Cathead

Glad to help out. If you follow the below link there are several contemporary photos of the Chaperon in her hey day. The link is to the University of Wisconsin - Madison La Crosse and they have an excellent collection of old photographs of not just the Chaperon, but numerous other steamboats, Some of these photos also show many of the changes Chaperon had through her career and a couple of them from back when she was the JC Kerr. If I am not mistaken, in some of the photos you can see the changes the area in question above went through over time. If anything, the old pictures are neat to look at.
 
https://search.library.wisc.edu/search/digital?q=chaperon&filter[facets][collections_facet~Historic+Steamboat+Photographs]=yes
 
-Brian

Glad Brian saw this and gave you a more detailed answer. I figured I'd jump in just in case you were antsy for a response, I know I don't check MSW every day and I didn't know how long it might take others to reply.

What you've done is certainly better than attaching to the railing (???) but in real life I think it's highly likely the hog chain extended down through those decks all the way into the hull, or at least to a more solid anchor than a fragile upper deck. For example, look at your copy of Bates (p. 29, fig. 39) and see how the longitudinal chains are shown anchored down in the hull at both ends; this is the only place that could take the strain; anchoring a longitudinal chain to the upper deck would rip it off just as easily as to a railing. Keep in mind that that chain is helping support the weight of those immense paddle wheels toward the vessel's aft, redistributing it forward (where it would also be anchored in the hull). The superstructures on these boats, even the big fancy ones, were lightweight and flimsy for reasons of cost and practicality (strong, heavy superstructures would be too top-heavy). I'm not an expert on the R.E.Lee, just speaking from broader knowledge of the design and engineering of these vessels. So I could be wrong, but anchoring to anything on the upper deck just doesn't seem likely to me.
 
Your solution is a reasonably compromise given that it'd be more complicated to drill and run the chain down through multiple decks. But I'd be pretty surprised if that's how the real vessel was built. Caveat: could be wrong!

All looks very nice, John- neat work!

Very cool, thanks for taking the time to share the build!

Hi all, apologies for the long silence, it's been hectic, did a lot of building, and no updating.
 
So huge update coming on all current build logs, here goes for Ephialtes:
 
The sail finally arrived! First try at attaching sails to yards:
Finnicky, but doable. then the final rigging (nowhere near the level Terror and Diana) was over quickly and she was ready for delivery to the Admiral, who immediately built up the surroundings to give her a place of honour:
 

More detailed pictures to follow later...
 
All in all, very educational build, but also very frustrating, due to the lack of instructions. On the other hand, this forced me to think out of the box and make my own solutions.
 
Thanks to all for all the help!
 
 

Hi @Rebelnfl, this kit is indeed anything but straightforward. Spent a lot of time trying to figure out the poor excuse of a plan before proceeding, I was also helped by some great build logs on the site (I linked them in a previous post).
 
Regarding your query, I managed to retrieve this picture from the front of Ephialtes before planking:

I took a stepped approach as you can see: first I formed the balsa needed for the wales, (did that before the planks went on obviously). I remember having to take a guess where the deck planking at the front would end, used a spare strip to approximate and drew a line on the deck, then carefully remove the surplus.
 
The second balsa piece was to cover the angle the hull makes: largely flat, I left some space where the balsa meets the false keel to accommodate for hull plank thickness.
 
Last part was the trickiest, as there's a significant bend to make. I used some spare 0,6mm strip left over from my Terror build to check the shape, overlaying it after each sanding session, checking, sanding again, etc, ad nauseam 🙂
 
Fairing of the bulkheads is really critical here, did a lot of measuring and trying before grabbing the sanding block.
 
One more thing: you'll notice in the picture I added a little 2x2mm strip on bulkhead 3: this is not in the instructions, but as I saw no other way to fit the planks securely I worked this way.
 
Hope this helps, if you have any other queries, don't hesitate to get in touch.
 
Good luck!

https://www.vallejogallery.com/2022/item_mobile.php?page=item_page&id=1316
 
George, 
It's incredible how lofty the masts were on McKay's Clippers! Your doing a marvelous job capturing that. 
Meanwhile, I remembered a beautiful 1998 painting by David Thimgan. It depicts Flying Fish entering San Francisco Bay. 

Well - away from 20th century vessels and back to the 19th. I've completed all three topgallant masts, and assembled them into the fore, main, and mizzen. The doublers are all painted white, with everything else "bright". At some point, I will need to add the gilded balls and (I presume) lightning rods, but I think that can wait until the ship is almost done. A couple of photos. The fore and main in situ as it were:
 

 
 
and all three looking to port, and from the stem:
 

 
And, kind of an odd view looking diagonally forward.
 

 
A couple of observations. First, the fore topgallant mast seems to be raked a bit more than I want - I think the spar itself has a bit of a bend. When I put the forestays on I'll move the tip forward maybe 4-5 mm and it will align with everything else. What I am happy about is that there are no obvious problems with the alignment of the masts port and starboard (see the pic from the stem). Second, this was definitely a learning exercise. Even though the birch dowels I used to make the topgallants were denser and stronger than basswood, at this thickness and length there was no way to use my cutting tools without either (a) the spar just bending away from the tool or (b) snapping in two. Even after this discovery, it took 3 tries to do the first, 2 tries for the second, and fortunately only 1 try for the mizzen topgallant mast. Speed is not your friend - if I used sandpaper that was too rough (say less than 100 grit) to "rough out" the shape, I always wound up having the thinnest part snap (even when I wasn't sanding in that region).
 
Interestingly, what did seem to work well was to start at the narrow end (so that I made clear "ridges" where the diameter changed), using 150 grit and then sanding the other segments to make a spar that had the right proportions (i.e. it had 4 segments with specified length and proportionally smaller diameters) but was still too wide, and then go back with a mix of 150 and 220 grit to eventually obtain the proper diameters. For once, I didn't have to remake all of the mast caps. By gently hand sanding the openings wider I was eventually able to get the diameter of the holes sufficiently large to fit the spars. I did bust one of them, but it was less trouble than I expected to make a new one for some reason. In that case I hand drilled (i.e. I spun a 1/8 inch drill but with my fingers) to get the hold opened in a piece larger than the cap, and then sanded the rest of the opening. 
 
Anyway - next steps are to place the remainder of the mast mounted blocks (there are quite a few) and mount them on the ship. I've seen many people do wonderful work mounting the yards before they fully mount the mast - that hasn't been how I've done it in the past, and so for now the plan is to mount before rigging. One thing that has occurred to me is that I should probably make sure that I've drilled and fitted the path for the boat davits in the mizzen channels before I start putting in the shrouds. Drilling afterwards could be ugly.
 
As always, thanks for looking in!
 
Regards,
George K

Waterways completed…

I have chosen to use Amber Shellac over  top a Cherry Stain for the decking. I think it gives that natural oil finish the plans call for. 
 
Cheers 🍻 

Quarter Deck Waterways etc…

Installed bracing below deck…

Installing waterways…

Finished out Transom Framing…

Hawse Timbers placed…
 
Cheers 🍻

Thanks Jason. I did shim 2 bulkheads and feel way better than I did about what I discovered. I am going to attempt a single hull plank… we’ll see. I’m  sure following so many of our fellow craftsmen here and learning from each other’s woes is what keeps many a new modeler going during their nymph years in the hobby. 👍😀

Hung and rigged the main yard. Fun but nerve-wracking! Liked watching the interplay of the lines as they were tightened.
 

Standing rigging almost finished. The excitement builds. . .
 



 

David, I understand. I am not at all bashing this kit. Just relating some of my obsessive thinking, the bane of having been a specifications writer. . . at least this hobby gives me a productive outlet.
 
To the contrary, I highly recommend this kit and the rest of the series. I'm so glad I started with these. The instructions on modeling techniques have brought me pretty far in a relatively short period of time, and saved me from obsessing over the state of the world the last couple of years (mostly)!
 
Bob
 
 

Bob: As you obviously have the interest, I suggest you are well on your way to scratch building and research. Fortunately there is a lot available online these days.
 
Due to economic constraints, there is a limit to how accurate any kit can be. The more costly, the more you should expect, but that is not always the case. I applaud your efforts to get it right, or closer than the 'out of the box' kit can be.

One thing I have really been struggling with is the size of the ropes. The manual, early on, gives sizes and model numbers only, but then as rigging becomes the main task, uses a variety of terms to describe line sizes: thin, thinner, light, thick, thicker, heavier, etc. 
 
Three sizes were supplied with the kit: 0.2 mm, 0.3 mm, and 0.45 mm- all in both dark brown and beige.
 
The manual also called for 0.6 mm beige for rigging the guns; this was not supplied. I ordered this size in both brown and beige from Syren, and replaced the other kit-supplied line as well.
 
I decided that four sizes are used throughout, but am not sure that is correct. The rigging plan attempts to show line weight by using double and single-line drawing, but I believe there are errors, such as the mast backstays shown the same size as the shrouds, which are called "heavier," while the backstays are identified as "thinner." I used 0.6 mm for the shrouds, based on appearance, the manuals' photos showing it around the deadeyes.
 
I am taking what clues I can from the photos, rigging plan, and deciding what makes sense considering the size of blocks involved.
 
This is what I am doing, for the most part:
 
0.2 mm = Thinner and light.
0.3 mm = Thin
0.45 mm = Thick
0.6 mm = Heavier and Thicker
 
The "thick" size may be used only once, for the vangs, and since this size rope is supplied in both brown and beige, I am led to believe that my approach is wrong, there should have been only three sizes as supplied, with the gun rigging being an outlier in beige only.
 
The manual also calls for "thread," for footropes, ratlines, lanyards, etc., which is defined as quilting thread in at least one instance, and I'm assuming that term is used consistently.
 
Anyway, I think I'm in too deep now to correct this, if it is indeed wrong- and really, nothing looks "bad." I think consistency is the thing from here on out. Just an example of how I drive myself (slightly) crazy!

The standing rigging will do its job and keep the masts in place - just like the real ship. No glue required!

Placed the upper shrouds. I must have miscounted, because I ran out of deadeyes and cannot complete the backstays. I'll do the ratlines, and then take a break while I wait for the mailing. I don't think it would be wise to go out of recommended order on the remaining rigging. Update: Oops, I see I had already posted similar above- I must be losing it. . . but this is with the foremast shrouds added.
 
From my reading, it seems that it's a matter of preference whether to glue/not glue masts to the model. The instructions do not mention doing so, and I have not. As the rigging is added, things seem to be getting more stable, and I'm thinking that it's part of the challenge- as well as being more accurate as far as how a real ship is put together. I did not glue the topmasts to the doubling either. I'd be interested in hearing other's thoughts on this issue.
 

At this point in construction the instructions have you placing the lazer etched deck in place. I can't use it because the deck is wider aft than the Speedy. So I'm laying the deck with individual planks. Chris suggests putting in the bottom spirketting plank (painted) first which necessitates my adding the margin plank.

Now I can either finish up the spirket planks, or do the deck, depending on my mood. I'm using yellow cedar for the deck. Chris wants me to use the pear planking for the spirketting, but, being the cheap Yankee that I am, and that it gets painted anyway, I'm using basswood for that planking. 

Hi Richard,
 
 
I realize you are probably going to paint the planking to hide it, but  to learn proper planking techniques, maybe consider removing the planking below the wales and start over after studying the primer on planking here at MSW and the four part video YouTube series by Chuck Passaro.  It will serve you well down the road.   We all fully realize what you have now is a kit thing as OcCre has never had a clue (or worse, does note care) on how a ship was actually planked and they stick you with what is possibly the worst wood available for the task, but it can be fixed.  If not this go round, hopefully the next time.😀
Allan
 
 
 

Now working on the redo of the hog chains.  They now will disappear into the hurricane deck on their mythical way to connect with the hull, rather than be tied to an eyelet.
 
I am using music wire, which I will paint black.  I am adding the same turnbuckles from the first try, just to have something there, though I have research somewhere that turnbuckles were not used there.
 
I use dividers to measure the length of the wire needed and where the bend should be. The next piece of wire will connect to three posts.

Eric and Brian,
 
I really appreciate both of you taking the time to respond.   I was looking at brucealanevans build log and looks like he followed the written instructions and reversed the pieces in the diagram as it appears his walls are on the outside of the posts.
Now that I have had time to think about this I do not think it is  critical either way - just depends on what look you want.   When I get to that point and start dry fitting the pieces one way or the other will call my name.
Again I really appreciate your responses. 
 

 
Brian,  
Thanks for heads up on parts 37P/S and the picture of the vent pipe for the safety valves.    Both will save me some headaches down the road.

John,  Eric has described it correctly and should be installed per the drawing and his instructions in the above post #42 from your log. There is a gotcha in there though, before you glue the corner strips in, align the pieces 37P/S up with the holes in the deck to make sure they go in properly. You can reference entry #11 on page 1 of my build log to see how I assembled everything and the trouble I had getting it all together. The picture that Eric provided is after the installation, entry #45 and entry #41 is the installation These are on page 2 of my build. I also posted the pictures below, but the build describes the process a little better.



 
Also, when you get to this point, here is the way that I built the vent pipe for the safety valves. I formed it up before installing the hurricane deck since it was a lot easier to access. Once the deck was installed I came back and installed the pipe. It was still a little tricky, but it was a whole lot easier without the deck in place.

 
Hope this helps.
 
-Brian
 
 
 

These are my favorite drawings or paintings of the Robert E Lee.  I was going to save a post like this for last, but I put it here to give myself the last bit of inspiration needed to finish.  I only have the rigging of the stages and the yawls and lifeboat and my redo of the hog chains to finish the boat. 
 
My surgery is healing as it should per my doctor yesterday. 
 
I have no excuse to lag.   The Cutty Sark awaits!
 
The painting of the Natchez and the Lee depicts the Robert E Lee leaving for the race 4 minutes early at 4:56 PM and blocking the Natchez from leaving her warf boat and turning into the river on time at 5:00PM.  The Natchez had to leave late or run into the stern of the Lee.  She started minutes behind.  The Lee lead all the way to St. Louis, but maybe unfairly at times.