Paddleducks
Old Yahoo Group => Yahoo Messages => Topic started by: Ron Wild on June 14, 2005, 09:38:00 PM
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Hi PJ, as I have finished building my latest project, the Loyal
Moderator, I am considering building the Sicamouse, or similar vessel
i.e. a lake paddle steamer, that ran on British Columbia's inland
lakes. I am, however a liitle concerned about the best method of
propelling it, as all my ships are radio controlled. Do you or others
in the group have any ideas on this? I am mostly concered about the
connection between the motor and the paddle.
From Ron Wild,
Kelowna, BC Canada
wild@silk.net
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Fantastic, Ron....and knowing of the high quality of all your models,
a Canadian Lake paddler would be a joy to behold. We're fortunate to
have a good friend right here in Victoria, Robert Turner. Bob has
published MANY books and is a world authority on Canadian Paddlers and
particularly those owned by Canadian Pacific...of which the lovely
"SICAMOUS" was one. (Incidentally Bob is the featured speaker at our
January VMSS Club Meeting and I have asked him to talk about...what
else..."Paddlewheelers of British Columbia." He travels constantly
between Victoria and Kaslo where he is very active in the restoration
of the Canadian Pacific Sternwheeler "Moyie". Probably three of the
most famous British Columbia lake sternwheelers are "Sicamous", and
the sisters "Moyie" and "Minto".
There's a whole lot of choice when it comes to BC Lake Paddlers and
many photos can be found on the British Columbia archives web site
which I'm sure you're familiar with. For those who need the URL it's
http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/index.htm
Just punch in "sternwheeler" and lots will come up. "Sicamous" of
course brings up some very nice shots of her. Other well known
sternwheelers well worth considering are:
"Ainsworth" "Bonnington" "Rossland" "Illecillewaet" "Kaslo"
"Kuskanook" "Nasookin" "Kootenay"
I'm pretty sure most of these were Kootenay steamers while "Sicamous"
seems almost always associated with the Okenagan and probably Kelowna
where you are.
> I am, however a liitle concerned about the best method of
> propelling it, as all my ships are radio controlled. Do you or
> others in the group have any ideas on this? I am mostly concered
> about the connection between the motor and the paddle.
I have looked at my photos of SS "Sicamous" and can't make out if her
sternwheel is connected via a Pitman arm. Pitman arms look very neat
cranking the wheel round and I believe should always be reproduced if
they existed on the prototype. I've seen a number of model
sternwheels connected to their power sources through belts, shaft/worm
and miscellaneous gearing arrangements. In any case it all becomes a
whole lot easier with a transversally mounted motor. I have to admit
I've never built a model sternwheeler but I've sure admired a few,
including the old 1:48 scale "Moyie" built nearly 40 years ago by our
friend Harry Crosby on his kitchen table in Victoria. She was
originally built in balsa and despite being a little "weathered" she
still runs remarkable well. She has a wire belt drive which works
well..although a little too "visible".
It shouldn't be too hard to find out how the original "Sicamous"
sternwheel was connected and then to reproduce it.
Incidentally, our new Paddleduck member Bob Gray from Hope BC is also
interested in this ship and wants to build a BC Lake Sternwheeler too.
I know he'd welcome communicating with you you on this.
Keep us posted with your progress, Ron, and if you go ahead with the
project you'll be preserving an important part of BC Maritime history.
Holler if we can help in any way..it's very exciting.
PJ
PS. Ron is a past President of the Victoria Model Shipbuilding
Society whose tremendous enthusiasm and energy was instrumental in
building the Club during the 1980's. When he moved to Kelowna BC he
was instrumental in forming the Kelowna Model Boat Club and bringing
it to it's current level of success. Ron has built some wonderfully
detailed and finished R/C model ships and manages a well known Hobby
store in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.
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Thanks for the kind words, PJ. I have had the privilege of going on
board the Sicamouse ( for those who don't know, the Sicamouse has
been preserved in Penticton BC, also located on Okanagan Lake as is
my town of Kelowna)I was very lucky and had a personal guided tour of
her getting into spaces not usually open to the public including the
wheelhouse (boy, it's a long way up there) and yes, it is powered via
pitman arms so that part is no problem. Where the problem lies is
with the correct positioning of these arms to the wheel. Obviously
they cannot be directly opposite one another for if they were and the
engine stopped on dead center, it would not be able to start again.
So, what is the correct number of degrees to offset the two arms?
Robert Turner has been in the hobby shop just recently and very
nicely autographed some of his books which we have on sale there.
BTW, I only work there. I'm not the owner.....Ron
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Hi Ron:and all
Ron I think that your answer to your pitman arm question can be found in
our own club Dave C. has built the Creole Queen and put arms on her. She
even works well. I think that in my version of the same ship I will be using
a belt drive system.
Merv.