Chaperon by Blighty - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Weathered and aged - My first build log

[Blighty]

Hi Mike,

           Warping has been an issue for me too. However the washes I applied involve saturation of the wall surfaces so I expected to see warping. Some of the warping was very extreme. when it had fully dried out it went close to where t started. At that point I clamped the parts up in correct location and sprayed with water once again and left overnight. I have stress free joints all round. I will take some picks of the next warping I get and show how severe it got. I wish I'd taken some pics.

[Blighty]

I felt like a break  from gluing the 1/32" battens to the wall of the boiler deck so I decided to start on the stern wheel, much more fun!

 

I found it fairly straightforward to glue the 2 halves of the 56A rings together then glue to both sides of each segment of  the wheel. I pushed each wheel segment onto the axel to align the washers ad glued those on too. The parts were pre painted with Krylon undercoat spray cans, white and red oxide. Next came the aging of the wheel sub asms, it took about 10 minutes per side to complete. I will give the complete wheel a black/green wash to finish it off, the wash will dull it down a bit, I hope.

Here are a couple of picks, one pic shows a none aged segment for comparison purposes. 

The paddles will be unpainted but vinegar dipped. I have a sample in vinegar right now see if I can get the effect I'm looking for.

Unfortunately my beloved tipped the old recipe away, it was close to 2 weeks old and working really well, so now I have a new batch brewing, see how that works in a day or 2.

[Mike Dowling]

I found those 56a rings quite fiddly but you seem to have done fine. I did modify my wheel slightly to give the paddles clamps. Don't know if that is useful to you. Your wheels look really mancky!!! Almost as if they had been used !! Tee hee.

[Blighty]

Ummm! clamp on the stern wheel, tell me more??? :rolleyes:

[Mike Dowling]

A bit difficult to describe really. The paddles sit on the end of the spokes of the wheel as it were. I just put a piece on top of the paddle were the paddle sits on the wheel.

If I had been really keen I should have put fake bolts through them. Let's see if this picture will help.

 

 

[Blighty]

That looks good Mike, I'll take a closer look at that ad likely apply similar. You have a tight build there, nice clean fits. Thx for the tip.

 

Len

[Cathead]

Len, check out this photo from the Arabia Steamboat Museum in Kansas City. If you zoom in on it, you'll see that the paddles (often called buckets despite being flat) are held to the spokes by U-shaped bolts. This was a common practice in earlier eras, I don't specifically know about Chaperon's later era. There was also sometimes a separate squareish plank over the paddle/bucket where the bolts went through, to provide extra strength. That is roughly what Mike did, but without the bolts (which are awfully fiddly to add at these scales). You could do it by making a jig and bending lots of wire; wouldn't need to drill through the paddles if you could simulate the nuts on the other side.

[Mike Dowling]

If I remember rightly the destructions indicate the bent wire idea. That was too fiddly for me which is why I opted for what I did. As for the bolts I agree with Cathead.

[Blighty]

Cathead, Mike,

                       This is the ref pic I selected for my paddle attachment, looks like Mike's method. I saw more pics similar to this one as well.

I'm not sure if I will be able to do the U bolts, I struggle to see small detail like that.

[Landlubber Mike]

Really nice work Blighty.  I just came back from Disneyworld, and they had a riverboat in the main park.  Taking the ride and walking around made me appreciate these boats.  Lots of really cool details to model!

Edited February 6, 2017 by Landlubber Mike

[Blighty]

Really nice work Blighty.  I just came back from Disneyworld, and they had a riverboat in the main park.  Taking the ride and walking around made me appreciate these boats.  Lots of really cool details to model!

Thx LM, welcome aboard this riverboat, I hope you enjoy this ride also, feel free to chip in, all comments are very welcome. Unfortunately the current owner/operator of the Chaperon is not too keen on maintenance and upkeep hence the scruffy turnout. lol.

Definitely a fun model to build, it's looking more and more tortured every day. I'm about 90% complete on the stern wheel so I'll post a pic in a few minutes, just a bit of rust to add, and needless to say needs a good clean up ant it will be mint again.

[Blighty]

A couple of pics of the wheel, still a bit of detailing to do but the washes are complete.

 

Now it's back to attaching battens. ZZZZzzzzzzz!

 

Len

[Rossi46]

Looks beautiful...

[Cathead]

Len, that's not attached yet, right? Because it appears to be on backward at the moment. I really hope I haven't just ruined your day. It looks very nice otherwise!

[Blighty]

Haha, no it's not attached, I just put it up for a pic.......(or did I)?

 

Never the less thx for the heads up.

 

I have been checking out the various photos I have of the real Chaperon, it was configured quite differently over the years but one of the most interesting was the inclusion and omission of the Texas Deck. Does anyone know the reason for this?

 

Sorry wrong pic

Edited February 6, 2017 by Blighty

[Blighty]

I was looking through my Power Point and thought I'd give a head's up to anyone who is likely to build this kit. (and at all interested, haha).

There is  a little bit of lettering missing on the CHAPERON stencil. Easy fix.

 

Len

[Mike Dowling]

I found the 'A' problem but missed the P and the R completely. I don't think I could correct it at this stage as it is too difficult to get to, never mind. Your wheel looks really good and just as scruffy as the rest of the boat. I don't know about anyone else but I think your aging is really clever.

[Blighty]

Thx Mike.

[Mike Dowling]

You are most welcome,

This can't be your first build and I can't quite remember what you said at the beginning as to what else you have done. You don't seem to have any other build logs on here so refresh my senile memory!

[Rossi46]

You are most welcome,

This can't be your first build and I can't quite remember what you said at the beginning as to what else you have done. You don't seem to have any other build logs on here so refresh my senile memory!

I can assure it is his first proper build mike (he is my dad) and you arent doing us any favours with your glowing comments hahaha. The aging is really very good in person, after his first practice build (emma berry???) we were all keeping our expectations at a reasonable level lol. This build, particularly the realism of the aging is really cool.

[Blighty]

Hi,

    Another change,

    I have filled in the door apertures on the front radii of the boiler deck. i think building a door frame on the corners would be labor intensive and would use non standard timber, if there was such a thing back then! See the attached estimate of what I think the interior would/could look like.

The lobby is wider for easy access of multiple passengers and luggage.

I also assume there is an interior door for each room.

 

There's no intent to build interior walls but I did want to justify the deletion of the doors on the rads.

 

Len.

 

[Blighty]

Mike, take no notice of Rossi46, I can handle glowing comments all day.

As for weathering and aging the boat, it's not so difficult............... if there is a blob of glue on the surface, paint it brown and turn it rusty!

 

I have made plastic models for some time and was always more into the painting than the building, remember this show from the 60's or early 70's?

 

 

[Blighty]

F.A.B. Jack!

[Rossi46]

Bit of a thread derail, but did you know the thunderbird characters were named after some of the original mercury seven?

[Blighty]

Good spot, I never noticed that before.

[Cathead]

Kurt would have the best idea of Chaperon's interior, however on earlier boats the "rooms" were actually quite narrow and small; much of the interior was taken up by a wider parlor, wide enough for dining tables and the like. So your proposed interior hallway would be quite a bit too narrow. But again I don't know how Chaperon was set up.

[Blighty]

Mayday, mayday, are you out there Kurt?

Kurt, are you familiar with the boiler deck floor plan?

I have a pic of the interior parlour but assumed that would only be a portion of the length of the cabin structure and separate rooms would take up the rest. The deck scales at 20 feet wide.

I'm only trying to establish the forward most portion of the floor plan to see why there are doors in the radii.

 

I sketched up a rough dimensioned plan but only had that one pic to work from.

 

Be great if you can help, thx in advance.

 

Len

[Mike Dowling]

Looking at my model and your photo I would suggest that the radii doors are the entrance to the parlour.

 

I don't mind keeping up with the good comments if you don't. I think it is magnificent for a first build.

[Cathead]

Great photo, Len, certainly shows that you're right and Chaperon was laid out the way you showed. I was going to suggest that the doors on the corners were to avoid having to squeeze between the chimneys to get in, since the front cabin wall is so close there, but as the staircase from the main deck goes right there, and there appear to be two doors right in front as well (judging from the photos on M-E's site), I don't know.

[kurtvd19]

Len:

The Chaperon was built in 1884 at Chambersburg, OH as the J. C. Kerr and operated on the upper Ohio River until 1892 when it was sold to Capt. R. H. Williams - the photo of the cabin area shown yesterday is for another Chaperon - built in Clinton, IA - the upper windows (skylights) shown were not on the Chaperon in question.

 

But, the layout shown in the photo was probably close to what the Chaperon looked like in the forward area.  There are a tremendous amount of photos showing interiors of steamboats and while some were quite elaborate the Chaperon wasn't one to have lavish ornamentation and furnishings.

 

Kurt