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

[michael mott]

Nice work on the wheels Eric, revisiting that picture of the wreck still amazes me how much sediment has covered it in such a short time.

Michael

[mtaylor]

Michael,

It's the nature of the rivers involved.  They've tamed a bit by the dams but in the past, they moved.   One earthquake (and memory fails me as to the year), south of Saint Louis, the Mississippi moved something like 10 or 20 miles east.  The uncontrolled flooding in past also moved the river a lot.  Fascinating history of the Mississippi, lower Missouri and lower Ohio rivers.

[Cathead]

Mark, you're thinking of the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes (for what it's worth to other readers, pronounced by locals as MADrid with the first syllable rhyming with dad or glad).

 

River channel movement is common in any system that has a relatively low gradient and isn't constrained by bedrock. It's dramatic in the history of the Mississippi River basin, but it's certainly not confined to that system, it's a completely normal geologic process.

 

EDIT: I'd meant to mark the one-year anniversary of this build on October 22, and just realized that I completely missed it. Luckily I'm far better with real anniversaries. I'm not as far along as I thought I'd be, so who knows how long this will take to complete. There's a lot of intricate work yet to be done.

Edited October 24, 2018 by Cathead

[druxey]

Madrid/MADrid: it seems perverse, like Cairo, CAYro!

[mtaylor]

On 10/24/2018 at 5:45 PM, druxey said:

Madrid/MADrid: it seems perverse, like Cairo, CAYro!

Well, we 'Merikans are known for bastardizing the Queen's English, so why not everyone elses?  

[Cathead]

Just so you all know, there won't be any updates to this build for a while. Mrs. Cathead and I are about to leave on an overseas vacation (first time we've left the country in 14 years), and have been extra busy preparing for that. I thought I might get a bit more done beforehand, but that hasn't happened. I don't think I'll be returning to this build until close to the New Year given this trip and various other commitments. Sorry to leave you all hanging. I will have some stories and photos of nautical interest to share when I return.

 

Thanks so much for reading and for being patient with the long upcoming delay.

[mtaylor]

Have a great trip, Eric.  

[Canute]

Eric, enjoy your trip.

[amateur]

Have a nice trip, and a safe return!

Jan

[druxey]

Happy travels, Cathead! We look forward to your return.

[John Allen]

Your creating a little masterpiece. Kudos have thoroughly  enjoyed the build so far. Kudos

[cog]

Be missing your updates ... have a safe, and relaxing trip with the missus. Enjoy your holiday!

[Cathead]

Hello all, we're back from spending a month exploring Chile. I've started a separate thread about the maritime history and geology of Chile because we collected so many photographs and so much information that I think will be of interest to many MSW readers. So please feel free to go check that out.

 

In the meantime, I'm not sure when I'll be getting back to the Arabia. Not only do the next few weeks look especially crammed as I get back to work in what is traditionally a very busy period for me, but I also hurt my shoulder in the mountains of Patagonia when a very strong gust of wind literally plucked me off my feet and threw me about 10-15' onto some rocks. I get strange pain and numbness when I try to use my right arm for many motions from chopping vegetables to washing dishes to lifting things, so model work is out for the moment. Luckily, typing holds the shoulder steady and doesn't seem to cause problems, and I'm hoping that a week or two of relative inactivity (i.e. not carrying backpacks around South America) will heal it.

 

That's especially unfortunate as Chile has given me a whole new set of interesting modeling topics to consider, and I'm itching to finish the Arabia and move on to one of them! I think my original estimate of getting back to the project after the New Year is still realistic. Sorry for the ongoing delay, hope the Chile series is of interest in the meantime.

[Roger Pellett]

Ouch Eric!  It sounds like you had a nice trip otherwise.  Hope that your shoulder heals quickly and that you can return to your model shop soon.

 

Roger

[mtaylor]

I hope youi've had your shoulder looked by some medical types.   Take your time and let it heal.  

[Cathead]

Hah, Mark, you're funny. This is the US we're talking about, we have a $13,000 deductible and very limited access to affordable "medical types". There's no way I'm going for medical advice unless this gets MUCH worse. It takes a lot of pain before I'll start spending my hard-earned, self-employed money funding doctors' and health insurance executives' lifestyles. Plus our insurance company will change on January 1st due to more brilliance in the American medical system, so if I go in now I'm going to end up fighting with two difference insurance companies. Much better to just wait two weeks and see what happens; if it isn't healing on its own by then, at least I'll only be dealing with the 2019 company.

[mtaylor]

Valid point.  Plus you'll have two deductibles to meed.. this year and next year.  The sad part is, it's probably going to get worse than better.

[druxey]

Sorry to read of your shoulder issues. I hope that this will heal without medical intervention., as long as you don't end up with 'frozen shoulder'. Best wishes on an uneventful recovery.

[michael mott]

Eric,

Your decision to rest will likely be a good way to heal your shoulder. You know your body better than anyone else so as long as you listen to you mind you will be ok.

 

Michael

[Cathead]

Hey, Mark, sorry if my response came across as snarky toward you. Any bitterness there came from my disgust with bipartisan failures in health care, not your reasonable suggestion. Don't need to go any further down that road. For now it's just rest and see; I give it an 80% likelihood of being ok in a few weeks with no more than heating pads, occasional Advil, and thankfulness that I already split this year's firewood stock (I use a maul, not a power splitter).

 

I need time to plan out the superstructure properly anyway and work out my next wood order.

[leclaire]

Eric, sorry to hear about your injury. I am in complete agreement with you about the current state of our healthcare system and the clowns (i.e., statesmen) that we elect to fix such things.

 

If you need some expert and free medical advice, ask your wife. They know everything!!!

 

Bob

[mtaylor]

No worries, Eric.   I think I have the same disgust as you.

[cog]

That must have been quite painful, Eric. Maybe an x-ray wouldn't be a bad idea, but then you probably know your body best. Hope you recover quickly.

 

You did make me curious about the modelling topics from Chile

[popeye the sailor]

sorry to hear of your mishap as well Eric....won't weigh in on healthcare.  thinking about it just fries my eggs  

[John Allen]

Wish you well, if it does not get any better you may need an MRI it sounds like it could be a separated shoulder, here's hoping all is well and if you don't do stupid and push yourself like using a maul to split wood all will be okay.

 

You know your self or like someone posted the wife does it should improve a little each day.

 

The posting of the trip and pics were at the top, looking forward to a build not usually seen.

 

John

[Cathead]

Work has finally commenced on the poor, neglected Arabia. My shoulder is slowly improving with rest; it's still sore but I've been able to cook and do dishes again. Driving my stick-shift truck is probably the most problematic behavior I can't avoid, but since I work at home I only have to do that once a week or so. Most importantly, I can cut, sand, glue, and paint!

 

I decided to tackle the boilers next. See my design thread for a full review of the original components, but below are reposted the two best photos I know of showing the boilers still at the wreck site.

 

The first decision I need to make was how to simulate the rivets joining the roughly 2' wide sheets of iron composing the boiler tubes and the skirting around them. I had already purchased a dowel of the right diameter for the boiler tubes (about 3.5' wide and 24' long). So I dug around in my scrap box and turned up a very thin sheet of scribed styrene originally meant to simulate siding for model railroad buildings. Experimentation showed that the scribing was perfect for allowing the sheets to bend around dowel, so I marked off three pieces necessary to wrap half of each dowel. I did only half because (a) the bottom half won't be seen and (b) this one piece of perfect scrap wasn't big enough to do the rest.

Next I experimented with punching divots into the styrene to simulate rivets. I tried a variety of tools, from pointed files to pencils, and finally settled on a small Phillips screwdriver that made nice indentations while being too blunt to go through the material. It was also more ergonomic to use than other options, important since I'd be doing a lot of this. Once I was happy with my method, I carefully measured out 2' increments along the boilers and began punching manually. I think the results look quite good, as seen below.

To attach these sheets to the boiler dowels, I laid a line of CA down the middle of each sheet and glued it to the dowel. Once that set, I laid another line of CA along one edge, wrapped and clamped that, then did the other side (see above). This worked nicely, though I had to work quickly to get the clamps set before the CA set. Next I started building a cradle to hold the boiler tubes and support the rest of the boiler structure, as seen below with the finished boilers.

Here are the boiler tubes resting in their cradle; you can start to envision the final product.

Next, I painted the tubes with the same black I used for the engines. It's a thick Model Shipways paint that does a decent job of blending different materials together and giving a metal-like finish. I'll dull the finish with some pastels.

Next, I started expanding the rest of the structure, adding details made of wood and thin styrene to simulate the various furnace doors, ash doors, legs, and other parts of the boiler assembly. I also added sheeting along both sides, using the same rivet-punch technique as the boilers.

That's where the boilers stand now. Next, I'll finish adding details and structural elements, finish painting, and weather it with pastels. Then I'll have to decide how much of the detailed piping I want to install, I don't think I can handle all of it, so I'll work out a reasonable simulation. If you go back to the design thread linked above, you'll see what I mean at the stern end of the boilers.

 

Still, I think this looks pretty good for something knocked together from mostly scrap parts, with a sore shoulder. On the finished model, it'll be somewhat buried in the shadows of the main deck, so I don't feel the need to simulate every detail. I'm a big believer in creating the illusion of accuracy rather than counting every rivet.

 

Thanks for sticking with me over the long delay.

 

[cog]

Glad you're back and feeling better. Plunged right into the build I can say. Like the way the rivets turned out

[Canute]

Looks good, Eric. Glad to read you're feeling better. Joint recovery can be tedious.

[Cathead]

Quote

Joint recovery can be tedious.

It already is. I still have to be careful what I pick up and how, and I've had to skip a number of really nice weather days that would have been great for cutting next year's firewood. Being relatively young and pretty healthy certainly helps, but it's annoying nonetheless.

 

I'm really looking forward to finishing the machinery, it's my least favorite part of a steamboat build. Can't wait to get started on the next deck.

[popeye the sailor]

boiler looks great!  agreed on the rivet detail........it adds quite a bit     glad your feeling better.