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rvchima

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  1. rvchima
    Paddle Wheel Housings The paddle wheels are white metal castings that I will get to soon. The wooden shafts will be inserted into brackets inside the paddle wheel housings. The plans (which are approximately 94% scale) call for the brackets to be made from 1 mm strip wood. That just seemed too thin to keep the wheels securely in place and allow them to rotate, so I made them from strip about 1.7 mm thick. The paddles will have to be correspondingly smaller. The paddle wheel shaft will fit in this slot and be stopped with another piece. The outside of the wheel covers are planked with 2mm walnut strips. That seems very narrow, but at 1:150 they scale up to 1 ft. boards. That's a big board today, but maybe not in 1866. I borrowed this technique from Rodgerdodger to sand the planks and put a tiny bevel on the edges. The jig has 2 slots. The top slot holds 3 strips while I sand the edges flat. The bottom slot holds 1 plank at a 45 degree angle while I bevel the edges. It seems like a lot of work but I can sand and bevel three 20" planks in 5 minutes. Here are some planks glued to the wheel covers. Using CA I can glue a plank and trim the end with a chisel in a few seconds. I love the look of the beveled planks. These pieces all get painted white, but other cabin walls will be stained natural. Here two wheel housings, one planked and one plain, are held apart by spacer blocks clamped in place like an ice cream sandwich. The sandwich gets skinned with the 1mm ply sheet at the bottom of the picture glued with CA. The whole assembly took a couple of minutes. Finally, here are the two wheel housings with the wheel spokes in place to check the fit. The aft skin stops short of the bottom of the housing.
  2. rvchima
    Cabins The build log by rodgerdoger linked above has already been a huge help. Rodger noted several errors in the plans that have already bit me. Parts are mislabeled, drawings are confusing, drawings that are labeled in Italian "Scala 1:1" are actually about 94% full size, and laser-cut decks that should be the same shape don't match. Cabin structures are built starting from the stern from flat stock attached to the bottom of the next deck piece above, then skinned with laser-cut plywood. First problem, the cabins are mislabeled in the instructions. I've corrected that in red below. I built the cabins in order, A, B, C. The flat stock for A & B was exactly the right height. The plywood skin for C seemed too wide, so I trimmed off about 4 mm to make it flush with the frame. And then I realized that B+C<A, by about 4 mm. Cabin A. Cabin C skin incorrectly trimmed flush with frame. Cabin C plans show skin taller than frame. Luckily I saved the cutoff, so I added some support blocks and glued it back on. Cabins A, C after repairs, and B. Now everything stacks up correctly. This will all get covered with doors, windows, and planks eventually.
  3. rvchima
    Deck Construction I finished painting the hull and attached it to a temporary stand. I ordered a nice cherry stand and brass pedestals from Bluejacket Shipcrafters but will have to stain and finish it first. Four thin plywood deck segments get glued to the hull with huge overhang all around. The ship is like a barge with a gymnasium built on top. Decks glued and clamped. This is probably one of the few times that I'll use Titebond glue. Decks glued in place. No one will ever see the hull.
  4. rvchima
    Happy Independence Day to My Followers in the US! This bad boy wandered through my yard this morning looking for a cookout.
  5. rvchima
    Hull Construction The hull is pre-built out of 1.5" thick clear white pine. The bow and stern must be slightly raised using pieces of 1mm ply that are stacked, sanded, and glued in place. Bow and stern pieces stacked, sanded, and glued in place. Step 2 - Paint the Hull! I have never completed a hull so quickly! But after some rare forethought I realized that it might be wise to build the rudder first. Step 2a - Rudder The rudder is attached to a keel post that didn't come close to fitting the hull. I had to reshape the hull, drill a hole for the rudder post, and make a new keel to fit. Original keel Reshaped hull with rudder in place. New keel cut to fill the hole. The brass rudder hinges are absolutely beautiful. Assembled rudder.
  6. rvchima
    What's in the Box Amati's kits are packaged like an Apple computer. Absolutely a pleasure to open. Another view of the box. Inside the box. The hull is fully carved from clear white pine about 1.5" thick. The detailed instructions are in Italian but separate sheets have English translations Three sets of plans printed on both sides. Mostly three-views of the ship, but one sheet of full-sized patterns for various parts. The laser-cut parts are not numbered so you need this sheet to identify them. Hull, lots of beautiful strip wood, and some wires. Stairs, hinges, and various cast or machined parts. Rigging, lifeboats, anchors, chains, etc. Seems like the rigging should be black? Cast paddle wheels, doors, windows, and the grand staircase. Turned smokestacks. Laser-cut decks in 1mm ply. And finally photo-etched filigree and printed flags.
  7. rvchima
    Reference Material The link above by bcochran has excellent historical information about the Robert E Lee. His link introduced me to this book, The Western Rivers Steamboat Cyclopaedium, by Alan L. Bates, Hustle Press, Leonia, NJ, 1968 (I was in high school.) I found a perfect copy of the 2nd printing from 1981 on eBay. The author worked on ferry and excursion boats in the 20s, as a deckhand on towboats in the 40s, and finally as mate on the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE in the 60s. He was an architect by trade and the book is filled with his drawings of steamboat construction. I read it cover-to-cover in one sitting and learned so much. For instance, The hulls were very long, narrow, and shallow, and tended to flex. The engines and wheels were extremely heavy, so the hulls wanted to sag at those points. To keep everything rigid the ships were braced internally with poles, cables, and chains, like a suspension bridge. You can see some poles connected by cables sticking out of the roof of the model on the box top shown above. The stern-wheelers had two double-acting cylinders connected to the wheel at 90 degrees so there were no dead spots. But the side-wheelers had one cylinder on each wheel, so there were two dead spots. They put big paddles at the max-power spots and tiny paddles at the dead spots so the wheel’s momentum could carry it around. That’s a lot of clever engineering for an old boat.
  8. rvchima
    I am starting a build of the Mississippi River Steamboat Robert E Lee. This is something that I don't know much about, and I would appreciate any advice. The kit is by Amati, and the photo of the box top shows the completed model. I have built several Amati kits and know that their attention to detail is superb, so I am confident that this will build up into a beautiful model. There are a lot of build logs of this kit on MSW and a lot more of other Mississippi riverboats, so I will forego the history lesson and post links to the other build logs. This will help me find them in the near future when I am trying to figure out some complicated assembly. Please let me know if I missed your build. Mississippi Riverboat Builds on MSW Robert E. Lee Steamboat by John Ruy - FINISHED - Bluejacket Shipcrafters - 3/32” to 1’ scale 1:128 Beautiful build, vintage kit, good history and discussion. Robert E Lee by rodgerdodger - FINISHED - Amati Beautiful build, ~7 months Robert E Lee by Script - FINISHED - Amati - 1/160 Mississipi Riverboat Beautiful build, incomplete log after system crash Robert E Lee by lazyguy - Scientific - scale 1/8" = 1.45’ Vintage kit finished after 27 years!! Robert E Lee by Mike Dowling - FINISHED - Constructo Plank-on-bulkhead hull, hand-built stairs, natural finish, 4 months Robert E Lee steamboat by bcochran - Pyro - 1/163 Vintage plastic model (1961), lots of historical information King of the Mississippi by john46 - FINISHED - Artesania Latina - scale 1:80 Beautiful build, long, detailed log, modeler passed away suddenly when nearly complete Robert E Lee by Dan Evans - Amati - 1:150 Incomplete
  9. rvchima
    I am also a big fan of canopy glue, but use CA for almost everything else. However, I've never built a card model. Do you use canopy glue or something else for most of your construction? How do you hold the parts together while the glue dries?
  10. rvchima
    Thanks for keeping an eye on everything Chris! The site asked for tags so I put some in.
  11. rvchima
    Thanks everyone. I built my first model airplane with my Dad when I was 8 so I've made a lot of them. I made a couple of model ships in my teens, but no more until I retired. The ships are usually a lot more challenging but it's all fun.
  12. rvchima
    I just finished a "stick and tissue" model of an F4-D Phantom jet in Vietnam camouflage. The kit is made by Dumas Products. They make a nice range of boat kits, rubber-powered aircraft kits, and also a couple of static scale aircraft kits like this one. The kit comes with a nice selection of light-weight balsa, vacuum-formed accessories, and four colors of tissue for covering. Since it will never fly I decided to cover it instead with iron-on Oracote, and since Oracote shrinks very tight I replaced all the stringers with much heavier balsa. Here's the frame before covering: I air brushed the model with Vallejo acrylics, and used Silly putty to mask the camouflage. There are LOTS of YouTube videos that recommend Silly Putty, but I had a lot of trouble with it. Remember when you were a kid and used Silly Putty to lift images out of comic books? Well if you leave it on acrylic paint overnight it lifts some paint and leaves a darker streak. I had to repaint most of my camo. If you remove it immediately it works OK. Here's the paint job in progress: The model is 1/25 scale and 28 inches long, basically "drive-by scale." It looks pretty good if you drive by slowly.
  13. rvchima
    Harry, You did it! Congratulations on a beautiful model. I really enjoyed following your build log. You got started before I did, and I got a lot of good information from you. Please let me know when you start something new so I can follow along. Rod
  14. rvchima
    Beautiful work on the Yamato, Ted! I am anxious to see a build log for the Missouri. Thanks for showing the photo of your display wall too. I always wonder where builders put these big models. Rod
  15. rvchima
    I just finished a "skeleton" model of a Sopwith Camel, you know the one that Snoopy flies. It is a 1/16 scale kit made by Spanish company Artesania Latina. The instruction manual is a pdf file 267 pages long with no text, only photos, so I had to keep my laptop on for 4 months while I built the model. The wood parts are perfectly laser cut. The kit has lots of cast metal parts. The casting is excellent but the parts often don't quite fit together, making it a frustrating build. And it makes me crazy to have cast metal tires, cowling, and wood panels around the cockpit. There are also lots of photo-etched parts like all the turnbuckles that have to be folded in complicated mirror-image shapes. You only get one chance because the parts break if you have to unfold them. The kit came with black monofilament line for the rigging that simply couldn't be tied through the tiny PE parts, and some other fuzzy cotton thread for an unknown use. Luckily I have plenty of spare rigging line. Many years ago I built a similar model of a Fokker triplane "Curse you Red Baron!" but by Model Airways. The models are the same scale and look great together.
  16. rvchima
    Ted, It sounds like an excellent cruise - you can't beat Viking. Please let me know how you like it. One recommendation - take some COVID test kits, bottles of Tylenol and cough syrup, and any other cold and flu meds that you like. If you don't need them you can always replace them with souvenirs at the end. Voice of experience. Rod
  17. rvchima
    Harry's Lady, Beautiful work on the rigging! Thanks for all your help from all his friends at MSW. Rod
  18. rvchima
    Hi Ted, I just realized that you had started this. I will be following along. What a terrible setback with the broken hull though! But anything you can build you can fix. For blackening brass I use Novocan stained glass patina. They don't have a gunmetal product. Try Brasso tarnish remover for removing your black patina. On my Syren I used a vinegar and salt solution to age the copper bottom. I remember it taking maybe 20 minutes. Then I rinsed the hull carefully with fresh water and put some Lemon Pledge on it. It still looks great after 10 years. Rod
  19. rvchima
    Harry, It's too late now but I use Novacan black patina for stained glass to blacken miscellaneous parts. It just takes seconds, but your bleach idea seems to have worked perfectly. The chains, er... cables, look great! Rod
  20. rvchima
    I haven't looked in for a while and missed some fascinating discussion about the paint scheme and catch guards.
  21. rvchima
    Take care Harry. Get better and finish the Bismarck soon.
  22. rvchima
    Harry, I have to find a hobby that takes more time and less space. Sounds like one end of the space-time continuum. Rod
  23. rvchima
    Thank you Nic. I have my eye on the Oregon so I may have to wait a while. Rod
  24. rvchima
    I love the photos of the ladder emerging between the grates. Did you scratch build the ladder? That's beautiful work on a tiny piece. And how did you mark the treenails on the planks? With a pencil perhaps? Those little details sure make a big difference.
  25. rvchima
    Thank you all for the compliments on my Seguin model. It really was a beautiful ship that can't help but become a beautiful model.

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