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

[Keith Black]

17 hours ago, Rick310 said:

Keith, well done as always!

Happy New Year!

 Thank you, Rick and a Happy New Year to you.

[KeithAug]

Nice progress Keith. The rails are a little small to prod anyone in the eye.

 

[Keith Black]

4 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Nice progress Keith.

 Thank you, Keith

 

4 hours ago, KeithAug said:

The rails are a little small to prod anyone in the eye.

 I do wish we could select two emojis in response to a post. 

[Keith Black]

 Thank you for the likes and for the comments.

 

 

 I'm calling the boxes that Capt. Engel built for the dummy stacks to sit inside, stack boxes. Pretty stinkin' original, huh? 

 

 

After a couple of months of trying to recreate Engel's work I have a pretty good feel why he did some of the crazy things he did but these stack boxes really puzzle me. The port side one looks unfinished and the starboard side one looks like Elgel ran into something. I'm going to build the starboard side box just like the port side with the dummy stack straight. 

 

The boxes are six sided measuring 0.30" x .030" x 0.50".  

 

 Sorry for the lousy photo. 

 

 It took 19 pieces to make the finished box not including the stack. With the stack and the three eye pins for the stays each box will consist of 23 pieces.in the assembly. That packing crate aft of the port side box will not be repeated on the starboard side. We'll see what interesting bits I can come up with to add aft of the starboard stack box.  

 

 I'm leaving railing 2.0 as is, the more I look at it the less it bothers me. 

 

 I was hoping this post would find me finished with the boiler deck, the next post for sure. That will leave adding three pieces of pipe and the paddle wheels. Billy is getting close to being finished. 

 

  Thank you for your support and for following along.

 

    Keith

  

[Knocklouder]

Happy New Year Keith,  hope you all had a great one. Billy is really looking fanatic,  just really enjoy your work.  

Bob  M.

Edited Saturday at 03:50 AM by Knocklouder

[Keith Black]

3 minutes ago, Knocklouder said:

Happy New Year Keith,  hope you all had a great one. Billy is really looking fanatic,  just really enjoy your work.

 Thank you very much, Bob. I hope your New Year was filled with promise. Bubba, would you please do me a favor and keep that dang cold and snowy weather of yours to yourself. 

[Jim Lad]

More lovely work, Keith.

You're really making us sweat on those paddle wheels! 😀

 

John

[Coyote_6]

"Just 23 parts each, another day on the river and all..."

 

Yeah, 23 parts that would fit on the head of a thumb tack!  EACH SIDE!

 

Thanks for the show.  Amazing.  Just wow!!!

 

"Now for my next trick - micro paddlewheels!  Ta daaaa!"

 

Great work Keith!

Edited Saturday at 02:48 PM by Coyote_6

[Keith Black]

11 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

More lovely work, Keith.

You're really making us sweat on those paddle wheels!

 Thank you, John. Delay allows me to make sure I've considered all the possibilities of potential failure and how to avoid failure and what options are available if I do fail. 

 

1 hour ago, Coyote_6 said:

"Just 23 parts each, another day on the river and all..."

 

Yeah, 23 parts that would fit on the head of a thumb tack!  EACH SIDE!

 

Thanks for the show.  Amazing.  Just wow!!!

 

"Now for my next trick - micro paddlewheels!  Ta daaaa!"

 

Great work Keith!

 Thank you, Steve. I'm pretty tired of looking at the whorls on my finger tips, once Billy is completed I'll be ready to move back to a larger subject.  

[clearway]

well done Keith and hope you had a good one.

 

Keith

[Keith Black]

57 minutes ago, clearway said:

well done Keith and hope you had a good one.

 Thank you and you as well, Keith.

[Cathead]

Looking great!

[Keith Black]

9 hours ago, Cathead said:

Looking great!

Thank you, Eric. 

[Keith Black]

 Thank you to everyone for the likes and the comments. I appreciate your support so very much.

 

 

 I said in the last post that the next post would see the boiler deck finished. I lied, I still need to add lumber and metal bits strewn about.  John, I'm not procrastinating, honest. 

 

 Way too much black, I can't wait to get after this with some pastels.  

 

 With the exception of the paddle wheels the heavy lifting is just about done.

 

I'm not all that pleased with the way the dummy stack stays turned out. I used 32 GA brass wire for the stays and my go to small photo etched eye pins for connecting points. It's all a bit flimsy for my taste so there maybe a stays 2.0 at some point. I've had more revisions with model that any of the previous. 

 

 Thank you to each of you for following along.

 

   Keith

[JacquesCousteau]

Very nice work, it's great to see this odd little vessel coming together! With the details added, I was going to say that it's really starting to look like a boat, but to be honest, I think it looks more like a floating house--I mean that in the best possible way, of course.

[Glen McGuire]

8 hours ago, Keith Black said:

It's all a bit flimsy for my taste so there maybe a stays 2.0 at some point.

If it's the brass wire that is too flimsy, you might try music wire.  On my SIBs, I've used it for the funnel stays on sidewheel paddlers as well as tiny railing.  Even at .015", it stays rigid and does not bend easily like brass wire.

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002WXPNB4?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

 

Regardless, your Billy is coming together nicely.  Can't wait to see how you make the paddlewheels.  They are quite a challenge at that scale!

 

[KeithAug]

13 hours ago, Keith Black said:

I'm not all that pleased with the way the dummy stack stays turned out.

They look fine to me Keith.

[Knocklouder]

Keith I agree with Keith, they look great, besides  once you post your paddle wheels everyone will not be looking at your stacks lol. Just curious,  after Billy, Tennessee?

Knocklouder 😁 

[clearway]

keith i agree with keith they look great.

 

the other keith😁

[clearway]

as an aside not sure if the other keiths know this but apparently our name is gaelic in origin and means a woody or windy place- so if farting while building billy just say you are living up to your name😆

[BANYAN]

What a wonderful little build Keith. My hat's doffed in respect.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Jim Lad]

I thought flimsy and homemade was the standout feature of the original 'Billy'!

 

John

[Keith Black]

On 1/6/2026 at 1:38 AM, JacquesCousteau said:

Very nice work, it's great to see this odd little vessel coming together! With the details added, I was going to say that it's really starting to look like a boat, but to be honest, I think it looks more like a floating house--I mean that in the best possible way, of course.

 Thank you, Jacques. Without the paddle wheels it does look more like a houseboat. Billy was a heck of a lot more colorful than any other sternwheeler I'm aware of.

 

21 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

If it's the brass wire that is too flimsy, you might try music wire.  On my SIBs, I've used it for the funnel stays on sidewheel paddlers as well as tiny railing.  Even at .015", it stays rigid and does not bend easily like brass wire.

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002WXPNB4?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

 

Regardless, your Billy is coming together nicely.  Can't wait to see how you make the paddlewheels.  They are quite a challenge at that scale!

 Thank you, Glen. It's not the wire itself, it's the connecting points. I will differently be redoing the stays.

 

15 hours ago, KeithAug said:

They look fine to me Keith.

 Thank you for your support, Keith

 

15 hours ago, Knocklouder said:

Keith I agree with Keith, they look great, besides  once you post your paddle wheels everyone will not be looking at your stacks lol. Just curious,  after Billy, Tennessee?

 Thank you, Bob. Even though the Tennessee sits in front of me I've really not paid attention to her in a year and a half. The other night I looked closely at where I left off and I was startled at how much I've forgotten. Bob, short answer to your question is, yes, I'll be going back to work on the Tennessee. Billy has scratched whatever itch I had. 

 

15 hours ago, clearway said:

keith i agree with keith they look great

 Thank you, Keith. We haven't heard from the other Keith, pilot Keith. I think of him from time to time and wonder how he's doing. We seem to lose track of far too many of our MSW family.    Gary comes to immediate mind. 

 

11 hours ago, BANYAN said:

What a wonderful little build Keith. My hat's doffed in respect.

 Thank you very much, Pat. 

 

9 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

I thought flimsy and homemade was the standout feature of the original 'Billy'!

 Homemade yes, not so much flimsy, John. I can do better!