Cathead

Glenn, your port/starboard display idea sounds excellent to me. It fits with the rest of your plan for the model.

Glenn, your port/starboard display idea sounds excellent to me. It fits with the rest of your plan for the model.

Wow. So pretty.
 
Glenn, I'm curious. I assume you're going to have to cut the wheels down, too, as steamschooner said. What is the reason for building the fly and paddle wheels whole and then chopping them, versus using your CAD and mill to just make them precisely cut off in the first place?

Huzzah for weekends!
 

Assembling the keel. I made a paper pattern to transfer the rabbet line to the non-marked side.
 

Attaching the bulkheads. I didn't feel like assembling a build board that wouldn't be used beyond this step, so I came up with this approach instead. The keel is clamped to two large squares, which in turn hold each bulkhead square. I started amidships and worked out, doing two bulkheads at a time. I had previously traced square lines on each bulkhead, and used a third square to ensure each one was vertical relative to the keel, along with the eye test. This worked really well. For the last few small bulkheads, when there wasn't enough keel/stem left to clamp to, I just did it by eye and it came out fine.
 

Stiffening the bulkheads. I used thin scrap left over from another project, and glued a thick square in the middle, the use of which will soon become apparent. I made sure that all the braces stayed within the part that will be removed. I also attached the bow fillers at this stage.
 

Here's the frame, transom attached, all faired. It's a gorgeous day here, sunny and warm, so I simply sat on my porch and sanded away, cradling the hull in my hand and lap. Nothing beats full sun for detail work.
 

Closeup of the bow after fairing. Does it look right? Test strakes seem to fit well.
 

And here's why I attached that square chunk on top. It's sized to fit in my handy movable cradle, so that I can plank the hull while rotating it and holding it in any orientation I desire. I'm happy to say I haven't broken the stem yet, and I'm hopeful I can avoid it for good now that the worst handling is over.
 
Anyone see anything wrong before I start planking?

Ahoy, it's yet another longboat! Last fall, looking ahead to the completion of my steamboat Bertrand scratchbuild, I wanted my next project to fulfill three goals: have good instructions to give my brain a rest, let me develop & practice skills like planking & rigging before tackling a larger ship project, and not be too large.
 
I settled on this little model back in September, when Model Expo had their special offer to buy any kit 50% off, then send them photos of the completed model within a year to get the other 50% in store credit. I bought the two naval cannon kits and this one, figured that I'd have Bertrand done by the end of the year, and should be able knock those three out in the remaining nine months. Well, here it is about March, and the two cannons are done with the longboat underway. So in effect, this is a "free" kit if I can finish it by September. I think that's plenty doable.
 
Here's the kit laid out on my reasonably organized workspace, a plastic "market" table set into a cedar frame I built from the abundant red cedar we log & mill on our farm.
 

 
My mind doesn't think easily in small fractions of an inch, so I took a pencil and labelled the end of each wood strip or bundle as I worked out its identity on the parts list. This way, every time I want a piece, I won't have to measure a bunch of different strips to figure out which one I want. Light pencil is easy to remove as needed.
 

 
We're about to head down and visit the Arkansas in-laws, so not much more will get done in the next week, but I'm too excited to get started not to at least post the log. This will be a fun change of pace from the Bertrand, and will be a nice complement to the MS Bounty Launch I built before that; there's even a space on a bookshelf reserved for the finished model.
 
Thanks in advance to any of you who tune in; I hope I can add something to the collected knowledge of this great kit.
 

Seems tolerably acceptable.

I'm not sure about the initial aspects of the procedure, but as far as removing the hot material safely from the boat, many boats had a special ash trough that allowed the hot coals & such to be swept/washed away from the boilers, either over the side or through an opening in the guards. Here is a picture of the brick-lined ash trough from my Bertrand build.
 

 
As for boiler explosions, they were quite common on western riverboats, due to a combination of high-pressure boilers, limited or no safety equipment (such as dial pressure gauges), limited knowledge/training of the engineers running the boilers, and a commercial (and passenger) culture which favored speed and power over safety and caution.
 
For a long time, the only safety valve on riverboat boilers was a simple weighted lever, which was very easy for an ambitious engineer to over-weight or even tie down, increasing the pressure in the boilers. With no clear testing or standards, no one really knew what pressure boilers could hold, and there was no calibrated way to measure pressure. Water levels in the boiler also couldn't be measured easily (again, no gauges), so this too was guesswork and instinct. Thus, if water levels got too low, or levels fluctuated as suggested for Sultana, boom with no warning.
 
All of this was made much more likely by the river culture of the time, in which the fastest boats received premium rates and reputations, regardless of safety concerns. In addition, river conditions could lead to explosions, as when boats attempted to force a bar or round a bend under high-water conditions, needing every ounce of steam in the attempt. One particularly deadly explosion in central Missouri happened after a boat repeatedly tried to round a bend in front of a towns-worth of onlooker, failing over and over and being swept back downstream in embarrassment, before the engineer apparently tied down the pressure valve and went for it all. The boat blew up mid-bend, sending debris into the onlookers on the bluff and killing many passengers.
 
Glenn, I'm curious how you know the Heroine had four boilers. The number varied from boat to boat; I was surprised to learn that Bertrand only had two. Also, do you know what kind of pump the water supply used?

Huzzah for weekends!
 

Assembling the keel. I made a paper pattern to transfer the rabbet line to the non-marked side.
 

Attaching the bulkheads. I didn't feel like assembling a build board that wouldn't be used beyond this step, so I came up with this approach instead. The keel is clamped to two large squares, which in turn hold each bulkhead square. I started amidships and worked out, doing two bulkheads at a time. I had previously traced square lines on each bulkhead, and used a third square to ensure each one was vertical relative to the keel, along with the eye test. This worked really well. For the last few small bulkheads, when there wasn't enough keel/stem left to clamp to, I just did it by eye and it came out fine.
 

Stiffening the bulkheads. I used thin scrap left over from another project, and glued a thick square in the middle, the use of which will soon become apparent. I made sure that all the braces stayed within the part that will be removed. I also attached the bow fillers at this stage.
 

Here's the frame, transom attached, all faired. It's a gorgeous day here, sunny and warm, so I simply sat on my porch and sanded away, cradling the hull in my hand and lap. Nothing beats full sun for detail work.
 

Closeup of the bow after fairing. Does it look right? Test strakes seem to fit well.
 

And here's why I attached that square chunk on top. It's sized to fit in my handy movable cradle, so that I can plank the hull while rotating it and holding it in any orientation I desire. I'm happy to say I haven't broken the stem yet, and I'm hopeful I can avoid it for good now that the worst handling is over.
 
Anyone see anything wrong before I start planking?

Huzzah for weekends!
 

Assembling the keel. I made a paper pattern to transfer the rabbet line to the non-marked side.
 

Attaching the bulkheads. I didn't feel like assembling a build board that wouldn't be used beyond this step, so I came up with this approach instead. The keel is clamped to two large squares, which in turn hold each bulkhead square. I started amidships and worked out, doing two bulkheads at a time. I had previously traced square lines on each bulkhead, and used a third square to ensure each one was vertical relative to the keel, along with the eye test. This worked really well. For the last few small bulkheads, when there wasn't enough keel/stem left to clamp to, I just did it by eye and it came out fine.
 

Stiffening the bulkheads. I used thin scrap left over from another project, and glued a thick square in the middle, the use of which will soon become apparent. I made sure that all the braces stayed within the part that will be removed. I also attached the bow fillers at this stage.
 

Here's the frame, transom attached, all faired. It's a gorgeous day here, sunny and warm, so I simply sat on my porch and sanded away, cradling the hull in my hand and lap. Nothing beats full sun for detail work.
 

Closeup of the bow after fairing. Does it look right? Test strakes seem to fit well.
 

And here's why I attached that square chunk on top. It's sized to fit in my handy movable cradle, so that I can plank the hull while rotating it and holding it in any orientation I desire. I'm happy to say I haven't broken the stem yet, and I'm hopeful I can avoid it for good now that the worst handling is over.
 
Anyone see anything wrong before I start planking?

Huzzah for weekends!
 

Assembling the keel. I made a paper pattern to transfer the rabbet line to the non-marked side.
 

Attaching the bulkheads. I didn't feel like assembling a build board that wouldn't be used beyond this step, so I came up with this approach instead. The keel is clamped to two large squares, which in turn hold each bulkhead square. I started amidships and worked out, doing two bulkheads at a time. I had previously traced square lines on each bulkhead, and used a third square to ensure each one was vertical relative to the keel, along with the eye test. This worked really well. For the last few small bulkheads, when there wasn't enough keel/stem left to clamp to, I just did it by eye and it came out fine.
 

Stiffening the bulkheads. I used thin scrap left over from another project, and glued a thick square in the middle, the use of which will soon become apparent. I made sure that all the braces stayed within the part that will be removed. I also attached the bow fillers at this stage.
 

Here's the frame, transom attached, all faired. It's a gorgeous day here, sunny and warm, so I simply sat on my porch and sanded away, cradling the hull in my hand and lap. Nothing beats full sun for detail work.
 

Closeup of the bow after fairing. Does it look right? Test strakes seem to fit well.
 

And here's why I attached that square chunk on top. It's sized to fit in my handy movable cradle, so that I can plank the hull while rotating it and holding it in any orientation I desire. I'm happy to say I haven't broken the stem yet, and I'm hopeful I can avoid it for good now that the worst handling is over.
 
Anyone see anything wrong before I start planking?

Wow. So pretty.
 
Glenn, I'm curious. I assume you're going to have to cut the wheels down, too, as steamschooner said. What is the reason for building the fly and paddle wheels whole and then chopping them, versus using your CAD and mill to just make them precisely cut off in the first place?

Thanks everybody,
 
I can't tell you how much I appreciate your comments, likes and advice. I do feel like cutting the flywheels may not have been the best way to go and I'm reconsidering how to display the flywheels. Now that the lower half of the hull is missing, I have to come up with an idea that won't look awkward. One idea I've considered is to have the model up on a plinth that is textured and painted to look like water on top. The paddle wheels would be cut at water level only on the port side. On the starboard side, the plinth would be cut away to show a complete paddle wheel. Since there will be cutaways of the superstructure on the starboard side to show the machinery, this would be keeping with that theme. Any ideas for not having to cut the paddle wheels would be greatly appreciated!
 
Cathead, yes, it would have saved me some time to cut the rims with the mill but, I was afraid if I didn't have the complete circle it would be hard to guarentee the shape. When reassembling the original wheel, it was amazing how flexible the cast iron actually was. We had to continually measure and retighten the bolts to get a true shape. I was afraid it would be just too flexible with the small brass pieces.
 
Greg, all my lathe turning is freehand. There are times when I wish I had a cnc lathe - like making the carronades for Jefferson - but lathe turning is something I love to do and prefer (most of the time) to do it by hand.
 
Glenn

Wow. So pretty.
 
Glenn, I'm curious. I assume you're going to have to cut the wheels down, too, as steamschooner said. What is the reason for building the fly and paddle wheels whole and then chopping them, versus using your CAD and mill to just make them precisely cut off in the first place?

Wow. So pretty.
 
Glenn, I'm curious. I assume you're going to have to cut the wheels down, too, as steamschooner said. What is the reason for building the fly and paddle wheels whole and then chopping them, versus using your CAD and mill to just make them precisely cut off in the first place?

With the deck finally complete on the second model,  i was able to convert my mill from a thickness planer back to a mill.  I have been putting off turning the paddlewheel shafts because they have hexagonal bosses that require a dividing head on the mill.  This week I was able to make some progress on the paddlewheels. 
 
Turning the paddlewheel shafts.

 
Milling the hexagonal bosses.

 

 

 
Test fitting the paddlewheel flanges.  On Heroine, all of the flanges were damaged to some extent.  A few had several of the arms broken off and were reinforced by flat iron strap.  Next week I will reproduce this damage and repairs.

 
 
Bearing timbers in place with iron tie rods.

 

 

 
Paddlewheel spokes fresh from the mill.

 
 
The mill cuts the mating pieces so accurately, there is almost no fitting required.  Just a little clean-up and they slid tightly into the channels in the flanges.

 
Test fit of the starboard paddlewheels.

Just finished
 

The fore yard (similar to a crossjack) was now prepared. Generally I followed the manual. Only for the lift I used two of my wooden thimbles to set up the lanyard. Sometimes I needed to check the setup in Lees' book. The manual could use some additional pictures here, e.g. for the sling.
For the stirrups of the footropes I used the same 0,25 black thread as for the footropes themselves. The manual asks for some wire but I find B.E.'s solution much better - but definitely not easier to make.
The yard will later be braced about 30° to port, depicting a situation of a becalmed Pickle ready to catch a breeze somewhere from the starboard. (The master said it will certainly come, he can feel it in his bones.)
There is quite some fiddling work to do for the fore and the fore topsail yard. I only hope that bit of additional thrust Pickle will get from the fore topsail will be worth all that work for setting up, handling and maintaining those two yards.
 
 

The yard is ready. The prepared sling lies on the left.
 

yard installed
 

detail with the sling

The gaff sail (I think in a schooner it's called main sail) is finished and installed. To find the correct size of the sail I had to install the gaff first and take measurements on the model.  With a paper sail the size was then checked - and of course had to be corrected again.  The sail itself was made similar to the fore gaff sail. I was a bit unsure about cringles on the reef bands, but I thought that reefing a 'boomed' gaff sail would simply be done by lowering the gaff according to the reduced sail size and binding the reef points around the boom. So, no special reef tackle would be needed.
 
Attachment of the sails head to the gaff and of the leech to the mast hoops was done according Marquardt's book.  The tack was lashed to the boom.
The sheet is taken through a hole on the end of the boom and then fixed to a eyebolt on the underside of the boom with a hooked-in tackle. The running end of the tackle belays to a cleat on the underside of the boom.
 
The boom has a horse on the part overhanging the taffrail.
 
A simple down hauler, consisting of a block on the underside of the gaffs throat and a line leading from the eyebolt used to lash the tack through that block and to a cleat on the foot of the mast, helps with the lowering of the gaff.
 
The block for the flag line is set with an eyebolt onto the end of the gaff.
 
 

the large main sail is hoisted
 
 

boom detail with horse
 
 

boom with sheet tackle
 
 

throat of boom and mast foot
 
 

detail with mast hoops and down hauler

I have progressed to the point of adding much of the boiler deck. Thought that I would add some up to date pictures. 
 

 

 

Cathead - I add a coat of matte lacquer after blackening. It doesn't add shine and it helps keep the black on your metal not your hands.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.