Seguin 1884 by rvchima - FINISHED - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - scale 1:48 - wooden steam tug

[rvchima]

On 10/6/2022 at 8:18 AM, yvesvidal said:

A block of wood for the lifeboat....? They must be kidding !!

I like your alternative much better.

The plans show a lifeboat with a canvas cover, which could realistically be carved from a block of wood. I just wanted more detail. In fact I almost always replace a few parts in any model - we probably all do. I just happened to get everything at once in the mail and wanted to show what I was doing.

[rvchima]

Pilot House & Skylight

The pilot house has clear plastic windows with a few pieces of furniture inside. Here it is ready to button up.

The skylight and ladder were fun to build. You cant go wrong with mahogany and brass.

I put clear windows in the skylight too, but black paper on the bottom since there's nothing to see inside.

[rvchima]

Pilot House Complete

The pilot house and cabin are made from two layers of laser cut plywood laminated over a form. The inner layer is structural and the outer layer is decorative. On the pilot house the layers did not align well in the widows - the uprights of one layer obscured the other but I did not get a photo. I tried unsuccessfully to remove the inner layer, but gave up, cut out all the uprights, and replaced them with 1/16" square mahogany.

 

Grate Improvements

There was a joint between two deck segments that did not line up with the edge of the grate.

Nic said

Quote

A coil of rope hides many errors.

I will put a coil of rope back there eventually, but I covered the joint with a strip of mahogany.

 

Here's the Raboesch prop installed.

I should open a Crate and Barrel Store. (Note to readers, Crate & Barrel is a home furnishings store throughout the US.)

The stack is made from two segments of model rocket body tube and some random parts.

 

[ccoyle]

2 minutes ago, rvchima said:

Crate & Barrel is a home furnishings store

 

Not to be confused with Cracker Barrel!

[rvchima]

Cabin Complete

I started laminating the plywood panels together using 3M Super 77 spray adhesive.  It seemed like the perfect way to spread glue on all the laser cut doors and windows, but it didn't work. Pieces like this simply fell apart when I handled them, leaving a sticky mess on the parts. Luckily I only did a few parts before I realized the problem. After cleanup I re-glued everything with Titebond.

 

I put a one-star review on the 3M web site, and they responded with a number to call. After a half hour on hold I talked to a customer service rep who said "Sorry it didn't work for you." Very disappointing.

The cabin is very attractive with two types stained wood and brass panels for protection near the coal scuttles. There is nothing to see inside so I covered the windows with black paper. Note that the top and bottom are curved fore-to-aft to match the curvature of the deck.

[rvchima]

A Few Photos of Parts Stacked Up

[rvchima]

Question

The Seguin has two tall masts fore and aft with gaffs atop. Were these for sails (on a steamer) or used as hoists ? Pardon my ignorance but I'll be building these soon and want to get them right.

 

 

 

[ccoyle]

Did you stain your paneled parts after gluing them with the 3M? I had a similar experience with 3M spray on my Wuetender Hund model. 3M is solvent-based, and the stain simply undid the glued joints.

[hof00]

4 hours ago, rvchima said:

A Few Photos of Parts Stacked Up

Hi Rod,

A ver5y nice and clean build!!

 

Cheers and Regards,

 

Harry.

[mtaylor]

9 hours ago, rvchima said:

Question

The Seguin has two tall masts fore and aft with gaffs atop. Were these for sails (on a steamer) or used as hoists ? Pardon my ignorance but I'll be building these soon and want to get them right.

Given the year, the masts may have been back up for the propulsion.  Do the plans show then as masts and sails?  Or just masts?  As a tug, I'm not sure she would have had booms and hoists.  

[rvchima]

8 hours ago, ccoyle said:

Did you stain your paneled parts after gluing them with the 3M? I had a similar experience with 3M spray on my Wuetender Hund model. 3M is solvent-based, and the stain simply undid the glued joints.

Chris,

Yes, I stain everything before gluing so that glue runout doesn't block the stain. Perhaps the stain blocks the glue instead. The stain had dried for a couple of days.

[rvchima]

22 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Given the year, the masts may have been back up for the propulsion.  Do the plans show then as masts and sails?  Or just masts?  As a tug, I'm not sure she would have had booms and hoists.  

The plans show masts with upper gaffs that could be tipped or lowered. There are no lower yards for the bottom of a sail, if that is the correct term. I haven't seen any images of the Seguin with sails, but I did find this beautiful painting of the C. W. Morse with sails furled on the Maine Maritime Museum site. It looks a lot like the Seguin. I'm hoping Nic from Bluejacket will chime in.

[MrBlueJacket]

Hi,

 

Seguin research was done many many years ago. I just did an image search, and of the hundreds of photos, not one shows any evidence of sails. In the picture you show with sails, the booms are very evident, and Seguin lacks those. Of course, sails could be loose-footed. I'm at a loss.

 

Nic

[rvchima]

50 minutes ago, MrBlueJacket said:

Seguin research was done many many years ago. I just did an image search, and of the hundreds of photos, not one shows any evidence of sails. In the picture you show with sails, the booms are very evident, and Seguin lacks those. Of course, sails could be loose-footed. I'm at a loss.

Thanks Nic. I also have not found evidence of sails. So what were the tall masts for? Perhaps for back up propulsion. Too early for radio antennas. All I can think of is that they were used for hoisting things on board. The lifeboat perhaps, although the davits would be used for that.

[rvchima]

Why Did Old Steam Tugs Have Masts?

After some research I've found a few answers.

Derricks could be rigged off the masts for cargo work.

After about 1890 yards were left ashore, and staysails and trysails were carried as a "get you home" arrangement.

Riding or steadying sails force the hull into the water to reduce the rolling tendency of long, slender hulls.

To display three lights indicating that they are towing another vessel. Watch out for a long hawser.

 

The book On the Hawse, A Tugboat Album by Steven Lang and Peter H. Spectre, Down East Books, 1980, has three photos of the Seguin - new in the late 1880s, at retirement in 1969, and unknown date. Two of the photos show towing lights on the main mast. The retirement photo shows the masts proudly decorated with flags. None of the photos show any gaffs. I may leave them off.

[Jim Lad]

Rod, i don't think your beautiful painting is the 'Seguin'.  The after mast is stepped abaft the cabin rather than on it, there is a small deckhouse extension abaft the wheelhouse and the layout of the doors in the deckhouse are different.  Lovely painting, though.

 

John

[rvchima]

32 minutes ago, Jim Lad said:

Rod, i don't think your beautiful painting is the 'Seguin'.

No, the painting is the C. W. Morse. It does resemble the Seguin.

[rvchima]

I Found It!

After hours of searching online I found a photo of the Seguin in 1884 with gaffs, in Sea History magazine no. 25, Autumn, 1982. I think I'll build the gaffs after all.

 

Better yet there is a second photo of the Seguin pushing the six-masted schooner Wyoming in 1909. Bluejacket is working on a kit of the Wyoming. Check out their build log on Facebook.

[Cathead]

Great research!

[mtaylor]

Excellent research and an answer to the mystery.    BTW, there's a topic here in the Dealers area.  This log covers development several new kits and the Wyoming is one of them.

 

[rvchima]

21 hours ago, mtaylor said:

BTW, there's a topic here in the Dealers area.  This log covers development several new kits and the Wyoming is one of them.

Mark,

Thank you for pointing me to the development logs here. I've seen the Facebook posts for the Oregon and Wyoming, but I didn't even know about the Savannah. It looks like three beautiful new kits on the way.

Rod

[rvchima]

Seguin - FIINISHED, 170 hours, 75 days

 

Today I finished my Bluejacket Seguin model, and I must say that it is one of the prettiest models that I have. All the stained wood, mahogany, and brass make for one beautiful model.

 

After all the research and discussion above, I decided to rig the masts without the gaffs. I simply couldn't figure out what they were supposed to do, and consequently I wasn't sure how to rig them. Instead I decided to hang three navigation lights on the fore mast and a US flag on the aft mast. When the Seguin was built in 1884 the US flag had only 38 stars for the 38 states.

 

I took a few photos of the mast construction and rigging, and then deleted them by mistake when transferring them from my phone. Here then, are photos of the finished model.

Port side. I did add a nice coil of rope on the aft grate.

Starboard side.

Cabin, wheelhouse, pilot house, and rooster. Tugs traditionally had American eagles on the pilot house, but the Seguin had a rooster. The rooster was not there at first, and I could find no photos of the Seguin with both gaffs and the rooster. So the gaffs had to go.

Companionway (stairway.) I added a brass rail all the way to the upper deck.

Fore mast with three navigation (towing) lights. Almost every photo of the Seguin shows towing lights.

Aft mast with the 38 * flag.

Stack with stays and steam whistle.

Mantua lifeboat. Easy to build and I love the way it looks. It's going to be tricky swinging the rear davit past those mast stays, but that's how they're shown on the plans. The davits were made from some thick brass rod that I flattened and drilled. The kit included some photo-etched brass cleats that I soldered to the davits. The plans and one early photo show the blocks hooked together above the boat, but I rigged them ready to lift. I was also surprised that all the mast stays impinge on the cabin roof.

Brass stanchions (railing uprights) by Krick. The Seguin was rigged with wire cable, and the kit came with a spool of very nice, 0.25 mm braided wire. I could have used that, but I had a spool of 0.38 mm plastic-coated bead-stringing wire, a package of crimp beads, and a crimping tool and I used that instead. No good reason.

Seagull's eye view.

Front view.

THE END. (Aft view with the Raeboesch prop.)

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by rvchima

[mtaylor]

Wow.  That is a beautiful model. 

[gsdpic]

Beautiful!  Really well done, and like all the upgrades you did with the lifeboat and brass railings and new prop, etc. 

[Prowler901]

Congratulations!  Outstanding job!

 

Todd

[schooner]

Wonderful, wonderful job!

[pwog]

Absolutely beautiful! Fantastic job!

[ccoyle]

Lovely model, Rob!

[yvesvidal]

11 hours ago, rvchima said:

 

Rod, this model is absolutely superb. Like you, I love the wood contrast with the beautifully painted hull and the brass pieces. It makes for a very traditional model and a museum piece, at the same time.

 

Thank you for realizing this unusual and often left aside model, of a beautiful tugboat.

 

Yves

[HardeeHarHar]

Wow, you did that build justice.  It looks SUPER!