Scheldt River by Javelin - 1/1250 - Bottle - Dredger

[Glen McGuire]

4 hours ago, Javelin said:

Unfortunately that can't be done. In reality it's either dredging or discharging. The rainbowing is done stationary and dredging can't be done stationary...

That makes me think back to when I first started my longhorn herd several years ago.  I learned something fascinating about cows.  They can walk, eat, and poop all at the same time.  I guess they haven't designed a dredger yet that can multi-task like that!  😃

[Javelin]

7 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

They can walk, eat, and poop all at the same time.  I guess they haven't designed a dredger yet that can multi-task like that! 

 

Yes they did, it's called a Cutter Suction Dredger: it walks on the spuds, at the same time it eats by cutting and dredging and it poops by discharging the dredge waste through the floating line at the stern! So we'll call them "dredging cows" now. 

 

@Keith Black, Haven't tried the varnish trick yet, but that might help. Time fore another experiment I guess. I did however prime the surfaces before with spray primer, also that didn't work... 

 

As for the cloud, I made a set-up today to see where we are and I'm not that unhappy with that cloud. Mind you I remeasured the bottle with the sand bottom in today. It gave me much less space than anticipated, but this set-up with the eraser below the hull is pretty accurate in dimensions. 

 

Still a lot of work to do though. I've been aching to start painting it, but since there is still a lot of detailing to do, I decided to continue building first. It's also freezing outside, so spray primer isn't a good plan for the time being. 

As you can see, she has also received the propulsion tunnels, I think I'll leave them empty. A propeller is possible, but nobody will ever notice, certainly not when I mount the rudders behind it. 

 

First I'll paint the dredge pipe, then mount it, close the hull and paint the hull. Once that's done I'll continue on the deck. I believe turning the gantry is possible, but to keep it in place is still a question mark. 

 

And for size

 

[Glen McGuire]

44 minutes ago, Javelin said:

So we'll call them "dredging cows" now. 

LOL!!!  BTW, nice detailed work on that dredge pipe.  Very convincing.  And I like the cloud too.  

[Keith Black]

 The last photo is fantastic. 

[KeithAug]

As ever, beautifully detailed work given the scale Roel.

[Javelin]

Thanks Keith, 

 

The question is not whether I can put those details on, but rather if I want to spend the time on it and whether it's worth the effort, considering the bottle distortion she'll face afterwards. 

I also used to mix the glossy moss green paint with colourles matt paint to get rid of the gloss, but since she'll be going in a nice glossy bottle, I guess this isn't necessary in this case. 

 

Kids back to school from today, so more time to continue. 

Yesterday I added the steel bar guides for the anchors. Due to her odd bow shape, she needs extensions on the hull to keep the anchors clear of that huge bulb. I build those from copper wire. 

She also has a riverine/streamer anchor, which they occasionally use in bad weather when picking up the floating line to stay in place. Depends on the dredge operator if he wants to use that one or not. This anchor also has those spacers to keep the anchor from getting stuck underneath the hull. The aft anchor does have a steel wire rope instead of chain (not that it matters that much on my model). 

The hull is now technically ready for paint. 

I've also primed the superstructures in order to paint them white after. White doesn't cover well and contrasts from pencil/marker lines are very difficult to hide. The primer takes care of that. 

 

And I finally tackled the other thing that I was ignoring, the platform on the PS. I finally cut it off and tested if the deck would fit. It makes a pretty big difference and leave some room to add more detail. 

 

Of course I still need that platform, so I fixed that platform to the hull piece. I first glued a smaller plate to have some contact surface to the sloped wall as essentially the platform needs to be at the same level as the deck piece (brown primer in below picture). I also added tiny stiffeners (0.2mm copper wire) to keep that platform level. 

 

I also added the two spreader pipes that diffuse the dredged material in the hopper from the top. These pipes I cut at the exact width of the hopper opening, so that they help to position the (brown) deck when I put it in place in the bottle. The seam is unfortunate, but necessary. The platform also has a different colour (gratings) on the real vessel, so in the end there really is a separation. 

 

And the overview to make things clear. 

Numbers 1 are the extensions for the anchors. Number 2 is the platform I'm talking about. Here is is standing free without the brown deck attached. You can also see the painted suction pipe and an effort to match the hull yellow-green. It looked ok during mixing, but I think I'll add more yellow to make it slightly lighter. 

 

After finishing the lower accommodation block and painting part of the "brown" deck in moss green, I'll attach the lower accommodation block to that deck. Then I can finally add the dredge line and perhaps valves.

 

At the same time, when I finish the bridge level, I'll be able to glue it to the lower bridge level and that part will be ready. 

 

 

 

[Keith Black]

 Roel, I love the detail you achieve at this scale. Remarkable stuff. 

[Javelin]

Thanks Keith, 

All in all I didn't have to invent too many ways to handle or assemble things up till now. 

 

I'm now completing all items that need to be painted yellow-green. The other parts are all nearly finished in paint. I will still try to add some red touches to add some color (and because they are truly there on the real ship).

 

After measuring and building of those last details, I decided it was time to connect the dredge pipe to the PS hull part. Still need to adjust the height of that piece, but it's the original piece that was removed in the first place. This means the sides of the hole where the dredge pipe protrudes are matching for a good closing of that hull. 

You can also see the bulwark is already painted white and you can also see the rudder and anchor supporting structure. The pipe will be in the way for painting that hull, but it had to be mounted to paint that hull properly. 

 

In the meanwhile I'm also busy with the supporting of the bottle itself. I'm not planning on turning that bottle around too much when the vessel is inside, so I better fix that sand on the outside of the bottle first. 

I don't want to rely solely on that acrylic gel-sand mixture to hold the bottle, so I decided to make some wooden supports first. I'll add a longitudinal beam between the two as well. I'll glue them to the bottle with acrylic gel and cover them in sand later on.

Not sure if I'll go for a central support only, or if I make those supports lower and then spread the sand in a wider base... 

 

 

And here you can see the bottle neck and tilted sand bed. 

[Javelin]

I eventually opted to lower the base and mount the brackets on a base plate with a random rounded shape. 

I then built up several layers of 3mm ply to cover most of the gap between the base plate and bottle in a stepped fashion. 

 

After mounting the base plate, I made a paper template, outlined the bottom layer by striking a pencil point around the contour. I then drew in the next layer, cut and transferred the outline to wood. The next layer I did in the same way. All is glued with PVA now, so I can start applying sand to the bottle. 

With @Glen McGuire doing his nameplate, I figured out I completely forgot about that with this low set-up. I'll need to fix that somehow. 

First thought is to make some kind of debris sticking out of the sandy base with the details on them, slightly to the right of the whole thing in order not to disturb the view on the dredger. 

 

 

 

In the meanwhile I also mixed new yellow-green and painted all ready parts in that color. She's starts to look like a DEME dredger now. 

The discharge pipe on deck is also in progress and caused some headache (of course!)

 

 

Bending the pipe itself wasn't such an issue, it was mostly that styrene piece at the bow that was the issue. The one I built when I was onboard was too short and the angle of the drilled hole for the pipe was not good. In the end I rebuilt that piece 4 times before I was happy with it.

 

More parts are ready, but this is more or less where I ended up this morning. Most of it is still dry fitted of course. Finishing the bridge windows now so I can glue those parts together as well. I will still add some detail to the masts later on. 

 

 

 

[Glen McGuire]

I like the curves and the stairstep on the base.  Very elegant.

[Javelin]

Hi Glen, 

 

thanks, but nothing of those steps will remain in the end... The sand will cover all. 

I have now glued the bottle to the base and applied the first coat of acrylic-sand mixture. The advantage of this mixture is that it sticks well and can be shaped. When mixed with epoxy, the sand flows much more and can't be shaped into hills etc. 

 

This was a couple of days ago, now it has dried and the sand has darkened a lot. I'll be adding another layer of this mixture to blend things in a bit more. 

It's now a very stable set-up. I've "glued" the bottle itself to the wooden stands using pure acrylic gel as well. It won't be rotating on the stand. 

 

I've made some serious advances on the ship as well. 
The discharge line on deck has now been finished. Not sure if I'll put the dredge valves on it. I do have a prototype, so I'll see. 

 

I've also mounted the hydraulic cylinders that open and close the bottom doors and the small wooden decks are also painted brown now. 

 

 

That gantry on PS, yellow-green thing, is way too angled, so I'll tear it off and try to get it straightened. 

 

Biggest items remaining now are the lifeboat and rescue boat and the catwalk over the hopper (including 2 yellow-green containers. It also needs life rafts 

 

The second crane is ready, but can't be easily dry fitted, so it's not visible in the above pics.

It needs a support near the bridge, but I still need to see if I mount it on the crane jib (not preferred, will be more difficult to mount the crane inside the bottle that way) or on the accommodation block, depends on whether it will pass the bottle neck when mounted on the accommodation block. 

 

[Glen McGuire]

4 hours ago, Javelin said:

thanks, but nothing of those steps will remain in the end... The sand will cover all. 

OK, now I get it.  I like the look of the sand base even better.  Ties in well with the theme of the project.