Preussen by Ian_Grant - Heller - 1/150 - PLASTIC

[Roger Pellett]

Ian,

 

It just keeps looking better!

 

Purpose of the little huts:  I believe that the answer lies in determining what the ship was originally designed to do.  Merchant ships were and are usually designed with a particular trade or trades in mind.   What were these large steel sailing machines originally designed to haul.  

 

These Flying P liners often carried guano, a raw material for the German Fertilizer and Chemical industries. If the ship’s were originally designed with this trade in mind the huts could have been for ventilation. Cowl ventilators could have been inserted in the round holes.

 

While I am unsure of the details,  it is my impression that these large ships Often carried cadets in training as officers for the merchant marine.   If they were originally designed with this in mind these huts could have provided light and ventilation to the quarters housing the cadets.  The fact they are grouped on the raised midship structure with portholes in the hull below makes this likely.

 

Or, they could have been cargo trunk openings, passing clear through the midship house crew cadet quarters to provide access into the cargo hold below.  I have seen these elsewhere.  The Great Lakes whaleback Steamship Frank Rockefeller originally had a cargo trunk that passed through her coal bunker to provide access to a cargo hold below.   These then could have also ventilated the cargo hold.

 

Roger

[gak1965]

On 5/5/2021 at 8:19 PM, Ian_Grant said:

I'd be interested to hear what the Heller Passat kit blocks are like, if anyone reading has built one

They were all one size, I'm afraid...

[Ian_Grant]

5 hours ago, gak1965 said:

They were all one size, I'm afraid...

Not too realistic. I've procured a lot of 3/32" blocks for the lower yards. For the uppermost I will probably just use beads and live with it. I may have bitten off more than I can chew with the number of 3/32" blocks. Also, still wondering how to represent the sister blocks on the bulwarks for the lower yard braces. Simply gluing some blocks on sideways seems a bit fragile.

 

Here she is with all yards crossed now, if not all straight. You can see why I'm reconsidering the foot ropes 🙄.

 

 

 

[Ian_Grant]

Proceeding with rigging. Plan is to glue in masts one at a time, from aft to forward, so I can attach the lower and topmast stays at the foot of the next mast forward before it's in the way. Also plan to rig in reverse all the lines that terminate at mast bitts - I'm not good at reaching right in to tie stuff.

 

When the after storm catwalk goes in, the feet of the mizzen and especially the jigger mast will be near-inaccessible. Another reason to rig a lot of things in reverse. Here's a pic of some jigger and mizzen rigging lying all over the after well deck. Quite a mess. Only the jigger is cemented as yet; you can see the chain sling awaiting the jigger lower yard. I can run all these lines up the masts and tidy up after the catwalk is in, but first some rigged (haven't done yet) halyard and  brace winches need to be added to the well deck too. The boat skid beams can then go in. Plan to add most of the fore-and-aft mast stays before getting to shrouds. Fingers crossed.

 

[Ian_Grant]

I spent a longer than usual session today...too cold to cycle, no snow to ski on 😢.

 

I rigged a Jarvis brace winch and two halyard winches for near the jigger mast. The brace winch was pretty fiddly, I'm glad there are only four more. I cheated a bit by rigging the two drums which taper toward the middle with one piece of thread each. Few observers of the finished model will notice, I am confident. The halyard winches were pretty easy and that's good because there are eight more.

 

Here's a shot of the rigged winches. Notice six threads emanating from the very small brace winch. I recall saying earlier in this log that I would add crank handles to them; that idea has fallen by the wayside. 🙄

 

And they are now cemented to the deck. The braces, which are for the mizzenmast, are threaded through their leading blocks on the jigger which keep them away from the jigger lower yard & course. I consulted Underhill for brace routing with these winches, but his very nice diagram shows how they were routed to winches placed aft of the masts while avoiding interference with the courses, not forward as here, so I placed leading blocks where it makes sense to me. There is one winch aft of a mast on Preussen, the mizzen in fact, for the jigger braces which obviously must lead forward.

 

The two halyards from the winches aft of the jigger pass through drilled holes in the mast appropriately located for the upper topsail and upper topgallant yards.  Heller's instructions show the two winches facing opposite ways; not sure why. The royal halyard is a manual affair as are all the other royals.

 

The two small tangles with blocks lying forward of the jigger are the whips for the jigger lower topsail sheets, which tie off to cleats at the base of the mast.

 

I think I'm ready to add the storm catwalk.

 

[Ian_Grant]

I rigged and glued in the two halyard winches aft of the mizzen since they are pretty close to being under the flying bridge on the catwalk.  The catwalk was then passed down the jigger mast, twisting and turning to dodge the crosstrees and the top. The catwalk is not glued to the deck; the boat beams are not glued to the bulwarks; the boats are not glued to the chocks. I just placed it all temporarily to see how it looks.

 

I'm still trying to figure out an assembly sequence for all these pieces. Each boat beam has two posts to the deck for support. There are holes in the deck, but no indication on the underside of the beams as to where the posts meet them; more Heller butt joins. There are no indications on the bulwarks as to where the beams meet them; more butt joins. So one must place the boat beams vertically over the holes in the deck, either gluing to posts already in deck and hopefully vertical; or gluing the posts in after. Hmmm🤪

 

Here are a couple of photos. You can clearly see (or clearly not see?) the jigger bitts are near invisible now as far as rigging them after is concerned. Hence the reverse-rigging I talked about.

 

Victor J. had told me the catwalks were not flush with the decks (as somehow I expected) given the height of the support posts. He is right. It is quite a step down from the poop deck, but trying to raise it would screw up the boat beams. Maybe I will add a little step later.

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Ian_Grant

[wemattson]

There is some really cool things happening on this model. I’m glad to see this up and running again.

[Ian_Grant]

Thank you Wayne! And thanks for your interest.....yes it was always going to be revisited but I was distracted for a while.

 

Any start date estimate for your Passat?

Edited December 20, 2021 by Ian_Grant

[Veszett Roka]

15 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

Victor J. had told me the catwalks were not flush with the decks (as somehow I expected) given the height of the support posts. He is right. It is quite a step down from the poop deck, but trying to raise it would screw up the boat beams. Maybe I will add a little step later.

 

 

Hi Ian,

 

are you sure about the catwalks height? All of  the windjammers i seen had levelled catwalks without any steps. I know the Presussen is unique, so i'm unsure, but i think the solution is the same. Unfortunately i found very few picture on board of Preussen. The models i see all sported flat catwalks.
But one, this is clearly shows how the forestays tied together, what we have discussed earlier.

 

[Cirdan]

The catwalks on the original ship seem to have no steps. The 1:50 model in Munich (Deutsches Museum/german museum) was built by the shipyard that built the original "Preussen" (Tecklenborg shipyard near Bremerhaven) and shows no steps as far as I can see. 

 

Alle Größen | Fünfmast-Vollschiff / Five-mast full-rigged ship »Preußen« | Flickr - Fotosharing!

 

[Ian_Grant]

Veszett and Cirdan, thanks for your replies.

 

I would think that the catwalks would be level, too. It's just that Heller has made the support posts too short. If I extend them to raise the catwalk, I will also need to raise the boat beams since they support the catwalk too. Doesn't sound trivial, I will have to think about it.

 

It's the same story for the forward catwalk; if I raise it I will have to pad the lower walls of the boiler hut.

 

Looking at the pictures Veszett sent in post #43, they look much cleaner when level. I also notice this model has support posts in pairs whereas Heller has triangular flanges under the walks, with single posts. But at this point I will not change them.

 

Will think about it.

 

Regards,

Ian

Edited December 21, 2021 by Ian_Grant

[Veszett Roka]

10 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

 

I would think that the catwalks would be level, too. It's just that Heller has made the support posts too short. If I extend them to raise the catwalk, I will also need to raise the boat beams since they support the catwalk too. Doesn't sound trivial, I will have to think about it.

 

It's the same story for the forward catwalk; if I raise it I will have to pad the lower walls of the boiler hut.

 

Looking at the pictures Veszett sent in post #43, they look much cleaner when level. I also notice this model has support posts in pairs whereas Heller has triangular flanges under the walks, with single posts. But at this point I will not change them.

 

 

 

Hi Ian,

 

the Y shaped posts are the right, so the Heller version. Here is a picture from the wrecked Preussen, on far left a support post clearly shown.

Also i found a picture which show the forward catwalk is in level to the forecastle deck - i assume all would follow that design.
Third one the very high chimneys. My previous picture in post #99 and the third one displays much lower chimneys, you might consider to shorten them before foremast rigging.

 

Correction: earlier pictures show the high chimneys too. So they cut shorter sometimes, both version will be correct.

 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Veszett Roka
correction

[Ian_Grant]

Veszett - great pictures! That steamer really did a number on her bowsprit and foremast....what a shame that whole incident was. I notice also in the 3rd photo that the upper part of the boiler hut walls are the same colour as the roof; I might change that before adding the forward catwalk.

 

I found some K&S thin-wall tubing that should just fit over the catwalk support posts. If my local shop has in stock I will buy today. I figure I can cut some consistent short lengths and put them over the post ends, adjusting to get the correct length. I'll pad the bottoms of the boat beams as required.

 

Won't quite be trivial as I recall from the fitting the 3D-printed ladders that the bulkheads are not all the same height.

 

Again, in these picture the mast stays are seized together. Thank you for the photos!

 

Ian

[Ian_Grant]

Local hobby place had the required brass tube (for any Preussen builders, K&S 815037  1/16" brass tube with 0.006" wall whose ID is about 0.050" just right for catwalk support posts.

 

I cut it into 1/4" pieces and deburred the ends. Had to sand some paint off the posts - I had painted them black according to Heller instructions but later changed to white so paint was a bit thick. Then slipped them onto the posts, placed catwalk back on ship, tweaked the brass "post feet" into place and locked with tiny drop of liquid CA.

 

Here is  a photo. The brass tube along the walkway holds it straight and at proper height at ends, while I adjust the feet. Note the centre island bulkhead is slightly lower than the poop deck bulkhead so there is  a slight slope. Oh well 🤪. Now to remove it again and repaint the posts white (over the brass too).

 

Now I'll need to pad the ends of the boat beams a bit, and lengthen their support posts too. The second one from the jigger mast is glued to the flying bridge; you can see the ends levitated above the bulwarks.

 

[yancovitch]

😁😁😁

[Veszett Roka]

Great improvement Ian. What if you add padding between the boat support and the flybridge?

 

[Ian_Grant]

3 hours ago, Veszett Roka said:

Great improvement Ian. What if you add padding between the boat support and the flybridge?

 

Oh, I should have said - none of the boat beams are glued to the bulwarks yet. That one is just taped there from the first attempted fitting. The one that is glued to the bridge was easy to place since it's flush with the bridge's edge. The other three  I was still trying to figure out.

 

I will pad their ends to correct their heights then glue to bulwark and catwalk and all the boats chocks will line up.

 

Ian

[wemattson]

On 12/19/2021 at 6:58 PM, Ian_Grant said:

Thank you Wayne! And thanks for your interest.....yes it was always going to be revisited but I was distracted for a while.

 

Any start date estimate for your Passat?

Your modifications to the catwalk support posts is very well done.  The Passat should be getting started in February. 

Edited December 26, 2021 by wemattson
Typo

[Veszett Roka]

17 hours ago, wemattson said:

The Passat should be getting started in February. 

 

Looking for another windjammer! Will you start a build log?

[wemattson]

Veszett,

 

Yes, I will be doing a build log for the Passat.  I'm in the process of finishing up Revell's Colombia Express, and Academy's USS Reuben James first.  I wish I had done a build log of those two because I feel that a build log helps keep the building process moving forward.

 

Cheers,

Wayne

[Veszett Roka]

1 hour ago, wemattson said:

Yes, I will be doing a build log for the Passat.  I'm in the process of finishing up Revell's Colombia Express, and Academy's USS Reuben James first.  I wish I had done a build log of those two because I feel that a build log helps keep the building process moving forward.

 

 

Absolutely. And this is the reason why i didn't started a build log for my Pamir, because it would be a dead log - i have so little time for build her 😢

[Ian_Grant]

Veszett, your "Pamir" looks great!!  I noticed the anchor crane seems way more substantial than mine; but looking at the photo of Preussen wrecked Heller seems to have got it right.

[Veszett Roka]

18 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

Veszett, your "Pamir" looks great!!  I noticed the anchor crane seems way more substantial than mine; but looking at the photo of Preussen wrecked Heller seems to have got it right.

 

Here is another pic, however it is not so informative. I think your anchor crane is correct for Preussen.

[Ian_Grant]

Used evergreen strips to lengthen the ends of the boat beams. I was then able to glue in the catwalk and beams. Since the beams were now higher from the deck, I fabricated new support posts from brass tube and rod. The tube was cut to the proper length for each post, and the rod CA'ed inside with one end flush; this end provides a gluing surface under the beam (as opposed to just the hollow tube). The other end glues into the deck holes, slightly enlarged.

 

Here are some photos.

 

Some new brass posts

 

After catwalk with beams and posts, now flush with poop and bridge decks.  😀

 

I test fitted the forward catwalk and it was fine; the molded posts are the correct length for the forecastle bulkhead and the forward bridge bulkhead. I was so pleased with the appearance of the rear catwalk posts with their new "feet" that I would have added some to the forward posts too, just glued on flush, but I didn't want to be scraping the paint off since I broke quite a few stanchions handling the rear catwalk while trying to sand its posts. I can live with it. Got carried away and glued it in as well. I will regret that as I tie threads off to the starboard bitts at the forward masts.

 

Next up: adding handrails along the catwalks. Not looking forward to it. I have some very small half-round evergreen for this because I don't like Heller's suggestion of thread. I have no idea why they didn't mold the handrails on like all the stern and forecastle rails.

[Veszett Roka]

I think it is a great improvement Ian. Be proud!

[Ian_Grant]

18 hours ago, Veszett Roka said:

I think it is a great improvement Ian. Be proud!

Thanks gentlemen for the likes, and Veszett for your reply .  Boy, I'm starting to believe I can fix anything! 😄

[Veszett Roka]

You can, of course!

[Mr Rogers]

Hey Ian, your model looks awesome so far!

 

I have one question: The kit provided 2 different sets of yarn/lines, right? I am a little confused that the instructions say to use black lines mostly.

Did you just use the lines provided plus the grey 0,25 mm yarn you bought? Or did you use something different? I'd like to get some clarity in this.

So maybe you can tell me exactly which lines you used for which application.

 

Regards,

Ole

[Ian_Grant]

Thank you Ole!  I am not using the kit line. I can't even remember what it was like. I guess Heller represents wire by black line; a lot of the running rigging is wire too with only the whips being of rope for handling by hand.

 

So far I am using the grey line for "wire", and some Amati 0.1mm tan line left over from "Victory" for the whips. Probably I will use some smaller grey line for topgallant and royal stays, sheets, etc. Problem is I couldn't find the smaller line in the exact same shade of grey. The 0.1mm tan line seems small for the lower brace trim adjustments, for example,  so I may use 0.25mm tan line when I get to them. I am partly limited by the blocks which are Syren 3/32" even for the lower yards, because 1/8" were out of stock when I needed them 😞

 

Do you have/are you contemplating a Preussen?

[Mr Rogers]

Thanks for the reply, Ian.

 

I am in the process of building the PASSAT. It is my first sail ship and at first I didn't worry too much about the rigging. After more and more research though it gets more and more intimidating. I just finished laying the deck and I don't have much time to work on the model so I am quite far from working on the rigging. I hope I can figure it our when I get there.