Roger Pellett

John

If this is to be a static model, non-Sailing, Titebond wood glue should work fine.

It shouldn’t be a difficult casting job as you can work from one flat surface. If there is deck camber it could be added to the mating surface of the casting later.

An advantage that professional plumbers have is a (hopefully) well stocked truck.  Any plumbing project that I have ever tackled requires one and sometimes several trips to the store to get the correct parts.

Is the ore coming from Quebec pelletized like that shipped on Lake Superior, or unrefined “natural” ore?  If it’s unrefined that might account for the lack of self unloading equipment.

Ships on the Great Lakes have traditionally been designed around the unique navigation restrictions that they encounter;  the dimensions of the locks into Lake Superior, those around Niagara Falls, or those in the St. Lawrence River. There are also a number of “River Class vessels that are smaller to negotiate sharp curves such as those found in the Cuyahoga River at Cleveland.  Distances are also relatively short compared to those sailed by ocean going vessels.  The entire Seaway system from Duluth to salt water is only about 1500 miles.

The cargos carried by these “boats” as they are called locally are bulk:  iron ore, coal, limestone, and grain.  The metric by which they are judged is the amount of cargo delivered during the 10 month shipping season.  Economic analysis indicates that this happens using ships able to float huge cargos that can be loaded and unloaded quickly.  A 1000 ft ore carrier can be loaded in less than four hours.  Unloading Times are Similar.  Sacrificing cargo capacity to increase hull speed is not considered to be an economically smart trade off.

This very full, rounded bow hull form has been tank tested and found to be surprisingly economical at design speeds.  For analysis, hull resistance is separated into two components: frictional and wave making.  Frictional resistance is proportional to wetted area and velocity squared.  Wave making resistance increases in more or less cubic fashion with velocity but the determining factor is something called the speed length ratio equal to velocity divided by the square root of waterline length.  Dimensional restrictions found on the Lakes require long, narrow, hulls so speed length ratios are low.

What is surprising about this design is that it is “gearless.”  All active vessels in the US fleet are equipped with self unloading gear that has allowed scrapping of shoreside unloading equipment.  These self unloaders permit very rapid turnaround at the unloading ports to maximize cargo hauled during the shipping season.

Roger

Gary,

Very nice job!

I have a five year old granddaughter that lives in Brooklyn named Adele who gets all over the city with her nanny.

If she ever sees this sailing on a pond in one of the parks, she’ll say “Look, POP made that just for me!

Roger

Now that you point it out I see the piping and small rods.  I wonder if this might be some sort of hydraulic hatch clamping system.  Assuming that this would work reliably it would certainly reduce labor each time the vessel loads and unloads.

I don’t know anything about Chinese shipbuilding technology, but it’s certainly possible to build a steel ship without a hard copy lines drawing.  The computers in the design offices can communicate directly with computer driven plate burning and frame bending equipment, eliminating the need for patterns.

The hatches are a variation of the single plate hatch covers handled by a hatch crane that are currently used on lake vessels.  The American company Interlake (Black stacks with an orange band) is currently building a River Class Lake Vessel at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.  It will be interesting to see if the hatch coamings and clamps that you show will be used on this new vessel or if they are unique to the Equinox Class Boats.

Roger

We have all kinds of modelers, building different types of ships using a variety of techniques.  What matters is the finished product and your’s is first rate.

Roger

Ras,

Some time ago, someone posted a build log for this Port Dredger.  You can probably find it on the scratch built model posts.

Hi Dave,

As I posted above, my office was nearby on Garfield Avenue.  The Lincoln Park neighborhood where Carr’s was is being cleaned up.  A number of young entrepreneurs have established businesses there; a brewery, several restaurants, and a competitor to Duluth Pack.

Curley’s Bar is still there.

Roger

This would not be hard to do as this is a “hard chine” boat.  The dotted lines represent the chines in each view.  For each section simply measure distances from the centerline in the plan view and above and below from the waterline, plot, and connect the points with straight lines.  No CADD program is needed.

Roger

The problems in saving this magnificent wreck are unfortunately inherent with human nature.

First of all our’s is a technical, specialized discipline with it’s own history and language.  At least here in the US, criteria for historic preservation are written by govt. bureaucrats and reflect the current political fads about our history.  Engineering on its own has been unfashionable since the 1960’s, with military history a close second.

Second, I suspect that there is a Lot of “not invented here” on the part of the archeologists, so that people that actually have specialized expertise get the cold shoulder.

A case in point is the Sutton Hoo wreck recently publicized on NETFLIX.  The wreck was identified by a highly knowledgeable amateur investigator leading to a fight with the archeologists.

Roger

Brian,

No I was not a pipefitter, but like you I have great respect for their abilities. IMHO, they are the aristocrats of the building trades.  Few people probably realize that they are graduates of a demanding four year work study apprentice program.  Much of what they do requires an advanced knowledge of trigonometry.

I came into the piping industry via the back door.  I am an engineer with a degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, and a commission as an Ensign in the naval reserve.  Upon graduation I was ordered by the Navy to report to Admiral Rickover’s Nuclear Engineering organization where for the next four years I worked on nuclear submarine piping systems.

When I left the Navy, I was hired by a large engineering company, that was building piping systems for civilian nuclear power plants, as their quality assurance manager.  I went on to other engineering and management roles, all involving high pressure piping.  It is a small but fascinating industry with its own technology.

Roger

I would assume that this is the same technology that dentists have been using for at east 50-60 years.   It was supposed to have revolutionized the experience for patients relative to the old belt driven drills.

Brian,

Wonderful work and research!

The Monitors also had armored gunports.  Unlike the external swinging leaves used on CSS vessels, these were internal and pivoted on vertical shafts.  I seem to remember that one of the CSS ironclads was partially disabled when a shot struck one of the leaves and jammed it in front of the gunport.

BTW guys, having spent my working career building piping systems, “Plumbing” refers to very low pressure domestic service drains.  The stuff carrying water and steam to generate power is just called piping.  😏

Rick,

IMHO Tom Cunliffe’s Book, Hand Reef and Steer is a must read for anyone building a model of a small sailing craft.  As an experienced sailor of traditionally rigged boats, he not only explains how each sail is rigged but how, all with a light touch of dry humor.  The book’s focus is gaff rigged craft so would apply to anyone building a pilot cutter or sailing trawler.

Roger

This might be a Nineteenth Century version of a Heavy Lift Ship.  Note the large multi part tackle to the left of of the spar.  Cargos like quarried blocks of stone would have required special arrangements for lifting.

The photo posted above is of the Constellation as she currently appears in Baltimore Harbor.   This is the c1859 Sloop of War Constellation.  She was spar decked.  Her guns were carried below on a gun deck with the lighter unarmed spar deck overhead.

Roger

You did a beautiful job.  The model is begging for a case to protect it.

Roger

I have experience painting canoes with alkyd resin paints.   Using these paints straight from the can, I had problems with brush marks, and areas where the paint did not cover; effectively a major brush mark.  I was finally able to get a good finish by;

Thinning the paint with mineral spirits.  Keep in mind that these are volatile, so the paint will actually thicken while you are painting with the can open.

Adding a conditioner called Penetrol.

Using a painting procedure called rolling and tipping where the paint is applied with a foam roller and then very gently tipped, or leveled with a paint brush.

So is any of this applicable to your situation:

As recommended above, thin your paint with turpentine or mineral spirits. Add thinner if the paint thickens as you paint.

Check your brush.  While the roll and tip technique is not going to work for the small surfaces on your model, an overly stiff brush is going to leave marks.

Roger

Excellent!

Pat,

In my opinion, your model is scratch building at its finest.  Not only is your workmanship first class, your replication of detail at this small scale is remarkable.  In addition you are modeling a unique subject and doing your own research as you go.

Keep in mind that some materials do not “scale” accurately.  While you might be able to find stranded wire, or solid wire of the correct diameter or solid wire to make your own, its stiffness will probably be “over scale.”  

I believe that appearance and longevity of the finished product are what’s important.  There is no reason why properly stained cotton wouldn’t work.

Roger

Sorry, Kris, but when I clicked onto your reference, the site identified the material as “Premium Content,” and I couldn’t open it.  

I cannot comment on Rhino but probably could draw it on paper if I could visualize the situation.

Roger

It would be helpful if you could post a picture illustrating your post.

Roger