Peerless 1893 by Cathead - 1:87 - sternwheel Missouri River steamboat

[Keith Black]

 Eric, you're holding true to the photographs and it looks amazing. 

[John Ruy]

Eric, I like the canvas decking made with masking tape. Looks great. 👍 

[mbp521]

Very nice progress Eric! I agree with Keith and John, she is truly beginning to look like the photos of her and your work on the canvas looks great. As for your paddlewheel, that is one of my favorite parts to build. Just the details that go into them add to the beauty of these boats. 
 

-Brian 

[Cathead]

A few shots of carefully working the masking-tape "canvas" around the rest of the boiler deck:

Lots of fiddly cutting and fitting here. But another benefit to masking tape is that it holds its shape stiffly and is easier to shape and fit than something floppier like silkspan or tissue. And it's just sticky enough on its own to stay put when you're trying to draw or cut a careful line, while still being easy to move when you want.

 

I finally reached the point where a bunch of these overlapping mini-projects all came together. So here she is with cabins and pilot house attached, deck fully canvassed and painted, hog chain posts installed, and stern planking applied.

Careful eyes will notice that I haven't yet installed the support posts for the rear cabin roof overhang, but it's plenty stable for now. I'm not worried about the messy appearance of the boiler deck's edge because that will get wrapped in a thin plank veneer.

 

On Sunday, I'll be giving a talk on the evolution of steamboat design along the Missouri River, at a regional cultural center that specializes in supporting educational and artistic programming. I initially developed this talk back in 2021 as an online lecture for a regional non-profit that works along the Missouri River (you can view the talk recording here if interested), but this will be the first time I've given it to an in-person audience. As a bonus, I'll be displaying three of my steamboat models, the first time any of them have been presented to the public. Here they are all lined up and ready to go:

 

In the back is Arabia (1:64), in the middle is Bertrand (1:87), and of course in the foreground is Peerless (1:87). All three operated on the Missouri River, from 1853-1856, 1864-1865, and 1893-1903, respectively.

 

Model size is misleading, as Arabia is at a larger scale though she's actually very close in size to Bertrand. On the other hand, Bertrand and Peerless are the same scale, so you can really see how tiny the latter was in comparison to her ancestors.

 

This talk has been scheduled for a long time, and I'd originally hoped to have Peerless done for this talk, but when it became clear that wouldn't happen, I aimed to at least reach a clearly presentable and semi-complete stage, which I just barely did!

 

Thanks as always for following along, and helping me get to this point.

[wefalck]

I quite like the look of the 'painted canvas' decks. My concern, however, would be how long it stays attached to the decks. These masking tapes are designed to be not too tacky and I know that ordinary painters' masking tape becomes quite brittle with time.

 

Good luck with your lecture and make sure that the audience watches with their eyes and not their fingers 😉 

[Cathead]

Wefalck, I absolutely agree that tape on its own would not be a good idea, but recall that earlier I described how the masking tape is attached with a layer of carpenter's glue once it's cut to fit. The glue soaks into the tape and not only holds it quite solidly once dry, but stiffens it so that it's easier to trim. The paint provides another round of stiffener. The same method used on my Arabia has shown no signs of alteration in ~4 years of the highly variable environmental conditions within my house (from bone-dry firewood-heated air in winter to humid summer air only partly buffered by air conditioning, and temperature variations from the 50s-80s F). So I'm pretty comfortable with the method.

 

The venue is setting up large square tables, one for each model, so people can view them from all sides but they're not easily reachable (especially by little hands). Still a little nerve-wracking but worth it, I think.

[wefalck]

Sorry, I indeed missed the point with the carpenters' glue. So once trimmed to shape, you lift off the assembly, apply the glue and put it back, right?

 

[Keith Black]

Eric, I seal my masking tape with polyurethane which is essentially doing the same thing as your use of carpenter's glue, just a little less messy. Do love the way Peerless is taking shape. 

[Cathead]

I apply each strip separately. Cut to fit as needed, smear wood glue on the tacky surface, apply, use a strip of wood or my finger to rub smooth and flat (sometimes bubbles get trapped), then move on to the next one.

 

Another benefit to doing it that way is that the tape itself is just tacky enough that sliding it into an exact position is tricky because it catches. A film of wood glue on the bottom means it slides effortlessly and can be adjusted to exactly where you want it, then snugged down with some gentle pressure.

[Canute]

The boat's coming along nicely, Eric. Good luck with your presentation tomorrow.

[FriedClams]

Wonderful progress on Peerless, Eric.  I too agree - very convincing results from your canvas method.  

 

Gary

[KeithAug]

A lovely little fleet there Eric - although Arabia is still my favourite.

 

 

[Cathead]

Thanks, all, and Keith - I agree. I think that's one the best model I've ever built. Guess I'm going downhill now!

[mbp521]

1 hour ago, Cathead said:

Guess I'm going downhill now!

Hardly Eric.
 

Each boat you build is beautiful tribute to some of the lesser known vessels of the Western rivers. I love the fact that the subject of each of your scratch builds are some of the more obscure boats rather than one that tends to be overbuilt. Add in the fact that you try your best to mill your own lumber sourced from your property whenever possible. I say nothing downhill about that. In my eyes they are all works of art. 
 

-Brian

[John Ruy]

Eric it just keeps getting better. 👍
 

Edited April 18 by John Ruy

[Cathead]

Sorry for lack of progress, haven't touched the model since my last update. But I did have a pretty cool model-viewing experience recently, getting to see a fantastic scratchbuilt Missouri River rail ferry from ~1870 at a model railroad convention. I wrote a full post about it in the Steamboats and Other Rivercraft General Discussion thread so as not to clog up this one, but here's a teaser image to encourage you to go over there and check the whole thing out. This is at the same scale as my Peerless (1:87).

 

 

Hoping to get back to Peerless soon, but other commitments have had to take priority lately. Thanks for your patience!

Edited Tuesday at 01:42 PM by Cathead