Exciting development!

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Got a PM from an avid reader!

 

He points out that one chimney was removed to make room for the cable tanks

But which one?

To me, it looks like No4

Will be a nice feature, to see this major alteration

 

Can someone confirm this before the hacksaw comes out?

 

Bob

[DuckyParticipant @ducky]

Check this out,if you haven’t already Bob: Link

 

Duckie

Edited By Colin Bishop, Website Editor on 06/05/2011 09:59:38

[Mark Beard 1Participant @markbeard1]

Comparing the original configuration with the cable laying configuration suggests that the fourth funnel from the bow was indeed removed.

Edited By Billysugger on 04/05/2011 12:29:55

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Thanks to Duckie, Billy and Dermis for the following pictures..

This is the GE laying a French cable in 1869 with Tricolor up top

Just look at the next picture…….Practically the same?

Almost identical……Even to the warship on the left!

It shows the tremendous involvement laying cables 150 years ago!

Can`t make any sense of the flags though

 

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

For the sake of authenticity, chimney number 4 has been removed and capped!

When the video finally gets broadcast, we don`t want the rivet counters pulling us up for having five chimney`s!

The TV people are monitoring the forum and have decided on a water in Merseyside, to be near Rockferry,……for historical reasons

 

Actual filming has slipped back about 2 or 3 months, which is not a problem.

It`ll allow the team to perfect the cable laying process and make improvements

 

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

The graveyard of Great Eastern……Beached at Rockferry, Merseyside, where it took two years to break up by physical hammering alone!

 

Some of the teak cabins were sold off as Summer houses and may still be in existance?

One of the masts still exists as a flagstaff, and can be seen at the Kop end of Anfield football ground

 

It was a financial disaster, it cost more to break up than the scrap value!

What a great pity, somebody didn`t have the foresight to preseve it, just as they saved the HMS Victory

Note the Lewis`s lettering seems to have been painted over
History will repeat itself somewhere around here, when we replicate the cable laying exercise.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Bob, did you take a picture of the hacksaw being wielded and if so can we see please….

 

Ashley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Sorry Ashley, it was just a figure of speech

 

The chimney was easily removed…..Hacksaw not required and no damage done, but can`t see it ever being put back in place. It makes a nice mantlepiece ornament?

 

Bob

 

 

 

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Great Eastern being broken up at Rock Ferry

There is a pub nearby called the Great Eastern, housing many GE relics and last time I heard, it was due for demolition. I`m hoping the TV program may manage to get inside and show us something. What ever they`ve got, should be in the Maritime Museum?

What a nicely composed photograph?

 

Here`s the famous Anfield flagpole……Awesome?

 

Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I’ve just rediscovered a book on my skelves about the Great Eastern by George S Emmerson which was published a good few years ago. It makes very interesting reading. One of the little snippets of information is that one of the original shareholders who lost a lot of money on the building of the ship was a man named Abel – better check out your ancestors Bob!

 

I like Mark’s suggestion about fitting an underwater appendage at the stern with an eye on it to lead the cable down at the correct angle. Originally it was the weight of the cable dangling down thousands of feet into the ocean which pulled it out of the cable tiers and caused it to hang almost vertically from the sheaves. In the model version it will be the tension from the anchoring point onshore which will pull the cable out and if it isn’t led directly below the surface it could look as if the ship is trying to string an overhead telephone line across the Atlantic.

 

It might also be worth considering fitting some sort of temporary wire cage around the screw as anything dangled over the stern of a vessel has an inevitable propensity to attempt a close relationship with the propeller!

 

Colin

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Thanks for the snippet, Colin

No wonder, I come from a poor family!….lol

 

I will fit a wire hook at the rear as mentioned, but I`m sure it will look ok…..as is!

 

The anti-tangling device is a good idea, but the prop is well hidden behind the rudder, in fact the submerged wire hook should keep the cable from the prop area?

 

Keep these good ideas, coming!…….Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

That was a good idea of Marks and also acts as a cable restraint in the prop area, another good idea, thanks Colin!

 

Note the Becker rudder for more maneuverability.

This nice feature was not fitted to the real ship

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Sorry to be a pain, bringing up as I did the spectre of a less than realistic cable paying out, but it has struck me that in order to look like there is some cable being payed out, it should stay above water for a little bit..and by that I mean be visible a bit away from the stern..in order that the viewing masses can SEE that there is something coming off the boat.

 

Sorry,, ship,

 

I realist that this may not neccesarily BE that authentic, but its the look that counts?? Although the below water guide you have fashioned looks great… from a punters point of view the cable will leave the stern and promptly plummet under the waves….you could just have a fixed cable there instead….or a sneaky loop going round endlessly.

 

Just possibly some markers on the cable might be an attraction, again just so you can see that there is movement there.

 

It will be no good having the most authentic cable layer possible if it doesnt LOOK like `owt is happening??

 

Just an observation…

 

Ashley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Oh Ashley!

 

It`s such a nice cable guide too!……..If the bracket was any longer….it wouldn`t fit the car!

 

Perhaps, I could use the nice cable guide as a pivot point with a wingnut clamp and swing another guide further out?……..Yep!

Will look into it!

 

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Here we go, Boyz!

The Ashley extension bar for the discerning cable layer!

We can now have the short reach or the Ashley reach!

 

Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

That looks much better Bob.

 

Now you just need some mermaids swinging from it…….

 

Colin

[Mark Beard 1Participant @markbeard1]

Ooh, that really is a prahper jahb!

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Bob. Looks so much better !! (at least, it will do paying out ).

 

but….

 

 

Ashley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

…..”but’…..What?

Bob

Edited By Bob Abell on 06/05/2011 21:59:56

[Mark Beard 1Participant @markbeard1]

Tsch, some people are never satisfied!

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Control yourself, Mark
Ashley may have a trump card up his sleeve!

Spill the beans, Asl!

[Mark Beard 1Participant @markbeard1]

I know, I know, I’m just in a cheeky mood this evening! No disrespect intended.

Edited By Billysugger on 06/05/2011 22:23:55

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Just being flippant. no but`s.

 

To my eye that looks like a much more realistic paying out angle (never having noticed pictures of cable ships laying before…as will 99% of the viewing public) .

 

The only “but” might be actually seeing the cable moving off the ship..and i know you go in for realism and detail in your models, but as I said before.. if you cant SEE the cable moving….

 

If using a black cable, or even better a silver/grey one, so that the cable will be visibly just below the surface, perhaps a light dusting of the wire with “rust and grease” spray might make the cable noticeable?

 

I have to admire anyone who can be cheeky at 11pm..

 

Ash

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hello boyz

 

Ashley……….I`ve had an idea, concerning the visual payout of the cable!

 

I`m thinking of fitting an overhead jockey pulley, to run on top of the paying out cable.

Attractively coloured to catch the eye?

It would rotate as the cable is payed out and will be a nice check that all is well and it will easily be seen from shore!

 

Good….eh?

 

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

This is the visual break through!

 

As the cable is being laid, the jockey wheel rests on top of the cable and the wheel will rotate!…..Like it?…….Sure do!

Bob

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