Keith Black

Congratulations, great build.

Same here because there's less chance of creating slack in the lines going from stern to bow, IMHO.

These days poly is the only way to fly. The one caveat is poly stretches but you can pre stretch to avoid the issue.

Sounds like something Mark Taylor would say.

Ilhan, glad to see you back working on the Loreley. Lovey work as always.

Thank you to everyone for the likes and for following along. Thank you, Glen. Thank you, Keith Thank you, Phil. Tom, thank you for having faith in these ole fingers. They're being tested on the Steam Donkey. Thank you, Gary. Thank you, Rick. Thank you, Brian. Today I started on the Donkey engine in earnest. As I mentioned in an earlier post the boiler is a bit oversized. I did so intentionally as the whole engine assembly needs to be oversized to give myself a legitimate chance of making the engine pieces. The frame rails are wider than the drawing to provide more glueing surface and measures 1.0 inches x 0.60 inches. I'm oversized approximately 0.15 inches in width and 0.30 in length. I got the frame, valve chest, cylinder, steam supply, and steam exhaust lines made today. The lines are 22 gauge brass wire, I'll leave the frame unpainted till the very end so as not to interfere with glueing. With the exception of the frame all the pieces need some attention; valve chest and cylinder both need to be cleaned up around where the wire is inserted and another coat of paint, the top of steam exhaust line needs to dressed and both lines need to be painted. This is a challenging/fun part of this build. It gets covered with the engine shed and depending on how well I do on the engine, either the shed doors will be wide open or just a crack. I attached the engine plan at the start of the log but have attached again here since we're at this stage of the build. It's pool league tomorrow so it'll be a couple of days before the next post. I want to thank each and everyone of you for inspiring me to put a shine on this ugly duck. Keith

Amazing work on the fairleads and thank you Roel for the shift information and the fairlead comparisons. Your experience brings this build log to life.

That turned out swell, Chris. No evidence of the issues encountered in post #49.

Fantastic work, Andy. Showing photos of the build coupled with photos of the restoration provides easier comprehension of the task at hand.

Bob, I can't believe how far you've gotten on this build in just 15 days and still have had time to do yard work. Have you given up sleeping? looking mighty peachy.

Thank you to all for stopping by and the likes. Thank you very much, Eric. Thank you and jump in, Tom........... and Ribbit. The pile driver and barge are finished with the exception of weathering. The last eight pieces of the tower fought me tooth and nail but stubbornness won the day. The fairleads were the last bits added to the barge. The next three photos show the wear board/plate added at the base of the tower throat thus saving the barge hull from damage. Now that the driver and barge are done I can move on to the Steam Donkey and the engine shed. Lots of micro building from here on out. Thank you to everyone for your support and for being part of the journey. Keith

Very nice, Bob! I hope you're not gonna let Pile paint.

Chris, I think it looks great. One side is going against the wall, who's gonna know?

Tom, it's good to see you making headway. IMHO rigging the bowsprit is the toughest part of rigging a ship.

That is absolutely hilarious.

Keith, my apologies. I thought we had clarified the bow issue in post #88 and #89.

Thank you to everyone for the likes and for the kind comments. The driver and barge are now permanently attached. The card represents the 16x20 engine shed and is placed where the shed will be located. As I'm trying to represent an early 1880's pile driver the tower stays are rigged with rope and bullseyes. The bullseyes measure 2.77mm. The loose lumber at the bow will be my pastels test piece when I reach that stage. The only items left for the tower are the side braces and once they're completed I'll be able to start on the Donkey. Thank you to everyone for your support and for following along. Keith

My thoughts exactly.

Drill baby drill.

I got it, it's the boom for holding the torpedo net!

Welcome to MSW. Glad to have you aboard.

Keith, it might be an old style blind-spot free (180 degrees) CCTV camera? The image below is current technology.

Rob, they're different animals in that I'm building a floating pile drive while the driver in the photo is a skid pile driver, note the log rollers under the tower base. It looks like they were putting in a very short dock to get above a mud flat. Skid drivers operate on a already existing dock working above the waterline. In the photo they didn't need a lot of height because there's no rising water, only mud. Floating drivers work from the bottom up and need the increased tower height because the logs used for piling had to be lifted higher up into the driver throat.

See the plan in post #138.

Rob, that's only a fifty foot tower. Pile drivers are ten feet between the deck and the second level/floor and eight feet between each successive level. The driver I'm modeling is 68 feet tall. The donkey in photo you referred to is a later improved version of the engine I'm building, it's a double cylinder, double drum engine with a larger boiler. The steam donkey engine I'm building is to the plan below. Truth be told, my boiler is tad taller that what the plan calls for.