Elbe 5 1883 by Mirabell61 - FINISHED - scale 1:50 - pilot schooner as she appeared c. 1890

[Mirabell61]

I`m starting a new project on this forum.

I fell in love with a two masted pilot schoner, that operated on the Elbe river, Elbe-mouth and german bay. The period about 1890. I`m adding some pictures I researched on the web, and information from marine paintings.

The enclosed print of an wonderful oil painting, was created by the marine painter Carl Becker, who died in1926.

The picture, adopted from one of my own books shows the pilot schoner "Elbe 5" before the elbe Estuary. The small pilot transfer boat brings the pilot back, now that the steamer in the background has presumably completed its journey down the Elbe river and is just about enter the Elbe mouth and onwards to the open sea.

The model will be scratch built and POF, equiped with gaff sails and appropriate  rigging

The chosen scale will be 1:50 and the estimated build time 12 months from today. The displaying shall be on brass pedestals in a glass casing .......

 

the models rating will be:

length over all                          725 mm

hull length                                 524 mm

breadth over frame                117 mm

Hight main mast from

decks railing                              504 mm

copper cladding below the waterline

 

The original schoner has already changed it`s owners many times in life since the 1890 days, has been lovefully cherrished an equipped with up to date nautical- and safety equipment. After sinking to the river bed some years ago after an accidential crash wih a trader motorship it has been raised, restored and is now  being operated by  much enthusiated members of an association of maritime oldtimer ships and live museum craft. in Hamburg. They are also offering tourns on the Elbe river when the weather is suitable again.

 

Nils

 

 

 

print of an oil painting by Carl Becker (died 1926)

 

 

 

 

 

Elbe 5 in moderate breeze on Elbe river

 

 

 

 

 

 

below is showing the template of one of the 13 frames for the model. The frames will be cut out of 2,5mm thick multiply with 5 layers

[Roger Pellett]

Nils,

 

An interesting project.  I look forward to following along.

 

Asa youngster, I read in National Geographic Magazine about a man named Irving Johnson who along with his wife sailed a Schooner named Yankee around the Pacific Ocean.  If my memory is correct, Yankee was an ex- German Baltic Sea Pilot Boat.  She was a steel hulled vessel.  She was eventually wrecked on a Pacific reef.

 

Would she be a sister to the vessel that you are modeling?

 

Roger

[Jim Lad]

A very workmanlike looking schooner, Nils.  I love the painting you posted.

 

John

[wefalck]

ELBE 5 was built from wood by the H.C. Stülcken yard in Hamburg. Being built from wood may have been her luck in 2019, when due to a seamanship error she was overrun on the Elbe river by a small container ship. She could be salvaged and underwent restauration. Not sure whether this is completed yet.

 

Why did you use the rather odd scale of 1:51 ?

 

[Bob Cleek]

I know her well. She was on S.F. Bay for many decades, known as Wander Bird.  She was a rig-less houseboat in Sausalito when I first met her in the early seventies, thirty years or so after she'd completed her voyage west around Cape Horn to San Francisco before the War. Warwick Tompkins had skippered her around the Horn with his wife, two young children, and a paid hand. Warwick was a well-known local yachtsman, as to this day is his son, Warwick "Commodore" Tompkins, who was four at the time of their voyage.

Warwick M. Tompkins wrote two books about his family's voyage around Cape Horn in Wander Bird: Fifty South to Fifty South, 1938, W.W.Norton & Co., NY and Two Sailors, 1939, The Viking Press, NY, (a story of the voyage written from the perspective of the Tompkins  children.) Both of these books are full of good photographs showing details of the vessel which would likely be very helpful to the modeler. Fifty South by Fifty South,  contains together with the expected narrative of the voyage, an appendix containing many technical details on the vessel . Warwick Tompkins also made a 35mm movie of the voyage entitled In the Wake of the Clippers, which a modeler would probably be interested in watching. I've never seen the movie and I don't know if it is still extant. I'm sure "Commodore Thompkins" would know. I expect he could be reached through the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco.

 

Wander Bird was later acquired by Hal Sommer, a local tug boat skipper and acquaintance of mine, who spent years restoring "the Bird" to mint condition and sailing her on the Bay. Wander Bird was for many years the centerpiece of the classic yacht community on San Francisco Bay. I was fortunate to be able to witness a lot of the work done on her and I learned much about larger wooden shipbuilding by watching Hal, his son Ross, and other "old timers" working on her.  Wander Bird was ultimately sold and moved up to Washington, I believe, and then returned to Germany as a museum ship. 

 

The restored Bird sailing off Yellow Bluff heading home to Sausalito, CA on S.F. Bay. Note the two crew aloft at the mainmast doubling. I have no idea what they are doing up there, other than "skylarking," but I doubt that. Hal ran a tight ship so I doubt they were up there for fun. They wouldn't have been raising setting a topsail in than wind and on that course and there's no evidence of one on deck, 

 

 

 

She carried a rafee topsail earlier in her life:

 

 

I'm looking forward to your build log!

Edited February 5, 2022 by Bob Cleek

[KeithAug]

Lovely boat, look forward to seeing her come to life.

[Mirabell61]

On 2/5/2022 at 1:42 AM, Roger Pellett said:

Hi Roger,

many thanks for looking in and for your remarks / question....

I`m unfortunately not knowing if there was a sister ship to the Elbe 5, but the Elbe 5 is a wooden built schoner originaly built in Hamburg

 

Nils

 

 

[Mirabell61]

On 2/5/2022 at 3:44 PM, wefalck said:

Hi Eberhart,

I am aware of the history of the ship. Regarding to the chosen scale, this is relating to the total outcome of the final model`s length (point of bowsprit  to end of the lower large beam)

Nils

On 2/5/2022 at 3:44 PM, wefalck said:

 

 

[Mirabell61]

On 2/5/2022 at 3:39 AM, Jim Lad said:

hi John,

I agree with the paintings atmosphere, that was the final kick off to start with this model

Nils

[Mirabell61]

On 2/5/2022 at 9:39 PM, Bob Cleek said:

 

Hello Bob,

with geat interest I read your lines about the schoners history under name Wander Bird. Many thanks for your input here, and for the nice pictures you provided. Its been a pleasure in building the model so far to date, and you will see I`m just beginning with the planking. The hull is a lightweight contruction, and the red cedar planks I`m using are leftovers from my earlier Chebeque build

Best regards

Nils

 

[Mirabell61]

On 2/6/2022 at 9:52 PM, KeithAug said:

 

thank you Keith,

for your words and enjoy the buildlog as it goes on.....

Nils

[archjofo]

This is an interesting project.

[Mirabell61]

Update.

the hull is under way, the frames fit and glued to the keel, stringers are placed and now it is ready for planking....

 

 

 

The frames are made after glueing on the tranparent paper templates to the 2,5 mm thick 5 layers aero-plywood. per good old jig saw cutting

 

 

preliminary keel and stringers are for aligning the frames in centerline corresponding to the mounting board

 

 

the third last frame had to be replaced ( here cardboard template)

 

 

the outcuts for the stringers are 2 x 3 mm and possibly need to be slightly adjusted to straking and fitting the stringers flush with te frame outer contour

 

the wooden baseplate is a leftover of my Pegasus build, provided with new distance logs for the ELBE 5 frames

 

 

stringers fit to the frames, they are staking quite well and leave minimal touchup trimming. The keel will be brought to shape at a later time

 

there are two slots in the keel that take up the spindles of the pedastels later on. To allow sufficient countering of the spindles above the keel there are logs glued in between the appropriate frames

 

I fitted 14 frames at a distance of 40 mm. Here can be seen how filigrane the contstruction is. I use watertight white glue

 

 

The brass

 

the two brass pedestals made for old candle holders (flea market) and the zinc galvanised  M3 spindles

The  braced on short U-profiles take up the keel.

[Mirabell61]

21 minutes ago, archjofo said:

 

Thank you Johann, and enyoy the log as it goes

 

Nils

[Bob Cleek]

Nils, I became curious about whether any of the movie film Tompkins took of Wander Bird's voyage around the Horn might have found its way onto the internet. I found this piece on YouTube, a newsreel clip that is, of course, dated and quite hokey to our modern eyes, but full of pictures of the deck details which may be hard to find elsewhere. Enjoy!:

  

  

[Mirabell61]

Bob,

many thanks for forwarding the vidio you found on u-tube. After that I found  quite a couple of other clips relating to the ship.

Frightening to see were the kids on board, having their childhood playground on a length of appr. 25 meters, and all without lifejackets nor safety harnesses in the masts and the rig. But you`re right, there are many good samples for the schoners historic fitting out. Being built and launched as a pilots work ship I`m not sure if there were an engine fitted in the beginning, probably not. The restored current vessel has been equiped with 2 props.

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Update

the first 3 planks per side are on now. looks like  there are not enough red cedar planks for the whole length, so I might need to use the cut off ends and stick / shaft them together.

 

Nils

 

 

planks are 1,5 x 6 mm

 

 

this is one of the pedestal spindle counter press in nuts

 

 

the frames deckside beams will need some trimming and adjusting in order to get a smooth deck lay on

[LEFEBVRE]

Bonjour Nils. Encore une belle construction en cours, une fois encore je vais suivre avec beaucoup d'attention votre journal de bord. De mon côté mon Bohuslan prend forme doucement mais sûrement. Je vous adresserai bientôt des photos.... A très bientôt, prenez beaucoup de plaisir à la réalisation de ce beau navire et faites nous partager régulièrement vos progrès. Amitiés de France. 

[Mirabell61]

 

11 minutes ago, LEFEBVRE said:

 

Many thanks for your kind words LEFEBVRE

with interest I`ll be looking forward to you Bohuslän-build pictures

Best regards

Nils

[LEFEBVRE]

Le 17/02/2022 à 15:45, Mirabell61 a dit :

Mettre à jour

les 3 premières planches de chaque côté sont en place maintenant. On dirait qu'il n'y a pas assez de planches de cèdre rouge pour toute la longueur, donc je devrai peut-être utiliser les outils coupés et les coller / les assembleur.

 

Nils

 

 

les planches mesurent 1,5 x 6 mm

 

 

c'est l'une des contre-presses de broche de piédestal en écrous

 

 

les poutres du côté du pont des cadres auront besoin d'être ajustées et ajustées afin d'obtenir un pont lisse

 

[Blue Ensign]

You always produce models and logs of such interest Nils, I look forward to seeing this one progress.

 

Regards,

 

B.E.

[Mirabell61]

2 hours ago, Blue Ensign said:

 

Thanks for looking in and for your interest B:E.

I`ll do my best to get this project through.....

 

Nils

 

[Mirabell61]

Update

 

The planking is quite time intensive due to the glue curing time, and the bending stresses, but meantime I got 11 planks to each side.

I`m also thinking about copper sheeting the hull below the waterline. I have a sample copper sheet 0,1 mm thick, unfortunately that is not available with a gluefilm on the rear side. Will have to make some glueing trials. The poncing of the copper quality (sunk nail heads) is no problem though....

 

Nils

 

 

the red-cedar planks follow the frame contours quite well

 

 

the planking from the deckline downwards will be scraped afterwards, prior to sanding

 

 

 

the aft bulwark section will be planked with vertical attached planks. Probably the bulwarks will be planked with pine, also 1,5 x 6mm, because my red-cedar planks have come to an end

 

 

in opposite to a riviting immitation the ponce sheet parts will be turned around 180 degr. for faking the sunk sheeting nail haids

here a sample for poncing with different toothwheel moduls

 

 

this is the actual schoner in the shipyard after being in water for quite some time. My model will not be fitted with props

 

 

[victory78]

Hello Nils, exciting project, I wish you a lot of fun and I like to watch. What's next for the Zeesboot?

[Mirabell61]

good morning Matthias,

many thanks for looking in, I`m pleased that you like it. I will be fitting the last 3 planks in the next days.

The Zeesboot is momentarily still standing on the bench in my work room and looks at me every day. I must and will go  on with that build as well

 

Nils

[victory78]

Hi Nils, I'm also taking a break from model making. Other important tasks are currently pending. The models stand there and remind me again and again. At some point it will continue.

[Mirabell61]

Update

 

the bulwarks and the aft rounding have been planked with pine, next will be to scrape the entire planking with a scraping blade prior to sanding it

all over

 

Nils

 

 

the aft bulwark rounding is planked verticaly, the lower portion of it will be trimed flush with the below planking

 

 

put 20 planks on each side. The sternpost will be adjusted and trimed

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KeithAug]

Taking shape very quickly Nils and looking good.

[Mirabell61]

12 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Taking shape very quickly Nils and looking good.

 

Keith,

many thanks for looking in, am pleased you like the schooner`s progress...

 

Nils

[rwiederrich]

Nils....it's so very nice to see you at the bench again.  Great start.  I'm reminded of your beautiful metal German liner.  This schooner is a slight variance.

 

Rob