Lula by Keith Black - 1:120 Scale - 1870s Sternwheeler Supply Boat for Floating Pile Driver

[Jim Lad]

No worries with that engine room detail, Keith. You can handle it!

 

John

[kurtvd19]

Don't worry about the hull plank edges not showing.  With the overhang of the deck they will be in the shadow of the deck and when you weather the hull it will all blend together. 

[BANYAN]

Looking good Keith.  

2 hours ago, Keith Black said:

There is so much that needs to be replicated in this tiny area,

I am sure you will get to grips with this; you always do.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[FriedClams]

Nice progress, Keith. Looking great so far!

 

Gary

[clearway]

it will look great when finished Keith- you weren't sure when starting the pile driver and she turned out great.

 

Keith

[Keith Black]

 A huge thank you to everyone for the likes and the support.

 

 

On 12/3/2024 at 3:31 PM, Jim Lad said:

No worries with that engine room detail, Keith. You can handle it!

 John, thank you for your support. 

 

On 12/3/2024 at 3:40 PM, kurtvd19 said:

Don't worry about the hull plank edges not showing.  With the overhang of the deck they will be in the shadow of the deck and when you weather the hull it will all blend together.

 Thank you, Kurt. These vessels were crudely built, I need to learn to be less sandpaper happy. 

 

On 12/3/2024 at 5:26 PM, BANYAN said:

I am sure you will get to grips with this; you always do.

 Thank you, Pat. It's going to be a fun exercise. 

 

On 12/4/2024 at 11:08 AM, FriedClams said:

Nice progress, Keith. Looking great so far!

 Thank you, Gary. 

 

On 12/4/2024 at 2:59 PM, clearway said:

it will look great when finished Keith- you weren't sure when starting the pile driver and she turned out great.

 Keith, thank you. I was much more confident building the pile driver than Lula as sternwheeler information seems harder to come by. 

 

 

 Seven years ago when I was trying to find wheels for the Tennessee's signal cannon and gatling gun carriages it became evident that wheels of any type close to 1:120 was almost impossible to find. Since then I'm always keeping an eye out for wheels in the 1:120 scale range. 

 

 A couple of weeks ago when I was in the process of placing a fittings order from Cornwall Model Boats I came upon these 28mm Amati yacht wheels. I almost jumped out of my chair. I didn't see a yacht's wheel, what I saw was

 

 this!

 

 I think they're great framework on which to build Lula's paddlewheel and they're the perfect size, 1:102 inches in diameter. I had designed Lula's wheel to be 1.40 inches but i can and a tenth of an inch without ill effects.

 

 Unfortunately CMB was out of stock and mild panic set in but I came across ModelNet (I'd not know of them beforehand) who said they had stock. I thought maybe I only needed three but I ordered six of the little buggers just in case! They didn't have stock in the UK but they did have stock in their Australian facility, they arrived yesterday. 

 

The current setup is very temporary and it's more an exercise to insure the concept is feasible. I've also added templets on Lula's deck to establish that my layout plan is okay. The coal bunker templet is 16 feet in width, I debate with myself between 14 and 16 feet.  

 

 Thank you to everyone for following along. 

 

    Keith

[Glen McGuire]

1 hour ago, Keith Black said:

I didn't see a yacht's wheel, what I saw was

Great eye, Keith!!

[Cathead]

LOL, that's fantastic! And here I was, looking forward to seeing how you built those itty bitty paddlewheel frames...

[Keith Black]

19 minutes ago, Glen McGuire said:

Great eye, Keith!!

 Thank you, Glen. 

 

3 minutes ago, Cathead said:

LOL, that's fantastic! And here I was, looking forward to seeing how you built those itty bitty paddlewheel frames...

 Eric, I'm glad you were looking forward to it because I wasn't.  Old stubby fingers gotta think outside the box. 

[Knocklouder]

Those wheels were made to order, they are going to be great looking. Nice find.  Even nicer build   .

 Bob M.

[Ian_Grant]

22 minutes ago, Cathead said:

LOL, that's fantastic! And here I was, looking forward to seeing how you built those itty bitty paddlewheel frames...

Me, I'd have 3d-printed them....😏

[Jim Lad]

Excellent paddle wheel frames, Keith!

 

John

[Keith Black]

34 minutes ago, Knocklouder said:

Those wheels were made to order, they are going to be great looking. Nice find.  Even nicer build

 Thank you, Bob.

 

33 minutes ago, Ian_Grant said:

Me, I'd have 3d-printed them....😏

 Ian, having a 3D printer would definitely make modeling life easier but alas..........

Edited December 7 by Keith Black

[Keith Black]

1 minute ago, Jim Lad said:

Excellent paddle wheel frames, Keith!

 Thank you, John. 

[wefalck]

Nice re-purposing and probably quite in the spirit of these ships that presumably also were built with whatever was handy at the yard.

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, wefalck said:

Nice re-purposing and probably quite in the spirit of these ships that presumably also were built with whatever was handy at the yard.

 Thank you, Eberhard. 

[FriedClams]

Nice score on the wheels, Keith.  Seeing the object for what it is and not what it's supposed to be is like Glen stated - a "great eye".  I also like your layout plan.  Looking forward to your next steps.

 

Gary

[TBlack]

This is an example of thinking outside the box. And good internet search besides!

[Rick310]

Those wheels are going to look great!

Rick

[Keith Black]

3 hours ago, FriedClams said:

Nice score on the wheels, Keith.  Seeing the object for what it is and not what it's supposed to be is like Glen stated - a "great eye".  I also like your layout plan.  Looking forward to your next steps.

 Thank you, Gary

 

3 hours ago, TBlack said:

This is an example of thinking outside the box. And good internet search besides!

 Thank you, Tom.

 

1 hour ago, Rick310 said:

Those wheels are going to look great!

 Thank you, Rick. 

[Keith Black]

Thank you to everyone for the comments and likes.

 

 The past ten days have been a blur. Between caregiving, pool, receiving in fittings orders, and the reorganizing of same there's been little time for Lula. But now I'm finally able to get back to work on the ole gal.

 

 When I made the Donkey engine for the pile driver I really wanted to go into more detail but it didn't make sense as the boiler and engine would be enclosed in the engine shed. Lula is different in that with the exception of the wheel engines, all the other machinery will be exposed. 

 

 With new bits to work with I started building a walking beam steam engine for the boilers's water feed. There are hundreds of images of walking beam steam engines (unfortunately most are models) and after hours of looking at images like the one below I started in. 

 

 

 

 

i feel like I've made good progress. The only items that are permanently attached at this point is the wood base and pillow blocks.. Everything else will be disassembled for painting and final adjustments and attachment. 

 

I still need to make the cylinder, steam chest, and connecting rods. 

 

Of course the axle shaft will get trimmed back and filled. I've left it long as trying to run the shaft through the bearings, valve rod and flywheel is a bugger, I fear if it were trimmed to length before final assembly I wouldn't be able to run the shaft through the above components. 

 

I'm pushing my limits making these itty bitty pieces but it's a challenge I'm excited to accept. The engine is 0.75 inches L including the flywheel, 0.35 inches W, and 0.75 inches H. 

 

 Some of the brass bits will get painted and some won't, only when I start painting will i know which it will be. I want the look to be worn and scraped as Lula would never have won a beauty pageant. 

 

 Thank you to everyone for your support and for following along.

 

    Keith

Edited 17 hours ago by Keith Black

[Glen McGuire]

Great job on the engine, Keith!  A very nice replica of the picture.  What are all the individual parts made from?

[Cathead]

WOW. You're braver than I. Please remind me, how did you settle on that design? 

[wefalck]

Have you ever tried chemical tinning? At least over here in Europe we can buy such solutions from both, model supply and electronics supply houses. It kind of makes parts looked like steel, which they would be in real life.

 

[TBlack]

Keith, You put that together in record time. Do you ever get the chance to sleep? BTW, looks excellent.

Tom

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

Great job on the engine, Keith!  A very nice replica of the picture.  What are all the individual parts made from?

 Thank you, Glen. The only wood used thus far is the base and beam column, brass wire, and brass bits from my fittings stash. I thought about taking a photo of the bits used before starting building but i still can if you're interested. 

 

1 hour ago, Cathead said:

WOW. You're braver than I. Please remind me, how did you settle on that design? 

 Thank you, Eric. I envision Lula as having been built on the cheap in the late sixties, early seventies. Walking beams were a common design from that time period and I would think they would have been available in the used equipment market. So little information is available from that time period and lacking something definitive I went with a walking beam. I could be wrong in picking that design and being that it's early in the build, should someone have a recommendation for another design I can certainly change the water feed system. 

 

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

Have you ever tried chemical tinning? At least over here in Europe we can buy such solutions from both, model supply and electronics supply houses. It kind of makes parts looked like steel, which they would be in real life.

 Thank you, Eberhard. Lula's owner was white paint happy and anything not covered in white paint would be out of character, IMHO. A lot of a walking beam was cast and those pieces will be painted white. For those pieces that would have steel I have steel color paint. I have silver wire from my wife's jewelry making days and I'm going to change the drive shaft from brass to silver wire. The engine will have a fine coat of coal dust and the engine is so small, one would have to look closely to see any parts not being as they should. Also, I don't solder because I stink at the process, this all put together with CA.  

[Keith Black]

11 minutes ago, TBlack said:

Keith, You put that together in record time. Do you ever get the chance to sleep? BTW, looks excellent.

 Thank you, Tom. I've got about eight hours into the making? Time goes by so quickly when I'm modeling it's hard for me to keep track of time. I get plenty of sleep even though it comes in four to five hour stints. 

[tmj]

Looking good, Keith... looking "REAL GOOD!"

[BANYAN]

That's a very creditable effort on that little engine Keith; great work.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Glen McGuire]

7 hours ago, Keith Black said:

I thought about taking a photo of the bits used before starting building but i still can if you're interested. 

No worries, Keith.  I just enjoy seeing how the sausage is made, especially on something as unusual as your engine.