Cathead

Looks really good. Nice color balance and crisp-looking work. Well done, and thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the early tutorial in overcoming QC issues. I definitely like your marker stick. Keep up the good work!

Looks nice so far. I do have one question: the two gunports in the stern appear to be different widths. Is that intentional, or an optical illusion?

I use either a piece of plywood or foam core board. Both are easy to move around and plans can be taped or clipped to them. I lean the plans against the wall behind my desk or place them on the floor, depending on how I'm using them. I'm very cramped for space and this works fine. If I had more space, I like Kurt's approach.

Those really are glorious. You hit the perfect combination of detail, weathering, and simplicity.

I'm just catching up with you here, and those are some great photos you've shared in the past few posts. I really liked the one laying out all the different blocks: daunting but fascinating. And your explanation of the topmast's shape and fitting was really interesting and educational. Thanks.

I think the unfortunate reality is that this forum has far more questions and topics than everyone can keep up with, especially those with the knowledge to answer every question. Sometimes the person you need is busy; not everyone checks the forum every day or even every week, and it's easy to miss a given question or topic for a little while. There's a real tension between the immediate need of the modeller for an answer, and the delayed response time of other forum members who aren't necessarily on the same schedule. I certainly can't keep up with everything that's happening on here. I'm in central Missouri, a bit north of the river.

Of course, when using such stats, one should also remember that such a large navy was also spread thin across the globe, performing myriad duties in service to Britain's worldwide empire. It's not like most of that huge navy was just sitting off the American seaboard waiting to pick on the little guys. Citing that without context is like comparing the entire US military to the Taliban or ISIS, rather than the actual ratios of forces and capabilities in-theatre.

I think it's hard to do unto others as we'd have them do unto us. It's hard for me not to see Likes as somehow lesser than a written comment, yet my personality really struggles with writing lots of generic "Looks nice" posts if I don't have something specific to say, and so I work hard to remind myself that a Like is a completely legitimate response. Also, sometimes nobody knows the answer to your question. I know I've felt bad about not responding to a question in a build log before, but if I don't feel I can add anything helpful, it doesn't feel right to take up space saying "Beats me". Finally, I struggle to decide where the line between constructive criticism and nitpicking is. We all have different standards for "good enough" and photos can often be very unforgiving, so I don't know how or when to point something that looks wrong to me but the builder might be fine with. I'm also not such a good builder that I'm always comfortable attempting to critique others' work, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that regard. It's a difficult situation to parse. This also goes back to the tension between the two roles of build logs: as a live community experience of a model's progress, and as an archive of the work that was done. In the former role, lots of comments are welcome and even psychologically beneficial. In the latter, lots of comments are a PITA, as anyone reading through a past log has to wade through lots of irrelevant content. The only other online forum I frequent (a baseball site) has the opposite problem: all comments are essentially live-streamed (they aren't numbered and tagged as at MSW), making it really easy and fun to interact with people but nearly impossible to find past content again. Neither approach is perfect.

Hey, Bob, thanks for the nice comments. Sorry for the slow reply but I just returned from vacation. You ask a very good question about the order of standing vs running rigging installation. I, too, had read the same advice as you, but obviously went the other way. I spent a bunch of time thinking through my workflow, particularly as I was adding sails, and I felt that the standing rigging would be in the way of rigging the sails properly. I even set up some "test" rigging to explore this, and kept feeling like the shrouds got in the way. Of course, things ended up getting in the way in my approach as well. So it may or may not have been the right way to do it, but I did very much appreciate being able to tie down all the running rigging on the belaying pins near the mast without having to work around and behind the shrouds. As for the kit, yeah, if you have it already and don't mind the challenge, might as well go for it. Obviously it can be completed into a reasonable finish, and I learned a lot from struggling through it. But I wouldn't purchase it again, there are too many better options.

Great job! I like the mix of precision and used look.

I'll be at a family memorial service near Vicksburg in August, and was hoping to swing by and visit Cairo then if I can find the time. If you still end up needing any additional photos then, I'd be happy to try. Your cylinder timbers look very nice.

I'm a latercomer, too, but want to see how it all ends! Looks great so far.

John, I just realized this log had been updated, and am so glad you found the pump portion of my Arabia design thread. Reading through the past material, I was starting to compose a reply in my head linking to and explaining my guess as to your mystery pump's function, only to find that you'd found that info already. This is a really neat build and one I'm looking forward to visiting when it's complete (I live in central Missouri).

Coincidentally, I've been reading up on the real Surprise and the fictional one. My impression is that all the model kits are based on the real one; no one seems to make a model of the Surprise as described by O'Brian and as rigged by Aubrey. As I understand it, the difference doesn't relate to whether the mainmast is taller than either the fore or mizzen masts; that's generally true regardless. The point is that, in the books, Aubrey added an even longer mainmast, meaning that collectively the entire mainmast assembly towered over the fore and mizzen, instead of being just a bit taller. To my eye, images of the AL kit look like the normal mast/rigging, not Aubrey's altered version.

If I understand your question correctly, you're asking why the ropes descend through the deck? Anchor cables weren't stored on the winch, there would be way too much cable to fit on there. The machinery is only used to help raise the cables and pass them down to their actual storage location, coiled in the hold.

I just discovered this build, and it's lovely. I can't wait to follow it through to completion. Your sails are quite nice.

Thanks, Gregory, though I have to say I wouldn't recommend this particular kit. HMS Pickle from Caldercraft or the Revenue Cutter from Bluejacket are similar craft and from much better manufacturers. But, hey, it's certainly possible to do a decent job with the Corel kit with patience and cursing, so have at it if you prefer and good luck! Start a log, there are very few completed builds for this kit and your experiences could help others, too.

I agree about the brightness, but the overall effect is still lovely. The window curtains are a nice touch.

I recently visited the Steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City, Missouri (USA) to take photographs and measurements for my next model project, the Missouri River steamboat Arabia. If you want to read about that project, I'm documenting my research and resources in this thread. However, I wanted to share this non-Arabia feature of the museum: I blew up the sign, but if you still can't read it, it says "World's Oldest Steam Engine known to exist that was made to propel a vessel powered only by steam. Built in Louisville, KY in 1818-1819 for the steamboat Missouri Packet. This was the first steamboat lost on the Missouri River, sinking near Arrow Rock, MO in May 1820." I thought this would be of interest to many of you. Arrow Rock is not far from my farm in central Missouri and is the site of a really lovely Missouri state historic site preserving an early river town.

John, you might check out this thread from elsewhere on MSW, which has an active discussion about the paints from Model Shipways (Model Expo).

The model is done. I made some executive decisions about the standing rigging and just worked through them. I didn't take any photos during the rest of the work, partly because I was ready to be done with this project and just wanted to keep working without setting up special photo sessions, and partly because I didn't think I was doing anything that hadn't been documented a number of times before. For example, I did the ratlines and deadeyes by making a wire spacer for the deadeyes and tying the ratlines using a lined wooden guide, but those approaches have been better described by others. Also, as some of you may have read in the news, it's been extraordinarily wet here in Missouri with devastating rain and flooding, and that's meant very poor photography conditions (dark indoors and wet outdoors). The model has been done for a week, but I finally found time and conditions to take some photos outdoors. I used a blue background to try and emphasize the reddish colors in the model; the white background I tried first washed out the colors too much. Example of the standing rigging. I settled on two sets of shrouds and topmast stays per mast per side. I think they came out ok. You can also see the sweeps lashed to their stanchions and the safety lines, or whatever they were called in the early 1800s. I need to repaint the nailheads holding the channels in, I rubbed the original paint off handling the model. Examples of ratlines and shrouds. I carved and painted a small spacer for each set of shrouds and inserted it about a man's height from the tops. This seems to produce a sensible pattern to the ratlines. I tied the latter using an overhand knot, which I realize is less accurate than a knot that turns each end inward (as opposed to outward) but I spent a whole evening trying to master the "right" approach and couldn't. Few viewers around here will recognize that the tips of the ratlines shouldn't be outside the stays. Otherwise I think they turned out ok. I made a flag by laying out back-to-back flags on the computer and printing them on the same bond paper as the sails. I then brushed wood glue on the backside and folded them over. The effect has a nice, rough, cloth-like look that's far better than shiny plastic and holds its shape better than cloth (just like the sails). I rejected the flag from the kit not only because it was shiny, but because based on my research its design had never been used in US history (wrong number and pattern of stars). I chose a 24-star flag, which was used from 1822-1836, about the right time period for this post-War-of-1812 revenue cutter. It also happens to be the flag that represents my state of Missouri (the 24th state), a nice touch. As the last step, I made a base from a chunk of Black Walnut harvested on our farm, which I chain-saw milled to rough size and then cut down using a table saw and router. The pedestals are from Model Expo. I also made a nameplate for the stern, again designed on computer and printed on bond paper, then glued to the stern. A bit of ink rubbed off in this process, but I think it just looks nicely scuffed and weathered. The name has a specific meaning for me. Many of the revenue cutters from this period were named for their region of intended service; for example the Louisiana and Alabama, the closest prototypes to this vessel, served in the Gulf of Mexico. My family has a long, multi-general history of visiting North Carolina's Outer Banks, a fascinating set of thin, sandy barrier islands that have been the scene for many important bits of American naval history, including a great deal of smuggling and piracy. It's one of my favorite pieces of coastline in the world. Thus, I named this vessel Ocracoke after the most significant harbor in the Outer Banks, a town with many fond memories and associations to me. I don't think any such cutter was ever based there, but in the fictional world of this model, there most certainly was. With those steps completed, I declared the model done. I have mixed feelings about this project. I found the kit very frustrating, with terrible instructions and mediocre quality materials. Yet I also learned a great deal from working through those problems, and am really very happy with how the model turned out. It has lots of small errors or problems that an expert or contest judge would instantly notice, but I also think it came together in a very aesthetically pleasing way, and I can justify/explain every bit of rigging and equipment on it whether or not it's strictly prototypical (for example, I made sure the flag hoist would really work). So here are a few completed photos. I'm not entirely happy with the color balance, but do like how the blue background sets off the model. Thank you to everyone/anyone who's followed this somewhat disjointed build log. I've appreciated your interest and support. I've already started planning my next project, another scratchbuilt Missouri River steamboat, and will be building a Maine lobster boat for my mother to keep my hands busy during the extensive design period for the former.

Oh, the wheels would have been washed plenty clean by their inherent action, and technically many of the outhouses weren't dropping directly onto the buckets, just into the zone where the wheel's downward motion helped disperse the material. Probably cleaner than the bows of some sailing vessels. Although I recall a possibly apocryphal story of some crew doing repairs on a sternwheel while having someone else standing guard outside the ladies' hut to ensure that the workmen vacated the premises before any lady had to use the loo to avoid any, well, upward glances. I do suspect you're right that, if the model shows the shed being completely solid, it's not quite accurate: there should be some ventilation and light allowed in, at the eaves at least.

Welcome! I haven't built that kit, but you're very wise to start small and basic to learn the skills and whether you really like the hobby enough to tackle something bigger. The MS Bounty launch was my first time wooden kit, a similar craft, and it taught me loads of skill and perspective. Good luck.

Kurt has built (and thoroughly researched) this model, so he's the final authority on its specifics. But a chicken coop would be a completely normal feature of a steamboat. Also, to my eye, that structure looks too small for regular human use (especially in original photos of Chaperon), and its placement isn't right for an outhouse. Its location would drop straight into the after cabin; these boats didn't have complicated plumbing. The actual outhouses are likely within the superstructure on the boiler deck, overhanging the paddle wheel (which does a good job of disposal). I don't think any boats would have made passengers climb to the hurricane deck to use the outhouse, and there would at the very least be two of them (gents and ladies). All of which confirms that it's a chicken coop.