Giles' misc. Work bench.

[Osgood]

The hull moulding looks nicely detailed - what is its origin please?

How is this for serendipity - whilst reading this thread yesterday something caught my eye; I glanced away from the screen to see an open copy of Archive Journal Issue 6, the visible page of which happened to be this:



It must have been the outline of the hull that caught my attention.
The full review read most favourably, so a few minutes later a s/h copy looking for a new home was located and snaffled!
I've now joined the dog on the mat waiting patiently for the postman.....

 

[Giles]

It is an interesting subject, and I've found myself collecting all sorts of photos of coasters of a certain period !

The hull is the SS Talacre, a 1:48 coaster made by Caldercraft. It comes as a full kit, some of which may be useful (winches, rigging etc.) But most of the rest I am making from scratch. The kit supplies water-tight doors for instance, but they're too small - so I've lasered new ones which i'll fit today.

 

[Giles]

Here are the new doors and the original white-metal doors. They are the same doors 1:48 and 1:43. It's quite an appreciable size difference, which is why it is so worth while making a new superstructure.....

2020-05-12_10-45-01 by giles favell, on Flickr

 

[Giles]

Progress, and with primer. The carcass for the stern cabin is done - still needs roof planning and all the massive additional stuff fitting of course. The hold combing has been fitted, but needs the top cutting out so it can be accessed!

2020-05-12_03-21-28 by giles favell, on Flickr

2020-05-12_03-22-12 by giles favell, on Flickr

2020-05-12_03-22-59 by giles favell, on Flickr

 

[Phil O]

Looks good, seems to be a trait of this Coronavirus, that people are turning to boat building, Martin Wynne of Templot fame has bought an R/C boat kit and I am scratch building a 4mm WW1 tug for Pottery Quay as I can't get access to our club room during the lockdown and most of my gear is there. Once I have made enough progress I will add pictures etc to my thread. So far there has been a lot of head scratching and grey cell stirring to get the complex curves and getting qcad to do want I want it to.

 

[Giles]

The plan is that thus will end up on a layout being either loaded or unloaded by grab or conveyor (tbd) - so I also have not abandoned the faith entirely! It's interesting to face new challenges!

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

I see you are building this with a full hull. Is the intention to have this set in a hole in the layout so you can see the vessel rise and fall as it's being unloaded/loaded. And check you don't exceed the Plimsoll Line limits...?

 

[simond]

Samuel Plimsoll is buried in a graveyard not two miles from my house.

My daughter & I took our exercise a few weeks back wandering around said cemetery until we found it. It’s quite nice, but smaller than I expected, and much smaller than he deserves.

it wasn’t too difficult to socially distance ourselves...

atb
Simon

 

[Podartist79]

It will be another masterpiece Giles! I’m sure of that!

Neil.

 

[Giles]

I probably wont have any hull movement, as I would then have to solve the scale water issue! I'm building it with a full hull as I can always chop it down later, but I can't add back on if I do it too soon.....

Gentle progress, though it fights all the way. The funnel fittings were all too small diameter for the tube - possible casting shrinkage - so i had to expand them to get them on, by beating them gently with a soft hammer to lengthen them. I bought decent portholes from Cornwall boats, which were of course bright machined brass. I stuffed these in the ultrasonic cleaner, and then in Casey's Gun Blue to tarnish them, as this ship will be dirty, and nearing the end of its life.

2020-05-16_03-53-45 by giles favell, on Flickr

2020-05-16_03-54-45 by giles favell, on Flickr

 

[adrian]

Samuel Plimsoll is buried in a graveyard not two miles from my house.
My daughter & I took our exercise a few weeks back wandering around said cemetery until we found it. It’s quite nice, but smaller than I expected, and much smaller than he deserves.

It might have been larger than you think if you account for the draft below the "waterline". Out of curiosity was it marked appropriately?

 

[simond]

Adrian

yes, indeed, as you can see

Samuel Plimsoll (1824-1898) - Find A Grave...

I have not seen the Victoria Embankment memorial, which is apparently rather grander.

Atb
Simon

 

[Giles]

The hull moulding looks nicely detailed - what is its origin please?

How is this for serendipity - whilst reading this thread yesterday something caught my eye; I glanced away from the screen to see an open copy of Archive Journal Issue 6, the visible page of which happened to be this:

View attachment 123732

It must have been the outline of the hull that caught my attention.
The full review read most favourably, so a few minutes later a s/h copy looking for a new home was located and snaffled!
I've now joined the dog on the mat waiting patiently for the postman.....

Thanks for the tip on this book - I ordered a copy from Abe Books - and it's superb!

I populated the fo'c'sle yesterday

2020-05-18_06-26-53 by giles favell, on Flickr

 

[Giles]

2020-05-17_06-56-34 by giles favell, on Flickr
Flying bridge module

2020-05-17_06-58-07 by giles favell, on Flickr
Wheelhouse module


Combined
2020-05-17_06-57-45 by giles favell, on Flickr

 

[Osgood]

Isn't it just (that book)! My copy arrived yesterday too. And its all your fault!!

 

[Giles]

Progress as of today . It looks as if not much has been done, but the hold combing has been completed, the forecastle populated, the bunker hatch added, water tank added, the stern Capstan and grating added and the wheelhouse glazed.



2020-05-20_05-43-39 by giles favell, on Flickr

2020-05-20_05-40-33 by giles favell, on Flickr

2020-05-20_05-41-28 by giles favell, on Flickr

2020-05-20_05-42-25 by giles favell, on Flickr

 

[PhilH]

Giles,
You mentioned modelling some kind of bulk loading facility for your ship and reference was made to the example at Raynes Quarry on the North Wales Coast. At the risk of wandering too far off your topic, I thought the following might be of interest.

The S.S.Talacre was a collier owned by Point of Ayr Collieries Ltd. in Flintshire, Talacre being the closest village to the colliery. It would have been loaded with coal at a wharf adjacent to the pithead. Similar ships would have been used to carry stone loaded at piers or jetties along the North Wales Coast, and the one at Raynes Quarry is the last example where this is still done today. There were a total of at least 21 similar piers along the North Wales Coast including Anglesey and the Lleyn Peninsular - 8 loading limestone, 12 loading granite (or similar igneous rock) and one loading manganese ore, although some of these were quite short lived. In addition one quarry - Little Orme, near Llandudno - loaded ships directly from hoppers built into the cliff face. Construction of the piers was mainly timber, with at least one example in steel and another in reinforced concrete built on top of the hull of a concrete ship.

​

M.V.JADE loading at Raynes Quarry Pier in 1975. Note the conveyor discharging limestone into the forward hold.
​

The stone was carried down the pier on two main conveyors. a fixed one bringing stone down from the quarry hoppers or stockpiles and terminating part way down the pier, where it discharged into a moveable conveyor attached to the loading terminal. At the loading terminal a short conveyor at right angles to the pier discharged the stone into the ship's hold. By moving the second conveyor and terminal up or down the pier and by moving the short transverse conveyor at the terminal in or out the stone could be distributed exactly where required in the ship's hold.

​

You can just make out the pairs of wheels underneath the moveable conveyor which support it on the track down the pier. Note the stumps of an earlier pier in the foreground.

​

The landward end of the moveable conveyor showing the cables attached to a winch for moving it up or down the pier as required during the loading operation.

The landward end of the pier was considerably modified when the new A55 Road was built along the shoreline and no doubt the loading arrangements and conveyors have been modified or renewed since the photos were taken but the basic principle of the ship loading operation remains the same today.

 

[Giles]

Fascinating! I knew of the conveyors- but had no idea of the way the system actually worked...... brilliant! It would be perfectly possible to make that, but I'd be struggling to get any railways in (to the space)

All grist to the mill......

 

[PhilH]

railways......?, ......and how much space do you have ?

In the old days before the use of conveyors no doubt all these quarry piers would have had railway track along their length with ships loaded directly from quarry wagons via fixed or movable chutes.

​

Penmaenmawr Quarry's Graiglwyd Pier from a company publicity brochure. The two sets of double track were worked as self acting inclines of varying length, terminating in movable platforms incorporating the loading chutes. Loading stone this way would have taken considerably longer than by conveyors, and trimming of the load would have to be done by men with shovels working in the hold during the loading process. This would be difficult to replicate in model form.
Loading would probably have taken more than one tide with the ship grounded on the beach at low tides during the process.

​

The photo above of Penmaenmawr Quarry's Penmaen Pier in 1906 shows the steamer PUFFIN grounded alongside the pier. On the pier itself to the left of the ship is the triangular movable platform incorporating the loading chutes and beyond, nearer the shore, the drumhouse for the pier inclines.

The rail tracks on the Graiglwyd Pier were replaced by conveyors in 1937, and afterwards it was reported that up to 4 ships could be loaded on one tide.

Unlike Raynes Pier in the previous post, where the pier conveyor is fed from a stockpile some distance from the pier, most quarries would have hoppers at or near the landward end of the pier. The hoppers would have been originally served by the quarry's rail system.

​

Trevor Pier Hoppers from an old postcard. The pier itself is at right angles to the hoppers and hidden from view behind them. The railway is at pier level having travelled some distance from the bottom of the quarry inclines.

​

Penmaenmawr Pier Hoppers. The railway terminates on top of the hoppers at the bottom of the quarry inclines, so that wagons can tip directly into them.

So if you are going to build a pier for your ship with a conveyor, feed the conveyor from a set of hoppers at the end of the pier and have a railway in turn feeding the hoppers on top. Just an idea

 

[adrian]

The photo above of Penmaenmawr Quarry's Penmaen Pier in 1906 shows the steamer PUFFIN grounded alongside the pier.

Thanks for posting some fascinating photos. There is a great cycle path all along the coastline now and I can remember these sights as we cycled along so to see what what the industry was like along that route in days gone past is fascinating. I will be more observant next time.