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[tritsch]

A few years ago, my son who lives in Melbourne, took me along to Black Rock to see the remains of the Cerberus. I got interested in it and gradually accumulated quite a bit of information about it. 

Late last year even though there are still a few unknowns (some I suspect will stay unknown) I got the plans photocopied at 1/72 scale and began work on a model.  How it ill work out I'm not sure, I certainly feel it will be a fair weather boat as the freeboard, at 3 feet, scales down to 0.5 inch or 12.5 mm.

The hull has been made with plywood frames, planked with balsa and then fibreglassed as I did with my previous model of a steam trawler. It went together fairly well but I found it to be an unusual shape - flat bottomed, with apparently no external keel. I've attached a few photos and will post more as I go along.

Tony T 

[tritsch]

I'm having a bad night -  having read about and studied the Cerberus for quite a while I tend to assume others know of her as well.

For those not in the know, The Cerberus was a 235 foot long twin screwed steam powered breastwork monitor built in 1879 armed with 2 10" muzzle loaded rifled guns in each of 2 turrets.

She was built on the Tyne and then sailed out to Australia as a coastal defence ship to protect the Port of Melbourne and the colony of Victoria.

It is suspected that someone in the UK with a sense of humour chose the name "Cerberus", being the name of the three headed dog that guarded the gateway to the underworld.

Tony T   

[Bob K]

Hi Tony.  This sounds a fascinating project.  A model you are unlikely to see many other examples built I would think.
Not sure if she is intended for sailing, looking at all the closed top ribs, but Cerebus could prove challenging on the water due to its very low freeboard.  Looking forward to seeing how this ship progresses.   

[john s 2]

Its interesting that this boat is mentioned. I have a model of this. Again the freehold is so low that  ive only sailed it in my test tank. The history of the vessal is on the Cerberus web site. To sail it to Australia it had the sides built up. There was also a problem with crew desertion.I think they felt it would sink. Sadly as with boats in Britain it  is slowly rotting away. Having been a breakwater for many years. John. 

[tritsch]

The attached two photos take it up to the present day.

Fitting the shafts was  a pain, I was reading a build the other day where someone referred to fitting a propellor shaft as the worst part of a build of a model, well fitting two for me was a nightmare. In the end I did what I suppose most people do, fit one as close to the plan as possible then fit the other to match. Any way they're both in and look OK to me.

 I've cut off the tops of the frames where the breastwork deck will fit and fitted the motors and the rudder and servo.  The top of the rudder shaft will have a slightly big (not to scale) cover so that I can just get at it. 

As the middle of the ship under the breastwork is the only part of the hull I willl be able to access when its completed I've done one initial float test to get an idea of how much ballast I will need to fit as I won't be able to put any in the bows or stern once the deck is on.  Calculating from its original displacement of 3340 tons, at 1/72 scale it should be around 20lb/9kg quite  a weight.  Certainly my first float was well up and I ran out of kitchen weights, with the batteries in I'll try again. Onc I have an idea of the  amount of ballast I need I will get started on the deck and breastwork.
Tony T   

[tritsch]

Sometime ago I asked on the forum for ideas for the propellors for the Cerberus and someone suggested asking George Sitek. Well I did and got him to make me a pair and I have just tried them on.  They look fine to me so that's that part of the model done.  I will have to shorten the shafts about 8mm for the props to to clear the rudder but that's no problem (better than having to lengthen them!)

Tony Tritsch