Robert E Lee by bcochran - FINISHED - Pyro - 1/163 - PLASTIC - steamboat

[bcochran]

I glued the wood deck on.  I did not get it lined up right before the glue grabbed.  I am not too good with adding extra purchased detail like photo etch and decks. 

 

It's not too noticeable when more of the parts are on. But it is a disappointment. It could have been better. It's one of those errors you make and live with, move on or quit.  Moving on.

Edited July 31, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

Pyro did not put doors where they show on my plans. They look to be doors to the engine room.  I added them by sanding off some doors and windows from spare parts I had.

[bcochran]

Preparing parts for assembly.

[bcochran]

Parts painted ready for more assembly.

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

Canopy glue is used to glue parts to the wood deck.  The wood piles were painted Testors dark gray tops and flat zinc chromate sides, and washed with burnt sienna artist oils. Edges painted with Sharpie paint pen.  Painted parts held with zap super glue.

Edited August 1, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

The boiler area has been assembled.

Edited August 2, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

Making a jig to rough bend the side chains.  I don't have the turnbuckles yet, they will be here this week some time.

Edited August 1, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

A pair of dark red (Tamiya Dark Red Spray) paddle wheels an some critters to be added later.

Edited August 2, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

For the little windows that are not open, I use this black Gelly Roll pen to darken the blank opening, then go over the frame with the white sharpie paint pen. I did this to the little window I added so that resembles the windows in the little cabin.

Edited August 2, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

Paddle wheels mounted.

Edited August 2, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

Using the white paint sharpie to paint the edges of part of the boiler deck, preparing to mount wood deck to plastic.

[bcochran]

I used a tooth pic and some acrylic yellow paint to color the lettering on the side boards. I also used a small black felt tip to outline the lettering.   I believe John Fryant mentioned that that Robert E Lee's lettering my have been yellow.  I didn't want the garish red lettering on my boat, so I went with yellow.

Edited August 2, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

The rear of the boiler deck is in place with its wood deck.  (The decks from the bottom up are the main deck, the boiler deck, the hurricane deck, the texas and the pilot house. The boilers are on the main deck, the cabins on the boiler deck. ) This model is a series of parts stacked on or leaning against each other.  The fit is reasonably good, some places difficult, and there is warpage, sink holes, flash, and ejection pin marks to deal with. This kit is 61 years old. Since the fit of one piece depends on another's location, get the first out of place and the next is out of place.   Taken as a whole it looks ok so far I think. Not perfect. Also, you need to paint a piece, let it cure then glue it in place. A bit time-consuming when you can build another type model as a unit, then paint it.

 

This is coming along one step at a time.

Edited August 3, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

The  remainder of the boiler deck, and its wood deck in place.  I used a plastic deck from my Lindberg parts.  The Pyro plastic deck was warped and more stiff than the Lindberg deck.

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

Added some bull rails along the main deck.

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

Pyro's big pad eyes replace by filling holes and inserting smaller hand made ones.

[bcochran]

Brass side chains shaped and chemically blackened.  Turnbuckles coming today.

[bcochran]

The hurricane deck, the roof of the texas and pilot house are blue. (Tamiya AS-19 intermediate blue spray) The roof of the pilot house was described by a reporter, during the race, as "beautiful sky blue" in Benton Rain Patterson's book.  The hurricane deck was the roof of the boiler deck.

Edited August 4, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

The starboard side chains are in place.   At this point I ran into a bit more warpage and fit issues, but taken as a whole the boat still looks ok.

Edited August 4, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

These are the turnbuckles for the side chains.  A paper guide was used for uniform positioning.

 

Edited August 5, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

The pilot house, texas and hurricane deck are temporarily placed together to see how things will look later.  The skylights above the hurricane deck were colored in black. Doing temporary set-ups helps to get a feel of how things are going, and is inspiration to keep plugging away.

Edited August 5, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

Port and starboard side chains.

[bcochran]

Time to stop and take an assessment of where she stands before the railings, smoke stacks and the stages with their lifting, and moving gear.  Also, all the rigging, those are things that make it look like a steam boat to me.  I am at step 44.

 

I like to photograph while I build because you can see things in the pics that you don't see otherwise.  She looks a little rough in places, but that is somewhat the fault of the kit and a fault of mine.  Again, when all the parts and rigging is complete, the confusion blends everything together and all is forgiven.

 

A funny thing I found while going over the build so far, taking a line down the center from bow to stern, the cabin sits about 1/16 off center to starboard. I noticed this also when adding the side chains.  The port side chains are a bit longer than the starboard.  I guessing it is the kit and not me.

 

I used Micro Soft Word to make the name boards on the pilot house.  I wanted to add people behind the railings before I glued the railings on, but they are not here today.  They are coming from China and are a mail stop away.

 

Well, when she is finished and in her case she will look good I think.  I am mostly pleased at my Robt. E. Lee so far.

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

The railing is attached reasonably well using superglue and a hand clamp to hold warped parts in correct position.

[shipman]

Until now I had little empathy with this vessel type.

 

I can only admire how you are turning this sows ear of a kit into something of interest to me at least.

 

It's refreshing to see the obvious pleasure you're deriving from this project; none of the self doubt and lack of confidence which you occasionally express during your 'Cutty Sark' saga!

 

Clearly you are making a progressive recovery from your recent spinal surgery. May that continue; soon be returning to back flips out of bed in the mornings, playing squash and regular half marathons!

[bcochran]

Some tricky things to make with this boat are the spreaders that are between the smoke stacks.  The instructions say to use thread, but I used thin plastic rod.

 

Oh look, a cow found its way onto the lower deck.

Edited August 7, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

2 hours ago, shipman said:

Until now I had little empathy with this vessel type.

 

I can only admire how you are turning this sows ear of a kit into something of interest to me at least.

 

It's refreshing to see the obvious pleasure you're deriving from this project; none of the self doubt and lack of confidence which you occasionally express during your 'Cutty Sark' saga!

 

Clearly you are making a progressive recovery from your recent spinal surgery. May that continue; soon be returning to back flips out of bed in the mornings, playing squash and regular half marathons!

Shipman,

 

I am 76, if I end up doing all that I may try out for the Olympics next. 

 

The Cutty Sark is much more fragile and with my all thumbs hands, I kept breaking parts off. It was two steps forward and three backward.   But I intend to finish it for sure. 

 

I am still taking pain medication, wearing a back brace, and so I am working on this boat sort of on a high which helps.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

12 hours ago, shipman said:

Until now I had little empathy with this vessel type.

 

I can only admire how you are turning this sows ear of a kit into something of interest to me at least.

 

It's refreshing to see the obvious pleasure you're deriving from this project; none of the self doubt and lack of confidence which you occasionally express during your 'Cutty Sark' saga!

 

Clearly you are making a progressive recovery from your recent spinal surgery. May that continue; soon be returning to back flips out of bed in the mornings, playing squash and regular half marathons!

This boat was built around the same time as the Cutty Sark.  It, too, was built for one main purpose, to ship cotton to New Orleans. From there it went to England like the Cutty Sark's wool went to England.

 

In the U.S. there is this big ditch called the Mississippi River that cuts the country in half.  After the civil war and before the railroads took over, it paid a boat owner to buy cotton from farms along the river and sell it in New Orleans.  A boat owner could pay $200,000 to build a packet like the Robt E Lee and, within one cotton season, earn enough to recoup the money for the boat.

 

Like the clipper ships, the famous river boats and their captains were all about setting speed records.  Cuttty Sark raised the Thermopile and the Robert E Lee raised the Natchez.

 

The Robt. E. Lee was a 6,000 bale boat.  It was built to haul 6,000 bales of cotton.  In the off season it carried around 300 passengers up and down the river.

Edited August 7, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

The smoke stacks are in place.  Entering into the home stretch. Rigging is next.

[bcochran]

Smokestack guy wires and hog chains are finished.

Edited August 7, 2022 by bcochran