Lecrenb
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Still waiting to hear from the Fram museum, but from information received from Harvey Golden and Wefalck I am leaning away from the belt idea towards a drive chain. Belt or chain, raising the cargo derrick, hence the guide rollers, would provide tension and act as a sort of clutch... I can always adapt the pulley on the anchor winch if necessary, but there is no information as to what it looked like on St. Roch. The missing link is the drive on the cargo winch, was there a separate gear that is not in my reference pictures, or was it wrapped around the warping drum? That cargo winch is coming up next on my list! Regards, Bruce -
Thanks very much Harvey... I am still waiting to hear from the Fram museum, but your Gjoa thread is giving me a lot of missing details. You've also built a very nice looking model! Regards, Bruce
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If it is not too late for your play, get a copy of James Delgado's book "Arctic Workhorse" from the Vancouver Maritime Museum's gift shop. It gives a good description of RCMP schooner St. Roch's time in Arctic service including both her NW passage transits, and the life of her crew on board. Regards, Bruce LeCren
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Thanks very much Wefalck for checking! I saw a model of Gjoa that has rollers on the side of the deckhouse, but I am not attributing too much to their accuracy. They would likely have been used to carry the chain or belt between the winches. We would have some time on the afternoon or evening of August 16, other than that Viking has filled our itinerary. If not this time, then next! Regards, Bruce
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Thanks for everyone's help with my anchor winch drive. Today I wrote to the Fram Museum in Oslo, custodians of Maud from whom St. Roch's lines and Arctic construction features were taken by naval architect Thomas Halliday in 1927. The museum also has the exploration ships Gjoa and Fram, either under restoration or on display. Since they have the machinery from these ships I hope they can be my arbiters on St. Roch's winches. Regards, Bruce
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Bonjour wefalck! Fair comments, and valid, thanks for your input. It could very well have been a chain, and that was my first thought until I looked at the cargo winch pictures... and while they are not very good I could see no means of connecting a chain to that winch (which drives the anchor winch). I would be very interested in seeing pictures of chain drives... St. Roch would not have been the only ship with mechanical drive! Regards, Bruce
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I lashed down the stream anchor and completed the anchor and winch installation... there are 86 individual parts making up the winch not including the anchor cable and chain! From all the pictures I was able to find (thanks AON!) I figured that the winch was manufactured as a unit and the mechanical drive added later to suit the ship. Other than the drive coming from the cargo winch on the main deck there is no other information extant. It could have been a chain, or a belt. The overall looped length would be 80 feet (25m). Similar belts were used at that time to drive agricultural machinery from traction engines, so I think this is a real possibility. Also, I do have two pictures showing the port side of the cargo winch... there is a warping drum, but no gear or pulley, therefore I made my anchor winch drive pulley to be able to take a belt. My decision to own and defend! The anchors are not glued to the hull, but hang on their chain or cable. I made the pelican hook and cable gripper by modifying miniature turnbuckles and adding eye bolt and wing nut details. This completes the work on the fo'c's'le deck, now on to the main deck, where I will be making the open hatch cover, cargo winch, and possibly the spare rudder stowage!
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Nearly there... as per my earlier thoughts, I painted the rotating parts gun metal. The warping drums are flat aluminum. I wrapped the cable spool with suitably sized rigging thread from my stash to serve as the port anchor hawser, then I dry brushed Tamiya X-1 gloss black, followed by Vallejo rust, and lastly Tamiya XF-1 flat black. I think I achieved the look of wire rope?? The drive gear shaft extends out so the drive clears the hatch on the main deck... I have to make a supporting frame and pulley for that. My 1928 plans sketch shows the port warping drum also extending on the winch shaft... not sure if I will do that yet. It will depend on if there is room to wrap and unwrap lines once the drive pulley is on. As always, thanks for checking in and feedback is appreciated! Bruce
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Thanks a bunch Alan! There is enough information there to let me fabricate a replication of a cable gripper... Regars, Bruce
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OK, I need a nickel's worth of free advice from the forum folks... The weight of St. Roch's anchors should not be borne by the anchor winch when not in use. For the starboard chain, I have no problem making a pelican hook to fit on the chain, but what about the port anchor cable? I have no idea what a cable gripper would look like a hundred years ago, and there is no bitt on which to belay the cable. Does anyone have any drawings, pictures or references to how I might include a period correct cable gripper? Thanks in advance, Bruce
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Thanks Phil, that's a resource I had not considered! The winches were made by Pumps and Power of Vancouver, I'll try a search and see what comes up! Regards, Bruce
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Thanks Kurt, I appreciate the feedback! Still musing about the dog clutch... Regards, Bruce
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I am using stud link chain by Krick for the anchor... expensive but the look of the stud links goes, in my opinion, a long way to completing the finish in this scale. Starting with the chain, the first thing to make is the gypsy... I used three sizes of nested styrene tube, cutting away whatever did not look like a gypsy until I was satisfied... From the final size of the gypsy I scaled three winch supporting frames onto a piece of scrap styrene... And test fit to the ship. I am checking here for size... does it look right in the absence of plans or photos? I will thin down the gypsy on one side, the wider side will become the brake band. The warping drums are by Billings Boats, they are correct for size so it was easier to buy the four I will need as opposed to turning them myself. Here are the parts so far, test fitted onto the winch shaft... You can see the brake band and crank, and the warping drum is finished with scale hardware from Grandt Line. The frame on the end has a flange for strength. Details like this are my conjecture, in the absence of plans or photos of St. Roch's winch... Now I turned my attention to making the remaining end frame and the cable spool. I had to be careful here to ensure the winch was not going to outgrow the base, which is already mounted on the deck! The cable spool gets its' own brake band. It is time to go to my stash of old RC servo gears and find some that would look proper to make the drive assembly... This last picture shows everything so far, test fitted together on the ship, with the drive gear on the end of the shaft. There are some adjustments needed to fit the base, then it will be time for paint and assembly. I am thinking of black overall, with gun metal on the rotating parts for contrast, and maybe a rust wash on the cable and chain, again for contrast rather that weathering purposes. I still have to make the final gear drive and pulley assembly, and am trying to think good thoughts about how to include a dog clutch, or whether it would be better to leave it off?? Thoughts, comments, and critiques are always appreciated, especially as I am making a lot of it up as I go along! Regards, Bruce
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Building the anchor winch is going to be very interesting, because there are no plans or photos of it in existence! The attached portions of the 1928 designer's plan give a side view and a plan view of what was envisaged: a winch having a chain gypsy on the starboard anchor, a cable spool on the port anchor, and a mechanical gearing that drove the winch from a power take-off on the main engine, via the cargo winch at the foot of the main mast. After the maiden voyage Captain Larsen complained that the winch was under powered, and it was replaced in 1930. It was replaced again in 1944 by the one on the ship today. Here is the plan view, it shows the driving gears off the winch base on a separate support... but was the same arrangement kept in 1930? Who knows!? Here is the side view, showing a drive chain or belt to operate the anchor winch from the cargo winch, and a pulley set slung from the cargo derrick to guide the drive. I decided to follow the plan view more or less as presented, because the 1930 winch was still mechanically driven, and to keep the drive clear of the cargo hatch it would have to be extended to port with a separate support as shown on the plan. I did try and search out period plans or photos of other mechanical winches, without much success... if anyone has information or suggestions it would be great to hear from you!
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Thank you Phil, much appreciated. Here is a picture of the prototype... Regards, Bruce
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It has been about 2 weeks since my last update, and co-incidentally since I got my second knee! I'm now able to use the basement stairs, despite admonitions from SWMBO not to overdo things, so I was able to get a start on my summer to-do list! First up is to build the small platform that extends out from the starboard fo'c's'le. Photos show this was added by the crew in 1929 during St. Roch's maiden voyage. She spent much of her career sailing through uncharted shoal waters, and Captain Larsen wanted a place from which to swing the lead and communicate easily with the wheelhouse. Design plans show a sounding machine on the poop deck, but there is no information that it was ever installed. Larsen makes no mention of using it, and I am sure he would have found the location unsuitable for reporting soundings. I am not including it. The first photos show the sounding platform being roughed out on my bench, then trial fitted on the ship... The platform is hinged to the hull and there is a chain holding a brace in place underneath. The last photo shows the platform complete with the lead line... The fo'c's'le railings are visible in some of the previous pictures, this next photo shows the starboard rail being formed... Finally, here is an overview of the fo'c's'le deck with the rails and platform. The rails are not painted white today, but period photos from 1930 to 1934, while b&w, show a very light colour, so I painted mine white. It is time to build the anchor windlass and install the anchors before moving aft to finish the hull... As always, thank for checking in and comments are always welcome!
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Thank you very much Steve. Thanks for following along, enjoy your summer too! Regards, Bruce
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Thank you very much! I will be checking in from time to time when I get a bit more done! Regards, Bruce
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Thank you Keith! This will be our family's 18th annual fishing trip to Tobin Lake... I hope to make some more progress in between bouts of relaxation! Regards, Bruce
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St. Roch is now mounted on her display base... I still have a list of about a dozen items to make and install before the hull is complete, things from the ship's boats to the decals. Much can be done off the model and completing these items will be my goal for the rest of the summer. That's one of the things about scratch building... you have to think ahead and make up your instructions as you go along, and hope Part A fits into Assembly B before Widget X gets in the way (as it inevitably will)! I have also made some decisions as to St. Roch's display. Apart from some old Revell kits I made about 50 years ago, this is my first model sailing ship. I have decided to show her sails furled, so as to include all the running rigging while not impeding the view of the deck. New skills to learn, and I have picked up David Antscherl's Appendix on sail-making for some light bedtime reading! St. Roch has a very simple rig which I hope even a tyro such as myself can handle! I have also decided not to weather the ship, or clutter up the decks with odds and ends, as the ship is displayed today. This is a model, and my focus is to display the ship herself. Anyone who has followed this build log will have seen the warts on my hull and paint; but St. Roch is (or was) a working schooner that saw hard service, so to that end I am leaving the divots and scratches, as these were, and are today, present on the hull. Despite that she was well maintained by her crew of R.C.M.P. Constables, who took a great deal of pride in their ship, so I am leaving the hull free of rust and detritus. Keen eyes will note on the two previous pictures the zinc anodes, installed on the forged steel rudder reinforcements. Also the various inlets, discharges, and exhausts have been drilled through the hull and lined with pieces of brass rod. So now I am going fishing, then in June I'll be getting my other knee replaced, and making a pilgrimage to France in August (my Grandfather was with the 38th Bn at Vimy Ridge, and my wife Dale's father came ashore at Juno Beach), so I will be away for most of the summer but I will check in from time to time! Thanks for following along; I would appreciate hearing from others how you arrived at your decisions as to how to display your models... Regards, Bruce
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Moving right along, the stern area of St. Roch is now complete! I fabricated the rudder brake from styrene channel, shop made turnbuckle and shackles, nut and bolt details, and basswood... Taking up the turnbuckle presses the shoe against the quadrant, useful if the linkage breaks... The quadrant is limited to 40 degrees, I made the stops from basswood. The whole rudder area is protected by a wooden platform cover, which I made using offcuts from my hull build. The pictures show it being test fitted to the ship, and installed after painting... Finally, here is the same area on St. Roch today, photographed by myself during a visit about 5 years ago... Entering the home stretch as far as finishing the hull goes! Thanks for looking in, and as always comments and critiques are welcome!
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I completed the steering linkages today... I mounted the quadrant to the rudder post and fed the chains from the quadrant around the chain pulleys. Turnbuckles connect the chains to the steering cables, I used cast brass bodies from San Juan Details and made the ends from #22 copper wire. Shackles connect everything together. I made mine from fine solder with Grandt Line nut and bolt details. This layout follows sketches made by Captain Larsen in 1930 that routed the linkages along the waterways and eliminated the original block and tackle tensioning arrangement. Coming soon are the rudder stops and quadrant brake to finish this off. Enjoy!
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Very interesting description of the rigging!
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Got the rudder installed this evening... Here they are ready to be fitted to the ship, with the bearing half and the quadrant. St. Roch carried a spare rudder on deck, the service rudder could be lifted onto the deck through the rudder well using tackle rigged to the main boom. This was usually done to prevent damage from the pack ice or when the ship was frozen in for the winter. The rudder is made from Ironbark (Australian gum) which does not float, hence the safety chain. These next pictures show the rudder in place, and the bearing clamped while the glue sets. The piece of solder is preventing the chain from falling through the well while its' retaining strap is glued in place on the deck. Here is the deck view with everything set in place, and a view down through the rudder well... Tomorrow I will shackle the steering chains to the quadrant and get that fixed in place along with the chain pulleys. Then I will complete the linkages. After some final paint touch ups on the hull she'll be ready for her display base.
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