Javelin

She definately looks good. And what a pace of construction, from January start till finishing now! It takes some sacrifices to a model's quality to make it RC if you're not willing to continuously repair it. However on your model there are few visible compromises! What I don't like too much about such ships is the single prop/rudder configuration that limits the amount of manoeuvering one can do and increases the minimum required pond size to comfortably sail around.

I'm really short of time nowadays, so not much progress. Also wanted to add pics of the real ship, but having some hardware issues, so I'll just show some progress pics. Started by painting (and currently mounting) the forward catwalk. During the painting process I decided to finally continue that forecastle. First was the Chafing Chain. It's part of the obligatory Emergency Towing System of tankers. Small tankers only have one forward, larger ones also have a system aft. The forward system consists of a Smit Bracket (yellow thing in the pictures), with a chain connected. In an emergency, the chain is led overboard through the Panama fairlead by either the tanker's winches or the assisting tug's winch and then connected to the tug for emergency towing. Due to a chain's strength it survives the chafing of towing in heavy swell etc. Steel wires aren't so good for that and wires deteriorate much faster than chains. The heavy chain was connected to the bracket and stowed in a small coaming. On most ships it's also covered with canvas, but invariably it ends up as a pile of rust... I also still had the chain stoppers to do. They transfer the forces of the anchor and chain to the vessel structure rather than keeping it on the winch brake and/or gearbox. I've seen about as many versions as I've seen windlasses, so no real standard there. Generally it's a big block that's hinged between two shackles of the anchor chain with a counterweight to aid in removing it when the anchor is hoisted again. Once it's in place, the chain is lowered so that the next shackle rests on the stopper block (transfer of forces, windlass loses tension). I also finished the stairs to the forecastle, first stairs to be finished in over 5 years!

I may have missed something, but in the pictures, I only see black smoke being emitted from the main funnel. That would be the exhaust of coal being burned in the boiler. I do not see any white steam being emitted except from that small pipe in some pictures. That said, with such small space, placing a condenser etc. wouldn't be very practical. On the other side it would require a lot of fresh water stored in tanks... All in all, a very fine build! Love that subtle weathering, a difficult task at such scale.

Seem to have missed this. Glad to have been of any help on this build. She truly came out gorgeous! Despite your issues with the sails, I'm happy you went through and added them. The outcome has a great array of colours and contrasts. Although today they are generally engine powered, from time to time you still encounter some under sail in the Gulf.

Hi Brad, how much does she weigh at the moment? And I noticed decals on your air det, aren't you scared they'll come off in her wet environment? Or do you varnish the whole plane when they're finished? Overpowering a model is easy, but it's also necessary. Wind nor water scale down and nobody's going to make any mooring manoeuvers in an 11Bft gale... That said, seems like a fun boat to run. Not too large nor heavy.

Great job and I'm happy you decided to install that rigging, it really adds to the stunning result!

They sure loved round holes.... Beautiful job on one of these handsome ships. Loving every post of your build log!

Having much less power astern than forward is quite normal in real ships as well. Propellor shape and pitch are optimised to move ahead, not astern. The main reason a rudder manoeuver is always preferred over a telegraph one. The turning radius is always much shorter in advance than a straight stop. Also reversing props makes you lose any rudder effect/use. That's why sailing isn't as easy as it looks, you need to look well in advance. Real ships also have a lot less power available than any model. That said, I understand that on a pond a short stopping distance is preferred, certainly when other ships are involved.

With two identical props you will have a stronger propellor effect when reversing. With counterrotating ones this balances out. Depending if you go for right or left handed props, the bow will very strongly move to either port or starboard side when reversing. Which then means that whenever you'd want to reduce speed, you need to take into account a heading change and turning of the vessel. Rudders don't work when props run backwards, so you can't compensate for it either. That's the only disadvantage I can think of. Perhaps also vibrations that will increase instead of cancelling each other out, but that's difficult to predict. She's looking sharp!

And time for an overview: next steps: - fix some issues with the piping edges at the forward edge of the hatch and piping issues forward of that edge - level out forward catwalk since it determines the height of the next part along the deckhouse - complete the piping connections to the deck house - finish and fix catwalk next to deck house - finish forward edge of manifold catwalk where it makes a step to the part next to the deck house I believe after that that I will proceed with finishing the deckhouse (finally put the real crane jib support in place instead of an airbrush jar) and railings on top of it. And together with that, start making the stairs to the catwalks. Only the aft catwalk is glued, all others are just dry fitted. I will first put some transverse beams, paint those and also the catwalks themselves before gluing them, same sequence as I used on the aft part.

I did not have much time in the last couple of months, but did manage to do more than anticipated the last two weeks. I haven't made any updates since it's simply more of the same... I finished the forward part of the catwalk, including railing. Currently working on the railing of the manifold part and simultaneously building the last part of the catwalk, the part around the deckhouse. As you can see, the Legos have made an entry for keeping things in place and straight. Picked up that trick over here. Of course I need to be carefull since I'm using glue for styrene, so I don't want to glue the blocks to the catwalks...

For what it's worth, the bearing device is called a pelorus. The stand itself is called a binnacle or compass/gyro repeater. I'm however not certain if in that time they actually had repeaters or if it was a fixed rose that would give relative bearings (relative to ship's bow that is) rather than compass bearings. Nowadays we take gyro bearings with these things. Sorry for interrupting. You're doing an excellent job. Quite an improvement over your original version!

Fantastic job on that paint! Something to be truly proud of, certainly if you're not used to do such things. I wouldn't even know how to get started on something like that. (well I'm a bit closer due to your explanation)

But the question is: what about the moss-idea??? Loved the Zen garden too, but as mentioned before, it would probably take some of the focus away from the bottle...

Haven't been too active around here, but a great job on this SIB Glen. I'd also go for the second one, however I'd try to crudely break off the left part that sticks out towards the front. This would create a more compact contour. Love the moss idea as well, but it's up to you, the "hard line" doesn't really bother me, but the moss would add some colour.

Late as ever, but you can count me in! I'd say that small pipe is an overpressure vent from the boiler. Based on the white colour of the smoke in your last picture as well as the fact that she is manoeuvering with that barge near the quay in that picture. She'd be reducing and/or reversing her engine at that time, which would create an imbalance with the steam production/consumption in the boiler. In those first pictures, she's made fast on the bow, but keeps pushing forward against the quay to keep her in position, which would create a steady steam balance and no need for venting any overpressure. Just my 2 cents, I'm not a specialist on steam systems of that age. I'll be happy to follow this build, lots of opportunities for weathering!

Not exactly my subject of choice, but I recognise a professional at work! I'll simply follow along with great admiration because of your professional approach, workmanship and tricks. Great and very sharp construction!

"Astonishing" is all I can say. That last picture with your duckgratings in place really looks like the real thing. That weathering is brilliant. It's only the lack of finer detail in that picture that shows it's the model in progress rather than an example of the real thing!

Magnificent!

I second what DAR said above. She's looking brilliant.

A lot of original Dhows are anchored in the bay around the Museum of Islamic Arts in Doha as well. Not sure if they can be visited. I found them anchored for the national holiday, but not sure if they were brought out for the holiday or permanently (inaccessibly) anchored.

Unfortunately I have to agree with Ferrus. Although nowadays safety is improving, a lot of "old school" people are still around on work boats. The drive to perform and do things quickly is often that high that people ignore the hazards to their own life and limb. Very often they are not aware of the hazards or have gotten away with some practices for a while not to consider them dangerous at all. When at work, tools are often scattered around to avoid losing time to get them. A lot of it depends on who's leading the operations and which kind of mix of characters you have onboard. All in all the rate of injuries and casualties on workboats remains high, even today, and that's not entirely due to the inherently dangerous activities they perform... That said, I'm happy to hear of the good news (considering the circumstances) about your health Keith! Great to see you continuing Lula!

Nice project, this is perhaps also an interesting lead interesting for you. Kuwait Maritime Museum

Phil, She is looking brilliant, perfect really. I can not describe it any better! Nowadays the buoy is brought onboard first, however, the buoy in our days is connected with an anchor hoisting wire. So the wire between the buoy and anchor is dedicated to hoist up the anchor. The second wire is the one actually holding the ship/object that is anchored. In your set-up this is very different of course. It does however seem logical to get it out of the way first, since it would defenitely tangle with the anchor and anchor hoisting rope while hoisting the anchor. Something to do with your good friend Murphy.

Thanks. Now came an example of "no matter how long you think about something, sometimes you just need to do it to figure it if it'll work". For a very long time I've been holding back that railing on the forecastle until I was finished with that ventilation pipe and mast. The idea was to have that mast with its supports in place and then figure out a way to get that railing correct. Well, that didn't work out the way it was supposed to. In the end I figure it's better to first have the railing in place and then just fit the supports. They were interfering with each other, without a real way to avoid it. Now I have the railing, so I'll just need to close the drilled holes and redrill the holes for those ventilation trunk supports in a different position to make this work. In the end I'm still happy about it as we're still making progress. The ventilation system was dry fitted after all, so no real issues apart from filling and drilling.