BLACK VIKING

Welcome aboard BV,
Merchant Sailors like your dad were the unsung heroes of the war, especially those on the tankers.

Liberty Ship SS Stephen Hopkins - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - 1/192 scale
 

 
While mulling over what kit to select for my next build I was giving some thought to taking a break from warships and BlueJacket’s Liberty ship kit caught my attention because of the amount of rigging on it:
 

 
Although I never served on any type of cargo or replenishment ship I figured “How complicated can it be?” Doing some photo research I came across the next photo of BIG CHAINS hanging from the masts of the SS John Brown and realized there is a lot I don’t know about cargo rigging and that this might be a good way to learn about it so I will be building BlueJacket’s kit of the Liberty ship SS Jeremiah O’Brian, which is still operating in San Francisco (BTW, I eventually found out that the chains are called Bull Chains).
 

 
The next decision was what Liberty ship to model. With over 2700 Liberty ships built between 1941 and 1945 there is an embarrassment of ships to choose from but after a little research the choice was obvious.  Although the Stephen Hopkins had a very brief life, being sunk on her maiden voyage, she would be a contender in any contest to name the greatest fighting ship in American history, despite being an “SS” vice a “USS.”  It’s an amazing story, one that I’m surprised Hollywood hasn’t pick up on. So I won’t be taking a break from building warships after all . . .

 
You can read her full story at http://www.armed-guard.com/hoppy.html, but in brief, after fitting out in San Francisco as one of the earliest Libertys, the Hopkins crossed the Pacific and the Indian Oceans, steaming alone and entered the South Atlantic  where on 27 Sep 1942, in low visibility, she encountered at the range of about a mile two ships laying to. The ships turned out to be the  heavily armed German raider Stier and the blockade runner Tannenfels. With a crew of 340, six 6-inch guns, torpedoes and numerous smaller caliber weapons the Stier had the armament of a light cruiser, in fact ten months earlier the similarly armed raider Komoran sank the cruiser HMAS Sydney off the West coast of Australia, although the Komoran was sunk also.
The Stier opened fire immediately and the Hopkins’ Master decided to fight it out rather than surrender as most ships in her position would have done. The Hopkins’ single, obsolete 4-inch gun was moved by hand cranks and manually loaded but her Naval Armed Guard had been practicing at every opportunity and it began to show. The Hopkins quickly knocked out the Stier’s steering and repetitive hits along the waterline soon caused fires to break out in the Stier’s engineering spaces and she went dead in the water, as the Hopkins did too, with her boilers disabled. Both ships continued to drift and fight at about a thousand yards distance, like something out of the War of 1812.
 
The heavy firepower of the Stier began to tell and after about 20 minutes the Hopkins was afire and sinking with two-thirds of her crew of 55 dead. Engineering Cadet Edwin O’Hara, from the US Merchant Marine Academy, made his way to the 4-inch gun after the engineering spaces were abandoned. He found the gun crew dead and the magazine destroyed but was able to locate 5 loose shells and single-handedly fired them at the Stier just before before he was killed.

 
Nineteen survivors from the Hopkins managed to launch the one undamaged lifeboat. Meanwhile the Stier’s crew was unable to control the fires spreading out of the engine room and she had to be scuttled. Her survivors were recovered by the Tannenfels, who made no effort to aid the Hopkins survivors. Under the command of the 3rd Engineer and without any charts or navigation instruments except a compass the Hopkins’ boat set out to cross the Atlantic to Brazil. Amazingly enough they made it 30 days later with 15 men still alive.
 
The ships were built in 18 purpose-built yards, which themselves were constructed in remarkably short time, turning mudflats into complex shipyards in just a few months. Locations of the yards were based on available manpower, however untrained, and political considerations to “spread the wealth” of government contracts across the coastlines.

 

 
The Libertys were based on the then yet-to be built British “Ocean” design that was, in turn, based on successful coasters. The goal was to design a ship that was both inexpensive and quick to build, simple enough in design that inexperienced shipyards and workers could build them, that could make 11 knots and carry a significant amount of cargo. They departed from the British design in that they were largely welded, most of the accommodations were in a large deckhouse, rather than divided among the foc’sle, midships and aft.. Their boilers were water tube vice Scotch, and were oil-fired rather than coal. Without having to accommodate coal bunkers they could be fitted with heavier masts rather than king posts.
Although by 1941 the advantages of turbines over reciprocating steam engines were well known, the technical skill required to build turbines was much greater and the small number of plants capable of producing them were all dedicated to warship construction so the decision was made to go with reciprocating engines.
 
The Ocean design was further simplified to minimize the amount of curved plates in the hull and wherever possible bulkhead penetrations for piping were avoided by running them outside the skin of the ship. Cost saving measures included waiving a large number of US regulations related to Merchant ship safety, comfort and, ominously for the Hopkins, fireproofing. The ships had little in the way of forced ventilation and had the reputation of being hot and uncomfortable in most climates.  
 
Although the building time varied between shipyards , the common trend was that as they gained experience the time required to complete the ships steadily dropped. The first few could take up to 5 months to launch, although most only required a few weeks. The record was set by the SS Robert E. Peary, while admittedly a publicity stunt involving a lot of pre-fabrication and unlimited manpower, required only 4 days, 15 hours from keel laying to launch. By the end of the war an average of 3 Liberty ships a day were being launched.
 

 
If you are interested in learning more about the Liberty ships this URL will take you to a decent study produced by the American Bureau of Shipping:
 
https://www.eagle.org/eagleExternalPortalWEB/ShowProperty/BEA%20Repository/News%20&%20Events/Publications/WorkhorseOfTheFleet
 
 and this one will take you to a one-hour, color, wartime documentary film about the ships and the shipyard in Richmond, CA where the Hopkins was built:
 
https://archive.org/details/cubanc_00004#
 
I'll be using the following references: 
SS John W. Brown, a working Liberty ship berthed in Baltimore. Although she has some modifications from her conversion to carry troops and as a school ship in NYC she is still in remarkably good condition and largely unchanged from her WWII days. I was able to spend a few hours onboard, take a lot of photos, and watch the cargo booms at work. She takes day trips from ports along the East Coast. A Call to Arms by Maury Klein. Although the book covers the entire US WWII industrial mobilization, the chapter on shipbuilding is well done. Ships for Victory by Frederic C. Lane. Thank God I was able to get this from the library rather than spend any money on it. If 900+ pages of meeting by meeting and memo by memo descriptions of bureaucracy at work excites you then this is your book. Even while skimming it I was worried that I would pass out and then drown in the puddle of my own drool. The book provided some insight into the welding problems encountered in the early program but that was about it. Websites devoted to the SS John W. Brown, SS Jeremiah O’Brian, and SS Hellenic Victory all have extensive onboard photos to help with details 5)  http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/55-17/ch3.htm   is a webpage that has extensive info on cargo rigging, it will be my primary reference for rigging.
 
 
In the next post I’ll give an overview of what comes in the kit

I'm going to pull up a chair for this one as my dad was in the merchant navy during the 2 world war he was on tankers.
 
Rgd BV

While contemplating the arrangement and spacing of the catheads and whether or not to add two more ports to the bulkhead I put my attention to carving a head for one of the spaces below the fleur-de-lies.
 
The rough out of the carving.
 

 
More of the detail exposed.
 

 
Completed and ready for mounting.
 

 
More to follow................
 
 

Small update: Pumps and skylight or companion as it's called in the 1768 draught.
 
After several attempts with the kit pump I managed to file it down to a shape I can live with. I used a slightly larger dowl than the kit instructions so I could file it octagonally. I also filed the metal pieces into what I think is a closer shape to the photos I have researched. But I couldn't live with the kit handles so bashed some out of a nice length of 2x2mm walnut which I already had on hand.
 
With the the companion/skylight and quarterdeck hatch I had a moment of madness with the pigmented stain and surprised myself with the result. 
 
The companion windows next I tried different colours but settled on white. So after painting I removed them from the spru and filed them to fit snuggly into the roof. For the glass I ca glued them to a sheet of clear film I bought from the stationers. When it had dried cut them off around the frames using a new blade. After a slight filing I dry fitted them and touched up the white.
 
As part of the process of choosing the colour for the companion window frames I dry fitted two of the great cabin stern window frames which already I'd decided to paint yellow ochre. 
 
Now I'm completing the hatches and bashing hatch covers as it makes sense to finish the deck furniture before I finish the deck while I'm constantly dry fitting stuff incase I make any mistakes or have any accidents.

On we go, with another small update and a bit of progress on the Cheerful.
 
First I completed the rabbet strip at the stern.

 
Next up I cleaned up the laser-cut boxwood parts that form the stem, and glued them together.  Frank showed me these clamps that he used from Lee Valley so I ordered some for myself.  They are really great little clamps and I believe they'll be seen a lot during my build logs!

 
Next up, I transferred the bearding line to the side of the former that didn't have the line laser-etched into it, and then using a chisel and some sand paper I did the beveling at the stern from the bearding line to the rabbet strip.  Not sure it's perfect, but it's as good as I think I'll get it, and I believe it should work fine.

 
I really didn't accomplish anything else yet, but I did dry fit the keel parts to verify that things are tracking good for a nice fit.
 
From that photo, and indeed from looking at things in person, the appearance is that the keel is pretty flat.  However, flipping the aft portion of the keel over so that it is upside-down reveals the truth!

 
Hopefully I will have time tomorrow to complete the keel and the tree-nailing that goes into it, and get it glued up to the former, after which I can start looking at the bulkheads.
 
Thanks for all the visits, likes, and comments everyone, and see you next time, whenever that is!

Thanks, Tom.  I will have to check for bin primer as well.
 
So here you all can see I have almost completed the front starboard quarter of gun and anchor ports, as well as part of the main rail.  The only thing left to really do up here is add the strips on the outside and inside of the ports ahead of bulkhead "E", but I am going to hold off on that until I fair this potion of the hull.  This allows me to just do it in a single strip instead of several short ones.  As you can see by the photos, it is coming along smoothly.  Getting the right bends in the main rail was a little tricky, but fairly simple.  All I did was soak the plank in hot water for about 3 minutes, eye-balled the bends, and held it in front of a little space heater I have to set it.  The bends are subtle, but really need to be there.  If you look at the pictures, you will see it, I am sure.  The moulding that I cut into the rail may not be visible though.  I took a piece of scrap brass I had lying about, and cut a moulding profile into it, and then dragged the edge against it.  Brass is plenty tough enough for this task on such a soft wood as basswood is.
 
This tiny moulding will barely be seen, I know.  But my philosophy of modeling is that if it looks like a model, you didn't do a great job.  A model should look like the real thing, not a model of the real thing.  What makes this happen relies on two things, in my opinion... The first is detail, and the second is proportion.  If detail is missing, it will look like a model.  If something is out of proportion, it will look like a model.  Of course, workmanship is important to, but I have been fooled by models which didn't have the greatest workmanship, yet the level of detail shifted my attention from that to the point that it took me a few minutes to notice missteps in workmanship.  And concerning proportion, I have discarded parts on plastic and metal kits before, like piping molded in plastic, in favor of brass wire, or fashioned my own parts from scratch.
 
Enough of my rambling, here are the pictures:
 
  

I won't guarantee that it's correct, but according to the plans, a practicum, and everything else I could find when I rigged the AVS, they are rigged wide-end to wide-end, so the narrow end of the lower block would be the closest end to the bowsprit.
 
Like this:

The four crowns are now mounted. Now to consider the additional two ports on either side of the bulkhead and their relationship with the catheads and carved figures supporting them.
 

 
More to follow.............

Life got in the way of my ship modelling over the past week or so. The first crown is mounted on the bulkhead.
 

 
Three more to go.
 
More to follow...........
 
 

Today I have placed the plank bowsprit and railings.
I have also placed the topgallantmasts

Hi.
Lots of work done and only a few photos.. Opps.
 
Ladders in place.

 
working Side doors with bar. Trial fit... Looks good.

 
Bow and Stern doors with working bolt.

 
Mast securing timbers. Temporary mast inserted while work in progress.

 
Funny block on the rudder. Allows the rudder to turn with ease.

 
Walls dry fitted.

 
View from the Stern of the ship.

 
Side walls from the outside.

 
 

 
Views from the Bow's

 
 
Time to clean up and start the fixing and cleaning up.
Next job after glueing the side walls in place will be fitting the second deck in place.
 
Regards Antony.

Very nice start, I built this ship about 4 years ago and it makes a stunning model when finished. Looking forward to the next update
 
Rgd BV

Hello everyone! While waiting for some gun paint to arrive I made the pin rails and started on the belaying pins. Earlier photos show that I used the WeCheer to hold the Quoin handles. Well, after only a few months of use it seems that there is some kind of loose connection in the wiring. I switched over to the Dremel for the belaying pins.
 

 

 

Canoe21, thank you i hope that you will make best as you can! do it slow and without many attempts it can not be a good model.
 
Chidokan, if you could buy book Anatomy of the ship, lets do it, cos the book is much much better base than everything by Sergal. My opinion is, wait with making hole for rudder on the board if you will whole hull complete. After that you will start with rudder fitting, make mark and the hole.
 
cheers,
 
there is more pics, sorry in last time i am very lazy with upload

Well, the sweeps are now fixed in position, after a rare weekend off work. Hopefully I made the right call on displaying them in this way.
 
I still have the two ensigns to complete and fly on their staffs before calling it quits. I hope you enjoy the pictures. 

Hello everybody!
I finished the tests... not so much works in the future... just to fill the box... piece of cake,

Just thought I would share these incredible pictures of the figurehead for the Swan Class Sloop "Atalanta" by David Antscherl.  The figure is boxwood with a stem of swiss pear.  The brackets and trailboard carving are also boxwood.   Note the gold leafed apples.  Just stunning carving by hand and almost hard to believe possible at this scale.  Its so tiny.   I love the facial expression.....Mona Lisa smirk...    Enjoy!!!
 
The glass dome is just 4" in diameter.
 
Chuck
 

 

 

 

 

The mainmast. This tapered mast is often undersized in carrack models. Contemporary illustrations show a very substantial mast made even thicker at the base by long wedges inserted vertically into the partners. Although, as discussed previously, the mainmast was usually a built mast with a central spindle and at least eight outer spars, I did not have the carpentry skills to reproduce this in miniature. Therefore I chose to fudge it just a little while maintaining the look and feel of a mediaeval built mast.
Many illustrations show the longitudinal lines along the mast that you would expect if the mast was built and not a single spar.

or

note the wooldings
 
I started with a tapered spar

Made a paper template

Made strips with the template so that I would end up with eight tapered strips

Glued the strips to pine strips

Stuck the pine strips to the mast with double sided tape

 
Vessels with built masts had quite a variable number of rope wooldings to reinforce the mast. However they did not use wooden hoops above and below the wooldings as was seen in later periods. It may be that the ropes were reinforced with nails to prevent the ropes slipping.

 
The completed mast

 
Cheers
Dick

I've slightly lied and decided to follow the order of the magazines for the time being. I'm now up to issue 21. The decks at the bow and stern are now fixed in place, with the only removable section now in the middle holding the superstructure.
 
I've now added the basic skeleton for level one of the superstructure. It's several sections of plywood fixed together but still loose from the deck. The sections are then removed and the corners are sanded round. Later etched brass is added to give some details to the bulkheads and doorways etc.
 
The next few issues will be starting the planking of the hull. I need to do a fair bit of sanding first though; the deck needs smoothing and then I need to do a bit of fairing on the frames. At least it wont be as drastic as the tall ships need to be near the bows.
 
Oh and it looks like the ship's cat is slacking off. Hope rats don't get in the stores......

Very nice start, I built this ship about 4 years ago and it makes a stunning model when finished. Looking forward to the next update
 
Rgd BV

Very nice start, I built this ship about 4 years ago and it makes a stunning model when finished. Looking forward to the next update
 
Rgd BV

Well here goes my first attempt at a build log. I've built a few wood models before this, but this is my first major build. I like the idea of a subscription option. It makes it possible for me to do a high end kit such as the Sovereign. As I go along there will be some changes made. I like the look of the unpainted wood on the sides of the ( bulwarks)? Of the poster that they send with the first issue. I will also add the triangle deadeyes as seen on the poster. I read somewhere that that ship is not the actual model that I will build, but that is ok with me. Watching the builds of so many others opens up my imagination to do more than just build right out of the box. I've already dipped my foot in the water with scratch building before. I was a member of IPMS back in my plastic days. Then I received my first wooden ship. The Blunose. Much fun and the start of a whole new experience. As I read the builds of others I'm pleased to be apart of the family. Thanks

Yeah they do take a long time to build as I know as I have built the SotS from Deag , it took me nearly 3 years but it's nice to get the issues on a monthly basis and can't wait for this to be released in the UK
 
Rgd BV

Yeah they do take a long time to build as I know as I have built the SotS from Deag , it took me nearly 3 years but it's nice to get the issues on a monthly basis and can't wait for this to be released in the UK
 
Rgd BV