RPS Marie Curie

[Joe C-P]

The future RMS Marie Curie

Here she is.  Bought it for fun, finally have a purpose for it.
Build in progress, should have it done this weekend.

[Wardukw]

Sweet Joe..this will be different 

[Rick Lowe]

Will you be using parts from the Glow-in-the-Dark pirate ship? 

[NARSES2]

Will you be using parts from the Glow-in-the-Dark pirate ship? 

That's sufficiently clever enough to avoid the book 

[kerick]

Some blue LEDs down inside the hull should work. If the blue light glows through the plastic, even better!
Will the crew members look healthy or like zombies?

[Joe C-P]

Will you be using parts from the Glow-in-the-Dark pirate ship? 

Ohhhh...
I have Glow In The Dark Paint!   

[Rick Lowe]

Will you be using parts from the Glow-in-the-Dark pirate ship? 

That's sufficiently clever enough to avoid the book 

Yay!!

Thanks, Chris   

[Rick Lowe]

Will you be using parts from the Glow-in-the-Dark pirate ship? 

Ohhhh...
I have Glow In The Dark Paint! 

Sounds like you have a Plan - or at least the outline of an Idea...

My work here is done! 

[Joe C-P]

Tesla's RPS Madame Marie Curie

The original model is the Heller "Atlantic Star", roughly 1/450 scale, aka the Great Eastern.  I removed one mast and reversed the others, added a tower bridge and the "fiberglass" tower.  It's painted in typical colors for the early 1900s, the paddlewheels painted shiny metal to stand out.  The tips of the three masts and the central windows on the main deck are painted with glow-in-the-dark, but my phone camera does not pick that up well.

The story

After the German-American War, the celebrated war hero Nikola Tesla continued to be well employed by the US government developing measures to protect the US and enhance their economic strength.

In one experiment he designed and tested a steam engine powered by the heat of newly discovered radioactive elements.  Placing a core of such in a vat of metal surrounded by water, it heated the water, and bringing together different quantities of those elements heated sufficiently to turn it to steam, driving a turbine, then separating those elements diminished the heat.

The next demonstration was to power a vehicle.  Despite the small quantity of radiative fuels needed, the associated shielding, water, pumps, piping, and other equipment was far too much for a land vehicle, even a locomotive.  After surveying available ships Tesla identified a laid-up paddle wheel-sail ship, the sails to be auxiliary during maintenance or unexpected events.  Another advantage of being at sea was the engine could be cooled using the surrounding ocean in an emergency.

The old boilers and engines were replaced with the new engine, the coal bins repurposed for storage of fresh cooling water and spare parts.  A Diesel pumping engine was installed to start water circulation before engaging power.  A modern bridge was added, along with a spun-glass tower containing delicate Marconi antennae; Tesla's laboratory experiments had shown such a structure would withstand sea weather while permitting radio waves to pass.  Another wire antenna was strung between two of the masts retained as backup, and at their peaks were Tesla radio-energy transmission spheres.

Nikola credited aid from colleagues Dr. Thomas Swift, Canadian inventor William Murdoch, and most especially the Curies, naming his vessel the "Radiation Powered Ship Madame Marie Curie" in honor of the Nobel prize winner, and commissioning a carved bust of her as the figurehead.

Over the next several months the ship's new atomic steam engine was tested, gaining confidence and understanding in how to control the activity of the materials, and as importantly how to shut it off.

The ship also carried a steam yacht and steam pinnacle to be powered by energy beamed from the ship. This experiment proved less than successful, barely a faint glow being induced in their engines, and that only when close aboard to the Marie Curie.  Eventually they were converted to oil burning.

Her first oceanic run was to Bermuda and back, without significant incident.  The sails were deployed once when the crew needed to repair some pumping equipment.  After this she was sent on a round-the-world cruise, stopping at America's new colonies won from Spain and Germany - Cuba, South West Africa, Tanganyika, the Solomons, Philippines, Samoa, a friendly visit to the Hawaiian queendom and on to San Francisco.  The engine proved itself, not requiring frequent coalings, but remained a tricky system to operate safely.  Often the water would glow blue and overheat, forcing a shutdown, and many crewmen felt queasy while near it.  She did prove very maneuverable in port using the paddles, though those were problematic in pitching seas.

After a check over at San Francisco she journeyed around the Horn, stopping in ports on the way including Cuba and Puerto Rico, thence returning to Norfolk harbor.  There the engine was carefully dismantled, parts being examined and tested.

Unfortunately many of the metal parts had lost integrity, and while not requiring large bunkers of coal, the rate those parts had broken down meant each voyage would require a significant rebuild of the engine.  Also there was a supply problem: the amount of radiative metals available could not fuel more than a few ships, and extracting more was far too expensive to make it worthwhile.  Therefore those metals were distributed to laboratories for further experiments, and the ship broken up, a footnote in the history of ship propulsion and nuclear power, whose day would come decades in the future.

[loupgarou]

You have even an helicopter pad astern !?

[Joe C-P]

You have even an helicopter pad astern !?

I considered that, it is actually part of the model!  Maybe an early gyrocopter, or a tethered kite or balloon.  Balloon!  Eet eez balloooooon!

A hot-air tethered balloon, filled with air from the steam engine, used for oceanographic and atmospheric scientific observations!  That is what Tesla would have done!
Now I need a little balloon, which shall be named the LoupGarou in your honor, wise WhatIffer!

[buzzbomb]

Nice work on that.

[Rick Lowe]

Cool! 

Needs more Glowing Zombies(tm)...

[Old Wombat]

Needs more Glowing Zombies(tm)...

Sorry, Bethesda already did that in the Fallout games.

[loupgarou]

You have even an helicopter pad astern !?

I considered that, it is actually part of the model!  Maybe an early gyrocopter, or a tethered kite or balloon.  Balloon!  Eet eez balloooooon!

A hot-air tethered balloon, filled with air from the steam engine, used for oceanographic and atmospheric scientific observations!  That is what Tesla would have done!
Now I need a little balloon, which shall be named the LoupGarou in your honor, wise WhatIffer!

I am deeply honoured, esteemed Sir!
BTW, that round structure could be a drum for submarine telegraph cables. The Great Eastern had been used for laying  the first transatlantic telegraph cable.