vossy

This is simply stunning work you are doing here Eric! As a community here, we are very fortunate to have people like yourself who possess not only the skill to produce such works, but also the knowledge behind the vessels they create. Congratulations!
 
Cheers
 
Chris
 

I finished off the starboard side of the aft superstructure this week, using the same methods as the port side. Once it was done, I added the other transverse chains on both sides. I placed a few barrels and a figure for photographic interest.

Once this was done, I decided I really didn't like the contrast between the manually planked sides and the scribed-planked aft (see photos in last post). Mulling it over, I realized that I'd left myself the ability to plank over the aft wall because the door there protruded enough to accommodate thin planks. So I went ahead and did that; the whole structure now looks a lot more uniform:
 

Doing this created a mismatch at the corners, though, which I fixed with the time-tested method of installing a pipe along each corner. I'm calling them gutters draining the boiler deck; they actually come out over the guards (rather than into the hull), so this is at least plausible. I like the replanked aft for two reasons: (1) it's more consistent with the sides, and (2) it's most consistent with the model's style overall. The decks and other areas are slightly rough rather than perfectly crisp, which won't win any modelling awards but gives the model a distinct "feel" and conveys the rough-and-tumble nature of upper-river boats in a way I like. So now the presentation is more cohesive. Lesson learned on trying to take a shortcut.

For reference, here's the port side again, which hasn't changed except for the installation of the transverse chain. The photo has a strange color balance between the two walls, but that's just a trick of the light.
 
Not quite sure what I'm going to do next, there are various ways to move forward from here. Thanks for reading.

First planking completed.  I'll probably finish sand this once more and varnish again.
 
The curved stern, which is made up of vertical plank slats, came out better than I thought it would looking at the rough slats before sanding.
 
Regards,
David

So the bulkheads are faired and now the planking begins
 

 
As you all can see I managed to get one of them out of square! Looks bad on with the camera, but I don't envisage this being an insurmountable to overcome . Having said that, this is a single planked hull, but being painted I think it should come up ok. The error was my fault. Not the kits. So far loving this manufacturer. 
 

 
Looks pretty straight when you look along the length. Overall, happy with it up to this stage.
 

 
Cheers
 
Chris
 

A few high res pics my sister took when I had the boat around at her house. Much better than my efforts.
 




 
Chris
 

Work on main smoke stack and access ladders. I slightly changed the smoke stack from the box art.  All parts, including the pilot house are just sitting there and not glued yet. Smoke stack also needs another coat of black to hide a few glue stains.
 









 
The smoke stack only goes through the deck 5mm so I am hoping it will be sturdy enough when glued.
 
Cheers
 
Chris
 

Bit of a long overdue update. Sorry about the poor photography and lighting.
 



 
Main smoke stacks nearly finished and ready to be installed. Have to touch up painting on bridge (well that's what i called it in the Navy).  Now have about 30 passengers and crew that will be added later.
 
Cheers
 
Chris
 

Upper Port side staircase. Not 100% happy with this, but it is what it is. I maybe able to deflect eyes from
it via cunning methods elsewhere. Anyway, the Port side is always my "test" side so I hope to do better
on the Starboard. All mistakes are my own and not the kits or manufacturer.
 





 
Cheers
 
Chris
 

More work on the never ending railings! Also started upper staircase. Not glued yet as need to get the exact same angle as its lower counterpart. Little steps added to the port side cabins as well. 
 








 
Cheers
 
Chris
 

Long time coming I know, but finally a bit of an update! Still finishing off the upper rails, but over the Christmas period I got myself some more willing passengers! Unfortunately these figures only come in packs of 6 and all packs contain the same figurines. So, as you can see from earlier posts I already have a few glued into position on the lower deck horse bay area. So what I will do now is paint the ladies dresses different colors (have already made a bit of a start on this), and I figure if I position them in different parts of the boat they will all look like different people. Some of the worker type people, I intend to cut and manipulate arms etc. and repaint to get a different looking figure. Anyway, here's some pics. Oh, and they are all just lined up here. No-one glued into position as I cant see any ending up here. Just a mass gathering to show the people.
 






Cheers
 
Chris
 

Pretty much done and dusted with the final Starboard side upper rails. Just the stairway and single rails to go. Time to turn the old girl around and complete the Port side. Still need to put the fancy deco's on the posts though.
 



Cheers
 
Chris
 

Snowy:
 
I have cans of compressed air and I use that on the ships and the rigging about once a month.
 
Regards,
David

Chris:
 
I don't use display cases.  I have them on track-mounted shelving in my office, which allows me to adjust shelf height as I go.  When I run out of space, I'm going to put up shelves in my workroom and move my least attractive models there.
 
Right now in my office, I have six on one wall with room for probably four more, three on another wall with room for possibly two more, and another wall where I could get 4-5.  The Titanic is mounted over my flatscreen TV.
 
Regards,
David

Really glad you are going to plank her David. I hate these printed on decks. I have them on my Chaperon, and although that model doesn't call for them to be planked over, I will certainly do so. The printed stuff just looks too fake and perfect for me.
 
Btw, do you end up putting your models in display cases? If so, can you shed any light on affordable sources?
 
Cheers
 
Chris
 

Hi David, great progress. As for edge gluing, I have always done this on every model I have built. I think it makes for a more solid build, and indeed some kits do call for the removal of the ribs later in the build stage. Glad you read ahead and sorted this out. 
 
Cheers
 
Chris
 

A progress report on the first planking.  Going very smoothly so far.  Using my steamer at the stern.  Pictures below.  I'm making slow progress as I am gluing the planks in segments to be sure of a good fit, and I'm letting the glue dry for each segment.
 
One thing I noticed reading ahead is that the frame ribs will all be removed above the decks.  If you look at the picture of the deck, the bulkhead that will be left is very long, and I was concerned about its integrity.  So I glued the planks not only to the frames, but to each other along the entire edge.  I was only going to do the edge gluing for the portion above the deck, but have continued further it as it seems to produce a smoother hull.
 
This is the first time I've done the edge gluing, and I'll now always do it, but I'm curious if it's actually a standard first planking technique and I'm just catching up.  Do others of you do that as "standard"?
 
Regards,
David

The flags and banners are hoisted and my Robert E. Lee is finished.
 

 

 

 

 

Hull structure completed, frames tapered and ready for first planking.  Picture attached.
 
This is my first Mantua kit.  The materials quality appears to be very good -- the frames and keel went together perfectly.  The instructions and plans sort of skim things at a high level, however, so I'm glad this wasn't my first (or even my third) kit.  Lots of interpretation and prior experience judgment needed.
 
Regards,
David

Chris:
 
She's 1150mm long -- a bit over 45 inches -- so a big one.
 
Regards,
David

Thanks mate, she is coming along slowly. Most of the people are just sitting on there, courtesy of my sister. I intend to paint them all different colors and put them around the boat so to the casual observer they appear to be different people. Already I have a few of the same figures on permanently, but because they are painted and in such different area's of the boat I doubt many will realize they are in fact the same figures. The Captain at the helm is the same figure as the guy with the lantern in the horse bay area, and the guy leaving the wheelhouse is the same figure as the guy opening the forward starboard door on the main deck. I just painted the wheel house guy's clothes black to make him out as a bit more important crew member. All up I have about 36 people, but only 6 of them are unique, so the trick is to try to make each look a bit different by painting and positioning I guess.
 
Chris
 
 

Looking forward to this one David. What are the overall dimensions of the build? My riverboat is Sergal/Mantua. I can only vouch for my kit, but it had way more than enough wood. In fact I reckon they may have made a mistake because I could easily plank mine 3 times over! My plans are also double sided. Personally I don't find this a problem, and I like the fact that they are large and easy to read. Based on my 1 and only experience with this manufacturer, I wouldn't hesitate to get another of their kits. Hope you find the same.
 
Chris
 

Beginning a new one after a short break.  Here's the "what's in the box" picture.
 
This is my first Mantua kit, and I'll be interested to see differences from other kit makers.  One thing I've noticed is that plans are printed on both sides of the paper, which may turn out to be cumbersome (vs. just posting them up on the wall).
 
Regards,
David

Eric:
I wouldn't show transverse hog chains except by the wheels.  The writings after Figs 43 and 44 say that there were two sets, just ahead and just behind the wheels.
The only evidence I saw of fore to aft hogging chains on a sidewheeler are on the J.M. WHITE.  This was a Mississippi River boat.  And was quite elegant inside and out.  I can't find it but I have a photo of the interior of the J.M.  WHITE showing the transverse hog chains in the dining room and how the passengers and crew had to be aware of them so they didn't hit their heads on them.
As to fore to aft hogging chains I think there would have been two sets as shown in fig 7 going to the lower hull as shown in fig 30. 
Kurt

Eric:
I have talked extensively with Jack Custer (owner and Editor of the now defunct Egregious Steamboat Journal and expert on riverboats) about hogging chains.  Jack said that while fore to aft hogging chains have been well documented - because they are very visible) there was actually not all that much written about the transverse hogging chains.  He spent quite a bit of time encouraging me to model a cross section to show how transverse hogging chains were used.  This is something I can't do w/o a lot more information from guys like Jack.
 
Looking at the drawings and writing on pages 23 - 30 of the Engineroom Cyclopedium and Figure 3 on page 7 and remembering that ARABIA was not a cotton transporting boat - I don't think the transverse hogging chains on ARABIA would have been located anyplace other than close to the sidewheels.  The photo of the SF Museum's steamboat EUREKA being rebuilt in 1924 shows the hogging chains in front of and behind the sidewheels.  It's not a riverboat as such but it does show the transverse hogging chains only by the wheels.

The typical "cotton" boat shows the transverse hogging chains clearly in this photo of the large sidewheel boat - note the cotton waiting to be loaded.

The next photo of the BEN CAMPBELL shows a boat of similar configuration to the ARABIA and there are no visible transverse hogging chains in the forward section of the boat.  In the last photo note there are visible transverse hog chains on the CHALAMETTE and the boat in the background - but both are "cotton" boats.


I hope this helps a bit
Kurt

You people are evil, encouraging a second model. It ain't happening until this one is done at the very least.
 
That's not quite right; all the machinery I've built so far can be seen on a fully finished model because the main deck was mostly open to the side. It'll be somewhat obscured, but if I left out any of the detail of what I've built it would look wrong when you gazed on the model from the front or side. Even in the shadows,  you need to be able to see the engines, driving arms, etc. The only thing I could skip in a fully finished model is a full wheel, and I already did that on the port side. So the only difference in a "wreck" model would be that you'd see the machinery more clearly without a deck above it. I wish it were otherwise!
 
Moving on, here's the design question I mentioned last time that I need some input on; it relates to the internal bracing. Riverboats used extensive networks of "chains" (actually iron rods with turnbuckles) to keep the hulls from warping. On sternwheelers, the main concern was "hogging", or longitudinal warping, in which the hull tended to flex down at the bow and stern and rise in the middle, especially due to the weight of the engines and wheels right at the stern. Thus the main set of bracing on sternwheelers were hog chains, running longitudinally along the hull and rising above the decks.
 
However, on sidewheelers the biggest concern was sideways warping due to the weight of the wheels hanging off the sides and the wide decks, especially the guards (the deck extensions beyond the main hull). So sidewheelers had a lot of lateral bracing, depicted by Alan Bates like this (I hope it's ok to post this image, I don't know how to explain this without using a Bates drawing).

So you see two kinds of visible bracing: the knuckle chains that support the edges of the hull, and the cross chains that support the guards. Pretty straightforward. My question is, how were these spaced along the length of the hull? Although  I can find versions of this cross section in various sources, I can't find anyone explaining how many of these were used along the hull's length. Every 10'? Every 20'? How did they interact with major features like the boilers and engines that block their path as shown above? I can't find a diagram or text that deals with this question.
 
Here are some mockups on the Arabia to show what I mean (the boiler deck is just set in place for reference, not attached). Here I've placed scrap wood at the approximate angle of both knuckle and cross chains, at an approximate 10' spacing along the forward hull. But I have no idea if this is right. Note how close the knuckle chains come to the boilers and how the engines essentially block their use.
 



Kurt, Roger, anyone else knowledgeable, I'd love some perspective on the right way to arrange these.