Great Eastern modeller in Model Boats magazine & color c

[Christian]

Hello Group,

A fellow modeler mentioned a gentleman who has built a Great Eastern model and was feautered in model boats magazine 3 or 4 times over the last months. I don't live in the UK and don't know thius mag.

Did anybody hear about this man? Could I even eventually contact him via email to exchange info?

BTW: I am awaiting the very rare book: "The Greatest Iron Ship: the SS Great Eastern". Any new data will go into the upcoming GE site (please be patient....). As for now, THE Great Eastern book IMHO is Patrick Beaver: "The Big Ship".

I promised the color chart for the Great Eastern some time ago. Still working on it since colors are rarely mentioned, the Currier and Ives prints are totally unreliable and some existing models are plain wrong. For example the lower hull of the full hull model in the NMM in Greenwich is painted white. It can be said with about 99% accuracy that GE never had a white lowe hull. The only known way to avoid excess built up of sea growth was anti-fouling red which contains lead.

Here is my guess for the as built/sea trials version of the Great Eastern whichy will be corrected if new data comes in.
I mention the Titanic book because the builder's model is depicted in b/w only in the Patrick Beaver book mentioned above. This is BTW the model I suspect to be in San Francisco.

Great Esstern color scheme as built/sea trials:
hull below waterline including rudder: anti fouling red

screw propeller: anti fouling red........this info is not 100% confirmed but since the propeller was

made of cast iron , the restored Great Britain also has her prop painted anti fouling

red and the builders model, depicted in color in the book: "Titanic- Eye Witness Books,

Simon Adams, 1999" further confirms this, it should be the best guess.

paddle wheels: medium/dark red

hull above waterline: black

paddle boxes: black

sponsons: black

spar (main) deck: teak wood

inside of bulwark and paddle boxes: light brown...this info is not 100% confirmed. We refer to the

builders model, depicted in color in the book: "Titanic- Eye Witness Books,

Simon Adams, 1999" and the restored Great Britain which both show the same light

brown color on the inside of the bulkheads.

deck houses: mahogany

deck house roofs: white

skylights: mahogany

sides of the raised decks: light brown

funnels: black

bridge: white

stairs: white

railings: white

masts: white; mid section dark brown

square yards: white with dark brown ends

gaff yards: black

life boats: white

life boat davids: white

anchors: black

trimlines, ornaments: none



Best

Christian