Okahumkee by Harvey Golden - FINISHED - 1/96 scale - 1870s Inboard Sternwheeler - post 1892 layout

[Harvey Golden]

I'm taking a break from my other build-log (Gjøa)-- a little diversion in smaller scale, of a unique craft that caught my eye recently.  I first saw this type of vessel in the Historic American Merchant Marine Survey publication of ca. 1984; scale drawings of the "Okahumkee" and its later counterpart the "Hiawatha" are in the Survey.  I was interested in building one the moment I saw them.   The State Library and Archives of Florida has the HAMMS drawings (3 Pages, retitled) on their web-page (public domain): https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/337722  Here is the inboard section, which also will show the Inboard wheel: 

Yes, a little odd looking; Historical descriptions tend to agree. 

Here's a postcard showing sister-ship (of sorts) "Hiawatha":

In beginning, I used paper board to make the hull. While 82' long, this steamer is essentially a huge skiff, with only slight dead rise aft of the wheel slot.  This paper hull will get a veneer planking. 

Getting ready to cross-plank the bottom:

Below: The hull planked bottom, sides and top.  The wheel casing is positioned, with the wheel behind it.  An inboard sternwheeler is perfect for any builder dreading making the wheel . . . . but I made it anyways, albeit poorly. 

Will leave with another historic image (Public Domain, courtesy of  State of Florida Library and Archives):

 

[gsdpic]

Interesting craft.  Am I reading the scale right, your model will be just under one foot long?  That might make those railings and other details more challenging.

[Jim Lad]

Certainly not the sleekest craft ever built, but it will make a very interesting model!

 

John

[Harvey Golden]

The machinery/engine room is coming together.  The plans were a little vague in some aspects, but mostly the issue was I have no understanding at all about steam engines; was a good excuse to brush up a bit on these!

I carved the capstan from a dowel end; not sure how functional the capstan would have been, as it was closed in by stairways on each side.  The sides of this room are paperboard with individually laid strips of paper for planking.   

Bottom is cross-planked with strips of wood.  The recessed wheel casing was a challenge-- both inside and out.  

The reason for the inboard wheel was to keep the paddles from snagging in the shallow narrow rivers these steamers were used on-- particularly the Ocklawaha River.   The cover of Edward Mueller's book (1990) shows the "Osceola" on that river: 

The "Okahumkee" was built like the "Osceola" on the cover above, but a second full deck of cabins were added in the 1890s; my model will be the 'two-story' version.  Historic photos show many modifications over the years-- even the name "Okahumkee" was spelled differently on some incarnations (as in the historic photo in the previous post). 

 

[Jim Lad]

That looks more like a creek than a waterway that can be used by steam powered commercial boats. It's amazing just where large vessels used to operate.

 

John

[Harvey Golden]

21 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

That looks more like a creek than a waterway that can be used by steam powered commercial boats. It's amazing just where large vessels used to operate.

Indeed!  I have a friend who kayaks on the Ocklawaha, and he was surprised to hear 80' steamers used to ply it.  Historical texts describe passengers being raked by limbs, and some steamers were sunk by snags.  

[Harvey Golden]

Ready to cover the engine room, galley, and crew quarters.  I spent a lot of time splitting firewood, so please don't tell me I need to stack it neatly too.  Most of this will not be visible, but I can't help myself with certain details. 

Some details of the bow and stern, with tentative lettering:

The color scheme was a big mystery; vintage hand-colored postcards show the yellow, but a model of the Ocklawaha in a regional museum is dark green  instead of yellow.  The breakthrough came when I found a Hart Line steamer model (the "Ocklawaha") in the US Postal Museum/Smithsonian's on-line catalog: https://postalmuseum.si.edu/object/npm_0.052985.271   It's a beautiful model, and there are many very good photos of it; it also answered a few questions the plans had left me with. 

 

[GrandpaPhil]

 Very cool!

[Jim Lad]

Nothing like good strong colours to advertise your passenger service!  Good research rusult.

 

John

[Harvey Golden]

7 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Nothing like good strong colours to advertise your passenger service!  Good research rusult.

 

John

For some reason my photos are coming out extremely yellow-- its definitely more like the Smithsonian model in real life.  

[Roger Pellett]

Interesting project!  Not specifically related to Florida waters but they supposedly said these old steamboats “could float on a heavy dew.”

 

Roger

[Harvey Golden]

Starting to build up the lower passenger deck:

Yes, those are wires.  A historic postcard (ca. 1911) shows the "Hiawatha" rounding a bend with a bonfire (serving as a headlight) on top of the pilot house.  The vivid description on the verso made me want to render this as a diorama.  Below is a test-run of wiring/lighting, including a 3-bulb flickering flame, sourced from Evan Designs LED (An MSW sponsor).  Also using four white lights and P & S running lights.  The steamer's smokestack will serve as the on-off button. . . nothing like making a complicated model even more complicateder. 

Here's the historical image and description.... Looks like a lot of cypress and palms to make as well. 

Who could resist a diorama after reading that? 

 

 

 

[Harvey Golden]

Recent progress: The lower passenger deck with berths and lounge is coming together.  Many pitfalls in scratch-building, in terms of what step is next; It's easy to paint yourself into a corner, and the added complication of lighting doesn't help.  The elliptical stern will be a challenge-- I did decide to get the walls in first, so as to serve as molds for the curved sides, which lean inward slightly-- no doubt they'll need shimming here and there. 

Below shows the berths coming together, and the stairway aft tot he second floor, which rides up the wheel housing. Also not the switch for the lighting, which will be activated by pressing down the smokestack; it is heavily re-enforced beneath the switch (i.e., the ceiling of the machinery room), as most of these upper works are just paper. 

Sides are on, with an initial fitting/bending of the curved stern.  The joint lined up with a window of course . . . fun times!

The windows are just plastic from packaging, with etched pane-frames lined with ink.  The outer frames are wood-- they are too thick, and will be sanded down for much lower profile. 

 

[Harvey Golden]

Progress and corrections.... I had to tear out the front wall of the lower passenger deck, as I had built it wrong.  The plans were a little vague, but historical images showed that it bumped-out a bit and had doorways on the angled sides.  There is a chance it is still incorrect, as it seems this steamer was modified quite a bit over the years, and the time frame for its various forms isn't too well documented.  I'm building for circa 1900-ish, and the drawings are from the mid-to-late 1930s-- made from the vessel.  Here's the floor plan, courtesy of State Library and Archives Florida:

 

The re-done front wall:

 

The curved stern is finishing out nicely, made from card stock, and vertically-oriented planking made from paper:

This deck is nearly completed; just realized I need side-walls on the stairway, so as to not afford a view of the lavatories(!) Fun building a stairway that no one will ever see...  (I hope I don't complain too much-- this is such a fun project!)

Getting the second passenger deck layout together, with a bit of the wheelhouse pre-installed: 

There will be two lights on the lower passenger deck: one in the lounge, and one in the hallway.  I'll bend the lights' wires up above the tops of the walls, dab clear glue on them, and when the ceiling/upper deck is glued down, they'll attach to the ceiling. 

[Harvey Golden]

Second passenger deck is on, minus the curved back wall.  Starting to get the moldings on as well, such as the strake between the machinery room and the lower passenger deck floor. Much more of this is needed, along with deck railings. The wheel is en-route from Bluejacket, so will put the roof on soon; it'll have a skylight of sorts-- covered on top, with glass sides (not sure the proper term for this type of light....). The bonfire/headlight will be a bit of a challenge-- a lot of wires and three sizable bulbs to deal with.

 

 

 

[Harvey Golden]

The stern gallery is in place, though not glazed yet.  What an odd looking stern, to say the least.  The windows will be a single strip of plastic, mostly held in place by bracing against stops at the forward ends of the curve; I might score them at the frames so they appear flat-paned. 

Getting the roof together....  The skylights are cut out; the covered section in the middle will receive the stack, which will also serve as the light-switch.  The roof is made from paperboard, and covered with a scrap of book cloth to give it a nice texture. 

The captain's cabin and the wheelhouse are slightly taller, and will have a separate roof-- one that also supports the bell, the side lights, and the primordial head-light, which was an iron basket full of flaming pine knots.  (This will be safely rendered with L.E.D.s).  I'm guessing they must have had a few buckets of water close at hand....

 
'Flame' L.E.D.s and side lights are ready to meet the wheelhouse roof.  The flame lights are big and bulky-- I hope I can pull this off!

 

[Harvey Golden]

On the home stretch!  The wheelhouse roof is on, with side-lights, bell, fire bin, firewood, fire buckets, and crewman.  Got the wheel installed and a pilot.  The skylights were a delicate challenge at this scale, but turned out nice.  Here's the uncovered lights below:

The stack and other vents are also in place now.  (The stack operates the lights, with a firm push downward). Dry fit of the cabin roof:

 

Next up are the railings and some columns, some trim work, and trying to make decals for the line and name on the sides and the name/port on the stern.   As this will be a diorama, I'm also beginning a wood-framed glass case and a whole bunch of hand-made cypress trees. (I've ordered palm trees. . . not gonna try to make those).  The steamer is almost done, but a lot of work ahead. 

 

[Jim Lad]

Nice work, Harvey. You've made a good job of her. I must say she's not the most beautiful vessel ever built, but she makes a fine model.

 

John

[Harvey Golden]

Railings are on!  Life/Utility boats in place.  The original davit arrangement is a mystery-- many old photos don't show them, but a picture taken of the steamer as a relic in the 1930s shows some davits in place.  A number of things to finish yet including rudders, a stanchion or two on the foredecks, decals, and of course the diorama which will be about 21"x 10" and about 10" high, glass encased.  The wire trees are turning out nice; I've picked up some wool strands to make Spanish moss.  The lighting works great with the stack triggering the switch.  For some reason the flickering of the fire LEDs has transferred the flickering to the interior lighting as well, so its a tad blinky inside(!)  The running lights aren't affected by this, which perplexes me further (all are run to same switch and battery). 

[Harvey Golden]

The "Okahumkee" is completed!  The display case and diorama are in progress though....

Here's the finished vessel: 

The decals have a certain sheen to them, despite my going over them a few times with water-base satin varnish.  Any hints on this matter?   Thank you all!

--Harvey

 

 

 

 

[JacquesCousteau]

That looks great, well done! Very brave of you to put it in the water, but it looks right at home.

[Harvey Golden]

14 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Very brave of you to put it in the water, but it looks right at home.

It was tippy as heck-- wanted to lay right over.  It is positioned on a thin board with a long dowel stuck in the mud 😉

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Nicely done!

[JacquesCousteau]

3 hours ago, Harvey Golden said:

It was tippy as heck-- wanted to lay right over.  It is positioned on a thin board with a long dowel stuck in the mud 😉

 

I was going to ask! I assume the real boat must have been well-ballasted, and the upper works very lightly built, to stay upright. Very cool build!

[Harvey Golden]

The work on the diorama/display case is going quite well!  The frame is ash, while the base of the diorama is 3/4" plywood.  I've used some extra scraps of 'grass' from a previous project and for water I used Woodland Scenics "Realistic Water."  The coloring beneath the water is acrylic paint, made to look like the Silver Spring River (sourced from Google Earth).  The background is adequate, and will be covered by a number of cypress and palmetto-- one of each shown in the photos (sorry for spotty glass-- will clean it up for final pics). I made the cypress from wire, lichens, and wool to simulate Spanish Moss; the palmettos are purchased and plastic. . . and needed many washes of many colors to get them looking more realistic. 

I fussed over how to barrier off a divot for the steamer's hull-- do I create a removable dam, or cut out the footprint later?  Neither seemed practical for my patience or skill/knowledge level and I wasn't feeling particularly experimental.  With the scale draft being slightly under 1/8 of an inch, I decided to simply set the boat on top of the water.  (Sanding the hull up to the waterline was another option, but I didn't want to compromise the boat).   Ripples and wake to be added will further conceal this.  

 

 

[Jim Lad]

A great diorama to show off the kind of ridiculously narrow waterways plied by the ship.

 

John

[Wawona59]

GREAT model and diorama Harvey.  I've never seen a vessel like this that uses a fire for a light.  She reminds me a little of the Mosquito fleet vessels that used to ply the waters of Puget Sound. I like your creative use of materials.  

[Wawona59]

Hi Harvey, regarding your question about the decal shine.  From your photos, it looks like decal "silvering".  The decals may not be completely attached to the model.  There may be some air underneath the decal.  The model surface may not be perfectly smooth for the decals. Did you use a decal setting solution such as Micro-Sol or Micro-Set?  I've had some success fixing silvering by using a pin to poke small holes in the carrier film.  Then flood the decal with a setting solution to get the liquid under the decal.  Micro-Sol is a stronger solution that actually melts the decal carrier film to help it conform to irregular surfaces.  Micro-Set is a weaker solution.  If the decal comes off, which it may, reset the decal by first wetting the surface with Micro-Set.

 

I hope this helps to solve your decal issue.  Feel free to PM me.

 

 

[Glen McGuire]

Just found your build log, Harvey.  Fantastic modeling job on such a unique ship.  Love the diorama setting.  Well done in every respect!!

[Harvey Golden]

53 minutes ago, Wawona59 said:

 

 

Thank you John-- that does seem to be the problem.  I just used water, but will try what you suggested for next time. 

Edited May 29 by Harvey Golden