USS/SS Leviathan 1914 by shipmodel - FINISHED - 1/200 - troop ship/ocean liner

[Jim Rogers]

Dan I absolutely love the concept of this build. Brilliant idea and execution.

[lmagna]

Welcome back Dan

 

I hope that you at least got rested and recharged and all was not wasted.

[cog]

Welcome back Dan. A pitty you didn't enjoy your trip to the fullest. Most river trips are done by geriatrics in Europe ...

 

Ok, America scratched from my list ... that leaves Canada to be explored

[amateur]

Besides, Europe is almost washed over by tourists. All large cities are just unbearable during the holidayseason (which runs full year, at least in cities like Amsterdam...)

Although I do not agree withBob (kits are defnitily much more fun than a river cruise, as you can add to it, and work at your own speed), much more fun outside the large cities, and just on your own. (Or at leat: outside those herds of tourists, running behing a guide with a red umbrella)

 

Jan

[Jack12477]

11 minutes ago, amateur said:

running behing a guide with a red umbrella

Love the visual !   Never liked "packaged" tours.

[Jack12477]

5 hours ago, cog said:

Ok, America scratched from my list .

Carl why write us off ! We have plenty of places to explore. 

[Jim Rogers]

1 hour ago, Jack12477 said:

Carl why write us off ! We have plenty of places to explore. 

Two of the most beautiful and awe inspiring place on earth: Glacier National Park and Arches National Park.

[shipmodel]

Hello again to all –

 

Thanks so much for the compliments and commiserations.  Please don’t take my experience as the last word.  Many people that I have talked to, on the boat and after coming home, have had excellent river cruises.  Just my luck to get a rainy week.

 

Carl – don’t avoid America as a vacation destination.  Some of my favorite trips have been through the Southwest, with its geological wonders, herds of wildlife, and the ancient dwellings and modern cultures of our native peoples.

 

But back to the shipyard - - -

 

The next area of the ship to be tackled was the working deck at the bow.  As seen on the plan, there are two sections, bisected by a curved breakwater.  Six large bollards are mounted in the forward area, with two smaller ones in the aft section, which also contains a large hatch.  The chain for the large anchor at the nose of the ship comes up on the centerline, but then angles slightly to starboard to run around the chain winch which sits between the aft pair of bollards.

This agrees with this photo taken, I believe, towards the beginning of the war service.  Note that the lighter chains from the smaller winches for the side anchors run under the large anchor chain.

Contrast that with this photo.  It is clear that the large anchor winch has been moved back aft of the breakwater.  The chain runs through the breakwater and returns to the chain locker through a covered chute.

This configuration was retained during liner service.  After discussion it was decided to use this layout rather than splitting the winch in half. 

The breakwater was shaped, painted and installed with a hole for the anchor chain to starboard of the centerline.  Bollards are Bluejacket castings, cleaned up and slightly modified.  The smaller winches are Shapeways offerings, mounted on round bases and painted.  The light chains are the finest that I have, with a nominal diameter of 0.020” and more than 40 links/inch.

The fittings for the main anchor include a large Shapeways winch with an added base to raise it to the needed height.  The trough for the chain, the return chute, and the hawse pipe and chain brake are all scratch-built.

A small triangular platform was installed at the extreme bow with the hawse pipe and chain brake below it angled slightly to starboard.  The trough was cut and fitted over the side anchor chains to meet the breakwater.  The stud link chain is another Shapeways product.  I was quite happy with it.  It is very accurate and not expensive at all.

After the chain was installed the screw drive for the chain brake was fashioned from 0.032” brass rod and installed.  The handles are sections of PE railing.

Chain preventers were mounted, two on each side.  They are made up from the beads that I used for turnbuckles, ground to a shallow angle and mounted on small pads.  Short lengths of fine chain nip onto the large chain, although I did not mount preventer hooks.  That would have been a detail too small even for me.  Low railings are mounted on the bulwarks above the fairleads to help protect the soldiers and sailors who are seen in many photos standing on the fairlead heads and leaning over the side! 

In the aft area of the deck the large hatch was built up as previous hatches were, painted and installed.  Just forward is a companionway with a curved top that straddles the centerline.  On its top is a 4-seat boom crutch for the cargo booms that come off the foremast. 

On the troop ship side the gun platform was built up to fit over the breakwater and bollards so its deck matched the height of the bulwark.  Railings run around its inner edges, with a removable one along the bulwark.

The 6-inch gun has been temporarily placed on the platform to check location and height.  It is a bit of a shame that the photos show the large shield on the gun, which hides the truly fine details of the breech and the loading and aiming mechanisms.

That completes this area.  I am happy with it, although I see that the short piece of gun platform railing will have to be straightened.

 

Next I turned to the boats.  There are almost 100 of them, with several different davit types.

 

More soon.

 

Dan

[cog]

Ah, well. you have to pick a choice on the anchor chain, would have been interesting to see the double capastan, as you stated, on the other hand, it looks to me that the breakwater has been moved forrard ...

 

It seems I can also turn to you for travel information if I add to my travell list   Europe isn't that boaring, but as you wrote about the States, you need to know what to go for and what not. Personally I tend to give travel agencies a very wide berth.

[shipmodel]

Hi Carl - 

 

If you compare the photographs you can see that the breakwater stays aft of the second pair of large bollards.  The anchor winch first sits between this pair, then moves behind the breakwater.   There are still some open questions about exactly when this happened, but physically it seems pretty clear.

 

Happy to help with any travel ideas.  I'm not an expert, but I have done a good deal of travelling and have even managed to visit every one of our 50 states.

 

Dan

[cog]

Must clean me glasses

[rwiederrich]

Wonderful progression.

 

Rob

[Jim Lad]

Very nice progress, Dan.  I find those small chains criss-crossing the forecastle puzzling.  They certainly look too small for anchor cables on a ship of that size, but what is their exact use?  Do you know?

 

John

[amateur]

And they also do not show up in the liner-periodpic...... could it be a method of hauling in the mooring cables?

I would consider rerigging them slightly different: in the pics you can see that the chain runs via the head of the winch, resulting ina chain that runs fairly high above the deck. You can see thatnicely atthepic with the lightingfrom aside: it almost looks as ifthere were two chains,but one is the chain, the other one the shadow.

 

Jan

Edited June 7, 2019 by amateur

[shipmodel]

Hi John, Jan - 

 

Well spotted.  I saw the same things, but did not have any concrete answers.  I believe that the chains go to the side anchors, but the fittings that they go into (which I do not fully understand) have no exit through the side of the bulwark.  The hinged door that covers the fairleads does not extend that far back, so the chains can only go down into the hull.

As for the height, I agree that the photos that I posted show the chains lifted off the deck by tension.  But others show them on the deck and wrapped around the base of the winch, as I have modeled them.  That was the solution that I chose.

Thanks for looking in and keeping me on my toes.

 

Dan

[KeithAug]

On 6/5/2019 at 4:25 PM, shipmodel said:

Some of my favorite trips have been through the Southwest, with its geological wonders, herds of wildlife, and the ancient dwellings and modern cultures of our native peoples.

I have to agree that the best holidays of my life have all involved the USA National Parks - some more than once. Unfortunately I have now done virtually all of them and the only unfinished business is Death Valley. We did attempt it once but unfortunately it was closed due to flooding!!!!!!!!

 

Love the detail on the foredeck Dan - i particularly liked the detail on the chain break.

[Hubac's Historian]

Beautiful detailing at the head, Dan.  It’s useful to have a good bit of inspired work, just behind you, before embarking on the tedium of the boats.  Well done!

Edited June 7, 2019 by Hubac's Historian

[Roger Pellett]

Keith,

 

Have you ever visited Isle Royal National Park?  It’s the large island on Western Lake Superior.  Accessible only by boat, it gets about 35,000 visitors a year.

 

Roger

[KeithAug]

 

On 6/8/2019 at 10:25 PM, Roger Pellett said:

Have you ever visited Isle Royal National Park?

Roger - no - to be honest its not one I have heard of. Thank you I will look it up.

[amateur]

How are the davits and boats progressing?

 

Jan

[shipmodel]

 

Hi all –

 

Sorry to have been away so long.  I somehow developed a bit of writer’s block. 

 

Yes, I know that I am one of the last people you would think this would happen to, but there it is.  I could name half a dozen possible causes, and maybe they all ganged up on me at once.  But I got a bit of energy at the NRG conference, so I am trying to push through the molasses of my mind and post again.   Mostly just captions for photos.

 

Fortunately, it did not slow down the actual building process, and the model has been completed, delivered and mounted in the museum.

So here are the boats –

Over the head of Madam Secretary, with double rolls along the sides.

These were canvas sheets used to raise the freeboard.

I worked with a designer to have them 3-D printed in 26 foot and 30 foot sizes

Their davits,  with PE tackle.

Mounted aboard ship

The larger powered launch

Midships boats tucked into the hull, with their external davits

The gang of boats on the forward deckhouse

I’ll try to post again soon.

 

Dan

[Mirabell61]

Super build Dan !

those boats, rafts, davits and all those fine detail look great, very nice work   

 

Nils

[Roger Pellett]

Two years ago I was able to visit the National Maritime Museum’s small boat collection at Falmouth, Cornwall.  The boatwrights there recently built a full sized replica of one of Titanic’s 30ft lifeboats.  Without seeing one of these in the flesh it is difficult to understand their size.  They are huge!

 

This makes one wonder how the stacked boats away from the davits were intended to be launched.  Were these to be manhandled over to the davits? While there was no shortage of manpower, it is hard to imagine moving these about on canted and pitching decks in an emergency.

 

Anyhow, a beautiful model of an impressive ship.

 

Roger

[KeithAug]

lovely job Dan  - pity about the writers block - only seems to happen to professionals.

[druxey]

Good to see you back, Dan. The final result gives great, if somewhat schizoid, impression. Well done!

[shipmodel]

Thanks for the compliments and likes.  They will help get me up and writing again.

 

Roger - most of the stacked boats are under davits.  The few on the troop ship could be moved by the soldiers.  They certainly had enough on board.

Or they could have been lightly strapped down, so in case of a rapid sinking they would have floated off like the rafts.  I don't know.

 

It was a pleasure having dinner at the conference with you and your wife.

 

Dan

  

[mtaylor]

Wonderful update, Dan.  Good to see you back as writer's block is a curse.

[rwiederrich]

great update...….wonderful model...just wonderful.

 

Rob

[FriedClams]

Beautiful work Dan - and such an ambitious project.  Congratulations on its completion.  Wonderful model and build log.

 

Gary

[dvm27]

I used to think the camouflage scheme was silly and wouldn't fool anyone but your contrasting views of the model set in a sea make a convincing argument for it!