Germania Nova 1911 by KeithAug - FINISHED - Scale 1:36 - replica of schooner Germania 1908

[druxey]

Well framed, indeed, Keith!

[KeithAug]

Looking ahead a dilemma presents itself, whether or not to reproduce a botched job.

 

From photos it seems that Germania Nova was built with a choice of anchors. This isn't unusual as different anchors have different capabilities in holding on weed, mud, sand etc. The following photo shows a Danforth anchor on the port bow. I have other shots showing fishermen's  anchors stowed port and starboard.

Clearly the Danforth and the hull made poor bedfellows as witnessed by the following:-

If i were the owner I wouldn't be very pleased!!!!!!!

 

Must have been done by a champion bodger.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 18, 2019 by KeithAug

[BANYAN]

Hi Keith just catching up on your very nice build; missed the start of your log much to my disappointment.  I will follow this build with considerable interest.  Love that freezer bag clamp!

 

WRT to the bulwarks, we experienced a similar issue with the build of HMCSS Victoria.  The vessel was built on the diagonal planking system so there were no rising timbers to attach the bulwark planking to.  One of our members came up with the idea of a temporary bracing jig which was waxed on the outer edges (could use wax paper also).  We epoxied the lower strakes and bases of the roughtree timbers for additional strength.  You will not need the spacers for the roughtree timbers for your build if you tried this method as you will have the rod supports to add later.  This jig worked quite well for us and considerable additional rigidity and strength was gained with the the added roughtree timbers - the bulwarks are surprisingly strong considring they are 'added on'.

 

The jig is made from three longitudinal pieces with the outer ones (port and stbd) sliding in and out to adjust to correct position and facilitate later removal; the central one was screwed to the top of the bulkheads to hold the jig in place.  The nuts and washers you see were to secure the outer pieces once in position, then released to slide them back to the middle to remove the jig without interfering with the added bulwarks.  We needed to add the extra piece at the transom for additional rigidity of the rig.  The large block in the middle allowed us to place the whole jig/model assembly into a ball joint vice to better work on the lower strakes of the bulwark.

 

cheers

 

Pat

 

 

 

 

Edited February 19, 2019 by BANYAN

[KeithAug]

14 hours ago, BANYAN said:

WRT to the bulwarks, we experienced a similar issue with the build of HMCSS Victoria.

Pat. Thank you for your suggestion. I was thinking of doing something similar but using the existing frames as the former for the bulwarks. I too  need to avoid the bulwarks sticking to the frames and waxing or using stick resistant paper seems a good Idea that I think I will copy. The curvature of the bulwark at the stern is quite marked and I think I will need to form it out of a number of planks cut to trapezoidal cross section  - like the staves of a barrel. I would have preferred to form the bulwark out of a single piece of ply but unfortunately I don't think I have this luxury. I do like the epanding aspect of your jig - pretty neat idea.

[Omega1234]

Hi Keith

 

Okay.  Let me get this straight.  I miss out following along for a couple of days and in that time, you’ve just about framed the whole boat???  Mighty fine and quick work!

 

A quick question-what sort of RC gear are you  going to use?

 

‘Cheers. 

 

Patrick

[KeithAug]

3 hours ago, Omega1234 said:

A quick question-what sort of RC gear are you  going to use?

Patrick - Imagination - I sould have been more explicit,  it is a static display model.

[Omega1234]

1 hour ago, KeithAug said:

Patrick - Imagination - I sould have been more explicit,  it is a static display model.

Thanks Keith - I kinda guessed that, but...it's such a large and beautiful hull, that I'd be so tempted to make it a working boat (I guess that harks back to my RC days).

 

Nonetheless, man, what a top job you're doing!

[KeithAug]

52 minutes ago, Omega1234 said:

I'd be so tempted to make it a working boat

Patrick - 2 reasons why I shy away from "working" models.

 

Reason 1 - I imagine spending years crafting the detail to the best of my ability only for some idiot to ram it with epoxy filler reinforced monstrosity with a ram bow and oversized motor. 

Reason 2 - I don't like the compromises necessary to make it sail well - oversized keel and rudder.

[Omega1234]

3 minutes ago, KeithAug said:

Patrick - 2 reasons why I shy away from "working" models.

 

Reason 1 - I imagine spending years crafting the detail to the best of my ability only for some idiot to ram it with epoxy filler reinforced monstrosity with a ram bow and oversized motor. 

Reason 2 - I don't like the compromises necessary to make it sail well - oversized keel and rudder.

Hi Keith

 

I agree entirely.  In fact, that was one of the reasons why I gave up RC yachts, in favour of my miniature models.  Many years ago, I had spent two years just building a fully detailed RC sailing model of Bruce King's yacht "Whitefin".  It had a fully detailed interior, right down to the brass fireplace in the main saloon. One fateful day, I went to the local river, put her into the water and away she went to windward, straight as an arrow, beautifully heeled over, just as the real yacht would.  All was going well until I tried to get her to come back.  To my horror, she failed to come about.  Off she went and I never ever saw her again.  Two year's worth of work.  About $500 worth of sail winch, batteries, RC gear, etc, all gone!  Never to be seen again.

 

I went home totally heartbroken.  It didn't take long for me to retire my other RC yachts.

 

So, yer, I understand entirely where you're coming from.

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[KeithAug]

11 minutes ago, Omega1234 said:

All was going well until I tried to get her to come back.  To my horror, she failed to come about.  Off she went and I never ever saw her again.

Patrick - Horrific story - I would have been scarred for life.

[KeithAug]

A little more progress of the tiresome kind - but at least I have finished with the dining room table for the present time.

 

I attached the solid former for the below deck level of the stern - made from obechi. I used 2 thin (.008") strips of aluminium inserted into the slits for separation of the frames at deck level to locate and support the former.

The final step was to colour up the frames - red and blue in preparation for fairing.

Then it was back to the workshop for a couple of days of sanding.

To be fair the sanding took a total of about 3 hours I just couldn't stand it for more than 20 minutes at time - separated by many tea breaks.

 

While sanding I was at pains to ensure that so far as possible the sanding patterns were consistent side to side as per photos.

I now need to decide what next. I had thought that I would double plank, the first layer in obechi .040" directly on to the frames overlaid with .060" mahogany. But today I sort of decided on an alternative plan of infilling in balsa between frames and then single planking with .060" mahogany. The advantage of the alternative plan is that it helps a bit when it comes to building up the bulwark. Anyway I will sleep on it before making a decision.

[wefalck]

Filling up the space between the bulkheads is probably a good strategy. Several of my German colleagues do this routinely and I also have done this. Makes the hull much more stable and gives you a better image of any sags or bulges than the bulkheads alone. Is probably also simpler than the double-planking.

[Mark Pearse]

Hi Keith

 

what was the tool you used for sanding the moulds?

 

Also, a comment: what an amazing hull, & it's one of the pleasures of a model to be able to see the whole - especially when you probably can't really see the whole on such a large yacht. Also interesting how far aft the keel is, when you include how the bowsprit will make the sailplan even further forwards.

[KeithAug]

 

39 minutes ago, Mark Pearse said:

Also interesting how far aft the keel is, when you include how the bowsprit will make the sailplan even further forwards

 

Mark - I agree with you about the keel - I keep looking at it and thinking its proportions are unusual. It's not terribly deep but is quite long and very slender, and as you say set quite far aft. The rudder also seems smaller than I might expect. It must have worked noting how successful a racer she was.

 

Wefalck,

42 minutes ago, wefalck said:

Makes the hull much more stable and gives you a better image of any sags or bulges than the bulkheads alone.

Yes I think you make an important point. Given that the frames are obtained from a rather small master I think I may need to iron out a few undulations. You have probably convinced me.

[KeithAug]

While recovering from a family dinner we were discussing my beloveds Grandfather who has an interesting maritime background.

 

In 1917 he was captain of the SV Eduard when she was intercepted by German Minelayer UC-70 off beach Head. The ship was boarded and sunk with charges. The crew were allowed to escape prior to the sinking. 

 

The Eduard was built in Lubbock in 1898.

It would be good to discover more history but various searches have turned up little - any ideas??????

[KeithAug]

19 hours ago, Mark Pearse said:

what was the tool you used for sanding the moulds?

Hi Mark

 

Over the years I have amassed a large number of sophisticated sanding tools.

 

My favourite tool was a no expense spared device fabricated from aged pine and antique cork, beautifully crafted and ergonomically designed:- It flexibly accommodates a variety of different sanding mediums secured by very effective quick release fastenings. Its flat sanding surface with one round and one square edge is slender in form and is perfect for sanding along the frames while getting into those tight curves where the hull meets the keel.

I supplement this with the use of equally exotic tool of a more compact and elegant design, this commercially available tool was modified by myself at great expense to have one edge with a more rounded form.

The devices work best when paired with a specialist sanding medium.

And now back to a sensible point - I do find this sandpaper to be excellent. Very good material removal, stays sharp, and does not fall apart - even on difficult jobs like sanding the end of frames. Available on Amazon.

 

Edited February 22, 2019 by KeithAug

[KeithAug]

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Edited February 22, 2019 by KeithAug

[KeithAug]

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Edited February 22, 2019 by KeithAug

[wefalck]

Keith, I did a quick search on the EDUARD and came up with some supplementary information: As you know already she was built as a barkentine in 1898 by the Lübeck (not Lubbock) yard Henry Koch AG, 430 BRT/400 NRT, deplacement 650 t, CWL length 45.72 m, breadth 8.38 m. She was let into the water on 2 July 1898 and handed over to her first owners Seetzen Gebrüder (Hamburg) on 15 August 1898. She was re-registered in Bremen (unknown owner) on 13 March 1901. After being impounded in 1914 in the UK and used on behalf of the Admiralty as coastal vessel CS66. This information is given in a chronical of the shipyard:

 

HAAKER, H. (1994): Die ‘Schiffswerft von Henry Koch AG’.- 224 p., Hamburg (Ernst Kabel Verlag).

 

On page 126 of the above book there is also a picture of her. The original of that picture is in the collection of the 'Museen für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte der Hanstestadt Lübeck' (https://die-luebecker-museen.de/).

If she was registered with the Bureau Veritas (as many German ships were) you can go through the digitised versions of the registers here: http://www.zvdd.de/dms/browse-sammlungen/?tx_goobit3_search[extquery]=iswork%3A1&dc=deutschesschiffahrtsmuseumbremerhaven.digiview.gbv.de

 

 

[KeithAug]

Wefalck - thank you - very helpful - i will follow up your leads.

[michael mott]

Keith very nice looking hull, a question why the alternating colors for the fairing?

 

Michael

[KeithAug]

52 minutes ago, michael mott said:

a question why the alternating colors for the fairing?

Hi Michael.

 

I find it easier to keep track of sanding the same port and starboard frame. It's quite easy to be keeping the sanding patterns on port and starboard the same only to discover that i'm not sanding the same frame. Hope that makes sense.

 

(Alternative answer - I like the way the sanding dust comes off a pretty purple colour) 

 

5 hours ago, wefalck said:

On page 126 of the above book there is also a picture of her.

 

Wefalck, We found a copy on the web for £15 and will order a copy. Thank you.

Edited February 22, 2019 by KeithAug

[Roger Pellett]

Kieth,

 

Another masterpiece.

 

You write about planking the bulwarks.  Are you sure that they are not metal?

 

Roger

 

[KeithAug]

56 minutes ago, Roger Pellett said:

Are you sure that they are not metal?

Roger.

 

I should have explained. Germania has an all metal welded hull (and frames). I don't want to try and build a metal hulled model so I will plank it and paint the hull above the waterline. Below the waterline I think I will retain the wood finish coated in matt poly. I don't want to try and attach a metal bulwark to a wooden hull as I think the natural tendency of wood to shrink and metal to expand (particularly in modern centrally heated homes) will lead to cracking / buckling along the join. 

Edited February 22, 2019 by KeithAug

[Roger Pellett]

Ok, but instead of trying to plank the bulwarks, you could simulate metal by using very thin model aircraft plywood.

 

Roger

 

[wefalck]

Was the original GERMANIA really welded ? I thought that welding was not used in hull construction before the late 1920s, though it was used in constructing superstructures well before WWI. OK, for yachts they sometimes used fancy and innovative techniques long before they became mainstream in general shipbuilding.

[KeithAug]

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

Was the original GERMANIA really welded ?

Wefalck - Sorry I was being a bit loose with my language and was referring to Nova. Not sure about the original but the hull seems quite smooth in the limited number of photos I have seen.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2019 by KeithAug

[wefalck]

With countersunk rivets and a lot of putty ...

[KeithAug]

10 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

you could simulate metal by using very thin model aircraft plywood

Roger -Yes -  if you look earlier in the build log this was what Michael Mott suggested. The issue is the curvature on the frames at the stern - as per line drawing -

If you look at the bulwark area of frames -7 to -2 and then imagine what a ply bulwark would have to do I think you can see that it has to twist and bend considerably fore and aft as well as curving vertically. If the bulwark was attached below the line of the deck (for strength) then the 3 dimensional curvature problem becomes more pronounced. I think to get the shape in the area of the stern I am limited to fairly thin strips of wood pre shaped a bit like the staves of a barrel. The bulwark has capping rail which when fitted will considerably add to the strength. It will also mask the out of scale thickness of the bulwark plank.  Your first suggestion of a metal Bulwark (also previously suggested by Wefalck) is somewhat better for dealing with the curvature as it just involves a bit of tin bashing, but then it introduces the dissimilar materials problem. Oh humm!!!!!!

Edited February 23, 2019 by KeithAug

[KeithAug]

19 minutes ago, wefalck said:

With countersunk rivets and a lot of putty ...

Yes that's one option I considered - seems hell of a job.