leclaire

Pleased with this! 

More bits and pieces 👍

Hello again everyone,
 
Time for another update. Things have slowed down a bit since the weather has turned nice. Lot's of projects around the the property that need tending to before the Texas summer heat sets in.
 
With this update I was able to finish work on the aft bulwarks. I fashioned these out of one piece of poplar and carved out the fairleads in pretty much the same way that I did the forward ones.
 
Roughed out shape and pinned to a board to make it easier to work with.

 
Fairleads starting to take shape.

 
Final shaping and sanding.

 
Bulwarks installed on the hull and rollers in place (I did go back and set that right pin flush. I just didn't notice it until after the picture was taken).

 
and the finished install.

 
 
 
 
Next it was on to the preheaters and some of the plumbing.
 
I built the preheaters the same way that I did the boilers. These were made from a 3/4" dowel that I wrapped with aluminum tape with imprinted rivets. These did not survive the salvage so it was pretty much guesswork as to how they actually looked. I used the example from Adam L. Kane's The Western River Steamboat book as my template for these features along with the plumbing diagram in the HSR.
 
The finished preheaters.

 
For the plumbing I used different size styrene rods. To shape them I held the rods over a soldering iron to soften them up. Then I just bent them to shape. I used small rings of heat shrink to simulate the fitting collars to give it a little extra detail.

 

 

 

 
Once these were all built up, they were installed. I temporarily installed a roof beam to line up the pipes where I will eventually place the pipe hangers.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Then it was on to the armor casemate plating on the port and starboard sides.
 
According to the HSR, the armor plating was not only on the side casemates, but also extended 55" down the hull to protect it below the waterline. I'm not sure why, but this lower armor did not make to the display in Vicksburg.
 
Marking the 55" line on the hull (this equated to 29mm)  below the knuckle.

 
Since the actual plates were shiplap, they did not butt up against each other and there was a slight gap in between each plate. I made up a little jig with a .5mm shim to give it the equal spacing.

 
Next it was on to the upper armor plates.

 
On the actual boat, the armor plates did not line up exactly with the gun ports so they placed a small filler piece on the sides of the gun port frame to give it full protection.

 

 
Once the plates were installed, I made up another jig to line up all of the bolt/rivet holes that held the plates in place.

 
Then it was time to experiment. I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to simulate the bolts/rivets until I got to playing around with the styrene on the plumbing. Before I used the soldering gun to soften the plastic I tried my heat gun. This spread the heat over too big of an area, but on my attempt I noticed that the heat gun made a nice mushroomed head on the end of the styrene rod. The light then came on and I though, hey what a perfect way to make rivet heads. So I proceeded to experiment with some smaller styrene rod. The bolts/rivets holding the plates in place were approximately 3/4" which translated to .040". So I drilled a piece of scrap wood with a .040" bit, placed a piece of styrene rod in the hole and heated the end of it. I experimented with several lengths extending out of the wood in order to get the right size head on the bolt/rivet and finally settled on the 1mm length. I think this worked perfectly.

 

 
Once I had found the length that I liked, it was on to filling all the holes.

 
Once the holes were all filled, I went back a trimmed them all to equal lengths. I glued a 1mm strip of scrap to each jaw of my flush cut pliers and trimmed the excess off of each rod.

 

 
 
Once they were all trimmed, next came the heat.

 
And viola, 540 bolts/rivets installed.

 
Once the starboard side was complete, it was on to the port side. This side was a little more challenging, since I had to cut out around the viewport.

 
Still no big deal, just a little extra patience and that side was done to.

 
Now all I have left is to mark and drill all the holes and finish this side.
 
 
 
Well, that is all for now. I'm going to finish up on the armor plating on the port side and start on the forward plates. 
 
Until next time, thank you all for looking, the kind comments and likes.
 
Stay safe and well.
 
-Brian

As a professional conservator I probably land on the more conservative side of this discussion.   Many of the materials being used today, especially on model ships, make me cringe.  The coatings, the glues, the plastics and display scenarios are all either not well vetted or are just what is practical (vs. ideal).   The worst are those that use really modern materials to provide an easier building experience.   There is no such thing as archival quality anything - given the right scenario all things will deteriorate.  This becomes even more complex as we combine many different materials into a compound object of organic and inorganic materials.    The best "archival" acrylic paints were never tested in combination with highly acidic woods - etc.   That paint may be red forever, but it may also end up as red flakes at the bottom of your display case...     Those decals and such will just be brown in 15 years, or worse will be brown on one side and white on the other.     Its very hard to predict how an object will age, but it is very easy to make the right decisions early and be knowledgable of inherent vice.     
 
All this to say that I cringe only because I know the time and care put into these objects, and its difficult not to get up on a soapbox every time I see something I know with absolute authority will not last.   We have to decide for ourselves, few will end up in a museum, and even fewer of us will have grandchildren who want these things laying around so I say enjoy what you are doing now, and forget the rest 🙃

I watched the entirety of your presentation last night Eric and thoroughly enjoyed it.  A nice overview of the subject and does what all successful lectures/talks do in that it stimulates the desire to learn more.  Your passion for the topic is palpable and the organization and pace of your presentation I thought was just excellent.  I also appreciate that you did not tip-toe around the catastrophic damage caused to the native tribes and environment by this activity.  I have attended more than one historical presentation where the speaker has cherry-picked information to give less than a complete account on the subject.  Great talk.
 
Thanks for sharing your presentation with us here on the MSW forum.
 
Gary

Hi Eric,
 
I just got through watching your riverboat presentation. It was fascinating and you did a great job. The moderator kind of summed it up for me at the end when he said that he felt like he had just read an entire book on the subject in just one hour. Unfortunately I was unable to stick around for the Q & A session but I plan on watching this again on the recording on the you tube channel.
 
Many thanks.
 
Bob

Hello again everyone.
 
Time for another quick update.
 
More progress was made this week on the some of the machinery and other deck features. I started this week off with the bilge pump. 
 
First I turned down the pump body.

 
Next I cut out the base and the brass features. These consisted of the pump tubes and flanges as well as the portion.

 
Piecing the lower portions together.

 
Next I cut out the center support and test fit it for alignment with the sucker rods.

 
The sucker rods were then installed, the pump body was shaped to receive the pump handle assembly.

 
Pump handle installed.

 
Then everything was put into place and glued together.

 
Finally a coat of black paint, some stain for the handle and the whole thing coated with satin varnish.

 
 
Next assembly was the capstan. Again, I turned the main body of the assembly down on the lathe.

 
Next I installed the drum "fins" of the capstan.

 

 
I placed the assembly back in the lathe to shape the drum.

 
Next I carved out the holes for the capstan bars, then assembled the bottom gear. This was done by using 1/16"x 1/16" styrene that I filed the grooves in. I then heated the gear then wrapped and glued it in place. The heating wasn't really necessary, I just didn't want to risk the plastic snapping and have to go back and refile all those teeth.

 
Then came the small drive gear. Same concept on the gear teeth, only I used a wooden bead for the base, filed the teeth then capped it off with a thin piece of scrap wood.

 

 
Then all the pieces painted black and varnished and temp installed in position.

 
Next on the assembly list were the interior walls that close off the engine room and provide a sound barrier. There is no documentation on this partition other than some of the lateral section drawings in the HSR. Most of this section was destroyed during the recovery when the cable slings cut through the hull and casemates. This is also the area where the "Doctor" pump was located. I'm guessing that when the lifting cable cut through, it ripped the "Doctor" from its mounts, it fell through the opening, then settled to the bottom of the river where it was buried in the mud and silt, never to be found. I figured that I would again take my builders liberties and add them since there seems to be some resemblance of them in the HSR.
 
The basic structures.

 

 
Door and lighting installed. I didn't take too many pictures of these since they were pretty much straight forward.

 
After creating a bunch of sawdust, I wanted to take a break from it and focus on more of the lighting and wiring. I didn't want to get too far ahead of myself and not have room enough to get my hands in the deck area to place the wiring and LED's.
 
Just a few quick shots of the wires being installed.

 
All of the LED's will be run with the red and white wiring and the supply wiring is the black and green.

 
At first I was going to keep all of the wiring confined to the boat, but I couldn't come up with a good way to store the battery and actuate the lighting like I did on my Chaperon. So instead I decided that I would have the switch and battery installed in the base. This way once I build the display case I would have to keep removing the glass to show the lighting. So I ran the wiring down to where one of the pedestal mounts will be. I will then hollow out the support and run the wires to a location yet to be determined on the base.

 
And here she is at night with a test of some of the lighting. There will be more lights installed, I just wanted to see what it looked like lit up at night.

 
 
And finally here is how she sits as of today, Still a long way to go, but she's coming along.

 
 
Now to a question for the experts. My next project is to work on getting some of the steam piping installed for the boilers, engines and "Doctor" pump. In the HSR there is a Propulsion System Schematic of how the steam lines are run, and I will do my best to somewhat replicate this (for what will be seen anyway). In the diagram it shows two pre-heaters in line with the "Doctor" pump and the engines. Since these were lost during the recovery as well, there is no documentation of these either, but I am going to represent them as best as I can. The crew building the St. Louis have a basic mock up of these in there build log photos and they show them mounted above the "Doctor" which is where I intend to place mine.

 
The questions that I have are this: Were these pre-heaters basically "mini boilers", whos primary use was to make sure that the main boilers didn't have to work as hard to create steam, but instead of a fire box to heat the cold river water they used steam from the engine exhaust? and were they pretty much built similar to the main boilers?
 
I have tried looking on the internet for info on them, but can't seem to find anything that helps. I have been diligently looking for a copy of Alan L. Bates: The Western Rivers Engineroom Cyclopedium, but so far no luck on that search either.
 
Anyhow, thank you all for stopping by and for the kind words and likes.
 
-Brian
 

Hi Eric,
 
I just got through watching your riverboat presentation. It was fascinating and you did a great job. The moderator kind of summed it up for me at the end when he said that he felt like he had just read an entire book on the subject in just one hour. Unfortunately I was unable to stick around for the Q & A session but I plan on watching this again on the recording on the you tube channel.
 
Many thanks.
 
Bob

Hi Eric,
 
I just got through watching your riverboat presentation. It was fascinating and you did a great job. The moderator kind of summed it up for me at the end when he said that he felt like he had just read an entire book on the subject in just one hour. Unfortunately I was unable to stick around for the Q & A session but I plan on watching this again on the recording on the you tube channel.
 
Many thanks.
 
Bob

Your comment re IP's made me scratch my head for a minute. Then it dawned on me that it been a little over 50 years since I got my butt chewed for having a couple of those on my uniform. Funny how I remembered that but can't seem to recall what I had for dinner last night.
 
Bob

Don't forget emery boards of various sizes for use in sanding. I get mine by raiding the admirals stash when she is not looking. 
 
Bob

Watched the whole presentation this evening. Very good and eloquent. Good to see another geologist at work here and putting the technological development into its socio-economic, cultural, resource geology and ecological context. Really appreciated it.

Hi Eric,
 
I just got through watching your riverboat presentation. It was fascinating and you did a great job. The moderator kind of summed it up for me at the end when he said that he felt like he had just read an entire book on the subject in just one hour. Unfortunately I was unable to stick around for the Q & A session but I plan on watching this again on the recording on the you tube channel.
 
Many thanks.
 
Bob

Hi Eric,
 
I just got through watching your riverboat presentation. It was fascinating and you did a great job. The moderator kind of summed it up for me at the end when he said that he felt like he had just read an entire book on the subject in just one hour. Unfortunately I was unable to stick around for the Q & A session but I plan on watching this again on the recording on the you tube channel.
 
Many thanks.
 
Bob

Hi Eric,
 
I just got through watching your riverboat presentation. It was fascinating and you did a great job. The moderator kind of summed it up for me at the end when he said that he felt like he had just read an entire book on the subject in just one hour. Unfortunately I was unable to stick around for the Q & A session but I plan on watching this again on the recording on the you tube channel.
 
Many thanks.
 
Bob

Eric, I am really looking forward to your presentation.
 
Bob

I expect that including the manual drafting phase in a build-log would be of great educational value to the "younger generation." Fifty years ago, "mechanical drawing" was a staple of most boy's high school education. Today, the average high school kid doesn't even know what a tee-square and triangle are, let alone a batten and ducks. CAD has its strengths, to be sure, but for model lofting, I've yet to see a time, or cost, advantage to CAD over old fashioned lofting on a drawing board. Perhaps many would enjoy seeing how easily it is done.

Mark - mission accomplished. That was definitely the look that I was going for. 
 
 
 
gak1965 - That is amazing. He definitely had a good run. I can only hope to last that long.
 
 
Keith - there seem to be an over abundance if mini builds with this one. A lot more that I had initially expected, but well worth it. It definitely breaks the build up and gives me a chance to clear my workbench every now and then. 
 
 
Eric - Thanks. The photos definitely help keep track of the process. If it weren't for those, I would most likely lose track of what and how I did it. The build log certainly helps.
 
 
MCB - I appreciate the compliment. It's almost a shame that most of these features will hidden inside and difficult to see. But, at least I'll have photographic evidence that they are there.
 
 
vaddoc - Thank you and happy to have you along on the Journey. Still a long ways to go, so kick back and enjoy the ride. I'll try to keep it as entertaining as possible.
 
-Brian

If I just look at the finished work, I'd swear you used cast iron for the engines and pump.   Incredible detail going on.

Greeting everyone,
 
Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.
 
I am back with another update on my build. I have not made much progress on the boat itself, but I have managed to get several interior pieces done in spite of not having electricity or water for four days due to the "Big Texas Freeze and Snow Storm". What an adventure that was.
 
Starting off, I finally managed to tackle the engines. This was one of the builds that I was dreading due to the fact that I just couldn't get my head around how to make them look somewhat realistic. The more I pondered them the more I finally came to the conclusion that for the most part not much of them will be seen and did my best to replicate what I though would be visible through the viewport. So this is is what I came up with.
 
Earlier in the build I had started the framework and pistons along with the pitman arm yoke. During the process if building them, I wasn't liking the scale and look of the yoke. That's when I sidelined them. I really didn't want to rebuild the entire thing, so I salvaged what I could and made some adjustments here and there.
 
The beginnings of the frames and pistons as well as version 1.0 of the yoke.
 

 

 

 
At this point is where started the revision. Unfortunately I didn't take very many pictures due to the fact that I wasn't really sure if I was going to use this version of them or not. But the more I worked on them, the better they started to look.
 
More pieces and parts added. Forgive me, but I am not up on the nomenclature of all the parts that make up the engines so for now pieces and parts will have to do. 

 
Again my aluminum tape came in handy to make the rivets along the sides of the yoke guides. I made a visit to the local Hobby Lobby and found all kinds of neat little wooden parts that were useful in the construction of the engines (and other parts). Some of these included miniature spools, wooden beads, and wooden discs. The rocker arms (best guess at what they are called) are the same aluminum strips that I used to form the rings on my paddlewheel.

 

 
Completed port engine, minus paint.

 
The finished product, port side. 

 
...and both engines completed. There are various linkages that still need to be fabricated, but I'll get to them when I am ready to install them and the paddle wheel

 
 
Next up were the foot lockers and ammo crates.
 
For the foot lockers, I just cut out a few blocks  and trimmed them with some 1/8"x1/16" basswood strips around the tops and 1/32"x3/16" strips on the ends to hide the grain of the blocks. I used some thin 1/8" wide brass strips for the hasps, then aged the brass with Brass Black and the wood with a mini torch. A light sanding and a coat of satin varnish, then fitted the handles made from standard tan rigging line and viola.

 

 
 
The ammo crates were constructed similarly to the foot lockers. I used some scrap Teak blocks that I had and trimmed the tops of these with 1/16"x1/16" basswood strips.

 

 

 
Next I added a divider in the middle and painted the bottoms black for depth.

 
 
Next was the fun part. There are four different types of cannons on board (not counting the deck Howitzer on the Hurricane deck). That means that there were four different sizes of cannon balls used. Well, it was easy to scale the 8" parrot rifle since the bore size is given in the name. 8" roughly converts to 4.2mm in 1:48th scale. However, how do you convert 42lbs, 32lbs and 30lbs into inches and then millimeters? Thank goodness for the internet. I'm not sure how I made it through High School and College without it, but is sure comes in handy nowadays. I found this most useful website in my research that all Civil War buffs should check out (if you don't already know about it). Civil War Artillery is a fascinating site, full of all sorts of facts and history on none other than Civil War Artillery. They even have a conversion table that converts the cannon ball poundage into its proper diameter (caliber). So according to their table the 42lb ammo is roughly 7" in diameter, converted to 1:48th is about 3.7mm. The 32lb ammo is roughly 6.4" and 3.4mm converted and the 30lb ammo is roughly 6.3" and 3.3mm converted.
 
Now where I am going with this is I needed to fill the ammo boxes with, what else, ammo. During my Hobby Lobby adventure, I found the bead section and it is full of potential "cannon ball" material. So with that being said I managed to find some black plastic beads that measured 4mm and 3.5mm. I figured that the differences between 3.7mm and 3.3mm was so negligible that 4mm and 3.5mm would suffice for what I needed, and the fact that there were no intermediate sizes, I made do with what they had. And with that, I stocked up the ammo crates. Another thought that I had was did they use different size crate for the different size ammo or did they go to that much expense? I went with the thought that they kept it simple, and had a one size fits all for the crates. That is why some of my crates look a little more like they are overflowing than the others. Again this is another feature that will mostly be hidden, but I still wanted to get it as accurate looking as possible.

 
 
Next piece was another one that I was somewhat dreading, but after I got started on it, it actually turned out to be a lot of fun to build. This was the "Doctor" pump or Auxiliary Engine. The original "Doctor" pump from the Cairo was lost during the salvage operation and there was no accurate documentation of it's actual construction. However there are tons of examples out there, I just stuck with the example given in the HSR. 
 
First step was the construction of the fly-wheel.

 

 

 
Next was the construction of the base, supports and top frame.

 

 

 

 

 
Then it was on to the various pump housings, push rods and linkage.

 

 

 
The valves I simulated with some small beads and wooden discs cut from the end of 1/4" mahogany dowels.

 
The pillow block oilers also made with small beads and brass nails.

 
More linkages and the flywheel brake installed.

 

 

 
Then everything was given a coat of black and clear satin for looks.

 

 
I still have a few more valves to add as well as the piping for the preheaters mounted on top and a few other details, but I'll get to those later. Some of the valves will require the pump to be in place due to the fact that I will have to drill a hole in the hull (yikes) for the fresh water intake.
 
So that is all for this update. I hope to have more next time. My plan is to work on the bilge pump and capstan, and hopefully of my cannon barrels come in soon, so I can get started installing them in the carriages and getting them rigged up.
 
Until next time, thank you all for stopping in and the likes and kind words.
 
-Brian

Eric, I am really looking forward to your presentation.
 
Bob

Eric, I am really looking forward to your presentation.
 
Bob

Anyone who followed this log might be interested in an upcoming talk I'll be giving:
 
 
 
Steamboats symbolize a historic era in Missouri River exploration, commerce and transportation. Missouri River steamboats evolved over time, becoming ever more adapted to the basin’s unique environment while simultaneously altering it, much like an invasive species introduced into a new ecosystem. In this presentation, Eric Reuter will use hand-made scale models of Missouri River steamboats and other vessels to discuss the linked history of steamboat development and environmental changes in the Missouri basin, drawing on his professional and personal interests in the links between geology, ecology, history, and land management.
 
Specific information, including how to watch, is available here. The time is 7 pm American Central time.
 

Searchlight, ladder soldered and some internal fitting out. All WIP.

Your comment re IP's made me scratch my head for a minute. Then it dawned on me that it been a little over 50 years since I got my butt chewed for having a couple of those on my uniform. Funny how I remembered that but can't seem to recall what I had for dinner last night.
 
Bob