1:384 Pass of Brander - Steel four-masted barque - 1890

[Shipbuilder]

Hi Mike,
I had a basic hull and lines plan showing the major items - deckhouse - hatches - chartroom boats etc from an article written many years ago by Captain James S. Learmont (Bengairn) I also obtained a number of photographs to fill in the gaps, and drew my own plans. I am no draughtsman and Pass of Brander was my first attempt, but it is pretty accurate. Also have accounts written by Learmont (master), Murray-Lindsay (apprentice) and Grier (apprentice) of service in Bengairn.
I have not actually built the model yet, it under construction, and the images above show it as it is today, 13th October, 2012!
Bob

[Shipbuilder]

I have now made some more progress, but not as fast as usual, on account of employing myself with other things of late. My interest in model shipbuilding has declined in recent weeks. More and more local suppliers (tools and materials) have closed down without warning recently. I have been doing a lot more writing, nautical of course, and find it less expensive, and in many ways more satisfying than building models.
Bob

[Shipbuilder]

After several weeks of "losing interest" I have at last resumed the Pass of Brander. It will soon be ready for masting and rigging.
Bob

[Neptune]

Despite the odd scale an awesome looking hull! I've been looking at a lot of your models and you have quite a collection of great work there.

[Shipbuilder]

Thanks,
It isn't an odd scale though! A common large scale is 8'=1". Halve this and you get another common scale, 16'=1". Halve this again and we get 32'=1" that is a popular accepted miniature scale and one that I frequently use. Beyond that, you get 50'=1" and then the extreme 100'=1".
Bob

[Glen the Rotorhead]

Beautiful work - your models are literally 3D paintings!

[Neptune]

I know Bob, that's why I put that smiley there. For us metric guys, that is an odd scale, but I know for you it's pretty normal.

One more question though, I might have missed it, but what is the plan with the base? I see you made a rather full hull, so will she be dry docked? Or are you making the full hull to "submerge" it into a base?

[JIM BAUMANN]

Good point Neptune--I had not spotted that!!! doh



or of course it may be a long deep swell to be set in...?

JB

[Shipbuilder]

As I said in the first post, it is to be full hull,with furled sails, mounted on brass pedestals
I have made some good progress today with a lot more deck details being completed such as chartroom, guardrails, wheelbox, figurehead and wheel. Lots of small parts to be fitted such as rope coils on the fife rails, skylights, davits etc. Then it will be down to the easy (but repetitive) part, masting and rigging. 18 yards plus boom & gaff on jigger, plus all the furled sails both square and fore-&-aft. Loads of ratlines, but easy when produced in bulk. Still have display case and carrying case to complete
However, intend taking morning off to go out!
Bob

[JIM BAUMANN]

that will teach me to look at the pictures and not read the words enough!


and this is on behalf of Neptune...!





thank you for your patience ... with the impatient!

Jim Baumann

[Shipbuilder]

Well, I have finally completed the hull and all the deck details. I am now about to start the masting & rigging. The first task is to make and paint the four masts & bowsprit. That in itself does not take very long. The masting and rigging is easy enough, but rather repetitive.
Bob

[Shipbuilder]

I have now made the base and put the masts up. About to start the rigging.
Bob

[dafi]

Hello Bob,

not just the results of your work are astounishing, also it is surprising how fast and concentrated you build

Thank you for sharing this too, Daniel

PS: Perhaps I should switch scale, too many details to research and get lost ...

[Shipbuilder]

Thanks Daniel,

This one has taken me more than twice as long as usual! Not in actual hours, but because I have gone for days and sometimes a week or more without working on it! I am experiencing an increasing lack of enthusiasm (on my part) brought about by the fact that very few model shipbuilders ever build this type or ship, so I have no-one to compare notes with.
Although I build sailing ships and steamships in equal numbers, they are all merchant vessels, and the unpopularity of these types has always surprised me!

Today, I have done very well, putting in just over three hours and have now completed the shrouds and ratlines for the fore, main and mizzen masts, so maybe I am coming out of it.

Bob

[Neptune]

Indeed there is less interest in merchant ships. Surprises me as well, since they are very colourful subjects. However some part is probably caused by a very big lack of decent plans and reference material, certainly for subjects like the "biggest" ships of any type etc. They also don't have "the weapons" to work up to, something a lot of builders love.

Your ship looks great! Love that plating effect and crisp painting

Since Jim is speaking on my behalf nowadays, perhaps he can put a nameplate with my name next to his ships in any contest, telling people that these ships are participating on my behalf

[Shipbuilder]

Neptune,
Thanks. Actually, plans of merchant ships are far more easy to come by than you think. I have over 4,000 of them, mostly fold-outs in old technical journals going back to the early 1900s! These range from tiny coasters to the largest passenger liners and oil tankers.

I suppose it is the guns that keep me away from warship modelling. Too many of them all poking out from various apertures and quite difficult to model, especially when you don't know what you are doing

Although with Napoleonic warships, you can have the gunports closed, there is the dreadful problem of all that fancy decoration that I also dislike modelling.

Finally, having sailed the seas in merchant ships for so many years, I suppose it is natural that I prefer them above warships.

The biggest problem I find with more modern warships is that they seemed completely incapable of building them and leaving them as they were. The Anatomy of Ship books, for instance will show part of the plan as in maybe 1914, another part in 1918, another in 1940 and so on, and for the likes of me, it is impossible to match them all up. I once built the battleship DREADNOUGHT, but that was OK, because they didn't seem to mess about with it much and the anatomy book had the original design in it.

Bob

[Neptune]

Wow, that's a pretty amazing collection of plans you have! Do you have any modern ships? Like container carriers or VLCCs in there?
For now I'm still pretty much stuck on the gas carriers and they aren't a really thankful subject

[Shipbuilder]

They are all catalogued up to 1965, but after that I didn't bother as I have little or no interest in modern ships although I have a number of plans of them. The journals that they come from are:
The Motor Ship
Shipbuilder
Shipbuilding & Shipping Record
Shipbuilder & Marine Engine Builder
The Shipping World
Schiff Und Hafen

Bob

[Pieter]

For my Straat Cumberland I'm using plans from 'Schip en Werf" (now Schip en Werf de Zee) which can be found in dutch and belgian technical libraries such as the Rotterdam Maritime Museum library. De Blauwe Wimpel is another dutch language magazine which sometimes contains drawings. I've also found collections (binders) of these magazines in second hand or antiquarian bookshops. Many non-specalist second hand bookshops like De Slegte have a small maritime section which can be worth looking for. Another source for drawings is paper kits off course. For some reason the cardboard crowd is not afraid of merchants and a paper kit can be a good starting point for a scratchbuild project. Look for Scaldis, JSC, Papershipwright and MDK if you're interested in modern merchant ships. My own interest in the last generation of the traditional liners comes from seeing these ships passing by on the Westerschelde during their last years in the '70s and '80s. Antwerp was the last of the great european ports to handle traditional liner shipping.

[Shipbuilder]

The rigging on the jigger mast is now complete. Shrouds & ratlines have been fitted to fore, main & mizzen masts, whilst eight furled fore and aft sails have been fitted and rigged.
Bob