Paddlewheeler Golden City by Louie da fly - Scale 1:50 and 1:25 - solid hull

[Louie da fly]

I'm starting on a model of the Golden City, a paddlewheeler which operates on Ballarat's Lake Wendouree, run by volunteers  and taking passengers for trips around the lake every summer Sunday (weather permitting). It is a replica of one of the paddlesteamers which did the same thing back around the turn of the 20th century (unfortunately destroyed by fire some years ago).

 

It will be a Solid model, and I'm first making one at 1:50 to iron out the bugs. After that I'll be making another at 1:25 to present to the people who run her, who also run a museum dedicated to the vessel itself and its history. 

 

I've spoken to one of the organisers who's very keen on the idea - apart from anything else, visitors to the museum get disappointed when they can't see the vessel if she's out on the lake, so a decent sized model (68 cm or 27 inches long) would be a great help.

 

I've actually started on both models already, and if it all works out I'll simplify the design and make multiple 1:50 models to sell to visitors, as a fund-raiser for both the museum and for the Men's Shed where I make stuff (and which has so many wonderful boys' toys, like bandsaws, lathes, bench saws etc etc).

 

Here are some photos of her

And some I took close up while she was in her boatshed.

Plus photos of the plans which the museum kindly got out for me, and which I then redrew to make the model.

And here are the smaller and larger models so far. As you can see in the first and second photos the deck overlaps the hull considerably.

Upside down, showing the overlap.

And with 'paddleboxes' - just cut from a bit of 20mm wood with a hole saw and cut in half.

Comparative sizes - 1:50 in front and 1:25 behind.

The two together with paddleboxes. The bit in front is the roof awning, which fortunately is flat. And another shot of the two together. (The phone camera reduces the size contrast in the first photo and exaggerates it in the second.)

I think the most difficult bit for me will be the posts that hold up the awning and the railings. I can't see any way to make them except out of wire, and I'm currently rubbish at soldering. Well, another skill I'll need to learn . . .

 

Steven

[yvesvidal]

Very interesting and unusual subject. I like the two scales approach, too.

 

Yves

[GrandpaPhil]

Looking forward to seeing this!

[Cathead]

Just saw this mentioned in your other log. What a cool project! I'm all in. The deck far overhanging the hull was a standard design feature on American paddle steamers, too.

[liteflight]

On 2/9/2024 at 5:13 PM, Louie da fly said:

think the most difficult bit for me will be the posts that hold up the awning and the railings. I can't see any way to make them except out of wire, and I'm currently rubbish at soldering. Well, another skill I'll need to learn .

Wire will make the strongest, especially if you use steel wire.  I’m not sure of the diameter of the stanchions and rails but at the scale I would guess they would be in the 1 to 1,5 mm region,

You could consider different materials like plastruct extruded sections ( ABS material ) which can be joined by solvent welding, but they might not be strong enough take even light handling.

Brass is easy to cut, solder and finish.

If you use steel wire - do not use the wire available in model shops, as this is Piano wire ( music wire to our US cousins) which is high-carbon, very hard and stiff and therefore quite difficult to cut to identical lengths, bend to repeatable curvatures, etc.  Engineers would say it is almost glass-hard.

Soft iron wire is probably too soft, but is easy to work, bend and solder*.  Samples are florists wire and some fence wire.  Bunnings do big hanks of garden wire - might be worth a look.

 

Piano wire can easily be tempered back to a useful hardness - same as your Uhfbert sword, but much faster ‘cos of its thinness.  Heat to dull red and allow to cool in air will produce very soft temper

 

*With the correct flux!

 

Sorry, I have rabbitted on too much.  
soldering easily learned - especially when shown the method.

Probably Pat’s resistance soldering setup is readily controllable and he might share his wisdom about it

4 secrets** of good soldering:

Cleanliness

Cleanliness

Right Flux

Cleanliness 

Enough Heat!

 

**. Like the Garden of Five Surprises

[Louie da fly]

Well, I've given up on wire - I'll be using wood instead. I feel more comfortable with it and I think I can produce a better result, even if it isn't an exact reproduction of the real thing. For the uprights, I've used bamboo toothpicks. Here's the hull with paddlewheels and deck equipment attached (I still have to work out a way to mass-produce the passenger seats), plus the awning upside down with some toothpicks attached, to mate with corresponding holes in the deck.

Here's the hull (upside down) with the deck glued to it.

And the awning dry-fitted to the hull.

Starting to come together. This is my half-size test piece. I've learnt a few things that will help make it easier to make the full-sized model, and subsequent mass-produced (simpler) half size models for sale.

 

Steven

[Jim Lad]

A deceptively simple looking little model to make, Steven. She'll look really nice.

 

John

[Roger Pellett]

Steven,

 

I understand that materials readily available in one country may not be in another, BUT!    Here in the USA we have a Company called K&S.  They sell thin walled brass tubing in sized from 1/32” OD to about 9/16”OD.  Each size telescopes into the next size larger.  They also sell similar metric sizes.  This stuff would be ideal for your roof supports.  Using the telescoping of two sizes you could avoid soldering.

 

Roger

[Ian_Grant]

Steven, there's also "Albion Alloys" in the UK which similar to K&S makes brass/aluminium tube and rod down to micro sizes. Last time I needed some 1/32in DIA tubing I obtained it from Albion because K&S would only sell me in large paks, not onesies and twosies. Albion may be in your country too, being British.

[Louie da fly]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys, but I've decided to go with wood - it just works better for me and I'm more comfortable with it.

 

Steven

[Jim Lad]

Nothing like working with a medium you feel comfortable with, mate!

 

John

[Chuck Seiler]

I wasn't aware that there were paddle wheelers in the middle ages.  😁

[Louie da fly]

10 hours ago, Chuck Seiler said:

I wasn't aware that there were paddle wheelers in the middle ages.  😁

 Oh, yes . . .

The clue is in the caption - a "naval odometer" according to Vitruvius (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvius )

 

Steven

[Louie da fly]

I went over to where the Golden City is berthed today and showed off the model in its current configuration to the manager of the museum and the skipper who takes her out on the lake. They were pretty chuffed with it even though it's not complete.

 

And I took lots of photos. A lot of things my initial photos didn't tell me, which I can incorporate into the larger model.  I'm not going to change the smaller one  - it's my test piece after all.

 

And I measured everything I could think of (units are millimetres).

And some progress pics on the seats -I need 17 of them - which I thought were going to be really difficult to make in quantity, but turned out to be fairly easy (touch wood!) though time consuming. Here are the bits that make them up - most of them, anyway.

Here's the first one (prior to painting). There's still an intermediate crossbar to be added.

And here are the bits that make up the seats now they've been painted. Plus the remaining posts that will help support the awning.

I'd had a sneaking suspicion that the seats weren't all the same size, and it's turned out to be correct. Not only that, but most of them aren't symmetrical - the sit-upon part has a curved end inboard and is cut straight at the outboard end, to fit in with the straight railing marking off where the lifebuoys are stored.

And I've started painting the hull and temporarily added the first seat - the position is subject to change now that I've measured everything up.

It looks a little boring at the moment, but I think when the railings and mesh and the striped awning roof with wavy edges is added it will look a lot better.

 

Steven 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3 by Louie da fly

[Louie da fly]

Seats added. Ready to add the awning and railings.

 

I've learnt from doing this one that for the "good" version I need to make some sort of jig to ensure all the seats are identical. I was a little too casual about making these ones.

 

Steven

 

[Mark Pearse]

What an interesting vessel! The previous post with the roof on looks so nice.

[Louie da fly]

Glad you think so, mate. I'd thought it was rather boring, compared with most paddlewheelers (it doesn't even have a funnel!). Glad to know someone else disagrees.

 

Steven

[Louie da fly]

Still a fair few things to do - she needs a railing and a red and white striped awning for the roof.

As I mentioned before, this is a prototype for a "good" model double the size, to see what works and what doesn't. Unfortunately one of the things that doesn't work is the uprights that support the awning/roof - they're made of bamboo toothpicks - in this version they were cut to exact length and went into "stopped" holes in the deck and roof, but due to inherent lack of precision this meant several posts didn't reach all the way from floor to roof, but hung supported at only one end.

 

So I've removed the roof again and drilled holes that go all the way through both deck and roof, and I'll use the toothpicks full-length so they stick out the holes, and cut the ends off when the glue is dry.

 

Steven

[Louie da fly]

So here it is with the whole length toothpicks.

 

And trimmed, with the railing just started.

 

 

My lovely wife has solved at least one problem on this build for me - I'd wondered how to get the wavy border on the awning. Turns out she has a pair of scissors (think: a variation on pinking shears) that cuts paper and cloth with just the right wavy edge. Amazing!

 

Steven

[Jim Lad]

Coming along nicely, Steven.

 

John

[64Pacific]

Very nice work, looking forward to watching this one progress.

[kgstakes]

Some times in our hobby we need to look at other ways of doing things and using pinking shears for the awning is a great effect.  
 

If we all look in our tools arsenal we’ll find things that are not necessarily made for our hobby but work for our hobby.  In the sewing or craft departments in stores you’ll find all kinds of little things that can work for our models.

 

 I’ve even used my wife’s cricut machine to cut out walls for a building and it worked great!!  
 

Have fun out there and I’ll be back to building shortly after my fingers heal a little more and we get moved to our new home.

[64Pacific]

The wife's Cricut was a huge timesaver when laying out the keel and cross sections for my tug build. Definitely not the classic way of doing things but it was hard to argue with the ease and quality of the results.

 

As far as using non-modeling tools for modeling, sewing needles came to the rescue on a scratch built logging truck that I was building years ago (and finished recently). I needed a way to  connect the front tires to the front axle while allowing the front tires to steer. I happened to mention this to a seamstress and she suggested cutting down a standard sewing needle. The flare from the cut down eye was enough to hold the needle in a short tube and the cut down end of the needle passed through the tube and nicely into the wheel, the tube was fixed to a pin and linkage to allow the wheels to steer. This was about twenty years ago, I wish that I could find her to say thank you and let her know how it worked out, but I have no way of finding her...

 

Edited March 22 by 64Pacific

[Ras Ambrioso]

Nice  project. I will be following it.

[Louie da fly]

Well, I've made some progress. Glued lengths of red ribbon onto the roof awning to make the roof alternately red and white stripes. But I don't think I'll do it that way again. I've found my wife's wavy scissors won't cut cloth, only paper, so the 'fringe' won't be able to match the roof. So I'll probably just paint the stripes on instead.

 

Also added the mesh netting at the railing and learnt a few things. Next time I'll add the mesh behind the rail before I put the rail on the model. It'll look better. I did this with the rail on the aft half of the vessel - it looks and works better.

And I'm fixing an edging to the deck to cover the edge of the plywood. I discovered some REALLY thin veneer languishing neglected at the Men's Shed and it's ideal - so I've commandeered it all for myself.

Should do for a large number of future models of this paddlewheeler. And it's OK, because they'll be sold as fundraisers for the Men's Shed and the volunteers who operate her. 

 

Steven

[Louie da fly]

Almost finished, just in time for an exhibition by the modelling club I'm in.

 

It's a little rough and ready because it's a prototype, but that's OK. When I come to do the finalised one I'll put the lessons I've leaned doing this one into practice.

 

In the meantime, a bit more paintwork, (adding the vessel's registration number and name) and I really need to re-do those little red gates amidships - a bit *too* rough and ready!

 

And here's the real thing.

Steven

[druxey]

That was a fun project - but will multiples be as much fun? How many will you make? I suppose a 'limited edition' might attract a higher price....

[Mark Pearse]

Yes, a lot of fun & what a nice boat. Sort of a large verandah with a paddlewheel. And it floats.

[Louie da fly]

Thanks for all the likes.

 

Druxey, I don't know how many I'll make, but the purpose right from the start was to work out how to make multiples without too much waste effort. Not the same as my usual builds, where the research and the figuring out are as much fun as the making. It'll be a bit of a sideline which doesn't make too many demands on my problem-solving abilities, just more of a relaxing thing when I have a bit of spare time. I've already got about half a dozen hulls cut out ready to go further. Not really in any hurry.

 

Steven

[Louie da fly]

6 minutes ago, Mark Pearse said:

Sort of a large verandah with a paddlewheel. And it floats.

I'm going to have to steal that, mate.

 

Steven