Alexander Arbuthnot by Richard44 - FINISHED - World of Paperships - 1:100 - CARD - Echuca, Murray River paddlesteamer - first card model

[Richard44]

My first card model of a boat. I'm spending time between two homes, and Pegasus is too awkward to shuffle from home to home, so I needed a model to build at home2. A card model is highly suitable as it is compact, needs only a few hand tools, doesn't need painting other than touching up edges and is almost mess free.

 

Chris Coyle's descriptions of his card models and his tutorial on building the torpedo boat, tipped me over the edge into what he has called the abyss. 🥴

 

So, what model. I certainly didn't want a complicated one to start with, the torpedo boat was tempting, but while browsing various websites I came across one that grabbed my interest. It is a 1:100 scale model of a Murray River (Australia) paddlewheeler - the Alexander Arbuthnot.

 

This boat was built in 1923 and worked towing barges laden with logs to the Kroondrook sawmill on the Murray River. The mill was owned by Alex A himself after whom the boat was named. The boat worked until the 1940s but then fell into disrepair and sank. It was later raised and restored and now operates day cruises from Echuca on the Murray.

 

The kit is one published by "World of Paperships", and comprises six printed sheets, one sheet of optional laser cut parts, five pages of instructions, one page of diagrams and one page of general info about the vessel.

 

The designer's advice of scanning (or copying) the six printed sheets to provide backup in case of mistakes was followed.

 

Photos of the build are sporadic as I often forgot to take them.

 

The hull bottom was cut out, folded and the bulkheads glued in place.

 

 

 

 

My first experience with using PVA on a card model. Interesting. The big advantage of using PVA was its quick grab time, just holding parts together with fingers for a minute or so was sufficient. The big disadvantage of using PVA was its quick grab time, the chances of repositioning anything is essentially zero.

 

And so to my first mistake. Some of the bulkheads were very, very slightly mispositioned. This became apparent when I started to glue on the hull sides. Not normally a problem with a wooden model, but almost impossible to correct with a card model. So, out with the backup copies and start again.

 

The second attempt. The hull bottom with the correctly placed bulkheads and held down on a sheet of glass by thin masking tape. The designer recommends to do this to keep the hull from warping in the early stages of construction, though he suggests paste not masking tape.

 

 

The main deck, shown here on the sheet, was doubled and glued to the hull.

 

 

 

The paddlewheels were constructed using the parts from the laser-cut sheet.

 

 

The hull with part of the superstructure, the two paddlewheels and the supports for the boiler. The image is upside down, and I have no idea why. 😬

 

Cheers

Edited February 8, 2022 by Richard44

[ccoyle]

Looks great so far!

[Jim Lad]

A nice looking model, Richard.  I think she's the nicest looking paddler at Echuca.

 

John

[Richard44]

5 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

A nice looking model, Richard.  I think she's the nicest looking paddler at Echuca.

 

John

Hi John,

 

Thanks for the comment.

 

World of Paperships (a Dutch company) has two other Echuca paddlers - Adelaide and Pevensey. He also has six models of Sydney Harbour ferries!

 

Cheers

[Richard44]

Thanks for the likes and the comments.

 

The next job was to build the boiler. The kit actually says the boat can be built in a simplified form if you want to, and the boiler is one of those  parts that can be omitted. I decided to build the boiler, even though when AlexA is completed it'll be barely visible.

 

(As an aside, I edge coloured parts using some artists felt-tipped pens I already had that were reasonable matches for the printed colours.)

 

The parts for the boiler are contained within an outlined box on one of the sheets.

 

 

The completed boiler. The hole in the side is for the shaft for the paddlewheels, though this is certainly not how it actually was. Not all parts of the actual engine are provided, in particular the cylinders/pistons that would have driven the paddlewheels are missing, but they wouldn't be visible in the model anyway.

 

 

The boiler in place. 

 

 

Cheers

[Jim Lad]

Many years ago while in Echuca we had a short cruise on the A.A..  The engineer saw me peering down into the engine room and asked if I'd like to have a look.  I eagerly agreed and he said I could only come down if I remembered the first rule of steamboating.  "What's that?" I asked.  He replied, "If the engineers runs, you run." - True story!

 

John

[Richard44]

Thanks for the likes and the comments.

 

One of the paddlewheel boxes as cut from the printed sheet, and the two lasercut replacements for the sides.

 

 

The completed boxes and the forward side gallery ready to be added to the hull. The paddlewheels are in position but not fixed yet. The lasercut framing around the engine bay has been glued in place.

 

 

The framing around the bay has been completed, the paddlewheels fixed in place, and the boxes, gallery and roof over the engine bay have all been added to the hull.

 

 

The ladders on the aft of the boxes were made in place using the provided thin strips of printed card. This was one of the jobs where the quick grab of the PVA made this fairly easy.

 

 

Cheers

[Jim Lad]

She's looking first class, Richard. The paddle boxes have turned out really well.

 

John

[Richard44]

Thanks for the comment and the likes.

 

The upper deck cabins, the wheelhouse and the wheel, the latter from lasercut board, all ready for fixing in place.

 

 

The hull with the completed superstructure.

 

 

 

Cheers

[Jim Lad]

Looking good, mate!

 

John

[Richard44]

Thanks John.

 

Not much more to do now. Small items, including a BBQ and a carton of beer!

[Richard44]

Thanks for the likes.

 

Almost finished. The tables, bench seats, BBQ (on the rear deck) etc, have been placed on the boat for the photos but are not yet glued down.

 

 

 

 

The upper deck railings will be the last major thing to be done. The rudder is not yet in place either. And there is some rigging to be added.

 

Cheers

[Richard44]

Thanks for the likes.

 

After a break of some weeks, I've managed to get back to AlexA, and complete the build.

 

The railings around the upper deck were done first. There are ten sections of printed railing but only six laser-cut sections. So my choices were to go with the printed ones, mix the printed and laser-cut or scratch build new ones. I didn't particularly like the printed ones, the mix would have looked odd, so I went with scratch built.

 

I used styrene rod, 0.64mm for the horizontals and 0.50mm for the uprights. This photo shows one of the rail sections being made. This piece goes onto the forward part of the deck, and the kit has it in three sections. I have carefully bent the rod so that I have one wrap-around section instead of three. I did the same for the aft railing.

 

 

All railing sections were then glued in place. Several of the verticals were kept long enough below the bottom rail to locate in holes very carefully drilled (with a pin vise) in the deck.

 

The rudder was glued and the steering chains, which lie along the deck, were extended to the aft edge of the rudder. The minor amount of rigging was done and finally, the tables, seats, BBQ etc were glued in place.

 

The finished Alexander Arbuthnot. 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

[Blue Ensign]

That's a fine looking model Richard and very nicely done.

I suspect you have to develop a whole new skill set to make those card models, they always look tricky to me.

 

Regards,

 

B.E.

[Captain Slog]

A very nice, sharp, clean build. I look forward to your next card model. 

[ccoyle]

Outstanding work, Richard!

[yvesvidal]

Very interesting and unusual boat. Exquisitely completed.

 

Yves

[Jim Lad]

Beautifully done, Richard.  You must be proud of her.

 

John

[Richard44]

Thanks for all the likes and comments.

 

B.E., with your skills, amply shown yet again with your Sphinx build, you would have no problem in building a card model.

 

Chris, your models inspire me. I'll later be following your paper trail with HMV's Waratah, though at the moment it's been stuck at Frankfurt airport for a month now.😙.

 

Cheers everyone.