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

[Paul Le Wol]

7 minutes ago, Harvey Golden said:

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

Hi Harvey, thank you for posting your photos. The St Helen’s site must be a fascinating place to visit. It certainly is beautiful there.

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Everyone, hope everyone that got big snow is all dug out. Thank you all for your Comments and Likes. I appreciate them very much. Slowly inching towards the bow with the bulkhead supports. The temporary blocks that align the bulkhead former are being replaced with permanent blocks that are glued in place and once dry are screwed to the build board again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I picked up some 6-32 brass insert nut from Lee Valley. They are mounted in a block which is made from 3 layers of 1/8” basswood plywood. All together there will be six of these blocks to hold the model to its base. These blocks are also used to temporarily hold the model to the build board again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last bulkhead that extends up to the cabin deck was squared up and braced.

 

 

Now it’s on to the main deck 

 

 

 

 

Fairing has started but still lots to go.

 

 

Thanks for dropping by and I hope to see you soon.

[yvesvidal]

You are making terrific progress. I love when it takes shape like that.

 

Yves

[FriedClams]

All nicely squared and true, Paul!  Excellent. Handy plastic right-angle squares.

 

Gary

[Paul Le Wol]

Yves, thank you very much for your encouragement! One thing that I forgot to mention was that I had sharpened my math pencil and found that the scale of this model should be 1/72. I like the fact that it’s also easier to say than 1/71.

[Paul Le Wol]

6 minutes ago, FriedClams said:

All nicely squared and true, Paul!  Excellent. Handy plastic right-angle squares.

 

Gary

Thanks very much Gary. I like these assembly squares. For plastic they are a lot more rigid than I thought they would be. More Lee Valley stuff 

[Jim Lad]

Looking good, Paul!

 

John

[Paul Le Wol]

1 minute ago, Jim Lad said:

Looking good, Paul!

 

John

Thanks so much John!

[yvesvidal]

1 hour ago, Paul Le Wol said:

Yves, thank you very much for your encouragement! One thing that I forgot to mention was that I had sharpened my math pencil and found that the scale of this model should be 1/72. I like the fact that it’s also easier to say than 1/71.

Paul, you are back to the "Normal" and "Standard" world.

 

Yves

[Paul Le Wol]

6 minutes ago, yvesvidal said:

Paul, you are back to the "Normal" and "Standard" world.

 

Yves

😀 Feels good to be back 

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Everyone, hope you are all well. Thank you for your Comments and Likes. They are really appreciated. The long march down the main deck has come to an end. I took lots of photos but they all look the same. Here are just a few of them. Lots of repetitive stuff going on. 
 

 

 

 

The brass insert nuts were not the easiest to install straight using the provided slot for a straight bladed screwdriver. Used a machine screw and a jamb nut to turn them in with a long socket. Plastic from clamshell packaging was slid under each glued joint and removed after the glue had dried.

 

 

 

 

Finally arrived at the bulkhead that extends up to the forecastle deck.

 

 

 

 

 

Not far now to get to the stem. Hope to see you soon! 

[FriedClams]

I know this model is going to be around 3’ LOA, but that photo above (2nd from the bottom) really drives home how big that actually is.  Very cool!  And it’s impressive that even your foundational structure work is clean and elegant. Nice progress, Paul.

 

Gary

[Mirabell61]

Hi Paul,

very interesting scratch build, good work ! I wish you much fun an good success for the progress

 

Nils

[Paul Le Wol]

6 hours ago, FriedClams said:

I know this model is going to be around 3’ LOA, but that photo above (2nd from the bottom) really drives home how big that actually is.  Very cool!  And it’s impressive that even your foundational structure work is clean and elegant. Nice progress, Paul.

 

Gary

Hi Gary, thank you very much for your Comment. This has been an enjoyable part of the build. Reminds me of when we were kids making things like log cabins and bridges out of match sticks and toothpicks. The good old days 

 

3 hours ago, Mirabell61 said:

Hi Paul,

very interesting scratch build, good work ! I wish you much fun an good success for the progress

 

Nils

Hi Nils, thank you very much for your Comment. Your Ergenstrasse build has been very inspirational for me so in a way this is all your doing 😀

[wefalck]

I must admit that I don't know next to nothing about the shipping around the Pacific coast of the USA. I am always amazed that at the beginning of the 20th wood was still used as constructional material for quite substantial steam-ships, but then wood must have been a comparatively abundant resource in that part of the world.

 

Why did you settle on the odd scale of 1/71 (if I understood correctly) and did not go for the common scale of 1/72 ?

[Paul Le Wol]

10 minutes ago, wefalck said:

I must admit that I don't know next to nothing about the shipping around the Pacific coast of the USA. I am always amazed that at the beginning of the 20th wood was still used as constructional material for quite substantial steam-ships, but then wood must have been a comparatively abundant resource in that part of the world.

 

Why did you settle on the odd scale of 1/71 (if I understood correctly) and did not go for the common scale of 1/72 ?

Hi wefalck, thank you very much for your Comment. From what I’ve read, metal was expensive and harder to acquire so reinforcement was provided by massive amounts of timber. This would later be partly the cause of her demise because of the difficulty of repairing the rot. I goofed on the scale when I started the build but have since changed it to 1/72.

[Dr PR]

Wefalck,

 

Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) covered most of the western parts of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and northern California west of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges. It was more abundant than grass (in acres covered). In the coastal rain forests trees grew to 15 feet (5 meters) diameter. The major industry was harvesting and exporting these trees to every large city from California to Alaska, and to Asia.

 

Everything was made from Douglas fir, including ships (there isn't much iron ore on the west coast). When steam came along the hulls were still wooden. Likewise, when diesel came along they still built ships from wood. And timber harvesting is still a major industry even though most of the original forests have been harvested and replaced with plantations.

 

In Oregon alone the land area growing timber (about 24 million acres) is greater than the entire area of many of our eastern States and some European countries! So yes, it is an abundant resource!

Edited Thursday at 06:51 PM by Dr PR

[ccoyle]

1 hour ago, Dr PR said:

Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) covered most of the western parts of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and northern California west of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges.

 

Still does to this day. It's also a very common species grown on Christmas tree farms.

[KeithAug]

I like the engineering approach to the hull construction. Very workmanlike.

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Keith, thank you very much for your Comment. My one concern right now is that it doesn’t turn into a big boomerang when I release it from the build board 😀