Cathead

OK, the talk is up on YouTube: The actual talk is about an hour, there's some dead-time lead-in, followed by a long Q&A and a video tour of the models at the end.

Thanks, Toni! It was fun to develop and give.

Thanks, folks! Some extra pressure knowing the NRG is watching. I tried not to get out over my skis in the Q&A as there are some things I don't know as much about. EDIT: I just realized that, in the acknowledgements, I'd meant to specifically thank Kurt and Roger Pellett for reviewing the talk ahead of time and for their constructive feedback. My sincere apologies, I'm so grateful for their help.

Good work so far!

Great, thanks for the proper terminology! I also notice that the vantnales in those photos have knobby ends to help hold the ropes in place. That's quite sensible, but doesn't seem to be the case on the Skuldelev 2 reproduction.

Wood glue generally seems preferable for wood-wood contact. Some planking methods use that for long-term strength, but include a few drops of CA here and there to achieve the rapid bonding that is desirable to many modelers.

Correcting the mast: At this point I encountered yet another problem with the kit instructions. Remember the photos I shared above, clearly showing the plans indicating how much of the mast-top to narrow? This part has to accommodate 10 shrouds (five per side) and 2 stays (fore and aft) using the thickest rope provided in the kit. Well, I decided to do a test-fit, and sure enough, it's not nearly enough room for 12 loops. They pile up past the top of the mast (the photo below isn't even all of them): Inner scream. I'd already glued the mast in place. So I had to carefully crack it loose and pull it out again. I couldn't chuck it back in my drill because I'd already cut off the extra, and didn't want to make marks on the lower mast. So I used a razor saw to carefully cut a notch around the circumference, as far below the original narrowness as I dared go (without hitting the hole through the mast), then used a sharp knife to carve away the excess wood. The notch kept me from cutting too far down: Once this was done, I had shiny fresh wood to cover up. I rubbed it with a mix of pastels to roughly match the original stain, which seems good enough as this will be covered by rope: Then I glued the mast back in place. So that's where things stand. The next step is to start trying to attach shrouds again, working out the best way to tension those lower loops and tie them down temporarily until everything is tensioned the way I want it. I at least think I'm on the right track this time. But I really didn't need this frustration with instructions and plans that once again led me astray and wasted a bunch of time.

Starting rigging: I followed the instructions in setting up the rigging. This, as in most instances, turned out to be a mistake. The shrouds and stays are tensioned with an L-shaped piece that functions as a primitive deadeye. It took me a while to figure out how this actually worked, but I think I understand it now. I have no idea what this is actually called, so I'm referring to it as an L-deadeye. Take a look at the instructions: A loop of rope attaches to either the hull (as here) or benches (as in the image shared by bigpetr in a previous post). The shroud coming down from the mast is tied to the L-deadeye. When the latter's long end is slipped through the loop, then rotated upright, it creates leverage that tightens the shroud. This tension is held by attaching the upper long end of the L-deadeye to the parallel shroud, as it otherwise wants to rotate back down again (releasing tension). I don't know if that written explanation is clear, but that's how it seems to me. So far, so good. I followed the instructions in tying loops (five to a side, one for each shroud) through holes in the hull, then seized loops in one end of 10 shrouds (to go over the mast): However, when it came to connecting these using the L-deadeyes, I really struggled. I just couldn't get any consistent tension, and the pieces were so small that rope kept slipping off them and they just flopped around. So I decided to glue the L-deadeyes to the lower loops, making it easier to then loop the shrouds around them and pull for tension: This turned out to be a bad idea. Once I tried to make the connection, the L-deadeyes inevitably turned out to be in the wrong place along the loop, leaving one side of the loop too taut and the other floppy. Plus, it was maddening trying to get the thicker shroud tied onto the tiny L-deadeye in a way that actually held tension, as everything just kept flopping around, and all of this had to be done in place on the model. I also couldn't adjust tension as more shrouds were added. It just didn't work for me. So I undid my work, cut the L-deadeyes off the lower loops, and approached this from the opposite direction. I attached the L-deadeyes to the lower end of the shrouds, which made it really easy to get a nice tight knot on that little piece, and to do the fussy little lashing that keeps the long end tight against the shroud (another thing I found maddening originally): On the reproduction, I believe the latter connection is actually made by some kind of metal hoop that easily slides on and off as needed for shroud tension adjustment. But the kit doesn't provide that and just tells you to tie this on. So I used some leftover black rope from Syren to mimic a hoop like that. I think it came out pretty well. The goal here is to make the lower loops (attaching the L-deadeyes to the hull) the final step, because it'll be easier to pull tension on those as a simple loop through the already-stabilized L-deadeye. Tests confirm that this is much more effective, though I haven't actually done it for good yet. That's because of the next problem I encountered, to which I'll dedicate a separate post.

Making the mast: The kit plans give a clear drawing for how to turn the mast, which I followed. I used the poor-man's lathe method by chucking a dowel in my hand drill and using files and sandpaper to taper it down. Here you see the shortened top of the mast, where the stays are meant to loop over. Once I was happy, I cut off the chucked part of the dowel. After further smoothing and staining, I got this: And here's a test-fit on the ship:

You can edit any post you make by clicking on the three black dots in that post's upper-right corner (next to the post number), then select edit. To change the title of a log or any other thread you've started, go to the first post and select edit; you'll be given an option to alter the title. The standard on MSW is that you placed FINISHED after your username. So in this case, Mississippi by Vicnelson - OcCre - 1:80 would become: Mississippi by Vicnelson - FINISHED - OcCre - 1:80

Are you still adding details, or do you consider this done? If the latter, you might consider changing the title to mark this as finished, so folks know you're not still working on this. Otherwise, let us know how it's going.

Any progress? This is a tricky but rewarding build and I hope you're sticking with it.

How are you coming on this? It's been a while since you posted. Did the planking strip help you with the sanding?

It's been a while, how are you coming on this?

Long gap in posting but I've been rather busy with other things, including developing a talk on steamboat design along the Missouri River, which you can watch online Tuesday March 9 (see link for details). This was supposed to be in April but the March speaker for this series canceled and I agreed to move it up a month. I also realized that I needed to make a final decision on how to handle the display stand, as I'm about to place the mast in the vessel and after that won't be able to turn it over nearly as easily. The kit-supplied stand doesn't fit the hull perfectly, as my version ended up somewhat deformed from the theoretical version the kit expects, but it's good enough and I don't feel like trying to make a new version that fits the clinker planking perfectly. However, it's too simplistic and has very few contact points. So after some thought, I came up with the idea of adding a few extra pieces of wood to better clamp and stabilize the keel, and to do this in an artistic way. I cut some thin pieces of cherry off a larger block (harvested here on-farm) and cut them into half-pieces representing a Thor's hammer design. I then clamped these on either side of the kit stand such that they'd grab the keel. Here's a test-fit: I then painted the stand black so it'd fade into shadow, and oiled the cherry to bring out its color. I think it looks cool: I might also hang some shields along the stand between the two hammers, for more visual interest. And here's another view of the current hull:

Looks so, so good. Thanks for sharing the detailed steps.

Paul, I studied both German and Russian, but did not have the opportunity to add Polish to the mix. клар doesn't mean anything in Russian as far as I know, but its German meaning definitely fits what you're describing in the sense of precision, accuracy, preparedness. Looking in Google Translate, the same word has the same meaning in Danish (closely related to German), so I'd guess it's a long-standing Germanic root word that got transferred to Polish a long time ago (like French words in English after 1066, another otherwise Germanic language). Here it sounds like you're describing the English word "shipshape", usually used as in "everything made shipshape" to imply that all ropes are coiled, all loose items put in their proper place, tidy and organized. Forgive my being a language nerd, I love questions like this.

Good luck with your health, hope to see you back at this soon!

I forget what your native language is? Klar means "clear" in German but I'm not sure what you're describing here. Your work looks nice.

The deck has a nice complex weathered texture. You're doing a great job overcoming challenges so far!

Welcome from a regional neighbor and great job on your Syren!

Yeah, I'm being dumb, they have a bunch of past talks archived on their YouTube channel. I always watch them live so had never investigated that before.

I should have noted, I also posted this in a different thread under Nautical History for broader exposure, just mentioned it here as well to capture those who followed this log. The same question was asked over there, and the answer is "As far as I know, but if not, I'll make it available". Sorry for not clarifying that point up front.

Chuck, great question, as far as I know the talk will be placed online afterward. If for some reason that's not the case, I'll make sure you can see it somehow (for example, I have a draft recording I made for a couple of NRG/MSW experts who were gracious enough to review it ahead of time).

Anyone who followed this log might be interested in an upcoming talk I'll be giving: Steamboats symbolize a historic era in Missouri River exploration, commerce and transportation. Missouri River steamboats evolved over time, becoming ever more adapted to the basin’s unique environment while simultaneously altering it, much like an invasive species introduced into a new ecosystem. In this presentation, Eric Reuter will use hand-made scale models of Missouri River steamboats and other vessels to discuss the linked history of steamboat development and environmental changes in the Missouri basin, drawing on his professional and personal interests in the links between geology, ecology, history, and land management. Specific information, including how to watch, is available here. The time is 7 pm American Central time.