el cid

I was not happy with the clumsy skylight which came with the kit, and so weren't some of my Dutch forum friends.
Decided to make one from scratch.
I made a small cage from 3x3 and 2x3 walnut. On top strips of 0,5x3mm.
The window frames I made from styrene, which I painted black, the skirting are styrene as well, painted brownish.
 
The window frames on top I made from photo-etch scrap material.
 
 
 
And some merciless macros.
 
 
 

nThanks for the question, hope this helps. My total knowledge about this effect is well below the marine engineers level of expertise but the concept makes a lot of sense.
 
The larger servo, the one on the left moves the center rudder and pulls/pushes the sled simultaneously so that all 3 rudders track together. This is the normal, no effect configuration. Note that all the tiller arms are pointing in the same direction so the sled just acts as an extension of the larger servo arm. The smaller servo does not turn (until the Lurssen effect is desired) thus the outer rudder arms pull/push as if they are being controlled by the larger serve. So they track in a straight line AND while turning. Normal operation for 3 rudders.
 
Now the Lurssen effect. The faster the boat goes the deeper into the water the stern sinks. Note the parallel with hulls that are designed for racing. At low speeds the hull is deep in the water but at speed they are almost riding on the prop only. The S-Boat hull is optimized for up to 20 knots for a long cruising range so the smaller servo is not turned as the outer rudders would drop the efficiency of the boat. Now at higher speeds the stern lowers in the water and the nose comes up dropping the efficiency so the smaller servo is activated to move the outer rudders away from the center line. This changes the way the water moves under the stern and lifts the stern up and the nose back down for a more efficient configuration.
 
When the boat turns at speed steering by the large servo still keeps the movement of the outer rudders in sync with the main rudder. So if it is a turn to starboard at speed, as an example, the starboard outer rudder increases its angle from the center line and the port outer rudder lessens its angle from the center line thus maintaining the effect through the turn. The starboard side of the boat wants to sink into the water further, in this example, as the boat turns. So the starboard outer rudder deflect s the water more than the port outer rudder does thus lifting the starboard side of the hull out of the water more than the port side making the turn more efficient.
 
Very difficult to explain in words as I am not 100% fluent in the dynamics but the principle makes a lot of sense. It allowed a hull which was optimized for around 20kts (normal cruise speed) to be very efficient at attack speed of around 40kts. A lot easier to alter the shape of the water going under the stern than change the shape of the stern. 😊

Hospital Ship UGANDA with a Chinook Helicopter unloading casualties off the Falkland Islands In 1982 while a Royal Navy WESSEX awaits its turn 
W/C 16” X 11”
Jim

After installing gudgeons and pintles the rudder got also a spectacle plate (made from cartridge paper) and eyebolts for emergency steering and securing the rudder.

The following painting of the outer hull was even more cumbersome than expected - mainly because I used a much too stiff masking tape for the first side. With a better tape the second one was a bit easier. I used tree paint covers and countless corrections and I still see flaws every time I look at the build. However I keep telling myself that all those imperfections add to the 'handmade' quality of the model. The paints are Admiralty water based paints, with 15% white in the yellow ochre and about 5% white in the dull black. The black looked rather grey on the brush but I like the finished paint.

The upper part of the rudder was painted as well and all the lower hinges touched up with copper paint.

The inner part of the side galleries and the cabins were 'grey washed'. I used white with just a little bit of black in order to get as close as possible to the impression on the pictures of Victory.

After touching up the gun port frames with red and provisionally hanging the rudder it was time for a photo session.


 



seen from a distance, the paint looks ok


 



the captain, inspecting the newly hanged rudder, is dwarfed by the ship


 


 

I have finished the staysail rigging. I am a bit behind on the rope coils, so before I make a start on the yards, I'll play around with making up a set of different type of rope coils to see how they fit and look. But that will be the subject of my next update. For now just a few photo's on how she is coming together. I'm genuinely still amazed I got this far and still loving the look of her every time I walk into the shed.
Looking at the chapter where the yards are being rigged it ain't going to get any easier from here.....lol
Here are some photo's...

Sometimes it is a photograph that sparks an idea. Or something I read about and try to 'illustrate'it.
 The previous ones of low flying a/c were commissioned by an enthusiast who had seen the actual event.
 He supplied photos of the locations, I also 'google earthed' it. Using photos of a/c from the squadrons, and where practical inserting the side numbers, serials, etc. I would say, half the fun is the research. Well actually that’s wrong one third, the fun is the research. Another third, the painting. And the last the look on the 'commissioner's' face.(so far I’ve been lucky, they have liked them!) 
When I started the wreck, I knew I wanted a square rigger, a lifeboat and a Tug. I wasn’t sure about the composition so painted the 'setting' first.(see pic). After looking at it for a while, I put in the ship, then the lifeboat then finally the Tug. I thought about a Rocket Rescue Unit from the cliffs but decided not to. 
Jim

No particular shipwreck, but everything is based on many similar events.
16” X 11” w/c 

The history part is intended. I also try to depict little known maritime events, and the humbler work a day vessels. You didn’t mention the end product of all that Hay. With several hundred thousand horses in London, it had to be moved. A lot of it went back to the farms it came from as fertilisers, not the most popular cargo!?
jim

One seldom thinks about Hay, but within all industrial City's or Port's that become crowded populate centers, Hay is the fuel that kept the Draft Animals working. Without that hay the citizens would need to move back into a rural setting, industry at a large scale would have disappear, replaced by the local Black Smith, Millers, Harness Makers and a few others there to support the rural needs, there would have been few laborers because the majority would be working on small holdings to feed themselves and selling only in small units. Hay is what fed and supported early industry. Like your work, surprising how that work reveals History seldom considered, is that your unspoken intent or is it one heck of a good accident. Looking forward to your next offering.
 
 

Lower Thames
Dredger and a Hay Barge.
16.5” X 11.5” watercolour 
jim

Dredging 
Shipping in an Estuary early 20th century.
jim

Rigging looks easy... but it is not! 
 
Captain decided the square sails remain furled. 

Rigging goes very slow... its very hard.Though I spend hours on it there isnt much to see. It will come suddenly completion picture.
 
 

Chris,  This is actually what I do.  I go through a lot of wood as you will soon find out.  The costs are extreme when you have to buy retail even if you are extended a discount.   I buy the raw 8/4 or 12/4 lumber.   I bought a top of the line bandsaw and drum sander.  I will rip sheets myself or I have a guy that resaws them for me as needed.  I pay him per sheet milled.   
 
There is a lot of waste,  you will get boards that have knots and sap pockets that fall exactly where you have your laser cut parts positioned on a sheet.  So these sheets are set aside and used to rip strips.
 
To give you an idea of how many wood sheets,  my kit of the longboat requires 26 sheets of laser cut part.  Some large and some small.  To make 10 kits at a time I have to order around 350 - 400 sheets of various thickness.   This milling takes a few days to do.  You just have to plan ahead and if you did it yourself or had a friend help you it could save thousands per year.
 
I hand select my Cherry lumber, my Yellow cedar etc.  But remember,  you will never please everyone.  Everyone wants something different and you will soon see how crazy the requests get.  Boxwood order below...
 

Cherry sheets that milled myself for my kits...
 

Its worth considering.  Just find a buddy you know who wants to help and you can probably rip enough for a batch of kits over one weekend.

Just put a few drops of the CA into an old milk carton cap or similar small receptacle. Dip the thread in. Replenish as necessary. 

Great work Craig
 
Just a couple of notes if I may. The normal prop for most tugs of this type would be a four blade prop not a three like supplied in the kit if I remember correctly.
 
Also while the main deck and sides/bulwark are often worn and even dented in the case of the bulwarks especially around the stern where they are quite often very close to ships and barges and such. The upper works on virtually all tugs are kept pretty pristine as a matter of company pride.  

After the Tamiya White primer, the hull bottom got 2 coats of Tamiya Hull Red reduced with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner. Above the water line will be black.
Prior, the rudder support was glued to the hull before adding the rudder and prop shaft bearing. Some Tamiya fill and sanding was needed on the hull-rudder support join. To be expected on an old kit like this. Fit is often sloppy.
I will look through my spares box to try and find a replacement prop. The prop supplied with the kit looks horrible.
 

I am of course not Kurt, (He is better looking and obviously smarter than me) but the part you are pointing out in your picture is a vent I believe.

The kit is a model of a DPC Tug built during WWII.  They were built on a rush basis due to the number of tankers being sunk off the east coast of the US early in WWII.  The tankers being sunk created severe shortages of fuel oil for heating in the NE so these tugs were designed so that barges could be pulled closer to shore or in the intercoastal waterways where the U Boats couldn’t get to them

The Office of Defense Transportation planned 100 Diesel tugs of 85’ x 24’ x 8’ and 500 barges and turned over the designing and superintending the construction of this fleet to the Philadelphia district office of the Engineer Corps, US Army.  The plans called for 100 identical tugs in order to facilitate the construction as ordering 100 of each component would simplify the manufacturing and later the servicing of the boats.  This also shortened procurement time as it was critical to get the tugs into service as soon as possible.

In October of 1943 the Defense Plant Corporation placed an order for the Engineer Corps, US Army for the Defense Plant Corporation (DPC) for 100 diesel tug boats.  The order for the 100 tugs was divided into contracts to six shipyards with individual contracts from a low of 4 tugs to a high of 42. 

The Long Beach shown on the kit box was based in LA and was a DPC tug as indicated by the pilothouse being squared up rather than round for the ease of production.  There was also the Los Angeles another DPC Tug that was essentially identical to the Long Beach - only the name boards were different.
The photos are of DPC tugs - The Becky E is shown under conversion to a live aboard in Lemont, IL.  The head on of the pilot house at dawn is Miss Laura in Duluth and the Tipperary is also in Duluth.  The Long Beach is shown following the Los Angeles.
Kurt


 

Ah yes.  Fond memories of changing from Military English to Civilian English.     And also of the nervous laughter and shocked expressions when asking someone to "pass the f****** massed potatoes" as the welcome home party.

My wife wouldn't even notice it if all I said was "Block It". I have lived most of my adult life in much more crude environments than you I suppose and if I bother at all, (Which is somewhat seldom) my choice of words tends to be a little more descriptive. Your choice of words reminds me of Winnie The Pooh and his "Oh Bother".
 
It does remind me of the first month or so after I came back from a year overseas with no women in sight and found I could no longer talk at all in mixed company!

Yeah, I know what you mean.  The bar has been set pretty high.  Still fun to learn new techniques from the masters here and attempt to emulate.

The Ship Derwent in Capetown Docks from a photo taken by one of her crew. The red building is now a 'posh' hotel.
Commissioned by a descendant of the man who took the photo
Acrylic on Stretched canvas 18” X 12”ish
Jim
 

Yeah, I know what you mean.  The bar has been set pretty high.  Still fun to learn new techniques from the masters here and attempt to emulate.

I've got some pictures to show you of the Constitutions topsail, topgallant, and royal yards.  Hopefully you can see the fittings for the yoke and parrel arrangement.  Also shown are the yardarm cleats and fittings for the outer studdingsail boom irons, as well as the sheaves for the sheets.  The horses and stirrups are attached to the yards.  At the center of the yards you can see the additional wood padding out the center section with the halliard blocks.  There are no quarter cleats on the front of the yards.  On the top mast yard, in addition to the iron jackstays there seems to be another rope one.  Not sure what the purpose for this rope stay is.  Perhaps it is for use as a man rope or hand hold for working aloft.  This is the only sail that currently gets set on the ship.  Also seen in the center section of the topsail yard is the net-like bunt gasket.  Hanging from underneath the yards are additional blocks with their rose lashings above.
 
I hope you find these useful.
 
Regards,