leclaire

I received my annual catalog from Model-Expo today and noticed several pages devoted to Disar Models. I guess what caught my eye was their Marieville Paddlewheel Steamer. Since I am working on the Chaperon at the moment and have been faithfully following the wonderful builds of Cairo, Arabia, etc., anything looking remotely like a river steamer is of immediate interest. I am also contemplating a scratch build of the Lone Star, an old sternwheel tow boat on the Mississippi.
 
I have not seen Disar Models advertised before and wondered if anyone has any knowledge or experience with this company. I sure hope this is not another pirated model issue. We have enough of that going on right now to suit me.
 
Bob

Thanks for the tip Paul on Ages of Sail. I'll keep that in mind in case I break my promise to myself not to buy another kit until I finish the ones I have. Any bets on how that will turn out?
 
Bob

Thanks for the tip Paul on Ages of Sail. I'll keep that in mind in case I break my promise to myself not to buy another kit until I finish the ones I have. Any bets on how that will turn out?
 
Bob

I received my annual catalog from Model-Expo today and noticed several pages devoted to Disar Models. I guess what caught my eye was their Marieville Paddlewheel Steamer. Since I am working on the Chaperon at the moment and have been faithfully following the wonderful builds of Cairo, Arabia, etc., anything looking remotely like a river steamer is of immediate interest. I am also contemplating a scratch build of the Lone Star, an old sternwheel tow boat on the Mississippi.
 
I have not seen Disar Models advertised before and wondered if anyone has any knowledge or experience with this company. I sure hope this is not another pirated model issue. We have enough of that going on right now to suit me.
 
Bob

Thanks for the tip Paul on Ages of Sail. I'll keep that in mind in case I break my promise to myself not to buy another kit until I finish the ones I have. Any bets on how that will turn out?
 
Bob

Thanks for the tip Paul on Ages of Sail. I'll keep that in mind in case I break my promise to myself not to buy another kit until I finish the ones I have. Any bets on how that will turn out?
 
Bob

Thanks for the tip Paul on Ages of Sail. I'll keep that in mind in case I break my promise to myself not to buy another kit until I finish the ones I have. Any bets on how that will turn out?
 
Bob

I received my annual catalog from Model-Expo today and noticed several pages devoted to Disar Models. I guess what caught my eye was their Marieville Paddlewheel Steamer. Since I am working on the Chaperon at the moment and have been faithfully following the wonderful builds of Cairo, Arabia, etc., anything looking remotely like a river steamer is of immediate interest. I am also contemplating a scratch build of the Lone Star, an old sternwheel tow boat on the Mississippi.
 
I have not seen Disar Models advertised before and wondered if anyone has any knowledge or experience with this company. I sure hope this is not another pirated model issue. We have enough of that going on right now to suit me.
 
Bob

I agree with Roger. Hard to believe you got such a realistic look with regular bond paper. Very nice indeed.
 
Bob

Excellent description of your work. The draped flag may be the best I’ve seen on the forum. Thanks for detailing the steps and also for attempting some of the suggested alternatives. I wholly concur with your final choice. It looks great on your model.

I'd say that the tribute this model represents far outweighs any fleeting disrespect. Especially in a country where outright abuse of the flag code (e.g. clothing) is rampant, especially and ironically among the most self-professed patriotic.
 
Brief rant aside, yet another seminar in modeling. I wonder if your methods for making such a lovely draped flag would be a good fit for a short article in the Nautical Research Journal? We so often see waving flags, so rarely draped ones.

@Roger Pellett, @leclaire, @wefalck, @Canute, @KeithAug, @mtaylor, @Keith Black Thank you all for your input and suggestions.
 
So I spent the evening playing around with different methods and here is what I came up with.
 
My second attempt was to try printing the flag on silkspan just to see if the ink would bleed. Turns out that the printer did a fantastic job on the silkspan and the lines came out nice an clean. I taped the silkspan to a piece of cardstock to hold it in place so it wouldn't crinkle up under the printer head.

Then I separated the printout from the cardstock and trimmed the edges after a bit of weathering. I wasn't too keen on the color of the white areas on the silkspan when I pulled it off the cardstock, it looked a little too gray, but when I folded it over the gray toned out a bit and it looked a little more white.

The silkspan that I had on hand was very thin, something left over from a balsa airplane I made years ago. But I figured I'd give it a shot, so I slathered some glue on the back side and folded it over to glue the two sides together. That is where I screwed it up. The glue thinned the silkspan down so much that it was next to impossible to work with and when I went to align the side it just smeared and ruined the whole piece. So on to the next method.

 
The next method I tried was @KeithAug suggestion to print the pattern on both sides of the paper and just make the flag a single layer. I printed out about five versions of it before I finally gave up. My poor cheapo printer just would not line the paper up when I would turn it over to print the other side. This was the closest I could get the sides to line up with each other.

I went ahead and gave it a shot anyway to see if I could distress it and get it lay the way I wanted to without using any glue. The distressing looked great, but the paper was just to flimsy to lay right. So I moved on to the next method. Parchment paper. Well needless to say, that method didn't work either, The parchment paper was too crinkly and when I went to shape it the wrinkles were just too unrealistic.
 
So finally I decided that I would make another attempt at distressing the printer paper like in my beta test. I liked the way this version looked aesthetically, I just wasn't happy with the way it was hanging on the halyard. As Eberhard pointed out, the angle was not natural, so I redid this method to place the header down the middle of the flag and have it hang more centered on the mast.
 
Here are all of the attempts I made, just to show the differences.
 
A. second version of distressed bond paper. I added a little more weathering than the beta version, but I liked the curl and hang a lot better.
B. The  beta test
C. The single layer
D. Parchment paper
E. Silkspan
 
Here is version A placed on the model. I like the way that it hangs and I think the weathered patina looks just right,

 
 

I found some pictures online of flags sitting on stages in flag stands to get the drape right, and used these to mold my shape. On the western rivers, there was always some sort of breeze, so the flag wouldn't be sitting perfectly still or hanging against the mast. So I took this into consideration and left the left the bottom of the ensign hanging slightly out from the mast, just to give it some "life". I think I am completely satisfied with this version, and now that I have beat this subject to death. time to move on to the pennant.
 
Thank you all so much for your valuable input and suggestions. It is greatly appreciated.
 
-Brian

I agree with Roger. Hard to believe you got such a realistic look with regular bond paper. Very nice indeed.
 
Bob

I agree with Roger. Hard to believe you got such a realistic look with regular bond paper. Very nice indeed.
 
Bob

I agree with Roger. Hard to believe you got such a realistic look with regular bond paper. Very nice indeed.
 
Bob

I agree with Roger. Hard to believe you got such a realistic look with regular bond paper. Very nice indeed.
 
Bob

I agree with Roger. Hard to believe you got such a realistic look with regular bond paper. Very nice indeed.
 
Bob

Brian I'm looking forward to seeing and learning from your flag experiments. I think it is time you stopped pretending this is your first scratch model, you are fooling no one😁.

Hello again everyone,
 
I took advantage of the cold rainy weekend and got some work done on the ships boats rigging. A big thank you to @wefalck@Cathead & @Keith Black for keeping me honest and pointed in the right direction. 
 
I spent some time studying the old City-Class pictures and from the limited detail the old photos provided, this is what I came up with for the control and stabilizing lines on the davits. The eyes at the end of each davit is hard to make out in the photographs so it is difficult to tell if the control lines and stabilizing lines are separate or one continuous line. I went with the executive decision to make them separate. My reasoning for this was that it would be easier to replace one shorter rope should it break than a long one, and I thought it looked better having them all separate. First thing I did was to secure the tackle to the davit on the covered boats. I did it this way out of sheer laziness, I didn't want to remove the boats and their covers and redo them with cutouts for the tackle to go down the lift rings on the boats. Not to mention that I have not been able to find a single photograph of a City-Class ship with a covered boat anywhere, to show how it was stowed.
 
Tackle secured to the davit.
.
 
Control lines and stabilizing lines in place on the starboard boats.

 

 

 
Control lines and stabilizing lines on the port boats.


 
Since I still had some time and it was still raining after finishing up the boats, I decided to do some touch ups and a bit more weathering. Here is some of what I got done.
 
Bow weathering.

Closer details.

 
Wheelhouse and deck structure weathering.

 
I still have a bit more weathering to go, I just wanted to get this out there before the Thanksgiving holiday, I am currently working on more weathering, as well as the ensign and the commissioning pennant. I have seen some models and pictures of another pennant flown from the center mast on some of these ships but I am not sure of what it is. It would be a neat addition, just not sure of it's authenticity.
 
 
 
I also need to find out if the commissioning pennant the Cairo flew was the 13 star or the 7 star version. Still looking into that one.
 
Thanks again for all your input and for stopping by,
 
-Brian
 

Hello again Everyone,
 
I just realized that it has been a while since I posted a proper update on the Cairo build. Well, hopefully I don't disappoint too much because not a lot has been done. The nice cooler weather has kept me outside taking care of those much needed projects that were not possible in the summer heat, but I am ever so slowly creeping towards the finish line on this project.
 
Here is what I was able to get done over the past month or so.
 
First up was the completion of mounting the ships boats and getting them rigged up, As usual, information on the City-Class boats was very limited and I resorted to using a few builders liberties on this part. The sloped sides of the casements made for a somewhat unique way of storing the ships boats. The davit bases were mounted about 3/4 of the way down the casements and the middle of them was supported by horizontal bars attached to the casements just below the Hurricane deck. These  middle supports served multiple purposes, center support for the davit, provided a swivel point of the davit to launch the boats and a resting place for the boats themselves when stowed aboard. While I was trying to find out how the boats sat on the davit supports I was playing around with the configuration and got to thinking that if these boats were to just sit on top of the davit supports, there was no stability for the boats to just sit on their keels. So I researched and researched some more, and came up empty. So I decided to take my builders liberties and install a couple of planks lashed to the supports to run parallel to the boats keels and give them more stability. My thoughts on this were that not only would the planks add stability to the boats by keeping them level while stowed, they would also add some protection to the keel keeping it up off the iron supports. It sounded logical to me so this is what I went with.
 
Here are the planks installed and lashed to the horizontal davit supports.

 
Next up was to get the tackle rigged up. I diluted the ropes with 50/50 water and clear Elmer's glue solution to stiffen them since the boats were not heavy enough to keep the lines taught enough to look natural.

 
Another configuration that I was having some difficulty finding information on was how the boats were stored when covered. The lifting rings were not accessible with the tarps over them so it wasn't possible to have them attached to the blocks without cutting holes in the covers. So again I decided that when the boats were stowed and covered the tackle was just left hanging loose above the boats. I don't think there would have been too much concern of the tackle swinging around in rough seas, since the rivers were considerably tamer than the open ocean. When the crew was ready to launch the boats, the would simply remove the tarps, hook the tackle to the lift rings and launch the boats. Problem solved.

Completion of the rigging. The ropes were tied off to cleats mounted to the Hurricane deck and the leftover was coiled up and thrown over the ropes running through the tops of the stanchions. This method is seen in many of the contemporary photos of the City-Class boats.

Closeup of the rig. I also added some ropes to secure the boats in their cradles. These were just wrapped around the boats and the planks just to help keep them in place.

 
The port side boats were a little easier. The aft boat I mounted in the ready for launch position and the forward one was mounted at the waterline, as if ready to head to shore. Having the forward boat in this position also allowed the viewer to peek inside the cutaway in this area.


Same rigging method was used as the starboard boats. The ropes were stiffened with diluted Elmer's to give them a "natural" hang and then secured to cleats, only this time the leftover rope was thrown over the hammock nets.

 
Next up it was time to finally install the rudders. I started out by installing the rollers on the tiller. These were made from small aluminum tubing and 28ga wire. These rollers sat on top of the races mounted to the fantail deck and provided support for the extremely long rudder tillers and followed the tiller arc when the ships wheel was turned. 


Rudders being set into place on the hull.

Port rudder installed.

 
Final paining of the rudder hardware.

 
Our newest crew member Daisy, the Admirals six-month old Yorkie-poo. She paid me a visit to make sure that things were going as they should. Thankfully I passed inspection.

Once I had the rudders installed it was time to get the control lines added. This was another of those details that there was practically no information on so I went with some of the  suggestions of those following along and what I though would the most logical approach to how these control lines would have been done. Salvage photos of the Cairo show a few clear pictures of the recovered rudders as well as some scenes in the recovery video. All of them show nothing attached to the outboard side of the tillers and what either appears to be stiff wire cable or an iron rod mounted to the inboard sides of the tiller. Since there was nothing shown on the outboard sides, I made the executive decision that since this was the side that was attached to the ships wheel, this control line must have been made from hemp rope and would have rotted away over time, leaving no evidence. If it would have been chain or cable, there would have been some sort of remaining evidence of such material or connection. As for the intermediate linkage, I went ahead used the suggestion that this would have been an iron rod with a yoke on each end that attached to the tiller and a turnbuckle in the middle to make steering adjustments as needed.
 
So here is what I came up with. The intermediate linkage and control rod. Again, I used small aluminum tubing for the yokes and turnbuckle.

Then the control lines were made from rope and secured to the outboard sides of the tiller. The pullies were made from spare deadeyes that were covered to conceal the three holes in them. All in all, I am completely satisfied with the way this turned out.

 
The last little detail that I was able to get completed this time around were the latches for the skylights. There is no photographic evidence of these latches, but there were several recovered from the wreck that are on display in the museum. I took a stab at where these would have been used, but logically thinking, something had to hold these skylights in the open position.
 
Starboard  aft skylight with latches installed.

Painted and installed.

 
Port skylight in the open position with the latches installed.

Port midship skylight in the open position showing the latches holding the hatch open.

 
Starboard midship hatch in the closed position.

 
Well that is all I have for this update. December 12th is fast approaching and my checklist of things to finish is getting shorter. Most of them are small details that are really not photograph worthy (paint touch-ups and weathering), but I'll take pictures of anything that would be of interest. I need to research what the forward pennant looked like (many of the contemporary photographs show these boats flying one, but unfortunately they are all blurry). Once I find the correct one, I'll get it printed out and installed as well as the 34-star Ensign. I have read several methods on MSW as to how to make realistic looking flags, I am going to experiment with a few of them and see which one I like best.
 
Until next time, thank you all for the encouragement, kind words and likes and for just stopping by and taking a look at my build. Stay safe and healthy.
 
-Brian

Stairs are complete.   The extra longer risers nicely closes the gap between them and the tread.
 

 
At long last all the compartment components for the main floor are complete and ready for installation.     Below are the walls for the aft compartment.   Horizonal strips (1/8" x 1/8") were added at the top of the wall (per instructions) to provide a better gluing surface for the boiler deck.   In addition I added some vertical strips to provide a little vertical support in the event I am feeling strong and attempt to press down a little too hard when gluing the boiler deck to the main deck walls  :-).
 
One additional feature I added was two partial walls at the front end of the aft compartments.  The are circled in black.   Instructions  say to leave that open, but to me that is really a big opening.   On the finished model, one looking into the model from the side could easily see the gapping wide open compartment and rough inside walls.   The two walls do not completely fill the gap so it looks more like a small opening into the aft compartments.
 

 
Turn the pieces over and we have the finished walls.    Again the two extra partial walls are circled in black.
 

 
Below are the foreword compartment walls.   Still need to attach the 4 cleats to parts 37A.   Other than that, I am ready to mount the walls.
 

 
Speaking of the cleats, I am not sure if the author is a comedian or I just do not have the correct skills, but in regards to mounting the cleats, the instructions say  
 
    "A professional modeler would likely drill and pin the cleats"
 
IF that is the case, then I am defiantly not a professional modeler.    I have some small drill bits (.3mm) but no way would I even think of drilling and pining these cleats.   Below shows the one of the small cleats (on the tip of my finger) to be added to part 37A.    In my case CA glue will have to do.
 

 

No problem using Firefox.

Just caught up with your log Brian, what a fantastic model! But your log is by itself so very interesting. A moment in history that many of us across the pond were not aware of.

In the beginning I swore that I would never start a new project until the current one was finished. I was able to complete my first build (Occre Albatros) alright but then things went off the rails in a hurry. Now in progress are Niagara (MSW), Chaperon (MSW) and the gunboat Philadelphia (also from MSW). I can't even begin to look at the various model manufacturers websites out there in fear that another "just have to have" will appear.
 
Bob

And after a coat of Puritan Pine stain.....  Next up will be a couple coats of Polyurethane