Sir William Wallace

[Eddy Matthews]

A friend of mine asked if I would build him a model of one of the Forth ferries, the Sir William Wallace - These were very utilitarian boats that didn't attract any attention when they were in service, they were simply a method of crossing the river before the Forth road bridge was built in the early 1960's.

This first photo shows one of her sister ships, the Robert the Bruce when she ran aground - Althought there were differences between the two vessels, it serves to give an idea of what these boats looked like.

You can click on any of the images to open a larger image in the Photo Gallery - Just close the window to come back here again.

[albumimg]832[/albumimg]

[Eddy Matthews]

Now we move onto the build, the drawings I'm working from leave a lot of areas which are unclear, but they were the best available.... Photos of these boats are about as rare as hens teeth!

In this first image, you can see the base of the hull made out of 1/2" balsa with the basic frames attached - yes that's me in the photo, sorry!

[albumimg]833[/albumimg]

After planking the hull with 1/8" balsa it looked like this...

[albumimg]834[/albumimg]

The main deck was then cutout - here it is just lying on the hull to give an idea of how wide this thing was! It should actually make into a very stable paddler as the hull is very wide and it has minimal superstructure.

[albumimg]835[/albumimg]

[Eddy Matthews]

Next I started to add the bulwarks and the forward passenger area...

[albumimg]836[/albumimg]

The aft bulwarks and passenger area came next

[albumimg]837[/albumimg]

Finally, for now, this is how the model looks at the moment. I've just started to add the paddleboxes and machinery rooms, so it's finally starting to look something like the real thing.

[albumimg]838[/albumimg]

I'll continue to add to this as I progress - next stage is to finish making the bow and stern rudders and get them fitted, then we're onto the paddlewheels and drive system.

[AlistairD]

She doesn't look as though she has run aground,  looks as though she is berthed at Hawes Pier, South Queensferry at low  tide
 Â 
 Alistair
 

  ----- Original Message -----
   From:    Eddy Matthews (construction@paddleducks.co.uk)
   To: construction@paddleducks.co.uk (construction@paddleducks.co.uk)    
   Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2006 5:20    PM
   Subject: Sir William Wallace
   

   
A friend of mine asked if I would build him a model of    one of the Forth ferries, the Sir William Wallace - These were very    utilitarian boats that didn't attract any attention when they were in service,    they were simply a method of crossing the river before the Forth road bridge    was built in the early 1960's.

This first photo shows one of her sister    ships, the Robert the Bruce when she ran aground - Althought there were    differences between the two vessels, it serves to give an idea of what these    boats looked like.

[/img]


     
Regards
Eddy


-------------------- m2f    --------------------

Exported by Paddleducks Mail System.

http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9458#9458

--------------------    m2f --------------------

[Eddy Matthews]

Well, another week has gone by, and although it may not look like I've done much, there is actually a lot of work involved - And of course the dreaded hours of waiting for glue to dry! You can click on any of the thumbnails below to view the full image in the Photo album.

The first photo shows the start of the shaft that will drive the paddles, although the brass tube runs right across the hull from port to starboard, the rod that runs in it is split in the middle to allow for independant drive to the wheels.

[albumimg]839[/albumimg]



The second photo shows the sprockets and chain that will be used for the drive system - it allows for a positive none-slip drive, and it will be totally hidden inside the model when it's on the water, so the aweful blue colour isn't a problem.

[albumimg]840[/albumimg]



In this third photo, you can see the stern rudder - It was a pain getting the hull correctly shaped as the drawings were wrong, so a lot of it was done by referring to photographs and ignoring the drawings!

[albumimg]841[/albumimg]



The last photo shows a side view of the model....

[albumimg]842[/albumimg]

[ajg141]

The object behind Eddy’s current build was to have a model of a well-remembered local boat that sailed here on the Firth of Forth. Many of our EMBC members have models of Clyde steamers, paddlers etc – but there is nothing of local interest that I can recall. Those of us ‘of a certain age’ can recall using the Queensferry Passage boats regularly before the opening of the Forth Bridge in 1964. They were always the highlight of our holiday trips and a great adventure. The queues of traffic leading to the jetty could stretch for miles and loading delays were sometimes interminable – so much so that it was sometimes quicker making the long detour up to Kincardine and back.

There were eventually 4 boats operating on the service: Mary Queen of Scots (1934); Robert the Bruce (1934).  Both were propelled by electric motors the power being provided by Diesel generators. Queen Margaret to the same design as the earlier boats was launched in 1949 and Sir William Wallace in 1955. The latter was the last built and was 11ft 6” longer and 12ft wider than the others. The latter 2 had Diesel engines turning the paddles through a hydraulic link. To improve manoeuvrability, the ships had rudders at each end and independent paddle wheels.  All were built by William Denny & Brothers Dumbarton. Wallace despite being the biggest was underpowered compared to the others and was subsequently slower to load and to cross. This led to inevitable delays in docking and it was found that to run the 3 others at once (2 loading/unloading & 1 in transit) actually kept the schedules tighter.
To speed up loading cars were sometimes driven onto the lowered ramp on the off-side over the water.  This ended when a minister mistook his instruction and drove straight off, drowning himself and his wife.

Sir William Wallace was later purchased by a Southampton shipyard and arrived there on 4th May 1965.  She then sailed on to the Netherlands to carry cargo on the Ljsselmeer. Still under her original name, she was later registered in Switzerland.  She was broken up at Ghent in March 1970. All were susceptible to the strong cross winds of the Forth and could normally be seen flying black cones from their mast indicating they were ‘out of control’!
The picture of Robert the Bruce shown in Eddy’s album was actually taken when it ran ashore and is a seldom seen photo of the full hull. There seem to be very few photos left of these boats – those available being mostly found on SCRAN – a subscriber photo service:
www.scran.ac.uk

Tracing a source for the plans was fun – I eventually found that the originals are held by The National Maritime Museum www.nmm.ac.uk  â€“ and they are very expensive. But never mind I wanted the boat! Originally I was going to build it myself but being snowed under with submarine (and other builds) and then suffering an illness in May I decided to have a word with Eddy and he kindly volunteered to do all the hard graft for me. I am very grateful and indebted to him for this. It’ll end up being far better anyway!

Some changes are having to be made to the plans though. The plans are by no means accurate as they give incorrect dimensions of the fairing of the hull where the bow/stern rudders fit. There is also scant detail (like none) of the paddles. The hull is being increased in depth by ½” to increase stability. The scale is approx 1/48th but I will be using 1/43rd scale 1950/60’s vehicles when displaying. This is within the normal 10% allowable tolerances – or at least I reckon so!    

The following info is from: http://www.clydebuiltships.co.uk and http://www.clydesite.co.uk

Sir William Wallace
Engines by Crossley Bros Ltd Manchester
Propulsion: 2oil 2SA each 4cy with hydralic coupling gearing and chain drive 9 knots
Launched: Friday, 02 December 1955
Built: 1955
Ship Type: Paddle MotorShip
Tonnage: 277t
Length: 161 feet 6
Breadth: 50 feet
Draught: 5 feet
Owner History:
Denny Forth Ferry

Queen Margaret
Built: 1934
Ship Type: Passenger Car Ferry
Ship's Role: North to South Queensferry
Owner History: Denny Forth Ferry
Status: Scrapped - 15/03/1965 at Inverkeithing

Robert the Bruce
Built: 1934
Ship Type: Passenger Car Ferry
Owner History: Denny Forth Ferry

Mary Queen of Scots
Engines by Crossley Brothers Ltd Port of Registry: Granton
Propulsion: Diesel
Built: 1949
Ship Type: Paddle MotorShip
Ship's Role: N/S Queensferry car/passenger service
Tonnage: 230 grt
Length: 150 feet
Breadth: 28 feet
Draught: 5 feet
Owner History: Denny Forth Ferry
Status: Scrapped - 15/03/1965 at Inverkeithing

Andrew

[Eddy Matthews]

A great rundown on the history of these ferries Andrew, with some nice little touches of personal nostalgia added in. I particularly liked the bit about running with with black cones hoisted to show "Out of control"!

I have to admit that I thought all four ferries were diesel/electric powered, but obviously I was wrong as your research clearly shows! It's a real shame that these boats never seemed to get photographed as their more illustrious cousins did, it's certainly made for a challenging build as your aware!

Can anyone else add any further info to what Andrew and I have found so far?

[Eddy Matthews]

A quick photo of one of the paddlewheels on the Sir William Wallace - Still not finished, but getting there... God I hate making paddlewheels!

[ajg141]

You might hate making them Eddy - but they look great to me!

Andrew

[mjt60a]

It looks very good, an unusual subject too..... be interesting to see the finished model

[Eddy Matthews]

Here's the current state of the Sir William Wallace build. The hull is painted, but the superstructure has just had a quick coat of paint to waterproof everything - hence the reason you can still see all the grain in the woodwork etc. It still needs a lot of sanding to get a reasonable finish.

My wife allows me to take over the whole house with my models for eleven months of the year, but she does insist it's all cleared away for december, so SWW will be getting packed away until january now. That's a shame as I would like to have got it onto the water for some initial testing before packing it away, but that isn't going to be possible

[albumimg]890[/albumimg]

[albumimg]891[/albumimg]

[albumimg]892[/albumimg]

[ancoaster78]

wow, you work so fast and to such a high standard, puts me spending months and months just doing the drawings to shame!

nice to see such an unusual subject!

[Eddy Matthews]

The project continues.....

After a break over the christmas period, I got back into working on the Sir William Wallace - Drive system finalised and checked, the deck glued to the hull, and I was ready to start on the deck planking and the rest of the main superstructure, but then disaster struck!

My wife suffers from epilepsy, and she had a seizure and crashed down onto the model - Fortunately no damage to my wife, but the model didn't fare quite as good as she did

This only ever seems to happen when I'm working on someone elses boat, never my own! - Touch wood!

[ky paddlewheeler]

Real sorry to hear that Eddy,Im glad your wife is not hurt,and the damage dosent look to bad(I could be worng),youll have it squared away in no time.

[Eddy Matthews]

I've had a few emails asking about my wife..... Please let me assure everyone that Roz is fine, the damage was all to the model, Roz didn't hurt herself at all. But thankyou to everyone that expressed concern, it's appreciated!

It's all part of dealing with epilepsy I'm afraid, but after almost 40 years we're used to it - My handicapped daughter also has epilepsy, so we probably know more about the general handling of it than the so called experts do!