joep4567

I decided that I needed to plank the sides of the hull for authenticity.

I got the boiler painted.

I've been working on both the staircase and the boiler

absolutely great work!

Thanks coming from you that means a lot!

I've been working on this Brig prior to starting the Paddlewheeler but have kind of put it on the back burner.

I started work on the main deck structures.

I detailed out the rubbers to make them look a little more authentic.

when in doubt put a rock on it!

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

great work resulting in a beautiful ship! THANKS

I got the cylinder timbers made and installed and am working on the paddlewheel buckets next.

I got the individual wheels of the paddlewheel painted and the styrene rings attached.

thankyou for the help

I got all 4 wheels of the paddlewheel built and have them mounted on the shaft with sized spacers. The spokes of the wheels appear to be in sufficiently good alignment to allow attaching the buckets without too much fitting (thankyou cathead).

thanks a lot for the advice as i was aware of discrepancies but didn't realize the impact it would have when i got to plank assembly. Any other bits of wisdom?

I decided that maybe the correct approach was to make the paddlewheel and then design the hull opening around it. I came up with what i thought is a suitable diameter and draw up a pattern to follow. The first step was to cut out the hubs followed by milling the spoke pieces. Using the pattern and a jig i assembled the spokes for the first wheel. Three more to go. The wheels will be mounted on a 3/16 shaft.

the plans are not at full scale ( for the most part ) so it requires interpolation ( i think that is the correct term) which is possible but i just thought it easier for someone who had the model in hand.

I got the first layer of the deck cut out and attached.

It would help me if someone with the Chaperon would give me the dimensions of the recess for the paddlewheel.

my intention, as of right now, is to plank the deck only for the reasons you have pointed out.

I thought the next step would be to create a fullscale plan view of the deck and use it to build a thin plywood subdeck which will be overlayed with planking.

I'm currently building a Revolutionary War brig and it is coming along ok but i have watched some threads on paddlewheel kit construction so i ordered some Chaparon plans to get me started. My thinking is that in the event i tire of one i would switch to the other for a while. Anyway I thought i might be able to scratch build this one. The idea is not have what is historically accurate but rather a representation of the period in general. I would really like input from other folks on what i'm doing as i have no ship building experience. I decided to try another method of hull construction as opposed to planking because the flat bottom lends itself to another. I used the full scale keel plan from the kit and made to sides with the intent of a flat plywood bottom. I rabbited  the sides for the bottom and rounded over the exterior sides.