leclaire

Brian, a good start. If your craftsmanship on this project is anyway near as good as your Chaperon, it will turn out great.
 
Bob

Fantastic job Eric. I guess I had forgotten how long you have been working on the Arabia, even though I have followed your progress from the beginning. The old saying about how time flies when you are having fun surly applies in this case. Can't wait to see what you have on tap for your next project.
 
Bob

Hello everyone,
 
I know we may have beat this horse to death, but the subject has been on my mind and I wanted to throw this out there to any future City Class Iron Clad builders. As Roger stated before, the plans that I have are wrong. With that being said, here is what I discovered after reviewing my source material. The Bob Hill plans are the ones that are wrong. His plans plans have the chine turning into the outboard keels and terminating a couple of feet forward of the stern post. This is the way that I built my model the first time around. I used these plans since they were a lot clearer than the HSR plans. I didn't think to do a side by side comparison of them, taking for granted that I thought the Bob Hill plans were correct.
 
Bob Hill Plans.

 
The drawings in the HSR are correct where they have the chine turning into the outboard keels and terminating at the stern post.

 
There are several other noticeable differences that I have discovered as well between the two plans and now I am going back and making several adjustments to my build because of them. I'll point them out in later posts. But, since this was on my mind I figured I'd post it now. I have still not gone back and looked at the step-by-step documentation the USS St. Louis build to see if they pointed this issue out, so if anyone else has looked and found that they have mentioned it, then please forgive my duplication of info.
 
-Brian

Fantastic job Eric. I guess I had forgotten how long you have been working on the Arabia, even though I have followed your progress from the beginning. The old saying about how time flies when you are having fun surly applies in this case. Can't wait to see what you have on tap for your next project.
 
Bob

Fantastic job Eric. I guess I had forgotten how long you have been working on the Arabia, even though I have followed your progress from the beginning. The old saying about how time flies when you are having fun surly applies in this case. Can't wait to see what you have on tap for your next project.
 
Bob

I've enjoyed intermittently following this fantastic build.  Really impressed by the level of thought and research you put into the project.  You were not just building a model, but really trying to understand how it all worked and how the original builders approached construction.  Well done.

Fantastic job Eric. I guess I had forgotten how long you have been working on the Arabia, even though I have followed your progress from the beginning. The old saying about how time flies when you are having fun surly applies in this case. Can't wait to see what you have on tap for your next project.
 
Bob

Fantastic job Eric. I guess I had forgotten how long you have been working on the Arabia, even though I have followed your progress from the beginning. The old saying about how time flies when you are having fun surly applies in this case. Can't wait to see what you have on tap for your next project.
 
Bob

I took advantage of a cloudy afternoon to take a break from regular work and do a quick photo shoot on my porch, using my phone with a few rumpled sheets as backdrops. May try to do a nicer job someday but the model's not going anywhere and this let me feel a sense of closure. It was pretty windy and you'll see the flag changing positions!
 
First, a few overhead shots:
 



Stern views:
 


Bow views:
 


Side views:


Overall views:
 



Painting for comparison with the last view:

Thanks for everything.

I finally got an updated (larger) stencil from the neighbor teen and relettered the wheel housing. I like this much better:

Compare with the earlier, too-small version:
 

And with that, she's done. Next post will feature some final shots. Wow. I'm having a hard time adjusting to this, after 2 years and 8 months, the longest I've worked on any model project.
 
I can't emphasize enough how important all of you have been, through likes, comments, suggestions, criticisms, and support. Even when I didn't take your advice, I listened to it and learned from it. You've helped me create something pretty special to me, and maybe to others if I ever get to display it somewhere other than my quarantined rural farmstead.
 
Thank you.
 

Hello Everyone,
 
It's been a little hectic over here since my last update. With the warm weather we had several of our goats give birth within a few days of each other, so time has been split between nursing kids and my build.
 
I did manage to make some progress on my Cairo though (along with a lot of sawdust) and her hull is finally starting to take shape.
 
 
I cut out the filler blocks for the bow and stern sections and got them all temp installed into place.

 
I then used my template to mark the hull outlines on top and bottom.

 
This is where a lot of sawdust was generated. The filler blocks were cut down and glued into place. Then they were shaped to the contour of the hull with the sander.



 
Next, I installed the center keel and stempost.



 
Next, I started planking the hull bottom on both sides of the center keel between the port and starboard keels.

 
I finished up with the center planking and then installed the port and starboard keels. I also installed the display mount blocks. Since this is a rather wide ship, I decided to go with four mount points to give it a better stance for stability. Not to mention that with all of this wood, this is going to be a fairly heavy model and I definitely don't want to risk any damage to it by scrimping on the display.

 
Once I had started the center keel hull planking, I noticed that the port and starboard false keels had developed a slight curve to them beginning just past the end of the center keel. Rather than just trust the CA to hold everything in place, I decided to drill and install trenails along the false keel to add extra support. I also temp installed a piece of 1/8" plywood between the keels to keep them straight until the bottom hull planking was done. Just to be sure that everything stays straight.

 

 
From here I will work on planking the rest of the hull bottom. As you can see from the above picture I have some of it in place on the starboard side. This week I will try to finish up on it and get it all sanded flush with the edge of the hull sides, then hopefully start planking the hull sides.
 
Until the next update, thank you all for looking and for all of the likes.
 
- Brian
 

Hello again everyone,
 
I managed to make a little progress over the week, but not a whole lot. My main hold up was waiting on my hull planking and other wood products to arrive. Fortunately, they arrived just before I sat down to type this up, so I am good to go.
 
So here is what I was able to get done since last time.
 
All bulkheads were squared up and glued in place.

 
Then I cut out the pieces that will form the back side of the center hull, just in front of the paddle wheel. Not sure of what you would call this section, but it is where the rear pontoons begin. These will provide a mounting brace for the planking that curves up from the bottom of the hull.



 
Planking this rounded section of the hull. I had to give each of these planks a slight taper on the insides so they would fit together nice and snug. 


All the planks in place. I see now that I may need to up my magnification on my glasses. Some of my nail holes aren't all in line with each other. Thankfully this will be on the bottom and not seen. 

 
Next I printed out the Hurricane Deck plans and pinned them in place to use as a guide to help true up all of the bulkheads and to make sure they are all the correct width.



 
From here I will get the bulkheads sized to the template and start putting in my filler blocks and shaping the hull. Things should move along a little better now that I have some material to work with.
 
That's all for now. Thank you all for looking and for all the likes.
 
- Brian

Port rigging is done:

Bow view:

I added a few final details. For example, there should be a series of posts hung from the sides to protect the vessel. These are similar in function to the tires commonly used by more modern tugs and other vessels. It was common on more busy waterfronts (like St. Louis) for steamboats to line up shoulder-to-shoulder, making these barriers necessary. Photos show a variety of setups, from posts integrated into the hull to those hung loosely from lines. I opted for the latter; you can see the lines tied off to structural posts if you look closely. A spot of glue at the lower end of each post holds it in place as these aren't dense enough to hang right on their own.

For example, here's a view of the St. Louis levee in 1852 from the Steamboat Times website:
 

For the final detail, I added a flagpole and flag to the sternmost part of the hurricane deck, rigging it using a small block. This is the 31-star flag used from 1851 to 1858, following the admission of California to the Union. As Arabia was built in 1853 and sank in 1856, the choice of flag was clear. I printed it on bond paper as a single front-and-back image that could be folded over itself with glue between. I did this with a line carefully inserted along the seam, then rubbed some grey pastel on to dull the paper. I think it has a good texture, and between the weight of the paper and the glue, it takes and holds a decent wavy bend. Notice MSW on the laptop in my home office, set in the opposite corner of our small living room from my workbench.

Here's the contemporary drawing I based the flagpole on, from the UW steamboat photo database:

Those are all the final details, save one: I want to redo the lettering on the wheelhouse. Something had been bugging me about it, and I finally realized that it came out smaller than I intended. I compared the 3D-printed stencil with my initial paper test print and found that the stencil was quite a bit smaller than it was supposed to be. Can't believe I didn't notice up front. Somehow the design shrank in the transfer from my graphics program to the file used for printing. So I contacted the neighbor's teen again and he's going to ensure that the final design is scaled properly before printing a new one. So once I get my hands on that, I'll paint over the original lettering and redo it. Then she'll be done.
 
This might take until next week, so not sure when I'll do a final photo shoot. I want to do one here under the right outdoor lighting conditions (not too sunny) and I also want to take a walkaround video. My final goal is to take the model down to the Missouri River and do a photo shoot with her natural habitat in the background. Also not sure when I'll get to that; the best place to do this is at a conservation area about 45 minutes from me. Stay tuned just a little bit longer. Thanks for all your support, comments, and likes.

Wonderful work on the Arabia Eric.  She's is looking very nice and I think your decision on the support base was a good one as the simple design keeps the viewer focused on the model itself.  I love all the cargo details and they provide an authentic atmosphere.  As John has stated above, I too appreciate your last post detailing the workings of the grasshopper poles.  I knew how they worked in theory, but couldn't envision how it was actually done.
 
Your log has been such an interesting read into the history of these riverboats.  I had no idea how many variations on the basic design were used for different river conditions - stern vs sidewheel and so on.  It's the history and story behind any given craft that brings a model of it to life.
 
Looking forward to the final photo shoot. 
 
Gary

Starboard rigging is done. This took quite a while, as there were so many details to work out regarding just how some of the lines should be run. I also had to make a lot of little rope coils.
 
Final arrangement of starboard yawl:

Final arrangement of starboard spar and grasshopper pole:
 

Below is a diagram showing how all the lines work. I thought this might be of interest since (a) they’re hard to follow in photos and (b) it might not be obvious to many folks. I can’t promise this arrangement is “right”, but it’s based on looking at lots of photos and working out for myself what might make sense operationally. Anyway, as already determined, there was no one way of doing almost anything on these boats, so there’s a lot of modeler’s discretion. Note that I added the capstan as well, which would be needed to operate many of these lines.
 

Green: Lines controlling the spar/boom. Adjusting these allows this to be raised, lowered, or swung. One line goes from the tip of the spar to each side of the superstructure, crossing in the middle. Note that the port spar isn’t fully rigged yet, so ignore the lines leading there as they’re not tightened or finalized. Red: Lines for a cargo hoist. Lower end is a dangling block with a cargo hook, currently hooked into a ring on the post closer to the central stairway. Took this idea from a drawing of the Far West and the previous discussion regarding having a way to move regular heavy loads around. This runs up to a block hung from the spar, then down to the cleat near the firewood pile. Can be run over to the capstan if needed. Yellow: Lines suspending the grasshopper pole from the regular spar. These let the grasshopper pole be raised or lowered while dangling from the spar. Runs from a cleat on the deck through several blocks. Should be used with the capstan. Blue: Lines allowing the boat to be hoisted over a bar using the grasshopper pole. Currently rigged from the capstan through a block on the deck, then up to the top of the grasshopper pole. When this is tightened, the whole boat can be lifted on that pole.  
I have this rigged with the grasshopper ready to deploy, hanging from the side. The lower end could be roped or chained in place; I liked the look of a chain. I found a note in Steamboats on the Western Rivers stating that the poles were "usually carried in an upright position on the main deck at either side just forward of the upper works", as done here.
 
Using the grasshopper system would involve the following steps. It's my impression that both grasshoppers were used simultaneously, presumably by wrapping both lines around the capstan, but I'm not 100% sure of this.
Swing the pole(s) over the side (green lines) if not already dangling there, as it is here Let pole(s) drop to river bottom (Ioosen yellow lines), presumably not very far if the bow is grounded on a sandbar Tighten blue lines using capstan. This hauls the whole bow upward since the pole(s) is(are) jammed into the river bottom Put engines on full forward, forcing the boat forward in a lurching up, sideways, down motion, like someone swinging over the top of crutches. Repeat as necessary until far enough over the bar that the engines can drive the boat forward. A given cycle might only move the boat forward a few feet and need to be repeated many times to get over a bar. Stow the pole(s) again by reversing steps 3-1.  
Steamboat hulls had to be very flexible for this to work; a hard keel like that on a sailing ship would snap during this operation, but the long steamboat hull could flex in multiple directions like a snake. This was one purpose of the iron hog chains running along and across the hull; these braced the hull and allowed for such flexing.
 
Steamboats on the Western Rivers also notes that one boat in 1867 had to set spars 132 times on a downriver voyage from Montana to Missouri, with the crew in a state of near-mutiny by the end. At least the Arabia had a steam capstan; before this development grasshoppering involved lots of crew turning the capstan by hand, rather dangerous given the huge tension on the lines.
 
 

Brian, a good start. If your craftsmanship on this project is anyway near as good as your Chaperon, it will turn out great.
 
Bob

Brian, a good start. If your craftsmanship on this project is anyway near as good as your Chaperon, it will turn out great.
 
Bob

Brian, a good start. If your craftsmanship on this project is anyway near as good as your Chaperon, it will turn out great.
 
Bob

Hello everyone,
 
…and so, it begins.
 
I am finally kicking things off on this build. First thing I did was scale up the Bob Hill plans to fit the 1:48 ratio and print them out. This put the overall length of the model at 43.75” with a beam of 13”. I managed to print out most of the plans to scale that I will be using. I wanted to take them to the local print shop and have them printed out, but unfortunately for me, the print shop wasn’t able to handle them on that large of a scale (drawbacks of living in a rural community). However, I did get them printed on my home printer. I think I came out cheaper, just a box of paper and a black ink cartridge. That, and a lot of tape to stick the pages together. Oh well, I now have scaled plans to work off of.
 
Here are the hull framing plans next to my Chaperon (same 1:48 scale) which is about 36” long.

 
Man this thing is going to be a big build. I am now beginning to wonder what I was thinking going with this scale. Eh, why not, it’ll all be worth it in the end.

 
As stated earlier, I am not going to bother with too many details on the interior of hull and hold of this model, since it is going to be a static display and fully enclosed. For the hull construction I am using the plank on bulkhead design, single planked in basswood. I used ¼” plywood for the bulkheads, cut to shape on my table saw. I notched each one out in three places for the three false keels to interlock with. These bulkheads were spaced about 1.75” apart, or approximately every fifth frame outlined on the plans. Right now, all are the same width, but I will cut them down to follow the taper of the bow and stern, but it was easier to cut them all the same size at first to get all the notches lined up.

 
Of the 22 bulkheads, 14 are the same width. I cut down the three stern and five bow bulkheads to follow the contour and taper of the hull.

 
 
Here are all of the bulkheads and false keels dry fit. I will go ahead and leave the bulkheads that extend across the paddle-wheel area between the aft pontoons until the hull planking is done. This way I won’t have to worry about keeping the aft end in line and even. Once the hull planking is on it should hold everything in place and I’ll remove the center of the bulkheads and install the cross-braces.

 
Everything seems to be pretty straight. Doesn’t look like I have any warping to contend with on the false keels. There are a few bulkheads that will need some adjusting, but all in all things look good so far.

 

 
So this is where I am at for now. I did place my order for the basswood planking and hopefully it should be here within the next few days. Right now, I am going to work on squaring up the bulkheads to the false keels and get them glued into place, then set the stringers to hold everything in line.
 
Oh, one last thing. As I do on all my builds, my signature. For no other reason other than I did it on my first build so I keep on doing it.

 
Thank you for looking.
-Brian

Hi all,
   It's been a while since any progress on the Philly, but the workshop is finally clean and organized... Mr. Snowball and The Nipster supervised, and then advised me to get back to work on the boat.


   I finished out the water as best I could, still have some delamination on the front but after sanding and polishing it's a lot less noticeable. Here's some pics as it stands now, and with the workshop revamp completed work on the boat will resume at a faster pace. Next will be re-attaching all the guns, deck stuff and other things removed to make the water pour easier. If I did it over again, I would have made the base much smaller and less complicated. Building it really set me back on the boat construction and made me lose my primal focus. As they say though, in for a penny, in for a pound...




 

Thank you all for the kind complements.  This was definitely one of the more fun builds that I have done. I know that the build is complete, but I wanted to put out a small update on the progress of my display. I haven't gotten around to making the case for it yet, but I have made some headway on the base. I wanted to go with an epoxy resin water base, but I just don't think that my talents are quite there yet. So I went with a base that would somewhat represent her in dry-dock on the ways. 
 
Right now the base is in the construction phase, but I'm getting there. Slow progress on it because I've been anxious to get started on my next build.

And here she is by the plans for my next build for size comparison (build log coming soon).

 
-Brian

Yes sir. About time I get my feet wet in the scratch build world.
 
City Class - USS Cairo. Coming soon. Just need to study up a little more on the plans and I'll start the build (and the build log).
 
-Brian

Hello All,
 
Well it's almost time to close the books on this build. I've just about done all that I can do to my Chaperon (aside from building her a case and installing those elusive stag horns on her bell). It's hard to believe that it has been 13 months and 24 days since I started this project. My how time has flown.
 
Before I do close this build log out, I wanted to throw out a real quick kit review. Please keep in mind that I am by no means a professional model builder, nor do I claim to be an expert on model kits or writing reviews. These are just my observations, opinions and views so please take all of this with a grain of salt.
 
 
All in all, Model Shipways has done a fantastic job with this kit. As with all model kits there are some areas of imperfection and room for improvement, but for the most part this one is a fantastic kit. I urge anyone that is into the steamboat era (or even those that are not) to check it out. It is a fun and rewarding build.
 
Pros:
First: Their packaging is minimal, no fancy boxes with graphics all over them, just a simple blue box with a picture of the completed model pasted to the top and one on the side for shelf identification. This helps keep the costs down and if you are like me, your're just going to toss the box once the model is complete anyway. All of the parts are packaged neatly for easy inventory and identification and the wood strips are individually wrapped according to their size (with the exception of the dowels, but those are easy to sort out). As for the materials and parts themselves, the kit was complete with no missing parts. Even if there were parts missing, Model Expo's customer service is spot on. A quick email to Ed and he'll have the parts on their way to you in no time.
 
Second: Right out of the box you can tell this is going to be a nice model. MS uses good quality wood for all of their kits. I built several kits that the supplied wood is just complete junk. It splinters easily or has to be sanded down to nothing to get a decent finish on it. MS uses good Basswod that requires minimal sanding to get a good finish on. Their laser cutting is precise and easy to remove the parts from their sheets and most of the char is minimal. A little light sanding cleans the parts up nicely and provides a good bonding surface.
 
Third: The instructions and plans were clear and easy to understand. These coupled with Kurt's build article (which I have to say is well worth the price) will help make this an almost effortless build, especially if you are going to build it straight out of the box. If you decide to go the route I took and "dress" it up a bit, well then that takes a little more effort. I only wish that the overall plan sheet was to scale. This would make it easier to get the correct placement of some of the features. This is only a minor thing and nothing that warrants putting in the Cons section.

Fourth: It's easy to tell that a lot of research went into the plans for this kit. During my build I studied numerous pictures of the actual Chaperon and many of the "out of the box" details are spot on (kudos to you Bob Crane). As with all my models, I put my own little spin on them to "personalize" them. And like Eric said in a previous post, I made this model my own. 
 
Fifth: As for the amount of material supplied with the kit, there is more than enough to complete everything with plenty left over to use on other builds. I don't believe that I ran short on anything. Many of the extra details that I added were built from leftover materials from previous builds. With the exception being the deck planking, but that was my choice, so thats on me.
 
Cons (I hope you don't find these too petty, I just want to present my opinion on these) :
First: I know I've said it many times throughout this build, I am not a fan of the brittania pieces. I know that it is a safer (lead free) alternative to pewter and it is probably used to keep the costs down for production and the consumer, but surely there is a better alternative out there (or at least update the molding process). The capstan was totally out of round, and no amount of adjustment could be made to make it look right without reducing the scale. The lifeboats will do for what they are.  With a little effort you can doctor these up and make them look fairly nice. And the steam whistle, pretty much useless.  Not realistic looking at all. However, nothing a little scratchbuilding on my part couldn't remedy.
 
Secondly: The finger joints on the Main and Boiler deck sections are one of the biggest distractions. I know this was done due to packaging limitations, but with the prescibed deck board lines this a drawback. One simple soultion could be to prescibe the individual deck board lengths so that the finger joints are not quite as obvious. Since I went ahead and planked mine, this wasn't a huge issue and if you paint the deck as was on the original boat then these are a little easier to hide. Fortunately MS did put the joints in somewhat inconspicuous places so they are not that easily seen.
 
Third: The PE turnbuckles were flat and not very realistic. No too much to say about these, other than these unused parts will sit in my parts box and maybe get used for some other project. Good thing was that I got to hone my metal working skills scratch building more realistic looking ones.
 
Fourth: The missing Hog Chain posts on the Main deck up by the boilers. This is a minor detail, but one that could be remedied easily by adding the parts to the kit. There is more than enough room on the parts sheets to add these without having to add additional plywood sets. This is just a small detail, and to be honest, if it were not for Kurt mentioning it in his build article, I might have completed the model without ever knowing they were missing.
 
 
For my build I decided to create several fetures to add to the detail and realism of the model. While my build is not museum quality, I am extremely happy with the end result. I can understand that no (affordable) kit can have every detail on it, and given the amount of chanages this boat went through over her career, it would be next to impossible to have a kit that fit every detail into it. So it is left up to the builder to add as much, or as little to it as they want, but that is what makes this hobby so enjoyable.  
 
I also want to thank everyone for their guidance, input and commnets. Eric, Kurt and Roger, I can only hope to one day be half as knowledgeable as you guys on steamboats. All of your contributions to my build are greatly appreciated. Thanks to everyone that followed and visited my build and gave me a "Thumbs-up" on my progress.  (Geez, I'm starting to sound like I'm accepting an Oscar or something).
 
 
Anyway, here are some final pictures of my build (again, minus the stag horns and case).  I hope you enjoyed my build log as much as I enjoyed writing it.
 










Oh yeah, and one for fun.

I didn't want to actually see if she would float, so I had my daughter take a picture of it in front of my pond and Photoshop my arm out of it.
 
I'll Post some of these in the completed gallery and once I get the case built I may add a few more pictures.
 
-Brian

Steve, good eye and good question. Yes, I want them rigged vertically as if she's navigating in the middle-upper Missouri and needs them at a moment's notice. I think you're referring to the jackstaff (tall pole on the bow), and I agree that the rigging lines I have there there would get in the way of resting the grasshopper poles on those jackstaff crosspieces. But it seems that different boats stored their poles in different ways. Based on past discussions in this thread, the Ben Campbell seems to have rested them horizontally on crosspieces on the jackstaff, like this:
 

In this approach, you're right that any rigging on the jackstaff would get in the way. But the Mary McDonald didn't have a cross-wise brace on the jackstaff and had rigging lines running along it. Instead, she seemed to simply tilt the grasshopper poles back a bit and rest their ends on the deck. See below:
 


I'm not sure what she did if/when she needed to use the spars as loading cranes, maybe just set the grasshopper poles on the deck or something, or maybe they just swung out with the spar. But as I'm using the Mary McDonald as my closest reference, and I want the grasshoppers displayed deployed, I went with this arrangement.
 
One difference between these arrangements might be the area of operations. The higher up the Missouri you go, the less likely you're going to be handling heavy cargo with the spars and the more likely you're going to need the grasshoppers. In addition, the higher winds and less cover mean you need more rigging to support things like the jackstaff. So to me, the Mary McDonald looks like she's set up to be an upper-river boat emphasizing regular use of the grasshoppers, while the Campbell looks like it's mostly operating on the lower river and has grasshoppers stowed for occasional use. I want my Arabia to look more like the former, so will emphasize grasshoppers at the ready. This is all just my theory, but it seems plausible to me.
 

Eric, I take it that the grasshopper poles are going to be rigged in the ready position? You have some line on the bow pole(term ?) that would make it difficult to stow them (grasshopper poles ) on that cross brace. You would have to poke the end of the grasshopper between the line and the bow pole. Just wondering, your model looks great.
Steve