Cathead

I've scratch built a few (see signature links), nothing museum quality but nothing to scoff at either, using virtually all simple hand tools. All my work is done on a 2'x3' table with occasional forays outdoors for some of the dustier work. I cheated and used a band saw and a dremel a few times, but that's it, and I could have done it without those, it just would have been slower and more obnoxious. Oh, and I've milled some of my own wood using a Byrnes table saw, but if you buy wood that's not necessary. So I certainly don't think you need anything more than you say you have, especially if you have patience. I've no doubt that more toys tools make many things easier, but you asked about need, not want!

My thoughts exactly. Looking for a unicorn buyer. It's possible a modeling club could be interested, as a way to maintain a lending library, but it'd have to be a pretty substantial club.

Given that lots of riverboat pilots were from divided border states like Missouri and Kentucky, along with the southern-most tier of Union states like Ohio and Indiana, it wouldn't surprise me if there was a fair amount of diversity in where their support went. Weren't a lot of, say, die-hard Mainer Unionists with decades of experience on the lower Mississippi. On the pay front, commercial steamboat traffic crashed during much of the war, so pilots may have been employable at more affordable rates than usual since there wasn't as much normal work. Plus, the Federal government had money to throw around, so may even have paid them pretty well. I'm reading a new book on the 1865 Sultana disaster right now, and it documents quite a lot of graft in the way contracts were used and abused for the shipping of freed Union POWS upriver. The Feds were paying good money for shipping services at a time when river traffic was low, and everyone wanted a piece of the action. Pilots could have been the same. Definitely a good question on the chain of command, wish I knew. It certainly had to be more structured than in civilian life, no way a pilot could refuse military orders the way they could a regular captain. Honestly, the same question goes for pilots on the various regular steamers used in government service as transports. So much to know!

Brian, yes, pilots and captains were totally different. River pilots were licensed independently (they, along with the chief engineer, were the only crewmembers required by law to have any training or licensure) and had to complete rigorous apprenticeships to ensure they knew the rivers they would be piloting on. They were roughly equivalent to harbor pilots, but much more powerful since they controlled the entire voyage, not just entry to/from a harbor. Most boats carried two pilots so there could always be one on duty. Captains did not have the authority to overrrule pilots in any matter of navigation or operational matters. Captains essentially oversaw the business management of the boat and would naturally set the intended schedule/destinations, but the actual act of getting there was out of their hands. Pilots also operated independently and were not tied to a specific boat in any way (unless they signed a contract). They took jobs as they saw fit. Because of this, competent pilots were a prized commodity and could often extract exorbitant fees from captains (boats could not legally or practically operate without pilots). There are lots of stories of pilots playing desperate captains off one another for higher trip rates or other concessions.

Brian, my apologies, I completely and shamefully misinterpreted and misused terminology. Never mind. The way you describe it, though, the use of pilots on these naval vessels sounds exactly the same as normal river practice, where the pilot was the de facto captain of the vessel, while the "real" captain was more of a business manager and had no say or authority over navigation.

Awesome! Also, I love snakes, and would happily have hand-caught and carried that fellow out for you. One thought on the bell location in front of vs. atop the wheel house: in most regular steamboats I've seen, the bell was located in front of the wheelhouse on the hurricane deck. I assume this is not only because, as you said, the wheelhouse would have been too flimsy, but also because it makes running a pull rope from the wheelhouse out to the bell easy: it goes out the front, not up through the roof. This detail can be seen on many historic photos. Finally, and this thought just occurred to me, having a large bell tolling right over the pilot's head might have deafened him; better to have it out further in front?

Krisan, Many responses here are kind and welcoming, as are most people here, but they also don't seem to have actually read your question as they advise buying kits or other materials and you specifically say you want to scratch-build a ship using Sintra board and styrene. Roger's response, on the other hand, is thoughtful and quite relevant and I urge you to take it seriously. One thing that would help us help you is to clarify what sort of ships you're interested in. 18th century sailing ships? Modern freighters? Viking longships? Small fishing boats? There are so many different options and it's hard to advise you specifically without knowing more. However, taking your question at face value, I'll tell you about the first model ships I made, at roughly your age. I was obsessed with World War II history at the time, particularly naval history. I made a whole fleet of freighters and warships using nothing more than popsicle sticks, which I glued together face-to-face to build up hulls and superstructures, sanded or carved as needed, and painted. They actually looked quite good for how simple they were (I wish I still had photos), and were a great start in figuring out how to make three-dimensional models from basic materials. So with your materials, you could also use this "layer cake" approach to glue up some hulls that you could then carve or sand down to the shape you want. As Roger says, making water-line models (that don't extend below where the water would be) simplifies things at first because the most complex parts of most hulls are below water. I'm not sure what kind of styrene you have (sheets? dowels? other shapes?) but it could be cut and shaped to make masts, guns, and other parts. Finally, I'd say don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Just dive in and try something, learn from it, and try again.

I'm so glad you found my method inspiring and useful! Thanks for crediting it, and nice work.

So I've been given permission to share this image and say the newly found wreck is near Boonville, MO, but I can't give the vessel's name (though they're quite confident they know) or anything else. More info will be coming out eventually but this is image is pretty cool. It was taken with sidescan sonar used to map the river bottom for fish habitat studies, and comes from a former colleague of my wife, who used to be involved in such work. This is also the person who was, behind the scene, instrumental in arranging for me to give this steamboat talk last year. The scientists in question were doing routine scanning work and were startled to see this steamboat framing appear on the river bottom! It's in a relatively protected area, and there appear to be plans to map it more thoroughly in the future. The long axis shown here measures about 40'.

One historic steamboat lost, another found I just learned that the historic Mary White II, a steamboat preserved at Jacksonport State Park, in Arkansas, sank in 2016 and is considered unrecoverable. I'd never made it down to see it and we were considering going down there this fall, but obviously hadn't kept up with the news since the loss was new to us. Here's a really nice article from Arkansas State Parks about the vessel, her various brushes with death, and the ultimate loss (read to the very end). https://www.arkansasstateparks.com/articles/mary-woods-no-2-life-river I also just learned from a friend who does research and mapping along the Missouri River that another steamboat wreck has been discovered. They asked me not to share any details yet as several government agencies are involved and they want to do things right, but hopefully soon I'll be able to share some imagery and details. What I have seen is pretty cool. Stay tuned!

I often do this intentionally, deciding early on which is the test side and which is the display side, and working on the former first so I can iron out any issues before doing the side that will be seen. Welcome to MSW and I hope you have a great time learning and improving!

Nice progress! An easy way to ensure some extra accuracy would be to rotate all the deadeyes so the triangle of holes faces down; the single hole should be at the bottom with the two holes lined up evenly at the top. This should be mirrored when you add the upper set; two holes facing down and the single hole facing up.

This is definitely a good choice for practicing planking. I departed from the instructions in some places where I felt there were other ways to do things; questioning and revising instructions is also a useful skill to have! Good luck and have fun.

As a geologist, I offer special congratulations on a lovely use of natural rock! Oh, and the model's pretty nice too.

Nice work. You're going to need that mug of beer before you're through! Are there curved sections of railings, too?

Can’t answer on varnish as I’ve never used it

Protection is a near-must, especially for anything with rigging or other delicate details. No matter how controlled your house, dust and spiders and other things are going to accumulate on a model and be nearly impossible to remove without risking damage. There are some places online that sell pretty cheap clear acrylic cases of various sizes; experiment with search terms. Some areas may also have local businesses that work with glass or acrylics and could make you a pretty simple clear display top. It's possible a woodworker or furniture builder could make you a case as well, anyone that frames pictures can, in theory, make a case. Another display/protection option, though initially more expensive, is to purchase a larger multi-model display cabinet, like this one I had made by a Mennonite furniture maker in my area. It now holds three large models and five smaller ones, along with various other items of interest: This has had several major advantages: 1) It's a lot more space-efficient than individual cases for each model; the on-floor footprint isn't much larger than the individual case would be for either of the largest two models but it holds far more. 2) Even though it cost ~$2000, it was far more cost-effective in the long run than acquiring individual cases for each model. 3) It provides all the same protection from dust/damage as individual cases, and indeed is somewhat easier to open and clean as it has a sliding door, rather than having to carefully lift a glass case up and over a delicate model. 4) It's more resellable or transferrable in the long run than individual model cases. If/when I have to move (retirement to a smaller house, say), this could easily be resold to someone with no interest in models but a desire to display any other collectible, whereas model-specific cases have little use other than for their intended model. 5) It's more flexible for display purposes. If I decide to move on from any given model (for example, donating one to a public space or simply deciding it's no longer good enough for display), there is immediately open space for another, whereas to reuse a dedicated single-model case would require sizing the new model for that case. The shelves are adjustable, making this especially practical. 6) It allows balanced display of many interests. For example, note that much of the bottom two shelves is dedicated to natural materials that are of especial interest to my wife, a naturalist. This makes the case an investment for both of us. A spouse who has interests apart from models can share a case like this, perhaps even in an integrated way as we did with the shells and smaller nautical models on one shelf. One can easily imagine ships on some shelves and, say, china or antiques on another in a way that complements both. This one's especially large but they can be had in many different sizes. The key search term here appears to be "curio cabinet"; that will bring up all sorts of online results for premade options and businesses making such things at all sorts of scales.

Wilkommen!

Happy anniversary! Hope you remembered to get her flowers and a card (You make my heart ironclad? Here's to two years of Union?). Your work has me itching so bad to get back to work on another riverboat, but not there yet, so it's great to live vicariously through this (and others).

Lots of advice already, but mine would be not to overdo it in tools. Most basic-intermediate kits can be built with a pretty reasonable set of simple hand tools. There are experienced modelers with huge workshops and every tool imaginable who will give beginners a giant list of "must-have" tools, but I think @James H has it right. I've built multiple kit and scratch models using what hand tools I could fit on a 30"x48" table in my living room. Fancier tools do make life easier eventually, but they're not needed and may even hinder you from developing good basic skills. There are many skilled "kitchen table" modelers here who do a great job with limited space, so you're in good company! Have fun and enjoy the view.

Nicely done. I particularly like the deck planking as a personal touch, and it also helps the casual viewer understand the context a bit more. Wish I'd thought of that!

I used to do public education for the National Park Service, and I can confirm that as much as I loved it, it was draining to go weeks without meeting a visitor who knew, well, anything.

I'm giddy with joy for you, what a fantastic experience! I've been there, but only the standard public access. So grateful you documented and shared your inside scoop. Also thank your wife for the photo including you; I don't know quite why, but attaching a face to online "friends" is particularly meaningful after the past few years.

I just stumbled across this after recalling your intro post from a while back. You're doing well so far, learning curve and all. Just had to pop up and say well done to another local/regional builder, there aren't that many of us!

I'm so sorry for your loss. Sounds like you're doing a good thing helping the supplies find new homes and helping out the widow.