mbp521

Beautiful job Keith. Congratulations on a job well done!! I’ll be on the look out for the beginning of the Lula build log. -Brian

I can only come up with two words Keith, “outstanding realism”. The weathering, distressed side rails, and grit, are top notch workmanship. Looking forward to Lula. -Brian

More like a beautiful swan Keith!! -Brian

Holy cow Keith! It’s amazing the amount of realism the pastels bring out. You also have me convinced the shaker roof is the right decision. I think it looks great. However, if you are proceeding with the metal roof I will be anxiously awaiting those results as well. This is such a true statement. When I first started painting my Cairo, I chose black for the topside color. I found out real quick that it was not the route to go. After several attempts I found that the dark bluish-gray was perfect. It gave everything the perfect depth and helped highlight certain features. The same holds true with your build. Fantastic work on the weathering! -Brian

Thank you Gary! My grandfather always told me, “why pay someone to do something for you when you can do it yourself cheaper”, and I have lived by these words most of my life. I do know my limitations and there have been times where I just have to get someone else to do it. It’s not for lack of trying, but it would be cheaper in the long run for fear of screwing it up and having to redo the project. I took these words into consideration when ordering the printer, now I can build the parts myself and not have to pay someone else for them. I’ve been in the technology field for almost 30 years and have been using CAD software for almost the entire time. Many of the software packages these devices use are based on CAD so the learning curve is fairly easy. Most of them come with a free version that is simplistic and scaled down for the standard user. There are other programs out there that are more robust and allow for much better renderings and manipulation of the project you are working on, but I’ve found the free ones get the job done for what I need. Not to mention the better programs are stupid expensive. My 3D printer is a Bambu Labs P1S and came with its proprietary software Bambu Studio, but like many of the other programs out there it uses the standard file types, and there are several sites out there that have free files that you can upload to the device, and you can scale them to the size you need as well as make alterations to them. Somewhat like my laser engraver/cutter, there were a few days of beating my head on the table trying to figure it all out but it didn’t take too much time before I was off and running. -Brian

Thank you Eric! Dabbling away is a perfect way of putting it, it’s definitely been a slow process, but I am making headway. I really hadn’t planned on getting into 3D printing either, but like I said in my post, it was way more cost effective to get a printer and build the pieces myself than ordering them online. The printer was less than $500 and the filament is dirt cheap, a 1000g spool runs about $14 and goes a long way. The grand kids get a kick out of it as well. I think so far we’ve printed several dragons and numerous fidget toys for them. -Brian

Thank you Keith for the kind words. After reading your reply, I realized that I never actually gave it that much thought that many of us are dependent on suppliers for some of the pieces and parts of our builds. I’m just somewhat eliminating the middle man in a way, and the creativity of designing and printing my own pieces is just my own method of building my models. I do appreciate the enlightenment. After purchasing the printer, I now understand that the cost for the 3D printed parts that I have previously ordered online is not so much in the materials, but in the design process (and equipment costs)that goes into the pieces. The quarter that I used for scale in my photo above covered the cost of material for all the pieces I printed with change leftover and only took about 20 minutes to print. So feel free to send me your order any time! 😁 -Brian

Hello again everyone, Finally back with a small update. This summer has been a crazy busy one on projects other than shipbuilding. I managed to steal away for a few hours over the past couple of months to get some work done, but not a whole lot. First thing that I was able to get completed was the AC unit installed. Not a big step, this part was completed way back when, but I am just now getting around to gluing it in place. I still need to add the support brackets, but it is place for now. Next I was able to get the tow knee bumpers built and installed. It was only until I posted this picture that I realized that you can't really make them out due to the lighting, but they are there. I finally took advantage of a rainy weekend (a rarity here in north Texas during the summer) and did some work on the lift booms. These are used to load and offload equipment, supplies and the Zodiac. For the main support posts I started out with a dowel and cut the gussets and caps on my laser engraver. Next it was on to the booms themselves. I made up a simple jig to get the angles the same on each boom, then glued the pieces together. Then I cut the gussets from some scrap ABS plastic that I had laying around and glued those in place. The hinges were built and installed next. These were made from styrene tubing. The other half of the hinges were made from aluminum materials I had leftover from my Cairo build and the hinge pins were temporarily made from scrap brass rod, leftover from the railing. I used the brass rod to help line up the hinge pieces while they were glued in place. The brass rod was removed and replaced with styrene rod of the same diameter so that I could heat the ends to create the crown on the top and bottom of the hinge pin. Both booms partially completed. Next I stared work on the winches that are attached to the booms. These were made from several different sizes of styrene tubing. The largest tubing was slotted to make the opening for the cable, the smaller two pieces were used to create the winch hub. I wrapped the hub with some rigging thread to simulate the cable wound up on the winch. I coated the thread with CA to hold it in place and give it a more steel cable like look. Then I inserted the hub into the winch housing. Then I made the hanging segment of the cable and used brass wire for the hook. The whole assembly is temp installed on the boom to get an idea of how things will look. It was time to apply a little primer to the boom assembly. And the final product. I made up the wiring harness for the control box from some plastic coated wire and finagled it through all of the attachments on boom. I started working on some of the deck details, such as the bollards and cleats, but I just couldn't get them to look right. While I was having a conversation with my son (while working on one of my other projects around the homestead) he mentioned that wouldn't it be easier to 3D print some of these deck details. Well after mulling it over I decided that he had a good point, that would be much easier. There have been a few build logs where I have read of people using 3D printers to create some of their pieces and I have used 3D printed parts on may past two builds so I looked into websites that sold 3D printed parts. Well, I was able to find a few pieces that I was looking for but I was somewhat worried that the scale wouldn't be just right and after shipping the parts weren't really worth it. So I did the next best thing, we invested in a 3D printer. Now I can make anything and everything that I need for the deck features. Some truest may think this is cheating, but since most of this build has been created on my laser cutter, why stop cheating now. Besides, these printers and filament have gotten so cheap that we could make good use of it making toys for the grandkids along with model parts. My first attempt at making life rings, barrels, cleats and trash bins. So that is as far as I was able to get this time around. I still have a lot of work to finish up with on the property before the weather turns cold, but I'm hoping to find a few hours here and there (or another rainy weekend) to get more work completed. I do appreciated everyone sticking with me on my extremely slow progress of this build. Until next time, thanks for stopping by. -Brian

I’m thinking the corrugated roofing might just set it off perfectly. A little silver and rust patina would look great. -Brian

Looking good John, getting closer to the finish line. The railing at the stern posed the same problem to me as well and if memory serves me correctly, I ended up cutting the railing to terminate at the posts. Your solution seems to have worked out perfectly, with great results. -Brian

I am running out of words to say about this Keith. I just marvel at the amount of detail you are cramming (apologies for the term, but my Thesaurus is limited) into small scale model. I also agree with Glen, the Boxcar Red works perfectly! -Brian

Keith, in the past I’ve used clear Elmer’s glue for small window glass. I placed the frame on a piece of glass and taped it down, dripped the glue to fill the frame and let it dry. The glue shrinks down to a thin layer and looks very realistic. It somewhat resembles rain glass which would have been more the style back in the day and the frame can be easily pried off the piece of class with an xacto chisel blade. -Brian

Keith, I am loving this build. Each little detail you add increases my amazement. This may have been discussed earlier and forgive me if I totally missed it, but I’m curious, if this is a raft why couldn’t the water tanks just be fed from the river they were floating on with a simple feed pump instead of having a supply boat provide it? I mean how much different is the boiler setup on these rigs compared to those on the steamboats? -Brian

Looking good John. Glad to see the aluminum can worked out for you. Nice job on the turnbuckles as well. I think the actually cam out better looking than the ones I made with the slots filed in the sides. -Brian

Keith, I’m with Peter on this one. I don’t see anything wrong with the flywheel. -Brian