Picket Boat #1 by John Gummersall - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:24

[turangi]

The boat is looking good.

[John Gummersall]

Add the top of the steam dome and it is starting to look like something

 

 

Boiler stand pretty straight foreword

 

 

On to the foreword end of the boiler.  This is were the fun starts.  I am looking foreword to this...

Instructions pretty straight foreword with the first part.   Note the four 1/8 x 1/8 corner pieces inside the structure.    You will need these if you plan to round out the corners going into the smoke stack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again a few minutes with the Dremel and the structure  is rounded going into the smoke stack.  Still need a little more sanding.

 

 

 

 

[John Gummersall]

Began to work on foreword side of the boiler.  Rather than use the 1/2'' dowel rod suggested in the instructions I changed that out for a 1/2'' pipe.    I just looked more like a smoke stack.

 

Interestingly enough, the dowel rod was 1/2'' outside diameter and the pipe was 1/2" inside diameter, so it slipped easily over the dowel.   Cut about a 1" length off the dowel and glued it to the top of the structure then glued and slipped the 1/2'' pipe over the dowel.   

 

 

Added the doors and painted the entire stack black

 

 

Below is the stack along with the steam barrel and rudder.   I was thinking of using metal straps instead of the card stock for the steam barrel straps, but could not find a 1/8" metal straps.   Everywhere I looked at local hobby shops and the internet were all out of them and did not know when they would get more in.   I guess blame Covid 19 for supply shortages.

 

 

Later added the stack bands (again card stock) and the door hinges and handles.   Instructions talked about  soldering the hinges but they were easy enough just to glue then.

 

 

Back to the hull,,,  After an initial sanding and some filling

 

 

After adding the both rub rails and some basic sanding - - still have a lot of sanding/filling in my future,

 

 

 

 

 

[turangi]

I love the boiler stack idea! Wish I had thought of that.

[John Gummersall]

Turangi

 

Thanks for the comment on the stack.   I too am pleased with how it turned out.   However, I am way too much a novice model builder to have any original thoughts.    If it is not in the plans or in someone else's MSW build log, it is not in my build.   In this case the thought for the stack did come from another Picket build log.

 

After some filling and sanding ( a lot of filling and sanding) and a coat of grey primer below is the result.   Before the primer I thought the hull was pretty smooth, but as they say...  "primer magnifies your blemishes by 10%  and paint magnifies them by 100%"....  As you can see, I have some more filling and sanding to do before the final test of paint.    However, when it comes to painting I will be cheating... as I plan the final will be a flat black.   A whole lot more forgiving than if the hull required a gloss finish.

 

 

Took a break from the filling/sanding and wanted to take on something easier.   Decided to tackle the spar torpedo next.   Below are the results.

 

Nothing really hard about the torpedo configuration - that is if you do not follow the instructions.   The instructions call to pin and (somehow with a hammer) rivet the various pieces together.  No way someone of my skill could do that rivet process with such tiny pieces - or any pieces for that matter.  Instead I just pined and then CA glued the pieces together.   A strong bind and way easier then riveting them.

 

As to the tip of the torpedo, when I attempted to carve the point at the head, it did not turn out well.   Looked more like a bullet than a point.    Further work on it just could not get a point that looked good to me.    Again taking a page out of other Picket build logs, I make the point out of card stock.   Started with a compass and drew a circle.  Cut out a 25% pie wedge from the circle and then rolled it up to see the point.   From then continued to cut a bigger and bigger pie piece out of the circle until I got a point I was happy with.   When gluing the final result to the dowel, have the seam on the bottom of the torpedo and no one will see it.

 

With the spar and all steps in the future that require the use of pins or eyelets.   Use a .6mm drill bit to make the hole.  It fits the pins exactly.   

 

Also, the holes in the pieces in the brass sheet (that are to take a pin or eyelet) are not quite big enough to take a pin or eyelet.   Use the .6mm drill bit to enlarge each hole.   Looking ahead I expanded holes on all the brass pieces with the .6mm drill bit.   Same issue with the parts on the brass sheet that are intended to pass a 3/16 pipe.   Those holes are also little too small.   Best to expand them with a 3/16 bit before taking them out of the sheet.

 

 

Final spar mostly assembled.   I plan to attach the fittings to the spar when they are attached to the hull.

 

Edited January 14, 2021 by John Gummersall

[turangi]

Good progress and looking great!

[John Gummersall]

After a fair amount of sanding and re-painting the final hull.    It still has a few "dinks" on the bottom, but you won't see those, and the sides look great, so I am going to "call it" done.

 

 

Turning the hull over - getting close to done here too.   Still have to mount the coal bin hinges and tiller.   Getting set up to add the machinery.

 

 

 

The build of the condenser and hot well are as easy as they look.   It is hard to see, but the pipes that are intended to go through the deck are a little longer than the feet.  Rather then just have the pipes stop at the deck, I plan to drill holes in the deck so the pipes actually go through the deck.   A little more realist look than just have the pipes stop at the deck.

 

 

 

Building the engine is a lot easier than it looks on the diagrams.   Diagrams are very good and show the exact way the engine should be built.   The accurate detail on the diagrams I supposed is why (until you actually start the engine build) it looks so complicated.   Study the engine build sequence and when you start to put the pieces together it really is easier than it looks.

 

One thing to mention, (and this is probably obvious to more experienced modelers), is that the holes in the pieces on etched brass sheet need to be increased.    One idea (do as I say and not as I did) is to expand them all at one time while they are still on the sheet.   Pieces that are to take pins (like most the engine pieces) can be expanded with a .8mm drill bit.   Pieces that are to take the 3/32" pipe can be expanded with the drill bit that came with the model.  Bit is not labeled but I assume that bit is 3/32".    Once that is done you will not have to stop what you are doing with each piece to expand the holes.

 

Only issue I had  with the engine (and you will too) is dealing with the very small parts of the engine.  It takes a good eye and a couple good tweezers, but it does go together.   Instructions call to "rivet" the brass pieces together.   No way someone of my skill (and large fingers) should even attempt to rivet those very small brass pieces.   A small dab of CA glue works great.   Much better option than riveting... to me anyway.

 

Instructions call to complete the plumbing of the engine at this time.   Not knowing exactly where the engine will be located on the deck, I figured best to complete the plumbing when the engine is positioned on the deck.   

 

Just noticed the simulated bolts on the engine are showing a little white...   Will touch that up before final deck placement

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by John Gummersall

[GuntherMT]

Nicely done and looking great!  The hull paint came out very nicely from that picture.

[John Gummersall]

Fittings on boiler complete.   All other machinery complete too...   Next step will be inserting the machinery into the hull.

 

 

 

 

 

[John Gummersall]

I decided to skip the blocks in the kit and order some from Syren.   They are much more realistic and have to be assembled.

In my case I ordered double blocks.  They come with five sheets that must be glued together to form six full double blocks.    Instructions makes several references to carefully align the five sheets that form each block before glueing.    In reality the five sheets all go together very easily and align perfectly.   In fact they aligned so easily, I thought I was not doing it correctly.    As I played with the sheets trying to see if there was some other way of lining them up,  I realized the pieces on these sheets break off very easily - Ask me how I know that ....  🙂

 

Four of the six blocks had all the pieces and glued together nicely.   The other two blocks I had to piece together to glue.  The picture below does not show how really small some of the pieces on the first and last sheet (shown below) really are.   So small, just the friction of the tweezers picking them up would make them stick to the tweezers.    Save yourself a lot of time and grief and treat the sheets gently....  Gluing the blocks together from the sheets is much easier than having to build them by hand.

 

 

Once the blocks dry, they can easily be broken out of the sheets, sanded and ready for stain.    As with most things, the more you do them the better you get at it.    While the finished blocks below look better than the stock ones, they could be better.   Lack of skill on my part.   My next set of blocks will be better

 

 

At this point the hull has it's final paint coat and all machinery has been completed.    All the remains is to assemble them.

 

Starting in the bow with the Howitzer..

 

For raising/lowering the  canon, the instructions called to wrap a 1/16 tube with thread to simulate screw threads.   Instead I opted to just us an actual screw.  Cut off the head to leave just the thread.  To me it just looks more like screw thread.  In hindsight, the hand crank (to turn the screw) probably should have been left brass or maybe painted silver to more stand out.   As it is (black), it is kind of hard to see or really know what it is.

 

One challenge was creating the two large wing nuts used to anchor the canon.   Instructions call to cut a slit in the 3/32 tubing and insert the wing.   Initially I was going to skip that part as I felt, no way was I going to be able to cut a slit in a 3/32 tube.    But I gave it a shot and with a razor saw was actually able to make the slit.   Not sure it did the very find teeth on the saw much good, but I was able to cut the slot and form the wing nuts.

 

Similar issue when creating the three attach points for the canon.   Here a hole must be drilled through the 3/32 tubing and a pin inserted.   With a vise and a steady hand the hole was drilled.   When drilling the hole, once you have gone through the first layer of tube, stop and re-align the bit to insure you will be drilling directly through the other side of the tube.  If not, it is easy to get out of align when the drill comes out the other side of the tube.   Again - ask me how I know that   🙂

 

In the below picture you can see four of the six blocks in action - used to move the canon back and forth on the deck.   The hooks were just made out of eyelets and the blocks were stropped with very fine line.    As you can see,,,, my stropping skills need a lot of improvement.

 

 

Below shows those canon lines coming from the blocks to a couple cleats below the deck.   Whatever army guy ordered the line for those blocks had no clue really went overboard.   Those lines probably should go over the deck by maybe 6 feet or so...   As you can see there is probably about 20 feet of line from the blocks coiled on those two cleats .     A little more line than needed 🙂

 

 

 

Here are a few more pictures of the front section,,,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving to the mid-section of the boat we have the machinery.   Not really much here.  Since the machinery has been assembled, all that remains is to insert them into the hull.    I will say,,, in the philosophy of "do as I say and not as I do"....  I did have some (shall we say) "fun" with the machinery.

In my case I wanted all the piping that was intended to go through the deck, to actually go through the deck.   To me that just looked better then having the pipes just stop at the deck.    

 

Thinking I had a good idea, I cut the vertical pipes (the one that were to go through the deck), longer than need be and glue them into the upper pipe.   My thought was that then I could then just hold the piece machinery where it was supposed to go, mark the deck, drill the hole, and then lower the machinery and the pipe would go into the deck.  In reality it did not work out so well.   Holding the piece of machinery, it is very difficult to mark the exact spot in the deck for the pipe.    Off by the tiniest bit and the machinery will be out of place.    Put the machinery in the correct spot, and if the hole is not exact, the pipe is not vertical.   Even if the pipe is only out of vertical by a tiny about, it is real obvious - Again,,, ask me how I know this.   

 

It took me way more time trying to get the machinery and pipes straight than I am sure it was supposed to.   I think a better approach would have been to put the machinery in place and then measure/cut and glued in the vertical pipes.

 

 

 

In the case of the rudder, I wanted a curved rudder.   Using the two rudder pieces supplied I was able to make a curved rudder, but to me it was just too skinny.    Perhaps it was do again to lack of skill on the builder (me)...

 

Using my skinny rudder has a template I used a couple pieces of spare wood and made a thicker rudder.   To me it looked better,,, some may disagree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In regards to the torpedo I had a few cleats left over, so rather than take several lines to one cleat I dedicated a cleat to each line.   This time the army guy in charge of lines got it a little more accurate (or at least he thinks so).

 

The forward and aft lines and firing pin lines need to have extra line in order to be able to launch and trigger the torpedo.   Those three lines go to their respective cleats and the remaining line is coiled on the bench.  The torpedo release pin line is only used to release the pin, so not a lot of extra line would be required.  As such this line goes around a cleat with the remainder just hanging in the boat

 

 

 

At this point "I am calling it",,,,,  To me I am done..... Below are a couple more pictures,,

 

 

 

And it her final home....  

 

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by John Gummersall

[GuntherMT]

Good job, and congratulations on completing this model!

[Moab]

Congratulations! Beautiful build...Moab

[turangi]

John, your build turned out beautiful!

[John Gummersall]

Thanks for all the comments.....   I am still have a lot to learn,,,, but having fun during the process...

[gjdale]

Very nicely done John. You can be justifiably proud of a fine model.

[Blackreed]

That is a beautiful boat.

you did a really good job with the log as well as the boat.

[Seems ok to me]

Looks fantastic. I’m just starting this build and your pictures are a huge help. What color stain did you use?  I really like that shade of grey/blue. 

[John Gummersall]

Seems OK To Me....

 

The stain is just Rust-oleum Weathered Grey.   However,  rather apply it like most stain where you brush it on and then wipe it off to get the look you want...  I just brushed it on like paint and did not wipe any off.    In effect it is like a grey paint..   

 

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Well done!

[turangi]

John, your model turned out wonderful! Great work.

[Jim Rogers]

Great job!

 

One of the things I do not understand is why they would configure their coal bins the way they did. The lids would always be in the way of shoveling coal. Makes zero sense to me