It’s a never ending topic, but I was just going through some old pictures of ships in drydock.
The propeller above is a variable pitch model.
This is a conventional propeller that has just been burnished. Note the hull color.
I don’t know if this hull is so shiny because of the paint, or because it’s wet with rain, but it’s quite a different color than the previous pic.
Fred
Probably just wet,but way cool pics!
is not wet from rain as no puddles on drydock floor & ship bulb foot is under overhang of the bow but still shiny.
Those crews in the extended boom work stands are spraying on something… Is it MSG?
They just put the [2cnts] in the car wash for the “hot wax” option, that’s why the lower hull is shiny …
Everyone knows shiny hulls cut through the wate faster than dull hulls. LOL
Keep in mind (as far as propellers are concerned) that the props on large ships are generally bronze rather than brass. That prop indeed looks recently burnished or refinished. Bronze weathers rapidly and picks up a patina. One big problem is that, I have been told, bronze weathers differently in sea water than in air, and all the props I have seen were from old ships displayed in air. But then, my models are displayed in air, too, so I finish the props to look like the patina I see on bronze statues, which are all over the place, and seem to match the few bronze props I have seen on display pretty well.
Quite right Don,
If you look at the upper two blades of the second propeller, I think you can see where they stopped the burnishing work. I wouldn’t venture to say what that color is, but it is certainly less bright than the burnished part. But in the first pic of the variable blade prop, I don’t think that has been shined up at all. Judging by the wet dock floor and the fact that the bottom paint is almost non-existant, I’d say i took this picture shortly after we came out of the water. ( This ship was, still is, on the Alaska trade. The ice and pumice in the water up there do a job on bottom paint.)
Edit: Come to think of it, that pumice in the water might keep the propeller bright too. Cook Inlet is gray and opaque with volcanic run-off.
All this is to say, I wouldn’t get too hung up on exactly what color the bottom of a ship is.
Fred
Keep in mind that the Bronze used for propellers is not the standard copper-tin mix used for door handles. Its alloyed with other metals in small but significant quantities.
Standard naval brass is 60% copper, 39.25% zinc, and 0.75% tin. The composition of the propellers is a trade secret as far as I can tell.
Another alloy of copper that does well in sea water is cupronickel: 88.35% copper, 10% nickel, 1.25% iron, and 0.40% phosperous. (Formula ASTM B171)
My source says that the color changes over time and the exact color can be changed byy a difference of composition of less than 1%. So what ever paint you use it will probably be close but not exact.
Some vessels have stainless steel props. Some are 80’ tugboats, others are 1000’ ore boats…
Tug MISSOURI in drydock in Sault Ste. Marie, MI - 1997.
AMERICAN COURAGE, a 636’ Great Lakes ore boat.
MESABI MINER, a 1004’ long Great Lakes ore boat.
STEWART J. CORT, the first of the 1000’ Great Lakes ore boats.
Actually Bob I know those ships I work at the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie Michigan and they lock through all the time during shipping season. They won’t be back again till shipping season starts back up a month from this Saturday. But a few of those ore carriers are converted WWII era fleet oilers.
in reference to the glossy red hull; The drydock crew is pressure washing the sea growth off the hull. I witness this evolution regularly at the Navy Yard where I work.
I do have to chime in here.On my converted cutter the bronze on the props was a nice fine pale green from sitting in fresh water.When I arrived in HAWAII the things werea real bright bronze color.Salt water is both a terrible abrasive ,but the PACIFIC is a great polisher of things like props.I also got thirty foot of paint peeled of the forward part of the vessel buythe salt water scrubbing action.Now ,if someone could, i would like to see one weathered like the real ships look after fresh paint and then an extended ocean voyage. TANKERbuilder
Mikeym_us - I was the Base Engineer/Industrial Manager at CG Base Soo from 1993-1998 and lived in the Pitsch Court apartments across the street from Soo Welding.
tankerbuilder - I have the Dumas 1947 Chris Craft Utility Boat kit in the back of the shop waiting to be built. I’m thinking of making it an operating “barn find” boat - weathered gray mahogany planking with a flat finish, almost completely peeled off bottom paint, and most of the chrome fittings left off.
I’m in the process of finishing my Missouri and don’t want to use the plastic props regardless of color because the model may go in a permanent museum display and I don’t want anything that can break easily. I’m thinking about buying the G-Force brass props for the USS North Carolina. There doesn’t seem to be any available for the 1:350 Iowas. The NC’s were about a foot smaller for both inboard and outboard, but they did use inner 5-blade and outer 4-blade. In scale terms the difference is about 0.010" and frankly, I don’t think anyone will notice.
I have a nice picture of the Iowa class running gear, but don’t know how to embed a picture. Any help wold be appreciated.
So… here goes adding a picture… Some of the forum members told me how they do it.
This is a picture of the Missouri when it was in drydock being refitted in the 1980s. Underside was primed, but not yet painted anti-fouling red.
And here’s another shot.
http://s1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc503/Builder2010/?action=view¤t=Moindrydock2.jpg
This last shot shows, Rusty Battleship, the Yard Superintendent that supervised the refitting. I found him through the World Affairs Board.com when I was researching the color of the Iowa prop shafts. They’re not brass or even steel colored, but appeared to be white lead. Rusty is a very cool dude and was very helpful in my new Missouri build. I’m posting details on this on another post.
Hit the little film icon on top, then insert your pic’s code.
I see the efforts of many modelers who take painstaking efforts to replicate all forms of topside weathering; rust streaks, faded paint, soot stains and salt water spray but it all stops at the waterline. Below the waterline is a pristine hull with fresh paint and shiny gold-painted propellers.
I’ve seen props turn gray-green from the copper content and the hull, well, even barnacles would be authentic. Salt water is abrasive on a ship that is in use or has recently sailed but you wouldn’t see a real shine on the screws like they were buffed with Brasso…
I’m weathering this model very lightly. I’m building a display model like that of Gibbs & Cox model in the Naval Museum. I may use a wire brush on a Dremel to dull down the shine on the props, but not go further than that. I may also add a bit of rust around the anchors.
You may be disappointed in the G-Force props, as I was. I ordered a set and they were unusable, awful really. Ordered another set as I thought maybe mine were just a manufacturing mistake but same thing…terrible quality and worse…unfixable. I emailed my supplier and he said all the ones he had in stock were like that. Anyone want to buy two sets of Nagato props in 1/350? Cheap? Like for free??