19th Century Triple barrelled Centrifugal Bilge Pump

Here are some images of Mantua Models 1/17 scale 19th Century Triple barrelled Centrifugal Bilge Pump. And it actually pumps water.
This was a fun kit but unfortunately I don't think a very popular kit. I got this kit new but from what I can tell this particular kit has been sitting around on the shelves sine the 1980's. Model builders don't know what they're missing.

From Wikpedia"
A bilge pump is a water pump used to remove bilge water. Since fuel can be present in the bilge, electric bilge pumps are designed to not cause sparks. Electric bilge pumps are often fitted with float switches which turn on the pump when the bilge fills to a set level. Since bilge pumps can fail, use of a backup pump is often advised. The primary pump is normally located at the lowest point of the bilge, while the secondary pump would be located somewhat higher. This ensures that the secondary pump activates only when the primary pump is overwhelmed or fails, and keeps the secondary pump free of the debris in the bilge that tends to clog the primary pump.
Ancient bilge force pumps had a number of common uses. Depending on where the pump was located in the hull of the ship, it could be used to suck in sea water into a live fish tank to preserve fish until the ship was docked and the fish ready to be sold. Another use of the force pump was to combat fires. Water would again be sucked in through the bottom of the hull, and then pumped onto the blaze. Yet another suggested use for a force pump was to dispel water from a ship. The pump would be placed near the bottom of the hull so as to suck water out of the ship. Force pumps were used on land as well. They could be used to bring water up from a well or to fill high placed tanks so that water could be pressure pumped from these tanks. These tanks were for household use and/or small-scale irrigation. The force pump was portable and could therefore, as on ships, be used to fight fire. Force pumps could be made of either wood or bronze. Based on ancient texts, it seems that bronze was the preferred material since it lasted longer and was more easily transported. Wood was easier to build, put together, and repair but was not as durable as bronze. Because these were high-value objects, few are found in shipwrecks; they were often recovered after the ship sank. Force pumps were fairly simple in their construction consisting of a cylinder, a piston, and a few valves. Water would fill the cylinder after which the piston would descend into the cylinder, causing the water to move to a higher placed pipe. The valve would close, locking the water into the higher pipe, and then propelling it in a jet stream.

Models from Alan Parsons "As Lights Fall"

Here are some images of the models used in Alan Parsons latest music video "As Lights Fall" from his latest album "The Secret". An excellent song and album. I would highly suggest you pick this album up as soon as humanly possible before your money burns a hole in your pocket. You will not be disappointed... I'm serious! No seriously I'm serious! Stop laughing!!

Anyway -

First up we have the ship "The Project". This model started life as your standard Revell 1/72 scale Pirate Ship. The colour scheme used were based off of Alan Parsons best selling album "Eye in the Sky". Another album you should pick up if you don't own it already. The front figurehead was also converted from a swan to a Raven. Plus clothed furled sails were installed as well. unfurled sails were also made for this model as well. The fore top sail having the Eye of Horace motif. Plus one must not forget lights.

Next we have Model Shipways 1/16 scale New Bedford Whaleboat painted in the same style colour scheme as "The Project". A miniature treasure chest was also built for it.

Next up we have some images of another ship used in the video called "The Rose Floyd" (not Floyd Rose! - ;-}).  It was built from Heller's 1/100 scale Le Soleil Royal. Unfortunately I never had the time to take some decent pics of it when it was finished. So here are a couple of progress pics plus one of "The Rose Floyd" sitting next to "The Project". The Rose Floyd's appearance in the video isn't too long but important I think. It's painted to a Pink Floyd "The Dark Side of the Moon" motif. Plus lights.

After that we have some video stills of said boat and ships.

And finally the video.

Wappen von Hamburg 1667

Here are some images of Movo/Corel 1/40 scale Wappen von Hamburg.
Coming in at around 43 inches long and 36 inches high this model is no slouch for size. The wood is pretty much all walnut of one shade or another, and lots of gilded parts. An impressive kit all around.

From German Wikipedia translated using Google translate"
The Wapen of Hamburg (I) from the year 1669 was a Hamburg convoy ship. 
It was commissioned by the Hamburg Admiralty and the merchant team and had the task of accompanying Schiffskonvois to Hamburg's overseas trade partners and protecting them from hostile attacks or attacks by corsairs or pirates . After eleven convoys, the ship became a victim of a fire and exploded in the port of Cádiz in 1683. Admiral Berend Jacobsen Karpfanger , who remained on board until the very end , who enjoyed a heroic status in Hamburg by successfully fighting pirates, was killed in this disaster.
 After the fall of power in the Hanseatic League, Hamburg gained increasingly economic importance in the 16th century. In the middle of the 17th century, the Free City of Hamburg, along with London and Amsterdam, became one of the most important urban trading centers, now quite comparable to a global city , with trade relations extending from Greenland to Central and White Sea . The most important points were the Iberian Peninsula , England , the Netherlands , the North Sea (related to whaling) and Arkhangelsk . Determination of the Wapen of Hamburg was expansion of the trade areas as well as the fight against accidents by Muslim Corsics, which carried numerous Christian sailors into slavery and extorted high ransoms.
These operated with their ships from the barbarian states and heavily increased the heavy and often almost defenseless merchant convoy, consisting usually of 20 to 50 merchant ships. Even an equipment of merchant ships with guns (so-called armed merchant ships) could not change much, since the load-related cumbersomeness remained. The ships were taken as prizes , seized the cargoes, and often enslaved the ships' occupations, or fixed them until the payment of a ransom. In order to repurchase their own captains and taxpayers who had been captured, boatmen and taxmen called the "Casse der Achten" ("Casse der Achte"), a guarantee for the loss of money, which served as the basis for ransom payments. In order to repay those who could not make contributions to this insurance, the slaves' fund was founded in 1623, consisting of compulsory contributions from shipowners and shipyards as well as grants from state organizations and the admiralty tax. Since the funds were not sufficient, the basins were also raised in the churches, and house collections were also organized.
In the course of the seventeenth century, the Corsals extended their operational radius from the Mediterranean to Gibraltar and the English Channel to the mouth of the Elbe , after England, France, and the Netherlands, from 1665 to 1687, attempted to oppose the attacks with punitive expeditions Sensitive losses caused by corsair attacks. As a consequence of the expansion of the Corsican operation area, the supply of Hamburg from the sea route partially stalled, so that there were even phase bottlenecks in the city. In addition, more and more Christian belligerent nations became an economic problem for Hamburg.
 Thus, from Dunkirk , France sent an increasing number of freighters to intercept the Hamburg and Dutch Greenland drivers , who transported goods from the whale and seal catch and processed in Hamburg. The Netherlands , England, France , Norway and Denmark , as well as the Hanseatic City of Bremen and Brandenburg-Prussia , also had to deal with piracy problems on their trade routes, and provided counter-measures to their merchants for escort protection by accompanying the merchant convoys with war ships .
Hamburg's rulers wanted to secure their important position in the international trade as long as possible, and thus decided to protect their dealers' convoys as well as to organize an escort protection through the so-called convoy ships ("Convoyer"). In 1623 the Hamburg Admiralty was established, which was responsible for the construction, equipment and maintenance of these ships. In 1665, merchants and boatmen were finally formed by the Commerzdeputation , whose task was to follow the needs of the traders for more security on the trade routes and to organize appropriate support. In fact, it lasted more than 40 years until the Admiralty was established, until the construction of the first ships was decided and carried out. The main reason for this was disagreement in the financing of the "Convoyers" and their maintenance. In the course of time, not least influenced by ever-new prisoners, Hamburg's merchant shipments by corsairs and the immense economic losses suffered by individual traders , finally forced the responsible parties to find a financial consensus and carry out the construction in order to prevent such accidents in the future to prevent.
Since in the 17th and 18th century Hamburg always tried to keep out itself and its inhabitants from warlike conflicts that were detrimental to trade and to take a position as neutral as possible against conflict parties, the term "Kriegsschiff" was expressly avoided. Instead, the name "Konvoischiff" or "Stadtkonvoischiff" was used officially, which should be a passive type of ship designed for defense rather than on attack.  In fact, these ships can indeed be described as war ships, since they were mainly designed for weapon guidance. With regard to firepower, however, they could not compete with the ships of war of the maritime powers .
The convoy ships were thus warships with a permanent escort order,  which protected the Hamburg convoys from 1669 to 1747, and secured trade from and to Hamburg, thus sustaining Hamburg's position as a trade metropolis.In the middle of the 17th century, Hamburg had no warships of its own, so that a few tons of bombers had to serve as an escort for the Hamburg merchant fleet. The plans for the construction of the Leopoldus Primus and the probably identical Wapen of Hamburg began as early as 1663, but there was still considerable dispute over the financing responsibilities. 44 years after the convocation of the Hamburg Admiralty , the construction of these two convoy ships was finally commissioned in 1667.
The Admiralty had the supervisory rights over the ships and passed the building supervision to the captains Lars Boehnsen and Johann Timmig .
The construction of both ships was under the direction of a Dutch shipbuilder, who was not known at all, and took place according to the Dutch model. No documents have been received from the planning, the construction process and the legal and financial construction work.
The Dutch Aemilia from 1632 is supposed to be a design model for the Wapen of Hamburg in specialist literature. 
 The Wapen of Hamburg is the first of four convoy ships that bore this name. It was built in the shipyard at the Theerhof in Hamburg. The ship was not allowed to have an excessive depth, as otherwise the shoals of the Elbe, especially the Altona sand, would not have been possible. As the shipbuilder knew that a wide ship with low masts had more stiffness and strength to re-establish itself in troubled waters, and a narrow ship with high masts sailed faster, he combined the two qualities of this ship and Created a good compromise between stability and sailing speed.
The ship was a sailboat with three masts ( bean mast , main mast and foresail ). Only on the mantle was a Latin sail on the lowest position (underbeet sail) . In addition, the blind spot could be placed on the bowsprit and the upper bend (Bouvenblinde) at the bowsprit mast.

The Wapen of Hamburg had two decks and closed in the rear area with a smooth rear mirror . In the rear mirror was integrated a gallery, which resulted in the laterally attached side galleries.
The rear carving as well as the entire figural jewelery of the ship were created by the sculptor Christian Precht . This was to make the stern of the ship similar to the model of the 1666 portal, also completed by him at the construction yard near the Deichtor. At the rear mirror was the Great Staatswappen of Hamburg, an image of the castle in shield form, held by two lions, as a viewer and representative carving. This sculptural work was framed by various allegorical carvings and baroque style. On the rear mirror were three large lanterns at the rear. As a figurehead , a lion adorned the bow, as is customary on many Dutch-style sailing war ships. He held a shield with the Hamburg coat of arms in his front paws.

The Leopoldus Primus and the Wapen of Hamburg (left); Copper engravings . In: Hertzfließde Reflections / From the Elbe Stream / [...] by Peter Hessel, 1675

For the work on Leopoldus Primus and the Wapen of Hamburg , Christian Precht received a remuneration of 1544 marks from the city of Hamburg.
The ship's body was planted in the Kraweel construction method. The superstructures (ie the exterior walls of the back, the aftdeck and the hut - see the green-painted areas on the model photos) were likely to be overlapping, as was customary in ships of Dutch design at the time.
The Wapen of Hamburg was equipped with 54 guns , with the heavier calibers placed on the lower gun deck. The ship had more pieces than guns, so that the armament and possible loadings could be handled more flexibly. The cannons were usually imported from Dutch or Swedish. 
 The Wapen of Hamburg from 1669 to 1683 a total of eleven convoys, which led them nine times to the Iberian peninsula and once each to England and to the north polar sea .
As a captain , Martin Holste was summoned in 1669, who had previously made a name for himself in the escort order with the largest of Hamburg's Tonnbojers and was able to buy himself into the new function. 
Holste, however, fell into disgrace after he had partially disregarded the captain orders ordered for him by the Wapen of Hamburg for his convoys. He thus refused to escort some convoy ships, and stayed in the road for some time at certain points or places where he had been commanded by his captains, and allowed the convoy to make excessive bills. 
Since Holste was expected to follow the captain orders very strictly, but he did not stop his free-lance action, despite repeated exhortations, a committee finally dealt with the incidents to discipline him. As a result Holste lost the responsibility for the Wapen of Hamburg , but remained because of influential kinship in the function of a captain, without however its command actively on a convoy ship to exercise.
In 1683 major repairs took place at the sister ship Leopoldus Primus . At that time, the captains of the captains had become disagreeable with the admiralty, Admiral Berend Jacobsen Karpfanger , who had made a great deal of money for the pirates in Hamburg by way of numerous battles for Hamburg, made a short decision from the Leopoldus Primus to the Wapen of Hamburg Giving him command of the ship. Karpfanger then went on his first journey with the Wapen of Hamburg in the autumn of 1683, which led him to Cádiz in October 1683 with a little delay. Here he went to the roadstead to make further preparations for the journey. For the return journey the Isle of Wight was planned as an expedition in England , before returning to Hamburg.
At this time, the ship was filled with 150 sailors and officers, as well as 80 soldiers . Also on board were a professional and his people, as well as some surgeons , a preacher , a few cooks and some servants .
 In the evening hours of October 10th, 1683, a fire broke out in the lowest room of the foreship of the Wapen of Hamburg . This expanded rapidly and could not be adequately restrained by means of on-board equipment despite the greatest efforts. The crew attempted to get to safety in sloops , but was backed by firemen back to the fire to make further extinguishing attempts . At the same time, signal shots were fired from the guns of the Wapen of Hamburg , which were meant to signal the sending of auxiliary fire fighting teams to the surrounding ships. As the fire spread through the deck to the foremast mast, and the rigging and the sails were instantly ignited by an unfavorable wind, the riflemen were left in a safe distance for fear of an explosion . Karpfanger had his off-board son abducted, who had previously appealed to his father to leave the ship with him to bring both lives to safety. Carpfanger, however, did not want to see the ship as lost. His officers suggested that a leak be thrown into the fuselage and let the ship run with water and put it on the seabed, but this was rejected by the carcass. Finally, he agreed to a beaching attempt , leaving the frigate's ropes to set the ship near the shore on the ground. It was not a question of leaving the ship anyway: he was bound by his oath , which was handed over to the Hamburg Senate on July 14, 1674, which impelled him " to stand mankind in the defensive of the entrusted fleet, Body and life, as they leave and his ship. "
As the convo ship drifted slowly towards the shore, the fire under deck moved ever more towards the stern . Toward midnight, finally, the individual guns, which ignited themselves and fired spontaneously, came to an end; At the same time, some of the grenades on board were also firing.
An hour after midnight, after the ship had burned for five hours, and Admiral Karpfanger was still the last man on board, the fire below deck reached the powder chamber , which finally exploded. The hind part of the ship, broken in the middle, flew into the air, the anterior resting on the side and beginning to sink. The ruins were raining down from high altitude.
The disaster resulted in 65 deaths: 22 soldiers and 42 boatmen and Admiral Karpfanger died. His corpse was found on October 11, 1683, drifting in the water on a mooring line of an English ship in the port of Cádiz.
On the occasion of his feast days, Karpfanger received an appropriate condolence from the ships in the harbor of different nations: the men want to have counted over 300 salutes .
 Although the Leopoldus Primus was still ready for action, Admiral 1685 considered a new building, since the trade with two ready-made convoy ships covered considerably more convoys - also on different routes - and thus increased sales. However, the new building should be smaller than the predecessor Wapen from Hamburg (not least for reasons of cost). The basis was a smaller convoy with 30 - 40 guns. In September 1685 the Hamburg citizenship granted 30,000 thaler and decided to build the new building. The successor Wapen of Hamburg (II) was completed in 1686, but nevertheless had similar dimensions and armament as the predecessor.
In total, there were four convoy ships named Wapen from Hamburg , which operated from 1669 to 1747 for the city of Hamburg, until the convoy was stopped by convoy ships.

Oseberg Ship

Here are some images of Billings 1/25 scale Oseberg Ship.

From Wikipedia"
The Oseberg ship (Norwegian: Osebergskipet) is a well-preserved Viking ship discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway. This ship is commonly acknowledged to be among the finer artifacts to have survived from the Viking Era. The ship and some of its contents are displayed at the Viking Ship Museum at Bygdøy on the western side of Oslo, Norway.
 The Oseberg burial mound (Norwegian: Oseberghaugen ved Slagen from the Old Norse word haugr meaning kurgan mound or barrow) contained numerous grave goods and two female human skeletons. The ship's interment into its burial mound dates from 834 AD, but parts of the ship date from around 800, and the ship itself is thought to be older. It was excavated by Norwegian archaeologist Haakon Shetelig and Swedish archaeologist Gabriel Gustafson in 1904-1905. 

The ship is a Karve, clinker built almost entirely of oak. It is 21.58 m long and 5.10 m broad, with a mast of approximately 9–10 m. With a sail of c. 90 m², the ship could achieve a speed up to 10 knots. The ship has 15 pairs of oar holes, which means that 30 people could row the ship. Other fittings include a broad steering oar, iron anchor, gangplank, and a bailer. The bow and stern of the ship are elaborately decorated with complex woodcarvings in the characteristic "gripping beast" style, also known as the Oseberg style. 
During the debate on whether to move the original ship to a new proposed museum, thorough investigations were made into the possibilities of moving the ship without damaging it. During this process, very thorough photo scans and laser scans of both the outside and inside of the ship were made. 
In 2004, an attempt to build a copy of the Oseberg ship was launched. A collective effort of Norwegian and Danish professional builders, scientist and volunteers engaged in this new attempt with the photo scans and laser scans made available for free to the enthusiastic builders. During this new attempt it was discovered that during the initial restoration of the ship a breach in one of the beams was made and the ship was therefore inadvertently shortened. This fact had not been discovered prior. It is believed this is perhaps the prime reason why several earlier replicas sank: previous attempts at working replicas had failed due to lack of correct data. 
In 2010, a new reconstruction was started titled Saga Oseberg. Using timber from Denmark and Norway and utilizing traditional building methods from the Viking age, this newest Oseberg ship was successfully completed. On the 20th of June 2012 the new ship was launched from the city of Tønsberg. The ship floated very well and in March 2014 it was taken to open seas, with Færder as its destination, under full sail. A speed of 10 knots was achieved. The construction was a success, the ship performing very well. It demonstrated that the Oseberg ship really could sail and was not just a burial chamber on land.

The skeletons of two women were found in the grave with the ship. One, probably aged 60–70, suffered badly from arthritis and other maladies. The second was initially believed to be aged 25–30, but analysis of tooth-root translucency suggests she was older (aged 50–55). It is not clear which one was the more important in life or whether one was sacrificed to accompany the other in death. The younger woman had a broken collarbone, initially thought to be evidence that she was a human sacrifice, but closer examination showed that the bone had been healing for several weeks. The opulence of the burial rite and the grave-goods suggests that this was a burial of very high status. One woman wore a very fine red wool dress with a lozenge twill pattern (a luxury commodity) and a fine white linen veil in a gauze weave, while the other wore a plainer blue wool dress with a wool veil, possibly showing some stratification in their social status. Neither woman wore anything entirely made of silk, although small silk strips were appliqued onto a tunic worn under the red dress.
Dendrochronological analysis of timbers in the grave chamber dates the burial to the autumn of 834. Although the high-ranking woman's identity is unknown, it has been suggested that she is Queen Åsa of the Yngling clan, mother of Halfdan the Black and grandmother of Harald Fairhair. Recent tests of the women's remains suggest that they lived in Agder in Norway, as had Queen Åsa. This theory has been challenged, however, and some think that she may have been a völva. There were also the skeletal remains of 14 horses, an ox, and three dogs found on the ship.
According to Per Holck of Oslo University, the younger woman's mitochondrial haplogroup was discovered to be U7. Her ancestors came to Norway from the Pontic littoral, probably Iran. Three subsequent studies failed to confirm these results, however, and it is likely that the bone samples contain little (if any) original DNA or have been contaminated through handling. 
Examinations of fragments of the skeletons have provided more insight into their lives. The younger woman's teeth showed signs that she used a metal toothpick, a rare 9th century luxury. Both women had a diet composed mainly of meat, another luxury when most Vikings ate fish. However, there was not enough DNA to tell if they were related, for instance a queen and her daughter.
 The grave had been disturbed in antiquity, and precious metals were absent. Nevertheless, a great number of everyday items and artifacts were found during the 1904-1905 excavations. These included four elaborately decorated sleighs, a richly carved four-wheel wooden cart, bed-posts, and wooden chests, as well as the so-called "Buddha bucket" (Buddha-bøtte), a brass and cloisonné enamel ornament of a bucket (pail) handle in the shape of a figure sitting with crossed legs. The bucket is made from yew wood, held together with brass strips, and the handle is attached to two anthropomorphic figures compared to depictions of the Buddha in the lotus posture, although any connection is most uncertain. More relevant is the connection between the patterned enamel torso and similar human figures in the Gospel books of the Insular art of the British Isles, such as the Book of Durrow. More mundane items such as agricultural and household tools were also found. A series of textiles included woolen garments, imported silks, and narrow tapestries. The Oseberg burial is one of the few sources of Viking age textiles, and the wooden cart is the only complete Viking age cart found so far. A bedpost shows one of the few period examples of the use of what has been dubbed the valknut symbol.The conservation of the wooden artifacts is an ongoing problem. On May 3, 2011, thirteen years after debate began over the disposition of the ship, Norwegian Minister of Education Kristin Halvorsen stated that the ship will not be moved from Bygdøy.

HMS Halifax 1768

Here are some images of Constructo's 1/32 scale HMS Halifax 1768.

From Wikipedia"
HMS Halifax was a schooner built for merchant service at Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1765 that the British Royal Navy purchased in 1768 for coastal patrol in North America in the years just prior to the American Revolution. She is one of the best documented schooners from early North America.
 The schooner was built by a group of Halifax merchants with government support as the Nova Scotia Packet, to establish a reliable packet service of mail and passengers between Halifax and Boston in 1765. The managing owner was, Joseph Grey, the son in law of the commissioner of the Halifax Naval Yard where the schooner was likely built. Launched in late September 1765, the schooner made her first voyage on 15 October 1765 under the command of Benjamin Green Jnr. Weather permitting, the packet sailed every eight days between Halifax and Boston and made 23 round trips during her merchant career. In July 1768, the Nova Scotia Packet was chartered by Commodore Samuel Hood in Halifax to take dispatches to Portsmouth, England. Hood also recommended that the schooner be purchased by the British Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy purchased the schooner on 12 October 1768 and renamed her Halifax; she met a need for more coastal patrol schooners to combat smuggling and deal with colonial unrest in New England. The careful record of her lines and construction by Portsmouth dockyard naval architects, and the detailed record of her naval service, make the schooner a much-studied example of early schooners in North America.

Original Royal Navy plans of HMS Halifax

After being surveyed in September 1768 she was commissioned in October and fitted out at Portsmouth between October and December. Her first commander was Lieutenant Samuel Scott, who sailed her back to North America in January 1769. In 1769 Halifax confiscated and towed the schooner Liberty, later HMS Liberty, belonging to John Hancock. Halifax returned to Britain for a refit in December 1770, and the following year was under the command of Lieutenant Abraham Crespin. Lieutenant Jacob Rogers took command in 1773, and was succeeded in 1774 by Lieutenant Joseph Nunn.

After an active career on the coast on North America she was wrecked on 15 February 1775 at Foster Island near Machias, Maine. she was reportedly intentionally run aground by a local pilot. The court martial of Nunn, his officers, and crew, attributed the loss to the pilot's ignorance; nothing came of this as the pilot had disappeared while Nunn was arranging transport from Sheep's Island to Boston for his crew with a local shipowner, Mr. Beale.
The wreck played a role in the Battle of Machias later that year, when Admiral Samuel Graves ordered that her guns be recovered. A later schooner named Halifax serving in North America was recorded as being purchased in 1775, though her lines were identical to the Halifax sunk that year, and she may therefore have been salved and returned to service.