Building SMS Vulkan (sub-rescue ship )and its tugs in 1/350

[JIM BAUMANN]

have been making small gains... and a breakthrough this weekend!

The tapered mystery features on the side of ship --posted before

--I am still no wiser as to their purpose,
and no-one else had any ideas so far...?!

But I thought you may be interested to see how they were made! the regular taper
was cut from elderly over-scale ratlines...

the break though is that the masts are up !!
These were stepped in to my pre drilled holes--
that had been lined with a slightly larger diameter pieces of tube
==> to allow " tuning " of the (Dead-Upright! ) angles whilst dribbling runny CA glue down the masts and
agitating teh capillary action with a cats whisker, (! )
soaking uo excess with edge of torn paper( acts like a controllable sponge!

First I rigged ( extensively--the various tackles, purchases as well as
the static cables to the very large long booms fwd

and the rigging of the funnels and the lower shrouds of the aft mast has started

and fro a test of patince, nerves and very sharp blades...

cutting the fwd ratlines in half......

alas -- fail rate was high... ( argh! )

More rigging shorty!

JB

[wefalck]

Fiddly indeed ... I think I would destroy as much as I am building, while moving around. I gues a good strategy helps, such as building inside - out.

[MartinJQuinn]

Nice update. Rigging looks great. She's rounding out nicely.

[marijn van gils]

Beautiful rigging! Thanks again for sharing how you do it!

[EJFoeth]

Absolutely great work Jim; particularly impressed by the rigging of the derricks.

[Neptune]

Great work Jim. I've noticed PE work always slows down progress.

No idea as to the use of those brackets on the sides. Something tells me they have something to do with the bridge right above them. Perhaps some cables were connected between the bridge wings and the brackets? It would not explain why they have multiple holes though.

[JIM BAUMANN]

Thansk you all gentlemen-- time at model bench is a bit sparse at the moment;

but I have made some significant progress with the spiders web of rigging!!

its late here in the UK-- hence some self explanatory images

more soon

JIM B

[wefalck]

Did you recently have your sanity checked ... ?

[SG1]

Amazing. Capital A!

[Iceman 29]

Great Art!

[JIM BAUMANN]

Good evening gents !

Phew!--the rigging on the Vulkan is completed ( apart from the rope coils--all the halyard tails and boat falls tails...)
made of thin copper wire--into a spiral , cut and squash into a ' hangable' oval..

the Rig is surprisingly complex and challenging;

closer fwd mast

main ( aft ) mast

have been deliberating back and forth about the disposition of the tug boats so as to give a visually pleasing diorama...

trouble is the 2 x ocean going tugs are really quite large vessels in their own right...!

The final layout anyhow was to be the Tugs picking up the dead ship Vulkan still being moored to a buoy

at Brunsbuettel on the Elbe ( near Hamburg) ...
destined for the breakers yard at Harwich England

I found these rather neat images --which were helpful in colours, shape ,size of the mooring buoys
... and size of the Pulling boat ! ( commendably--the buoy crew are wearing life-jackets-- but... not the oarsmen...

So I made a suitable buoy...

so the final layout will be as such....

Just have to get on with it now !

JIM B

[wefalck]

As I said, when was your last sanity-check ? I certainly would have fallen by the way-side, if I had to do that rigging ...

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

Hi Jim,

One thought about the positioning of the tugs: at this scene in Brunsb�ttel most likely the two tugs would have attached at both ends of the tow, i.e. the strongest (Retter) farward and the weaker (Schelde) aft. Reason: while manouvering in the river estuary the tow (with current from the rear!) will have a tendency to sway to the side, with the risk of running aground. So the two tugs hold the tow in check, the rear one even running slow astern. Something like this (even a third tug involved here):

Once the tow is fully out at high sea, the speed may be increased and both tugs can be attached up front. Swerving from side to side can do less harm under those circumstances.

[JIM BAUMANN]

Hmnnnn....- what you say is correct of course... darnnn !

and what we don't ( or I don't want to...!) know... is what time the towage assembly left,
and which direction the tide was running .. ebb/ flood...

I had based this ( not really formulated) thought--from my ( subconscious )
previous experience as a Sailing instructor decades ago...

when I towed 6 x 27 ft racing keel-boats from Cowes To Poole after Cowes week.
with way insufficient crew...!!

I left the Solent ( Cowes-) towards the end of the flood-and via Hurst Castle..once in open water picked up the start of (and strengthening) ebb tide To assist me westwards towards Poole

the plan being that 1 chap at the tiller in the aftermost yacht of the string ( central line with individual tow lines attached )
would be able to lie in my keelwater in perfect control -- even whilst standing still due to the
light contrary direction of tidal flow ( probably around 1/2 - 1 knot at the time--

I agree that your scheme is more probable-- !!

though as long as there is sufficient waterflow across the Rudder (s) ( as above)
with the tug(s) towing-- then the skeleton crew at the helm should be able to control the direction of travel via the helms-man on Vulkan-- even in n confined waters...

I may have to revisit the disposition of the tugs--Vulkan is glued and screwed to her base now...

arghh!"!

[marijn van gils]

Fantastic work on the rigging Jim!


I must admit on the first photo's I didn't like your composition very much, with three ships spread out like that. But when I saw the addition of the buoy, boat and crew, it suddenly made a lot of sense! They wil be a fantastic main focal point for the diorama, with all ships framing them en 'pointing' at them.

[JIM BAUMANN]

Hello all again-

-the last 14 days worth of (sparse ! ) leisure time has been occupied by
composing the scene ( 1 tug standing by fwd ) 1 tug aft dropping off the warp crew)
and painting figures-- breaking arms, necks and legs ( !! ) to suit their positions,

most tedious being the 8 x oarsmen( all of whose functions as rowers require a broadly similar ' stance' ...!)
and as such broadly similar--but not .... manning the the large pulling gig....

I had feared that my scratch-built tugs may look a bit clunky... but it seems not!

anyhow herewith some annotated images-self explanatory an hopefully illustrative - there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel...

just a .." few more details still to add..... "" Ha!

[Iceman 29]

The rendering is extraordinary, Jim!

[SG1]

Thats truly amazing! Excellent figure conversion job, the oarsmen are very realistic. And that perturbed water is simply

[MartinJQuinn]

Wow, this looks fantastic!

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

Hi Jim,

This is perfect! A very lively AND realistic situation, about picking up the tow from the buoy. Very well shown, the very restrained screw water of both tugs showing the delicate manoeuvering as required in such a situation. The pulling boat with all the men boat working the hawsers etcetera adds enormously to the scene.

You're almost done I think! A little story panel would maybe help for the audience to tell what scene they are watching... ominous as the story ends a day later with the sinking of the Vulkan whilst in tow...

One question: as you have researched (and built!) the two tugs so well, wouldn't it do them justice to have the SCHELDE also her name on the bow? But given these were Kaiserliche Marine tugs at that time, maybe she hadn't her name visible, as common practice to the navy. But the RETTER has her name alright...