Viking Neptun by Javelin - 1/1250 - Subsea Construction Vessel

[Javelin]

Well here we go. 

I got my first commission (sort of) for 2 small 1/1250 ships. Sort of, because I was planning to build those vessels in the future after all. I'm sort of lucky that the client requested a specific scale and simple waterline lay-out. Determining those is something that takes a lot of thinking and time in my case. 

 

1 vessel is a slightly larger version (but a much older vessel) of Scheldt River, so nothing special there. So I won't make a build log for that one.

 

The other one however is the Viking Neptun. A state-of-the-art Subsea Construction Vessel. She has (in my opinion) very sleek handsome lines, yet a strong purposeful appearance.

 

Ya'll have to thank @Glen McGuire, for it, since he convinced me to start a build log. I believe it will be a challenge worthy of a log due its accomodation that is largely integrated into its hull/bow. 

It has proven to be a head ache during planning already. 

 

As is typical for these vessels, she has a Dynamic Positioning class 3 system. This means she  can hold her position within certain weather boundaries with any defect. For class 3 that means that either an engine, thrusters or even electrical cabling can be disabled without her losing position. 

 

She started her life as a true SCV for the Norwegian Eidesvik company, installing manifolds in oilfields on the bottom of the sea/ocean. Additionally she is equipped with a cable carousel and an optional cable lay system for cable laying ops. She did those as well. 

 

About 1 year ago she was sold to marine dredging and infrastructure company DEME, to be used as a pure cable layer next to the DEME vessel Living Stone.

She received an additional carousel on deck and a dual lane cable lay system, very much like the one from Living Stone. 

This cable lay system was built in smaller modules, so I assume it will be easy to remove in case subsea construction activities would be planned.

 

For me the livery is quite difficult. I like the race-car red and yellow more than the yellow green-white livery. 

However, the client decided to go for the DEME version with full option, which means both the carousel and cable lay system on deck. 

 

You can put a lot of cable in there... She  also still has her original carousel below deck, for a total of around 12000t of cable. 

 

That's it for now. 

I've started construction, so pics will follow soon. 

 

[Glen McGuire]

59 minutes ago, Javelin said:

For me the livery is quite difficult. I like the race-car red and yellow more than the yellow green-white livery. 

I with you on that, Roel.  That first picture really grabs your attention.  But you gotta do what the customer says!

 

I love the subjects you pic for your builds, Roel.  They are always fascinating and a offer great learning experience for people like me that have no idea what these vessels do or even that they exist!  Really looking forward to this one!  

[Jim Lad]

Interesting. That looks like it will be a very complex build. Roel

 

John

[Knocklouder]

Good luck on your journey with this build, 

.

Bob M.

Edited October 22 by Knocklouder

[Paul Le Wol]

Very nice Roel. Standing by.

[Keith Black]

 I'm onboard for another great project, Roel. Plus it's your first commission which makes even more exciting. Just one thing, I wanna ride the carousel!  

[Javelin]

Welcome aboard each and everyone! 

 

Keith, you can ride that carousel, pretty sure it's slow enough for you to be safe, but still get excited. 

 

As a remark, I did not write an error in the ship's name. It really is Neptun and not Neptune. 

 

In the meanwhile I've been building. I have also started building the second vessel (named Lange Wapper), since I want to do a few actions, like applying putty, building lifeboats etc. in 1 go rather than sequential. 

 

So , construction will be a sandwich of different thicknesses. First a combination for each level, then a combination of different levels in blocks.

Eventually I will wrap the whole thing in a 0.5mm outer shell, where all openings and portholes will be cut/drilled.

 

The complexity of this build lays of course in determining where the openings will be and which part of the inner blocks will be visible through the outer hull holes. 

 

Blocks going together.

For the largest openings, where the lifeboats will be located I opted for walls, to hide any seams in the stack. 

 

Those are then cut and filed flush with the surrounding surfaces. As you can see I have also mounted the aft bulkhead of the superstructure. This is only glued to the lower 2 levels. The upper levels are still dry fitted, since I need to detail those before the outer shell is placed. 

 

And a test version of the outer shell to show the concept. 

 

 

The sides of the stack are uneven and rough, those will of course be sanded flush before that outer shell goes on. 

[Keith Black]

And you're off and running, is the outer shell card? 

[Javelin]

Plasticard 😄, so no, not really. It's styrene sheet. I do normally make paper and cardboard templates before shifting to styrene. In this case, due to its small size, I opted to go directly to styrene. 

 

I have 0.3mm available, which would give me sharper edges, but there are 2 issues with that. 

First one is that it melts excessively with the glue when used as a cover surface, this leaves bumps and pits in the surface. 0.5mm sheet retains its flatness. 

Second is more related to this build and that is simply the angled upper edge of the forward area.

Some may not have noticed this, but the edge along the whole accommodation and along the aft edge down to the main deck is angled. The 0.5mm thickness allows me to recreate that angle by carving and filling along that edge. 

 

I currently started adding details and painting the some parts before  I can place the sides. I'm also refining those sides, starting to cut the openings for lifeboat and rescue boat and carves that angled upper edge on the SB side. 

The fore deck has a swimming pool, which I built from 0.3mm styrene. 

All of that will mostly be covered by the helicopter deck though. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I love about this scale is that you can always continue building something. Even when you have a failure, due to its small size, it's easy to rebuild. 

In the meantime I have also built the first part of the bridge and large angled level below it. 

These parts really look like a starship and are a lot more complicated than expected. Every part seems interconnected rather than stacked and that bridge hardly has any straight surfaces. 

Edited Saturday at 07:30 PM by Javelin

[Jim Lad]

Excellent progress, Roel.

 

John

[Javelin]

Thanks John, indeed speed is an advantage of this scale. Determining what to replicate and how much detail you'll put on it, is rather more difficult.

 

A little more about the vessel and its operations. 

She's equipped with two moonpools, these are openings in the deck that go all the way through the hull to be able to work underwater with less exposure to the sea. 

One moonpool is the actual work moonpool to lower things to the bottom. The second, smaller moonpool is located below the aft part of the accommodation to lower an ROV. 

She has 2 ROVs (remotely operated vehicle), 1 is a Work ROV, the other is an observation/monitoring ROV. They can be either lowered over the side through doors or through that central ROV moonpool. 

 

As far as I know the moonpools are still there, but in the DEME version the moonpool is covered by the extra carousel on deck. 

Not sure if they are using the ROV system as I've seen the regular extra ROV A-frame aft of the big crane pedestal. Very similar to the Living Stone lay-out, so I assume there is a practical reason to that. 

Additionally, the original cable lay system was mounted on portside, just aft of the accomodation, so the ROV hangar and A-frame were close-by. 

 

In below picture you can see the original ROV door recessed between the lifeboat and rescue boat station. 

At the same time you see the blue ROV A-frame just behind the big crane pedestal.

 

And today's progress. 

Continued adding some meat to the bridge level and mounted the first side shell. 

Decided to only put the large openings before mounting the shell to the hull.

The small openings should be ok to cut afterwards, but would probably prove troublesome to cover for painting if I had cut them before. 

 

Also made a start on the crane pedestal. These are nice side projects when the glue is drying on hull or bridge parts. 

 

Edited Sunday at 08:53 PM by Javelin

[Paul Le Wol]

Roel, the real ship is almost as amazing as your model. Looking great!

[Javelin]

Thanks Paul. 

 

A litte more about that real ship. This is not relevant for this build, since this is a waterline model. (perhaps for a future racecar red version?).

What makes her somewhat special for a modern offshore DYnamic Positioning vessel is her rather conventional propulsion. Where most vessels in these classes are relying purely on azipods/twin pods etc. Basically propellors that can be turned 360°, Viking Neptun has a conventional twin propellor-twin rudder propulsion. 

In addition, she has 2 regular bow thrusters, 3 stern thrusters and just behind the bow thrusters, 2 retractable azipod thrusters. 

That's a lot of power and thrusters to hold position and heading. You don't want to tangle lines 2km below the waterline... 

As mentioned, a lot of them are simply redundant, so that in case of failure of one thruster, or a complete power production unit, she can still maintain that position and heading. 

As a disadvantage, this means all engines and thrusters need to run during DP operation, which means the engines are continuously running at very low power, which they really don't like. 

 

 

In above picture you can see the  rudders are of the Becker type, which means there is an additional piece that hinges in the same direction as the rudder, this doubles the effect of the rudder, so a 10° rudder angle on this type of rudder equals a 20° angle on a normal rudder. They can also often be used at greater angles, creating a nearly 90° deflection. 

The propellers are variable pitch propellors, the blades can rotate hydraulically, to change the thrust  while keeping the same rpm. This means they are less efficient (compared to fixed pitch) for pure sailing, but makes the vessel much easier to manoeuvre.

 

As for the model, this may be the last post for a while as I've come at the point where I have to smoothen the hull with Milliput epoxy filler (followed by a coat of spray filler). 

 

However, before I do that, I need to bring the second hull to a similar state, so I can apply the filler on both hulls at the same time. Looking at it today, I noticed I underestimated the complexity of the second hull, meaning I will need to progress it much further than expected. 

I also closed the side galleries for the rescue boats on Viking Neptun. 

 

 

 

 

The pedestal is only dry fitted, it'll be in the way for filler application and sanding afterwards. 

The bridge and level below are also only roughly shaped. They'll have to wait until the hulls are ready. 

Edited Wednesday at 05:44 PM by Javelin

[jerome]

A very neat subject to model.

looking forward to the rest of this build.