Chaperon by John Gummersall - Model Shipways - Scale 1:48

[mbp521]

8 hours ago, John Gummersall said:

Planking ongoing,,,,,   I really really wish I decided to use 20' (5") planks instead of 12" (3").   I am getting real tired of cutting, blackening, and gluing  each of the 3" planks.

John, I found it easier to blacken the entire 24" strip first then cut it into 3" (in my case 5") sections. Once cut, all I had to do was to blacken the one end to mate up with the next board in line.

 

8 hours ago, John Gummersall said:

It is also painfully obvious the variations of color on the planking strips.   Hopefully when I get to staining it they will more blend together...   We'll see, but not much I can do about it.

It's just my opinion, but since you are going to stain/varnish the deck, it looks much more realistic to have the variations in color than to have them all look the same. These variations would occur naturally with the timbers used for planking from the different trees anyway.

 

8 hours ago, John Gummersall said:

Same issue with the main opening amidships.   The boards in black are 1/8"x1/8" and they do not go all the way to the designated end.   Again just to avoid them showing when looking at the finished model.

To help with hiding the area that was not planked, I painted the deck black inside. Most of it is hidden by the boiler but I also built up some simulated crates to screen the emptiness of the machinery room. I also printed out a couple of steam engine pictures and glued them to black foam board and mounted them in the engine room. This is barely visible though the wall grate, but I thought it was a neat touch. Just throwing some ideas out there. It all depend on how far you want to take your details. That's the good thing about this kit, it leaves you open to throw as much or as little detail into it as you want.

 

All in all, your planking is progressing nicely, and looking great! It is a pain to do, but definitely worth it.

 

-Brian

[John Gummersall]

Cathead and Brian,

 

Thanks for your comments and suggestions.   I really appreciate them.

As for the variation color, I think after a sanding, stain, and poly, they will look OK,,,   No so worried about it any more.

 

I really like the idea of blacking the entire 24" strip and then only have to blacken the ends.   As of today (pictures below) I have completed the main deck planking, but I will try that approach on the next boiler deck.

 

Still have to  trim around the edges, but the planking of the main deck as completed.    As mentioned earlier, the area's not planked are much smaller than what is called for in order to hide the none planked area if one is looking on from the side.   I do like the Brian's idea of painting that area black instead of all the extra planking,,,,, but then again "dumb you get early, smart you get late".    I will consider that suggestion when planking the next deck.

Despite my best efforts by the time the planking got to the edges the lines were not completely straight.   There was about a 1/32" difference on a small section of the starboard  side (top) and a little longer section on the port (bottom) side.   Rather than try and squeeze in some 1/32" square planks I decided it would be much easier to put in a 3/32" plank and then trim off the excess.

 

On the port (bottom) side the picture got a bit skewed.   In the picture that edge looks pretty curvy.   It really is pretty straight.

 

Tomorrow is trimming and sanding day... and perhaps stain too if all looks good.    

 

 

 

 

[juhu]

I really like the look of the deck. It was a good decision not to go with the kit's prescribed deck plate. I have ordered the kit too and am waiting for the box currently, wanted to ask for the historical accuracy:

 

I saw this picture earlier in this thread: https://modelshipworld.com/uploads/monthly_2018_07/Arabia_5m.JPG.dc15dc9f03255c00ebcf94729823bf26.JPG

 

Interesting for me is the planking run direction fore.  Was this the special case or should this be a common practice instead of simple straight planks, parallel to keel,  on these river steam boats? Thx

Edited September 23, 2022 by juhu

[Cathead]

@juhu, that image is from my scratchbuild of Arabia, an 1856 sidewheeler, so isn't directly relevant to Chaperon, an 1884 sternwheeler. 

 

In that case, the planking layout was based on photos of the wreck as it was excavated. The remaining planking was incomplete but clearly showed a set of angles converging toward the stern, following the boundary between guards and hull, with a straight run of planking only being found within the hull:

 

For visual comparison, here's the photo you referred to, which was my interpretation of the evidence available:

 

There was a discussion of this planking in the log, starting with this post, if you want to read more. Only a tiny fraction of riverboats built were ever photographed, and especially not from angles that clearly showed the layout of their deck planking, so we can only draw so many broad conclusions. Even fewer have been found and excavated.

 

Also note that the planking pattern you're asking about is at the stern, not the stem. Arabia was a sidewheeler, while Chaperon was a sternwheeler, so the deck and hull layouts were quite different. Sternwheelers had a much squarer end, more like a barge, to support the sternwheel, while sidewheelers had a rounded stern more like a normal ship because the wheels were along the sides. For example, Bertrand, an 1865 sternwheeler, had a straight run of planking all the way along, like the kit depicts for Chaperon. We know this from the archeological drawings from her excavation; here's a photo of her planking underway on my model (based on those drawings), where you can see that the layout is pretty similar to Chaperon.

 

 

I'd say the Chaperon kit has it right, between the fact that it's a more recent and well-documented prototype, as well as being a sternwheeler whose hull shape lends itself to straight planking. 

[mbp521]

Beautiful job on the planking John, the variation in the colors of the wood looks great and very natural. I wouldn't sweat the 1/32" differences on the sides too terribly much, once the rub rails, bull rails and the boiler deck are installed it won't be noticeable. Just a word of caution (and speaking from experience) watch those flimsy fantail extensions. Even with parts 51S & 51P in place they can still be a bit fragile and easily broken off during sanding.

 

-Brian

[John Gummersall]

Juhu,

 

I did not make an attempt to match up the planking with the actual Chaperon.   I just like the 1,3,5,2,4 pattern with planking so I went that.     Since you are interested in being a authentic as possible, take a look at the 3D viewing of the Chaperon.    It was sent to my by mbp521 (brian) and gives a real good look at the Chaperon..

 

    3D virtual walkthrough of the Chaperon
   https://www.jensmittelbach.de/steamboats/chaperon/index.html

 

Brian,    Thanks for the reminder on the fantail extensions.   Since I epoxied them, I kind of forget about them....   But epoxy or not,  I agree they need to be treated with care, or there will be some tears.

 

Planking trim and sanding have been completed.    Plan to stain and add a couple coats of poly.    Again,,,,, the real Chaperon had painted decks,,,,, but like the planking pattern, I just like the looks of a natural planked deck  🙂

 

 

Not sure if this will end up being good or bad, but note the below closeup of the decking.   Earlier in the log I mentioned the fact that I was concerned about later gluing the 1/16" x 1/4" rub rail to side of the 1/16" deck.    As such I added a 1/8" strip under it to provide a better gluing surface.    After the deck was planked (1/32" strips) you have to cut out the notches for the later stationaries.    Below you see the notches cut out, but instead of cutting the notch through all three layers of wood, I just cut out the notch into the planking and the actual deck.    The notch does not go all the way through the added  1/8" strip.   You can go through the strip if you like (and probably would have been easier), but this way I figured I would have solid base for the stationary.

 

Again, this is probably is the category of way overkill, but that is how my mind works,,,,,  "Why do something easy when you can make it hard".

 

[bobandlucy]

Looks very good! And that virtual tour is just amazing. . .  

[John Gummersall]

And after a coat of Puritan Pine stain.....  Next up will be a couple coats of Polyurethane

 

 

 

 

[John Gummersall]

One thing I might add, but not really an issue...  The instructions state to put in piece #57 right after the deck is laid.    Then later on drill the holes for the rudder posts.   As the picture shows below, with #57 in place, it is pretty difficult to get a small power drill into position in order to drill the perpendicular holes.    Unless you plan to pin vise your way through the stern piece, attach a long drill bit to the very end of the drill.    That way, even though the bit is barely in the drill, it should be long enough to drill through to the bottom.

I suggest you drill the rudder posts before you epoxy in piece #57.

 

Also, the instructions naturally state the holes need to be perpendicular to the hull and suggests using the supplied right angle template to help keep the drill plumb.    Problem is, the hull is not vertical at this point.  It is tilting upwards at the stern.    So you can pretty much skip the supplied right angle template to help keep the drill plumb.

 

[mbp521]

The stained deck looks great! The Puritan Pine stain brought out the color variances of the wood quite nicely. 

 

-Brian

[John Gummersall]

While waiting for layers of Poly to dry I started on the main floor stairs.    Initially to me these looked pretty easy....  Especially if you know anything about building the circular stairs on the "King of the Mississippi".   That was a real treat.    Anyway I guess I am just have a thing for stairs as I seem to have made every mistake you can make (several times) with just the initial structure below,     I put the two stringer fascia pieces (parts that hold the treads and risers) backwards, upside down, on the wrong side of the walls, walls upside down....  You just can not imagine how many time I had break then down and redo them.   Fortunately pure alcohol is great for loosening wood glue.    And as you can see below, with all the alcohol rubs and redo's the walls have become  a little warped...   I guess I will need to wet them again and press them back into shape.

 

I would say be careful and get the parts correct the first time, but I think most people would think this is a pretty easy thing and just my fun with stairs.

 

 

Completed the painting of the stairs steps and the main floor window, doors, and vents.    Up until now I have only used rattle cans of paint, but I finally broke down and purchased and air brush.    Not sure I could have painted these small part with a rattle can and not drown the parts in paint.   Air brush did the job pretty nice and easy.

 

 

Next level of fun will be attaching the risers and runners to the stringer fascia pieces.   Naturally after dry fitting a few of them, I realized some of the stringer fascia pieces are just a smudge longer than the risers and runners.   So looks like they will not just drop into place.  Will take some adjustments to not show a tiny gap between some of the steps.   So much for me thinking these stairs were going to be easy..

 

Began working on the rudders.    Not sure why, but I decided to cover the rudders with planking.   I thought it would make them look a little more realistic, but after you paint them, not sure that was necessary.

 

 

After planking them I used some wood strips and covered the edges of the rudders...   Again,,, why did I do this again?

 

 

One thing I did do that to me made a little more sense was to apply some extra wood strips on the outside of the rudders where the rudder shafts roughly where the rudder shafts were located.    It kind of looks like they are there for extra support for the rudder shafts.   

 

 

 

In reality they really are there to make a little box for the rudder shaft to be inserted.   Without these walls there is very little surface to glue rudder shafts and a round dowel into a slit in the rudder just would not look right.   This way a little glue into the box will make it much easier to glue the rudders into the rudder shafts in the hull, and kind of looks like it is supposed to be there.   My opinion anyway,,  

 

And the rudder posts sticking out of the hull that will eventually accept the rudders.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2022 by John Gummersall

[Cathead]

Yeah, I've been there on tasks that just. will. not. go. right. Well done to persist through. I like the rudder boxes, too, as you say they're good at fooling the eye into belonging there.

[mbp521]

Looking good John!
 

I do agree that those stairs are a bit tricky, no matter how easy they may look. But as you said, they are still nothing compared to the round ones on the King of the Mississippi. 

 

8 hours ago, John Gummersall said:

 I thought it would make them look a little more realistic, but after you paint them, not sure that was necessary.

Unless you just pour the paint on, you’ll be surprised as to how much of the individual planks show through adding that touch of realism.
 

If I may throw a suggestion out there, if you don’t plan on permanently mounting the hull to the base until you are finished with the model, I’d leave the rudders off until the very end. They tend to snag on everything when moving it around. It will also help to get them aligned when you install the paddlewheel and get the clearance right. 
 

-Brian

[John Gummersall]

Brian,

 

Thanks for the tip on mounting the rudders.   I was planning on mounting them now as I thought they would be "more or less" out of the way.     But I did not think of potential clearance issues with the paddlewheel down the line.     I like your idea of holding off until I see what sort of clearance fun I have with the paddlewheel.

 

As far as the stairs are concerned, I seem to have stumbled on a solution.   It seems the risers and runners are about 1/8" by something really thin (maybe 1/64").   I had some extra 1/16" x 5/32 strips and if I remake the risers with these strips the steps seem to work out.    As you can see the 1/16" x 5/32 strips are about 1/32" wider then the original risers (and a little thicker.    

 

 

By just replacing the risers the steps seem to fit.   The extra height fills the front gap and the extra thickness fill the gap in the bap.   In the below picture the top two steps seem a little short, but I have a slight outward warp in the walls at the top of the stairs.   When I bring them in, all will (or should) look like the third step.    We will see what happens after the new risers are painted and put into place.

 

 

As long as we are talking about a little fudging,,,, there is supposed to be a 1/16" x 1/8" capstrip all around the edge of the boiler deck.   Instructions talk a lot about how to bend the strips around the forward and stern corners.   The two stern corners seem especially "fun" as those corners are really sharp.

Purest will roll their eyes on this, but to me it makes a lot for sense to bend two 1/32" x 1/8" strips instead of  one 1/16" x 1/8" strip.    After soaking them, they  bend ready easy and at my skill level will save me a lot of headaches.     I can see me breaking a lot of  1/16" x 1/8" strips trying to make those stern bends.   

 

Below shows the strips drying around the four boiler deck sections.  The two stern sections are in the foreground and the two bow sections are in the background.   At this point you can easily see the  two 1/32" x 1/8" strips laying back to back.     But later on after the deck is planked and these strips are glued into place and sanded, the seems in between them  will not be noticeable.

 

 

 

 

[bobandlucy]

Whatever works! Looks fine.

[mbp521]

On 10/16/2022 at 4:44 PM, John Gummersall said:

Purest will roll their eyes on this, but to me it makes a lot for sense to bend two 1/32" x 1/8" strips instead of  one 1/16" x 1/8" strip.    After soaking them, they  bend ready easy and at my skill level will save me a lot of headaches. 

It’s all about getting it done. It’s not really fudging if the look is the same. That’s actually the way that I did it after a couple of attempts to bend the thicker material. 
 

-Brian

[John Gummersall]

Stairs are complete.   The extra longer risers nicely closes the gap between them and the tread.

 

 

At long last all the compartment components for the main floor are complete and ready for installation.     Below are the walls for the aft compartment.   Horizonal strips (1/8" x 1/8") were added at the top of the wall (per instructions) to provide a better gluing surface for the boiler deck.   In addition I added some vertical strips to provide a little vertical support in the event I am feeling strong and attempt to press down a little too hard when gluing the boiler deck to the main deck walls  :-).

 

One additional feature I added was two partial walls at the front end of the aft compartments.  The are circled in black.   Instructions  say to leave that open, but to me that is really a big opening.   On the finished model, one looking into the model from the side could easily see the gapping wide open compartment and rough inside walls.   The two walls do not completely fill the gap so it looks more like a small opening into the aft compartments.

 

 

Turn the pieces over and we have the finished walls.    Again the two extra partial walls are circled in black.

 

 

Below are the foreword compartment walls.   Still need to attach the 4 cleats to parts 37A.   Other than that, I am ready to mount the walls.

 

 

Speaking of the cleats, I am not sure if the author is a comedian or I just do not have the correct skills, but in regards to mounting the cleats, the instructions say  

 

    "A professional modeler would likely drill and pin the cleats"

 

IF that is the case, then I am defiantly not a professional modeler.    I have some small drill bits (.3mm) but no way would I even think of drilling and pining these cleats.   Below shows the one of the small cleats (on the tip of my finger) to be added to part 37A.    In my case CA glue will have to do.

 

 

[mbp521]

46 minutes ago, John Gummersall said:

IF that is the case, then I am defiantly not a professional modeler. 

I guess I’m not one either. 😁 I just glued mine in place and they held just fine, as long as you don’t put too much strain on the rigging line. 
 

Very nice work on the stairs. I also like the added walls for the front of the machine room, they should cover the opening fairly well. You do have to be looking for it once the boiler deck, boiler and other features are added, but the opening can be seen. 
 

-Brian

[John Gummersall]

Brian,

 

Thanks for your comments,,,, as for the "added walls for the front of the machine room", I kind got the idea (or stole the idea) from your log.    You built a really neat wall structure of  cargo crates to help cover the opening.    They look great and add a nice touch to the model.

[John Gummersall]

With all the main floor parts prepared and painted, started the assembly.

 

 

When I came to part 37B (the part above the main door way, it seemed to be a bit (1/16") off.    Probably due to lack of builder skill, but I am going to rack it up as variations in the wood.   Thus two 1/32" scrap pieces were added to each side of the piece.

 

 

Seemed to fit better at that point.    Will add some paint and glue into place.

 

Also note I left the cleats unpainted.   To me, I just like the look of metal cleats.... Not realistic, and I may paint them later on,,,, but for now, I need to think about that.  🙂

 

 

Assembly continues

 

 

 

As mentioned earlier, boiler system not glued in at this time.   I wanted to dry fit the boiler room floor (main floor ceiling) just to verify the exact location of the boilers

 

 

 

When preparing the boiler room floor (parts 49 A/B & 50 A/B) it talks about turning them over and gluing some small strips of wood along bottom (main floor ceiling)  to strengthen the seams.  It also makes note to place them where they will not be seen or interfere with any of the main floor structures.   Rather then doing that I choose to place the strips on the other side where I know they will not be seen and will not interfere with any structures.   Hope I am not shooting myself in the foot here, but it seems like a good thing to do.   Time will tell.

 

 

Finally, laying the boiler room floor pieces in place I can exactly place the boiler in order to correctly accept the smoke stack covers.   Picture is not completely accurate as it seems the boiler moved between lining it up and taking the picture, but you get the idea.    To me, with my lack of skill, (and variations on wood), there is no way that boiler would have lined up correctly if I just glued it in place where it was indicated on the plans.  It would have had to have been off by a little bit.    This way the stacks will line up and if the boiler is 1/32" or 1/16" out of place it will not be noticeable.

 

 

[mbp521]

30 minutes ago, John Gummersall said:

I am going to rack it up as variations in the wood.

I seem to recall having a difficult time with everything lining up in this area as well. Not sure if the holes in the deck were off or piece 37B was not cut properly. Either way you seem to have overcome that obstacle very nicely. 
 

As for your cleats, I’m not a big fan of any of the Brittania fittings that MS puts in their kits. If one takes the time to clean them up they can somewhat make them look presentable (which I did in this case), but normally I just chuck them and go with upgraded brass or wood fittings. If you are looking for suggestions or opinions for yours, I would go ahead and paint them either black or white as they would have been on the actual boat. 
 

Speaking of tricky alignment, the boiler covers and boiler deck were another one of those. While lining them up with the forward staircase, you also have to watch the back side where it lines up with the aft walls of the engine room. 
 

Beautiful work so far. Looking forward to more updates. 
 

-Brian

 

[Cathead]

Catching up after 2 weeks away, nice progress and problem solving!

[John Gummersall]

Brian,

 

Thanks for you comments on the alignment, but I think I have it..... or at least the alignment with the main deck and the boiler deck.    I learned the alignment lesson the hard way on the King of the Mississippi.   That was one of my earlier models and I did not think about alignment until it was too late.   Paid the price for that lesson.

 

As for the cleats.... thanks for beating some sense into me...   I had cleaned them up before mounting them, but I agree, they need to be painted.   I should be able to paint them in place.

[yvesvidal]

What a beautiful construction. Chaperon is one of my favorite kits....

 

Yves

[John Gummersall]

It has been awhile since I last posted...  Lots of non-model building activities had grabbed my attention.   I should be back at it for awhile.  🙂

 

Even though the main deck is not quite completed I wanted to try my hand at bending the four boiler deck walls.   The sharp angles of those curves to me just seemed like a great opportunity to break the walls in the bending process.   Especially since they want you to increase the slots in the wood to make it even thinner... and do it dry instead of wetting the wood.

 

Anyway, knowing I would be breaking a lot of wood I wanted to practice those bends with some spare wood.    I highly suggest you do that if you can.    After breaking a number of test pieces trying to get the curve correct, I found a way that for me that worked well for someone of my limited skill level.

 

For the larger forward curves I did soak the walls but instead of initially bending them in the supplied jig I bent them around a 1 1/2" PVC pipe.   The problem with wetting the wood and using the supplied jig is that the wood wavers between the three jig curved sections.    If there were maybe 5 curved sections in the jig instead of just 3 then wetting the wood probably would not be an issue.    Wetting and bending around a pipe seems to have solved this issue.

 

 

 

Once dry the final bend is pretty close to the required bend.   Just a little off.

 

 

At that point only rub a little water (so not to cause the walls to warp) on the wall and then put it into the intended jig.   Since the jig is only putting in the final bend it works great and no danger of breaking the wall section

 

 

End result is a curve that works and easily accepts parts 84A (top and bottom) to secure the curve

 

 

And dry fitting to the boiler deck - should be ready for adding the battens and painting

 

 

The aft bends are a little more difficult but the principal is the same.     For these bends I used a 5/8" down rod to bend the wall around.    That turned out OK but the bend was a little too sever.   If you choose this method to bend you walls I might suggest trying a 3/4" or 1" dowel (or pvc pipe).

 

 

Even so, after drying, re-wetting, and putting into the intended jig, the outcome is the same.  A pretty good bend for the back wall.

 

No matter how you choose to bend your walls,,,, practice, practice, practice on spare wood before actually bend the walls.    It will save you a lot of tears.

 

 

[Cathead]

I agree that bending around a solid item is good practice, even if you can't find one with just the right radius. Getting a rough pre-bend in the wood makes final adjustment easier and safer. Nice work!

[mbp521]

John, those bends are a bit precarious, especially along the scribed lines. Compound that with the instructions having you increase the scribed depth, and you are just asking for the piece to break. In my case, I did break my pieces and had to resort to gluing some card stock to the backside to help hold the bend. Thankfully the battens helped hide the breakage on the outside. Thanks for the tutorial on the proper way to bend this area. If I had used something solid instead of the provided jig, my results would have been so much better.

 

-Brian

[John Gummersall]

Brian,

 

As I indicated in my post..... I broke a lot of practice wood before I figured out bending around a solid pipe would help...  "Dumb you get early smart you get late"

[John Gummersall]

Been awhile since I last posted,,,, Holidays and other stuff seems to have diverted me from building...  Anyway I have not been completely idle.  Started painting the boiler deck walls with air brush.    There is defiantly a learning curve with one, but learning is pretty quick.   All the window/doors have been painted, but not yet attached.   Air Brush is defiantly the only way to paint those.   Painting the window/doors with a rattle can or brush would be a challenge.

 

After bending the steam valve pipe air brush comes in handy painting it copper.    I know the steam pipe does not go directly into the smoke stacks, but bending was a challenge to me and once I got to touch the support, I did not want to risk messing it up.   There is a slight indent opposite the steam pipe to accommodate the smoke stack so I guess we can assume the steam pipe goes through the support and into the stack  🙂  

 

Instructions call to mount the bull rails on the first two support posts in the boiler room.    Problem is, even though the boiler support structure is inside the support structure, the smoke stack protrudes outside the structure.   So bull rails need to be attached to the 2nd/3rd supports posts.     I do not think is "builder error" and instead a design flaw,  but knowing my skill, builder error may have come into play.

 

 

Below you can see the smoke stack bulging out just after the first support beam,      

Also still need to get out the alcohol and do a little glue cleanup.

Earlier I glued the two front sections and two back sections of the boiler deck.   I was planning on just gluing the two sections together when I attached them to the hull.   But after thinking about it, why not just have the one deck piece and glue the entire deck onto the hull.    I glued a few extra strips of wood over the joints to add a little more strength.     That may have been overkill.

And finally boiler deck was glued onto the hull with some additional (shall we say) "persuasion"  to have it conform to the hull curve.

[Cathead]

Nice progress! I was curious about the bull rail question so did some sleuthing (since I haven't built this myself though I've followed many builds of it). Photos on @mbp521's build log show the bull rails mounted, as you suggest, on the second and third posts. See here:

 

And so does photo 12 from p. 8 of the online M-E instructions (which may well differ from what you got in the box):

So whatever your instructions say, you seem to have made the right choice.