Oscoda 1878 by cdanly - scale 1:35 - RADIO - Great Lakes Lumber Hooker c.1901 as owned by Hines Lumber Co. Chicago

[cdanly]

A project I originally started in 1993 but had to put on hold until recently. It was March of 2021 when I built my work table, dusted off the few documents I had, and began figuring out exactly how I was going to do this! I had originally purchased a 60" long fiberglass hull and this would be the foundation for the project. Many hours have been spent scouring the internet for information, stories, pictures, etc. as well as trips to local maritime museums and many subject matter books. As I have no real plans for the vessel I have relied on the photos I've found for the construction. Over the years modifications were made to the ship and as such my model may be a mix of various eras, but still maintaining accuracy. Over the past year I have made a great deal of progress but only now starting this post. I have hundreds of build pictures and will  filter a few in from time to time if anyone is interested! For now the original Oscoda and a few pics of the laying of the keel.

 

I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do!

[KeithAug]

Looks very interesting, hopefully after 28 years progress will now be a little more rapid. 

[cdanly]

Even with a full time job I have managed to make great progress. Motor, electronics, batteries installed and operational. I hope to float it this spring or summer - assuming our ice melts!

[cdanly]

I am really enjoying the research aspect of this project. I grew up sailing on the great lakes and always loved seeing the big freighters going by. I wish I could have seen ships from this era! Oscoda was relatively small at 175' in length and 32' beam. She was 529 gross tons. Built by Simon Langell in St. Clair Michigan in 1878 she worked mostly Lake Michigan and Lake Huron hauling lumber and timber. There were several owners over the years with Edward Hines / Hines Lumber Company of Chicago being the last owner before November of 1914 when she ran aground and sunk in a storm off Pelkie Reef in northern Lake Michigan, just off the coast of the upper peninsula of Michigan. The Oscoda was towing 2 schooner barges: A.C. Tuxbury and Alice B. Norris. They were loaded with lumber from Georgian Bay and were headed for Chicago through the Straights of Mackinac when the storm hit. No lives were lost but Oscoda found its final resting spot. The schooner barges went on to serve for many more years.

 

Here's some more pictures showing work on the main framing and decking of the single deck. I made a section between 2 hatch openings removable so I could access the motor if necessary. 

 

[cdanly]

I really like the ease of using a preformed FG hull, however, I wasn't thrilled with having a smooth surface on the hull as this was a wooden ship. After carefully planning out my planking scheme and laying it out on the hull, I began gluing balsa strips to the FG. I used epoxy for this and was only able to do a few planks at a time. I used painters tape to hold the planks in place until the epoxy cured. Obviously this took a little more than a weekend to complete!

 

When the planks were all on I used a stiff wire brush to distress the planks, giving a nice weathered look, and then applied a few coats of Verathane wood hardener which worked very well. Need lots of ventilation using that! Finally I applied a few coats of Duralux marine grade bottom paint: Sub-Trop Red Metal Primer M740. I have to say I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out!

[cdanly]

Superstructure construction begins! Again with the multitude of photos and the variations within them it was hard to pinpoint exactly how to design the pilot house and aft cabin house. I decided to take some artistic license and combine various features that worked well with the model and construction. Lots of thought went into what steps had to be taken, such as sanding, painting, details etc. before continuing on with the next level. I used my 3D printer to make doors and windows for the cabins (more pictures later will show some detail). Not having a fittings kit available I had to scrounge around to figure out ways to do some detailing such as the hawse pipes - I found some brass plumbing inserts at the hardware store and had to flatten them in my vise, reshape them, and cut them down. More pictures coming soon!

[Dave_E]

REALLY NICE! 👍 Is your shop in the basement? Ah the basements. Fond memories of train rooms and rec rooms in the basements of relatives. My entire family was from Green Bay, spent a few years there, graduated from West High, class of 75. What body of water will you sail her on?

Edited February 28, 2022 by Dave_E

[cdanly]

Thanks Dave!

 

Yes Once again I finally have a basement for a workshop and love it. Just moved to GB 3 years ago after living in Tennessee for 10 years - not too many basements there! I have a coworker who lives on 10 acres with a small lake - will be perfect for maiden voyage/buoyancy test. Beyond that I'm not sure where she will sail.

[Dave_E]

Outstanding! Where in GB do you live? Just something about a basement workshop/hobby room that I grew up with, never got out of my system. 😊

[cdanly]

I'm on the northeast side - easy access to Door County!

[thibaultron]

I'll be following along! I have an HO scale resin model of a similar boat, that I will be building for my layout.

 

My Grandparents had a camp on the St. Lawrence River, and I spent many a week watching ships go past.

[cdanly]

21 hours ago, cdanly said:

I'm on the northeast side - easy access to Door County!

Some more superstructure pics.

[Dave_E]

I’m pulling up a chair! 👍😁

[cdanly]

More pics: pilothouse, aft deckhouse, deck hatches.....

[Ian_Grant]

Nice!  I'm interested in that cooling fan because I'm toying with building an RC galley using servos for rowing and sweep servos may need some active cooling. Is your fan for the ESC, or the motor, or both?

[cdanly]

Ian, the fan you see is actually part of the smoke generator. At the moment I have nothing designed for cooling but may install a simple fan just to keep air flowing. Years ago I had a fast electric speedboat and had a water flow intake wrapped around my motor, then exhausted out the back. I know there are pumps available to do the same. As for cooling your servos I'm not sure what to do - unless you adopted a similar coil system and pump maybe?

 

Your project sounds interesting! Any pics to share?