Australian coaster Blythe Star - 1973 - 3D print - 1/100

[Iceman 29]

The story:

 

 

This is a new 3D project initiated by friend Roland Grard and myself. 

 

 

Roland, who lives in Le Havre, has been in contact over the last few years with Australians who are interested in the sinking of the coaster Blythe Star. The ship sank very quickly without a distress message being sent out, but the ten crew members were able to get to safety in an inflatable raft. 

 

One of his Australian correspondents wrote a book about the tragedy, and was able to send them photos and plans of the boat. Other plans were "unearthed" from the Australian archives by another of his Australian correspondents who was also passionate about the Normandie liner. 

 

 

Last month he received a photo from her showing him with the last survivor of the sinking posing in front of a model of the Blythe Star. Roland knew that he had modelled the plans in 3D but was unaware that he had undertaken to make a model, and he was surprised to discover that this model had been partly made by 3D wire printing. 

 

Nicolas in front of his model and Mick Doleman on the left, last survivor of the Blythe Star.

 

The model has been on display at the Tasmanian Maritime Museum in Hobart since the end of October 2023.
https://www.facebook.com/MaritimeMuseumTasmania/
https://www.maritimetas.org/

 

 

He kindly sent her his various print files to produce another copy. 

 

That's when he asked me to print the ship.

 

The problem is that the coaster is at 1/50 scale and it would have been complicated to print a ship of this size with a resin printer as I only had the final STL files at my disposal, which would have been difficult to modify in order to split them correctly. What's more, the printing technique is not the same between wire and resin, which is its own constraint.

 

So I suggested to Roland that he redo the 3D drawing from A to Z with more detail, but at 1/100 scale, using the same plans he had available. The ship will be as she was in 1973.

 

An extract from the plans:

 

I've made good progress on the project since 28 November, a good week ago, I'm already at 50 hours of drawing, putting paid to my good resolution to finish the current projects, but at the same time I'm continuing to finish the battleship Bretagne. 

This project should be completed very quickly, a 'Flash' project.

 

Here is some progress from the first 3 days:

 

 

 

 

 

[Iceman 29]

I'd made good progress despite some problems with Fusion, I can't change the bow lines any more. So I've got a few minor bugs. 

 

I don't have the courage to start again. It won't show. 

 

I've started drawing the sheet metal welds, which is time-consuming, but so much more realistic once they're in place. 

 

Although it's quicker than before, I've improved my technique. I had more trouble with the bow than the stern, surprisingly. The bow is rounded, not easy to render. I'll do it differently next time. I was thinking maybe I'd do the forward hold open, with a load of bags on the mast, and we'll see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blythe Star ex-Tandik under construction at the Duchesne et Bossière shipyard in Le Havre during her launch:

 

 

 

 

[Iceman 29]

No radar at the beginning of this ship's life.

 

Later I noticed that the type of radar antenna fitted on this ship meant that the photos could be dated approximately, at least the chronology, which is very interesting. 

 

I drew the chateau, which was quite complex, in the "Art Deco" style of the time, as I like to call it, so with its magnificent curved lines, the architects went to a lot of trouble and the idea of simplifying the shapes didn't even occur to them! Beautiful times. 

 

The plans are meagre for this part, but sufficient. I have my doubts about the exact shape of the stack when I compare the plans and the photos - it happens a lot. We don't always have the final plan, if there ever was one.

 

Based on what the photos show, I've rectified the junction between the bridge fin and the planking; I think we're close to the real thing, a very complex junction. For the stack it should look like this.

 

 

 

 

 

The day's advances, drawing of the main deck with its camber.

 

Drawing of the rails, the fairleads and the bulwarks with their legs.

 

 

 

[Iceman 29]

Today I continued with the area around the footbridge and the stack. 

 

A few photos helped me with this part. In particular, a screen capture from one of the videos of the dive on the ship, which was quite clear.  

 

I was able to see which way the front panels of the clerestory opened, for example. The aft part was used to ventilate the galley underneath, and the front, the engine compartment.

 

This photo also allowed me to see on the chimney where the exhaust pipe from the main engine and probably the two generators was positioned, as well as the air vents. I don't know if there was a small boiler on board.

 

Image CSIRO. 

 

 

Here is a good photo of her sister-ship the "Kloster" (Construction N°102 at Duchesne et Boissière, 101 for the Blythe Star/Tandik) which also sank north of Bergen off Rongevær in Austrheim under the name of Frenafjell but on 20-21 June 1992, no casualties, she capsized and sank LAT. 60 49 50N LONG. 004 45 70E. 

 

I've sailed in this particular part of Norway near Mongstad, where we used to stop off to load up. When the weather's fine, it's fine, but in winter it's a whole other story when the weather's bad.

 

Kloster doesn't have the small windsocks next to the bigger ones though. I'm going to use this photo to draw the davits too.

 

Kloster:

 

 

 

[Jerry L]

Enjoying your builds, will be watching this one to learn more.

[stevehnz]

This is looking rather good. For what appears to my land lubberly eye to be an attractive & workable design, if both BS & her sister healed excessively/capsized, there must be doubts about the design & its stability. It would be interesting to feed the parameters into modern design software & see what it says.

Steve.

[beefy66]

Great commitment you have to these 3D masterpieces you build Pascal and always with such an interesting history.  

Looking forward to your progress.

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Iceman 29]

4 hours ago, stevehnz said:

This is looking rather good. For what appears to my land lubberly eye to be an attractive & workable design, if both BS & her sister healed excessively/capsized, there must be doubts about the design & its stability. It would be interesting to feed the parameters into modern design software & see what it says.

Steve.

Tks all! 
 

Probably, Steve. 

There are still discussions about the reasons for the sinking. The chief engineer, second engineer and first mate died a few days later. But there must have been discussions between them on board the raft during the drift. A few Reason Swiss cheese model were unfortunately lined up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cheese_model

 

« Blythe Star had proceeded around the south-west coast without incident, but soon after 7.30 pm on the 13th a slight starboard list was detected and at about 7.45 pm the chief engineer went below to make a routine sounding of the bilges.

 

This action was discussed at length at the subsequent inquiry. Normal practice was to attempt to pump OUT the bilge water ballast tanks, which of course would run dry if there was little water in them. However, the French-built Blythe Star had controls marked in the reverse to normal English practice, and it was thought probable that the engineer inadvertently switched the pumps to pump IN. By 8 am the vessel was rolling to about 10 degrees to starboard, and around 8.15 am it suddenly rolled over to about 25-30 degrees. 

By 8.25 am the list had increased to 45 degrees and the engineer had shut down the engine. With the starboard deck below sea level, water was now entering the vessel up forward and it was imminent danger of capsizing. Some of the crew managed to release a life-raft while others simply jumped into the water. Immediately afterwards the vessel foundered about six miles due west of South West Cape in 150 metres of water. »

 

https://www.environment.gov.au/shipwreck/public/wreck/wreck.do?key=6940

[Iceman 29]

I've spent quite a bit of time over the last 2 days working on the modifications I needed to make thanks to the new photos Nicolas, who lives in Australia, kindly sent me via Whatsapp on Friday: stack, ventilation, camber of the main deck and bridge deck, fairleads etc... Installation of the anchors.

 

 

 

The Blythe Star has its maximum draught ( 3,10 m ). The freeboard is low.

 

[heloman1]

Very neat renders, I'm liking your work.

 

Colin

[heloman1]

I'm an old school modeller, professional for a while, mainly chemical plants. I have no ambition to tackle CAD or 3D printing Having done some technical illustration work, so I can appreciate the amount of work that goes into each stage of the render.

Me, I'd have a pile of wood shaving on the workshop floor!

 

Colin

[Iceman 29]

Thanks Colin, 

 

I also admire people who work with wood, it's a noble material. 

[Courageous]

On 11/10/2023 at 8:04 AM, beefy66 said:

Great commitment you have to these 3D masterpieces you build Pascal and always with such an interesting history.  

Looking forward to your progress.

 

Stuart

[Iceman 29]

Tks Stuart! 

 

Hello everyone,

 

I drew the rear gantry yesterday.

 

I measured it compared to this photo in particular, and it turns out that it's a bit low on the construction plan compared to the roof of the bridge, exactly 36.5 cm at 1:1 scale, which is a lot for a small boat like this.

 

I've corrected that.

 

I've also corrected the size of the mast ventilation covers. The fixing of the pulley on the mast is also different in the photos.

 

The radar support is not easy to draw, it was added later when the second type of radar was installed.

 

It was great fun to draw.

 

The gantry is too low here:

 

You can see the difference from the photo:

 

 

The plan and the raised gantry.

 

Probably final drawing of the gantry.

 

[Steve D]

On 09/11/2023 at 23:46, Iceman 29 said:

This photo also allowed me to see on the chimney where the exhaust pipe from the main engine

Lovely work as ever Pascal. 

 

The funnel detail is very instructive, too many people believe funnels on motor vessels are open as for steam boilers.  Of course, as you correctly model, they are just fairings around various exhaust outlets

 

It will be sweet little model, resin printers open up so many opportunities for the hobby

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Iceman 29]

Tks all! Steve.

 

I'm here this evening. 

 

Drawing of the lifebuoy holders, the rail, the box to store the dynamite detonators ( Detonator Box ), when the ship carried some, from time to time. 

 

And I'm closing the workshop for today...

 

The 1965 grounding (8 years before it sank) on a beach near the explosives dock. The ship was loaded with several dozen tonnes of dynamite (14,000 cases) when it broke its moorings, probably due to the swell.

 

The seawater-damaged dynamite was later dumped into the sea.

 

 

 

The ship docked in Melbourne, Australia. Probably early 1970s.

 

 

The aft deck is beginning to be furnished.

 

I've put in a wooden bench, made by the crew no doubt, which should allow you to smoke your cigarette in peace.

I have seen this bench on a photo, but I don't have permission to post the image, like others from the photo collections of the families of sailors who sailed on this ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Very impressive work. 😮

[Courageous]

It's amazing at the speed you do these 3D drawings.

 

Stuart

[Iceman 29]

A few visual advances. It's a time-consuming process to set up, even though I'd already planned this part of the design at the start of the 3D experience drawing. 

 

All the elements have to fit together as well as possible during assembly, so you have to take this into account and apply tolerances to the dimensions of the parts that are going to be glued together. You also have to think about the application of paint, and masking must be as simple as possible, especially on a merchant ship, which is much more colourful than a warship.

 

We've seen this problem with some commercial models in injected plastic or 3D too.

 

The 3-blade propeller has been replaced by a 4-blade. It turns out that the ship had run aground a few years earlier, (See the press article above), the propeller would have been damaged and replaced by a 4 blade, it was confirmed by one of the sailors, speaking on a forum, who sailed on the ship. Then by doing some research with Nicolas and Roland, the screenshots of the film from the ROV that dived on the wreck reveal that a 4-blade propeller was fitted.

 

 

 

Progress on the drawing. The wooden deck, the storage lockers.

 

 

 

My new Photon M5s printer should make all this easier, as it prints with more accurate actual dimensions than my old Photon Mono X 4K.

It's a real improvement for assemblies in general, which are always tricky to do at this scale.

 

Printing a few parts to adjust the new printer.

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the difference in definition with layers of 50 microns for the 2. You have to look at the grids on the portholes.

 

The Photon M5s 12K on the left, the Photon Mono X 4K on the right. The latter has nothing to be ashamed of. It's also a very good printer, and I've probably made several hundred prints with it. It's a workhorse of a printer.

 

There's a print counter on the M5s among others, which is much more modern and automated. We'll see how it performs over time, but I'm confident.

 

[Jerry L]

WOW, what a difference between the M5 and The X. And of course, GREAT WORK!!

[Steve D]

So now I have printer envy as I have the 4k. This will need some serious finesse with my better half 🤔

 

amazing work as ever

 

cheers

 

steve 

[Iceman 29]

Tks Jerry, Steve, and followers. 

 

Drawing of the davits, the wooden battens on the poop deck and the air deflectors on the bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

[robgizlu]

Love those ship's boats tarps raised and taut!

The whole thing looks an utter delight

Rob

[Iceman 29]

Tks Rob! 

 

Quite a few details added, bridge fin deflector, some main beam lights, searchlight, bridge fin structures, main deck to poop deck ladders.

 

 

 

Lights:

 

 

Floor system for installing equipments in the bridge:

 

 

 

[Courageous]

On 11/22/2023 at 1:14 AM, robgizlu said:

Love those ship's boats tarps raised and taut!

The whole thing looks an utter delight