Keith Black

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.

Thank you, Chris.

Thank you, Gary.

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.

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.

Thank you, John. 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

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.

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.

Thank you, Paul.

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.

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?

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.

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

Thank you, Jacques. This isn't a pretty vessel by any stretch of the imagination, this build is all about the warts. Thank you, John. It's difficult to get good realistic results at this scale, The engine room walls are only 1.2 x 2.0 inches. Actually I goofed on both the engine room and pilothouse sizes. As I look at the images of what I modeled the engine room should have only been 1.2 x 1.6 inches and the pilothouse .6 x .6 inches instead of .8 x .8 inches. Though the larger size does make it a bit easier to model. Thank you, John.

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

Thank you to everyone for the comments and likes. Between doctors, caregiving, and getting the yard and house ready for the 4th there's been little time to work on the model. Some good progress and some not so good progress. Say bye to the searchlight, stupid thing looks like those old loudspeakers that were carried on top of trucks in the 30's. The searchlight housing is a bell I received with the crown broken off. I tried adding a one hole stanchion top but that made it too long. i'll remove and rework, we'll see what I can come up with. I'm happy with the hose and steam gun made from 24 gauge annealed wire. The cut off pipe that holds the steam gun handle and light board lamps are made from the same jewelry findings. The fore lamp is okay, it's one of those it is what it is items. I am not happy with the ships bell. It was the smallest bell I could order (I ordered two) and both came with the crown opening filled. I tried to drill out the hole but couldn't as the hole is a .015 inch opening and my tiny drills were not up to the task. As a work around I made a hole in a pice of wood that the crown would fit in and glued the crown into the hole. it works but it doesn't look near as elegant as it would have had the crown had a hole. The more I look at it the more I want to rip it off as well. That's another "we'll see" item......sigh. I'm pleased with the "bite" out of the starboard side roof, by the size and shape, I assume was made with a miss aimed bucket loader. I think the enclosed area on the port side wall was for isolating and running a gas engine to run a electrical generator. I know that they had to have a generator because of the lights but there were also water pump/pumps and the furnace's automatic coal feeder. If there was more space and there wasn't an open flame (the furnace) I'd say they were all belt driven by a single gas engine so I'm thinking electrical motors would make more sense. If the enclosure did in fact house a gas motor they would have wanted to put that behind a closed door away from the furnace. If you look at the original photo above, in front of the cut off pipe holding the steam gun there are what appear to be old fashioned gas cans (?) and that's as far away from the furnace as you can get on this tub. Only after I'm happy with the alterations will I weather the engine room. The pilothouse is not yet glued to the engine room roof. After the engine room is finished I'll start building the hull as there are items inside the engine room that need to get made and installed. Thank you to all for your support and for following along. Keith