Keith Black

I wish you were too!

Regarding the steam engine. We know it was a non condensing steam engine because we see the exhaust being emitted directly into the atmosphere. We know it was vertical steam engine and not a horizontal engine. We know the height was no more than four feet high as the exhaust pipe from the engine can be seen through the engine room window viewed from the bow. If it was an expansion steam engine the exhaust would be water. The idea of a non condensing expanding engine is not a possibility according to what I've read and I've done a bunch of reading/research over the past two days trying to come up with an engine design I can make. The power of a two cylinder expanding engine was only suitable for a launch, so that eliminates a vertical two cylinder non condensing engine because of the lack of power and a vertical three cylinder non condensing engine also sounds like it wouldn't have also had the power to push barges. I did find a photo of a model of a vertical three cylinder non condensing reversing engine, see photo. They did make a special marine vertical four cylinder reversing non condensing steam engine but I can't find a model or better yet, historical photo of one.I did find a photo of a vertical four cylinder reciprocating (V-4) but that wouldn't work because there would have two exhaust pipes coming off the engine, not one. The vertical marine four cylinder reversing non condensing steam engine was powerful and smooth running engine. Because of the length of the drive shaft and the wheels being gear driven, minimizing the amount of vibration would have been a huge factor. What's a guy to do? The only thing I know to do is get creative and add a cylinder to the three cylinder engine shown. "Houston, disregard that last transmission" ....

Those are great looking figures, Steve.

Craig, John, thank you both so much for your kind comments. It's high praise coming from the builders of the beautiful Twilight and Klondike models.

Welcome to MSW. Do we need another....you bet! Glad to have you aboard.

Thank you to all for the comments and likes. Quick update... The knee braces and winches have been added and that completes the bow face except for the deckhand and he will be the last piece added to the model. With the exception of the water and steam pipes the boiler is done and glued in place Next on the list is the steam engine. Thank you for the support and for being part of the journey. Keith

I'm onboard for the journey, Giorgio.

Thank you, Keith. I just asked Mr Google how many homes in Britain are still heated with coal and the answer was 30,000. I then asked how many narrowboats and wide beam boats there are in Britain and the answer was 35,000. I watch several YouTube videos on canal boating and several use coal to heat their boats. I would think coal usage is declining but you and the canal boats seem to be hanging on.

I raise a glass.

What a drop dead gorgeous model, makes me wish I owned the real thing! What a cleaver way to hide the batteries, Craig. The model looks so real, it looks like one could step aboard and cast off for distant shores.

Thank you very much, Craig.

Crank up some Pink Floyd for Mrs Knocklouder and see how she likes them apples.

Nice tidy work, LJP. She's really looking sharp!

Thank you guys for your kind and informative comments and the likes. I appreciate your support so very much. The first time i saw the photos of this push boat I was smitten with the ugly, dirty, quirkiness of her but I had serious reservations when I started the build not knowing if I was going to be capable of doing her justice. It's only been in this last week that I've really warmed to the build as the work has finally developed a rhythm and flow and now I'm having a ton of fun, let the devil take the hind quarter. First off, I want to apologize for the following photos.......bad camera day. The steel plate is painted but not yet glued down. I looked at beads and a whole slew of other options for lightbulbs but nothing worked as well as the belaying pins. I did try filing and sanding the shape from egg to ball, they're now acceptable. I added coal to the coal crib and the auto stoker's conveyer belt. Coal has a slight gleam to it so I lightly patted poly on top of the coal to give it just a hint of shine. I also got the conveyer belt tail rigged through the blocks. The stern maintenance hatch is made and glued in place. The coal crib and stoker are glued to the steel plate but the boiler is not yet glued to the plate as I have more work to do on it which is next on the list. Thank you for following along and being part of the journey. Keith

The penguin looks good, Bob. 👍

A new post is alway a treat seeing more of your beautiful work, Paul.

Eric, thank you for sharing your insights.

Ken, thank you for the input. While railcars are supported at the ends, water's support is greatest in the middle of a sternwheeler's hull allowing the ends to sag. It's physics my wee brain at times has a hard time comprehending. Nautical engineering be hard.

Phil, thank you for your thoughts. I found the below link in unrelated research. https://nauticalarch.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/INA_42.1_v18_Press.pdf

As @mcb noted in post #31 there is evidence of hogging in the original photo. This towboat has 1930's technology so I assume it was built around 1935 but the deckhand is dressed in bluejeans, teeshirt, and baseball cap which didn't come into style until the late 40's early 50's. The quality of the photo and the deckhands dress suggest to me the photo was taken about 1955. That would mean the vessel had been in service for at least 20 years. In the below photo is what appears to be an anti-hogging system. A. Turnbuckle. B. Large Clevis joint. C. Eighteen inch support post were the pipe/rod passed through hole drilled a the top of the post. I assume the pipe/rod run below the waterline to the bottom of the hull. Whether this design was in place when the boat was built or after hogging stated to stop any further hogging is anyone's guess. It's not much of a system compared to the designs we see in other paddlewheel vessels. It's another quirky piece in a likewise quirky boat. Any thoughts are appreciated, thank you for following along, Keith

Thank you very much, Steve.

Thank you to everyone for the comments and likes. Page #3, post #68 helps to clarify my work in the below photos. The wheels are now permanently attached. What tedious work it was trying to replicate the piping used to keep the wheel shaft from moving side to side. I used 24 GA annealed wire to imitate the piping. The white thingies on top of the post are both working lights and stern lights. They're supposed to represent bare lightbulbs. Being fresh out of 1:120 scale lightbulbs I had to use belaying pins and paint accordingly. They are not glued in so I can change them out if I can come up with something that better resembles lightbulbs. It may require a trip to the basement and dig through Maggie's tubs of beads. Work can now start moving forward in earnest. They used a design to try and prevent hogging. It took me looking at the photos another hundred times () to realize what I was seeing. More on this in the next post. Thank you so much to everyone for your support. Keith

I can only sleep in four hour segments. I went to sleep at 8:30 last night and woke up at 12:30 AM. I went upstairs and worked till 3:30 AM, went back to sleep and was up at 7:30 so it was all good. The problem is if I stay up and work until those early morning hours I sleep in late and then I'm unable to take care of Maggie.

Thanks, Keith Thank you very much, Paul. Thank you, Bob. Guess who was working on their project at three this morning? Thank you, Rick. Thank you, Glen. Bless Rosanna's heart, I need to send her a big ole bag of Michigan corn silage. Thank you, John. I thought I did well on Lula's wheel so I was disappointed that the ugly duck's wheels didn't turn out better than they did. But they're now glued in place so all of that is in the rearview mirror.

Siggi, are you going to start working on the Tiger now or wait till the temperatures subside?