Arabia 1856 by Cathead - FINISHED - Scale 1:64 - sidewheel riverboat from the Missouri River, USA

[lkimmins]

I have a shot from under side, this may be the riverboat Howard from St Louis

Lee

[Cathead]

Watching the winter Olympics has both slowed and helped my work. Slowed, because it's been an evening time sink watching so many events I enjoy. Helped, because I moved into the final parts of hull planking that required more careful shaping and manual gluing, so it gave me something to do while messing with individual planks.

 

I've been planking from the outside in, and once I got too near the centerline, my normal binder-clip clamps (black, below) wouldn't fit anymore. So I started using reversed and halved clothespins instead, whose angled shapes work quite well as wedges (also below). Their clamping parts aren't doing anything, but wedging them into the narrow gaps between plank and the center bulkhead worked really well, at least for straight areas. For curved areas, I mostly did this manually and watched Olympics. But I was really pleased with this method.

 

Then I made a frustrating mistake, managing to snap off a big chunk of the curve bow guard extension. It actually wasn't hard to repair, I just cut away most of the bow's curve on both sides, and bend and inserted a new piece that fully swept around that curve. It's not quite as nice as the original because the new joint was harder to hide, but when the model is finished it won't really show. I was still very annoyed with myself because I've been so careful in handling.

 

So here's the planked hull. Note that in this photo I've begun inserting the extra guard timbers at the stern, but not yet at the bow, to bring them up to the right density. If I had decided to plank over the underside of the guards, I wouldn't have needed to do this, so hadn't until the decision was made. But there's abundant evidence that leaving the guards open underneath is the right approach, so in go the rest of the guards.

 

 

As you may be able to tell above, I also used some wood filler to match a few less-than-ideal gaps in planking, mostly in the complicated stern area. Above, I've applied it to the starboard (lower) side but not yet the port (upper side), and haven't yet sanded it down. Below is a closer look at the stern, with one side filled and one side not. In this photo, it has been sanded. It's definitely smoother now but the planking lines still show through. I'm pleased with how this came out overall, though I did struggles to get the run of planking right and could probably have done it better. Those odd extensions at the very stern are on the real thing, I'll come back to that soon when I show the building of the rudder.

 

 

And here she is with all the guard timbers installed, right side up with my machinery templates laid out for reference. If you look closely at the starboard wheel area, you'll see a little vertical wooden thing that doesn't resolve well in the photo. That's my rough person for scale, he's about 5'8", shorter than me but about right for the period. The wheel is in about the right vertical place and orientation. The plain white rectangle represents the boilers.

 

So that's where Arabia stands post-Olympics. Next up, I need to cut way too many short strips of hull planking to fill in the last strake between all the guard timbers, then do any final hull finishing necessary. I'll paint the hull next before proceeding to planking the deck, and also will finish the rudder, though I probably won't install it until the very end to keep if from being knocked off. Then, finally, I'll move toward deck planking.

 

Thanks as always for following along. Hopefully this starts to get more interesting soon as we turn her right side up and the machinery and superstructure get underway.

 

 

[steamschooner]

Eric, Your hull looks very good, I wonder did they paint the bottoms on these early riverboats or use some sort of tar or pitch mixture?

[Cathead]

To the best of my knowledge, hulls were always painted (usually white).

[Jim Lad]

She's coming along beautifully, mate!

 

John

[kurtvd19]

I agree with Eric about hulls always being painted.  I have also seen black hulls but white was certainly the most common.

Kurt

[leclaire]

Eric,

 

You mentioned working on the rudder - I assume this means only one on your build. My Chaperon has dual rudders. Just curious but does this have anything to do with basic design differences between a stern wheeler and a side wheeler? 

 

Bob

[Cathead]

Good question. Yes, sidewheelers generally had one center rudder, because their hulls were more ship-like (tapering at the stern) so water flowed properly past a single rudder; they were also more maneuverable due to the ability to  back each engine separately. Sternwheelers commonly had two to four rudders, often linked into a single system. My understanding is that their more barge-like square sterns didn't funnel water past rudders as efficiently, so they needed more rudders spaced across the stern to compensate. For example, here are the rudders on my model of Bertrand:

 

These were built in two paired assemblies; the inner two were connected to the actual steering gear, and the outer two were slaved to their partners. Also note that each rudder fits into an extension that runs forward into the curve of the hull; my understanding is that this helped direct water properly onto each rudder. The hull was shaped this way on sternwheelers (wide and square like a barge rather than tapered like a ship) because that design provided the extra buoyancy needed to support the massive, heavy sternwheel.

 

In comparison, here is the salvaged stern of the Arabia:

 

Note how the hull naturally tapers to the single rudder, which it can do because the wheels and engines are placed much more forward on a sidewheeler, so the stern can be shaped "normally", allowing for more efficient water flow to the rudder.

 

If this still isn't clear, I can try to take comparative photos of the two models to better illustrate the difference.

Edited February 25, 2018 by Cathead

[leclaire]

Thanks Eric, your explanation is very clear and makes a lot of sense. I had a hunch it had something to do with the shape of the stern and the subsequent flow of water around the hull but figured you were the guy to ask. I am surprised to see that some boats had up to four rudders but again your explanation makes it clear as to the reason.

 

Bob

[Mike Dowling]

I have only just found this Eric but I will follow along if it's OK.

[Cathead]

Of course, Mike! You're already a steamboat veteran given your excellent Chaperon.

[Cathead]

I've made slow progress on some unphotogenic work, mainly filling in the myriad little gaps in planking between every deck beam extending out to support the guards. This took forever, as each little piece had to be cut and filed to shape given the odd angles of the hull, particularly at bow and stern. They're not all quite straight or perfect, but some judicious wood filler and filing took care of that, and they'll be almost invisible on the finished model once the decking is installed and they're tucked in the shadows under the guards. I didn't bother to take a photo of this as it really isn't very interesting. It took a long time, but a couple interesting soccer games over the weekend helped me keep plugging away.

 

Beforehand, now that the hull was planked, I made a basic support jig that allowed the hull to be clamped into my handy rotating work stand:

 

Unlike a sailing ship, these riverboats had little to no external keel, so there's nowhere to attach such a work stand to. I really like having my models on a rotating stand like this, because it allows me to choose the right angle for any given job and often makes the work a lot more ergonomic. Thus I made and screwed this into the hull; it's nice and solid. Although this setup is rough and ugly, I measured the screw holes in the hull to be exactly where I'd want them for the final display stand. So I'll be able to mount this properly once the work is done. It already made filling all the planking gaps much easier because I could tilt the model as-needed to see each gap.

 

Also, as there were questions about the rudder, here's my rudder next to the original:

 

Now that they're truly side by side, it seems that I got a few proportions slightly off. Some of this can be solved by a bit more sanding. I may end up redoing this, using the photo pair above as a better guide. I won't attach this until near the end of the project, so it's not of immediate concern. It is neat to compare the model and original side by side like this, I'll try to do a few more photos.

 

Next up, I'll take the jig back off the hull and do a final sanding. Once I'm happy with it surface, I'll go ahead and paint it. Then it's on to deck planking.

 

Thanks for reading.

[leclaire]

Looking good Eric. I think you are right about the proportion issue - a little bit of sanding around the perimeter edges should clean that up nicely. It is very interesting to be able to compare a photo of the real thing to what you are creating. On the one hand it gives a better perspective on accuracy but it sure would drive me nuts trying to live up to the original. Sometimes ignorance is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

Your patience in making all of those deck supports is commendable as well. Keep up the good work.

 

Bob

[Cathead]

Thanks, Bob. Though, actually, compared to building every single full-hull frame from scratch for Bertrand, this has been a relative breeze. I do agree that having the real thing for comparison is both exciting and daunting. I'm slightly dreading the machinery for that very reason, as (a) machinery is not really my strong point and (b) having the real machinery on display in a museum makes the standard for accuracy awfully high. There are some interesting questions there that I'll get to once the deck is planked.

[Cathead]

The hull is finished! After sanding to an acceptable texture, I primed and painted it using Model Shipways primer and white, thinned and with several coats. This sealed off any remaining tiny gaps nicely but the planking can still be seen.

 

I rebuilt the rudder to get proportions I found more pleasing, and painted that too. It won't actually be installed until much later, but it's done.

And two more views of the hull from bow and stern:

I had intended to plank the main deck next, but changed my mind. I'm going to build the cylinder timbers and wheel supports next, because those will inform how I lay out the deck and superstructure. Plus, I've dealt with enough planking for now.

 

Thanks for reading!

[Cathead]

I'm now working on the cylinder timbers, the pair of large timber frameworks that support the piston engine and paddle wheel on each side of the boat. A full original set is on display at the museum. although the tight quarters and large size made it very difficult to photograph the entire assembly in one view:

 

Thus, for reference, here's the drawing I made of these based on measurements and photos taken at the museum. I've printed these out at scale and used them as a template for the model:

 

Each set of cylinder timbers consists of a larger assembly that extends to support the wheel, and a smaller assembly that supports the other side of the piston engine but is much shorter. Here's a view from the engine end, looking toward the stern. The (port) wheel is on the view's right, so the assembly to the right is the big one, while the one to the left is the smaller one that only supports the engine. I hope that's clear.

 

And here's what I've built so far. I started by carefully cutting the thickest angled piece under the engine and using that to define where each of the larger beams went. From there, I'm slowly filling in the shorter support blocks. I'm building both sets of timber assemblies at the same time to ensure that they match, even though it really doesn't matter since they don't connect across the boat in any way. I just think it's helping me make them correctly to do it together (and reduces the redundant feel of starting over on the second one after finishing the first). Current status of one set (the other looks the same) next to a template:

 

I've now run into an interesting problem that I hadn't noticed before. Both the large and small sides have wooden braces at the stern end that angle down from the thick cylinder timber to act as a counter-brace (these are on the right side of the drawings posted above). On the large assembly, they simply butt up against the timber end with a metal bracket connecting the two, and what looks like a simple mortise on the lower one:

But on the short assembly, there's a strange quirk about the connection between the timber and the brace:

 

In the image above, notice how the brace (on the left) meets the timber (right) well below the latter's top surface. Moreover, the large vertical bolt that ties all this together is too long by maybe 4-6", what looks like about the same gap (outlined in red). And from above, you can see that there's a notch in the timber. So was there some kind of extra wooden brace that extended from a notch in the timber, over the top of the brace, different from how the other two worked?

 

I don't know if that explanation and question is clear; I'm sure I suffer from the curse of knowledge from studying this so much. But if that makes sense, does anyone have any ideas? I can't see any evidence for how such a brace would have been shaped if it had existed, and am somewhat reluctant to add something that isn't there in the recovered assembly. But it seems strange to me and I'm just curious about thoughts on this very esoteric question.

 

Working on these has been a nice change from planking; I'm glad I tackled this next. Thanks for reading.

[Cathead]

The cylinder timber assemblies are essentially done. Here they are test-placed on the hull, using a dowel to align both sides. In reality there wouldn't be an axle running all the way across, but I have it set up this way at the moment to ensure that both sides are aligned.

 

Here's a closeup of some details (see photos in the last post for the real thing):

 

Below is a closeup of the real pillow block (the metal brackets holding the axles to the timbers). I decided I wasn't capable of making an exact replica and went for a reasonable facsimile instead.

 

To make these, I traced the outlines of multiple blocks in a single sheet of wood, drilled & filed the axle holes, and only then cut each one to length. This made it easier to get the holes aligned properly and lessened the chance of cracking the wood. Then I carefully cut and filed the final shape. Below is a staged photo of the process, from a basic block at bottom left to a screwed-up block at bottom right (got the hole off-center) to four decent ones above.

 

To make the metal rods holding the different timbers together, I carefully drilled out the holes in sequence, then used blackened metal wire for the rods. I made the little iron face plates (or whatever the right term is) by cutting a strip of styrene most of the way, leaving the end attached to the sheet for ease of handling. I then painted it black, drilled holes along the length, and cut a series of tiny squares centered on each hole:

 

I then slid these onto the rods, which was tricky between timbers. I positioned them in the middle of each gap, painted the remaining cut surfaces, then applied a dab of CA to each one and slid it down into place:

 

And here's another view of the test-fit assembly:

The inboard timbers are based on the measurements and photos I took at the museum so are pretty close to accurate. The outboard timbers (the squarish pile at the edge of each guard) are my own design, as I have no information regarding how these were done on Arabia. None of the excavation photos show these timbers intact. I found one drawing in a reference book of a similar style, and it makes sense to me as a design. The inboard timbers have to with stand the back and forth pounding of the cylinders, so have long braces in either direction. The outboard ones just have to hold up the wheel, there's really no back and forth stress there. So I decided a simple design made the most sense. These will be barely visible anyway unless I decide to leave one side of the model open.

 

I'll probably work on building the engines next, so I can finalize the assembly of this section. When all the machinery is finished I'll be able to lay out the rest of the deck and determine exactly where the superstructure will go, meaning I can determine what portions of the deck to plank and which will be hidden. I had intended to build this as a "closed" model, but doing the detailed work on the cylinder timbers is making me question that and wonder whether to leave one side open. This also affects the level of detail with which I build the paddle wheels. Will they be mostly hidden within the hull, or exposed to view behind open framing? To be lazy/efficient, or obsessive/interesting?

 

Thanks for reading. Hopefully the build continues to be more interesting as we get into the above-decks work.

[leclaire]

Hi Eric,

 

I'm glad to see you are still progressing on this build. For some reason I missed your last post prior to this one. In looking at the question you raised regarding the joinery on the "short piece", I think you are spot on. I would be willing to bet that the missing timber section in the photo of the real structure was due to a portion cracking off. Possibly during the sinking of the boat and all the stress in places never intended to handle them. Or just due to the length of time everything lay submerged in the mud.

What makes me think that is the 6" or so of the bolt extruding out the top. Something was there for sure. In any event, what you have done makes the most sense to me.

 

I hope you finally decide to leave some of the detail of your fine work open for viewing. It would be a shame to cover it up but as we all say "it's your build".

 

Regarding your last comment about "hoping the build continues to be more interesting....", from my perspective you don't have to worry about that. I am a big fan of your work and continue to learn more and more about these fascinating river craft as you progress.

 

Bob

 

[Cathead]

Bob,

 

Yes, I finally decided to just ignore the missing piece. I agree with you that it was almost certainly there, but as I couldn't determine what it might have looked like, it didn't make sense to invent it. And it's a detail no one will miss without it being pointed out. I didn't even notice it until recently even after all my live and digital studying of the preserved timbers.

 

Part of my concern about "leaving it open" is the subsequent need to properly fill in all sorts of internal details that I don't have much guidance on. But since everything above the main deck is speculative anyway, I guess I have leeway to, well, speculate.

[cog]

Eric, Could the threaded rod have been pulled up an inch or so, that would explain some of the difference between the top of the wood and the nut, the remainder than could be a missing piece of wood which split and got lost.

[Cathead]

Carl, that hadn't occurred to me but is quite sensible. Thanks!

 

[vossy]

this is so great eric! I wish I had the tools, space, and knowhow to scratch build some of our early Australian rivercraft!

 

cheers

 

chris

 

[Cathead]

I've begun building the piston engines. These are a challenge, as I know I won't be able to duplicate them exactly, but want to produce a reasonable approximation. I'm also dedicated to doing so with whatever scrap materials I already have on hand to keep costs down. To review what the original engines looked like, visit this post in my planning thread with photos from the museum.

 

I began by digging out some styrene tubing and wooden dowels. I needed to produce a concentric structure with the outer ring protruding from an inner surface, so I nested two styrene tubes and a dowel:

Next I needed to start the main piping coming out from each quadrant of the cylinder, so cut some smaller styrene tubing at a 45 degree angle with a hand saw, glued them up in elbows, and used a slab of wooden dowel to simulate the joining surfaces of these pipes:

After painting, I glued all this together and extended the piping above the joining surface. Here you can also see the end structure for which I used the nested tubing/dowels:

I then cut some wooden slats to form the structures connecting these pipes. These were higher on one side and lower on the other, reflecting the way that steam was pumped in and around these piston engines:

I then cut some tiny squares of styrene to simulate the bolt/washer assemblies on the cylinder ends, painted everything so far, and put it on the cylinder timbers as a test-display:

And here's a broader view of the two assemblages so far. Lots of piping and structure yet to add, but I like how it's coming together so far. The thick Model Shipways black paint does a reasonable job of blending the wood and styrene into a single surface texture and I'll probably use a bit of pastel weathering when I've finished assembly.

I've been on a mental block about starting these for a while, as machinery is my least favorite subject, but I think these are decent. The piping sticks out farther to either side than the real thing, but that's the nature of using the tubing I had on hand, and it's only noticeable to someone really carefully comparing this to the real thing.

 

Thanks for reading.

Edited May 14, 2018 by Cathead

[Louie da fly]

On 5/12/2018 at 1:53 PM, vossy said:

this is so great eric! I wish I had the tools, space, and knowhow to scratch build some of our early Australian rivercraft!

 

cheers

 

chris

 

Me too! There are still quite a few around on the Murray - in Mildura, Albury and Echuca that I know of, and perhaps more.

 

Steven 

[Cathead]

I agree, I'd love to see some builds of Australian river craft. If they were done at a fairly small scale the detail work might not be too bad and the general idea could be conveyed. Someone should go for it!

[Jim Lad]

You've made some great progress on her while I've been away, mate!

 

John

[Cathead]

More progress on the engines. I continue to use whatever I can find in the scrapbox. Not much to say here, just slowly building up the maze of piping and beams that translate steam into motion.

 

 

 

[Cathead]

Moving forward on the engine assemblies:

Installing these on the cylinder timbers and adding steam drums:

Two shots of the finished & painted engines:

 

There are two fairly egregious inaccuracies in these engines compared to the real thing. Can you spot them? Consult the original photos here if you want to try. I'll discuss these in a future post and explain why they happened and why I'm not fixing them.

 

And here are three shots of the engine assemblies placed on the hull (but not attached). This gives a bit of context and scale.

 

 

 

Next I decide whether to start on the boilers or the wheels. I'm rather tired of working on machinery but both of those are necessary next steps before I can really move forward with deck planking and superstructure layout. I can't wait to lay the main deck!

 

Thanks for reading, everyone. The beginning of summer has been really hard on my modeling schedule but perhaps the depths of summer will help.

[mtaylor]

Nice work on the engines, Eric.   As for differences... maybe just some stuff on top?   Yours look pretty darn good to me.

[wefalck]

Quite fascinating how much pictorial evidence and real thing from that period.

BTW, nice build !