Masterclasses > General Havelock

General Havelock by Bryan Young

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Bryan Young:
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.

Bryan Young:
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.

Bryan Young:
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.

Bryan Young:
Just a simple picture to show how it is coming together.

Bryan Young:
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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