TEV Wahine by Richard Dunn - Radio - scale 1:35 - 1965

[Roger Pellett]

US and Australia might be apples vs oranges but here in the US we have a company named Harbor Freight that sells all sorts of low priced tools.  They sell a two wheeled dolly of the type used by movers for about $45.  Unlike some of their offerings these are of decent quality and would be perfect for moving your lead ballast.

 

Roger

[Richard Dunn]

Guys its fine, I earn good money I don't blink at $500

[lmagna]

3 hours ago, Richard Dunn said:

I don't blink at $500

I do all right as well even though I am retired but old habits die hard and you can be certain that $500 would stop me from blinking as well if there was a less expensive option. Must be all that Scotch in my heritage............ Or is that Scotch 🥃 in my blood?

 

I didn't think of the one way part Mark. 

[KeithAug]

11 hours ago, lmagna said:

Must be all that Scotch in my heritage

Lou

 

You are walking a tight rope. Scotch is indeed a drink and Scot is a person. They get very touchy about the distinction north of the boarder. On the other hand you may indeed have a lot of scotch in your ancestry - I remember all of those western bar scenes.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I blink at a fiver... but still spend whatever it takes on this game, since whatever it's going on is obviously going to make everything so much easier and better. 

[Richard Dunn]

Some updates from yesterday.
I always get excited when the bilge Keel and Bow Bulwark go on, it seems to define the hull in my eyes.

The Bow rudder frame is laminated from 9 layers of .5mm ply, so VERY strong and rigid, next to it the radiused back wall of rudder space. now to cut the fore foot off the hull and build the rudder.

[Richard Dunn]

A shot of Wahine on launch day showing the gorgeous lines of the bow and the bow rudder.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I’ve never seen a bow rudder before, will be interested so see it when it’s done. You’re right about the bow line, very elegant.

[Richard Dunn]

Yeah its not that uncommon in that period.
Here is the plan.

Also this plan is HUGE its 5 m long in reality and one of the hardest to read due to its condition, I had to restore it, I can read it but it was a challenge, you can see why the model is so accurate when you have all the units construction plans like this.

A close-up, I left this large so you can save it and look at detail, not all model builders have seen plans like this for real.

 

 

Edited June 11, 2022 by Richard Dunn

[Roger Pellett]

It appears that when built she had a bow rudder plus 

a bow thruster.  Why both?  Here on the Great Lakes our 1000ft ore carriers navigate our very small harbors with just bow thrusters and sometimes stern thrusters.  They don’t require tugs.

 

Roger

[lmagna]

6 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Scot is a person

Hi Keith

While I was aware of that, it didn't seem to quite fit into the intended joke for some reason. Maybe it is just me.

 

In fact the truth of the matter is that Some of my ancestors came from Scotland in the late 1800s (Crook clan) and according to  Ancestry.com I am 46% Scotland, and 28% England & Northwestern Europe. That makes me more Northwestern European than my wife who's maiden name is of fairly recent English decent.

Edited June 12, 2022 by lmagna

[Richard Dunn]

56 minutes ago, Roger Pellett said:

It appears that when built she had a bow rudder plus 

a bow thruster.  Why both?  Here on the Great Lakes our 1000ft ore carriers navigate our very small harbors with just bow thrusters and sometimes stern thrusters.  They don’t require tugs.

 

Roge

She had both Bow and Stern  thrusters, plus bow rudder, I never asked about it but I assume due to the very windy nature of her home port and very dangerous water she operated on.
I do know the bow rudder was virtually never used.

Her replacement the TEV Rangatira was built with 2 bow thrusters and no Bow rudder.

Edited June 12, 2022 by Richard Dunn

[Kuparu]

In response to Roger Pellet's query: Wahine operated a regular service out of Wellington on the southern end of North Island, New Zealand.  The entrance to the harbour is directly open to the south and very exposed. A southerly buster can raise massive swells which are made worse by the funnel shape of the entrance, making steering an inbound ship extremely difficult.  I recommend reading accounts of the loss of the ship to get a real feel for the needs behind bow rudder and a thruster, other than for berthing assistance. 

[Richard Dunn]

This is a very short video about it, there are lots, but this sums it up as well as any, I have been interested in this ship my whole life and a friend of mine who was the captains Godson had an awesome website about it but it’s been removed as he Passed away a few years ago, I am trying to get the national archives to put it back up.
But to sum it up the ship was approaching Wellington Harbour entrance in storm conditions  which is fairly normal and was in a following sea with 7m waves and about 60-70-knots and heavy rain, as she entered the harbour entrance at 6.00am where you can’t turn due to rocks either side, at that exact moment  2 cyclones merged into a super cell right at the spot and with 275km winds she stated to lose steerage, she was going port to starboard 15 degrees off centre and at a point started to go to port even with the rudders hard to starboard.
The sea had complete control of the vessel and the waves were 30m high, there are photos of them taken from ship and they are monstrous in size and the tops just being blown off the top like a horizontal white sheet of foam
At this point she was pooped by a freak wave and broached to Starboard, as she righted she was side on to wind and sea, the conditions had dropped to zero visibility and the radar by this point failed due to water in the unit.
The master made a bunch of movements by pure feeling  which resulted in the ship successfully being turned almost back out but she was caught by another big wave and dropped on the reef tearing off one of her props and pushing one of the rudders into the hull, she dragged on the reef for a good hour and was extensively flooded, her draft increased  7 feet in this time and she lost all motive power as the engine room was one of the many compartments flooded. She ultimately got her anchors down and floated up the harbour, She was starting to list and roll from the free surface effect of water that was getting on her vehicle deck from the drains that were allowing the water below to come up on deck and could not be stopped, and she ultimately capsized about 1.00pm after all were off the ship, all those that perished did so in the water and on the rocks of the coast in mountainous surf.
If you watch the video you can see the unmistakable rolling caused by free surface on the deck.
This is super brief but it sums it up.

 

Edited June 12, 2022 by Richard Dunn

[KeithAug]

Yes - I saw a very good video (with survivor interviews) several years ago. If my recollection serves me well (which isn't always the case) she could have arrived early but choose to delay entry to "arrive on time". Am I fantasising???

[Richard Dunn]

This is the best information source for the Ship and what happened to her.

https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/webarchive/20160417193035/http://www.thewahine.co.nz/

[Richard Dunn]

I glued the Bow Bulwark on today after 2 days of fitting and 3 templates to get the thing to sit right, in the end I made spreaders to tack on deck at stay positions to hold the spread/flare, the part is not a continuation of hull but flares out ever so slightly more and its a very integral part of her forward beauty so needed to do it justice, anyway here it is glued on and the top 7" Bulb plate capping taped in place, I will glue this tomorrow so the Bulwark is far less prone to damage being only .5mm ply and all.
also you can clearly see the 1mm Bulwark Stay locations in the deck plates, all in all it should be strong enough.

A cropped shot of how it will look... hopefully

I have also fitted aligned and glued the bow rudder into place with the bearings installed, all that needs to be done is the spaces in the rudder filled with balsa and the frame shaped to suit the bulbous bow forms by following of the frames of the rudder itself as the webs are taken off the bow rudder plan I posted earlier.

The internal bearing at the tiller arm, it was planned for well in advance when cutting planks for hull.

And finally I have machined the engine mounts and am ready to assemble and carefully glass these into place.

The motors are bolted down  into cradle by upper frames seen below.

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by Richard Dunn

[yvesvidal]

It must have been heart wreaking to cut that nicely shaped bulb at the bow, to install the front rudder....

 

Yves

[Richard Dunn]

On 6/14/2022 at 10:43 PM, yvesvidal said:

It must have been heart wreaking to cut that nicely shaped bulb at the bow, to install the front rudder....

It was always going to be, that's why I never refined it. I shaped it so the areas adjacent all come into that area nicely and I don't get a sudden change in the fairness of the surface.
The plating is coming along nicely, these shots should give an idea of how its going to look, the distortion is subtle but there.

The ones that look like they are lifting are taped on as placeholders

If you look at the bow area above in the shiny bit you can see the ripples..

Edited June 21, 2022 by Richard Dunn

[Richard Dunn]

More plating, Port side getting close to completion.
Today as the sun was going down through the door in the background the light hit the hull and wow the effect is there alright.
Tomorrow night I will try to photograph it. its been hard work to plate like this but well worth it!.

The arrow below delineates the extent of the double riveted seam forward, from that point forward it's a single row.
The holes down low are the Fuel Oil Scuppers.

[Richard Dunn]

I want to share this set of shots, copyright does apply to these.
They show the vessel in typical condition with accurate colour.
I have sized these down a lot from much higher res images.

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by Richard Dunn

[French Mr Bean]

Impressive and elegant model.

[Richard Dunn]

21 minutes ago, French Mr Bean said:

Impressive and elegant model.

Thankyou, it's nice to get feedback on such a large project, some days you feel overwhelmed...

[Richard Dunn]

Some updates to the upper structure being plated.
The bridge is going to a nightmare due to the complex curves and shapes. The front panels here are oversize so ignore windows not lining up.

The underneath has complex framing and vent trunks to build.

The bridge roof can't be installed for a while as I have to fitout the wheelhouse first, another big problem as the roof helps hold the form.

Next the fan rooms being done, plating on roof ready for weld seams and the upstand is clearly seen, it is quite strong luckily.

And finally the plating in the aft mooring decks and around stern door.

The slots for Bulwark stays and stiffeners can be seen as well as the slots to locate the stair wall near forward end.

Stern door, the square holes above door is for the stern door hinges.
I am happy I pre primed though as the blow back painting into internal corners would be horrible and give a grainy finish.

Edited June 28, 2022 by Richard Dunn

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up after some time away, Richard.  You're making excellent progress on this beautiful model.

 

John

[Richard Dunn]

Thanks Jim!
Hey has anyone had any dealings with Plusmodel in Czech republic, I have asked about product availability for thousands of resin rivets, hundreds of Euro worth and not heard a thing in over a week.
https://www.plusmodel.cz/en/kontakt
We are here for you is the moto........HA

[Mirabell61]

Hi Richard,

I came across your build rather late and am impressed of your modeling technique from the start to the state in progress. She will be a beauty and a highlight on MSW scratchbuilds. With ref. to the rivets, why did`nt you ponce them to the plating you are using, did you try it.....

 

Nils

[Richard Dunn]

13 hours ago, Mirabell61 said:

With ref. to the rivets, why did`nt you ponce them to the plating you are using, did you try it.....

The plating is .5mm 3ply and you can't pounce Ply also I want resin rivets with shanks as they have to actually be glued in to hold the promenade screen in place.
The reason for ply over styrene plating has already been discussed in a previous page somewhere. 

Edited June 30, 2022 by Richard Dunn

[lmagna]

At the size you are working is there a chance that there is a finishing brad or nail that would fit the need?

[Richard Dunn]

15 hours ago, lmagna said:

At the size you are working is there a chance that there is a finishing brad or nail that would fit the need?

Yes Lou,

I actually tried to find some round head brass pins of the right size but I had no luck.
If anyone does know here are the sizes and quantities.

The other problem of course is the head dia is the important size and not the one they give, normally they give the shaft of brads and don't even say what the head dia is.

 

1.4mm head dia  x  3750

1.2mm head dia  x   3750

I still have not heard from that other mob, not great service at all, glad I checked before paying for them online.

Edited July 1, 2022 by Richard Dunn