Cathead

I'd think you might want to take this small boat part over to the Steaboat topic.  I think more folks will see it.  There's is an awful lot of tapped and untapped knowledge at MSW.  The hard part sometimes is figuring out who has it. 

Kurt & Roger,
 
Any insights into the whaleboat-like craft shown in the final photo, which as Kurt noted is more similar to the kit boats? I didn't know anything like that was used on the rivers, I assumed everything had a flat transom like a regular rowboat. The photo boat seems shallower draft than the kit boats, too, unless I'm seeing it wrong.
 
Mike, thanks, but I'm an amateur compared to Kurt and others. I can't wait to learn more about this from you and the rest.

Roger:
W/o taking over Mike's build - I read your comments about the flat bottomed boats with interest - makes perfect sense.  And I don't dispute that this might have been the most common type of boat carried.  Like I said it makes sense. 
 
But I thought that this was something I should have caught doing my research.  So I went to my file on the Chaperon to see what the photos I have might tell me about the boats on the Chaperon.  I have a whole bunch more of the Chaperon than what I have posted here. And some show only a direct side view of the boats on the Chaperon and from a profile I can't tell if they are flat bottomed or not though some show a low rake angle at the bow which makes me think you are partly correct as related to the Chaperon.
 
However, the photos I have attached of the Chaperon do show that the boats in the photos are not flat bottomed boats with large flares.  They do have flat transoms unlike the kit boats though one photo (bottom photo) does show a boat almost identical to the kit boats.  These are the photos from my collection with the best views of the boats - most don't even show the boats due to angles and some are too fuzzy to tell.
 
So, at least in the case of the Chaperon the kits boats can be used with some authenticity.  But, I am going to look into this further.  You don't per chance have any idea of what issues of the Journal might have had the plan(s) you referred to?  Maybe we should take this to the other forum on general discussion  STEAMBOATS & OTHER RIVERCRAFT - GENERAL DISCUSSION  so Mike's build log isn't taken over by this?  Although if we keep it to the Chaperon it's a fit here.
 
Take care,
Kurt
 

Hey, Mike, welcome back. I'm so glad to see a new log for this kit, as an American riverboat aficionado. I'll be very interested in following along and learning more about what the kit is like, as from afar it seems to be one of the few reasonably accurate steamboat kits out there.

Thanks for the "likes" and comments.
 
 
I'm going to consider this Gaetan.  Not blowing it off at all.   I'm just not sure if I can pull this off in wood at this point.  Partly my brain is mush and partly because the wood gets very delicate.  I'll ponder photo etch and other alternatives while I proceed on with a few things less fiddly.
 
 
The dedication plaque... simple to make, but for my lady, it has meaning.    So.. down deep in the hold, behind the main mast is where it will go.   Maybe, if the model is around.. sometime in the future, someone might see fit to peek inside with an endoscope.  Probably not, but I know and Janet knows (and you guys know) it's there.
 

 
I guess enough of the "mushy" stuff...  diving deep into the bowels of the ship to start the lower deck.
 

Thanks for the birthday wishes... 
 
Well.. it was back and forth.. cutting, breaking or feeding the carpet monster today.... but the gallery tops are done. The Admiral approves, which is good since I'm building this for her.  So Happy Dance...  
 
I've only tacked the roof tops in place as I'm going to fiddle with some settings over the next couple of weeks and see if I can get better parts for the decorations.  Doubtful, but worth a shot or two... I'm thinking a nice Kentucky Bourbon.    
 
Pictures below.  
 
Carvings are started and I'll work on them at a leisurely pace. But for now, I'm going to start the lower deck.  Less fiddly, methinks.   But first.. I need to refresh myself on the plans, make some spales, and put in a small dedication plaque.   Did I mention, clean the workshop and do maintenance on the power tools?  
 

 

Hey, Mike, welcome back. I'm so glad to see a new log for this kit, as an American riverboat aficionado. I'll be very interested in following along and learning more about what the kit is like, as from afar it seems to be one of the few reasonably accurate steamboat kits out there.

As long as we are critiquing this model kit, a discrepancy appears to be the use of generic round bottom ships boats.
 
Western Rivers steamships were outfitted with specialized flat bottom yawl boats. These boats had wide sterns and flaring topsides to allow heavy loads, particularly heavy mooring lines to be carried over the stern without capsizing. This is a distinctive feature of these vessels that the kit producers probably ignored in favor of stock fittings.
 
The Ohio River Museum in Marietta, Ohio has one of these boats on display, but that won't do you much good in Scotland. Drawings of these boats are included in American Small Sailing Craft, pages 98 and 99 by Howard Chapelle if you can find a copy and plans have been published in the Nautical Research Journal at least once. The Ohio River Museum has a website. They are also related to the Campus Martius museum also in Marietta and it might be easier to talk or email a live person there.
 
Roger Pellett

Mike:
I will be following.  Don't hesitate to ask anything about this build.  I did a 6 issue build of it in Ships in Scale magazine and if I don't remember any specific detail I have all my text and photos to fall back on.  I probably have a photo of just about anything you might run into building the Chaperon and will be glad to post to help.
 
I mentioned that these riverboats didn't use the small panes of glass for windows in the pilothouse.  The drawings below are of the original Chaperon plans and then the drawing (Fig. 99) from Alan Bates'  Steamboat Cyclopedium showing the typical arrangement of windows.  They agree very closely but the kit provides small window panes for the front "window" area that never actually had any sort of window glass.  The front frame pieces were cut down and used to make sliding windows on the sides as shown on the Fig. 99 drawing from the Bates book.
 
Kurt

The longboat is finished! Work really slowed down as summer kicked in, and I struggled some with getting the standing rigging right, but it's done. I'm not happy with the quality of the deadeyes supplied in the kit; the holes are drilled in really uneven patterns, but I chose the best ones and made do. I had difficulty getting the tiny ironwork right, too, as you can likely see in the photo below, but like the rest of the model, it passes the "more than a foot away" test. Especially since the only folks who will likely ever see it will know less about sailing than I do!
 

 
I made four oars, but left out the anchor and windlass handles, because I decided I wanted the hull to look cleaner and less cluttered. The sails add a lot of life to the model, and I decided that was enough. I built a simple base, mounting the boat on thin wire inserted into holes drilled into the keel and base. This allowed me to bend the wire slightly, heeling the boat over onto her port side a bit, as she would be with the sails set this way. I think it adds some life to the display. Here's a photo gallery of the completed longboat.
 






 
I'm pretty pleased with the overall outcome. It wouldn't win any awards at a show, for sure, but it's pleasing to the eye. The sails and the new color scheme make it feel unique, and gave me a feeling of ownership over a very common kit.
 
Many thanks to all of you who followed along, offered advice and encouragement, and politely overlooked my shortcomings. And thanks to Chuck for such an interesting little kit.

Hey, Mike, welcome back. I'm so glad to see a new log for this kit, as an American riverboat aficionado. I'll be very interested in following along and learning more about what the kit is like, as from afar it seems to be one of the few reasonably accurate steamboat kits out there.

Cathead (sorry don't know your real name) I have watched your builds previously and they are truly amazing. I only hope than I can do your encouragement justice with my efforts.

Thank you so much Kurt for your thoughtful reply. I hope you will keep watching and advise me as go along. I have to say despite my original comments that I have now dry fitted the bulkheads and I impressed not only with how well they fit but also how square they are without any trimming (pictures to follow). I plan to fair the bow section before gluing as far as I can and, to an extent the stern. More to follow soon.

Mike:
This is just my opinion of the kit - offered as another viewpoint not argument.
 
I built the Chaperon when it was first released.  I thought it was one of the best engineered kits produced and except for rigging materials I didn't find that the materials provided were not of good quality - with the exception of the very small square strip wood meant to represent the battens on the board and batten cabin siding.  I replaced this with cherry strips I cut.  I know that woods can vary from time to time so your might not be as good as mine were.
 
As to the plans, I thought they were exceptionally well done - the isometric views can help the builder see the model in 3D unlike the standard 2D 3 views of most plans.  The plans provided adequate full size drawings for the parts that needed to be sized to the plans.  There are inaccuracies - the hog posts do not extend down into the hull.  The pilothouse windows need to be reworked - small panes of glass were not used in the front windows of riverboats. 
 
But, the faults do not take away from this kit being by far one of the best riverboat kits on the market.  I had a lot of research materials for this boat as well as a prototype of the original kit that Model Shipway's never actually produced - 1/8" scale, solid hull.  I knew the inaccuracies of the original plans and shared details with the kit designer - not all were corrected as the kit was pretty far along in development but it turned out to be a great kit in my opinion.
 
The photos attached are of my model - the bow on view - and the other is of the model built by Sam Parent that was entered in the 2016 contest at the WI Maritime Museum.  Sam's model corrected the hog posts and added the monkey rudders behind the stern wheel - this was a feature found on many riverboats but not on the original Chaperon - he named the model Barbara Ann after his wife.  Sam added a lot more details than I had included - it is a great model - and earned a gold medal.
 
Anyway, I know you will enjoy building the Chaperon.  I will be happy to share details of the pilot house windows and the hog chains and their turnbuckles.  I could not believe that the kit included photo etched turnbuckles!  Flat brass at this scale just doesn't cut it.
 
Take care,
Kurt

Hey, Mike, welcome back. I'm so glad to see a new log for this kit, as an American riverboat aficionado. I'll be very interested in following along and learning more about what the kit is like, as from afar it seems to be one of the few reasonably accurate steamboat kits out there.

Greetings fellow modellers,
 
I have returned having had a break and built a couple of carriages to the world of boats. I am going to build another paddle steamer, the Chaperon. 1:48 scale - a big boat !!
 
Thinking I was being clever I bought several kits on ebay in the model expo sale. I completely forgot that you have to pay import duty and vat on arrival in the UK. To add insult to injury the Post Office (bless them) than charge an additional £8 to deliver them. So, they were not the bargains I thought !! Beware UK buyers.
 
Anyway, the Chaperon was on of the kits. The first thing I have to say is that the wood quality of these kits is abysmal, Brittania metal castings are so fragile and bendy that they are hardly worth having and the quality and quantity of the instructions is minimal at best. The plans provided however are extremely good and they need to be because you have to work from them mostly. Not good for some of the modellers out there who don't like plans. It is also unfortunate these days that all their measurements are in imperial measures unless like me you are old enough to remember them. Also no measurements for pieces are given and not all the plans are 1/1 so you have to measure against parts of the kit already built.
 
Still, enough wingeing , I have put the false keel together and cut out the bulkheads (all 29 of them) soon to be attached !!
 
 
 
 

Well done, Cathead! The colors are great and the display looks very good.

Great finish on the final. I like the "longboat on the way"

Excellent job CH, she looks great! I too like the color scheme.

The longboat is finished! Work really slowed down as summer kicked in, and I struggled some with getting the standing rigging right, but it's done. I'm not happy with the quality of the deadeyes supplied in the kit; the holes are drilled in really uneven patterns, but I chose the best ones and made do. I had difficulty getting the tiny ironwork right, too, as you can likely see in the photo below, but like the rest of the model, it passes the "more than a foot away" test. Especially since the only folks who will likely ever see it will know less about sailing than I do!
 

 
I made four oars, but left out the anchor and windlass handles, because I decided I wanted the hull to look cleaner and less cluttered. The sails add a lot of life to the model, and I decided that was enough. I built a simple base, mounting the boat on thin wire inserted into holes drilled into the keel and base. This allowed me to bend the wire slightly, heeling the boat over onto her port side a bit, as she would be with the sails set this way. I think it adds some life to the display. Here's a photo gallery of the completed longboat.
 






 
I'm pretty pleased with the overall outcome. It wouldn't win any awards at a show, for sure, but it's pleasing to the eye. The sails and the new color scheme make it feel unique, and gave me a feeling of ownership over a very common kit.
 
Many thanks to all of you who followed along, offered advice and encouragement, and politely overlooked my shortcomings. And thanks to Chuck for such an interesting little kit.

I've been experimenting with sail-making (special thanks to samueljr, who PMed me to offer advice). I tried three materials: sail cloth, basic index-card cardstock, and nice bond paper (conveniently left over from Mrs. Cathead's graduate thesis many years ago). I made a pattern from tracing paper, and used that to make equivalent sails from all these materials.
 
For all three materials, I followed several similar steps:
Cut out core sail shape from intended material. Cut, score, & fold paper strips to serve as edge reinforcements (even for the cloth sail, as I was quickly convinced I couldn't sew hems or seams remotely to scale for this model). Make corner rope loops by clamping a folded-over length of rigging line in a clothespin, twisting the two ends until they tightened up into the right-size loop, securing the twist with another clothespin, then applying CA to the twist. When dry, I cut most of the tail end off and had a nice stable loop with enough tail to hold it within the sail's hem. Glue rope loops into pre-cut paper strips, along the creased center line. Spread wood glue thinly along the interior of each paper strip, then fold over the sail and clamp tight with a series of clothespins. I also tested coloration, using artist's pastels that have long been a staple of my weathering toolkit for models. Both paper and cloth take pastels nicely without need for adhesives. In the photo below, you see three completed tests; all-cardstock (top), cloth with cardstock hems (lower right), and bond paper with cardstock hems (lower left).
 

 
I overcolored the cloth sail to get a sense of when to stop, and tested two different lighter colorations on the paper sails. I had already been convinced I didn't want to use cloth sails, the materials didn't play well together, the sail was too floppy, and the weave too coarse. I also tested a bond paper sail with bond paper hem, but found that the material was too soft to hold well as a hem; it crumpled with the moisture of the glue and didn't stiffen the sail well. The cardstock hems worked great, really stiffening the sail and allowing me to impart a nice curve to it without needing to treat the whole sail.
 
I liked the bond paper sail best, the finer quality of the paper made a nice sail, while the cardstock hem didn't stand out as different while being much stiffer and easier to work with. I carefully traced stitching onto all of these with a ruler and pencil to check how detail would stand out. I learned that it's best not to do the pencil work until you're otherwise done, as it can smudge as you adjust the pastels or otherwise handle the sail. In every way I liked the sail at lower left best (bond paper with cardstock hem and very light weathering/coloration); here's a closer look:
 

 
Satisfied with this attempt, I decided to see how it looked on the model. Here it is, fully rigged but not permanently. Most lines are still loose, held in tension by a series of clamps hanging from the lines (hidden behind the model).
 

 
What do you all think? Now's the time for me to make changes or try a different approach, before I rig the mailsail permanently and move on to the stay sail and jib (note that there's still a temporary line run to the masthead from the bowsprit traveler, to help me shape the jib properly even though that line won't be there on the final model).

The longboat is finished! Work really slowed down as summer kicked in, and I struggled some with getting the standing rigging right, but it's done. I'm not happy with the quality of the deadeyes supplied in the kit; the holes are drilled in really uneven patterns, but I chose the best ones and made do. I had difficulty getting the tiny ironwork right, too, as you can likely see in the photo below, but like the rest of the model, it passes the "more than a foot away" test. Especially since the only folks who will likely ever see it will know less about sailing than I do!
 

 
I made four oars, but left out the anchor and windlass handles, because I decided I wanted the hull to look cleaner and less cluttered. The sails add a lot of life to the model, and I decided that was enough. I built a simple base, mounting the boat on thin wire inserted into holes drilled into the keel and base. This allowed me to bend the wire slightly, heeling the boat over onto her port side a bit, as she would be with the sails set this way. I think it adds some life to the display. Here's a photo gallery of the completed longboat.
 






 
I'm pretty pleased with the overall outcome. It wouldn't win any awards at a show, for sure, but it's pleasing to the eye. The sails and the new color scheme make it feel unique, and gave me a feeling of ownership over a very common kit.
 
Many thanks to all of you who followed along, offered advice and encouragement, and politely overlooked my shortcomings. And thanks to Chuck for such an interesting little kit.

The longboat is finished! Work really slowed down as summer kicked in, and I struggled some with getting the standing rigging right, but it's done. I'm not happy with the quality of the deadeyes supplied in the kit; the holes are drilled in really uneven patterns, but I chose the best ones and made do. I had difficulty getting the tiny ironwork right, too, as you can likely see in the photo below, but like the rest of the model, it passes the "more than a foot away" test. Especially since the only folks who will likely ever see it will know less about sailing than I do!
 

 
I made four oars, but left out the anchor and windlass handles, because I decided I wanted the hull to look cleaner and less cluttered. The sails add a lot of life to the model, and I decided that was enough. I built a simple base, mounting the boat on thin wire inserted into holes drilled into the keel and base. This allowed me to bend the wire slightly, heeling the boat over onto her port side a bit, as she would be with the sails set this way. I think it adds some life to the display. Here's a photo gallery of the completed longboat.
 






 
I'm pretty pleased with the overall outcome. It wouldn't win any awards at a show, for sure, but it's pleasing to the eye. The sails and the new color scheme make it feel unique, and gave me a feeling of ownership over a very common kit.
 
Many thanks to all of you who followed along, offered advice and encouragement, and politely overlooked my shortcomings. And thanks to Chuck for such an interesting little kit.

The longboat is finished! Work really slowed down as summer kicked in, and I struggled some with getting the standing rigging right, but it's done. I'm not happy with the quality of the deadeyes supplied in the kit; the holes are drilled in really uneven patterns, but I chose the best ones and made do. I had difficulty getting the tiny ironwork right, too, as you can likely see in the photo below, but like the rest of the model, it passes the "more than a foot away" test. Especially since the only folks who will likely ever see it will know less about sailing than I do!
 

 
I made four oars, but left out the anchor and windlass handles, because I decided I wanted the hull to look cleaner and less cluttered. The sails add a lot of life to the model, and I decided that was enough. I built a simple base, mounting the boat on thin wire inserted into holes drilled into the keel and base. This allowed me to bend the wire slightly, heeling the boat over onto her port side a bit, as she would be with the sails set this way. I think it adds some life to the display. Here's a photo gallery of the completed longboat.
 






 
I'm pretty pleased with the overall outcome. It wouldn't win any awards at a show, for sure, but it's pleasing to the eye. The sails and the new color scheme make it feel unique, and gave me a feeling of ownership over a very common kit.
 
Many thanks to all of you who followed along, offered advice and encouragement, and politely overlooked my shortcomings. And thanks to Chuck for such an interesting little kit.

The longboat is finished! Work really slowed down as summer kicked in, and I struggled some with getting the standing rigging right, but it's done. I'm not happy with the quality of the deadeyes supplied in the kit; the holes are drilled in really uneven patterns, but I chose the best ones and made do. I had difficulty getting the tiny ironwork right, too, as you can likely see in the photo below, but like the rest of the model, it passes the "more than a foot away" test. Especially since the only folks who will likely ever see it will know less about sailing than I do!
 

 
I made four oars, but left out the anchor and windlass handles, because I decided I wanted the hull to look cleaner and less cluttered. The sails add a lot of life to the model, and I decided that was enough. I built a simple base, mounting the boat on thin wire inserted into holes drilled into the keel and base. This allowed me to bend the wire slightly, heeling the boat over onto her port side a bit, as she would be with the sails set this way. I think it adds some life to the display. Here's a photo gallery of the completed longboat.
 






 
I'm pretty pleased with the overall outcome. It wouldn't win any awards at a show, for sure, but it's pleasing to the eye. The sails and the new color scheme make it feel unique, and gave me a feeling of ownership over a very common kit.
 
Many thanks to all of you who followed along, offered advice and encouragement, and politely overlooked my shortcomings. And thanks to Chuck for such an interesting little kit.