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

[KeithAug]

The stern wheel looks excellent Keith. 

[lraymo]

The Engine Room looks terrific, as does the maintenance door.  QC comes thru on the trim! 

[Keith Black]

5 hours ago, KeithAug said:

The stern wheel looks excellent Keith. 

 Thank you, Keith. Beginners luck me thinks. 

 

3 hours ago, lraymo said:

The Engine Room looks terrific, as does the maintenance door.  QC comes thru on the trim! 

 Thank you, Lynn. You gave me a smile, TY.

[Keith Black]

 In the original photo of Lula, a pilothouse stove is not shown. On most if not all steamboats a pilothouse stove was a necessity "the stove was placed close enough to the wheel to singe the pilot's coattails"   

 

 I'm starting to lay out the pilothouse and I have a question, with Lula's pilothouse directly above the engine room, was there enough waste heat from below that with gratings, would there have been enough heat to warm the pilothouse? TYIA. 

[Knocklouder]

Just my thoughts, I would like to have my own little stove rather than  stand over a grate  of smoke and fumes from below, but back then lung safety was not an issue  lol.

Knocklouder. 

[LJP]

In re stoves. Later steamboats , like S. S. Moyie, had radiators in the pilot house.  Earlier versions had steam pipes that went back and forth to achieve the same result.  You can also look for a chimney in the pilot house roof. 

 

Love your build, 

LJP 

[KeithAug]

17 minutes ago, LJP said:

You can also look for a chimney in the pilot house roof. 

There does not seem to be any chimney - a steam pipe or two would seem to be the obvious solution - probably using exhaust steam.

[Cathead]

I don't know that there would be all that much smoke and fumes (noise, on the other hand...). Vessels like this used tall chimneys to carry away smoke and create sufficient draft for the firebox. I have no knowledge of whether there might have been gratings, but most of these boats (likely including original Lula) were so lightly built that there wouldn't be anything between the pilothouse floor and whatever's below other than some thin oak or pine planks. I'd go with the assumption, suggested by others, that there were steam pipes/radiators run up from the boiler immediately below, especially given the configuration you're using. Possibly with some kind of shut-of valve since the last thing you want in July is a hot radiator up there! Whatever boiler heat passes up there in winter, also passes up there in summer!

[Keith Black]

 

 

18 hours ago, Knocklouder said:

Just my thoughts, I would like to have my own little stove rather than  stand over a grate  of smoke and fumes from below, but back then lung safety was not an issue  lol.

 Thank you for your input, Bob.

 

18 hours ago, LJP said:

In re stoves. Later steamboats , like S. S. Moyie, had radiators in the pilot house.  Earlier versions had steam pipes that went back and forth to achieve the same result.  You can also look for a chimney in the pilot house roof.

 Thank you, LJP

 

18 hours ago, KeithAug said:

There does not seem to be any chimney - a steam pipe or two would seem to be the obvious solution - probably using exhaust steam.

 Thank you, Keith.

 

12 hours ago, Cathead said:

I don't know that there would be all that much smoke and fumes (noise, on the other hand...). Vessels like this used tall chimneys to carry away smoke and create sufficient draft for the firebox. I have no knowledge of whether there might have been gratings, but most of these boats (likely including original Lula) were so lightly built that there wouldn't be anything between the pilothouse floor and whatever's below other than some thin oak or pine planks. I'd go with the assumption, suggested by others, that there were steam pipes/radiators run up from the boiler immediately below, especially given the configuration you're using. Possibly with some kind of shut-of valve since the last thing you want in July is a hot radiator up there! Whatever boiler heat passes up there in winter, also passes up there in summer!

 Thank you, Eric. You're correct, there wouldn't have been any smoke or fumes coming up from the engine room. And you're also correct for the need to turn it off come summer. 

 

 

 I'm of two minds, floor registers or potbelly stove. Floor registers keeps the look of the original Lula but a potbelly stove is traditional. Plus, where the heck would the crew have put on a pot of coffee? Without a stove in the pilothouse there wouldn't be one. With a stove in the pilothouse, one could argue that was where the coffee was made. 

 

 I'm going to get out my 1/2 inch cordless lathe and see if I can successfully turn a potbelly stove. If I'm able to, Lula gets a stove, if not, then I'm going with floor registers though neither registers nor radiated heat plumbing would hardly be seen at this scale. 

 

 

 No real progress to note in the below photo, it's just a fun photo of Lula and the pile driver.

 

 Thank you to everyone for your comments, likes, and for being part of the journey.

 

   Keith

[KeithAug]

7 hours ago, Keith Black said:

 I'm going to get out my 1/2 inch cordless lathe and see if I can successfully turn a potbelly stove.

Should be an interesting turning project Keith and I could always make you one if need be.

[Jim Lad]

Surely it has to be a stove, Keith. There'd be a mutiny without coffee!

 

John

[Keith Black]

 

 

18 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Should be an interesting turning project Keith and I could always make you one if need be.

 Thank you, Keith, you are most kind. The difficulty in turning a potbelly stove is the size, 0.30 H X 0.21 W at the base and trying to show detail. I may waste some time in the effort but in material, not so much. 

 

 

17 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Surely it has to be a stove, Keith. There'd be a mutiny without coffee!

John, I absolutely agree.

[Keith Black]

  After a day's effort of trying to make a potbelly stove I've raised the white flag. I take defeat hard but I need to move forward with positive progress. I've ordered a potbelly stove from All Scale Miniatures., see the link below. 

 

https://www.allscaleminiatures.com/miniature-gallery/stove-potbelly-w-chimney-single

[Cathead]

Woe, woe, the mighty Keith has been defeated. All ye rend clothing in despair!

[Jim Lad]

No point in spoiling the model with a poor turning, Keith. The purchased one will look good.

 

John

[lraymo]

On 2/19/2025 at 5:17 AM, Keith Black said:

just a fun photo of Lula and the pile driver.

Love the photo, and the pile driver looks great!

[lraymo]

1 hour ago, Jim Lad said:

The purchased one will look good.

I think you need to find a tiny coffee pot to put on it!

[TBlack]

35 minutes ago, lraymo said:

I think you need to find a tiny coffee pot to put on it!

Keith, there ya go. Betcha can make a coffee pot!

[BANYAN]

It takes a brave man to admit defeat, but you gave it a really good effort mate.  Look forward to seeing that addition.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Keith Black]

13 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

No point in spoiling the model with a poor turning, Keith. The purchased one will look good.

 I agree, thank you, John.

 

12 hours ago, lraymo said:

Love the photo, and the pile driver looks great!

 Thank you, Lynn.

 

12 hours ago, lraymo said:

I think you need to find a tiny coffee pot to put on it!

11 hours ago, TBlack said:

Keith, there ya go. Betcha can make a coffee pot!

 Lynn and Tom, a coffee pot to scale would be about 0.10 inches. I don't have the equipment to make things that small. 

 

10 hours ago, BANYAN said:

t takes a brave man to admit defeat, but you gave it a really good effort mate.  Look forward to seeing that addition.

 Thank you, Pat

Edited yesterday at 10:17 AM by Keith Black

[KeithAug]

On 2/22/2025 at 10:56 AM, Keith Black said:

see the link below. 

Not very expensive then.

 

9 hours ago, Keith Black said:

a coffee pot to scale would be about 0.10 inches. I don't have the equipment to make things that small. 

Keith - You could always try a bit of tin basing and solder. You would only need basic hand tools. 🙂🙂🙂

[Keith Black]

8 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Not very expensive then.

 Compared to the amount of time I spent trying to make one it's dirt cheap.

 

8 hours ago, KeithAug said:

You could always try a bit of tin basing and solder. You would only need basic hand tools.

 At a tenth of an inch I'd do better trying to shape the solder blob with a jewelers file. As long as a turning is simple or an object is straight lines I can get objects made that measure between .03 and .04 with moderate success. I've had enough time in the saddle in the 1:120 world to know that a tenth of an inch object is beyond my meager skills.  

Edited 13 hours ago by Keith Black

[lraymo]

14 hours ago, Keith Black said:

a coffee pot to scale would be about 0.10 inches

And it probably wouldn't hold much coffee!!!  😁

[Keith Black]

3 hours ago, lraymo said:

And it probably wouldn't hold much coffee!!!  😁

 It'd hold a tenth of an inch worth. 

[KeithAug]

6 hours ago, Keith Black said:

It'd hold a tenth of an inch worth. 

Ole Bob would find it acceptable. 

[clearway]

i know they say you shouldn't drink excess coffee but geez😁😜

[Keith Black]

 Thank you to everyone for your comments and likes.

 

 After the potbelly stove debacle it's great to be back on track making progress.

 

 Because the engine room's roof is convex I laid down the pilothouse floor plates and bottom siding boards and sanded them level. This allows bringing up the walls without having to make a bunch of wonky cuts. After the floor plates and threshold were done the pilothouse flooring was added. 

 

The ships wheel is unattached and raw at this point which still needs to be addressed. 

 

If there was any elegance to Lula it would have been inside the pilothouse. Looking through the aft door, the floor is dark after the white threshold so the the floor doesn't look like it's painted white. The chart desk/table is white but the walls don't appear to be white suggesting they may have been paneled? One can also see a four legged stool with a backrest and then the wheel. That's all we can see for certain, anything else I may add and the interior treatment is conjecture on my part.   

 

 Pilothouses seemed to be comfortable with a certain amount of beauty. This pilothouse interior is what I'll use as a templet for Lula less the engine telegraph. I could sand the flooring I added and give it a poly coat or...

 

 

 I could add linoleum which was a traditional flooring treatment. I think this looks pretty stinkin' hot. I like it but it's so different and out of character, it'd take some getting used to. 

 

 I was going to add doors on the port and starboard walls but I need wall space plus the single aft door keeps the original Lula look intact. 

 

 Thank you for your support and for following along.

 

   Keith

 

  

[wefalck]

The linoleum looks like the captain is a lady 😁 ... 

[KeithAug]

I like the lino, obviously recycled from the wife's boudoir (from the French verb bouder, which I think means to sulk).

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, clearway said:

i know they say you shouldn't drink excess coffee but geez😁😜

 I'm tryin' to quit, I'm down to a tenth of inch a day. 

 

19 minutes ago, wefalck said:

The linoleum looks like the captain is a lady 😁

 Eberhard, I searched Mr Google for a dark antique linoleum and this is the best that Mr Google came up with. If in your travels you find something that looks more manly please post the photo and I'll scale it and print it and see how it looks. I like the linoleum look but I'm not 100% sold on this pattern.