Steamboat Bertrand by Cathead - 1:87, wooden Missouri River sternwheeler - Finished

[Cathead]

Progress report: the hull is planked!

 

 

As planned, I only finished the port side, leaving the bottom and starboard side open for interior views. I extended planking onto the bottom only far enough to complete the strakes necessary for the bow.

 

 

Above is the bow close-up, with the finished underside of the guards. Finish sanding hadn't happened yet in this photo.

 

 

Here's the stern. I extended the planking a short distance onto the starboard side to complete the transition, and planned the planking to follow a sweeping curve into the stern for aesthetic reasons. I think it's more attractive this way than a square cut-off at the base of the stern.

 

 

Next was priming and painting the planked portion of the hull, the nice clean white of a new steamboat. This sets off the interior bracing nicely. I also added hatch frames, cylinder timbers, and the first line of planking along the centerline.

 

 

Closeups of the bow and stern. The cylinder timbers, in pairs port and starboard, will support the actual steam engines whose pistons drive the wheel, which is supported by the aft extension of these timbers.

 

The next stage is complicated; it's not as simple as just planking the deck. Bertrand's superstructure is supported by timbers based in the hull, and I'd like to do this justice rather than just erecting the superstructure on the deck. Also, there are a number of hog-chains (iron rods which support the hull longitudinally) which run on braces also extending down into the hull. These, too, need to be planned for before decking is completed. Thus I may be better off constructing these items before planking, which means planking around a bunch of stuff. Should be fun to work out properly.

 

In the meantime, here's Missouri's own Cathy Barton and Dave Para with a nice instrumental medley:

 

[kurtvd19]

Very nicely done planking.  The way you did the stern area is very nice and much better than a straight line.  An absolutely beautiful model.

Kurt

[jbelwood]

Keith,

 

I recently completed the Inter-Action kit of the CR Lamb stern wheeler. Go to page 8 of the gallery of completed kit built models

and take a look. You should be able to get Darryl Jacobs at Inter-Action. His eMail is "djacobs@inter-action.ca".  I believe he

recently moved to Vancouver, BC. Let me know how it works out.

 

John Elwood

[mtaylor]

Sweet work on the planking, Keith.  I like the way you blended in the planking with the open areas.

[Jim Lad]

Nice work on the planking.  I agree that you've done a great job in blending the planking into the unplanked areas.

 

John

[dgbot]

Nice planking job. What kind of wood did they give you to use?

David B

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Really nice planking job

[Mike Dowling]

The standard of your workmanship continues to amaze me, it really is quite amazing. I love open models and the way you are doing this is brilliant. I shall keep watching with envy at your skill !

[Canute]

Really like how your hull is turning out. Excellent workmanship!

[Cathead]

Hey, thanks, all. Pictures are great for lying with; this way you can't see all the little flaws that I can!

 

mtaylor, for what it's worth, I'm not Keith, jbelwood's comment is in a response to a question asked BY Keith about a different model, way back in comment #81.

 

dgbot, this is a scratchbuild, so no one "gave" me any wood. The model is entirely basswood strips from Model Shipways.

 

The scary part is still to come, building reasonable representations of all the internal machinery, and fitting it in amongst the complicated superstructure. But hey, we wouldn't do this if we didn't like challenges.

[steamschooner]

Do you have detailed drawings of the machinery?   I have been following your build and it's looking real good. I have been collecting info to build a west coast sternwheeler at some time. Something of local interest of which only a few pictures remain. I have some line drawings of boilers and sternwheel engines if you have the need. 

 

Steve

[kurtvd19]

The Western Rivers Engine Room Cyclopedium by Alan Bates has a lot of this information.  It is available on Amazon but don't pay more than $20 as it is also available brand new from the Howard Steamboat Museum in Jeffersonville, IN.  They have all of the new books that remain.  They also have the Western Rivers Steamboat Cyclopedium - brand new rather than used as from Amazon.

Kurt

[mtaylor]

Mea Culpa....     

[Cathead]

Steve,

 

There are no drawings of the Bertrand's machinery; the wreck was partially salvaged shortly afterward with a focus on all the iron, and later river currents and burial swept away everything above the main decking. Only the main hull was found and documented by the archaeological team. However, I have some information on typical machinery of the period that I had intended to draw from. What period are your drawings from?

 

Kurt,

 

That's a great tip, thanks! Their site doesn't have any purchasing info, I think I'll call to inquire. I may also look into interlibrary loan, given my budgetary constraints. I don't get out much, but that museum sure looks interesting.

 

mtaylor,

 

Oh, no worries, just thought I'd set the record straight. 

Edited August 3, 2015 by Cathead

[kurtvd19]

Cathead:

The books are great - if you get them through the library loan I bet you will still purchase them later.

 

The Museum people are a friendly bunch and will answer your questions.  They have a lot of great models - but their lighting is poor and they all need cleaning.  One of their board members told me recently that they are finally going to get them professionally cleaned.  The steamboats were made directly south of the big house which sits just up a slight hill from the Ohio River - the site is now occupied by Jeffersonville Barge Co. and they build the big river barges right there. 

 

I wound up using Jeffersonville Barge Co. plans to build a 1/72 scale barge (along with a 9' diorama) for a legal case for a courtroom exhibit in a wrongful death case.  River stuff is my main interest.  Even better when you can get paid to build it.  The overall photo of the very incomplete diorama shows the unpainted barge in place and the other photo shows the overhead loading machinery that is atop the three main cells (a scale 35' out of the water).  BTW, water in the Ohio and other rivers is NOT blue, but being made for a jury to view we decided that showing brown water would maybe have them asking how the barge was floating on dirt.  Also, the scale deckhands were made overly simple so as not to "confuse" jurors.  This Atty. is a specialist in maritime cases and seeing that he won the case he must know what he's doing.  The nice thing about this besides being paid very well to build a model is that he's promised this will not be the last case coming my way.  It all helps to pay my way to NRG Conferences and lets me build what I want and buy the toys / tools to do so.

 

Kurt

[steamschooner]

The drawings I have are for a 1889 stern wheeler so they maybe a little "to new".  They would give you the basic shapes and sizes. The boiler is of the locomotive type which I believe were the norm.

Steve

[Cathead]

Steve,

 

What do you mean by "locomotive type"?

 

Kurt,

 

Fantastic story & images. Know any lawyers who want a steamboat? 

Edited August 4, 2015 by Cathead

[steamschooner]

Cathead, Picture a steam locomotive with out the cab or any of the wheels, just the boiler. As you can see from the line drawing it looks like a locomotive without a few things.

Steve

[Cathead]

That looks fairly different from the mid-1800 steamboat boilers I'm familiar with, which used a series of boiler tubes side-by-side. For example, Bertrand very likely used something quite like this (image from this thread):

 

 

This type of design is what I intend to use for the model, with specific modifications based on my current resources (for example the number of boiler tubes varies from boat to boat), unless I turn up new information to the contrary. But in a general sense, this is what Mississippi Valley steamboat boiler assemblies looked like mid-century to the best of my knowledge. Here's another one, the boiler assembly from the Arabia, which sunk near Kansas City in 1856.

 

[mtaylor]

Cathead,

 

I think you're pretty much spot on.  I've seen a display years ago (at the Arch in St. Louis) and I recall those engines being on most of the riverboat models they were showing.

[steamschooner]

Yes, as I  said earlier I thought the line drawing I posted was "to new"  for what you are building. Looks like they( the boiler ) could be a model subject in themselves.

[Cathead]

Here's the boiler assembly I build for my last steamboat:

 

 

Technically these aren't the engines, those are at the stern, one on each side. The boiler feeds steam through an overhead pipe toward the stern, where the pipe splits in two and leads to the engines, where large cylinders are mounted fore-and-aft so that each cylinder stroke drives one side of the sternwheel.

 

Building the boiler doesn't concern me as much as the engine assemblies; I have to decide how much detail I can reasonably include. They're complicated buggers.

[cog]

I remember someone pointing to a build on model ship builder once. I was very much taken in by that build and it's detail. Looked op the build again: http://modelshipbuilder.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?5406.40

[steamschooner]

Nice looking boiler, I am sure the engines will turn out great as well. As i side note have you read: "The Western River Steamboat" structure and machinery 1811 to 1860 A thesis by Adam Isaac Kane. It's a PDF file of about 190 pgs. Interesting reading.

Steve

[Cathead]

Steve, I have that book in hardcopy sitting on my workbench! Great book and a significant resource for this build.

 

Carl, yes, that's a fantastic build that I've looked over a few times in planning out this build. I've visited the real Cairo and it's really neat to see such a good model of it.

[Cathead]

I haven't made much visible progress in the last few weeks, but have been doing a lot of preparatory planning for the complicated next step(s). First, here's the one major achievement: the rudder assemblies.

 

 

I built these up from multiple layers of wood, making the actual rudders a bit thicker than the wings that link them to the hull. I based the curve in the latter (where they meet the hull) on the mold I used to bend the stern frames in the first place, then carved/sanded the curve to its final fit. The hinges are just thin strip styrene; at this scale I don't have the skill to fabricate true hinges, and these will be well hidden behind the paddle wheel. Boats like Bertrand used four rudders, two inboard masters with tall tiller posts that link to the steerage assembly, and two outboard slaves linked to the masters by hinged rods. I simulated these linkages with more thin strip styrene; again this detail will be almost entirely hidden on the finished model. I'll add the horizontal tiller extensions once I start laying out the engine room properly. The rudders had to be the next project, as I needed the boat upside down to do them properly, and once I start building up the superstructure it'll be a LOT harder to turn her over.

 

 

I've also been making slow headway on the deck planking; slow because each line of planks has to be measured, cut, glued, and allowed to dry before the next goes into place. This is about as far as I'm going to go for now, as soon I'll need to start installing various vertical posts for the superstructure, which extend into the hull. Once I have the framing in place, I'll finish planking around it. This, at least, gives a sense of the planking's appearance (before any sanding). I've been intentionally staining planks with different dilutions, to discourage uniformity, and like the result so far (sanding will mute it slightly).

 

 

Now comes the fun stuff, machinery, which I intend to tackle in this order:

 

Paddlewheel

Piston engines (which link to the wheel), located roughly behind "Bertrand" in the drawing above

Boiler assembly (which links to the piston engines), located near the bow, forward of the two white cross-pieces I've already installed (see photo 2).

 

Fabricating these will take quite some time. I intend to use styrene, of which I have a diverse supply from my model railroading endeavors; I'm used to it and have no experience in metal working. When painted and weathered, it gives a nice approximation of metal, suitable for my purposes.

 

It may be a month or more before I update again. August is a busy time for me, and we are planning a two-week vacation in September. So I will likely not update this log again before late September, depending on how much work gets done. Thanks for your patience with my skewed priorities, emphasizing worldly pursuits over boat-building!

[Omega1234]

Hi Cathead

 

Really nice progress and she's looking great.

 

No need to worry about the "skewed priorities". We'll still be here waiting eagerly for your next update once you're able to get back into things.

 

All the best!

 

Patrick

[mtaylor]

Looking good, Cathead and it appears to be an excellent plan.   As for skewed priorities, I think we'd worry more if they were the other way around.

[dgbot]

I am getting duzzy just looking at it.

David B

[captainbob]

She's coming along nicely.

 

Bob