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

[Jim Lad]

Quote

I don't miss the nicotine but man, do I miss the ritual.

It's a loooooong time since I gave up smoking, but I fully understand your feelings, Keith.

 

[Keith Black]

13 hours ago, lraymo said:

I love all the detail you've put into this ship!  It looks great!  And I'm glad you are back in your daily rhythm, but from someone who dropped out for more than a year, I know how hard it is to return.  Glad you did!

 Thank you, Lynn.

 

10 hours ago, Ferrus Manus said:

Keith, I am immensely proud of you for your decision to give up smoking. It will vastly improve your quality of life and your overall health as well. Keep up the good work.

 Thank you, Ferrus. Smoking a pipe is very different than smoking cigarettes. I gave up the pipe because tobacco is the number one cause of cardiovascular disease.  It would be stupid of me to not quit.   

 

9 hours ago, clearway said:

I hear you Keith- i used to roll my own cigarettes and it was the whole ritual before lighting up and the smell of my old zippo petrol lighter!

 

Back on topic and lula is looking great and the little details are bringing her to life.

 Thank you, Keith. 

 

6 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

It's a loooooong time since I gave up smoking, but I fully understand your feelings, Keith.

 Thank you, John.

 

 

 Thank you to everyone for your nice comments and the likes. 

 

 Another small item scratched of the list today. I got the fore lantern and light board made, painted, and installed.  

 

Next on the list is getting the crew shaped up and painted.  

 

Clear image of the bell frame.

 

Thank you to everyone for following along and for your support.

 

   Keith

Edited Tuesday at 03:27 AM by Keith Black

[Ferrus Manus]

20 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

number one cause of cardiovascular disease.

But hey, at least it doesn't give you cancer as well. Oh wait, it might. Quitting the behavior that's killing you is always a smart decision. Just keep up the fight. 

[Jim Lad]

There can't be much more to add, Keith.

 

John

[wefalck]

Good to see that both, the model and its maker coming along well !

[Keith Black]

13 hours ago, Ferrus Manus said:

But hey, at least it doesn't give you cancer as well. Oh wait, it might. Quitting the behavior that's killing you is always a smart decision. Just keep up the fight. 

 Thank you, Ferrus.

 

11 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

There can't be much more to add, Keith.

 John, I'll think of some detail and think 'I should add that' so it goes on the list but i need to call a halt here pretty quick or else Lula is gonna start looking like the junk man's horse drawn wagon. 

 

9 hours ago, wefalck said:

Good to see that both, the model and its maker coming along well !

 Thank you, Eberhard. 

[wefalck]

15 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

... I'll think of some detail and think 'I should add that' so it goes on the list but i need to call a halt here pretty quick or else Lula is gonna start looking like the junk man's horse drawn wagon. 

Well, our models usually look far too much 'ship-shape, Bristol-fashion'. If you look at photographs, there is usually a lot of clutter and equipment on deck. Alone well-kept navy ships may present themselves well-ordered with everything at its place. The 'clutter' just adds realism.

Edited Tuesday at 05:26 PM by wefalck

[Jim Lad]

Sorry to clutter the thread, but Wefalck's comment re "Alone well-kept navy ships may present themselves well-ordered with everything at its place" reminded me of this painting of HMS 'Deal Castle' in 1775.

 

John

 

[Siggi52]

And me of this painting from the frigate Pallas 1774, by Lt. Gabriel Bray

[Ferrus Manus]

On a related note, this is an Essex work boat from the early 20th Century:

 

I would tell you to add every single thing that comes to mind. 

Image removed by moderator (image from commercial stock photo site)

[Ferrus Manus]

On 5/13/2025 at 10:09 AM, Keith Black said:

Lula is gonna start looking like the junk man's horse drawn wagon. 

As she should! Most work boats did, in some way. 

Edited Wednesday at 08:33 PM by Ferrus Manus

[tmj]

On 5/13/2025 at 12:09 PM, Keith Black said:

or else Lula is gonna start looking like the junk man's horse drawn wagon

 

https://archive.org/details/tvtunes_551

[mcb]

Looking good with all the details, I especially like the bell.

 

Take care,

mcb

[Keith Black]

On 5/13/2025 at 1:25 PM, wefalck said:

Well, our models usually look far too much 'ship-shape, Bristol-fashion'. If you look at photographs, there is usually a lot of clutter and equipment on deck. Alone well-kept navy ships may present themselves well-ordered with everything at its place. The 'clutter' just adds realism.

 Very true, Eberhard.

 

On 5/13/2025 at 5:57 PM, Jim Lad said:

orry to clutter the thread, but Wefalck's comment re "Alone well-kept navy ships may present themselves well-ordered with everything at its place" reminded me of this painting of HMS 'Deal Castle' in 1775.

 John, please banish any thoughts that you might clutter this log. I've seen ship's cats and dogs but never a ship's goat. How bizarre.

 

On 5/14/2025 at 3:39 AM, Siggi52 said:

And me of this painting from the frigate Pallas 1774, by Lt. Gabriel Bray

 Siggi, that's a bit of unexpected disorder around a gun unless it was decommissioned?

 

14 hours ago, Ferrus Manus said:

I would tell you to add every single thing that comes to mind. 

 Thank you, Ferrus. The last of the 'to do' list includes the crew, the hog chains for the cylinder timbers, and given time, handrails up the stairs and around the pilothouse.

 

13 hours ago, tmj said:

https://archive.org/details/tvtunes_551

 Thanks for the laugh, Tom. 

 

8 hours ago, mcb said:

Looking good with all the details, I especially like the bell.

 Thank you, mcb. 

[wefalck]

You could add a dog - smallish dogs where often kept on board, as alarms against trespassers and to keep vermin at bay.

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, wefalck said:

You could add a dog - smallish dogs where often kept on board, as alarms against trespassers and to keep vermin at bay.

 I wanted to add a ship's cat but the only supplier I found dealing in 3d printed cats was out of stock. I'd try carving one but I'm afraid that's above my skill level.  

[wefalck]

TT-scale model railway suppliers may have sets of domestic animals, including dogs and cats ...

[Canute]

You could use a ratter dog, some kind of terrier. Wise move on quitting smoking; I lost several relatives, including my Mom, to smoking. Lula is looking good, but as some have said, it needs some clutter.

[Glen McGuire]

Of course you know what I would recommend for the ship's animal, don't you Keith!

[Keith Black]

3 hours ago, wefalck said:

TT-scale model railway suppliers may have sets of domestic animals, including dogs and cats ...

 Thank you, Eberhard. I checked again and no luck finding 1:120 scale cats or dogs. TT scale here in the sates is a very unpopular scale. 

 

3 hours ago, Canute said:

You could use a ratter dog, some kind of terrier. Wise move on quitting smoking; I lost several relatives, including my Mom, to smoking. Lula is looking good, but as some have said, it needs some clutter.

 Thank you, Ken.  I did find a source with 1: 87 scale cats. According to the measurements they might just work, three are in route. For me, clutter is a hard thing to model and I'm not sure why that is. 

 

2 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

Of course you know what I would recommend for the ship's animal, don't you Keith!

A pink flamingo!  

[Ferrus Manus]

11 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

For me, clutter is a hard thing to model and I'm not sure why that is. 

Try making it look a bit like this: 

Obviously, without the ugly CA stains that appear in flash photography. What I try to do is think of every single little piece of equipment a ship could possibly need, and pile it as haphazardly as possible on the deck. 

[wefalck]

"... and pile it as haphazardly as possible on the deck." ... well that would be a hazard and would not normally be done unless a ship is temporarily moored to a quay. Everything that can move needs to be tied down, otherwise it may be lost or become a threat to the crew when shifting around. The crew would do this in their own interest.

 

Edited 18 hours ago by wefalck

[Glen McGuire]

This discussion reminds me of a quote from Antarctic explorer Douglas Mawson, aboard the SY Aurora on one of its voyages to the ice.  He described the scene on the deck as follows, “The piles of loose gear presented an indescribable scene of chaos.  The deck was so encumbered that only at rare times was it visible.” 

[Ferrus Manus]

@wefalck And safety wouldn't have been the #1 priority for people the likes of which would have crewed Lula. On an ocean-going Man O' War, your logic applies perfectly. However, that logic kind of falls apart when you get into the local working boat scene. Is Lula on a resupply run currently, or is she docked in a quay? Does her crew really care that much about safety, or rather speed? 

[Keith Black]

 

5 hours ago, wefalck said:

"... and pile it as haphazardly as possible on the deck." ... well that would be a hazard and would not normally be done unless a ship is temporarily moored to a quay. Everything that can move needs to be tied down, otherwise it may be lost or become a threat to the crew when shifting around. The crew would do this in their own interest.

 I agree with Eberhard. 

 

1 hour ago, Ferrus Manus said:

safety wouldn't have been the #1 priority for people the likes of which would have crewed Lula. On an ocean-going Man O' War, your logic applies perfectly. However, that logic kind of falls apart when you get into the local working boat scene. Is Lula on a resupply run currently, or is she docked in a quay? Does her crew really care that much about safety, or rather speed? 

 

 Ferrus, I think everyone likes to think they're going home when their shift is over. IMHO safety is always a concern on any vessel unless it's a fishing boat owned by two young men out to test the patience of God.

 

 Lula and the pile driver will be displayed together with the pile driver in tow. I've tried very hard to replicate and capture the spirit of Lula as seen below. If you'll note, there's no clutter. There's no pop bottles scattered about, no tools casually cast aside, and no empty sacks. There's a thick layer of dirt everywhere but there's no "clutter". I want to give Lula as many legitimate details as I can that make sense. 

 

 The pile driver is cluttered and dangerous, not Lula. 

 

 

 This is as good a time as any..... if God grants me a couple more years I'm going to try replicating the below sternwheeler that was part of the 'hard coal navy', it's extreme filth and clutter.

 

https://unchartedlancaster.com/2023/06/17/scraping-the-bottom-dredging-for-coal-on-the-susquehanna/

 

https://susquehannagreenway.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Danville_Hard_Coal_Navy_Sign-for-web.pdf

 

Edited 13 hours ago by Keith Black

[wefalck]

That's an interesting utilisation of secondary mineral resources this dredging in Susquehanna. However, their coal-washing upstream must have been pretty wasteful and I am not sure about the environmental impact of both, discharging of large amounts of suspended matter and the dredging of the river bed ...

 

What always fascinates me are these makeshift and improvised vessels (and logging trains for that matter) in the USA. We don't seem to have seen such things to that extent in Europe judging by the pictorial records. As a modeller you can let your creativity run free.

[Cathead]

Wefalck, Keith and I had a brief private conversation about that protoype a little while back. I'm quite familiar with that area, having been involved in two different graduate geologic research projects on the Susquehanna (one in particular right in that setting). Though I was somehow unaware of the coal dredging operations this represents. There's no doubt these operations were dirty, but keep in mind they're dredging not a free-flowing river bed, but a reservoir bed behind an impoundment (hence why the coal dust built up there in the first place). But yes, it's been both the curse and blessing of the US to have such abundant resources that efficiency/waste were not really a concern for generations, at least not in the way modern Europeans think about it. 

 

All these "freelance" infrastructure elements are part of the vaunted freedom that brought so many people to the US over generations. There's a reason so many things were invented and/or developed rapidly here (think the evolution of riverboats). Creativity flourishes when there are no rules (as does abuse).

[GrandpaPhil]

Keith,

  Glad to hear that you are doing better!  Lula looks amazing!

 

Regarding workboat cleanliness, many years ago I worked on a supply boat in the former Gulf of Mexico.

 

It was usually kept as uncluttered as possible to reduce the possibility of tripping or otherwise damaging either the crew or the equipment.

 

We were pretty careful about making sure that we kept everything picked up and stowed.