USS Cairo by Cathead - FINISHED - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - 1:192

[Canute]

Eric, maybe you could get a super-fine paint brush and dab some rust on the more egregious chips.  It will add a little more color to the Cairo.

[Cathead]

Yeah, I'm planning on doing some final weathering, but I've learned my lesson and won't do it until the very end. I've already had to paint over one weathering job when further work damaged it.

[Cathead]

Another day, another detail, another dammit!

 

Last night I was working on what the instructions call Torque Rods, what I would call hog chains on a normal riverboat but I don't know if different terminology was used for these vessels. Following instructions, I bend some thin brass rod to match the plans:

 

Then cut some support posts. The instructions tell you to glue the support posts onto the deck and then install the rods over them, with the rod ends fitting into drilled holes on either side. This made me suspicious, as a tiny post glued end-on to a deck is going to be a very weak joint on its own. So I pre-made these assemblies on the work bench, filing slots in the top of the posts to help hold the rods in place:

 

Installing these was absolutely maddening. The joints between the posts and rods kept breaking (I used CA), and getting things to line up straight was really hard. Even the tiniest bit of torque (ironically) broke or deformed the assembly and created a cascade of trying to fix that and causing other problems. I eventually gave up in frustration and went to bed, then got back at it this morning, when I finally got a version of this installed.

 

You can see that things don't like up well, and a glob of glue on top some posts where I had to keep re-gluing joints. I don't care. 

 

I also pre-blackened the rod and pre-painted the posts. The instructions tell you to paint all this AFTER installation, which seems crazy to me. Much harder to do without getting anything on the deck, and if you do, you'll never get it off again. They'll need another coat since I wore some off with all the handling, but pre-painting still made sense to me. You'll also notice that a bump from my finger rubbed some paint off the central skylight; that's going to be a major pain to fix. I'm using Vallejo primer and paint, but it just doesn't like to hold on the brass even though it's supposed to.

 

Now I'm working on the ridge pole that runs down the center of the whole vessel, over the deck, which is already being super-fiddly as it's incredibly small and delicate.

[MrBlueJacket]

Shiny spots of glue can be hidden by painting over them with flat clear paint.

 

Nic

[Cathead]

Sure, there'll be a lot of touch-up at the end. In the case of the post tops, I'll just use the same black paint the rest of the assembly used.

[Cathead]

Next up, the ridgepole. This is an elevated beam that runs the length of the hurricane deck, supported on thin posts. At this model's scale, the posts are 1/32" square and the beam is 1/32x1/16". Tiny.

 

The instructions tell you to glue the posts to the deck, then to glue the beam on top. Making a series of 90º 1/32-1/32 joints in mid-air 3/4" above a delicate model while holding the entire assembly straight and steady struck me as darn-near impossible, and not something I was going to attempt. So I made the assembly on the workbench.

 

I couldn't find any piece of wood that matched the 1/32x1/16 dimension called for in the instructions (not necessarily blaming the kit, I could well have misplaced it), so I pulled something close out of my scrap pile. It's a little wider/taller than called for, but that also makes it stronger, and I care more about that. I used dividers to measure the distance between each post on the hurricane deck (they're marked by tiny divots in the laser-cut piece), then end-glued the posts onto the beam with an extra dab of glue over the joint to soak in.

I still didn't trust these joints, and decided they simply had to be reinforced. At that point I went back to look at @mbp521's build, which gave me a lovely excuse to do this. Notice that his build included metal brackets making the connection between beam and post (logically, really). Look at the wood-colored beam running down the center of the model:

 

So I simulated the same with small scraps of wood, first gluing all one side and then the other:

Here I'm test-fitting the assembly onto the deck, and it lines up great. It's also strong enough to be handled. I just can't imagine trying to keep those joints solid without reinforcement.

And here are a few pictures painted and installed. It actually adds a lot to the model, visually, especially with the grey-black brackets. Here's another case where I diverged from the instructions, which tell you to paint this on the model. No way I'm doing that and risking any paint spills onto the deck from trying to get a brush down a 1/32" square pole right to a ridged deck surface.

 

I can't imagine why the kit doesn't call for doing it this way, it's so easy and adds so much strength and accuracy.

 

If you look really closely, you'll see that I had to adjust for another of my own mistakes. I'd intentionally cut the posts long, but when I trimmed them to length, I did it too shot, so the beam rested on the paddle wheel housing. So I had to file a gentle curved notch into the underside to make everything fit. It's barely visible, but the beam should be a bit higher. Mea culpa.

 

We're actually sort of getting there. I think adding the cannons will be next. What could go wrong?

 

[Cathead]

OK, it's been almost a month. I did a little more work, then got frustrated again (and busy) and just stopped even thinking about it. It's a little daunting to come back and even try to pick up the threads.

 

I keep discovering problems with the instructions and plans. For example, the length of the upper deck as shown on the plans doesn't match that of the actual model, meaning the dimensions one might take off it can't be trusted:

And the plans are inconsistent on the orientation of the four cowl vents (big L-shaped stacks shaped like the business end of a tuba). In one place the rear ones are shown facing outboard while the forward ones face ahead, and in another place all four are shown facing ahead:

Not only that, but either arrangement is inconsistent with the blueprints shared with me by @mbp521, which show the forward ones facing outboard and the rear ones facing aft, completely different from the kit:

 

I decided to follow the latter example as it seems more trustworthy, but it's another example of the ongoing sloppiness in this kit that just causes angst and confusion.

 

Speaking of which, installing these cowl vents created yet another problem. The castings have smaller pegs molded into the bottom so they can slip into holes drilled in the deck and be held in place. So far, so good. The instructions have you drill these holes before adding other details on the deck. Sensible. So I drilled the stated 1/16" holes in the right places, but did not install the vents until once I'd done other fiddly stuff like the bracing rods.

 

Only then did I discover that the pegs on the castings were far thicker than 1/16" and did not even come close to fitting in the pre-drilled holes. I tried filing down the pegs but this took forever and I couldn't get them to fit. So I tried to ream out the holes a bit more with a file, and of course broke the delicate bracing rods:

 

I managed to get this repaired and eventually got the rear cowl vents installed. But this was maddening. I should have test-fit the cowl vents when I drilled the holes, but stupidly trusted the instructions to be right. I haven't dealt with the forward ones yet.

 

I also went through and carefully added the rest of the vertical stanchions that support the long center beam (the shorter ones that extend down to the pilot house, central skylight, wheel housing, and so on). These came out pretty well, with their associated tiny "metal" brackets that are a significant upgrade on the kit. 

 

I also added the cannons, which went pretty smoothly although I had to ream out a couple pre-drilled holes with a round file. So here's what the model looked like three weeks ago, the last time I did anything with it:

 

The last steps involve various rigging lines (fiddly but probably not too big a deal) and some very, very delicate details like the boat davits and some railings that consistent of tiny fine brass pieces. I honestly don't know that I can do these right, they don't even look good in the official photos in the instructions.

 

I'm feeling no motivation whatsoever to try to deal with those davits, and a much stronger inclination to just declare the darned thing done and stick it in a dark corner of the display cabinet.

 

I want to write up a long review of all the kit's failings (and to be fair, some of my own) but that feels like a huge time sink when I have so many other more fun things to do with limited free time.

 

EDIT: Writing this shamed me, a few hours later, into taking a stab at the davits. Stay tuned.

 

Edited February 25, 2023 by Cathead

[gak1965]

Hi @Cathead. Doesn't make it much better, but I was under the impression that you could rotate a cowl vent so that you could work better with the direction of air flow, especially on smaller ships and when not moving. In that sense the particular aim of the vents just needs to be consistent rather than specific. Exactly what consistent would be I'm less certain but you would presumably want some facing into the wind for air to enter, and some facing away for it to leave.

 

MY $0.02. Ship is looking good despite the limitations of it's design. Good luck on those davits, I really hate working with those types of things myself.

 

George K

[Cathead]

That would make a ton of sense, thanks! It would still be nice for the plans to be consistent and/or for the instructions to explain proper positioning options.

[mbp521]

Eric, apologies for missing your last update (#96), not sure how I didn’t see the post, but thank you for the mention. The ridge beam looks great!
 

To help ease some the pain on the vent funnels, these were used to direct fresh air down to the gun deck for cooling and clearing smoke from the boilers. They could be rotated 360 degrees and could also be raised and lowered, or completely removed from their positions if needed. So in reality, there really is no right or wrong way to face them. As for the davits, I think you got this. I say go for it. 
 

-Brian

[Cathead]

OK, so I spent most of the afternoon yesterday struggling with the davits. They're made from two parts: photo-etched horizontal braces and brass rod that you cut and bend to match the plans:

According to the instructions, the brass rod should pass through the hole in the brace, forming a support. At this point I had learned not to trust such statements and checked; sure enough the hole in the PE wasn't big enough to accommodate the provided rod, so I carefully drilled it out wider while the braces were still in their frets (to minimize damage or warping to these fragile pieces). Hence the drill in the photo above.

 

I chose to blacken these parts rather than paint them. This is actually another learning point: the kit instructions consistently tell you to paint everything, never to blacken even basic brass or pewter parts. I followed that at first, but it became a real problem because paint just keeps chipping off, even over primer, and glue doesn't stick as well. I wish I'd ignored the instructions and blackened everything, including the armor. I blackened the guns and was much happier with the outcome, so did the same on the davits.

 

Anyway, you're supposed to drill pairs of holes in the side of the casement, right where the top of the casement joins the upper deck, to hold the horizontal braces. When those are installed, you drop the davit down through, mark where it hits the sloping side of the casement lower down, drill a vertical hole there, then assemble the whole thing. Seemed reasonable, and the back two went together ok since the soft wood is easy to drill into. These are still very delicate, though.

But the front two, that was another story. Here the casement side isn't wood, but the PE brass armor, which is much harder to drill through. I did some test tries on leftover brass fretting and found that my hand drills and bits didn't work well; they just skittered off the surface and/or took a really long time to get anywhere. And keep in mind that, for the davit, you're needing to drill at a 45º angle through a painted brass sheet (risking damage to the paint) on a model already covered in fragile detail that's hard to hold steady. There's no way I trust myself to use a power tool on this delicate model at this stage.

 

Another looming problem related to both my earlier mistakes and related kit flaws. You might recall that the side armor was far taller than the wooden casement provided; see this photo from earlier in the build:

 

It's supposed to tuck under the lip of the upper deck, but the wooden casement is too short (or the brass is too tall) and instead the armor stuck up past the entire deck. I couldn't control this because the armor was pre-scored for that 90º bend around the hull lower down. The only solution would have been to cut the entire armor sheet down, and I didn't have the tools to do that because I wasn't expecting to need to do that much alteration of a kit I thought would be well-designed. Remember also the terrible fit of the forward armor? My attempt to cut down that piece sort of mangled it and I couldn't envision doing a long, straight cut to the top of the thin armor without destroying it.

 

So I left it as it was, sticking up above the deck, figuring that once everything was painted it would sort of blend in and nobody but an expert would really notice. That was now revealed to be a big mistake, because now the armor stuck up past the joint between the deck and casement where the holes for the davit braces were supposed to be drilled. So now instead of easy drilling into wood, I was faced with difficult (maybe impossible for me) drilling into thin brass at a 45º, like the davit situation already described above.

 

Below, I marked up an earlier image to demonstrate this. The arrows show how the overly tall armor sheet blocks where you're supposed to drill out the support holes for the braces (this is the forward part of the hull, where there are no davits, but it makes the geometric point):

 

I honestly thought I'd destroy the model if I tried to drill these holes into the brass, based on test runs on leftover material. So I decided just to mount the braces higher, overlapping above the top edge of the armor. They wouldn't be level with their partners, but I decided it wouldn't be all that noticeable to non-expert viewers of a dark corner of my display cabinet.

 

This sensible (lazy?) compromise turned out to be a nightmare. Without mounting holes to provide stability, it was nearly impossible to get these tiny brass pieces to stick to a sloping brass surface. Over and over again I mounted them with tiny drops of quick-setting CA, let it harden, only to have them break away when trying to insert or adjust the davits. And getting the davits to mount in a nice vertical fashion with the curve in the right direction while a tiny bead of CA hardened was equally daunting. I did this over and over and over again, each time ruining a bit more of the painted surface. In the photo below you can see all sorts of glue drips and paint chips from these efforts:

 

I finally got them more or less in place and stopped for the day. I'm not at all happy with them and I have a feeling they're going to break loose again as soon as I try to rig any boats on. 

 

This was definitely a combination of kit flaw and my own shortcomings as a modeler. I haven't developed a feel for working with metal yet and it really shows. But this is also far from the "beginner" kit it's advertised to be, and really doesn't seem to be well-thought-out. Even if the armor had been the right dimension (or I'd been able to cut it down) to allow the upper braces to be drilled into wood, you'd still have to drill vertical holes into sloping brass armor for the davits. One improvement could have been that the PE could have included a little dimple at the right locations to guide a drill (either now or pre-drilled before installing the armor), or even just a hole to let the drill through to the wood below.

 

So that's as far as I got before giving up in exhaustion. No idea what'll happen when I try to rig heavy pewter boats to these. Wondering if I should just glue the boats to the hull instead of having them dangle loosely off the davits like the instructions say to do?

 

[Cathead]

Last post February 26; you can tell my enthusiasm/motivation has been at its low ebb! That and spring always creates a pulse of competing time sinks. But I have been pecking away at the final details. Having accepted that this will be a display model meant to look ok from a certain distance, meant to convey the idea of the Cairo rather than any sort of specifically accurate recreation, I did some bare-bones finishing that gives it a completed look from a certain distance.

 

For the boats, I ended up gluing them directly to the stanchions. The kit has you simulate boat rigging with a brass piece cut to resemble lines and blocks, but I didn't use these. For one, they're so delicate that I damaged several of them with even light handling. Second, they were sized for the original stanchion layout that I was unable to replicate. So with my stanchions in different positions, pre-sized brass lines/blocks didn't fit right. I just did the most basic simulation of some kind of boat rigging using white line. I have no illusions about the accuracy or functionality of this; it's just meant to create a visual idea of boat rigging when viewed from a distance. None of the rest of this model holds up to close scrutiny, so why go overboard trying to make this to a higher standard?

 

 

Then I added some basic rigging overall; support lines for the stack and central mast, that sort of thing.

 

 

I decided to leave a variety of other details out, like rigging for the tillers, because I didn't think I could do it justice and I just plain didn't want to. I wanted to be done. So here's what the final pseudo-Cairo looks like.

 

She's now placed within my display cabinet, behind the Bertrand, looking a bit odd at such a small scale than the others, but that's ok. Daylight makes it hard to photograph that case given all the reflected light; I'll take another shot in the evening when the models will show up better.

 

[Cathead]

Here's a semi-brief wrapup of this project.

 

This kit was not a good choice for me at the time I chose it. I was in a busy and somewhat stressful period and wanted a simple, enjoyable kit that I wouldn't have to think about too much. Instead I got a very fussy kit with problematic instructions, dubious part quality, a small scale that was more difficult to work in than I expected, and a mistaken impression of its level of difficulty based on how it's marketed. I think I enjoyed this build less than any I've ever undertaken.

 

Some of my bad experience was my fault; I can identify places where I could have read or planned more carefully, worked with more care, or asked for more guidance on how to do things right. At times I barreled through rather than stepping back. I was not on a good head space during some of this, and the kit made this worse rather than helping me relax/decompress. This goes back to the idea of a mismatch between kit and desire. Other builders might well be able to do really neat things with this model. I was not one of them during the time I was building this. 

 

Other aspects I think can be fairly laid at the kit's feet. A core problem I've come to recognize is that the kit doesn't present a consistent level of detail. For just one example, there are super-detailed etched brass armor pieces that are meant to be glued right over a plain wooden block that looks nothing like the fine planking that should be there. The same is true for the deck structures, some of which are carefully detailed (pilot house) while others are just sanded wood blocks (aft wheelhouse). This creates cognitive stress in trying to figure out how to build the kit to a consistent standard. I also found numerous cases where parts were of inconsistent quality. To be honest, even the photos provided of the completed model from BlueJacket aren't very impressive; you can see the highly variable level of detail and quality in the kit, which just makes it look strange. For example, the super-delicate boat stanchions look uneven and cheap even in their model, as does the very low-quality-looking rigging job and the basic plywood inserts simulating boat thwarts; the contrast with the highly detailed brass armor is striking and distracting. Here's a photo from the instructions (also note the terrible quality, which isn't helpful to the builder). If even BlueJacket can't make their own model look better than this, maybe I shouldn't feel so bad about the quality of my work.

 

 

The instructions were also very primitive and difficult to follow; as an educator and professional editor, it's easy for me to see how such things can be improved, but I've approached many model companies with a bid to help upgrade their instructions and have always been turned down (including BlueJacket). This kit's instructions were a classic case of what's known as Curse of Knowledge, meaning that experts tend to be very bad at placing themselves in their listeners'/readers' shoes when trying to explain something. In this case, the instructions read more like notes on what the kit designer did, with a lot of assumptions, rather than actual instructions for someone who's never seen these materials before and doesn't understand their context.

 

Even allowing for my own faults and mistakes, I'd have trouble recommending this kit to any builders but those who are very experienced and willing to take on a challenge. What I ended up with was well below my usual personal standards for a model. I've built frustrating kits before (see my Corel Ranger and Dusek Viking longship) and was capable of turning their myriad faults into a much more detailed and accurate product that I was proud of. I was not able to accomplish that with this kit, which looks and feels to me like it came together at the level I was building things in high school. 

 

Oddly, for a kit that's pretty recent, this felt like a kit from several decades ago, with its poor instructions, odd mix of simplistic and highly detailed parts, and somewhat slapdash approach to accuracy and consistency. If I'd gotten this as a bargain on eBay as a historic kit, maybe I'd feel differently. But when I pay full price for a newly developed kit, from an American designer/manufacturer, I expect something up to the standards of modern kit making. And that's not what I got. I'm sad about this review, because I want to like and recommend small businesses like BlueJacket. But I really don't think this kit presents their best foot forward.

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Cathead

[Keith Black]

Eric, for the heck you went through on this build, it turned out to be a pretty nice little model. I'm impressed that you stuck it out to the end and finished it. kudos for your stubbornness.  

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

   You DID finish, and your comments/observations are honestly put - so for others 'fore warned is fore armed'.   I see your point on scale differences - one reason I wanted to 'stash' Billing's Oseberg and Roar Ede - both at 1:25, whereas the latter's predecessor (Vikings skibbe) was 1:20.  My old version Wasa (Vasa) is 1:100, so it should go with anything I build at 1:96.

 

  Yet the hull size of several models at differing scales as viewed by the observer, don't present a visual 'disconnect' if the model lengths are comparable.  E.g., the Endurance about 1:72 has a comparable model size to all of the above.  A 1:150 Robert E.Lee will also 'fit in' - smaller scale, but a longer prototype.  'Guess that's just one opinion on display pieces.  Smaller models will go into a different case.

 

  It was said that , "Opinions are like posteriors ...  Everybody's got one."  And I have a high opinion of everything I can see in your display case !

[Cathead]

OK, with night falling, here are a couple more photos of the finished model in the display cabinet, with fewer reflections. I also want to correct an omission in the earlier posts and say Thank You so much for those who stuck with this build log. It can't have been the most fun, with me complaining a lot and the result being not that great. But having  community support makes such a difference, it adds so much to the model-building experience. Hopefully the next project will be more fun for everyone!

 

 

 

 

[mtaylor]

Eric,

I appreciate your honesty on this and after seeing what you had to work with, am frankly a bit disappointed that the design and implementation wasn't better.   I have to say that over the years I've seen a lot of kit builds and even scratch builds started and then abandoned due to errors in parts, part quality, instructions and the like.   

 

For what it is, I think you did a good job of overcoming thing and also showing your issues and disappointments with things.

 

 

[Cathead]

Thanks, Mark. It's definitely easy for kit flaws to undermine a build. I'm just too bloody stubborn to give up! Plus I'm enough of an environmentalist to have a really strong aversion to trashing something.

 

I should clarify, for those who aren't necessarily familiar with my past projects, the two other steamboats are scratchbuilt and the Viking longship is a heavily modified Dusek kit (see links in my signature).

[mbp521]

Eric,

 

It’s good to see that you managed to get this build done and keep most of your sanity while doing it. Sometimes persistence pays off (or dare I say stubbornness in this case). I may have mentioned this before that it’s a shame that there are not any other kit builders out there that offer this fine ship in a bigger scale. Personally I believe that 1:192 scale is just too small for all the details that go along with the City-Class ironclads, and one of the reasons I passed on building this kit. Now after watching your build, there are so many more reasons that I am glad I went the direction I did. Somehow I believe it would have gotten boxed up and stashed in a far away dark corner of the closet, forever to be forgotten, or simply chucked if it was me struggling with it. 

 

I do have to hand it to you though, you took what you had to work with, stuck with it, and made the best of it. For all your troubles and trials you still produced a fine model worthy of your display case. Speaking of display cases, with her diminutive size in comparison to your Bertrand, she almost looks like a coal scow. 😁

 

Seriously though, great job on soldiering through with this build. I always enjoy the details and honesty you provide during your builds and I anxiously await to see what hits your bench next. Save me a seat on the front row. 
 

-Brian

[Cathead]

Thanks, Brian & others, for the feedback and uplifting comments.

11 hours ago, mbp521 said:

with her diminutive size in comparison to your Bertrand, she almost looks like a coal scow.

Yeah, I hadn't conceptualized how the dark coloration would interact with the other two white vessels. It really hides the model. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing.

 

I'm pretty sure I know what the next project will be, but there'll be a delay because we're still in the process of DIY renovating the downstairs bedroom where I intend to set up a permanent workspace (partway through floor tiling at the moment) and then I need to design and build a new work space. DIY house projects can feel good but it can be really hard to fit them into busy schedules and this one has been dragging along.

[MrBlueJacket]

Eric, we have listened to your comments. Since you finished the model, your customer file now shows a 10% discount on the next kit you buy from us.

 

We have plans to build the Cairo in 3/16" = 1' scale (3x the size of this one) and it will be a longitudinal cut-away to show interior details.

 

Nic

[Cathead]

@MrBlueJacket Thanks for reading. As a self-employed small businessperson myself, I recognize how hard it is to please everyone and to take criticism (whether justified or not) of something you've sunk your soul into. The new larger-scale Cairo sounds like a fantastic project that will be far more likely to do justice to this amazing vessel. I look forward to seeing how that develops. Especially since I think interior cutaways are an underused niche in kit-making.

 

[Cathead]

Just letting anyone interested know that I've started my next project, another scratchbuilt Missouri River steamboat. You can find the new build log here. 

 

Edited June 17, 2023 by Cathead

[GrandpaPhil]

Eric,

  Nice finish on Cairo!