SS Xantho, Western Australia's First Steamship - Scratchbuild - 1:100

[ArnoldAmbrose]

       Gidday Steve, yeah I think most of us do the odd "dry fit" test from time to time. I think it's good to see a ship progressing like this. Otherwise a ship model can bog down a bit, with subsequent loss of mojo.

       That's certainly a nice-looking stand.       Regards, Jeff.

[Malc2]

Its certainly looking a bit different to the artisits impression back on page 1!

Great work.

Malc.

[Bandsaw Steve]

On 28/01/2024 at 23:15, Malc2 said:

It’s certainly looking a bit different to the artisits impression back on page 1

Yes indeed. 
 

Of course it’s very important to remember that both are just artists impressions and I don’t really consider this one ‘right’ and the other one ‘wrong’.

 

I was surprised at how much superstructure Ross gave this interpretation and hence how ‘modern’ it looked, but despite Xantho’s faults she was a sea-going steamship capable of travelling from Scotland to Australia. She was also capable of carrying up to 24 people or more so it’s not unreasonable that she would have a bridge, charthouse/ captain’s cabin, galley, and skylights. She will also need a toilet (heads). This view is supported by the list of auctioned items. I now think that the original impressions have a deck plan that look a bit sparse. 
 

A shame really because ‘sparse’ is much easier to model! 🤣

 

 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

3 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

She will also need a toilet.

Err, "Heads" Steve. 🙂       I guess to maximize cargo capacity in the hull a lot of the stuff you mention would be superstructure, with crew space in the bows. But I stress the word "guess". 🙂

Regards, Jeff.

[Bandsaw Steve]

12 minutes ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Err, "Heads" Steve. 🙂       I guess to maximize cargo capacity in the hull a lot of the stuff you mention would be superstructure, with crew space in the bows. But I stress the word "guess". 🙂

Regards, Jeff.

‘Heads’ edit made.

 

’Maximize cargo capacity?’
Yes - agreed. No point in wasting potentially economic space. WRT the layout, much depends on how much Robert Stewart was willing to invest time and money on this project. It’s easy to dismiss this as ‘do as little as possible’ but if with a bit of ‘superficial’ superstructure construction he could make a more modern-looking ship his additional outlay might be more than recovered.

 

’Guess’

Yes, it is a guess. But one that’s fairly tightly constrained by documentation and by the known state of shipping technology of the day. 
 

As stated at the start I want to make something that can’t be proven wrong. That’s why Ross rejected my suggestion that we put a heli-pad on the stern.

 

🤣

[Brandy]

On 1/29/2024 at 6:06 AM, Bandsaw Steve said:

That’s why Ross rejected my suggestion that we put a heli-pad on the stern.

Of course he did. Everyone knows it should be up front!

 

Ian

[Bandsaw Steve]

7 hours ago, Brandy said:

Of course he did. Everyone knows it should be up front!

 

Ian

It can’t go fo’ard - helicopter operations would interfere with the navigation radar.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

28 minutes ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

41 minutes ago, Brandy said:

Of course he did. Everyone knows it should be up front!

 

Ian

It can’t go forward - helicopter operations would interfere with the navigation radar.

Who needs nav radar when you have GPS? And we ARE talking 19th century vessels? 😁 Regards, Jeff.

[Bandsaw Steve]

8 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Who needs nav radar when you have GPS? And we ARE talking 19th century vessels? 😁 Regards, Jeff.

As it says in the first post of this thread -  ‘Xantho was a rather extraordinary vessel in certain regards’. 🤔

[Bandsaw Steve]

Stolen Time

 

Over yonder on the Aviation WIP pages I recently made a pledge that the Mirage III project would be wrapped up by no later than 01 March 2024. This is both the 103rd anniversary of the formation of the RAAF and the third anniversary of that mad project.  Unfortunately, since I'm having a great time at the moment with the SS Xantho - and actually making progress too - I fear that I am stealing a great deal of time from the Mirage and spending it on this thing.

 

Here's where we last saw our little steamship. As noted in the commentary much of the superstructure shown here is just a sort of preliminary 'roughing out' of what the final shapes might look like. Having made the hull of this ship four times I have no qualms about spending five minutes cutting a piece of MDF to about the right shape just to see how things might look. 

 

Sooner or later though some serious work must begin.

 

Ross chose to put the ship's galley in a prominent, elevated position directly behind the bridge which makes sense to me, not only because this is a typical arrangement but because some galley equipment was salvaged from the wreck, so may have been near the surface after the ship sank. 

 

If you have read my threads before you may well have heard me rant about the excellent properties of gridded plastic.  Once again I sing this stuff's praises. As a modeler who is always geometrically challenged and incapable of building any 'true' right angle this stuff is a Godsend. Here I've marked up the walls, window and roof of the galley in such a way that I can just...

 

cut out the outline of the basic geometrical shapes and scour where certain folds need to be made...

 

and fold the whole thing like a piece of oragami.  Obviously some of the edges are a bit rough and this needs some more surficial work, but this structure is both geometrically 'true' and a very close dimensional match to Ross's drawing.   

 

It's also hollow, so by cutting out a couple of rectangles of exactly the correct shape I can make a little floor for the galley which...

 

when glued onto the deck of the ship serves as a mounting block for the rest of the structure. Now I can remove the galley at will and return it to exactly the same spot every time.  It's a bit like making my own kit.

 

Now let's turn our attention to  'cabin-shield' or 'weather-guard' or... whatever it's called. (If anyone knows the proper name please write in). This is the curved, continuous band of protective metal that extends right across the beam of the ship - from gunwale to gunwale - directly under the bridge. Underneath this shield, we hypothesize, was a captain's cabin and chart room,  a small first mate's cabin and various lockers for stores and equipment.   Of all the features that Ross incorporated into the final drawings this is the one that most surprised me.  I'm not saying it's 'wrong' just that I never would have thought to incorporate it. I have also been very worried about how to model it. Here's how I managed.

 

Start with a piece of 0.25mm thick brass sheet and carefully mark up the relevant geometry. Note that I know of no such thing as gridded brass, but i wish there was such stuff!

 

Now chain-drill the brass and cut from hole to hole with a jeweler's saw. I'm not sure why I made such a complete mess of the drilling and cutting but... there you go.

 

Now sand all the rough edges flat.  Brass is magnificent material to work with; very forgiving. I used to be intimidated by brass as a modelling material thinking that only 'professionals' could use it. Nothing could be further from the truth, it's easier to use than cardboard.

 

This is the result of the first cuts.

 

Now I annealed the brass with the family's creme-brulee burner...

 

carved out a balsa former...

 

taped the brass to the former...

 

and bent the entire thing into the required shape with my fingers.

 

After a bit of measuring, cutting and adjustment we have a fairly convincing looking 'weather-shield' thing.

 

Now I've cut the balsa former in an appropriate way to ensure that it fits in between the gunwales, have made an alley for the crew...

 

and used some more gridded plastic sheet to tidy up the front and rear of the cabins. 

 

Here’s the hatch at the rear of the alley-way. This will be at the top of a short interior ladder. Mind your head!  

 

Here is this structure fitted alongside the galley and some new cargo hatches.

 

And here's what the SS Xantho looks like at the moment. Note also that there is a new access at the fore-castle for the crew to get to their fo'ard, below-deck cabins.  This structure was made in a very similar way to the galley.

 

Here she is from a different angle.

 

That's about it for now.

 

This project has had long periods when it has not been much fun, but at the moment I'm really enjoying this so you never know, I might just steal a few more hours off the Mirage.

 

Stay tuned.

 

Best Regards,

Bandsaw Steve.

 

 

[theskits62]

Looking great, must be nice to not be working on the hull !!

[Bandsaw Steve]

7 hours ago, theskits62 said:

must be nice to not be working on the hull !!

Yes it is! And it’s nice to have the bulk of the research out of the way too although some of the forthcoming details, including the rigging, might require some more investigation and thought. 

[bissyboat]

This vessel grabs the eye. I´m watching with interest. ⚓👍

[Dave Swindell]

Interesting video including a bit on Xantho and her engine just gone up on Youtube - enjoy 🙂

 

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Hello @Dave Swindell

 

Thanks so much for posting that - what a great little video piece. Very interesting, especially WRT the history of the gunboats for which the Penn Engine was made.

 

In my time researching this ship I have become fairly familiar with the Xantho story and feel compelled to point out two - understandable - errors in the video. 

 

The first is that the long-section  image of the 'Xantho' shown at 25 minutes with the narration 'THIS, at least in drawing form here, is the SS Xantho'  is definitely NOT the Xantho. This particular drawing is of H.M.S Skylark (from 'The Wooden Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy by E.H.H. Archibald, 1968).  The cause of the confusion is that this was one of the gunships for which the Penn engine was originally designed.  The hull form is not that of Xantho and the location of the boiler and funnel is completely incorrect relative to original documentation and the wreck. 

 

Secondly, the narrator discusses how the 'Timbers started to Work' and she began to take on water and that the impact with the sand bar was enough to 'Start? (I can't make out the exact word) most of the remaining timbers and she sank'.  Just to be clear - Xantho definitely did not have a timber hull she was an iron-hull ship. Certainly some water came in through gaps in her deck timbers but the main damage of the final impact was certainly to her iron hull plating.

 

Never mind such nit-picking, this is a great little video and fun to watch so thanks for posting it. 

 

As for the model, I'm having a very busy year with too many projects, both modelling and non-modelling, on the go so alas there is not much to report. I have done some detailing work and a full update might come along soonish, but do not hold your breath.

 

Best Regards,

Steve

[ArnoldAmbrose]

1 hour ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

but do not hold your breath.

NOW you tell us. I've been doing that since February. Can I breath out now? 😁       Regards, Jeff.

[Bandsaw Steve]

12 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

NOW you tell us. I've been doing that since February. Can I breathe out now? 😁       Regards, Jeff.

For God’s sake please YES! And if you haven’t breathed since February I would advise a quick visit to your Dr, just for a check-up, there could be sides-effects! 😱

[Dingbat]

Xantho sank 152 years and three weeks ago tomorrow. Amazingly her engine was raised 40 year ago. She's a patient little ship...

[Martian]

On 06/06/2024 at 04:31, Bandsaw Steve said:

For God’s sake please YES! And if you haven’t breathed since February I would advise a quick visit to your Dr, just for a check-up, there could be sides-effects! 😱

Alternatively, you could do Jeff's respiratory system a favour save his doctor a lot of hassle and just crack on with the build. 

 

Slave Driver of Mars 

[Bandsaw Steve]

I’m ashamed of the lack of progress on both this project and the Mirage. It’s just poor form really. I have not forgotten or abandoned either of them I just have had other things going on and have stuck the model-builders equivalent of ‘writers block’ with both of them. The priority remains with the Mirage and once I sort out the canopy I think that one will wrap-up quickly. 
 

I hope. 🙄

[ArnoldAmbrose]

16 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

I’m ashamed of the lack of progress on both this project and the Mirage.

Don't be.

 

16 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

The priority remains with the Mirage and once I sort out the canopy I think that one will wrap-up quickly. 

       I can understand how a single item can put the brakes on a build or mojo. Sort it out in your own good time, but if you don't mind I won't hold my breath this time. 🤪 But seriously, she'll be worth waiting for.

Regards, Jeff.

[Andreas.R]

Nice to see your build processing again!

My SMS Friedrich der Grosse is also putting the brakes on the build, can`t find time and motivation even as it is to 98% complete!

Regards

Andreas