African Queen by gjdale (Grant) - Billing Boats (modified) - Scale 1:12 - RADIO - Live Steam

[a49kid]

When I got to the point that I had to trim / sand the plastic I found the width at the top of the plastic hull, is too narrow.
I added some extra wood strip. to both sides.

[a49kid]

Next thing, and it looks like you have done the same thing as me, and cut them off. 
The rails need to go all the way to the rear, ( do they call that the Stern )
There needs to be support for the rear floor, yes I had to go back and add some rails.
Poor instructions from Billings.
And yes the rear bulkhead on mine did not sit down on the plastic hull...........
I just pushed those bits in later.
 

Edited March 26 by a49kid

[a49kid]

On 8/20/2023 at 4:10 PM, gjdale said:

 

It seems that my modelling mojo has been having a little holiday of late, however there is some progress to report - albeit little more than "proof of life". I have completed the first band of four strakes of planking per side. Three more bands to go, each of three strakes.

 

 

I will now move my attention to the Sheer strake and work down from there. The trickiest part will be the final band that contains the turn of the bilge.

 

 

Your planking is looking good and very neat, mine will need a good sand.
What are you glueing it down with.
Are they pencil lines or are there separate pieces of the planking.

[a49kid]

On 3/12/2024 at 4:56 PM, gjdale said:

 

I can’t believe that it has been almost five months since I updated this build log. Life has thrown a few unexpected twists and turns my way recently, and it has only been in the last few weeks that I have felt remotely interested in returning to the modelling desk. 

 

I can at last report that the hull planking is complete – at least as far as the initial sanding. I still need to go back and apply some filler into the inevitable gaps, but overall, I’m reasonably happy with the how this has turned out. A couple of overview shots to show progress as well as ‘proof of life’.

 

 

 

I’ll proceed with some filler and a final sanding before I trim back the excess ABS around the top of the hull. Hopefully it will not be another five months before the next update!

 

WOW, your completed planking looks great, as I have asked, what did you glue it down with.
How did you work with those ridges ?? in the plastic hull, what, just somehow planked over them.

 

Edited March 26 by a49kid

[a49kid]

And that front bulkhead, with the 2 louver doors, it does not really work ............
To me seems like a Billings mess up...............
And remember the pole / mast is in the middle there.

[a49kid]

Grant, have you had your steam engine running yet. I have not.
Still trying to sort out how to fill the gas tank.
And I forgot all about the brass tube piece in the box, just found it the other day. 
And some day I will send you a piece of this black silicon tube. 

[gjdale]

To answer your questions Wayne, I did some testing with various viscosity super glue (see my post #19). In the end I settled on Extra Thick Maxi Cure (Bob Smith Industries brand) and that has worked well. My planks are 1mm thick and I cut them from sheets of Alaskan Yellow Cedar. I made my planks approx 14mm wide so that at maximum width, there would be three planks per “band” on the hull for the most part, with one “band” requiring four planks. Then I planked up to the ridges and after sanding it all blended into one smooth surface. My planks were a maximum of about two thirds the length of the hull. I didn’t worry too much about “scale length” as the planking won’t really be seen in the final outcome (remembering that the original hull was steel).

 

What I haven’t shown in the build log is that I took the time to mark some “station lines” (ie vertical lines) on the hull - arbitrarily spaced - and then divided the remaining gap of the planking band by the number of planks to be fitted and made marks on the station lines. A pair of proportional dividers makes this easier, but they are not essential. These marks then became reference points once the sticky tape was placed over them. The white ABS hull gives a nice surface for drawing pencil lines, or even fine permanent marker. Once the tape was in place, one edge was traced along the previous adjacent plank and the opposite edge marked at the reference points. The tape was then removed and applied to a piece of card (Manila folder) and the reference points (dots really) were joined with a ruler to give the rough shape of the plank. The card was then cut out and tested against the hull to see if it was a close enough fit and if it was, it was then traced around on the plank and the plank cut/planed/sanded to final shape. A little bending/twisting  with a steam iron to help the plank conform to the shape of the hull and the plank was then glued in place. I generally applied glue for a few inches at a time and worked my way along the plank. Sounds a lot more complicated than it really is!  

 

One other tip is to apply a slight bevel to one edge of each plank as this will help achieve a tighter fit.

 

I hope the above rambling helps you with your planking….

 

Edited March 26 by gjdale

[gjdale]

11 minutes ago, a49kid said:

Grant, have you had your steam engine running yet. I have not.
Still trying to sort out how to fill the gas tank.
And I forgot all about the brass tube piece in the box, just found it the other day. 
And some day I will send you a piece of this black silicon tube. 

 

No, I haven’t had the engine running yet Wayne. I had assumed that the gas tank would be filled from a butane bottle as used to be used for filling cigarette lighters.

A piece of the black silicon tube would be great - thank you!

[gjdale]

It's  been a while since my last update but work has progressed, albeit very slowly. 

 

I changed my mind (again) about removing the excess ABS, mainly because it would have been impossible to hold the internal stringer/gunwhale(?) in place with it sill there. So I went ahead and removed the excess ABS, and then positioned the stringer/gunwhale and the internal (fake) ribs. I also drilled out the hole for the propellor shaft and cut the access hole for the rudder support strip that extends from the keel. I decided to replace the kit-provided stuffing tube and propellor shaft with some after-market parts from Float-a-Boat in Melbourne (following the lead of Wayne (@a49kid)). At the same time, I ordered some universal joints and a brass propellor to replace the kit-provided plastic one. Unfortunately, with the additional thickness added by planking the entire hull, a propellor of the same size (40mm) will not fit. I’m still deciding as to the exact size that I will use, but it will be either 35mm or, more likely, 30mm.

 

The picture below shows the internal ribs in place along with the stuffing tube and propellor shaft temporarily positioned. I may well need to adjust the length of the stuffing tube/propellor shaft once I’ve got the steam plant sorted.

 

 

Before proceeding further with the hull, I needed to sort out the steam plant and its positioning/securing in the hull. That meant doing a trial run of the plant. I bought this plant from Miniature Steam Models (MSM) over 18 months ago and had not done any final assembly and testing to date. It comes almost fully assembled, requiring only the attachment of the steam line (from boiler to engine) and the gas line from gas tank to boiler. Unfortunately, for some reason the steam line was a few mm too short to be connected. This was very surprising as MSM have a very good reputation for quality. 

 

Anyway, I enlisted the assistance of a fellow Canberra modeler who is something of a guru on all things steam engines. He advised cutting the existing pipe and inserting a short joining section to make up the length required. He also very kindly machined up the required part and silver soldered it in place for me. The result can be seen in the picture below, highlighted by the red circle. We did a short test that proved the join was secure and together we are now conducting some “set-to-work” trials.

 

 

There are still a few other issues to deal with before proceeding with the hull, but I hope to resolve those in the next few days.

[gjdale]

Well, it’s been an interesting and frustrating week working on setting the steam plant to work. Additional issues I have encountered to date (but have successfully resolved with the assistance of my “guru”) are:

 

The upper flange on the boiler sight glass tube had not been soldered correctly, leaving a small hole in the joint through which a large quantity of steam escaped. This was resolved by carefully re-fluxing the joint and allowing the existing solder to close the gap. Successful after test run with no further leakage through this joint.

 

The flange joint between the engine side of the displacement lubricator had not been soldered correctly and again, a large quantity of steam escaped through this fault. This was resolved in a similar way to the boiler sight glass tube flange described above. Successful after test run with no further leakage through this joint.

 

The mating surfaces between the flat rotating valve (forward/reverse) on top of the engine and the engine body were not machined particularly well (they were quite rough) and a significant steam leakage resulted. This was addressed by carefully polishing both faces to facilitate a smoother action. When running, the engine now appears to be quite smooth in its operation, with very little steam escaping though this interface.

 

I am somewhat surprised that the boiler was able to pass testing given the fault described at the first point above, and indeed that the other faults were not picked up through a quality control process. Nevertheless, I have managed to resolve all of the manufacturing faults thus far. 

 

There is one further issue that has me flummoxed at the moment and that is to do with the gas burner. The issue is this. Although all set-up routines have been followed, including calibration of the burner flame, once the boiler gets to operating pressure and the engine starts running, very shortly thereafter the boiler flame goes out although there is still plenty of gas in the tank. The flame can be relit, but initially burns at the top of the stack and only goes back to the burner when the gas is turned down a little. It then burns correctly for a few seconds and goes out again. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum.

 

My initial thought after re-reading all of the material on manufacturer’s website, was that perhaps the gas being used was of insufficient quality and was then clogging up the jets in the burner. Yesterday, I purchased some so-called premium quality Butane. The blurb on the can alleges that it has been purified 11 times and claims to burn hotter and longer than cheaper products. Its gas mix content is stated to be 60% butane, 36% isobutane, and 2% propane. Alas, on testing the same problem returned.

 

What I don’t understand is why the burner seems to work correctly initially, but after a few minutes develops this fault.

 

I have written to the supplier/manufacturer but am yet to hear back from them (and may not – they have been problematic with communications in the past).

 

In the meantime, after lengthy discussion of alternatives with the guru, I decided to make a modification to how the engine sits in the hull. Basically, this involves removing some of the frames from under where the engine sits and inserting a hardwood plate, epoxied into the bottom of the hull to hold the engine assembly. This will get the engine a lot lower in the hull and greatly reduce the height difference/angle to the prop shaft. Here is a picture after the preliminary surgery on the frames.

 

 

My guru also found among his odds and ends a very nice universal joint that comes out of the model car world. It is a lot less bulky than the standard universals and should work a treat in the AQ. He has also made for me a flywheel to go on the end of the engine shaft - he says this is essential to smooth the operation of the engine. I know nothing of these matters, so defer to his expertise here.

 

I am also going to change the rudder support (skeg) and will instead use a piece of brass bar for this purpose. I will epoxy a small wooden block in the base of the hull on the inside, and will then be able to screw the brass skeg into that. This will make the skeg level with the base of the keel and in doing so, will overcome my propellor clearance issue so that I can still use the 40mm prop.

 

The other issue I’m now working on is to address the poor fit of the upper deck. As I’m going to plank over this, the provided deck will be the substrate for my planking. I made up a cardboard template for the required shape by tracing around the inverted hull to help with the process. The pencil line inside the outer  edge of the template shows where the existing deck lies – it’s only out a small amount, but enough to cause headaches.

 

 

I then cut the deck substrate down the centreline and placed the two halves so that they just covered the outer edge of the template and marked their positiong relative to the centreline of the template. This showed an overall gap of 10mm (or 5mm per side).

 

 

It was then a fairly simple matter to add some filler pieces to achieve the correct shape. The picture below shows that I needed to make a T-shaped piece to fit at the bow to close the gap previously cut for the stem post. I will now need to re-shape the bow and re-cut that slot. The picture below shows the filler pieces in place but not yet glued. They have since been glued in place awaiting final trimming. 

 

 

More to follow once I have news on the steam plant and/or further surgery modifications have been completed.

 

[Keith Black]

 Grant, what a kaleidoscope of issues. It sounds like the boiler flame is being robbed of oxygen?

Edited May 1 by Keith Black

[gjdale]

Could be Keith, but I don’t understand how or why as yet.

[BobG]

Wow, Grant, how frustrating that this steam engine is having so many problems! I'm sure it was not inexpensive either from what I've seen about these steam engines. The quality control problems that you've had should have been caught in the final testing before the company gave it a stamp of approval. I think they should be willing to give you a replacement given the issues you've encountered.

[gjdale]

It’s been a little while since the last progress update, but work has continued apace. The first job was to finalise the placement of the steam plant and build a mounting for it, along with a support block for the stern stuffing tube. I used a piece of 7mm thick Queensland Maple for the support base and another to create the support block for the stuffing tube. As the plant is held to its own metal base by screws inserted from underneath, it was necessary to make allowance for the screw heads. With that temporarily in place, the engine drive shaft and the propellor could be aligned, allowing the support block for the stuffing tube to me made and fitted. Once these had both been double checked for fit and alignment, they were fixed in place and the internal surfaces painted using my large airbrush / mini spray gun and Stynylrez White Primer – despite it being a primer, this will be the final colour for the internals.

 

 

In the next photo, you can see that two M3 threaded inserts have been incorporated into the aft end of the mounting plate. These align with two corresponding holes in the metal base plate to secure the plant in the boat.

 

 

Here is an overhead shot showing the steam plant in place along with the complete propellor shaft. Also shown in this photo is the large brass flywheel that my friend made for me, as well as the universal joint (the red piece in the photo).

 

 

The next task was to begin addressing the decking. Having adjusted the plywood sheet as previously described, I decided to stain the plywood to act as the margin plank while additional planking was added for the deck. Here is the plywood after staining.

 

 

To create the decking, I have used a combination of 12mm x 1mm Brown Hornbeam and 1mm x 1mm Black Hornbeam to simulate the caulking. The first task was to create the centreline plank by sandwiching a piece of the Black caulking between two Brown planks.

 

 

The remaining planking was created by gluing one piece of Brown plank to one piece of Black caulking. Once dry, the resultant pair was scraped to remove any excess glue. Rinse and repeat for all remaining planks. Here is what they look like when put together.

 

 

Once all the plank pairs had been prepared, they were applied to the decks starting with the centreline sandwich and working outwards from there. The planks were shaped to fit the outline of the margin plank as I went. Here are some shots of the planking in place – not yet given a coat of finish (which should make it pop a little), and not yet glued down.

 

 

 

Finally, an overview shot of progress to date. Note that the upper deck is not yet glued down – it will sit down on the gunwale around the centre once glued.

 

 

I think the next task will be to paint the external of the hull before proceeding to permanently fix the decks. I will also need to address the small matter of Radio Control in the not-too-distant future. I have a cunning plan………..

 

[Keith Black]

 Grant, the hull and engine together looks like the bee's knees. Did you figure out the engine issues? 

[gjdale]

Thx Keith. No, the burner issue has not yet been resolved. I’m pushing on with the rest of the build while we cogitate on that one. We have a club meeting this week and there is another steam guru there who may be able to offer some further advice. If all else fails, I’ll have a very expensive static model……

[Glen McGuire]

Beautiful work on that decking, Grant!

[a49kid]

Hi Grant, your AQ is coming along very nicely, and yes all that planking looks good.
I just used a fine paint pen on the supplied ply wood, I’m happy with it.
And sometimes I think, how much extra work and time should I put into a model.

Your hardwood mounting looks very professional, but I would have used 4 of the inserts to hold down the plants base plate.
And yes with the plant lower, it aligns up nicely with the prop shaft, and a nice small uni.
I just hope my twin universals all works OK.

And your Flywheel looks good too, mine is a little different concept / design.
Did you use the engines 5mm output shaft or made a longer one.

And I’m sure you will sort out the issue with the burner / boiler.
And I'm still to get mine running.
It is a pity you can’t see my build thread on the other forum.

Edited May 20 by a49kid

[gjdale]

It’s been some time since the last progress update, mainly because a lot of the time has been devoted to trouble shooting and the manufacture of new/additional parts.

 

The problem began when I noticed a real “stiffness” in turning over the propellor shaft by hand – way more than could be expected for normal “running in”. Problem-solving began by debonding the front end of the stuffing tube from the hull. With that end free to move, we could see a considerable “wobble” in the drive train as the free end of the stuffing tube traced quite an ellipse. At the same time, we noticed a bit of movement in the thrust block between the engine and the fly wheel.

 

In an attempt to resolve the issues, we manufactured an extra thrust block with tighter tolerance, re-made the flywheel, made a new propellor shaft (discovered the supplied after-market part was slightly warped), re-made all the connector parts, and eventually tried another universal joint (of similar design). After all of these mods, we still had an unacceptable amount of play. After checking each component in the line, from the engine output shaft right through to the propellor shaft trying to find something out of whack, the only thing that could possibly be wrong was the universal joint. In desperation, we replaced the nice looking universal with a less attractive brass and plastic one from Float-a-Boat and just like that, our problem disappeared.

 

Here is a photo showing some of the additional/replacement parts:

 

 

In between the trials and tribulations of the drive shaft, I did manage to paint the exterior of the hull. Here is an overview shot – I haven’t decided yet if I’ll stay with the more pristine look, or go for an old and grungy weathered look.

 

 

The next step will be to return to problem solving the steam plant issues…

[Glen McGuire]

8 hours ago, gjdale said:

I haven’t decided yet if I’ll stay with the more pristine look, or go for an old and grungy weathered look.

I know it would be more trouble, but I vote for the old and grungy weathered look!

[a49kid]

Hi Grant, gee you had a few issues there, but you guys worked thru them and it is working good now, and also looks good.
And it looks like all your problems were caused by a bend prop shaft and the universal you were using.
But in the fault finding process you re manufactured the thrust block and made a new flywheel.
Anyway, the build should continue smoothly now.
Yea the old and grungy weathered look....................
 

Edited June 8 by a49kid

[gjdale]

A quick note as it’s been some time since the last update.

 

It has been a tumultuos year thus far for me. Breakdown of a 40+ year marriage that I did not see coming, separation (and all the legal stuff that goes with it), and now preparation for house sale and subsequent move have meant not a lot of time in the workshop. In preparation for sale of the house, all of my modelling equipment/workshop has now been packed up ready to go into temporary storage. My “big” workshop is also almost completely packed up. At least I’m able to keep cycling to maintain my sanity and social engagement - cycling up to six days per week gets me out of the house, into some fresh air and headspace, some gentle exercise, and the chance to engage with others.

 

The house goes on the market in four weeks time and it’s possible that I will be settled in a new place by Xmas or shortly thereafter, at which time I’ll be able to resume progress on the African Queen.

 

In the meantime, I will continue to live vicariously through all of the great builds here on MSW.

[Jim Lad]

Sorry to hear of your personal dramas, Grant!

 

John

[ccoyle]

Oh, dear! Hope you can get back to a reasonably acceptable new normal very soon!

[Keith Black]

 Grant, what a drag. I feel for you and I hope fair skies and clear sailing are just over the horizon.

[Glen McGuire]

Dang, Grant.  So sorry to hear about the difficulties you have been going through.  My prayers for you finding peace and a positive way forward.   

[BobG]

Oh gosh, Grant, I'm so sorry to hear about all this personal turmoil. I know it must be emotionally draining trying to manage all of these unexpected and sudden changes in your life. I'm glad to hear that riding your bike provides a quiet space for you and an opportunity to connect with others. So many people become isolated and withdrawn at times like this. All the best to you at this difficult time in your life, Grant. 

 

 

 

   

[mtaylor]

I'm sorry to hear this news, Grant.  I hope you can resettled with a minimum of hassle.  These things are no fun at all.