Iceman 29

It had been 15 days since I'd given any news of the project, but it was progressing slowly but surely, and now that the fine weather had returned a little, I went back to work on the garden and the house. We're slowly nearing the end. I've applied the light weathering to the finished parts, hull and superstructure, I still have quite a few pipes to fit, and the railings on the tank deck and main deck. The rigging is almost complete for the castle, with the forward rigging and the rigging between the two masts to come when everything's glued together. These photos show some small defects compared to the naked eye, which I'm going to rectify.

Parts of the originals plans: https://invenio.bundesarchiv.de/invenio/direktlink/6aa4d0c8-2795-4084-88a2-9c67c8f44340/ Low resolution plans, download for HD one: Other ships in Bunder archives:

The only plan I know of for Grille. Coming from this revue:

The .STL file for the rear section is 81 MB. Its print file for the MonoX 4k is 336 MB. The .STL file for the front is 47 MB. The print file for the MonoX 4k is 606 MB. More support brackets. The entire Fusion360 project (.f3d) is 686 MB. The project involves more than 300 pieces to be printed, including those printed in several copies. I designed a total of 180 pieces for this project.

It's always a great pleasure to watch this ship being born in these expert hands. Great art that we'd love to master...

Thanks to all! @GMK: Do you mean the most complex part or the size of the Fusion360 file of the whole thing?

Tks Mike! Animated 3D 4K view of the MT Shell Welder project. Choose 4K in the bottom right-hand corner of the Youtube settings window. The castle is almost finished, there's still some of the rigging to be fitted in drawn wire, the rest will be fitted when the main tank deck is finished. I couldn't find any decals for the English merchant navy flag, Red Ensign. It's a shame, there's not enough on the market. I had the same problem with the Australian flag. The rudder hasn't been glued down yet to avoid damaging it, the same goes for the poop deck rail and the deck itself and a few other things. I've still got the draughts to glue on the port side, I'm waiting for the decals, not enough figures of the same type are on the board... It's a shame.

♥ SS Delphine ♥ The original SS Yacht Delphine is for sale, Let's hope it finds a buyer. She's practically a historical monument. One of the only ships in the world still sailing with a reciprocating steam engine. https://www-ctcavocats-fr.translate.goog/details-vente+aux+encheres+du+05+02+2025+yacht+marseille-445?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=fr&_x_tr_pto=wapp PUBLIC AUCTION OF A “SUPER YACHT” TYPE VESSEL Starting price of 500,000 euros with option to reduce by a quarter of the hammer price in the event of a lack of bids, Selling expenses, fees and emoluments not included. Docked at the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille, SUD MARINE shipyard SHIPYARD, Bd des Bassins de Radoub, Formes 1, 2 et 7, 13002 Marseille, France. Launched in 1921 at the Great Lakes Engineering Works in Michigan, the S.S. Delphine was, at 78.65 m and 1,255 tons, the largest yacht built in the USA still in existence today. Her first owner, Horace Dodge of American automotive fame, designed Delphine's unique quadruple-expansion steam engines, which are still in operation today. 423,000 euros owed to the Sud-Marine shipyard in Marseille... Almost the selling price of the vessel.

Best wishes to all for 2025. thanks to our many followers!

Tks Dave! Resumed assembly on the Shell Welder after completing one stage of another project, the drawing of the Andromede's hull. I tackled the installation of the draught decals, having found white figures of the right size and trimmed. Well, you have to glue them on very precisely, one by one. It takes quite a bit of time, but the result looks pretty good. We're on foot here, of course. Various white decals 0.7 to 1.7 mm:

Tks Jerry and followers! I haven't done anything on the models for the last 4 days. For aficionados of the 2-cent euro coin, which is 18.7 mm in diameter and gives the scale in both 1/144 and 1/100 versions:

Thanks Pat! 👍 Hull gutting yesterday. This operation was usually rather time-consuming, as it involved virtually remaking a smaller shell within the hull, generally keeping a thickness of 1.5 mm, and assembling it to the other using a negative assembly. Fusion 360's “Shell” function has improved considerably in recent weeks, and all the better for it. This function used to work only once in 5 times, depending on the complexity of the part. As you can see from these screenshots, the program has perfectly managed the internal shape of the bow thruster tunnels, which are quite complex and almost impossible to do as well manually. Today: Windlass/capstan design completed. Just to give you the scale of the ship.

Not too many visual advances today, port aft hatch, power rudder propellers or azipods, but mainly a flattening out of what has already been drawn for the aft section. I've scaled all these accessories to the correct proportion, and changed the size of the nozzles too, which were a bit too small, so the plan isn't right. Changed the pods too, especially the diameter of the angle drive. Not easy to do. I'm quite happy with the 2 ‘sabre’ type propellers, a first for me, I know how to do it now. All I had to go on were the photos. No plan.

Drawing of the transom accessories. The divers' ladder, the platform for boarding and disembarking in the sea, for the inflatable or others. Various fixing points.

Drawing of the 2m50-diameter propeller for the main propulsion system. The Andromeda minehunter fitted with a 3D-printed propeller: By Vincent Groizeleau - 01/14/2021 For the first time, a French Navy ship is equipped with an additive manufacturing propeller. The ship in question is the tripartite mine hunter (CMT) Andromède, which received this equipment during its major technical shutdown in Brest. The 2.5-meter-diameter propeller, comprising five cuproaluminum blades, was produced by Naval Group's Indret site, which has been investing heavily in the industrialization of new 3D printing technologies for several years. The site, located in the Nantes region, has equipped itself with the largest cell in Europe employing the WAAM (Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing) process, which consists of creating objects by successively adding layers of material. 20 meters long and 8 meters wide, this robotized cell, integrated by the Nantes-based subsidiary of the Japanese group Yaskawa, can produce parts weighing up to 5 tons. In this case, each blade blank, made from the same alloy as in the foundry, weighed 300 kilos at the end of additive manufacturing, and 200 after machining. Leaving Indret in October, the five blades made their way to Brest, where local Naval Group teams attached them to the propeller shaft, which was then installed on the CMT (the single propeller constituting the Andromeda's main propulsion system). According to the manufacturer and the navy, tests carried out in December demonstrated the success of the operation. Certified by Bureau Veritas, this propeller was not produced for a test campaign, but is intended to remain on the ship until the end of its life. “In collaboration with the Fleet Support Service and the French Armaments Procurement Agency (Direction Générale de l'Armement), we had to create the entire reference system to meet the very high standards required of military vessels, for example in terms of robustness and acoustic discretion. This propeller will remain on the ship for all its missions, and has no restrictions compared with the one it replaces”, explains Naval Group, where it is claimed that this is the largest propeller produced in this way in Europe, and the first to be installed on a combat vessel...... Read more here: https://www.meretmarine.com/fr/defense/le-chasseur-de-mines-andromede-equipe-d-une-helice-produite-en-impression-3d https://www.meretmarine.com/fr/defense/naval-group-le-site-d-indret-a-l-heure-de-l-impression-3d http://server.idemdito.org/electro/marine/cmt-histo.htm I started from these photos, including the one that's almost full-frontal. I've thickened the blades for printing.