Drawing and 3D printing of a 1950-70 lifeboat at 1/125

[Iceman 29]

I started the design of this boat this morning for a friend, it will be finished probably tomorrow. Once printed it will be 60 mm long, but can be declined in different sizes.

 

Here is the model on the plan which is almost generic for the time.

 

The boat is covered here, not with a boat cover, but with removable sheet metal plates. The material is more durable and waterproof.

 

This is not the final model because there are still some details to be rectified and added, pulleys etc..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[robgizlu]

It's wonderful to see it come alive.

Rob

[PF Naughton]

Hi,

That looks really nice

[bootneck]

That is fantastic Pascal.  Getting those lines to come together so smoothly is a pleasure to see.

 

Mike

[beefy66]

That must take some time to get it all drawn up amazing stuff Pascal.  

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Iceman 29]

Tks all ! 

 

These boats are intended for the friend  Jean-Louis mounted liner Pasteur (1938) to 1:125, these lifeboat are not commercially available at this scale. There are 30 such boats on this ship before its refit (Liner Bremen), of which 4 near the bridge are smaller Titanic style boats.

 

The davits for the bridge boats are of the well known Walin type, which were used on many ships in the early 20th century, notably the Olympic class.

A particularity of the Pasteur is the stacking of the boats in pairs.

 

 

So I had to find out how the upper boat was supported. I was missing pieces of the puzzle. Most of the pictures of the Pasteur liner that can be found on the internet are wide shots. No photos taken on board are available. So I called my friend Roland Grard who is the right man for the job when it comes to finding a drawing or a particular photo.

 

I found some HD pictures of the Pasteur, so I was able to zoom in on the part I was interested in, but only from the sea side. As the supports are on the opposite side, I had no idea of their shape and layout.

 

First, some pictures of the Pasteur at the Landevennec boat cemetery (in my region of Brittany, France) in 1957, it will pass there twice, also in 1939 after its launching.

"1939 - The ship is requisitioned and goes to the "ship's graveyard" at Landévennec near Brest on 4 September where she is repainted in light grey and equipped at the stern with 2 x 90mm guns (Saint-Etienne 1892 model) and 4 anti-aircraft machine guns arranged around the chimney."

 

"Decommissioned again on 25 January 1957, the Pasteur is again in the "ship's graveyard" at Landévennec.

 

Sold to the German shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) on 18 September 1957, she left Brest on the 26th.

 

From 8 January 1958 and for 16 months, she underwent major transformations at the Bremer Vulkan shipyards in order to increase her transport capacity. The most visible modifications were new masts, a new deck and especially a new chimney.

 

Renamed Bremen on 23 May 1959 (5th of the name), she became the German prestige liner on the North Atlantic from 9 July, on the Bremen-New York route via Southampton and Cherbourg.

 

In just over 10 years of operation under the German flag, the Bremen will carry 360,000 passengers."

 

 

 

Some detail shots of the boats, this nice HD photo found on Flickr was quite useful too:

 

"The French steamship Pasteur, chartered by the Dutch government, with more than 4,000 repatriated soldiers from Jakarta and the surrounding area, is towed through the North Sea Canal by tugs from Reederij Gebr. Goedkoop, 24 February 1950."

 

Photo Ben van Meerendonk / AHF, IISH collection, Amsterdam

 

The HD version, downloadable below right:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The red arrow indicates the spinnaker pole for the sounding machine, a system identical to the Olympic class.

 

The 2 Titanic style clinker lifeboats are clearly visible on the bow, probably 30 feet.

 

 

 

All these photos did not show me what I was looking for, Roland allowed me to visualize what I had to draw.

 

These snippets of photos are taken from this beautiful book "Le Pasteur 1938-1980" by Jean-Yves Brouard (French author) published in November 2005. I will surely buy it because this ship is very beautiful and historically interesting.

 

https://livre.fnac.com/a1763510/Jean-Yves-Brouard-Le-pasteur-1938-1980

 

 

The last photo solves the problem. Thanks Roland, now I just have to draw it all.

 

 

 

[Iceman 29]

That's it, a few details to rectify.

 

I still have the small lifeboat models to adapt that I already have in stock, it will be quick.

 

I simplified some details in relation with the 1/125 scale and a sailing model.

 

The two kinds of horns are "off-shore derricks", a classic system on this type of lifeboat to prevent it from snagging when it is slumped along the hull (Wall), especially in the event of constant rolling or heeling of the ship which would force it along the hull during the descent, one can compare that to sledge blades.

 

They are released once the boat is in the water to avoid drag, especially if the oars are used to move away from the ship (engine failure).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at the photo above, a small detail amused me and made me think of my job as a former sailor where often common sense governs in order not to get hurt or stay alive, risk prevention is the key word. 

 

If you magnify a little, you can see that the control cranks of the Welin davits are mounted upside down, and there is probably one main reason for this: to avoid catching the crank in your legs or pelvis when you are walking around, and secondly, although theoretically this is impossible with a worm, to avoid the davit deviating unexpectedly at sea, as the crank will get stuck in the davit support if it turns alone.

 

Caution should be exercised with davits, a device that has killed more sailors than it has saved.

 

Good bosun and good first mate!

 

[Iceman 29]

That's it, details to check, massive (!) 3D printing to do, with a prototype first...

 

 

 

[Iceman 29]

Return to the real life! 😜

 

The print is of very good quality.

 

The vertical position that I now use systematically to print is a big help, of course you have to hollow out or squared off the inside of the hull to avoid too much tension on the thin supports. But it works.

 

A part of the 30 lifeboats to be printed. They are already printed in their entirety.

 

It will take more than 2 hours to remove the supports from the boats and davits.

 

The 3D printing boards:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Courageous]

They look nice and neat.

 

Stuart

[Pat1954]

They look great.  My passion is 1:600 liners.  Most are scratchbuilds using plastic card.

 

Would it be possible to print these lifeboats to 1:600 please?  Can we exchange emails on this site or is that precluded?

Many thanks 

 

http://modelshipgallery.com/gallery/users/Patrick-Camilleri/user-index.html

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Pat1954
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