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

[Keith Black]

3 hours ago, Cathead said:

That's spectacular!

 Thank you, Eric

 

3 hours ago, wefalck said:

So it kind of operates like the knee-levers on electrical sewing machines? Interesting mechanism.

 

She now really looks like a hard-working vessel 👍🏻  I like these unsual workboats.

 Thank you, Eberhard. I used the photo below as inspiration for Lula's pilothouse interior and engine controls. I scaled the controls to match the height of the pilot to be added later. A US penny looks huge when placed on the floor of the PH. I'll make sure I get the photo taken and posted next time. 

 

 

 And that's the last photo I will use to complete Lula with the exception of the original historical photo of Lula. No more boilers, steam engines, derrick cranes, or pilothouses, just little Lula the car ferry. I need to make a chart table and chair (we'll see how that goes) and once those are done all remaining work is on the exterior.

 

 I don't know why but it seems like I've been working on Lula for a very long time when in actuality i'm barely into my fifth month of actual fabrication. I find myself slowing down and reminiscing as much as I work as the end of my intimacy with Lula draws to a close.

Edited April 2 by Keith Black

[clearway]

nice one Keith- i never realised they had steam engine controls in the wheel/ pilot house - would cut out the need for an engineer as well as a fireman in the boiler/engine room.

 

Keith

[tmj]

Nice work on those small parts! Pardon my ignorance, but I'm curious. What was the tallow used for?

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, clearway said:

nice one Keith- i never realised they had steam engine controls in the wheel/ pilot house - would cut out the need for an engineer as well as a fireman in the boiler/engine room.

 Thank you, Keith. The only reason I could justify having the engine controls in the pilothouse is because the pilothouse sits directly over the engine room. Had that not been the case then an engine telegraph and engineer would have been necessary.

 

1 hour ago, tmj said:

Nice work on those small parts! Pardon my ignorance, but I'm curious. What was the tallow used for?

 Thank you, Tom. Tallow was used on wood decks as grease to make things slide about easier requiring less energy. Pile drivers use tallow to help in driving piling. Lula maybe delivering that barrel of tallow to a pile driver, not sure how story is gonna play out. 

 

 As promised. Sorry, I should have included this photo in my first post of the day. The heck of it is, the only view inside the pilothouse will be through the open rear PH door. I was going to stain the interior but now thinking I need to paint the interior white and why not, with few exceptions everything else is white. 

Edited April 2 by Keith Black

[KeithAug]

On 3/26/2025 at 3:18 PM, Keith Black said:

 I hope the above makes sense,

Thank you Keith.

[Knocklouder]

That is so cool Keith, I think the interior would look great in white and black trim for the windows , and under the penny to the left of the door looks like there is enough room for a Rum keg on a little white stand. 😀.   Great work my freind. 

    

 

Bob M.

[Keith Black]

14 minutes ago, Knocklouder said:

That is so cool Keith, I think the interior would look great in white and black trim for the windows , and under the penny to the left of the door looks like there is enough room for a Rum keg on a little white stand. 😀.   Great work my freind.

 Thank you, Bob. Unfortunately where you want the rum keg to go is where the chart table goes. No black trim on the inside, it's just too dang hard to cut straight paint lines at this scale. Trying to paint black trim on the inside would probably drive me clean over the edge. 

[wefalck]

... you could use black decal strips, either home-made from decal sheet or commercial ones. I am also using increasingly soft artists' felt-tip pens with pigmented acrylic paint in them for such things. 

[Jim Lad]

White would be a good choice, Keith - make the interior details stand out a little more.

 

John

[Glen McGuire]

5 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Unfortunately where you want the rum keg to go is where the chart table goes.

If I gotta choose between the rum keg and the chart table, I'll take my chances with blind navigation!    

 

Exceptional work, Keith!  Such a cool project and so well done!

[Rick310]

This is such a great build Keith!!

You are doing a magnificent job!!

Rick

[Keith Black]

23 hours ago, wefalck said:

... you could use black decal strips, either home-made from decal sheet or commercial ones. I am also using increasingly soft artists' felt-tip pens with pigmented acrylic paint in them for such things. 

 Thank you, Eberhard. I'm just going with an all white interior though I do need to test acrylic felt tip pens. They sound counterintuitive to my small brain but you and others have mentioned them so I need to quit being so bullheaded and purchase a sample lot to test them for myself.  

 

20 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

White would be a good choice, Keith - make the interior details stand out a little more.

 Thank you, John, I agree. 

 

17 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

If I gotta choose between the rum keg and the chart table, I'll take my chances with blind navigation!    

 

Exceptional work, Keith!  Such a cool project and so well done!

 Thank you, Glen. No alcohol onboard Lula, period! Not even a beer with lunch. I want a cold sober crew push/towing that pile driver I worked so hard on building. 

 

5 hours ago, Rick310 said:

This is such a great build Keith!!

You are doing a magnificent job!!

 Thank you, Rick. 

[BANYAN]

She is really looking great Keith, a lot of well crafted unique detail.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[lraymo]

Wow, you've done so much since I was here last!  She's looking amazing.  Love all the intricacies, and your historical detail that goes along with your build!

[Keith Black]

On 4/3/2025 at 11:45 PM, BANYAN said:

She is really looking great Keith, a lot of well crafted unique detail.

 Thank you, Pat. 

 

16 hours ago, lraymo said:

Wow, you've done so much since I was here last!  She's looking amazing.  Love all the intricacies, and your historical detail that goes along with your build!

 Thank you, Lynn. 

 

 Thank you to everyone for your comments, likes, and for following along. 

 

I never thought I'd be making furniture for the Flea family.   I can almost put five of the stools on my thumbnail. The legs are .0315 inches square, the seat is .15 x .175 inches and height is .225 inches. Amazingly enough, it's pretty robust for being as small as it is. I need to lower the stool height to .175 inches for a bit more clearance. 

 

The chart table is .30 inches wide x .20 inches deep, .25 inches tall at the front and .40 inches tall at the rear. The chart table legs are temporary, more later. The figure is one I randomly reached in and grabbed and is there for definition of space and scale. The port side of the chart table is not painted as that edge gets glued to the interior wall.

 

The figure is one I randomly reached in and grabbed and is there for definition of space and scale.

 

 The pilot house is a crowded affair, the real Lula didn't have a stove so there would have been a little more room.  

 

Regarding the chart table legs, they are temporary but necessary for being the correct height once I glue it to the stern wall. If you look closely at the original Lula photo below through the PH door you can see the stool under the starboard side corner. For the stool to be in that position there couldn't be legs on the chart table, it had to have been wall mounted. And it makes sense because this would then have allowed the stool to be stowed under the CT and would have been completely out of the way.   

 

For the interior sheeting I'm using is Midwest Products .015625 inch birch plywood, the same material I used for the chart table and stool seat. It'll be easier to install vs planking and will give just a tiny bit more room. Because of the limited view and once painted white, one won't be able to tell what sheeting was used for the interior walls. When I've glued the chart table to the stern wall the legs will be removed.

 

 Now that all the pilot house interior elements are made it's time to start making the walls and adding windows. I'm pretty excited to reach this point because the pilot house is Lula's crown.

 

 Thank you again to everyone for your support.

 

   Keith

[Paul Le Wol]

Keith, it’s been fun to look at the photo of the real Lula and find the things you’ve been pointing out. Great work!

[lraymo]

2 hours ago, Keith Black said:

I can almost put five of the stools on my thumbnail.

Wowzer!  And I thought my stuff was tiny... but yours are teensy!  Way to go!

[Keith Black]

11 hours ago, Paul Le Wol said:

Keith, it’s been fun to look at the photo of the real Lula and find the things you’ve been pointing out. Great work!

 Thank you, Paul.

 

9 hours ago, lraymo said:

Wowzer!  And I thought my stuff was tiny... but yours are teensy!  Way to go!

 Thank you, Lynn.

 

 If I glued em on I think I could easily get five on my thumbnail.  I know the stool isn't pretty but making something pretty with simple hand tools this size is impossible for me at this stage of my modeling development. If I had a six year old running around the house I'd order a 3D printer in a heartbeat! 

[MAGIC's Craig]

Me 'ats off to you!!  Amazing and delightful, Keith

[Keith Black]

16 hours ago, MAGIC's Craig said:

Me 'ats off to you!!  Amazing and delightful, Keith

 Thank you, Craig.

[Keith Black]

 Thank you to each of you for your comments and likes.

 

 Meet William R. Waterman, Lula's new captain/pilot. He was born in Hudson, New York in 1826. I had interviewed with a couple of men before William's interview but something didn't seem right about the way they stood behind the wheel.  But Captain Bill is a natural, seems to know a lot about New York Harbor and has captained sternwheelers on the Missouri and Ohio so I hired him on the spot!. But something kept nagging me about Captain Bill's name, it sounded familiar and when I questioned him about it he said he had a famous uncle but didn't or wouldn't go into details?  Captain Bill said he would see to the crewing of Lula, so be it. I'm sure they'll come drifting in one by one over the next couple of weeks.

 

  The figure for Captain Bill was one of the Holden late 19th century British naval figures with gaiters requiring me to carve away most of the uniform. It's very hard to see any remaining uniform at normal viewing distance. 

 

 I'm not just messing about with figures, I'm also building the pilothouse walls. I've almost got the stern wall done and moving next to the fore wall. 

 

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

 

   Keith

[Jim Lad]

Poor old Captain Bill looks very cold out there in the open, Keith! 🙂

 

John

[Cathead]

Nah, if he piloted on the Missouri River, nothing New York can throw will faze him.

[Canute]

You haven't felt the northers blowing down the Palisades in January. Dress appropriately or turn into a popsicle.

[Knocklouder]

I felt those winds, brings to mind an old sailing term about  brass Monkeys.  

And the reason they went exstinked in Manitoba  , I think.   He will be plenty warm enough,  fire on, if no keg in the corner, maybe,  a wee flask in his pocket to keep the chill off . 

 Lol.,great work Keith,      

Knocklouder. 

[wefalck]

New York may be the same latitude as Naples, but they don't have there the Alps to keep the winds from the North Pole away 🥶 ... reminds me of a Christmas there many decades ago, when we had -30°C due to the chill-factor.

[Keith Black]

 Thank you to everyone for the comments and likes.

 

 Speaking of comments, you guys sure were worried about Captain Bill. If any of you had figured out who his famous uncle was you wouldn't be so worried about his ability to withstand the rigors of ship life. 

 

 It was time get some walls up.

 

I was trying to build the pilot house where it could be lifted free but alas it wasn't to be. The walls are glued to one another but not glued to the floor plates as of yet. 

 

 I won't glue the pilothouse down till all the trim, roof, door, and Lula's name have been added 

 

 I think Lula the car ferry only had three windows on the forward wall. If I had only put in three windows there would have been a lot of blind spots so I put in four, what the heck. 

 

 I've added some curve to the top plates but I think a little more is required, 

 

Captain Bill is gonna be snug as a bug. 

 

 Thank you for the support and for following along.

 

   Keith

[Cathead]

Keith, I have a question: do you have a photo of Lula from the front? The only one I can recall is the one from the starboard rear quarter, but you of course have far greater knowledge of the resources you're working from.

 

The reason I ask, is that I'm interested in the idea that Lula had separate windows (whether three or four) on the forward wall of the pilothouse. Typical riverboat practice (which I'll openly acknowledge does not preclude any other practice) was to leave the forward "window" as either a full open area or with a bare minimum of visual interference (for example, no posts between windows). For obvious reasons of visibility. To my eye, when I look at your rear-quarter image, looking through the side windows, it kind of looks to me like Lula has the standard wide-open forward pilothouse. Like these examples on two other river ferries:

So I'm just curious about your approach here, with the open acknowledgement that I may well be wrong in Lula's case because you know her far better than I do. Regardless, it's really fun to see her superstructure move toward its final shape!

[Keith Black]

10 hours ago, Cathead said:

Regardless, it's really fun to see her superstructure move toward its final shape!

 Thank you, Eric. Yes, it's a milestone I've looked forward to reaching for what seems like a long time.

 

10 hours ago, Cathead said:

I have a question: do you have a photo of Lula from the front? The only one I can recall is the one from the starboard rear quarter, but you of course have far greater knowledge of the resources you're working from.

10 hours ago, Cathead said:

The reason I ask, is that I'm interested in the idea that Lula had separate windows (whether three or four) on the forward wall of the pilothouse. Typical riverboat practice (which I'll openly acknowledge does not preclude any other practice) was to leave the forward "window" as either a full open area or with a bare minimum of visual interference (for example, no posts between windows). For obvious reasons of visibility. To my eye, when I look at your rear-quarter image, looking through the side windows, it kind of looks to me like Lula has the standard wide-open forward pilothouse. Like these examples on two other river ferries:

 I only have the one photo of Lula. The view through the starboard side windows suggest to me they were individual windows and the spacing between the windows suggest that there were only three. That's my interpretation, I could be dead wrong but this is what we're gonna roll with as I need to jump into overdrive on this build. More later regarding that at a later time.   

Edited yesterday at 12:06 AM by Keith Black

[BANYAN]

Really looking good Keith.  Agree with Eric re the 'wooding' of the view forward - still looks ()no pun intended) great though.

 

cheers

 

Pat