Barge "Cleopatra"

McTschegsn

Active Member
Hi there,

my next project will be the Barge "Cleopatra", a free Walden model downloadable at Walden. The ship has an uncommon design as it was built for only one purpose. To ship an Obelisk from Egypt to England.

Here is the background story which makes the ship so interesting and unique to me:

The Cleopatra was designed and built in 1877 to transport an obelisk from Alexandria to London. This obelisk has been presented to the English nation in 1819 by Mehmet Ali, the viceroy of Egypt in commemoration of the victories of Lord Nelson in the Battle of the Nile and Sir Ralph Abercromby in the Battle of Alexandria.

The ship was built and shipped in sections to Alexandria and was assembled there around the obelisk.
The Cleopatra left on Setpember 21, 1877 Alexandria with his tug Olga.
The two ships were caught in a storm and the Cleopatra has to be abandoned and was believed lost until the Steamer Fitzmaurice spotted her almost undamaged.

The ship was tugged to Gravesend, England by the tug Anglia and arrived there on September 12, 1878, almost one year after the departure.

The Obelisk is known today as Cleopatra's Needle and was erected on the Thames embankment near Gravesend

I have attached a pic of the model sheets. As the model can be opened to show the purpose of the unusual ship I first will construct the Obelisk to arrange the formers properly.

Cleo1.jpg
 
Last edited:

McTschegsn

Active Member
Proceeded a bit more to the finish. The Hull is almost complete and the Segments which hold the Obelisk inside are almost ready to fit in.
I find it very nice that you can Pull the interior out to show the puspose of the ship.I used the Obelisk as a kind of aligning help that the Formers are lined up exactly.
Next is the Crew Stand and Sails and so on. Just tiny bits to finish the barge.
I will use Serafil for the rigging as I have it in house from my kite building.
Cleo3.jpg Cleo4.jpg Cleo5.jpg Cleo6.jpg Cleo7.jpg
 

McTschegsn

Active Member
Just continuing on my barge. The inner structure is finished and glued to the stern part of the ship. The deckhouse is finished and attached to the hull.
Slowly it gets to look like a (strange) U-Boat like ship ;)
Cleo8.jpg Cleo9.jpg Cleo10.jpg
 

McTschegsn

Active Member
Just a break from my Interceptor build to make some small parts and the mast.
Cleopatra has now her mast and steering wheel mounted. The mast is hand sanded from a toothpick and colored with PITT Artist Pen.
The position lights are finished, anchor and cable drum are ready and the dinghi is ready to mount too...
Maybe I can finish the model this weekend if I am not too lazy
wink.gif

Never rigged any ship before. This is my first ship build ever (besides R/C racing boats which have no mast at all
wink.gif
)
Cleo11.jpg
 

McTschegsn

Active Member
Short before the final stretch :)

Rear railing is mounted, small parts (position lights, dinghi, Anchro and winch) are mounted and the rigging is done. The last parts will be the liferings, the front railing and the flags.
For the first rigging ever I think this is acceptable. I bow my head before the people rigging up three masters and stuff :)
have fun watching the pics :)

Cleo12.jpg Cleo13.jpg Cleo14.jpg Cleo15.jpg Cleo16.jpg
 
Last edited:

McTschegsn

Active Member
The railing is made from (Cotton) Threads covered in white glue. The Threads are pinned to a template (which you can download here: http://www.papershipwright.co.uk/thread-railings-template/ and then covered in thinned white glue. (Ycrylic varnish of CA glue can be used too) Repeat the covering two to three times, then you can cut the complete railing off.
A bit of work tho but I did not want to spend money on etched or laser cut parts.
 
Top