Paddleducks
Paddler Information => Research => Topic started by: Gillian on October 30, 2005, 09:43:15 AM
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My husband and I are looking for something a bit unusual to model, and a paddler seems like a good idea...
However, as I said it must be unusual, so tugs, blockade runners, mississippi paddlers, Clyde paddlers etc etc are out.... I like the idea that Eddy had of an open paddle launch, but he seemed to draw a total blank on that one...
Can anyone suggest something out of the ordinary that might fit the bill? Preferably something where we can get plans rather than basing the model purely on photographs - Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Gillian
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Hi!
From one new member to another, heres a couple of ideas for you to consider....
An open paddle launch for passenger or cargo, no photographs but a description and basic plans for the prototype are at the link below, lots of scope for creating a unique boat to your own spec using this plan, a steam engine on open display would look great....
http://www.sky-net.org.uk/kelvin/launches/paddle/
or for something totally different how about a paddle car ferry? such as the PS Farringford odd looking ship, but plenty of interest with cars etc on board, and deffinatly different! a couple of pictures are at:
http://website.lineone.net/~david.enefer/newholland/newholland.htm
Hope these ideas help point you in the right direction!
Cheers
Andy
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I know you said tugs are out but I have to admit, the Ramsgate harbour tug 'Aid' is somewhat unusual compared to any other tug I've seen, almost symmetrical when viewed from the side with the only obvious clues to which end is the front being the position of the lifeboat and the port of registration (strangely, London) being written at the aft....
...don't know about availability of diagrams, I've only seen a small drawing in the book 'Famous Paddle Steamers' that I bought on Ebay last week.
I'm sure it would look impressive at 1/32 scale, I'm tempted to make one myself but for lack of free time :?
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Â
Hi!
From one new member to another, heres a couple of ideas for you to consider....
An open paddle launch for passenger or cargo, no photographs but a description and basic plans for the prototype are at the link below, lots of scope for creating a unique boat to your own spec using this plan, a steam engine on open display would look great....
http://www.sky-net.org.uk/kelvin/launches/paddle/ (http://www.sky-net.org.uk/kelvin/launches/paddle/) And here's a website for an actual paddle launch, LIBERTY BELLE,
 http://www.liberty-belle.globotech.ch/ (http://www.liberty-belle.globotech.ch/)
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Like Mick I've been tempted by the AID - just like Dr Doolottle's Pushme Pullyou to look at.
There's a bit more on her in PN Thomas's book on British Steam Tugs and at one stage the elusive Mike Mayhew was talking about producing a grp hull of her with platework, etc., moulded in.
Tony
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Hi Gillian:
The first ships which come to mind when you mention "unusual" HAVE to be the "three Crazies" as I call them! "Castalia", "Bessemer" and "Calais-Douvre I". Check them out as they are wonderful examples of British Maritime creativity... and all glorious failures! They are major model building projects but I believe the Science Museum Library in Kensington may have plans of them and they once had models on display.
Next, if you want an easy and very cute project which could (should)easily accommodate a live steam engine, check out the Alligator Warping tugs from Canada. They are very simple to build and have the distinction of being the world's only amphibious paddlers!
William Denny's ships built for the African and Burmese river fleets of the late 19th Century are also interesting paddler subjects to model as they are quite different from their European counterparts. African Quarter wheelers are worth looking at too.
And finally, you might consider some of the pioneer paddlers if you like "strange". John Fitch the American inventor had some wild ideas (here's one below which is definitely a "paddler"!) and Henry Bell's famous "Comet" of 1812 is delightful. There's a full size replica of her at Port Glasgow in Scotland and lots of reference avaiable.
Good luck and keep us posted as to how your research progresses
PJ
Victoria, BC Canada
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Hi - No idea about the availability of drawings, but if a paddle driven car ferry is of any interest, what about one of the Humber ferries LINCOLN CASTLE, WINGFIELD CASTLE or TATTERSHALL CASTLE. All three are still afloat, so that could make details of the prototype more accessible.
Other "different", but large, models, especially for the UK could include double ended passenger ferries (examples from Southampton to Sydney) or some of the enormous US paddlers on the Hudson or the Great Lakes.
Or what about USSN SABLE and WOLVERINE - paddle driven aircraft carriers - see our archives for some info.
Or - dare I say it - a non-typical Clyde model - INVERARAY CASTLE (originally mis-spelled as INVERARY CASTLE) - built 1839 and scrapped 1895. Basically a cargo steamer, with a single funnel abaft the paddles, scope for sails and a clipper bow - and with a nice red MacBraynes funnel.
Of course, its much easier to make suggestions than do the work oneself :D
Regards
David
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Greetings,
Hi - [...]
Other "different", but large, models, especially for the UK could include double ended passenger ferries (examples from Southampton to Sydney)
[...]
Or - dare I say it - a non-typical Clyde model - INVERARAY CASTLE (originally mis-spelled as INVERARY CASTLE) - built 1839 and scrapped 1895. Basically a cargo steamer, with a single funnel abaft the paddles, scope for sails and a clipper bow - and with a nice red MacBraynes funnel.
Sounds interesting. Any books, sites, or any other source of (pictorial) information you can recommend? A first googling for "INVERARAY CASTLE" didn't result in anything useful.
Of course, its much easier to make suggestions than do the work oneself :D
Regards
David
Torbjörn
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Thanks for the many and varied suggestions guys...
After looking through them, the Castalia and Calais Douvre are too strange even for us! The Bessemer certainly looks interesting (does anyone have any photos or simple drawings for her?). A car ferry also sounds like something that could be appealing... Finally, Waverley mentioned the large paddlers of the great lakes and Hudson river - Does anyone have the names of any of those vessels that I can do a search for?
Best wishes
Gillian
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Greetings,
Hi - [...]
Other "different", but large, models, especially for the UK could include double ended passenger ferries (examples from Southampton to Sydney)
[...]
Or - dare I say it - a non-typical Clyde model - INVERARAY CASTLE (originally mis-spelled as INVERARY CASTLE) - built 1839 and scrapped 1895. Basically a cargo steamer, with a single funnel abaft the paddles, scope for sails and a clipper bow - and with a nice red MacBraynes funnel.
Sounds interesting. Any books, sites, or any other source of (pictorial) information you can recommend? A first googling for "INVERARAY CASTLE" didn't result in anything useful.
Of course, its much easier to make suggestions than do the work oneself :D
Regards
David
Torbjörn
Hi - I have three photos of INVERARAY CASTLE - unfortunately I do not (yet) have a scanner so can't post them here myself.
The first is a broadside view of her approaching a pier: this is in a brochure published by the Clyde River Steamer Club in 1968 on the occasion of a cruise to Inverary. The CRSC has an excellent collection, and has issued numerous prints over the years and may be able to help with a copy of this (or other) prints.
The second is in Andrew McQueen's "Clyde River Steamers of the last 50 years" (1923) reprinted in 1990 & 2001 as "Clyde River steamers 1872 - 1922".
The third and best print is in two books - one is "West Highland Steamers" (4th (latest) edition) by Duckworth & Langmuir. Like the McQueen book, this also provides a brief history of the vessel.
A larger, clearer copy of this print is in Ian McCrorie's "Clyde Piers - a pictorial record" which I think is a lovely little book with some very evocative photos. (It's also probably the cheapest option)
All 4 of these books have appeared on ebay (CRSC brochures do not appear often, but the others are relatively common) and the books are all available through ABEbooks.
This link - if it works points to the st andrews library collection of postcards, including one of our boat at Gourock (not mentioned above) and the one from the CRSC brochure.
http://special.st-andrews.ac.uk/saspecial/index.php?a=wordsearch&s=gallery&w=paddle+steamer+inveraray
Couldn't find anything else with google
Hope this helps
David
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Hi Gillian - Hudson paddlers.
There's a fair bit on the web and several illustrations.
If you want to google, a good start may be "Hudson River day line" or "paddle steamer" "alexander hamilton" in quotes - this was probably the best known operator, and their ALEXANDER HAMILTON survived till 1971. Others paddlers included WASHINGTON IRVING, HENDRICK (? HENDRIK ?) HUDSON, ROBERT FULTON, MARY POWELL and many more. There's a lot of info on the net, including sime book transcriptions
The book "Hudson River Day Line" by Donald C Ringwald has a good reputation - it's on my "to buy" list.
Regards
David
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Hi Gillian - Great Lakes Paddlers
A very helpful site for these is the "Maritime history of the Great Lakes" site. This includes a large number of images of paddlers
Try this page (a search of the images with key "steamboat" IIRC) - may take a few moments to download (or ages without broadband)
http://www.hhpl.on.ca/GreatLakes/GLImages/results.asp?SearchTerms=steamboats&SearchType=KW
Some of the larger vessels ran in the C & B (Cleveland & Buffalo) and D & C (Detroit and Cleveland) companies. Ships names include SEEANDBEE, GREATER DETROIT, CITY OF BUFFALO (and many other "CITY" names)
The page below gives access to more details on a few of these giants, and is maybe a good place to start
http://www.mhsd.org/passenger/default.htm
Hope the above is of interest
Regards
David
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Hi - I have three photos of INVERARAY CASTLE - unfortunately I do not (yet) have a scanner so can't post them here myself.
[Four interesting suggestions]
All 4 of these books have appeared on ebay (CRSC brochures do not appear often, but the others are relatively common) and the books are all available through ABEbooks.
[...]
Hope this helps
David
Thanks, it certainly helps. ABEbooks it is :D
Torbjörn
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There is a photo of INVERARAY CASTLE in my MacBrayne Steamers book, published by Tempus Publishing
Â
Alistair Deayton
----- Original Message -----
From: Waverley (research@paddleducks.co.uk)
To: research@paddleducks.co.uk (research@paddleducks.co.uk)
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 1:40 AM
Subject: RE: A paddler to model?
Broder Incertus wrote: Greetings,
Waverley wrote: Hi - [...]
Other "different", but large, models, especially for the UK could include double ended passenger ferries (examples from Southampton to Sydney)
[...]
Or - dare I say it - a non-typical Clyde model - INVERARAY CASTLE (originally mis-spelled as INVERARY CASTLE) - built 1839 and scrapped 1895. Basically a cargo steamer, with a single funnel abaft the paddles, scope for sails and a clipper bow - and with a nice red MacBraynes funnel.
Sounds interesting. Any books, sites, or any other source of (pictorial) information you can recommend? A first googling for "INVERARAY CASTLE" didn't result in anything useful.
Quote: Of course, its much easier to make suggestions than do the work oneself (http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif)
Regards
David
Torbjörn
Hi - I have three photos of INVERARAY CASTLE - unfortunately I do not (yet) have a scanner so can't post them here myself.
The first is a broadside view of her approaching a pier: this is in a brochure published by the Clyde River Steamer Club in 1968 on the occasion of a cruise to Inverary. The CRSC has an excellent collection, and has issued numerous prints over the years and may be able to help with a copy of this (or other) prints.
The second is in Andrew McQueen's "Clyde River Steamers of the last 50 years" (1923) reprinted in 1990 & 2001 as "Clyde River steamers 1872 - 1922".
The third and best print is in two books - one is "West Highland Steamers" (4th (latest) edition) by Duckworth & Langmuir. Like the McQueen book, this also provides a brief history of the vessel.
A larger, clearer copy of this print is in Ian McCrorie's "Clyde Piers - a pictorial record" which I think is a lovely little book with some very evocative photos. (It's also probably the cheapest option)
All 4 of these books have appeared on ebay (CRSC brochures do not appear often, but the others are relatively common) and the books are all available through ABEbooks.
This link - if it works points to the st andrews library collection of postcards, including one of our boat at Gourock (not mentioned above) and the one from the CRSC brochure.
http://special.st-andrews.ac.uk/saspecial/index.php?a=wordsearch&s=gallery&w=paddle+steamer+inveraray (http://special.st-andrews.ac.uk/saspecial/index.php?a=wordsearch&s=gallery&w=paddle+steamer+inveraray)
Couldn't find anything else with google
Hope this helps
David
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Exported by Paddleducks Mail System.
http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5800#5800 (http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5800#5800)
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There is a photo of INVERARAY CASTLE in my MacBrayne Steamers book, published by Tempus Publishing
Alistair Deayton
Drat! Too quick for once: already ordered the other three books. ;-) Thanks anyway! :-)
Torbjörn
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After reading the replies and looking around at various photos on the net, I think we've decided on one of the large American rail ferries. With some rolling stock on the deck it should look magnificent!
So, can anyone help with any plans for one of these boats? Of course we'll happily pay for any copying and postage costs etc.
Gillian
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Gillian,
I have just the thing for you. Introducing the Railroad Ferry Steamer Solano! The accompanying link will give you plenty of background material and plenty of leads for further information.
There are even some line drawings to start the planning process.
Of course given that the Solano was the world's largest railroad ferry, you'll need to clean out the garage to make room for your model!!! :D
http://cprr.org/Museum/Solano/
cheers
Tony
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Thankyou Tony!
The Solano would make a fantastic model - At 1:87 scale (HO railway scale), it would give a model just under 5 feet long with a beam of about 16 inches - I now need to go searching for HO scale rolling stock, preferably Airfix type plastic kits to keep the weight to a reasonable level, as I don't need working locos etc! :-)
So, now that Tony has got us a starting point, does anyone know of a good source for 1:87 scale plastic rolling stock of a type suitable for an American railroad ferry of the 1920-1930's??
Gillian
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Returning to american sidewheel carferries in general:
I just found in the gallery of this site the pictures 457 to 466
( http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=457 ff )
of a model of a three-track sidewhee ferry under construction.
Guessing from her overall layout, I think it is the Detroit River
carferry Transfer, of which a set of model plan blueprints is
available by chance.
I did however not find any related postings in the forum.
Does anybody know anything about the history of this model
(e.g. who built it, and if there any pictures of the finished model
available)?
Thank you, Moritz