Kusawa2000

7 hours ago, chris watton said:

I too have a lot of the Ancre books/monographs, even the French language only ones!

Im glad to know that Im not the only one! 

1 hour ago, chris watton said:

I have a kind of addiction, and it is buying these plans, at times for no other reason than to stare and admire the lines of them for hours on end. I find them fascinating. 

This is one of my latest, it is a particularly beautiful 48th scale plan of the San Josef of 112 guns (reputed to once belong to Emma Hamilton) – and damn do those headrails look nice and simple to transfer into a kit version!

 

In the same tube, I also had an even bigger plan of Caledonia (120 – but rounded upper bow, so probably never do that one), and 2 for the old Roebuck Class 44 gun 2-deckers. Not sure if I shall ever use them, but I would like display all of them one day, if I can ever sell my house and move to somewhere that has the room in my workshop…
 

Chris: I have a bad (and expensive) habit of buying monograph plans from the French Ancre website https://ancre.fr/en/ . I find the French frigates have amazing lines and design and Ancre crew do a amazing job of transposing the old plans into something a modeler can tackle. I suspect you are already familiar with them but I just wanted to let  you know that there are others that also admire the lines and design of these beautiful ships. 

8 hours ago, chris watton said:

My usual rule of thumb is this – Any warship pre 1800, I will always insist of red inner bulwarks and carriages unless I have strong evidence to the contrary. After this date, I feel I can be a little ‘looser’ with the options, using off-white, ochre or green, depending on date and type of vessel. As you mention, Surprise is being depicted (for the prototype at least) to those later dates, so colour scheme is a little more flexible.

 

But again, it will always be up to the modeller what they want to do – they are furnished with options.

 

Oh, meant to ask - what colours were the cutters, was it a red one and green one, or red and blue, I cannot remember!
 

Chris: Not to say this is gospel, the maritime museum in San Diego has a ochre colour for there guns below deck on the HMS Surprise moored at the museum. For what its worth!

1 hour ago, Keith Black said:

 Four foot sections, they must have split those with wedges. Lots of hard work sitting there. 

I would agree with you.. all softwood.. we only grow pine, spruce, poplar and cottonwood up here... and when its green it treats the axe like a rubber ball.. 

MIKE

2 hours ago, John Ruy said:

Doors and Windows continue… I have also started wiring for lights. @Kusawa2000 Mike, note the deck lighting in the last pic. 😉

Cheers 🍻 

 

Steady as she goes…

 

John: The lighting is dead on! Ready for loading the 10 cords of firewood! 

1 hour ago, John Ruy said:

Thanks Mike, Great shots of the lighting.  Good confirmation of the type of lighting. My research has shown the use of a Dyno for electricity on board. 
 

I will be placing an LED in those cavities along with the inside lighting and over cargo doorways, staircases, etc…

 

John

 

 

John: good approach. And be aware they light is located on both sides of the ship at the same spot. Great progress.. As mentioned they are doing major restoration on her right now and she isnt open to the public. This is year 2 of the restoration. Based on the progress I suspect they will be at it next year as well

MIKE

58 minutes ago, John Ruy said:

@Kusawa2000 Looks like winter must take its toll on her. She looks be in ruff shape requiring constant maintenance. 
 

John

john: They are doing a major restoration on her right now.. the hull has been completed and they are now working on the structure above deck.. I imagine there has been some scraping and sanding going on at this point.

MIKE

Everyone: Here are the pics of the mystery light off of the Klondike. Took the pics today. They are located on the port and starboard side of the boat. From the pics I would say its a safe guess they are display lights for loading and unloading out of the side bay door. 

Hope that clears things up!

Mike Draper

Whitehorse, Yukon

Canada

On 7/29/2025 at 6:07 AM, John Ruy said:

Mike, that was my thoughts as well. Some sort of flood light for the shore line makes perfect sense. Thanks for running it down. &nbsp
 

John

12 hours ago, Keith Black said:

 

 John, do you have any notion as to when they might have been added? Now that you know it is a running light, are you going to portray it as such on your Klondike model? 

i dont think it was a running light.. I suspect when they moored the paddlewheeler along the shore they probably had it as a deck light to assist in any loading and unloading. These boats ran on firewood, not coal and they were known to burn 2 cords/hour (that was what I was told) when they were going upriver so there was quite a few fuel wood stations along the way.. any lighting would help in loading.. But I didnt get to the Klondike today but I will make sure to get there tomorrow. 

MIKE

57 minutes ago, John Ruy said:

The S.S. Klondike, 1937-55: A Structural History by Arnold E. Roos Volume III 
 

http://parkscanadahistory.com/series/mrs/342-3.pdf

Excerpts from this document of nearly 400 pages shows promise of amazing detail and confirmation they are lights. It also describes in amazing detail other exterior lighting. 😎

 

The light sockets located near the aft running lights on the port and starboard sides may have been added at a later date. The problem with these is that they do not readily show up in photographs, as they were white on a white background; however, it appears fairly certain that they were not in place by 1943. 

 

Running lights- center line is 115 feet 6-1/2 inches aft of reference point- set in a 1 foot 4 inch diameter hole- held in place by 3 metal clips 

 

 

Everyone: I will do a quick drive by today to see if I can get a look at it but I suspect you are right.. I think its a exterior light

MIKE

4 hours ago, chris watton said:

Well, being a wooden kit, there is nothing to stop you doing this and discarding the kit parts. I see this with the pre made decks, some plank their own. Nothing wrong with doing this at all. Indeed, I expect it from some modellers.

Chris: True enough! I admit it will be nice to have options!

Call me crazy but I always enjoyed planking above the wale. I find the individual planks really gave the hull a lot of character. I agree most of the hulls will be painted so if its individually planked or a template etched with the planks and treenails it may be hard to tell the difference. Maybe have it as a option at the time of purchase? Just floating the idea out there... 

6 minutes ago, chris watton said:

The deck openings will be a little different for the finished model, as I need to make sure there's enough depth for the 18 Pounder carronades to sit.

Chris: Good point. You will might have to sacrifice the eyebolt for the inhaul tackle but as mentioned having visual access to the gun deck is a great addition to the kit.

51 minutes ago, chris watton said:

OK, I added the upper deck beams, all fine, and then added my one off special 0.8mm ply deck, ready for next stage of development.

I do like how you are opening up the spar deck to the lower gun deck. Just gives it additional neat detail to the hull!

15 hours ago, chris watton said:

The decks will be 0.8 or 1mm limewood laser cut and etched as standard in the kit, as this is what it will be designed for. however, as I have said before, this does not stop anyone wanting to plank the decks themselves using planking of their choice. They can use either the laser etched decks or printed full size deck patterns on the plans as templates if they so wish.

 

I used to use maple veneer, which was really nice - problem was I could not have enough sheets in a nice neutral colour tone, so reject rate was way too high.

 

All of my kits have pear as the finishing planking for the hull, be it in pre cut or planking form.

Chris: Many thanks... just what I wanted to hear! 👍

22 hours ago, chris watton said:

As a rule, double planked. Inner bulwarks will be fully pre cut and etched parts, though. Decks will be laser etched and cut limewood with no ply sub decks needed.

 

I am thinking of just doing a single pear planking for the upper outer hull, and double planked at and below the thicker plank line (roughly where a main wale would start on an English ship) - But not sure yet...

Did I remember correct that the deck maybe have a option of laser etched for the deck planks or you can go for individually planked?

Also... the Inner bulwarks pre cut and etched.. that would take care of a few headaches! 

Pear on exterior planks.. wow.. that will give a nice finish.👍

2 hours ago, chris watton said:

And back to Surprise. These pics show the checking of the inner bulwark template (no gun port cut outs yet), and how it aligns with the upper deck beams. Once I know the fit is as good as it's going to be, I shall do the next version with gun ports and then check again.

 

(Ply gun deck is not part of the final kit)

 

For this design, I beefed up the bow structure a lot more than usual, as I know this can be a weak point when planking..

Chris: Is it going to be a single plank on bulkhead or double? I cant remember what you had done with your past kits...

On 3/27/2025 at 11:41 AM, chris watton said:

Most of the parts are just MDF for this first build, as I know this is just to test what I have already done, and a few things will be tweaked, and the hull then thrown away..

 

There are scale deck beams for both the gun deck and upper deck, which will be in 4mm thick pear for the kit. There will be a little detail on the lower deck (although you will not be able to really see it)

 

This will be my first design that does away completely with a ply sub deck. With scale spaced beams, a sub deck isn't really needed, so a 'Floating' laser engraved deck will be included (Or you can discard the supplied deck and plank as you like...)

 

I have also designed the bow so that the gun deck isn't cut off by the forward most bulkheads, as is usually the case, but goes all the way forward. (Including the bow chaser/bridle port being framed) . Am yet to see how well this works out...

 

Overall length will be around 1176mm including the bowsprit and mizzen boom.

 

Oh, and I have my new laser machine arrive a week today!

Chris: Thank you! For years the dummy gun/lower deck on kits has been my ultimate frustration. You dont know how refreshing this is! Looking forward in seeing more! And will have my credit card ready when the Surprise is ready for release!

Mike Draper

John: I really like how you captured the lip on the bow where the hull meets the deck. . A very distinctive characteristic of the Klondike.. Nice job!!! Keep the pics coming. 

Mike Draper

On 3/10/2024 at 2:11 PM, westwood said:

Hi Mike, thank you
I cut all the hull and deck planking strips myself from cherry wood.
For the finish I chose a Minwax Wipe on Poly.

 

Dusan: Thanks for providing a response.. I will have to reconsider the minwax product. It provides a amazing finish!

Thanks again

Mike Draper

Dusan: Just out of curiousity, what was the finish you used on the hull and deck? I like the finish!

Mike Draper

Everyone: Here is the model of the paddlewheeler that can be found at the Sternwheeler hotel in Whitehorse. I suspect its 1/4 scale as there was no display label. I apologize for the reflection in the pics. I was using my cell phone to get a few quick pics.

Enjoy

Mike Draper

Everyone: Glad I was able to help out getting the plans from Parks Canada. And the offer is open for any detail pics as the boat is just a 10 minute walk from my office. Keep the pics coming!~ It will great to see the progress on your scratch built!

And I dont know if you know this but the SS Klondike that is down the street is the second version of her. The first one got stuck on a permanently stuck sand bar during her years of operation so instead of trying to save her there removed her engines and hardware and built a new SS Klondike that is now sitting in Whitehorse. As well, we had 3 paddlewheelers sitting in town for the longest time. the SS Kaska and SS Whitehorse but they were lost in the 1970s due to fire. Damn shame as they were beautiful paddlewheelers. 

Mike Draper

4 minutes ago, John Ruy said:

Mike, Did you ever get a chance to check out this SS Klondike model? 
 

I am beginning some research and pics are always good. 👍 

Im pretty sure its still there. Now that I know someone wants pics I will check and if its there I will get a few pics for you. Either than overall shots do you have any detail pics you would like? I can also go down and get pics of the 1:1 model that is 3 blocks from my office 🙂 

Mike Draper