Author Topic: Another Melanie! Need help from ship experts  (Read 4751 times)

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Offline Southgate

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Another Melanie! Need help from ship experts
« on: 03 November 2015, 06:48:02 »
This is my first post. I bought two Dean's Marine ships years ago to compliment my HO model railroad, based on the Southern Pacific on the Oregon (USA) coast.

I know scale is a bit off, but the effect will be good. The ships I bought were the SS Melanie 11, and the Hudson Firth.

Well, since that purchase, I have decided I want the Melanie to be converted to a small tanker ship for oil and fuel. Not being an avid ship modeler, I would like information to make the conversion correctly. Convert the hatches to riveted tanks?  Keep or lose the cranes?  Any ideas for piping?  If anyone has done a similar conversion, I'd love to see a link. I'd like to keep the conversion as simple as possible without sacrificing realism.

I am an experienced modeler, with many years building an HO RR, 1/24-1/25 cars and trucks, and some RC experience on a scratch built 1/25 truck crane.   But! These ships will be a new field for me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Dan

Offline colin

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Re: Another Melanie! Need help from ship experts
« Reply #1 on: 04 November 2015, 05:43:23 »
sorry to say... i have never done a conversion... but i have built a Tanker..

the only Problem that i see... both the Melanie and Hudson have the Bridge amidships.. nearly all the tankers that i have seen have the Bridge either at the Bow or Stern....
i suppose if the Melanie and Hudson were un- built then this would not be to much of a Problem to sort out..
if i was doing a conversion then i would probably go along the lines of the Rix Harrier style.. you could build on the hatches..
here is a link to that kit in the online shop.. so you can see what I mean..
http://deansmarine.co.uk/shop/product_info.php/cPath/10_20/products_id/378

Offline Southgate

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Re: Another Melanie! Need help from ship experts
« Reply #2 on: 04 November 2015, 19:28:42 »
Thank you for your reply, Colin. Since I posted my original topic, I have looked at a great many tankers on a google search, and you are right. Most tankers do have the bridge on the stern. I did find one tanker that looks to be about the same vintage as the Melanie, and even the bridges are fairly comparable. The tanks look about the size of the hatches on the Melanie too. (That Rix Harrier is cool, but too modern)

I have not started either ship kit, and it looks like converting the Melanie to a coastal tanker shouldn't be too hard. I'll continue to do further research and make notes. The biggest change is obviously the bridge location, and then the tanks. I'll have to trim the hull down to just above the deck along the length between the bow and stern.

I like how the ships bows are higher out of the water than the stern in pictures when they are empty, due to the weight of the bridge.

The Hudson will be built as a freighter, and I really like how she looks just as pictured on the box. No doubt I'll add a few of my own touches.

As I mentioned, the ships will be displayed on a railroad layout, but I want to make them removable so I can operate them sometimes as they are intended to be, RC on the real water. I have some ideas on how to do that... Even now, with just the hulls sitting on the layout, you get a sense of the fact that they are decent sized ships, making the trains look small.

Well, I'll quit blabbing so much and start posting pictures as progress is made.  Cheers! Dan

thoraa

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Re: Another Melanie! Need help from ship experts
« Reply #3 on: 25 November 2015, 20:05:50 »
Have you tried You Tube and Ship spotting ?

Offline Southgate

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Re: Another Melanie! Need help from ship experts
« Reply #4 on: 28 November 2015, 09:14:30 »
My source of info came from a google search of "coastal tankers", which brings up lots of images to peruse. I copied and pasted to my own computer files for reference, but I don't want to post those pictures myself in case of copyright infringement. Dan