Tramp Steamer – 1929

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

An earlier view of the model, taken about 27 days ago!

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I have been experimenting with the camera settings.

 

Edited By Bob Wilson on 05/05/2022 09:38:32

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Thursday, 5th May 2022

I have now completed the external parts of the hull. This was the anchors, names on either bow, name and port of registry on stern, brass propeller and balanced rudder.

I am now all ready for the deck details –

[Charles OatesParticipant @charlesoates31738]

Hi Bob, let me add my thanks for showing so much of your excellent work on the model. I'm really enjoying seeing the ship progress, it makes great reading. I hope you'll continue to show work done on your models, and how you do it.

Charles.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Hi Charles,

Many thanks for your post. It is really great to have someone acknowledge that they enjoy following my building progress of models. I am never seeking praise of any kind for the models, because it is just practice, and most could do it (if they wanted, and were prepared to try),

Just a simple acknowledgement like this does mean a lot to me. It does take some effort to produce these illustrated updates, and there is nothing more soul-destroying (for me) than hundreds of views without any indication of appreciation.

Thank you again.

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Friday, 6^th May, 2022.

I haven't done much today, as a shopping expedition was called for. But I did drill the base and make the mouting pedestals and bolts, and had a trial fitting to the base. Tomorrow, I will remove it from the base, and put it on a rough building base, to minimise handling during the fitting out.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Saturday, 7^th May, 2022

I have now put the model on the rough building board. This morning, I faced the forecastle bulkheads and made numbers one and two hatches, but they are not stuck on yet. The basic components of numbers 3, 4, 5 and 6 hatches have been assembled, but do not have the side stanchions or canvas covers yet. The work is now getting more interesting.

[Charles OatesParticipant @charlesoates31738]

Hi again Bob, it's nice to see the progress. I've been building models a long time, but never miniatures. I can work out your summary of the process, but do you think a bit more detail would help newcomers to modelling?

I fully appreciate that someone could read up on the methods, but I have my doubts that a passing reader of your build would do that. I don't mean a blow by blow account, just a bit more explanation of assembling the hatches, or facing a bulkhead would probably be appreciated by some readers.

Anyway, whatever you decide, it's great to see the work.

Charles.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Hi Charles,

I used to do that in the past, but it usually brought about little or no response, and made an awful lot of unsatisfying work for me. Even going to the trouble of answering personal e-mails, often with detailed instructions rarely brought a "simple thank you," so I eventually lost interest myself. With the tramp steamer, I thought I would give it another try, but despite over 1,000 views, it has raised virtually no discussion, and the sad fact is that it is just something to watch, with no intention of ever taking it up.

However, over the past few years, I have committed many thousands of words and images on model merchant ship model construction into downloads, most of which cost less than the price of a cup of coffee, and some of which are even FREE. So the knowledge is there, for anyone who is really interested. They do trickle out, but slowly. Here is the link to my entire catalogue. **LINK**

Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I can recommend Bob's online books .Lots of interesting techniques which are applicable to other scales as well such as using stiff wire to reproduce funnel stays – so much better then knotted thread!

However Bob, I wonder if sometimes the choice of prototype discourages interest to some extent. Your tramp steamer models are beautifully rendered but just how many people really find the designs attractive?

Something like St Sunniva stirs the imagination with her elegant looks which is a contrast to a plodding freighter.

**LINK**

Colin

Edited By Colin Bishop on 07/05/2022 18:57:40

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Thanks Colin,

I have no obsession with any type of ship, as long as it is merchant navy. I just happen to be building a tramp steamer at the moment. Here is a broad cross section of some of my steam and motor ships, including Stella Polaris, similar to St Sunniva. And this is not even including the sailing ships.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

A selection of sailing ships, all quite attractive –

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Bob,

Yes, I know you have built some real beauties, I just wonder if the response you get online is to some extent dictated by which the subject appeals to the viewers. Your present project is of course built to the same standard as the ones illustrated above but it isn't so easy on the eye.

Just my personal opinion, you will of course only build what appeals to you.

You say you 'happen' to be building a tramp steamer but what is it about the subject that prompted you to start construction compared with what some people might have found to be a visually more attractive subject?

In my case the subject has to have something special about it visually for me to commit the effort to build it. It needs to stand out from it's contemporaries.

Colin

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Colin,

In 1962, when I was serving aboard the collier Wandsworth, we were going into South Shields in bad weather, and the ship in front of us lost steering and missed the entrance, piling up on the beach. All attempts to get her off failed, abd she was broken up where she lay. The ship was the Adelfotis II, ex Baron Stranraer, and almost identical to Baron Vernon. Recently, I came across an old and faded plan of Baron Vernon, and decided to re-draw it just for my own satisfaction. After having completed the plan, I thought I would build a model of her. I did sail in a similar design, built 15 years after Baron Vernon, in the form of Richmond Castle, and despite the discomfort, generally enjoyed the experience, regarding it as a bit of an adventure. For some reason, collectors seem to like tramp steamers, despite their general ugliness.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Adelfotis II – Ashore **LINK**

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

The collier that I was in when Adelfotis II piled up!

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co526272/painting-south-eastern-gas-board-collier-wandsworth-oil-painting

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Sunday, 8th May, 2022

Quite a lot of progress has been made on the bridge section. I will not say this was easy, because it wasn't. It took a considerable amount of thought and planning, but is coming on OK. Nothing is fixed yet as more needs to be added.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Monday, 9^th May, 2022

I have now almost completed the bridge front, and this proved quote difficult because of the wooden bulwarks across it and the vertical stanchions. Nothing is fixed yet. After the bridge section is complete, the rest will be “plain sailing!”

[Charles OatesParticipant @charlesoates31738]

That's coming on nicely Bob. I can't really offer any comments apart from admiring your work, and I can only do that a few times or it becomes meaningless. Comments and feedback will be more plentiful if you show or describe some methods or actual work that opens a discussion.

I'll continue to enjoy your thread, but I can't offer anything meaningful to say at the moment.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Thanks Charles,

It would be pointless for me to spend time describing how I do things on here , because I am well aware that most ship model builders are just not interested in building anything like this, or even interested in the history or what life was like aboard such ships. As it is, I feel like I am speaking to a brick wall, apart from a very small number who have actually said something. It is the same at the local ship model society. I take a model along, and describe it, and cover various points of its construction, and very seldom a comment or question, as merchant ships of the are very low down in the interest stakes of ship modellers

The following words were written by Frank Bullen in 1906, and hold true today:
I think it may justly be inferred that the public do not want to hear about the Mercantile Marine, are entirely indifferent to the status of its members, and are content to take all the benefits to them as they take light and air – as coming in the course of nature, with the management and production of which they have no concern.
This opinion is borne out by my experience throughout our islands as a lecturer on the subject. Talking from the platform, I can always interest my hearers in any phase of the sea without introducing the slightest element of fiction. But I cannot induce them to read the matter up, nor can I find any evidence of the subject having been studied, however cursorily, except by persons who are, or have been, directly connected with it!
This I cannot fail to lament as being, in view of the paramount importance of the subject, quite unnatural and unnecessary, more especially when I see the intense interest manifested by people of all ranks and grades of education in games such as football, cricket and bridge, and the amount of earnest thought expended upon acquiring information concerning them, not only in their present, but in their past history.
Moreover, I know personally working men who have lavished upon horse racing an amount of brain-power that, legitimately applied would have made them a fortune!

Frank T Bullen, 1906

——–

When I was at sea, I gave regular evening illustrated slide talks for the passengers, on life at sea in sailing ships, tramp steamers, cargo liners, tankers and colliers etc and they were highly popular, and I always had a full lounge! but as Mr Bullen said, it never seemed to induce any of them to study such an interesting subject, (Unless they were connected with it) but they were transfixed with interest whilst it was on, and at the informal chat afterwards.

———–

My idea of the perfect forum is to have lively discussions on the subject that we are supposed to be interested in, but it is generally one-way. The only place I have met with success in this respect is on Facebook in a closed group. I am not singling myself out specifically here. Look at the view numbers of other posts, and then look at the number of replies.

Every so often, I do try and kindle some interest, but always end up disappointed in the response.

I will carry on the Baron Vernon to its final conclusion, but it is unlikely that I will be showing another public build –

Bob

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Bob,

Comparing this forum with your Facebook page is slightly different as you know I'm a member of both and to be fair you get some feedback, but mostly similar comments to on here I would say praising your dedication to the subject and quality of your work.

Most of these groups are fuelled on nostalgia, but that's getting in shorter supply, for example I only just remember steam on the main line and I'm 66

Regards Ray

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Hi Ray,

Just looking at my group a few minutes ago, in recent posts, I see a diorama for an LNG carrier, MV Zeila, wreck diorama, Werner Winkleman, large ore carrier model, Irene, ketch, Peking, four-masted barque, Santa Catalina, cargo liner model, Mol Frsu, LNG diorama, as well as my Baron Vernon, and a fair bit of conversation. So there is plenty to interest me outside of what I am building. I have learned a lot from other members, and I hope they have learned something from me. Sadly, I have the attention span of a goldfish, and I quickly lose interest if no-one says anything, or very little. Similarly, Civilian Ship Models on Facebook, run from Turkey is very active, on the subject, and both groups seem to be interacting very well.

Nostalgia is not confined to living memory though, steam railways are very popular with model builders and the same goes for the old worn-out subjects of Cutty Sark, Victory, Titanic and Bounty.

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Tuesday, 10th May, 2022

Baron Vernon

Feeling like something a bit simpler today, I started making the accommodation around the engine casing, and also cut the funnel to size from a brass tube. Still a fair amount of work to be done on the bridge structure., but I will go back to that later.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Wednesday, 11^th May, 2022

Did another some more work on it today. Added the windows to the bridge wing cabs. Fitted the solid bulwarks between the bridge section and the funnel casing. Also fitted the portholes and doors in the engine casing and accommodation. Only the bulwarks are glued on at the moment. The rest still lifts off. Coming together nicely now.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Thursday, 12^th May, 2022

I have now completed the six hatches, but they are not fixed on yet, just placed in position. Nothing very complicated, but awfully tedious with all the side stanchions. Had enough for today, so going back to plan drawing this afternoon that is more relaxing. Currently drawing up plans for a steel 3-masted barque of 1895 –

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