Princess Elizabeth build...

[mjt60a]

...let's hope it gets finished before the human race colonizes mars!
actually, it might be of interest anyway, if only to see how I manage some of the crazy stuff I do and what can go disastrously wrong!.....
First, a bit of background, then, on with the circus!

The hull is 'inspired' let's say, by the Phantom civil war blockade runner (and also the Tipstaff paddle tug) in Model boats Magazine.
These are, in my opinion, pretty good beginners boats and I wish I'd had those plans 30 years ago, when I knew absolutely nothing about building model boats!
The articles in the mag suggests one or two alternative ways of building (eg. using ply instead of balsa...) and that individuals may want to 'fit out' the model to their own specs...
There are four basic changes I want to make to the hull design...

1 - the plan has vertical sides to the hull with squared bulkheads and the base of the hull the same shape as the deck (well, tipstaff does, phantom not quite so much). A real paddler appears to have vertical sides only where the paddlewheels are and are flared either side (fore and aft) so I intend to make the 'base' of the hull narrower than the deck for the first and last thirds of its length and tapered (trapezeoid?) bulkheads to suit.
2 - the plan has a completely flat deck with bulkheads below that are all the same height, I will use ones which are progressively higher fore and aft of the centre three to give a kind of 'banana-like' shape (to the deck, not the base) when viewed from the side... this means I won't actually be able to cut the deck out of one piece of quarter-inch thick balsa as in the plans or it won't bend!
3 - the plan shows how the base of the hull is sanded to give a rounded lower edge, I want a larger rounded edge so will use a second layer on the base but with all the inner area cut away so as not to raise the batteries etc any further...
4 -  I don't really want a quarter-inch of buoyant material under the battery and any ballast. The base itself could be cut away and a piece of thin ply put on under it so the weight can be as low as possible but to avoid buying a big sheet of balsa and not using much of it, I'll construct an outer frame for the base using offcuts, of which I have plenty, and make the actual base from 1.6mm ply.

The bulkheads and the deck (deck-supporting frame, which will now support a 1.6mm ply deck instead of a balsa sheet one) will also be built as a frame from suitable lengths of scrap balsa.

The sides are then covered with card (from pie boxes) and covered with fibreglass mat and resin....
....in fact this turned out not to be one of my better ideas! it worked ok for the small tug I built before but with this size of hull it required much more fibreglass and took two large tubs of P38 and days of sanding to get a half-decent finish on it - I should have bought a couple of sheets of suitable thin ply and some sanding sealer....oh well, it did turn out ok in the end just more work (much more messy than sanding wood) and more expense (P38, resin and mat are not as cheap as I seem to remember!...)

[mjt60a]

Now, thing is, I don't have a plan to work from, just a few photos I took in london, pictures in books, some videos (paddle steamer parade v1, paddle steamer memories and one on youtube) and this information from the association of dunkirk little ships website;

Length - 195 ft
Width - 24 ft

so in 1/48th scale the hull will be 48.75 inches long and 6 inches wide. The rest I'll basically just make up by looking at pictures and working out as best I can the shape of the deck, where all the fittings go and what size they are, in a similar way to what I'd do if I was going to paint a picture of the ship...it won't be accurate but should 'look right' by the end...
To start with I'll draw a straight line 48 and-three-quarter inches on a long piece of paper, then two more parallel lines 3 inches either side of it. Then draw the (approximate) outline using a google earth view of the real ship. I should then be able to fold it down the centre line and cut it out using the 'best' half (drawn freehand, they're unlikely to be identical) and use the resulting shape as a guide to build the balsa frames.... Not the best way to go about building a model ship but it's not going to be an accurate scale model, I'll be happy if it looks as good as the styrene kit available (but longer, as the finished kit looks a bit short to me)
 

[Eddy Matthews]

I'm glad you've decided to do another build Mick, I like your way of working!

I'm not one for rivet counting, so if a model looks like a reasonable "representation" that's good enough for me. Most of my models aren't strictly accurate - But as long as I'm happy with them I couldn't really care less what anyone else might think!

Regards
Eddy

[mjt60a]

Thanks, I learn things from making these!
Now here's a couple more pictures, some of these are from the small tug (as I didn't photograph all the stages of this build) but the method is exactly the same...
first two are from the tug, the Liz is very similar but longer....
second two are of the liz, but you'll notice I've made the hull in two parts! this was a last minute alteration when I saw just how long the thing would be when finished, I have to carry it on the bus/train and the luggage area is only about 3' by 2' by 2' so it has to fit in a box no bigger than that. The two halves bolt together with wingnuts and both will float individually, all the electrics will be in the stern, the bow section will be 'pushed around' by it.

[mjt60a]

Next (when that was all finished, I mean) I fitted the 'bulwarks' In places these are at a different 'angle' to the hull sides so they are fitted separately. I sanded the top edge of the frame so that the upper half is at the angle of the bulwark and the lower at the angle of the hull sides - and lines up nicely with the lower frame (A longish bit of wood with sandpaper glued on it is good for that last bit!).
For the bulwark I used 1/32 ply (or 0.8mm - whatever it's called these days) mainly because I didn't want the inside to be cardboard in case it separates from the GRP or wears away or something....
....after that the holes in the hull are covered with sections of thin card. I didn't use one piece as I wanted the GRP to bond to the balsa frames, I'm going to leave them in the model this time. Oh, one other thing, it's a good idea to make the deck first while it's still possible to hold the ply in place and draw around it, once the bulwarks are fitted, you can't! (I actually made card templates as I didn't have enough ply to do it now)

[djcf]

Hi Mick
I've done a bit of research regarding the "Albion" hull moulding that is available, in 1:48 (Models by Design)
The real ship was 200' x 25'  hull 50'' x 6.25''
There are several paddlers around these dimensions that may work with this hull.
I have drawn plans for Marchioness of Lorne 1891, to build on the hull, hope to start very soon.
Quite close dimensions to Princess Elizabeth.....
I have a spare set of Albion plans, if you think they may give you a guide, PM me, I can soon send you them

regards
Clark

[mjt60a]

Thanks very much for the offer, I do have the Albion plans and with a hull available (and I also have the Model Boats article) it would have been easier to build it instead but I like a bit of a challenge! I will at some point have questions (to anyone who might know) about some of the details but I'm not at that stage just yet  

I hadn't thought to use the Albion hull for another ship, still I look forward to seeing how your model turns out 

[mjt60a]

Now where was I, yes once all the card has dried on I sanded the edges to make a smooth-ish transition onto the frames and GRP'd it all over. This was so messy I just couldn't wait to get it over with and didn't photograph any of the messy process! I ran out of glasscloth - had to buy some, then resin, then the result was so rough it took two tubs of P38 (most of which was sanded off) to finally get a smooth enough finish to spray paint it with red primer. That of course shows just how much more filling and sanding is still needed and about two weeks later I was satisfied with the way it looked. Here's a picture of the hull with temporary paddledrums (rejects from a previous abortive project that won't be used) just to get a 'feel' for how it's going to look. Next to it is the fictional tug - still awaiting it's windlass, companionway etc fitting on the forward deck but in sailing condition - in the same scale...

[mjt60a]

By the way, as I mentioned, the hull is in two parts and to stop them sticking together I made a 'gasket' of actate sheet (used to make overhead projector slides) slightly bigger than the hull (width and height) and applied glass cloth starting from it and working toward each end. While sanding, the edges of the acetate become exposed and then get sanded down with the hull. When it's finally removed, the join is virtually invisible.
Next, the paddledrums and sponson houses and the superstructure - as soon as I have more time to post!

[Eddy Matthews]

An interesting construction technique Mick..... Doesn't the card go very floppy when applying the resin/glassfibre?

I recently found that Staples the stationers (in the UK) still do large rolls of gumstrip tape, something I thought had long since vanished, so I might have a go at a gumstrip hull for my next project, whatever that may be?

Regards
Eddy

[mjt60a]

Surprisingly (perhaps) the card doesn't seem to be affected by the resin at all... what I did was paint it all over with resin diluted 50/50 with celulose thinners and with hardener added, then when it was dry to the touch, paint it again with 'normal' resin and hardener. While it was dry but still sticky I pressed on the sections of glasscloth which I cut to size earlier (before putting anything on the hull!) then coat the whole thing with more resin.

In my haste to get all this posted last night I'd forgotten something.... the height of the frames - and why!
I decided (for no good reason really) that the ceiling in the interior spaces would be 7 feet so at 1/4 inch to the foot, one-and-three-quarter inches, or 45mm. I figure also that the lower deck would be about the same and there'd be about 12 to 18 inches below the floor... but that part is irrelevant as it will have an extra deep hull for stability. I also thought the waterline would be about 3-and-a-half feet below the main deck (half way between lower and main decks) but that on the model, I'd increase it to 5 feet (one-and-a-quarter inches - or about 32.4mm) because on the water, most models in 1/48 scale or smaller look to me like the water is right up to the sponson deck - even very small ripples are quite large to the model! Lastly, I wanted the battery to be 10mm below the waterline (again, no good reason why but it worked well enough on the previous model) so as the battery is 34 mm high (laid on it's side) I made the frames 44mm to the waterline from the base of the hull - which includes the top and bottom frames and the 'bulkhead frames' - so that's 44 + 32.4 + 1.6 (ply on the base to support the battery etc.) = 78mm

*edit; a diagram might help...
    

[mjt60a]

Here's a way to get approximate positions of the various parts on the ship...
I scanned a photo I took of the ship from as near the centre as possible and from a long way off (across the river) with a telephoto lens to minimise the effect of perspective, then opened the picture in Paintshop Pro 5.
Cropped the picture so it was the length of the hull then resized it so it was 1950 pixels long (10 pixels per foot) Now... in the bottom left corner of the PSP window is an X-Y co-ordinate showing the position of the cursor on the photo (top left pixel is 0-0) first number is the x axis (ignore the y axis for this)
with the cursor at the front edge of the hull it reads '0-476' (476 pixels down from the top - but as I said that doesn't matter) but with the cursor at the front of the superstructure it reads '620-482' so the front of the superstructure should be approx 62 feet back from the bow! - well, it'll be close enough for my 'not accurate scale' model  
I used this method to draw all the important bits (like where the paddleshaft goes, the funnel etc) onto the (rather innaccurate) plan I'd drawn of the deck...

[mjt60a]

Paddledrums......To start with I drew this shape on a piece of 1.5mm styrene sheet, I used black (because light doesn't shine through it) so it didn't show on photos what I was actually doing, so I've drawn diagrams instead....

[mjt60a]

...1mm (smallest drill I have at the moment) holes are drilled at the red dots on the first diagram so I can score the sheet on the back, it breaks easier that way... the red lines on the next pictures show where the sheet must be cut...
*by the way, the rounded cuts were made with a 'compass cutter'.... see what I mean about how you can't see what's happening in the photos when using black styrene!

[mjt60a]

...that gives me two inner and two outer shapes for the paddledrum, clamp them all firmly together and sand all the edges to ensure they are identical. The outer pair are backed by a second piece (1mm thickness) which has the fan-shape vent in it. I cut out two more pieces but this time don't cut the vent out, just mark where it will be. Then drill holes at the inside and outside on each opening and cut between the two. Then they need to be cleaned up with a very small file...
...the diagram shows eight openings but there are actually ten, I just couldn't be bothered re-drawing it when I noticed my error!