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

[dgbot]

Nils that one stringer at the stern looks a little out of place Like it warped or curved in the wrong direction.  Is that the way it is supposed to be and am I blowing smoke.  But considering your skill I probably I am wrong.

David B

[Jim Lad]

She's really coming along, Nils.

 

John

[pete48]

She's looking good Nils, those propellers sure look great

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[Mirabell61]

Many thanks - David - John - Pete-,

and all the "likes"

 

 

David,

correct, it looks warped in that view. The reason is that I followed the deck level outer contours on the frames skin..... (see the enclosed side view pic, without me changing anything on that stringer)...

 

 

John,

Thanks for your words...

 

 

Pete,

I`m happy that the propellers worked out OK.

As mentioned before, the propcircles are slightly overlapping within that window outcut (stagered in shaftlength)

 

 

Nils

 

 

 

in side view, no "warp" in stringer

 

 

 

overlapping of props

[popeye the sailor]

nice progress Nils     very nice set up at the stern as well.  props are very close....really like the way they look 

[Mirabell61]

Thanks for your comment Popeye,

 

yes the props come very Close, but I`ve followed the scaled Rating of the actual ship. Trust there will be something to do about it, but in combination with the final planking when it is on

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

a little progress on the propshaft housing. The outer cladding is still to be sanded down to a smooth and smaller diameter

 

After planking these housings will get a smooth transition to the outer hull skin

 

Nils

 

 

 

 

stb. side propshaft housing started...

 

 

 

likewise the preperation to take the housing woods on port side

 

 

 

port-side : all stringers are on

 

 

 

ready for fairing, (sanding) stringers and hull frames to smooth contours

 

[UpstateNY]

Hi Nils,

 

Been enjoying following along and lovely work as everyone else has said.

 

Stringers are really showing up the beautiful hull lines. 

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

Edited June 12, 2015 by UpstateNY

[Omega1234]

Coming along, really nicely, Nils!

[Mirabell61]

Hi Nils,

 

Been enjoying following along and lovely work as everyone else has said.

 

Stringers are really showing up the beautiful hull lines. 

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

Thanks very much Nigel,

The KWdG has been a very frequent guest at the NY NDL-piers long time ago.....

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Coming along, really nicely, Nils!

 

 

Thank you Patrick,

some things I just have to try out, in lack of a building instruction, but I`m lucky so far that all worked out well (no parts for the bin)

 

Nils

[pete48]

Nice work Nils, She's really taking shape, I like the job you did on the propellers they look amazing

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[Mirabell61]

Pete,

 

thanks for your appreciation of the props...

 

Nils

[gjdale]

Thank you Patrick,

some things I just have to try out, in lack of a building instruction, but I`m lucky so far that all worked out well (no parts for the bin)

 

Nils

I don't think "luck" has anything to do with it Nils - just your very well thought out approach and excellent skill in execution.

[Omega1234]

I don't think "luck" has anything to do with it Nils - just your very well thought out approach and excellent skill in execution.

Hi Nils

 

Grant's beat me to it, because that's exactly what I wanted to say, without a doubt. The only thing I would add, is that there's an element which cannot be measured, and that's the "Nils Magic". So, the magic, together with your skill and methodical approach, is going to lead to one hell of a beauty!

 

Looking forward to following along for the ride!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[Beef Wellington]

Those props are amazing Nils, superb.

[Mirabell61]

many thanks to -Grant - Patrick - Jason-,

and all the "likes"

 

 

Grant,

that a realy fine comment, much appreciated....

 

 

Patrick,

a new "adjective" to my Approach with that "Magic", very Kind comment, well appriciated 

 

 

Jason,

Thanks, I wanted to Keep them props shiny and sprayed clear varnish to them with the shafts revolving slowly in my Little hand-Drilling machine. Unfortunately I shook up the spray can too Long, so that there was too much air or gas trapped and transfered on the brass surface.  

some time later on I will have to take the varnish off again and apply new with a soft brush 

 

Nils

[Jaekon Lee]

It's a great pleasure to follow your building progress, Nils. Will you do planking the hull?

One more question is that you built hull with series of blukhead to support the hull shape (so it would be plank on bulkhead, 'POB') but you write "POF" in the title. Am I incorrect?

 

Lee

[Mirabell61]

Hi Lee,

 

no Lee, trust we both have right,  for my understanding it depends on what you call those series of plates at equalized spaces that provide the hull-shape.

I call them Frames, therefore "plank on Frame", POF, and if you consider them bulkheads (resembling watertight single compartments, which they are not here) it would be POB

In German we say Frames = Spanten, and Bulkheads = Schotten

 

For example. the bulkheads (Schotten) in the damaged area of the Titanic were`nt high enough to prevent overflow of seawater from one department to the next, whereby the ship had hundreds of Frames to give the shape of hull to the outside Skin, regardless to the watertightness of compartments

 

Fore the planking.....

yes I will be planking, it is intended to plank with 2mm thick pine Planks 10 x 2,   8 x 2,  and even 12 x 2 in the Long Areas with gentle curves,

delicate areas like the propshaft housings are planked with strips 2 x 2 mm

 

Nils

Edited June 15, 2015 by Mirabell61

[NMBROOK]

Excellent work Nils This is the first time I have seen a keel cutout to accommodate the props.I wonder the designers reasoning behind this?It certainly adds an interesting feature to your model though

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[Mirabell61]

Hi Nigel,

 

many thanks for dropping in....

I was not familiar with this special twin prop arrangement either before studying this ship

 

here an illustration why the outcut window,..... and how the overlapping outer prop circles prevent fouling each other, by stagering the shaft lengths

 

Nils

 

 

 

[NMBROOK]

Interesting stuff Nils.I can see why due to the slenderness of the hull why the designers wanted to keep the drivetrain as inboard as possible.Any further apart and the engines would have to move further forward resulting in very long propshafts.

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[Mirabell61]

Good analysis Nigel,

 

yep, I think that was the reason behind this interesting design. Also the actual props with each 6800 mm diam. run very close to the hull`s skin

 

Nils

[popeye the sailor]

hull framing looks real good Nils........nice 

[michael mott]

Great work so far Nils, I am looking forward to seeing the planking on the hull.

 

Michael

[Mirabell61]

Thank you Popeye,

 

I`ll do a bit of planking in the next days. I`ve bought a 13mm thick plank that will be sliced to  Planks  appr. 1,5 to 2mm thickness, but then 13mm wide. Hope they won`nt be too stiff

The Planks will go horizontal on from the sheer downwards until I need to Switch to less wider Planks in order to follow the roundings of the bilge keel area.

For the rounding of the Stern I`ll probably do vertical planking, I have good experience with that

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Thanks Michael,

 

stay tuned, trust by end of the week I`ll see if it works out, ( a Little Portion of planking) as already mentioned to Popeye

 

Nils

[brunelrussell]

Mr. Nils,

I've been following your progress on the 'Kaiser Bill' with interest and not a little envy, as it is a ship I've always been fascinated with.  I was able to find most of your source material on line but where did you get the hull lines?  I know I'll never get around to building it but I might draw up a modeller's plan.  Also, a possibly dumb question: my German is not good enough to figure out what the frame spacing was on the ship; if you could give me that I'll be eternally grateful.

Keep up the good work!

[Mirabell61]

Hi brunelrussel,

 

thanks for dropping in and your interest in this model....

if you have the same sources I basicly used, you probably have the view of 6 decks and the side view (in section). To design a modeler`s plan you need to choose a scale, set a number of frames at preferbly equal spacings, and then pick the widths at the appropriate  crosspoints Decks / Frames at hull outer Skin.

I presume you have experience with this approach, so for a modelist with practice it`s quite a common task to draw your own hull lines-plan from that Information. It results in the Frames plan for determining and transfering  the individual Frames to Wood. Certain decks will Need to have Access to in some Areas. I put stringers to all deck Levels, which are are not resembling the actual horizontal waterline Levels, but These stringers  I would have put on anyhow for easing the planking Job and bringing in sufficiant strength and warp tightness to the rather Long hull

 

For the scale I choose (1:144) the requirement was here 26 Frames at spacing (Center to Center Frame) of  5,35 cm on keel. Exception : the distance between last and second last bow Frame is only 2,67 cm

Trust this will be what you were seeking for....

 

Cheers

 

Nils

Edited June 18, 2015 by Mirabell61

[Mirabell61]

Build log part 7

 

 

 

today the hull-planking starts.

 

For the long, rather straight planks from the sheer downwards I cut some 13mm wide planks (to get along a bit swifter).

The delicate portion will be where  the tail cone transits into the rear hull, just above the Propshaft housings, I`ll give a sigh of relief when that is done.....

 

 

Nils

 

 

 

rather sharp roundings are done with 2 x 2 strips, whilst the 2 x 13 planks realy get me somewhere

 

 

 

the planking is single layer, 2 mm thick in pine. After sanding the surface later on, there should remain appr. 1,5 to 1,7 mm thickness

 

 

 

here the stringers are of great advantage for clamping down the planks while the PA cures (I use "Ponal Express" glue)

 

 

 

after fastening 3 planks the opposite side is done likewise, before I move on to the next plank group

 

 

 

the yard slipway provides an absolutely twist / warp free hull

 

 

 

I`ll have to do the ruddershaft sleeve and bearing mechanism, before the "cone "fillpieces" are attached permanently

The rudder at this stage is just a "dummy spaceholder" and will be cut away and replaced by a structured metal made one later on

Edited August 22, 2016 by Mirabell61