crazypoet

Good lord - this is gorgeous!!! I've a fondness for the Avenger, and you're treating the subject beautifully

Gorgeous!!!! This kind of kit could get me back into armor modeling

This is a great interview, and brought out things that I never would have known otherwise - thank you!

One other thing I'm working on is an enclosure for the driveshaft cams that drive the two feed pumps (condensate return and seawater feed). The kit has castings of the pumps, but has their drive rods simply rest against the driveshaft to "simulate a driven mechanism". So... I'll be delving into more period examples to come up with something that looks right.

Quick update on the steam engine. I finished the piston rod and crankshaft counterweights, and got a good start on the main bearings. For the structural elements of the engine, I'm using Alclad Exhaust Manifold as the base color, and will use a (yet to be determined) green overcoat. I'll use salt for chipping and wear effects where needed. The provided main bearings are single piece, which would have caused some painting and finishing headaches. To get around this, I cut each bearing into the two pieces that would have actually existed, and I'm using scale brass hex bolts to connect them. First, the piston rod and crank shaft: The crankshaft is 1/8" aluminum tube. For the moment, a 3/32 alignment tube holds everything straight by passing through both sections of the crank - that will be removed and the crankshaft painted before I place it into the main bearings. Main bearings: Frame alignment dry-fit: Main bearing and baseplate ready for their finish coat: I tracked down a museum that has an old Clute Brothers catalog in their collection - it's from 1873, so it likely won't show the particular engine I'm building, but it should have (hopefully!) some information on finishes/colors/logos/nameplates that I can use. The museum is sending me a scan of the catalog on CD - should be here in about a week. I'm holding off on painting the structural elements until I can read the catalog, but there's a ton of work I can do in the meantime. The cylinder/gearbox and forward/reverse mechanism will be done in brass and cast iron finishes, and I can build and base-coat all the structural pieces while I'm waiting. My head-scratching issue of the moment is the lever and connections to actually move the valve linkage - this is utterly missing from the kit. The only provision for it at all is a hole in one of the PE components where a lever or connecting rod would connect, but everything else is left to the imagination. It will take a bit of research to come up with something period-appropriate. This will be fun!

AWESOME!!!! It's fun to see the next generation stepping up, and it looks like a great time was had by all. Great work, too!

...and here's the gauge, weathered just a bit and installed:

I've a particular fondness for the Camel - this one will absolutely be added to the bench. It will be the "fully dressed" counterpart to the 1/16 wood-frame Model Expo "naked" version that's waiting patiently for me to finish the picket boat

Perfect invasion topic!

AWESOME!!!!! This makes me drool

Nice!

Thanks! Here's a quick update... The pressure gauge is done, except for connecting to the boiler. I went back to my original plan, after determining that my hands are simply not steady enough to engrave details directly... So... I used a free 2D CAD program to draw the face details, and printed it as a reverse-image on thin transparency film. Printing in reverse allows the printed side to lay directly against the metal face of the dial. I used a clear cement to attach the face detail, then added a brass hand cut-down from a small-second watch hand. After another layer of clear cement, here's the result: Compare this to an 1852 original that I used as inspiration: The original above is 12" while mine is a scale 7.5". I've seen examples ranging from 6" - 14", so mine is within the known range. The 12" reference gauge was originally mounted in a large steamship; my working assumption is that the picket boat would have had smaller components, based on pure practical necessity. I need to re-connect the brass siphon tube, which I accidentally broke off while handling, and then attach the gauge to the boiler. I'll do that tonight and post the results tomorrow. On other news, while I continue the process of planking the hull, I've also started work on the seam engine itself. This is going to be tricky, as the engine is designed to actually turn over, and have a functioning forward/reverse valve-timing linkage. The crankshaft, piston rod and valve linkage will all operate as in the original. Here's a modern full-sized version of the engine (from Bjorklundsteam.com): I'll use this as a reference as I build the scale version. They have slightly different mounting hardware and plumbing, but the core components (cylinder, valve box, and linkage, crank and flywheel) are the same. I'll have to scratch-build the lever and connectors for the forward/reverse linkage, but the linkage itself is included in the kit. I'm also trying to track down reference paint/color info. It seems that there are no surviving Clute Steam Engines (either marine or stationary), and the only known catalog is a black-and-white post-civil-war example at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan. The turret of the USS Monitor (yes, *THAT* Monitor!) used a Clute engine to traverse, but the engine hasn't yet been conserved after the Navy brought up the turret several years ago. So... this will be a challenge. The good news is that there aren't many color schemes to choose from (surviving engines from the period seem to have all been painted either green, black or red); the challenge will be to determine which components to paint and which to leave as bare metal (and then, whether to use bronze, iron or steel as the reference material...) So with all that as background, here's the first step in the engine assembly - the cylinder and valve box core: The holes and guide tubes are for the piston and valve timing rods. The core above will be covered with sheet brass and assembled with scale hex bolts from the good folk at scale hardware. The saga continues!

Well, my first try at the face of the pressure gauge dial didn't work - engraving isn't my strong suite! Here's the result - looks ok from a distance, but it's a true mess up-close I'm going to remove the hand and strip back to bare metal and go with a printed face on transparency film. I at least had to try! I learned that my hands just aren't steady enough to engrave with the tools that I have at the moment. That made this a valuable exercise regardless of the outcome - I learned something new!

I've verified that that this is a consistent issue with IE (tested on multiple systems on different networks). Safari works with no issues

So - the finished boiler, and the work-in-progress view of the brass pressure gauge... I built the body of the pressure gauge from stacked brass washers, soldered with a copper plug filling the center and wrapped with brass strip. The pressure line is 1/32" brass rod and the connector is 1/16" aluminum tubing. I primed the face white, but I may (after doing some more research) strip it back to bare metal, and either engrave the markings directly (assuming I can hold my hands that steady!) or print them on thin transparency film. I ordered the hand from a watchmaker supply house - a small-second hand should fit just right. When complete, the gauge will mount to the back of the steam dome.

I'm having the same issue, and I suspect that it's to do with updated security settings in the new IE update. Unfortunately, I can't verify this until tomorrow when I can compare my home system vs my office laptop

I took a bit of time tonight to finish assembling the boiler. I still need to finish up the details and weathering, along with the pressure gauge, but the fundamentals are done and I'm happy for the moment. It will be a week or so before I have all the pieces for the gauge ready to pull together; I'll post the results as I go. In the meantime, I'm taking a minute to enjoy the basics...

Thanks much! I finished up the bands last night (haven't had much bench time this week, dammit) All that remains for this stage of the boiler is attaching the firebox/hood/stack to the main body and final detailing. Pics as soon as it's done! Meanwhile, I found a source for the small watch hand I need for the pressure gauge. Rather than sacrificing a watch, I'll get a small bag of hands - a lifetime supply is only about $10. With the boiler done, I'll refocus on the hull and planks - I may actually finish this thing in time for the holidays...

awesome! This is a great way to share the fun

So here's the prop after a light coat of copper electroplate. I cleaned up the casting quite a bit, but left the surface a bit rough, since (I'm guessing) the originals weren't perfectly polished. I noticed in taking these pics that there are some marks left by the alligator clips in the electroplate kit - I'll tough those up with another very light coat. I don't want to get it too thick as I like the color as it it now - perfect for the look I'm trying to achieve. I'll use this same process on some of the plumbing in the steam plant

As a complete side note... I purchased a do-it-yourself copper electroplating kit from micro-mark. Utterly beyond cool - I tested it on the prop, and a light touch produced a perfect bronze finish on the britannia metal casting. Photos to come

While I'm thinking on it - does anyone else have experience with this sort of subscription-based build? Of course there's tons of hype from the manufacturer but how about from the standpoint of the builder? Are they as good as they look?

I WANT ONE ...err...eventually... ...after I clear out my existing bench... In building the Picket Boat, I've developed a huge appreciation for both the engineering and the artistry of the Steam Age. This is a truly beautiful homage to that time.

Happy Monday! I didn't get as much done as I wanted over the weekend - the boiler is still in the midst of final assembly, rather than being complete. That said, here's the current state of the build. The stack and smoke hood have the most work done, compared to my last updates. There are no existing photos or even drawings of the original at this level of detail, so both the kit and my build are based on other examples, interpretations, and doing my best to think like an engineer of the period. So this is the stack and hood assembly - the front-end of the boiler - as it exists at the moment: The rivet pattern in particular is my own "best guess" based on other period examples. There is evidence that the engine was produced by the Clute Brothers in New York. It would make sense for them to have manufactured the boiler as well. I'm doing some research on their logos, with the intent of adding it to both the boiler and engine - that will come later, and is dependent on my either getting a home PE kit or developing a deft approach with an engraving set. We'll see! As for the main body of the boiler, the rivet pattern is also based on period examples and my own best guesses. The kit had no rivet detail at all, nor any suggestions - so this is all my own (hopefully educated) guesswork. I used a combination of brass pins and micro-mark O-scale resin rivets for all of this. I'm working now on mounting the main body of the boiler to the stands I built last month. You can't see from this angle, but I added the canvas padding/batting between the stands and the boiler (made from dyed fine cotton t-shirt fabric). The bands are brass strip, with the connection made from brass pins set into holes drilled into the sides of the stands. This is trickier than I'd anticipated, as the brass is a bit springy and the fit is more than a bit fussy. I spent almost three hours getting the first band done - the second should go much faster, now that I know how it's going to behave. After getting the main body secured on the stands, I'll attach the stack/hood to the front and finish detailing and weathering. Then, the whole thing will go on the shelf and wait for me to finish the hull so I can complete the plumbing. I'm also working on the steam pressure gauge. The kit version is a bit rough, and too small when compared to period examples. I've built up the main body of the gauge in brass; I'm working now to find an old watch from which I can scavenge an appropriately-sized hand. I'll print the face of the dial on thin transparency sheet, pin the hand through the center, add in the feed from the steam dome and connect it to the back side of the assembly once everything else is done. Step by slow step, this is coming along...

Exttaordinary! I love to see this kind of work - going well beyond the "norm" and creating something with a compelling story as the background. What materials do you plan on using?