Sternwheeler From the Susquehanna River's Hard Coal Navy by Keith Black - 1:120 Scale

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, MAGIC's Craig said:

Magnificent in its tiny-ness!! Oh my, i would have to put on some serious magnification glasses to see all of your details.  Really inspiring, Keith.

 Thank you, Craig. 

[Keith Black]

 Thank you to everyone for the likes and the kind comments.

 

 

 Not much to report this evening. I've been working with 24 GA annealed wire trying to create the river to pump, pump to water tank, and tank overflow water lines.

 

Making these little lines is about to drive me batty. "How hard can it be" you ask, well, pretty dang tough! The home run piece between the pump and tank has been the most difficult. I'll think I'm almost there, I make a slight adjustment and then I'm back to square one. The challenge is not only connecting the two point but also making the line square while following the roof angle. 

 

 I'm still not 100% satisfied with the pump to tank line. Once the engine room is attached I may start over using what I have as a pattern.

 

 The overflow and river to pump lines are acceptable. 

 

 i did manage to get a steam pressure gauge and water level sight gauge made and attached. 

 

 I still have the tank to boiler water line, two exhaust and three steam lines to run before I can permanently attach the engine room. 

 

 

 To each of you, thank you for your support and for being part of the  journey.

 

    Keith 

[JacquesCousteau]

Nice work on a very finnicky little part!

[Keith Black]

3 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Nice work on a very finnicky little part!

 Thank you, Jacques. I'd rather build pumps and steam engines any day. 

[Jim Lad]

Just keeps looking better and better, Keith!

 

John

[Keith Black]

24 minutes ago, Jim Lad said:

Just keeps looking better and better, Keith!

 Thank you very much, John. 

[wefalck]

Just can echo the previous posters ...

 

What material is your 'annealed 24 GA' wire? Is it still too springy? Many modellers use solder wire for such applications, where 'compliance' is required. Solder wire is readily available in 0.5 mm diameter, which is equivalent to 24 GA.

 

Are you going to protect those outboard pipes somehow? Bare like this they could be easily ripped off by the coal-barges etc. A couple of wooden clamps around them would solve this problem.

 

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

Just can echo the previous posters ...

 

What material is your 'annealed 24 GA' wire? Is it still too springy? Many modellers use solder wire for such applications, where 'compliance' is required. Solder wire is readily available in 0.5 mm diameter, which is equivalent to 24 GA.

 

 Thank you, Eberhard. the annealed wire I use is soft without any spring. Making bends in the wire isn't the issue, it's making the correct size length between bends. i use jewelry pliers but some of the lengths between bends are too small even for the needle nose. 

 

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

Are you going to protect those outboard pipes somehow? Bare like this they could be easily ripped off by the coal-barges etc. A couple of wooden clamps around them would solve this problem.

 Your question is very valid and i would normally say yes, that I need to add some sort of protection for those exposed water lines along the side of the hull except, the hog chains are exposed along the outside of the hull and there is no protection for them. There aren't even any fenders unless they've been worn off and haven't been replaced due to neglect. I don't know how they weren't rubbed off, it's a bit baffling. Every workboat I've seen photos of, the sides of the hull are scraped to a fare thee well. If the skipper managed not to scrape off the hog chains then I guess he was able to not scrape off the water lines. 

 

 The short answer to your question is, no, I'm not going to add any protection for the outboard pipes. 

[Paul Le Wol]

Very nice pipe work Keith!

[Keith Black]

4 hours ago, Paul Le Wol said:

Very nice pipe work Keith!

 Thank you very much, Paul.

 

 The port side for this project was the great unknown and I wrestled with starting this build because of it.  As I've filled in the port side area the boat as a whole has come into view, hopefully I've managed to get the majority of it somewhat correct. 

[John Ruy]

36 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

As I've filled in the port side area the boat as a whole has come into view, hopefully I've managed to get the majority of it somewhat correct. 

Kieth, I cannot even imagine that something you put together would not be absolutely perfectly correct. 
 

John 

[wefalck]

The nice thing about such subjects is that there is a lot of room for imagination and creativity, as they were cobbled together by their crews from whatever was at hand and seems to do the job. In most other cases on historic subjects we are bound by local customs and the limited availability of resources to the people of the time, which requires careful study of the available evidence.

 

[Keith Black]

28 minutes ago, John Ruy said:

Kieth, I cannot even imagine that something you put together would not be absolutely perfectly correct. 

 That's most kind, John.

 

 I think that comment applies to all of us including yourself. That's the great thing about the MSW members, I've not seen a group of folks before that are so absolutely keen on getting it "right"

 

25 minutes ago, wefalck said:

The nice thing about such subjects is that there is a lot of room for imagination and creativity, as they were cobbled together by their crews from whatever was at hand and seems to do the job. In most other cases on historic subjects we are bound by local customs and the limited availability of resources to the people of the time, which requires careful study of the available evidence.

 Very true, Eberhard. These workboat subjects allow me latitude I wouldn't have if building historical vessels. 

[clearway]

adds to the character even more - the joys we do like to make for  ourselves!

 

Keith

[FriedClams]

Looking very smart, Keith.

 

Gary

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, clearway said:

adds to the character even more - the joys we do like to make for  ourselves!

 Thank you for commenting, Keith. Making these small vessels is my passion and my joy. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't model anymore?

 

2 hours ago, FriedClams said:

Looking very smart, Keith.

 Thank you, Gary.  

[Javelin]

That's a great job on that piping Keith. 

At such short distances, bending is indeed difficult. From time to time I use a piece of styrene with a hole of the same diameter as the wire near its edge instead of pliers. I then put the wire through the hole and bend by twisting the styrene piece or bend the wire while holding the styrene piece, depending on what I need. 

If the distance between bends is too small, you can still cut the styrene to remove the wire. It takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it...

 

In any case, astonishing results so far. 

As to protections etc. they may have used portable fenders made of pieces of wood, hung overboard with a rope or even fenders made of old mooring ropes. Even today these methods are used on small workboats, apart from of course more professionally made inflated fenders or car/truck tyres. 

 

[Keith Black]

22 minutes ago, Javelin said:

That's a great job on that piping Keith. 

At such short distances, bending is indeed difficult. From time to time I use a piece of styrene with a hole of the same diameter as the wire near its edge instead of pliers. I then put the wire through the hole and bend by twisting the styrene piece or bend the wire while holding the styrene piece, depending on what I need. 

If the distance between bends is too small, you can still cut the styrene to remove the wire. It takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it...

 

In any case, astonishing results so far. 

As to protections etc. they may have used portable fenders made of pieces of wood, hung overboard with a rope or even fenders made of old mooring ropes. Even today these methods are used on small workboats, apart from of course more professionally made inflated fenders or car/truck tyres. 

 Thank you, Roel. Great ides for bending wire and fenders.

 

 It's countless, countless I tell ya, times when the plier jaws and wire have met that I haven't thought of you and wished you were sitting next to me to offer advice. 

[Glen McGuire]

45 minutes ago, Javelin said:

That's a great job on that piping Keith. 

When the master of oil tanker piping says you did a great job, Keith, you did a great job!  Maybe a tanker for your next project??

[John Ruy]

5 hours ago, Keith Black said:

That's most kind, John.

 

 I think that comment applies to all of us including yourself. That's the great thing about the MSW members, I've not seen a group of folks before that are so absolutely keen on getting it "right"

I agree Kieth, we here on MSW do inspire each other to do what’s right in our world of model ships. Thank you for your comment, as well.

 

John

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

When the master of oil tanker piping says you did a great job, Keith, you did a great job!  Maybe a tanker for your next project??

 Glen, I was indeed flattered by Roel's comment but I'd make a dog's lunch out of a tanker plus go mental in the process. 

 

2 hours ago, John Ruy said:

I agree Kieth, we here on MSW do inspire each other to do what’s right in our world of model ships. Thank you for your comment, as well

 Thank you again for your comment, John. 

[Jim Lad]

Off topic, I know, but I couldn't help noticing that you said that you'd amke a 'dog's lunch' of it. Over here we use the expression 'dog's breakfast'. Is 'lunch' the common idiom in the U.S., or is that a local/family thing?

 

John

[Keith Black]

4 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Off topic, I know, but I couldn't help noticing that you said that you'd amke a 'dog's lunch' of it. Over here we use the expression 'dog's breakfast'. Is 'lunch' the common idiom in the U.S., or is that a local/family thing?

 

 Never worry about being off topic around here, John.

 

 I've heard the dog's meal thing both ways, breakfast or lunch. Being the lazy person I am, I use dog's lunch as it's easier to say and type. 

[Rick310]

Incredibly well done Keith!!  Looks superb!!

Rick

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, Rick310 said:

Incredibly well done Keith!!  Looks superb!!

 Thank you, Rick.

[ajromano]

On 6/16/2025 at 7:13 AM, Keith Black said:

 Sometimes modeling can be a bit masochistic, that's for sure.  I think I'm gonna research steam tractors and see if there's in relatable information there.  Keith, I like the idea of chain, it's coupling chine drive with steam where I'm having difficulty.     

Hilarious…….but so, so true.