SS Great Britain - Hull Construction

February 10, 2022 • Part of: SS Great Britain Step 2

Getting started with the actual build commenced with calculating the base measurements. I got most of the key measurements from the Wikipedia article on SS Great Britain. Most of the detail measurements were gathered from other pictures and calculated based on the length of the ship in the picture.

Dimensions and Scale

Scale: 1:300 (calculated from actual model measurements)

Measurement	Real Ship (ft)	Model (cm)	Model (mm)
Length (w/o bowsprit)	322.00	33.00	330.00
Beam (width)	50.50	5.50	55.00
Chimney height	8.00	6.50	65.00
Main sail height (deck)	-	18.00	180.00
Bulkhead to bulkhead	25.00	2.57	25.70
Height (deck to keel)	32.50	3.34	33.40
Propeller diameter	15.50	1.59	15.90

The hull framework

Initially I searched the internet to see if I can find a plastic hull, similar to the Gorch Fock that I built, but this turned out to be fruitless. I really wanted to present the hull with material that will celebrate the significance that this was the first intercontinental steel hull ship.

Derived from the guides, the first hull layout

With the length and the beam, I then proceeded to draft the deck and the hull framework. Personally, I have a big shortccoming, in that I never learnt to do proper drawings, and just had to resort to trial and error, pen and paper, and cutting the forms out of paper to visually confirm the layout. Not ideal, but it was a good starting point. Using a paper model I attempted to visualise the taper of the hull, and proceded to use a mixture of pinewood and balsawood to form the deck and main ridge. The ribs were added to prepare for forming the metal sheeting over the ribs. The ribs did not work well, and I replaced it by forming the hull in processive sheets of balsawood.

first parts of the deck frame

ribs added to form the tapering

replacing ribs with balsawood layers

The core of the hull was filled with sawdust and glue, ready for the steel hull. Beer cans turned out to have just the right thickness of steel to proceed with the forming of the outer skin. Strips of beer cans were then glued in place with superglue.

hull filed with sawdust and glue and beer cans used for the skin.

glueing the sheets of beer cans

finished skin

SS Great Britain Build Logs

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Have questions or feedback about this project? I'd love to hear from you.