Mike Dowling

Hey Boyd,
 
Beautiful work! Fight the urge to start another build in the same way that I'm trying hard to. The Billing's HMS Warrior (1860)  should not be attempted, even if it was the first real iron clad and has a lot less rigging and will look dead cool when complete and will give you hours of pleasure and we can compare notes  ...
 
The timing of your latest pics couldn't have been better considering where I am now with the Vic, so thanks for that.
 
Cheers,
 
Philip

She really looks superb. Not sure I quite understand the half mast thingy but I can appreciate it will take up less space. Goodness knows how you half rig her or are you only doing half the standing rigging? Regardless you should be really proud of your work, like I said, superb.

She really looks superb. Not sure I quite understand the half mast thingy but I can appreciate it will take up less space. Goodness knows how you half rig her or are you only doing half the standing rigging? Regardless you should be really proud of your work, like I said, superb.

Hi Al,
 
Beautiful job on the main deck...I think the brass cannons add a really nice finished look to the ship  

Considering you are trying to align all those hundreds of matchsticks, I think you've done a masterful job.
 
Bob

George. i have tried 0.25 mm brass wire and it still don,t look right . Maybe it,s the way i,m doing it , i don,t know but some how i think it looks better with out them . It,s a pity cause i had so many plans in my head as to how i would do them ???
Mike . thats exactly what i,m worried about , pushing to far and spoiling things 
I was a bit worried about the brass rings ,thought they looked a bit oversized.  Recieved some black 0.5 wire in post to-day and have some brass ,same size on the way to try out . 0.25 was to small for the rings . It,s getting a bit OCD but i keep reminding myself it,s a learning process !!!! 
 
Bob have you found me yet ??????

Sorry to be boring and you have made a very nice try but my advice again would be to leave them off. You have done such a marvellous job so far I would hate you to spoil it now with things that don't really need to be there.

Sorry to be boring and you have made a very nice try but my advice again would be to leave them off. You have done such a marvellous job so far I would hate you to spoil it now with things that don't really need to be there.

I would agree with mike ,Boyd.

Great minds think alike . I had my mind made up to use the brass but no matter where i placed them they still looked to much like eyebrows so been looking at pics of Vics on the net and most have left them off, i suspect for the same reason . If painted along with the wales they seem to blend much better but for me thats not an option . Thanks again for making my mind up for me ????

My opinion for what it is worth is leave them off, your work thus far looks brilliant without them !

My opinion for what it is worth is leave them off, your work thus far looks brilliant without them !

May be rushing with pics of progress but as the better half finally set the i-pad down i thought i would use the moment ? 
I have continued work on the gun port lids and think i,m settled on my method, now need to spend the time fitting everything .I mentioned earlier about using the ply hindges provided ,but spliting them in half to thin them down ,although not perfect i believe they will do , the drip shields however i will replace and rather than buy them i will make my own from flattened brass wire ,the natural wood color of the ply did not look right against the wales !!
 

 

 
As you can see i tried the lid rigging with and without a liner in the hole . My preference is with the lining and it,s not much extra work , opinions welcome ???
The rest of the pics show the overall effect when dummy cannons and lids are fitted , nothing glued yet so some may be a bit of line , i still like to see the overall effect before glueing . One other thing i must mention is that i left my gunports much to deep into the hull and so when fitting the dummy cannons had to fill them out with Balsa painted matt black . In hindsight about 4-5 mm recess would have been enough to give the desired effect and i could have saved a lot of work if i had left them as they were in the kit , a lesson learned for the future !!!! some more pic while the sun still shines through my work window .
 

 

 

 

 

Didn't realise but Happy Birthday from me as well.

Didn't realise but Happy Birthday from me as well.

Managed to get hold of some diamond shaped Tulle , thanks Grant ,i now also have a lifetime supply for £3.00 .i wish everything was as cheap ?
Used as fine a black thread as i could find and threaded the tulle in place .finished with the desired effect although my work was not as neat as i would have liked but will do better on the other side .
 

 

 
Before fitting the netting on the other side i spent some time trying to figure out what to do about the gun port lids . I had previously made a few samples from strips of the darker wood but decided that they should be made from a lighter wood and as i had  10mm beech available i took the easier method and made them from a single piece . I shaped the sides and will fit them with a small pin to hold them in place untill the glue sets 
 

 
I have tried several different sorts of hindges and rather than spend £50.00 on fancy brass ones i looked at the ply ones supplied and decided that by spliting along the ply lines i could finish up with something slimer and more realistic . i will however have to paint them . 
 

 
last pic shows the painted dummy guns yet to be fitted 
 

 

 

 
the lids in the  pics are not glued and held in place by the pin ,i won,t glue untill hindges and rings etc have been fitted  but gives some idea of the finished look .
 

 
 

The Bertrand, version 2.0, is underway!
 

 
Above, you see a set of mid-hull frames assembled and laid out at the prototype spacing of about 15 scale inches. Astute observers may notice something different from earlier in this log: these frames are built at a 90 degree angle (floor to futtock), not canted outward. The more I compared my purchased plans to the original archeological drawings now in my possession, the more blatant errors I found. I've now pretty much abandoned those first plans and spent some time scanning and resizing the new drawings to 1:87 scale and hitting the reset button on pretty much everything involved with this project. Hence the delay in updating this log, along with a busy few weeks in real life. 
 
According to the actual archeological notes (from here on referred to as the Petsche plans after the leader of the excavation team), Bertrand very definitely had squared-off mid-hull frames, with angles only occurring at stem and stern. In other words, this plan view and the frames I built from it were totally wrong:
 

 
So I designed a new set of frame molds and have been busy mass-producing frames:
 

 
I do these eight at a time, pre-cutting the floors and futtocks on my trusty cutter (upper left), then assembling them around the wooden molds seen at right. These are pinned to a piece of foam board, holding everything in place. I pin a floor in place, dip each futtock in wood glue, then fit it in place along the side of the form, using another pin on each side. Then I use the cutter to create the tiny angle braces, smear some more glue across the joint, and use tweezers to install each angle brace on top. Below is a detail of several of these assemblies:
 

 
When these are dry, I use the cutter to lop a small 45 degree angle off each bilge corner, where a bilge plank will go. These areas were not rounded as on a sea-going vessel, but angular, which made construction much easier for the craftsmen assembling these boats in the American wilderness of the upper Ohio River. Note that the molds have a 45 degree angle cut out at the turn of the bilge. This is so I can glue the bilge together without anything sticking to the mold. The remainder of the frame is sufficient to hold the pieces at a proper 90 degree angle. Anything that sticks to the foam board is popped off with a flat knife blade and sanded smooth.
 
Here's an overhead view of my hull setup:
 

 
A copy of the inner hull plan is attached to the build board with double-sided tape. Several layers of wooden strips line both sides of the hull to provide consistent support for the frames (also attached with tape). The plans then have four thin strips of double-sided tape run on top, to hold the frames in place during assembly. I use wooden spacers to support each frame, keeping it at the proper distance from its neighbors and properly vertical. In these photos, I've removed some spacers temporarily so you can see more detail. I've used tape for everything to allow adjustment is necessary, and it works great. This jig was very much inspired by the Cairo build suggested earlier in this log (thanks, Ken!)
 
As each batch of 8 frames is ready, I add them to the hull jig. It takes 15-20 minutes to build 8 frames, then a few hours for the glue to dry. I basically do a batch any evening I have a short stretch of time to spare, and slowly but surely work my way toward the daunting total quantity needed. This means I don't get overwhelmed trying to do them all at once, or keep count. 
 
Once I reach the beginning of stem and stern curves, I will have to build the frames custom-in-place, but as the standard square frames make up much of the boat's total length, this will be manageable.When all the standard frames are done, I'll start installing the keelson and other stringers to hold the structure firmly together, then proceed on the more complex ends.
 
So that's where the Bertrand stands this weekend. I will do another update when these square frames are completed and I've started in on the interesting challenge of stem & stern. Hopefully the wait won't be as long this time!
 

Although it,s a long time since i posted i don,t have a lot of progress to show due mainly to wasting a lot of the limited time available trying things that in the end didn,t work out , but that,s life . 
My intention had been to fully rig the cannons on the top deck and show them pulled in , that is with the breeching rope fully extended , just for a change ! After several failed attempts  i could not produce anything that looked the part so returned to a simpliar version of a pic i seen somewhere and decided to forget about the side and train tackles ,although i may return to them at a later stage ?? 
 

 
In attempting to save time i also simplfied the cannon on the forward deck ,i may regret these shortcuts later but if i,m ever to finish this build i can,t keep getting bogged down in detail that even if seen may not be noticable ,hence my topic on how much detail is too much . My intentions sometimes exceed my abilities and frustration kicks in !!!
 

 
Next i tried the fire buckets and again after much time wasting decided i could probably live without them ?? But don,t rule them out just yet . 
On to the hammock netting and finally after a couple of false starts i produced something i,m happy with . I even checked the instructions but they just vagely suggested that they were made from wire strip  .
 

 
The simplest way i could make was from 0.75 brass wire .Once i had the basic shape i flattened the ends and the base ,then drilled the ends and a pin hole in the base to attach it to the caprail . then threaded wire through which hopefully i will be able to attach the netting . The netting provided was green and i thought to heavy so will be replaced with i think it,s called troule ,can be seen in pic 
 

 
Hope my next post on progress won,t be as long and that my new more simplistic view to the build will not come back to bite me ???????
 
 

Well folks, here she is warts and all !! I can't say I am sorry that she is finished but I do think she looks better than I expected her to. I am very glad I put on the extra railings as I think they make a big difference. The rigging such as it is, is rather minimal but there has been a lot about this kit which has been like that from the start.
 
Despite my best efforts the decks have continued to warp even after gluing and even managed to break some of the glue joints. Without doing a complete rebuild there is absolutely nothing I could do about it so I just have to live with it.
 
I really love the wood finish because of the colours and it does make it very different from the other Robert E Lee builds I have seen. Apart from the lovely pre warped decks etc the biggest challenge of this build for me has been the really tight bending of various kinds of wood and I have learnt a few lessons from it. The only painted bits on her are the windows, doors, railings and funnels,  otherwise it is all varnish.
 
It will not surprise any of you to know that I couldn't recommend Constructo kits to anyone. Having done two now I share others opinions about the poor quality of supplied wood. I had to raid my 'stores' on several occasions. I know Constructo kits are at the cheaper end of the market and now I know why. I shall not be doing another kit from that stable !!
 
My next effort will be another kit from my tried and tested OcCre manufacturer.
 
 

Looking good !

Well folks, here she is warts and all !! I can't say I am sorry that she is finished but I do think she looks better than I expected her to. I am very glad I put on the extra railings as I think they make a big difference. The rigging such as it is, is rather minimal but there has been a lot about this kit which has been like that from the start.
 
Despite my best efforts the decks have continued to warp even after gluing and even managed to break some of the glue joints. Without doing a complete rebuild there is absolutely nothing I could do about it so I just have to live with it.
 
I really love the wood finish because of the colours and it does make it very different from the other Robert E Lee builds I have seen. Apart from the lovely pre warped decks etc the biggest challenge of this build for me has been the really tight bending of various kinds of wood and I have learnt a few lessons from it. The only painted bits on her are the windows, doors, railings and funnels,  otherwise it is all varnish.
 
It will not surprise any of you to know that I couldn't recommend Constructo kits to anyone. Having done two now I share others opinions about the poor quality of supplied wood. I had to raid my 'stores' on several occasions. I know Constructo kits are at the cheaper end of the market and now I know why. I shall not be doing another kit from that stable !!
 
My next effort will be another kit from my tried and tested OcCre manufacturer.
 
 

I thought it was about time I did an update !
 
Columns and railings are now done, the instructions said 111 columns and 113 spacers !!!! That took a while and I know they are not all straight. The railings were pressed brass strip which had to be bent and painted and then 1mm square hand and foot rails put on each length. A fair test of wood bending I can assure you !
 
Just to make life harder for myself I have also put railings on the third deck which the Constructo model doesn't have but the real R.E.L did. I managed to get some extra strip from Constructo which is about the only good thing I have to say about them !!
 
There is some more varnishing to be done before the funnels and smoke stacks and rigging get done along with the gangplanks and a few more bits and pieces.
 
But, here she is to date.
 
 

American western river steamboats represent a unique form of shipbuilding. Designed and built on the American frontier during the core of the 19th century, such boats rapidly evolved to fit the specific needs of the great inland river systems that drained inland North America. In this build I will replicate a typical specimen of this design, the steamboat Bertrand, trying to accurately duplicate the features of these fascinating vessels. I hope you’ll follow along, both to enjoy the construction, and to learn about this obscure but fascinating (to me, at least) part of maritime transportation history. These boats are almost, but not entirely, unlike an ocean-going vessel of the same period, in large part due to the demands of their specific riverine habitat. Below, my updated workbench with Bertrand profile on the wall for inspiration.
 

 
The “western” in western river steamboat refers to the landscape between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains. Over the course of the 19th century, this area went from the mostly unknown wilderness of Lewis & Clark’s 1804 expedition up the Missouri River, to a land mostly settled and integrated into the United States by the dawn of the 20th century. Most of this landscape centers on the Mississippi River basin, including its major tributaries such as the Ohio and Missouri Rivers. This system drains over 1 million square miles (almost 3 million square km), covering parts of 31 American states and 2 Canadian provinces. Almost all the rivers in the system were navigable in the 19th century for most of their lengths, creating a vast trade and transportation network across the continent’s interior long before railroads appeared on the scene, when roads were all but non-existent (map below from National Park Service).
 

 
The Bertand, built in 1864 and sunk in 1865, was a wholly typical and unremarkable western river steamer, except for its rediscovery beneath a US Wildlife Refuge along the Iowa/Nebraska border in 1968. The boat and its cargo were remarkably well-preserved, due to quick burial beneath river sediment by the quickly changing channel of the Missouri River, and the anoxic environment thus produced. The Bertrand’s mint-condition cargo is now on display at a fascinating museum at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, which also hosts a detailed large-scale model of the craft (shown below). The archeological excavation of the craft resulted in a plethora of information about period steamboat construction. In pairing with the later, but similar, discovery of the sunken steamboat Arabia along the Kansas/Missouri border and subsequent founding of a similar museum in Kansas City, the two wrecks represent a spectacular repository of historical and maritime knowledge and preservation. Below, the gorgeous large-scale model of Bertrand at DeSoto (FWS photo).
 

 
I live and farm near the Missouri River, and have long been fascinated by the history of its steamboats. My first-ever attempt at wooden ship modeling was a scratchbuilt version of the Far West, perhaps the most famous of its class, a sternwheeler which ascended the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers to extraordinary distances, and carried General Custer’s troops to and from the infamous Battle of Little Big Horn. The Bertrand is a similar craft to the Far West, which was built to ascent the shallow, treacherous river to Montana, while the Arabia was a sidewheeler more typical  of the lower Missouri River below Omaha, Nebraska (and the Ohio and Mississippi). I had initially intended to build the Arabia next, but due to a lack of available plans, and my inability to make it to Kansas City to do research at her eponymous museum, I changed my focus to the Bertrand. Below, my model of the Far West for context:
 

 
I’ve had plans for the Bertrand for several years, having purchased them at the same time as my Far West plans, and consulted them on that project. Now, the goal is a similar boat but at much greater detail: I would like to build the Bertrand frame-by-frame, just as initially constructed in the riverside yards at Wheeling, West Virginia. I have a shelf of texts on western steamboat history and construction, and several more detailed references on the excavation of the Bertrand on order through inter-library loan. I intend to leave one side of the hull unplanked, and possibly the same side of the superstructure, to show full detail throughout. Below, longitudinal internal section of the Bertrand from the plans I'll be using.
 

 
I hope you’ll join me on this (likely) wordy trek through a relatively unknown period of American maritime history and design. Few other steamboats grace this site, so I'd like to fill the gap a little with this project. I’ll try to interweave build details with explanations and demonstrations of why the boat was designed and built the way it was, to give context to this project and help share my love of these steamboats and their (my) home. This project is a significant undertaking for me, a serious step up from my previous Bounty launch kit and various smaller and less-detailed scratchbuilding efforts. I hope to be open to suggestion and advice, and I hope readers will be patient with the slow progress I'll likely make as I juggle this project with the summertime demands on my time, as well as the budget necessary to do this with my uncertain income as a self-employed farmer and writer. Welcome aboard, and unlike most boats of this type, we'll hope this one doesn't sink or blow up on the journey! 
 
UPDATE: Build completed and index available.
I finished this project in January 2016, and compiled an index of the general steps involved, with links to each one. You can review the build index here, in a post at the end of this log.

Well folks, here she is warts and all !! I can't say I am sorry that she is finished but I do think she looks better than I expected her to. I am very glad I put on the extra railings as I think they make a big difference. The rigging such as it is, is rather minimal but there has been a lot about this kit which has been like that from the start.
 
Despite my best efforts the decks have continued to warp even after gluing and even managed to break some of the glue joints. Without doing a complete rebuild there is absolutely nothing I could do about it so I just have to live with it.
 
I really love the wood finish because of the colours and it does make it very different from the other Robert E Lee builds I have seen. Apart from the lovely pre warped decks etc the biggest challenge of this build for me has been the really tight bending of various kinds of wood and I have learnt a few lessons from it. The only painted bits on her are the windows, doors, railings and funnels,  otherwise it is all varnish.
 
It will not surprise any of you to know that I couldn't recommend Constructo kits to anyone. Having done two now I share others opinions about the poor quality of supplied wood. I had to raid my 'stores' on several occasions. I know Constructo kits are at the cheaper end of the market and now I know why. I shall not be doing another kit from that stable !!
 
My next effort will be another kit from my tried and tested OcCre manufacturer.