Keith Black

A hearty welcome to MSW. Hopefully MSW and ship modeling allows you to stay a step ahead of those unwanted memories. Glad to have you aboard.

You're a breath of fresh air, Bob. You make it a joy to follow along, thank you.

Thank you, Bob. The water tank was a fun little element to make, in fact this whole project has been a kick. The RP Toolz Miter Cutter is a top notch tool and the cost of $124.94 including shipping is some of the best money I've ever spent. I can't believe how I've needlessly struggled all these years by not having the RP Cutter or a like kind razor cutter. RP's model is small, a mere 4.7 x 6 inches but it's heavy being all metal, no plastic. It is a joy to use and everyone here deserves owning the RP cutter or a version thereof. I sent the owner of UMM an email telling him how much I was impressed by the cutter and thanking him. I'm pretty hard to please but saying I'm pleased is an understatement.

Thank you to everyone for the kind comments and the likes. While waiting for shed materials and the cutting tool to arrive I built the water tank and stand and also added a ladder. The three water tank elements are attached to one another and stand alone but are not attached to the barge deck. The water tank assembly will be the last elements to be permanently attached. Thank you to all for following along. Keith

Those sails look super, Andrew.

Thank you, Brian. I've ordered the below product, I'll let everyone know know how it works out. If it doesn't I'll give Elmers a try. Thank you, Eric. I've ordered both the Vallejo Ferrari Red and the Apple Barrel Barn Red, the Apple Barrel Barn Red looks very close to the Vallejo Brown in the link you sent. When these two arrive I'll do test strips on the current test wall and post results. Thank you, mcb. I've probably overthought this way too much. Trying to determine not only a color but a hue from historical black and white photos is an exercise in futility, I think it's more of a best guess scenario. Example is the photo you sent. The engine shed on the right next to the rolling stock looks to be the same color and it does look to be a bit more red than brown.........maybe?? The engine shed on the left looks to be more brownish but that could be because of the direction of the sunlight? As far as weathering goes...... The model I've built represents a barge pile driver approximately two years old. Much older and the Steam Donkey would have been the improved dual cylinder, dual drum engine. One wouldn't expect to see flaking paint but one would expect to see rubbed, scrapped, and soot and mud dirty paint as the photo below suggest. I'll definitely give a review of the cutter once I've had a chance to put it to work. Thank you, David. The problem with mica or plastic is the scale/size. The window openings are 0.15 x 0.15 inches, that's so small to not only cut accurately but to then try to fit into the opening and then glue it in place. I tried some thin clear food container plastic that would be perfect if I could cut it accurately and then get it installed. I tried but my normal patience evaporated rather quickly. Thank you to everyone for the likes, comments, and taking the time to follow along. Keith

Michael, welcome to MSW. Hope your first build goes well. Glad to have you aboard.

Thank you, Glen. I think the Burnt Sienna is too orange? Is this more what you were thinking? Myself, I envision a more brownish red like the below.

Congratulations, the rigging is fantastic with great attention to detail. Very well done.

Thank you everyone for the comments, likes, and for being part of the journey. I've built a test shed wall to get an idea of what's going to be required to complete the shed. The wall is 1x2 inches representing a wall 10x20 feet. The color is Burnt Sienna, I'm trying replicate the old boxcar red of over a century ago and I'm not sure I've hit the mark. Any thoughts from you folks regarding the color would be greatly appreciated. I also need to be directed to where I can purchase liquid window glass, I tried finding a supplier without success, All of the sheds in the photos I've seen have horizontal siding some are shiplap siding and in others the boards are nailed edge to edge. Some had window trim and others did not. As I've gotten into this part of the project it's turned out to be more complicated than I had originally thought would be due to the scale. For all these years I've been freehand cutting small wood stock with an X-Acto chisel blade. Because I've not had more than a few pieces to cut I've fiddled making the ends square by sanding. The engine shed and future associated builds is going to require a lot of exact cut pieces and freehand cutting is out of the question. After seeing a favorable review on MSW I purchased this tool from Unique Master Models and is due to arrive this Saturday. Thank you so much for your support. keith

Welcome to MSW. Glad to have you aboard.

Thank you, Richard. Strictly wood piling, steel wasn't used till after 1900.

She's looking very nice, Bob. If they ever make speed modeling an Olympic event my money's on you.

Welcome to MSW. Glad to have you aboard.

Thank you for posting Ben's Birthday photo, Keith. He's a little treasure, God keep him well.

I'm sorry, I was confused and thought you had bought Mike's ship, see photo. Your tiller is a quandary, at least you have witness marks to help in trying to solve the mystery. It's meat you were able to track down a bit of her history.

Welcome to MSW. Glad to have you aboard. Current San Francisco build log.

I like Minwax Polyurethane and have used it for years. I recently tried Minwax Polycrylic hoping the flat finish type would be better suited for modeling. What little I've used it I'm not impressed. Poly provides great protection not so with polycrylic, IMHO. I'll be doing some testing shortly on sealing pastel weathering with polycrylic, hopefully I'll see better results.

If you bought the model then I don't understand the question "Hi, how is this project progressing?" as you would know better than anyone else. Having said the above, how is the model today, has all the restoration work been done? Current photos would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, Brian. This little project will hopefully become part of a larger project based around the Brooklyn Navy Yard. According to Ken, @Canute the water near the mouth of the East River would have been too brackish to have supplied water for the boiler. I dare say there's very little difference in the engine fundamentals between a Steam Donkey engine and boiler and the engines and boilers for steamboats. The only difference is the water, steamboats plied fresh water rivers while the barge in this build was towed/pushed around in brackish waters.

I think I remember this model coming up for sale on eBay?

Thank you so much everyone for the likes. Thank you, Pat. During the time period this model represents I think the manufactures were content with developing engine improvements with no thought toward efficiency. Thank you, Gary. My thought exactly regarding the weight distribution but had I been part of the design team I would have put freshwater tanks below the in the barge's deck which would have guaranteed an abundant water supply for the boilers and also would have provided ballast for a lower CG. Thank you to everyone for being part of the journey. Keith

Tom, I finally came across a good image of a US Continental Navy seaman's uniform. 1975 US stamp.

Paul, she's a sleek beast, looks like a wet greyhound.

John, were I you I'd have bought that the moment I saw it. For $7.66 (you spill more than that on a good night ) it's a steal. Yes, there's satisfaction in building something like the winch from scratch but..... if that Bluejacket piece comes close to working out it'll save you at least a weeks worth of work. And if nothing else you could rob it for pieces parts if you decide to build the winch from scratch. In that case buy two. I think that's an awesome find, I'd jump all over it. It doesn't appear the winch on the model in post #8 is close to being the correct winch? Who looks at that model and say's "well, nice model but that winch."