gjdale

Looking good Jeff. I like the way you are tying the two dioramas together into one cohesive whole.

Congratulations on finishing a fine build Paul.

Allow me to translate the above for you Glen: “Air conditioner, No stone unturned, Let’s talk Australian” Glad to see that your board weathering is working out well for you. I can’t take any credit for the process - just followed the bouncing ball on that one. Your diorama is shaping up to be another excellent one - glad to see that the penguins got involved!

Peter is right Glen. In far north Queensland, it seems to be obligatory to end every sentence with “hey?” or “eh?” (without the “h”). In South Australia and some parts of Western Australia, the accent will be more to the English side of things - especially noticeable with words like “castle” or “dance” (or even my name) where the “a” vowel is pronounced with a long “ah” sound, while in most of the eastern states, the default is a the shorter, harsher sound (as in “at”). Anyway, if all this is making you a bit hot under the collar, then I suggest you go and stand under the egg nishner for a while.

What you really need Glen, is the book “Let Stalk Strine”, by Afferbeck Lauder. It will help you to understand the accent in a whole new way - you might even get to know what an “egg nishner” is! As a further clue, the author’s name is a pseudonym which itself is a “strine-ised” version of “Alphabetical Order”. "Let Stalk Strine" is the first and only clear, straighforward exposition of the Strine language. "Let Stalk Strine" has been compiled for stewnce, overseas vistas and New Strines, and also for the jell public. This book is as Strine as Ned Kelly and Waltzing Matilda.” Then of course there is the sequel, “Nose Tone Unturned”…….. By the way, your base is is looking great mate - can’t wait to see the overall finished project.

I think if one were to choose the windward side, that would be known as “getting your own back”! 🤣

Another fantastic result Glen - congratulations and well done!

This looks to be an unusual and very interesting build Keith. I’ll grab a seat in the second row to follow along.

Wot ‘e said!

Nice take on the saw table Jeff - as well as the rest of the shed!

It’s been some time since the last progress update, mainly because a lot of the time has been devoted to trouble shooting and the manufacture of new/additional parts. The problem began when I noticed a real “stiffness” in turning over the propellor shaft by hand – way more than could be expected for normal “running in”. Problem-solving began by debonding the front end of the stuffing tube from the hull. With that end free to move, we could see a considerable “wobble” in the drive train as the free end of the stuffing tube traced quite an ellipse. At the same time, we noticed a bit of movement in the thrust block between the engine and the fly wheel. In an attempt to resolve the issues, we manufactured an extra thrust block with tighter tolerance, re-made the flywheel, made a new propellor shaft (discovered the supplied after-market part was slightly warped), re-made all the connector parts, and eventually tried another universal joint (of similar design). After all of these mods, we still had an unacceptable amount of play. After checking each component in the line, from the engine output shaft right through to the propellor shaft trying to find something out of whack, the only thing that could possibly be wrong was the universal joint. In desperation, we replaced the nice looking universal with a less attractive brass and plastic one from Float-a-Boat and just like that, our problem disappeared. Here is a photo showing some of the additional/replacement parts: In between the trials and tribulations of the drive shaft, I did manage to paint the exterior of the hull. Here is an overview shot – I haven’t decided yet if I’ll stay with the more pristine look, or go for an old and grungy weathered look. The next step will be to return to problem solving the steam plant issues…

Whew! Just made it in time to nab a front row seat for this one Glen and, as it turns out, right next to the bar too. Gotta be lucky sometimes! 😊 This looks to be another fascinating build project and I’m intrigued to see how you display this one - you always come up with such interesting ideas.

Thx Keith. No, the burner issue has not yet been resolved. I’m pushing on with the rest of the build while we cogitate on that one. We have a club meeting this week and there is another steam guru there who may be able to offer some further advice. If all else fails, I’ll have a very expensive static model……

It’s been a little while since the last progress update, but work has continued apace. The first job was to finalise the placement of the steam plant and build a mounting for it, along with a support block for the stern stuffing tube. I used a piece of 7mm thick Queensland Maple for the support base and another to create the support block for the stuffing tube. As the plant is held to its own metal base by screws inserted from underneath, it was necessary to make allowance for the screw heads. With that temporarily in place, the engine drive shaft and the propellor could be aligned, allowing the support block for the stuffing tube to me made and fitted. Once these had both been double checked for fit and alignment, they were fixed in place and the internal surfaces painted using my large airbrush / mini spray gun and Stynylrez White Primer – despite it being a primer, this will be the final colour for the internals. In the next photo, you can see that two M3 threaded inserts have been incorporated into the aft end of the mounting plate. These align with two corresponding holes in the metal base plate to secure the plant in the boat. Here is an overhead shot showing the steam plant in place along with the complete propellor shaft. Also shown in this photo is the large brass flywheel that my friend made for me, as well as the universal joint (the red piece in the photo). The next task was to begin addressing the decking. Having adjusted the plywood sheet as previously described, I decided to stain the plywood to act as the margin plank while additional planking was added for the deck. Here is the plywood after staining. To create the decking, I have used a combination of 12mm x 1mm Brown Hornbeam and 1mm x 1mm Black Hornbeam to simulate the caulking. The first task was to create the centreline plank by sandwiching a piece of the Black caulking between two Brown planks. The remaining planking was created by gluing one piece of Brown plank to one piece of Black caulking. Once dry, the resultant pair was scraped to remove any excess glue. Rinse and repeat for all remaining planks. Here is what they look like when put together. Once all the plank pairs had been prepared, they were applied to the decks starting with the centreline sandwich and working outwards from there. The planks were shaped to fit the outline of the margin plank as I went. Here are some shots of the planking in place – not yet given a coat of finish (which should make it pop a little), and not yet glued down. Finally, an overview shot of progress to date. Note that the upper deck is not yet glued down – it will sit down on the gunwale around the centre once glued. I think the next task will be to paint the external of the hull before proceeding to permanently fix the decks. I will also need to address the small matter of Radio Control in the not-too-distant future. I have a cunning plan………..

Very nicely done Bruce. I share your concerns about the dangers of this area of the site - that’s exactly how I came to acquire this one myself!

You have a very nice rear end there Egilman! (Can’t believe I just said that….)

Congratulations on another outstanding SIB Glen. The thought you put into your presentation/stands takes your builds to another level altogether. I’m sure the recipient of this one will be absolutely delighted.

Could be Keith, but I don’t understand how or why as yet.

Well, it’s been an interesting and frustrating week working on setting the steam plant to work. Additional issues I have encountered to date (but have successfully resolved with the assistance of my “guru”) are: The upper flange on the boiler sight glass tube had not been soldered correctly, leaving a small hole in the joint through which a large quantity of steam escaped. This was resolved by carefully re-fluxing the joint and allowing the existing solder to close the gap. Successful after test run with no further leakage through this joint. The flange joint between the engine side of the displacement lubricator had not been soldered correctly and again, a large quantity of steam escaped through this fault. This was resolved in a similar way to the boiler sight glass tube flange described above. Successful after test run with no further leakage through this joint. The mating surfaces between the flat rotating valve (forward/reverse) on top of the engine and the engine body were not machined particularly well (they were quite rough) and a significant steam leakage resulted. This was addressed by carefully polishing both faces to facilitate a smoother action. When running, the engine now appears to be quite smooth in its operation, with very little steam escaping though this interface. I am somewhat surprised that the boiler was able to pass testing given the fault described at the first point above, and indeed that the other faults were not picked up through a quality control process. Nevertheless, I have managed to resolve all of the manufacturing faults thus far. There is one further issue that has me flummoxed at the moment and that is to do with the gas burner. The issue is this. Although all set-up routines have been followed, including calibration of the burner flame, once the boiler gets to operating pressure and the engine starts running, very shortly thereafter the boiler flame goes out although there is still plenty of gas in the tank. The flame can be relit, but initially burns at the top of the stack and only goes back to the burner when the gas is turned down a little. It then burns correctly for a few seconds and goes out again. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum. My initial thought after re-reading all of the material on manufacturer’s website, was that perhaps the gas being used was of insufficient quality and was then clogging up the jets in the burner. Yesterday, I purchased some so-called premium quality Butane. The blurb on the can alleges that it has been purified 11 times and claims to burn hotter and longer than cheaper products. Its gas mix content is stated to be 60% butane, 36% isobutane, and 2% propane. Alas, on testing the same problem returned. What I don’t understand is why the burner seems to work correctly initially, but after a few minutes develops this fault. I have written to the supplier/manufacturer but am yet to hear back from them (and may not – they have been problematic with communications in the past). In the meantime, after lengthy discussion of alternatives with the guru, I decided to make a modification to how the engine sits in the hull. Basically, this involves removing some of the frames from under where the engine sits and inserting a hardwood plate, epoxied into the bottom of the hull to hold the engine assembly. This will get the engine a lot lower in the hull and greatly reduce the height difference/angle to the prop shaft. Here is a picture after the preliminary surgery on the frames. My guru also found among his odds and ends a very nice universal joint that comes out of the model car world. It is a lot less bulky than the standard universals and should work a treat in the AQ. He has also made for me a flywheel to go on the end of the engine shaft - he says this is essential to smooth the operation of the engine. I know nothing of these matters, so defer to his expertise here. I am also going to change the rudder support (skeg) and will instead use a piece of brass bar for this purpose. I will epoxy a small wooden block in the base of the hull on the inside, and will then be able to screw the brass skeg into that. This will make the skeg level with the base of the keel and in doing so, will overcome my propellor clearance issue so that I can still use the 40mm prop. The other issue I’m now working on is to address the poor fit of the upper deck. As I’m going to plank over this, the provided deck will be the substrate for my planking. I made up a cardboard template for the required shape by tracing around the inverted hull to help with the process. The pencil line inside the outer edge of the template shows where the existing deck lies – it’s only out a small amount, but enough to cause headaches. I then cut the deck substrate down the centreline and placed the two halves so that they just covered the outer edge of the template and marked their positiong relative to the centreline of the template. This showed an overall gap of 10mm (or 5mm per side). It was then a fairly simple matter to add some filler pieces to achieve the correct shape. The picture below shows that I needed to make a T-shaped piece to fit at the bow to close the gap previously cut for the stem post. I will now need to re-shape the bow and re-cut that slot. The picture below shows the filler pieces in place but not yet glued. They have since been glued in place awaiting final trimming. More to follow once I have news on the steam plant and/or further surgery modifications have been completed.

It's been a while since my last update but work has progressed, albeit very slowly. I changed my mind (again) about removing the excess ABS, mainly because it would have been impossible to hold the internal stringer/gunwhale(?) in place with it sill there. So I went ahead and removed the excess ABS, and then positioned the stringer/gunwhale and the internal (fake) ribs. I also drilled out the hole for the propellor shaft and cut the access hole for the rudder support strip that extends from the keel. I decided to replace the kit-provided stuffing tube and propellor shaft with some after-market parts from Float-a-Boat in Melbourne (following the lead of Wayne (@a49kid)). At the same time, I ordered some universal joints and a brass propellor to replace the kit-provided plastic one. Unfortunately, with the additional thickness added by planking the entire hull, a propellor of the same size (40mm) will not fit. I’m still deciding as to the exact size that I will use, but it will be either 35mm or, more likely, 30mm. The picture below shows the internal ribs in place along with the stuffing tube and propellor shaft temporarily positioned. I may well need to adjust the length of the stuffing tube/propellor shaft once I’ve got the steam plant sorted. Before proceeding further with the hull, I needed to sort out the steam plant and its positioning/securing in the hull. That meant doing a trial run of the plant. I bought this plant from Miniature Steam Models (MSM) over 18 months ago and had not done any final assembly and testing to date. It comes almost fully assembled, requiring only the attachment of the steam line (from boiler to engine) and the gas line from gas tank to boiler. Unfortunately, for some reason the steam line was a few mm too short to be connected. This was very surprising as MSM have a very good reputation for quality. Anyway, I enlisted the assistance of a fellow Canberra modeler who is something of a guru on all things steam engines. He advised cutting the existing pipe and inserting a short joining section to make up the length required. He also very kindly machined up the required part and silver soldered it in place for me. The result can be seen in the picture below, highlighted by the red circle. We did a short test that proved the join was secure and together we are now conducting some “set-to-work” trials. There are still a few other issues to deal with before proceeding with the hull, but I hope to resolve those in the next few days.

Thank you Wayne. And thank you Bob. I can’t really answer your question Bob as I don’t record hours spent on the model. But looking at my start and finish posts it was about 3 months from start to finish - noting of course, that I am one of the slower builders goin’ around!

That is possibly your best yet Glen, although you set such a high standard it’s a difficult call. Love the lone penguin too - just the right touch.

I can’t believe I missed the start of yet another of your magnificent SIB projects Glen. Just got caught up and all I can say is WOW! Love what you’ve done so far and looking forward to the insertion of penguins. 🤣

Thanks Wayne, Yes, it’s HO scale (1:87). The only ‘accessories’ I bought were the figures and the blue truck, plus some extra track, sleepers and ties. Oh, and a little grass/shrubbery. All bought online.

Looking forward to following along with another of your excellent (and instructional) builds Rusty.