leclaire

I am back from attending to "other duties as assigned". The boilers took much longer than anticipated.
 
I did not have the exact measurements for the two Scotch boilers but comparable Ryan Brothers boats included 4' by 12' boilers, so that is what I used.  I used Marine Iron Works of Chicago advertisments as my guide. A scan from my original Catalog 18 follows.
 
My built boilers, located within the hull follow. The white markings on the deck are placements for the upcoming stationairies.

The steam lines from the steam drums to the main steam line will be added later.
 

I was not certain how the breeching connected between the two boilers as I was unable to find a photo.   Unlike the Western River boilers, Scotch boilers had flues beginning about halfway up the fireboxes. MIWC ads showed the lower part of the breeching was hinged for access.  I added the heat shields.
 
I will attempt the engines next.  

Hello again everyone,
 
I figured it was about time that I get another update out there since it has been a day or two since my last one.
 
I continued with work on the roof beams. I started with the area around the chimneys first, since there were so many pieces to fit together. The frames around the top of the flume were built first.

 
Then the frames for the funnels were built.

 
Once the whole section was assembled it was installed on the boat.

 
Next I built the hangers for the piping. These were made from 24ga wire for the hanger rods and some scrap 3/16" x 1/16" strips for the supports that I had. I used small beads to simulate the nuts on the ends of the rods and painted and stained everything up.

 
Then they were installed along the roof beams.

 
Next I moved on to the roof beams forward of the boilers. This area contained the access hatch for the pilot house. This was another area that was lost during the salvage, so I did the best that I could to truly represent the way that I though this might have been built up. The location of the hatch is shown on the HSR plans and I used one of the examples for the comings from one on the existing gun deck that survived.

 

 
Next it was on to constructing the skylight over the boiler. This was another area that did not survive the salvage. It was crushed when the mid-section of the ship collapsed in the cables when being moved to the barge so details are going to be pretty much left up to builders liberties. So what I did was follow the HSR plans that called for framing of 16 openings covered with a mesh screen that sat above the boilers, most likely to let out the excess heat and smoke. My take on this is that the funnels that sat just forward of the chimney could be turned into the wind to direct the airflow down into the boiler hold. The forced air from the funnels would flow through the boiler room, then up and out of the skylight. 
 
This is the template I used for the framing.

 
Frames constructed.

 
Mesh installed and then the whole assembly placed in the roof frames.

 
Then the remainder of the roof beams were installed.

 
 
 
Once I had the roof beams installed. I moved on the ships boats. These boat have taken on a life of their own and have been a very time consuming project. In one of my previous posts, I had shown that I had used the Model Shipways 5 3/16" lifeboat kits for these. Since these were the longest kits that I could find, they had to be modified and stretched to 6 3/16" to fit the proper scale of my build. I was having some difficulty trying to get the correct color schemes for these boats and I finally decided that I was going with a black hull with an off-white interior, to match the one shown in the only photo of the Cairo.
 
I had first started out with the plan to build all four boats covered, since there was very little detail on the boats. However the more I thought about it, the more I figured, I am going through all the trouble to try and get this build as accurate as possible, then why not show some of the detail in these boats. I then decided that I would do all of them uncovered with the interior details because I wasn't sure if I could get the look of the boat covers to look right. Finally, I went ahead and decided to go with two covered boats and two uncovered. My confidence level was not very high on simulating the tarps, but how am I ever going to learn how to do something if I don't try.
 
So here is my process for the boats.
 
I started with the covered boats first, since I was still researching the correct colors of the interior and of the oars. The boats were initially painted with the reddish-brown color, which I later on found to be incorrect, but since I was going to cover them, I figured there was no need to go back and paint them again.
Here is the construction of the covered boats.

 

 

 
To simulate the tarps, I first wrapped the boats in some press and seal I borrowed from the Admirals kitchen (with her permission of course). This would allow me to remove the tarp once it formed to the boat.

 
I then took an old pillowcase and wrapped that around the boat.

 
Then I applied several diluted coats of clear Elmer's glue to stiffen the fabric, then several coats of white acrylic paint.

 
Once the pain had dried, I removed the tarp from the boat, flattened it out and started installing the tie-down ropes. I also added some weathering to give a little bit of an aged look.

 
Back on the boat, I started securing the ropes and fitting the tarp back into place.
 

 

 
It was at this point, that I found that I was not happy with the way this was looking. Something seemed to be missing. When I was weathering the tarp, I tried simulating the seams of the canvas that would have been sewn together the make the cover and thought that this needed more. So I went back and tried it again.
 
Following the same procedure as before, this time I decided that the ropes needed to go completely around the boat.

 

 
 
This seemed to add a more realistic look to the way the covers fell over the sides of the boats and provided some separation of the cover sections.
So I tossed the original one and built two this way.

 
 
Then it was on to the open boats. I painted these with a white interior and gave them a bit of an aged, off-white look with some pastels.

 
I went ahead and stained the benches, since I had already built the floorboards and stained them and I wanted them to match.

 
Using all of the great input from everyone, I went ahead and finished out the oars. I used the same stain as the benches and floorboards to keep the colors consistent. I then used some small heat shrink to simulate the leather sleeves that protect the oars from wear in the oarlocks. 

 
I painted the handles black, only because I liked the look of the black with the stain.

 
Then the oars were bundled together.

 
Then lashed to the insides of the boats.

 
A shoring rope and tiller was added as well as some more weathering to the oarlocks.

 
And the second uncovered boat was completed.

 
All four boats complete.

 
All four boats on the ship, just to give an idea of what they will look like in place. They will actually rest in the davit supports slightly outboard of the current position now. Since the forward port boat will hang over the cutaway opening, I am thinking of showing this boat as in the process of being launched and sitting at the water level but still in the rigging. This will keep the boat from blocking the view of the interior and add a little action to the build. 

 
Lastly, I started playing around with the coloring and some of the weathering. I finally found a base color that I am happy with for the casemates. I mixed together black with a touch of white and raw umber. It gave me a nice looking dull gray that is not too light, yet not too dark either. I also played around with some weathering pastels, adding some rust to the railroad irons and armor plating. I also toned down the bright white of the port door interiors with pastels and added the inside straps and rivets. I cannot get the lighting right to do the pictures any justice, but from what I can see, I am liking the colors.

 

 
Well, that is all for this update. As always, thanks for stopping by and all the likes and kind comments.
 
-Brian

Well I have just taken delivery of a few different sizes of rope from the above mentioned firm and first impressions of it is that it looks superb.....far better than any other product I have used in the past....I live in good old blighty and within four to five days it had winged its way over the atlantic and landed on my doorstep.....awesome product, awesome service.....cheers ropes of scale...

Hi Lauren,
 
As another Navy vet from Iowa, welcome to MSW.
 
Bob

Hi Lauren,
 
As another Navy vet from Iowa, welcome to MSW.
 
Bob

A question Brian - how did you cut the slot in the toothpick to insert the paddle blade. Something that small would be a huge problem for my shaky hands.
 
Bob

I have nothing intelligent to add but feel the need to thank all the smarter people out loud for such a fascinating discussion. 

A question Brian - how did you cut the slot in the toothpick to insert the paddle blade. Something that small would be a huge problem for my shaky hands.
 
Bob

A question Brian - how did you cut the slot in the toothpick to insert the paddle blade. Something that small would be a huge problem for my shaky hands.
 
Bob

A question Brian - how did you cut the slot in the toothpick to insert the paddle blade. Something that small would be a huge problem for my shaky hands.
 
Bob

A question Brian - how did you cut the slot in the toothpick to insert the paddle blade. Something that small would be a huge problem for my shaky hands.
 
Bob

Just build a small bench to set behind the saw.  I'm constantly tipping my saw on edge to change blades.  I don't need more stuff attached to the unit.
Maury

Hi Pat,
 
Lighting issues aside, your model looks pretty darn good.
 
Bob

PILLAR DRILL : A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.
 
WIRE WHEEL : Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, 'Oh sh*t'
 
PLIERS : Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.
 
BELT SANDER : An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.
 
HACKSAW : One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle... It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
 
MOLE GRIPS : Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
 
OXYACETYLENE TORCH : Used almost entirely for  setting on fire various flammable objects in your workshop. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race..
 
HYDRAULIC JACK : Used for lowering a car to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.
 
BAND SAW : A large stationary power saw primarily used by most people  to cut good metal sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the bin after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.
 
TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST : A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.
 
PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER : Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to  butcher Phillips screw heads.
 
STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER : A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.
 
PRY BAR: See Screwdriver
 
HAMMER : Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent to the object we are trying to hit.
 
STANLEY  KNIFE : Used to open and slice through the contents of parcels delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.
 
ADJUSTABLE SPANNER aka "Another hammer", aka "the Swedish Nut Lathe", aka "Crescent Wrench".  Commonly used as one size fits all, usually results in rounding off nut heads before the use of pliers.  Will randomly adjust size between bolts, resulting in injury ,swearing and multiple threats to any inanimate objects within the immediate vicinity.
 
BASTARD TOOL : Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling  BASTARD at the top of your voice . It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.

There's been several builds using the Hahn method.  As for the scantlings... I don't think so.  For the most part, those of us who did a  Hahn build used his plans with minor mods as needed. 
 
I really don't see a problem doing one using the scantlings and the Hahn method.    His method was introduced to help make things "easier" for model builders, not to dictate style.

Thanks Jim! Brian welcome aboard!
 
The Oxide Red turned out much darker than I anticipated. It hides a lot of the hatch details.  I added a stained and roughed up rubbing strake.  One Thistle photo showed a second, much shorter strake on top of that strake.   Since this did not seem common, I omitted the second rubbing strake.

 
I will begin making machinery before I start the structures.  I will need the two Scotch marine boilers, boiler and auxiliary feed pumps, two hand pumps. a dynamo and two poppet engines.  I will probably do the pitmans and paddle wheel later, although I already have made  the pillow blocks.
 
LJP  

Hi All, 
 
The main deck planking is done, now is time to paint the deck oxide red.  The bow still needs two hawse holes for the anchor chains as Thistle had bent arm kedge anchors.  I did put a hatch there for access to the suspected chain locker/collision bulkhead.  When Thistle had one of  its literal run-ins with a rock that punched a hole in its bow, it was noted that the forward compartment filled but water did not reach the coal bunkers.  
 
I also need two hog chain holes.  In addition to the normal hog chains, Thistle had hog chains that seemed to run from the front of the boilers, through cutouts in the boiler room doors, and then into the hull by the main stairway.
 
Here is the planked main deck. The two oblong metal hatches in front of the boiler pit are the coal chutes, just like on the Paul L. . I also included two main hatches.  Lastly, I put a hatch in the engine room, not unlike the S. S. Moyie.   These latter three hatches, along with the one for the chain locker, are a best guess on my part as I have no Thistle photos to confirm what and where the hatches actually were.  
 

 

Thank you Keith.
 
That is a great question. From my research and reading, Cairo saw a lot of action in her one year of existence, but she also had a good bit of downtime. From the time Cdr. Selfridge took command of her though, she was on constant patrol until her sinking, so there is not much telling how much time they had to really square her away. Since the only known photo of her is the one that was taken shortly after she was launched, it would be next to impossible to tell what she looked like right before she went down. My best guess is that since the build of these boats was rushed, not a lot of time was given to her paint. Touchups could have been done during the couple of refits Cairo went through (additional railroad irons added to the forward casemates and the upgrades to the pilot house) but would she have had a fresh coat of paint added? No telling.
 
I want to try and add a bit of weathering to her without looking like she just slid down the ways, but not so much as for her to look like she's been on patrol for several years. I figured that she would have a bit of river grime on her from cannon ball splashes during her skirmishes and possibly a few battle scars, but not too much more. Some of the details of the weathering shown previously will be muted a bit, once I "fix" the pastels. I am still experimenting, so we'll see what comes out.
 
-Brian

Hi Kurt,
 
Thanks for the quick heads up on the Badger Anti-Fouling Red Oxide.  The colour I have is Model Expo's Hull Red.  If you can believe the laptop colours when you Google your Badger or Floquil paints, the Model Expo seems close to your Badger Oxide Red.  The Floquil seems a bit more brown but the swatch was very small and came from a colour chart. 
 
Your comments on steamboats and barns is really helpful.  I have no experience with steamboats but do have lots of Wisconsin experience with barns - having painted my uncles barns red in my very young years.  My memories may not be that accurate anymore but I want to say that barn red was not unlike railroad boxcar red.  
 
LJP

So often, in steamboats, the rule is "anything reasonable was probably done somewhere" (and sometimes unreasonable). I agree that the boiler and hurricane decks look like they have canvas, and it seems more likely that those weren't painted red, so a natural canvas color would seem appropriate there? With a dull red for the main deck as a contrast? In the absence of better evidence I'd say choose what looks attractive to you personally and what you can reasonably justify.

Hello again everyone,
 
Time again for another update. With the summer winding down and the weather cooling off, I have been busy with my "Honey Do" list but managed to find some time to put together a few more items on my build.
 
I finally finished getting all of the remaining cannons installed and rigged. The three forward cannons are complete with the exception of the rope coils. I managed to run out of rope with only a couple of feet needed to finish, but more is on the way.
 
Picture of one of the forward 42 pounders rigged and ready for install.

 
One of the starboard side 8" Smoothbores in place.

 
Here are a few pictures of the gundeck at eye-level showing powder barrels, munitions crates and the crews mess lockers.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Next I worked on the hog chains. For these I used brass wire for the chains themselves, styrene for the turnbuckles and copper sheeting for the cast caps. 
 
Up close picture of the actual hog chains. These took a little bit to figure out exactly how they were built. I had a few personal pictures from my last visit in 2014, but none with any real detail. I did try looking up some others on the internet, but the hog chains don't really seem to be an area of focus for visitors so the pictures are limited to long distance shots that I had to zoom way in on. Nevertheless, I think my interpretation of them is fairly close.

 
Here is the horizontal chain with the ends formed into the eyes.

 
 
Then it was time to test my metal working skills to see if I could solder the eyes to close them up without making a mess of things. Well, almost. Nothing a little drilling and filing can't fix.

 
There we go. They look a little better cleaned up.

 
Now to get them bent into shape. The forward chains are significantly shorter than the aft ones, due to their placement, so the angle on them was a bit more. Also, where the hog chains rest on the posts the iron was pounded flat to give it a better mounting surface. The green area drawn on the wire is where I flattened the brass to rest on the caps.

 
Both horizontal chains shaped and flattened.

 
Next came the cast caps. These were made from thin copper sheeting that I cut to size and scored along the folding edges to get the correct shape.

 

 
Then they were placed on the hog chain posts and glued to the horizontal chains.

 

 
From the pictures that I was able to find and zoom in on, it is difficult to tell if there were bolts that were inserted through the chains and cast caps into the tops of the posts. It would make sense for them to put something there to avoid the chains from slipping off, but since I was not able to find any pictures of the tops of the posts, I took my builders liberties and drilled them out and will place bolts in them.
 
Next work was done on the turnbuckles. Or at least that is what I think these are called. They are not built like regular turnbuckles but they look to function as a way to tighten the tension on the hog chains. These were built with the same brass wire and styrene plastic.

 
Partially assembled.

 
and temporarily installed.

 
Port side.

 
Starboard side.

 
 
Before I got too far ahead of myself, I remembered that I had not built the axle pillow block caps. So I figured that I had better get to these before they were buried and impossible to install. These I just carved out of a piece of square stock and sanded to shape.

 
Cut out and just needing a little finish sanding.

 
Sanded and painted. I use the gold beads to simulate the grease cups. With the small nail in the top, I think they look pretty convincing.

 
And all mounted in place.

 
Next came work on the pilot house. I was not actually ready for this part, but I was running some additional lights before I closed up the boiler for good (I ran all of my wiring to terminate under the boiler) and had the thought that it would be neat to put some LED's in the pilot house to give it a little additional detail. So, I decided to go ahead and get it built.
 
So to give a brief history on the pilot house. The original plans for these was a wooden octagonal substructure, 12" thick with 1.5" thick iron plates fastened to the frames for protection. After several men on the Louisville and St. Louis were injured or killed by flying shards of iron from direct hits on the pilot house during Battle of Fort Donelson, including Flag Officer Foote, Lieutenant Bryant (then commander of the Cairo) had some modifications done to the pilot house in order protect the crew from further injury. 
 
While Cairo was awaiting her next assignment, Lt. Bryant put her crew to work extending the front three panels of the pilot house. They added an additional 7.5" of timber to each panel and then reinforced the inside of the house with pine paneling. Additionally, 1/2" thick iron flaps were added to the ports as well to protect the pilots form enemy sniper fire. When these ports were closed, the pilots would have to navigate by squinting through a peephole drilled into the flaps that was about the diameter of a silver dollar. All in all, these modifications gave the pilot house its new unique shape.
 
So I started out by tracing the footprint of the pilot house from the HSR plans. I drew the footprint up on some card stock to use as a mounting and construction base. I over extended the lines to give me a cutting line for the toe boards, then glued the strips down for the toe boards.

 
Once the boards were all in place I removed the excess card stock to start going vertical. Once I had this part cut out I realized that my octagon shape was not uniform and that the sides of the pilot house extension weren't even.

 
So I went to the computer and dug out my trusty Visio program to get a perfect Octagon shape. Then with careful measurement, I added the extension to the octagon then sized everything to scale. This is the new result. Much more uniform.

 
First course of toe boards in place.

 
Then it was on to building the sides.

 
Five sides up and rivets installed. I simulated the rivets the same way that I did for the casemate armor.

 
Extension sided in place. These were added when the front three panels were beefed up to compensate for the new thickness.

 
All eight (actually ten) panels in place and the structure temp installed in it's home.

 
Next it was time to install the view ports. To give them some depth, I built up some wooden tunnels to simulate the 19.5" walls.

 

 

 
Next I started constructing the top. This was pretty much the only part of Cairo that was left exposed from the Yazoo River mud, so it had long rotted away by the time the pilot house was recovered in 1960. Without knowing exactly how this part was constructed, I used what information was available on the HSR and what Bob Hill had drafted up, and made my own version.
 
My thoughts were that for the most part, since the top of the pilot house was flat one can assume that the roof was as well. The drawings show the center of the octagon to be open with a wire mesh covering the opening. I can somewhat see where this could be the case in that since there was a entry hatch from the gun deck with a ladder to access the pilot house just forward of the boilers and the cook stove. Given the hatch placement, you would think that some of the heat from below would filter up to the pilot house. That as well as the entire structure being painted black would make for an almost unbearably hot place to be on sunny days, so they would have to have some sort of ventilation besides the portals. However, with an open top, that exposes the pilot and controls to rain and other elements, so there could have possibly been a cover that could be placed over the opening. This cover could have just fit down inside of the opening with a small lip around the edge to hold it in place. Handles could have been mounted to the cover to facilitate removal and installation. Somewhat like a manhole cover. So this is what I came up with.
 
The basic shape of the top.

 
Cutting out the center opening. I'll use this part as the cover.

 
Installing the wire mesh. I don't think that this served much of a purpose in the way of protection from arms, but it could prevent tree branches and the occasional bird from coming into the pilot house.

 
Installation of the port flap hinges and flaps. These I just made with styrene rods and sheets. I used foil tape again for the rivets.

 
I wanted to show some of the ports closed, for the details and to give somewhat of a peak at the small aperture the pilots had to peer through when they were closed. This is also the area where I placed the lanterns to light things up inside.

 
For the pine paneling on the interior, I printed some lines on cardstock and glued this to the inside of the pilot house. 

 
Lanterns installed. The extra cardstock under the lanterns is to cover the wiring. Very little of this will be seen, but I wanted to cover it up just in case the keen eye is able to spot it from the outside.

 
The completed structure temp installed.

 
Lastly was the construction of the access ladder.

 
This was another feature that was never recovered from the wreck and there is no mention of it in the HSR so I just went with a simple build of a round rung ladder that would allow the pilot access to his house.

 
Placed near it's location in relation to the hatch that will be built when the hurricane deck goes in.

 
Finally, I started work on the lifeboats. The City Class Ironclads each carried four of these. Unfortunately none of the ones from the Cairo are around anymore and it is hard to say if any were deployed during her sinking since she went down in 12 minutes. From my reading on the sinking, Commander Selfridge ran her ashore as soon as she was hit, where most of the men jumped from the boat and swam or simply jumped to the ground before she slipped off the bank and went under. It is most likely that the lifeboats broke loose over time and drifted downriver in the swift Yazoo River current or they simply rotted away in the their davits.
 
So since there were no surviving lifeboats to model them after, I relied on pictures of the Cairo as well as the other boats for the details. From the available pictures they look to be pretty standard in shape with a flat transom and from the measurements on the plans they are about 6.25" which scaled out at 1:48 would be about 25' long. Rather than scratch build four of these and run the risk of them all not coming out shaped the same, I cheated a bit and bought some Model Shipways kits instead. There was only one problem with this, the biggest MS kit is only 5.25" long. So I kit bashed the lifeboats and extended them the extra inch. For the most part I got the desired shape and length I was looking for.
 
Stretching the keel.

 
Keel stretched.

 
Planking going on.

 
And the finished result. 

 
I then gave it a shot of black paint and started to other three. I'll get them all built and painted before I build the interiors of them. I still haven't decided if I am going to cover them with tarps or not. I am still researching the techniques on how to simulate them and need to practice up since I've never done that before. I'll at least leave one uncovered to see the benches, oars and other details, just don't know about the rest. Once I have all four completed, I'll post more pictures.

 
Well, that is all for this update. Hope you all enjoyed it. Thank you all again for the likes, comments and just stopping by.
 
Until next time, take care and be safe.
 
-Brian

Is that the origin of "Doing a half fast job"? 😁 (Think about it.)

You might want to looks at Pan Pastels here: https://panpastel.com/products.html
 
They have an extensive palette and are easy to apply. Work on some practice pieces before you do Cairo to get a feel for applying these pastels. I like them, because you can top coat and the colors and distribution won't change. Almost like there is a glue involved.

Thanks for sharing Mark; possibly one of the very few good things to come from a drought.  Hopefully, someone will record it.
 
cheers
 
Pat

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-dakota-drought-exposes-130-year-old-shipwreck-abner-oneal/