Roger Pellett

I have two models built from A. J. Fisher kits between 1940 and 1945 by my late father. One, a completed fishing trawler and the other a Flying Cloud, hull completed but unrigged. I still have all of the rigging parts but choose to display the model just as he left it. Needless to say I treasure them both, not as museum quality models, which they are not, but as a link to him.
 
In those days, A. J. Fisher was the Cadillac or perhaps Rolls Royce model kit producer. Wooden fittings- gratings, blocks, barrels, buckets and ladders were made from boxwood- the real stuff. Other fittings- capstans, windlasses, bells etc were machined from brass. Steering wheels were actually made with machined brass spindles inserted into a turned "fiber" ring that looks like mahogany. Some brass fittings specifically anchors and windlasses were furnished with a black oxidized finish. While not perhaps entirely accurate for the exact ship being modeled, their fittings are minirature replicas of real seagoing equipment. Some fittings such as bollards and figureheads were cast from what they called white metal and while it may contain lead the ones on my models have not oxidized over 70 years. I have no idea how they ever commercially produced this stuff!
 
the capstan in your photo looks like it may be one of their fittings. Check to see if it's brass. The steering wheel looks heavier than the one on my Flying Cloud. If it's a casting, I doubt if they made it. There are a couple of old A. J. Fisher Catalogs for sale on the Internet. One which is for sale on EBay is coincidentally open to the page describing their Soverign of the Seas kit.
 
Another source that you might to consider would be a book written in the 30's by E. Armitage McCann describing construction of a model of the Soverign of the Seas. It is possible that your builder built the model from plans contained in this book and made/bought fittings as necessary. Last night, I checked and their was a copy on a used book website for $0.99.
 
I agree with other responders that a careful restoration should yield a nice decorative model representative of 1930's era ship modeling.

I have two models built from A. J. Fisher kits between 1940 and 1945 by my late father. One, a completed fishing trawler and the other a Flying Cloud, hull completed but unrigged. I still have all of the rigging parts but choose to display the model just as he left it. Needless to say I treasure them both, not as museum quality models, which they are not, but as a link to him.
 
In those days, A. J. Fisher was the Cadillac or perhaps Rolls Royce model kit producer. Wooden fittings- gratings, blocks, barrels, buckets and ladders were made from boxwood- the real stuff. Other fittings- capstans, windlasses, bells etc were machined from brass. Steering wheels were actually made with machined brass spindles inserted into a turned "fiber" ring that looks like mahogany. Some brass fittings specifically anchors and windlasses were furnished with a black oxidized finish. While not perhaps entirely accurate for the exact ship being modeled, their fittings are minirature replicas of real seagoing equipment. Some fittings such as bollards and figureheads were cast from what they called white metal and while it may contain lead the ones on my models have not oxidized over 70 years. I have no idea how they ever commercially produced this stuff!
 
the capstan in your photo looks like it may be one of their fittings. Check to see if it's brass. The steering wheel looks heavier than the one on my Flying Cloud. If it's a casting, I doubt if they made it. There are a couple of old A. J. Fisher Catalogs for sale on the Internet. One which is for sale on EBay is coincidentally open to the page describing their Soverign of the Seas kit.
 
Another source that you might to consider would be a book written in the 30's by E. Armitage McCann describing construction of a model of the Soverign of the Seas. It is possible that your builder built the model from plans contained in this book and made/bought fittings as necessary. Last night, I checked and their was a copy on a used book website for $0.99.
 
I agree with other responders that a careful restoration should yield a nice decorative model representative of 1930's era ship modeling.

I have two models built from A. J. Fisher kits between 1940 and 1945 by my late father. One, a completed fishing trawler and the other a Flying Cloud, hull completed but unrigged. I still have all of the rigging parts but choose to display the model just as he left it. Needless to say I treasure them both, not as museum quality models, which they are not, but as a link to him.
 
In those days, A. J. Fisher was the Cadillac or perhaps Rolls Royce model kit producer. Wooden fittings- gratings, blocks, barrels, buckets and ladders were made from boxwood- the real stuff. Other fittings- capstans, windlasses, bells etc were machined from brass. Steering wheels were actually made with machined brass spindles inserted into a turned "fiber" ring that looks like mahogany. Some brass fittings specifically anchors and windlasses were furnished with a black oxidized finish. While not perhaps entirely accurate for the exact ship being modeled, their fittings are minirature replicas of real seagoing equipment. Some fittings such as bollards and figureheads were cast from what they called white metal and while it may contain lead the ones on my models have not oxidized over 70 years. I have no idea how they ever commercially produced this stuff!
 
the capstan in your photo looks like it may be one of their fittings. Check to see if it's brass. The steering wheel looks heavier than the one on my Flying Cloud. If it's a casting, I doubt if they made it. There are a couple of old A. J. Fisher Catalogs for sale on the Internet. One which is for sale on EBay is coincidentally open to the page describing their Soverign of the Seas kit.
 
Another source that you might to consider would be a book written in the 30's by E. Armitage McCann describing construction of a model of the Soverign of the Seas. It is possible that your builder built the model from plans contained in this book and made/bought fittings as necessary. Last night, I checked and their was a copy on a used book website for $0.99.
 
I agree with other responders that a careful restoration should yield a nice decorative model representative of 1930's era ship modeling.

I have two models built from A. J. Fisher kits between 1940 and 1945 by my late father. One, a completed fishing trawler and the other a Flying Cloud, hull completed but unrigged. I still have all of the rigging parts but choose to display the model just as he left it. Needless to say I treasure them both, not as museum quality models, which they are not, but as a link to him.
 
In those days, A. J. Fisher was the Cadillac or perhaps Rolls Royce model kit producer. Wooden fittings- gratings, blocks, barrels, buckets and ladders were made from boxwood- the real stuff. Other fittings- capstans, windlasses, bells etc were machined from brass. Steering wheels were actually made with machined brass spindles inserted into a turned "fiber" ring that looks like mahogany. Some brass fittings specifically anchors and windlasses were furnished with a black oxidized finish. While not perhaps entirely accurate for the exact ship being modeled, their fittings are minirature replicas of real seagoing equipment. Some fittings such as bollards and figureheads were cast from what they called white metal and while it may contain lead the ones on my models have not oxidized over 70 years. I have no idea how they ever commercially produced this stuff!
 
the capstan in your photo looks like it may be one of their fittings. Check to see if it's brass. The steering wheel looks heavier than the one on my Flying Cloud. If it's a casting, I doubt if they made it. There are a couple of old A. J. Fisher Catalogs for sale on the Internet. One which is for sale on EBay is coincidentally open to the page describing their Soverign of the Seas kit.
 
Another source that you might to consider would be a book written in the 30's by E. Armitage McCann describing construction of a model of the Soverign of the Seas. It is possible that your builder built the model from plans contained in this book and made/bought fittings as necessary. Last night, I checked and their was a copy on a used book website for $0.99.
 
I agree with other responders that a careful restoration should yield a nice decorative model representative of 1930's era ship modeling.

I have two models built from A. J. Fisher kits between 1940 and 1945 by my late father. One, a completed fishing trawler and the other a Flying Cloud, hull completed but unrigged. I still have all of the rigging parts but choose to display the model just as he left it. Needless to say I treasure them both, not as museum quality models, which they are not, but as a link to him.
 
In those days, A. J. Fisher was the Cadillac or perhaps Rolls Royce model kit producer. Wooden fittings- gratings, blocks, barrels, buckets and ladders were made from boxwood- the real stuff. Other fittings- capstans, windlasses, bells etc were machined from brass. Steering wheels were actually made with machined brass spindles inserted into a turned "fiber" ring that looks like mahogany. Some brass fittings specifically anchors and windlasses were furnished with a black oxidized finish. While not perhaps entirely accurate for the exact ship being modeled, their fittings are minirature replicas of real seagoing equipment. Some fittings such as bollards and figureheads were cast from what they called white metal and while it may contain lead the ones on my models have not oxidized over 70 years. I have no idea how they ever commercially produced this stuff!
 
the capstan in your photo looks like it may be one of their fittings. Check to see if it's brass. The steering wheel looks heavier than the one on my Flying Cloud. If it's a casting, I doubt if they made it. There are a couple of old A. J. Fisher Catalogs for sale on the Internet. One which is for sale on EBay is coincidentally open to the page describing their Soverign of the Seas kit.
 
Another source that you might to consider would be a book written in the 30's by E. Armitage McCann describing construction of a model of the Soverign of the Seas. It is possible that your builder built the model from plans contained in this book and made/bought fittings as necessary. Last night, I checked and their was a copy on a used book website for $0.99.
 
I agree with other responders that a careful restoration should yield a nice decorative model representative of 1930's era ship modeling.

I have two models built from A. J. Fisher kits between 1940 and 1945 by my late father. One, a completed fishing trawler and the other a Flying Cloud, hull completed but unrigged. I still have all of the rigging parts but choose to display the model just as he left it. Needless to say I treasure them both, not as museum quality models, which they are not, but as a link to him.
 
In those days, A. J. Fisher was the Cadillac or perhaps Rolls Royce model kit producer. Wooden fittings- gratings, blocks, barrels, buckets and ladders were made from boxwood- the real stuff. Other fittings- capstans, windlasses, bells etc were machined from brass. Steering wheels were actually made with machined brass spindles inserted into a turned "fiber" ring that looks like mahogany. Some brass fittings specifically anchors and windlasses were furnished with a black oxidized finish. While not perhaps entirely accurate for the exact ship being modeled, their fittings are minirature replicas of real seagoing equipment. Some fittings such as bollards and figureheads were cast from what they called white metal and while it may contain lead the ones on my models have not oxidized over 70 years. I have no idea how they ever commercially produced this stuff!
 
the capstan in your photo looks like it may be one of their fittings. Check to see if it's brass. The steering wheel looks heavier than the one on my Flying Cloud. If it's a casting, I doubt if they made it. There are a couple of old A. J. Fisher Catalogs for sale on the Internet. One which is for sale on EBay is coincidentally open to the page describing their Soverign of the Seas kit.
 
Another source that you might to consider would be a book written in the 30's by E. Armitage McCann describing construction of a model of the Soverign of the Seas. It is possible that your builder built the model from plans contained in this book and made/bought fittings as necessary. Last night, I checked and their was a copy on a used book website for $0.99.
 
I agree with other responders that a careful restoration should yield a nice decorative model representative of 1930's era ship modeling.

As you have probably learned by reading these posts choice of tools is extremely personal, which I guess is what makes this avocation so fascinating. I received a Dremel type rotary tool as a gift many years ago and almost never use it. On the other hand, a small Jarmac disc sander on my workbench is used constantly.
 
If your project requires accurate drilling of holes square to a surface you will need a drill press, and I see no point to buying a minirature one. Inexpensive pin vices are available to allow tiny wire sized drills to be used with a full sized Chuck.
 
I mill my own woods whenever possible. For this I find a jointer essential to get a flat surface that the table saw will accept. A full sized table saw with a heavy duty motor is essential. Dull blades and an underpowered saw are dangerous. Although I have a 12in portable planer it is noisy, and dirty, so I am not sure that I will go thru the hassle to drag it out doors to mill the fourth surface flat on a batch of pear wood. This same operation can be done on my table saw.
 
A number of years ago I built a thickness sander from NRG plans. Cost was almost nothing- a pair of bearing blocks a d a piece of cold rolled steel rod. I had a spare motor and everything else came from scrap.
 
I like old power tools. They are generally of more robust construction and easy to repair. My bandsaw is 40 years old, the company that built it is long out of business, yet I rebuilt it last summer with new urethane tires, a new tension spring, and new "cool" guide blocks. No plastic and all screws are std us threads available at the hardware store. Old used tools are often for sale cheap- overlooked by those that want tools with all the electronic gadgetry.
 
Roger Pellett

As you have probably learned by reading these posts choice of tools is extremely personal, which I guess is what makes this avocation so fascinating. I received a Dremel type rotary tool as a gift many years ago and almost never use it. On the other hand, a small Jarmac disc sander on my workbench is used constantly.
 
If your project requires accurate drilling of holes square to a surface you will need a drill press, and I see no point to buying a minirature one. Inexpensive pin vices are available to allow tiny wire sized drills to be used with a full sized Chuck.
 
I mill my own woods whenever possible. For this I find a jointer essential to get a flat surface that the table saw will accept. A full sized table saw with a heavy duty motor is essential. Dull blades and an underpowered saw are dangerous. Although I have a 12in portable planer it is noisy, and dirty, so I am not sure that I will go thru the hassle to drag it out doors to mill the fourth surface flat on a batch of pear wood. This same operation can be done on my table saw.
 
A number of years ago I built a thickness sander from NRG plans. Cost was almost nothing- a pair of bearing blocks a d a piece of cold rolled steel rod. I had a spare motor and everything else came from scrap.
 
I like old power tools. They are generally of more robust construction and easy to repair. My bandsaw is 40 years old, the company that built it is long out of business, yet I rebuilt it last summer with new urethane tires, a new tension spring, and new "cool" guide blocks. No plastic and all screws are std us threads available at the hardware store. Old used tools are often for sale cheap- overlooked by those that want tools with all the electronic gadgetry.
 
Roger Pellett

As you have probably learned by reading these posts choice of tools is extremely personal, which I guess is what makes this avocation so fascinating. I received a Dremel type rotary tool as a gift many years ago and almost never use it. On the other hand, a small Jarmac disc sander on my workbench is used constantly.
 
If your project requires accurate drilling of holes square to a surface you will need a drill press, and I see no point to buying a minirature one. Inexpensive pin vices are available to allow tiny wire sized drills to be used with a full sized Chuck.
 
I mill my own woods whenever possible. For this I find a jointer essential to get a flat surface that the table saw will accept. A full sized table saw with a heavy duty motor is essential. Dull blades and an underpowered saw are dangerous. Although I have a 12in portable planer it is noisy, and dirty, so I am not sure that I will go thru the hassle to drag it out doors to mill the fourth surface flat on a batch of pear wood. This same operation can be done on my table saw.
 
A number of years ago I built a thickness sander from NRG plans. Cost was almost nothing- a pair of bearing blocks a d a piece of cold rolled steel rod. I had a spare motor and everything else came from scrap.
 
I like old power tools. They are generally of more robust construction and easy to repair. My bandsaw is 40 years old, the company that built it is long out of business, yet I rebuilt it last summer with new urethane tires, a new tension spring, and new "cool" guide blocks. No plastic and all screws are std us threads available at the hardware store. Old used tools are often for sale cheap- overlooked by those that want tools with all the electronic gadgetry.
 
Roger Pellett

As you have probably learned by reading these posts choice of tools is extremely personal, which I guess is what makes this avocation so fascinating. I received a Dremel type rotary tool as a gift many years ago and almost never use it. On the other hand, a small Jarmac disc sander on my workbench is used constantly.
 
If your project requires accurate drilling of holes square to a surface you will need a drill press, and I see no point to buying a minirature one. Inexpensive pin vices are available to allow tiny wire sized drills to be used with a full sized Chuck.
 
I mill my own woods whenever possible. For this I find a jointer essential to get a flat surface that the table saw will accept. A full sized table saw with a heavy duty motor is essential. Dull blades and an underpowered saw are dangerous. Although I have a 12in portable planer it is noisy, and dirty, so I am not sure that I will go thru the hassle to drag it out doors to mill the fourth surface flat on a batch of pear wood. This same operation can be done on my table saw.
 
A number of years ago I built a thickness sander from NRG plans. Cost was almost nothing- a pair of bearing blocks a d a piece of cold rolled steel rod. I had a spare motor and everything else came from scrap.
 
I like old power tools. They are generally of more robust construction and easy to repair. My bandsaw is 40 years old, the company that built it is long out of business, yet I rebuilt it last summer with new urethane tires, a new tension spring, and new "cool" guide blocks. No plastic and all screws are std us threads available at the hardware store. Old used tools are often for sale cheap- overlooked by those that want tools with all the electronic gadgetry.
 
Roger Pellett

As you have probably learned by reading these posts choice of tools is extremely personal, which I guess is what makes this avocation so fascinating. I received a Dremel type rotary tool as a gift many years ago and almost never use it. On the other hand, a small Jarmac disc sander on my workbench is used constantly.
 
If your project requires accurate drilling of holes square to a surface you will need a drill press, and I see no point to buying a minirature one. Inexpensive pin vices are available to allow tiny wire sized drills to be used with a full sized Chuck.
 
I mill my own woods whenever possible. For this I find a jointer essential to get a flat surface that the table saw will accept. A full sized table saw with a heavy duty motor is essential. Dull blades and an underpowered saw are dangerous. Although I have a 12in portable planer it is noisy, and dirty, so I am not sure that I will go thru the hassle to drag it out doors to mill the fourth surface flat on a batch of pear wood. This same operation can be done on my table saw.
 
A number of years ago I built a thickness sander from NRG plans. Cost was almost nothing- a pair of bearing blocks a d a piece of cold rolled steel rod. I had a spare motor and everything else came from scrap.
 
I like old power tools. They are generally of more robust construction and easy to repair. My bandsaw is 40 years old, the company that built it is long out of business, yet I rebuilt it last summer with new urethane tires, a new tension spring, and new "cool" guide blocks. No plastic and all screws are std us threads available at the hardware store. Old used tools are often for sale cheap- overlooked by those that want tools with all the electronic gadgetry.
 
Roger Pellett

As you have probably learned by reading these posts choice of tools is extremely personal, which I guess is what makes this avocation so fascinating. I received a Dremel type rotary tool as a gift many years ago and almost never use it. On the other hand, a small Jarmac disc sander on my workbench is used constantly.
 
If your project requires accurate drilling of holes square to a surface you will need a drill press, and I see no point to buying a minirature one. Inexpensive pin vices are available to allow tiny wire sized drills to be used with a full sized Chuck.
 
I mill my own woods whenever possible. For this I find a jointer essential to get a flat surface that the table saw will accept. A full sized table saw with a heavy duty motor is essential. Dull blades and an underpowered saw are dangerous. Although I have a 12in portable planer it is noisy, and dirty, so I am not sure that I will go thru the hassle to drag it out doors to mill the fourth surface flat on a batch of pear wood. This same operation can be done on my table saw.
 
A number of years ago I built a thickness sander from NRG plans. Cost was almost nothing- a pair of bearing blocks a d a piece of cold rolled steel rod. I had a spare motor and everything else came from scrap.
 
I like old power tools. They are generally of more robust construction and easy to repair. My bandsaw is 40 years old, the company that built it is long out of business, yet I rebuilt it last summer with new urethane tires, a new tension spring, and new "cool" guide blocks. No plastic and all screws are std us threads available at the hardware store. Old used tools are often for sale cheap- overlooked by those that want tools with all the electronic gadgetry.
 
Roger Pellett

As you have probably learned by reading these posts choice of tools is extremely personal, which I guess is what makes this avocation so fascinating. I received a Dremel type rotary tool as a gift many years ago and almost never use it. On the other hand, a small Jarmac disc sander on my workbench is used constantly.
 
If your project requires accurate drilling of holes square to a surface you will need a drill press, and I see no point to buying a minirature one. Inexpensive pin vices are available to allow tiny wire sized drills to be used with a full sized Chuck.
 
I mill my own woods whenever possible. For this I find a jointer essential to get a flat surface that the table saw will accept. A full sized table saw with a heavy duty motor is essential. Dull blades and an underpowered saw are dangerous. Although I have a 12in portable planer it is noisy, and dirty, so I am not sure that I will go thru the hassle to drag it out doors to mill the fourth surface flat on a batch of pear wood. This same operation can be done on my table saw.
 
A number of years ago I built a thickness sander from NRG plans. Cost was almost nothing- a pair of bearing blocks a d a piece of cold rolled steel rod. I had a spare motor and everything else came from scrap.
 
I like old power tools. They are generally of more robust construction and easy to repair. My bandsaw is 40 years old, the company that built it is long out of business, yet I rebuilt it last summer with new urethane tires, a new tension spring, and new "cool" guide blocks. No plastic and all screws are std us threads available at the hardware store. Old used tools are often for sale cheap- overlooked by those that want tools with all the electronic gadgetry.
 
Roger Pellett

Well, she doesn't look hugely different than the last update, but some important progress has been made.The boilers are built and installed, as is the main staircase. I'm currently planking the boiler deck (the level above the boilers),and thinking/working ahead on the cabin area.
 

 
Some detail of the boilers & stairs, both scratchbuilt. No one knows exactly what Bertrand's boilers looked like (or anything above the main deck), but this two-boiler layout is what's presented in Petsche's reconstruction, and approved by multiple steamboat historians he consulted with, so it's good enough for me.
 
Wood is fed into the fireboxes at lower front, where a brick ash trough allows ash to be cleaned out and flushed away without setting the deck on fire. Note that the trough ends in a hole in the overhanging guards, where the ash can safely drop into the river. The brick is a strip of HO-scale brick paper normally used for modelling buildings. The fireboxes heat water in the two large boilers, which generate steam into the steam drum on top, which feeds through a single line back to the engines at the stern. The water for the boilers is drawn from the river using a "doctor" pump, seen just behind the boiler.
 
Boilers and such are made from styrene, painted black and weathered with pastels. I made a miscalculation somewhere and didn't leave enough room between the cargo area and the boiler, so the poor doctor pump is sandwiched in there without enough room. I made it pretty detailed for this scale, but it'll never really be seen. Oops.
 

 
Another view of boilers and stairs. I made the stairs by clamping two beams together, carefully measuring out each step's location, then cutting/filing the notches across both beams so they'd match. Then I mounted the beams on double-sided tape to hold them square, and glued on the steps. Worked like a charm. The boiler deck's edge looks rough, because I'm not going to bother finishing it until the whole deck is done and I can trim/sand it all together. Will need to do a bit of touch-up paintwork as well. This is actually true of the main deck as well, now that I look at the photo.
 

 
If you haven't been following ggrieco's steamboat Heroine, WHY NOT? It's brilliant and beautiful, far above anything I can manage. After enjoying his intricate recreation of a steamboat engine, I thought I'd re-post a better photo of my own engines, just to make the contrast clear. These styrene approximations work well enough for me, they get the idea across, but the Heroine is something special.
 
This photo also shows a mistake I made, which will be slightly tricky to fix. You can see how each engine is connected to the overhead steam line feeding from the boiler. Each one also has a separate exhaust stack that vents steam from each cycle. When I built the engines, I left these stacks cut off short, to make the assembly easier to install, reasoning I would install the vent stack later, before I planked in the boiler deck. It was, literally, not until I was reviewing this photo for posting that I realized I'd forgotten to go back and add the stacks before beginning deck planking, so the port-side engine is now buried. I'll have to very carefully measure/guess where that stack projects to and drill a small hole through the deck. The starboard one will  just get installed the way I meant to, before the decking gets that far.
 

 
And a final overhead photo. You can follow the steam line under the boiler deck to see where I'll have to drill a vent stack hole. The decking has progressed since I took this photo, I'm now about halfway across.
 
I've also been working ahead on the cabin structure. I bent to peer pressure and began making my own doors & such, which I hope you'll like. Photos of those will come when I'm further along. The cabin presents its own challenges of construction, as the boiler deck has a sheer fore and aft which mean I can't just build the cabin square on the workbench and plop it down; it has to conform to the deck. I have an idea how to do this without going crazy, and will share the results when it succeeds (or fails). Meanwhile I've been staining more deck beams to stay ahead of the slow-but-steady progress on that front.
 
For today's music, I present Marmaduke's Hornpipe, the "fiddle anthem of Missouri", named for Confederate officer John Marmaduke, who grew up along the Missouri River not far from my farm.