Preussen by Chasseur - BOTTLE - barque

[Chasseur]

Thanks Daniel and just to clarify the seas will be carved from the fir and the hull from Western Red Cedar. I am going with the cedar from a tip I gleaned from Ray Gascoigne regarding the carving qualities of the wood. Ray's video on Vimeo has truly inspired me and he is a true artisan when it comes to modelling ships in bottles. I am assuming you have seen his video, smithjournal.com.au

Bottled History is Ray's storey in Smith volume six and is on the shelves in Australia.

 

Respectfully,

Jeff

[DSiemens]

I have he is an incredible ship in bottle builder. His ships are very clean and accurate.

[Chasseur]

Today my Preussen plans arrived from Gunzburg Germany from Mr. Germanus Hullen.

 

 

The plans are everything I imagined and more.

 

 

Excellent sail plan with a cool map of some her voyages. Now I need to make a trip to Lee Valley Tools and pick up a pantograph so I can scale things down and get a super accurate drawing. The distortion from the original scan off of the Internet in my opinion is third rate compared to these plans. Thank-you Mr. Hullen.

 

 

Stay tuned for more ... Jeff ⚓️

[Omega1234]

Hi Jeff. i'm glad your plans have arrived.

 

Looks like full speed ahead, now.

 

All the best!

[Chasseur]

Yes off to Lee Valley Tools this weekend to buy a Pantograph. ......... Zoom Zoom

Jeff

[jo conrad]

Hi Jeff,

why not save a lot of your nerves and money, find a good (!) copy-shop and let the experts there reduce the plans to your requested scale? Of course you will have to check up the copies until you finally have the correct dimensions for your BIG BOTTLE; but that will still be a cheaper, more accurate and certainly much less cumbersome procedure than trying the pantograph with its inherent inaccuracies.

If a copy of Heller´s building manual of their excellent plastic release of "Preussen" in 1: 150 would come in handy for your project, just drop me a note. With a build like this one simply can´t have enough information. Unfortunatly I forgot to mention this earlier.

 

Btw.: if anyone else would be interested in more copies of "Preussen" from the book "Königin der See", I could contact the publisher company and ask for their permission. I don´t think that 45 years after editing the book they would dismiss that reqest, of course on condition of strictly private (modelling) use. But in case anyone should be crazy and rich enough and take a fancy to build a 1:1 sailing "Preussen"-replica, some more research will be necessary. And some 5000 tons of 1st-class Siemens-Martin-steel would fit in nicely, too.

Good luck , Jeff, with that Gentle Giant.

Germanus

Edited October 1, 2014 by jo conrad

[Chasseur]

Germanus,

thanks for responding as I did try Heller a few times and struck out. So yes please, a copy of the 1:150 building manual would be superb. You are truly a saviour and I would be greatful for a copy of the building manual. So if you can please send them I'll cancel the hold it put on a Pantograph at Lee Valley.

Please advise,

Jeff

[jo conrad]

Hello Jeff,

ok, I´ll copy the Heller instructions though they are not the best quality prints available. But they might give you some useful hints about where to place the deck furniture. Their belaying scedule of the running/standing rigging is crap and of no avail. These details should be taken from books like  Underhill´s "Masting and rigging" or Böttcher´s "Viermastbark Passat". The rigging of the Laeisz four-posters is exactly the same as that of the five-masters. Just one more mast to rig.

I will copy the useful pages, translation of the german maritime terminology into english should not be too difficult thanks to www.dict.leo.org or  www.dict.cc. or - best of all - THE book about maritime terminology : Paasch: From keel to truck in all 3 tongues: french/engl./ german.

Well then, off we row to another adventure, and if there are some more maniacs like us, who are fond of copies of your plans, feel free to do so.

Have a snug time up there in your high latitudes just south of the north pole, and don´t get stuck into The Curse of the Detail.

Tschüs

Germanus

Edited October 2, 2014 by jo conrad

[Chasseur]

Excellent Germanus!

 

You are truly a scholar and a gentleman. I look forward it and thanks for the useful information. Greatly appreciated and you're right about the curse of the detail. The aforementioned is something I am well aware of.

 

Thanks again!

 

Jeff    

[Chasseur]

Today I had some time to get into the Man Cave and experiment with carving and painting the wooden seas. In this first exercise I wanted to make as many mistakes as possible to fine tune my techniques and get the seas to where I want them at this scale for a SIB.

 

 

Above I started with the mid size Dremel tool I purchased and it carved like a dream. No issues what soever!

 

 

I then scaled down to the fine dental cutter my dentist gave me and again no issues. The Fir carved like a dream and I was able to mirror what Mr. Lloyd McCaffery did on page 127 of his book Ships in Miniature. Also at this point I never paid no real attention to wind and wave direction just more concerned about caving and achieving crisp edges on the top of the waves.

 

 

Above you can see the Fir carves really well. This wood is perfect for my application.

 

 

Then I took some Model Master Dark Sea Blue to see how the wood would accept the paint and if it would bleed a bit. No worries here as well. One notable I will primer the wood first next time. Mistake number #1.

 

 

Then I dry brushed in some French Ultramirine Blue artist's oil paint and blended. Then some brushing with some Titanium White. Mistake # 2 was, I think I put the white on a bit heavy with the dry brushing. I have to watch this carefully next time especially at this scale.

 

 

I finished the waves and their crowns with the white. So for 1 hour of work a whole lot was learned with this exercise. Now the next step is to map out exactly how the waves and swells will look on my four pieces, get the magnets installed and hooked up, then draw out and outline how, and where, to remove the wood material, and then go for it!

 

Also I need to build so more bottle tools and refine my paint pallet for the seas. I am thinking a little green has to go into the waves under the white to show a bit of translucent color next to the hull and there should be a touch of black/red/white reflection at the waterline. Also I am looking into a silicon method for bow and stern wake and splash. There you have it, no worries and definitely no rush as the last two weeks work has been extremely busy and I actually put in 10 hours of overtime.

 

Just waiting for some documentation from Germanus to come in the post. He is sending me some details from Heller's plastic kit of the Preussen in 1/150.  :-)

 

Steady as she goes ... Jeff

[Omega1234]

Hi Jeff. That definitely looked like an hour well spent, especially if it saves you spending more time fixing mistakes later on down the track. I'm really looking forward to seeing your ship coming to life.

 

All the best!

[Chasseur]

Thanks Omega. Still messing around with the seas and fine tuning. I also can't wait to start on the hull.

Jeff

[DSiemens]

This looks like a great idea for seas the waves look very good.  I like the choice of colors too.  Also thank you for your kind comments on my blog.  

[Chasseur]

Thanks Daniel and no worries.

 

I like your blog.... very informing and the interviews with other S.I.B. modelers is a nice touch indeed!

 

Jeff 

[Chasseur]

Today the eagle landed from Germany. A manila envelop from Germanus Hullen arrived with a much anticipated package of the Heller 1/150 plans. Absolutely outstanding! Everything I need regarding the following:

1. All deck features showing all the intricate details, winches, davits, boats, furniture, etc.

2. All tables for masts, belaying pins, and shrouds.

3. Detailed drawings for all masts, spars, blocks, and rigging thereof.

4. All running rigging in great detail.

5. Detailed drawings for all sails, clews, blocks, etc. including stay sails.

 

Everything I need in great detail at my finger tips. There is even a drawing to set the yards at 15 degrees before the wind.

Good to go ..... Zoom ...... Zoom .......

[michael mott]

This is great news, Jeff. 

 

Michael

 

PS I'm not going to Edmonton tomorrow.

[Omega1234]

Hi Jeff

 

Woohoo! Full steam ahead now.

 

All the best.

[jo conrad]

Hi Jeff,

about time, too.

I imagined a flock of tense looking squash-heads with the usual poser-shades of their trade, brooding about these drawings and what they would mean to the national security of Canada, USA and the rest of the world. Seems they haven´t found anything threatening at last.

Well then, may your mini-Preussen grow and mature in your bottle.

I´ll drop in now and then and try a dram.

GX

Germanus

[Chasseur]

Michael,

I can't make it as well too busy with life in general.  

 

Thanks for the encouragement Omega 

 

Germanus .... thanks again greatly appreciated! ....

[Chasseur]

Well finally I got into my Man Cave to work on my SIB. Yesterday I had a few set backs with family stuff however I still forged ahead. First off was to remedy the plague of the plans falling all over the place on my bench. The later conundrum drove me nuts so time to take action. I had an old metal book stand which I quickly turned into a type of artists easel.

 

 

 

 

Above pictures show a piece of balsa (painted red) glued to the front of the book-stand and plans pinned to some coroplast sign material. Problem solved! Next pictures shows work on clamping the fir sea material together. I then drilled four holes and pinned them together with some wooden dowels. Pieces fitted together and numbered for reference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I realized I needed to make a tool to determine the contour of the inside of the bottle as the wood pieces need to be tapered, curved, and fitted to the inside curve of the bottle. Wine bottles are fairly round but not perfect. Blowing glass is an art and getting a bottle completely round takes great skill. The following pictures shows my home made contour tool to measure the inside of the bottle.

 

 

 

 

 

I made the tool to hinge and had the control strings fixed in position while measuring with an elastic band. Worked good! The next picture shows me checking my template against the inside contour. At this point I thought I was close however I am working in 2 dimensions, add in some wood and now it's 3 dimensional and I know things are going to change.

 

 

Next picture shows the strings fixed with the elastic band.

 

 

The next picture shows me transferring the information to the wood.

 

 

The next picture shows the wood in position. I was gun shy when carving being extra careful not to take off too much without checking first.

 

 

After getting the 4 pieces into the bottle you can see I need to take off some more material. Remember what Grandpa said... measure 3 times, cut once. Well maybe... cut twice! Easier to take more off than try to add on later.

Jeff 

 

 

[Chasseur]

Today I can totally relate to Saw Dust Dave. Lots of carving and sanding however the pieces fit nicely and I am sure the magnet's will hold everything in place. The next picture shows the dowels holding them and worked really well while carving and sanding.

 

 

Next shot shows the profile and the template doesn't lie. I had to get the wood curved exactly like the template plus there is one flat spot and one minor flaw in the bottle that caused a bit of grief.

 

 

Next shot shows wood pieces laying in the bottle nice and flush. Should be good to go onto the next step which is a mock up of the waves in a tube (hopefully same curvature of my bottle) to see how the scale will be with modelling clay. I have to determine how to model the clay for the wind, swells, and bow/stern wake before I even attempt to start carving. I can also use the mock up as my guide while carving.

 

 

Last shot shows the 4 pieces of Fir nice and snug without anything holding them together. Should be good here!

 

 

On to the mock-up .... Jeff

 

 

 

 

[Omega1234]

Hi Jeff.  Coming along nicely!  Couldn't be easy getting the exact curvature right, though. Now, the fun part starts with the waves, as you've said.

 

All the best.

[Chasseur]

Thanks Omega! ... And you're right lots of sanding and checking.

Jeff

[michael mott]

Tricky bit of work there Jeff.

 

Michael

[Chasseur]

Michael,

just another tricky day in the Man Cave!

Jeff

[Chasseur]

Calling all Mariners and Naval enthusiasts. Time to weigh in and please... give me some feed back, your comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I am in no rush so the time to make mistakes is now before I start carving.

 

In the following photograph's I have the dummy hull in some clay mocked up. I am trying to get the swells and waves orientated before I start to carve the Douglas Fir. I only get one shot at this so... scr## ups are not allowed!

 

This first shot shows the bow, she is sailing before the wind and the wind/wave direction is coming off the starboard side. Please keep in mind I haven't done any mock up on the bow and stern wake yet. That I'll do with some acrylic colored silicon.

 

 

Next shot is port side amidships with hull healed over to port with no waterline visible so as to depict a hold full of cargo.

 

 

Next shot stern port side. I wanted to open this up a bit so as to show some rudder detail eventually on my model. No rudder installed here just my dummy hull plug for now.

 

 

Another rear shot at the stern.

 

 

Next shot forward of amid-ship starboard side.

 

 

Next shot looking rearward from bow starboard toward midships, and please notice waves coming from the rear and breaking towards the hull. She is running before the wind as I mentioned so she is running hard trying to get back to the Mother Land with cargo in hand. No pun intended!

 

 

Next is an aerial view.

 

 

I tried to depict the waves in a sequence of rollers with swells and it was hard to determine how they are to line line up on the port side verses the starboard side. It has to be believable! I had to take into account the wind and the fact the ship is moving forward so how are the waves to break on the starboard side. Question... should they be how I have modeled them lagging a bit behind on the starboard side, or more in line with the waves on the port side or vice-verse? I haven't been to sea for 32 years so I have lost touch and memories are distant.

 

Okay time to weigh anchors in! Calling all 'Old Salts' or young ones who {have sailing experience at sea} for comments and opinions.

 

Please advise ... Jeff

 

 

[mtaylor]

Jeff,

 

Nice waves but I think you need to add a wake.  Without a wake it looks dead in the water.

[michael mott]

Jeff you need to look for images of ships moving through the waves like these

 

Michael

[Chasseur]

Mark,

Wake will come later. Have to figure how much wood to come out first!

 

Michael... nice link thanks for that!

Jeff

[molasses]

Jack Needham in his book "Modelling Ships in Bottles" has an entire chapter covering this subject and it's the best discussion of the interaction of wind, swells and ships I've seen. I highly recommend it.

 

You can look at wave propagation theory but that's mostly calculus based and isn't much help except for some of the basics. As wind velocity increases so does the height, interval between crests and the speed of the swell. One aspect of wave theory that's interesting is how waves of different magnitudes and velocities interact and may be useful - the Wikipedia article on wave theory has several animated representations of the effect.

 

A study of the Beaufort wind force scale is also very useful. Look at several graphic representations on the web, there are lots of them. Notice in the scale that there is only a narrow range of wind velocity that causes wind swells to break and roll over. Below but near that range, crests may get a bit frothy at random peaks, and above that range the crests get blown away as spray in the air and froth down the lee side of the crest. Many ship bottlers tend to make their waves look more like surf with lots of breaking waves rather than a series of swells as seen in open, deep-water seas, but you're not making that mistake.

 

All in all, you seem to be on the right track. I like the effect you show on the lee side where the bow wave has combined with the swells to change their angle, it's spot on; other than a "bone in her teeth" nothing else is needed on that side. I'm aware that you haven't addressed bow waves and a wake but I suspect you have a good handle on them. There's also a wave that can propagate from the water that passes under the hull, rises to the surface (following the hull shape) and meets the water passing along the side. Where this occurs, it's magnitude and the angle of this small wave depends on the hull shape. Compared to a prop driven vessel, the wake will be relatively smooth with much less froth.

 

I may be mistaken, but I seem to recall that you intend to depict Preussen under shortened sail in high wind. I suggest that you consider increasing the interval and magnitude of your swells and depict them with blown-away crests. The wind effects on the sea need to match the number and set of your sails. The way you have it now the wind is from the starboard quarter, but when the forward motion of the ship is added in, the apparent wind from the deck of the ship will be closer to being off the beam so keep that in mind when you brace the yards.

 

I like your very methodical approach, it bodes well for a successful completion of this very ambitious project.