wefalck

I have two areas in the same room, one for wood kits, and one for plastic kits. I collect the old aircraft kits from the 60’s, the ones I built as a kid. The wood model area has two drawing tables, my small tools, small Wen bandsaw, a proxon sander, dremels ect and Bluejackets Smuggler in works… No carpet or rug for the wood area, easier to vacuum up the dust and shavings. 

Thanks!
 
But it looks a bit nicer after it has been polished with #0000 steel wool!
 
I have added the cap to the stack, and the bead that runs along the top edge of the cap.
 

 
The edge of the 0.005 inch (0.13 mm) thick stack cap rests precisely on the top edge of the 0.005 inch thick stack shell. And the 0.030 inch (0.76 mm) copper wire bead rests on the top edge of the cap.
 
I know this looks difficult, but it is actually a lot easier than you might think! The trick is pretty simple: start by attaching the two pieces just right at one place. I started at the front edge and used clamps and tape, repositioning until the cap was aligned perfectly at that one spot. Then I applied a bit of liquid citrus solder flux and a tiny amount of solder. GOTCHA! Once the two pieces are fixed together permanently at one spot they can't come apart and it is pretty easy to pull them together correctly at another place a short distance from the first. Then solder another spot, move on a short distance, align them again and solder another spot, and so on. This "stitches" the two pieces together. Just be certain to put heat sink clamps between the new solder place and the previous one to prevent heat from travelling back and unsoldering the previous spot.
 
For the wire bead I modified a small wooden "clothes pin" clamp to have a narrow point with a 0.033 inch (0.84 mm) hole drilled between the two parts of the tip. When this was clamped over the wire and top edge of the cap it held the wire centered on the edge. Because it was wooden I could solder right up to the clamp without soldering it to the assembly.
 
If I was really good at this I could have soldered everything from the inside without leaving the solder stain on the exterior. I have seen some amazing brass locomotives that were soldered together with no solder showing from the outside. But I am not that good. The stack will be painted gray with a black top, so the stain won't be visible in the finished piece.
 
This is how I spent my Christmas day (plus some housekeeping). The Admiral's family all got together last Sunday for an early Christmas, and tomorrow my side of the family has another Christmas with the kids, grandkids and a horde of great grandkids.
 
Happy Holidays!

I finally got up the courage to roll the smoke stack shell and add on the base ring and upper plate.
 

 
I could imagine any number of ways this could go wrong, but it assembled without much trouble! The templates from the 3D CAD model worked perfectly. The shell rolled up to just the right dimensions for the top plate and base ring to fit correctly!
 
First I soldered the 11 vent pipes into the top plate. I still need to make the conical cover for the large boiler vent. And I think I have figured out a way to make the hinges for the cover flaps for the diesel exhaust pipes. The caps are just  0.127 inch/3.2 mm diameter so the hinges will be very small!
 
I had to do a small amount of fitting to get the top plate to squeeze into the shell at a scale 7 inches (0.146 inch/3.7 mm) below the top edge of the shell. Then getting it to stay there while I soldered it in place - without unsoldering any of the exhaust pipes - was an exercise in patience.
 
The next step was to make the intake vent screens on the aft side of the smoke stack. The blueprints call for a rectangular pattern screen with wires spaced 1/2 inch (12 mm) apart. That comes out to 0.0104 inch/0.26 mm square openings with 0.0013 inch/0.033 mm wire. I have three rolls of fine mesh wire screen, one brass with 0.025 inch/0.625 mm squares, another brass with 0.017 inch/0.43 mm squares, and a stainless steel mesh with 0.016 inch/0.42 mm squares. The wire diameters are about 0.004 inch/0.17 mm. These were all oversized and looked too "lumpy" to my eye.
 
Here I departed from true scale. If I was going to have an oversized screen I might as well use a fine photoetch brass screen used for vents in HO scale (1:87) F series diesel engines. I picked up a package of these at our local hobby shop many years ago, thinking they would make nice vent screens for ship models. It has a "X" parallelogram pattern instead of square, with openings 0.030 inch/0.77 mm wide.
 

 
OK. It isn't to scale, so sue me! I think it looks a lot better than the screen wire. I soldered up four of these 0.51 x 0.26 inch (13.2 x 6.6 mm) vent screens and then glued them inside the vent openings with cyanoacrylate (CA) gel. Next will be the diesel exhaust cap hinges, boiler vent cover, and the cap that fits onto the top edge of the shell.
 

 
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

Merry Christmas, Keith, and a good start into the 2026 modelling year!
 

I wish all followers of this building log a peaceful Christmas and a good start into the New Year 2026!

Merry Christmas, Keith, and a good start into the 2026 modelling year!
 

During my first visit to the USA in 1984 or so, I think it was in one of the East Coast university towns, I noticed strange vertical seams along the classical Doric columns of the grand porch of a building, knocked on it to confirm my suspicion - and indeed it sounded woody-hollow 😲

During my first visit to the USA in 1984 or so, I think it was in one of the East Coast university towns, I noticed strange vertical seams along the classical Doric columns of the grand porch of a building, knocked on it to confirm my suspicion - and indeed it sounded woody-hollow 😲

A nice project and for European eyes rather exotic (though we know that style from 'Western' films, of course). Pure wood structures are quite rare in Europe, except for log-cabins in certain mountain and nordic areas.
 
Somehow it would have been more sensible to design the shop as an insert with three walls that is slipped into the basic structure, once kitted out, from underneath or above.
 

During my first visit to the USA in 1984 or so, I think it was in one of the East Coast university towns, I noticed strange vertical seams along the classical Doric columns of the grand porch of a building, knocked on it to confirm my suspicion - and indeed it sounded woody-hollow 😲

Merry Christmas, Keith, and a good start into the 2026 modelling year!
 

Merry Christmas, Keith, and a good start into the 2026 modelling year!
 

Merry Christmas, Keith, and a good start into the 2026 modelling year!
 

Thank you to each of you for your likes and your comments,
 
 
 I've been looking forward to when I could hold Billy in the palm of my hand. I don't think display space is going to be an issue. 

 
 Finishing the bow took me longer than I anticipated. Everything you see is attached. I wanted to paint the boiler deck so bad........patience self. 

 
 Eric, Tom, and anyone else who saw in their minds a center located stairs, is this what you where thinking? 

 

 
 Thank you to everyone for your support and for following along.
 
 And very special Christmas wish for good health and happiness during the holidays and the coming new year.
 
 Merry Christmas my dear friends, God Bless.
 
   Keith  

During my first visit to the USA in 1984 or so, I think it was in one of the East Coast university towns, I noticed strange vertical seams along the classical Doric columns of the grand porch of a building, knocked on it to confirm my suspicion - and indeed it sounded woody-hollow 😲

A nice project and for European eyes rather exotic (though we know that style from 'Western' films, of course). Pure wood structures are quite rare in Europe, except for log-cabins in certain mountain and nordic areas.
 
Somehow it would have been more sensible to design the shop as an insert with three walls that is slipped into the basic structure, once kitted out, from underneath or above.
 

During my first visit to the USA in 1984 or so, I think it was in one of the East Coast university towns, I noticed strange vertical seams along the classical Doric columns of the grand porch of a building, knocked on it to confirm my suspicion - and indeed it sounded woody-hollow 😲

A nice project and for European eyes rather exotic (though we know that style from 'Western' films, of course). Pure wood structures are quite rare in Europe, except for log-cabins in certain mountain and nordic areas.
 
Somehow it would have been more sensible to design the shop as an insert with three walls that is slipped into the basic structure, once kitted out, from underneath or above.
 

During my first visit to the USA in 1984 or so, I think it was in one of the East Coast university towns, I noticed strange vertical seams along the classical Doric columns of the grand porch of a building, knocked on it to confirm my suspicion - and indeed it sounded woody-hollow 😲

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. 

A nice project and for European eyes rather exotic (though we know that style from 'Western' films, of course). Pure wood structures are quite rare in Europe, except for log-cabins in certain mountain and nordic areas.
 
Somehow it would have been more sensible to design the shop as an insert with three walls that is slipped into the basic structure, once kitted out, from underneath or above.
 

A nice project and for European eyes rather exotic (though we know that style from 'Western' films, of course). Pure wood structures are quite rare in Europe, except for log-cabins in certain mountain and nordic areas.
 
Somehow it would have been more sensible to design the shop as an insert with three walls that is slipped into the basic structure, once kitted out, from underneath or above.
 

A nice project and for European eyes rather exotic (though we know that style from 'Western' films, of course). Pure wood structures are quite rare in Europe, except for log-cabins in certain mountain and nordic areas.
 
Somehow it would have been more sensible to design the shop as an insert with three walls that is slipped into the basic structure, once kitted out, from underneath or above.
 

A nice project and for European eyes rather exotic (though we know that style from 'Western' films, of course). Pure wood structures are quite rare in Europe, except for log-cabins in certain mountain and nordic areas.
 
Somehow it would have been more sensible to design the shop as an insert with three walls that is slipped into the basic structure, once kitted out, from underneath or above.
 

Thanks Eberhard, best wishes for the season to you and your family also.
 
cheers
 
Pat