Cathead

LOL, that's fantastic! And here I was, looking forward to seeing how you built those itty bitty paddlewheel frames...

Nice re-purposing and probably quite in the spirit of these ships that presumably also were built with whatever was handy at the yard.

Thank you, Bob.
 
 Ian, having a 3D printer would definitely make modeling life easier but alas..........

Thank you, Glen. 
 
 Eric, I'm glad you were looking forward to it because I wasn't.  Old stubby fingers gotta think outside the box. 

LOL, that's fantastic! And here I was, looking forward to seeing how you built those itty bitty paddlewheel frames...

A huge thank you to everyone for the likes and the support.
 
 
 John, thank you for your support. 
 
 Thank you, Kurt. These vessels were crudely built, I need to learn to be less sandpaper happy. 
 
 Thank you, Pat. It's going to be a fun exercise. 
 
 Thank you, Gary. 
 
 Keith, thank you. I was much more confident building the pile driver than Lula as sternwheeler information seems harder to come by. 
 
 
 Seven years ago when I was trying to find wheels for the Tennessee's signal cannon and gatling gun carriages it became evident that wheels of any type close to 1:120 was almost impossible to find. Since then I'm always keeping an eye out for wheels in the 1:120 scale range. 
 
 A couple of weeks ago when I was in the process of placing a fittings order from Cornwall Model Boats I came upon these 28mm Amati yacht wheels. I almost jumped out of my chair. I didn't see a yacht's wheel, what I saw was

 
 this!

 
 I think they're great framework on which to build Lula's paddlewheel and they're the perfect size, 1:102 inches in diameter. I had designed Lula's wheel to be 1.40 inches but i can and a tenth of an inch without ill effects.
 
 Unfortunately CMB was out of stock and mild panic set in but I came across ModelNet (I'd not know of them beforehand) who said they had stock. I thought maybe I only needed three but I ordered six of the little buggers just in case! They didn't have stock in the UK but they did have stock in their Australian facility, they arrived yesterday. 

 
The current setup is very temporary and it's more an exercise to insure the concept is feasible. I've also added templets on Lula's deck to establish that my layout plan is okay. The coal bunker templet is 16 feet in width, I debate with myself between 14 and 16 feet.  

 
 Thank you to everyone for following along. 
 
    Keith

Thanks, guys. All I now need to do is paint the name on the nameplate and stick it onto the stand and she's finished!
 
Steven

That's adorable! Great job on a creative way to do the upswept stern, that's always been hard for me to get right. And I've broken off more than my fair share of wheel supports, so I love the solid plywood version.

That's come together really well. When do you add the 3D printed figure of yourself?

Kurt, fair point. To me, and I suspect many modelers, the point at which I sell or dispose of my models is when I can no longer appreciate them. So at that point it's up to the buyer/receiver to decide what's best for them. Maybe the new owner wants a different style of case, or has a pre-existing display setting (like their own curio cabinet).
 
For example, I've had some interest from a local historical society in some of my steamboat models. They wouldn't want them in individual cases, but would rather display them within a casing context they'd develop to fit their display hall. If that were to pan out, any time and money I had spent on custom cases would be a waste, because the new displayer doesn't want them and the custom case probably doesn't easily fit a different model I might later build (and same goes if I tried to sell the empty case to someone). Whereas the curio cabinet is much more flexible in receiving whatever new item I want to put into it, or in being passed along to someone else down the road.
 
Obviously the best approach varies by builder/owner. I just think it's worth putting the idea of the curio cabinet out there, because so many casing question on this forum assume that the only approach is to build/buy individual cases per model.

OK, here's a rough sketch of what I'm proposing. The tiller arms would be controlled by various blocks running tiller ropes up to the wheel in the pilot house. They might even be slaved together with a rod connecting them. It would be easy to arrange the ropes such that the wheel's turning translates into the correct motion of the tiller arms; that's how all steamboats worked.
 

Great to see the sawdust begin!
 
As to your question, to me those do indeed look like the rudder posts. As to why they're elevated up there, my best guess is that the compact nature of the superstructure meant that it was simpler to do this than run control lines lower down. On a typical riverboat of the kind I'm familiar with, the vertical rudder posts connect to horizontal tiller arms to which control lines were run from the pilot house using various blocks. Those tiller arms took up a fair amount of horizontal space, which doesn't matter on a large vessel, but certainly would on something as small as Lula.
 
Here are a few examples. On Arabia, a sidewheeler with a single rudder, you can clearly see the long tiller arm requiring a lot of swiveling space, as well as the block linking the tiller arm to the pilot house. Here it's under the main deck, out of the way, but it's not clear if Lula's size or framing would have allow for that approach. Also, in something as small as Lula, crawling into the stern portion of the hull to repair tiller lines sounds awful, as opposed to having them right overhead in the engine room. My photo from the Arabia musuem in Kansas City.

On Bertrand, a sternwheeler, there were two tiller arms linked to posts on the two main rudders that in turn each controlled an outboard slave rudder. This was pretty typical of sternwheelers in the era. Here the tiller arms were just above the main deck, where they were easily accessible for repairs, but they did take up a lot of horizontal space at the rear of the engine room. Vessels this size had that space available, again unlike Lula, where this would take up a big chunk of her tiny engine room floor. Images from National Park Service archeology report.
 


So again, it makes sense to me that the tiny Lula would simply extend the rudder posts higher so that the tiller arms and control lines ran just under the ceiling of the engine room, a simple connection to the pilot house immediately above, keeping both the vertical and horizontal components out of the way in the compact engine room. There's probably a bit more torque/stress on those long rudder posts, translating sideways forces down to the rudders, but Lula (as a flatwater tug) probably wasn't subject to the same steering stresses as a riverboat, so I'd guess that didn't matter given the tradeoffs.
 
Those are my thoughts, but would be happy to hear other perspectives!

Oh, I don't think I ever showed the harpy box label. My step son, who works in marketing, asked if he could have a go, so most of this is him, a little more minimalistic than normal...

That's adorable! Great job on a creative way to do the upswept stern, that's always been hard for me to get right. And I've broken off more than my fair share of wheel supports, so I love the solid plywood version.

Looking good Keith.  
I am sure you will get to grips with this; you always do.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Kurt, fair point. To me, and I suspect many modelers, the point at which I sell or dispose of my models is when I can no longer appreciate them. So at that point it's up to the buyer/receiver to decide what's best for them. Maybe the new owner wants a different style of case, or has a pre-existing display setting (like their own curio cabinet).
 
For example, I've had some interest from a local historical society in some of my steamboat models. They wouldn't want them in individual cases, but would rather display them within a casing context they'd develop to fit their display hall. If that were to pan out, any time and money I had spent on custom cases would be a waste, because the new displayer doesn't want them and the custom case probably doesn't easily fit a different model I might later build (and same goes if I tried to sell the empty case to someone). Whereas the curio cabinet is much more flexible in receiving whatever new item I want to put into it, or in being passed along to someone else down the road.
 
Obviously the best approach varies by builder/owner. I just think it's worth putting the idea of the curio cabinet out there, because so many casing question on this forum assume that the only approach is to build/buy individual cases per model.

I agree with Kurt, protecting models is important. Once dust and stuff starts accumulating it's surprisingly hard to get rid of it without damaging the model. But I also agree that individual cases get expensive fast and take up lots of room. My solution was to buy what's commonly called a curio cabinet, in my case from a Mennonite builder, in which I can display quite a lot of models in the same horizontal footprint as one or two individual model cases.
 
I have seven ship/boat models in this one case alone, plus three small nautical-themed models, and still have room left over for some neat natural stuff (rocks, bones, shells, etc.). This was obviously more expensive than any one case, but way more cost-efficient than all the cases I'd otherwise need. I've also been able to adjust shelf heights to match different models, again allowing more efficient displays than single models on their own. And it's quite attractive in the home.
 
The other upside to a curio cabinet is that's more flexible in the long run. A bunch of custom cases have little value beyond your specific model, and if/when you need to downsize, they may end up thrown out. A curio cabinet will hold a lot more resale value as they have a much broader appeal. And you can get them in various sizes depending on your needs.
 

I have cats, case! I have an "in" for this preference, though. I have two large glass display cases I got free, one 5 feet long and 6 feet high, the other 6 feet long and the same height. I got these on a fluke of good luck. I also have a 5 foot long store counter cabinet that I bought when a thrift store was remodeling, another instance of being there at the right time!

Don't worry about the hull plank edges not showing.  With the overhang of the deck they will be in the shadow of the deck and when you weather the hull it will all blend together. 

Thank you to everyone for the comments and the likes.
 
 
 Lula's deck is planked.

 
 The hull is painted. As I feared the planking doesn't show, oh well.

 

 
  I was in a quandary trying to determine the best approach for building the engine room due to the different elevations. The 1.6 inch piece of wood perpendicular to the deck is the engine room's stern wall's bottom plate. I ran the center decking against the bottom plate forward edge and made the two outside ends flush with the upsweep wheel support decking.
 
 There is so much that needs to be replicated in this tiny area, cylinder timbers and pitman arms running from the engine room, pillow blocks, blocks for making the wheel the correct height, rudder post and the wheel., all to be built within a 1.6 inch W x 1.5 inch L x 1.4 inch H space. 
 
  I deviated from Lula's photo and ran all the decking lengthwise. I get a little more support for the plywood upsweep doing it this way. 

 

 

 
 Thank you to all for following along.
 
  Keith

It's been another really stressful week and I'm feeling very run down, but I finally got started on the model this weekend, and immediately ran into a couple barriers.
 
First, as has been reported in other logs, the keel pieces are a bit warped. I'm trying to decide whether I need to soak and weight these, or whether the use of a proper building board and frame will be sufficient to hold these straight until the planking holds them in shape. What do you all think?
 

 
Second, I'd like to adapt the style of building frame used by jack.aubrey and seventynet as shown below, respectively:

 

 
The basic issue is that, unlike many "modern" vessels, the bottom of the keel has almost no flat surface and thus very little reference point to start from. It carries a smooth and subtle curve pretty much all the way through. I thought I had a good idea by thinking that I could adapt the original wood sheet from which the keel pieces were laser cut, since these carry the exact curve of the keel. If I cut those in a way that gave a smooth bottom, I could simply use that to support the keel!
 
The immediate problem was that these did not have the same depth of wood below the keel for each piece, so I had to trim them. I carefully set a table saw to trim the thicker piece to match the thinner piece, assuming that I could then lay both flat and simply set the keel into them:
 

 

 
I'm a fool. The fact that the keel has a constant curve means there was no reason to assume that a given straight line would follow all the way through or that the bottom of the original wood sheet had any relevance to the orientation of the keel. So this was what I got for my trouble:
 

 
Time to start over and come up with a different solution. What I should have done is tape the keel pieces together, tape the two pieces of outer wood below them, then use the straightedge to draw one consistent line across both that I then cut using the table saw. Somehow didn't see that until it was too late.
 
Which takes me back to whether I need to soak & weight those keels or just build a good frame. The warps don't seem too bad, but I haven't built something like this before so don't know what to expect.
 
So much for this being a relaxing build that just lets me follow instructions!

Kurt, fair point. To me, and I suspect many modelers, the point at which I sell or dispose of my models is when I can no longer appreciate them. So at that point it's up to the buyer/receiver to decide what's best for them. Maybe the new owner wants a different style of case, or has a pre-existing display setting (like their own curio cabinet).
 
For example, I've had some interest from a local historical society in some of my steamboat models. They wouldn't want them in individual cases, but would rather display them within a casing context they'd develop to fit their display hall. If that were to pan out, any time and money I had spent on custom cases would be a waste, because the new displayer doesn't want them and the custom case probably doesn't easily fit a different model I might later build (and same goes if I tried to sell the empty case to someone). Whereas the curio cabinet is much more flexible in receiving whatever new item I want to put into it, or in being passed along to someone else down the road.
 
Obviously the best approach varies by builder/owner. I just think it's worth putting the idea of the curio cabinet out there, because so many casing question on this forum assume that the only approach is to build/buy individual cases per model.

Keith, Druxey, Paul, Glen, Marc, Bill, John and Tom - thank you very much for your comments and kind words - so appreciated.  And of course, thanks to all for the "likes".  
 
 
It's as low-tech as it gets, Bill.  X-acto razor saw and miter box.  I've been using this same blade for a long time, and I'm actually amazed it's still cuts.  I think it's 42 tpi, but not sure.  The piece of no-slip shelf lining makes a big difference in keeping the tube from rolling.
 


 
 
Hey Tom.  I use a lot of purchased wood strips, and I think I spent around $45 on wood for this model.  It's all "O" scale (1:43) stuff which is a little larger than 1:48, but that works out OK as I end up shaving, slicing, filing or sanding almost everything before using it anyway.  I modify probably 65% of it to get to the dimensions I need.  And I'm close friends with my digital calipers.
 
Gary

Kurt, fair point. To me, and I suspect many modelers, the point at which I sell or dispose of my models is when I can no longer appreciate them. So at that point it's up to the buyer/receiver to decide what's best for them. Maybe the new owner wants a different style of case, or has a pre-existing display setting (like their own curio cabinet).
 
For example, I've had some interest from a local historical society in some of my steamboat models. They wouldn't want them in individual cases, but would rather display them within a casing context they'd develop to fit their display hall. If that were to pan out, any time and money I had spent on custom cases would be a waste, because the new displayer doesn't want them and the custom case probably doesn't easily fit a different model I might later build (and same goes if I tried to sell the empty case to someone). Whereas the curio cabinet is much more flexible in receiving whatever new item I want to put into it, or in being passed along to someone else down the road.
 
Obviously the best approach varies by builder/owner. I just think it's worth putting the idea of the curio cabinet out there, because so many casing question on this forum assume that the only approach is to build/buy individual cases per model.

Kurt, fair point. To me, and I suspect many modelers, the point at which I sell or dispose of my models is when I can no longer appreciate them. So at that point it's up to the buyer/receiver to decide what's best for them. Maybe the new owner wants a different style of case, or has a pre-existing display setting (like their own curio cabinet).
 
For example, I've had some interest from a local historical society in some of my steamboat models. They wouldn't want them in individual cases, but would rather display them within a casing context they'd develop to fit their display hall. If that were to pan out, any time and money I had spent on custom cases would be a waste, because the new displayer doesn't want them and the custom case probably doesn't easily fit a different model I might later build (and same goes if I tried to sell the empty case to someone). Whereas the curio cabinet is much more flexible in receiving whatever new item I want to put into it, or in being passed along to someone else down the road.
 
Obviously the best approach varies by builder/owner. I just think it's worth putting the idea of the curio cabinet out there, because so many casing question on this forum assume that the only approach is to build/buy individual cases per model.