Bangseat Posted November 28, 2022 Share Posted November 28, 2022 Evening all. I do love a good ship, even if I've been entirely absorbed by aeroplanes for most of my modelling life. For the past couple of years I've been absorbed by making aircraft kits using 3d printing. The need to make a model for myself is now overwhelming. Whilst renovating my charmingly dilapidated victorian semi, I've often thought a nice ship would look good on the wall, and also be a good excuse to make a model. What ship. Well, I like a funnel. I first thought something contemporary with the house would be nice, like an Edgar class cruiser. My house is a bit of a protected cruiser I fancy, not a dreadnought but not a puffer either. But, I have a peculiar aversion to any scale other than 72nd. An Edgar would come out at 1 metre 60, and the walls wouldn't cope. Then I inherited this: It is the SS South Gare. It was owned by my wife's great grandfather, and sunk by a U boat in 1918. His son, my grandfather in law, rebuilt the family shipping business into quite something until he sold it in the 90s. I don't think we'd live in a nice house if it wasn't for him (he was very generous to his grandchildren). All I have is the photo. Judging by Jack on deck, I estimate the ship is 57 metres. I made a very quick drawing: ..and I got designing on cad. My plan is to 3d print the basics, and to add to it with traditional modelling. Ive just set the bow on to print... ...so we'll see what we get in the morning! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted November 28, 2022 Author Share Posted November 28, 2022 I should say, I clearly have no plans for this ship. I don't know whether they would be likely to exist or not, but I would guess if they did it would be a job for a very diligent historian. I have based the hull form on this commonly available plan, and taken inspiration from SS Robin which can't be a million miles off. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faraway Posted November 28, 2022 Share Posted November 28, 2022 Ooooo. A real ship. Jon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Swindell Posted November 29, 2022 Share Posted November 29, 2022 18 hours ago, Bangseat said: It is the SS South Gare. It was owned by my wife's great grandfather, and sunk by a U boat in 1918. His son, my grandfather in law, rebuilt the family shipping business into quite something until he sold it in the 90s. I don't think we'd live in a nice house if it wasn't for him (he was very generous to his grandchildren). All I have is the photo. Judging by Jack on deck, I estimate the ship is 57 metres. I made a very quick drawing: Uboat.net is usually good at showing details of ships attacked by Uboats, but a search for South Gare didn't show anything, was she re-named by any chance? https://uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted November 29, 2022 Author Share Posted November 29, 2022 2 hours ago, Dave Swindell said: Uboat.net is usually good at showing details of ships attacked by Uboats, but a search for South Gare didn't show anything, was she re-named by any chance? https://uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/ You are right - a bit of family legend getting in the way of the truth as it turns out. It seems she was sunk in convoy (from the caption of the photo I inherited) but due to accident: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?65647 Also some stats on the ship. 63 m rather than 57, and now I have the beam as well! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Swindell Posted November 29, 2022 Share Posted November 29, 2022 1 hour ago, Bangseat said: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?65647 Also some stats on the ship. 63 m rather than 57, and now I have the beam as well! Yes, another useful site that had slipped my memory, I found some info on there about the SS Northfield which was lost to a torpedo in 1918, my 19yr old great uncle was lost along with all hands. I've got entries from Lloyds list for dimensions and a contemporary painting/postcard but no photo's. https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?77622 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted November 30, 2022 Share Posted November 30, 2022 An interesting thread by the looks of it, a mixture of old and new techniques, what's not to like. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted December 3, 2022 Author Share Posted December 3, 2022 After a couple of printer false starts, I got a good print of the bow a few days ago: I'm saying this is my prototype - I have actually adapted the design since printing, so I'll be doing this all over again! It's an all night print, about £5 worth of resin, and there are 6 sections in total so this will take a while, probably printing on weekend nights as my printers work on my kits Mon-Fri, but I hope to have a hull by the new year. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seadog Posted December 8, 2022 Share Posted December 8, 2022 Looking good. 3d printing fascinates me. Wish it had been around when I would have really been able to get into it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted March 13, 2023 Author Share Posted March 13, 2023 Well, as ever, time marches on. This weekend however transpired to be a good window to actually print my hull. The hull is in six sections, each a 12 hour print on a large format printer. Luckily I have several, so in the end it was 36 hours on 2 printers. I also realised I had accumulated some spare resin; some old elegoo grey that seemed to be a bit unreliable making delicate stuff, some translucent resin ordered by mistake, and some E-Sun hard tough - good stuff, but didn't solve the problem I had originally envisaged. So, I made my witches brew, and 36 hours and 3 litres of resin later... So yes, huge. Sticking it together will be fun. And, scale excepted, rather different to my usual stuff: 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted March 23, 2023 Author Share Posted March 23, 2023 Having great fun here slapping on P38 and watching my copious sanding dust dancing in the gentle breeze.. Here for scale is Jack (actually an Airfix U Bootmann) Next task is a plasticard deck onto which I will apply planking. Also, I want to make some effort to render the plating and riveting. Here, I am on a learning curve. I'm looking at pictures of plated hulls: (SS Robin, covered in patches of course) (Lusitania, looking brand spankers) Anyone got any tips - a handy web page primer maybe on how ships were plated in the 1890s? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted June 9, 2023 Author Share Posted June 9, 2023 Update time - much delayed, but this is a 1 hour pw project at the moment with everything else going on. Hull is substantially complete, and pieces of superstructure are starting to appear: The hull plating is done with masked stripes of filler primer and scribed vertical lines (this bit still very much progressing) I envisaged scratch building most of the non-hull, but 3d printing is working out very well so I have expanded the scope of the digital design: Once the hull has at least the basic black and red oxide on it, I'll be planking the deck, a fun first for a plane builder like me. I've got my planks ready and waiting... Then its a case of gradually filling the deck with various nautical detritus and making her look a bit lubberly. No references here, I'm just learning as i go and trying to use a bit of semi informed imagination... Cheers all 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard E Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 On 3/23/2023 at 10:39 AM, Bangseat said: Anyone got any tips - a handy web page primer maybe on how ships were plated in the 1890s? To offer a suggestion: see if you can find any videos showing how the Titanic was built, there was a very good documentary on the Idiot Box recently showing how the ship was constructed which described how the hull plates were rivetted together and attached to the frame of the ship. 31 minutes ago, Bangseat said: I fear you might be tempting the "Modelling Gods" to do their worst by leaving your excellent creation balanced on the corner of your desk like that 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted June 9, 2023 Author Share Posted June 9, 2023 3 hours ago, Richard E said: I fear you might be tempting the "Modelling Gods" to do their worst by leaving your excellent creation balanced on the corner of your desk like that Ha - at this scale, if I knock it I reckon I'll come off worse than the model... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 What an interesting thread. I like the personal connection which always makes the story of a model a bit special. I gather you are a kit producer. Whic is your company? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted June 10, 2023 Author Share Posted June 10, 2023 1 hour ago, Bertie McBoatface said: I gather you are a kit producer. Whic is your company? Bertie - I'm VFR Models, Cessnas, Pipers and the like in 72nd scale. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 1 hour ago, Bangseat said: Bertie - I'm VFR Models, Cessnas, Pipers and the like in 72nd scale. That gives you a very particular set of skills. Skills acquired over a very long career. Skills that make you a hero for people like me. I expect you to find all of the potential problems in this build ... And kill them. 😂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandsaw Steve Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 This is very cool and your excellent progress is shaming me to make some more progress on my long-stalled SS Xantho project. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 Just found this thread. What a treat! I just checked my Ships In Focus Record issues 1-7, and I don't see South Gare. FWIW, there are a number of coasters in issues 1 & 2. I wonder if Coasters In Focus may be of interest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theskits62 Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 Think i'll pull up a chair for this one. Great progress so far. I'm currently building a round table minesweeper in 1/96th scale and am also at the hull plating/rivetting stage. I've gone for these which so far seem to be going on fairly easily and look about the right size. They also do them in black and in double rows. https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/QRV-022?result-token=GUlyk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted June 12, 2023 Author Share Posted June 12, 2023 20 hours ago, dnl42 said: Just found this thread. What a treat! I just checked my Ships In Focus Record issues 1-7, and I don't see South Gare. FWIW, there are a number of coasters in issues 1 & 2. I wonder if Coasters In Focus may be of interest? Yes it is 🤗 - I've only got one of those books (Blue Funnel) but I'm always looking out for them on fleabay. 19 hours ago, theskits62 said: Think i'll pull up a chair for this one. Great progress so far. I'm currently building a round table minesweeper in 1/96th scale and am also at the hull plating/rivetting stage. I've gone for these which so far seem to be going on fairly easily and look about the right size. They also do them in black and in double rows. https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/QRV-022?result-token=GUlyk That is a great call. A ships rivet is probably ca 0.5mm in 1:72 scale, so they really ought to be there. At this rate, i expect to be painting in mid 2025... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theskits62 Posted June 19, 2023 Share Posted June 19, 2023 On 6/12/2023 at 1:45 PM, Bangseat said: Yes it is 🤗 - I've only got one of those books (Blue Funnel) but I'm always looking out for them on fleabay. That is a great call. A ships rivet is probably ca 0.5mm in 1:72 scale, so they really ought to be there. At this rate, i expect to be painting in mid 2025... I've just spent the weekend rivetting and thought you might be interested in the way they look before painting (which will probably make them invisible of course) !! 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 21 hours ago, theskits62 said: I've just spent the weekend rivetting and thought you might be interested in the way they look before painting (which will probably make them invisible of course) !! That's exactly what I'm after! Great stuff. I ordered some rivets last week, they're currently en route from Kazakhstan. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted July 21, 2023 Author Share Posted July 21, 2023 A brief update as I stagger from crisis to crisis outside the serene world of ship modelling. Entire family laid low with Norovirus this week… The hull is taking shape and the long process of scribing and riveting the hull (Quinta Studio rivets thank you very much) is about 60% through, once finished the hull can be painted and the wood deck can be laid. The details are the most fun as ever, so I have a head start on these even though I could clearly wait until I have a finished hull to stick them to… The impaled carbon fibre rod in the pictures is not a final mast rest assured (there are 2) so I’m going to have to put my big boy pants on and learn to do this properly. It turns out, these cannot be 3d printed… Anyone got a hack for masts, or is this the domain of the master woodcrafter with a mini lathe? A fascinating project so far. What I have concluded is that resin printing, even if you have giant machine, is probably not the way to go for hulls, masts and anything big due to the tendency for warping. If I get into this in a big way, I’ll be in the market for a giant FDM printer – I’m already making day-dreamy calculations around what can be done with the biggest hobby printers (pre-dreadnoughts yes, Lusitania still a stretch!) Happy Friday all 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 Your droopy mast made me spit my tea! 🤣 Use wooden dowel for the mast. Taper it by spinning it up in an electric drill and caressing it with sandpaper. Be careful of the dust and don't goo too fast, especially when the far end of the mast is unsupported because it might whip itself to bits and hurt you. That's my way to do it but if you search YouTube for Tapering Masts, I bet you find a dozen different techniques practiced by the wooden boat modellers of the world. You could probably 3D the rings etc??? 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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