Javelin

I don't think that's poor planning at all. It's basically the point of SIB's. If it's not hard or just straightforward, then what's the point? Adjusting the bottle or the scale just makes it easier and that gives a less brilliant effect. Having all those pieces fit nicely would also require so much planning and even construction that you'd already be halfway in the build before you discover all possible issues... That way you'd never really start a build! ( and that's not your style is it? 😋)

So the tedious job of catwalks has started. In one way I looked forward to it, since it's the beginning of the end, but on the other side I wasn't too keen on starting it, since it's a tedious job of cutting out all the stanchions from the PE sprue and measuring and fitting etc. First things first, a paper template to get some correct fitting. It has a few platforms on the side where stairs are mounted. Some of those are on the GA plan, but some are omitted, so the paper template really is necessary to get the position of all of them correct. On top is a styrene L-shape. As you can see, they aren't quite straight over such long lengths. The idea is that the steel grating inside will give the strength and rigidity to the catwalk. However I have already some experience with these gratings and cutting them. They have a tendency to bend quite strongly. This is a very narrow strip that I tried for a small scale project. And this is the now 10-year old catwalk from around the deck house. Much less pronounced, but as you can see it does bend the styrene L-framing as well. I can probably fix this one by supporting and clamping though. The solution for this very long catwalk was to cut tiles. I basically cut 3cm long tiles (in reality the grating is also mounted in pieces rather than one long length, so no issues there). I glued the tiles in, with some weight on top to keep it all flat while gluing. Later on, I used the same trick to mount the railing on both sides. I glue the railing stanchions to the horizontals, so it also adds some rigidity to the whole thing. In the meanwhile I figured I can finally go ahead with the final detailing on this aft part. The catwalk is the top layer, so once it's mounted this part of the vessel would be finished near the center. I'm now checking all details that are still missing from aft to forward (of this section). Some of it was already made, some I still need to make. Here is a bridge with rollers on both sides to pass the aft spring line from the starboard winch over to portside of the vessel when mooring portside alongside. You can also see some manholes etc. that will be mounted just in front of that accommodation block. Time for measuring and gluing.

You definately built that hull sturdy 😵. What is her empty weight (without that ballast)?

I would also go for glue first, paint later. In case of first painting and then gluing: If the curve doesn't fully match with your hull, you'd have the risk of it coming loose since it would be glued to the paint instead of directly on the wood. You could of course paint first, with the position of the sponsons masked (and glue them on later), but that would be difficult with the risk of having to touch up on the paint later....

Looks brilliant. Museum quality!

Are you sure the 2 paints are compatible? I had something similar in the past, but the drying wasn't the issue. I used acrylic primer over a layer of top coat and that didn't seem to work... A real pitty though 😭, your masking was top notch, no signs of bleed...

Great looking Dutchman (At least one on this planet then 🤣)! So I was recently thinking about your project and I was thinking about the little parasols you get in some drinks. Perhaps that concept could be an idea for the whirlpool. Insert with head first, tilt it with the head down and open it by sliding the mechanism down. You'd have to design your own parasol for proper size, shape and material though. On the upside, you could make the stick long enough to touch the top of the bottle, so it doesn't float. Just another brain fart. A solid cone is still preferable, but I just don't see a good solution for the moment. I guess this project would be easier with a bottle in upright position (neck on top), but you'd need a low, wide bodied bottle for that (I have one like that, but with an extremely long neck).

haven't actually remeasured it recently, but she should be 1m65 (=5ft 4). That's why handling her by the aft and center coamings has proven to be the easiest way to handle her.

Hi @KeithAug, Full load weight would be around 30kg (66lbs), but normally I sail with around 22kg (48lbs). I have indeed also seen converted aluminum ladders with a rope/chain hoist system that would lower ships to the water etc. However with this kind of weight it would be difficult to use that option. On the other hand, considering how she turns out, I doubt I'll be sailing a lot with this one. I need something more maneuverable for the future (that's going to take a while though). So exciting times (for me at least). I've now completed the top layer of pipes. Not without hurdles though. The deck, and mainly the hatch, has warped a bit, so it's difficult to get things straight and at the correct height. After the usual dry fitting etc. I painted it all, to then figure out that the pipes looked a bit too bent to my liking. It dropped down considerably towards the forward part, with all the straight vertical supports, it was a bit too obvious. Looking at it again, I actually had to drop the backside a bit. So I decided to do some surgery, cut off 3 supports on the aft and lower the aft end of the pipes a bit. Quite a stressful surgery since I had to cut with my knife in the middle of the forest of pipes and support. First dry fit. In following 3 positions I had to cut off the supports and realign the pipe (I removed one of the 2 pipes before cutting as well). And then, after this was successfully performed and all reinstalled, it was finally time to determine the level for the catwalk. I first had to decide the highest point of the piping. I then put my steel ruler on that position, resting it on some of the supports and leveling it out transversally. As you can see, I used a 0.5mm piece of styrene on those supports to level it out. I have a certain margin since I'm using L brackets (like the real thing) to level out the catwalk. The L-shape allows me to go up and down a bit on the vertical supports. I then glued the first transverse support on the portside. Once fixed, I glued one on the starboard side (arrow, underneath the ruler) And once I had the level at the highest point, I continued aft. I used a large diameter styrene tube as a ruler, since it's big/long enough, but doesn't weight much. I did the same in this direction, mounted the tube over the supports, resting its forward end on the new transversal PS support. Then leveled it out using a spacer on the aft supports and then glued the first L-shapes along the length. Forward part of the tube on the fixed support. And the aft end, with the first L-shapes glued in position (arrows) After contemplating several ways to make those catwalks, I decided to make them off the vessel and mount them when complete. The alternative would be to put L-shapes on the supports and later on put the gratings in. However, I'm afraid this way I'd have waved catwalks, also mounting the railing will be difficult, certainly around that deck tank etc. So the idea now is to measure everything out, make a template from cardboard or paper and then build the catwalk, including railing, on a flat surface. I'll then mount it and probably add the last transversal supports when the catwalk is ready. The catwalk construction will take a while I guess.

that is indeed how it's done nowadays. But as Eberhard mentioned, Jelly-fish can be a pain too. I remember clearing 600kg of them from the seachests in Kuwait at some point. A single one is not an issue, they'll be cut to pieces when hitting a sharp object or grating, but a full invasion of them is a totally different thing. The disadvantage of strainers inside is that you open a pipe to the sea below the waterline. You better be sure...

Thanks for the compliment Tim and everybody else. Launching is quite an endeavour. She goes in by pieces. Since she's quite heave, first I prepare everything near the water. Then I float the hull, 12kg (=26 lbs), followed by installation of trays with lead ballast and the battery. Lastly I mount the hatch and accommodation (in that order). The hull itself is rather easy to carry, without the accommodation and hatch, the reinforced coamings around the openings are good handles. Due to her size and freeboard, she doesn't have to stay upright during handling, the risk of water ingress while installing ballast etc. is minimal. I am thinking about a device to launch her, basically two loops with a bar at the bottom. 1 Loop would be near the bow, 1 near the stern, once waterborne I could then slide them fwd and aft and remove them. Still thinking of improvements on that though. All together she's a great learning experience, but also the reason I'm looking at Harry DeWolf for a next project. Harry is everything Chaconia is not... Light, small, little to no details and most of all, manoeuvrable!

Hi Kevin, glad to see you back! (I've been following all of your builds up till now). I have some plans (mostly used the General Arrangement plan up till now, but used other plans for the hull etc. as well) and a huge amount (seems I have 4000+ pictures). Also worked on the real vessel and a sister ship for several months, but that's a long time ago. Problem with all those pictures is that a lot of them are of the same areas, taken at similar angles, so I'm going through a lot of them to find a picture of a tiny detail that's not visible on 1 pic of the area, but might be, on an other picture of that area from a slightly different angle... Takes a long time. These pics were generally taken during surveys, so they take pictures from the same viewpoint to see the general condition (and change in condition, improvement or deterioration) of that area. Sometimes I find myself pondering over measurements or positions, estimated from several pictures, to eventually find out that these details were on the General Arrangement plan all along! On the other side, the pictures do show items that they either misplaced or omitted on the GA plan as well. The top layer of pipes that I'm installing now, is one of these cases. It's quite well detailed on the GA, but in the top view, the catwalk covers most of it. So the bend positions and measurements can be used, but the full run of the pipes, including where they tie in to the cargo system near the manifold, can not be seen. These are parts that I need to figure out from pictures.

Thanks guys. It's a bit on the backburner, although I must admit that everyday I'm looking at its design. I discovered a couple of issues with my drawings compared to the real thing. Carving could be an option, but it'll take a long time and it will be difficult to achieve the sharp knuckle lines of this design by carving and sanding. Additionally I do not have the actual drawings, but I do try to get as close as I can to the real design/shape by combining the things that I do have. So what I have: - A GA side view (giving me at least an accurate height and length of a lot of parts) - An outside view side drawing, showing the knuckle line and the prominent openings for the boats on the side as well as the fairleads and hatches. - some sketchy deck top views (luckily the main deck and 2 decks down, I do have my doubts about the accuracy of outline of those plans though) - Pictures of the megablocks during construction, this gives me a good view at some frames, allowing me to discern some important curves. On those pics I can see the longitudinal stiffeners, equally spaced in a transverse way. Combined with the width of the ship, I know the distance between those stiffeners. Combined with the height of the decks (combination of the pictures with the GA plan), I can determine some intersecting points to draw up those frame shapes. In the same way I determined the width of the bridge, hangar etc. The main issues are of course near the bow. In the above pictures you can see I thought that the lines from the knuckle up would be a continuous curve/line. This appears to be wrong. It seems they designed the bow from the knuckle to the mooring deck and then started a new curve/line from the mooring deck to the "roof" of the mooring deck. Doesn't make much sense to me, but I discovered it from some close-up shots of that bow and will change my frame plan accordingly. For those not familiar with the ship itself.

Thanks Glen, So working on several fronts now. I was waiting for a delivery of 1mm brass wire to continue that last layer of piping, so I continued with the second gangway (somehow always more difficult than the first one). At the same time I slowly started with the railing on the forecastle. That area is nearly finished, so I thought it was a good place to get started. A difficult place as well as the mooring fairleads are integrated in that railing, so it's not as straight forward as putting stanchions and adding the bars. In the meanwhile the 1mm brass has arrived, so I started on that as well. I did decide to first finish that second gangway before going any further. So, final layer of piping, dry fitted, with some scrap as supports for bending and measuring the bends etc. As you can see, that vent mast was quite annoying while working in that area, but I don't think I had much of an option on that one: And pipes finished and painted with a first coat. The unpainted supports were added before I finished the pipes. Those will eventually be glued to the side of the catwalk later on. The easy part here is that I'm building up in small sections, doesn't require too much fitting and trying. However, I did have to wait for the first PE stanchions (bought from Dean's Marine) to determine the height of the top bar. The aft middle bar is not parallel, not sure if I can fix that. Since it's an RC model, I drilled all of those things and glued them in holes to make it more sturdy. I did double check the position of those holes, so not sure what went wrong here... No pics of the second gangways yet, you've seen the first one, so it looks the same . Once finished, I will paint them and store them somewhere safe.

The reason I'd go for a solid cone of multiple pieces, is that anything hollow, like a funnel shape, might be difficult to keep "water"tight. If there's any leakage, it will start to fill up or get the funnel stuck in the resin. I guess the first question we have to ask is: what kind of diameter (and height) whirlpool are you looking at? A lot bigger than the bottle neck?

I've actually been thinking the same, make a cone out of several pieces to insert in the bottle, but make sure you can disassemble it. Coat it in something like vaseline or use transparent foil that can stay inside the epoxy. Then pour and remove the cone once set. I do believe removing the cone once the ships are in, would be a challenge... Not sure on the cheater brand, I've actually thought about it being cheating as well, but just an eenie-weenie- bit 🤏, it would be only a tiny hole at the bottom after all 😄

I've actually thought about drilling a hole in the center bottom of the bottle, then plug it. Fill with epoxy and while it is gelling, remove some epoxy by syringe trough the center hole in order to create a through. Not sure if that's feasable and it would definately require very precise timing. And practice of course! Clay is indeed an option, but much like you, epoxy or anything else transparent, looks waaaay more realistic. The problem with transparent substances to build up in layers us that you will see the edges of the layers. Certainly with silicone... Acrylic gel could be an option, but it shrinks too much and takes ages to dry when applied too thick.

Good decision Great job on that pile driver, great weathering, looks very real!

I'm with Rick. Many thanks for that explanation about the panels (and sponsons). Great results on both. She'll look awesome.

I've following for a while as well, just being very slow in showing myself. Been pondering about ways to make that whirlpool... Really can't come up with any ideas. I'm really curious how you'll do that!

Thanks for all the likes and comments. Despite having started a small project (Harry DeWolf), my main focus is still very much on Chaconia. Thought not to bore you with endless detailing, so here is the first gangway. It's not entirely finished yet and I'm thinking of keeping it off the ship until I put the railing inboard of it, if that's possible. Knowing myself, I need to start the second gangway soon in order to keep the momentum and not forget how I built the first one! There is fixed gangway at each side. It hinges outward and downward. The steps are triangular in shape with a rounded part. This allows it to be used under different angles. In most cases it can be used for pilot embarkation as well, sometimes a combination with a pilot ladder is requested (mostly when in ballast). On larger ships you'll see a white-red marking called a 9-meter mark. The separation between the white and red part of the rectangle marks the height at which there is 9m of freeboard. If that's visible that means you need to make a combination of a pilot ladder and a gangway (sort of compulsory, but still subject to pilot requirement). The pilot ladder will then be used to get from just above the water surface to the 9m mark and there the pilot can switch to the gangway to get to the deck. Nowadays with the really, really large ships, there is often a door in the side of the vessel so he doesn't need to climb that high on the side of the vessel anymore. The inboard part with the collapsed railings. And a dry fit in position. 4 supports are required on the inside for stowage, but I decided to line it up first between the fore and aft parts and then add the supports in order to get the height of the supports correct.

Hi Ian, I'll be following your upgrade project. Immensely handsome ships. Can't really help with any detailing though. I'll keep my eyes open if something pops up about the Splendid Cats. I do know HMS Iron Duke had the catwalk around the stern as well, so I wouldn't be surprised if Lion had it at some point. I do agree it was a bit outdated and rare by that period.

Going out at sea brings a lot of crazy ideas. This is one of them. It all started with my last trial of LPG Chaconia in my home pond. After rebuilding the pond, she seems to be short of space in order to fully turn around. That meant that either I needed a bigger pond, or a different boat to sail. A bigger pond (again!) was not an option, so I decided for a smaller RC ship. Having learned some lessons from Chaconia, mainly that a heavy ship is not very handy for RC sailing (getting it in and out of the pond is quite a task). Additionally for fun of sailing, a single prop ship without bow thruster is quite boring and limited in things you can do with it on the water. In parallel to this, it should be known that I've been collecting any icebreaker plans that I could get my hands on in the past 15 years, having a myriad of ideas with them, but never quite using them. All of this led to the latest Canadian Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship, named Harry DeWolf. Most recent icebreakers use azipods or Z-drive propulsion, which isn't very practical for RC, and although conceived with such a propulsion, Harry DeWolf was eventually built with a regular twin rudder - twin prop configuration (with a bow thruster). Given her length of about 104m and wide 19m beam, she'd make for an ideal RC ship for my pond in 1/100 scale (in which I already have 2 ships). Not sure where this will go. Might be Harry DeWolf itself, might end up being one of the other units (or none at all). The disadvantage of the vessel? Well she's relatively new, which means no real plans are available. However, if you look well, you can find parts of plans. In addition, they've been very open about its construction, proudly showing a lot of pictures of their block/megablock construction in the process. Add to the mixture of plans and picture some common sense and shipbuilding knowledge, and off I went making my own plans. During my last stay at sea, I made a lineplan, drawn in 1/100, but decided to make a prototype in 1/400 to validate the frame shapes. I was pondering finishing the 1/400 model, but to save me some time I think I'll just do the lower hull to see if that shape is plausible. The prototype will be quick-and-dirty, with an eventual decent finish on that lower hull, adjusting frames where required. It won't be 100% accurate, given the lack of actual plans, but I can live with that. She is quite a sleek shape with relatively few small exposed details, so the large version shouldn't take too much time to build neither. I've been working on this for 2 days now. The prototype is also giving me some additional insights into the future construction method/approach of the big version. We'll see where it all goes, considering I'm still working on Chaconia as well. 2 gangways with 44 steps each to build... First lesson I learned was that I had forgotten to draw a frame. Marked it on the longitudinal drawing, but forgot to set out its shape... Corrected that by now. Additionally you can see on the frame with the cut-out that the shape is off. It won't form a smooth line with the frame in front of it. I corrected its shape a bit, but not sure if it will be sufficient. You can see the black marking near its bottom. This is the correction. I'll file it down to that black line and see if it's credible. The idea is to fill and sand the lower hull shape and see which frames are good and which ones need correcting on the plan. When the plan is then corrected, I can go forward with planning for the real sized model.

Good is an understatement, she's looking gorgeous! The original ship has of course pleasing lines, but your model is of excellent quality, love the choice of colors and level of detail.

It looks better than the props I buy for RC ships from a professional company. I do indeed wonder what you'd completely be satisfied with?!