Paddleducks
Old Yahoo Group => Yahoo Messages => Topic started by: Bill Wade on June 13, 2005, 06:28:56 PM
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Thanks for the welcome, Paul!
My interest stems from the desire to add a sidewheel transfer steamboat
to our line of railroad-related kits. We own and operate a manufacturing
company that has inhouse laser-cutting and white metal casting. We also
have access to urethane and lost-wax casting work as needed so there is
not much we cannot do. You can see some of our work on our primary web
site at http://www.btsrr.com
I have found some basic data on the "Pacific," a ship owned by the St.
Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railroad which saw service between
1878 and 1911 at Carondelet, MO. This sidewheeler was around 225' long
with a 60' beam. A single track ran down the center with bow loading.
Once we gather sufficient data, we will offer the kit in HO scale
(1:87), S scale (1:64), and perhaps O scale (1:48). If there are other
scales that the Paddleducks members would prefer, we can consider them
also.
As we do more research, I hope to be able to contribute to this list as
well as gain knowledge.
Take care,
Bill
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Hi Bill and Diane
I've just spent an enjoyable hour at your Website. The range and scope
of your products is impressive and I know that a number of us are also
model railroaders (or have been) so the BTS website is definitely one
to bookmark. 'S' Scale modelers are really starved for affordable
kits and RTR locomotives and I have a friend who is one of the most
well known 'S' scale authorities on Canadian Railways. He is currently
augmenting his HO brass line with small run 'S' scale and '0' scale
products.
I also know a number of the urethane kit makers in Canada who are
producing kits that rival brass in their accuracy and detail but at a
fraction of the cost. (white metal for core parts is a smart move!!)
They tell me that model railroading trends seem to be more towards RTR
out of the box products as modelers these days seem far less willing
to BUILD from scratch or build from kits. Yours is a challenging
business, as anyone who has made resin castings will tell
you..(remember I use moulded resin side paddles on my boat and they
work GREAT!!) It seems you've recognized this and are providing
accurately detailed RTR models to those who don't have either the
skills or the time to sit at a workbench...unlike their counterparts
in the model boating arena where that's ALL we do!!
By the way, your Website is extremely well laid out and easy to
navigate..congratulations.
> I have found some basic data on the "Pacific," a ship owned by the
>St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railroad which saw service
>between 1878 and 1911 at Carondelet, MO. This sidewheeler was around
>225' long with a 60' beam. A single track ran down the center with
>bow loading.
Well you CERTAINLY PICKED A BEAUTY!!! In fact I know her quite well
and you will even find a picture of her in our "Model Gallery" files
section showing a model we found built by Ken Schuetz of the Ship
Model Society of Northern New Jersey. The model is gorgeous and will
clearly show what she looks like. I know the President of the New
Jersey Club (Nick Starace) and can ask him to contact the builder if
you want.
From what you say, the service life of "Pacific" ended in 1911..will
this close the window for a number of model railroaders unless they
are building prior 1911 ? We know the Golden Age of railroading seems
to be the steam diesel transition of the mid 50's so it might be an
idea (from a purely marketing perspective) to consider a Railway Ferry
from a large railroad that was still operating in the 50's.
Notwithstanding this, the "Pacific" would make a beautiful model in
any scale either display or operating. Her apparent low C of G would
make her an admirable R/C candidate (Unlike the beloved "R.E.L" which
is a challenge to ANY R/C modeler.) NOBODY manufactures any urethane
kits or parts for paddle wheelers. (lots of conventional Navy ships
though!) I still believe strongly that URETHANE/STYRENE paddle wheels
are the way yo go!!
> Once we gather sufficient data, we will offer the kit in HO scale
> (1:87), S scale (1:64), and perhaps O scale (1:48). If there are
> other scales that the Paddleducks members would prefer, we can >
>consider them also.
As far as ship model scaling goes.(from what I see)..the rule of thumb
is (unless the original is a HUGE boat) most kits are scaled to fit
into the back seat of a family car (around 48" - 50")and able to be
lifted by one person!. For model railoaders the issue is definitely
one of scale either "N", "HO", "S" or "O" at 1/48 and in Europe "EM"
and "00" . The other issue is if the kit should also be available as a
waterline hull kit for model RR's. So, as always, it's a marketing
thing in the end...which is WHO WILL BUY MOST KITS!!
I do believe that a set of plans exists for "Pacific" and Paddleducks
will certainly help you to track these down along with other
information that may help you. We have some very knowledgable people
here and I would recommend you meet "TowBoat Joe" (our river expert)
who's website is at jbrown@dragg.net.
> As we do more research, I hope to be able to contribute to this list
> as well as gain knowledge.
Great to have you here, and you may also wish to hook up with our
Paddleduck member Steve ( steve@laserservices.net )in Scottsdale, AZ
who also offers a laser service specializing in ship models. (He seems
hesitant to tell us a whole lot 'coz he thinks we have a "NO
ADVERTISING" POLICY here!!!)...and we'd love to find out more about
him and his service!!! Actually we encourage ANY MEMBER who has
products or announcements that may be of interest to other members to
feel free to post them here. We do not consider this to be spamming,
but rather an information source to other members...(I believe that
Mike who runs our "sister" group at Modelboats has a similar policy).
"PACIFIC" can be found at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paddleducks/files/
Files > "MODEL GALLERY" > SIDE PADDLER MODELS
Regards
PJ