hola shipping community. need some help from you guys, does any one know a site or have any pics of docks in an arctic climate? I need some reference pics.
thanks in advance.
I don’t have any pictures, but I’ve seen the docks at Hall Beach, Churchill, Rankin Inlet, Nanisivik, and Cornwallis Island, all in the Canadian Arctic.
It turns out I’ll be going to Rankin and Hall next week so I’ll try and get a picture or two.
Most Arctic communities don’t have docks; the ships anchor and supplies or passengers are lightered back and forth. Traditional docks would be destroyed each year by the sea ice.
The few permanent docks designed for tying up to are usually steel or concrete cribs filled with rocks and then levelled with gravel so vehicles can drive up. Churchill is an all concrete dock, but built the same way.
These docks all are constructed parallel with the shore, not sticking out into the bay, again so the ice doesn’t rip them apart.
I’m curious, do you have a specific dock in mind?
Regards,
Bruce
thanks for the details B. LeCren! I don’t have a specific dock in mind, I just wanted some details on arctic docks because im going to be starting on a project where i would be building one. I don’t work with ships, I build models of the mecha type and in this project a amphibious unit is attacking an enemy base, which is in the arctic and is mostly a shipping bay. I just need some referance to help me build the dock.
I might trow a ship in there to add to the scean… is there any industrial ships in 1/144 scale?
Nox:
1:144 is not a common ship scale so you will probably have to either modify another scale to look like 1:144 or build a ship from scratch.
Most Arctic commerce is in and out of Churchill on Hudson Bay. Ore carriers go into Nanisivik and Cornwallis Is. a couple of times each year to remove the mined lead/zinc ore.
Community supply ships travel up there in August. These are smaller freighters that carry a couple of lighters which can unload directly onto shore. Many communities also receive supplies using towed barges, again these unload right onto shore.
The dock at Churchill can take two freighters at once. It is designed for loading grain as it is the terminus of the Hudson Bay Railway. Originalla a Government operation, it is now private enterprise and freight flows both ways. This is also the barge terminal for more northerly communities.
The Rankin Inlet dock might make a suitable prototype for your diorama. I’ll be back next week so I can post a pic or two then.
Regards,
Bruce
thanks alot, can’t wait to see those pics, in the mean time I will try to find all the info online about it. thanks again Bruce.
OK Nox, here are a couple of pictures of the dock at Rankin Inlet. Note that this is a larger community and receives bulk fuel and supplies by barge from Churchill half a dozen times in the summer depending on the ice conditions. This year the ice is bad in Hudson Bay; it only just broke in Churchill and is still solid up to about 5 miles off shore at Rankin. This is the end of June, and usually the first barge is already on its’ way …
The first picture is the shore area where the Inuit draw their boats up for the winter. This is what you find in most communities (ie: no dock).
Kind of hard to see because of the sea ice and the tide is in, but here is the dock … the near side is a tidal flat and the far side is dredged deeper for the barges to tie up to. It is made of rock fill with metal sided cribs filled with more rocks. Then the whole thing is filled with gravel to make a road surface on top.
This is the dock from the deep water side so you can see the steel cribs. In the background you can see yellow fuel pipes coming down the hill from the community tank farm. Fuel barges are tied up under the cliff and the oil is pumped up the hill into the tanks.
Happy diorama building!
Bruce
Thanks Bruce. im gonna look hard at those pics and try to make the best diorama i can.
I will try to post some progress pics when i start building it.
once again thanks. [:)]
My pleasure, I look forward to the diorama pictures.
Bruce