A Teaser: 500' N-scale Container Ship Nearly Ready (perhaps Z-Scale too)

[pnolan48]

These ships are still a few months away, but I thought I'd show the first production model now. The hull is in three sections, and you can see the breaks in this photo. The bow and the stern are cast from resin; the mid section is built-up from styrene, with a thin casting on top for the full-width clamshell hatches which open to both sides to allow the below deck containers to be loaded and unloaded.



The mid-section can be shortened or lengthened in 50-foot increments (one 48-foot hatch, actually), resulting in a total ship length of between 350' and 650'. Each hatch is half the width of the midsection, with four stiffening panels. It will be possible to build the midsections with open hatches.

The superstructure is built up from styrene parts. Of course there are detail parts to be added. Here's a closer rear view.



As this ship is easier to build than my smaller ships, I may be able to offer it as a kit. And the price will be lower than some of my more detailed smaller ships, as there is not as much detail on a container ship. That's not really true as the above deck racks get pretty detailed--but that's another issue.

If there is enough interest, I will build a Z-scale version. The Z scale bow and stern molds would also make for a much smaller coastal type vessel in N scale.

[TiVoPrince]

Layout 
construction motivation just rose 7500%....

[pnolan48]

Layout 
construction motivation just rose 7500%....

Is there anything I can do to get it to 75,000%? Or beyond a percentage where you just can't resist buying one?

These big ships are a breakthrough for me in terms of price. My little ships are listed at $695-$775 because of the details on them. Container ships don't have as many details. Well, OK, the first level deck-top racks would be very complicated, but I think in N scale most would choose not to do that level of detail. The bow and stern do take a rather amazing amount of casting materials.

[Scottl]

There were about half a dozen ships like this in Vancouver harbour as we flew in today- amazing sight and it would be great to recreate even one on a layout.  It would be a fortune to put containers on it though, unless you went with cardstock or those castings of container stacks on ebay.  Nice ship though!

[pnolan48]

I've thought about this. My first attempt at containers was not successful. The mold material was too old and had too much moisture, so only two of the six mold compartments were successful. Stay tuned. My target is $2.00 per unpainted container that is detailed for the outside of a stack of containers. The "interior" containers need not be detailed or even differentiated.

I'll be working on containers for the next two months while in Alabama. One of the problems is how to make the containers realistically stackable. A second problem is how to model the racks on the decks that hold the first and sometimes second rows of on-deck containers.

[Scottl]

Good point, it only needs to be the outer containers... 

[up1950s]

Makes you wonder why the makers of an scale containers haven't launched their own . One can save a ton of containers by hollow stacking like we do with lumber loads . A container sliced in half could be used a 2 units in a wall , end , or top , depending on the direction of the slice . You would still get enough of inside detail to trick the eye into believing they are full dimensional containers , at a fraction of the cost .

[Ian MacMillan]

Oh wow Pete...you sir are on a roll!

I wish I had water for any of the stuff you are producing.

[TiVoPrince]

Is there anything I can do to get it to 75,000%? Or beyond a percentage where you just can't resist buying one?

Waterline 
nature is a big plus.  Since it is the nature of layouts where space is always at a premium, a half-hull model that can rest against the backdrop might raise that percentage. 

Bunk spacing would be 40' in 1984 and still prevalent for ocean (not domestic 48' and 53') containers.  Bunk racks could be faily simple shapes mass produced with a robo-cutter.  Those would be all about painting/weathering them realistically.  Something that replicates the burned out forest look of an unloaded container ship would be what I seek. 

While I would probably roll my own, the incredibly large 'billboard' side lettering and ship names might be daunting for many customers.  Hmmmm, EVER BACON, CHERUB MAERSK, NYK FOOB, or APL UBER a$$hat as a ship name.  Maybe up to 8250% right now..

http://www.shippingcontainers24.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/apl-container-tracking.jpg
http://ports.co.za/admin/large/image-362.jpg

[pnolan48]

Bunk spacing on deck is indeed 40 feet. Bunk spacing below decks, from what I've seen, is a bit more, as there are bulkheads and positioning rails, as well as space to get the 40-footers out of the hatch openings. I chose 48 feet for the hatch openings, assuming a bit of overlap.

[TiVoPrince]

Perhaps 
I'm more familiar with a different type of bunk arrangement where they are consistently 20' or 40' top to bottom.  The walkways and accessways among the watertight bulkeads leading to container bunks above decks might account for a diferential in spacing...

http://www.menkent.dk/svendpics/deck_overview.jpg
http://www.cross-ocean.com/images_testimonials/nabucco/deep_view_of_container_ships_hold.jpg

[pnolan48]

TiVo,

Thanks for those images. Where are the hatches? Are they stored on the dock, rather than "clam-shelled" at the edges? Do the guides extend all the way from the bottom of the hold up above the deck? If so, how are hatches secured and the hull made watertight?

My model is much more a converted T2 or T3 tanker than a purpose-built 2nd or 3rd generation container ship. It's more or less meant for 40' bunks, but with space for bulkheads in between. I estimated the 8' spacing below decks, and see I may have been wrong--4' would probably be better. My current configuration will do just fine for now, as the subhatches (hatch reinforcements) are spaced for 40' containers or 20' containers.

The mold for the hatch spacing is not so large that it can't be redone quickly. When I look at above deck racks, I see very little spacing lengthwise. So the spacing is a bit puzzling to me. Is it 42-44-48 between centers (accommodating a 40' container)? I'm learning to do large thin castings at very high quality.

Most of my research was on tankers and break-bulk freighters rather than container ships. Now the first container ships were converted from these, but I guess I'll have to look deeper.

[TiVoPrince]

Sometime 
around 1980 when purpose built "Panamax" and larger container ships came online the older converted tankers and bulk freightrs were quickly diverted to secondary ports.  Honestly I don't think there are covers of any kind and they simply rely on massive pumps to channel and clear water from below decks.  My impression is that the guide rails extend from the bottom to top of the racks where they can be the anchour point for lashng containers above.

Based on a TV show not long ago showing a load/travel/unload journey by Emma MAERSK and those walkways appeaed to be not much more than shoulder wide.  I'm thinking 36-48inches would be about right to my eye.  It may be valuable to imitate containers stacked in the 'hold' as the top of your deck, rather than covers. 

In my mind I cannot picture container ships with any type of deck covers in Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach beyond the 35' Sea-Land epoch and that was an incredibly short (and highly location specific) era in the short history of container traffic.  Although my pesonal experience is far more with these 'fair weather ports' and my easy access to the port ended around 1980, so others may want to chime in with better informtion about modern deck covers...

Link to basic container ship classes showing relative sizes and build dates:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wG1YgiwssPI/TrEN3Qlvg3I/AAAAAAAAAlU/KopRQBnCQac/s1600/containership-generations.gif

[pnolan48]

I was thinking of this thread, with its image under "Picture Clicky"

http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showthread.php?t=43903

This is a smaller ship, but not by that much. Here's the image alone:

[u18b]

Pete.  Where in Ala are yo going to be?

Mobile???