Cathead

Yeah, as I said, I couldn't see from previous photos how the kit had things arranged. The angle on the box-cover painting makes the solid front bulkhead look like a post, or at least I assumed that's what it was showing since that's what "should" be there. Given what you've said, you've got the coal dust in the right place, even though the kit's boiler/chimney arrangement is wacky. I certainly wasn't intending to imply that you should do a bunch of scratchbuilding, I get that the appeal here is a simple kit that will look good when finished. Carry on!

Yeah, as I said, I couldn't see from previous photos how the kit had things arranged. The angle on the box-cover painting makes the solid front bulkhead look like a post, or at least I assumed that's what it was showing since that's what "should" be there. Given what you've said, you've got the coal dust in the right place, even though the kit's boiler/chimney arrangement is wacky. I certainly wasn't intending to imply that you should do a bunch of scratchbuilding, I get that the appeal here is a simple kit that will look good when finished. Carry on!

Yeah, as I said, I couldn't see from previous photos how the kit had things arranged. The angle on the box-cover painting makes the solid front bulkhead look like a post, or at least I assumed that's what it was showing since that's what "should" be there. Given what you've said, you've got the coal dust in the right place, even though the kit's boiler/chimney arrangement is wacky. I certainly wasn't intending to imply that you should do a bunch of scratchbuilding, I get that the appeal here is a simple kit that will look good when finished. Carry on!

For what it's worth, since you're interested in learning more about river vessels, the firebox would typically be in front of the boilers, not behind them. That's why the chimneys (the proper riverboat term for the smokestacks) are there; they're venting the smoke from the firebox. So the biggest coal mess should be in the area in front of the boilers. At least how's how the real thing would be; this kit seems to take various liberties with accuracy and I can't quite tell from your photos where it puts the firebox.
 
Also, for reasons never fully defined, the deck with the boilers is the main deck, while the deck above the boilers is the boiler deck. Just how it is. Sailing vessels have their own bizarre vocabulary too!

For what it's worth, since you're interested in learning more about river vessels, the firebox would typically be in front of the boilers, not behind them. That's why the chimneys (the proper riverboat term for the smokestacks) are there; they're venting the smoke from the firebox. So the biggest coal mess should be in the area in front of the boilers. At least how's how the real thing would be; this kit seems to take various liberties with accuracy and I can't quite tell from your photos where it puts the firebox.
 
Also, for reasons never fully defined, the deck with the boilers is the main deck, while the deck above the boilers is the boiler deck. Just how it is. Sailing vessels have their own bizarre vocabulary too!

I have two fun updates to this log! One is to share some nice photos Mrs. Cathead took of the finished model, since I never really shared a full photo shoot of this build.





The other is to announce that I've started a build log in the non-ships section of MSW for the model railroad project that will be Peerless' future home. This will be a major project for me over the next few years, so if you're interested in how it develops, come check it out. It'll feature my typical mix of sharing lots of local history and geography that influence the modeling work. Here's a teaser:
 

 

I agree, and now the bar is even higher with you following along! Here's a few hints, from scenery work I've been doing at a local model railroad club depicting this region as well (though not exactly the same locations). The photo quality isn't great but it's still some context.

A core thing for me in making realistic rockwork is NOT to make a solid wall. Almost all real rock exposures, even those that have been blasted, have a lot of texture and variability. Rock faces are almost always broken up by scree slopes, soil-covered areas, etc. The above shot shows what I mean; to my eye this is far more realistic than a single slab of rock all the way along this scene. 
 
Here's a closer look at part of this face:
 

This area is limestone as well, and though the color balance here is terrible, the rocks are washed with both grey and tan shades to capture the actual mix of weathered and fresh faces in this formation.
 
Below is yet another bad photo of a local creek bed. I was really constrained on this one because the benchwork pattern was set for this before I joined the club, and I wouldn't have laid the creek out as a straight-sided slab, but I did what I could with it. Creeks are here are routinely lined by nearly horizontal beds of limestone, giving long linear runs of rock along the water, with coarse gravel bars separating pools.
 

And here's a broader shot showing how even partial scenery work can come together:
 

 
All of these scenes need vegetation, which will also help tie the scenes together AND further break up the rock work. But it's been good warmup work for my own project. The way my plaster shell has been laid out is far from random and I'll talk more in a different post about some of the specific choices I made in shaping those areas with reference to the real scenic setting.

Nah, if he piloted on the Missouri River, nothing New York can throw will faze him.

Nah, if he piloted on the Missouri River, nothing New York can throw will faze him.

Thank you to each of you for your comments and likes.
 
 Meet William R. Waterman, Lula's new captain/pilot. He was born in Hudson, New York in 1826. I had interviewed with a couple of men before William's interview but something didn't seem right about the way they stood behind the wheel.  But Captain Bill is a natural, seems to know a lot about New York Harbor and has captained sternwheelers on the Missouri and Ohio so I hired him on the spot!. But something kept nagging me about Captain Bill's name, it sounded familiar and when I questioned him about it he said he had a famous uncle but didn't or wouldn't go into details?  Captain Bill said he would see to the crewing of Lula, so be it. I'm sure they'll come drifting in one by one over the next couple of weeks.

 
  The figure for Captain Bill was one of the Holden late 19th century British naval figures with gaiters requiring me to carve away most of the uniform. It's very hard to see any remaining uniform at normal viewing distance. 
 
 I'm not just messing about with figures, I'm also building the pilothouse walls. I've almost got the stern wall done and moving next to the fore wall. 

 
 Thank you again for your support and for being part of the journey.
 
   Keith

You sound like certain members of my family if you replace "boiler deck" with "floor"...
 
Everything looks great!

Might as well call it the boiler deck, following standard practice for steamboats, despite the nonsensicalness of calling the deck above the boiler, the boiler deck. Not sure if that nomenclature carried over into pseudo-marine harbor vessels like you're modeling here, but since your prototype is a riverboat, you can justify it.
 
Otherwise looks great to me!

Oh wow, those two look so good together.

Fun with superglue and itty bitty pieces!  So I installed belaying pins and eyebolts on the cap rail.  I dragged each of the belaying pins thru some superglue (conveniently poured into a plastic bottlecap for ease of access).  But since it appears I can still move some of the pins, it apparently didn't do the trick.  However, it looks like these pins are for "show" and don't have anything else attached to them, so as long as I don't hold the ship upside down, I'll be ok!  (I wish my phone could take clearer pics!)


Also created the Traveler.  I went completely off script trying to create this little gem. Couldn't get the legs right using the .22 gauge wire they suggest, but I stole a couple of staples from my stapler and they work rather nicely! The actual Traveler is a completely made-up version of what they asked for, but at this point, it'll have to do!  It's not secured yet since I still need to install an eyebolt under it.

While working on this build, I also took some time to read "All Hands on Deck" by Will Sofrin.  It's the true story of sailing a refurbished 1800"s "tall ship" from New Jersey to California (thru the Panama Canal) for it to be used in filming the movie "Master and Commander" with Russell Crowe.  I learned many new words associated with sailing (who knew that "dismasting" is how to describe a broken mast?)   It's a fascinating story of how a small crew sailed a 3-masted tall ship through treacherous waters, and survived some harrowing experiences (dismasting, for example!) to successfully deliver the ship to the movie makers.  A fun read!

My wife and I were away last week on an 8 day river cruise on the Rhine but I am now back in the shop working on the hull planking. I have 5 planks left on each side to fill in the gap between the bulwarks and the garboard strakes.
 

 

 
As you can see, I haven't gotten the planks to fully bend without having to use clamps, but they are close. I also start at the bow and glue the planks on until the last bulkhead before the transom. I let that dry overnight then heat the aft end of the plank with a travel iron and bend it into place, glue and clamp it to dry. I have some sanding to do to get the planks flush but they are pretty thick so I should have enough wood to work with. There were a couple of spots that would be very thin after sanding, so I glued some 1/32" thick pieces in those areas to give me some more wood to work with.
 
Here is my plank bending set up which works very well. I also have a soldering iron type plank bender that I use to curve the planks to wrap around the bow after this lateral bending.
 

 
After the gaps are filled I will plank over the plywood bulwarks and cut out the gun ports.

Family duties took longer than expected.

The false stern panel also took longer than expected.  To get the false stern panel to fit within the sternwheel braces, I needed to deconstruct part of that assembly. I prepared a cardboard mockup of what the panel would look like and then built the panel.

I used dry erase lettering for the boat name and home port.  
 

The interior panel was white for the boiler deck although the panel is only currently at partial height. The main deck interior panel is painted yellow at the top and with a grey bottom.  This is the colour scheme that I noted at the Dawson City boat graveyard but also what was used on S S Moyie.
 

My intent is to leave the main deck panels off on the port boiler and engine rooms so you can see the interior boat detail.  I am not certain if I will also leave the port panels off on the boiler deck to allow visual access to the saloons and staterooms.  I have lots of time before that needs to be decided.

Next step is to build the crew quarters in the engine room.  
 

It's been quite a while since I've posted. I've been busy - life does tend to get in the way. But I re-thunk the sliced 3D shape.
 
And I thunk - the one I've done was sliced into every second frame. But the frames are 5mm apart and the dropsaw's kerf is only about 2mm wide. I could have cut a slice for each frame - they should each end up about 3mm thick - and not have to interpolate between slices to work out the shapes of the ones in between!
 
So I did it all over again - made another 3D model and sliced it into individual frames. And it worked!





Now of course I have to transfer that onto paper and mirror it to get the full frames, but all good!
 
There are a few glitches in the shapes of the frames nearest to the stern - the curve seems to go upward at the keel instead of downward. I'll just have to fix that when I transfer it to paper.
 
Steven

I hit what I consider a major milestone.  I finished all the woodwork on my Cheerful today!  A big accomplishment considering I started work on this model over 9 years ago!  Admittedly with a 6 1/2 year hiatus . . .  After my years long break, I started working on Cheerful daily again in August 2023. 
 
The last wooden bits to finish were the entryway stanchions and the anchors.  The stanchions were turned on my Dremel from 1/16" square stock.  These were straight forward, and very similar to turning the belaying pins in the Dremel.  All 4 are close to identical, but later on when I mount them I'll use pairs on each side that match one another the most closely.  The anchors were made from Chuck's mini kit.  These were pretty straight forward as well.  Since wood is representing the iron of the anchors, I used 1000 grit sand paper to finish the surface to remove any trace of wood grain before painting.  I carefully sanded any sharp edges slightly to give a realistic cast iron look.  I thinned the paint more than I usually do to avoid any hint of brush strokes.  The pudenning on the rings at the top of the anchors was a real pain in the rear to do!   I didn't have any .008" brown rope on hand (since it's not listed on the Cheerful rope list, I hadn't bought any).  I did have some brown thread I had bought at a craft store for seizings way back when I built my Longboat, that turned out to be too big for that use.  It measures in at around .007" diameter, so it's the right size.  Once the pudenning was done the thread was a bit fuzzy so I wet it with thinned white glue and pressed it tight with my fingers.  That did the trick.  The pudenning isn't my best work, but the anchor rings turned out acceptable, all things considered.   Lastly I lightly applied dark rust weathering powders to the stanchions and painted parts of the anchors to enhance the iron look.
 
The last photo below shows all the woodwork completed.  I realize it's not the norm to complete all the woodwork before starting any of the rigging.  One of the main reasons I did this is the ship is still compact in size at this point, before adding the bowsprit, mast, etc.  My space is very limited, so rather than start the rigging now, my next steps are actually to figure out what I'm going to do for a shelf.  I know the location in my house of where the Cheerful will live.  I just need to actually get the shelf acquired/built first, so I have somewhere off my desk to put a partially rigged ship if need be.  While I'm at it, I also want to figure out what I'm going to do for a permanent display base, and get that built too.  The ship is already fragile enough, so I don't want to be trying to fit a base to the ship when it's fully rigged.
 
Erik
 
 

Thank you, Paul.
 
 Thank you, Lynn.
 
 If I glued em on I think I could easily get five on my thumbnail.  I know the stool isn't pretty but making something pretty with simple hand tools this size is impossible for me at this stage of my modeling development. If I had a six year old running around the house I'd order a 3D printer in a heartbeat! 

Thank you, Pat. 
 
 Thank you, Lynn. 
 
 Thank you to everyone for your comments, likes, and for following along. 
 
I never thought I'd be making furniture for the Flea family.   I can almost put five of the stools on my thumbnail. The legs are .0315 inches square, the seat is .15 x .175 inches and height is .225 inches. Amazingly enough, it's pretty robust for being as small as it is. I need to lower the stool height to .175 inches for a bit more clearance. 

 
The chart table is .30 inches wide x .20 inches deep, .25 inches tall at the front and .40 inches tall at the rear. The chart table legs are temporary, more later. The figure is one I randomly reached in and grabbed and is there for definition of space and scale. The port side of the chart table is not painted as that edge gets glued to the interior wall.

 
The figure is one I randomly reached in and grabbed and is there for definition of space and scale.
 
 The pilot house is a crowded affair, the real Lula didn't have a stove so there would have been a little more room.  

 
Regarding the chart table legs, they are temporary but necessary for being the correct height once I glue it to the stern wall. If you look closely at the original Lula photo below through the PH door you can see the stool under the starboard side corner. For the stool to be in that position there couldn't be legs on the chart table, it had to have been wall mounted. And it makes sense because this would then have allowed the stool to be stowed under the CT and would have been completely out of the way.   
 
For the interior sheeting I'm using is Midwest Products .015625 inch birch plywood, the same material I used for the chart table and stool seat. It'll be easier to install vs planking and will give just a tiny bit more room. Because of the limited view and once painted white, one won't be able to tell what sheeting was used for the interior walls. When I've glued the chart table to the stern wall the legs will be removed.
 
 Now that all the pilot house interior elements are made it's time to start making the walls and adding windows. I'm pretty excited to reach this point because the pilot house is Lula's crown.

 
 Thank you again to everyone for your support.
 
   Keith

Thank you, Eberhard. I'm just going with an all white interior though I do need to test acrylic felt tip pens. They sound counterintuitive to my small brain but you and others have mentioned them so I need to quit being so bullheaded and purchase a sample lot to test them for myself.  
 
 Thank you, John, I agree. 
 
 Thank you, Glen. No alcohol onboard Lula, period! Not even a beer with lunch. I want a cold sober crew push/towing that pile driver I worked so hard on building. 
 
 Thank you, Rick. 

Thank you, Bob. Unfortunately where you want the rum keg to go is where the chart table goes. No black trim on the inside, it's just too dang hard to cut straight paint lines at this scale. Trying to paint black trim on the inside would probably drive me clean over the edge. 

Thank you, Keith. The only reason I could justify having the engine controls in the pilothouse is because the pilothouse sits directly over the engine room. Had that not been the case then an engine telegraph and engineer would have been necessary.
 
 Thank you, Tom. Tallow was used on wood decks as grease to make things slide about easier requiring less energy. Pile drivers use tallow to help in driving piling. Lula maybe delivering that barrel of tallow to a pile driver, not sure how story is gonna play out. 
 
 As promised. Sorry, I should have included this photo in my first post of the day. The heck of it is, the only view inside the pilothouse will be through the open rear PH door. I was going to stain the interior but now thinking I need to paint the interior white and why not, with few exceptions everything else is white. 

After all that discussion, I never came back and shared how the sails turned out for this longboat. So here are four photos of the completed model; I think it turned out pretty well. Thanks to all who offered advice; hopefully this is useful for future builders who want to try adding sails.

Wow, this is looking great!  Enjoy reading your history and descriptions of terrain.  Looking forward to following your continued amazing progress!