Mammoth iron steamship colours

[woodburner]

All,

I just finally got a hold of a Great Eastern model, the Revell version, and am still pinching my self to see if its really true. So as I get ready to build it, the obvious questions come to mind - what colors?

I've seen several images taken over its quarter century lifespan, showing different things - stripes, white upper paddle boxes, and so on. The box artwork shows buff funnels with black tops, similar to the White Star ships, while a Currier & Ives lithograph shows the funnels red, other images black. I must assume it may have had several different schemes.

I would like to build her as she looked when new in transatlantic passenger service, in the very early 1860s, when she was still in the intended service colors - albeit a vastly different market than rounding the Cape of Africa!

Can anyone help me with hull and funnel markings? I would be immensely grateful.

Jim

[Paulrjordan]

Jim..you SCOUNDREL!!! WHERE did you manage to find the kit? It's like
GOLD on Ebay so congratulations on getting the model.


> I've seen several images taken over its quarter century lifespan,
> showing different things - stripes, white upper paddle boxes, and so
> on. The box artwork shows buff funnels with black tops, similar to
> the White Star ships, while a Currier & Ives lithograph shows the
> funnels red, other images black. I must assume it may have had
> several different schemes.
>
> I would like to build her as she looked when new in transatlantic
> passenger service, in the very early 1860s, when she was still in
> the intended service colors - albeit a vastly different market than
> rounding the Cape of Africa!
>
> Can anyone help me with hull and funnel markings? I would be
> immensely grateful.

Hi Jim!

Christian?? are you listening???

Our Paddleduck Member Christian in Portugal and his friend are doing
an in depth study of GE with a view to not only building a definitive
static model but also eventually publishing the "Mother of all GE
Websites"!..in fact his enthusiasm for the "Great Iron Ship" got me
started reading all about her. I managed to pick up a rather battered
Revell kit of GE at a Club Swap sale last summer and I am trying to
figure it out as a Radio control Mini-model..but that's quite a bit
down the road!

I believe that Paddleduck Dave Miller in California also may have some
input on GE (welcome back Dave!!). So let's see what we can dig up for
ya on these colours and, as you noted, the ship had a number of
different schemes, even ending up in Liverpool as a floating
billboard!

PJ

[Christian]

Hello all,

The colors of the GE are not easy to pinpoint since the Great Iron Ship
didn't follow any standard paint scheme and all existing photos (fortunately
plenty) are black and white. There are three important versions which I
describe roughly here:

1) as built: anti-fouling red lower hull including the screw propeller,
black upper hull including wooden bulwark, red paddle wheel, dark wooden
deck houses, black funnels, white lower masts and dark brown upper masts.
Very similar to the restored Great Britain.

2) maiden voyage: same as before but the black upper hull had a fat stripe
along the sides going through the paddle boxes and a transom/stern
scrollwork. Paddle boxes white above bulwark level. Please refer to any
picture of the GE arriving in New York to see the exact position of the
white stripe and transom/stern paint scheme. Funnels where in a lighter
color, maybe light gray or gray/green.

3) Cable laying: During this period GE underwent several changes and it's
hard to find one single paint scheme. One famous painting and the full hull
model in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich shows the lower hull
painted white, again including the screw propeller. Funnels are black but
the Titanic-like orange-buff with black caps paint scheme as depicted in the
Revell kit box artwork actually existed during some time. Unfortunately all
photos I ever saw from the well documented cable laying period are in b/w.

The cable laying version as depicted in the Revell kit is not very accurate
as is since many more changes have been done during the conversion of the
ship.
It might be a good idea to leave the cable equipment off the kit, fabricate
the missing funnel and make either an as built or a maiden voyage version.
Please don't forget to leave the handrails off the paddle sponsons. They
existed in some plans only, never on the actual vessel as far as I know.

As PJ stated correctly, more complete info soon to come in the Great Eastern
site. I posted some pics at the Debris Field of the first stages of my
scratchbuilt 1/350 Great Eastern. It still needs filling and sanding before
I apply the outer hull strakes with Evergreen strip styrene.

Here's the URL to the post

http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/message?forumid=88381&messageid=10108299
68

The fixed rudder post and many details are still missing in the lower
picture, which is a dryfit of the rudder and shoe.

Happy modeling

Christian

[woodburner]

Dear Christian,

Many thanks for the information on the Great Eastern's colors. This is truly helpful! I suspect I will go with the New York scheme, even though I dread the masking, as the ship at sea and in the North River is appealing and allows weathering. I did not know the Revell version shows the ship in cable laying mode and I'll leave that part off, as well as the handrails on the paddleboxes. The red screw makes sense, as it would have been (I assume) painted iron. I also wondered about the fifth funnel - it always looked like it was hidden behind a sail on the artwork. I'll build a replacement, to give the only five funneled liner her due.

Are there any obvious changes to the cabin configuration on the upper decks I should be aware of?

It may sound heretical, but sometimes I wonder how she would have been if she was built as a twin screw ship. Nonetheless 56' paddles are a great part of her charm and seem to confirm the ability of Victorians to do just about anything. After all, Brunel's magnificant 7' gauge Great Western Railway had some of the finest "singles" on the rail, and the sheer scale of these endeavours is truly impressive.

Also, there is a photo purporting to be of the GE's interior in Brinnin's Sway of the Grand Saloon that I'm suspicious of, as it shows what appear to be electric lights above the upholstered ottomans. Brunel was a genuis, but still . . .

Congratulations of building her in 350/scale. Its good to have a graphic comparison to the 350 models of Lusitania and Titanic. Good luck in the project, and thank you very much for the information on the color schemes! I'll post when I can as progress gets under way.

Jim

[Christian]

Hello Jim,

Great Eastern's screw propeller was in fact made of cast iron. So any
instructions asking for brass or bronze are WRONG. The builders model
(probably in the San Francisco Maritime Museum now) has a red screw prop and
some drawings show the same. Furthermore: the Great Britain has also a red
prop. I guess this is more than enough evidence.

I would need to check the deck houses of the Revell kit more closely against
the John Scott Russell plans. I still didn't study them in-depth so I am not
able to point out any mistake yet.

About the funnels: #4 funnel and respective boilers have been removed for
the cable laying conversion to allow for space for cable drums. Hence the
Revell artwork (correctly) showing four funnels only.

Attention: Revell GE modelers: the fixed rudder post is missing from the
kit. It can be seen clearly in the stereo wiev picture for sale on eBay
right now. BTW this is the very best picture of GE's stern I ever saw except
for construction pics with no rudder in place still. A small square rod from
Evergreen should make for a nice rudder post.

About twin props: yes Brunel considered twin props but there wasn't any
experience with them at the time so they opted for the single prop plus
paddle wheels design. That's good, otherwise we wouldn't be talking about
the vessel here at the Paddleducks group.

Comprehensive info about the development of the screw propeller to be found
in the 1999 book "Brunel's ships" available at Motor Books. Recommendable.

Please don't hesitate asking any more questions.

Best

Christian