wefalck

You are right, information on pumps for 19th century small ships or boats is rather scarce. The archive of the naval dockyard in Copenhagen has a couple of drawings. I didn't check other sources, as I am currently interested in a vessel from the Baltic.
 
Pumps made from copper tubes along the lines of the galvanise iron one you showed above were available since the 18th century at least e.g. to flush the seats of ease on large ships and for a wide variety of domestic uses. There is no reason, why such pump couldn't be used as bilge-pump.
 
Otherwise, bored-out tree-trunks (probably mainly elm, but also oak or even fir for simple applications) were common and could be produced with a minimum of tooling. Since Roman times water-supply pipes were made like this. They could be also formed from two pieces of timber, banded together and bored out, but I think a tree-trunk was cheaper and less work. An auger basically would guide itself in a straight-grown trunk. In the case of sawn timber one never knows.
 
Looking at the cross-section of your boat, I would think that the pump must have been located near the front end of the cockpit, but I didn't check, whether anything would be in the way of it there.
 

You are right, information on pumps for 19th century small ships or boats is rather scarce. The archive of the naval dockyard in Copenhagen has a couple of drawings. I didn't check other sources, as I am currently interested in a vessel from the Baltic.
 
Pumps made from copper tubes along the lines of the galvanise iron one you showed above were available since the 18th century at least e.g. to flush the seats of ease on large ships and for a wide variety of domestic uses. There is no reason, why such pump couldn't be used as bilge-pump.
 
Otherwise, bored-out tree-trunks (probably mainly elm, but also oak or even fir for simple applications) were common and could be produced with a minimum of tooling. Since Roman times water-supply pipes were made like this. They could be also formed from two pieces of timber, banded together and bored out, but I think a tree-trunk was cheaper and less work. An auger basically would guide itself in a straight-grown trunk. In the case of sawn timber one never knows.
 
Looking at the cross-section of your boat, I would think that the pump must have been located near the front end of the cockpit, but I didn't check, whether anything would be in the way of it there.
 

Here are a couple more pictures to add to this story. The example of coppering is the bow of the clipper Snow Squall, now on display at the exclellent Maine Maritime Museum. 
 
Nearby was a fascinating exhibit, seen in the second photo, showing a machine used by the shipyard to pre-punch the nail holes in the copper sheets. The sheet is put in, the lever is pressed down, and presto, out comes the sheet with all the holes pre-punched. I'd never seen one of these before!

Nice work on the air-intake and cradles indeed 👍🏻
 
I am wondering, whether your L-profile was really acrylic ? I have never heard of such small acrylics profiles and most importantly, acrylic is normally too brittle for cold-bending.
 
After bending acrylics (and polystyrene) one should temper it to allow the molecules to re-arrange themselves and thus to take out the shape-memory. Also in the case of acrylic this warm bending can lead otherwise to something that is called stress corrosion cracking. These are very fine cracks that are forming over time. In small painted parts this doesn't matter too much, but it looks not nice on translucent parts. One can do this in a baking oven at 50°C keeping the parts over the former. You re-heating with the hairdryer presumably the same effect.
 
For warm-bending I am using an electrical 're-flow' hot-air soldering gun. The temperature can be set in the range between 80°C and 450°C. Apart from the intended use for touchless soldering, it is useful for all sorts of targetted heating procedures at a fixed maximum temperature, say for tempering hardened steel parts, for blueing metals, bending planks, shrink-fitting, or pre-heating parts for silver-soldering in order to save gas from the torch. I got mine years ago for something like 120€ from ebay.

Happy New Year everyone!
Now that the relative riots are over, the turkey coma has passed, and the decorations are being put away for another year, it is time to get back to modelling!
St. Roch now has her mainmast installed!
The steps to finish the spars and main sail, and to assemble the mast, are the same as I carried out for the foremast, so I won't be repeating them here. The first picture is the mast assembled, held in my drill press vise that I brought to my model bench. Note the running rigging is pre-installed, and the cargo derrick is in place with my scratch built gooseneck.
Note also the chain and footropes on the main boom...

St. Roch originally had a gaff mainsail, but this was cut down and the gaff removed by captain Larsen after her maiden voyage. Presumably the smaller sail area helped her sailing characteristics, which were not very good. And here is the mast installed onto the ship...

The running rigging has been belayed to the pins at the mast foot. The back stays are installed. The main stay is installed to the spreader on the mast.
The crow's nest will be installed above the spreader, which keeps the stay out of the way of the nest. I made the Jacob's ladder and installed it between the top of the shrouds and the bottom of the nest. 
As will be seen, crew climbed into the crow's nest through the bottom, not over the top.
The shrouds have yet to be made and installed.
 
In these next two pictures you can see the cargo derrick set up, with the crewman pushing his load of sacks to the side of the ship. The tackles used to swing the derrick are left slack on purpose, and the ends will be belayed to pins at the lower end of the main shrouds.


I normally do not include crewmen, since I am not very good at making them. However a friend on another forum and his 3d printer came to the rescue. I thought the open hold looked too sterile and the crewman would give scale to the model, so I used the following picture as inspiration to create this mini-diorama.
 
The photo was taken in 1928 during St. Roch's maiden voyage, as evidenced by her original small deckhouse and the note that she is unloading at Cambridge Bay.

It is interesting to note that there is no sailor manning the winch, the crewman appears to be working alone to get the cargo over the side and into, presumable, a shore boat...
This last picture shows my take on the scene...

Now all that remains are the main shrouds and some final details before St. Roch goes into her display case!
Thanks everyone for looking in and following along, and for your comments and support during my build!
Regards,
Bruce
 
 
 

Nice work on the air-intake and cradles indeed 👍🏻
 
I am wondering, whether your L-profile was really acrylic ? I have never heard of such small acrylics profiles and most importantly, acrylic is normally too brittle for cold-bending.
 
After bending acrylics (and polystyrene) one should temper it to allow the molecules to re-arrange themselves and thus to take out the shape-memory. Also in the case of acrylic this warm bending can lead otherwise to something that is called stress corrosion cracking. These are very fine cracks that are forming over time. In small painted parts this doesn't matter too much, but it looks not nice on translucent parts. One can do this in a baking oven at 50°C keeping the parts over the former. You re-heating with the hairdryer presumably the same effect.
 
For warm-bending I am using an electrical 're-flow' hot-air soldering gun. The temperature can be set in the range between 80°C and 450°C. Apart from the intended use for touchless soldering, it is useful for all sorts of targetted heating procedures at a fixed maximum temperature, say for tempering hardened steel parts, for blueing metals, bending planks, shrink-fitting, or pre-heating parts for silver-soldering in order to save gas from the torch. I got mine years ago for something like 120€ from ebay.

Eberhard,
 
Good catch! The plastic for the cradles is Evergreen Scale Models styrene! Duh!! I have corrected the original post.
 
I have worked quite a bit with acrylic (Plexiglas) and you are right - it doesn't respond well to cold bending.
 
I should get a hot air heat (soldering) gun. We used them at work for soldering very high density leads on ICs. They had a small diameter (1/4 inch, 5 mm) removable nozzle that would have been perfect for heating the styrene angles while bending them. And it would be handy for preheating metals for soldering.

Nice work on the air-intake and cradles indeed 👍🏻
 
I am wondering, whether your L-profile was really acrylic ? I have never heard of such small acrylics profiles and most importantly, acrylic is normally too brittle for cold-bending.
 
After bending acrylics (and polystyrene) one should temper it to allow the molecules to re-arrange themselves and thus to take out the shape-memory. Also in the case of acrylic this warm bending can lead otherwise to something that is called stress corrosion cracking. These are very fine cracks that are forming over time. In small painted parts this doesn't matter too much, but it looks not nice on translucent parts. One can do this in a baking oven at 50°C keeping the parts over the former. You re-heating with the hairdryer presumably the same effect.
 
For warm-bending I am using an electrical 're-flow' hot-air soldering gun. The temperature can be set in the range between 80°C and 450°C. Apart from the intended use for touchless soldering, it is useful for all sorts of targetted heating procedures at a fixed maximum temperature, say for tempering hardened steel parts, for blueing metals, bending planks, shrink-fitting, or pre-heating parts for silver-soldering in order to save gas from the torch. I got mine years ago for something like 120€ from ebay.

I am working to finish up the "furniture" on the O1 level.
 
First up was a supply vent that provided fresh air to the engine rooms. I wanted to make it from 0.005 inch (0.13 mm) brass because it looked like it would be fun. I made a 3D CAD model based upon the blueprints, and from that generated the 2D surfaces. These were printed and the parts cut out to serve as templates. They were glued (glue stick) to the brass sheet and then the parts were cut out with scissors - like cutting out paper dolls!
 
The pieces were soldered together with the same technique used on the smoke stack. It is sitting on a US one cent piece in the right hand photo.
 

 
It went together pretty good. I drilled a hole in the center of the base and soldered in a short 1/16 inch (1.6 mm) brass rod to serve as an alignment pin.
 
One of the "fun" things about it is that it has a rectangular duct opening, with the long axis running athwartships (port to starboard). But the long axis of the duct penetrating the deck runs fore-and-aft. So I had to make a 90 degree twist without reducing the cross section area of the duct. This is simple -  if you have ever worked with HVAC ducts, and you have an entire workshop full of sheet metal bending tools. But it wasn't too difficult at 1:48 scale, except I had to repeat one solder joint seven times before I got everything lined up perfectly. Murphy was having fun that day!
 
I placed the mounting hole in the deck where the blueprints showed it. This was a bit critical because a life raft was stowed immediately between the vent and the aft end of the deck house with not a lot of spare room. And I had not yet made the life rafts! That was the next project.
 

 
I wanted to make the life raft cradle from brass. But the frame was made of 1/16 x 1/16 inch (1.6 x 1.6 mm) "L"  extrusions, with a bend radius of only 0.125 inch (3.1 mm). That is only twice the width of the pieces, and there was no way I could bend the small brass pieces without breaking the part on the outside of the curve.
 
I also have some 1/16 inch styrene "L" angle stock. I tried bending it cold and it worked! But it didn't hold the shape and sprang back at least half the angle. I cut out a wooden form and clamped pieces in place in the form. Then I used a hair dryer to heat the plastic. When it cooled it was almost shaped correctly. I put the pieces back in the form and held a hot soldering iron very close to the bends. After a few seconds I briefly tapped the bend a couple of times (the plastic did melt slightly on a couple of pieces). Then when I took the pieces out of the form they held their shape.
 

 
The parts were clamped together one by one and glued using styrene solvent (methylene chloride and trichloroethylene). Nasty stuff - you should have good ventilation if you don't want to lose a few brain cells. The cradles came out OK, but not perfect!
 
For the life rafts I cut a narrow strip from an old cotton T shirt . It was rolled up and glued together, and the loose ends were cut off to shape it better. Then it was rolled up in some silkspan sail material left over from my topsail schooner build. This was glued around the cotton and then painted white. This was one of the minor differences between the Cape and the Cove. The life raft covers were painted deck gray on the Cove. I have noticed several trivial differences like this between the sister ships. The paint on the life rings is another example. It seems that if the Cove painted things one way the crew of the Cape painted them differently.
 

 
The rafts were strapped into the cradles with silkspan straps that had triangular metal fittings (0.013 inch/0.33 mm brass wire) at the ends. On the outboard side of the cradle these fittings passed through eyebolts on the cradle. On the inboard side the triangular fittings were lashed to a ring on a hydrostatic release. The base of the release was bolted to the deck. The dome shaped bit was the pressure release. If the ship sank water pressure would cause the ring to separate from the release, allowing the straps to swing back and release the life raft. At the same time another hydrostatic mechanism in the raft would start it inflating.
 

 
Here you can see the two rafts in position on the O1 deck. Three deck lockers will finish out the O1 deck furniture and then I can start on the life rails and life lines.
 

 
However, all this work on fiddly bits had been straining my left hand, causing some pain in tendons in my left thumb. Bummer! I can only work a couple hours at a time before the thumb cramps and the tendon becomes painful. Murphy has started a different tactic to screw up this build.
 
I have orders from the Admiral to cut back on my modeling time and give my hand a rest. Actually I think she is miffed because she thinks I am spending more time with the model than with her! So I think we will take a vacation (the weather looks nice on the coast next week).

OK, here's this pair of buildings set loosely in place, with their wooden sidewalk. These aren't attached permanently and I haven't done any blending of scenery around them or the sidewalk, but this gives the visual context of their setting.

You can see how the drugstore building sort of hides behind the other one, but I want that other one in the foreground because of the larger windows. At least that's been my assumption. Two more views:

This shows how you can see enough of the interior to tell it's not an empty box:

And a view from the back, with a nice alley:
 

 

I am using a similar technique for ice as for water that I developed back in the early 1980s or so, albeit with somewhat different materials available then.
 
Basically I glue a sheet of acrylic (perhaps 2 or 3 mm thick) onto a wooden base. There is a cut-out for the (waterline-)model, which has to extend beneath the waterline by the thickness of the acrylic glass.. This wooden base has been painted appropriately to represent the water under the ice-sheet. The acrylic glass is then given a coat of acrylic gel-medium to represent the somewhat irregular water/ice surface. Snow on the ice can be represented by glueing 'micro-balloons', crushed glass (can be bought in hobby stores I think - my supply still comes from my teenage railway model days), or crystalline sugar(!) onto it. This is a good strategy for closed ice-sheets or what is called 'pancake' ice. If you want larger ice-floes, you have to glue with acrylic gel-medium very thin pieces of broken glass (use gloves and pliers and goggles) or acrylic glass before covering everything in the gel-medium.
 
Below is a scene of a Zuiderzee-botter frozen-in that I created some ten years ago:



Unfortunately, I don't seem to have taken pictures of the actual process.
The scene was based on this picture that I took in Enkhuizen in 2009:

It is, indeed, important to study photographs of the situation you want to create.

There are stories of Scandinavian wood-traders, usually worn-out trading vessels from other regions, that were literally floating on their loads ...

Excellent detail work!

I came across a third model that I had started many years ago and then set aside. It is a Genoese tartana at 1:36 scale, which I decided to pick up and finish. The hull was already made, so I resumed by planking the deck.

Greetings all!  Rip Van winkle has awoken and returned.  It’s been almost a year since my last update.  My winter shop time last winter (2024) was limited due to an electric heater malfunction in my basement shop; until that was solved/fixed my shop time was measured by how much cold time I could tolerate.  The heater has been fixed and my time this winter has been much more pleasant and conducive to modeling.
 
My time recently has been spent working on small details, relearning soldering, and staining masts and spars.  The preponderance of my time was spent working on making mast hoops.
 
First off are the anchors.  They’ve turned out acceptably.  I have yet to add the ring and lashings.
 


I’ve worked the mast head ironwork for the main mast.  My fitting which mounts to the top of the main mast and reaches forward to support the main topmast was a bit of a soldering challenge for me.  The spacing of the final product works well in positioning the topmast; the soldered spaces aren’t attractive, and I’m hoping that will be less obvious with the rest of the details around it (rigging, sails, blocks).  The process of soldering multiple components together seems to give me fits.  The first piece soldered on is easy peasy.  The second one invariably heats up the main element enough to heat the first solder to a melting point.  This was especially the case in a small mast band for the fore topmast.  It had two small eyelets on opposite sides of the hoop, which was maybe 0.2” in diameter.

 
The mast hoops have been quite a process (as I expect it is for many modelers).  Arethusa is a large schooner, with some long mast lengths, thus it requires a lot of hoops.  For the main masts, which fortunately are similar in size, 51 hoops are required.  For the two top masts 32 hoops are required.
 
My hoops are planed shaving curls of a poplar board, formed around a mandrel.  I tried using heavy paper stock but didn’t have much success.  One of the photos shows a metal mandrel.  I switched to a wooden dowel for both sizes.  I wrapped a few transparent food storage wrap around the mandrel, then taped the shavings to the plastic.  I then brushed slightly diluted Elmer’s glue onto the shaving, wrapping it around until it ended.  I used a narrower strip of the food wrap to secure the shaving until it semi-set.  The outer plastic wrap was then removed for final drying of the glue.  The whole process was fraught with steps that could result in failure - the shavings could tear, the wrapping process might not be tight to the mandrel, the glue might not have complete coverage.  Once dried I used an exacto blade to slice thin (~0.08”) rings off the mandrel.  Sometimes they came off cleanly.  Sometimes they would show failure between the plies.  I sanded the width of the hoops down some (but not fully down to the proper scale, as those broke or bent at a frustrating percentage.  I sanded the outside diameter down to an acceptable thickness, though again, not necessarily down to a true scale thickness - for improved durability.  At an early point I tried staining the strips.  That didn’t well for me, so my plan is to paint the hoops with a similar/complimentary color to the masts and spars.  Once these are painted I can begin assembling portions of the masts.



An example of laminate failure.  My batch ready for paint.  In this photo you can readily see the upper set have thinner walls than the middle set.  My plan is to segregate the thicker ones to one mast and the thinner set to the other mast.
 
That’s all for now.

I agree, seemingly to scale, it still seems out of proportion. Also, they are more likely to be found in larger towns or cities.
 
These columns were invented by a Berlin printer named Ernst Litfaß and the first one was installed in that city in 1854. From there the concept spread all over the world. They often had dual uses, e.g. as transformer stations or covering access staircases to the sewer system. There is a famous scene in the film The Third Man, when Harry Lime slips into one in Vienna - the grand sewer-sytem was notoriously used by criminals to hide or gain access to houses. The Vienna police used to have a specially trained and equipped 'Kanalbrigade' to combat this (they appear also in the film). 

Perhaps you can find a 'pissoir' instead - somehow the whole French scene reminds of 'Clochemerle' (novel by Gabriel Chevallier), that has been cast into a British TV series - the cast-iron pissoir was blewn up eventually.

I am using a similar technique for ice as for water that I developed back in the early 1980s or so, albeit with somewhat different materials available then.
 
Basically I glue a sheet of acrylic (perhaps 2 or 3 mm thick) onto a wooden base. There is a cut-out for the (waterline-)model, which has to extend beneath the waterline by the thickness of the acrylic glass.. This wooden base has been painted appropriately to represent the water under the ice-sheet. The acrylic glass is then given a coat of acrylic gel-medium to represent the somewhat irregular water/ice surface. Snow on the ice can be represented by glueing 'micro-balloons', crushed glass (can be bought in hobby stores I think - my supply still comes from my teenage railway model days), or crystalline sugar(!) onto it. This is a good strategy for closed ice-sheets or what is called 'pancake' ice. If you want larger ice-floes, you have to glue with acrylic gel-medium very thin pieces of broken glass (use gloves and pliers and goggles) or acrylic glass before covering everything in the gel-medium.
 
Below is a scene of a Zuiderzee-botter frozen-in that I created some ten years ago:



Unfortunately, I don't seem to have taken pictures of the actual process.
The scene was based on this picture that I took in Enkhuizen in 2009:

It is, indeed, important to study photographs of the situation you want to create.

These chop-saws seem to be copies of the PROXXON KG50, which they offered for many years and is currently priced at 110€ here in Europe. More recently they also offered a heavier version the KGS80, which kost 270€. 
 
On the actual topic of this thread: I would rather use a circular saw than a guillotine on materials thicker than a couple of millimeters, particular hardwoods. This ensures square ends.

Perhaps you can find a 'pissoir' instead - somehow the whole French scene reminds of 'Clochemerle' (novel by Gabriel Chevallier), that has been cast into a British TV series - the cast-iron pissoir was blewn up eventually.

I agree, seemingly to scale, it still seems out of proportion. Also, they are more likely to be found in larger towns or cities.
 
These columns were invented by a Berlin printer named Ernst Litfaß and the first one was installed in that city in 1854. From there the concept spread all over the world. They often had dual uses, e.g. as transformer stations or covering access staircases to the sewer system. There is a famous scene in the film The Third Man, when Harry Lime slips into one in Vienna - the grand sewer-sytem was notoriously used by criminals to hide or gain access to houses. The Vienna police used to have a specially trained and equipped 'Kanalbrigade' to combat this (they appear also in the film). 

Perhaps you can find a 'pissoir' instead - somehow the whole French scene reminds of 'Clochemerle' (novel by Gabriel Chevallier), that has been cast into a British TV series - the cast-iron pissoir was blewn up eventually.

I agree, seemingly to scale, it still seems out of proportion. Also, they are more likely to be found in larger towns or cities.
 
These columns were invented by a Berlin printer named Ernst Litfaß and the first one was installed in that city in 1854. From there the concept spread all over the world. They often had dual uses, e.g. as transformer stations or covering access staircases to the sewer system. There is a famous scene in the film The Third Man, when Harry Lime slips into one in Vienna - the grand sewer-sytem was notoriously used by criminals to hide or gain access to houses. The Vienna police used to have a specially trained and equipped 'Kanalbrigade' to combat this (they appear also in the film). 

I am using a similar technique for ice as for water that I developed back in the early 1980s or so, albeit with somewhat different materials available then.
 
Basically I glue a sheet of acrylic (perhaps 2 or 3 mm thick) onto a wooden base. There is a cut-out for the (waterline-)model, which has to extend beneath the waterline by the thickness of the acrylic glass.. This wooden base has been painted appropriately to represent the water under the ice-sheet. The acrylic glass is then given a coat of acrylic gel-medium to represent the somewhat irregular water/ice surface. Snow on the ice can be represented by glueing 'micro-balloons', crushed glass (can be bought in hobby stores I think - my supply still comes from my teenage railway model days), or crystalline sugar(!) onto it. This is a good strategy for closed ice-sheets or what is called 'pancake' ice. If you want larger ice-floes, you have to glue with acrylic gel-medium very thin pieces of broken glass (use gloves and pliers and goggles) or acrylic glass before covering everything in the gel-medium.
 
Below is a scene of a Zuiderzee-botter frozen-in that I created some ten years ago:



Unfortunately, I don't seem to have taken pictures of the actual process.
The scene was based on this picture that I took in Enkhuizen in 2009:

It is, indeed, important to study photographs of the situation you want to create.

I am using a similar technique for ice as for water that I developed back in the early 1980s or so, albeit with somewhat different materials available then.
 
Basically I glue a sheet of acrylic (perhaps 2 or 3 mm thick) onto a wooden base. There is a cut-out for the (waterline-)model, which has to extend beneath the waterline by the thickness of the acrylic glass.. This wooden base has been painted appropriately to represent the water under the ice-sheet. The acrylic glass is then given a coat of acrylic gel-medium to represent the somewhat irregular water/ice surface. Snow on the ice can be represented by glueing 'micro-balloons', crushed glass (can be bought in hobby stores I think - my supply still comes from my teenage railway model days), or crystalline sugar(!) onto it. This is a good strategy for closed ice-sheets or what is called 'pancake' ice. If you want larger ice-floes, you have to glue with acrylic gel-medium very thin pieces of broken glass (use gloves and pliers and goggles) or acrylic glass before covering everything in the gel-medium.
 
Below is a scene of a Zuiderzee-botter frozen-in that I created some ten years ago:



Unfortunately, I don't seem to have taken pictures of the actual process.
The scene was based on this picture that I took in Enkhuizen in 2009:

It is, indeed, important to study photographs of the situation you want to create.