1/700 TI Europe (scratchbuilt)
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by Roel Van de Velde |
1/700 TI Europe (scratchbuilt)
Something that has been a long time on the list. About 15 years ago, I started a cardboard/paper model from scratch, but lacked a skill and required plans to bring that to a good end. This model was also only on waterline.After many years, improved skills, materials and plans, I now made a full hull model for my collection of merchant ships.
Construction is frame on keel from styrene with styrene deck and sides. Bow and stern were filled with ultra-fine milliput (white coloured). Much of the piping, supports and detailing is made from brass, stainless steel and copper (telephone) wire.
The 4 ships of this class (nicknamed the Fantastic Four) were built by Daewoo Shipbuilding&Marine Engineering (DSME) in South-Korea for the Hellespont company. They were the last Ultra Large Crude Carriers (ULCC) to be constructed up till now.
They measure 380m long, 68m wide and draft of over 24m, which doesn’t allow them to pass Singapore Strait or the English Channel in fully loaded condition. The displacement at that draft is around 509,000 tons, making them as heavy as 5 US supercarriers. They have a carrying capacity of 3.2 million barrels of oil (compared to 2 million barrels for a regular Very Large Crude Carrier).
Despite their enormous size, these ships were remarkably fast with a fully loaded speed around 16 kts and ballast speed of over 17 kts.
Initially named Hellespont Tara, Hellespont Alhambra, Hellespont Metropolis and Hellespont Fairfax, the ships were later sold to OSG (Overseas Shipping Group) and Euronav. They were marketed together under the Tankers International (TI) pool and renamed TI Oceania, TI Europe, TI Asia and TI Africa.
The intended trade was from loading ports in the Persian Gulf to discharge ports in Europe and US (Ship-to-Ship transfer, since they can not enter in most ports).
When the TI pool was disbanded, the ships each went to their respective owners and the funnel markings were changed. Eventually Euronav has acquired all 4 of the class and became the only ULCC owner in the world.
Two were converted to Floating Storage and Offloading facilities in offshore oil fields (FSO Asia and FSO Africa), the other two are still being used for trading and/or temporarily storing oil (renamed Europe and Oceania).
The white colour was chosen to reduce the loss of cargo due to evaporation and was retained despite the obvious cosmetic (rust) issues.
The model represents TI Europe in the year 2005, while sailing under the TI pool with the TI funnel marking.
The construction process can be seen on this site’s forum.
