bdgiantman2

The quest for a fix for my eyes was a success.   As for the build, I've been working with the PE friezes and less then happy with my work so I've pulled the few I had installed off and set them aside for now.  Luckily, none have been damaged.  I'll get the hang of this sooner or later.   
 
While I think this through on the friezes, I'll bypass that step and come back to it.   

Ken, great job on this model you have been building. I personally like the furled sails most, and am wanting to do this on my current build when I get to that stage way later. Looks very accurate what you have done. I am wondering though where the flag would be placed now? Most likely would be a pole in the stern somewhere it would seem to me......
 
Brian D

I spent the weekend completing the main jeer bits and the gallows as well as the chain pumps.
They are just set in place for the picture. I have also fit all the beams but removed the last
two as adjustments and alignments will follow. The shop LED lights washed out the color
but it is the same red ochre as used on the bulwarks. Next it will be aligning the pump crank 
handles and permanently placing the jeer bits, gallows, chain pumps and columns.  
 

 

 

I enjoyed following this build, the Snowberry turned out great. You did a great job mixing the wood decking and metal (plastic) decking. Congrats on completing this ship model. 

I enjoyed following this build, the Snowberry turned out great. You did a great job mixing the wood decking and metal (plastic) decking. Congrats on completing this ship model. 

Good morning.

Thanks guys, much appreciated!
 
I've finally managed to get some more of the forecastle work completed.  Only a few fittings left to do.
 
At the aft end of the Fcastle rail there is a short piece which is added on. I decided to strengthen the joint by adding a strip between the two pieces. Final sanding was completed after the glue dried overnight.

 
The rail was assembled and painted before installation. Due to some of the timberheads fitting snug into the cap rail below, I left the bottom of each one unpainted. I raised the rail slightly in this photo to show that.

 
Any bare wood showing after gluing was easily touched up.

 
The catheads were easy enough to make. I picked the ones that seemed to have the most consistent laser cut sheaves. I did my best to align the catheads with the short extension below deck. The breast beam had to be scratch built. It was done in such a way as to insure that it ran below the level of the cap rail its entire length.

 

 
Mike

I enjoyed following this build, the Snowberry turned out great. You did a great job mixing the wood decking and metal (plastic) decking. Congrats on completing this ship model. 

I enjoyed following this build, the Snowberry turned out great. You did a great job mixing the wood decking and metal (plastic) decking. Congrats on completing this ship model. 

I enjoyed following this build, the Snowberry turned out great. You did a great job mixing the wood decking and metal (plastic) decking. Congrats on completing this ship model. 

I enjoyed following this build, the Snowberry turned out great. You did a great job mixing the wood decking and metal (plastic) decking. Congrats on completing this ship model. 

I enjoyed following this build, the Snowberry turned out great. You did a great job mixing the wood decking and metal (plastic) decking. Congrats on completing this ship model. 

Ken, great job on this model you have been building. I personally like the furled sails most, and am wanting to do this on my current build when I get to that stage way later. Looks very accurate what you have done. I am wondering though where the flag would be placed now? Most likely would be a pole in the stern somewhere it would seem to me......
 
Brian D

The beauty of wooden ship building like this is simple.... It's wood, it can be fixed.  Most mistakes like this will covered up with planking.  Keep a small log or notebook and list the "oops" as you realize them.  Next build, you'll know what to watch out for.  There is is learning curve and sometimes it goes down really hard and really fast.  Just a part of building.  

Quaterdeck guardrail is completed.

I’ve been remiss with my posting, but my current status has the rigging, for the most part, done.  I still have a few lines to do; and, of course, I need to trim all the excess and add rope coils. I also have to make adjustments so the yards are positioned correctly.  That will be done as I tie the lines down permanently. 
The whole mast structure is surprisingly tall.  I’m told that is common with American boats.
I also drilled the sweep holes into the hull.  I was very reluctant to do that, but it turned out O.K.  The oars even fit through the holes (oar blades as well).   
I do need to get a good camera.  My iPhone(8) doesn’t take photos that well.
 
   
 

 
 
 

Ken, great job on this model you have been building. I personally like the furled sails most, and am wanting to do this on my current build when I get to that stage way later. Looks very accurate what you have done. I am wondering though where the flag would be placed now? Most likely would be a pole in the stern somewhere it would seem to me......
 
Brian D

Ken, great job on this model you have been building. I personally like the furled sails most, and am wanting to do this on my current build when I get to that stage way later. Looks very accurate what you have done. I am wondering though where the flag would be placed now? Most likely would be a pole in the stern somewhere it would seem to me......
 
Brian D

I too am sorry to hear this, Johann.  Follow the doctor's orders including surgery if needed.  The wood, the ship, and those of us following along are a patient group.  Health and healing are more important than a ship model.

Brian, beautiful work, sir. 👍

Fantastic! Any idea how were those hatch covers held open? Some sort of prop stick from below, or some sort of chain/rope from above?

some progress:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello again everyone,
 
I just realized that I have not posted any updates on my build this month. Time just got away from me and I have been concentrating more on building than the build log.
 
So here is what has happened since last time.
 
I have finally started work on the Hurricane Deck features, mainly the wheel house and its additional attachments, such as the store rooms, showers and latrines.
 
First in, was mounting the main wheel house structure that I had previously built in the last update. All of the remaining aft  structures are built around this one.
 
Next up were the side skylights over the paddlewheel cranks. I think these served a dual purpose. One was for lighting and the other to help cool the officers quarters, given their locations.
 
I started off with a simple framework.

 
Added the dividers.

 
Installed some screen mesh and painted them up. Then the port side was temp installed.

 
Overhead view showing the cranks below.

 
I then completed the starboard side and both were then mounted in place. After they were installed, I marked off the area where the showers and other buildings were going to be located.

 
Next up was the aft building. There is no real documentation on what these structures were used for, with the exception of some references that say there were showers located on the Hurricane Deck and that water from the paddle wheel was somehow collected and plumbed to be heated for crew showers as well as "flush" the latrines. I'm an not sure how all of this was done and I was not able to find any information on how this was plumbed up to work, so no details were put into the internal parts of these building.
 
Another part of this build I struggled with was the curvature of the roof on the two main buildings on the fore and aft of the wheel house. The HSR plans for Cairo show the roof to be flat. I am not sure if these were drawn this way due to lack of information or what. From the only existing picture of the Cairo it is really hard to tell since it gets extremely grainy when you zoom in a good bit. It would stand to make sense that the roof would have a bow to it to shed rainwater. Also, in the pictures of this structure on the Mound City, Baron DeKalb (St. Louis), Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Carondelet, they all have bowed roofs on them. Majority rules, so this is the style that I went with.
 
The main forms for the walls of the aft building.

 
Temp installed in their location to get the curvature of the wheel house right.

 
Framing of the doors.

 
Rough forms for the doors and widow dividers.

 
Side window dividers going in.

 
Building up the doors.

 
Completed doors and windows.

 
Some of the outside planking going on, to give it a nice finish.

 

 
Slather a coat of paint on the sides and a bit of weathering.

 
Structure set in place.

 
and a little more weathering. At this point I am just paying around with the weathering to see what technique I like. Once everything is completed, I'll go back and put more effort into it. I just like practicing up as I go along.

 
The fore building was built in the same manner as the aft one, with the exception that there are side buildings that extend from the port and starboard side of this one.

 
Construction of the starboard side building.

 

 
The port side was built exactly like the starboard side. They were both painted up and glued in place.

 
Next was the installation of the ladders to access the top of the wheel house.

 
Starboard ladder complete.

 
More important features on the starboard side, the latrine.

 

 

 

 
I wanted to show a little detail on this part, since this area was described in documentation as being the latrines. My story goes that there was a sailor that ate something that didn't agree with him so he left the door open afterwards as a courtesy to the next occupant.

 
Then it was time to tarpaper the roof of the structures. I did this in the same method as would have been done on most steamboats of the time. Silk span was cut to a scale 4' wide (scaled down to 1" in 1:48) and secured in place with watered down ModPodge. The overlapping tar seams were simulated as well.

 
All trimmed up and ready for paint.

 
And all painted.

 
Port ladder going in.

 
Building of the port side latrine. Since I detailed the starboard side, I left this one simplified with the door closed.

 
All structures painted up and a bit of weathering.

 
Here is another area that is hard to find info on. Research has turned up zero information detailing these hatch covers over the aft skylights. The HSR as well as the Bob Hill plans show this area as open which would leave everything below exposed to the elements. I have studied some of the pictures that show this area somewhat, but again zooming in makes things very grainy, so it is hard to tell if these covers are one long cover or several hatches. For the time being, I am going to go with separate hatch covers until I can uncover something that proves me wrong.
 

 
Hatch covers completed and the base trim installed.

 
Painting the trim.

 
Then it was on to one of the more tedious jobs, marking the deck nails. When you look at the actual Cairo in Vicksburg, many of the deck nails are still embedded in the beams of the bow. From what it looks like, the deck boards were nailed to every beam, but at 1:48 scale I thought that this would look a tad bit cluttered and messy, so with my build I went with every-other beam.  

 

 
Simulated nails on the wheel house structure.

 
Lastly, it was on to the funnels. These provided a way to direct fresh air to the gun deck below, to help clear out gun smoke, cooling during the summer months. They also helped remove some of the heat created from the boilers, cook stove as well as removing odors from the occasional smelly sailor.
I made these from 12mm clear acrylic tubing. I had originally wanted to heat the tubing to form the bend, but after several failed attempts I decided on my second method. On my first attempts, when I would heat the tubing, I wasn't able to keep the plastic from bunching up on the inside of the turn. This seemed to be a little too tight of a turn so I decided to cut the tubing at a 45 degree angle, fill the bend with Milliput and sand the outer bend to for the curve. Once it was sanded down, I drilled out the center of the Milliput to where only a thin layer was left on the inside, enough to maintain the structure of the funnel, but not enough to block the opening.  

 

 
I used the last bit of copper sheets on the chimneys, so instead of using that material for the funnel flares, I used some heavy card stock. 

 
More simulated rivets with aluminum tape.

 
Completed funnels.

 
 
That is it for this update. I am currently working on the forward and center skylights, but I haven't downloaded those pictures as of yet, so they will be on my next update. Hopefully it won't be as long of a wait. I am still researching these a bit due to the fact that I am having trouble finding out how they were built.
 
Until next time, thank you all for visiting, the likes and the kind words. Be safe and stay well.
 
-Brian
 
 

Hi All
 
Firstly thanks for all of the comments and you were all correct!  The wood stayed discoloured, it was very very brittle and the bend on the former was insufficient.
 
So having learnt I started again but this time simply using water and heat as I have always done in the past funnily enough.  I also made the former more of a curve and I also introduced the frames camber onto it as well.  It all went well and there are a couple of pictures below.
 
I have also made the third breast hook which fits into long notches that need to be cut into the deck clamp.  This hook is different to all of the other four as its profile is not flat.  It has an angle across its width which mirrors the angle of the deck.  Once I had worked out the cutting sequence it actually wasn't too hard to make.  I just had to replace the templates often as I ended up having to cut them off during the machining.  Again there are a few pictures below which I hope explain better what I have done.
 
So a bit more progress and thanks once again to you all
 
Mark 

I really like that special jig you made to help hold the masts during basic rigging procedures before being attached to the ship. Going to have to copy this idea when I finally get to that stage on my model. Your Niagara is looking really good.