Remember cargo liners? They were elegant ships. They were almost all clearly designed by people who had a eye for line. They were usually kept immaculately clean. Today they are gone, replaced by container ships, very efficient but hideously ugly.
Velarde was a particularly good-looking example. She was a “reefer”, shipping parlance for a refrigerated ship, so she was painted white. This was for a severely practical reason. A darker colour would soak up the sun’s heat, necessitating a larger refrigerating plant, more expensive to install and to run. But it does look good. Deans have always had an eye for a ship.
Apparently she was well liked by her crews. She was not too big, she was modern and comfortable and she made short passages between Spain and London with fruit, so they got frequent shore leave. Probably got lots of fresh oranges to take home to their families, too. If she loaded at Cadiz, close to Seville, (well known for the best oranges) and made for London, she would, at 14 knots, be at sea for a little under four days. From Barcelona she would take a bit over five days. A ship doing a regular run to, say, India or even the “Lavender Hull Mob”, as the Union Castle line were known, on the run to Cape Town, would be at sea for much longer.
I always wanted the model, but never had the spare time or the spare cash. So when a quite nicely built example came up s/h for about £200 less than the cost of the kit, I bought it. The basic work done by the previous builder is not quite as good as my best but it is okay. Also, I did not have to spend hours doing it.
The model was about 90% complete. There were a few oddities, like a rudder much bigger than shown on the plan, with a linkage allowing a 90 degree throw each side of centre. But this was easily corrected. The Deans motor and double coupling gave beautifully smooth running. The broad green waterline stripe needed to be painted on. Kabuki Tape is wonderful stuff. It leaves no blebs or bobbles and gives an excellent clear edge. The portholes had to be drilled out and glazed, using tiny blobs of clear epoxy applied with a cocktail stick. This is easier to do than it sounds and works very well. A couple of photos found online provided useful guidance to their positions. The derricks were present but needed to be installed and rigged up. There was a question mark over the railings, which were okay in most places but a bit wonky in a few. I had the necessary stanchions in the spares box and considered uprooting the lot and re-doing them, but, as I wanted this to be a quick project, decided to live with it.
There was a sort of sling affair to launch her, but at nine and a half pounds it is feasible to do it all by hand, so this was turned into a stand. A couple of pieces of dowel were added, with a pillar drill used to ensure the holes were true and it all went together. Having many years ago built a “Clan Ross” at over five feet and much too heavy for ease of handling, I applaud Deans’ choice of a ship that makes a manageable model.
So there she is. This was more a refurbishment than a build, but she looks well enough. The derricks give her a nicely complex outline to counterpoint the elegance of the basic hull form. The green boot-topping sets her off well. It was pleasant to be able to complete the work an unknown builder had begun.
On the water she is a complete delight. Running her leaves a person feeling oddly smoothed out and calm. She has a couple of handling peculiarities. Although the throw on that large rudder was reduced to something reasonable, if it is put hard over she slows noticeably in a turn. Put it over hard at low speed and give a short but firm burst of throttle and she turns very tightly, which can be useful. In a straight line, take the power off and she just keeps going. She carries her way well, a consequence of having sweet lines that slip through the water easily and being ballasted to her running weight of nine and a half pounds on lead ingots and a 4ah 6v gell cell I used for no better reason than I had it handy. All this adds up to inertia as well as stability. A kick astern does not stop her instantly, so approaches to the bank are made carefully. But she looks best running dead straight, cruising along happily at part throttle, using the minimum of energy in an economical fashion, to keep her sliding though the water, very like the real ship.
Altogether, Velarde was an extremely satisfying project. My grateful thanks to Deans and their unerring eye for a ship.
