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VLCC Esso Nederland
The VLCC Esso Nederland was my first ship as an apprentice engineer in 1973. You can find all her statistical and historical information on Auke Visser's Esso Tankers page on my links list. Models of tankers are rarely seen, so I decided to reproduce her in 1:225 scale. On these pages you find the trials, tribulations and a few victories of her building process, which may be of help, inspiration or just plain interest to others. If you have any questions feel free to email me via the DeeCeeKay Info page. I don't charge much!
The drawings.
With the help of Auke Visser, I managed to obtain, at great expense to the management, a set of drawings from the Rotterdam Maritime Museum. After solving a few scale problems, replacing the bulbous bow design and with the help of an architectural plan bureau, I ended up with a set of drawings that would give me all the information to start model building.
Having failed earlier with alternative building methods, this time I stuck to the tried and true way of building up the hull from horizontal layers of timber. After
lengthy calculations and a stock take of the timber section of my local DIY-Hardware shop, I came to this conclusion: if I reduced my 1:100 Fore and Aft Line Plans to 1:255, the 20 mm horizontal increments in these plans, would become close enough to
the 9 mm increments in the 1:225 drawings. This in turn would make 9 mm plywood the ideal (and cheap!) choice as a hull building material. Finding the frame widths at the different levels from the drawing, I could make templates to match the horizontal sections in 1:225 scale, just connect the dots and let the artist in you come out! By the way, copies of my drawings are for sale, just tell me what scale you want!
The timber.
In order to reduce weight and cost, only the bottom and deck were made from a solid sheet of 9 mm plywood. At all other levels I used only the outside 25 mm rim of the template to cut out a curved strip from the sheet. For efficient use of timber, the levels were cut in a minimum of four pieces, starboard bow and stern section and portside bow and stern section. On a belt/disc sanding bench I shaped the strips as accurately as possible according to their scribed lines. The bow sections came together at the
centreline of the bow, marked on the top side of the bottom sheet, and similarly with the stern section. The other ends of the strips met in the middle of the model at a full width frame and coincided with a numbered vertical cross section on the drawings. Knowing the scaled width (230 mm) and the numbered cross section it was straight forward to position the middle ends accurately. This ensured correct positioning at bow and stern ends as well. By
choosing a different vertical section per layer, an overlap
occurred which added to the strength of the construction. And so the hull was
built up. The layers were glued together with a bead of glue from a cartridge of building adhesive. A supporting bulkhead made from scraps of ply in the middle of the model added to support for the sides and deck. Similarly some stiffening was added below decks towards the stern of the model, where the
deck housing would be constructed.
Since no ship's deck is flat, I added a strip of 3 mm ply (the dark section on the deck), to be able to create the difference in height between the centre and the port and starboard sides of the deck. However this was not done until the sides, bow and stern were formed and sanded. The flat deck helped greatly with the stability during this operation.
Forming, filling and sanding,.. and MORE filling and MORE sanding!
With only the tops of the plywood levels having the correct shape at that level, much excess material needed to be removed in between one sheet and the one below or above it. Not wanting to spend a lot of $$ on specialised power tools, I bought a A$10
wood rasp and a jar of elbow grease from my local DIY shop and set to work. Using layers of plywood meant that at any given level the wood grain was all over the place like a mad woman's knitting! This resulted in a quite a few rough spots that needed to be filled and sanded later. The filler I used was very fine grained, but worked, shaped and sanded well and was easy to build up in the damaged areas. From here it was an almost endless process of filling and sanding to create
as smooth as possible a surface. In order to find those last uneven spots I used a torch light to find the shadows cast by the last small blemishes that needed to be treated. When the naked eye and my fingertips could not detect any more trouble spots, I gave the hull an undercoat of matt grey to check if the model was paint ready or more unevenness would show up, as indeed it did!
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During the holidays in January 2005, I had come to the conclusion
that "Holidays, work and other commitments are the curse of the modelling people".
Eager to get back into building, I found that my hull had sustained some blister damage during this hot and dry Australian summer month. The 3 mm ply, added for deck curvature, had bulged upward at the edges where it was sanded down to feather in with the hull deck. My
glueing along that edge had not been up to scratch and the thin wood had warped, creating "bubbles". These were cut out and the ply cut back to a point with a solid glue joint. Then it was back to fill, sand, fill, sand,.... you get my drift! The grey undercoat certainly showed up a depressingly large number of uneven spots, both on deck as on the hull sides. More elbow grease was required! Eventually I stopped the sand/fill process. As we all know, no ship's hull is perfectly smooth, so I put the jar of elbow grease away and contributed any remaining imperfections to the natural state of a newly
built hull. How convenient!
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The Superstructure
I made a start with the superstructure, using 3 mm ply. The building process was based on finding the longest runs of straight wall and deck so most of the parts would not turn out too small to work with. The first approach was to chamfer the edges at a 45 degree angle to make a good joint.
(of the timber variety!!!) Using bits of angle iron and square tube I made a simple jig in order to get things reasonably square while glueing. Being unable to achieve and maintain sufficient accuracy with the chamfer approach, I gave that system away and continued with simply butt
glueing the pieces. Looking for the longest runs of deck and wall, meant that in certain places, small sections of the superstructure needed to be added on. This took the form of small blocks of scrap ply and MDF wood, cut to size on the scroll saw. This working method will become clear as you study the
pictures. With the bridge wings being the next level to be constructed, the hunt was on for some suitable, thin sheet material. I settled for the thicker variety of business card, which seemed to fit in well, scale-wise. For a fleeting moment I had contemplated to make the bridge an "open"
structure complete with interior. After returning to reality I decided this was absolute folly!! What was I thinking!!!
My drawings showed a number of differences
from the structure of the EN, as I compared them with the many pictures on Auke Visser's web page or as I recalled hazy memories, as well as some of my own photographs. It was scratch building at
its purest! Hopefully I got most of them, if you know the EN and spot any mistakes or oversights please do not hesitate to contact me via the DeeCeeKay page.
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Here, at long last and after many interruptions, is an update on the building progress. The superstructure is finally starting to look like the real thing (from a distance). The intermediate decks of the external staircases, are made of card glued side-on onto the superstructure with super glue. (Super huh?) After
gluing, the card was impregnated with superglue to give it additional
strength and stiffness, while it also stops excessive
paint absorption. The deck section of the bridge wing is glued and clamped between the bridge housing and the deck below it. For the curved sections on the front and rear of the bridge wings, I made a template to get the curve equal on both sides and cut them out of card that was delivered to me courtesy of the junkmail man! See? Junkmail is useful! The front was then glued vertically to the side of the superstructure. When dry, the front section was laid along the deck part and attached with superglue. After that was dry, it was curved gently along the side section and attached. The aft section followed in a similar fashion. Four tooth picks were cut to size and fitted as bridge wing supports. The smoke stack is a section of broom handle, whittled and sanded to take the
tapered, oval shape that I can remember. A bit of a milkshake straw in the top added to the realism. There was uncertainty about the
colour scheme but after researching Auke Visser's pages and attacking the faded memories of all and sundry, I painted the decks grass green, standing work white and the smokestack black.
Currently I am either researching or working on the rudder (partly
visible on deck), the six-bladed prop, deck winches, stairs, railings and mast but have little to show for any of them since they are either in progress, non-existent or on order. Through a fellow club member
(yes, this is about you
Nick C.!) I have organised for lettering, portholes, windows etc. to be printed up as decals. This should save me (in theory) a lot of grey hair in trying to paint the said items. Although with Nick's custom
built model car business getting busier, I just have to wait till the maestro can fit me in. The next update should give you a lot more detail in the rebirth of the Esso Nederland.
It seems that my pages have inspired some
people all over the world, with the Esso
Nederland now being in the planning
stages or actually being built in
several countries. Amongst those that
have taken up the challenge are modellers in
Brazil, France, Canada and The
Netherlands. I wish them good luck and
lots of patience and let me know if I can
help. In due time I hope to dedicate a
separate page to their progress, when photo
material becomes available.
My own building project has stalled
somewhat, while researching the finer
details of the deck and pipeline layouts as
well as sourcing the required materials best
suited to the building effort. I now
have the brass rod but at this stage only a
fuzzy idea on how to go about the deck
pipelines. Thanks Jan R. and Jean
T.!!! I also purchased two Hall
anchors from the local Amati dealer which
seemed to fit the bill (or the hawse
pipe!). The anchor and other
winches are still giving me some headaches.
With the types used being fairly recent and
of the Duplex steam design, I haven't found
a modellers product that fits both the
design and scale, so I am working on a
construction method to reproduce them to my,
what now turns out to be a somewhat awkward,
scale of 1:225. Ah well,... it seemed
like a good idea at the time, I should have
listened to you, George and Ken! I have it on
good authority that Nick C. will have some
decals ready soon, so the superstructure can
be finalised as far as portholes, windows
and doors is concerned, with the
railings to be added, being the next item to
test my patience. With work, the
coming festive season and school holidays
rudely interrupting my modelling
efforts, I don't think the Esso Nederland
will be finished in a hurry, but keep
checking the page for any updates as they
occur.
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After lengthy delays in
my model building effort, here is a
report on the state of affairs in my
model dockyard. After many
unsuccessful attempts to find a way to
produce 1:225 scale railing myself ( I
will be needing approx 4 meters of it!),
I opted for ready made 1:200 scale parts
from Revell, which I shortened slightly
to a height of 5 mm. While still
not perfect, it was the best and most
practical solution at the time. Where
needed, the railings were bent with the
aid of heat from my desk lamp or cut in
at a V-shape on the inside bend and
glued. Both methods were extremely
fiddly and I am still not sure which
way is the best. Using the desk
lamp, by holding the railing against or
near the lightbulb's surface, works well
but you have to time it EXACTLY right or
the styrene will deform/melt.
Cutting a V-shape and gluing is more
controlled but slows you down as you
wait for the glue to dry and you end up
with a whole lot of railing bits
that you have forgotten where they go!
The angle accuracy of the stairs
suffered because of the slight
difference in deck heights. Something to
remember for next time! |
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windows as well as the fan louvres and
PS & SB navigation lights are decals
produced by my fellow SAPMA club member
Nick C. Whilst the overall effect is
quite good, given the scale of things,
the process of attaching them was one of
self discovery and what you are not good
at. This was one of them!!!
It took many tries, extra print runs and
curses in many languages to get to this
stage and believe me if I tell you, the
last one went on with a sigh of relief!
I think the overall effect is quite good
but again, inaccuracies in the
deck heights caused the horizontal line
up of the decals, specially around
corners, to be slightly out of
whack. Ah well,... you live and
learn! Get in touch with me if you
require any decals and I'll put you in
contact with my
"source"! Each
window/porthole has a touch of shading
to simulate depth. Having applied
them AROUND the whole superstructure, it
now appears that the sun is shining on
it from different angles at the same
time! Another slight oversight!!!
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At long last, as you can see at the
left, after many delays, interruptions
and distractions, it has come to pass
that the superstructure of the Esso
Nederland has been finished!
Well,...
as good as, had it not been for a last
moment decal malfunction. But that
problem is well in hand and did not
delay the update any further. Just
imagine the portside fan intake louvres
to be there! The main additions here
were the cranes, the shade shelter near
the pool and of course the many, many,
MANY railings and staircases. I have to
admit that old fumble fingers here had a
hard time putting all the railings on,
at least as straight as they would go,
before complete mental breakdown set in.
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The gantry for the
removal of the boiler fans and motors
was made from some I beam styrene
extrusion from the hobby shop. They just
look like the real thing! Even Sam the
cat helped to add to the realism with
the donation of a whisker, which was
glued to the mast frame, right at the
top, as a whip antenna! It is just
visible at the top of the picture!
Thanks , Sam!
Telegraphs
and repeaters have been added to the
bridge wings as well as ventilation
equipment. It is now on to
finishing the hull which will be
documented through a separate link.
That's all folks!
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