Keith Black

10 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

The answer to your question is TBD!  😃

 Okay, okay. I'm just sayin' I'm ready to see another one of your beautiful SIB projects come to life. 

6 hours ago, clearway said:

looking awesome Keith😁

 Thank you, Keith.

5 hours ago, FriedClams said:

Yes indeed - Ditto!

 Thank you, Gary.

4 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Keith, when it comes to ship models you are the master of the commonplace. You choose a very ordinally and shabby work boat and turn it into a beautiful and authentic looking model.  A great skill.

 John, how very kind of you to say.  

 I do believe I've found my niche. I've enjoyed, am enjoying creating models of vessels most wouldn't give a second glance. Not all boats come off the ways with beautiful lines but if one looks hard enough at those that don't, one comes to appreciate their persistence to keep moving forward in their work a day world.   

 Unbelievable, absolutely amazing.

11 minutes ago, Glen McGuire said:

Great work continues, Keith!

 Thank you, Glen. Hey, when's that "TBD" gonna change? 

1 minute ago, Paul Le Wol said:

Keith, she’s looking more amazing every time I see her.

 Thank you very much, Paul. 

 Thank you to everyone for the comments and likes.

 There is a hull in the action. 

 I added some color to the bow. In the original photo the decking on the bow runs fore to aft but the decking aft of the engine room fore wall runs from side to side. The only reason I can think of for that being the case is another layer of decking was laid down on top of the old decking at some point as the bow decking takes the most beating. 

 I also added a little color aft of the engine room. More will be added as the build progresses. 

 I've let the aft run wild till i know exactly where to make the cut out for the wheels. 

 Thank you to all for your support and for following along.

   Keith

 That background is beautifully done, Eric. Bravo! 

 Rodney would be pleased, Bob. She looks great. 

 john, a nice update before you head off on holiday. I pray your medical treatment is successful, get back to us when you're able. Take care. 

1 hour ago, Desertanimal said:

Beautiful work Keith. Looking great. 

 Thank you, Chris. 

3 minutes ago, FriedClams said:

Good progress, Keith and everything looking very nice!  The changes to the searchlight and bell are a big improvement.

 Thank you, Gary. 

6 minutes ago, John Ruy said:

Pre-painted… I’m not that good 😊 Had a hard time finding HO scale boat crew for the right era. I think these are pretty good, although they cost a pretty penny or two. LOL 😆 

 Ah, don't sell yourself short, John.

 Yes, decent figures painted or unpainted are difficult to find. With the number of cottage 3D printer industry folks out there these days I'm really surprised that someone hasn't taken on that market niche and made a determined go at it. 

15 hours ago, tmj said:

About the weathering. I have to go back to one of your first images. It appears as though the pilot house is darker and dirtier than the deck house/engine room. Could this be from soot and winds/breezes up high blowing that smoke more onto the pilot house walls than onto the engine room walls? Other than this one tiny observation, I think your weathering looks 'GREAT' and close to 'PERFECT'! It could be the light also. You've already mentioned that the photos of your work look different than the real thing, due to lighting. 

Looking at the location of that 'smokestack'... that pilot must have been hating life if the wind blew in the wrong direction!

 Thank you, Tom

 I agree, the pilothouse was more coal sooted as it was higher up and it was worse on the aft side. The engine room was more of a tan color because of the dredged material being primarily on the side and fore walls.  If anything, I think I need to add just a whisper of tan to the pilothouse side and fore walls. 

 John, did your figures come pre painted or is that your work? Whichever, those are sharp looking figures.  

49 minutes ago, Jim Lad said:

Looking good, Keith.

 Thank you, John.

36 minutes ago, John Ruy said:

Very Nice Keith…

 Thank you, John. 

 Thank you to everyone for the comments, laughs, and the likes. 

 I repainted the pilothouse and got it weathered. There is enough weathering on the engine room, I don't think it needs any more. Weathering requires a light touch and I'm prone to be heavy handed. I really have to reign myself in to keep from going overboard. I also do better in natural light as artificial light cast shadows. My worktable lights wash the weathering effects so these are actually a bit darker than pictured. 

 I added the pilot. This particular resin figure was perfect for the pilot but both hands had broken off. These figures are so small (the tallest is 0.60 inches) and fragile that the extremities are easily broken off. I removed the hands from two other figures that were badly damaged for the pilot figure repair. I did my best job yet sculpting away the navy uniform and I think the figure turned out pretty okay. He looks the part of the pilot in the original photo.

 Time to quit messing about and start on the hull. I've been dragging my feet because the amount of space between the furnace and the wheels is unknown but I've got to go with my best guess. Between the furnace and the wheels is the furnace's automatic coal feeder, the coal crib, and the twin cylinder steam engine and shaft to the wheels. The water pump/pumps and gas engine are all on the port side. 

 Thank you for your support and for following along.

    Keith

20 minutes ago, Cathead said:

I mean, I'm regularly floored by your work, so I might as well floor along!

 Danged keyboard! It outta know when I mean following. Thanks for making me laugh, Eric. Golly knows I needed that. 

 Heaven, welcome to MSW. Glad to have you aboard.

18 hours ago, clearway said:

doing o.k. thanks Keith- been a lot of outdoor work so not much modelling.

 Keith, it seems we all have more time for modeling in the winter. 

 Thank you to everyone for the likes and the comments.

 The first attempt at weathering is done. I say first attempt because I'm not keen on the results. Too much on the pilothouse and not enough on the engine room me thinks. I've got to get the pilot painted and in position not that it will make a difference but it delays repainting the pilothouse and starting over on the weathering.   

 Thanks to all for your support and for flooring along.

   Keith

 Rob, welcome to MSW. Glad to have you aboard. 

2 hours ago, Paul Le Wol said:

Keith, those small changes made a huge difference. Nice!

 Thank you, Paul. 

12 hours ago, Cathead said:

For what it's worth, if my memory and understanding are correct, there were hand pumps on even larger riverboats like Arabia for just this sort of scenario (priming boilers when the steam was down). Granted, that was in the mid-1800s, so by your era any sensible crew may have told the idea of a hand pump to take a long walk off a short barge and installed a gas pump like you're suggesting.

 Thank  you, Erric.

 Thank you to everyone for the comments and likes. 

 Let the weathering commence!

 Before. 😢

 After. 

 It's not perfect but it's a lot better. I think I was so disappointed in the quality of the bells I received that my efforts matched the bells.

 The ship's bell sits at the correct height and looks much much closer to what the original photo shows. The searchlight looks more like the photo  searchlight and less like a loudspeaker mounted atop a 1934 Ford van blaring out propaganda to the masses. The bell I'm using for the searchlight is 0.15 inches in length. 

 Thank you guys for being part of the journey and for your support.

   Keith

She's looking great, Phil. 

Just now, clearway said:

they had generators that ran off the steam engine as well Keith if memory serves me right all the electrical gear on a lot of the old steamers were supplied that way.

 I'm sure they must have? But the reason I'm going with a gas engine is because of the two man crew. If the boiler isn't working this tub would have been dead in the water. The furnace auto feeder had to work with a cold boiler as it's a beast positioned right in front of the open furnace plus they would need the lights up and working. I don't see a hand pump being an option for getting water into the boiler in the morning. All that plus the possible gas cans on the bow.   

 Thanks for commenting, Keith. How goes your battles? 

1 hour ago, Canute said:

Tornadoes in the Poconos would be a new one. 🙄 Did you look at any locomotive bells, Keith? They might have one close enough. Otherwise she's growing nicely.

 Thank you, Ken.

 I've fixed the searchlight and working on the ship's bell and that fix looks promising. More news and photos at six. 

1 hour ago, Cathead said:

started hearing the theme from Jaws as soon as I saw that. Very cool idea to add that.

1 hour ago, Cathead said:

Everything else looks great!

Thank you, Eric.

1 hour ago, Cathead said:

I thought it was a loudspeaker when I saw it and wondered why you had a tornado siren on there

 That made me laugh. Welp, ya know them dang tornados can spring up along the Susquehanna at any given moment.