Blighty

That looks amazing. Good stuff.

2 hours ago, kurtvd19 said:

Making a sternwheel operate is much more difficult than adding an electric motor.  Most operating model sternwheels use a circular drive wheel, inside the engine room, that the inboard end of the Pitman arms attach to.  This makes the pitman arms operate in a circular motion while the real steam engine connection to the inboard end of the pitman arm is a slide mechanism that goes fore and aft and the pitman arm attached to the sternwheel follows the sternwheel's circular motion.  The inboard end slides back and forth at a set elevation while the outboard end rotates in a circular motion where it attaches to the sternwheel.  When you see the slide mechanism operate vs the inner wheel type drive the latter looks very toy like. 

Kurt

Ummm, I don't think I would apply that system, I agree with you that a linear motion is a must have at the front of the pitman arms to look right. This would be purely to replicate the geometry, maybe a tee slot slide for the arm to traverse along, the difficult thing would be getting drive to it from a motor. Not sure how that would be achieved, but maybe a small air pump could drive the buckets and the pitmans just go along for a ride, that would be novel and a fun project maybe for the next stern wheel build. Image that a wind powered steamer lol.

3 hours ago, Mike Dowling said:

I didn't notice either about the wheel!! The problem is that whilst mine does indeed go round the crank arms or whatever they are called will not slide in and out of the engine room hence I have had to fix mine to stop those arms from repeatedly coming off.

I see what you mean Mike, a bit of forward thinking and it would be achievable without to much effort but too late now for this old tub.

I haven't attached the wheel yet but it is trapped in the trusses so I can't remove it, not far to go now.

3 hours ago, Tigersteve said:

Since you did light it, it would make sense to add a hidden motor to the wheel so it rotates. I know that takes pre planning, but if it's doable, that would be a cool feature. Either way it's awesome. 

Steve

Motor driven stern wheel would have been cool, but ain't gonna happen now!

Hi, did anyone out there who built the Chaperon try to make the stern wheel rotate? I'm about to mount it and only just realised the instructions state it is intended to be static.

3 hours ago, jct said:

Hi Len,

Been following along...the weathering is superb, very impressive

 

Too kind, thx.

9 minutes ago, Canute said:

Len, "borrowing" stuff from your Grandkids? Tsk, tsk. But they do look good and the bell looks OK

Ken, You and Mike have got me on a guilt trip, but they're still not getting the sacks back, mine now!....

btw, I agree about the ok for the bell, it could be a lot better!

I made a new bell the original is very small.

2 minutes ago, Mike Dowling said:

Oh very useful, what nice kids you must have allowing you to steal their things!! I'll bet you pay for it in the end! What were you doing rummaging in their toy box anyway ?

Hi Mike, It's a community toy box we keep at our house for when we have visitors, but you are right it'll cost me a candy or 2 I'm sure.

17 hours ago, Worldway said:

Looking amazing, very impressive paint work and I love the lights.

Thx Derek.

Thx to all for the continued likes and comments.

Look what I found in the G'kids toy box!!!! mine now haha.

8 minutes ago, Rossi46 said:

Love it.  Who would have thought it would turn out just like the old workhorse you were striving for.

Thx Em, I have some lights left over, I can't get wires to the red and green on the stacks, also got 2 yellows, 1 is 3mm the other 1,8mm.

I'll drop them round over weekend.

20 minutes ago, Tigersteve said:

This is awesome.

Steve

Thx Steve, I'm going to miss building this old boat, it has been a blast. 

Nearly done, about a weeks worth of work left I reckon, a couple of pics showing latest status, hope you like em.

Checked out your ship this morning, looks fantastic, you have a lot more completed since last time I saw it. Great detail work.

Finished the gangplank, quite pleased with result, I beat up the edges with an open pair of scissors to make it a complete wreck.

Next stage of the gangplank, home mixed red oxide on the top, I'll rub this down to expose more natural wood, I think that will make it more realistic.

Below I have very limited reference  so I assumed algea, grass stains and natural aging would be fairly severe so put plenty of weathering on, I will tone the underside down with a black wash later.

Base coat is white everywhere except the actual walkway top surface, but next stage after it is dry will be a rub down with a well used 100 sandpaper.

Nothing much to show right now, I'm just wrapping up the Texas deck, less rigging and nothing is painted yet.

I did glue together the gangplank, the rough joins are deliberate by the wy, honest they are!!!! but the thing of interest is the vinegar wash finish.

The solution is about a month old now and the wire wool has just about completely dissolved. I applied a medium wash to the plank and it took about 3 days to fully age and darken up.

I know some of you guys will be very familiar with this process but the first time I looked into it was after watching a couple of Youtube vids of it. There were lots of different recipes, I'm very pleased with the results so far and the older the mix the better it performs.

The gang plank will have a thin coat of paint on it and lots of exposed aging showing through when I'm done. 

I needed a method of securing and locating the outhouse so I added a couple of urns each side , the rear urn on each side protrudes below the surface of the deck into tight fitting holes, locates well and secures well, will likely ware as I eat through batteries but I'll worry about that when it happens.

Now you see it!

Now you don't! well almost, I will add a screen to openings

Looking very sharp Doug.

48 minutes ago, chborgm said:

Very nice. I have never used yellow to get the effect you have.I'll have to try a sample on my current build. 

I recall you use your ship lights for night lamps, I don't think you would find the yellow bright enough to contribute much. However, for a working scaled ship illumination I think I was very lucky in selection of color, size and quantity of LEDs, if you don't need the night light usage I would recommend the yellow.

The Chaperon lit up, a glass of Scotch, a dark room and some banjo/fiddle players beating out some bluegrass on the MP3 backed up by the night chorus of crickets and June bugs and you would find yourself on the banks of the Green River enjoying a one man party before you knew it.

Thx for following and your valued input.

Blighty

3 hours ago, Cathead said:

FYI, most Americans won't get that joke. Here, they call that confinement or feedlot; battery is primarily a European term. I didn't realize it was used in Canada, but it shouldn't surprise me. Great pun, anyway.

Haha, I don't think Americans know what blighty means either!!!! I'm a Brit too, I was 30 years old when we moved to Canada.

10 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Impressive build, and the lighting really makes the eyes "pop".

Thx so much

13 hours ago, Cathead said:

That's really nice. The low-key, understated lighting effect is well-done and just the right approach, in my opinion. Excellent work.

Thx Cathead