tarbrush

Hi Everyone, thank you for your Comments and Likes. Tis update starts with the stanchions that are attached to the main deckhouse and support the boat deck. They were made and test fitted before the main deckhouse was installed. Gary @FriedClams recommended the Tichy phosphor bronze wire in his Pelican build so I picked up a variety of sizes and used the .020" wire to pin the stanchions in place.
 

 
 

 
The pins were CA'd into the pre drilled holes and then the stanchion was slid in place and the holes for the wire rope handrails were marked. The stanchion was removed and the holes drilled. The stanchion was slid back on the wire and CA was applied to the wire. The stanchion was then pushed into place.
 
Once the first stanchions were in place I was able to measure the size of the platforms that sit outside the smoking room doors port and starboard. They cover the steering rod which gets converted to a wire cable after it enters the trough that runs inboard of the stanchions
 

 
After the platforms were installed the deck planks were laid and the rest of the stanchions were fitted.
 

 
 

 
 

 
The pillar structure was next. A strip of 1/32" x 3/16" wood with a 1/16"x 1/16" glued to it's length was added to the top of the lower beam to match the height of the subdeck and cover the ends of the deck planking.
 

 
 

 
While this was going on a piece of 1.5mm x1.5mm x 1.5mm brass channel was glued between the last plank and the stanchions ( with CA ). This will represent the steering cable trough.
 

 
The knees for the pillars started as a shaped piece of 1/32" plywood. Then  1/16" AYC was glued to one side and sanded back to the plywood. The same was done on the other side but with 1/32" AYC
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
The iron work was attached after the pillars were painted
 

 
A bit of work was done on the deck box and the skylights.
 

 
 

 
 

 
The sheaves at the forward end of the trough for the steering cable look to be housed in a wooden assembly and protected by a wooden step/cover. My version is supposed to represent that
 

 
 

 
Brass wire was used for the hand rails but it may get changed out for rope
 

 
 

 
Still lots to do on the cabin deck

FINALLY!!!!  Will there be an element of Boudriot's 74 Gun Ship to it as well? Schematics and scale drawings, lines plans, sail plans, rigging plans... ooooh, all the good stuff..... 1:64 scale would be nice so as to model from if you just can't decide.  I can't wait for this one. Pretty sure you can count on a few others aside from me to purchase a copy. 

Just to let people know.
I have signed a contract to write a book on her structure along the lines of an AOTS series which will be late next year but all this will be released then.

Hopefully better than those book's as it will all come from a 3d model it will all line up.
It's something I have been dwelling on for years, but the chance only arrived 3 weeks ago and I grabbed it.
I plan to do the usual sections and elevations but also renders of the views in colour as well.
It's a first for this type of ship so it should be interesting

Still pretty much rince and repeat on  the planking.
 

 
Most of it is covered apart from the keel which is being dry fit.  Also cut out a rudder.  May need to fit some of the lower stern decking. Cut some out last week, since the bulwarks extend over the edge and the rear may be a bit oversized there is quite a bit of gapiness.   
 
In the photos, the cabins are set back a bit from the rail, so the top view of the cabin may reflect that setback.   I need this deck, to place the rudder hole.
 
I am liking the texture effect of the planking.  It is what shows in the old photographs.   I noticed that I may have used old growth redwood heart for the planking.  In looking at the cut sections of the board it looks pink now.   
 
There was some discussion in the NPS booth at the Maker faire, if redwood was used in these ships,  They did have samples of wood from the C.A. Thayer reconstruction.   One of the blocks does have a pinkish hue.  To me that looks more like the eastern red colored wood that comes from what they call red eucalyptus.  The western tree though is usually called blue gum in the southern hemisphere.  Wurlitzer used this wood in pipe organ valve blocks.
 
My understanding is that shipwrights were fairly conservative in the woods used.  Hence the controversy over the use of laurel in the Saginaw.   There is also debate if this was imported laurel from the southern US, Or the local bay laurel what grows like weeds in the local live oak forests.   To me importing wood thousands of miles (before rail) makes no sense, when there are local old growth forest locally.  Since most of these forests were clear cut, it is hard to say one way or the other.
 
 

Started planking the hull this week.
 

 
The hot hide glue is working really well.  I find that if I place a few drops into an old plastic spoon.  Upper right.  I can use a tiny paintbrush to apply a small drop or line to the thin planks which are about 1/32 inch square.  
Unlike other glues, I can let the blob of unused glue dry and throw it back into the pot.
Only minimal clamping is needed.  The push pins only need to go in about a milimeter or so.  Mostly around the curved parts.  On the bulwarks I could use tiny binder clamps.  Setup time is fast.
 
 
 
 

The Cabin: The final assembly of the small cabin posed its own set of challenges. Getting the structure square and ensuring a tight fit to the deck was critical. The fiddliest part was the detailing:
 
Curtains: Getting the tiny curtain material to hang with the correct, natural-looking folds inside the windows took several attempts and the precise application of small amounts of glue.
 
Roof Top: Attaching the final roof top required careful clamping to maintain its gentle curve and ensure a flush, clean joint with the cabin walls,

I have finished fabricating the davits... I added keepers to each pulley so the falls won't slip off. I extended the shafts to the correct length for St. Roch, based on photos. I also opened the eyelet at the tip that will receive the upper block for the falls, this should make it easier to do the final assembly...

The davits mount outboard, and period photos show they rest on the rub rail and fasten there as well as to the cap rail. The latter, from plans and photos, appears to be a strap that is wrapped around the davit and then bolted flat to the cap. I have replicated this using scrap brass from old photo-etch frets. The davits are also placed relative to the lower deck portholes based on photos.  

In the picture I am trial fitting the motorboat davits to the cap rail. I still have to make the base mounts and then it is off to the paint booth. I have also decided, in the absence of definitive evidence, to hang the falls' coils on pins that I will install onto the cradles. This keeps these lines handy, and more importantly, inboard!
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome!
 
 

I said earlier that the next time I showed the ship's boats they would be installed on St. Roch; and here they are!
First I lashed the lower fall blocks to eyes in each boat...

Then when I went to install the boat covers, some of the holes tore, so I had to digress a little bit and fit doublers of silkspan wherever there were grommet holes...

After trimming the doublers I could begin to lash down each cover, using bowlines at each of the 'darn cat ears'... this picture shows the motorboat cover lashing started, and the upper falls with their eye splices...

Next up are the bow and stern lashings on the dinghy cover...


And the motorboat cover complete. Keen eyes will see I have installed the boat's rudder and am waiting for the prop...

And finally here are the boats all lashed down and secured to their cradles!


I can't put it off any longer... I have to finish the davits!
Thanks for looking in, and as always comments and critiques are welcome!
Regard,
Bruce
 

For some strange reason I keep holding off on the boat davits... probably because I know I will knock them off the model more than once unless they are last to go on!
With that in mind I made the life rings next, St. Roch mounted four around her deck house. I started with plastic rings from New Cap Maquettes. They are the right size and cross section, but they come with plastic lines molded on around the ring. These were the first things I cut off, resulting in the picture below:

Next I trimmed up the molded seam lines, and painted the rope rings black. Then I used my miniature drill to make holes through the rope rings, and began stringing hemp lines around the perimeters.

Here are the four rings complete and looking much better than when I started... Again I used 'No Sew' at each rope ring to hold the line. It dries clear and flexible, and will allow me to make minor adjustments to the ropes once it has set up. 

Next I need to add the name decal to each life ring, and make the brackets that mount on the ship to hold the rings...

Progress on the boat covers... the No Sew worked a treat, and bonded the 'darn cat ears' very well to the cover... 
I moved on to drill the grommet holes, and like David Antscherl said the holes drill cleanly in the painted silkspan. I used a tapered cocktail toothpick dipped in Tamiya XF-18 Semi-gloss Black to paint the grommets. Just dip the pointy end into the paint then into the grommet hole, it leaves a neat painted circle.
After that I prepared the motorboat by gluing a spar bow to stern to 'tent' the cover like the original, and also glued the gripes in place.
The picture shows the boat and cover to this point.

Next I centered the cover over the boat and used a water soaked paint brush to wet it, enough to start getting a tent shape and fold around the edges, and the 'darn cat ears' stayed on, Yay!
I left it at this point to dry, I will give it another wetting before lashing the cover to the boat. First I have to lash the triple blocks to the eyebolts in the boat, these will be the lower part of the falls.
Almost made a mistake when I forgot to make sure the 'darn cat ears' would not interfere with the gripes, but fortunately there were no conflicts!

So far so good, so I made a start on the dinghy. Since it is done the same as the motorboat I won't repeat the details in this log.

Next time you see the boats they should be in their chocks with everything lashed down!
 
 
 
 
 

Santa arrived a couple of days ago, with assorted cargo for the hold! I was going to leave the hold empty to show the strong ice beams built into St. Roch, but once I decided to add a sailor unloading cargo I knew I had to have some cargo for him to work with! 
What arrived from Berkshire Valley (a model RR accessory company) was assorted sacks, crates, and barrels, all molded in O gauge, which is 1:48. There was just a bit of flash to clean off, then the parts, like anything coming from a mold, were rinsed thoroughly in warm soapy water to remove the mold release. Here is what they looked like:

The resin parts after painting...

And the cast metal sacks... the sailor has been glued to the plank he will be pushing his cargo along, in a sling suspended from the cargo derrick (one day soon!).

Here is the cargo down the hold. The hatch cover canvas and boards are fixed onto the main deck, and the sailor is posed to push a sling of sacks...

The details of the hold, and the ice beams, can still be seen. St. Roch shipped 150 tons of cargo for the various RCMP detachments she served, all had to be handled manually. If anyone asks me, she is at the far Eastern end of her supply run, thus almost empty!
I want to thank all the forum members who gave me thoughts and ideas about the cargo scene!
Regards,
Bruce
 
 

A rainy morning here in Alberta, so a good time to get some work done on St. Roch's boats...
First I needed to carve back the stern of the motorboat. The first picture is St. Roch's motorboat showing the rudder and prop; this is what I am trying to emulate with the second picture...


Then it was off to the paint booth...

 
After the paint dried it was time to reeve the lifelines around each boat.

I made eye splices at the end of each line...

Here are the boats with the line and glue I used, ready for the final line splicing once the glue dries. I used 'No Sew' fabric glue to tack the lines into position... this dries clear and flexible, and will hold the lines in the proper shape while I make the final splices.

Next I am going to make a start with the silkspan sails, and make the boat gripes and covers. Then the davits should complete the hull work on the ship except for putting some cargo in the hold.
It will be very exciting to put the hull aside and start finishing the masts!
 

I also got the boat cradles complete, now they are waiting for their boats...

I now fussed around with the spare rudder, and found two ways in which it could in fact be stowed aft...
The rudder is presently stowed on St. Roch's main deck, from where it would be tremendously difficult to get it aft, past the full breadth superstructure, if it was ever needed. The larger superstructure would also preclude the rudder from being stowed aft. I also don't believe the mizzen mast that was installed in 1944 had the geometry or capacity to replace the rudder if needed, unlike the previous main sail boom. 
I wasn't sure if there would be room after my 1930 deckhouse was built, but pictures do not show it on the main deck, so where else would it go? The next pictures give a couple of options:


I think the last picture is the best guess, since the rudder would not interfere with the boat lashings.
I intend to send my pics off to the Vancouver museum and ask their opinion... wish me luck!
 

A while back I said I wanted to create a cargo handling scene involving a sailor, to give scale to the model. A friend of a friend on another modelling site knew a guy on thingiverse.com who 3D prints figures for model railroaders... he showed me a photo of the figure below that he prints in 1:160 (N scale trains), and which looked perfect for my scene!
So the friend of the friend did one up for me in 1:48, and sliced the limbs off so it would lay flat, thereby saving about $15.00 in postage!
Here it is, out of the envelope:

And after assembly with CA glue, I drilled a hole up the leg for a wire to make handling the figure easier. It just needed a small smear of filler on the leg seam, the arms fit perfectly!

I haven't painted figures in decades, staying away from them since my previous efforts all looked very cartoon-like. But now I know how to dry brush, and there is You-Tube! I used Tamiya acrylics, first priming him with semi-gloss black, then air brushing flat white from above to highlight details.

Then I dry brushed various layers and colours to get the shading I wanted. I left his shoes and belt semi gloss black, adding a flat aluminum buckle and flat black cap.
The pants and shirt are dark brown, followed by flat white then light brown on the shirt.
Here I have posed him on the plank that he will walk across the open hold on, pushing his sling load of cargo...
I dry brushed some flat yellow onto his face and arms, but he looked jaundiced, so I made a skin tone from red and yellow, which makes orange, followed by a drop of white to tone down the colour, and finally a drop of light brown...

Here he is ready to install.
I need to make the cargo, and the sailor may not get mounted until the main mast and cargo boom are installed, which may be a while...
We'll see how it goes!
I think this is not perfect but a far cry from the cartoon finishes my previous figures sported!
Thanks everyone for looking in!
 
 
 

I thought folks might like to see the motorboat... so here it is, a much better quality casting similar to my aformemtioned RN dinghy, with a fully molded interior and separate parts for the motor housing and thwarts.
I have cleaned up the flash and installed the rings holding the life rope around the outside. 


Despite having a better interior, I am still going to cover the motorboat. St. Roch's boat is under cover and I have no details on the correct interior details, especially the motor!
Regards,
Bruce
 

I got the rudder and tiller attached to the dinghy, also the lifting lugs (which won't be seen once the cover is on) and it is now ready for paint. I'll set it aside until the motorboat is ready then I'll shoot them both together...
I sourced some silkspan from a friend on another modelling site, so once it arrives I'll start marking out the sails per David Antscherl's Sphinx Appendix volume.
That is getting ahead of myself, however I want some silkspan offcuts to make covers for the dinghy and motorboat. 
 
Meanwhile the dinghy's chocks are finished and glued in place on the deck and cap rail, per the ship's plans. I still have to add the braces, but the re-routed steering cables are now in the way, so I will have to adjust the braces a bit. I won't remove them, but I have to try and get into the shipwright's heads as they carried out St. Roch's 1930 refit!

A little bit of cleanup on the rail, and I'm also ready for the gripes and davits to be installed... again, I'll hold off a bit, it will be easier to rig these items once the boats are painted and installed.
 

So there's lots to do to finish the lifeboats, so I'd better stop here and crack on!
Regards,
Bruce
 
 

Moving right along... here is the 18' dinghy test fit to its' chocks, which are placed on deck to check fits and clearances...
I am following photos that show the chocks mounted on the cap rail, and the plans that show a metal pole and brace on the inboard end of the chocks. 
Assuming RCMP Constables in 1930 averaged 5'6" tall (165 cm) then the gunwales of the dinghy are at head height... no problem to unlash the dinghy.

The boats take up much of the remaining room on the poop deck... there will be a 20' motorboat on the starboard side. The deckhouse did not extend aft until 1930, however the lobby and wireless office doors can both swing open (the camera angle shows it tight, but there is 18 scale inches between the house and the boat).  The davits, which mount outboard on the rub rail, also line up pretty well with their position relative to the dinghy, as seen in photos.

Here is the test fit from aft...
The notches in the wale for the davits are more clearly seen, and I have glued the pintles and gudgeons to the dinghy, ready for the rudder to be added.

It is clear now that with the extended deckhouse there is no room for the spare rudder, either under or alongside one of the boats. It also can't be lashed to the deckhouse because the rudder post will foul the main boom.
Looks like it may have to be stowed on the main deck, but before I make a final decision I will consult the Vancouver Maritime Museum...
Thanks again for looking in!
 

Cargo winch is done and fitted to St. Roch... the shaft to the break is the power take off from the main engine, engaged when the winches needed to be operated.

The line will extend up the cargo boom via a pair of pulleys and end in a cargo hook.

My intent is to show a crewman handling cargo coming up from the hold, using the cargo boom. Look back a few posts and you will find the photo that inspired me to add this feature. The idea is not to copy the whole scene, but to use the crewman to give a sense of scale to the model while illustrating the main role of St. Roch, to be a supply vessel for Arctic detachments.
Still not sure about stowing the rudder here, so I'm moving on to the poop deck and the life boat mountings...
Thanks for looking in!
 
 

Here is the cargo winch finished, except for the power take-off shaft... 

Here it is trial fitted on the base. The pulleys on each winch line up and clear the main hatch, so if they were rigged to power the anchor winch they would be accurate!
Thanks all for looking in!
Bruce
 
 

I have also made the canvas cover for the hatch, painted grey/green same as the other similar surfaces, and the hatch cover boards. This photo shows how I am thinking about displaying them, stacked up beside the hatch so you can see the strong beams down inside. These were a feature of St. Roch to prevent her being crushed in the ice, so I thought it important to show them.

Referring back to the picture with the crewman, I am inspired to consider a diorama based on it. The main reason would be to include a figure that would give scale to the model. I did not do this for my previous models because I am crap at figure making and painting. I could also put some cargo in the hold, not enough to conceal the beams, and copy the use of the main mast cargo boom to give some action.
I am not considering multiple figures or a lot of deck clutter, as I want to enhance the model, not detract from it.
Any comments or suggestions on this idea are greatly appreciated!
 
 

First up is the cargo winch, which I am recreating using what information I can glean from the previous picture and the sketch on the designer's 1928 plan... here are the pieces I am making so far...


The winch is powered from a take-off on the main diesel engine, I have to work on the gears and shafts for that next. Thoughts, ideas, and comments are most welcome!
 

Good afternoon all, and I hope everyone is having a decent summer so far, as we are here in Alberta!
I am moving on to detailing St. Roch's main deck... this work consists of making the cargo winch, the hatch covers, and stowing the spare rudder.
First I want to share with you a picture from 1928 or 1929, from the book "Arctic Workhorse" by James Delgado.
It shows a crewman breaking cargo from the hold using the cargo boom on the main mast. Of interest is the port side of the cargo winch in the background... you can see the warping drum, right next to it is what appears to be a pulley for the anchor winch drive, then a shaft to the cable spool and presumably the gearing in the background. 
This picture is informing my detailing of the main deck as described in the next posts...

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!
 

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