St Roch by Lecrenb - 1:48 scale - RCMP Schooner rigged as schooner c. 1930/35

[Keith Black]

 Beautiful build, Bruce. To rub it in a bit, it was 24C here in Michigan today. 

[druxey]

Would the inside of the wheelhouse be painted white?

[Lecrenb]

17 hours ago, AON said:

+17°C (62.6°F) down here.  You should be experiencing a chinook any time now!

 

She is really looking good (just to be clear I am referencing the model) 😁

Thanks Alan! Coming along slowly... supposed to be back above 0 by next week...

[Lecrenb]

14 hours ago, druxey said:

Would the inside of the wheelhouse be painted white?

That is a thought... photos show the exterior was painted white, same as the hull. The original structure was stained or varnished, and this finish is still seen on the lobby and head that remain behind the cabin area. There was a likelihood that the interior was also stained and varnished, that was a common practice and it is how the ship is finished today. Another, less likely, possibility is that it was painted buff... 

Appreciate your thoughts!

Bruce

 

[Lecrenb]

17 hours ago, Keith Black said:

 Beautiful build, Bruce. To rub it in a bit, it was 24C here in Michigan today. 

Thanks Keith! I'll trust the geese before the groundhog, should be back above 0 by next week!

[Lecrenb]

G'day all, and thanks again for looking in!

I am continuing to plug away at the wheelhouse and cabin area... 

As you can see from the picture below I have got some paint on, some doors and window frames installed, and I'm working on the rear wall of the wheelhouse with the chart table roughed in. After considering the painting options I decided to go with the wood varnish, to match what appears to be her original deckhouse finish.

I make this look by using Tamiya Brown (coloured wood stain works equally well) then overpainting with Tamiya Clear Orange.

I am following the original 1928 plans for the wheelhouse layout, assuming the original was copied when it was moved forward, then the two cabins tacked on behind. 

I installed the three remaining fairleads and some poop deck fittings that are easier to put on now instead of trying to work around the deckhouse. 

I've also set up my decal sheet and my son is using photoshop to turn the pictures into decals... 

This is a screenshot of the Word document I prepared for the decal sheet layout. The pictures are pretty much close to the final sizes... what the Photoshop will do is adjust perspectives so you look straight on, like for the Plimsoll lines. Then remove the backgrounds leaving what will become the decals!

 It is hard to see, but at the bottom of the sheet is the chart of Queen Maud Gulf that will be placed on the chart table!

Rain is in the forecast so I hope to get some more work done soon!

 

 

Edited March 25 by Lecrenb

[Lecrenb]

Work continues on the wheelhouse. I added the cuddies for the signal flags and the top on the chart table. finishing up tomorrow then 

I can start planning the roof and front windows...

I had this brass wheel in my stash, and it turned out to be a near perfect match for St. Roch's... so I used it to start making the steering pedestal. The steering is manual using chains and cables back to the rudder quadrant. This is a picture of the actual wheel today, the gearing and chain gypsy are clearly visible...

Here I have begun roughing out the pedestal... the gears are from a repair set for a Hi-Tec RC servo, and again are a near perfect size for the originals... I am cutting the channel for the chain into the nylon gear hub to replicate the gypsy.

Hopefully in a day or two I will have the wheel completed and installed. Then I have to turn the compass binnacle on my lathe... fortunately St. Roch's wheelhouse is spartan. In the 1930s there was no voice pipe, gyro, or telegraph!

Thanks for looking in and suggestions and comments are welcome!

 

 

[Lecrenb]

More progress... the flags and chart table are complete...

The interior doors into the cabins are my best guess. Photos clearly show only the two forward structure doors that presumable lead to the wheelhouse. It does not make sense to walk through the cabins to get to the wheel, therefore there must have been some sort of interior access to the cabins. If I size the two new cabins equal to twice the size of the single original then you get the dimensions I have modelled. The wheelhouse is slightly larger but now there is space for the chart table and flags that were in Captain Larsen's original cabin.

While conjectural, I think this layout is defensible absent any new information.

The steering wheel mechanism is ready for paint... 

At this point it actually works, but once the paint goes on it will freeze the gears and pulleys in position.

I'm thinking about how to tackle the glazing in the cabin windows... I don't like black rectangles, but there is no cabin interior, so I might put window shades on the inside of the glass. Another option might be to use internet photos of sea cabin interiors behind the windows; details won't be apparent but the eye will see there is something there. I use this method on my model railroad building interiors.

If anyone looking in has other thoughts I'd certainly consider them.

 

Nearly ready to attach this cabin module, then on to the lobby and head aft of the cabins. These are original from 1928, and were kept when the new cabin/wheelhouse was built in 1930.

[druxey]

Nice attention to detail! Chart cabinet looks very convincing.

[Lecrenb]

1 hour ago, druxey said:

Nice attention to detail! Chart cabinet looks very convincing.

Thank you very much... I wanted to put realism into this space since you'll be able to see into the front windows. I used St. Roch's chart table and flag cuddies as they appear today. I am thinking they are original and were re-used during the various deckhouse rebuilds.  The chart is Queen Maud Gulf, waters that St. Roch sailed during her Arctic voyages. 

[wefalck]

Indeed, nice attention to and rendering of details!

 

If there was no voice-pipe or telegraph, how did the bridge communicate with the engine-room then?