J H Crawford by LJP (Lawrence Paplham) - Scale 1:64 - an 1894 to 1898 Wisconsin sternwheeler

[wefalck]

I know a 95 year old gentleman in Germany who has made several display-models with fully feathered side-wheels soldered up from brass parts ... in 1:100 scale

[Cathead]

Your wheel looks great! Excellent detail and nice consistent construction.

[LJP]

Kurt,

 

WOW! I cannot believe anyone would willingly make a feathered side wheel.  I would love to have seen that in action! If you ever do attach it to an RC model, let me know.

 

LJP

 

 

[LJP]

wefalck,

 

In re the German gentleman, I am not certain if I am more amazed that he made several feathered sidewheels in brass, or that he did in in 1:100.  Incredible!

 

Cathead,

 

Thanks!  In our model boat club, we had one member a few years ago who used CAD and a laser cutter to do the wheels. Recently, another member drew and 3-D printed the entire sternwheel for the Delta Queen.  The 3-D is ridiculously detailed.  

 

LJP

[wefalck]

Source: https://www.arbeitskreis-historischer-schiffbau.de/mitglieder/modelle/bawaria/

 

Jig used in construction:

Source: https://www.arbeitskreis-historischer-schiffbau.de/mitglieder/modelle/wittelsbach/

 

[Keith Black]

That's incredible watch like workmanship, Eberhard. Really neat, thank you for sharing. 

[LJP]

wefalck,

 

I do not know how to even begin to describe how incredible that is!   Thank you for the two links, I encourage others to view the other photos. Small wonder Bavaria is headed off to a museum.

 

LJP

[LJP]

It will be hard to see when completed, but this is what the pillow block looks like. Still needs a grease cup/oiler. I tried to leave the keys where you typically would find them as they were used to tighten and true up the sternwheel. 

This is a temporary setup of the sternwheel with the starboard pitman connected to the crosshead by the engine. Lots still needs to be done. On this side, the engine piston is all the way forward so the crank is horizontal. The other side, when completed, the engine piston will be at exactly 50% compression- so the crank will be vertical. Again, this arrangement was used to keep the engines from locking up the sternwheel.  

 

Keith Black, I used the ArcherTransfers.com transfers that you told me about on the pitmans.  These are nearly impossible to see but the rivets (sorry wefalck, not nuts & bolts!) are resin but attach just like a decal.  Tiny but easy to apply. 

 

I still need to complete the port side, add the oilers, trim parts, paint, &c.  I will pull this entire assembly off so I can work on the rest of the engine room first. 

 

I wanted to get this out now, although incomplete,  because I have family duties that will keep me from working on the model for the next few weeks. 

[LJP]

Family duties took longer than expected.

The false stern panel also took longer than expected.  To get the false stern panel to fit within the sternwheel braces, I needed to deconstruct part of that assembly. I prepared a cardboard mockup of what the panel would look like and then built the panel.

I used dry erase lettering for the boat name and home port.  

 

The interior panel was white for the boiler deck although the panel is only currently at partial height. The main deck interior panel is painted yellow at the top and with a grey bottom.  This is the colour scheme that I noted at the Dawson City boat graveyard but also what was used on S S Moyie.

 

My intent is to leave the main deck panels off on the port boiler and engine rooms so you can see the interior boat detail.  I am not certain if I will also leave the port panels off on the boiler deck to allow visual access to the saloons and staterooms.  I have lots of time before that needs to be decided.

Next step is to build the crew quarters in the engine room.  
 

[LJP]

I have completed the crew quarters in the engine room.  The forward two rooms are set up as double bunk bed crew quarters.   The room to the right is set up as the engineer’s closet, and the one across is postal and regular storage. The panel on the back will eventually be used for the starboard engine room superstructure. I will leave the port side open for viewing. 

 

Another view but with the engine room work area & gauges.   The crew quarters do not reach the full height of the boiler room stringers.  This is by design.  The space above was used for numerous cables, pipes, &c.  

 

Now I would like to finish the engine room: place the machinery, finish the starboard superstructure, add in some pipes and detail.  
 

 

[Cathead]

That's some gorgeous detail!

[LJP]

Hi Cathead!

Thanks for the praise!.  Currently working on the engine room - the steam and water pipes are really being a challenge.

 

LJP

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up with your build. She's looking really good.

 

John

[Rick310]

 Very nice!!

Rick

[LJP]

Hi John & Rick,

 

Thanks for your support. Some days you really need it.  I hope to have an update in the next day or two.  Engine room is getting closer to finished.

 

LJP

[LJP]

I placed the previously made machinery into the engine room: the engine assemblies, feed pumps, bilge pump and hand pump.  The engines are now attached to the pitmans and the wheel.  The engines and pitmans are offset by the required 90 degrees. 

Another view of the clutter in the engine room.

I included the intake and exhaust steam lines and the water lines.  I did a simplified version of both.  Photos of engine rooms are best described as an explosion in a pipe factory. It is nigh impossible to follow where the pipes came from and where they went to. I did look at photos from S S  Moyie and some steamboat diagrams.  I found the ASME 2010 Diagram of the Power Plant of the Belle of Louisville to be the most helpful. Other diagrams which I reviewed were the American Queen,  ElectircalEngineeringInfo.com and of course the ubiquitous Alan Bates EngineRoom Cyclopedium. But who knows how accurate my interpretation was.  

Any insight on this is greatly appreciated.

On the port side photo, I included a black main valve with a lever (a/k/a throttle) for the steam line from the boiler. Steam lines would have been run to the engines. I may have made a mistake but I also included steam lines from the throttle to the feed pumps. 

 

The starboard side photo includes a feedwater heater in the engine room but not a condenser.  The latter was apparently not common on smaller craft due to its size and weight. The feedwater heater was noted in JHC articles. I used a generic period pump for the model.  The exhaust from the engines went to the heater.  Documents noted that the exhaust from the feed pump went to the stacks to improve draft.  Water went from the feed pumps to the heater and then below the main deck.   The rest of the JHC exhaust was noted to have gone out the stern at the waterline.

 

I still have a ways to go to complete this part of the model.  

 
There was a fire system with hoses that still needs to be completed.  I would expect that this was river water as part of the existing feedwater system.  River water was settled out and strained in the units located within the hull.  I totally ignored a bilge piping system as it was below the main deck.  

A potable water system probably existed for the kitchen, hand wash sinks, maybe the laundry.    More exotic drinking water systems included a separate tank, its own feedwater pump and a heater. Again, JHC was a small boat designed for cargo and no overnight passengers. So any portable water may have been a very simple system – maybe just a barrel or two. 

Next I need to put in the rest of the stationaries and the deck beams. And complete more of the piping.  
 

 

[Jim Lad]

I like your 'explosion in a pipe factory' analogy. The engine room is looking very workmanlike.

 

John

[Keith Black]

 The engine room turned out great, LJP I like it a lot!

[Cathead]

I'm not an engine room expert but your explanations seem solid. You're giving @FriedClams a run for his money in terms of precise, gorgeous, detailed workboat builds.

[LJP]

Hi John,

Engine rooms are really wild.  I looked at several and simply could not make heads or tails out of them.  I would need a complete set of pictures, a bit of luck, and two generous fingers of Bourbon.  At least the Bourbon would help...

 

Keith,

Thanks for the encouragement,  Having done this, I would adjust the intake & outtake pipes on the machinery so things would line up better. I have learned a lot since my last build but still have a long way to go. 

 

Eric,

I appreciate the encouragement.  I have tried to find out as much as possible but there is not as much nor as concise as I had hoped.  Like everything else, I would suspect once you have seen one layout, you have seen only one layout.

 

Thanks all,

LJP