Project X 0.67 is finished!
Discussion
Over the months I've posted here looking for answers to various technical challenges this scratchbuild has posed, and I'm pleased to say it's now ready for its official PH launch.
It all began at the end of 2023 when I was searching for my next model boat project using Google Images and saw a thumbnail like this:
Intriguing! I investigated and got to this: http://www.model-steam-boats.co.uk/project%20x.htm...
I was immediately struck by the astonishing design and wanted to make one. Unfortunately at 50" long the kit was too big for my house, so I rang the number and had a very constructive chat with the designer. The kit comes with a GRP hull and costs £1,995 - not what I wanted either in construction or price! I asked if he had some plans I could buy. He asked me how I intended to build the hull. 'Plank on bulkhead' I replied. I'm not sure he believed me but very decently sent me the plans and a good selection of photos.
I printed out all the photos for easy reference, and was able to scale the plans down by 33% in Photoshop. Luckily they printed true to size so a few bits of sellotape later I had the correct size plans for a 33" model.
Now to build it. I took lots of photos of the build but rather than bore you will just cut straight to the end!
Here's the mock-up triple expansion steam engine before fitting:
I am now going to have a short rest
It all began at the end of 2023 when I was searching for my next model boat project using Google Images and saw a thumbnail like this:
Intriguing! I investigated and got to this: http://www.model-steam-boats.co.uk/project%20x.htm...
I was immediately struck by the astonishing design and wanted to make one. Unfortunately at 50" long the kit was too big for my house, so I rang the number and had a very constructive chat with the designer. The kit comes with a GRP hull and costs £1,995 - not what I wanted either in construction or price! I asked if he had some plans I could buy. He asked me how I intended to build the hull. 'Plank on bulkhead' I replied. I'm not sure he believed me but very decently sent me the plans and a good selection of photos.
I printed out all the photos for easy reference, and was able to scale the plans down by 33% in Photoshop. Luckily they printed true to size so a few bits of sellotape later I had the correct size plans for a 33" model.
Now to build it. I took lots of photos of the build but rather than bore you will just cut straight to the end!
Here's the mock-up triple expansion steam engine before fitting:
I am now going to have a short rest
Edited by Simpo Two on Monday 3rd February 13:15
Wow...that's a fabulous model, and what a beautiful boat design. That hull form just looks right.
My late father would have loved that.
He used to build a lot of scratch built boats and also restore museum models as one of his many hobbies. He was an ex-tool maker so had the skills and the tools to make pretty much everything.
I recall as a kid he restored a cog boat (clinker built tender) which was mostly rotten. He built his own steam bender to form the replacement planks. He'd gotten bored of the models and wanted to try 1:1 scale.
My late father would have loved that.
He used to build a lot of scratch built boats and also restore museum models as one of his many hobbies. He was an ex-tool maker so had the skills and the tools to make pretty much everything.
I recall as a kid he restored a cog boat (clinker built tender) which was mostly rotten. He built his own steam bender to form the replacement planks. He'd gotten bored of the models and wanted to try 1:1 scale.
Thanks all for your comments; I think I'm still in the stage of a marathon runner who's just won a record but it hasn't sunk in yet...
srob said:
Wow that's a beautiful model of a beautiful boat! You should be really proud. I'd love to see how you did some of the scratch making if you have time to post a few details sometime.
I'll pick out a few later. I started keeping a written record of the build too but it got lost somehow. The hardest bits, where you think 'Can I actually do this?' were getting the critical bow shape right, getting the hull finish and the copper spinning. It's a balance between waiting until you're in the correct frame of mind to do the next bit, and pushing on regardless 'cos otherwise you'll never finish it!
TGCOTF-dewey said:
What's the history of the real boat Simpo?
Couldn't see much on the model website.
A full size version never existed, the design was created by Marten & Howes specifically for their miniature steam engine!Couldn't see much on the model website.
'This model is our vision for a 50 foot fast commuter launch and day boat of the early 1900s for use on inland waters. It is not based on any particular prototype. This project started as the 10th kit we have designed and has remained as ‘Project X’.'
TGCOTF-dewey said:
Thanks. I'm now sad there wasn't a full sized one steaming up and down Lac Lemon or Windermere in the early 1900s now.
Oh for a lottery win...what a thing to realise as a full size vessel
Yes indeed - on both counts. Very evocative and romantic. I've seen a video of the 50" model on the water, and in fact the very slim forward section means it sits a little low, so when you build the proper 50' version I suggest thicken it up a little at the waterline Oh for a lottery win...what a thing to realise as a full size vessel
Here's a very edited selection of photo from the build.
First, I had to decide what woods to use. I copied the pear from the original model, but switched a few others around so I had mahogany lower decks, lime upper decks and lime internal walls.Planking was also lime. The plans only had three cross-sections so I had to 'loft' the rest from plans/elevations and extrapolation. This worked very well except for the lower front section which you'll see later...
Sets of lines were produced in Photoshop and stuck onto plywood to make the formers:
I made a jig to keep the keelson straight during construction:
The stern is quite remarkable. To ensure the correct chine (critical to the look of the hull) I added a lower ply former:
Then we start planking from the bulwarks down. This was actually one of the easier parts of the model!
Pressing on, dealing with angle changes as they happen by bending and/or twisting over a kettle spout:
The bow looks like a dog's breakfast, but this is fairly normal and because the finish will be painted I know it will all work out eventually, haha!
All planked and ready for a severe sanding. Here the ugly duckling starts to turn into a swan:
The fore and aft decks are thin plywood, quite easy to do:
[url]
images.pistonheads.com/15671/202502057940366[/url]
The shape and finish are absolutely critical for success, so this is the first coat of white emulsion to fill the grain and act as a sanding sealer:
The keel is plywood, with a hole for the propshaft made before fitting:
Now the fun starts because that the shape of the front didn't match the photos I'd been supplied with. Without the lines, I'd had to guess the shape of the front formers and didn't spot the significant concavity. So it needed a LOT of thinning down... and filling... several times...
In total the hull had 2-3 coats of emulsion, several coats of grey aerosol primer, several coats of white aerosol gloss and then, because it was impossible to spray the whole hull perfectly and because a high gloss finish didn't look right, it was all rubbed down by hand to 3000 wet and dry, then polished with car headlamp polish. (I think that was an idea by a PHer; many thanks for that!)
So at last we have this (the light grey patch is dust on the camera sensor):
With the hull complete I now have to figure out how to make the inside structure - forward well, aft well, and a cabin in the middle. The aft well was built as a external module and them dropped in:
The forward well deck was a bit easier:
Both decks have lime planking fitted up to the gunwales. Now the cabin, for which I'd employed two formers to provide the front and back walls:
The cabin roof is plywood sheet formed on a bespoke jig, then painted up to the same finish as the hull before fitting:
Now the boiler and engine. The boiler is nice and easy to do - a chunk of wood tuned to size and planked with mahogany. It still took me three goes to get the diameter exactly right!
And finally - the engine. The brass cylinder heads stumped me for a bit because you can't make curves with a compound slide. So I used a woodturning scraper by hand!
The block is a piece of of oak with various embellishments:
Making the brass ring for the top of the boiler:
Getting there - haven't cocked it up yet!
And now the bit that was really hard - turning thin copper sheet into a dome...
Getting good at curves in brass though - this is the base of the column for the steering wheel:
A tiny handwheel...
And now - a sphere with a hole drilled in it! Really testing the precision of my Myford ML8 lathe here:
So here's the engine and boiler awaiting all the twiddly bits...
Here are the twiddly bits... made from brass rod, brass tube and 4mm hex bar. I was particularly pleased with the pressure gauge; it's glazed with the window from a spare porthole!
And the rest, you know. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the journey
This has just popped up on my Youtube page, a Project X out on the water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjF4vpKbhM8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjF4vpKbhM8
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