Le Pourquoi-Pas? 1907 by Greg Davis - Constructo - i.e., Why Not?

[clearway]

16 hours ago, Greg Davis said:

So when does the Billing's build start - before or after the Heller kit is finished?

yeah i tried to cut the cats hair once, but lets just say he let me know that it would hurt me more than him!!!-  I actually have the keel/ frames and two well decks in position on the Billings kit, but will try to focus on getting the Heller kit advanced though Terror aand Endurance beckon too along with a neglected Victory and a scratch built model of a 1920s steam grab dredger that worked Whitehaven harbour till the early 1990s (still with her coal fired steam engine)!

 

Keith

[Greg Davis]

We never cut any of the fur on our cats, but we did experience their claws more than once. Before re-homing them, we spent several months giving them baths on a regular basis in hopes this would control the allergens - it ultimately was a fail. 

 

Do you have a build log for your dredger? I looked thru the scratch build 1901 - present logs and could not find one for you.

 

I have a similar backlog of partially finished models. Once my dredger and Le Pourquoi-Pas? are completed I am sure I will start a new ambitious project, but I also have pledged to myself that I would one-by-one complete the partials. The main three that are in line are the Corel kit of Le Couronne, the Amati kit of Scala, and the Model Expo kit of Bluenose.

 

I started La Couronne about 10 years ago; it was to be displayed in my office when I moved into administration at the university I had worked at. A good start was made, but then my attention turned to the Model Expo Niagara kit, which I did finish and ended up being the model that I displayed at work for a number of years. The Amati kit of the Xebec Scala had been started with expectation to bring it to Seattle for display / auction when Pacific Northwest Ballet was having their pre-professional division performing Le Corsaire. My son is a principle with the professional company and was close friends with the person that was staging the ballet - thus the connection. The model didn't assemble as well and/or as quickly as hoped. In fact, it sort of self destructed. When this happened, it was sent to the basement for years. I really like the lines of xebec's, so a couple of years ago the kit was partially deconstructed and then I started to put it back together and is now actually looking like it has good potential to be finished. It's been nearly 15 years since I started the Bluenose kit. The hull is planked - quite well considering how little experience I had when I did it. Unless a second planking is added, this model will need to be painted - a skill I should probably develop even though I prefer a natural finish in most cases. At this point I don't even recall why I stopped that particular project! 

 

Here's a pic of La Couronne and the Xebec as they sit patiently on my workbench

 

[clearway]

No log for the dredger as most was built between 1998- 2002, then we moved house and never really had a dedicated modelling area till 2011 so really need to kickstart her (just really the crane to finish)- i will dig out some pics and post them on here if you want- also the pic on my profile is of the dredger and was called clearway (where my nickname comes from i use on here).

 

It can be scary when you put something to one side and realise how many years have passed !!!!!

 

Keith

[Greg Davis]

Yes, please post some pics!

[clearway]

6 hours ago, Greg Davis said:

Yes, please post some pics!

Here you go Greg- Grab hopper barge Clearway built by Alexander Hall and sons in 1927 if memory serves me right- model depicts her from around 1985 til mothballed 1991 (decay set in real fast and she went for scrap in 1998- though the steam engine and boiler went into a scandanavian lake steamer that was being restored).

first two pics show her in the early 70's and 1990

next pics are of the model

hope you like them Greg

 

Keith

Edited March 8, 2023 by clearway
typo

[Greg Davis]

Awesome! Certainly deserves to be finished and displayed!

 

Thanks for sharing,

 

Greg

[Greg Davis]

I got back to working on this ship last evening - hopefully there will be regular progress until completion.

 

First addition this week was a set of handrails made from 1mm x 3mm material. There are a lot of holes in each - 10 for stations and 25 for belaying pins. I cut the handrails to length and marked the location of the holes, then I drilled 70 0.5mm pilot holes. The rails where clamped to their locations over the deck and the station holes where enlarged / drilled through the handrails into the vessel - first with a 1mm drill and then enlarged to allow for the 1.5mm brass wire the stations are made of. Everything was glued up with CA, the excess brass snipped off and then filed flush to the handrails. 

 

 

 

Also, my dredger project was completed (hours) before the 46th Annual Midwestern Model Ships and Boats Contest held at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. Here is what it looks like completed and mounted.

When the awards dinner came around Saturday evening, I was hoping that my work would at least have earned a silver award - so I was extremely pleased when the dredge and my name was called for a gold award. But the evening was not over, and still unbelievable to me - the judges had determined that this model would be awarded Best of Show!

[kurtvd19]

Seeing the model rather than just photos was a real treat and it looks even better in person than in the photos.  I was extremely pleased to hand the awards to Greg and shake his hand in front of all the other modelers.

 

[Greg Davis]

Starting to attach subassemblies to the deck. The three large deck structures that were made earlier are cemented in place. The 4 remaining ventilators have been attached to the deck. Anchor davits, bitts, etc. are being added. 

The deck of this vessel is pretty 'busy' so for a while little structures / details will be constructed and added to the model.

[clearway]

progressing nicely Greg- i still find it interesting how similar this kit and the Billings kits are regards deckhouses/ bridge etc- main difference is how the hull is planked (just the standard rough billings planking strips).

 

Keith

[Greg Davis]

I saw a couple of pictures online that seem to indicate that the bridge / observation area changed a number of times thru her history. In the model the observation area is open from side to side. In this picture enclosures have been fashioned on the sides.

Ans in this picture, it looks like the observation region has been removed.

Unfortunately, I don't have any idea as to the timing of these images.

[clearway]

Yeah i noticed the same differences on various photos- also the ladder accessing the bridge is as depicted by billings/ constructo but on some pics and the heller model they lead on to the bridge itself running fore/aft. I think the pic with no bridge is her original style as it would make more sense to add a bridge than to remove it (the photo also looks more 'grainy')

 

Keith

[Greg Davis]

In Charcot's journal of the polar expedition, 1908 - 1910, there is a picture of the ship in which you can make out that the bridge is like that in the Constructo kit. So my guess is that the basic bridge with canvas wind block was original; then perhaps, it was decided that it was too cold so the small enclosures were added; and finally, the structure was cut down / simplified before the Pourquoi-Pas? was lost in 1936. 

[clearway]

who said building a model of a ship with lots of available photos would make life easier! 😁

 

Keith

[Greg Davis]

How true - 2 years ago I build the ModelExpo kit of Emma C. Berry and I was able to access a good deal of information about the vessel. Books on her history and reconstruction were available and there were pictures from different periods of her life. In many ways this made decisions on how to represent the the ship more difficult. A model can only represent a snapshot, so its hard to pick one if you have information spanning decades but not a great deal at any specific timepoint.  I think that's the problem here with Le Pourquoi-Pas? - the available (undated) pictures of a ship that lasted nearly 40 years show some of the potentially many snapshots and we only get to make one in static model form.

[Greg Davis]

Several smaller deck structures have been added in front of the kitchen area. The kit supplied windlass is not spectacular and was difficult to get to a passable state - it would have been nice if this had been done as a casting!

[Greg Davis]

Added skylights and bench midships. It took several try's to assemble the bench. The instructions called for 8 1mm x 1mm strips between the castings. For the life of me, I couldn't get them in place / spaced right; let alone squaring up the structure. So instead I put 2 0.5 mil strips of cherry between the castings - this I could square up. Once dry, I milled each into 4 slats. Didn't quite follow the instructions for the skylights either. They suggested inserting the brass rods and then putting clear plastic under them. Since the view thru plastic would not be to an actual interior, I decided to first put in (old-school) blue windows (i.e., a wood support) and then added the brass rods. The blue windows here match the blue windows on the sides of the deck structures - so I'm calling this maneuver 'consistency in presentation'. 

 

Later this deck will get two boats. They will position left and right of the skylights. Le Pourquoi-Pas? was fitted with 6 boats for the 1908 - 1910 Antarctic voyage, but the kit supplies just 2 metal castings. I've sourced 6 ship boat kits from ModelExpo to replace / supplement the castings. 

[Greg Davis]

With respect to the ships boats I ordered from Model Expo. You would expect that such a company would honor their online marketing - especially for something so inexpensive. One of their tenants has been 'replace missing or broken parts' for their models! Fortunately there are other places to do business.

 

[Greg Davis]

Now nearing completion of adding deck structures. The fore deck has all the details now that a couple of chests have been put in place. Going aft, the aft deckhouse is in place, as is the ships wheel, one of the binnacles (the other being on the observation structure), a companionway, a structure over the engine (I think the hatch on this structure may have been where coal for the boiler was loaded), ... . 

 

It sure is getting to be a crowded deck; there doesn't seem to be any space that is underutilized. There were 30 individuals on the 1908-10 expedition. The crew was 22 and the staff members were the remaining 8 - three naval officers, a geologist, two naturalists, a doctor, as well as Charcot who headed the expedition and was a bacteriologist. 

   

Currently, I am working on 8 sets of stairs / ladders for traversing from one deck to another. I've blackened all of the cleats and will start attaching them to the inner bulwarks soon. Once that is done the beams to support ship boats can be added. This will then pretty much complete the hull and deck work. It will then be time to begin masting and rigging - I am looking forward to the next steps as I find rigging to be particularly satisfying!

[clearway]

As you state starting to look very busy- still think you went with right decision in not plating the lower hull as the varnished wood and painted wood really compliment each other.

 

Keith

[Greg Davis]

I know its been awhile and I had said I would be spending more time with this model; however, I started another and got a bit caught up in the new build. After finishing the dredger model, my confidence level went up a notch and I started into building L'Invention from the ANCRE monograph. It's a big project - a four-masted privateer constructed in 1799 - and I'm having fun with it, but I need to get this one done and gifted.

 

Over the last couple of days I fitted cleats to the bulwarks - while doing this, I admonished  myself a few times for not putting them in before the deck furniture! Skids for the two fore and two aft ship's boats are in place, as are the six ladders for going from deck to deck. I've also started on the lower masts. I want to get the masts assembled so that I can better locate the positions for the chain plates. After going back and looking at photographs of the actual ship I noticed that the chain plates should thread through the rails. I wish I had made that observation earlier as I could have made slots when I was laminating the rails. Now I can't think of a way to introduce thin rectangular slots in rails that will have a really good chance for success - there are 42 chain plates to deal with. So either they are going on the outside of the rail or I will make notches in the rail for them to be embedded. 

 

I guess I'll need to make a decision soon. In the meantime, here is how Le Pourquoi-Pas? looks this evening:

Hopefully more soon!

[Greg Davis]

The last couple of days I have been working on the fore and main mast tops. It has been taking more effort than expected. Bending the 2x2mm material to create the outer edge has been problematic for me. A lot of heat and water, but the wood has been quite resistant to bending into the correct shape. To help for this shape I made a mold to let the bent wood dry inside of for a day. This is (hopefully) going to be the piece needed for the second top.

 

The first top doesn't look too bad. I don't think I will be able to do better with the supplied material, so it is going to become part of either the fore or main mast in the near future.

[Greg Davis]

Slow going lately - family visits and house projects have taken precedence! But the lower masts and tops are done, as well as painting a couple of the doublings. I should be able to get a good feel for where all the chain plates belong now. I think that I should do that work before extending the masts as the top portions will be fragile before rigging is added. 

 

[clearway]

she is looking great Greg- i run a line of thread from the top to where the chainplates are going to determine the angle of the relevant chainplate (if that makes sense).

 

Been distracted from my Pourquois by HMS Erebus!

 

Keith

[Greg Davis]

Keith-

 

That is exactly what I was planning on doing!

 

Thanks for alerting me to your new HMS Erebus build - looks like the initial work is going nicely and swiftly.

[Greg Davis]

I've installed the chainplates (and painted the mid-portion of each to match the upper hull color) on the port side of the model.

I've tried to mimic the method of chainplate installation used on the actual ship as opposed to the method presented in the instructions. In the following image, you can see that the chainplates do not come into contact with the hull between the two guard rails - this is how I've placed the chainplates on the model. I wish I had seen this picture much earlier in this build as the upper guard rail location is much higher than where I placed it (based on the kit instructions).

On to the starboard side! Once the remaining 21 chainplates are in place, I plan on adding the eyebolts need on the deck and on the hull exterior.

The kit instructions call for the model builder to bend the chainplates over each of the guard rails in a way that brings the chainplates tight to the hull in three locations.

       

On to the 21 starboard matching chainplates. Once they are installed, I plan on making and installing the deck and hull eyebolts as well as the lower 42 deadeyes.. After that, I expect that making and fitting the bowsprit will be in order. So many 'little things' to be done before the rigging begins!

 

[clearway]

20 hours ago, Greg Davis said:

I wish I had seen this picture much earlier in this build as the upper guard rail location is much higher than where I placed it (based on the kit instructions).

Yeah i have been caught out like that as well Greg- unfortunately when fresh evidence comes to light it is way too late without resorting to completely scrapping all the work to date- will have to check on My Billings Pourquois Pas where they have them- on the heller plastic kit they just have a raised plank running under the capping rail.

 

Keith

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

What a nice subject to build.  Its not too far removed from the Gorch Fock, except the latter has turnbuckles instead of deadeyes - which I'm fabricating myself for a restoration project.  I'm also  on the lookout for photos of the GF1, as opposed to the later re-make - both ships survive.

[Greg Davis]

All of the chain-plates are attached. I spent some time making around 150 eyebolts out of 28 gauge black annealed wire to replace the supplied eybolts. All the eyebolts on the deck / hull have been attached.

I've also assembled and attached the bowsprit - now the ship is a bit longer! 

I think the dolphin striker / martingale will come next along with rigging of the bowsprit.

 

Slow but sure (i.e., haven't been spending a great deal of time with the model lately). Some time has gone to sprucing up my basement power tool area. It is region about 14' x 20' in terms of useable space. There are also indentations at the back where some nice cabinets are going. The flooring is all in now, but a bit of wall trim is still needed before moving everything back in. I'm also suppose to put up some kind of sound barrier on the open end - apparently there is some noise that makes its way upstairs!

 

 

[Greg Davis]

I believe that all of the standing rigging is done up front!