BenF89

Wow, the angle and backlighting in the second photo masks the scale quite a bit, and it looks like the real thing - a testament to the effort you spent building it just right. Really great work!

Thanks everyone!

Sorry for the long gap between posts, been a lot going on. The bad news is that the gaps may not get any shorter in the near future. The good news is that the reason the gaps probably won't get shorter is that my wife and I just had our second child back on Thursday, the 25th of June. A baby boy Mom and baby are doing well, and I am off work for a while to help with the adjustment from single-child to multiple children (on top of the adjustment to have a new person in the family!) I'm pretty stoked. It's gonna be fun.

Looking great Patrick!

I have to agree - seeing the boat painted fully makes her stand out in a way matched only by the photos when she first came off the jig. The colors really make her pop. As for the gloss/matt issue, I prefer matt myself - it adds to the realism of the boat, especially the underbody. But, I don't have to (get to) look at the boat everyday, so if you and your admiral like the shine, then leave it. It's not 'wrong.' And, again, I echo Patrick's comments - she looks great as she is now, and she'll look great if you varnish with gloss or varnish with matt.

Eh, I don't feel bad; part of engineering is having good ideas that don't work out in reality. And, you don't have a thick head - someone with a thick head wouldn't be able to solve any of the problems and challenges that come with detailing yacht interiors that fit in the palm of a hand!

Count me in to watch this one, too! Looks like a sleek hull.

I agree - the vents look great! Now that I see them, I understand why the wire didn't pass well - the proportion of louver to opening to frame would have been wonky. Sorry the idea didn't work out, but I suppose sometimes it takes going down a wrong road to inspire finding the right one

Hi Patrick No baby yet; we thought we were going to be celebrating last Wednesday or Thursday, but progress stalled out. So we are waiting again :/ As for the louvers - again, the idea (I think) is to capture the essence of the louver. What if you used thin, fairly closely spaced dowel or wire? At your scale, and aided by the fact an observer would be looking in and around the hull and deck cutouts and other interior work, a frame with just a bunch of closely spaced straight lines (the wire or dowel) would give the impression or essence of a louvered vent, since there are three dimensions, and therefore shadows in the spaces in between the lines, even though the shape of the 'louver' isn't accurate to reality. I did a quick 3D model to demonstrate the effect I'm talking about. First, the close up showing thin dowel/wire closely spaced (the spacing can be adjusted as needed to approximate the actual vent): Now, zooming out (or scaling down), you get the essence of louvered vents; again, the spacing can be adjusted to achieve the desired effect: Another possibility might be to take a piece of plastic styrene the size of the opening, and cut closely spaced slits into it with a fine blade. Not sure if that is any less work than the previous suggestion, or if it is even practical; just another idea. Good luck!

Re: the funnels - the first was shortest, the second was larger than the first, the third was larger than the second (and is the largest), and the fourth is slightly smaller than the third. (Apparently, the reasoning was to improve the flow of smoke from them.)

Concur with all. As soon as I saw the picture, I knew exactly what I was looking at! Really nice job. Question - does the engine room really have picture windows looking into it, or am I not seeing the layout correctly?

Looks great! Makes me want a day on the water.

SS Edmund Fitzgerald - profile of 3D computer model I made I'm starting this build log as a motivator to start some work on this kit that has been sitting around for a year and a half. I apologize in advance for long periods with no updates; I'm going to be juggling this build with my scratch build Doll Boat, which has a target deadline of my daughter's third birthday in May, 2016. That said, I've been itching to build this kit for a LONG time - years before I even bought it. It is a ship that is very familiar to me at this point. Allow me to explain: When I was 4 years old, a babysitter brought over a video documentary about the Titanic shipwreck, called 'Secrets of the Titanic' from National Geographic. I fell in love with that documentary, and subsequently the ship, for reasons not entirely clear. But, my entire childhood (and, to be honest, life thus far) began to revolve around ships and shipwrecks. When I was a bit older, probably between 8 and 10 years old, I was introduced to the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (the event; I was introduced to the song shortly thereafter). The drama surrounding her final voyage, and the mystery of her sudden sinking, captured my attention just as much as the Titanic ever had. Those two ships soon became the two I knew most about. Edmund Fitzgerald - 3D Rendering I made Flash forward several more years, and my interest in ships and shipwrecks lead me to pursuing a degree in Naval Architecture. I attended a school called Webb Institute; part of the graduation requirements is to perform a senior thesis related to maritime engineering or industry. My initial goal was to do something involving the Titanic; specifically to try to validate a claim regarding her breakup that I had read in a book that was (at the time) recent and popular. I approached a technical research committee affiliated with the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) that focused on marine accident forensic investigations, because I knew of several people that had done some extensive work on the Titanic sinking. However, when I pitched my idea to the chairmen (who was one of the individuals that had done Titanic work) he basically shot it down with a well argued case that my idea wouldn't really reveal anything new. But, he made me another offer: he had a couple people on his committee that were investigating the sinking of a great lakes bulk carrier, the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald. I nearly fainted! I immediately agreed to get in touch with the two guys working that project, and took some time to understand what they were doing and where they needed support. I agreed to assist with developing a longitudinal weight distribution for the ship, assist with some other weights-relate tasks (such as determining some seakeeping coefficients, to enable accurate prediction of vessel motions), develop a mathematical model of how the ship may have flooded, and look at overall longitudinal structural strength. I worked on my thesis for just over a year, and in the process learned more about the Edmund Fitzgerald than I had ever known about the Titanic. Needless to say, as soon as I discovered there was a kit on the market for the Fitz, and in the same scale as my other two kits (Titanic and DKM Bismarck), I started thinking about how I could get it and build it. SS Edmund Fitzgerald hull (front), DKM Bismarck (center), RMS Titanic (back) - all 1:350 scale Which brings me to this log. I've been thinking about how to approach the build/build log, and I think, since this is a ship I am so familiar with, whose history is impressive, and whose sinking gained national, pop culture attention through Gordon Lightfoot's song, I want to mingle in with the progress of the build the background of the ship, the story of her sinking, and some of the interesting results I got from my forensics work, such that by the time the build is complete, the 'narrative' will be completed as well. I've seen several logs where the first several posts are just related to history, before any building begins. I like that idea too, and maybe it's better because it's all in one place. But I'm a rambler, and I fear that I'd write far too much up front (I probably already have). Rather, I'd like the story to follow the build - for example, discussing the conception of the idea, the design, and the construction in conjunction with discussing the parts of the kit and prepping the hull; discussing her career as a laker in conjunction with building details of the hatch crane and accommodations structures fore and aft; and discussing the final voyage and the drama being played out by the captain and crew while building the pilot house, etc. I'm not sure these correlations are locked in stone, but that's kind of the idea I want to shoot for - vessel history intertwined with build progress. So - what do you all think? Does the idea sound interesting? Or should I dump all the history-type narrative right up front? I'm open to suggestions. Either way, sometime in the near future I'll post the pictures I took of the kit, and introduce the various challenges I see to this build.

Funny you mention it - I haven't actually done anything since my last post We've been preparing for a new baby (including my wife and I spending as much evening time talking and trying to get through as much of a TV series as we possibly can before he or she comes), so I haven't really carved out time to do more work on it. The due date has come and gone, so we are expecting him or her any day now. So I likely won't accomplish too much more until after. But, I'll be off work for two weeks once that happens, so I may be able to squeeze some time in then. In the meantime, I'll watch your log!!

Hey, making an engine for your sailboat - that sounds familiar! Yanmar's website has a bunch of information for their entire range of engines. Not sure what the engine in the original is, but at the scale you're working, the essence will probably be the same, as long as Yanmar has an engine with similar horsepower. That said, I'm sure you won't have any trouble with finding enough information; I just remembered that you did make engines for the Mystic motor cruiser, which turned out great! They actually reminded me of the engines we put into a 65' boat - they were even that same blue color!

Greg - there were multiple sizes of portholes. The main first class dining saloon, for example, had larger portholes than the staterooms and cabins for the Second and Third class.

I've been following along so far, and I'm really excited to see this starting to come together. She's a very nice subject, and the type of ship I don't see done a lot on here (but maybe I'm just not looking in the right places.) You're going to do her justice, I'm sure of it. I'd love to have space to build and display a model of that size.

Just stumbled on this one! Looks amazing- I'll have to follow along for what's left.

Jim, Thanks for that piece of info; I had always assumed the telegraphs were all engine related. But it makes a lot of sense; I was thinking they would have had to be on the telephone to the primary bridge the whole time. Man, I need to brush up! Dennis, You're correct on the anchor crane forward - as the name implies, it was use for anchor handling. Interesting point - when the bow hit the bottom, the force swung the crane around 180 degrees, so it now faces forward. So as a kid, whenever I drew pictures, I drew the crane forward, and it took me a long time to believe the paintings and photos of the ship afloat that showed the crane in its actual stowage position facing aft! As for that mysterious hole; it may be a carryover for another similar type kit, or just an oops. I reviewed some photos of Olympic's poop deck, especially the docking bridge area, and I didn't see anything other than that centerline vent.

I thought that must be the case; thanks for the clarification. And, I've seen models in museums of far lower quality than you are constructing.

Huh. I couldn't see the hole you're talking about in the pictures, but I can't think of anything off hand that goes there. As for the ship's wheels - there were three of them. There was the primary helm, located in an enclosed wheel house within the structure of the forward bridge, at the forward end of the boat deck (the wheel house was just forward of the officer's quarters). The pedestal for this telemotor helm is still on the wreck, as it was brass. A picture is below: The second wheel was forward of the wheel house, in the bridge proper, between the engine telegraphs. This was used primarily in restricted waters, where better visibility from the helm was needed. The third wheel is the one that's causing your head scratching. The structure on the poop deck is called the docking bridge, and again, was used only during in-port maneuvering (well, it probably wasn't ever used on Titanic, come to think of it....). There was also an engine telegraph on the docking bridge. Think of it like the limited set of controls seen on some modern ships' bridge wings.

I'm sure you mentioned this, and I've forgotten and I'm too lazy to read back through, but are the deck and cabin all permanently installed at this point? It seems like it would be quite a feat to fit out the interior with all that in place.... Also, it looks fantastic! Like it could be in a museum display showcasing classic wooden boat construction.

Looking great!! Which hole? I see one at the extreme aft end - if this is what you are referring to, this is the hole for the flagstaff.

Hi Patrick! Thanks for the comments - I think I'm actually close to getting the curves fair, now that I've got the scale right. I just need to squeeze in the time. Dennis - I have come to accept that thought as well - that I probably won't get her back! If I have the lines, sure - I could in theory make a copy. I don't know if I will, though. I think once I've done this extensive a project once - interior/exterior miniature model, I don't know that I would take it on again. I've mentioned earlier in this thread that my eventual goal is designing and scratch building RC small working ships - like Research Vessels, Offshore Support Vessels, large tugs, and the like. And before I get there, I still have a 1:350 scale kit of the Edmund Fitzgerald to start and finish. That said, I do really love sailboats - especially working out an interior arrangement. In fact, I don't care what the ship is, enjoy laying out an arrangement. The trouble with RC ships is that there's little ability to lay out and build an interior, other than what can be seen through the big windows of the bridge or other observation stations. So there may still be a time in the future that I want to bring another fictional sailboat into miniature reality.

Hi Denis! Great to have you looking in I'm looking forward to seeing what ideas I have in store, too! But first I've got to finish fairing. Just keep fairing, just keep fairing, just keep fairing fairing fairing