SS Benjamin Noble by Roger Pellett - 1:96 - Great Lakes Freighter

[Jim Lad]

A nicely done job, Roger.  Recovering from disasters is really all part of the fun!

 

John

[Roger Pellett]

Well, three months plus since my last post and progress has been slow.  The month of March was spent in Florida and the first half of April was spent catching up with all of the daily chores that didn’t get done in March.  On April 19 I had surgery to correct drooping eyebrows and eye lids.  This used up a week of time recovering that could have been spent in my shop.  The surgery has healed well and the stitches are gone.

 

Work on the model has involved construction of the aft bulkhead subassembly.  This forms the forward end of the poop deck and will be fitted to the poop deck assembly later.

 

There is a cottage industry writing death and destruction books about Great Lakes Shipwrecks.  The market appears to be summer tourists.  Nothing delights the authors of these books more than to emphasize the mystery surrounding all of the vessels that have disappeared through a “crack in the Lake” and Benjamin Noble has not been exempt from this sensationalism.  These same authors like to point out that she was unique as her after deckhouse sat atop a raised poop deck.  These writers fail to understand that she was originally built to carry a deckload of pulpwood logs and that the poop deck bulkhead confined the deckload.

 

The entire assembly was built from soldered brass.  The ladders were built by capturing brass strips to be soldered in a homemade aluminum ladder jig.  The padeyes sticking up through the deck edge angle on each side will secure the shrouds from the mainmast.  To avoid a disaster when rigging the model,  each padeye is L shaped with the horizontal side of the L soldered to the underside of the deck plating.

 

 

 

 

[mcb]

Good to see this project back.

That bulkhead looks indestructible.  Nice ladder fixture.

 

mcb 

[KenW]

Very impressive model and research.

And you can do metal working, which find to be impossible.

Cheers.

[wefalck]

Nice sheet-metal work!

[FriedClams]

Nice progress Roger.  Very nice metal work.  Oh, and I am officially stealing your ladder making jig - great idea.

 

Gary 

[Kevin]

that hull plating looks fantastic

[Roger Pellett]

A short update. 

 

Since my my last post I have been working to complete the poop deck/ after bulkhead assembly.  I will post pictures of this in the near future.  Meanwhile, I have also been making the small fittings that will adorn this deck.  When doing so I have been making all of the fittings for a given type for the whole ship.  It is easier to make these in batches than one off as needed. All were made from brass turned or milled on my Sherline.  Small base plates were cut from brass on my Byrnes Saw. The mini sled that I made and posted elsewhere allowed me to cut very small pieces safely without the saw ejecting them into the unknown.  The tiny cleats were made with the filing guide pictured.  This was cut from scrap steel.  All parts will eventually be painted. There will be no bright brass on the model except for the propeller blades.  The copper color is a result of pickling the soldered parts in Sparex.

 

Roger

 

 

[KeithAug]

Nice lot of small parts Roger. How many spares have you made to feed the workshop black hole?

[Roger Pellett]

Thanks Keith!

 

These simple pieces gave me a chance to work on my limited machining skills in anticipation of more difficult projects down the road; 6 steam deck winches and 1 capstan.

 

I dropped several parts while making them but was able to retrieve all of them.  If I need more cleats, I still have my filing jig!

 

Roger 

[FlyingFish]

If only brass was magnetic! Great work Roger.

[wefalck]

... then you would wish, it wasn't - it would cling terribly to your tools and these are not so easy to demagnetise.

[Roger Pellett]

Since my last post I have been trying to complete the poop deck assembly for the ship.  It seems like every time I make some progress, I have to take a step back to fix a problem.

 

The first step was to join the poop deck assembly to the bulkhead.  This was a simple matter of soldering the two deck edge angles to the brass deck plating.  The next step was to locate and drill the many holes for attaching the fittings to be later installed on the deck.  

 

There is an an opening in the center of the poop deck stern rail.  This could be used to tow another vessel or to assist in docking the ship itself.  Since this could transfer considerable loads to the poop deck fantail rail the general arrangement drawings show a reinforcing structure.  Although there is a plan view of this there are no elevations shown.  The structure shown in the photo is my best guess of what it might have looked like.

 

Photos of Great Lakes ships in the lumber trades often show them with long wooden fenders.  These were a baulk of square or round section timber hung from one end over the side of the ship.  A rope was attached the other end to allow the fender to be hauled up when not in use.  This was before the time when old tires were available.  Although photos do not show them in use, Benjamin Noble was fitted with chocks and cleats for four of these fenders per side. One chock and two cleats per side are located on the poop deck.  The chocks, shown in the last post, were easily epoxied into holes.  Likewise the cleats were soldered onto the inside of the bulwark or to the deck plating.  

 

Just when I thought that the assembly was finished I noticed that the brass plating around the gangway door had pulled loose.  This has been a problem area ever since I decided to show the upper half of the gangway door open as is often the case with Great Lakes vessels sailing in fair weather.  Rather than patching things up I decided to bite the bullet and to fabricate a proper door frame.  The resulting frame made from soldered brass was then epoxied into the hole and the whole thing faired with Bondo.  The door frame assembly includes the bottom (closed) half of the gangway door that fits into the hull when the poop deck and hull assemblies are joined.

 

Cleaned up and coated with primer the poop deck assembly is finished.  Whew, a major milestone!  

 

Next is the fabrication of the forecastle rail, deck, and bulkhead.  

 The last photo shows the wooden former for this.  Since the assembly must mate with the hull the former is upside down.

 

Roger

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Roger Pellett

[Keith Black]

 Roger, I've been following and things were moving along but I hadn't expected to see the progress represented in the last photo. All of a sudden, POP, the BN's presence showed herself. Well done. 

[shipmodel]

Hi Roger - 

 

Two steps forward and one step back has always worked for me.

That poop deck is really coming along nicely.

Looking forward to seeing it all come together.

 

Be well

 

Dan

[TBlack]

I'm looking at that last photo and the pictures of the quarterdeck assembly and thinking that it takes a high degree of planning and visualization, not to mention 

accuracy in construction to get it all to fit. Roger, I am in awe of your abilities!

Tom

[KeithAug]

Roger - The brass work has come along really well. One step forward and two back is possible, if I were you I would celebrate two forward and one back.

Edited September 5, 2022 by KeithAug

[Roger Pellett]

The months since my last post have passed too quickly.  We made a September trip to Southwestern Indiana to visit my son and his family who we hadn’t seen for over a year and also enjoyed Duluth’s beautiful Autumn weather.  We have also enjoyed our Michigan Wolverine’s 11-0 football season.  Tomorrow’s game with Ohio State will be the real test.

 

Time in the shop was spent fabricating Benjamin Noble’s forecastle bulwark. Again the material is soldered brass.  The process began by carving a wooden former (last photo, previous post).  Complicating  this process is the need to think “upside down” as the forecastle deck is laid on top of plug and the sides of the bulwark are bent around the sides. 

 

Photo 1 shows the plug.  The angle between the deck edge and side shell plating has been bent around the plug and the center deck plate has been laid.  The angle was ripped from a square brass tube using my Byrnes saw.  Bending an angle is difficult as it always tries to twist.  The little aluminum angles allow short sections to be bent and secured sequentially.

 

Photo 2 The individual deck plates have been laid and soldiered to each other and to the brass deck edge angle. Material is .005in thick brass.  The photo shows the underside of the deck.

 

Photo 3  This is one of the two bulwark pieces.  These had to be “spiled.” Station lines perpendicular to the vessel’s centerline were drawn on the plug and on the outboard profile drawing.  A piece of paper was wrapped around a side of the plug and the station lines transferred to the paper.  The elevations of the bulwark at each station could then be transferred from the outboard profile drawing to the paper.  Material is 0.010in thick brass.  The round piece atop the bulwark is a piece of 1/16in dia brass tube slit on my Byrnes saw abs soldered in Place.

 

Photo 4 The bulwark piece has now been wrapped around the former.  I carved a groove in the former side to accept the round top piece.  The bulwark has been soldered to the brass deck edge angle.

 

Photo 5 The bulwark assembly has been removed from the former.

 

Next post- Finishing the assembly.

 

Roger

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by Roger Pellett

[Cathead]

Roger, glad to see progress, I can't complain given my own glacial pace currently. Metal working seems like nuclear physics to me, in awe of those for whom it seems so effortless.

[Roger Pellett]

Eric,  Thanks for the kind words.

As you well know from your stunning riverboat models, a good and sometimes lengthy part of scratch building is figuring out how to build things.  This often requires building something several times to get it right. I am also not one of those people who can render the entire ship in CAD, virtually dissemble it, and build to print.  I do not have these abilities.  Each part, becomes a separate model.  Working from builders plans rather than “Model makers plans” also slows things as information must be assembled from several sources.  Yesterday afternoon was spent laying out windows, doors, and ladders on the after end of the forecastle bulkhead to make sure that everything would fit.  Hopefully, I can continue to maintain interest and not get sidetracked.

 

As the Noble was a steel ship, I feel that metal in the end will provide a more realistic model.  Brass also provides a number of advantages.  At 1:96 scale, 1in equals approximately .01in.  A ship like this used little if any plate as thick as 1in.  Most plate used in structural applications was 1/2in or less; scale .005in.  For the fantail stern bulwark, I used .005in thick brass sheet, and as posted previously, it was too thin to hold up.  For the forecastle bulwark I used .005in sheet for the deck which will be epoxied solidly to the wooden hull below but switched to .010 thick material for the bulwark itself.  Since both the top and bottom edges of the bulwark are hidden the thicker material is not apparent.  It would be difficult for me to fabricate wooden materials as thin as .010 or .005 in.

 

Brass also provides other advantages.  It cuts cleanly, and there is no grain to hide.  Like other copper alloys it is easy to solder.  Soft soldered joints, either lead-tin or lead free provide adequate strength for a static model.  Actually, the most difficult part of soldering is often clamping tiny parts together.  I have a drawer full of 1/2 and 3/8in steel brads.  I do not hesitate to drive these through the brass deck to temporarily secure small parts for soldering.  Later a dab of Bondo will fill in the hole.  With a Byrnes saw with a fine toothed blade, brass sheet and K&S square and rectangular tubing can be cut into the structural shapes that were used to build riveted ships. .005in and .010 thick brass sheet can be cleanly cut with ordinary scissors.  For long straight cuts I use a guillotine paper cutter.

 

Roger

 

 

[KeithAug]

4 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

With a Byrnes saw with a fine toothed blade, brass sheet and K&S square and rectangular tubing can be cut into the structural shapes that were used to build riveted ships.

Nice work Roger. How fine a blade do you have. My finest blade is a 108 tooth x 80mm x O.6mm kerf but even this is a bit “choppy” on thin brass. I frequently revert to gluing brass sheet to 1/8” ply and filling circular and square sections will wood to get smooth cuts. It would be good to hear how you do it?

[wefalck]

I wholeheartedly agree that for an iron or steel ship metal (brass, copper) or some hard plastic (bakelite paper) is the material to go for. It best represents the metal surfaces. 

 

I found that thin sheet metal can sawed more easily with the saw-blade in reverse, at least for fretsaws. I haven't tried this with circular saws. In this way there is less a tendency to hook do to uneven manual feed.

 

Nice metalwork on forecastle, btw. !

[Roger Pellett]

I like working with brass.  I find copper too soft and in fact don’t anneal the brass for the same reason.  I was concerned about the longevity of plastic.  When I started the model, I was not familiar with Bakelite coated paper.  I also avoid anything that requires use of CA glue as I am allergic to it.

 

Roger

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

Hi Keith,

 

Hopefully tomorow I’ll be able to take the saw blade off to see the description.  It needs to be cleaned as it’s not cutting well.  The Byrnes saw blades, at least for me, are not easy to change.  So, I’ve been putting it off.  Then I have to decide whether to put it on backwards!

 

Roger

Edited November 30, 2022 by Roger Pellett

[Ian_Grant]

On 11/27/2022 at 5:55 AM, wefalck said:

I wholeheartedly agree that for an iron or steel ship metal (brass, copper) or some hard plastic (bakelite paper) is the material to go for. It best represents the metal surfaces. 

 

I found that thin sheet metal can sawed more easily with the saw-blade in reverse, at least for fretsaws. I haven't tried this with circular saws. In this way there is less a tendency to hook do to uneven manual feed.

 

Nice metalwork on forecastle, btw. !

Yes, that's how to cut thin aluminum soffit; just turn the blade backwards and it gives a clean edge. And many many little aluminum slivers to pick up. Last time I did this I forgot to turn the blade back around when next using the saw. Couldn't understand why the wood seemed so hard.....😆

[KeithAug]

8 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

just turn the blade backwards and it gives a clean edge.

thanks for the tip Eberhard / Ian.

[Roger Pellett]

Mooring Pipes:  The forecastle deck bulwarks are pierced with four oval holes for mooring cables.  All of these are reinforced with heavy cast inserts.  Two of these handled cables that passed to a steam driven capstan on the deck.  These two openings were also reinforced with large cast hourglass shaped fittings on the inside of the bulwarks.  The main deck also features two of these same fittings.

 

I had been thinking for a long time about the best way to make these:  casting from a carved wooden pattern, sheet brass bent around a former, coppersmithing by flaring a tube, etc.  I finally settled on the following system that worked.

 

Using a large machinist vise that closes accurately I flattened a piece of K&S brass tubing to the correct oval shape with the inside opening equal to that of the fitting.  I found that this tubing flattens easily to the required shape without buckling.  To get a consistent shape I made a simple stop to limit the closure of the vise jaws. The stop was made from from 1/32” and 1/64” craft plywood glued up in a stack.

 

I next drilled a hole in a block of wood.  The diameter of the hole was just large enough to hold the flattened tube vertically.

 

To make the smaller pipes, I wrapped one piece of annealed brass wire around the flattened tube to form an oval and cut it.  I then soldered it in place and cleaned it up with a file.  Done!

 

The larger hourglass shaped pieces were more complicated.  First of all, the ID of the large inside fitting needs to be large enough for the OD of outside fitting, the smaller fitting described above, to nest inside.  K&S tubing is available in telescoping sizes.  Therefore, telescoping sizes each correctly flattened should nest.  I therefore, flattened the next larger size of tubing using a thicker stop calculated to produce the correct ID.

 

Again, I set the flattened tube up vertically in a block of wood, but this time I formed three wire loops.  Beginning with the bottom loop, I soldered each loop to the flattened tube and in the case of the second and third tubes to the next tube in the stack.

 

It was then just a case of shaping the stack with needle files to get the correct shape.  Some refinement will be necessary when the pipes are finally fitted in place

 

Here are the results.

 

Roger

 

 

 

[KeithAug]

Nicely done Roger. The best fun is working out how to do it.
 

[Roger Pellett]

Keith,  You’re right!  Although I always enjoy peeking at the plastic warship models and love the detail that these guys achieve, I realize that they involve the two modeling challenges that I least like:  using CA glue to affix tiny parts, and painting.  I really enjoy figuring out how to make these detailed parts myself.

 

Roger

[Roger Pellett]

I reached another minor milestone over the past weekend.  I finished the forecastle deck and bulwark assembly.  This included adding since the last post, the bulwark supports, the mooring pipes, chain plates, and the round caps  on the curved bulwark ends.  All work is soldered brass.

 

The bulwark supports required a judgement call.  They are clearly shown on several drawings for the main bulwarks, but not for either the poop deck or forecastle deck bulwarks.  I did not include them for the poop deck but here there are other supporting structural elements.  I included them on the forecastle deck for several reasons:

 

There are no other supporting elements for this deck, and the aft ends of the bulwarks are completely unsupported.

 

The forecastle deck is exposed, especially if the boat heads into the wind to ride out a storm.

 

I found several photos of Great Lakes vessels of the same era equipped with these braces.

 

Results posted in the photos below.  Next, the forecastle deck bulkhead.