Hi, In a not to distant future I hope to expand my house and get a larger room for my trains. When that happen I plan on getting a freight boat for iron ore. This is the kit that I think that I’ll get then.
http://www.isp.on.ca/Sylvan/ho-scaleproducts.htm
My question is this, there are additional lengths to ad to this and I would like to know if anyone here could tell me what the longest one is that I could use and still be correct so to speak?
Thanks, Magnus
The description of the add-on sections indicates that you could add two of them and still be prototypical.
I added three extensions to mine!
BTW, here is a link to the frame with a photo of the Sylvan freighter on it:
http://www.isp.ca/Sylvan/kits/1050.htm
Of course, in addition to Sylvan, there’s Bearco Marine Models:
http://bearcomarine.com/plastic.htm
The Bearco hulls are already 6ft in length, no need for extensions.
Dooh. Sometimes I feel really dumb! [:D]
But you can add three you say. Do you have any pictures of that?
Magnus
What MrB quoted probably refers to a boat of that particular era, the early 1900’s. The vessel in Sylvan’s photo is known as a “canaller”, a short version designed to fit in the locks of the Welland Canal. Upper Lakes vessels were longer.
My model portrays a ship of WWII vintage, when the typical length was ~600ft. I totally scratchbuilt the forward house since the Sylvan one was too ‘dated’ for my era. It’s selectively compressed (66 inches long), I could never fit a full length 7-foot model on my layout!
Here’s the only full-length photo I have of her, shot while my layout was still under construction. There is currently a view-separator that prevents me from getting that wide of a view anymore.
Sweet. I’ve often thought it would be nice to do a Naval base (see’en as I was in the Navy) but few can understandhow big an air-craft carrier is… If done to scale just one would take every bit of 10 feet to set in the water. LOL I did look for an HO scale ship way back when… no luck.
The present Welland Canal opened in 1932. It connects Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. The maximum length of boats that can pass through the canal (since 1932) is about 740 feet. I live about 1 mile from Lock Two of Welland Canal.
Empty Net
I spent a summer in 1964 as a deckhand on the Arthur B Homer, the near sistership to the Edmund Fitzgerald. The Homer was a big ship as Great Lakes oreboats go at 731 feet. The old “canallers” were still around but about the only ones still in service had been streched to at least 400 feet. Anything smaller was just not economical to run, especially since many of them were still coal burners at a time when most shipping had changed over to oil. So, it depends on what era you want to model. If it’s any time after the late 50’s, the boat should be at least 400 feet. Before that, the original size boat shown in the link was common although the dedicated ore boats that made run from Cleveland and Detroit up to Duluth still averaged about 400 feet even in the 30’s. The iron ore docks were something to see in person and would make a great model but I suspect it would be almost a lifetime job to get it all done.
As Ken L. wrote, you will have to do a lot of selective compression. If I remember correctly, the Cleveland Cliffs ore docks in Cleveland were just a little under a mile long and could unload six boats at a time. The shipping season on the Lakes is short and ore companies wanted each boat to make as many runs as possible so loading and unloading went on 24 hours a day and then you went back in transit. I think the longest I spent on terra firma those three months was about 18 hours because one of our propeller shafts needed repair. Average turnaround time was six hours.
CSX_road_slug,
where did you get that extraordinary crane that is unloading your nice boat ?
Martin
Québec City
Thanks everyone. I appreciate the help.
How do the level of detail differ between Sylvan and Bearco Marine Models? I wan’t maximum detail and I’m not afraid to spend time on building the ship.
Also, someone brought up military ships, are there any H0 scale warships? I know a carrier is to big but something smaller. I recon I have 9 feet to spare. Thanks God they are so narrow, I actually think one can plonk down one extra ship outside the other one and make it look like it’s passing by.
Magnus