Statsraad Lehmkuhl by Stockholm tar – 1/8th" = 1'

[Stockholm tar]

This will be my summer project, as I believe I mentioned in my Sherbourne log. Rather a change from the cutter I have been working on, I’m sure you will agree – well, for a start, there aren’t any guns! But why this particular ship, and why a half-hull, you may well ask? Well, read on, but first a bit of history…

 

The ’Statsraad Lehmkuhl’ was built as a steel barque for the German Schoolship Association and launched at Bremerhaven-Geestemunde in January 1914. She was originally named ’Grossherzog Friedrich August’, after the then Duke of Oldenburg, and used to train merchant navy cadets. Taken as reparations by the British after the First World War, she was then sold to Norway in 1921 and renamed ’Statsraad Lehmkuhl’, after the minister Kristoffer Lehmkuhl (Statsraad meaning cabinet minister), who had worked in the interests of sail training. She was put into service in 1923 as a sail training ship for Bergens Skoleskib and used as such until the Second World War, when was taken over by Nazi Germany and given the name ’Westwärts’. Following hostilities she reverted to her previous ownership and name, and was put back into service following renovation. She continued to sail until 1966, when she was laid up due to financial difficulties, until in 1978 she was bought by shipowner Hilmar Reksten, who donated her to the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation. She is based in Bergen. (She will be referred to as SL hereafter.)

 

Today the organisation welcomes ’trainees’ of all ages and nationalities to sail on board, and she is also used by schools, and employees in corporate business. In 2000 German naval cadets trained on board whilst the ’Gorch Foch’ was being refitted, and since 2002 she has been officially used for training cadets of the Royal Norwegian Navy. Her voyages have taken her across the Atlantic to America several times, and she is a frequent participant in the Tall Ships Races. Under sail she has frequently reached a speed of 17 knots and, on at least one occasion, 18 knots was recorded. Her website contains further details, both about her and her training programme.

 

Although I have referred, colloquially, to SL as a ’ship’ she is of course, and always has been, rigged as a barque – square rigged on the fore and main masts, fore-and-aft rigged on the mizzen. By convention, the barque as originally conceived had three masts and reference to their number was not normally made.

 

There are four main reasons for my building this half model:

 

1) I had spent three weeks aboard the barque in the June/July of 1988, sailing from Bergen, Norway (where she is based) to South Shields in the UK, back to Bergen and thence to Leith, Scotland. I had originally booked for two weeks on board and had intended to return to the UK from Bergen by ferry. However, following my cruise, the SL was due to sail to Leith to pick up a Norwegian girl’s choir that had been appearing at the Edinburgh Festival. Thus, courtesy of the captain, I was able to spend another week aboard the ship – at no extra charge.

 

2/ On board I met the Swedish girl who was later to become my wife. Therefore the model is largely being made for her.

 

3/ This year, 2014, marks SL’s centenary. The late Harold Underhill thought her to be perhaps being the most beautiful of the barques of that time, and I tend to agree. Even at 100 years old, I think she is still better looking (from any angle) than some later vessels.

 

4) Half-hulls are interesting in themselves historically for, although they are now largely used for decorative purposes, they were originally used as part of the building process of an actual ship.

 

 

Approximate Dimensions:

 

The ship: Hull length, 277.’ (84.60 metres); Sparred length, 321’ (98 meters); Beam - 41’ (12.60 metres); Draught -17’ (5.20 metres); Gross tonnage - 1516 tonnes; Height mainmast: 157.48' (48 metres); Sails: 22; Sail area: 2062 m2.

 

The model: Hull length - 36” (91.44 cm) Sparred length - 40” (101.6 cm); ’Half-beam’ - 2 ¾” (6.98 cm); Draught – 2” (5.08 cm); Gross tonnage – 0!

 

The model will be built using plans drawn up for the ’Grossherzogin Friedrich August’, by the late Harold Underhill – the Lines and Profile, drawn to a scale of 1/8th” to 1’ – which will make the model of a good size to admit of some detail. Even though the plans are for the ship under her original name, the deck layout and other details have not been altered a great deal and any changes that have been made appear to be minimal – such as the positioning of boats, alteration to the figurehead, etc. How much detail I will include, I have not yet decided, but there will of course only be stump masts.

 

As mentioned this will be a summer project (for the approximately four months we are here at our cottage) and I intend to store her here over the winter, suitably protected of course, and continue working on her next year – and probably the year after that!  At a suitable stage she will be moved to the flat in town, where a spot has already been designated for her, atop a long bookcase. Unfortunately, there are plenty of other jobs to take me away from the project, but I hope to be able work on her whenever I can – so watch this space! In the meantime here is a link to one or two photos of her:

 

https://www.google.se/search?q=statsraad+lehmkuhl+%2B+photos&client=firefox-a&hs=rRS&rls=org.mozilla:sv-SE:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=sCbEU5T3Goe9ygO-8YDYDA&ved=0CCIQsAQ&biw=1065&bih=509#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=uMfSHUqYE4cyxM%253A%3B9Ix4jWbc9xIczM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Feuroclippers.typepad.fr%252Fphotos%252Funcategorized%252F2008%252F11%252F10%252Fstatsraad_lehmkuhl_mudie_1.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Feuroclippers.typepad.fr%252Fuk%252F2008%252F11%252Ffinancial-cri-1.html%3B500%3B768

[druxey]

Nice summer project, with those long daylight hours you have there. And a lovely story of Scandinavian lady choristers or, in this case, one particular Swedish one.... Look forward to seeing your progress.

[Stockholm tar]

Druxey,

 

Thanks. I have called it a project, but I think it'll turn out to be more of a challenge, which is good – I think.

 

I'm looking on this as my first foray into scratch building, even if is only half the ship! Thus I intend to use half frames (I am thinking of birch ply) fixed to a backboard, and planked in the normal way. I may even double plank it. I realise this is not the normal way it was done, although I am sure there are examples, and that most were either solid hull, or constructed on the bread and butter system. However she is quite long, and I also want to keep the weight down since the backboard that I have in mind is reasonably heavy (I'll say more about that in my next post.)

 

Anyway, onward and upward – and there are still those jobs to do! Btw, I was somewhat glad not to be on the return trip to Norway with the girl's choir, as i imagine it might have been rather noisy.

[egkb]

Hey there Kester.. this should be good ! glad to be in on your build from the beginning !

 

Stay Well

 

 

Eamonn

Edited July 21, 2014 by egkb

[Stockholm tar]

I am somewhat surprised that there don’t seem to be many models of the SL in existence, given that she is such a beautiful vessel. I imagine this is because she is not so well known to the general public, or famous ­– and has no guns – thus kit firms are not interested in modelling her, or indeed, many another interesting ship. However, there is a superb, scratch-built, scale model of her in Bergen Maritime Museum (itself well worth a visit if you get the opportunity) that I visited following my initial cruise, and before the subsequent passage to Leith:

 

https://www.google.se/search?q=bergen+maritime+museum&client=firefox-a&hs=B7G&rls=org.mozilla:sv-SE:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Ai_NU4zAMOuGywOb0oGoAw&ved=0CFoQsAQ&biw=1045&bih=503#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=ajXj6tPFHydEPM%253A%3BY2peWq2Sy7VaFM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffarm9.staticflickr.com%252F8251%252F8642773423_4606ecf87a.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.flickr.com%252Fphotos%252Feugenephoen%252F8642773423%252F%3B681%3B1024

 

Returning to my half model Underhill, in his drawings for the Grossherzog Friedrich August, gave her 33 frames and I will replicate these – although, of course, they will be half frames. As mentioned I intend to make them of birch ply, fixed to a backboard. The search for the latter, incidentally, turned out to be something of a saga on its own, which might be interesting to relate here.

 

Whilst rummaging through the clutter in the cottage attic for something that I perhaps might be able to use, I turned up several boards that looked to be of approximately the right size and took them down for further examination. The first one I lifted out had originally come from my father-in-law’s old yacht, which he had kept perhaps as a souvenir – and of which my wife and I have now been the proud owners for several years. There were other boards of roughly similar size and dimensions but, under closer scrutiny, they turned out to be either too thin, too thick, too short, or made from chipboard – the latter of which, I think you will agree, would not do anything to enhance the finished model! So they all went back from whence they came, and I was left with the aforementioned item of yacht ‘furniture’. This set me to thinking: ‘I might be able to use that, if it turns out to be the right size, and it somehow seems appropriate. After all, it came from a yacht that had been an enjoyable part of my father-in-law’s life; it will become a backboard for the half-hull of a vessel being made for his daughter, on board of which we first met; and last, but perhaps not least, I can think of no other use for it.’

 

Taking a tape measure, the board turned out to be 130.5 cm in length at the top, its widest point, (it tapers slightly to 127.5 cm at the bottom), is 32 cm deep, and is 1.5 cm in thickness. It also has five strengthening pieces spaced on the reverse. So it seems ideal for the half-model, the sparred length of which measures approx 102 cm including the bowsprit. It will also give the backboard itself a new lease of life, as for all the years we’ve had it, we’ve never known quite what to do with it – but, of course, just knew it would come in useful one day! Well, that day has now arrived, and my wife thought it a great idea – so it has also received her blessing:

 

 

Although not certain, I believe it is the yacht’s cockpit bench. We have a few old photos of the yacht at home, and I’ll try and find one that shows it. The yacht by the way was of a type called a Skärgårds (archipelago) cruiser which was, and still is, a popular type in Swedish waters. Although I believe they have changed to a certain extent over the years, dependant on the class rules, many of the older boats are still in use having been lovingly restored. My ex. Swedish navy father-in-law bought her second hand and she probably dates from the fifties. He named her ‘Spray’, sailing extensively her until the mid seventies when she was sold. This was some years of course before I knew him, so I never saw the yacht, which I always thought that was a pity as I’m sure it would have been fun to sail with him. We also have Spray’s mooring buoy, which I have restored and turned into a nifty coffee table – although at the moment it is doing stalwart duty as part of my wife’s annual summer floral display on the veranda, where it is supporting a few plant pots!

 

The bench is in quite good condition, and really just needs a light sanding and re-varnishing. I thought to put some suitable wording on the backboard, such as the barque’s name, length, tonnage etc., and at the moment I am in two minds as to whether to varnish it before adding the lettering, or after. I am inclined to the latter. The bench (and attached model) will, of course, need some support brackets, for it to stand on the bookcase. As I mentioned it is, as you would expect, reasonably heavy so they will have to be somewhat substantial. I was thinking along the lines of a couple of dolphins, but I’ll have to think a little more about that. Anyway to finish off, and for the sake of completeness, here's the mooring buoy:

 

 

The next instalment will, hopefully, see the commencement of the build.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Stockholm tar

[egkb]

Nice choice for backboard Kester, as I was reading down your post I was thinking to myself 'You have to use it.. even if you had to adapt the plans should the board be too small !' luckily it sounds perfect.

Are you going to put the inscription (LOA, Tonnage, Official Number etc.) directly onto the wood or use a brass engraved plate ?

 

Stay Well

 

 

Eamonn

[Stockholm tar]

Hi Eamonn,

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

You might almost say the bench (and I think it is that), soon to be a backboard, was almost tailor-made for the job. It seems to be just the right size.

 

As to the text, I haven't really quite thought that far ahead, but I am incline to use some form of lettering – my carving skills being what they are, ie. non existent! I hadn't actually thought of a brass plate. With lettering you can, of course, 'spread it out across the board' (ha-ha), bearing in mind that part of the surface will necessarily be obscured by the model. I'll have to work out how much of the area I can reasonably use for it, but it's obviously going to be the top half of the board.

 

I can also visualise the finished article easily enough in my mind's eye – it's the getting there that's probably going to be a bit tricky!

[Mirabell61]

Congrats Kester,

 

thats going to be a beautiful ship. I liked your introduction hereto, and especialy the reasons for taking on this Project. Am very glad to see a famous tallship being keellayed soon on your slipway and wish you all the best for her build, please may we all wittness her grow with many of your Pictures....

 

Nils

[Stockholm tar]

Hi Nils,

 

Thank you, and I'm glad you liked the introduction. As you say I think, and hope, she will at least turn out to be a fair appoximation of the original. I'm as interested as anyone to see how she turns out and I will, of course, post updates with pictures whenever possible.

 

Actually, I'm glad you looked in as one things I have been thinking of – and which I'm sure you would know about – is how to replicate the steel hull plating. Obviously, this will have to be done in wood! The plating runs in bands which can be seen in some photographs of her, particularly from the bow and stern, and in certain conditions of light. My idea is to double plank the hull, with the second being of slightly varying thicknesses, indicating the run of the bands. I wonder what you think of this idea?

 

One other small point. In 1914 SL (or rather GFA) obviously had a rivetted hull but, on close examination of various photographs, the heads would not seem to be very evident today – apart from the stem, around the bow, and perhaps a little at the stern. This leads me to think they've either flattened the heads and done a very good paint job, or she's been welded during her various refits. I would, however, think the latter rather difficult to do!

 

Perhaps though, I'm overthinking the idea.

Edited July 26, 2014 by Stockholm tar

[Mirabell61]

Hi Kester,

 

your scale is round about 1:96

 

If you do the plating in overlapped riveting way using veneer or Card or so in 0,5mm thickness for the plates (Bands) that would be actual 48 mm thick steel plates and so with too thick and out of scale, especially in the overlapping Areas.

I would recommend max. 0,2 mm for the plating (actual 19,2mm). On Pamir and Gorch Fock I used 0,125 thick Aluminium adhesive foil, so inclusive the gluefilm it would be round about 0,2mm.

 

I Know what you mean when you described the individual and actual bands from bow to Stern, and the nostalgic orientated modeler would like to resemble these just as well and good visable. what will look great if it is done also in a weathered riviting appeal way. If I were to do it again, I would do some Trials in double laying the adhesive foil and only poncing the outer plate for better enbossing means.

Let us communicate for this in detail if you wish, when you are about to do the outer skin. I have figured out an authentic way for doing a realistic rivet plating on a model.

 

I was also graduated welding Ingenieur in my active time and know that mixing riveting and welding on the outer Skin of an originally riveted hull, can be deadly, and sad to say it has been done in many cases.

 

Example: It is always said that the Pamir capsized in the hurrican alone due to overflowing loose grain in the holds, whereby the Radio SOS calls also mentioned that the ship was broken and taking immence water. It was not communicated neighther in the possible causes for that foundering, nor at the court session Investigation afterwards that the ships hull must have torn open exactly in the area where about 30 worn thined riveted plates had been replaced by by new ones by welding before.

One of the 6 Pamir survivers wittnessed and described how and under loud noise a yellowish Geyser of graindust, air and water was ejected skyhigh out of this place from the crack in the keelup hull, but nodody wanted to hear this at that time

 

Nils

[Stockholm tar]

Nils,

 

Thank you very much, for that information. I somehow thought you would know! There's a lot to think about there and, as you suggest, we can talk about that the nearer I get to that point. Thanks for the info on the adhesive foil; it seems as though that might be the way to go, but again we can discuss this later.

 

Interesting regarding the Pamir capsize and subsequent enquiry, and the fact that the hull appeared to have opened at precisely the point of the newer welding. I'm not suggesting, of course, this has been done on the SL's hull, but it is certainly strange that the rivet heads are not more noticeable.

 

Thanks once again,

Edited July 25, 2014 by Stockholm tar

[NMBROOK]

This is a very interesting build of a beautiful ship Kester The personal history makes this extra special .I look forward to following along

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[Stockholm tar]

Hello Nigel,

 

Well, I do hope so, and thanks for the compliment. As you say this will be an extra special one, and it will be interesting to see how she turns out.

 

Pull up a chair by all means.

[Mirabell61]

Nils,

 

Thank you very much, for that information. I somehow thought you would know! There's a lot to think about there and, as you suggest, we can talk about that the nearer I get to that point. Thanks for the info on the adhesive foil; it seems as though that might be the way to go, but again we can discuss this later.

 

Interesting regarding the Pamir capsize and subsequent enquiry, and the fact that the hull appeared to have opened at precisely the point of the newer welding. I'm not suggesting, of course, this has been done on the SL's hull, but it is certainly strange that the rivet heads are not more noticeable.

 

Thanks once again,

 

 

 

Kester,

 

Based on a smooth wooden preplanked hull....

 

here is a Little hand-scetch illustration how I would do the plating, so that it has the belt Appeal.

Leave a gap slightly narrower than the plates between row 1 and row 2. That willl be covered by row 3 by using / inseting spacer strips A + B in plating thickness.

In this case row 3 will have a watertight flush riveted contact to both rows 1 + 2 and you would beautiful see the chime lines of the plating like on the actual ship.

Note the staggering of the riveted Joints of the horizontal plates direction

 

 

 

 

Nils

[Stockholm tar]

Nils,

 

Thank you for the diagram and explanation of the plating procedure. That will come in very useful nearer the time – and when I've worked out how many actual strakes there are. I also have it in mind to contact the SL Foundation, for any extra information they have.

 

I've just been looking at your Pamir log, I think page five, where you use the aluminium foil. I must say it does look impressive, but wondered how you managed to get the paint to take on it? I'm presuming it has a shiny surface.

 

Anyway, thanks again.

[Mirabell61]

Kester,

 

yes, the painting oif the shiny surface was problematic, in the beginning, so I had to use a one component resin based primer as intermediate coat.

On page 1 and 2 of the "Steamship Heinrich Kayser" build log you see also the primer (applied per Paintbrush), and that worked out well.

 

Nils

[Stockholm tar]

Nils,

 

Ok, thanks. I will have a look at the Heinrich Kayser's log.

Edited July 26, 2014 by Stockholm tar

[Model Mariner]

....... – and when I've worked out how many actual strakes there are. I also have it in mind to contact the SL Foundation, for any extra information they have.

 

 

Regarding number of strakes:

 

I have the complete plan set  of Statsraaden which you can buy from the stiftelsen in Bergen, but this does unfortunately not contain any cross section and the number of strakes can not be derived from the plan set but I trust the following will be helpful:

 

The following  picture is a cross section of Statsraaden showing the number of strakes 

 

 

and was taken from a plan set of the ship displayed in the maritime museum in Bergen.

 

Bow view:

 

 

Stern view:

 

Somewhere I have one or two pictures of the ship in dry dock but have not yet found it

 

In case you need pictures of particular details of the ship send me a note, I might be able to help you

 

regards

 

Klaus

Edited July 27, 2014 by Model Mariner

[Stockholm tar]

Klaus,

 

Many thanks. The cross-section shows them to a certain extent.

 

I have been looking for close up photos of her in dry dock, but those I have found are overall views of the ship – not too helpful as regards disposition of the strakes! If you find anything amongst what sounds like an extensive collection of photographs, I'd certainly be interested. Thanks also for the offer of photos of details. You can bet I'll let you know, if there's something I need help with! However, as this is still all some way off, there's time for investigation.

 

The plan pack might be interesting to buy in any case for additional information, if they are their own plans. I already have the two pertinent ones by Underhill.

Edited July 27, 2014 by Stockholm tar

[Stockholm tar]

As mentioned, there are 33 frames indicated on Underhill’s half-breadth and sheer profile drawings. Those of the fore body are numbered consecutively from the bow, running aft 1-6, then alternately 7, 9, 11 and 13; the after frames also run consecutively from the stern, running forward 33 – 27, then 25, 23, 21, and 19. Mid-ship frames Nos. 15 and 17 are not shown on the half breadth, since presumably they are of the same dimensions as frames 13 and 19, making four similar sized frames amidships.

 

Now we come to the really exciting bit – the task of tracing out each individual frame, transferring them onto paper templates, cutting them out and gluing each template to the birch ply. There are also the keel, stem and sternpost elements to make but, since the SL was built in the early 20^th century, these will not be very prominent. They will be attached to the backboard first, as naturally they form the base for the frames, and will be positioned rather more to the left hand side of the backboard. With the bowsprit being to the right, repositioning the hull a little more the other way will equalise the ‘visual’ distance each side of the model. (Incidentally, there would seem to be a convention that the bow of half models was normally to the right and the stern to the left. I am not sure why this was so, but it would appear to be almost an unwritten ‘rule’.) I don’t intend to tempt fate – and will follow tradition!

 

Sourcing the birch ply turned out to be something of a problem. The model shops I first looked at only sold 3-4mm thick sheets in small sizes, which would produce at most about four frames per sheet – and would turn out a little expensive, since I would need to buy several sheets. Luckily, a more general craft shop sold larger sheets of 760cm by 760cm, a much better prospect, being enough to make all the frames, with material over for bulwarks, false deck, etc. However they had only three quite badly warped sheets left, obviously caused by incorrect storage. Needless to say I didn’t buy any of them but, unbeknown to me, my wife returned to the shop some days later, when they had new stock, and came home with a flattish, but acceptable, sheet – although she wasn’t exactly carrying it under her arm! Since I wasn’t aware that she was going to do this I was, as you might imagine, somewhat surprised and delighted.

 

The first thing to do was do was to mark out the sheet at 10cm intervals, making seven sections, with the 760cm by 6cm piece left over as mentioned above. Each section will accommodate at least five frames, perhaps more with the smaller ones at bow and stern, so there will be enough to make them all.

 

As I mentioned this is a summer project, so unfortunately this is as far as I will be able to progress this year. The board will be layed flat on a table, weighted down over the winter, and hopefully it will be ready for me to begin cutting out the frames next year.

 

Photo shows tracings of the frames, two transferred to paper templates, set on the birchply board:

 

Edited October 31, 2014 by Stockholm tar

[egkb]

Nice little update Kester, great to see her underway ! roll on next year 

 

 

Eamonn

[Stockholm tar]

Eamonn,

 

Thanks. I didn't get as far on her as I had hoped but, as you say, roll on next year!

[Jeronimo]

Hi Kester,

 

photographed by me aboard the AIDAstella / Stavanger -Norwegen-Aug. 2014

 

Karl  

[Stockholm tar]

Karl,

 

Thank you for posting those. Some beautiful photos of a beautiful ship.

[Mirabell61]

Hi Kester,

 

is there any Progress on your "Statsraad Lehmkuhl"  ??

 

Nils

Edited September 1, 2015 by Mirabell61

[Stockholm tar]

Hi Nils,

 

Not so far, I'm afraid. However, as it's now 'next year', perhaps I should start thinking about it!

 

Our thoughts are already on the cottage. We haven't been there for a couple of months so, as usual, we're wondering if everything is ok. There will be plenty of jobs that'll need doing when we move out there, but I'll make sure work on the SL won't suffer! (My wife's thoughts are largely about the garden – mine in that area usually concern the lawn mower!)

 

 

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Kester,

 

I know that Situation,.... after I retired from work, we had a nice camping ground plot at the Baltic sea, with caravan and boat, etc...., but also having home and garden it was finaly too much work for us to have both places kept tidy.

It was the same every year, start the season around easter time, see if everything was still OK, clean wash and set up, and see what the winter possibly had caused for damage.

Now we have drawn back to our home in Glinde, where we enjoy the spring season,  we sold Caravan and boat,   in the biginning I missed  the sailing very much, but now there are the model boats....

 

Nils

[Stockholm tar]

Nils,

 

It sounds as though it was ideal, nice location, caravanning and boating – what's not to like? It's a pity you had to give it up but, of course, understandable.

 

Yes, I missed the sailing when I had to give it up, partly through ill health. The last time I was afloat was in 1998 (a week on the Norwegian ship Sörlandet) and I missed it for several years afterwards but then, as you say, there are model boats and, in our case, the cottage.

 

 

[Stockholm tar]

I'm afraid I've been rather behind with this, due to quite a bit of work at the cottage, but have more time now so I am getting back to it.

 

At the moment I am beginning to draw out the frames and have to work out the angle of curvature for the deck camber. This would obviously be for an early 20th century vessel, SL is 1914, but I would imagine it isn't too different from the 19th century. I imagine the camber would also be consistent along the length of the vessel, or is that not so? 

[Mirabell61]

Hi Kester,

 

ist good to hear that you are back to work on the SL, looking foreward to the first pics...

 

Nils