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Boxboat! Without the boxes! - Revell, Columbo Express, 1/700 - Finished


Mjwomack

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They're unglamourous but certainly Salty Seadogs- let's acknowledge the role of container shipping in the modern world. I was going for one build at a time, but the call of the sea is too much and I'm hoping to bash the builds out like liberty ships coming off the slipway.

 

So, I'm adding in one of these

 

IMG-20181227-193343.jpg 

 

More photos and ship's history to follow.

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Great pick. I had a tour of a container ship at Southampton dock once, absolutely fascinating experience. Will you have to paint all those little containers?

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4 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

 

One every 24 days?

With the length of this GB that's 4 or 5 with overtime. I'm going to get distracted by other GB further into the timeframe hence my eagerness to get under way but I'll be happy with 2 or 3.

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Prepare to be bored about Boxboats! Though I'm sure there are people who know far more about them than me

 

The Ship

Columbo Express was launched in 2005 and for a year she and her sisters were the largest container vessels. She was supplanted a year later by Emma Maersk. IIRC Emma Maersl held the title even more briefly because even as she entered service a bigger vessel was under construction such was the growth (in so many ways) of container shipping at the start of the millennium.

 

Columbo Express's other and more dubious fame is that in 2014. she collided with the Merask Tanjong in the Suez Canal, though this didn't block the canal (You might be thinking of the Ever Given in 2021 also on then list of world's biggest ships). Happily for both vessels ,they weren't seriously damaged.

 

Columbo Express is still in service and still plies her trade usually rotating through the Far East and her home port of Hamburg- a salty season jaunt of about 56 days.

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Right, enough background, let's open the Boxboat's box!

 

The Kit

PXL-20221222-190218090.jpg

I'll take Revell's word for it that there are 226 parts in the kit, I'll be having more because I'm adding in the Mk1 Design's PE set. MK1 Designs are South Korean so I like to think it arrived in a shipping container.

Tired Jaws paraphrase (it is the Salty Seadog GB) but at over 45cm, I may need a bigger cutting board.

 

The Instructions

PXL-20221222-190704535.jpg 

Good looking Revell set, the P/E set are not in the same league. I literally couldn't make head nor tail of half of them until I realised the it's double printed with instruction for a Japanese Aircraft carrier. most of the P/E is for railings on deck and stairways, along with replacement bow thrusters and main propellor. Or at least there is clearly P/E for two main propellers. Now like most container ships Columbo Express is single screw so I guess these are doubled up to give the thickness, I say guess because there's no mention in the instructions and the photographs show the kit supplied one in place!

 

The Containers

To the business part of proceedings then...

PXL-20221222-190445735.jpg 

 

Especially for @TonyOD benefit- how will I be painting the containers? C-Rail-Intermodal produce an accurate range of paints (feel like you're down the rabbit hole yet?!) which will be a big help. Refrigerated containers are white for added insulation which is easy. The logos and marking will be hard...

Because of the German connection, and I suspect licensing Revell provide loads of delicate Hapag Lloyd logo. In reality ships scoop up anything they can, so various containers will be on one ship, they're not sorted K Line, Maersk etc. So they will need mixing up.

 

That's only a big problem, at this scale colour will do and the logos can be overlooked, especially for Cronos which is pretty small even in real life! The bigger problem is that to save making a thousand containers, they're supplied ready stacked to go straight in. Nice you think?

 

In reality, the only time a ship is full, and with the company containers is for publicity shots. The economics of shipping obviously call for the ship to be nearly full but nobody is going to incur dock charges waiting for an extra 50 containers. Likewise the constraints of balance, sight-lines and hazardous cargo make it very rare for a ship to be as full as on Revell's proposal.

 

Before the containers get on board there's going to be some thought about whether to cut some of the stacks down, if so which ones etc.

 

And there it is. Boxboat bliss (for me)

Thanks for stopping by and I'll. try not to be too boring about shipping containers!

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2 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

The logos and marking will be hard...

White Ensign models do a decal sheet for this kit - https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/WEM+1700+MV+Colombo+Express+Container+Decals+WEM+D+702/3530/#.Y6TVCFHP23A

 

2 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

In reality ships scoop up anything they can

No, they don't, they operate routes in conferences, a group of companies pool ships and "slots" (container space on ships on the route) to provide a bus service on a particular route, typically weekly. The Far east service used to be an 8 week round trip, so 8 ships required for that particular route, but since 2008 economic crisis and a drive for fuel efficiency leading to "slow steaming" it's now typically a 9 week round trip and requires an extra ship to maintain the weekly service. When the kit was released Hapag Lloyd was part of the Grand Alliance conference with P&O Nedlloyd, OOCL and NYK. WEM provides decals for these plus P&O, but not Nedlloyd - the two companies had recently merged and their old boxes were still in common circulation. As well as the owned boxes of the conference companies, there will be a significant number of leased boxes from companies such as Cronos, Triton and Florens. You would  occasionally see containers from opposition conferences, but not very often.

 

2 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

In reality, the only time a ship is full, and with the company containers is for publicity shots.

In general, and for Hapag Lloyd, yes, but there were go-it alone companies - Evergreen used to ship predominantly only owned boxes, and at one time could regularly be seen with full stacks on the outboard sides to give the appearance of being full even though they were sitting well out of the water.

 

2 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

The economics of shipping obviously call for the ship to be nearly full but nobody is going to incur dock charges waiting for an extra 50 containers

Generally, no, they wouldn't, but it does happen if there's an urgent need for the boxes/cargo elsewere, and it's not unheard of to cut out boxes and go without them if the ship is behind schedule and risks being late at the other end.

 

2 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

very rare for a ship to be as full as on Revell's proposal.

When the cargo is there, it's quite common to be full to capacity on the outbound and homebound legs; when the cargo isn't there it's not uncommon to fill unbooked slots with empties. 

 

2 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

Before the containers get on board there's going to be some thought about whether to cut some of the stacks down, if so which ones etc.

Between ports at each end it's quite common to see complete bays empty between full ones, often alternate ones; this is so the maximum number of portainers can work the ship in each port (they can't work adjacent bays as they can't get close enough together) You can also put some of the smaller stacks in place of the larger ones - but not the other way round! There's plenty of photo's on the net.

 

3 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

I'm sure there are people who know far more about them than me

Cough.... 35 years opening the curtains to a view of containers - over them if I was lucky, or the doors of the same one for 4 weeks if I wasn't......

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41 minutes ago, TonyOD said:

Got to be honest out of all the builds I've seen so far this is the one I'm most excited about. Container ship. Hooda thunk?

In the words of Spandau Ballet. I don't need this pressure on!

Best see what I can do with it.

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@Dave Swindell I knew they'd be someone who knew more about them than me (I'm a railway career really).

 

Ooh White Ensign, ouch look at the postage, look again they have P&O Ned Lloyd! Tempting, more slippery slope.

 

Routes and conferences, I nearly described them as buses for cargo but thought that sounded a bit derogatory about them chugging around; it's not really a way to see 'the world' is it? Staying on the conferences thought, not a fan of the ONE livery and so miss K-Line (especially the refrigerated scheme! This is getting very sad, so I'll go all in and say that the 'old' MSC scheme was my favourite but I also miss Norfolk Line!

 

Evergreen used to ship predominantly only owned boxes, and at one time could regularly be seen with full stacks on the outboard sides to give the appearance of being full even though they were sitting well out of the water. -Hold that thought! Now you mention it that's only how I've seen Evergreen's at Felixstowe. Might be difficulties cutting the stacks down because of how Revell have supplied them.

 

Between ports at each end it's quite common to see complete bays empty between full ones, often alternate ones; this is so the maximum number of portainers can work the ship in each port (they can't work adjacent bays as they can't get close enough together)  - now that is a workable suggestion. Despite being a railwayman, I love heading north out of Manningrtee and looking down the estuary at the cranes at Felix. And 'NO! @TonyOD I'm not building a quayside to go with it, but don't let me stop you!

 

Cough.... 35 years opening the curtains to a view of containers - over them if I was lucky, or the doors of the same one for 4 weeks if I wasn't...... I think I'm jealous but I suspect the novelty wears of and it probably becomes like me and my childhood interest in railways, which eventually turned into every working day full of meetings with lawyers and accountants and nothing to do with trains!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/22/2022 at 11:05 PM, Dave Swindell said:
On 12/22/2022 at 7:55 PM, Mjwomack said:

 

White Ensign models do a decal sheet for this kit - https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/WEM+1700+MV+Colombo+Express+Container+Decals+WEM+D+702/3530/#.Y6TVCFHP23A

Dear Reader, I brought them.  Not sure if there is a naval connection in Pride & Prejudice but it seemed an appropriate comment. Doubt they'll have salty-sea dogged their way across the Atlantic by next weekend, but equally they're not needed until a lot later in proceedings.

 

Off to get some containers paints next, but they've only got to come from Scotland. Oh I've just realised how this might get embarassing- the race is on!

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On 12/31/2022 at 3:47 PM, Mjwomack said:

Dear Reader, I brought them.  Not sure if there is a naval connection in Pride & Prejudice but it seemed an appropriate comment.

 

Two of Austen's brothers were admirals but Persuasion is the book that features a naval captain as a major character. I think the military in P&P is all army. 

 

However the line, "Reader, I married him" is from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.

 

👨‍🏫

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16 minutes ago, Bobby No Mac said:

Crikey, I can see this thread's going to be an education in both container shipping and 19th century literature :D


What with this and @Bertie McBoatface’s stirring tales of chasing whales…

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9 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

 

Two of Austen's brothers were admirals but Persuasion is the book that features a naval captain as a major character. I think the military in P&P is all army. 

 

However the line, "Reader, I married him" is from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.

 

👨‍🏫

No prizes for guessing my English O level grade - I leaving reading long books to my wife and daughter!

I have heard of the Brontes though because Howarth station is very popular with railway modellers. a case of reflected glory, I'm just not sure which way round. S

Being confined to GMT, it'll be the morning before anything happens in this build and then it'll be The Salty Soapy Seadog GB as everything gets a good scrubbing on deck. Then I guess it might be time for a tot of rum after that.

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3 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

No prizes for guessing my English O level grade - I leaving reading long books to my wife and daughter!

I have heard of the Brontes though because Howarth station is very popular with railway modellers. a case of reflected glory, I'm just not sure which way round. S

Being confined to GMT, it'll be the morning before anything happens in this build and then it'll be The Salty Soapy Seadog GB as everything gets a good scrubbing on deck. Then I guess it might be time for a tot of rum after that.

 

I have news, and a vote of approval.

 

The Howarth Model Shop, complete with 'unusual' customer service and the collie dog that bit my bum has closed its doors for good. Another local model shop bites the dust.

 

And grog would seem to be an essential part of the seaman's life so I'm with you there. "Splice the mainbrace!"

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14 minutes ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

And grog would seem to be an essential part of the seaman's life so I'm with you there. "Splice the mainbrace!"

Admiral's measures all round.

Must've been some sort of Salty Sea Dog to go around biting your bum - did it mistake you for a landlubber??

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2 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

Admiral's measures all round.

Must've been some sort of Salty Sea Dog to go around biting your bum - did it mistake you for a landlubber??

 

I was just stood waiting for the owner to acknowledge my existence so I could pay when the dog sneaked up behind me and nipped me, as collies do to sheep. Perhaps I was being sheepish? I yelped and said "Your __  dog just bit me!" and the owner said "Yeah, he does that." The remark cost him the sale. The dog I'd have forgiven but the owner? Never. 😆

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Sunday night is Soapy Sea Dog Night! Wish I'd got some suoermatey for the soak and wash but hey'o.

 

PXL-20230108-163349283-MP.jpg

 

All in together lads- HMS Hotspur's parts are in there as well, hopefully not feeling too intimidated. Primer goes on tomorrow and the fun won't be far away.

For now, engine to idle.

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12 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

Engine to stop, engineroom on standby, 1 hour's notice.

The main engine on these ships is directly connected to the propeller, if the engine is running, the ship is moving. 

Sad to say, it's not going anywhere tonight. It's not that I've self control, just that practicality has out trumped me (for once)

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23 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

The main engine on these ships is directly connected to the propeller, if the engine is running, the ship is moving. 

 

What's the turning circle like?

 

(to the nearest mile :D )

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