Roger Pellett

A great job and handsome model! For those interested in Titanic and the myths and controversies surrounding her, I suggest reading Titanic Ships Titanic Disasters by Gartze and Woodward. The book is published by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, (SNAME). Gartze is a Naval Architect specializing in forensic analysis of shipwrecks, and the late John Woodward taught Marine Engineering (shipboard machinery) at the University of Michigan. These guys know their stuff. They objectively examine design of Titanic, Lusitania, and Britannic (intended to be an improved Titanic) in the context of 1913 shipbuilding technology, regulatory rules, and the owner’s specifications. They do this by subjecting the three ships to Naval Architecture design criteria; stability, subdivision, hull strength, and machinery reliability in extremis. When “manning the lifeboats” that weighed several tons, at night the ability of the machinery to still provide power to winches and electric lighting was important. The book is readable and will be understood by those without a technical background. Readers will be surprised by their conclusions. Roger

A spectacular model!

Unless you are building a model and have actual accurate information about framing used by the original builders, it’s all pretty much a matter of style. There are several types of original information that you might have: An actual “disposition of frame drawing.” These were sometimes produced by various admiralty dockyards and have been conserved and made available by museums. Known framing practices for a given vessel. Framing practices for Eighteenth Century warships built in British Dockyards have been thoroughly researched and are documented in books like The Construction and Fitting of English Men of War and The Fully Framed Ship Model. Note: English men of war were also built in private yards where framing practices might have been different. Monographs for French built vessels are also available from Ancre. I believe, they often include actual framing information. Framing information developed from existing vessels or archeological exploration of wrecks. Even this might not be conclusive unless the existing ship has actually been disassembled. For example the actual framing of Vasa is not fully known as the neither the ceiling on the inside or planking on the outside has been removed. The two styles of framing commonly seen on POF models; the double sistered regularly spaced Hahn style and the overlapping Admiralty Dockyard style are simplified modeling conventions. Roger

Just a thought. Use your system for epoxy gluing your ice to the epoxy ocean. For the boat hull, glue a very thin piece of modelers plywood it in place with epoxy. When the “big push” comes use a more user friendly glue like Titebond III to glue the hull on to the plywood. If something goes wrong, it would be much easier to retrieve the hull and to clean things up. Roger

Nice work on engines and pumps. If you would like to add some interest, the egg shaped flasks on the feed pumps were often bronze.

Nils, An interesting project. I look forward to following along. Asa youngster, I read in National Geographic Magazine about a man named Irving Johnson who along with his wife sailed a Schooner named Yankee around the Pacific Ocean. If my memory is correct, Yankee was an ex- German Baltic Sea Pilot Boat. She was a steel hulled vessel. She was eventually wrecked on a Pacific reef. Would she be a sister to the vessel that you are modeling? Roger

Thanks! In 1985, I made a trip to China to investigate business opportunities. My trip began in Hong Kong to get visas to visit the various Chinese cities. Of course I had orders from my wife to buy pearl necklaces for her, my daughter, and my mother-in-law. There was a whole street in Hong Kong that sold strings of pearls. The strings were piled in bins and the sales people would lay strands out on a piece of black velvet until you found one that was acceptable. Once you had made your selection, the pearls had to be knotted. A young woman would slide the pearls from the string on to another. Then with rapid motions she would tie a knot (hitch? 😏) between each pearl and it’s neighbor. All of this was done in plain sight but her motions were so fluid that it was impossible to follow. She would have been expert at tying ratlines without the Euro knotting tool. Roger

Semantics aside, can anyone explain how this tool works?

You’re Welcome. Can you identify any of the models in the article as the one that you saw in Newburyport?

Beautiful Work, Christian! It looks like the fun is about to begin; all of that elaborate carving. Roger

Rob, Mike, It would seem that this is the dilemma that one is faced with when restoring an old model, restore or correct obvious anomalies, such as the number of mast segments, yards, and sails. In this case, improving it to be an accurate “museum quality” model is not practical and would destroy Mike’s great grandfather’s work. It seems to me that a better choice would be to put it back together, warts and all, and exhibit it as a piece of folk art. For example, I would not add deadeyes to secure the shrouds to the hull as they are not present on the model as he found it. I think that it will be more important to tie the model to Mike’s great grandfather than to try to improve it. If he enjoys the experience, once he has restored this model then he can build a historically correct model from scratch. Roger

As usual, very nice work!!

Ras, According to the machinery description for her sister built for the Siamese Government, these vessels were built with triple expansion engines with the low pressure cylinder exhausting to a surface condenser. With a well designed machinery plant condensate temperature would be not more than 10-15 degrees hotter than the seawater passing through the condenser tubes. Even in tropical waters condensate leaving the condenser would not be hotter than 100F. That’s the idea of the triple expansion engine- wring as much energy as possible from the steam. While there might be water vapor coming from the vent, it would not be hot enough (generally assumed above 140F) to cause injury. Steam turbine plants bleed partially expanded steam from the turbine to heat feedwater but this would not be the case here.

The article is in Issue #33 of the Journal

We attended the Tattoo in 2019. A great show! The highlight was towards the end of the show with the lone piper playing from the ramparts. Just as he began playing, a mist came swirling in from the Firth.

Jond, Quite a while ago, Rob Napier built three models of Dancing Feather, each a different interpretation of available information. One of these might be the model that you saw as I believe that he lives in Newburyport. An article was published in the Nautical Research Journal discussing the models. Roger

Last night, was the Robert Burns Dinner at Duluth’s historic Kitchi Gammi Club, complete with a pipe band, haggis, scotch whiskey, the works! There is always a ceremonial address to the haggis and Scottish dancing. Neither my wife nor I are Scottish (me probably not, she definitely not) but we always enjoy going anyway. Unfortunately we have missed it the last two years- Covid. Roger

I agree with Gregory, although I would inlet a solid block of wood and carve it to shape. You might have to cut back some more planking to give a solid foundation for gluing.

Ras, Electric Power, Pumps Steamships began to be fitted with dynamos for generating electricity in the 1880’s. These were often called “Lighting Plants.” Use of electricity for driving auxiliary equipment seems to have become common much later. Steam driven pumps date way back to the 1700’s when they were used to pump water from coal mines. By the late 1800’s a wide variety of compact steam pumps would have been available. These were either driven by a link to the main engine crosshead, or by a steam cylinder connected directly to the pump. I would suspect that Amp’a would have been equipped with a complete set of steam driven pumps. The hand pumps on deck were probably for emergencies. Roger

That freshwater tank atop the boiler casing is probably the expansion tank for the boiler feedwater System. Steam leaving the low pressure cylinder of the engine is at a considerable vacuum. It is condensed in the condenser and because of leakage within the system is mixed with air. Leaving the condenser the condensed steam (now a water air mix) is pumped up to a slight pressure above atmospheric by a pump connected to the engine crosshead. The pressure imparted by this pump causes the condensate to flow into the expansion tank via the line on the left hand side of the tank. The reduced velocity in the tank allows the entrained air to escape via the gooseneck vent on top of the tank. The tank also provides adequate pressure due to the weight of the water column for the suction of the boiler feed pump that injects water into the boiler. The larger diameter line on the right is the boiler feed pump suction. Roger

Glen, Might it be possible to hide a thin piece of piano wire in the smoke plume with the bottom anchored in the smoke stack? Roger

From the pictures that you have posted, it looks like the furled sails are, carved and painted pieces of wood. Am I correct? If That’s what they are, they are a distinctive feature of this piece of folk art. Roger

Very nice job! How about a case to protect it. It’s too nice to leave unprotected.

The sharpening book that I have is written by Leonard Lee.

One of life’s great mysteries is the actual diameter of the various vacuum hose connectors. Posted sizes are “nominal,” not actual. You cannot measure them if you are buying them “on Line.” Unlike rigid pipe, there appears to be no standardization. Fortunately, the plumbing industry uses rubber connectors to hook up drain piping. These are available to fit standard PVC pipe sizes but can be drawn down with hose clamps to fit non standard vacuum connector sizes. Once you have amassed your equipment and laid out piping and hoses, any big box home improvement should have these rubber connectors. Roger