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

[Javelin]

Congrats Keith. She came out beautifully and fits right in with your growing collection. 

 

I am very happy to read you'll continue with your Tennessee though. A very interesting subject and worthy of completion. 

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, Javelin said:

Congrats Keith. She came out beautifully and fits right in with your growing collection. 

 

I am very happy to read you'll continue with your Tennessee though. A very interesting subject and worthy of completion. 

 Thank you, Roel. After going on nine years I think it's time I restart and finished the Tennessee project before I totally forget what I was about.  

[KeithAug]

On 2/1/2026 at 1:27 AM, Keith Black said:

I've enjoyed my time with you, Capt. Engel.

Keith - Wonderful epitaph for the Captain. I'm sure he would have loved your Billy.

[tmj]

1 hour ago, Keith Black said:

After going on nine years I think it's time I restart and finished the Tennessee project before I totally forget what I was about.

Don't feel bad. I have a Cutty Sark that I started 38 years ago and never finished. It was my very first wooden model ship. A Constructo kit. I stopped working on it when I found out just how historically inaccurate it was. It now just sits in the closet sleeping. It was a good learning project so not a total loss. I learned how to bend wood and plank a hull while building this thing.

 

Edited 19 hours ago by tmj

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, KeithAug said:

Wonderful epitaph for the Captain. I'm sure he would have loved your Billy.

 Thank you, Keith.

 

27 minutes ago, tmj said:

I have a Cutty Sark that I started 38 years ago and never finished

 That's a great start to a nice looking Cutty, Tom. You need to wake that project up and finish her. 

[Coyote_6]

Not to hijack, but...

 

@tmj  You should build that thing.

 

My next build will be Constructo's Enterprise and she is reknowned for inaccuracies - but dang if she doesn't build into a beauty.

 

Sometimes the "bad/inaccurate" models are significant in their own right:  Davis' Lexington, MCann's Sovereign of the Sea, Constructo's Enterprise.  They are still around today because they are beautiful models.  I am betting that Cutty Sark would be fabulous - love that Constructo wood!!

 

By the by, I recently saw Constructo's Enterprise on TV - in Captain Pike's stateroom aboard NCC-1701 on "Strange New Worlds".  Inaccurate or not, she does look good!  Can't keep a good model design down! 🤣

Edited 16 hours ago by Coyote_6

[Keith Black]

3 hours ago, Coyote_6 said:

Not to hijack, but...

 

@tmj  You should build that thing.

 Don't worry about hijacking, Steve and I agree with you regarding Tom's Cutty. 

[Keith Black]

 Thank you to all you folks for the likes and for the congratulations on completing Billy. Your support is very special to me and very much appreciated. 

 

 

 Das Fleet.

 

 Completion order is right left, right left starting at the back.  I must say, this year and a half working boat journey was a kick in the pants!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Thank you to all who followed along on these journeys.

 

  Keith

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Keith Black

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Very nicely done!

[Knocklouder]

Great looking Fleet,  

 

Bob  M.

[vvvjames]

Fantastic seeing them all together, well done. 

[Cathead]

That is so absolutely fantastic seeing them all together like that. When do you start on the full harbor diorama? Gonna be weird not having a Keith Black ugly duckling in my feed...

[Keith Black]

4 hours ago, GrandpaPhil said:

Congratulations!  Very nicely done!

 Thank you, Phil.

 

46 minutes ago, Knocklouder said:

Great looking Fleet,  

 Thank you, Bob. 

 

43 minutes ago, vvvjames said:

Fantastic seeing them all together, well done. 

 Thank you, James.

 

3 minutes ago, Cathead said:

That is so absolutely fantastic seeing them all together like that. When do you start on the full harbor diorama? Gonna be weird not having a Keith Black ugly duckling in my feed...

 Thank you, Eric. The image of an ugly duck stuck in your feed made me laugh. The diorama is a dream that will take me at least two years before I'd be able to start that project if life goes smoothly but life's not going too smoothly right this sec. More on that later.  

[wefalck]

A few days ago I went through the digitised holdings of plans at the Technical University Berlin and their have been quite a few weird looking thingies in the 19th century, such as all shapes of (bucket, suction, hopper) dredgers, (steam) pile-drivers etc. also on German waters. Sternwheelers though were absent, they were not common in Europe, where mainly side-wheelers were used.

These could make interesting subjects, like your nice little fleet.

[Desertanimal]

Simply stunning work!

Chris 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  You've a great collection of related models - all done with nice detail at the same scale !

[Coyote_6]

Just wow.  Each one so cool and unique, but the collection itself is mind blowing.  Well done and cool journey!  Who says you can't travel back in time?

Edited 34 minutes ago by Coyote_6