BANYAN

A good while since I posted. We were away a couple of weeks hiking in various canyon national parks at the corner where Utah/Nevada/Arizona all meet. Great trip which we hugely enjoyed given terrain which was like nothing we'd ever seen.
 
Here are a couple of shots taken at Bryce Canyon. There are various trails which go down and wander among the hoodoos, each of which ends with a climb back up to the rim! One day there was snow, 0 deg C, so the family opted out but I had a great hike; muddy at first but tee-shirt warm at the bottom.
 


And here is a fun photo taken at the trading post near Bryce Canyon. We will hang it next to a similar western-themed sepia shot taken when the kids were four and eight.

Now back to the ship.  I finally painted the bottom and the main wales black, actually "Dark Secret" from Home Depot which I would liken to Humbrol "Tank Grey". It was a relief to finally see the seams between the various small pieces of plywood skin disappear. The oars and mechanisms have been removed to allow mods. I want to make the lower oar blades the same increased size as those of the upper oars; shorten the upper oars by 1/2 inch; elongate the mounting holes of the upper oar beams to allow adjustment relative to the lower oars.

I had a brief panic about NiMH batteries. Way back at the start of this project, I looked around and saw NiMH 5-cell "packs" at 6V and thought, ok, we're good to go with 6V analog servos. But recently I read that a 5-cell NiMH pack charges to something over 7V but soon drops to 6V when loaded. Consulting with the Hitec technical support line yielded the info that it's fine; the analog servos will be fine.
 
Now I've been looking for a suitable battery pack and charger. I put my ammeter at the battery when rowing in water and was surprised to see it only draws about 3/4A whereas I'd been expecting maybe 2 or 3 amps. I have my eye on a pack and charger but haven't ordered yet.
 
I also have the bigger resin-printed ballistas from my brother. He is now tasked with printing the rudders for this thing in transparent resin, which I really need quite soon in order to progress further.
 
 

Great to see you persevering Mark.
 
cheers
 
Pat

A great (and nice looking) little project Steven, enjoyed the catch-up on your log.  If doing multiples 3D printing some of the items such as the chairs, gates etc may help and be a lot cheaper/easier when considering the time you would spend if making them?  then again if just providing the stock the cost would not be a concern but may put some budding modellers off?
A great idea and what a great way to preserve some local history,  I doff my hat.
 
cheers
 
Pat
 

Great to see you persevering Mark.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Love the colour of those planks Keith.  The planks are sitting really nicely.
 
cheers
 
Pat

A great (and nice looking) little project Steven, enjoyed the catch-up on your log.  If doing multiples 3D printing some of the items such as the chairs, gates etc may help and be a lot cheaper/easier when considering the time you would spend if making them?  then again if just providing the stock the cost would not be a concern but may put some budding modellers off?
A great idea and what a great way to preserve some local history,  I doff my hat.
 
cheers
 
Pat
 

Love the colour of those planks Keith.  The planks are sitting really nicely.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Great to see you persevering Mark.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Love the colour of those planks Keith.  The planks are sitting really nicely.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Great to see you persevering Mark.
 
cheers
 
Pat

And the little gates fixed - a bit rough and ready, but at least well enough for a prototype. When it comes to the "good one" at 1:25 I'll be more careful and finish them better.

Ready for tomorrow's exhibition.
 
Steven

Almost finished, just in time for an exhibition by the modelling club I'm in.
 
It's a little rough and ready because it's a prototype, but that's OK. When I come to do the finalised one I'll put the lessons I've leaned doing this one into practice.



 
In the meantime, a bit more paintwork, (adding the vessel's registration number and name) and I really need to re-do those little red gates amidships - a bit *too* rough and ready!
 
And here's the real thing.

Steven

Well, I've made some progress. Glued lengths of red ribbon onto the roof awning to make the roof alternately red and white stripes. But I don't think I'll do it that way again. I've found my wife's wavy scissors won't cut cloth, only paper, so the 'fringe' won't be able to match the roof. So I'll probably just paint the stripes on instead.
 
Also added the mesh netting at the railing and learnt a few things. Next time I'll add the mesh behind the rail before I put the rail on the model. It'll look better. I did this with the rail on the aft half of the vessel - it looks and works better.

And I'm fixing an edging to the deck to cover the edge of the plywood. I discovered some REALLY thin veneer languishing neglected at the Men's Shed and it's ideal - so I've commandeered it all for myself.


Should do for a large number of future models of this paddlewheeler. And it's OK, because they'll be sold as fundraisers for the Men's Shed and the volunteers who operate her. 
 
Steven

Still a fair few things to do - she needs a railing and a red and white striped awning for the roof.



As I mentioned before, this is a prototype for a "good" model double the size, to see what works and what doesn't. Unfortunately one of the things that doesn't work is the uprights that support the awning/roof - they're made of bamboo toothpicks - in this version they were cut to exact length and went into "stopped" holes in the deck and roof, but due to inherent lack of precision this meant several posts didn't reach all the way from floor to roof, but hung supported at only one end.
 
So I've removed the roof again and drilled holes that go all the way through both deck and roof, and I'll use the toothpicks full-length so they stick out the holes, and cut the ends off when the glue is dry.
 
Steven

A deceptively simple looking little model to make, Steven. She'll look really nice.
 
John

I'm starting on a model of the Golden City, a paddlewheeler which operates on Ballarat's Lake Wendouree, run by volunteers  and taking passengers for trips around the lake every summer Sunday (weather permitting). It is a replica of one of the paddlesteamers which did the same thing back around the turn of the 20th century (unfortunately destroyed by fire some years ago).
 
It will be a Solid model, and I'm first making one at 1:50 to iron out the bugs. After that I'll be making another at 1:25 to present to the people who run her, who also run a museum dedicated to the vessel itself and its history. 
 
I've spoken to one of the organisers who's very keen on the idea - apart from anything else, visitors to the museum get disappointed when they can't see the vessel if she's out on the lake, so a decent sized model (68 cm or 27 inches long) would be a great help.
 
I've actually started on both models already, and if it all works out I'll simplify the design and make multiple 1:50 models to sell to visitors, as a fund-raiser for both the museum and for the Men's Shed where I make stuff (and which has so many wonderful boys' toys, like bandsaws, lathes, bench saws etc etc).
 
Here are some photos of her


And some I took close up while she was in her boatshed.




Plus photos of the plans which the museum kindly got out for me, and which I then redrew to make the model.


And here are the smaller and larger models so far. As you can see in the first and second photos the deck overlaps the hull considerably.

Upside down, showing the overlap.

And with 'paddleboxes' - just cut from a bit of 20mm wood with a hole saw and cut in half.

Comparative sizes - 1:50 in front and 1:25 behind.


The two together with paddleboxes. The bit in front is the roof awning, which fortunately is flat. And another shot of the two together. (The phone camera reduces the size contrast in the first photo and exaggerates it in the second.)

I think the most difficult bit for me will be the posts that hold up the awning and the railings. I can't see any way to make them except out of wire, and I'm currently rubbish at soldering. Well, another skill I'll need to learn . . .
 
Steven

John, Roger, Ian, Veszett and Druxey thank you for commenting.
 
Just a brief update:- 
 
I got to the 3rd row of planks before the planks began to run out at the stern. This necessitated a wedge being inserted. Just visible between the second and third planks in the next photo.

I did however continue with parallel planks.
 
In the boiler room area I needed to start aligning the plank edges using stainless steel clothes pegs where alignment proved to be unsatisfactory.

Having included the wedge between the 2nd and 3rd planks the 4th plank went on as a parallel plank without a further wedge.


I am now on layer 7 and probably near the end of parallel planking. At maximum beam I am going to have to start adding more width (which in practice means narrowing the planks at stem and stern).

I am checking the symmetry of the planks (with callipers) on an ongoing basis. The green lines also help me judge the symmetry. As yet everything is looking good. 
 
 

Thank you Jim...
 
I have completed all of the hatches, gratings and partners to be placed on deck.  You have seen how the gratings were made.  The two hatches are pretty similar.  The only difference is they have cover boards rather than gratings within in the coamings.
 
 The photo below shows the laser cut coamings assembled.  There is no need to remove the laser char from the lap joints at the corners.  In fact it probably isnt a good idea at all.  They are precision cut so you end up with a perfectly squared up coaming the correct size.  You can and should sand both sides of the sheet before removing these laser cut parts to clean the char from those sides.  Just glue them up using the same right angle jig provided earlier.   Then sand the char off the top of the completed coaming being careful to keep the round-up consistent. 
 
You can see the smaller hatch completed.  The larger one shows the three cover boards also laser cut waiting to be glued into position.  But this you will also note the ledge created on the inside of the coaming that the cover boards will sit into.  These are laser cut for you and can be glued on the port and starboard insides of the coaming.
 

This photo shows the three coverboards in the coaming.  They are pretty thick, but only so they are flush with the center of the coaming to allow for the round-up.   The round-up along the sides of the coverboards should be sanded flush to the top edge of the coamings along the P & S sides.  I know some folks like to show one or two coverboards off the coaming.  You can do this if you want to.  But then you should sand that roundup into the bottom of the coverboards as well.   But I will show them all in place like the contemporary model.
 

To finish off the hatches...round off the corners using the right angle jig like you did for the gratings.   Trim them down to the top of the deck planking.   The bolts were added using black fishing line in the same way.   The iron ring for handles were made just like those on the lower platforms.  Exactly the same.
 

Also shown in the photo above are the mast and capstan partners.   These are completely laser cut for you.  They have etched lines to show the separate sections.   All you have to do is sand them clean and round off the corners as described earlier for the capstan partners only.  Soften the top edges as well.  Add the fishing line bolts and the eye bolts on the main mast partners.  Now some of these can be glued onto the model.  They are all ready to go so you can start planking the decks.
 
BUT there are a some like the main mast partners and capstan partners that need some extra work.   I will describe that next.   For example the elm pump tubes below the main mast partners and the capstan drum as well.
 
More to follow...but here is a photo with the all of the hatches, coamings and partners simply test positioned on the model.  They are not glued into position yet.   I did however glue the smaller grating and coaming on the forecastle deck in permanently....those are all finished up.  Its getting there!!!
 

Another update.  Slow going with RL getting in the way at the moment.   Got the bulwark tops trimmed and am pretty happy.  I know the photo appears to show all the tops trimmed below the line but that's the camera angle's fault.  A square shows me it's spot on.
 

I used AK foam added with a brush, layered over 2 days to get thickness, and spackled on to make it look like spume (the lighter stuff) . Then when dry I used clear resin over the top to make it look wet 

I was most surprised by the stirrups: 3 feet below the yard.

When I held my scale seaman next to it, my suspicions were confirmed: damn deep ...

... I would have instinctively hung it 4 mm higher so that my little Able Seaman had a chance of getting over it.
 
If you add up the 90 cm, the thickness of the yard is up to 60 cm, as in the case of the main yard. That's 150 cm, just under my chin. Then there is also the depth of the yard  to consider, so that in addition to the 90 cm length under the yard, there is also approx. 0.5 x the diameter of the yard. Another escalating factor is that the horse can sag quite a bit in the middle between two stirrups.
 
To be able to judge this better, I trained two Able Seamen, one for the thickest part of the big yard with a diameter of 60 cm and one for the yardarm with a diameter of 30 cm.
 
First the variant with 3 feet under the yard. The sailor on the thick yard has very bad cards. The tar jacket on the thin end fits better.

If I refer the 3 feet to the center of the yard, it's better.

If you relate the 90 cm to the upper edge of the yard, it fits best. Here the sailor has the opportunity to use the horses at the thick point, the colleague on the outside still hangs at a similar height.

To confirm this interpretation of Steel's specification I had a closer look from the side.

The red part of the stirrups is about 3 Feet and it looks perfect both for the simply standing on it as for the working in a upswung position.
 
If one takes the other descriptions the remarks to the simplyfied "3 feet underneath the yard" it would possibly read like this:
Stirrup long 3 Feet, nailed to the top of the yard, with enough overlength to do 3 turns around the yard. Hangs behind and underneath the yard.
 
Could this interpretation be correct?

XXXDAn
 
 
 
 
 

Keith.  The legs had woodworm - that is the table not the wife! That said she is looking a bit grubby today.
 
Eberhard. The only downside is it tends to be quite brittle when cut into thin strips. Otherwise it is lovely to work with.
 
Veszett. Yes you are correct - I sand a bevel on one edge of each plank to get a tight fit against the adjacent plank. 
 

Now this is what modeling is all about.... She looks real, a captured moment in time...
 
Dawn Patrol;
Just departing Scapa into the North Sea, the sea state is changing into the rolling waves of the open ocean which are beginning to overpower the relatively sheltered water of the anchorage channel..... Several patrols done going out for another... Appropriate rust with fading and failing camo paint...  The only thing left is imagining the impossible to model fog....
 
You need to get close to see her wear and tear, from a distance she looks well apportioned, ready for anything, an imposing force ready to meet it's destiny... Getting ready to signal the rest of the squadron.....
 
This is on the extreme end of well done brother.... Superlative in everyway.... A contest winner for sure....
 
 

Actually finished this time 

Yep, nothing matches that old-time mahagony 👍🏻