CW_Tom

Windships, I may have found one of Richard Boss' Keelboat models you were referring to. It looks like it may be in my hometown, Great Falls, MT, at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. I'm not sure if you were interested in finding its location, but if you are, then here you go! "He gave all of them to the Fort Clatsop National Memorial, which eventually placed them on permanent loan to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls, Montana. With the Center's permission, photographs of Mr. Boss's models are used to illustrate discussions of those watercrafts on Discovering Lewis & Clark." May 1, 1804 | Discovering Lewis & Clark ® (lewis-clark.org)

Here in Bismarck, ND, the Parks and Rec have some displays for those interested in riverboats that plied the Missouri. One is a half length replica of a paddlewheeler. Another is a complete replica of Lewis and Clark's keelboat, and finally, we've got the Lewis and Clark Riverboat, which is a modern boat built to emulate a paddlewheeler.

Doors with supports! 😁

My first thought too was a sapper barricade.

Very much enjoyed reading through this thread, as I just discovered it. Being from MT and ND, the Missouri Riverboats definitely hold personal interest. Also, one river not as well known to have used steam paddle wheelers was the Great Red River of the North. This river flows north out of SD and forms the border between MN and ND. It continues through Canada, through Winnipeg and dumps into Hudson Bay. It used riverboats to haul cargo and passengers between Fort Garry (Winnipeg) and Fort Abercrombie (Wahpeton, ND). Goods traveled to and from Fort Abercrombie to St. Paul, MN via the Red River ox cart trail. Here's a quick article on the subject: Section 6: Steamboats on the Red River | North Dakota Studies (ndstudies.gov) And some eye candy:

The phrase "nibbled to death by ducks" comes to mind.

Roger, Just stumbled across your log today. Needless to say, I'm interested and, as they say, I'm pulling up my virtual chair. Thank you for the history brief on the ship as well as the information on Lake Superior. My wife and I had our honeymoon in Duluth and I definitely made sure I went down to the museum they have there. I absolutely enjoyed it. I enjoyed the old town as well. Duluth has a unique blend of history with shipping and railroading that intersects a couple of my interests. Looking forward to seeing the state of things on your build. Regards, Tom

Lets be honest, "Pilot" is more a state of mind than anything else! 😁

Richard! The model looks fantastic. As someone who has absolutely no experience and no idea how cannon rigging is meant to be done, both in theory and in practice, I have to say your rigging passes my fine tooth white glove inspection! In all honesty, the model looks great and I've been excited to see it come together bit by bit. I'm looking forward to watching your progress with masting and rigging her. I know what you mean about spring and cycling. I've been excited to be able to get out on my bike a few times already this season. Hopefully I get more opportunities as North Dakota slowly sheds itself of winteresque weather patterns. Regards, Tom

That’s an off topic post I approve of. I’ll have to get me one of those mugs. That’s me to a T!

Thank you Lou. As far as the baby, we're not sure yet. We're still a few weeks away from the 20 week ultrasound where we will be finding out the baby's gender. We're not disposed to waiting and finding out at the end. As far as the modeling time... well, it comes infrequently at best. Tom

Just some updated pictures of the current status. Really the most noticeable difference is the sail and rudders have been sanded and shaped. I realize there isn’t a lot of substantial progress between the photo sets, but hopefully you guys enjoy the continued, if minor, progress. Thanks for the interest and hopefully between house projects and other commitments I can get the basic model complete. Painting and the like can be done later.

Happy Spring to all who still have an interest in this thread! And to those who don't, I might add. It has been a few months since my last post. Life has gotten the better part of me, I'll admit, and the model has sat in my basement with little to no work being done on it. I'm getting to the point again that I believe I can pick it up and knock out some more steps in its evolution. I still need to sand and form the fairwater and stern planes as well as glue them to the hull. Once that is complete, I will add wood putty or something equivalent so I can sand that all down and get a smooth and uniform hull. Then I will etch details into the hull; hatch's, lines, cleats, etc. Finally, the finish work, painting and additional detailing! For those interested, life has been drawing my focus to my family lately. I've got two young girls with another babe due in OCT. We're all definitely excited for the new addition, and are beginning the prep work of welcoming another family member. Fortunately, we live in the Midwest and since December, life has been returning to normal as far as COVID is concerned. My thoughts and prayers for all those still in the throes of the pandemic and its ensuing mandates and regulations. Last month, I had the opportunity for winter survival training, which was a ton of fun. Unfortunately, winter has been very mild this year and where March temperatures range from below zero to mid-20's, we had ~40 degree days. So, it ended up being just survival training. But it got us outside, building shelters and fires and camping overnight. I hope you all are doing well. Its been good to read through posts here again and see the projects you guys have been working on during the past few months! I'll start posting more updates and pictures as I get hip deep in the model again. Tom

Thank you. I do enjoy taking my girls to the Heritage Museum which is on the capital grounds. Perhaps you poked your head in there while you were passing through. I've been through Fergus Falls a few times and flown over a couple. It seems like a great area. It just amazes me how there seems to be a definite line between open prairie which suddenly turns into dense trees. I know its a bit further east of you, but I really loved flying around the Brainard area in the summer. All the lakes and green trees made for a delightful afternoon. I hope you had a good Christmas season and a fair start to the new year.

It has been a busy Christmas season, which has been fortunate in some ways and unfortunate in others. One of the unfortunates is that I haven't been able to get to work on my model much, so the progress has slowed considerably. Now that we're in a new year, (and Happy New Year to you all), I'm looking forward to making a little more sawdust, but also releasing some paint fumes as well. The progress I have made to the model from the last pictures I have amounts to finish sanding the rudders and the sail. I glued the bottom rudder back onto the hull and successfully managed a fairly decent approximation of an airfoil shape to both rudders. (Not sure if the term hydrofoil applies here, but being a helicopter meat servo, I go with what I know.) I will include pictures next opportunity I get. Overall, I'm pleased with how its turning out so far. I showed it to my dad over Christmas and, in his way, he was tickled pink. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season and hope to see you around more in the future. Tom

So, it’s been a few days since I posted about trying to keep the thread active. Go figure. Anyway, it’s been a busy week with work and family so not a lot for accomplishment. I managed another hour more of sanding and I’m pleased with the result. I borrowed a table mounted belt sander which helped me get the main part of the hull into a more or less cylindrical shape. Using an orbital sander, I’ve managed to get the bow and stern... let’s say better. Unfortunately, I had a mishap while sanding. I dropped my project onto the garage floor, and managed a couple dings as well as broke off the lower rudder. Nothing to worry about as there is always glue. Once the hull is ship shape, then I will begin forming the fairwater (sail) and the rudders and planes. Thanks for the reply’s and the likes.

Hopefully these updates aren’t coming too quickly. I like keeping the thread active, if nothing else. Nothing else new other than continuing to hone in on the cylindrical and curvilinear shapes. I’ve been focusing mostly on the bow lately and using those lines then to inform the rest of the hull. You can see the shape is coming in, but the light and shadows still reveal some ridges that need to be worked in. All in all, I’m pleased. I took it to the park yesterday when I took my kids there to play. I had a few quizzical looks from others as I’m sitting there with a sanding stick of my own making, a wood rasp, and of course, the model itself. Made a great conversation piece as a couple of the older boys came up and thought it looked great, and it actually looked like a submarine. Tom

I thought this was a good place to share this. Some of you may be familiar with it already. One of my instructors in AIT, over 13 years ago, shared this with my class. How to Tell the Difference Between the Branches of the US Armed Forces! If you give the command "SECURE THE BUILDING", here is what the different services would do: The NAVY would turn out the lights and lock the doors. The ARMY would surround the building with defensive fortifications, tanks and concertina wire. The MARINE CORPS would assault the building, using overlapping fields of fire from all appropriate points on the perimeter. The AIR FORCE would take out a three-year lease with an option to buy the building.

You sound like an engineer! (Army, that is.)

It looks great. I’d never heard of card models before until I came here.

Welcome BeeWee. Yes, please start a build log, if you care to. I’m finding it opens a lot of doors to communication with the community. I’ve gotten a lot of help already from mine, help I didn’t know I needed at the time.

Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate the feedback, suggestions, and encouragement. As far as the amount of sanding is concerned, I’m enjoying it. It’s an opportunity to take some time out of the day, do something with my hands, and let my mind wander a bit. It’s also fun to see the shape come in little by little. I realize there are other, quicker ways to remove wood, but this way, I can’t do too much damage in a quick fashion, plus, being tool limited limits my options. 😉. I’m fine with it taking a few days to get into tolerance. For those of you in the States, Happy Thanksgiving. For those of you elsewhere, Happy Thanksgiving as well! 😁 I wish you all the best and hope you have your own things to be thankful for this year. Tom

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you @CDR_Ret Correct me if I’m wrong but CDR is the abbreviation for Navy’s Commander, correct? As far as the wood working is going, it seems to be progressing well. I spent some more time on it today and the hull lines are firming up. I’ve still got a ways to go. I sand a bit, then check the profiles of the different areas with my hull templates.

“Dig deeper, Watson!”