~THG Kyle October 2022 Update~
It's been a rather slow month, including another week or so where I couldn't get much done. But most of all this part of the ship has definitely proven to be the most difficult. The lackluster documentation, interplay of parts, and the sheer amount of curvature in this part of the ship lead to some major challenges and tedium. There are hundreds of large pieces of steel, nearly all of which are unique in some way. The result so far has been pretty neat, however, and once the work in the double bottom and Tank Top is done, it'll make for a solid base to start building up the rest of the ship.
I've finished putting all of the main bottom floors in place, shaping them to the hull plates, and arranging lightening and limber holes. This was a tedious process and is still not 100% done as some of the floors will need further adjustments once other parts are done, but for now I can move on. I've expanded the shell plating, adding the plates that curve around the bilge so that it's all above the Tank Top level. I've since started making the brackets for the bilge and wing tanks. This is a similar process to the floors, but the brackets should go a bit faster. I've also more or less worked out the contours of the Tank Top, which will come in handy when the plating there is done.
Once the brackets are done, I'll go back and adjust all the shell plates that have been added so far, fine-tuning their curvature and making cuts and other adjustments to where they overlap with each other. I can then make adjustments to the floors, and then add the intercostals. Once all that is done I can finally begin adding Tank Top plating. I'm eager to get to the frames, beams, and upper shell plating, but I still have a lot of work to do around the double bottom before I can get there.
Mini other update: From Matt, I think the message was missed, but the financial updates are quarterly now since they weren't as popular, and that's easier to organize and produce. Also, look forward to the Britannic plans in November!
Comments (7)
Great work, Kyle! :-) It looks like hundreds of hours of painstaking tedium but, as you say, it shall prove worth it in the end, giving you a solid foundation upon which to build -- literally. I have some pre-CAD/CAM experience as a non-professional draughtsman; how you model in a computer seems infinitely more difficult and challenging than using paper, pencil, and French curves! You mention 'lackluster documentation', by which I assume you mean *surviving* documentation, that which is still extant. We can be sure that, at the time of construction, every last detail had been clearly set out before the first piece of steel appeared under the gantry. The design team, draughting department, and Harland & Wolff would have insisted upon it. Keep up the good work! :-)
I think this would be more fun if you guys had constructed a shipyard to build the ship in for us to walk around the model as it’s built, I don’t know it could be updated every month or so so we could watch the ship take form from the ground up and be a part of it. Nonetheless amazing work on all fronts guys!!
So beautiful. Great foundation for the rest of the project.
puh those curves look really annoying to make. btw is there any way/website to purchase those sidecut plans of the ship (picture 18)?
They caught my attention as well. I'd like the opportunity to study them more closely.
Very nice work 👏 👍 👌
Amazing job :) Nice to see it coming along :) Any updates from Derek? :P