Keith Black

Ron, thank you joining in the journey and thank you for the suggestion. Two over one windows in 1930's were 24 to 48 inches wide by 36 to 72 inches tall. I think the window is 72 inches tall, width is yet to be determined.

I received Billy's original press photo with the writeup glued on the back. Obviously the image is more crisp which may help determine colors. I plan on having it framed and placed/hung near to where Billy will be displayed.

Thank you for following along, Steve. As for as the colors for Billy, lots of dirty white! Nooo, not all will be dirty white, that goofy door is tan with unknown trim color (red, maybe?) and the large window may also be tan. That vertically sided addition at the bow might be a dirty yellow? Possibly some stained wood around the window at the rear of the pilothouse and black paint where needed. Billy may have been ugly but when modeled he might turn out to be a bit colorful.

Thank you and thank you for joining in, Glen.

That would make for a challenging build but the story is worth the telling, Paul. 👍

This is such an amazing build, Matthias. Truly inspirational.

Very nice light boards, Ilhan.

The Peg is looking fantastic, Bob. Congratulations on getting all the ratlines tied. 👍

She's a beauty, John. Great looking wheel. 👍

Welcome to MSW. Sternwheelers have almost zero rigging. Glad to have you aboard.

I love British canal boating. I'm subscribed to Cruising the Cut, it's one of my favs and David John is a hoot. Had I life to live over I would have emigrated to England long ago and found out what living is like aboard a narrow boat.

Great job, James. It looks just the ticket.

Geordie, I'm glad to have you along for the journey.

In doing research on canal boats for images that might suggest Engel's cruiser was a converted canal boat I came across this canal boat image. Looks pretty similar. The Erie Canal was an important part of American history yet very little of that history has been explored here in MSW. Hopefully someone becomes interested in that wonderful history and wants to model the great workboat subjects that ooze from the muddy banks of the Great Cut. I'd be that Huckleberry except my remaining time is too limited for an already full picnic basket. https://www.eriecanal.org/boats-2.html I think I'm going to model just Billy and not the barge and cruiser. I know that's telling just half the story but half the story is all that I'm really interested in and have time for.

Geordie, welcome to MSW. Good looking builds, glad to have you aboard.

Lynn, golf season is over. Time to get back to work on the Phantom.

Thank you, Phil. Never in Fulton's wildest nightmare would Billy have appeared.

Maybe, Bob. I thought it kinda looked like monkey rudders but I'm not sure. For me it's just one of the many curiosities I have in my collection of ugly sternwheelers. Oh my, Harvey.

Ken, I think Engel bought a couple of buildings and a chicken coop and cobbled them together on the main deck. Kind of a sternwheeler crazy quilt. The car ferry is just one of my many photos of ugly sternwheelers that was the closest one to grab and attach in answering John. It's not one I envision building but yes, what is going on with the wheels? It's gas powered but there are some extra large pieces at the stern of the wheels I'm unfamiliar with.

Thank you for the kind words, Ken.

Go Jays!

Oh how that rings so true these days.

I can only try.

I'm having a devil of a time trying to figure out Billy's dimensions, Billy looks like a M.C. Escher creation. Is that a 7 foot door with 3 foot transom window or a 8 foot door in total. If it's 8 feet in total the wheels are super tiny and Billy is only about 14 feet wide. The window size offers no relief. I'm thinkin' Peyote is the only cypher to Billy's dimensions. 1. Appears to be a handrail but I don't understand the why of it? 2. This almost looks like a companionway to below. If this wasn't how to get below maybe the handrail was at a companionway opening to below? 3. Billy had a flat nosed bow and AO had Billy pinned to the barge. There wasn't any cutting the barge loose to save Billy, wherever the barge went, Billy went. 4. There was a upsweep to the boiler deck from the bow to the stern. 5. There was a upsweep appearance to the wheels but I think that's just aesthetics as there isn't and structural strength provided, IMHO. 6. The engine was placed between the wheels and sat inline with the wheel shafts. Engel built Billy as a oneway ride down the Mississippi. Once Engel reached his destination Billy's traveling days would have come to an end, IMHO. Billy's wheels were so small (3 x 10 feet at most) I don't know if she could have made two knots on flat water towing that barge? No way was Billy coming back up the Mississippi with or without the barge! This means the engine could have come out of a scraped automobile or it could have been a salvaged gas powered marine engine, Scripps, Hall Scott, or other. I kinda like to think since Billy was a oneway ticket AO stuck a salvaged six cylinder automobile engine and transmission between the wheels doing away with the radiator and running straight Mississippi water through the water pump. I'll not be modeling an engine so one is free to use their imagination has to how Engel had Billy powered. 7. Exhaust

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