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

[Cathead]

Keith, do you want some actual coal for your coal bin? At your scale, I could send you a tiny packet of crushed coal in a normal envelope. As you likely recall from Peerless, we have coal on our property and it wouldn't take long to crush some down for you. No worries if not, just a fun thought!

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, Glen McGuire said:

That little pump is soooo well done (as well as everything else)!!

Thank you, Glen

 

43 minutes ago, Cathead said:

Keith, do you want some actual coal for your coal bin? At your scale, I could send you a tiny packet of crushed coal in a normal envelope. As you likely recall from Peerless, we have coal on our property and it wouldn't take long to crush some down for you. No worries if not, just a fun thought!

 Thank you, Eric. That is so very kind of you. I've got some sand left over from God only knows what project that I'm going to try to use. I'll have to paint it and then glue it in a pile and see if it makes acceptable coal. If it doesn't, I'll take you up on your generous offer. 

[Javelin]

I'm following for a while and marvel at your tiny detail work, yet in all my excitement I forget to react!! 

 

Great job Keith, certainly at that scale it's not easy to achieve what you intend to! Love that tiny boiler and the overall crisp finish of your model. 

 

[BANYAN]

Your sternwheeler machinery is coming along really well Keith, great detail to add a lot interest.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[lraymo]

That pump is sooo tiny!  And it looks so good!  Have you ever been to the Steamship Arabia museum in KC?  You could see the pump on display!

[Keith Black]

20 hours ago, Javelin said:

I'm following for a while and marvel at your tiny detail work, yet in all my excitement I forget to react!! 

 

Great job Keith, certainly at that scale it's not easy to achieve what you intend to! Love that tiny boiler and the overall crisp finish of your model. 

 

 Thank you, Roel. 

 

14 hours ago, BANYAN said:

Your sternwheeler machinery is coming along really well Keith, great detail to add a lot interest.

Thank you, Pat. 

 

14 hours ago, lraymo said:

That pump is sooo tiny!  And it looks so good!  Have you ever been to the Steamship Arabia museum in KC?  You could see the pump on display!

 Thank you, Lynn. No, I've not made it to the Arabia museum but Eric, @Cathead, shared photos of some of the museum exhibits in his Arabia build. 

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/17090-arabia-1856-by-cathead-finished-scale-164-sidewheel-riverboat-from-the-missouri-river-usa/

[Cathead]

Since Keith mentioned it, for those interested, there are more photos from the Arabia museum in the model's pre-build research/design thread.

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/15945-designing-a-model-of-the-1856-missouri-river-steamboat-arabia/

[Keith Black]

 Eric, thank you for posting the link above, neat thread. 

 

  Thank you to everyone for your kind comments and likes. 

 

 The coal bin before taking on it's first load of coal.

 

 After the first load.  My camera really picks up on black pastel. It's not this dark as you'll see below.  

 

 The chute door is plate with a handle. I decided not to incorporate the coal bin along with the boiler, hand pump, and beam engine. In fact, I'm going to try plumbing the three without them being on a 1/64 inch piece of ply. Iron plate that size would represent a great amount of needless weight, 

 

 The sand worked just fine representing coal (thank you again for the offer, Eric) ,once I have the boiler plumbed and set in it's final position I'll tun a piece of the 1/64 ply for the coal bin door to under the boiler and spill more sand out the chute opening. 

 

 The coal bin really has shown in the above photo. This is its true darkness. 

 

 I think the coal bin fits in well. 

 

 The bin is loaded on either side, access is made by lifting the hinged four foot roof sections on either side. 

 

 The boiler and coal bin from this angle is what I saw in my mind the

 

 first time I saw this photo of Lula. On to the steam engine room. 

 

 Thank you for your support and being part of the journey.

 

   Keith

[MAGIC's Craig]

I am so impressed by the detail you manage at this tiny scale! What a delight to see!

 

A friend and boatbuilder in Sidney, BC built some years ago a 2-deck live-aboard stern wheeler as a home for he and his lovely wife. The fully-functional pilot house enjoys lovely views and the side windows can be dropped down into slots to permit one to lean an arm on the sill while navigating along.  I wonder if the pictured  LULA might have enjoyed a similar feature - the forward window looks to have a possible handle(?).

Since the master of your Lula will have to look around the stack....? 😉

[Cathead]

Keith, I love that re-pairing of the model's status and the original photo. Shows how well you're adapting the original design to your own vision. Just awesome.

[BANYAN]

That is looking really good Keith; just the right amount of grime.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Keith Black]

On 1/10/2025 at 10:25 PM, MAGIC's Craig said:

I am so impressed by the detail you manage at this tiny scale! What a delight to see!

 Thank you, Craig.

 

23 hours ago, Cathead said:

I love that re-pairing of the model's status and the original photo. Shows how well you're adapting the original design to your own vision. Just awesome.

 Thank you, Eric. 

 

10 hours ago, BANYAN said:

That is looking really good Keith; just the right amount of grime.

 Thank you, Pat. being a coal bin I'm surprised it's not completely black. For awhile I worked in a coal yard. The belly dump coal cars were parked under a roof and during the winter the ice/snow would melt and drip down into the cars. This caused the coal to freeze to the belly dump and and sides of the cars. I had to dig out/break off the frozen coal inside the cars into the dump pit. At the end of the day I would be totally black from coal dust.

 

 Speaking of Lula's coal bin, I failed to mention that the reason I made the chute door so large was where a man could get down on his hands and knees and crawl into the bin if need be.  

 

 Caregiving and snow removal kept me from working on Lula yesterday but today i plan on turning American football games on the TV and escaping into working on Lula's wheel wall. 

[lraymo]

This is looking so incredibly good!  And so precise!

[Keith Black]

12 hours ago, lraymo said:

This is looking so incredibly good!  And so precise!

 Thank you, Lynn

 

 

 Work on Lula has ground to a halt due to Maggie and I coming down with some illness that left us incapacitated. I was in recovery when yesterday I slipped on the icy back steps taking out the trash. I came as close to breaking my left arm as possible without actually breaking it so now I'm dealing with a bum wing.

 

 Having said the above I have had a chance to go over some of the engineering required for the wheel and engine room/pilothouse. Because the engine room's forward wall will be open, one could bend down and peer into the engine room. This requires that I build steam engines and building two engines that look alike will be a challenge that I look forward to. I had not counted on making engines but the engine room needs to be open for beam engine workspace. I have to build the engines first where I'll know exactly how far back the wheel sits and then I'll know exactly where the openings in the wheel wall need to be for the pitman arms not forgetting the openings for and making of the rudder post. These items all need to be made in concert with one another where they'll fit seamlessly.

 

 Thank you everyone for following along, sorry for the delay.

 

   Keith

 

  

[clearway]

ouch Keith! You guys get better soon and grit them paths young man 😱

 

Keith

[Cathead]

Ugh, so sorry to hear of your rotten health luck lately. I'm sure the "bum wing" doesn't make caregiving any easier. Hang in there, even one-armed, and look forward to better days soon.

[gjdale]

Sorry to hear of your recent health issues Keith. I wish you a speedy recovery as you contemplate your engineering challenges.

[Knocklouder]

 I will add your arm to the list of  my thoughts and prayers  for your family.  I try to do what you do lol, I will skip this one lol. Step safer my friend. .

Bob M..

 

[BANYAN]

Best wishes for a quick recovery Keith, sorry to hear about the bung wing.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Glen McGuire]

Sorry to hear about the arm, Keith.  I figure broken arms are similar to broken bowsprits, so with all of @Knocklouder's recent experience, he could probably help fix your arm if needed!

[Knocklouder]

I have  done all I can do from here Glen, sent him a get well card but forgot to tell him that I have just about finished the parrels for the main mast, ship suffered slight damage, not saying were , but it is an eazy fix. Lol.

Get well soon Keith 😊 

Bob M.

 

[Rick310]

Get well soon Keith!  Careful with the ice.

Rick

[kurtvd19]

Get well soon Keith.

Take care,

Kurt