ss Miltiades 1901

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Having finished my paddler Bilsdale and Greek Fishing Boat I am now revisiting my partially completed build of the ss Miltiades of 1901. When construction was suspended back in 2021 during Covid, I had essentially completed the hull and fitted out the running gear. The loss of sight in one eye due to a retinal vein occlusion made continuing with the build at 1:150 scale problematical, hence the reversion to subsequent larger scale models.

The success of the two subsequent models  has encouraged me to return to Miltiades but working to the much smaller scale is going to be a challenge. However, never say no and I hope to maintain the standards of the current state of the build. Miltiades is a lovely prototype and I still hope to do her justice. A few images below.

Colin

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Lovely ship Colin.  Interesting to observe the design features still carried over from sailing ship days into the era of steam propulsion.  The very yacht looking bow with a bow sprit and the barn door rudder being quite noticeable examples.

Being a meat and fruit carrier she would have been pretty fast for her day as well and possibly one of the earliest examples of a refrigerated ship?

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Yes Richard, Miltiades and her sister Marathon were crack ships in their day on the UK Australia run and the last to carry bowsprits. Owners took pride in the appearance of their vessels in those days compared with the utilitarian appearance of today’ ships with curves nowhere to be seen. They may be efficient but they are not always easy on the eye.

I have now checked the hull over after three years on the bench and it looks pretty good subject to a couple of minor painting defects being rectified.

I still have all the research material so hopefully construction can resume imminently.

Colin

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

There were a few more corrections needed than I initially realised but have dealt with these and am pressing on slowly. Pic below shows the deckhouse construction. Portholes are disks punched from pinstripe tape, handrails are made by threading tiny slices of wire insulation representing supports onto thin brass wire. Doors are printed out from reduced scans of bigger scratch built doors made of 0.4mm play and mahogany stripwood. Door handles are small brass pins.

The trick is in getting the right degree of detail for the scale and within my building capabilities. Like all models it will be a compromise but I’m hoping it will look OK eventually. The 12 steam winches on around 10×10 mm baseplates will be fun although I did make a lot of these to this scale back in the 1980s for my Empress of India of the same period (see below) and still have a couple to use as references.

Colin

 

 

 

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Nice work Colin. Makes the bow look very chunky seeing it with the portholes.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>I simply could not work that small I must say. 2mm portholes…!!!!</p>
Ashley

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Looking at the shell (hull) doors today. The top half lifts vertically and the bottom half horizontally so good fun in trying to represent the hinges.

The more I get into the model the more detail issues arise – it’s almost fractal!

I thought I had 12 identical steam cargo winches but in fact a lot of them are handed with drums on one side and a couple have extended warping drums. Fortunately the basic construction seems to be the same.

Colin

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Very nice indeeed.   This is how I drilled portholes all at exactly the correct height – 

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

That is a good method Bob, I used  Tamiya masking tape to set the porthole  levels and place the self adhesive disks resting on that.

The more I get into this model the more discrepancies I find between the Carpenter, Bowen and Maritime Museum plans, the builder’s model and the available photographs. Both the Carpenter and Bowen plans are inaccurate in some respects but sometimes one and sometimes the other so I am having to work out the best compromise. It is clear that the ship was not built strictly according to the plans and that the builders model is inaccurate in some respects, particularly the placing of the lifeboats.

Still, I don’t suppose anyone will notice on my model!

Colin

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Builder’s models and drawings frequently had differences to the finished product as design details frequently changed during the construction process and drawings were sometimes updated, and sometimes weren’t.  From this process drawings would be copied and distributed at varying points along the design and build process so invariably including different numbers of the modifications.

From that point on the modifications continue throughout the ship’s life, some being included in original drawings as later versions but frequently only existing as a modification drawing.

One of the more extreme cases, and one to which I have always had close dealings with, would be the QE2.  Every major dry dock throughout her career included significant changes that would completely change the appearance of a model of her.  You basically have to choose a specific point in time and stick with it.  It would depend on which aspects of her appearance you thought you like and those you didn’t.  The biggest external visual differences would be the likes of the Magradome, the Penthouses, the Funnel after the re-engining, or even the pebble grey hull in 1983!

Imagine a model of the SS Norway, who in their right mind would want to include the two landing craft on the fore castle!

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Yes, the QE2 was constantly altered both inside and out. Here she is, outbound from Southampton in July 2007. We kept well clear. I can’t quite believe it was 17 years ago! It was a shame when they removed the forward observation lounge to make room for a kitchen.

I want to represent Miltiades as completed as near as I can make it. Fortunately the discrepancies in the various records are of a minor nature.

Colin

 

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

As a break from the hull and superstructure I decided to have a go at the funnel and its casing. At 1:150 scale it is not really practical to represent all the fine detail but you can do a lot with colour, shapes and texture to suggest it. The result is more akin to a 3D painting than a photographic image as Bob Wilson achieves with his even smaller scales. Even so, there are approximately 50 pieces of material making up this item. It is mostly fabricated in plastic with the funnel itself being lightweight electrical conduit left over from my Bilsdale paddle steamer which just happened to be the right size. The final result is not quite as light as I’d like it to be but Miltiades was a very deep draught ship and a ballasted bath test of the hull suggests that top weight should not be a problem.

Colin

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Colin

The whole thing is looking excellent, and the Miltiades was a fine looking ship.   I preferred the smaller scales myself, as I never had much patience, and it was more convenient to transport smaller ones.    I haven’t built anything for over a year now, but have enjoyed moving into plan drawing instead, although I like to watch the progress on models like this, but unfortunately, they seem to be as rare as diamonds.

Bob

 

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Thanks for the thumbs up Bob. Appreciated. I did think that when I lost an eye during Covid I would be unable to continue working at this scale but it is not turning out too badly after all although a lot more care is needed. Although not apparent in the photos the light and air openings and the boiler room fiddley gratings are both suggested in incised plasticard.

The main cowl vents are commercial items but the smaller ones are styrene half beads mounted on plastic tube with a stamped out red vinyl circle from Trimline tape. It is quite effective at the distance the model is intended to be viewed.

The overall length of the hull is 39 inches.

I will continue to post progress.

Colin

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Very tidy Colin, you certainly would not guess it is 1/150th

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Struggling a bit with the many skylights at this scale. Back in the 80s I made some very good ones for the previous liner models but these are just about on the limit of my modelling capacity now. I am resorting to making 4x models of the skylight windows and then reducing them in Photoshop Elements and printing them out on photo paper and glueing them to the plasticard skylight framework.

I will post images in due course.

Colin

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Some of the skylights are now done. The more I get into the detail of this ship the more discrepancies I find within the drawings and between these, the Builders Model and the few available photographs. The skylights are a case in point there are a number scattered over the vessel which admit mainly light to the accommodation spaces below and two very large ones over the engine room which serve to exhaust air taken in from the many cowl vents. The number of windows in the accommodation skylights can vary depending on which drawing you are looking at although they all come from the builder while the Builder’s Model show all the skylights to the same design, including those over the engine room which seems unlikely when you look at other contemporary models of similar ships.

It does look like the plans were drawn up by the builder, but neither the ship nor the Builders Model depicted the actual vessel with total accuracy. I suppose this was to be expected as things change during construction, but is a bit frustrating in deciding what to put on my model. The skylights appear in the right places but the number of windows in the top can vary depending on which drawing you are looking at or the Builders Model.

On the plus side it does leave me with a bit of modeller’s licence in depicting these items and of course at 1:150 scale only a certain amount of detail can be shown anyway. Overall the model should look OK at the distance it is intended to be viewed from.

It is interesting that the 1:1200 miniature plans from John Bowen and R Carpenter both differ from each other and from the original plans although at that scale it is even less noticeable.

Colin

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

On the plus side Colin, no-one can say its wrong!

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Wow Colin, you’re a wizzard🫡. A scale of 1:150? I’m finished blaming my glaucoma for poor detailwork at a wopping scale of 1:33🤐

A really great looking ship.

George

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Yes, with just one working eye it is a bit of a challenge to say the least. But I started the model, and another to the same scale a while back so I’d like to complete them to a reasonable standard if I can.

Colin

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