steamschooner

DANG IT ! ( not the words I really used )

Just so you all know I do work on my model from time to time. Like most I have many spring and summer things to do and do not get to spend much time in the shipyard. I have managed to cast some deck cleats( twice ) The first ones I ended up not liking, in photo on the left. The second ones are more correct with the wood block base as I have seen examples locally. For my stays and shrouds I used some telephone wire That had four coated strands and each strand has 7 small copper strands. After cleaning the coating from the wires I separated them and twisted up 3 strands for my davits and stack stays also aft mast shrouds. For my main mast shrouds I twisted up 7 strands. I used a single strand as whipping to tie off eyes. the copper wire will take L.O.S. nicely.Now on to the shroud bars/ladder.

It's been awhile since I posted on my build. As some of you know I have been casting parts for my build. These are the latest, some anchors for the fore deck. I made up a master out of brass and copper. Made a vulcanized rubber mold to fit a tray a friend made for me. Spun up some anchors and added a cross arm made from copper wire with a small copper ring soldered on for a stop along with a couple small blobs of solder for the balls on the ends. Lightly sandblasted and drilled for arm, chain ring with a little color added.

Patrick, I have been at the bench just not alot to show for it. I did manage to get these little buggers made. Two on left the line was to heavy and they came out a little big for scale. I liked the color though. Middle ones are cotton string which was the right size scale wise but the color needed help. I colored one on the left. The three on the right is also cotton string that I found in my line stash. It had a reasonable color and the scale size worked out. Still need some triming and maybe a little coloring/weathering. Now it's on to the bow fender..... oh boy!!

Ok not done yet but getting close. The cabin is mounted for good and the stack is in place with the stays installed. Got those steering cables put in their place.  Fenders are all tried off, anchors stowed Still have a number of things to do yet but I'm near the finish point.

Ok not done yet but getting close. The cabin is mounted for good and the stack is in place with the stays installed. Got those steering cables put in their place.  Fenders are all tried off, anchors stowed Still have a number of things to do yet but I'm near the finish point.

Ok not done yet but getting close. The cabin is mounted for good and the stack is in place with the stays installed. Got those steering cables put in their place.  Fenders are all tried off, anchors stowed Still have a number of things to do yet but I'm near the finish point.

Ok not done yet but getting close. The cabin is mounted for good and the stack is in place with the stays installed. Got those steering cables put in their place.  Fenders are all tried off, anchors stowed Still have a number of things to do yet but I'm near the finish point.

Ok not done yet but getting close. The cabin is mounted for good and the stack is in place with the stays installed. Got those steering cables put in their place.  Fenders are all tried off, anchors stowed Still have a number of things to do yet but I'm near the finish point.

Ok not done yet but getting close. The cabin is mounted for good and the stack is in place with the stays installed. Got those steering cables put in their place.  Fenders are all tried off, anchors stowed Still have a number of things to do yet but I'm near the finish point.

Just so you all know I do work on my model from time to time. Like most I have many spring and summer things to do and do not get to spend much time in the shipyard. I have managed to cast some deck cleats( twice ) The first ones I ended up not liking, in photo on the left. The second ones are more correct with the wood block base as I have seen examples locally. For my stays and shrouds I used some telephone wire That had four coated strands and each strand has 7 small copper strands. After cleaning the coating from the wires I separated them and twisted up 3 strands for my davits and stack stays also aft mast shrouds. For my main mast shrouds I twisted up 7 strands. I used a single strand as whipping to tie off eyes. the copper wire will take L.O.S. nicely.Now on to the shroud bars/ladder.

Hello again and thanks to all who are following along.  I buckled down and put this together a bit sooner than I thought I could, and I hope you enjoy it.  This segment catches up the build to about December 1 of last year.  Soon I hope to be current.
 
First, I got some welcome confirmation from Professor Smith of our best guesses for the dazzle paint colors.  Somewhere in the archives of the museum he came up with color chips of the paints used during World War I.   The one most in question, Blue Green 1, is at the upper left and matches quite closely to the color already on the model, so no overpainting will be needed.  Whew!

Construction itself continued upwards with B Deck, which is highlighted in the photo below.  This and other pictures told me that only the forward two long sections are enclosed by window units, while aft of them the side is open with pillars and a solid rail.

The details of the deck house are rarely seen since it sits well back from the side of the ship.  I relied on the one photo below which was taken at just the right angle to show the doors and windows at this level.
   
After lots of time spent poring over the photos and trying to decipher the notations on the plans, I came up with these windows for the deck houses of both B and A Decks.  It’s a bit surprising what can be done pretty easily with Photoshop and clear decal film for an ink-jet printer.

The deck house shape was taken from the plans and was assembled from various rectangular pieces of ½” basswood.  After sheathing it in styrene the troop ship side was painted grey.  Portholes were drilled and installed, followed by the doors, window decals, and handrails.

At the side the forward window sections are built up from smaller sections and panels, but most of the photos are taken from too far away to be really helpful.

In a close-up of the troop ship I learned that the windows consist of three-panel units with added pillars in between.  The frames have cross-pieces setting off the top third of each panel, but no corresponding lower frames.  The upper and lower thirds have solid panels behind the frames, leaving only the center third open.

I laid out the repeating frame units in Photoshop using the ‘copy’ function a lot so I could generate the long runs that I needed.  A similar set of windows was laid out for the face of the forward superstructure and its deckhouse.  These were laser cut for my by Charlie Zardoz, a good modeler with some build logs on this site, and a great guy.  He managed to get the penetration set so the windows just pop out while the frames remain sturdily behind.

After sizing and cutting out the lengths that I needed two back panels were installed to cover the upper and lower thirds, then the units were painted.  Here is one of the troop ship pieces before installation.

And after.  The darker area seen through the open windows is the side of the deck house which is set back and painted flat black to create the impression of depth.   The dust is not for effect and will be removed.

The process was similar on the ocean liner side, but with more colors.  I have not located any color photos or paintings of the liner which have this detail, so I opted for a warm brown for the frames and tan for the backing pieces.  The pillars are each added individually and left the bare color of white styrene.  A black background proved too much of a contrast with these colors, so a warmer grey was used.

The aft portion of the ship’s side at this level has numerous pillars set every 14mm on the model.  As before, they are 0.032” brass rod, painted white on the ocean liner side and grey on the other.  A quick wooden spacer and guide ensured that the opening was a consistent 10mm tall and that the pillars were vertical.  Gluing them with cyano and white glue double locked them in place and strengthened the support for the deck piece of A Deck, which had a tendency to warp a little.

The face of the bow superstructure got a run of tall window frames as well.  The frames match the ones on the side of the ship, but have no backing pieces or added pillars.  Here they are in place with the window filling pieces taken out on the ocean liner side and set over a grey background.  I left the window pieces in on the troop ship side to match photos showing covers over them, probably to block any stray light.  The edges of the frames were given a dark wash to improve contrast.  Above, the smaller window units have been applied to the initial mock-up of the A Deck house. 

So here is the model status as of December 1 of last year.  Bit by bit, taking small steps, I am working inward and upward toward the upper decks and funnels.  I find it quite interesting that changing the paint scheme changes the look, to my eye, of the husky, tall troop ship into the low, sleek ocean liner even though I know, for a fact, that they are identical.
 
More soon.
 
Dan
 
 

The unanimous vote for a stepped stern means you'll all be pleased; even Mrs. Cathead voted for that option. I was initially leaning toward the other version, in part to maintain the appearance of the painting and in part because I'd seen more photographic examples of that design. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked the visual appeal of the more complex stern. Also, the Arabia was an upper-river boat where it would be exposed to high winds and shallow water, so even a little bit of lower-profile superstructure would have been beneficial. So here's the latest progress now that that hurdle has been cleared.
 

The final layout of the boiler deck. As I might have mentioned earlier, I decided to build this off-model as one integrated part for greater structural integrity and quality. I wasn't sure I could build a flat deck with complex curves in place on spindly vertical supports. This guarantees I've got a smooth and solid base for laying the next deck, and that the aft walls will be square between both decks. Technically this should have been built in two layers, thicker longitudinal beams below and lots of thinner lateral deck beams on top. But it'll be barely noticeable on the finished model and I'm a lot happier with the structure this way from a practical point of view.
 

I built a few walls off-model, too, again to ensure they were straight and square. The upper one is the aft-most wall (facing the last bit of the exposed stern) while the lower one is its counterpart in the other direction, right at the aft edge of the paddlewheel boxes. The idea is to separate all the lower superstructure aft of the wheels into an isolated cargo area, leaving the area between the wheels as engineering space. I have no idea if this is how they did it, but neither does anyone else. I need to put hinges and handles on these doors but I like how they came out.
 

 
Changing subject slightly, here's the updated boiler assembly, with the smaller chimneys attached. Looking closely, you'll also see that I solved the safety valve problem by adding a valve on each boiler and running a single line over to vent into the right-hand chimney. This matches a drawing by Alan Bates and I like how it looks.
 
In other news, we had a rare warm & sunny day on Valentine's Day, so Mrs. Cathead and I fired up her present (a new electric chainsaw) along with my regular gas saw and did some much-needed tree work. It's the first time I've been able to do such work since hurting my shoulder two months ago, and it felt really good. The joint was a bit sore that night, but it's recovered since. Sigh of relief.
 
Thanks for reading. Next up, I need to do anything else necessary before permanently attaching the engines, boilers, and other deck fittings and starting to build upward.

Pretty much as much as I can do on the forcastle. 

I have been working a little on the drawings and trying to sort out the Corel files and putting together some new information. I needed a break from the cold and so have spent the last couple of day re-orienting myself with this little project. Here is a sectional drawing I started on Friday, still a ways to go.

 
I have been studying the photographs that Roger sent me a few years ago. working out the panels for the seating and positioning the motor.
 
Michael

.50 Cal Machine Guns
 
Once the Liberty production line got into full swing by late 1942 their light anti-aircraft weapon suite consisted of 6-8 of the excellent 20mm Oerlikon guns:

The kit provides very nice cast Oerlikons:

Like everything else weapon-related, the Stephen Hopkins was built too early in 1942 to get the good stuff, her light AA guns were water-cooled .50 cal machine guns from the USN which had plenty laying around since they were rapidly abandoning them in favor of the Oerlikons. When I saw the kit’s 20mm guns I thought it would be easy to convert them to .50 cals by thickening the barrel to represent the water jacket, replacing the cylindrical ammo magazine with the “tombstone” one which was unique to the .50 cals and changing the shoulder rests to the 50 cal grips that looked like bicycle handlebars. The only problem was that I was unable to find any photo evidence that shipboard .50 cals were ever mounted with a shield (unlike today where virtually every USN ship has multiple .50 cals with shields). All of the .50 cal mounts in early 1942 were variations of the “Tora Tora Tora” mounts that were on the battleships during the Pearl Harbor attack, they looked like this:


 
So I needed to scratch build them. I made the pedestals and “C” shaped mounts from strip and rod:

The details like the cooling water hoses, water tank, magazine, elevation crank were wire, wood and plastic, the gunsights are Northstar PE valve hand wheels:

 
And the finished product after painting ( I decided to paint the mounts Navy Gray since that is how they would have been shipped and, like any shipyard, they would not have been repainted if it wasn't spelled out in the contract):

Deck Details
 
Although I have been spending a fair amount of time on the build lately there isn’t much to show for it since it has all been detail work with small strip plastic and wire. Anyway, the steam and fireman piping/shielding is all in, the fire stations installed (most are on the port side), and about 80 pad eyes are almost all in along the hatches and in the waterways. The pad eyes will be important when rigging the booms but since I'm not sure which ones I will be using at this point they are all pinned to the deck for additional strength.
The fireplugs and hose racks are from BlueJacket’s catalog, the fireplug hand wheels are from Northstar and the rest is scratch. I’ll probably fabricate the 50-cal machine guns next.

Steam Piping
 
As I said in my first post for this log, one of the techniques used in the design of the Liberty ships to reduce costs and simplify building was to run piping outside the skin of the ship, mainly steam and fireman lines. The steam lines ran along the stbd side of the ship and the fireman lines along the port.
 
Because any exposed piping on the main deck would be a high risk of getting squashed by a load of cargo, they were protected either by “fencing” along side the cargo hatches, or by overhead shielding in other areas such as between the hatches and the pipe runs to the winches and windlasses:


 
I used small strip plastic to imitate both types-here the hatch on the left has the fencing:

 
And here both types are done:


I’ve still have a little more of the steam piping to go and then I’ll tackle the fireman - which will look the same except there will also be fire plugs and hose racks.

I am thinking that that long tubular object is a grasshopper pole stowed. On the right hand side you can make out some links/shackles. The lifting poles have rigging connected to the grasshopper pole. And on the bow jackstaff you can see what looks like a cross tree for the ends of the grasshopper poles to rest on. Not sure if grasshopper pole is the right name but they were used to push off of sand bars and such.  As for the bigger supports they could have helped in transfering the lifting load when pushing up off a river bar.
I would vote stepped back decks as it was a working boat not a big river showboat.(other thread )
 

Hi folks!
 
Thanks for all of your Likes and comments.
 
A quick update for you on Genesis. Last night, I painted the first coat of matt red paint below the waterline. The painting of the rest of the hull and superstructure is still progressing, but will require several more applications of wet and dry sandpaper and  paint, before I’m satisfied with it.   
Have a great week.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

I am thinking that that long tubular object is a grasshopper pole stowed. On the right hand side you can make out some links/shackles. The lifting poles have rigging connected to the grasshopper pole. And on the bow jackstaff you can see what looks like a cross tree for the ends of the grasshopper poles to rest on. Not sure if grasshopper pole is the right name but they were used to push off of sand bars and such.  As for the bigger supports they could have helped in transfering the lifting load when pushing up off a river bar.
I would vote stepped back decks as it was a working boat not a big river showboat.(other thread )
 

Nao Victoria replica:
 


Man, these 16th century ships are tall and narrow. I knew this intellectually, but looking at one longitudinally really emphasizes how top-heavy they were compared to, say, the 18th century. It was fantastic to have this side-by-side with the Beagle to compare designs and building styles.

At the helm, and a primitive cannon.

Below decks at a carpenter's work station. Even for shorter 16th century folks, this was a cramped space for circumnavigation.
 

A fun stove. No idea how authentic this is, but I liked the display.

Leftover parrell beads near the mainmast.

Captain's cabin, with various swords and armor lying around to play with. It was clear we were in a more sensible country than the US, as there were no paranoid warnings about hurting yourself. They just trusted you to be sensible.

Not much to say, overall, I just found it so much fun to walk about this replica and contrast it with others. There's something about the physical experience that adds so much to the knowledge gained by reading.

I start a new model for my collection. It is a "Lougre harenguier" by Fécamp, based on the plans in the collection "Souvenirs de Marine Conservés" by Admiral Paris and the monograph of the "Bois-Rosé" of the Association of Friends of the Navy Museum from Paris. The system that I follow for the construction of the hull is that of disposable frames. This system of disposable frames I already showed it in my previous Build  Log of the Tartana de Liguria.
I believe that the photographs clearly show what the process that I carry out. I started this model about ten days ago, and the last pictures show the current status of the work in progress.

HMS Beagle replica:
 

Views fore and aft. That's me on the forecastle with the Magellan Straight behind me.

View near the wheel. Inside the chartroom, and posted around the ship, are myriad sheets of plans and drawings that are great to study while standing on the full-size equivalent.

View belowdecks, looking aft toward the officers' quarters.

Me and my namesake.

Another view from the bow.
 

It was just mind-blowing to walk around, and on, this vessel. I'm not enough of an expert to know if any details are wrong, but they sure seemed to try for authenticity. It was close enough for me. Both Mrs. Cathead and I reread Voyage of the Beagle in preparation for this trip (we both have a background in earth science and strong interests in ecology & natural history), so we both got a lot out of this visit. It amazes me that there aren't truly accurate kits of the Beagle, and I have to admit that scratchbuilding this is high on my potential next-project list. Really,  how could the household of two travel-loving natural history lovers not have this?

Hi folks.
 
Just a quick update on the progress of Genesis’ RIB tender. Almost finished, apart from some finessing and sanding.
 
I hope you enjoy the following photos.
 
Thanks
 
Patrick