Keith S Posted March 21, 2020 Share #1 Posted March 21, 2020 Hi everyone, I am joining this group after a couple of months of finding "modelshipworld" on my search engine while trying to do research for a model I am building. I've learned a few interesting things here, so I decided it would be better to participate rather than simply lurk in the background benefitting but not contributing. I live in Yellowknife, the capital and only city in Canada's Northwest Territory. I have always been attracted to the sea and ships, and in the early 'oughts I built my own little wooden sailboat, which I still sail on Great Slave Lake in the summer. At work I am a "bush pilot" and I fly a DeHavilland Twin Otter. I have done work on open water and frozen sea in the Arctic archipelago, and this is how I developed a fascination with the lost Franklin expedition and its artifacts. I'm currently building the OCCRE model of H.M.S. Terror. The way I came about this is a bit convoluted: one of my winter-time hobbies is steam engines. I love any steam-powered train, ship, tractor, donkey-engine; you name it. I have a few working steam models. One day I was poking around the internet and reading about early British railway locomotives and was surprised to learn that the engines on the Franklin expedition's HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were repurposed and obsolete railway locomotives! While digging for more information on this, I came across Matthew Betts' excellent blog about his work to build a model of HMS Terror in 1:48 scale. While I was reading this blog, which is good for several days of really fascinating reading and learning, I learned about the OCCRE model, which is completely based on Matthew's research and recreation of real shipwright's records from the Royal Navy, and I felt a very strong compulsion to try my hand at model ship-building. I live more or less in Franklin's back yard, so to speak, and I felt the urge to build this model of Terror very personally. I'm new to model ship-building, but I have throughout my life built many working models of aeroplanes and steam trains, and I feel I have a decent grasp of miniature woodworking and reproduction of details. I decided to try this model and so I am a first-time model ship builder. As the model takes shape, I find I have a lot of questions about ships and shipbuilding practices, so I decided to sign up to share what I've done so far and hopefully get some advice about what's coming up. Keith Borden, ccoyle, druxey and 6 others 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtaylor Posted March 21, 2020 Share #2 Posted March 21, 2020 Hi Keith, Welcome to MSW. Do give thought to starting a build log. It's a great way to get help. As for questions, feel free to ask. The search function (upper right hand side of any page) is also a great way to find out what others have done with similar questions. As for the steam works.... one of our members from Canada, Michael Mott has done and is working on several. You can find those in Shore Leave area. JeffT 1 Quote Mark "The shipwright is slow, but the wood is patient." - me Current Build: Past Builds: La Belle Poule 1765 - French Frigate from ANCRE plans - ON HOLD Triton Cross-Section NRG Hallf Hull Planking Kit HMS Sphinx 1775 - Vanguard Models - 1:64 Non-Ship Model: On hold, maybe forever: CH-53 Sikorsky - 1:48 - Revell - Completed Licorne - 1755 from Hahn Plans (Scratch) Version 2.0 (Abandoned) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith S Posted March 21, 2020 Author Share #3 Posted March 21, 2020 Thanks Mark! mtaylor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobG Posted March 21, 2020 Share #4 Posted March 21, 2020 (edited) Hello Keith, Welcome aboard. It's a great forum full of talented, helpful modelers. They've been very helpful to me. You've picked a fascinating model to build. I have looked at Betts' website and the mini-series about the Terror is on my tick list. I spent a year and a half tumbling around the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska many years ago when I was stationed aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Storis out of Kodiak. We would occasionally break ice to open up bays so supplies could get into remote villages in the winter. I find the great, pioneering Arctic and Antarctic Expeditions fascinating. Two of my favorite books about these intrepid explorers are Endurance about Shakleton's doomed voyage and The Kingdom of Ice about the tragic voyage of the USS Jeannette. A few years ago my wife and I took an extended trip to Alaska and the Yukon Territories and one of the highlights of the trip was a flight with a bush pilot in a DeHavilland Twin Otter. We flew out of Talkeetna to view Denali and landed on the Kahiltna Glacier. It was one the most exciting flights I've ever taken and certainly one of the most beautiful. We were in and out of clouds constantly. One moment we couldn't see anything and the next moment there would be an opening in the clouds and an icy, mountain wall was so close it felt like you could almost reach out and touch it. We didn't get to spend much time on the Kahiltna Glacier because the weather started closing in fast and the visibility was dropping quickly. Awesome flight! I'd doit again in a heartbeat! I'll be following your build log. I've considered this model so I'll be very interested to see you build her. Edited March 21, 2020 by BobG Keith S, JeffT and mtaylor 3 Quote Bob Garcia "Measure once, cuss twice!" Current Builds: Hms Brig-Sloop Flirt 1782 - Vanguard Models Pen Duick - Artesania Latina 1:28 Completed: Medway Longboat 1742 - Syren Ship Model Co. Member of the Nautical Research Guild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Jarman Posted March 21, 2020 Share #5 Posted March 21, 2020 Welcome to MSW Keith, You will find this forum an excellent place for tips to assist in your model build. Paul Keith S, JeffT and mtaylor 3 Quote In work: -queen-mary-2 Finished: rms-titanic-1912 Finished: king-of-the-Mississippi Finished: Sanson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandpaPhil Posted March 21, 2020 Share #6 Posted March 21, 2020 Welcome! Keith S, JeffT and mtaylor 3 Quote Building: 1:64 HMS Revenge (Victory Models plans) 1:64 Cat Esther (17th Century Dutch Merchant Ships) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borden Posted March 21, 2020 Share #7 Posted March 21, 2020 Learning every day, This is a great place for that; Welcome mtaylor, JeffT and Keith S 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Lad Posted March 21, 2020 Share #8 Posted March 21, 2020 Hello Keith, and a warm welcome to the forum from 'Down Under'. John Keith S, mtaylor and JeffT 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffT Posted March 21, 2020 Share #9 Posted March 21, 2020 Keith S and mtaylor 2 Quote Jeff In progress: Medway Longboat 1742 - Syren Ship Model Company -1/2" scale USS Constitution - Model Shipways - Scale 1:76 HMS Granado - CAF Model - 1:48 HMS Sphinx - Vanguard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
druxey Posted March 21, 2020 Share #10 Posted March 21, 2020 Welcome! If memory serves me correctly, there's another ship modeler in Yellowknife. Keith S and mtaylor 2 Quote Be sure to sign up for an epic Nelson/Trafalgar project if you would like to see it made into a TV series http://trafalgar.tv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccoyle Posted March 22, 2020 Share #11 Posted March 22, 2020 2 hours ago, druxey said: If memory serves me correctly, there's another ship modeler in Yellowknife. We have one (Mike Draper) in Whitehorse -- that's only 1880 km away. 😮 mtaylor 1 Quote Chris Coyle Greer, South Carolina When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk. - Tuco Current builds: Brigantine Phoenix, Bf 109E-7/trop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
druxey Posted March 22, 2020 Share #12 Posted March 22, 2020 Sorry, you are quite correct, Chris. That's who I was thinking of! I remembered incorrectly. Bad memory! Bad! mtaylor 1 Quote Be sure to sign up for an epic Nelson/Trafalgar project if you would like to see it made into a TV series http://trafalgar.tv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith S Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share #13 Posted March 22, 2020 Ha ha, everybody gets Yellowknife and Whitehorse mixed up.. unless you've been to both of them, they are quite different. I spent some time in Whitehorse and became fascinated with a wreck in Lac Labarge, which is a big lake near Whitehorse. In fact, it was my first attempt at model ship-building. The wreck is a small sternwheeler called A.J. Goddard, and she lies intact on the lakebed in perfect condition except her wheelhouse, which floated away being light and wooden. She makes an interesting subject for a model because unlike larger sternwheelers, her engines are locomotive-type with Stevenson's valve-gear, which is easier to model because you can use train parts. I went so far as to build a cardboard mock-up of the hull before shelving the project until I learned more about live-steam boiler building. Some day I will pick it up again. EricWilliamMarshall, mtaylor and ccoyle 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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