Edme by mobbsie - FINISHED - 1/67 - RESTORATION - Thames Barge

[mobbsie]

Hi Guys,

 

This log is about the repair and improvement ( I hope ) of the Thames Barge Edme. Edme started out as the Barge Will Everard but was cut down and the boat was mostly a scratch build.

 

Damage occurred during pre-season cleaning and redecorating of the museum, she was dragged from a table by a dust sheet.

The damage is mostly to the Masts and Rigging and although annoying at the time it has allowed me to correct a few mistakes.

 

What has made me angry was the need to reduce the visual damage by bending a metal Cross Tree around the main mast, this particular piece could have been used again but not any more, as if that wasn't bad enough string was also wound around the mast and what appears to be about half a bottle of CA poured over the top.

 

Originally Edme didn't have a stand, she was just free standing but I have now made a stand for her which I hope compliments the boat.

 

The first series of pictures will show Edme pre damage and it will show evidence of my inexperience in boat building.

 

 

 

This is one of my major mistakes, The Edme only has 3 shrouds, here I have 4

 

Now we have a few pics of the damage, I'll let you make your own minds up on these.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pictorial story goes a lame from here on, progress made wasn't fully documented and so will have some large gaps.

 

As stated most of the damage was with the masts and rigging so the old has been removed, the first thing I wanted to do was to make a stand for her.

 

Here I covered the hull with cling film and using modelling clay to give me a profile, the stand was started.

 

Using MDF the uprights were cut out and Beech laminate glued on, a few clamps, believe me there is an upright in there somewhere.

 

Both upright are now laminated, they just need to be cleaned up.

 

The completed stand, again the base is MDF with a Beech Laminate and double coated with POLY, the cradles were covered with the fibre part of Velcro, they were then drilled and dowel glued in place.

 

Edme now has a nice ? new stand

 

That's enough for now, I will post further updates shortly.

 

I do hope this all makes sense.

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

 

 

[UpstateNY]

HI Mobbsie,

 

Sorry to read of the accident to your lovely model and the "repairs" are certainly a bit of an eye opener! I love the stand and fact she now seems to "float" above the base.

 

I follow along on your repair build if you don't mind as you return her to her former glory. 

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[Omega1234]

Hi Mobbsie

 

I'm really sorry to hear about your ship's misfortune. But, like you said, the best thing you can do is to restore her to her former glory, but with the benefits of your greater experience and techniques. She's gonna look brilliant when you're finished.

 

I'm looking forward to following along!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[druxey]

Whoever effected that 'repair' should be strung up from their own yard arm! I suppose they thought that no-one would ever notice??? And in a museum yet. Unbelievable. 

 

Anyway, Mobbish, best wishes for a proper restoration of what was once a very nice model.

[gjdale]

Great to see the repair job underway Mobbsie. It's a shame that it was needed, but as you say, an opportunity to improve on the original build. Love the new stand too!

[mtaylor]

Gawd, that's bad on them.  I'm surprised they just didn't contact you instead wrapping some string a glue.  I'm gong to join the others and sit back to watch and learn.

[Jim Lad]

Looks like she was hit by quite a squall, Mobbsie, but I'm sure you'll soon have her all shipshape again.

 

John

[mobbsie]

Thank you Gentlemen for your kind comments, support and encouragement.

 

The repairs will not take too long to do as it's all up top so this will not be a big log and you know what I'm like, I get carried away and miss big chunks of the progress made.

 

I will be posting a further update over the next day or so.

 

Take care my friends and be good

 

mobbsie

[Omega1234]

Hi Mobbsie

 

After re-reading your first post, I was just wondering if this model was built by you, or whether it was built by someone else who donated it to your museum? Sorry for what may seem like silly questions, but I'm just curious.

 

Looking forward to your next update.

 

Cheers and all the best!

 

Patrick

[mobbsie]

Hi Patrick,

 

Thanks for your question mate.

 

I built Edme in the August of 2012. I wanted a Thames Barge and the only one I could find was the Will Everard ( now known as the "Will" ), my research showed that a local Malt works ordered a barge from Cann's boatyard in Harwich, about 1.5 miles from where I live so this was a no brainer to me.

 

The Will Everard is a steel construction whereas the Edme is all timber and a lot smaller to boot and so a lot of cutting about and scratch work was going to be involved.

 

The Edme is still afloat today and takes day trippers out. She was built in 1898 and is 1 of 3 barges left that are engineless.

 

Hope that answers your question mate.

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

[Omega1234]

Hi Mobbsie

 

Many thanks for clarifying that for me.

 

I've got my chair and pop corn ready to follow along.

 

Cheers and thanks.

 

Patrick

[mobbsie]

Hi Guys,

 

It's update time again, though not too much to see really.

 

Progress has been made with a full set of sails made up, this set is much better than the originals.

 

So with the sails made up we need something to hang them from. All the news parts were made up and then I hit a problem in that the base housing for the Main mast would not under any circumstances release from the old mast, a new base had to be made up.

 

All the blocks and rigging were placed and the Spanker fitted before being put on the boat, this has made life a whole lot easier. All that remained was for the shrouds / stays to be positioned.

 

There has been a lot of discussion lately on other logs regarding Life rings, Billings do life rings with a terrible plastic grab rope, I just cut the grab rope away and left it at that, without doing any research into the development of the life ring I'm sure grab ropes were introduced much later.

 

So some pictures, ( not many mind ).

 

The full set of sails

 

All the sticks are made and the new Main base is fitted

 

Spanker sail is attached

 

Fixed to the boat with the stays being put on the bottle screws

 

Port side life ring fitted to the stays, now to do the starboard side.

 

So that's it for now guys, any comments, good or bad are always welcome.

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

[S.Coleman]

That's an interesting base for the mast. What was this winch used for?

[Omega1234]

Hi Mobbsie

 

I love the look of those sails. Did your Admiral do them for you, or are you a dab hand with the needle? Either way, the cut and colour of the material looks nice and authentic.

 

I also really like the winch you've made for the base of the mast. Are you able to show how you made it?

 

Cheers and thanks

 

Patrick

[gjdale]

Great looking set of sails there Mobbsie.

[mobbsie]

Thanks Gents,

 

The Winch,  I haven't gone into the research for this boat too much but I would have thought the winch would have been used for helping to furl the main sail which was quite a heavy construction, the crew being very scarce would have needed some sort of assistance, there may also have been a small crane fixed up for loading some cargoes.

 

Patrick,  The mast base, I have knocked up a quick base just to show the parts used and how their put together, all from 1mm and 3mm ply with 8 round head pins, it took me longer to download and resize the pictures than to make it.

 

All the parts                                                       

  

 

Body of the base glued up

 

The base with pins in                                         

   

 

Body and base together

 

Just the braces to fit                                          

    

 

The finished item, the winch drums were taken from the old base

 

Hope that helps mate

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mtaylor]

Excellent progress, Mobbsie.  The mast base is different and interesting.... 

[Jim Lad]

Mobbsie, that's an excellent job you've done on the mast tabernacle!

 

I hate to be a wet blanket, but by 1898 when the Edme was built, life buoys would certainly have grab ropes.

 

John

[Omega1234]

Hi Mobbsie

 

Thanks for the photos of the winch's construction. It looks great,especially with the pins at the base and the addition of the winch drums.

 

It always amazes me how we as modellers can take a bunch of raw materials and transform it into an object with life and purpose.

 

Nicely done!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

Edited July 19, 2015 by Omega1234

[UpstateNY]

Hi Mobbsie,

 

Love the sails and their color as well.Great stuff.

 

On the mast winch, from your first post images, I think I can see a similar green winch on the other mast as well.

 

Assuming I am right that the green color is also a winch, couldn't these winches perhaps have been used to rapidly lower the masts to enable the barge to move upriver beyond Tower Bridge? There are a lot of bridges on the navigable river above Tower Bridge, none can also be raised at least as far as I can remember. Being able to lower the masks quickly would make the barge more useful commercially I would think.

 

Just a thought....

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

Edited July 19, 2015 by UpstateNY

[mobbsie]

Hi Guys,

 

Thanks all for your comments and likes.

 

Nigel,   The masts were indeed lowered and the winches could have been used for that purpose, it does make sense, it wasn't only the Thames these barges sailed up, they frequently used to sail in the Norfolk Broads for all manner of cargoes, those bridges are pretty low as well. As well as the masts being lowered the Bowsprit could be raised for berthing if space was short, all pretty resourceful really.

 

John,  You are right about the life ring grab ropes, I hadn't done my research and the plastic ropes looked awful, I could have done the same as Popeye and put real ropes on but I wasn't thinking right at the time.

 

Patrick,   I didn't answer your question about the sails mate, I marked and cut out the sails and glued the hems, my Admiral then used the sewing machine to sew the hems in. I went round the outer edge sewing the rope on, I just wish I'd used a darker rope, still always a next time.

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

[Omega1234]

Thanks Mobbsie - it seems like the sails are the result of a good team effort by you and your Admiral.  I hope you rewarded her well!