Heroine 1838 by ggrieco - FINISHED - Scale 1:24 - Western River Steamboat as she appeared before hitting a snag in the Red River

[Cathead]

It's mesmerizing to look at. I really appreciate that last wide-angle view, too, really puts the machinery in context.

[GLakie]

Outstanding Glenn! 

[ggrieco]

Thanks everybody!

 

I had some time to play with the camera on Friday. I took some one half second exposures with a tripod and got much better depth of field than before. I've always been a little lazy with the camera and just quickly took photos. I wish I had put a little more effort into it in the beginning. Next time I'll try to dust the model before taking the photos.

 

Glenn

[EdT]

They look pretty clean to me, Glenn.  Dust in photos is a major nuisance.  Even when all looks clean, dust shows up, especially in closeups.  I'm glad I'm not buying film anymore.  I could not afford the retakes.

 

Ed

[dvm27]

If there's dust in the photo it must be scale dust because I can't see it.

 

Could you please share how you came to be a professional ship model maker with TAMU? Did you make model airplanes and ships as a kid? How'd you get to be so damned good? Enquiring minds want to know!

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi Glenn

 

 

I love it!

 

Regards

Gerhard

[captainbob]

The side shot showing the full length with the running gear really shows the beauty of the HEROINE and your workmanship.

 

Bob

[druxey]

Dear Glenn, I wish you could see my smile as I studied your latest photographs. Standing ovation!

[albert]

Hi Glenn, fantastic work.

[Omega1234]

Hi Glenn

 

Utterly amazing! Words just can't describe...

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[Canute]

All I can add is YOWZAH!

[ggrieco]

Thanks everybody for your comments and likes! I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to respond earlier, I spent the day in Houston with the family. We took the kids to the Health Museum -- they have a strange fascination with germs. Anyway, your comments were wonderful to come home to!

 

Greg, I guess you could say I just got lucky. I was an out-of-work industrial engineer that just happened to be in the right place at the right time when the Belle project came along. I realized early after graduating that I was more interested in the history of engineering than in modern engineering. Getting into the archaeology program gave me the opportunity to reverse engineer all kinds of old stuff. Although I've always loved building things and I had previously made a handful of ship models (thanks to Eric Rondberg and Harrold Hahn), I got pulled into Belle and have been lucky enough to work with all kinds of related projects ever since. I wish they hadn't used the term professional model builder on the website, I think department "handyman" seems more appropriate.

 

 

Glenn

[druxey]

Interesting back-story, Glenn. 'Handyman' is grossly under-selling yourself, though! Thanks for sharing your journey. And yes, kids just love the gross stuff, don't they?

[Cathead]

Handyman. You're literal AND funny.

[Jack12477]

Glenn, I have to agree with Druxey. "Handyman" grossly understates your amazing talents and gifts.  Your build is a fascinating journey. Thanks for sharing it.

[Gerhardvienna]

Hello Gerhard,

 

USS Cairo with a working engine would be an incredible model. Consider me already following that build - I can't wait!

 

Glenn

 

Hi Glenn

HERE it comes............

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/13282-uss-cairo-by-gerhardvienna-live-steam-radio/

 

Best regards

Gerhard

[Jim Lad]

How about 'department fine artist' instead of handyman?  Your work continues to amaze me.

 

John

[Louie da fly]

Beautiful precision work, Glenn. This is the original steampunk. It is fascinating watching this build progress.

 

(On a totally different subject, I've sent you a PM relating to the Glass Wreck.)

 

Steven 

[ggrieco]

This week I finally got back to the boilers.  We only have a handful of pieces for the boiler so the appearance is a little generic.  I decided to go with a wood for that will be sheathed with brass and blackened.  Unfortunately, I didn't get many photos this week so I wasn't able to show all the steps I wanted.

 

 

Milling the boiler tubes.  The capacity of the TAIG mill prevented me from milling all tubes at once so I had to mill them in pairs.

 

First pair off the mill.  I tried to mill these with a 10 percent stepover but only got through half of it in 3 hours.  I switched over to 25 percent and you can see the difference about halfway through the part.  The previous photo is being milled at 25 percent and you can see the rough finnish.

 

Handful of pieces from the feedwater system.  The top flange on the standpipe supported the boiler tube and the arched webbing on the crosspiece supported the boiler sheathing.

 

Experimenting with the location of thefront of the boilers and the standpipes.

 

 

 The jig i used to crossdrill the standpipes.

 

 

Standpipes with bases added.  I still need to add the rest of the flanges and the webbing in between.

 

Boiler ready to be sheathed.

 

 

 

 

[Cathead]

Looks great to me!

[ggrieco]

Thanks Cathead,

 

I know you have done a lot of research into the boilers and I would appreciate any comments or suggestions you might have.

 

Glenn

[Cathead]

That's generous of you, Glenn, as you have access to experts far more informed than I! One question does occur to me: did Heroine have additional planking under her boilers, the way Bertrand did? On the latter, the boiler area was supported by a second layer of planks run athwartships, I assume to provide additional strength in addition to the extra cross-timbers supporting the deck in that area. Was that part of the hull preserved enough to document that? My limited references don't talk about that aspect of construction, I just have the archeological drawings showing that feature's existence.

 

Thinking about the same area, did Heroine have an ash trough in front of the boilers to carry away hot material?

 

Also, thinking ahead to details, early safety gauges could be a fun project. Some boilers used a series of gauge cocks at various elevations, the idea being that you could open them in turn to approximate the water level in the boiler. Glass tubes were tried, too, with mixed success. I'm pretty sure all of these were in very primitive stages of development in the 1830s, and I have no idea which Heroine might have used, but it'd be a fun detail to play with. Apologies if you've already thought this through and I'm getting ahead of you.

[captainbob]

Thanks for that last picture, what a beautiful shot, looking back past the boiler to the engine and doctor and then the wheels.  I stopped and looked at it for several minutes dreaming of days past. 

 

Bob

[michael mott]

Glen looking at the last picture brought to mind two model-makers of great renown Dr Bradbury Winter, and Donald McNarry.

 

I do so enjoy your updates.

 

Michael

[druxey]

You might wish to add Gerald Wingrove to that list, Michael!

[michael mott]

 

You might wish to add Gerald Wingrove to that list, Michael!

Of course and other worthy builders too numerous to mention without hijacking the thread.

 

Michael

[S.Coleman]

Been waiting for the boiler Assembly. Looking great as usual.

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi Glenn

A little bit of black paint, and some front endcaps and stacks for the boilers, and they will fire up! Phantastic piece of work you made here again.

 

Regards

Gerhard

[ggrieco]

Thanks everybody,

 

I spent the day weeding the the flowerbed and my wife's herb garden and it is nice to finally sit down to MSW.

 

Cathead, great question! Unfortunately, the entire deck area where the boilers were is gone -- not a trace in the remains. I forget what we estimated the weight of the boilers, fire brick and water would have been but it does seem like some reinforcement of the deck would have been necessary. Notches on the keelson indicate that there were stantions under every deck beam below the boiler but, this is all the evidence we have. The ash trough as well -- no evidence survives. We have the outboard planking on the port side which doesn't give us any clues. If I remember correctly, Bertrand's ash trough ran to starboard side and we have nothing remaining of the deck to starboard. It is a neat feature that I would love to model but, without evidence, I have decided not to assume we had one. this is one of the toughest decisions when we have archaeological remains that we want to showcase in the model. It would be nice if there were some way to highlight in the model what is represented in the remains and what is conjectural. As you say, it would be fun to represent all the details on the boilers as well. It is always the case that I wish I had just a little more time to research another detail. If I had to take a guess I would say that Heroine used three stopcocks aligned vertically on the boiler. The water level could be determined by opening them slightly in order from top to bottom. Again, without evidence I will probably leave this detail out.

 

Michael and druxey,

Thanks for mentioning the three model makers. I googled them and really enjoyed seeing their models. I hope to one day be able to come close to the quality of their work. Just incredible!

 

Bob, S. Coleman and Gerhard,

 

Thanks so much for the comments. Hopefully, once the boiler is sheathed and blackened it will be more convincing.

 

Once again, thank you everybody for your comments and likes.

 

Glenn

[albert]

Hi Glenn, great work.