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

[wefalck]

If linoleum, I would have thought of plain so-called Battleship-Linoleum in iron-oxide red ... However, linoleum wasn't invented until the mid-1860s by Walton, who remain the main producer (through subsidiaries) in Europe. Some years ago I did quite extensive research on the possible use of linoleum on the original configuration of SMS WESPE, but concluded that 1876 was too early. Shipboard use didn't really commence before the 1880s.

 

Another option is wax-cloth, forerunner and inspiration for linoleum. I believe waxed cloth was used as cheap floor-covering from around the 1840s, but doubt that it would have stood up to rough shipboard use. It's the same kind of stuff they still sell as tablecloth today.

 

To be honest, I think the most realistic bet would be plain wooden flooring.

 

[TBlack]

16 minutes ago, wefalck said:

To be honest, I think the most realistic bet would be plain wooden flooring.

 

Boy, I sure hope you seriously consider this idea. BTW, if there is no EOT in the wheelhouse, how does the helm communicate with the engine room?

Tom

[BANYAN]

Tom, probably by voice pipe and possibly also bells.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Keith Black]

19 hours ago, wefalck said:

If linoleum, I would have thought of plain so-called Battleship-Linoleum in iron-oxide red ... However, linoleum wasn't invented until the mid-1860s by Walton, who remain the main producer (through subsidiaries) in Europe. Some years ago I did quite extensive research on the possible use of linoleum on the original configuration of SMS WESPE, but concluded that 1876 was too early. Shipboard use didn't really commence before the 1880s.

 

Another option is wax-cloth, forerunner and inspiration for linoleum. I believe waxed cloth was used as cheap floor-covering from around the 1840s, but doubt that it would have stood up to rough shipboard use. It's the same kind of stuff they still sell as tablecloth today.

 

To be honest, I think the most realistic bet would be plain wooden flooring.

 Eberhard, thank you taking the time to explain. I thought I could shoehorn linoleum into Lula's time period but I can now see that's not the case. 

 

 

19 hours ago, TBlack said:

Boy, I sure hope you seriously consider this idea.

Okay, okay, wood flooring it is. But I did quite like the linoleum, Tom......from your girlyman brother. 

 

19 hours ago, TBlack said:

if there is no EOT in the wheelhouse, how does the helm communicate with the engine room?

12 hours ago, BANYAN said:

Tom, probably by voice pipe and possibly also bells.

 Tom and Pat. Unlike the majority of steam vessels Lula's pilothouse sits right on top of the engine room. In fact, if there was a hole in the pilothouse floor the captain/pilot could reach through and strike the engines with his cane. I'm going to portray Lula's engines being controlled from the pilothouse without the aid of someone in the engine room.

 

 If there are those that feel this is impractical, I have two EOT's, I could add on in the engine room and one in the pilothouse. But in the below photo I posted earlier, isn't that what's being shown regardless of the EOT? Oh, I'll also be adding a steam whistle and also keeping the bell. 

 

Edited Tuesday at 01:39 PM by Keith Black

[Cathead]

Keith, I look forward to your adventures attempting to hand-make that spittoon on the floor by the stove.

 

My vote is for plain wooden flooring. It's something the viewer "expects" to see and so fits nicely with the overall aesthetic.

Edited Tuesday at 02:27 PM by Cathead

[Keith Black]

46 minutes ago, Cathead said:

Keith, I look forward to your adventures attempting to hand-make that spittoon on the floor by the stove.

 

My vote is for plain wooden flooring. It's something the viewer "expects" to see and so fits nicely with the overall aesthetic.

 Thank you, Eric. Spittoons, geez, every pilothouse seems to have had one. How bout i use one of the several buckets I have instead of a spittoon? 

 

 I sanded and poly coated the wood flooring last night. I really did like the look of the linoleum, it's a shame it doesn't fit into Lula's timeframe. 

[wefalck]

Sorry, to have killed your linoleum-dream 🫢

 

I gather you have to teleport LULA then into the 1900s or so.

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

Sorry, to have killed your linoleum-dream 🫢

 

I gather you have to teleport LULA then into the 1900s or so.

 Not an issue, Eberhard. I just liked the look of the linoleum, it's been discarded. 

[KeithAug]

45 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

I just liked the look of the linoleum,

I also got quite excited by the boudoir look, alas my fantacies will have to be controlled.

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Keith, I doubt that  avessel such as 'Lula' would run to anything as sophisticated as telegraphs. Probably a signal bell, or even perhaps just the skipper stamping on the deck!!

 

John

[TBlack]

So, we have 2 Keiths in favor of that linoleum. One of the Keiths, being part of my family, I feel responsible for,. The other, whose work I totally adore, well, not my problem. Keith #1, you and I need a talk, but I'm encouraged that you've seen the light. Keith #2, maybe you just need a stiff drink?

Tom

[Keith Black]

On 2/25/2025 at 6:54 PM, Jim Lad said:

Keith, I doubt that  avessel such as 'Lula' would run to anything as sophisticated as telegraphs. Probably a signal bell, or even perhaps just the skipper stamping on the deck!!

 Thank you, John. As I said, I'm going to make the engines controllable from the pilothouse.

 

 

On 2/25/2025 at 8:41 PM, TBlack said:

So, we have 2 Keiths in favor of that linoleum. One of the Keiths, being part of my family, I feel responsible for. Keith #1, you and I need a talk, but I'm encouraged that you've seen the light.

  I told you when you went away to college that leaving me alone under Mom's influence was a bad idea. 

 

 

 Thank you to everyone for supporting me with your comments and likes. 

 

 Hopefully in the next couple of days the engine room gets nailed to the deck as I need to start on the storage deck structure. Before gluing down the engine room means I need to get all the close up fiddly work done first while the ER is still separated. 

 

 Today I finished painting the ER's sides and painted the trim black. I also added Lula's name (dry transfer) on the stern wall. All very tedious work.  

 

 Stairway blocks and storage deck floor joist support added. 

  

 Looking at the original Lula photo I always assumed the trim was black, After studding the photo again this morning, now I'm not so sure. The trim looks like it might be a dark red, boxcar red...maybe?? I really don't care for the black trim so if someone thinks the trim wasn't black, I'm all ears. Plus, it doesn't match the linoleum. 

 

 

 Slowly but surely she's getting there.  

 

 

 Thank you to each of you for following along.

 

   Keith

[JacquesCousteau]

Very nice work!

 

It's so hard to tell color from black and white photos. I assume that the car and the vest on the guy next to the car are black. In which case, the trim looks to be a slightly less dark color? (Although it might also just be differences in reflectivity or something). I'd say that, if you like red, it's your vessel and you should go for it, as long as it's a dark red I think it could be a reasonable interpretation. Plus who's to say they didn't change the trim color at some point? Maybe one day there was a sale on dark red.

 

Also, looking closely at the photo, I noticed for the first time that Lula has its home port written on the stern. Does it say "Great Falls"?

[Keith Black]

6 hours ago, JacquesCousteau said:

It's so hard to tell color from black and white photos. I assume that the car and the vest on the guy next to the car are black. In which case, the trim looks to be a slightly less dark color? (Although it might also just be differences in reflectivity or something). I'd say that, if you like red, it's your vessel and you should go for it, as long as it's a dark red I think it could be a reasonable interpretation. Plus who's to say they didn't change the trim color at some point? Maybe one day there was a sale on dark red.

 

Also, looking closely at the photo, I noticed for the first time that Lula has its home port written on the stern. Does it say "Great Falls"?

 

 Thank you, Jacques. I'm not really partial to red, I was basing guessing the trim as being black by the darkness of the pilothouse window trim and the name Lula. The colors on the stern wall are washed for obvious reasons. 

 

Yes it does, Jacques, I think it's Great Falls, Montana.The island on Lula's port side look's like it might be Sacajawea Island.  

Edited 4 hours ago by Keith Black

[Glen McGuire]

I think the trim is black, but a weathered or faded black.  

 

Really nice job on the LULA lettering, Keith.  I've got a feeling that was a whole lot more difficult to do than it looks.

[Cathead]

I'd agree that the original trim looks black. I'd been going to suggest, if you wanted a different color, using the dark red used so often in this period for everything from steamboats to barns to boxcars, because it was one of the cheapest and easiest pigments to produce. But then you said you weren't partial to red, so...black is fine. I might suggest that the current black comes on a little strong, and you could either tone it down with some weathering, or redo it using a slightly flatter greyish black.

 

Otherwise I'd double down on the bordello look, put the linoleum back in, and do the trim in a nice purple with flowers twining up the corners.

[wefalck]

Because of the B/W photographs, we tend to have a much more dim impression of the time between 1850 and 1950, but in reality, the world was quite colourful. Perhaps not as colourful as after the aesthetically sometimes questionable colour-explosion during the later 1960s and the 1970s though.

 

However, coloured paint was expensive, so 'simple' and lightfast colours, such as black, green, red-ochre and the likes dominated. It was also a  matter of fashion: during the 1830s to 1850s (sea)ships were painted with quite a bit of colour, but thereafter black and white dominated.

 

I gather, it is your aesthetic choice, Keith ... 

[JacquesCousteau]

3 hours ago, Keith Black said:

I think it's Great Falls, Montana.The island on Lula's port side look's like it might be Sacajawea Island.  

Fascinating, I hadn't realized. I grew up in Montana and may well have driven past where the photo was taken.