SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse 1897 by Mirabell61 - FINISHED - scale 1:144 - POF - first German four stacker of the Norddeutscher Lloyd line

[Angarfather]

16 hours ago, Mirabell61 said:

Hartmut,

I can imagine the rough side of life those seamen were facing in the early steamship days

Hello Nils,

indeed it was a wet and also cold job to work on the outside wheel stand. But that was the normal situation on such a Steamer. On the other hand it was nothing against the work in the rigg and on deck of the sailing ships. And then, what a feeling to drive his ship through storm, wind, snow and fog safely to her place in the harbor. On this steamers ,I think, the jobs of the coal trimmers and heaters were very hard. Very high heat, very much noise and very much dirt and very exhausting.

 

Hartmut

[Mirabell61]

1 hour ago, Angarfather said:

Hello Nils,

indeed it was a wet and also cold job to work on the outside wheel stand. But that was the normal situation on such a Steamer. On the other hand it was nothing against the work in the rigg and on deck of the sailing ships. And then, what a feeling to drive his ship through storm, wind, snow and fog safely to her place in the harbor. On this steamers ,I think, the jobs of the coal trimmers and heaters were very hard. Very high heat, very much noise and very much dirt and very exhausting.

 

Hartmut

Hello Hartmut,

yes indeed, that is a capitel not so much known today,......I remember reading about the hard work of heaters trimmers on merchant steamers, deep down in the ships belly, especially if the masters they reported to had a bit inhuman touch. Usualy the captain felt himself as highest instance next to god. It was not seldom that some of these poor men knew no more way out, and committed suiside by jumping overboard. it was noticed when their clogs stood lonesome standing inside the railing

 

Nils

 

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

Those days must have been hard. Hopefully things are different now, onboard the ships at sea.

[Mirabell61]

1 hour ago, Greg the peg leg sailor said:

Those days must have been hard. Hopefully things are different now, onboard the ships at sea.

Greg,

 

I think most of the hard work on steam ships as well as a remarkable reduction of engine room crew came with the convertion to "oil firing" the furnaces. The combination of oil firing and the use of (geared) turbines made life much easier, cleaner and less stressy. Then came the motor ships with their economical diesel engines.....

 

Nils

[Angarfather]

3 hours ago, Mirabell61 said:

I think most of the hard work on steam ships as well as a remarkable reduction of engine room crew came with the convertion to "oil firing" the furnaces. The combination of oil firing and the use of (geared) turbines made life much easier, cleaner and less stressy. Then came the motor ships with their economical diesel engines.....

 

Nils

You are right, Nils.  In contrast to the past the machine rooms are now almost oilfree and quite clean. But loud, very very loud, is it still there.

 

And last but not least:  to look at your marvelous modell is a delight to the eyes.

 

Cheerio!  Hartmut

[Mirabell61]

11 hours ago, Angarfather said:

You are right, Nils.  In contrast to the past the machine rooms are now almost oilfree and quite clean. But loud, very very loud, is it still there.

 

And last but not least:  to look at your marvelous modell is a delight to the eyes.

 

Cheerio!  Hartmut

Thanks very much Hartmut,

I`m really happy you like the model...

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Small update...

 

all 40 raw davits have been made, now every one is being equiped with a lead for the pulley rope in the upper curve and a cleat on the vertical post, just above deck level.

The unprimered section will be painted when the davits are mounted, otherwise I would scrape off the paint where the post passes the bearings, when pushing through...

 

Nils

   

 

 

 

officer briefing two sailors on the aft deckhousing

 

[jbshan]

It just keeps getting, ummm... MORE.

 

[Mirabell61]

31 minutes ago, jbshan said:

It just keeps getting, ummm... MORE.

 

Thanks very much Joel,

I`m pleased you like the model....

 

nils

[Omega1234]

Hi Nils

 

You know what?  Regardless of whether you're taking close-up photos, or those long full-hull shots, there's no denying it....your KWdG is just simply marvellous.  Rich in details and character. 

 

She's a joy to look at.

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Nils 

I ditto Patrick and I agree with Joel. 

Moooooorrrrrrreeeeee please.

havagooday 

Greg 

[Mirabell61]

many thanks Patrick and Greg,

for your kind compliments...

 

Nils

[KeithAug]

Nils

 

I do think the side view with the davits in place makes the ship come alive - love it.

[Mirabell61]

21 minutes ago, KeithAug said:

Nils

 

I do think the side view with the davits in place makes the ship come alive - love it.

many thanks Keith, I like your comment, the davits will be painted white....

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Update, boats

 

most of the boats will be closed and with canvas protection cover, this is my intention....

If it works out I will try to dome some with rolled back canvas, so the seatings can be seen. The prototype for the closed boat is shown in the pics. This will be the master model I take a mould from so to cast the other boats in resin (if it works that way...)

A fender rope is put around the side of the sheer, I hope it will form-off well in the silicone mould

The boats are 60 mm long, and in scale 1:144, two boats are a bit shorter, and the last 3 boats on each side (three story packed ought to be foldable ones)

 

Nils

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Trying to find a suitable way to make the boat (canvas) covers...,for the closed boats

Here a first trial with aluminiun foil...., once the cut outline pattern is OK, I will look for a more canvas color like self adhesive fibre foil. It still requires some tuning.

The foil sticks to where it should in place, but for the optics there will be lacings from triangles stb. to triangles port of the boat, around its keel.

 

Nils

 

 

 

 

[archjofo]

Hi Nils,

very good work.
Do you have a form for the boats, or how were they built?

I hope I have not overlooked anything.

[Mirabell61]

35 minutes ago, archjofo said:

Hi Nils,

very good work.
Do you have a form for the boats, or how were they built?

I hope I have not overlooked anything.

Thank you very much Johann,

 

the boat-prototyp was made very easy from two front halves of a little plastic boat. I glued the front-halves together in order to get a new "doubleender lifeboat".

The glued seam was faired a bit, and on stern and bow side I added a more straight post, and then the boat was "clinker Planked" with self adhesive overlapping foil stripes. Trust the pic-illustrations shall be self explaining....

 

Nils

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cog]

Nils,

 

Nice progress on the boats. I like the way you solved the klinker planking. For a canvas like meterial, you could glue a single layer of a paper handkerchief on the foil with a spray glue, another option, though more expensive) is to use a real handkerchief ... the material is quite thin and the weave fine enough to give you a somewhat rugged canvas resemblance

[archjofo]

Hi Nils,

thanks for the reply and explanation.

[Mirabell61]

22 minutes ago, cog said:

Nils,

 

Nice progress on the boats. I like the way you solved the klinker planking. For a canvas like meterial, you could glue a single layer of a paper handkerchief on the foil with a spray glue, another option, though more expensive) is to use a real handkerchief ... the material is quite thin and the weave fine enough to give you a somewhat rugged canvas resemblance

Thank you Carl,

 

I`ll have a look round in the crafters shop tomorrow, what they would have as resemblance for Canvas, Perhaps some self adhesive textile foil...?

The idea with the handkerchief cloth is good, I used that once for ink-printing flags on PC suitable transfer-foil, and then ironing that onto fine weave handkerchief cloth. It works great.

 

Nils

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Nils 

This is not my idea, but it is brilliant.

I copied it from the Kit basher guide and was posted by NemadM.

I thought you might like this idea for you boats' cover. 

Havagooday 

Greg 

 

Copy paper and toilet paper

 

Ok, idea is not mine, thanks to Jack12477 and MTaylor to push me in this direction

 

We were discussing how to make canvas for hatches in small scale

 

Mark mentioned, and ...

 

 

 

 

 

Base is made from regular 80g copy paper on which is glued with deluted white glue, one layer from 3-layer regular toilet roll paper, to imitate rough structure

 

Rest is playing with very thin layers of acrylic colors

.

[Mirabell61]

Many thanks Greg,

for bringing this detail back to mind, I also remember when Nenad came out with this rolled back cover and very much liked it. It makes decklife look much more realistic

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

boats update....

 

still not the final version, I`m still in the trial phase, but it already comes near to what I have in mind

The material (PVC) is called D-C-Fix decor foil and quite soft...

 

Nils

 

 

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi Nils

The DX Fix is a bit to strong for that small boats, in my mind! I would try it with the method from Nenad/Greg, think this would be much better than the foil. Or instead of that really thin shirt fabric (Hemdenstoff), strenghtened with thinned glue.

 

Regards

Gerhard

[shipmodel]

Hi Nils - 

 

It doesn't look like your material took the sharp bend that it has to at the top edge of the bulwarks.  You might try burnishing the foil down with a hard, smooth tool.  A burnisher for the bookmaking craft would be best, but anything smooth and curved will do, including the back of a small spoon.

 

You may need to use thinner material, as Gerhard suggests, but you could try this first.

 

Dan

 

 

[rwiederrich]

Nils...good start...I like where you are going with this.  However, I may suggest a thinner material as has been also suggested.  Personally I used double wide regular tan masking tape.  I would take the metal one you made and transfer it to the tape and cut one out and try that.  It even has a texture that mimics canvas and when painted it is quite convincing.....big plus, it contours to the boat well......plus you can rub the edges that follow along the ribbed boat edge and it looks very good.   If you can get a molding kit for cake making and fondant work..they work well as burnisher for this type of work.

 

Good luck my friend.

 

Rob

[Mirabell61]

thank you both Gerhard and Dan,

 

I just soaked some hankerchief cotton cloth in diluted PVA, see if it gets strong enough tomorrow morning...., maybe need to find the right dilution first...

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

20 minutes ago, rwiederrich said:

Nils...good start...I like where you are going with this.  However, I may suggest a thinner material as has been also suggested.  Personally I used double wide regular tan masking tape.  I would take the metal one you made and transfer it to the tape and cut one out and try that.  It even has a texture that mimics canvas and when painted it is quite convincing.....big plus, it contours to the boat well......plus you can rub the edges that follow along the ribbed boat edge and it looks very good.   If you can get a molding kit for cake making and fondant work..they work well as burnisher for this type of work.

 

Good luck my friend.

 

Rob

Hi Rob,

many thanks, much appreciated, its wonderful that those good suggestions are coming in by the number from all sides....

Good idea with working with masking tape. I would need a solution to also withstand tearing out of the mini lacing holes in the triangles. Perhaps also an option to use the aluminium foil like in the early trial, and cover the surface with extra wide tan masking tape....

 

Nils

[rwiederrich]

Nils...I pray my suggestion was not accepted as a criticism of your example.  You are doing magnificent as usual.  What I did on my version is to glue rope to the ends of each canvas reef point(Not run it through) then tie them off with the opposing line.  One example was to glue wore loops to the canvas through which the line passed.

 

Many ways to skin this cat...you'll find what works best for you.  I just suggested the tape because of ease of use and its similar look as the real thing.

 

Good luck.

 

Rob