Steam Schooner Wapama 1915 by Paul Le Wol - Scale 1/72 = From Plans Drawn By Don Birkholtz Sr.

[Paul Le Wol]

 

 

This will be a waterline model of SS Wapama, built by Kaiser Shipyard #3 in Richmond California and launched in 1915. She plied the waters of America’s Pacific Northwest bringing lumber from the mills to markets in California. Passengers and general goods were also transported. I am using the Historic American Engineering Record drawings from the Library of Congress website. These drawings are scans of drawings produced by Don Birkholtz Sr. of Tri-Coastal Marine for the National Park Service. The TIF files were downloaded and opened in an old version of Adobe Elements. They were then cropped and converted to high quality PDFs. The PDFs were opened in a free version of Foxit reader and printed using the tile function. Lots of cutting and taping together. I wanted to use my 36” build board so the drawings ended up being 1/71 scale which results in a model approximately 36.5” LOA and because it is waterline, it will be about 17’ high. I had a very difficult time trying to source basswood plywood locally so I ordered 1/16” and 1/8” basswood plywood from Amazon that come in 12’ x 12” sheets. The 1/8” sheets were 7/64” x 11.75” x 11.75”. Overall it is of good quality. The bulkhead former is made from two layers of plywood and one layer of 1/32” basswood sheet which results in a thickness of 1/4”. The non-destructive tracing method was used to trace the plans onto the plywood. An awl was poked through the drawing and the resulting holes were joined together with a ruler and pencil. 
 

 

 

I’m using a retractable knife with the 1” black blades to cut the plywood so eight pieces of plywood were cut and then glued together.

 

 

 

 

Notches for the masts and Samson post were cut into the former and then 1/16’  plywood spacers were glued on each side to register where the bulkhead sit . They also box in the slots for the masts and post.

 

 

 

 

 

After cutting the plywood with the knife I used the Ultimation sander to square up the sides.

 

 

Here is the former ready for the bulkheads to be attached.

 

 

 

Next will be prepping the board for mounting the former. Hope to see you then.

 

Edited Thursday at 07:35 PM by Paul Le Wol
Too many photos

[vossiewulf]

Good luck on the build Paul!

[Paul Le Wol]

28 minutes ago, vossiewulf said:

Good luck on the build Paul!

Thank you for your support vossiewulf. It will be needed!

[ccoyle]

Here's some inspiration for you, Paul. This model is on display at the Channel Islands Maritime Museum. Steam schooners played a significant part in the history of Northern California's timber trade before modern roads made the transport of sawn lumber by truck more economical.

 

[Paul Le Wol]

Thank you Chris, @ccoyle, I’ll be looking at that photo a lot.

Edited January 29 by Paul Le Wol

[JacquesCousteau]

Very interesting choice of a build, I'm looking forward to following along! I'm sure it will make for a great (and very large!) model. It looks like you've made a good start with the former.

[Paul Le Wol]

4 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Very interesting choice of a build, I'm looking forward to following along! I'm sure it will make for a great (and very large!) model. It looks like you've made a good start with the former.

Thank you Jacques, it is kind of up-sized but I have a 40” wide display cabinet that needed filling 😀

[Dr PR]

Paul,

 

The Wapama was one of my favorite museum ships. I visited it a couple of times back in the 1970s. I loved the interior woodworking, the spiral staircase to the passengers quarters, and the Captains cabin decorations. It was very interesting to go below into the engine room and get a close up look at the triple expansion steam engine.

 

It was a crime for the National Parks Service to let it rot away!

 

I am glad you are making this model. I have considered making one myself - for some time down the road.

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Phil, thank you for sharing your memories. She must have been a sight to behold. 

[FriedClams]

Congratulations on starting a new project, Paul.  This is an interesting and eye-catching subject and I look forward to watching you bring her to life.  I haven't taken a look at the HAER plans for this vessel, but typically they are rather complete, and I hope they don't leave you having to guess at too much.  At 36" and with such a complicated pilothouse/quarters structure this strikes me as an ambitious project.  I'm pulling up a chair and wishing you the best of luck.  I know this is going to be a fantastic model!

 

Gary

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Gary, thank you very much. The HAER drawings, photos, and documentation are incredible and don’t leave much to the imagination. When you download the TIFFs and convert them they turn out very clean and clear. Hopefully this will become a reasonable facsimile of Wapama.

[J Snyder]

I have about 30 pictures of the Wapama. Including the engine and the prop on display. One of the life boats in storage. And some of the ship in service and when it was being deconstructed. I think some have never been published. I spent some time at the San Francisco maritime museum library going through their file of pictures. If you are interested I can see if I can figure out how to make my album available.

[Paul Le Wol]

Thanks very much for the offer J. I’ll be sure to let you know if I need some advice. Feel free to jump in if you see me messing up!

[J Snyder]

I don't think I will be able to give you any advice I'm new here. I just have some picture that may help you. Here is an example from 1955 showing the winches and some of the railing.

[Keith Black]

 She was rode hard wasn't she. I wish I had that 53 chevy panel. Great photo, J. 

[Paul Le Wol]

Wow, what an amazing photo. One that you could look at for a long, long while!

[Jim Lad]

Just found your log, Paul. That will make a very interesting model.

 

John

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi John, I am very happy that you have found this log!

[J Snyder]

Here is a bad photo of the model at the San Francisco maritime museum library. Sorry about the reflections.

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi J. , no such thing as a bad photo of Wapama. When you see a brilliant model like this it gives you a better idea of what you’re aiming for. Thank you!

[steamschooner]

Paul, As my user name states I have a great interest in west coast steam schooners. Had a two part article in the NRG , fall of 04 and spring of 05 I believe. It is on my build of the steam schooner Willapa built in Raymond Washington in 1908. She was close to the same size as the Wapama. I have collected many photos and drawings pertaining to west coast schooners. If I can be of help let me know. I will certainly be following your build loc.

Steve

[Paul Le Wol]

37 minutes ago, steamschooner said:

Paul, As my user name states I have a great interest in west coast steam schooners. Had a two part article in the NRG , fall of 04 and spring of 05 I believe. It is on my build of the steam schooner Willapa built in Raymond Washington in 1908. She was close to the same size as the Wapama. I have collected many photos and drawings pertaining to west coast schooners. If I can be of help let me know. I will certainly be following your build loc.

Steve

Hi Steve, thank you for your generous offer. I have located your article for the NRG. Beautiful work. I have lots of reading to do.

[yvesvidal]

Fantastic subject than the Wapama. I have to be honest, I love ships of that era.

 

I like the idea of building a waterline model as it simplifies so much the building process and allows to present the model on a nice diorama made of water and small waves (in resin of course).

 

The scale of 1/71th is interesting but will allow you to use small Airfix figures (1/72th) or some other suppliers and that will provide some life to your model, especially if you show it on a sea diorama.

 

The models presented from the Museums are incredible and should allow you to source some inspirations and challenges at the same time.

 

Yves

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Yves, @yvesvidal thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas. They are most welcome and interesting!

[wmherbert]

Paul,

       Great to see your build log. I have been gathering plans etc for a build in a month or so when I finish my current build. I'm looking forward to following along.

     I also had figured on a 1:72 scale.  I really prefer 1:48 but it would have been way too big.

Bill

[Paul Le Wol]

24 minutes ago, wmherbert said:

Paul,

       Great to see your build log. I have been gathering plans etc for a build in a month or so when I finish my current build. I'm looking forward to following along.

     I also had figured on a 1:72 scale.  I really prefer 1:48 but it would have been way too big.

Bill

Hi Bill, thank you very much. I’ll be on the lookout for the start of your build. Looking forward to it.

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Everyone, I hope you are all well. Thank you for all of your Comments, Likes, and support. I have been reading this report that @bruce d posted a link to in his topic “ 1915 steam schooner Wapama - detailed tech book and plans “. Thank you Bruce. Tons of details!
 

 

In my opening post it should have been mentioned that the hull of Wapama was built by St Helens Shipbuilding Company in St Helens Oregon and towed by Steam Schooner Multnomah to San Francisco for completion. Work on the bulkheads has begun. They are made from the 1/8” plywood. They will be beefed up with 1/8” basswood later on to give the hull planking more gluing area. I started at the stern because it is the most complex part of the hull and didn’t want to get too far in case it needed some revisions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left over 1/8” carrier sheets from Model Shipways are being used wherever possible. It is of nice quality. The area aft of the last bulkhead was “caged” with 1/8” x 1/8” basswood strips.

 

 

 

The bulkheads that extend up to the cabin deck are all glued in place. The next bulkheads will just go up to the main deck.

 

 

 

Thanks for dropping by. Hope to see you soon.

[Dr PR]

I assume you are using the rubber cement to glue the paper templates to the wood (it is a bad choice for gluing the wooden pieces together). Another member on the forum suggested using Elmer's All Purpose Glue Stick. I have been using that and it works OK. It isn't messy - just rubs on. Most of the paper will peel off if you use a blade to lift it. Any glue and paper that remains will sand off easily.

[Harvey Golden]

1 hour ago, Paul Le Wol said:

In my opening post it should have been mentioned that the hull of Wapama was built by St Helens Shipbuilding Company in St Helens Oregon and towed by Steam Schooner Multnomah to San Francisco for completion. ...

Interesting-- I had thought she was built at St. Helens; I didn't know she was completed elsewhere.  I've been to the site of the St. Helens yard many times; the yard burned in the 20s if I recall.  Here's a photo postcard I picked up showing the launching of Merced, ca. 1912-13.  The next photo shows the only remaining evidence-- the ways shown in the post card.  Looking forward to this project!

-H

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Phil, thank you for the advice. I’ve been using the Elmer’s rubber cement for temporarily sticking the paper to the wood. I’ve only been removing the paper and rubber cement where there wood needs to be glued. As you say it is easy to remove. Been using yellow PVA for gluing the wood. Once the hidden work is finished I’m going to switch to white PVA and/or CA. One drawback to the Elmer’s rubber cement is its odor although that goes away fairly quickly.