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[Speed123]

Hello again,

I have started my next building project and would like to share a report (as I did with my last boat).

Some weeks ago I got hold of 25-year-old building kit from Graupner.
The build was already started (with some deficits) und the kit is not complete; parts for the housing and details are missing;
Important parts like hull, wheels und decks are available.






The "pre builder" had ball bearings glued to the wood frame instead of a brass pipe .




First step was to build a rigid support:






Drawings were put on the wall to establish the drydock area:




The ball bearings were heated up and removed:




Instead two brass pipes were glued in place to serve als bearing for each drive shaft:







The main drive shaft was split in order to get two independent wheel drives:




The gears of the drives received a dust cover made from an installation tube:





The areas between the frames were filled with balsa wood as a visual cover for the bad looking glue made by the "pre builder":





About 1000 grams of small lead balls were placed in the bilge and covered with epoxy:




The cut outs for the wheel housings in the side walls seems to be the root cause for taken water inside the hull. They were refilled with small ABS-stripes:





This is the current status.
next step will be the mounting of the small platforms for the wheel housings.


Best Regards
Hans

[Martin (Admin)]

Roller bearings are a great idea!   

( don't forget to waterproof the wood before you go too far .... )

[Speed123]

Hi Martin,


thats the goal:
- no water inside the hull
- everything outside the hull is waterresistant.




Roller bearings glued to wood is not my preferred system.


Best regards
Hans

[Speed123]

Hello,


as the hull is getting closer to the first layer of paint, I started with the supports for the wheel housings.




Since I want to make the support removable, the front frame does not need to be removed.
Instead it got reinvorced with two ABS stripes:





The supports will be mounted similar as the wings of a bigger RC-Model-Plane. It requires two brass pipes D=6mm,
300 long and 4 pipes D =7/6.1 mm and 45 long. The long pipes will be fixed to the hull and the short ones will be glued to the supports.




On my "grinding machine" four M3 nuts were reduced to D = 5.2mm .....




.... and then pressed in the ends of the long pipes:





In order to mount the brass pipes to the hull: first a template was made, since both pipes need to be 100% parallel. Center is the Pipe for the drive shaft; the two holes for the support pipes are 14mm below center and 100mm to the left and to the right:





The template is used on both sides of the hull to drill the holes for the 6mm pipes. when moving the template from left to right it must not be turned in order to maintain the accuracy.






The 6mm pipes are sticked to the hull ( in this case they are parallel within 0,2mm).




The supports now need to be glued to the 7mm pipes.





So far for today
Best regards
Hans

[Speed123]

Hello,

next step got finished:

before glueing the pipes into place a small clamp ring was attached with a wire for later power supply to the wheel housings:




A small plate was soldered to each bushing (for stability):




The bushing were sided to the pipes and 2K-Glue was applied to the bushing:




Then the support was placed in the proper position, waiting for the glue to cure:




After curing the support slides of the pipes:




The underside now:




Using M3 screws the supports are fixed to the hull:






Now the mounting of the components inside the hull can start as the next step.

Best Regards
Hans

[Speed123]

Hello,


second building phase has started with applying two layers of primer:






The new gears were delivered so the mounting of the double motor drive can start shortly.
The original gears, with there non standard pitch, were not available, so two sets were required and found on stock in Germany. The ratio was changed from 3:1 to 2:1 getting more RPM to the wheel.





Best Regards
Hans

[Speed123]

Hello,

Little Progress to report.


the motor brackets got two rails in the bottom for easy mounting from the top.





A small carrier to hold receiver, motor-drives and remote switches was build and will be raised about 50 mm above the smoker and above one accupack (battery):






The basses to hold the motors and the carrier were fitted inside the hull:






Best Regards
Hans

[Speed123]

Good afternoon;

there is some progress to report;
The paint job has started with the underwater-section followed by the marking of the waterline:




The carriers got their final layer of paint:






And finally my favorite blue was applied to the hull above the waterline:






Both motors were mounted:




Data was gathered (Volt/RPM) und the function of the excenter was tested:

https://youtu.be/oa2y5zG1HRA

As the next step the hull with all equipment was set into water: some distance to the waterline:




Adding some weigth (2.300gr) will bring the boat rigth to the waterline




Estimating an additional 1.500gr for finishing and balancing the boat > will bring the total weight to about 6.3kg with some distance to the waterline.




Best Regards
Hans

[Speed123]

After the leveling in water the positions of the components are clear and mounting can continue:


First the coaming around the big opening was glued in place:




Next the front battery-pack received its holder:





A small panel was build to hold the main switch and the charging terminals for both battery packs



So the front section is finished as far as the build-in components are concerned.


Best Regards
Hans

[Speed123]

 
Hello,


The build has continued this week.


The back battery pack was fixed in place.




The deck as per kit comes in one piece; however in order to have a stressf ree installation, it was decided to splitt the deck in 4 parts. The front section was cut off.





Again in deviation to the kit the mast was reconfigured to be a plugin type made from brass: the holder was mounted to the deck.








Glueing the front section of the deck to the hull was rather difficult as some gaps between the two became visible. Lost of tape helped to close them:






If the glue holds the gaps closed the front looks like this.






While waiting for the glue to cure the steam-generator was tested prior to mounting it inside the hull:

https://youtu.be/5t4w2WXH_Vo

Now it is installed:



So far for today.
Best regards
Hans

[Capt Podge]

Hello Hans, I have just had a quick look through your blog and I'm very impressed so I will go through it again slowly to get up to date with it and will follow along.
Thank you for sharing.


Ray.

[Speed123]

Hello to the UK,

the assembly is still in progress

the steam-engine soundgenerator was placed in the back and the loudspeaker got as amplifier a cap of a spray can:






Receiver, speed controller, switches and connectors were installed and wired on a small platform:





Now came the "proof of concept" for the independent drive of both side wheels; first on the workbench, then on water in the dog-pool:


https://youtu.be/7ADArN53Xks


I would say it works; as the deck is still open and the wheel-housing were not mounted the "All Ahead" could not be testet.


Best Regards
Hans

[Capt Podge]

Well, that certainly looks efficient Hans and the installation looks very well made - congratulations 


Ray.

[Speed123]

Thank you Ray, I like it so far.


now comes the hard part: finishing everything on the tiop side und to make it look like a realitic steamboat.


Some way to go


Best Regards
Hans

[Speed123]

Hello,

after the water test was positive the deck now can be closed.

An additional coaming  was added to both openings on the backdeck:





This way any spillage can stay outside the hull:



Die back deck was painted and glued in place.




The first topside units are being build or in the paint booth.

Best Regards
Hans

[Speed123]

Hello,

the second section of this build is now complete: all deck parts are glued in place.
In order the improve the look of the transition from of deck to bulwark, a 2 mm rope was placed there and fixed with super-glue.





On top of the bulwark an edge-protection-profile was placed:





Starting form the bow the profile was moved over the edge and secured every two inches with a drop of super-glue:





The final result looks like this:





Next step of the build will be everything on the topside.
Best Regards
Hans

[ScottW]

Nice rescue of a partial build.   Sidewheel ships just naturally have a lot of visual appeal.
If I were to have an operational sidewheeler in either model or real size independent wheels for maneuvering would be high on the 'must have' list.

[Capt Podge]

That's a brilliant idea for the colour transition Hans, definitely one for the 'good ideas' notebook - thank you for posting this up 


Ray.

[Speed123]

Good morning,
Thanks Ray

Phase 3 has started (everything above the deck).
The back openings are now covered with a hatch:



and




The housing for the downstairs are also fixed in place:




Beginning with the wheel-housings the offset pin needed installation first; it was mounted 5 mm offset to the centre towards the bow.
It will create the partial movement of the shovel during each revolution:




That is the current state of the build.


Best Regards
Hans

[Speed123]

Good evening,

as the final set of gears have now arrived I was able to tryout the generator for the steam sound.

First I had to place two magnets on the last gear on the main shaft.





This magnets should give a signal to the generator. Under the assumption that this kind of steamer would have had two cylinders with single action there should be two sounds per revolution.
The hall sensor transfers the signal to the generator when a magnet passes his field:






As the result it sounds on the workbench like this:


https://youtu.be/uLQDBTap_64


Too early to judge if this is the final approach; I need to hear it on water with some distance.


Best Regards
Hans

[JimG]

I would think it more likely that the cylinders would be double acting, only the earliest steam engines were single acting. Even with a twin cylinder single acting engines would not always self start as there would be positions where no steam could enter the cylinders. On a steam tug it would be essential that the engine would start in all positions especially when changing direction of rotation.
Jim

[Colin Bishop]

The thing about ship engine sounds is that you need to be in the engine room to hear them. In reality you hear very little if anything from outside the vessel. We spent a week on Lake Lucerne using the paddle steamers for travel and although you could hear the paddles hitting the water, the engines were essentially silent.

Colin

[Speed123]

Hello and thank you for your valued input.
As soon as the boat drives in the water I will reconsider the "sound".

The build continues now with the wheel housings. As the carriers for the housings are in my set-up 3mm lower than planned by Graupner, the housings got a frame made from a 5x5mm ABS bar:






Next topic were the cut-outs in the outside of the wheel housings; part of the kit is an adhesive film which simulates such cutouts but look awful; one of the highlights of this model are the operating paddle-wheels and hiding them behind closed walls makes now sense; after looking through the internet I had to sketch the cutouts first on paper with circle, ruler and a pencil:





This solution was then transferred with the same tools to the housings:







The predrilling was done with the tip of the circle followed a 2mm drill:





Gently opening the holes in 1mm steps up to the size of 9 und 4,5mm:
 






Next step will be the cutting between the holes with a scalpel.

All the best
Hans

[Martin (Admin)]

Recreating topic due to server error....

[Speed123]

So the first wheel housing is done:

Carefully cut with a scalpel the lines between the holes along a steel bar:





Hours later all of them were cut and cleaned:






In my opinion it looks very good and the wheel can be seen working.

Best Regards
Hans