Billy 1938 by Keith Black - 1:120 Scale - Homemade Sternwheeler

[Keith Black]

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

 

 

The arches and engine room are made and attached. In fact, the side walls and the stern wall including the engine room  are attached to the hull.

 

 I struggled with how best to make the arches and finally decided the easiest way (also the most sturdy) was to drill a hole in a piece of scrap one by with a Forstner bit , cut the hole in half, and then cut the half hole to the correct width. I trimmed off the outside portion of hole to fit inside yet leave enough wood to glue to the side wall. Making the engine room's little side walls was a fiddly process as the boards meet the arch instead of going past the arch. Going past the arch would have been a lot easier but getting the arches to meet top and bottom points were hard enough without trying to accurately make the width correct. 

 

 

 Obviously the name board is missing. It's missing because name board 4.0 is in the works. I'm somewhat skeptical I can do better than 3.0 but I'm gonna give it a whirl. 

 

Back on 2.0 I tried using a Sharpie but the ink isn't true black, there's a purplish tint to the ink. When I decided to go for 4.0 I bought some acrylic paint pens and they didn't work for beans! I was digging around in Maggie's pens and came across a Pigma Micron 03 point archival ink pen. WOW! The ink is true black and it goes down pretty stinkin' nice. 

 

 I needed varied points so I ordered a set of all their points which should be here by Saturday.

 

 https://www.amazon.com/Sakura-Pigma-30062-Micron-Blister/dp/B0008G8G8Y/ref=sr_1_1?crid=VH1AMKAURXO5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XgAKBUt_FsCQLR9BQgq5LtTkMEpsjcHyi0Zcdb0sngQx7xLoXrUQG6LaNB62_6JQvt98AF4-oQJ6UaBzDZ08E775U38I24Ko8CxBxOcAa_xpaAklKiMoo8fGbMf7DReAaaM1q9QEg4NWTM2YaZojDFRuXTOCRcQlQ3oCc537ZR1f2O1W0RW-ZncVuX13eX9NJJcwAODDz7lZZ58AG6ZvUEkgCGb7d4XFSkt8dOT-YztJlFqcB3_D-6pMGAlWPdjCxJcQnvka8u5Vy37PFMIJTvQ3YyrvBjZy5H18aRj3nwM.sCsIbeL1WlEJBcmF5Gdmu-RE7k38jxY1rrBUBZXubr0&dib_tag=se&keywords=pigma%2Bmicron%2Bpens&qid=1765503575&sprefix=pigma%2Bmicron%2Bpens%2B%2Caps%2C112&sr=8-1&th=1

 

 And with that it's on to making the five bow walls.

 

 

 Thank you for your support and for following along. 

 

    Keith

Edited Friday at 09:30 PM by Keith Black

[Cathead]

I definitely like how the tricky wheel wells came out. 

 

Did you ever try those dry transfer letters you mentioned ordering?

[Jim Lad]

Looks really good, Keith! A very interesting solution to the wheel arch problem. Can't wait to see her with the paddle wheels fitted.

 

John

[KeithAug]

Keith, Coming together very nicely. Good luck with 4.0 and the Maggie pen.

[Paul Le Wol]

Great work Keith! Looking forward to seeing how the new pens perform.

[wefalck]

I have been using for this kind of 'calligraphy' acrylic artists' pens with a brush-like pen. These contain pigmented paints, not dyes that may look violett in thin layers. Due to the pigments they are also lightfast.

 

[Keith Black]

13 hours ago, Cathead said:

I definitely like how the tricky wheel wells came out.

 Thank you, Eric. It's far from perfect but I'm pleased with the way it turned out. In the original photo I can't see boards in the arches/wheel wells plus it's darker (I think) than mere shadows. It's possible and would make sense that Engel lined the inside of the arches with canvas. Just a thought. I'm leaving the arches white and will weather them with pastels.   

13 hours ago, Cathead said:

Did you ever try those dry transfer letters you mentioned ordering?

 I ordered the transfers on 12-2 and still haven't received them. I called Woodland Scenics  yesterday as the tracking number states the order is sitting in the post office because of a packaging issue. The person I spoke with said the post office was probably behind and the tracking info was most likely incorrect. When I suggested he contact them since they were the shipper I was told I should contact them..........hmmm. 

 

12 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Looks really good, Keith! A very interesting solution to the wheel arch problem. Can't wait to see her with the paddle wheels fitted.

 Thank you, John. Yes, I to look forward to the paddle wheels being installed as that will be the last major hurdle to cross. 

 

7 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Keith, Coming together very nicely. Good luck with 4.0 and the Maggie pen.

 Thank you very much, Keith. 

 

4 hours ago, Paul Le Wol said:

Great work Keith! Looking forward to seeing how the new pens perform.

 Thank you, Paul. I checked and the pens are supposed to arrive today. Hopefully I'll have photos late4r this evening. 

 

4 hours ago, wefalck said:

I have been using for this kind of 'calligraphy' acrylic artists' pens with a brush-like pen. These contain pigmented paints, not dyes that may look violett in thin layers. Due to the pigments they are also lightfast.

 Do you have a particular brand you prefer and the reason for that choice, Eberhard? 

[wefalck]

I gather, everyone has the tendency to go for domestic products (though the are often now in reality made somewhere in the Far East). I have a whole selection of Faber-Castell Pitt Artists Pens Brushes in different colours: https://www.faber-castell.com/products/PittArtistPenBrushIndiainkpenblack/167499. I wouldn't know about their availabilty in the 'Western Hemisphere'.

 

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

I gather, everyone has the tendency to go for domestic products (though the are often now in reality made somewhere in the Far East). I have a whole selection of Faber-Castell Pitt Artists Pens Brushes in different colours: https://www.faber-castell.com/products/PittArtistPenBrushIndiainkpenblack/167499. I wouldn't know about their availabilty in the 'Western Hemisphere'.

 

 They are readily available from multiple suppliers here in the US. Thank you, Eberhard. 

[Keith Black]

 Thank you to everyone for the likes and your comments.

 

 I guess my aspirations of becoming  a miniature sign painter for fun and profit will come to naught. 

 

Name board 4.0

 

 Name board 5.0. I had such high expectations yesterday when I started on 5.0 that once finished I was so disappointed with the results I didn't even put it on the model.

 

 Name board 6.0. I've attached 6.0 to the model in anticipation of it remaining there till CA do us part. I am far from happy with the results but at some point I have to move on. If I every get my order of dry transfers I'll see how those work out but my thinking is 6.0 is as good as I'm going to be able to do.  

 

 

 It's past time to move on to the fore walls.

 

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

 

   Keith  

 

Edited 11 hours ago by Keith Black

[Jim Lad]

Your practice with the miniature lettering is showing clearly in the very much improved sign 6.0, Keith.

 

John

[Keith Black]

23 minutes ago, Jim Lad said:

Your practice with the miniature lettering is showing clearly in the very much improved sign 6.0, Keith.

 Thank you, John. Maybe if I did two a day for the next month I might get to a point where I'd be satisfied with the results but unfortunately I don't have that amount of time to devote to this small part of the build. 

Edited 11 hours ago by Keith Black

[BANYAN]

Ver 6.0 looks pretty good to me Keith, I think the scale (including scaling the tomes etc of the paint) look about right, certainly it is very acceptable.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[tmj]

V6.0 looks really, really good! The scale is there, font looks proper, it's sooo dang close! Looks can be deceiving. I think you are there! simply darken the interior of your letters and if you want to get 'real' picky crisp up the outer edges of those letters just a teeny-tiny bit (don't clean up the edges so much that it looks professional) and you'll be spot on, just like the photo! 

[Knocklouder]

Great sign   ,,  

Bob M.