Tramp Steamer – 1929

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Day 1

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

I take it that is balsa Bob?

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Yes it is – makes life a lot easier –

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

And selected thicknesses to give you the height of the hull in the scale you are working to? Would that be keel to main deck?

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

That is correct. The top thin plank will only be glued in the centre, the ends being raised with wood filling pieces to form the sheer. The three raised islands, forecastle, 'midships and poop decks will go on top.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Monday, 18th April, 2022

Although I haven't felt much like doing anything on the tramp steamer for the past two days, I made an effort this afternoon, making the forward bulwarks, and fitting the ones on the port side. This is the most boring stage of model construction – getting the hull right. The fine detail is much more interesting. The total time spent on it has now reached 12.2 hours. This build is proving very popular, and has an excellent following world-wide –

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

I've obviously missed a lot between the first picture and the last one. When you started the thread I was looking forward to the build being posted on here so I was waiting for the next step.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Insufficient interest here, I am afraid –

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

It seems a little unreasonable to say there is insufficient interest when you are not posting anything for members to be interested in. I'm not quite sure why you started this thread if you had no intentions of showing the progress of this build.

I must admit to feeling a little offended when I have specifically shown interest in your past posts only to now be told that there is no interest here.  You have probably done a very good job of loosing what interest there remained here.

Edited By Richard Simpson on 18/04/2022 22:38:34

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Bob, although not my area of modelling (too fiddly for my eyes and fingers) I am definitely interested even from afar and marvel at the details you manage to include in the ships.

Please keep the updates coming.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Richard,

When I started the post, I would certainly have carried on adding to it if there had been a reasonable amount of interest shown. It has now been viewed 174 times, and so far, only yourself has commented on it.

I am also aware that you have shown interest in my past post, and it has started quite interesting discussions between us.

Even the worst actors will not play to an almost empty theatre, and I am very well-aware that it is a flaw in my character that I cannot change!

So far, no-one has even asked what is the name of the tramp steamer. This has been the last forum that I have been active in for some time for the simple and repeated reason that there is little interest in my form of model shipbuilding on model "boat" forums."

I have been overwhelmed by the response to this model in my Facebook group, with many members showing their own work along the same lines, and entering lively discussions about the build, or their own builds.

My attitude is not confined to Model Boats. I stopped taking models to the local monthly model club several years ago for the same reason – they might as well have been invisible, so nowadays, I just pass a 10 by 8 inch photograph round. I thought I would try again last month, and took this one along. Not a single person went over and looked at it and no comments, good or bad, were made – it was as if it didn't exist. It is not an "inferiority" complex or anything like that, because it has since sold, and they cont8nue to be in great demand from collectors.

Collectors love them, but they do not build them, so I cannot have any discussions on building techniques with them.

Lack of communication in anything drives me mad. Last week, someone asked me for a dozen or more photographs that I had taken at sea for their veterans society. I stopped everything and spent all morning getting them together, and sent them off. I did not get a single word of thanks, or any acknowledgement that they had even arrived (via email). This is the case in 9 out of 10 enquiries. Seldom a word of thanks.

Again – I KNOW it is a flaw in my character, and it is getting worse, but there it is. I am now 78, and getting weary of it all.

Quote by Charles Clark Munn (1847 – 1917)

Life at best is but an enigma, and like children pursuing a "Will O' The Wisp,"so do we all pursue the illusive beacon light of a brighter and happier to-morrow – always hoping, never attaining, though striving ever until, wearied of the vain pursuit, at last we fall by the wayside and are forgotten.

Bob

PS – I am not suffering from depression – just fed up!

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Bob,

You know that I'm a long time fan of your models, and have most of the issues of Model Shipwright which has many hundreds of your creations, I also am a member of your Facebook group Merchant Ships in Miniature with it's 4,700 followers/members.

It would be great if your put forward an article for publication with one of your plans and description in Model Boats Magazine the host and provider of this forum. ( I would certainly build one )

I can only speak for a few of us on here that we wouldn't be that depressed if our work was valued at anywhere near the price yours sell for

Regards Ray

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Ray,

Thanks. I am not depressed, but as I said, if anything I post here is just met by a long row of silence, I loose interest. Probably the success of the Facebook group is due to the fact that it appears to be one of the two groups in the whole world that deals specifically with merchant ships – The other one being Civilian Ships run from Turkey.

I have written lots of articles for Model Boats, even going back to when Vic Smeed was editor. The last one was about the barquentine Bellmore. In fact MB was the first magazine that ever showed interest in my articles, and I am really here for "old time's sake!" But the trend these days is more toward "boats" than "ships." The last Editor, Martin Chorlton asked me to write an article about building the motor tramp Hylton before the pandemic, but I couldn't oblige because I was about to have major eye surgery that took some recovering from. By the time it all came back again, he was no longer editor!

Should anyone wonder why I am posting in bold lettering, there is no sinister, or hidden meaning to be construed by this. I find black lettering easier to see, as my eyesight is far from perfect. But for some reason, when I sit down at my drawing board, everything is as clear as it ever was. I have had to go up a scale from 32 feet to 1 inch to 25 feet to 1 inch because of this decline. But at the moment, 25 feet to 1 inch is easy enough, although most insist that it is too small for them .

Bob

Edited By Bob Wilson on 19/04/2022 09:43:35

Edited By Bob Wilson on 19/04/2022 09:44:14

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Still a bit of a mess, but coming along slowly –

Edited By Bob Wilson on 26/04/2022 14:56:30

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Thursday, 28^th April, 2022

More work complete on the tramp steamer. I have assembled the display case and inner mounting base. The port side of the hull has been filled and smoothed down almost to its final shape, whilst the starboard side remains lumpy. Having run out of 80 grade Wet & Dry paper, I must await its arrival from Ebay. Ordered early this afternoon, and already posted already, so should not take too long.

Not much craftsmanship used so far, but lots of chopping, hacking and filling with wood filler. That is how I prefer to work. I will be very glad when the hull is complete, and I can begin the "fitting out!"

 

 

Edited By Bob Wilson on 28/04/2022 17:00:38

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Bob, you say there's not much craftsmanship but thatts a darn sight more fiddly than I can manage !

Looking forward to the finished ship.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

The fiddly bits will come later on with the deck machinery, hatches, rails and accommodation etc . As far as I have got, I have only used a small hand saw, coarse files, a scalpel, wet & dry paper. and applied the filler with a flat lollipop stick. The main reason that not many of this type of model is built is that prospective builders convince themselves that it is beyond them and never try. Here is a Utube demonstration that I made on building a very simple collier brig. **LINK**

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Saturday, 30^th April, 2022

I have done quite a bit more work on the tramp steamer today. I prepared the display case ready to receive its veneer edging to the corner.s Also a lot of filling, shaping and smoothing on the hull. There are one or two slightly rough patches where I added a final bit of filling. These will only take a few minutes to smooth down. Then it will be ready for the shell plating. That will be followed bu the hawse pipes, bilge keels, propeller and rudder, painting and names. So it should soon be looking a lot smarter. And I must admit, have have been getting more than a bit fed up of all this shaping, filling and smoothing, but everything is going to plan.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Newton Hall, a similar tramp steamer – This type is very popular amongst collectors, but very few people build them any more –

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Another one, Framlington Court.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I have now completed the display case apart from the polishing. The white areas on the panels are the protective plastic coating on the inside and outside of the case. It will be peeled off after the polishing is complete.

I know that a lot of folk do not like wood quadrant and edging to model ship display cases, as they believe it distracts from the model, and prefer a plain acrylic case with no woodwork at all.

I do not subscribe to this, and feel that a wood veneered case enhances the model more than anything else.

It took me 4.8 hours to make, and at the minimum wage of £9.50 per hour, that comes to £45.6, to which must be added the cost of the acrylic, that is £24. The total comes to £69.60!

My initial thoughts were "Phew, that is a bit over-the-top!" But I fed the dimensions into an instant quote display case site on the Internet, and it came up with £131.35, so maybe it isn't too bad after all, especially as the online quote was for a plain acrylic case with no veneer edging, and no veneered quadrant round the base.

Making display cases is not my favorite job, so I am glad it is now finished, apart from the polishing.

I still have the inner base and green felt base to complete, but they are well advanced, and will only take half an hour or so to complete.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I have now fitted all of the bulwark stanchions on the inside of the bulwarks on for fore and after decks, but these are a bit too small to see in the image. I have also given the decks and the insides of the bulwarks a final coat of red oxide.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Wednesday, 4^th May , 2022

I have now smoothed and painted the hull with red oxide. The black strip along the waterline is painted paper masking tape stuck on. Tomorrow, I will paint the hull black above the black stripe, and the whole thing should soon start looking a lot better.

The hull still needs the anchors, propeller and rudder fitting. I have made the rudder already, but not the propeller, names or anchors.

Posting these images has been yet another effort to kindle some sort of interest in this type of ship and model, but it doesn't seem to have worked. Plenty of views, but no discussion of any depth. I am not looking for praise to be heaped on it, or anything like that, but it would be nice to see other peoples work in the same field, or some sign, however small that interest has been aroused.

I will continue posting progress until the model is complete – ever hopeful.

I am not obsessed with tramp steamers, by the way, I am equally happy with sailing ships, and build all types of model except warships.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Thursday, 5^th May, 2022

I have now completed the painting of the hull using the new black acrylic paint form Lithuania – it is superb! The early morning light conditions are not the best, but you can see a great improvement in the general looks of the model.

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