of the real boat.Best wishes and good luckBill





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Scratchbuilt scale with max details but still rc sailed.  Minimum cost is also an issue!

Oliver_Gerrard

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Re: SL Branksome - HELP!
« Reply #31 on: May 30, 2021, 09:10:52 pm »


Good evening everyone,

This will most probably be my final update ever on my adventures with the Branksome, it has been a long time coming but I would like to share the great news with you that she is proudly on display in the Steam Boat Museum, Windermere.

She can be found alongside the Steam Launch Bat & Motor Vessel Canfly both of which were built by the legendary Keith Townsend. As a family, we are immensely proud to donate our model to the museum and the fact that she is now on display alongside Keith's work is a testament to the calibre of my grandfathers craftsmanship.

I have enjoyed reading all your comments on my original post and learning so much more about this wonderful ship.

Thank you to each and every one of you.

Good night.
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