ZULU 1916 by Ras Ambrioso - 1/48 scale - sternwheeler

[Ras Ambrioso]

Still working on the boiler. The current challenge is the boiler piping. Yesterday the steam supply manifold was completed.

Today the challenge was the steam pressure relief valve. I researched it but couldn't agree with any of the options. So, I decided to reproduce the one shown in the plans.

And this is the results:

The valve on the left is for the steam vent that will routed by the stack.

 

Thanks for following.

 

 

 

[Valeriy V]

Ras, you are doing great! 👍👌

[wefalck]

Looking good, the work!

 

Somehow I thought that the exhaust pipe(s) from the safety-valves are connect to those steam-relief pipes that are attached to ships' smoke-stacks. Unlike for railway- or traction-engines and the like, you cannot just let the steam off into the the (usually enclosed) engine-room. Do you have drawings of the prototype arrangements?

[Ras Ambrioso]

Wefalk, I thought so too but, when I looked at the results on google some of these valves were discharging in the open. The drawings I have show a separate vent for the boiler itself. Also in my research the externally sprung valves had an extension in the connecting bar on the top of the springs. My guess is that it is a handle for manual release. Any way this arrangement was easier to make than some of the ones I saw in my research. Like the one below.

This one is called a Ramsbottom safety valve. Used in the Württembergische T3 locomotive.

[Ras Ambrioso]

A little more progress the boiler feed water tank dry fitted with accesories.

 

Next, the stack.

 

Thanks for watching

 

 

[Ras Ambrioso]

The Admiral is back and I am back to a slow move in the build. I have been working on the stack figuring out to provide  a conical champher on the stack top. Right now I am trying Wefalks use of lacquered  card. In the meantime I started the water tanks.  Following in the results for the fresh water tank.

Thanks a lot for the likes. You are my support and inspiration.

 

 

 

 

[Ras Ambrioso]

The boiler and water tanks. 

The  vertical  condensate return pump under construction. First the plans.

The construction in process.

And the finished product

My 0.5 mm tolerances were challenged in this project. After this I will tackle the boiler feed pump which is a horizontal

design. 

And finally  the results of my experiments for boiler stack conical top. I used the bottom of a cone water drinking cup that was stiffened with several layers of lacker following Wefalk experience. 

 

Going to try again by developing the cone in thicker card a perhaps even brass plate. We will see what happens. 

 

Having fun, and thanking y'all for the likes and comments.

 

[Ras Ambrioso]

Continuing the work on the pumps. First was the fabrication of the suction manifold for the condensate pump. This was followed by the dry fitting of the condensate system.

 

My soldering attempts.

 The finally dry fitted on site the suction piping to the condensate tank in the engine room. Need a little more work on the squareness of the pipe elbows.

Then the Mason boiler feed pump followed.

I have to say I love working the lathe. I am not as good as I used to be in my younger years but it is a pleasure to see the cuttings fall.

 

This are some of the parts.

Then the dry fit assembly

And the final product.

 

Thanks for following

 

[Ras Ambrioso]

For some time I have been experimenting on how to build the conical top of the stack. At first I tried using the bottom from a dixie cup after strengthening it with shellac ( See Post #37). The results were fair, as the cone was very fragile and I didn't find a good way of trimming the bottom. Today I decided to try my luck with brass. I used thin shim brass plate and developed the cone right on the drawing. Then I cut the plate with scissors, using the Admiral's eyelash curved scissor on the small circle and trimmed the edges with the Dremel.

Bent the plate over a brass rod.

And glued it together using CA. I thought about soldering it "a la Valeriy" but I wasn't to sure about the results. I promise that, when I finish this boat, I am going to practice both of my nemesis: soldering and air brush painting.

 

And here it is my cone waiting for the glue to cure.

Thanks for all the likes wows.

 

 

 

[Ras Ambrioso]

The stack. Needs a little trimming on the cone top. The bracket  in the front is for hanging mast light and the eye on the rear is for the stack stays.Used masking tape to simulate the reinforcing rings. 

To be continued

[Ras Ambrioso]

I have been kept away from the shipyard by illness (mild) and marriage duties. But I manage to get some progress on the steam engines.

And a dry fit.

Continuing the work. Following is the cross arm of the pitman.

Hope to put more time next week. 

 

Thanks for your support.

 

[Ras Ambrioso]

Almost finished with the engines. Next come the paddle wheels. I will leave the Pitman (connecting rod) to last because I need to know the exact distance between the wheel and the cross tree. Then we do the piping.

Thanks for the likes and keep watching. It will be eventually finished. LOL😋

[James H]

I don't know how I missed this, but I am super impressed 

[Ras Ambrioso]

Finished the engine cylinders, the water feed tank and the fresh water tank. Also repiped the condensate pump. Dry fitted the whole  ship for a picture. I am real happy with the results.

 

The condensate system in place.

The engines in their relative position.

The boiler and the water feed tank. I did not learned the lesson that black kills details. I had the same problem in my Bianchi motorcycle (See my build in Sure Leave). No details.

Next, the port side of the boiler showing the boiler feed water pump. The plans called a vertical pump but I saw this horizontal design (Mason) during my research and wanted to see how it fits. The problem is that the boiler base is not big enough. So, I will have to add a little more the boiler base and start worrying about what to do with the anchor winch. Anyway, I am not getting payed to do this and I am having a lot of fun.

 

And following is final product sans a lot of deck details. But, considering how ugly this ship really is, I love it.

I would like to hear your opinion regarding what color black to paint the stack. I hate to loose all the detail. The stack will have stays and a "mast light".

Thanks for the likes.

PS; I found another forum in France called "La Royale Modelisme". I have been looking for information of another ship I want to model: the Yangtze River Gunboat USS San Pablo from the movie the Sand Pebbles with Steve McQueen. One of my favorite movies. The site is very similar to MSW and you can communicate using Google Translate. Works like a charm.

 

 

[KeithAug]

19 hours ago, Ras Ambrioso said:

But, considering how ugly this ship really is, I love it.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I too thought she would be an ugly ducking but she is turning into something of a swan.

[Canute]

Ras, you may want to look at Tamiya German Gray, a Gunship Gray or possibly NATO Black. They're more of a charcoal gray, so you don't suck all the light out of your object.

[Ras Ambrioso]

Gentlemen, (and maybe some ladies in the forum), may I present :

The condensate return system.

And the Boiler feed water system.

Canute, thanks for the recommendation. I would definitely try it. Its a shame that you loose all sense of depth with the flat or gloss black.

And to my followers I say, many, many thanks for your support and advice.

 

TO BE CONTINUED 

 

[wefalck]

What I tend to do to such flat black parts is to run a soft pencil along the edges etc. to highlight them. Using a cotton stick, you can also slightly rub the graphite away from the edges.

 

Similarly, using dark-grey pastel, you can lightly highlight areas that would normally be more illuminated to accentuate say round parts. 

 

Depending on how you want to show the model, pristine builders's model style or slightly 'weathered', you can add traces of ash or rust around the furnace of the boiler using white or brown pastels.

[Ras Ambrioso]

Wefalk, thanks for the advice. I am not very good at painting and haven't done any weathering but, I am always willing to try. Interestingly though , I have been building this boat for close to 10 months and I keep it in the shop that is not squicky clean. There is lot of weathering on the model already. 

 

Progress continues. Following are the main steam piping supplies to the engine room. The piping is loose,  once I fix it, I will install a bypass between the port and starboard pipes to comple the forward piping.

Next I tackled the helm. The wheel was purchased but I tried to reproduce the one shown in the plans.

 

Next challenge is the winch. Note that the one shown in  the plans is manually operated. My boiler flue came out a little larger than the plans and I changed the boiler feed water pump from vertical to horizontal. This reduced the deck space for the winch. I also have to provide space for the anchor and the anchor davit. 

But, that is the challenge. 🥴

Thanks for your comments and likes.

 

 

Edited June 12 by Ras Ambrioso
Deleted a photo.

[Cathead]

Ras, I finally got around to checking out your build, after seeing you following my own. What a fantastic project! I'd never seen a steamer like this before and it really is a unique vessel, perfect for a memorable scratch build. I'm especially impressed by your metal work, as that seems like magic to me who has never done it. Keep up the good work and I'll be following attentively from now on.

[Ras Ambrioso]

Eric, thanks for your comments. I also find you build very instructive specially your research and the discussions that follow. This  is why I like this forum when we share our experiences and learn from each other.

[Ras Ambrioso]

More progress. Working on the anchor winch. Having a space problem as the boiler chimney flue came out a little bigger than expected. But that is the challenge of scratch building with shacky hands and poor vision. 

This is the start of the anchor pulley.

Lots of chips. and then the finished product.

The complete pulley assembly.

Finally all the parts, The two stand sides are from the etched leftovers from a previous model.

And this is the finished product. Maybe not yet since I forgot the manual winches cranks. (See the drawing)😇

And to have a little fun, I made a wood pile to stand by the boiler. Nothing on the plans indicated what fuel was used to fire the boiler. Could have been oil fired but, with the ship being build for the Indian rivers, I figured that wood would be the fuel.

 

[KeithAug]

Good looking logs Ras. The winch sides look just the job - that was a bit of luck. The winch looks great.

[wefalck]

I thought that the smokebox and the stack were a bit on the large side … but then such ships were often crowded around the bow. Check that in then end there is enough space for cranking the winch.

[Ras Ambrioso]

Wefalk, you are absoutely right. The smoke box is larger than the plans. I needed to make a transition between the round stack and the smokebox. This was a little too complicated to make the transition between a rectangular section and a circle. My solution to the problem was to make a flange section on top of the rectangular smokebox as shown below.

In addition I used a 1/2" pipe with an OD of 9/16". Then I added I/16" around the hole which increased the width of the smoke box another 1/16". And then I did not taper the smoke box as it is shown in the section below.

As a result I lost a total of 11 mm of deck space were used. My solution to this problem was to extend the winch base by

the 11 mm giving me sufficient clearance to set the winch where it would be operable by the crew.

I remember my engineering school time when our instructors repeated to avoid  "cumulative tolerance error".

 

The added base for the winch.

And here is the dry fit of the winch.

Now, don't tell me that the cranks will be impossible to move. The winch is supposed to have the cranks forward. The winch is not glued down yet. 😏

 

[Ras Ambrioso]

Turned the winch around and asked my inspector to check the available work room.

First attempt to solder the top of the anchor davit.

Sorry to inform you that the first attempt failed but, with patience and steady hand, the job was done.

And this is what the bow looks like. 

Next comes the hawseholes. In the meantime, I installed the railing both in both decks. Following is what the ship looks today.

Next we will finish the steam piping aft and start the big job:the paddle wheels. 

[KeithAug]

10 hours ago, Ras Ambrioso said:

Sorry to inform you that the first attempt failed but, with patience and steady hand, the job was done.

Ras - for jobs like this I like to create a dowel joint by turning a spigot on the arm and a hole in the attachment piece. This makes soldering much easier and the joint is stronger.

Your first shot of the bow with the winch and boiler looks great. I guess you are not planning to lag the pipework?

[Ras Ambrioso]

Keith, thanks for your suggestion. Regarding the lagging, I considered it. I did it on two of my R/C models with live steam propulsion. But, those models were at a much larger scale.  At my scale with a 3/32" in  pipe it will be quite a task. Since I started this forum my tolerance has  improved from +/- 1.0 mm to 0.5. My hands and sight are reaching its limit.

 

This is my Patricia at 1/12 scale:

And this my African Queen at 1/24

 

 

 

[KeithAug]

4 hours ago, Ras Ambrioso said:

Regarding the lagging, I considered it.

Ras - I actually think it looks good with all that nice shiny brass.

Your 2 steamers look very authentic.

[Ras Ambrioso]

Keith, I try to leave the brass shinny because it attracts the eye to the metal work. I enjoy working with brass specially the lathe work.