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

[Glen McGuire]

Nice work on that crane, Keith!

[Keith Black]

On 3/14/2025 at 8:04 AM, Glen McGuire said:

Nice work on that crane, Keith!

 Thank you, Glen.

 

 Thank you to all for the comments and likes. 

 

 

 Lula's bow is finished with the exception of weathering the deck. I plan on doing that tomorrow during daylight hours. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Lula and the pile driver lashed in tow is 14.5 inches in length. Once Lula is finished I'm pretty certain I'll display them together in tow.   

 

 

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

 

   Keith

[wefalck]

Would the pile-driver actually pushed from the side of the rig? I would have expected the tug to be tied up to the other side, also so that the driver can be manoeuvred into position.

[Cathead]

Oh wow, those two look so good together.

[JacquesCousteau]

Great job, it's turning out very well.

[FriedClams]

Excellent work, Keith!  The crane turned out very nice and the two models look great together.

 

Gary

 

[Keith Black]

5 hours ago, wefalck said:

Would the pile-driver actually pushed from the side of the rig? I would have expected the tug to be tied up to the other side, also so that the driver can be manoeuvred into position.

 Eberhard, the way the pile driver barges were push towed does seem somewhat counterintuitive but it makes sense to have the most awkward part of the barge lashed firmly to the tender. That way any unseen obstruction is first encountered by the engine room bow. I built the pile driver to the plans below and the pile driver's  bow is clearly indicated in the drawing.  Once the pile driver was delivered to the building site the barge could be easily turned and nudged into position. 

 

2 hours ago, Cathead said:

Oh wow, those two look so good together.

 Thank you, Eric. I enjoy seeing the two of them together. 

 

2 hours ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Great job, it's turning out very well.

 Thank you, Jacques. 

 

1 hour ago, FriedClams said:

Excellent work, Keith!  The crane turned out very nice and the two models look great together.

 Thank you, Gary.

[wefalck]

Makes sense! Thinking about it, it would be also more stable during pushing, as there is less of a cantilever on the rig, than if it was pushed the other way around. I also didn't realise that there was a 'bow' end.

 

[clearway]

😁

[petervisser]

Great job on your project Keith. They look fantastic together.

Peter

[Glen McGuire]

Lula and the pile driver look better together than chips and queso!  Superb work, Keith!

[Knocklouder]

Like Peanut butter and Jelly, and that's all I got to stay about that. 

Amazing work Keith, are we getting ready for the river yet?

Bob  M.    

[mtaylor]

Super nice work, Keith. The tug and pile driver look great together.   

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up after some time away. They're looking great, Keith.

 

John

[Keith Black]

 

17 hours ago, wefalck said:

Makes sense! Thinking about it, it would be also more stable during pushing, as there is less of a cantilever on the rig, than if it was pushed the other way around. I also didn't realise that there was a 'bow' end.

 Eberhard, thank you for taking the time to question and comment.  

 

16 hours ago, clearway said:

😁

 Thank you, Keith. It makes me feel good knowing Lula gives folks a reason to smile.

 

16 hours ago, petervisser said:

Great job on your project Keith. They look fantastic together.

 Thank you, Peter. 

 

9 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

Lula and the pile driver look better together than chips and queso!  Superb work, Keith!

 Thank you, Glen. 

 

8 hours ago, Knocklouder said:

Like Peanut butter and Jelly, and that's all I got to stay about that. 

Amazing work Keith, are we getting ready for the river yet?

 Thank you, Bob. Lord willing I would think we'll see a launch date by sometime in early June. 

 

6 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Super nice work, Keith. The tug and pile driver look great together.   

 Thank you, Mark.

 

4 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Just catching up after some time away. They're looking great, Keith.

 Thank you, John. Glad to have you back home with us. 

[KeithAug]

On 3/14/2025 at 5:36 AM, Keith Black said:

I had to send my fingers out to be retrained.

Have you tried doing joined up writing with one of those pen things recently. It is really hard.

 

They both fit together very nicely. Great job.

 

Edited Monday at 05:56 PM by KeithAug

[Keith Black]

54 minutes ago, KeithAug said:

Have you tried doing joined up writing with one of those pen things recently. It is really hard.

 I'm sure it is.    I quit writing in cursive many many years ago, I strictly print.

 

58 minutes ago, KeithAug said:

They both fit together very nicely. Great job.

 Thank you, Keith.  

[Keith Black]

 Thank you to everyone for your support, it is very much appreciated.

 

 Test fitting the deck frame

 

 Test fitting the deck. Because this is all so tight I need to have the frame painted and glued in before adding the deck and of course the deck will need to be painted before gluing to the frame. 

 

Port side view of the frame. 

 

 Access to the deck will be off of the stairs, I will also have grab bars at the front edges of the pilothouse where a person could grab and swing around the pilothouse edge and land on the forward deck. I have no clue what to call the forward deck, storage deck, upper deck, forward deck??

 

This photo indicates that maybe there's too much of a rise (out of level) in the decks forward edge. I need to check that because once this all goes in it's there till the CA turns loose far into the future.......hopefully. 

 

 It kinda makes me sad that little Lula has lost her car ferry appearance but then I wasn't building a car ferry. 

 

 Thank you for being part of the journey. 

 

  Keith

Edited Wednesday at 04:19 PM by Keith Black

[Cathead]

11 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

I have no clue what to call the forward deck, storage deck, upper deck, forward deck??

Might as well call it the boiler deck, following standard practice for steamboats, despite the nonsensicalness of calling the deck above the boiler, the boiler deck. Not sure if that nomenclature carried over into pseudo-marine harbor vessels like you're modeling here, but since your prototype is a riverboat, you can justify it.

 

Otherwise looks great to me!

[Keith Black]

3 minutes ago, Cathead said:

Might as well call it the boiler deck, following standard practice for steamboats, despite the nonsensicalness of calling the deck above the boiler, the boiler deck. Not sure if that nomenclature carried over into pseudo-marine harbor vessels like you're modeling here, but since your prototype is a riverboat, you can justify it.

 

Otherwise looks great to me!

 Thank you, Eric. Boiler deck it is! 

[Jim Lad]

A very nice looking awning/boiler deck/shade deck, Keith.

 

John

[Keith Black]

15 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

A very nice looking awning/boiler deck/shade deck, Keith

 Thank you, John. Are you settled in and back working at the museum? 

[Rick310]

Keith, as always, really well done!

Rick

[Jim Lad]

Yes, Keith. I was back at the museum on Monday, but I got hardly any work done. Too many visitors wanted to talk about the 'Duchess' and model making in general! 🙂

 

John

 

PS: That's not a complaint. The whole point of working on the model in the museum gallery is so that people can talk to me about it.

[Keith Black]

9 hours ago, Rick310 said:

Keith, as always, really well done!

 Thank you, Rick.

 

1 hour ago, Jim Lad said:

Yes, Keith. I was back at the museum on Monday, but I got hardly any work done. Too many visitors wanted to talk about the 'Duchess' and model making in general! 🙂

1 hour ago, Jim Lad said:

PS: That's not a complaint. The whole point of working on the model in the museum gallery is so that people can talk to me about it.

 That's got to be great being able to talk to folks who are truly interested in the model and modeling in general. I bet you are the star attraction.  

[Ian_Grant]

Every summer our RC boat club puts up a table pondside at a local fair and runs boats around. People come over to see the models all lined up on a long table and are really interested. Well, I guess only those interested would come over HaHa. Last year I took my Roman galley (didn't have it one the water, too windy) nonetheless people were fascinated to see the oars rowing. It was great talking to them and showing how they worked.

[mcb]

Hi Keith,

Lula is looking good, especially with the pile driver along.

Weren't you thinking of a diorama? 

Thanks for posting.

mcb