leclaire

My first and most important wish is for this pandemic to go away. My second wish is if number 1 comes true that we all learn something from it and go forward with a better world.
 
Now if both of the above come true, my last wish is for a Byrnes sander. Got to add some greed in here somewhere.
 
Bob

My first and most important wish is for this pandemic to go away. My second wish is if number 1 comes true that we all learn something from it and go forward with a better world.
 
Now if both of the above come true, my last wish is for a Byrnes sander. Got to add some greed in here somewhere.
 
Bob

My first and most important wish is for this pandemic to go away. My second wish is if number 1 comes true that we all learn something from it and go forward with a better world.
 
Now if both of the above come true, my last wish is for a Byrnes sander. Got to add some greed in here somewhere.
 
Bob

Brian,
 
Your attention to detail is remarkable. I wish I had started this hobby many years ago so that my skills were at a level allowing me to produce your kind of work. At 77 the eyes and fingers don't work that way anymore even if the brain wishes differently. Keep up the great work.
 
Bob

Brian,
 
Your attention to detail is remarkable. I wish I had started this hobby many years ago so that my skills were at a level allowing me to produce your kind of work. At 77 the eyes and fingers don't work that way anymore even if the brain wishes differently. Keep up the great work.
 
Bob

Brian,
 
Your attention to detail is remarkable. I wish I had started this hobby many years ago so that my skills were at a level allowing me to produce your kind of work. At 77 the eyes and fingers don't work that way anymore even if the brain wishes differently. Keep up the great work.
 
Bob

Brian,
 
Your attention to detail is remarkable. I wish I had started this hobby many years ago so that my skills were at a level allowing me to produce your kind of work. At 77 the eyes and fingers don't work that way anymore even if the brain wishes differently. Keep up the great work.
 
Bob

Brian,
 
Your attention to detail is remarkable. I wish I had started this hobby many years ago so that my skills were at a level allowing me to produce your kind of work. At 77 the eyes and fingers don't work that way anymore even if the brain wishes differently. Keep up the great work.
 
Bob

Brian,
 
Your attention to detail is remarkable. I wish I had started this hobby many years ago so that my skills were at a level allowing me to produce your kind of work. At 77 the eyes and fingers don't work that way anymore even if the brain wishes differently. Keep up the great work.
 
Bob

Hello again everyone,
 
Progress has been a little slow for this update, my focus has been on projects around the house trying to get many of the outside things taken care of while the weather is nice and before it gets cold.
 
A couple of things that I did get accomplished were the cookstove and some of the lantern wiring. I am still shying away from the engines for some reason, mainly because I still haven't found enough photos of it to get a good representation of them. I had hoped that a friend of mine who was passing through Vicksburg a few days ago could have swung by and taken some pictures for me, but unfortunately the Cairo display and museum are still closed. So for now I'll work on other parts.
 
So on to the update.
 
Starting with the cookstove. This was just cobbled together with a few pieces of leftover wood sprues from a previous build (I throw away nothing). I then covered the whole thing in aluminum tape.
 
The basic form of the stove.

 
I then covered the box with aluminum tape and scribed the cook plates and top.

 
I then added then added the fire doors, hinges and handles.

 

 

 
Next I added additional features. Not sure what all these features are, they just added to detail.

 
Finally added the chimney flue. 

 
Once the assembly was complete, I gave it a coat of flat black.

 

 

 
Followed by a dry brushing of light gray paint for highlights and a final coat of clear satin lacquer.

 
 
After the stove was completed, I started work on running the wiring for the lanterns. This is some time consuming work, soldering all the connection points. I plan to install about 20 LED's to light major features that will be visible. Some will be disguised as lanterns, others will just be hidden to light other features such as the paddle wheel and engines (if I ever get them built). The central connection point will be hidden under the boiler and I haven't quite figured out where I'm going to put the battery compartment and toggle switch. I still have time though to figure that part out.
 

 

 
Well that's it for this round. I am going to continue with dressing in the wiring and getting them painted up as well as completing the smokestack for the stove. I think I'm also going to either get started with the cannon carriages or possibly the casemates. Haven't decided just yet. 
 
Until next time, thanks again for all of your encouraging comments and likes.
 
-Brian
 

Greeting everyone,
 
Small update this week. I managed to get the paddle wheel and pillow blocks completed this week.
 
Here is the wheel assembly painted.


 
Buckets cut, sanded drilled and stained. I used a mixture of Ipswich Pine and Golden Oak stains for these. I wanted something that would contrast the black ironwork of the wheel assembly, yet not blend in with the rest of the surrounding wood. 

 
First bucket going in.

 
More buckets being installed. I threw together a little jig to hold the assembly while I worked on it. This jig made it a little easier to rotate the wheel, and by inserting a scrap piece of wood between the spokes, kept it from rotating it while I was installing the buckets.



 
All of the buckets installed and assembly temp installed in the wheel housing.


 
Finally the strings holding the buckets have been trimmed up, a little dry brushing with some light gray to highlight the details of the rivets and a final coat of clear satin and the wheel assembly installed in place.

 
Then it was on to the assembly of the pillow blocks. This part was a piece of cake compared to the paddle wheel.


 
Pillow block installed.

 
Here is the wheel assembly sitting in the pillow blocks. I still need to make the pillow block caps, I'll have to hunt around for some pieces of brass or aluminum for this part. Something that is the correct width and thickness and will also bend around the shaft, but I'm sure I can come up with something.
 
 
 
I tried to research on how the buckets were attached to the wheel spokes but couldn't find a whole lot on it. Apparently iron paddle wheels were not the standard back in these days or my search methods were just not up to par. At first I was going to make some simulated iron stirrups to attach them with, but I wasn't sure if this was correct or not. So I went with my gut, and off of the reasoning that the builders of the St. Louis model may have used for theirs in that tying the buckets to the spokes made for ease of quickly changing damaged boards. After all, these were war vessels and I'm sure they took their fair share of damage and in the heat of battle they could not afford to be sitting in the open while maintenance was performed. That and a portion of the paddle wheels on these boats was not protected by the armor plating and could be susceptibly to a fair amount of damage during periods of heavy gun and cannon fire. Just my thoughts, and since there isn't a significant amount of documentation on these, I took my "builders liberties" with it. Also, I think the group building the St. Louis know what they are doing, so I'm going to go with their expertise.
 
That's all for this update. I think I am going try and revisit the engines this week and see what I can come up with. First go-round just didn't come out right. Hopefully this time will be better. Wish me luck.
 
As always, thanks for looking and all the likes and kind comments.
 
-Brian

That is a tough call.  If you dont get a response in your build log you may want
to reach out to some folks by PM and and ask them.  This is something we have been trying to improve but you must understand that with so many build logs.
 
Best to just ask one question at a time and not write really long posts.  Posing short questions are more likely to get a response
 
For me I know its tough to read every build log.  
 
Probably the most important thing is to mingle and also read, post and participate in the logs of others beyond just your own.  Folks are more likely to take an interest in you and reach out if you do the same.  A quick look at your history reveals that you only post in your own topics and never in those for others. 
 
This is a huge part of the issue.  I am sure it would be easier to get a response if you pose the question or have participated in the logs of others.  Especially those that are building the same kit or similar.  This is is best way to create a mentoring cross exchange of ideas.    
 
its not a one way street on any forum where one should expect members to flock to them without ever having taken the time to do the same on other members projects and topics.   As if it was a paid class or workshop.  This is just a community of mode builders where folks are having fun and making friends.  No paid teachers here.  
 
 
I hope this helps....If a member wont reach out to others they can hardly expect to get any traction and there is nothing any staff member can do to fix that!
 
So please try to participate in the logs and topics that are not your own as well.  Even if its to just say that others are doing a good job.  Probably the best advice I can give you.  That effort will pay off in multiples. 
 
These are just a few things I can suggest to you.  Ask yourself when was the last time you posted and took an interest in other projects outside of your own.  Just to say good work or ask how they are doing? We dont have paid mentors and those folks are very busy.  They have a many opportunities to help others but are most likely choosing to spend their time in logs where those folks also have shown an interest in their work.
 
Chuck
 
 

Here is some info on transverse chains from a talk at a NRG Conference in St. Louis, MO in 2013 presented by Jack Custer a noted expert on steamboats.  Jack was the Editor and Publisher of the Egregious Steamboat Journal.  The talk was on Steamboat Architecture.  A photo of the J.M. White is also included.  I think the drawings and photos were printed in the Egregious Steamboat Journal at some time.

Thanks a lot for posting the photo as I haven't come across it before. Well the possibilities are great and I'm sure these boats got remodeled with use just like the same racecar gets painted with different liveries. Anyway I'm just trying to build a boat that might have existed at the time and not anyone in particular. Thanks again!

Very well deserved, Eric. Nice to see your excellent work being recognized this way. I will most certainly buy a calendar.
 
Bob

Very well deserved, Eric. Nice to see your excellent work being recognized this way. I will most certainly buy a calendar.
 
Bob

Very well deserved, Eric. Nice to see your excellent work being recognized this way. I will most certainly buy a calendar.
 
Bob

Congratulations Eric.   I think this is the MSW equivalent of an Oscar.

Eric:
Feel even better about it because I had absolutely no input on the selected images so the model made it without my positive bias toward riverboats.
Kurt

Some really amazing news: the Arabia was chosen as a featured model in the NRG's 2021 calendar, now available in the NRG store. The timing of this announcement is particularly good as we just passed the anniversary of her sinking on September 5. Please go buy a calendar and support the NRG! I still can't believe this was chosen.

I made a pair of rudders and some brass mounting pins on which i turned shoulders some the rudders would have a positive seat.

I got the planks for the paddlewheel done and mounted so that pretty much completes the wheel. I made the pillow blocks and mortised them into the cylinder timbers and attached them with bolts. The bolts will get washers in the final assembly

Hello again everyone,
 
I'm back from a much needed vacation. 
 
Not a whole lot was accomplished this time around, haven't had a lot of build time having to playing catch up at work but I did manage to get a few post-worthy things done.
 
So with my change of mind to go ahead and do some of the interior of the model, I got the bulkheads cleared out from the boiler hold. This was a task that I wish I had thought about prior to building the hull since it would have been much easier to do with all of the glued hull planks. However, I managed to get them removed without too much damage. 
 
Here the bulkheads are removed and I am going in with the sub framing for the boiler decking. I figured that since the next forward bulkhead was further forward then the boiler hold that I would also build out the forward coal bunkers as well.

 
Floor planking going in.

 
Floor planking completed and the curved hull planking going in.

 
Curved hull planking completed.

 
Forward coal bunkers trimmed out.

 
And finally the deck sanded down and the boiler hold trimmed out. I am going to simulate the port and starboard coal bunker doors as closed since I don't want to cut into the false keel boards. I'm too afraid this will weaken the hull if I cut into them too much. Besides, they will be in a location where they are not easily seen.

 
I had started cutting out the hatchways and realized that it is very difficult to keep the framing lines straight, so one of my next tasks is going to build a cradle for the hull to sit in so that I can keep everything lined up properly. I've seen this methods done on several builds and it seems to have helped those builds. We'll see how this goes.
 
Until next time. Thanks for looking and all of the likes.
 
-Brian

Vaddoc,
 
Thank you. The girls were tickled that they got to help, and the smiles on their faces was priceless. 
 
I chose basswood wood because I am familiar with it from many of the kits that I’ve built in the past. It’s rather inexpensive, it’s an easy wood to work with and cleans up nicely. Since most of this model is going to be painted I didn’t want to go with the more expensive alternatives. 
 
-Brian