Mississippi 1870 by vossy - Sergal - 1:50 - Riverboat

[drobinson02199]

Chris:

 

Given your focus on riverboats, I thought you'd appreciate this anniversary card my wife gave me.

 

Regards,

David

 

[popeye the sailor]

making great progress.........she's look'in very nice   

[vossy]

really like the card dave! I must apologize to all who follow this build for the slow progress. unfortunately I have been having some health issues of late so the build has had to take a bit of a back seat. hopefully after the barrage of tests and scans I have had this past week or so, some bright doctor may finally be able to work out what the eff is wrong with me and get me back to the boatyard!

 

chris

 

[drobinson02199]

Chris:

 

So sorry to hear about your health issues -- here's hoping that all will be figured out and you'll be on the mend quickly.

 

Regards,

David

[popeye the sailor]

likewise........I hope you get better soon  

[vossy]

so, here is some further progress. finally finished planking and sanding out the windows and door frames of the second deck structure. at the moment it has only 1 coat of paint and is just sitting there. not glued down yet, hence its not really level in these pics, plus I reckon it will be a lot easier to place the windows and doors before its stuck in place. I need to put some fine filler between some of the planks, but I may also leave a few as I think it adds to the rustic character of the boat. also, I am brushing all the paint work to achieve a more realistic look for the period. the only medium I am spraying on this is the final clear matt coat as I finish each section.

 

when I get the windows and doors all in, complete with curtains, I want to see just how visible the interior of this structure will be from the outside when the third deck is also attached. if I can see fairly clearly inside this space I will install a floor and add carpet, dining tables, and a gambling area down aft. 

 

cheers

 

chris

 

[Cathead]

If you want to be realistic, I believe that the aftermost part of the cabin was often reserved as the ladies' parlor. The mens' "gambling parlor" would probably have been further forward, to keep their cigar smoke etc. from bothering the ladies. Of course, any given boat could do it however they liked.

 

I see you're watching Olympics too. They're slowing me down by distracting me, but helping by entertaining me while holding down fiddly glued bits. Glad to see you're making progress!

[popeye the sailor]

I notice that the floor fore and aft of the structure is open.....you'll need to fill them in if you want to detail the interior.  in the A.L. kit,  they don't do this.....it'a a full "floor".   the exterior of the structure looks very good      are the window inserts solid and closed in?

[vossy]

hey pop, all the window/door openings have to be framed then the windows and doors are placed in place. on the kit instructions the openings here are supposed to be doors with handles on each one. on my boat however they are going to be windows with small curtains. here you can see 3 examples of the windows dry fitted for you to get the general idea. the openings here have only been framed in the vertical plane atm. on the outside of each frame there are louvre shutters either side which I am yet to make up. at the front of the structure is the main doorway to the entrance of the structure. once all the windows and doors have been glued into place I will be able to see just how much of the interior of this space is visible once the deck is fitted on top of the structure. if it is too dark and one cant really see inside I will leave it as is. if, however it is still fairly visible, I will put in a false floor (easy to do), and try to create a scene inside the compartment.

 

chris 

 

 

[vossy]

so, I have completed one side of the interior windows and main doors to the second deck structure. I decided to go with yellow curtains as it is quite dark inside, especially when the next deck goes on as you can see where I have placed it on top to get an idea of how much visibility is inside. again, the whole structure is just dry fitted as I still need to make up and position exterior louvre window shutters on each side of the windows. this should also clean up and square off the window framing nicely. I hope!

 

chris

 

[popeye the sailor]

wish I had windows like those.......I'd be a very happy camper      she's look'in great..the windows and doors came out nice as well.  did you run out of black door knobs?

[vossy]

1 hour ago, popeye the sailor said:

wish I had windows like those.......I'd be a very happy camper      she's look'in great..the windows and doors came out nice as well.  did you run out of black door knobs?

no, I wanted to use black knobs on the lower working deck and white/ivory knobs on the upper class decks. I am thinking red and white polkadot curtains for the next level windows and doors as well, but first have to make a start on all these louvre shutters for these windows. that will take an age!

 

chris

 

[drobinson02199]

Windows look terrific, Chris.

 

Regards,

David

[popeye the sailor]

polka dot is good......  

[vossy]

So, after what seems like an eternity, I have got the shutters on the Port side windows. Each shitter contains about 35 individual pieces They tend to show up a bit dodgy in the pics, but in real life I am really happy with them. again at this point this structure is just sitting there as its way easier to glue the shutters on beforehand.. also the next deck is just sitting there as well. 

 

Chris

 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2018 by vossy

[vossy]

also made the lower main staircase. still undecided as to whether or not put down carpet stair runners as per the box art. if I do it certainly wont be the red sticker that comes with the kit!

 

Chris

 

 

 

[drobinson02199]

Chris:

 

The workmanship on those stairs is really exquisite.  It's almost a shame to put anything on them.

 

Regards,

David

[vossy]

thanks dave. really think I will just leave them as is at this stage. there is still a lot of stuff to put on that area, plus I have a few ideas to busy it up even more than the stock standard model calls for.

 

chris

 

[popeye the sailor]

I agree about the stairs......unless you have an idea about 'no slip' treads.   the windows came out great as well     your way ahead of me   

[vossy]

continuing on with the very tedious louvre shutters for the starboard side windows.

  

they come on the fret as a dual piece that must first be cut in half. once cut the frames measure 40mm x 10mm

 

 

once cut and edges sanded I glue a tiny backing board to the frame. this board is 5mm x 0.3mm

 

 

pieces of very thin, 3mm x 0.3mm plank are then glued together in a step like fashion.

 

 

 

I use another backing board, slightly smaller than the area of the interior framework to glue these on. it makes them stronger and far easier to sand prior to fitting.

 

 

hopefully once all is glued, sanded and fitted, I end up with something like this to attach to the windows in the structure.

 

 

chris

 

 

 

 

[drobinson02199]

Chris:

 

Fantastic detail work.  Looks similar to planking -- never ends!  

 

Regards,

David

[vossy]

some more progress. have finally finished and fitted the starboard side louvre shutters to the windows. this whole structure has now been glued into place. have made a start on the second deck balustrades as well as the passenger ladders leading up to the next deck. also have planked the next deck level and made a start on the underside stiffening boards. here this is just dry fitted to try to get the correct alignment. next step, hopefully in the next few days, will be to glue this deck into place, position the access ladders for both the passengers and aft crew ladders.

 

chris

 

[drobinson02199]

She looks great, Chris.  I particularly like the staircase.  Beautiful.

 

Regards,

David

[popeye the sailor]

your way ahead of me.........windows and stairs look great      sweet look'in model so far   

[vossy]

some more updates. stuck the next deck on using the tried and true flattening method

more work on the main passenger staircase leading up to the new deck and also began lower posts and rails. also began planking the next level cabins.

 

cheers

 

chris

 

[Mike Dowling]

You really are doing a marvellous job on this.

[Papa]

Great looking model. You just need a pile of scale "road apples" in the horse pens to finish it.

[vossy]

another quick update. a dry fitting of the paddle. still needs some excess glue taken care of and a coat or two of matt clear to finish. the actual red color doesn't look anywhere as bright irl.

 

chris

[drobinson02199]

Looks terrific, Chris.  How did you get the nails into the paddles so neatly?  Looks like the angles between paddles would have been too narrow.

 

Regards,

David

[vossy]

Hey Dave, the nails are actually false nails. What I did was first cut the blades to length. Then got a heap of old bent planking nails from previous builds and cut them down to about 1mm in length. Next I carefully lined up the blades on the wheels and marked where the nails would go. Then I drilled a tiny (very tiny in fact) hole and just tapped the cut-down nails into the blades. When they were all in, I gave the blades a few coats of matt clear, which further helps stick the nails into the blade, then line up the finished blades on the wheel and just glue them on. The nails therefore don't actually penetrate the spokes at all. They are only there for looks. I like the way they turned out, but it was pretty fiddley to do.

 

Cheers

Chris.