Keith Black

Thank you to all for the likes. Thank you, Bob. I gave the Donkeyman jeans as they were invented in 1873 but bib overalls came on the scene much later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overalls Thank you, Peter. I wanted to make the flywheel with a built up outer edge but my hole chisels failed at the end of the making as they were tearing the card instead of punching through cleanly. Thank you, Ken. The links will be invaluable, thank you. Like Alice I expect this to be an amazing journey. Okay, now that I've got a Steam Donkey built, can we please talk feed water? I've a couple of questions that I don't have answers to so any help would be greatly appreciated. 1) Would the water available at the Brooklyn Navy Yards have been fit to be used to feed the boiler? 2) Would a hand pump have been sufficient to feed the boiler or would a tank have been necessary? 3) I'm assuming that if a hand pump was sufficient to feed the boiler that it would have been placed inside the engine shed to keep from freezing up on cold nights. is that a safe assumption? Thank you everyone for being part of the journey. Keith

Thank you to everyone for joining in and the likes. Thank you, Keith. The shed's rear and front doors will be open and there will be two windows on each side. I think there'll be enough light to be able to look inside the shed and see that there's a Donkey engine in there. I'm happy with some parts of the engine and not so happy with others. for sure, it can't be mistaken for anything else but a Steam Donkey. What a great series. No more daytime photo shoots, stupid camera. The Donkeyman is painted and attached. I wish it was logically possible to have painted him a color where he stood out more but the environment he would have worked in dictated the dark clothes colors. View of the flywheel. I'm very disappointed the way the flywheel turned out. Maybe I'll throw a shop rag over it. Thank you to everyone for your support, I am truly humbled. Keith

Tom, put a mirror on edge blocking the left side, allowing the right side to be reflected, voila!

You might try this guy. I bought my figures from Shapeways but they are his work. Shapeways didn't print anything themselves, they sold other peoples work via their site. Unfortunately Shapeways went bankrupt the first part of July. https://www.facebook.com/HOLDEN8702/ The lad in the back (our) right looks the part.

That's great stuff right there, Gary.

YouTube star, Derek Bieri. One of his favorite expressions is "feed her the onions", meaning, give it the gas. Funny guy and worth watching, IMHO. By the by, don't feed your donkey onions. Talk about not understanding why something doesn't turtle. The base rotated, the boom didn't have a counterbalance, it was stayed to the rotating base. How in the world was it pegged to Mother Earth that kept it upright when the boom was loaded? Unfortunately, I find very little information via Mr Google. I'm sure if I build one it'll become perfectly clear.

Thank you everybody for the likes and for following along. Keith, as much as I like ya, I don't trust your ability to come up with a plan to increase my modeling years. Besides, I've a long nap just up ahead. Tom, I normally get into my chair for the night between 11pm and 1am so stretching it out a couple of hours isn't a biggie though I will say, I slept most of yesterday. And no, Keith, it did not improve my looks any whatsoever! I feed the Donkey the onions. Let's see how many of you good folk get that reference. Thank you, Brian. God has truly blessed me with the health and eyesight that I have at age 77. First, I want apologize for the quality of the following photos. I think there's too much light coming in from the window which is counterintuitive? That or the camera, like all of us, has it's good days and bad days. I made the flywheel this morning, got it installed and painted and with that, the Donkey engine is done with the exception of loading the drum with line and installing the Donkeyman. I finally found his position from which to operate the engine and it's perfect! His left hand is on the control lever and he's gesturing caution with his right hand. Once he's painted he'll get attached and I can then permanently fix the engine to the barge deck. I've mentioned a long term project I have in mind that includes this pile driver and the future help boat/tug, Lula. Provided the Lord allows me the time, I want to build a dock diorama based on the Brooklyn Navy Yard location that consist of a finished dock with a wooden dock crane, warehouse fronts, and maybe a skid driver doing repair work. Another part of the diorama would be a new dock under construction that features this driver and the future help boat. Those early dock cranes fascinate the heck out me and I would love the opportunity to build one. The whole diorama project is something I hope I'm able to accomplish and would be a fitting project to end on. Launching of the USS Maine at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1889. This dock crane is very similar to the dock crane pictured next to the USS Tennessee in 1869. a Thank you to each of you for stopping by and being part of this journey. Keith

Beautiful work as always, Keith.

Thank you to all for the likes and for taking the time to follow along. Don't tarry. In my youth I had many bottle projects but as I remember the only momentum was downward. Too funny, Tom. Thank you, Bob. It is a joy when the work flows effortlessly and time ceases to exist. I said I'd have the engine finished by today, I worked till 3 AM this morning trying to get everything done but alas, not to be. I still have the flywheel to make. Flywheels are neat objects and some foundries made them works of art. As the left side of the engine is pretty boring I want to take my time and try to make a nice flywheel. The Steam Donkey isn't fixed to the deck so I can't spool up the drum with line, that will make a huge difference in appearance. It won't be hard to spool the drum as the drum shaft turns so it's just a matter of winding on line. As I said, the left side is pretty plain. Drive shaft less flywheel. The viewer has to imagine teeth on the drive gear and the drum's bull gear. i'm pretty cagey but I ain't that cagey. Close up photos are so critical but I look at it this way, there's lots of tooth for the pastels. Thank you to each of you for being part of this journey. Keith

Fantastic work, George. I work at 1:120 so I understand the issues you have working at 1:144. You did an excellent job selecting the blocks for their placement due to size.

Close up photos always show our errors. Sometimes i take close ups photos just for me where I can see what i need to work on. For a first layer i think it looks great, Simon.

Beautiful planking job, George.

Very nice, Tom.

Tom, looks like you 'nailed' it.

Rob, unfortunately Chris doesn't offer ship's boats in the scale and time period the Tennessee requires. Shapeways also offered figures in 1:120 scale. Other than Shapeways, I've been unable find another source for naval figures in 1:120 scale from the 1870 to 1890 time period.

I was going to purchase ship's boats from Shapeways, they offered exactly what i needed for the Tennessee. The boats were expensive but I thought they well worth the price because of the quality. Unfortunately Shapeways filed for bankruptcy this past July. Shapeways didn't print anything themselves, they offered items printed by independents that Shapeways then marketed on their web sight. This has left a void in the marketplace that as of now is going unfilled.

Bob, the waterline does look better. What color are your blocks?

Thank you to everyone for the likes. Thank you, Dan and Keith. When I picked up the wood from Dan I shared a vision that's a long term project. With a limited amount of time (a few more years, hopefully) I don't see duplicating pile drivers unless, maybe, once the main project is completed and I still have time I might consider building a skid driver as it would fit in with the overall scheme. Once this build is completed I'll share my vision with everyone. I added a flue damper, whistle, and pressure gauge. The figure next to the boiler shows how large the boiler actually is to scale while the US penny shows how small this is in real life. I think the cylinder is too large but that ship has sailed, it is what it is. I have the other components pretty mostly done and should have the engine completed by Sunday. Yesterday, I was sorting through my metal bits collected over the years and finding those bits that would work on the engine. My wee brain was working faster than my fingers could keep up and I found myself jumping from one piece to the next, It was counter productive but I felt good about the build, the ideas were flowing fast and I could clearly envision the necessary steps needed to make it all work. It was a fun day at the worktable. Thank you everyone for taking the time to follow along. Keith

Welcome to MSW. Glad to have you aboard.

They look like 0.042 inch deadeyes.

Bob, spiffy paint work!

Congratulations on getting the planking done, Simon.

A screwdriver, a couple of monkey wrenches, some gasket material, and a can of black paint would have fixed anything. Thank you, Tom. Thank you, Eberhard. In the next photo I post I'll add one of the figures next to the engine to give a better sense of size. Thank you, Pat. How the engine turns out will be the deciding factor on how much visibility inside the shed there'll be. If it turns out well I may get some pointers from Gay, @FriedClams to help me add one oil lamp light inside the shed. Of course if you add lighting inside the shed I'd want to add a bench, tools etc etc. The shed would then become the focal point of the project and I think I want to avoid that. IMHO a equal blend would serve the model best. Thank you to everyone for the likes and for following along. Keith

Congratulations, great build.

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