vossy

seriously, have you guys thought about opening a private chat log for all this banter? having to wade through 10 pages of "hanging from the rafters", "pulling up a pew", etc, and other non related comments to the build is a bit much I reckon. having served on the now gone DE's, I was really looking forward to following this build of one of our countries great vessels. but I fear it has now just passed into a more social chit/chat type log.

anyway, more build/pics, less mindless banter I, and many others, say. 

of course I will probably be shot down in flames by certain admins for posting this, but, its supposed to be a build log, not a review of the days coffee cup get together.

cheers

chris

work continues on the port side posts and railings, plus some exterior skirting boards and my innovative way of getting them to stick in place.

cheers

chris

looks really great david. lots of fine detail work with all the blocks and rigging. at least the riverboats have minimal rigging to get around.

cheers

chris

a few passengers strolling the uppers.

and a lonely widow perhaps???

still have a lot of glue stains to clean up etc. its marvellous how high definition photography can show up the smallest defects!

cheers

chris

ok, so some more shots which hopefully portray the posts in their real (dark) color. 

plus a full length shot that David asked for.

cheers

chris

6 hours ago, Mike Dowling said:

Looks good but why did you paint them white ? They looked so good dark.

hey mike, they are not painted at all. its just the light. they are the same dark color as the pics above them. will try to get better pics today. the only things painted on this boat are the stark white area's and the red paddlewheel. everything else is natural wood with coats of acrylic matt clear on them for protection and to enhance the natural wood grain and color. I will admit though, they do look a lot lighter in those pics.

cheers

chris

8 hours ago, LFNokia said:

good luck on your build, let me know if you start a log

 

Now i have a decision to make, with the paddles in place, it is clear that the waterline should be higher, but if i move it, aesthetically from most points of view, only black will be seen on the hull... so... accuracy or aesthetics...

really like this boat and your build of her. regarding the hull color, i'm not too sure what you mean but why not get rid of the black altogether and paint the entire hull white, which was extremely common practice at the time. a lot of old drawings of the vessel depict her with a white hull. she certainly appears in literature and art with a predominately white hull as opposed to one having a black one.

cheers

chris

Continuing on with the fancy railings. Doing other stuff behind the scenes on the pilot house and smoke stacks.

Cheers

Chris

You've been busy! Looks really great David. Love the red color throughout. You going to rig the guns?

Cheers

Chris

Hey Eric, yes I got the Chaperon for Christmas last year so she is next up. As I said, she sits in the box waiting for the go ahead. So far all I have done is open the box, check the contents and look through the instructions. I wont start her, or a log, until Mississippi is finished or at least up to the final rigging stage.

Cheers

Chris

I am just interested to get a gauge of usage of power tools over hand tools, (or vice versa), when people build a wooden kit model. I might well be wrong, but I would envisage a far greater use of power tools when building a scratch model as opposed to a kit. For me, I have no space, tools, or knowhow to build a vessel from scratch so I stick to kits only, albeit with a little bit of scratch enhancement when I can manage it.

In building my kits, the only power tools I ever use, in fact the only ones I own, are a soldering iron for plank bending, and very occasionally, a dremel for sanding. Mostly I find myself using hand saws, files, cutters etc. Now I am pretty happy with the end product I achieve with these tools, but looking at some of the truly majestic builds on this site and the internet in general, I wonder how many of these results are achieved via only/mainly hand tools? a mixture of both, with a greater emphasis on using which? And which power or hand tool couldn't you do without to complete a specific task?

Cheers

Chris

5 hours ago, Cathead said:

Lots of fancy railings are definitely a downside to being a riverboat enthusiast (although not all boats had such gimcrackery). Looks like you're off to a good start.

it is one of the things I really like about them I must say, and although I know this particular boat is only a somewhat fancy representation of a grand old lady, I do like all the trimmings she comes with. bit like decorating the tree at Christmas! having said that, I am itching to get stuck into the Chaperon which has been sitting patiently in her box since last Christmas. that is fortunate though, as whilst doing the Mississippi I have been ruminating over what color to do the deck on her??? still tossing up between a red one like Kurt's version. or a lighter stained one. 

cheers

chris

finally starting on the fancy railings.

cheers

chris

hi all, have started on the posts that go around the boat to hold the decorative balustrades. all pieces are just sitting there atm. also made a start on the upper crew staircase, again just sitting there as it needs more sanding and atm is a bit of a different angle to the one below it.

also fashioned some decorative timber on the lower part of the posts at the foot of the main passenger staircase.

cheers

chris

10 minutes ago, cog said:

John,

I don't know about specific RAN models, but you can make quite a few based on their British counter parts, which are available.

Here is a discussion on it. Greg will probably know more on the subject

at the uk site, starling models, they have an Australian Collins class submarine and a small scale, 1/700 patrol boat.

cheers

chris

so finally got all the shutters done and glue on.

upper structure is now also glued into place. just have to add the skirting board around the bottom like I did with the second structure. the top deck is not yet glued into place so this should make it easier to do that. also added the top balustrades to complete the three tier passenger staircase. I really like how this turned out. looks really "busy" and cool in real life.

also added the bow water protection. I ended up scratch building this part myself as the kit one was a really hard pinkish type of wood that I didn't like. this one is the exact same dimensions and should blend in well once it gets a few coats of matt clear to match the deck.

next up, put the false beams on the underside of the top deck and affix that to the upper structure. the pilot house is nearly finished and just awaiting a few interior details I might add. once the top deck is attached I will begin the fancy railings around all decks. should look pretty cool I reckon!

cheers

chris

this is so great eric! I wish I had the tools, space, and knowhow to scratch build some of our early Australian rivercraft!

cheers

chris

Hey David, this rudder looks super. What did you do different to the first rudder picture you took a few posts up? It does look heaps better now they are all connected I reckon. I am really enjoying your work on this build. Doing a great job on her.

Cheers

Chris

7 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

coming along nicely Chris   

Thanks. Should have a photographic update this weekend. Been working on small, fiddly stuff like shutters and skirting boards. Would have been heaps easier to apply these before the I fixed the upper deck in place, but after soaking, bending, painting, clamping, and gluing little by little in place I will get there. It does give the structure a nice straight bottom edge and finishes it off nicely I reckon.

Cheers

Chris

fabulous looking boat david! really well done. personally I didn't notice the stern naming until you mentioned it, but now I see it redone it is much better. you are creating a super model here!

cheers

chris

hi carl, on my boat I made the middle deck the dining room and on the side are the windows on either side of one long room. they are not individual doors, and hence have no handles. the upper structure I envisage as separate cabins, hence the individual doorways with handles and steps leading up to them.

just my take on things.

cheers

chris

hope the stairs haven't beat you on the paddle steamer?

chris

super painting, lovely details and colour david.

cheers

chris

very nice, clean, and crisp david. the red really sets it off well. do you have any sort of sheen level on her? or just keeping it matt?

cheers

chris

Dry fitting of upper vent structure and posts to make sure they align up properly.

Cheers

Chris