ELBE 1 1948 by Mirabell61 - scale 1:87 - Lightship

[Mirabell61]

thank you very much B.E.,

its nice to have such an appreciation from a master builder like you are,

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Updeate

 

made the mushroom anchor with chain today

 

Nils

the size of a pin needle in the background

and against the pod

 

[Jim Lad]

Nice looking anchor, Nils.

 

John

[Mirabell61]

thank you John,

I have to install the anchors and their chain-tubes before I close the forecastle deck planking

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Update

 

installed the anchor port fairlead into the forward side wall and fitted the operational Hall-anchor. also the bulwarks, the deck and fitting the deck in on the deck beams and between the bulwarks not permanently glued in yet, and the upper bulwark tops still have to be trimmed. I left an outcut in the deck for later access to the interior. The insides of the bulwarks and the vertical transverse frame (fore and aft)  have to be painted before glueing in the deck

 

Nils

mushroom anchor brought out

stb. bulwark mounted

all deck beams checked for smooth deck fit

the planked deck

bulwark flush with upper side

operational Wall-anchor fitted

port side bulwark

deck neatly fitted in (dry fit) . 

 

 

[cotrecerf]

Hey MIrabelle,

 

very nice work on the ship and good looking smushroom anchor. In case you show (part of) the anchor chain, should it have stud links though?

 

best regards and enjoy a sunny weekend in Glinde

 

Joachim

[Mirabell61]

Many thanks for your comment input here Joachim,

and welcome to the build.

I looked up the version of the anchor chains when I got started. The mushroom anchor chain does not have these studs, but the stationary at the bow side Hall anchor indeed has a stud-chain.

Fortunately the autor (model builder Helmut Thomas) shot some photos of these details, in real in the dry dock,  to be seen on the enlosed pics

Regards from Glinde to Westerwald

 

Nils

 

 

 

the lft side chain is the one for the mushroom anchor

 

 

this is the chain for the sideHall-anchor

 

 

 

[cotrecerf]

Mirabelle,

 

thnaks for the pics. Interesting combination of anchor gears. I apologize for not having considered that as an expert you did your thorough study of all details of the vessel well before the actual build....kudos again. ;-))

 

Greeting

 

Joachim

[Javelin]

Great attention to detail again Nils. 

It is very odd to see a non-studded anchor chain. They are normally studded to avoid knots in the chain.

I assume they don't consider that an issue with this type of vessel and anchor, where that anchor is not regularily hoisted. 

[Jim Lad]

A great piece of research there, Nils. I don't think I would have considered an anchor cable without stud links.

 

John

[Mirabell61]

many thanks Roel and John,

 

Roel,

I think you are right asuming that the mushroom anchor is not regularily hoisted.

 

John,

that was my thought also, but I remembered the dry dock pic proving me mistake ....

perhaps the constructors were not expecting "knots" in that chain causing possible chain break in stress situations

 

Nils

Edited April 7 by Mirabell61

[Mirabell61]

Update 

Preliminary check :

I made a black dummy for the white lettering on the later bright red hull. On the plan there are shown 20mm high letters. I will purchase  them from very thin white selfadhesive foil.

There are three criteria to fulfill:

 

1) a halfround bumper rail on hight of the main deck will  be horizontaly fitted to the hull, whereby the rail needs to run exactly on mid hight of the letters (letters E + B ), or slghtly below it.

    Hopefully the foil of the letters will follow and remain sticking tight to the area around the rail without partially lifting off.

 

2) the horizontal line for the portholes, in adequate distance beneath the deckline, has to lay horizontaly exactly in the lower blanc spaces of letters E + B

 

3) the drill holes for the portholes have to be clear of the hulls frames in those areas (This also mirrored for the other side of the hull)

 

Nils

Dummy with 20mm high letters

The outside diameter of the silicone glassed brass portholes will be 6mm, these have to be fitted into the hull without cutting away the broadness of the  lettering too much

 

 

 

[KeithAug]

Great progress Nils. I am feeling a bit dumb because it was only in your last few posts that I realised she has a means of propulsion. The Trinity House light ships I am more familiar don't have propulsion and are towed on and off station.

[Mirabell61]

Thank you Keith,

 

the Elbe 1 is equiped with an old U-boot diesel motor of 650 PS for propulsion. I fitted a 4-blade prop (like shown in the Plan, although I see a 3-Blade one in one of the dry dock pics. The 4-blade in 20 diam. brass with M3 hub looks better to my eyes.

 

Here a few details I made yesterday ......

 

Nils

the stb. side anchorshaft

inside of the shaft blackened

fitting of the anchor fairlead

anchor dryfit, (40 mm long anchor with with slip in shaft )

this is the deck- level support and guide for the 13mm tube of the lighttower. The lower 13mm socket is fixed to the squarebar obove the keel

this takes up the lower socket for the foremast, the deck will also be equipped with a reinforcement at the point of going through. Here the stong "backbone" , (directly over the keel) which also takes uo the spindle press-in nuts can be seen

 

 

 

[vaddoc]

What a nice subject Nils and truly enjoyable to follow, although your pace is lightning fast! Never heard of a mushroom anchor.

[Mirabell61]

Many thanks for looking in Vaddoc,

you`re always very welcome, and I hope you`ll stay tuned. The mushroom anchor is quite common for holding lightships to their position, having the nose in the wind, it prevents the ship from rolling too much for better convenience to the crew.

I like your 21`Fisherman`s Launch

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Update

 

Hull is all smoothened out and aft rounding rails (brass halfround) are mounted. The other rails will be from halfround nutwood strips.

All is ready for metal plating now. Am preparing for railings, starting with forecastle deck. First dry fit for foremast and lightmasttower

 

Nils

 

rounding rails fitted. These are bent to shape, so that there is hardly no stress for springback when glueing on, also to avoid messing with the glue (CA)

 

a bit of wood filler will do to smoothen curves

 

 

 

masts in dryfit

 

checking railing hight, the railing for the forecastle is a special bit ( 400mm length ) I found on the web, as the last available piece. It is of chemical etching and the brass has 0,6mm thickness, that appr. twice the thickness as I used on my Ergenstrasse rails. Unfortunately the source company does not exist any more, what a pitty. This railing type can be inserted into prior drilled holes of 0,8mm diam, and the hight of the top line therefore adjusted to the required hight, I will solder on mini washers as stopper  on to the fastening posts, so that the chosen hight can be permanently fixed for 1:87 H0 figurines after glueing in.

 

I wish I could get more of this railing type Here a dummy with the desired hight

 

here are the fist two templates for the aft round metal plating

 

Edited April 12 by Mirabell61

[Retired guy]

Lovely job so far Nils 👍 that light mast is brilliant.

 

Regards

Richard

[Jim Lad]

All looking really good, Nils.

 

John

[Mirabell61]

many thanks Richard and John,

 

Richard, the lightmast, still to be finished, was not so easy as I had thought .....

 

John, I`ll do my best for the further build ....

 

Yesterday I made a first dummy trial for painting, plating,  attaching of an obsolete 20 mm high letter. The bright light red color is RAL 2026 in silk-gloss, that is the one used on german fire-brigade and civil rescue vehicles.

 

Nils

 

I am a bit suspicious about the permanent sticking quality of the letters on a structured plating background. In the moment it seems to work ....

The black sub waterline color is a silicone based black thermo-coating paint used for oventubes, etc.

 

Edited April 13 by Mirabell61

[FriedClams]

I turn my head for a few moments, and you've completed half the lightship.  Breakneck speed and very nice workmanship.  Keep it up Nils.

 

 

Gary

[Mirabell61]

Hi and thank you Gary,

many of the sequences have been performed with my previos models before, so I don`t have to spend too much time and headachs in thinking of how I shall do it.

Here for example, I started with the plating today.

New this time is the use of 10 mm wide Tamiya masking tape as a space holder, as I`m plating in "Belts" and need the better steady horizontal line for optical appeal 

The plates are cut from a self adhesive aluminium foil roll with a table paper guilutine. Poncing is done with a suitable double tooth wheel ( clock cock wheels) to the back of the protection paper before removing it.

The foil thickness (without glue film) is 0,125 mm for best results

 

Nils

starting with the trick part

in Basic the plates are 15 x 50 mm, The rows, apart by 10mm, and then a cover plating "belt" over the 10 mm wide horizontal gap. The platings are stagered to the next line above.

 

 

a nice smooth hull surface provides a good ground for plating on

 

10 mm Tamiya distance holder, removed again before the covering, overlapping "belt is put on

[LEFEBVRE]

Hello Nils.
What wonderful work... that's work!!!
How much time do you spend per week modeling to progress so quickly in your achievements?
You are very strong.
Friendships 😍

[Mirabell61]

Thank you Lefebvre,

as I`m retired from my profession many years already, I have much time for my hobby. I guess its appr. 15-20 hours per week, but my admiral keeps me going also for house and garden.

 

Nils

[LEFEBVRE]

Ah yes, it's retirement, and what's more, the admiral seems very cooperative: very nice crew...
How do you still find space in your home to display all your windows? 😜

[Mirabell61]

Hi Levebvre,

the display capacity in my hobby office is exhausted for a longer time ago already. Because I favor a glas-casing for permanent  dust  protection, it takes even more space every time.

Three ships have now already moved to our attic room office for this reason. My wife does not like shipmodels in the living areas of our home, and I have accepted that wish., so the lightship is probably  the last one built in my shipyard. Perhaps there comes an oppertunity for selling the one or other some day for a fair price.

 

Nils

[KeithAug]

Excellent progress Nils. I look forward to the next instalment.

[Mirabell61]

Thank you very much Keith,

I`m moving on with the plating, its almost completed ...

 

Nils

 

 

Edited April 17 by Mirabell61

[Retired guy]

Excellent plating Nils 👍, regarding your letters are you going to make water decals so that they will conform to the plating and rivets?

 

Regards

Richard

 

 

[Jim Lad]

The hull plating looks first class, mate!

 

John