The Ship Model Forum

Kind of "cheated", practically the transversal beams are 3mm high plates out of which I cut the center part, so the slanted parts on the outsides of the platform are in one piece with the upper and lower transverse beam. Those were then first glued to the helo deck. Next I added the vertical supports and lastly I added the angled supports using the vertical ones as references. Lastly I put the lower layer of beams and added the walkway around the platform.
Hope that makes some sense.

Currently working on the big crane and control room (all remaining white items). I also produced a lot of containers as most of the cable lay installation is supported by those. They're also light green, so I'll probably produce all light green objects next.

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The merchant shipyard

I'm picking up yoiur thread here, lovely project you have in hand! These modern offshore ships look very different from previous generations. Awesome!

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"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

Thanks for jumping in Maarten.

As mentioned before, working on lots of small details. First layer of containers on main deck dry fitted below. All other details are also dry fitted.

The main knuckle boom crane is nearly finished now. She has a main hoist up to 85 t and can be used for underwater work.

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The merchant shipyard

Some progress made. Decided to build forward to aft, starting to detail the parts forward.
My darkened orange on the platforms at the aft part of the superstructure is still too light/bright and I'll need to get it more brownish. This color is actually dictated by the grating that is in those places. Most of the platforms have been made and shaped to fit the ventilation ducting for the engine room. It has this tiny room on top, which is actually a DP back-up bridge.

Helicopter deck is now primed. Next step will be to finish it, mount it on the bridge (bridge just dry fitted for now) and only then will I start with the supporting of that helo deck.

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The merchant shipyard

Very nice details!

For what is the A-frame near the stern and what is this part with the white plate on it more close to the bridge?

To handle AUV or ROV?

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You seem to be looking very carefully

The aft A-frame is indeed for a WROV (Work ROV) which is normally used to connect the cable to a messenger line in the tower as well as surveying the sea bottom and touch down area of the cable. There is a similar spot right at the stern on portside. You can see the base, however this space is not always used (and I'll save myself the trouble of making a second ROV). These things are mostly rented and the amount and type are decided depending on the project and expected support assets. Having a back-up onboard is nice, but if you have another offshore support vessel with one onboard, you could use that one as a back-up. An example here:

https://www.helixesg.com/what-we-do/our-assets/schilling-rov-uhd-iii

The area with the white plate is in fact located right above the moonpool, but it's purpose is to store the trencher (when onboard). The Trencher is a form of ROV/Subsea Tank that runs on tracks over the bottom of the sea and is used to bury the cable. So once the cable is laid, it's buried between 1m and about 4m below the seabed by the trencher. Often a different vessel is deployed to do this job after the cable layer, but Living Stone can do this by herself if she doesn't have more important projects. Trenchers can be bought or rented, and are therefore not always present onboard. The type of trencher also depends on the type of soil. In case of Living Stone it, the position of the trencher and it's A-frame basically mean the ship is sailing sideways over the cable to avoid tangling the wires to the trencher and keep them clear of the hull.

Practically the trencher picks up the cable, digs/cuts a trench, puts the cable inside and in some instances also covers the cable after its passage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?edufilter=NULL&v=UJg2ZMRlZms

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The merchant shipyard

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. This cable layer will have really a lot of interesting details!

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Not exactly proud of following results, but thought I'd share it anyway.

This is typically a part that can stop me dead in my tracks on a build like this. Lots of platforms, support etc. All interconnected and needs to be dry fitted to make the parts match. Lot's of thinking and planning about which part to make first and which one to make larger to adapt later on etc.

I guess I'm past this now, so I can start on the more interesting parts of the vessel. Crane is dry fitted and the top part will eventually be yellow-green like the hull. There's another stores crane on the platform on the portside as well.

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The merchant shipyard

That will look good when completed!

For what are the containers used?

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I like particularly the fine platforms above the bridge. Very nicely done. Did you have custom made PE or so?

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"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

Hi all,

I used 0.3mm styrene sheet for the platforms. I used to have 0.5mm as a standard "smallest size", filing/sanding it down, but discovered 0.3mm a couple of years back.

The whole deck is full of containers, partly caused by her multi-purpose nature. She was built as a basic ship, with a certain power supply by the installed engines and limited storage and workshop space.
For the cable laying module they added a lot of containerised power supply (generators, fuel tanks) as well as workshop and storage space.

Small update, I've already advanced further, but apparently haven't taken any more recent pics.
All green containers were sprayed green along with some other light green gear and items. I had to make 2 additional 20ft containers along with some 10ft ones as well. Of course I discovered that after spraying the existing ones green...

Here's a link to an article about the cable lay installation itself. The trencher was not part of this project and was again added as an additional item.
https://www.enersea.nl/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/OER2-2018-Enersea.pdf

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The merchant shipyard

Great progress!


Evergreen makes 0,13mm sheet too:


Not saying that this would be better for those platforms (probably 0,3mm would be best indeed), but 0,13mm can come in handy for a lot of other tasks.
I certainly use it a lot!

And they make 0,25mm too:


That's very close to 3mm, but the difference can still be noticed, so I like that as an option too.

Thanks for the advice Marijn, I guess for such thicknesses you need to use CA as the regular UHU is also deforming the 0.3mm that I'm using.

A small update. Put her together for a temporary overview. Currently working on the "chutes" where the cables go overboard. They prevent excessive bending forces on the cables by their large radius. Quite a complex shape to make. Still needs some paint. The platform on top of the containers is only dry fitted to align things, it needs more adjustment before final installation.

For the dio itself, I'm quite happy with the transparent green effect (mix of green acrylic paint and acrylic gel on the underside of the plexi). I'm not happy with the top cover. I used a diluted heavy acrylic medium and it dried very matt and not entirely transparent (whiteish). I can probably tear that off as one skin and try again with a lighter glossy acrylic.

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The merchant shipyard

Nice work Roel. And nice to have someone explain what all those greebly-ish things are on these ships. There is usually at least one of them at the local shipyard and their strange shapes and structures always look like a mystery to me.

Nice progress!


You can use CA, but plastic glue is no problem too, and usually easier.
But don't use the regular UHU, but instead a thin glue that evaporates fast like this one:



Apply this glue after placing the part in position, and let it creep under it by capillary action.
With larger pieces of thin plastic, just be careful not to apply too much at once. Apply a little at one edge, and continue along the edge after the first application dries (only some seconds), etc.
The brush in the cap of the bottle is pretty good, but I often use another, finer, brush for gluing very small parts.

Try it, I find it much more controllable than the UHU!

Thanks again Marijn! I'll definately have to try that. I still have issues controlling the UHU, resulting in a lot of glue spots.

Another update, I'm still plugging away at all the deck equipment. Before gluing the cable tracks on top I first had to add a transverse structure that goes from main deck up to that cable track.

Some of the equipment is covered by yellow gratings, mostly winches, to protect people if the cable would snap. I've tried to recreate that as well.

Currently working on the Cable Protection System storage. This system needs to protect the cable against the rocks which are placed around the base of the turbine foundation when pulling the cable inside the foundation. It's stored in 40ft containers onboard with a certain lift system to handle it.

On the forward part, the containes and 1 stores crane are now fixed in place, also the winches for the trencher.

Midship I've started adding the winch for the quadrant, more about that later.

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The merchant shipyard

How you made the protective gratings?

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She is starting to look busy!

Hi Lars,

The protective grating is made from Ikea splash shield. It's a splash shield to keep fat from splashing out of cooking pots. Very fine mesh, quite strong and very cheap. It's a little too rough for 1/700 and normally I'd use the fabric of these plastic tea bags which is much finer, but I didn't want to lose too much time on this. It is however very suitable for 1/100 gratings, it's strength also allows to put a coaming around it, while staying straight.

She does look busy by now, here some pics with the CPS system and more details dry fitted. I'm starting to see the end of this.

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The merchant shipyard

And we're plugging on. Finally got the courage to try and finish that helicopter deck. Mounted it in place on top of the bridge as well. Bridge is still dry fitted by using a small brass pin, so now I can start the supporting for the helicopter deck on the forward deck.

The aft portside of the vessel is now also mostly done. Lots of items still dry fitted, but most of the parts are now made and she starts to look her busy self.
Now moving portside forward. Will also slowly tackle the diorama itself soon, need to make the two plexi side walls again as they have cracks.

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The merchant shipyard