SS Vinal Haven by TBlack - Finished

[michael mott]

Tom, excuse my ignorance but what is a "charlie noble" incidentally "That thing" looks to me like the bucket wheels that were used in Northern Alberta when they started to dig up the Tar sands, they use a different method now.

 

Michael

[captainbob]

One of the side benefits of building from photographs is the detail that keeps cropping up as I investigate more fully. The Charlie Noble that I've circled in the first photo, somehow just appeared. Notice that it has a "fence" around it in that photo, but in the next photo it doesn't (it's just forward of the lifeboat).

That's what makes scratch building from pictures from pictures so much fun.  First you have to figure out what those blurry lines represent and then figure out how to make it.  The Vinal Haven is coming along beautifully.  I'm glad I caught up with you.

 

Bob

[TBlack]

Michael,

 

Charlie Noble was a British seaman, merchant marine I think, who was either in the galley as a cook or a concerned officer who always wanted the stove pipe polished. Consequently, the Charlie Noble is the stovepipe.

 

Cap't Bob, I cannot figure out the shape of the top on that stove pipe; I'm going to have to wing it.

[captainbob]

It's an interesting problem. To me it looks like a short piece of pipe or half pipe across the top, but instead of fore and aft it is placed crosswise.

 

I found another picture of the port side and that item is not there.  Also the stairs that was along side the pilot house is moved to the open area behind the pilot house. As with so many other river steamboats it looks like  it was changed from time to time.

 

Bob

 

[Jim Lad]

Tom,

 

The "thing" is officially a bucket wheel excavator and the big ones can weigh up to 13,000 tonnes and are capable of moving up to 300,000 cubic metres of material a day, so no problem opening up your cellar for you!    They're used here in Australia for digging in the really big open cut mines.

 

I think your Charlie Noble is beside the lifeboat and not as in the position circled in your first photo.  That looks like it could be a ventilator.

 

John

[TBlack]

Cap't Bob, The picture you have included is from post 1905 when Vinal Haven was lengthened to 115 feet. Notice that the number of windows in the forward part of the main cabin is significantly more than the version I'm modelling. But there were several alterations to the 100 foot boat prior to the 1905 rebuild. Look at these 3 photos displayed in chronological order.

 

The easiest difference to pick out is the moving of the crew quarters from the freight deck to the bow. Notice in the first picture that there is a smoke stack coming up in fron of the life boat; it originates down in the main deck cabin. Notice also that the door is always open and includes a porthole.In the third picture the smokestack is gone from the cabin and now sits in the bow. The door is closed and the porthole gone. And portholes now appear in the hull in the bow. I guess they needed more room for freight.

 

But also notice the ladder that goes up alongside the pilot house to the 02 level. There's a door into the pilot house right behind the ladder that couldn't possibly open, so the ladder must have been an afterthought.

 

 

John, I'll have to take a closer look at that line-up. It may be that my Charlie Noble is no more than a ventilator, although the stack goes all the way down to about a foot off the deck before entering the salon. That's what led me to believe it was for a stove.

 

Tom

[TBlack]

I'm working on constructing the salon on the 01 level. I'm approaching it the same way I did the main deck cabin, but then I had my brother's help and CAD program to produce a template. But he's out of town now, so I'm on my own to draw my own template (semi-successfully). Construction's the same, that is, cherry sides with windows and doors punched out and window inserts added from the back. The only difference is that the windows now have a vertical mullion. Otherwise all is the same. I make a first stab at the windows which then needs some cleaning up (some basic re-sizing!). To help I have a "plug" the size of the opening and a corner punch from Micro-Mark.

[TBlack]

In molding the styrene window inserts, I've been trying to see how thin I can make them with an eye toward the pilot house which will include an interior. That being so, the window assembly needs to be a thin sandwich. I've gotten the inserts down to less than half a millimeter. Also, notice the cup in the photo below which contains the styrene fluid after the molds have been filled. There's a lot of waste in this process which grates on my yankee sense of things.

[Jim Lad]

It's good to see her progressing, Tom.

 

I'm sorry to tell you, but resin casting is always a pretty wasteful process.

 

John

[steamschooner]

Tom, good looking steamer, I have a smaller version on my someday list. I would also think that what you have circled is a ventilator.

[TBlack]

Steamschooner, I have a lot of respect for your opinion, given your interests. But if it's a ventilator why is it gone in that last photo above? See, I figured that initially the builders in Searsport realized that the passenger cabin had to be heated and they put a stove in there, but later realized how to tap the steam from the boiler and got rid of the stove.

 

Anyway, while I've got your attention, would you look at the picture and notice the stack as it goes through the deck. Are those bolts or air holes that go around the base?

[Jim Lad]

Look like air holes to me, Tom.  As for the "ventilator", as you know, ships get altered over time, so it may have become redundant in an alteration at some time.

 

John

[steamschooner]

I would also say that they are air holes as that area around the stack would heat up. The holes would allow the heated air to escape. Taking a hard look at your photos, it's hard to see the lower part of the Charlie Noble/ventilator. If it does turn 90 degrees and in to cabin than I would have to say it a smoke stack. If it goes straight down thur the deck than I would think its a ventilator. Ventilators had a funnel shaped top and some could been rotated to catch the wind. Its location can not be seen in the last photo. These work boats were changing all the time, as in my project no two photos show the same things.

Steve

[steamschooner]

Concerning the ladder, If you look at the last photo you can see that the leading edge of the boat deck is fairly wide. In the photo that shows the ladder you can see that it is pushed most of the way to the out board side which would have left room for the pilot house door to open.

Steve

[captainbob]

Where a stack went through a deck a larger hole was cut in that deck to keep it from the heat of the stack.  The ring with the holes and the cone shaped sheet metal above it are a cover for that larger hole.

 

Bob

[TBlack]

Steve, Re: the ladder. Never thought of that. The picture below doesn't show "the people's boat" off in the best light, but it's the only close-up of the area that I've got. I've marked where you think the ladder ought to go?

 

Tom

[steamschooner]

That looks like a big oops! Yes that would be the area a ladder would have been. I can sort of see why it might not have been there long. I would think that it would have interfered with the pilot house being able to see to that side and back.

[TBlack]

Steve, A picture from the fall of 1938, the demise of a proud vessel. By that time she had been lengthened by 15 feet which allowed room on the fantail for a ladder to the boat deck.

 

Tom

[KayZee]

Tom,

 

I love your build.  It's an interesting subject and has really caught my eye.  I'm looking forward to watching you finish it up.

 

Kurt

[TBlack]

Thanks, KayZee,; I'm working on the salon currently. Nothing much to show yet, but it's been slow (I've been distracted by needed repairs to the garage door opener).

 

Tom

[TBlack]

Simply by way of letting you know that I'm plugging along. Nothing particularly unique or noteworthy on the building of the salon. The big challenge is the pilot house; not only because of its curved front and flat windows, but also because I'd like to include the interior. Anyway, here's where I am today:

[Adrieke]

Getting it out of the basement?  No problem, Tom!

 

John

 

Excavator.png

wow is that from the transformers movie  ?

[Adrieke]

really admire this build and how you are reconstructing here from old pictures is a challenge

[Jim Lad]

Looking good, Tom.  Those windows look really nice.

 

Adrieke - just a common or garden mining excavator - good for digging big holes quickly!

 

John

[michael mott]

following along Tom I like the brass plate on the door, nice touch. The netting on the handrail looks great.

 

Michael

[TBlack]

Thanks, John, Adrieke, and Michael.

 

Michael, my brass work is merely paint; yours is art. As I recall, you live just west of Toronto on a lake where your craft will get its trial run? Do your neighbors know of the talent in their midst? Thanks for keeping us all in awe.

 

Tom

[Adrieke]

Looking good, Tom.  Those windows look really nice.

 

Adrieke - just a common or garden mining excavator - good for digging big holes quickly!

 

John

John if you are interested there is a documentary about this machine and others sunday on ONe HD.

[TBlack]

I decided to build a "plug" (think ship's boat construction) around which to build the pilot house. It also serves to show the massing of the houses to make sure it all will look like the photos.

[captainbob]

Wow, Tom,

 

It’s really coming together.

 

Bob

[Jim Lad]

Thanks for the overall view of the model, Tom.  She's really looking good!

 

John