Cathead

I continue to carve and sculpt the remaining decorations.  This will take some time.  I know you guys have seen these three carvings I did for the port side before.
 

 

 
But while carving the new ones I have been pouring molds of the ones I already made and making resin castings.   I will never paint a casting again.  One of the photos shows the boxwood carved masters and another shows the resin castings colored with weathering powders as described earlier

...Back to the barge.
 
I completed the sculpting for the two bow pieces.   Then I made a mold and some resin castings.  Resin castings will come with the kit.  In the photo below you can see two rows of resin castings.  The bottom row is the raw resin casting.  Rather than paint them as I typically do, trying to make them look like wood,  I thought I would try something new.
 
Rather than paint,  I used weathering powders.  I applied them directly to the resin castings with a brush.  The three colors are shown.  I continuously used differnt layers of the three colors and eventually it came out really well.  The color matches wonderfully  Its better than paint in my opinion as the powders dont build up and the detail remains crisp.   You cant really chip or scratch the paint ruining your piece.   Once done I sprayed with matte fixative.

 
Below are the pictures showing the castings test fit on the model.  I notched out the molding to accept them.  You can also see the laser cut iron strap that runs on the forward face of the stem.  It goes all the way under to the keel stopping just ahead of the scarf joint.  There are holes pre-drilled along the top of the strip which were later filled with 22 gauge black wire.  I pre-drilled the holes using the laser cut holes as a guide with a #71 bit.  Then I stuck the wire into each hole with no glue.  After snipping off the excess,  they were filed down but allowed to stand proud.  This creates the nice decorative detail you see on these barges.  The strip was put on the stem in three sections.  The top and aft side of the stem first as they were short pieces, then the long strip down the front.  The seams are almost noticeable.  You can get a tight fit between pieces and the laser board sands well.  I think it simulates a piece of metal quite nicely.
 

 

 

Roger and Cog capture my feelings on this. Digital is fine for light linear reading, especially fiction, but I cannot stand trying to work through a technical text of any kind (involving figures, illustrations, or the need to move back and forth in the text) in digital form. Plus I, too, spend a lot of work time on the computer and really don't like the additional eye strain of reading for pleasure on a screen.
 
I have a Kindle, but only use it for reading when traveling. Any book or magazine I care about comes in print. And it's not just age, I'm under 40.

Roger and Cog capture my feelings on this. Digital is fine for light linear reading, especially fiction, but I cannot stand trying to work through a technical text of any kind (involving figures, illustrations, or the need to move back and forth in the text) in digital form. Plus I, too, spend a lot of work time on the computer and really don't like the additional eye strain of reading for pleasure on a screen.
 
I have a Kindle, but only use it for reading when traveling. Any book or magazine I care about comes in print. And it's not just age, I'm under 40.

Roger and Cog capture my feelings on this. Digital is fine for light linear reading, especially fiction, but I cannot stand trying to work through a technical text of any kind (involving figures, illustrations, or the need to move back and forth in the text) in digital form. Plus I, too, spend a lot of work time on the computer and really don't like the additional eye strain of reading for pleasure on a screen.
 
I have a Kindle, but only use it for reading when traveling. Any book or magazine I care about comes in print. And it's not just age, I'm under 40.

Roger and Cog capture my feelings on this. Digital is fine for light linear reading, especially fiction, but I cannot stand trying to work through a technical text of any kind (involving figures, illustrations, or the need to move back and forth in the text) in digital form. Plus I, too, spend a lot of work time on the computer and really don't like the additional eye strain of reading for pleasure on a screen.
 
I have a Kindle, but only use it for reading when traveling. Any book or magazine I care about comes in print. And it's not just age, I'm under 40.

Roger and Cog capture my feelings on this. Digital is fine for light linear reading, especially fiction, but I cannot stand trying to work through a technical text of any kind (involving figures, illustrations, or the need to move back and forth in the text) in digital form. Plus I, too, spend a lot of work time on the computer and really don't like the additional eye strain of reading for pleasure on a screen.
 
I have a Kindle, but only use it for reading when traveling. Any book or magazine I care about comes in print. And it's not just age, I'm under 40.

What's important to understand is that someone saying "I want this awesome thing made out of the best possible components which are all expensive, but I want it to cost a dollar" isn't necessarily insisting that all three of those things be true all the time, they're just telling you that those three things are important to them, just as a market customer is telling me that they care about cost, quality, and growing method.
 
It's not breaking news, but this collection of comments tells us that  majority of people here like 17-18th ocean-going ships, they have a budget they feel is appropriate, and they value good materials and instructions. Any given designer may not be able to meet all three goals, but they can make an educated decision about which of them to focus on.
 
Again, this thread asked people what they thought in general, as if I handed out a survey of farmers market shoppers. People giving their ideal ideas to a survey is not the same as people specifically criticizing a given vendor. Consumers that challenge my market prices directly and personally are annoying if they don't try to understand the business model. Consumers who tell a survey that they want organic, affordable, nice-looking produce are just telling me in general what's important to them. Respondents to this thread are, by and large, saying what matters to them in general; they're not saying "X company is too expensive or Y company doesn't make models I like".
 
For example, when I say I want a kit to be $250-$400, I'm saying that's as much as I can possibly justify spending. If the only way to make a kit I'd otherwise like is for it to be $600, then I don't want that kit made for me because I won't be able to buy it no matter how nice it is. That's important information for a manufacturer. I'm not insisting they lose money making me a $600 kit for $400, I'm saying that's my budgetary limit, period. We chose not to grow some things on our farm because we couldn't sell them at a price consumers would accept. I'd like to grow them, but I accept that people won't pay me to do so. They can grow them in their home garden if they want those items, or scratchbuild that model, or just do without if that's what life dictates. Again, don't misinterpret what's being said in this forum.

A little more tweaking and sanding and I will be back to where I was before. I wish I had done this at the beginning. What a difference.

This Stern will not fall apart in my hands.

Attached are photos of our "USS St. Louis" ironclad flue type boilers/firebox and exhaust plenum recently completed by Bill. This model represents our reconstruction of the complete boiler arrangement for a typical Western River steamboat from about 1840 onward and was sized for our ironclad from the 5 boilers, steam drum, one of the mud drums, a few of the valves and 2 firebox doors actually recovered with the "USS Cairo" in 1963.   The remaining more fragile elements such as the sheet metal covered firebrick bridge and sheet metal exhaust plenum apparently didn't survive or couldn't be reassembled.
The model consists of a wood sub-structure covered by embossed metal foil sheathing and cast firebox doors with added individual relief and mud drum clean-out valves, all primed, painted and highlighted to correctly represent its exterior surfaces. High pressure steam from these boilers is fed to the two single cylinder main steam engines, the "Doctor" main auxiliary steam engine and another auxiliary steam engine which powered the capstan.
 
johnhoward

Cheers cathead

Starting the repair process. Filling in the gaps between the remains of Stern posts C and B looks a bit tricky.  I better buy some wood filler (cheater paste).

My apologies... my "like" button seems to have gone on random vacation/holiday in this topic...  so don't feel ignored.     
 
I'm still planking the inside...<sigh>  Life keeps getting in the way.

Coppering has begun. Hers my set up for embossing the copper. I just happened to have this handy tool on hand. Its a sensipress from NWSL. One could also use a small drill press. I feel it gives me better control than a hammer.

The Stern Post are made out of that pink plywood. Right now they are breaking apart in my fingers like dry rot. I am afraid I will have to make some new Stern Post out of another material. I wish now I had discarded the stern post material provided in the kit,  and built new ones out of a better material at the beginning.  Grrrrrrrr
 
I have been further educated....................

I have been making slow progress. I am getting sidetracked. The Salmon are entering the small bay located down the street from me, and I am spending way too much time Fly Fishing.

In her new home.  I built the case and renovated the room to fit this beast.  This has been a very satisfying journey and i would like to thank my dad "blighty" for introducing me to this great hobby.  Im hooked
 
I know the Surprise was a big leap for a first build, but with the resources available, and equal parts patience, luck and determination, it wasnt so bad.  Having done a fully rigged build, i am much more knowledgeable and understanding of how the early steps influence the later ones. 
 
Next on the table are the Real by Dusek, and the Wright flyer by Model airways.  Thanks for joining me on the journey folks.

Getting very close now.  Worked on some cannon port covers, anchors and a fwe other odds and ends.  Its been a heck of a journey and the start of a hobby i will probably do for the rest of my life.  My last pics will be of the boat in its custom display stand.

Bulwarks, wales, and transom
 
This was an interesting process of adapting my skills and intentions to poor instructions and kit layout. Lots of photos below.
 

 
The bulwarks begin by gluing two thin strips of walnut together lengthwise, overlapping halfway. You're then supposed to bend and glue these to sit over the edge of the deck, so that the lower strip forms the first strake of planking and the upper strip sits inboard atop the deck. The photo above sort-of shows this cross section, along with the beginning of my take on the transom.
 

 
Here's another view. Look at the starboard rail, and you'll see one reason why I don't like this approach: it's really easy to get waves or dents in these thin strips as you try to attach them firmly to a narrow strip of the hull. I'd prefer setting up thin stanchions first and gluing strips to those. This photo actually shows the next step, adding several more layers of thin walnut inside the outer bulwark to stiffen and thicken it.
 

 
Here's how I bent these strips, using a plastic dish with about the same radius as the bow, soaking the strips overnight, then clamping them into a curve until dry. This thin walnut is really prone to breaking, and the kit offers no extra material, which has been an annoyance throughout the build so far. I had to glue several strips back to together after they shattered, and attempt to hide the joint as I had no spares to replace them.
 

 
After you're done with this, you're supposed to have a ledge on the outboard side, along which you run two thicker square strips of walnut to widen the top of the rail. The directions show these two strips lining up perfectly with the inner bulwarks to make a nice, smooth surface. They don't. In the photo above, you see the significant gap remaining between the top of the inner bulwarks, and the much higher outer line of square walnut strips. This was most annoying, and I decided I had to fill that gap with wood to bring the whole thing level. Having no spare walnut, I had to use scrap basswood from my stash. I didn't think this would matter, as this whole assembly gets painted anyway.
 

 
Here I'm inlaying the basswood at the bow, after bending it to a proper curve. On the port side, you can again see the gap I'm trying to fill. Interestingly, by the time I'd finished and sanded everything smooth, it ended up looking really good! The thin basswood strip sets off the darker walnut nicely, and Mrs Cathead cooed when she saw it. "You're not going to paint over that, are you?" Hmmm.
 

 
So after some thought, I decided to see if I could finish the above-deck area as natural wood. I formed a transom to my liking, and laid a strip of basswood then a strip of walnut across the upper curve, which also turned out nicely, blending the basswood inlay along the rails with the walnut exterior.
 

 
I planked the stern with scraps of remnant decking, and smoothed everything to fit. It's not the transom I set out to make, but I think it works. I still can't easily envision the 3D geometry of the curved transoms some of these craft had, and since this is a fictional one anyway, I'm going with what looks pleasing to me.
 


 
So here's how she looks now, with the first line of the wales attached. I rubbed everything down with a natural wood oil I use on my kitchen counter, to protect and darken the wood (actually, the lower wale hasn't been oiled yet, so it looks lighted, which shows you the difference). I like the effect, and so does Mrs Cathead, my primary audience. I should have taken a higher-angle photo of the basswood inlay inside the rails, but you can see a hint of it.

She is looking absolutely gorgeous! Really hits the sweet spot with crisp work and coloring that is both clean and realistic.
 
Apologies for my long absence from Arabia. A variety of life and work conflicts have been keeping me away from that project. 

Everyone must be on vacation. I haven't seen anything new in any of the riverboat threads. I think cathead is still in the drawing stage, but i haven't seen any update so I thought that I would add a small one. Looking back i also have not done any updates and really haven't taken any real pictures, but have made some progress as the picture shows.
 
If anyone is interested there are 719 railing columns.(60ft of 1/6 in dowel) That means 1440 1/6 holes, which used two 1/6" bits. I still have quite a bit of detail and fixture stuff to do plus all the stern. I have all the lighting done, and have toned it down a little.
You will have to excuse all the junk, but since the model is 49 inch long I don't have any place to put it for pictures. I gave my son my model of the "San Filipe" and going to use that space when completed.
 
The wheelhouse is done except for the roof. (neglect the junk on the roof.)
 
For those still out there stay in touch, and if there are any new threads I am not aware of let me know.
 
Clarence
 
 

Got some painting done and am currently installing the waterways.

Just to be clear, I am very grateful for the work you and other admin types are putting in. I know how frustrating it can be to the herd cats into a new system. I am very appreciative.

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.